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"H'A'BER!! H'A'BERRRR!!!" Oake's wild bleat erupted out while he scrambled up along the white-gold haunches of the dragoness that was sprawled out in the sun. He mangled her name gleefully while trying to get between her wings.

"Ouch! I don't have scales, Oake!" Amber swung her head up and winced as the hooves dug in against her sides. "Silly creature."

"No, H'A'ber! H'up!" The little tail wagged rapidly as he clambered higher up and Alaine lifted his head with an indulgent snort of amusement as he watched them.

Oake was rapidly growing under a steady diet of milk and even had started to try his jaws on fruit and vegetables that were offered to him. In the past two weeks he had put on several more pounds, or so he'd been told, the little one still looked tiny compared to the dragons he walked among. His initial fear of the massive creatures had slowly begun to fade, he had stopped scampering back into the lair when one appeared in the sky and begun to show the childish joy that had marked his first days. Alaine was still protective, still fanatical about looming over the nursemaid whenever she came, but no one had made a move to separate them. They didn't even seem to pay attention to them, save for the young drakes that often stopped by and would watch Alaine closely with a slight sheen of worship in their eyes. He wouldn't allow them to approach either himself, Amber or Oake, but they hadn't pushed either.

Amber, glorious Amber, the lovely dragoness that had given him all that she was in the midst of her glorious heat and desire. The first time had been frightening, glorious, exciting and left him trembling at the end, in awe of what she had wanted to give him, a flightless dragon. The start of her heat had been slow, her body flaring ripe as she entered her season. She had introduced him to a world of adulthood he had never hoped to have for himself, and as she reached the height of her heat he found himself anticipating the future. Her obvious growing affection for Oake and the way she encouraged his play and fascination with her scaleless hide, only made his regard for her grow. He felt almost entirely content watching as the little one finally managed to get himself between her wings and her head turned back to nose his plump belly.

"He likes you." Alaine rumbled and leaned forward to touch her nose as well, the scent of her filling his senses with a muted quiver of desire.

"I would like him better if we could pad those hooves." Amber murmured and licked the bridge of his nose lightly.

"H'A'ber ride?" Oake belated out, his words slurred as he tried to pronounce them right.

"Amber, not H'A'ber, Ammmmmmmmmmber." The dragoness drawled out in correction while Alaine reached over to carefully pick the fawn up in his jaws. "And no ride, it's getting late and the sun is already done and gone, you know!"

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmber!" Oake bleated out, writhing in Alaine's grip as he removed the little one from his dragoness. "No! No 'Laine!"

"You need to sleep." Alaine curled his tail slowly around the curve of the white-gold haunches, savoring the way her color had lightened with her estrus and the increased heat that radiated from her velvety hide. "It is nearly dark."

"No!" Oake tried to dart back towards Amber, but Alaine moved his muzzle to cut him off before he could resume his play. "Bad 'Laine."

"Sleep, little one, you'll have plenty of time tomorrow to play." Alaine heaved himself up onto all fours and picked up the fawn again, rumbling softly as he felt the wriggling form kicking in protest. One of the hooves kicked hard back against his chin, but Alaine simply carried him into his lair and towards the back where the furs had been piled up in a soft welcoming bed.

"I've never seen anything grow so quickly." Amber crowded in next to him as he dropped the little one on his bed. "The elves take forever to learn to talk and walk."

"That is because he isn't an elf, he is something better." He responded smugly and watched as Oake tried to wriggle towards the back of his bed. Alaine pushed some of the furs over the protesting fawn firmly. "He will grow to be strong and brave and free, just as his mother was."

"Son'?" Oake wriggled his head free from the plush soft furs and wrinkled up his small furred snout. "Son' firsh?"

"I will sing you a song, little one." Amber murmured while Alaine shifted his body back against the wall so that the warmth of his dragoness could press firmly against his side and chest.

His lair wasn't a large one, not compared to what the hatching caves were, but it made it all the more comfortable to feel the dragoness pressed against him and their bodies blocking out the unknown world beyond the cave. It was filled with the scent of dragons and Oake, familiar scents that comforted the drake. His little one would be safe here, there was no one that could get in while he and Amber guarded the way. He curled himself up a bit more tightly while his lovely dragoness began to rumble low in her throat, crooning out an ancient song that he half remembered to lull the fawn to sleep and dreams.

Cast wide your wings, dancer, cast them wide and far

Tomorrow is uncertain, yesterday another grain of time

The stars await you, those glittering diamonds, to greet you

Hear their melody, their music and promise

Your wings were meant to meet them, little dancer..

