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How a dragon trains you

Part 20

…comes out in the light

(Fahren)

Late into the night, if not actually very early the next day, long before sunrise, I woke up. I cracked my eyes open and looked around. The air still was.. and all was quiet, but I felt.. off. I gently scooted the little human off of me and delicately stepped over him. I padded over to the door, wanting to go outside, but the confounded knob got in my way. I scratched and bit at it, eventually getting it right, but I had no concept of locks, so tried as I might, it didn't turn. I figured I was still just doing it wrong...

My big eyes were adjusted to the darkness by now, the pupils so wide, almost the entirety of my eyes were black. I moved to a window; it faced the back yard. I caught some motion far off past the back fence.. in the forest just through a few trees. I strained to see what it was, but it was so quick, it had already been gone. I scanned the surroundings.. but there's nothing there. I wasn’t scared, but rather.. hopeful. I scanned again and again.. as if looking for something specific. I held my breath and listened.. even though it was fruitless being stuck inside. My ears fell and I lay back down with a huff. I didn't feel alone anymore as I stared across the room at my two-legged mate... but I still kept asking.. why.. and where.. could all the other dragons have possibly gone? Did the rest of the two-legs kill them ALL? It's been YEARS!

Where did they go.. where did they go.. I miss looking up and seeing the shapes of dragons in the sky.. or hearing distant fireballs and roars. I had friends.. and past lovers.. out there.. even my hatchlings! I haven't seen ANY of them.. not a soul.. for many years. It didn't used to be like this.. did it? Am I crazy?

I looked up at the stars longingly. Most would’ve felt like it’s free space, it's all mine! Territory I claimed is mine forever, uncontested. But when you have it all.. and there's no one to share it with, not even friends..? Then.. what does it matter? It's just.. empty space.

My eyes glistened.. I whimpered.. I let my head bump into the window, lightly crushing my nose. It didn't bother me.

..where /is/ everybody..?

Sulking.. I padded back over to him.. staring at his little body.. which actually made me smile. I climbed back over and settled down back where I was against the counter. I grabbed him, scooted him back against my body, and lay a wing over him. Eventually.. slowly.. and with much difficulty.. I faded back off to sleep.

…

Somewhere.. faaaar away.. locked away behind thick cobblestone and rusted bars.. another set of glistening eyes, with the reflection of the stars in them, also looks up at the night dark night sky..

…

(Mervyn)

Even sleeping on a cold hard wooden floor could feel comfortable when my dragon was there, holding me.

As I opened my eyes the bright morning rays were already shining through the front windows onto the wooden floorboards, shelves and whatever uncleaned goods lay on them, slightly dimmed off as they weren’t necessarily clean. Time and again, the regret of last night’s insightful ideas had been hitting me in next morning lately, such as today. Did I really let my dragon into Levicus’ store? I wondered to myself. Man, if he knew… he held me for a madman already. Though… I was still too sleepy to care about getting Fahren out of here. He didn’t even wake up yet…

I laid my head back down, rested on an arm my dragon was holding me with.

Slowly, the town started to wake up too. More noise from outside was gradually mixing into the relaxing sounds of Fahren’s calm and heavy warm breathing over my head, which didn’t worry me. No one could see us anyway through all those shelves and especially not through those windows…

While I remained still, half-asleep, thoughts raced through my head, which were of hopes and worry. How long can I keep this up? Will my dragon seeing me in town become the norm now? It’s just a matter of time… someone would eventually spot us… Or someone with the sense of Benton but with no good intentions could come along anytime…

Can I even do both? Live here and keep my dragon around? I need to make... a decision sometime…-

Suddenly, Fahren’s head pointed up with eyes shooting open, and so did mine. Concerned, I looked over to him. Like a startled cat he was glancing around, ears perked.

“Is… everything alright?”

He didn’t answer.

“…Fahren?”

He moved a paw over my mouth and kept still… Until he moved his head closer, ears focusing onto the wall behind us. Then I could hear it too. Footsteps. Someone was coming down the stairs! Levicus most likely… hopefully. Whoever it is, they can’t see us down here!

I damn nearly jumped out of the arms of Fahren’s grip, making a run for the door, bursting into the small corridor with the stairs.

