Fireworm and I had observed the boats from above. If we both stayed here, we would be seen. Weather I wanted to humans to see me was up for debate. On one talon, this would be a great moment to let out any pent up rage and eat some human flesh. On the other talon, Fireworm or I could get hurt or captured. While I'm not worried for Fireworm, because they will no doubt be useless to the hunters, one wrong hit and they will die.
There is no doubt that the humans have come to do something harmful. Weather it was to capture dragons or use the Blue Oleander to cause harm to dragons. I have always had a dislike for humans, but humans that actively hunt down dragons are unforgivable. I heard a slight rumble on my head that snapped me out of my thoughts. It was Fireworm, trying to get my attention. They seemed to notice my slight distress and was nuzzling my scales. The gesture was nice and reminded me of Gruff. Fireworm's warmth was also comforting, reminded me of a mother's embrace I never had.
Back to the situation at claw, if there are dragons on those boats, I would have to be careful with how I attack. If I ended up sinking a boat that had dragons in it, they wouldn't be able to get out and would drown. It's better to have the moment of surprise then nothing, dive in and attack as carefully as possible. I let out a huff and made my eyes look at Fireworm, they were in the middle of both my eyes. "Ready?" I growled, Fireworm in response growled as they looked down at the ship.
I took this moment and dived down, curling my wings to my body to dive faster. I released my wings when I got close enough and spit a stream of acid towards the deck of a boat. The caught fire immediately and I could hear the humans panicking about the boat being on fire. A human on the boat saw me and shouted "Dragon!" I flew upwards to avoid any arrows they could shoot at me. "Go down to a boat and light it on fire. Don't get hurt." I told Fireworm.
If Fireworm could prove as a distraction to the hunters, it would be a great opportunity for me to attack unharmed. Fireworm took the chance to plunge down towards a boat that wasn't on fire, the wood started smoking upon contact. Soon a fire on the boat had started and the humans hadn't noticed because they were so focused on me. I noticed that only one boat had a set of long ranged weapons, maybe these humans were used to short ranged attacks. The other boats all had close ranged weapons, axes, swords, spears, maces.
I flew up and dived back down with my wings curled to my body, until the last second where I opened my wings and let out a stream of acid on the boat with the long ranged weapons. The boat caught on fire and the deck corroded to the point where I could see under the deck. I landed on the deck for a moment and tackled a human off board. I then went under the deck that was still corroding and I saw multiple dragons, most of them are sea dragons. They saw me and immediately started roaring.
They weren't even speaking, just roaring at me, but I got the idea. I spit streams of acid at the bars and they started melting, the dragons flew from the hole in the deck and started attacking the other boats. I went to one cage with a dragon that wasn't roaring and just stared at me. It was a Sliquifier, a species I haven't seen often. It was bigger than me so it must have been an adult. (I checked the wiki and Sliquifiers do not have a specific size so I made one up. 36 feet 8 inches long, 7 feet 4 inches tall, 1,476 pounds, wingspan of 42 feet.)
I melted it's cage with my acid and it immediately swiped at me, I roared at it and swiped back. It apparently didn't expect me to retaliate and it flinched back in shock. I huffed in offense, the audacity. "You are free now, go back to the ocean." I growled before walking away. "I have no home to go to." What I assume was a male voice was growling at me. I turned back to him and tilted my head before huffing. "Get out of the boat and go onto the island, I still have other dragons to save." I growled before flying out of the deck. As soon as I flew out, I spit a stream of acid onto an already flaming deck.
The deck collapsed due to the flames and corrosive acid, which gave me a chance to see if any dragon were on board. I flew down to the deck and was careful to watch out for the attacking dragons and humans. I saw a couple of Monstrous Nightmares and some Deadly Nadders who all growled upon my entering. Jeez, ungrateful reptiles. I shot streams of acid at their cages and they all happily shoved me to get out. I should have stung one of them.
Luckily, there was no other dragons in here and I flew out. I could see other dragons freeing their friends but I still went to another boat to check for any others. I saw a lone Gronckle who seemed to be left behind, her scent tells me that she is an elder, a titan wing. When I approached, I bowed my head in respect before releasing a stream of acid on her cage to free her. I was confused on why she didn't move until I realized she was just sleeping. I tapped what I assumed was her tail and she got up and yawned. "Is it time to leave already?" I nodded my head and lead her out of her cage. She flew up, albeit slowly, but that's to be expected of a Gronckle.
I saw a human with a catapult with a boulder in it and I was too late because they shot it at a Monstrous Nightmare who was attacking some other humans. "Watch out!" I had practically used my body to shove the Nightmare away from the boulder and the boulder had crashed into the ocean below. The Nightmare looked at me with wide eyes before looking at me with a soft look, "Thank you." He said gratefully. I just nodded my head, "Get to safety if you're out of fire." I just tell him nonchalantly, no time for conversations during a battle.
I then fly to another boat's cabin and see that there are no dragons here besides a Terrible Terror that is struggling to get herself out of a small cage. I use my claw and tear the lock off, she stumbles as she gets out but nods at me in gratitude. She flew out and I flew out after her. Two more boats to go, and their already starting to sink. I fly to the boat that has most of the humans on it and has most of the axes, swords, and maces on it. When I land on the deck, I notice that there are four humans charging at me.
I swung my tail at the one behind me and he get hit off of the boat. I charge at one in front of me and push him off the boat. I picked one up in my claws and flew up and dropped him off the boat, I land and I look over and see the last human about to stab me with his sword. "Watch out!" I hear a dragon roar and the human is propelled backwards by a large dragon's tail. I look over and see the Monstrous Nightmare I saved from earlier. "Now we're even." He says as he looks down at me.