Alaine lidded his eyes and lowered his head, his muzzle just touched the heaped up furs as Amber sang her lullaby. The little satyr blinked his animalistic eyes up at the dragoness, each blink growing longer as he listened to the musical crooning. He found his world, in the space of a cave and in the melody of a song.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"Alaine..." Amber's voice was soft, a purring sound in his ear interrupting half formed dreams and making him stir slowly.

"Hrrm?" The drake lifted his head a bit to feel warmth against his haunches before it shifted away, it took him a moment to clear the sleep from his foggy head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Amber's voice held laughter and he heard her moving towards the opening of the lair. "Only that Oake is fast asleep and dreaming, and the night is lovely outside."

That, more than anything else, brought Alaine to full wakefulness. He turned his head almost fast enough that he cracked himself on a wing joint to see the dragoness' strange smile before she disappeared into the silvery night. He glanced back down towards the heaped up furs and the exhausted fawn before pushing himself up onto all fours and turning himself around in the cave. Amber's scent was on the air, a rich arousing scent that made his chest swell out with each and every breath he drew in. His tail flicked back and forth, his eyes locked on the curling white tail tip that was flicking back and forth just in front of her. It didn't matter that they had been having trysts nearly every night, and he hadn't known a real good night's sleep in well over a week, he still felt a rush of nervous eagerness.

"Catch me, drake..." Amber stood beneath the moonlight, her wings flared open while her eyes flashed with golden challenge. Fire beneath the silver moon waiting for him while his breath caught in his throat.

"Oake.." The drake stopped and twisted his head back to look at the lair, shifting as he was torn between the lithe dragoness that posed for him and took a step away.

"Dusk stands guard." Amber gestured with her muzzle and Alaine glanced upwards to see a drake sprawled out on an outcropping above his lair. Alaine let out a low growl and took a step back, placing his body towards the front of the cave at the sight of the strange drake.

"We will not go far, Alaine... He will be safe." Amber murmured softly, pausing a few feet from him with her chin nearly touching the slender curve of her chest. "Anywhere within the bounds of the walls you would hear him if he called for you."

Alaine hesitated still, his wings flaring open and closing before opening again. He had always slept within the cave or they had mated just outside of it, but tonight he watched as Amber's silver-gold body curved away from him with an agile coiling of her tail. He cast one last glance up to the drake that reclined above his lair, the moonlight washing out his purple colors as he seemed to ignore his mother's behavior. The sight of the drake made him bristle and step forward towards the dragoness, it didn't matter that they were related, any male was a threat to his claim on his female.

"If any harm comes to him..." The drake growled threateningly, but a sweet soft challenging croon made him trail off as he turned his head about and Amber leapt away from him, taunting him with her trilling voice.

She launched herself forward with a graceful flick of her tail and he could no more stay behind than he could stop breathing. Always before they had come together just outside the cave or even within it, foreplay and mingled touches, but it had always seemed off. He was nervous and unsure of himself, his instincts screamed to him that he should drive her into the air when they were forced to remain earthbound together. Tonight she fled from him with her scales glittering in mimicry of flying away from him, his heart began to pound fast as a flush of fiery heat that electrified. Amber bugled out back at him, a tenor voice that challenged him to catch her, challenged him to prove himself to her as worthy of what her fertile body promised.

His claws dug into the ground and he lowered his belly down to almost touch the ground, roaring back his answer with his jaws spreading open wide. He didn't just make her flee him, he drove her on, using the fact that his legs were muscled from swimming and walking to force her to go where he wanted her to go. He snapped at her haunches and flared his wings open, forcing her to one side so she scrambled down to the path to the lake. Her muscles rippled beneath the velvety smooth hide as she moved, the sensuous roll of her hips and flicks of her tail made him near wild as he herded her forward. His flaring wings and snapping jaws forcing her away from the paths that led towards the outer walls, he didn't want her on solid ground.

His claws dug furrows down into the ground as he snapped right at the base of her glittering tail, catching the fertile scent of her before she made a quick turn to evade him. Her shrill mocking voice egged him on while he was forced to flare a wing out to catch her. The pain ran through him, but he was able to force it away, all for the sake of the dragoness that mocked his efforts. Her wings flattened to her sides as he lunged forward again, digging his hind legs onto the ground and launched forward. His wings flared open instinctively, spreading wide as he tried to force her to turn towards the expanse of the lake. He pumped them down, pain flared down his spine as he beat them wildly and bugled out his triumph as she twisted away to send a silvery wave of water spraying around him.