Levicus, in morning jacket and drink in hand which was probably coffee, seemed startled as the door in front of suddenly swung open seemingly at the speed of light, staring at me stand there looking a bit distressed. He was still too much into his morning-tiredness to notice anything off.

“Mervyn?” he asked with ever so little concern in his voice. “What are you doing up so early? Usually you don’t leave bed ‘til noon” he joked.

“Oh! I was just err… finishing something I didn’t quite get done with yesterday.”

Fahren must’ve bumped the door next to me with his snout as it moved suddenly, which I immediately pressed shut with a hand, smiling awkwardly.

“What have you been up to?”

“Uuuuh season preps?”

He frowned a bit. “Really? At this time of the year?”

“Y-you can never start soon enough!”

“I see” he chuckled. “Well let me put down my cup inside and while you’re here… we can do something that actually matters for the day.”

With a step he set off for the door to Fahren, but I stopped him. “Just- I’ll take that for you, but can you go outside and grab something? The uh… courier left something at the front.”

“At the front? Again? Good lord… ” he mumbled. “’Can remember the whole town’s names and addresses, but not a simple instruction such as tossing the stuff into my garden…” he ranted on his way outside, away from the room with my dragon in it. Once I saw the door shut, I sighed in relief…

When I proceeded back into the store, Fahren was standing by the front door near the roads, maw handling the doorknob attempting to get out.

“Fahren! Get away from there!” I loudly whispered over to him. I didn’t want Levi to hear anything. However, Fahren just stood there, looking with those big eyes.

“Through here! Come!”

Following my waving hand gesture, he did tread by, still being quiet doing so. I shoved ahead of him, giving the garden a check. No one was there… good.

I stepped ahead and so did Fahren, almost pushing me out of the way as he squeezed through the frame. Once he was finally in a space not as confined as the store, he stretched his limbs and wings, yawning too.

The gate to the garden opened, Levi coming back. Just in time…

He stopped, mildly concerned about that my dragon is in his garden again.

“Wasting no time today, huh?” he said mildly concerned.

“Uuuh he just… got here. From outside. Like he always does.”

“Well make him leave, he can’t stay here during the day!”

Reluctantly, I turned to my dragon. I never enjoyed doing this…

I didn’t even need to say anything, he knew the drill by now. Stay near the town, but not too close, until I get back in the evening. He always had been a good learner. As goodbye, I gave him a kiss, which may have turned out longer than it should’ve considering Levicus was all seeing this…

Once we let go, he took a look back around. Then it was a flap and a hop or two, and gone he was, over the wall and back into the forest.

“You two… still give me creeps” he mumbled. “Also, there was nothing at the front. You sure nobody stole anything?”

“Oh, then… he must’ve left without err putting anything down, I guess.”

“This smells like you’re leading me on again, but at this point I don’t want to know. There’s no beans left to be spilled anyway!” he joked. I forced myself to laugh too.

“Y’know, it’s good you’re here. You’re actually needed for once!”

He knocked me on my shoulder.

“I’ve ordered the carpenter to get some new shelves done for us. The old ones look like they’re falling apart any second, and… between you and me, I rather not have the earnings pile up too quickly before the trading association takes notice, so I’m increasing my spending… for the sake of you, me and your dragon friend, we’d like to avoid suspicion.”

“Sure! Just uh tell me what to handle. I’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, you’re just going to help me carry them, that’s all.”

“Wait, carry a bunch of wooden shelves all the way over here? Really?” I sighed out.

“Come on, if we cut through the market place it’s not that far! At this time there isn’t much going on yet, so the longer you want to stand here and argue, the more people we’ll have to shove out of the way. Now let’s go! If we’re quick we might even open on time.”

“Just.. borrow or rent a cart! ‘Increased spending’ and all that.”

“Consider it a workout, jelly-arms!”

…

…

“How many more… are there left?!” I panted out.

This had been the fourth time we went back and forth between the carpenter’s place and the store. It was taking longer than expected, mostly because of me and my sore not-so-well trained arms. Those things were heavy! It was day by now and we had missed our usual opening time by far. I wasn’t made for this type of work!

