FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Part 1

The feathery green and brown dragon sighed in bliss. The waters had been almost too hot at first, but his smooth hide had soon adjusted and now he lightly dozed with his head resting on a nearby rock. Yogoloth knew from past experience that this mountain range was quite active in places. Hot springs, steam vents and geysers could be found if one searched for long enough.

Even from the air, it had taken Yogoloth a couple of weeks to find the hot spring, and now he was enjoying the benefits. Before he had discovered this beautiful, isolated place, the spring had already been feeding a small pool. Now, after some hard work and more than a little magic, Yogoloth had widened and deepened the pool just large enough to snugly accommodate his body.

The smell of the slightly sulphurous spring was comforting too, his first experience of such pools had been shortly after a very dark period in his admittedly short life. He had been recovering from some injuries which had been quite serious at the time. The hybrid had flown deep into the mountains, away from the dragon and gryphon territories, and towards the civilised areas. The mountains formed a natural barrier in which he was easily able to lose himself and hide from the world. He had found that first pool by accident and soon discovered that the warm, mineral rich waters felt simply wonderful against his leathery hide. Now, instead of his healing wounds, it was his aching muscles that were being soothed.

Yogoloth opened his eyes and smiled, the view was quite spectacular too. From this high up, he could see the land almost as though he were flying above it. A series of rocky over hangs jutted out nearby that provided ample shelter from the rain. Also, a little off to the side, down a much gentler slope, there was a forest of strong coniferous trees. But there were no animals other than birds and insects living there, no prey to hunt. This place was so isolated, that without wings, it would be impossible to reach.

But all of that only made this place all the more special, he felt secure here, away from the lands of dragons and gryphons. As a bonus, it was at least three days flight from the lands of the civilised races too. It would have been the perfect place for a gryphon colony, if it were not for the lack of prey. So Yogoloth decided to claim it as his own, a temporary home if you will. Somewhere he could go to relax and get away from it all. Although that said, he wondered if he could widen the pool a little more and persuade Natanii to visit.

It had been a few weeks since he'd last seen his... mate. He was still unsure of what to call her, other than a very close friend. What they had was more than friendship though, they trusted each other completely and he never even once wanted to mate with Marrus before. Yogoloth chuckled at the thought and then smiled a little more when he didn't feel the usual pang of sadness that he often got when thinking of his old friend. No, regardless of what Natanii saw in him, she was his mate and the young hybrid was more than comfortable with labeling her as such.

They had spent a wonderful two days together and then she had to leave on a long trip, something to do with the civilised work she did. Natanii would be gone for up to two weeks, but no more. That had been nearly three weeks ago, so she was probably back by now catching up on all the things she'd missed and correcting all the problems that people had left for her return. So Yogoloth had been hunting, exploring and generally relaxing, waiting until the time was right to return to his mother's lair.

But he would face that when the time came, until then, he was happy to hunt, relax in his warm pool and gaze out over the beautiful vista before him. Yogoloth hoped that, now Natanii's most recent experience of sleeping like a feral out in the wilds was comfortable, she'd be prepared to make the three day trip from Stone Haven to get here. Maybe they could bring some thick rugs and flatten some rocks to rest in comfort on. Yes, Natanii would like it here.

Part 2

Warm, slightly cloudy water sprayed in all directions against the barren rocks. Yogoloth had gotten hungry and if he was going to be able to hunt at all, he needed to leave soon. The nearest hunting grounds were several hours south of here, so if he left in the next hour or so, he could get there, have a sleep and then hunt first thing in the morning. So he had reluctantly climbed out of the soothing warmth of the pool and begun to shake himself dry.

The young dragon could have easily used magic to instantly dry his body and wings. But he still had time and it was never wise to use magic needlessly. If something unexpected happened during his flight, he might need all the magic he had. So Yogoloth decided to pad down to the forest and stretch his relaxed legs and wings as they dried.

Although the trees harboured no prey, the quiet air was often broken by the sound of bird song or buzzing insects. Autumn colours had slowly begun to creep into the occasional broadleaf tree that had found itself nestled between the pines. These infrequent interlopers sometimes thrived amongst their evergreen cousins and sometimes they didn't. But for the most part, the forest retained its rich green tones and the odd patches of orange and yellow simply added a little much needed variation to an otherwise bland canvas.