His wings trembled, burning with pain, and for a moment the bones snapped together and the membrane cupped the air beneath it, carrying him above the ground for nearly a dozen feet before his forepaws hit the water. His screech of pain was mingled with triumph as the dragoness continued to flee before him, but she was in the water. She couldn't escape him in his element, there was no way she could swim fast enough to make it back to solid ground or climb into the air. For the first time, the prospect of mating her wasn't mingled with the feeling of something be wrong, being off for being on the ground in a slow steady pace.

His great heart pumped the blood through his body in a feverish wave, the warmth rushing through him the way it was supposed to. A mating flight wasn't simply a pointless ritual, it was designed to make the blood run hot and fast, to make the heart pound and arouse the body to fever pitch. A female's temperature already ran hot during her estrus, but when driven into the air the warmth reached a pinnacle that would trigger her body into releasing her eggs. Just as his own exertions would ensure that when he released it would be viable, not simply recreational. He gloried in the sight of her jaws spread open, her breathing coming out in pants as she plunged all the way into the water, sinking towards her shoulders as she swam.

He pumped his wings again, hitting down against the water with just enough force he lunged forward and spread his forelegs out towards his mate. He felt her water slick hide brushing against his paws before she tried to flee him with a snarl, her lips wrinkled back in a vicious expression. He was beyond his nervous doubts now, beyond fear his rough scaled body would hurt her, he lunged forward again and brought his wings forward to snare around her own. He felt her writhing and twisting, roaring out in protest as he dragged her backwards with a triumphant roar. The waters splashed around them as she attempted to evade him, writhing and twisting, rolling so he could feel the feverish heat of her body pressing against him.

He twined with Amber, his tail twisted with her own while he rolled beneath the water gracefully, his wings flared beneath the water to control them. It was a parody of the skies above as he rolled them through the water, sending up waves between their bodies as he worked his neck around her silken one and forced her to twist beneath the waves so that her chest was pushed against his own. Facing one another with his forepaws wrapped against her own, holding them tightly to secure her. Her wings tangled with his aching ones in her struggle to get free of him, her hind legs pushed along him, but he kept her joined close to him. He could feel his vent starting to spread open, the very tip of his member pushed out into the open as he spread his jaws to clamp down tightly around her throat. Her body twisted and arched against him, but Amber was well and truly caught. She was HIS and his alone.

The tip of his shaft rolled upwards, gliding and probing against her silken hide beneath the water as he kept his wings flared open wide so that they remained afloat in the water. Her struggles became more frantic, but he savored them, instinct had overcome his nervous and hesitant behavior in their lovemaking. He rolled his hips up and tightened his tail so that the drooling tip of his shaft suddenly caught against the incredible heat of her vulnerable folds. He rolled beneath the water, dragging the dragoness down while plunging forward into her silken passage. He trembled as he felt the walls spreading open around his conical tip, the dragoness going limp within his grasp as she gave into the inevitable. He had proven himself worthy as a drake, he had proven himself worthy of her.

Her tail clutched against his own as they surfaced with a beat of his wings and he heard her high pitched wild cry while she was claimed. She was so incredibly hot, the ridges that plunged into her body one by one, her heat spreading around him and clamping down tightly while her hind legs hooked right above his own. Her wings worked with his own, not as confident beneath the water, but able to keep them from going under when he gave a sudden buck forwards and clamped his jaws harder against her neck. He had been careful the times before, too frightened to hurt her to give into the animalistic urges that came with mating, but now his teeth dug down tight and hard against the velvety hide. The spill of his precum ran from his tip and plunged into her body as another thrust seated his entire girth inside of her.

The inner walls contracted tightly, clutching in time with the way her body her body arched and writhed in his grip. The scent of her filled his nose before he plunged them back beneath the water and started to work his hips in short hard movements. The ridges pulled backwards before plunging forward again, tugging along the spot just within her passage designed to be stimulated so that Amber pushed back against them. Their toes flexed against one another while he drove her deeper beneath the water with his pumping wings, using them to control his hard rapid thrusts. The very tip of his glans drove forward, pressing his vent along her own in an intimate kiss until he felt the soft barrier to her egg chamber. The rippling squeeze pulled him in deeper as he dimly felt jaws gripping his own neck.