“Just… 2 or something. Well, larger ones. There are some smaller ones I ordered too.”

I groaned out.

“Don’t slack, you slacker.”

Clearly less exhausted than me, Levi opened exited the garden and strode onward, forced to slow down for me on multiple occasions.

A street and a turn there and we were crossing the market place again, which had gotten more crowded.

“You see that?” Levicus sighed. “We missed our window.”

“Soo… we continue tomorrow then?”

“What? No. We’ll take another route less crowded.”

“Why don’t we just rent a cart, like any sane person would-”

“YOU!”

Ripped out of our conversation, I suddenly felt a tight grip rip me away by my arm. Startled, I flipped around to see an equally as startled and strangely familiar woman glare at me. “You had some nerve to just disappear!”

For a moment I was too confused to make anything of this, and so did Levicus. But as I looked at her face again… I recognized who it was.

The lady from Moonlight Inn. It had been her who sent me looking after this George guy… Levi’s brother. I had told her how he died… until she found out the truth. I faked avenging him, pretending to have slayed the dragon who did it… which was my dragon. What is she doing here?!

“Mervyn!” Levicus mumbled cheekily. “I didn’t know you’ve around with the ladies.”

“Excuse you, Mister!” she hissed at Levicus, shoving him away a bit. Oh boy. She is quite upset…

“This is of no romance!”

“Uh, I… I think you might be confusing me with someone?” I tried to play it off.

“No, I know it’s you!”

She pulled a sleeve of my shirt down a way, exposing my shoulder with the blatant biting marks that may have been refreshed yesterday. “See!”

Levicus frowned suspiciously to my reddening face. Even he knew something was odd.

“You’re the slayer! The betrayer and avenger! The one that found… erm, what’s his name… I think George-”

“I-I- don’t know what you mean!!”

Embarrassed, I ripped away from her, finding Levi stare at me even more irritated. He stepped in.

“Look Missus, if you have business deal with it later, I have something to clear up with him first.”

Before even finishing his sentence, he dragged me off so harshly I almost stumbled from it. We disappeared from the light of public into some alley.

“Care to explain what that was about!?”

He stood up to me, threatening almost. Chin pointed forward, my back nearly against the cold wall. “You were there, weren’t you?! At the Inn that very same night?”

Denying it any further wouldn’t have made much sense.

“Look, I didn’t know that was him! I never met him before!”

“But you know what happened?! The lady said you found and avenged him. Just say. What killed him? And what did you kill?”

“It’s uh… not as simple as that. Look…”

I took a look to the side, checking if anyone would be around to hear it.

“That thing with my dragon was already in motion by then...-”

“Your… dragon was involved in this?” he raised his voice, disbelieving.

“Just, listen! They… believed my dragon killed him! So I… faked killing my dragon in return. So there’s no more blood…”

He stared in absolute disbelief at first, but showed some understanding, backing off a bit but still clearly irritated.

“So that… ‘story’ you gave me and Benton about fighting it off wasn’t true either, wasn’t it?”

“No, I… that’s a different thing. I need an explanation for the wounds. You hadn’t known about Fahren then…”

Levi paced from left to right nervously. The grief, the anger… about his dead brother came up again in this moment. All he wanted was clarity.

“You know…”

He stopped, a slightly trembly hand gestured towards me. “There is one thing I would like you to explain to me” he said, trying to stay calm but still clearly stressed out.

“Why did they think that… your dragon killed my brother?”

“…That’s uh… I mean, it was a misunderstanding, I-I guess” I stammered. Levicus didn’t buy any of it…

“I don’t… know exactly, someone must’ve seen him near the Inn. They caught Fahren sticking around nearby and just jumped to conclusions, Fahren did follow me there. As I said, none of them actually found George as far as I’m concerned. He might still be there if anything…”

“How did he die?!” he interrupted, shouting.

“I don’t know! I couldn’t tell what happened to him! I just… made something up about freezing and they didn’t believe it!”

The angered eyes ran over me, watching my face closely.

“So… you admit that your dragon was at the Inn? With you?”

“Mhm…”

“At the very same night that George died?”

I just nodded.