The uneven and sometimes rocky ground meant there were numerous gaps in the tree cover where there wasn't the soil for the pines to take root. Some of these patches of barren stone gave excellent views of the trees and peaks beyond and Yogoloth would infrequently stop and spread his wings to catch the sun's warming rays. The view never failed to impress. It was standing on one such cliff that Yogoloth spotted a large green shape soaring in the sky. A dragon.

Yogoloth quickly but smoothly backed up towards the tree line, not even once taking his eyes off the scaly stranger. Dragons were unpredictable when it came to hybrids. The hybrid had met very few dragons before, but they had all treated him very differently, from tolerant disdain to outright violence. Being so young and lacking the scales, fire breath and magic of a true dragon meant that hiding in the shadows of trees was a more attractive course of action than risking a violent encounter.

It was impossible to say for sure if the other dragon had seen him or not, but it carried on in the direction it had been flying and soon disappeared from sight. It had looked like a fairly young adult, probably a male about twice Yogoloth's age. Although why he had been flying this far from the usual dragon territories was a good question. Most likely he was searching for land to call his own or was a rogue male seeking females for the first time.

Soon the hybrid's thoughts were once again filled with the trip home. He would fly south today to the hunting grounds and sleep there ready to hunt that morning. Then he could travel further south that same day to the hills that were nestled between the mountainous regions and then on the third day onwards to Stone Haven. He would easily be able to spare a few days, spending as much time with Natanii as possible, until heading north west towards the dragon territories and his mother's lair became a necessity.

Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of rushing air and a roar that was far too familiar for Yogoloth's liking. The young dragon turned in time to see the older dragon he saw earlier land heavily on his hind paws and then come down to rest on his fore paws. There was no mistaking his mood, his teeth were bared and his ear frills were flat against his head. The young hybrid decided that it was time to leave... and quickly.

Part 3

Yogoloth just turned and ran. There was no need to think, no need to talk, no need to see what this other dragon was going to do. As his mother had taught him all those years ago. Just flee. The hybrid darted towards the nearest gap in the tree cover and launched himself into the air. His heart pounded in his chest as he rose above the trees and began to get his bearings. He would use his much greater speed and agility and just fly south. He would be able to put a lot of distance between himself and this dragon very quickly. It was then, as he began to turn that he lost all the feeling in his right wing and it went limp.

Suddenly the young dragon was losing height and the trees were rushing up to meet him. Yogoloth reached into himself and found the familiar signs of foreign magic in his wing. It was very similar to the paralysis that he had used on Natanii when they had first met. But this seemed to have affected only a single limb. As he began to tumble through the air, the hybrid tugged at the foreign magic and it eventually unravelled. But it was too little too late. Just as he felt the feeling come back into the wing he crashed through the tree tops, hitting a branch on the way down and landed in a painful heap on the dirty ground.

All the training that his mother had put him through suddenly became the only thing in his mind, actions drummed into him though painful lesson after painful lesson, now directed his movements. He didn't know where the older dragon was, nor if he himself was injured badly, he just quickly rolled over and up onto his feet, just as his scaly attacker landed where he had crashed. Yogoloth lashed out towards him with a back leg and although the blow went wide, it warded off any further advancement as the larger male pulled back his head to avoid the attack. There was a moment as Yogoloth backed away, wings wide, teeth bared, where the older dragon simply smiled slightly and watched.

"You're certainly a fast little freaky gryphon, aren't you?", the scaly male said without a hint a malice. He lunged forward and his teeth snapped at the air where Yogoloth had been only moments ago. "That magic was supposed to paralyse your whole body."

Yogoloth's mother had tried to persuade him not to leave the nest so early, just another decade or so, to build his strength and to develop his skills. But the young hybrid hadn't listened. So instead, she convinced him to stay for one more year and she would train him specifically in combat. Fighting was not something that a dragon usually taught their young. Normally the fights that siblings got into amongst themselves would suffice. That and the investment of time and magic for a parent to actively train their whole brood, made it impractical.

But the hybrid had no brood mates to fight with, and he and his mother had nothing but time and her powerful magic on their hands. So, for nearly a year, his mother attacked him. With ample warnings at first, but soon the attacks could happen at any time and any where. Yogoloth never won a single fight in all that time, the injuries he sustained had sometimes been life threatening, but his mother had the power to prevent him from suffering any permanent damage.