Amber's teeth gripped his scales, digging in hard enough to dent them, her cries stilled by the water around them as their bodies worked together. Each squeeze of her silken tail pulled her closer, the tip oozed out a continuous spill of precum that was pushed ever deeper into her passage. This was what mating was supposed to be like, not a timid affair on the ground, but weightless and free, frantic and impassioned. His wings started to beat harder, aching and burning as he instinctively tried to climb higher as if he were in the sky. His thrusts shortened, pulling and tugging backwards barely an inch before plunging into her body, the tip caressing against the opening to her vulnerable egg chamber.

They surfaced from beneath the lake as Alaine gave himself over with a screaming roar of pleasure and triumph, his haunches slamming forward with a final jerk. A hot pressured rush of his seed spilled out of his tip to hit against the barrier to her womb, hitting hard and fast in a design meant to push inwards towards the released ova. Her body trembled against him as he spread his wings open wide, ensnaring her own while they clung to one another. Her body contracted so tightly around him as her cries were muffled against the curve of his neck. He could feel her shaking as he kept them both float with wings and shifting their twined tails, savoring his triumph as the tip of his ridged shaft oozed out a thick heavy gel. It spilled out to smear right along the opening to her egg chamber, forming a cap to ensure his seed wouldn't escape.

As the entwined pair floated within the lake Alaine felt his heart start to slow, his body ache, his wings burn with pain from his attempt to use them. He still spread them out so he could float on his back with Amber stretched out along his stomach, still sheathed within her. Her warm breath teased his neck as he licked the wounds he'd made on her neck, but he didn't feel shame. He had marked her, she was his. His mate, his dragoness. His alone. The thoughts lingered in his mind, as deep within her stomach their mating took root as it should have from the beginning.

~ ~ * ~ ~

The high pitched squeals of the fledglings made Thronnos wince and set his wings back as a clutch of five went tumbling off a small outcropping of rocks, their wings beat wildly in an attempt to gain air. The newest group were finally starting to grow into their wings, they were no longer long bodies and spindly wings with short sails that couldn't even hold a gnat in the air. The membrane was finally spreading out and growing longer as it spilled down either side of their bodies and followed all the way to the base of their tails. They were instinctively trying their wings, beating wildly as they fell, but rarely managed to get any lift. Their muscles weren't strong enough yet, but soon they'd get their muscles built up enough for controlled glides.

He kept one of his eyes on them while he stretched his body out beneath the sun, his wings spread open wide to either side so that he could soak up the sun. He had been aloft too much recently and the cold was sinking into his bones, making it harder for him to keep warm. It would have been better if he were eating fresh meat, but he didn't have the time or luxury as the war was starting to hound their very doorstep. The Slokaken were ready to take the Spit, they were becoming adept at shooting down messengers that made for the Empire to try and retrieve focus gems. They had lost four drakes in the past month, four drakes that wouldn't be replaced for several decades. They could take down the ships that formed the barricade, but they were being replaced too swiftly and not just by naval boats. They were being replaced with raided vessels from every part of life, from merchants to fishing boats.

"How long can we last?" The drake rumbled towards Minos as the elf repaired some of the chainmail of his armor. He had taken several hits in their last flights, and it would be a few days before his gear was repaired well enough that he could brave battle.

"We have secondary gems, but they'll be used up too quickly. We need to have a better supply." Minos answered and ran his finger along one of the bent metal rings, forcing it to glow as it straightened.

"We could send out the Ninth Wing, in force they would make it past the barricade." Thronnos lifted his head and watched another youngster scrambling higher up the cliff, his wings beating the air even as he scaled it. "We could send them without riders so they could go higher."

"That's how we lost a good part of the Third, they're charging the spears beyond normal reach. The moment they're let loose they're enchanted to hit their mark. The best we can do is try to shield better, but we don't have enjoy magic left." Minos dismissed the idea and shook out the chainmail to move onto another section. "We're down to using quartz and lower stones just to get by. We need a fresh supply if we're going to even have a chance of holding the Spit."

"How is their naval strength?" The drake that had clambered higher began to beat his wings wildly, flashing the silver undersides of his wings while he clung to the rock. "How long can we hold out here before they try to push?"

"They're eating away at us, the Commander has said as much in the last meeting. They're forming a barricade that is forcing us to remain here." Minos glanced up at the sound of a high pitched squeal, the fledgling launched himself into the air, beating frantically to get lift. "Aerial strength is counting for less as their magic is surpassing us every day, eventually they'll have enough to force us back. Last intelligence has them trying levitation spells on some of the lighter vessels."