“And the people at the Inn just COINCEDENTALLY claimed your dragon killed George? And you claim, DESPITE having seen George’s dead body, to not know what killed him?” he asked, increasingly getting louder.

I nodded again, much more insecure.

“Are you shitting me? Do you know what I think?”

Not able to answer anything, I stayed silent. But my silence was enough as an answer…

“Fuck. You.”

He pressed his finger into my chest with each word, so hard I stumbled back.

“Levi… you got it all wrong, look-”

“LIAR!”

He jumped at me, shoving me to the ground before dashing off. For a second, I remained still, startled, exhausted. Quickly getting back to myself, I stood back up, hurrying after him but only caught a glimpse of Levi disappearing amidst some crowds towards the gate.

“Benton…” I mumbled his name to me. He knows what’s to do. He always does… I need to see him quick.

…

In the middle of the day, loud and fast banging suddenly erupted into the else comfortable and welcome silence of Benton’s fine home. Again, I heard him step down the stairs, though instead of his leisurely walk he was rushing this time. Oh, he knew something was off. Someone showing up at this unusual time banging bloody murder on the door, plus having the situation with my dragon fresh on his mind… he knew. Hell, he was probably expecting that something would go wrong rather sooner than later.

There was no slide that opened a hidden hole for him to peek through and check; He went straight ahead and quickly removed the locks, only taking a few seconds for un-sliding what must’ve been 6 chains keeping the door in place.

A rattle in the keyhole and it swung open. Benton didn’t seem fazed to see it was me, as if he already knew.

“Benton!” I exclaimed. “I-I need your help!”

He upkept his usual calmness, though I could see some concern on his face.

“Did they catch… him?” he investigated.

“What- NO!”

Away from the streets which could overhear this, I hurried inside, slamming the door shut behind me and cutting off the buzz of the many people outside.

“It’s- Levicus! He knows!”

He stepped back a bit, leaning on a table. “About what?”

“The thing with his George we spoke about… he.. just- think!”

“He knows or thinks he knows that your dragon was behind that?”

I sighed, and nodded, sitting down at the table in hopes it would calm me down... at least it kept me from pacing around.

“How?” he asked, touching his chin in thinking like he always does. “Is it substantial proof or mere conspiracy?”

“It’s- well, that Inn lady. She was there… sort of. She had sent me looking after George and after I… well, found out what happened to him, I made something up and she called my bluff!”

“Oh, that Moonlight lady? She wasn’t pleasant, wasn’t she? I’ve been shared a memory or two about her by your dragon…-”

“Benton, that’s… not the point. What just happened is… she bumped into me. On the street, and Levicus was there too! She went all out and called me ‘the slayer of Moonlight Inn’ and mentioned that I had found George and... and…”

“Relax. I think I get it…”

Benton huffed heavily, but didn’t seem overwhelmed by the situation. He stayed silent, however, pondering…

“He connected the dots, didn’t he?”

“Well, yeah… he pulled me off into some alley and basically interrogated me. I tried to stop him… I tried…”

“What’s he doing now?”

“…huh?”

“Levicus.” Benton leaned forward. “What is he doing now?”

“He ran. To the gate. I think he is heading there to see for himself. Don’t you have a horse I can take?”

“I do” he answered. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if Levi ‘borrowed’ it from me again, now that he’s travelling at such high priority.”

“What?!”

“I’m saying, he most likely ‘borrowed’ it from me.”

“No, just… is there nothing you can do? You always know what to do!”

My lips shivered.

“Look, I’m sorry, but the way I see it this is on you and you only. Get your dragon to catch up with him and clear the situation up before he does anything stupid!”

“M-my dragon? I don’t think he’d want to see him…”

“Well, then don’t. Get off and walk the rest. Finding a body with no other information except it being near the Inn is quite the searching task, I think you have enough time to use your legs for the last bit.”

“I uh.. I …”

I looked at the ground. “You sure about this?”

“Just, go!”

He grabbed me by my shoulders, forcing me out of the chair.

“Benton, I…”

“Do you want to explain everything to him while he is staring his dead brother in the face? Get out of here!”

He opened the door and pushed me outside.

Shoved out the door, I stood there for one second, taking a breath… then I dashed off. As fast as I could.