Towards the end, the young dragon had become quite a difficult opponent, using his smaller size and speed to his advantage. Sometimes it was all they could do, to collapse together after yet another fight and lick each other's wounds, so exhausted they were. Those days where he was too injured to fight at all, his mother taught him magical tactics, shapes to look out for, shapes used in defence against offensive magics. It was these lessons that Yogoloth now had racing through his mind. But although the pain would be the same, this time his mother wouldn't be there to lick his wounds nor heal him afterwards.

During the brief stand off, Yogoloth quickly formed two shapes, one he slipped into the membranes of his eyes and the other into the rest of his body. The second shape was a huge investment of magic, but it remained on his body, so unless it was triggered, the hybrid could unravel it and recycle the power into something else. If it was triggered however, it would probably save his life.

Another lunge from the older male caused Yogoloth to instinctively bring one of his fore paws up and across, striking the scaly green snout of his opponent. Although the blow was not as solid as it could have been, the hybrid's claws should still have drawn blood, and at least torn a few scales free, but it had no effect. The other dragon had hardened them with magic and merely smiled as his head pulled back out of reach.

Yogoloth's expression changed from one of anger to one slightly of fear. The other dragon lunged forward again, this time the young hybrid got a better strike with his other fore paw, but the result was the same. But instead of pulling back, the older dragon pushed forward, managing just to clamp his jaws around the hybrid's feathery right wing. There was a wet tearing sound as the young dragon struck out against his opponent's neck. But the attack did not penetrate the scales and the sudden pain in his wing forced Yogoloth back.

The older dragon also backed away and then spat a clump of bloody feathers and fur onto the ground. It looked like most of his primary flight feathers, but the hybrid had no time to worry about his wing, now was the time for this over confident male to make his mistake. It was clear that his opponent wasn't about to burn him with his fire breath, so Yogoloth quickly unravelled that costly defensive shape and formed a different set of shapes and placed them into his teeth and fore claws.

"You taste strange, but I'm too hungry to really care.", the scaly green male said with a slow growl before lunging forward again.

The hybrid brought his left fore leg up towards the older dragon's snout but it swung wide. His opponent changed his target and clamped his jaws around Yogoloth's paw and the small bones within the limb cracked and broke. The young dragon cried out in pain as he felt his flesh tear and blood begin to pour from the savage bite. The older dragon did not let go and instead pulled back, dragging Yogoloth physically forward and forcing another more stifled cry from his maw. Keeping his jaws locked around the ruined paw was the other dragon's critical mistake.

Yogoloth brought his head forward, clamped his own jaws around the other dragon's snout and his teeth came across the same impenetrable resistance as before. But in less than a heart beat, the magic he had placed within his teeth earlier came alive, unravelled and took the hardening magic of his scaly opponent's snout with it. The hybrid's teeth punched through the scales and sank deeply into the soft hide. He then twisted his head violently, tearing flesh and scattering scales. Blood erupted from the deep wound as an agonised cry erupted from the older dragon's maw.

The hybrid clenched his teeth harder and twisted his head in a different direction. He felt his teeth scrape against bone and blood flowed like nectar into his mouth and out onto the forest floor. Then his training kicked in, he let go and ducked his head and neck down. The older dragon's right fore leg swung around wildly and desperately, just missing it's target. With his left paw now free, Yogoloth pushed up from his slightly prone position and brought his uninjured right paw up towards his reeling opponent.

His claws struck the other dragon's now unprotected snout and sliced through scale and hide, separating the flesh from the jaw and scattering more than a few teeth. The magic that he had placed into his claws earlier, quietly slipped into the older dragon's mouth and settled passively. His opponent howled in agony and reared up on to his hind legs, blood sprayed into the air as he backed away from the sudden pain and injury. Yogoloth landed on his fore paws and cried out as his left paw touched the ground. He pulled it up and held it against his chest protectively as he too backed away from his grievously wounded opponent.

The scaly male sucked in a deep and distinctive breath. Yogoloth knew what was coming and couldn't help but smile slightly through his own pain. The older dragon opened his ruined jaws and instead of a fiery inferno, enough to incinerate the hybrid in seconds, a wet mist sprayed out and fell harmlessly on to the floor. The liquid from the dragon's fire gland was rendered inert by the shape that the younger dragon had managed to place. He could sense the shape now being torn apart by his opponent, but it would be an hour at least before any dragon would be able breath fire again regardless.