Thronnos sighed, but couldn't stop the rise in his heart as he saw the silver and white drake beating higher up into the air. His siblings were screeching out their own encouragement as he clawed at the air, trying everything to stay aloft. They had forty drakes ready to fledge, but they weren't attached yet, and Riders would take at least twenty years to mature. They had lost half that number in the past few months. They should have been superior, they should have conquered the Slokaken by now. They commanded the air and they should have been untouchable, but the enemy was fighting back and their own magic was faltering. They needed to get past the barricade and bring back the gems needed for the elves to actually perform the greater magics.

Minos couldn't do more than repair metal armor, levitate small objects and create lights on his own. No elf could, but they had learned that certain stones could be enchanted or even used as focus'. Most elves had familial gems that they and their ancestors stored magic in, they were powerful relics that could be used to do the greater magics. They were rarely used, instead they used certain gems such as diamons, emeralds, beryl, opals and the like to focus their magic and amplify it. Thronnos had seen some of them at work, the walls of the breeding grounds had been formed using them, they could create cliffs, barricades, change the weather, bring down lightning and call up fire. Those gems were running out and even the ancestral heirlooms were being drained in their battles.

"It is time that Alaine repays us for the shelter and food he has taken from us." Thronnos watched the little drake flying unsteadily in front of him. "I will speak with him tomorrow and ask about our Isle. We need to take it, it is our best and only hope."

"I know." Minos stopped working and frowned at him. "If I recall, he threatened you the last time you spoke."

"He has his Rider, we can work with him. Satyrs age quickly if I recall, the fawn is already being tended by a nursemaid, but he could be enrolled with the other young riders soon enough." Thronnos looked back down at his Rider. "I think I can persuade him, he has been calmer as of late. The dragoness, Amber, came into season and they have been courting each other, he will be more amenable to my suggestions."

"Be careful, my heart." Minos reached out and touched his foreleg lightly. "He is flightless, but he has already killed one dragon and he was not happy when he suspected your involvement."

"Always..." Thronnos dropped his nose and touched Minos' thigh lightly. "His suspicions will leave soon enough, we will make him a home here. And a drake must defend his home."

~ ~ * ~ ~

Alaine hurt. Every part of his back, sides and wings ached and throbbed despite the heat of the sun that was soaking into them. It would have hurt less if he had folded his wings back to his sides, but he kept one extended out and draped over Amber as she nestled against his side with her tail draped limply over his own. It was worth the pain to feel her warmth cupped in close to his side, to feel the steady rise and fall of her breathing that was nearly in time with his own. He would have loved to drape his head over her neck and sleep for the rest of the day, but sleep was a luxury that was denied to him by a small creature that was perched on his foreleg and peering up at both of them with a frustrated expression on his caprine face.

"Try it, Oake.." The drake dipped his nose to nudge at the bundle of clothe that the nursemaid had brought. "Put it on."

"No." The satyrs ears flattened to his head and refused to pick up the garments.

"Oake, it is civilized to wear clothing." Alaine tried again and felt Amber's rumble of laughter as he started back from the beginning. "It will keep you from scraping yourself and keep you warm now that it is growing cooler."

"No! H'itches." Oake refused again and shook his head back and forth. It was an argument that had gone on a good portion of the morning and Alaine had the feeling that he was going to lose no matter what he tried.

"I will give you a ride if you put them on." Alaine wheedled and inwardly winced at the idea of standing up at this point.

Amber and he had spent the last four nights cavorting in the lake in parodies of mating flights that made him use muscles in places he had never used before. He was relatively certain that he had pulled muscles, they certainly were burning with a dull ache that made him believe he had overextended himself. Not that he would deny her, the sweetness of her challenging call could make him forget pain and exert himself to his fullest for the chance at catching her beneath the waves. Their love-making on the ground had been sweet, his inexperience fumbling, but her eagerness and his own had made up for it, but now it was full of heat and lust and need. It was just as sweet, but the urges that drove him on made him feel almost fully a dragon. He had even obtained several glides, albeit that was part of the reason he was suffering at the moment.

_If I can glide, even for a few feet, that is more than I had before. _He marveled while Amber shifted against him and helped support his aching wing. She knew he was feeling the effects from last night. He would mourn her heat ending, but his body was grateful her color was beginning to darken again.

"Ride firs'!" Oake latched onto the idea, perking up and sitting higher.

"But I will hurt you, my scales are sharp, the clothing will protect you." He tried and nosed the bundle of clothing towards him. "You won't be hurt if you wear them."

"H'A'ber don't got 'em!" The little satyr's tail wagged fondly as he peered up towards the lounging Amber.

"Amber isn't going to move right down." The dragoness laughed and dropped her head back down to her forepaws. Alaine's chest swelled with pride, he'd exhausted her from last night and their extended mating.