…

…

“FAHREN!!”

I sprinted through the forest, so fast I almost stumbled on multiple occasions. “Fahren!!!”

Being out of breath, I was barely able to shout his name. But he didn’t leave me hanging. Very soon, I heard rustling come from somewhere…

…

…

…

I paced off. A few steps in, I looked back to check whether he was still trailing me but Fahren had already gone into hiding. He was following still, probably. Just in his sneaky, near invisible way.

The two-story wooden giant in the middle of nowhere wasn’t too far away. I was almost by the fence around back, close enough to make out the exact spots of what happened here days ago. My first proper encounter with the dragon… and the last rather rough encounter my dragon had with the people in this place. Rocks and marks in the dirt still lay here… refreshing the memories, which I forcefully didn’t think about.

The place was closed. Not one being was here… except a singular horse which I spotted when going around front. Someone had hastily tied it to the outer fence, not even bothering to open the gate and proceed to the stables. Someone was in a hurry… that could only be one.

I picked up my pace. Levicus was here already, which wasn’t good. If I want any chance to stop him then I need to get to George before he does.

Stopping for a moment, I looked around. Where was it? Where did I find him?

The… hill. It stood out with a thick canopy amidst the flats with high grass. That was where he had gone… It could be where Levi had gone too…

I ran up the steep incline, stumbling almost.

It was darker here, as much as quiet. An aggressive wind shook the tree lines, the sound of the rustling leaves muting everything. I froze a couple of times when I believed to hear steps, which turned out to be nothing I could make something of. There… was a horrible feeling in my guts… Levi or George could be anywhere.

When we were transporting those shelves this morning, we wanted to go hunting afterwards, so he had his crossbow with him surely didn’t bother dropping it off… but so had I.

…

The sight shook my heart, again. After what must’ve been half an hour, I spotted legs sticking out between branches, leaves covering the rest. There he still lay just like he was left, untouched… well, not quite. The armor couldn’t hold all off the wildlife off of him unfortunately. But it seems no one from the inn did find him after all.

“The hell are you doing here?”

A familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind me. Flinching, I flipped around, finding Levicus stand a couple feet back, a sword in hand… George’s sword? Is this how he figured his body must be up here? There’s no way, I can’t let him see this!

“I was looking for you” I replied, trying to appear normal.

“Oh.” Levicus faked a confused look; as if he called my bluff, but wanted me to dig this hole deeper. “Why’s that?” he asked exaggeratedly investigative.

“I-I was trying to save you a trip!” I struggled to find my words.

“Oh, I’m flattered!” he sarcastically exclaimed.

I stayed silent. He held a heavy grudge against me.

“But you’ve done your share of favors, Merv. And so did your dragon…”

He cut off mid-sentence as he spotted something which took away his focus. Leaning aside, he looked past me, checking what’s in the pile of leaves behind me.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Oh, that I.. I-”

As he circled around to see, I stepped along with his view, trying to keep the body concealed.

“Step aside” he said with a serious tone.

I stayed put. I knew it was dumb, yet I refused to let this happen.

He suddenly dropped his angry attitude for a second, faking a friendly posture. “Please?”

I didn’t do anything still. No moves, no words.

“Or have you got something to hide, huh? You know, this is an awfully specific spot to be bumping into somebody, isn’t it? STEP ASIDE.”

He shoved me out of the way, making me stumble back a good distance. Directly, Levi stood in front of the body, partially concealed beneath the leaves.

With a look of disbelief, he turned to me.

“You know him?” he dryly asked. “Or more importantly, do I know him?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t we check?” he said in a smug tone.

I couldn’t help but defenselessly stand there while he moved the tip of the sword down, pushing off the covering branches. The tree next to which George lay was in the way, so I was spared from the sight of his gross remains. But from the look on Levi’s face… I could tell what he saw…

“Ohhh…”

He dropped down to one knee, taking closer look. He even took his hand, or tried to, as it was missing.

Fueled with rage he got back up, threateningly approaching.

“Y-Y’know…” he stuttered, pointing with the sword as if it was his finger. “It wouldn’t be so bad looking a dead man in the face… if he still HAD A FACE I COULD LOOK AT!” he yelled, swinging the sword at me out of the blue. Caught off guard, it did graze my arm but I was able to dodge the worst of it.