"Just go, now! Fly away from here! Neither of us can win this fight anymore!", Yogoloth cried out. He wanted it to be a stronger, less desperate shout. But through the pain, fear and his racing heart, it was the best he could manage.

The older dragon was slowly getting control of his breathing as the blood poured freely from his ruined snout. His body was shaking and his wings spread wide, tensed, ready to take to the air at a moment's notice. The damage to his face was, put quite simply, horrific. But even as Yogoloth felt he had done his mother proud, the wounds started to knit together and the blood flow began to ebb. But unlike like his mother's magical healing, this was not neat, it was crude and clumsy. The flesh remained angry and red, ugly pink scar tissue formed and scales did not regrow. Even after the last wound closed, his opponent's lips were disfigured and his nostrils were crooked.

"You... you fight like a true dragon... a dragon twice your age.", the older dragon said, the effects of adrenaline making his voice shake slightly. Then he closed his eyes and lowered his head towards the ground. A sign of respect. His head rose back up and he opened his eyes. "I haven't had a challenge like this for as long as I can remember.".

The older male took a step forward, bared his now slightly crooked teeth and growled. Then Yogoloth realised that the fight was far from over.

Part 4

The older dragon slowly circled the younger hybrid at a safe distance. He was much more cautious now, after the injuries he had sustained, he wasn't about to take his prey for granted again. Yogoloth kept turning to face his opponent, each time having to hop slightly on his right fore paw, while keeping his injured left paw held tightly to his chest. He didn't have the magic to heal the injury like the other dragon had, so he slipped a hastily formed shape into it that would reduce the chance of causing further injury and reduce the pain as well. He needed to focus.

There was a sudden blinding flash in Yogoloth's eyes and his scaly attacker lunged forward again. But the hybrid's eye membranes darkened instantly and then returned to normal, protecting his eyes from the burst of light. His uninjured wing came around and struck the older dragon in the side of the head, just behind his ear frills. Then he brought his other injured wing up and struck the other side causing the larger male to stagger.

With a quick pump of his wings, Yogoloth reared up on his hind legs and lashed out with his hind paws, one swung wide but the other caught the dragon in the shoulder. But the scales there were still protected by magic and the blow glanced off harmlessly. He took a few steps further away before landing back down on his right fore paw, the older dragon shook his head a couple of times and growled. The young hybrid cursed under his breath as he quickly unravelled the shape in his injured paw, recycled it and put two such shapes into his hind paws.

The next attack was fast and Yogoloth had barely enough time to jump back from the claws as they swung inches from his face, his injured wing and fore paw slowed his reactions and the second similar attack connected with the side of his snout. The impact made the hybrid's ears ring and his vision blur and then he felt the older dragon's hind claws strike him heavily in the flank. The next thing he could feel was dirt against his side and he realised he had been knocked over onto the ground.

He rolled over onto his belly in an attempt to get up onto his feet, but his limbs weren't responding as well as they normally did. His head felt fuzzy, his vision swam back and forth and his face had gone numb from the pain. Yogoloth felt the older dragon's fore claws sink into his rump and the extra weight pushed him firmly back down onto the ground. Then teeth pierced the large muscle of his right hind leg and began to tear. The pain was indescribable and Yogoloth cried out, but the sound that came out was more like a pathetic mewing than a dragon's roar.

The other dragon climbed forward, further pinning Yogoloth with his greater weight, he tried to push up from the ground, to throw the larger dragon off, but he hadn't the strength left. Teeth sank into his uninjured wing, and for a moment, he thought that his wing had been set on fire. Every part of his body seemed to hurt now, he hadn't the will to fight any more and his thoughts were becoming less and less focused. His opponent spat something out onto the ground, the young hybrid assumed it was more of his precious feathers.

There was a pause, a moment where neither dragon moved for a time. The forest was quiet apart from their heavy breathing and a gentle breeze that rustled the needles of the trees. Yogoloth had tried his best, but this dragon was older and more powerful. Like his mother had said, in the end, fights often boiled down to who had the most powerful magic and the skill to mitigate their opponent's physical strength. It had been decades since he had eaten that young gryphon, the poetic justice of this situation was not lost on him. The older dragon suddenly growled in frustration.