"No!" Oake used his favorite word again and Alaine sighed, he wasn't going to win this one. He was no good in this role, Rowan could have made him wear clothes easily enough. Her sweet logic would have had him already dressed and happy.

"Alaine!" His rumbled name brought his head up as a large drake trotted from the direction of the herd pens. Thronnos' flared his wings in greeting as he trotted towards them, for once not in the shadow of his Rider. Though, nearly half a dozen elves were trailing behind him hauling packs with them.

Alaine tightened his wing against Amber and bristled suspiciously at the other drake, his head leaning forward so that he was hovering over his little fawn. He hadn't seen Thronnos since the day at the shore, but his suspicions and anger hadn't ebbed. The tale that he'd been given tasted foul in his mouth, especially given the fact the elves had rescued non-elves. He hadn't seen any other species' on the Spit, and he had been watching for them ever since the rescue. There were only elves, a pure species that seemed to mostly ignore Oake, when they weren't giving the little fawn strange looks. There weren't even any servants that were human, the next closest things to elves. So there was no reason for the dragons and Riders to rescue this group, unless they suspected that someone had harbored him on Canith.

"Thronnos." He growled the other drake's name while subtly pushing Oake more securely between his body and Ambers, away from the threat of the elves that were trotting towards them.

"Amber." Thronnos gave a courteous bob of his head to the dragoness that set Alaine's growl lower, but he did no more than that. "I've brought healers to come and look at your wings, I do not know if they can heal them, but perhaps they can help with the pain."

"I would prefer they not." He glanced at the elves, most of them were older, with two youngsters carrying heavy looking packs. "I don't like them near me."

"That is your choice, but they are hopeful that they might be able to find out the reason your wings still give you pain." Thronnos dropped down onto his stomach, ignoring the fact that Alaine was trying to hide Amber from him.

"You should let them, it would be good to have you free of pain." Amber interjected. "If you like, I can take Oake with me to the lake. I would like to soak and you would still be able to see us from there."

"I would prefer to soak with you." Alaine tilted his head to touch her cheek, his growl turning into a rough purr.

"I believe the youngsters have had enough of both of you soaking together as of late." Thronnos replied dryly, making Alaine tuck his head in embarrassment.

"You can take Oake with you, if he will not wear clothing I suppose he might as well splash around. " Alaine tried to keep his embarrassment from showing as he carefully lifted his wing from Amber's back. He didn't want Thronnos or a group of elves near the little one, he didn't trust either. The only creature he truly trusted in this place was Amber, she had shown affection for him. "Only take care, I do not think he can swim well."

"As if he were my hatchling." Amber stood up, her slight wince showing that he wasn't the only one sore today, but she was graceful as she picked up the little fawn in her maw making him shriek out in delight.

Alaine brushed his head affectionately against her neck and nosed Oake before she turned towards the lake, turning her head to drop the little one on her back so that he got the ride he had wanted all along. Eventually he would have to learn to listen to them, but it was hard to argue with him when he was at his most stubborn.

"She is a fine dragoness." Thronnos' voice dragged Alaine back to the older drake and he narrowed his eyes. "I hope she'll give you a strong clutch, unorthodox as the conception of them might be."

"She is my mate." Alaine answered stiffly, folding his wing against his back and trying not to show his pain as the bones scraped against one another. "And what we do together is none of your affair."

"Certainly not." Thronnos agreed amiably and stretched his legs out. "Now please, let us at least look at your wings. Would you allow your stubbornness to make you miss even the smallest chance of taking the skies? The elves has studied our anatomy for decades now, my own Minos has made it a pet project and they heal us of our wounds even when they are terrible."

Alaine opened his muzzle to snarl a reply, but snapped it shut before looking at the elves gathered in distaste. They couldn't very well do anything to him now, not when he was well fed, strong and able to kill them with ease. They were the ones that had broken his wings, it would be fitting that they repaired the damage that their kind had done. He shifted on his haunches, flexing his hind paws slightly while the younger elves started to open up packs and pull out devices that were foreign and strange looking.

"If you take liberties with me, if you try to harm me more or bind me, I will kill you. Do you understand?" He lowered his head as he growled out the words unwillingly to the two legged creatures.

"You might feel pain as we have to move your wings to see how they hurt and where." One of the older elves seemed unmoved by the threat. "We can't see how they're hurt unless we can move them. We can warn you when we do it, and tell you what we are doing, will that be amenable?"