“LEVI” I shouted. “What are you doing!?”

He swung again, and I was forced to back off.

“I-I- You don’t understand! I did what I had to do! I couldn’t have more blood spilled over this!” I exclaimed, trying to calm him down, backing off with every step he took towards me.

“So what if your dragon had killed me, huh!? Would I lay beneath a pile of leaves, with you telling BULLSHIT to my wife!?”

He swung again.

“I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE” I shouted back, panting. “There is no way in HELL I would’ve EVER sold him out!”

Lunging forward, he kicked me, making me fall back into a tree. With my back pinned, he swung again directly from up top, but I was able to dug away far enough -his sword got stuck in the tree trunk.

Now’s my chance. I took the grip of the sword, digging my fingers beneath his planted my foot in his belly, kicking him off of me.

He lost grip, falling to his back. My hands trembling like hell, I frantically ripped the sword out and held it in front of me. Levicus got back to his feet, not impressed or intimidated.

“There was NOTHING I could do to stop this!!” I shouted out. “George went out ON HIS OWN. I TRIED. TO STOP HIM.”

My words went right past him, no matter how much I shouted. As I was faced with the face of a man so angry he felt like he had nothing to lose.

“All I ever wanted was clarity, Mervyn…”

He wiped sweat off his face. “You wouldn’t give it to me. You led me on. I don’t believe a word you say.”

Picking up a heavy branch from the ground, he swung at me again. It was irrational to assault someone with a branch when they had a sword, but he was too mad to care. The wood hit my blade and the branch splintered into large chunks. He took individual pieces and tried again, as I half-heartedly swung at him to force him to back off.

Suddenly, he smiled. A vile, treacherous smirk, and started to back off a couple steps. Dreading what was about to come, I clenched the sword in my hands, ready to fend off whatever’s next.

“How did I forget I brought this!” he laughed almost menacingly. Then he reached behind his back and pulled the loaded crossbow from his holster, pointing it at me one-handed.

“Shit…”

I froze in my tracks. I had mine too, but now being at weapons-point, it’d be a silly move to try to pull it.

However, he didn’t shoot. He just stood there, pointing, arm swaying and fingers trembling.

“You shouldn’t bring a sword to a crossbow fight” he mumbled, his voice choking from adrenaline. “You are a traitorous LIAR” he yelled, pausing with his lips shivering. “Give me a reason-”

“Levicus, you’re going to do no such thing.”

A familiar voice sounded from behind him, and out the bushes he stepped, sword tip at Levi’s back. He didn’t risk turning around, facing away from me and giving me a window to pull his crossbow.

“BENTON” Levi shouted in rage. “I should’ve known you two are in the… cahoots together!” he hectically stammered.

For a couple seconds, no more words fell. No shouting, no arguing. There was silence as everybody held back from making a move. Like a Mexican standoff. The only thing there was, was heavy stressful breathing all around. Rage on Levi’s face while there’s a desperate look on mine, as we eyed each other.

“Where is he?” Levi disrupted the silence, nearly inaudible.

“What?”

“Your dragon!!”

The yelling continued. “Where. Is. He?!”

I said nothing. I wanted to reply…

“O-oh I see how it is!” he mumbled, gesticulating with a hand. “I know that silence. He’s right here, isn’t he? You brought it along, didn’t you? What’s your plan? No witnesses?”

“Cut it, Levicus” Benton growled behind him. He knew… if Levi stop this act on time… it’ll lead to bad things.

But it was too late. He was already on his way. Leaves trembled ever so slightly on the trees above from the thunderous sprint.

….

…

_Anxiety rose in my chest as he drew closer to the dead two-leg. The one I killed. I was still mixed about the situation, I didn't do it because I wanted to! But then, when the weapon lifted, so did my ears. Reflexively, my dark second eyelids swept back, concealing my eyes as they squinted. My lips pulled back, my shoulders hunched down, my rear lifted slightly. Every loud bark between you made a deep growl rise louder in my throat. Seconds turned into minutes. My paw stepped slowly over and through the bush, emerging from behind, though still unseen by either of the two-legs.