"I... I refuse eat a fellow dragon. I just wish I wasn't so damn hungry...", he muttered as much to him self as to his pinned victim. He settled down slightly with his fore legs and chest on Yogoloth's back and licked some of the blood from one of his opponent's wings. "... and worse still I have yet to find any receptive females..."

The older male shifted his rump a little, sniffed at the younger male's neck and sighed slightly. His scarred snout roamed in Yogoloth's mane for a few moments before pulling back and sneezing slightly. His claws retracted and he went back and took in the scent of his pinned victim while his paw pads ran along the young hybrid's smooth, yet blood stained hide. He was young, but still very much an adult dragon.

"I think... you can cure my hunger after all.", the older dragon said, his voice smooth and calm.

Somewhere deep inside, Yogoloth found a sliver of strength, sank the claws of his uninjured fore paw into the ground and pulled himself forward. But he was heavily pinned and the larger male had a firm enough grip on him. He would have growled out loud, but his snout had gone completely numb. He would have thrown his opponent off, but he lacked the energy. Every part of him was either numb or in pain and now a new kind of panic began to form in his clouded mind.

Keeping his grip on Yogoloth's back with his fore paws, the older dragon stood up and moved his hind legs behind the pinned dragon's rump. Yogoloth tried to turn, tried to flex his wings, anything to get away from this. But his injuries and weakness made his struggles all but useless. Then the young hybrid felt jaws clamp around his neck and teeth sank deeply into his hide. What little resistance he had left dissolved at that moment, as deeply rooted instincts kicked in. He was going to be raped by this dragon, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The older dragon's belly scutes pressed against his mane and he felt his cock move against his bloody rump. It was not long before it found its mark and roughly forced its way in, pushing Yogoloth's furry tail to the side. The larger male simply let his instincts take hold and he pumped fast and hard against his defeated opponent. Claws protracted slightly as he gripped one of the hybrid's flanks and the base of a wing. The younger dragon simply let the scaly male take him, he hadn't the strength nor focus to fight anymore.

To the larger male, it did not matter that this hybrid was not a female, his rutting instincts were being satisfied and he roared into the sky as he pumped his seed inside the younger male. He was not about to fool himself and pretend he would have taken more time if this were a female dragon. It had been decades since he had last mated with any dragon at all, so he hadn't expected to last long anyway. The fact that this male found himself here at this time was pure bad luck for him. He eventually stepped off to the side and caught his breath. He was still very hungry.

"You were a worthy opponent. If things had been different, you would have made a fine, pure blood dragon.", the older dragon said with honesty before padding off towards the nearest clearing, spreading his wings and taking to the air.

Yogoloth just lay still on his belly, his bloody wings resting limply beside him, his breathing rasping as he struggled to remain conscious. He knew that he should be in agony right now, but a strange kind of calm had befallen him. It possibly acted as a shield, protecting him from what his body felt and what he knew had happened to him. Almost instinctively, he started to form a pair of magical shapes to send one last message.

There was no point calling for help, he was so far from the civilised lands. So he tried to say goodbye, that she shouldn't be sad or angry, that she should find someone else. That he loved her. But it came out like a pitiful whimper instead, he just couldn't get his jaws to work properly. She shapes wrapped together anyway and vanished into the distance, taking the unintelligible message with them.

Then slowly, darkness claimed him.

Part 5

The gryphoness tried not to think about how far she was away from home. Stone Haven, and the other towns she flew between, had been her home her entire life. She had never been more than a day's flight away from a town or village, and now she was deep into the mountains of the north, searching for someone she had only recently just met. Natanii had been terrified that first night, sleeping in the wilds, sheltering half way up a cliff on a ledge barely large enough for her furry body. But she dared not sleep on the ground. She had felt very alone.

She hadn't gotten much sleep in the end. The message she had magically received earlier kept running through her mind. At first she wondered what it could be, it had sounded like a wounded animal. But she sensed the magic and reached out to identify it, just in time to realise it had come from Yogoloth. If she had been asleep, or distracted, she wouldn't have been able to identify it at all. Natanii sent a message back, asking if he was alright, but there had been no reply. A couple of hours later she'd sent another, but this time with a trace shape added in. It had taken close to an hour for it to return.

The gryphoness had frowned, Yogoloth was to the north, maybe three day's flight away and wasn't responding to her messages. Then she remembered the sound she'd received and it suddenly chilled her. Something was very wrong.