"It will be." He flexed his claws down. They wouldn't be able to do anything, but if there was a way to ebb his pain, it might be worth dealing with their touch for at least that long. And if they did something he didn't like, well, it would be worth it to snap them up as a meal. He had warned them after all.

"Please, will you spread your wing as far as you can, either will work." The elf phrased it as a question and he hissed out, but stretched his left wing out wide to his side. Feeling the muscles and bones protesting the movement as he did so.

"There was another reason for my visit." Thronnos sprawled on his side, drawing his attention back to the other drake as the elves continued to unpack their gear. "We want to make a try at the Isle, and we need your help."

"You have the dragons, you can take it. They have none." Alaine kept his eyes on the elves as they brought out several large jugs to set aside, and the older elf began to walk around his spread wing. "I saw nothing but the mines below."

"They have magic, something we are sorely lacking. They have formed a barricade and are using their magic to ensure they can strike at us even from the ground." The dark drake shook his head. "We are losing drakes and they are closing in on us in retribution for our attacks against them. You lived on the Isle all your life, you might not realize what exactly you know about it, how you can help us take it. Once we possess the mines we will be able to have an indefinite supply of the gems the elves require."

Alaine ground his teeth together, flaring his nostrils slightly while he kept watch on the elf that gently ran a hand along the line of his lower wing arm. He barely felt the touch of the small hand, but he still twitched in distaste at even that contact while he considered the question. He wanted to leave this place, to flee and take Amber and Oake with him. Hayden's Spit was thick with secrets and half-truths, he could almost taste them, but had no way of proving or disproving anything. He couldn't leave, not with Oake so young and helpless. He became aware of Thronnos watching him closely as the silence was drawn out between them.

"You do not trust me, and that grieves me, but that does not stop our need. We need to push the Slokaken back, they will take the Spit if not and with it all of our hatchlings and fledglings." Thronnos leaned forward drawing Alaine's gaze away from the elves who were starting to run their hands down his arm despite his growls. "You want to strike back against those that hurt you, then help us. Do you think they will spare anyone here? Do you think they will let the hatchlings grow strong and powerful or hobble them as they did you? I need to know about the mines, I need to know about the Isle and what you've seen. I would have your faith in me if I could, but as I don't we must work together to save our kind."

Alaine stilled his snarls and twitched a bit as one of the elves warned that he was going pull his wing out, but his attention was on the other drake. Despite his dislike of the other drake and his suspicions, there was truth to what he was saying. If they took the island, the dragons that still languished in the mines could be freed. There were still some with some heart there, at least one, if they were freed he could aid them and speak to dragons who weren't possessing twisted affection to the elves.

"I spent my life underground, I don't know about what it's like above ground." Alaine admitted and resisted the urge to snap his wing back to his side as the elves asked him to lift it up so they could get beneath.

"What about the mines?" Thronnos shifted forward a step and watched him intently. "How are they laid out? How many workers are down there at any one time?"

"I do not know." Alaine gave his head a shake. "I escaped when they were shifting mines, I saw the chance and took it. I should have died, but I managed to get to the surface a short ways away and make it to land."

"Why did they shift mines? What did they say?" Thronnos didn't seem disappointed, if anything he looked eager.

"They weren't harvesting as many gems as they used too, before..." Alaine tried to recall what had been said, but it was hard. Most of his memories were edged with pain, hatred and rage, not with caring what was being said by his captors. "They found a richer vein on the other side of the island and were moving us to work there."

"So they abandoned the mine they did have? What of it? How big was it, where did it go too.."

And so it started, Alaine had never been questioned as he was by Thronnos. The drake didn't allow him to answer with any indefinites, but plunged into his memories about where he had worked, where the cages were, what sort of people came to tend him. He tried to answer the questions as best he could and partially forgot his distrust of the drake as he was forced to simply figure out how to answer. His attention was divided between the other drake and the elves that were examining his wing intently. It put him off his guard while he kept switching between them, sometimes concentrating entirely on the sketch Thronnos made with one talon in the dirt of the old mine and other times on the elves who asked him what sort of pain he felt when his wing was moved in a certain way.

He answered more honestly than he intended, tearing the story out of his old life in detail of how he had been kept and the pens that were made for the dragons. How they had been fed and by who, what they had been fed. It was a painful road to go down, and made more painful by the fact the elves were obviously listening as they worked on him. He restlessly growled out his answers, trying to evade details, but the drake always dragged him right back and forced him to go into things with greater depth. He felt ashamed of what he was saying, of what he had endured, but the black drake just pushed him harder without any sign of pity.