I started to pad forward, then started trotting fast, keeping low. My friend, my mate, is in danger, DANGER!_

….

“You want to take the risk?” I tried to persuade. Maybe that’ll make him back down. “I can’t promise I can keep in control of him if you don’t stop.”

“You vile son of a…”

He stopped mid-sentence as the huffing and thumping echoing through the forest became audible. Quickly, it became louder and heavier and before any of us three could react, there my dragon leapt out of the bushes beside us and stomped right between me and Levicus, which obstructed my view. A roar that could’ve been heard from a mile away sounded from his maw beneath the narrow-slitted eyes.

Taking the opportunity, I finally get to put my hand onto my own crossbow, dashing around my dragon.

Meanwhile Fahren spread his wings, making his already threatening size larger and scarier. He even stood up on his hind paws, towering tall above me. Forepaws balled to fists, he stared Levicus down with narrow eyes. Levi tried to back up, but his back poked into Benton’s sword. Though Benton was merciful enough to at least allow him a couple steps away from the beast.

As I stepped in front of him, Fahren angrily snapped his teeth at me. He wanted to protect me, I’d just put myself in danger here. But, even as heated as this shit show has gotten, desired a peaceful solution. Levi would be insane to not back down now! With a sword pointed at him from behind, a crossbow from the front and a living breathing dragon in all its size to back it up… he surely would be smart enough.

“Levicus” I tried to talk to him. But in a moment like this, my thoughts were gibberish. “Just- Levi, listen, listen”

I took one hand off the crossbow and held it out flat, signaling him to calm down.

“LeVi lIstEn” he provokingly imitated my words, not taking this seriously. Not intimidated. He stood there, tensed. Crossbow still in hand, but thankfully not pointed at anyone.

“What am I supposed to listen to now, huh? Another excuse? Or is this the part where you tell me this game was rigged from the start?”

“ENOUGH” I yell, Fahren snarling and showing his teeth to back me up, still standing high on his hindpaws. “There is NO POINT in doing this! It’s not going to bring him back!”

“Listen to him, Levicus. This is only causing problems for us all” Benton calmly spoke to him from behind him.

“Oh, would you shut your mouth” Levi mumbled to Benton behind him, trying to upkeep his unimpressed posture, though the sweat running down his forehead gave it away.

“Just stop!” I cried out. My hands got tremblier each second I had to point this crossbow at one of my only friends in my life.

“Alright. Alright” he said surprisingly loose. Though, something about it seemed off. Almost as if faked.

Slowly, he lowered his crossbow, hunching over. He stopped when it was just above the ground, hesitating.

As it got there, Benton lowered his sword… which he shouldn’t have done.

Fiercely, Levicus swung the crossbow around from behind him, striking his head with the butt.

I wanted to shoot. For a moment, I really wanted. It was in my reflexes. But I couldn’t. I didn’t have the strength. Instead, my trembling forearm weirdly tensed and I winced.

Levi had turned back to us, crossbow ready. But… he was too slow.

The second Benton went down, Fahren sprung forward, and Levi only had as much of a brief glimpse of the dragon until he was already pushed down, paw planted on his head.

(Fahren)

The INSTANT his eyes flicked away from me, my legs sprung forward and my wings flapped backwards, thrusting me right at him, closing the dragon's length of distance in between in the blink of an eye. I go from standing to all fours, taking one gallop, and extending my right paw out in front of me, slamming his head into the dirt so hard his body rotates about his center of mass, feet kicked clean off the ground. His head landed first… Then the rest of his body. It was a calculated blow. I didn't put my full weight into it, but it may have been a little more violent than I was anticipating. Regardless, I had him down and I stayed on him, growling.

He limply swatted at my arm, so dazed it was all reflexive and uncoordinated. The other two-leg came up and swatted at my head, yelling at me. He wrapped his digits around my chin and tried to lift me off, but I was laser focused on the one beneath my paw. He was enraged, and it fed into my mind. My heart raced. My paw gripped down harder. My claws dug into the sides of his head. My senses dulled. I could no longer hear the man shouting at me and ripping on me. Not even the stinging in my left breast could make it through. My blood crawling down the length of the wooden bolt was akin to my focus on my mate’s would-be killer drawing ever toward his form. I started to lose myself... I planted more weight on his head. Nobody... NOBODY THREATENS MY MATE!