Now, three days away from the security of the civilised lands, she was no longer terrified of being alone in the wilds, she was terrified of what she might soon find. Natanii had sent fresh messages and trace shapes out each morning and each evening since she had left the comfort and safety of the towns she lived and worked in. Each one had returned to her slightly quicker but she never received any responses. If something had happened to him, then at least he was still alive, the message wouldn't have even left her if he was... the gryphoness closed her eyes and shook her head.

Natanii flew over a forest of pine trees and sent out another trace. She didn't bother with a message though, he couldn't be too far away now. The trace came back almost right away and she headed towards a slightly barren cliff that gave her a decent place to land, and seemed to be fairly close to the source of the trace. Her claws and talons scraped along the rocky ground a little harder than she'd have liked, but her heart had started pumping harder again, her nerves starting to show.

"Yogoloth?", she called out uncertainly as she padded a little tentatively between the trees.

She had flown most of the day and her wings ached, it was getting a little dark and she didn't want to spend another night without finding him. Then the gryphoness came to an area where the earth had been heavily torn up. The uniform covering of pine needles had been scattered and the ground was littered with deep claw marks, loose scales and blood splatter. Natanii was no expert on such matters, but it didn't take an expert to see that this was the scene of a violent battle. Then she saw the feathers.

The gryphoness didn't want to look, but she had to. The clump of large feathers was covered in blood, they were various shades of brown and one of them was almost black. They'd been torn out by the roots. Natanii's throat tightened as she recognised the distinctive colours, it would have been impossible for Yogoloth to have flown after losing so many. She looked away from the feathers and saw a long trail of disturbed earth leading away from the them. As though something had slowly dragged itself away. Then she saw him.

"Yogoloth!", she cried out as she ran towards the limp green and red shape. Natanii wanted to grab him and hold him tight, but as she drew nearer, she realised that she daren't touch him. He looked... dead.

Yogoloth was laying on his right side partly under a half fallen tree, he must have dragged himself there shortly after the battle. The left side of his face was torn open and the gryphoness could see his bloody teeth and gums through the wound. His eye was swollen but the scales of his brow seemed to have protected it from any serious harm. Her heart sank slightly as she realised that his jaw was dislocated on one side.

Her eyes moved down and saw what remained of his left fore paw, it was a terrible wound, if there were any bones left intact then she would be surprised. It was a useless and bloody mess that he seemed to be instinctively holding against his chest. There were three long gashes in his flank, probably caused by another dragon's hind claws. They were deep, still oozing blood slightly and the gryphoness could see a couple of ribs through the flesh. She felt slightly sick.

Then she came to his wings. The limbs themselves were intact, although bloody, but most of his feathers had been ripped out. Natanii had always loved Yogoloth's wings, they were so attractive and he kept such good care of them despite having no oil gland to do it properly. It broke her heart to see them so ruined and useless. But she reminded herself, the feathers would grow back, unlike a true dragon with similar injuries, he would fly again, even without magic.

There was a viscous looking bite wound on his hind leg that had disfigured the muscle there. Of all the dragon's injuries, it had probably bled the most and it had made a dark puddle of the young hybrids life on the dirty ground. Natanii's eyes moved to the mess under the hybrid's tail and then she noticed the bite wound on the back of his neck. What did the dragons call them? Mating scars? She tried to stifle a sob as she realised what must have happened. Yogoloth didn't deserve any of this.

"Yogoloth...?", the gryphoness murmured as she moved forward and gently placed a talon on the prone hybrid's shoulder. There was no response, so Natanii gently pushed the shoulder. "Yogoloth... please wake up..."

The hybrid's eyes slowly opened about halfway, he lifted his head a little from the forest floor and looked around. He didn't seem to even see the gryphon sat right next to him. Instead he stared off into the distance, his head wobbling slightly, jaw hanging limply. He didn't seem to be aware of anything around him at all.

"It's me... Natanii...", the gryphoness said, close to sobbing. But he needed her, he needed her to be calm and strong. So she cut through the fear and sorrow that tried to wrap itself around her heart and focused on what she had to do.

She stretched out her magical senses through his body and tried to focus on the important things. His injuries were serious, crippling, but none seemed life threatening on their own. But he was so dehydrated, he'd lost so much blood that he probably wouldn't last the night if he didn't get water. He couldn't be moved and he couldn't even drink with his jaw the way it was. Natanii let her anger give her strength and her love gave her focus. She didn't even question how she felt about Yogoloth anymore, now wasn't the time to figure out what the two of them had together.