The healers were polite, he would give them that, and asked before they moved his wings, but it was still painful as they made him try to lift them up all the way. They ascertained where his reach was, even if his already aching muscles made it harder than it should have been. They didn't seem to pay attention to what was being talked about, but seemed engrossed in their work. It still made his scales crawl, and speaking about what he had endured only made him more snappish and quick to snarl threats at them when they moved too fast or tried something he didn't care for. Thronnos didn't even break in his questioning to admonish him, just pushed him to continue.

"If they have abandoned their original mine, than we may have a way to attack." Thronnos finally let up in his questioning. "I will have to speak to Minos, but if we can penetrate the old mine without them knowing, we can attack hard and quick."

"Why not just get into the new one then?" Alaine retorted and tried not to wince as both his wings were firmly stretched open to either side of his body as far as they would go for the healers. "You could have done it at any time."

"They guard the mine, with magic and men both. The old mine won't be guarded which means we might be able to infiltrate it and get together a force." Thronnos' voice was distant as he heaved himself up onto his paws. "If we have enough magic and men, we can get to where they house their population and take them by force before they even know we're there." The drake flicked his wings out and glanced down at him. "You have been hurt the most by these elves. It would honor me if you would be among those that take our Isle."

Alaine growled a noncommittal reply, his tail lashing behind him restlessly. He didn't want to leave Oake, or Amber, but to see those who had tormented him, to bring them down and destroy what they had created. It made his heart lift in his chest with fierce anticipation on what exactly that might mean. The anticipation made him jerk his wings up, out of the grasp of the elves that were attempting to spread them out on the ground. Thronnos didn't demand a reply from him, only dipped his head before turning to leave, moving from a walk into a swift trot aimed at the main portion of the landing court where most of the dragons with Riders gathered.

"Sir, if you will spread your wings, we're going to apply this." One of the elves spoke, a nervous tenor that made Alaine twist his head down with a snarl. Petulant elves.

"What is that?" He rumbled and stared at the large pot that had its wax seal broken.

"It will help ease your muscles, they are too tense. It is mostly made of pine balm, winterberries and rendered with a certain pepper. It helps relieve strain." The older elf stepped towards him, foolishly brave as he kept in front of the younger healer. "You might smell it or taste it if you like, it will not taste good, but it is harmless."

The drake leaned down and snuffed at the open chair, almost immediately stifling a sneeze at the sharp odor that arose from it. It certainly smelled like a compound of those things, though who would wish to mix such herbs together he had no idea. He capitulated and lowered himself onto his stomach so he could spread his wings out, feeling the ache spreading along the curve of his sides.

"And what have you found, elf?" Alaine snapped the words, not caring if it was rude or not, his blood was up after being interrogated.

"The wings are not as hopeless a cause as we might have thought." The older man spoke slowly, but it ended in a short yell as Alaine swung his head around so violently he nearly lifted two of the healers from his wing.

"What did you say?" The drake hissed out, his voice barely above a draconic whisper as he didn't dare hope to hear anything positive.

"It is not certain, but the bones never healed together the way they should have." The healer held his ground, even as Alaine's head came within a foot of him. "It is possible to open up the wing, shave the bone and pin it together so that it heals properly. There is not promise that it will heal perfectly, or even well enough to allow for flight, but it is an art that is relatively new. I, and my fellow healers, believe that it is possible that the wing could be healed enough to obtain short flights, or perhaps controlled glides at the very least."

"I could fly?" Alaine twitched as he felt the thick unguent being smeared on one of his wing shoulders with a curious sensation of both heat and cold. He didn't care, his entire being was fixed on the elf in front of him and the barest promise of the skies being his own.

"As I said, it is a relatively new art that we used on one of the younger drakes with a fresher break, but I believe it could be possible." The healer offered the words up like the sweetest gift that Alaine had ever received. He didn't even snarl when an elf stepped onto his shoulder to spread the greasy cream lower onto his side.

Flight, his wings stretched out and his body lifted high in the air, being able to catch the wind and take off beneath Aratha's gaze. He swallowed roughly, almost losing himself into the glory that was simply hope, but he forced it back.

It could be a trick, something to ensure that I help them. _ He forced himself to consider, even as his heart beat faster at the very notion. _ Never trust an elf.

He repeated that motto to himself as his wings were slathered with the unguent until he reeked of peppers and wintergreen, but the pain started to ebb where he had strained them the worst. His gaze slid to the lake where he could make out Amber's body, curled around what could only be Oake. If he could fly, he could fly her properly, give her what she deserved instead of an earthbound lizard. He could be a dragon at last.