"I think the boulder was a bit more deadly than a human with a sword." I say cheekily. The Nightmare rolls his eyes and spews his fire at the deck and it immediately crashes down. We both jump down and I spew my acid at the cages while he destroys locks. The dragons are freed just as water starts to leak into the cabin. "I need to get to the last boat." I say as I prepare to fly away. "You mean 'We'." The Nightmare says as he flies after me to the last boat.
I can feel the humans shooting arrows at us as I skillfully dodge. The Nightmare not so skillfully, as he had literally bumped into me trying to dodge them sloppily. I huff at him and he smiled sheepishly at me. I rolled my eyes and release a stream of acid at the boat while he spews his own stream of fire. I dive down at the weak wood and it collapses. There were mostly small dragons here, Terrors, Speedstingers, Grim Gnashers. The Nightmare and I had spewed out fire at the Terror's and Gnashers cages but we both hesitated with the Speedstingers.
I looked at them and stepped forward, "Since you all cannot fly, we will carry you to land. Please do not sting us." I say to them before I release them with my acid. They run to us and I bend down to allow them to get on my back and the Nightmare does the same. We both fly up very carefully and fly towards the island and set them down. They nod in thanks and run into the forest. The boats have sunken and the freed dragons roar in victory.
I feel accomplished and I tilt my head up and roar too, the Nightmare does the same. His roar is deeper than a normal Monstrous Nightmare. We have won this battle against the humans. I hear some trees rustle and I look to my side to see the Sliquifier staring at me. I tilt my head and he nudges his head into the forest, I follow him as he runs into the forest. We get to a clearing in the forest where it is not too dense with trees. "What is it?" I ask curiously, my body is relaxed but I keep my tail curled just in case.
"Do you have a pack? Deathgrippers are usually in packs." He asks me, I could see the worry in his eyes. "No, the only pack mate is my friend, he is a Hobblegrunt named Gruff." He tilts his head in a confused manor, "A Hobblegrunt? How odd." He grumbles, mostly to himself. I can feel my eyes narrow and he must have felt my stare on him. He corrected himself and said "I just meant that it's odd to have a duo with a Deathgripper and Hobblegrunt, your personalities are completely different." I sigh, I had the same thought all those years ago.
"Can I join your pack?" The question caught me off guard. I hadn't expected him to ask a question like that. "What..?" I hissed in shock. "I don't have any family or a pack to go back to, I want to join your pack." He explains his reasoning. I think about it for a moment, I would have to get Gruff's opinion on this matter. I have no doubt that he'll say yes and tease me about making friends while he was sleeping. I sigh and nod my head, "Yes, you can join us-" I get cut off as I hear a loud roar talking to me. "Can we join too!?"
I felt my tail curl on instinct as I looked towards the voice. The Nightmare, some Terrors, the Gronckle, a Zippleback, the Speedstingers, and the Grim Gnashers all stand huddled in a group. I can feel my jaw drop as I stare at them all. "You all want to join....my pack...?" They all nod their heads, even what I assume was the alpha Speedstinger. I absolutely have to ask Gruff about this now. "I have to ask the other official member of my pack if you all want to join."
I say my opinion on the matter if they can join. Hell, more dragons means more protection. But that also means more responsibility over them and more food that needs to be collected. I wonder if I would be the alpha. The thought of being the leader of a group of different dragons excites me. Unfortunately, I lost Gruff's scent a long while ago when I started attacking the humans. So I have no idea how I could track him. Suddenly, like he had been summoned by the king of dragons himself, Gruff walks through the trees.
Gruff stands there with a shocked look on his face until he turns to me with a 'What did you do?' look on his face. It shocked me that he is even up at this hour, I then look up and realize that it's actually early morning. He probably woke up and wondered where I was. Thus, tracking me down to now. "Gruff! I need to talk to you! Now!" I leap forward and push Gruff back into the dense forest. When we get far enough, I stop pushing him and he looks at me with the most done face ever. "What did you do?" He immediately asked me, sounding more accusing then he probably meant to.
"So, the short story is, I attacked six hunter boats that had dragons in them and now some of the dragons want to be in a pack with us." I summarize the entire situation in a few words. Gruff's eyes widen and soften at my words. He nudges me and rubs his head against my body, chuffing a bit. "You could have gotten seriously hurt, but I'm happy you did the right thing." Gruff said. "So can they...?" I hiss in slight hope. "Is that even a question?" Gruff huff at him and lightly slaps his tail against my body.
I turn around to go tell them and I go back to tell them. When I reach the clearing, they are all spread out in different groups. Like they had no worry at all, they must all be exhausted. As soon as I step into the clearing, they all look towards me with hope in their eyes. "He said you can all stay." I say as I sit down. They all come running towards me, the Speedstingers getting to me first, and I get dragon piled by them all. I groan and they all begin gurgling, laughing at me. Gruff walks into the clearing and lays down on the pile too. I do need a rest, it's been an exhausting night for me.
"All in favour of sleeping?" I hiss lightly, almost yawning in the process. I hear multiple 'I's and I think I can hear the Zippleback already sleeping. I lay my head down and close my eyes for a well earned rest. The warmth of my new pack quickly taking me to sleep.
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2,577 words, a new record. If anyone was wondering if I post this story on anything else, I do, I posted this story on Quotev too. Also the picture at the top is what the Sliquifier looks like.