"Yogoloth, I... I have to put your jaw back. This is going to really hurt.", she reached out and gently wrapped one set of talons around the back of his head and the other around the base of his jaw. "I'm so sorry..."

She pulled and twisted the injured dragons jaw in one sharp motion, but she'd only ever done this on a human before. Yogoloth cried out, his pain expressed in a sharp, pitiful moan as he pulled his head out of the gryphoness's grip. Not that he had pulled hard, if Natanii had held on then he wouldn't have had the strength to pull free at all. The jaw was still dislocated.

"You have to let me do this... you're in no state to make decisions for yourself!", Natanii's anger starting to surge through her, wiping away any doubt she might have had.

She reached forward, grabbed one of Yogoloth's horns and pulled his head forward again. His eyes looked down at the ground, slightly unfocused, but Natanii felt his injured wing come around her shoulder and rest there. She reached out, held his jaw and jerked it again. He cried out again, but instead of pulling away, he leaned into the gryphoness's grip and squeezed her hard with the ruined wing. Some deep part of him knew she was here to help, even if he might be too delirious to even know who she was.

With his jaw set, she would be able to get some food, and more importantly water inside him. But apart from the sulphurous spring she had seen a little earlier, the nearest water source was a good twenty minutes flight away. She didn't want to leave him, but she had little choice. She also had precious little magic to spare, but in his current mental state, Yogoloth hadn't even tapped into his own reserves.

"Yogoloth, you have to let me in. Let me use your magic to save you.", Natanii gently stroked one of his ears with a talon as she reached her senses out and found his well protected magical reserves. "I... I love you... so, snap out of it! You stupid dragon!", the gryphoness finished angrily.

At first she thought he wouldn't be able to do it, that he would be too far gone to get his thoughts together and lower his defences. But slowly she felt the barriers drop and his reserves were hers. He had at least twice the power she had at full strength, she'd almost expected more, based on what he'd done in the past. She tapped into it, added it to her own and started to decide what needed to be done. Natanii's first priority was to kill any infections that had gotten into the wounds, there were also fly larvae growing in them. She killed them all with a series of thoughts before moving onto more complex shapes.

By the end of it, she managed to stabilise the wounds that had still been oozing and place more magic into his paw and wings to ensure they didn't heal badly. She couldn't make them heal faster, merely stop them getting worse. They would probably heal just fine with the help of magic, but not if she didn't get him some water.

"Yogoloth, listen to me.", she said, surprising herself with how calm and determined she sounded. It had helped to have a plan, a set of actions she needed to go through. This wasn't the first time she'd had to care for an injured friend. But this was the first time it had been in the middle of nowhere, all alone. "I have to get you some water, I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that, she was off, out of the forest and into the air. It was getting darker and the brightest stars were beginning to show through, as the night began to claim the lonely mountains.

Part 6

"Open your mouth.", the gryphoness said reasonably.

"I don't want to...", the dragon grumbled quietly.

"Now, or I'll bite your ear again.", she hissed. Natanii really meant it too, she was getting sick of his prideful nonsense.

"I'm not a hatchling!", Yogoloth protested. "I will not be fed like one!"

"Until you have the strength to hunt with me or you find me a big bowl to put your food in, this is the only way this is going to work. I cannot carry prey all the way up here.", Natanii reached over and grabbed one of the hybrid's horns in her talons and pulled his head down.

He growled and bared his teeth, but he didn't really have the strength to resist. Even at the best of times, he wasn't massively stronger than her anyway. Natanii pulled his jaws open with her other talons and tensed her stomach ready to bring up her recent kill. Gryphons didn't have specialised nesting bladders like dragons had, they fed their young very much like regular birds did, by regurgitating food for the hatchlings to eat directly.

Dragons on the other hand, could store large chunks of meat without excess liquid being added in, so they could bring the food back up onto the ground for their young to fight over. So Yogoloth had never actually been fed directly from his mothers mouth and really didn't like having to be fed that way now. But there really wasn't any other choice, Natanii could carry more in her stomach than she could in her talons and at least this way it was all meat and partially broken down as well. The hybrid wasn't happy and had kept up his complaints for weeks.