...-

“FAHREN” I yelled out, worried. “NO, STOP IT.”

…

But… his voice… my mate’s shout cut through the veil like the cleanest, sharpest blade. It came through in perfect clarity. Screaming my name, saying no! It jerked my whole body. I blinked as I remembered the human beneath me was family. I remembered the moment he and I shared, I remembered his pain, and I remembered my guilt. I knew he wasn't a bad person. And I'm not either... I... am not…

I felt my focus grow stronger, I felt my mate, his mind. We were unified once more... and I would use it. I took my paw off his face and then placed both paws on both of his temples.

My maw opened, my hot breath billowed out, and from my lips... from my growly throat.. came perfect words.

“I.. am NOT BAD!!!!!”

My mind exploded out from me! It embedded itself into the minds of every creature in the vicinity. The reality of what happened, the whole memory played through the minds of everyone around me. My pupils shut so completely, they all but disappeared. My vision went black. I almost lifted out of my body. Everyone standing fell to their knees, then down onto their hands as they lost all their senses, too...

The night was dark, I wanted to see my new mate… I followed him. My head jerked to the side… But then HE came from the bushes swinging that.. claw! I told him he was not alone, but he ran at me, I blasted him back, he lost his claw but returned and hit me hard. I-.. protected myself.. I-..

(Mervyn)

I let my crossbow drop to the ground and ran forward, hoping to separate them. But… as I ran… my legs gave. My eyes were fogged, as if what I saw was blended with the view of another. What is going on!?

Images played in my head, concealing my actual view and taking over my senses. I saw the same place we were at. But there was no one around. No one except my dragon. It was dark, it was quiet. But there was unrest, I could feel that.

My dragon suddenly froze as he heard someone shouting. It was inaudible, but it sounded angry. Hostile. Threatening.

He was scared. And as a shiny blade cut away a bush in front of him, he feared for his life. He couldn’t control himself anymore, his instincts took over.

Out of the bush stepped a man and he charged at my dragon. As they clashed, my view became too blurred to see anything. All I heard was the same voice that yelled before now in pain…

…

I came back to my senses… I was on the ground. From us three, I was the first one. Benton lay knocked out on the ground and Levi was… motionless. He didn’t resist the dragon on top of him. He must see what I saw. Fahren had done this before…

I approached them from behind, not picking the crossbow back up. It had no use anyway.

All I needed to do was gently tap my dragon on his front to signal him to let him go. He remained in his trance a bit longer until he backed off with no more resistance. Levicus woke up as if he was in some kind of slumber, except his eyes had been open the whole time.

He blinked a couple of times and as he saw my dragon in front of him, he scrambled to his feet and ran off. Fahren was about to jump after him just out force of hunting habits, but he stayed as he saw I had no intent of coming after him.

Benton groaned in pain, slowly coming back to his senses, holding his head. I helped him up by his other arm. He tumbled a bit as he stood, but he seemed to manage.

“He got me good” he sarcastically mumbled, before looking around and seeing Levi disappeared. “Don’t tell me he’s inside your dragon’s stomach right now…”

“He ran off” I corrected. “Fahren… calmed him down. I think. Honestly, I don’t know what happened…”

“You saw it too, right? The man with the sword?”

I nodded, but turned away. It was not pleasant to have seen that…

Benton made an acknowledging noise, looking off into the distance, pondering.

“You stay here” he advised. “I’ll talk to him. Our friend may be able to forgive and forget, but I don’t think he wants to see you and your dragon for the rest of the day.”

Still holding his head, he paced off to where he came from. “Besides” he mumbled behind him. “I have a bone to pick with him for that punch” he joked.

…

I remained still as we were by ourselves again. I turned to my dragon… even though he didn’t have the same face as a human, I could see the exhaustion on him. Stepping towards him, I let myself drop into his arms as he embraced me… buried my face in them… and wept, letting out all the distress this had put me through. I almost shot my friend today… and he almost shot my dragon… I could never lose either of them…