"Ugh...", Yogoloth eventually pulled his head free from the gryphoness's grip and made a show of excessively licking his snout. "No wonder gryphon hatchlings grow up so quick, it's just to avoid having to be fed like this. It's disgusting."

Natanii didn't bother replying, she knew that deep down the young hybrid was grateful, and as much as he'd complain, he knew that this was the only way he was going to physically heal. Complaining was a good sign that Yogoloth was healing mentally too. For the first few days, he had drifted in and out of consciousness seemingly at random, never once speaking and never once even acknowledging she was even there. Then on day three he'd made eye contact with her for the first time and said, get some sleep... you look awful... She'd burst into happy tears and nuzzled her beak into his mane, it was then that she had known for sure that he'd be alright.

Now, weeks later, his feathers were regrowing, his left fore paw had been painstakingly set and was slowly looking more and more like the other, his various other wounds continued to heal as well and he was even walking short distances on his own. Being able to relieve himself down wind and away from where he slept was a blessing too. He was still weak, but at least he was on the mend. There were other signs that Yogoloth was starting to feel like his old self too, as he reached his good fore paw and gently sank his claws into Natanii's rump.

"You know, there's something-", he began as the gryphoness batted his paw away with the back of her talons.

"Oh no you don't. If you're not strong enough to hunt, you're not strong enough for that either!", she said sternly, but half laughing just the same.

"But... I've slept cuddled up to you every night for weeks! I'm getting really...", Yogoloth struggled for a polite way of saying it and gave up. "Horny!"

"Well, maybe this will make you stop and think twice before you go off getting yourself injured again.", Natanii suggested with a wry smile. Yogoloth's body stiffened and his furry ears drooped a little.

"I... I didn't ask for this you know...", he said a little subdued and Natanii's ears drooped a little too. Maybe now was as good a time as any, to talk to him about what happened.

"What happened? Who... did this to you?"

"Why does it matter?", the hybrid asked slightly angrily.

"Why does it matter?", Natanii repeated, shocked and a little lost for words. "Look at what they did to you!"

"Things like this just happen, forget about it.", he growled.

"How can I forget about this!?", Natanii found her voice had gotten slightly louder. "Someone has to do... something!"

"Of course! We'll call for the guards and form a militia!", the hybrid growled angrily, his own voice getting louder. "Or better yet, we'll contact the king and form an army!"

Yogoloth just snapped. How could she be so naive about the way the world worked? She'd spent her whole life in her precious civilised towns, living in her safe and comfortable stables without ever once looking out and seeing what it was really like out here.

"This is the wild, Natanii! Dragons and gryphons die out here every day and there's nothing to say that they even existed at all. There's no law, no justice, they just vanish, all alone, their bodies picked clean by scavengers. Or is your civilised head to full of feathers to understand that?"

He knew he was going too far, it wasn't her fault. She cared for him and couldn't comprehend that the dragon that did this to him would never pay for it. But Yogoloth just couldn't keep his snout shut, the words just flowed out of him like fire and they burned her just the same. Natanii stared into his eyes, her ears falling flat against her head, eyes wide and glassy and her beak held tightly shut as he raged at her.

"Out here the strong take what they want from the weak! I'm guilty of doing the same and worse! You don't belong here. Why don't you do yourself a favour little bird and fly away home to your warm fires and dry beds before the same thing happens to you that happened to the last naive gryphon who tried to be my friend!"

Her eyes were beautiful and she didn't deserve for them to be moist with tears. Without a single word, Natanii quickly stood up and turned away from the angry hybrid. He half expected her tail to swing round and swat him on the snout as it often did. But her tail stayed low as she ran off, away from him and the spiteful things he'd said. You stupid, stupid dragon. He slowly pushed himself onto his feet, holding his injured left paw to his chest.

"Natanii wait! I...", his voice trailed off. Did he even deserve her forgiveness?

He wasn't angry at her, he wasn't even angry at what had happened to him all those weeks back. He genuinely accepted that this sort of thing just happened out here and it hurt him to see it affect her more than it affected him. He was angry because now he would never make it to his mother's lair in time for winter's first snow fall. He would have to wait yet another year, and each year that passed increased the risk involved with returning there. Another year that his father got even older... if he was even still alive at all.

Natanii had stopped a fair distance away on a rocky cliff. For a moment, the hybrid thought she was going to do exactly what he'd told her to do and fly away. But she just sat down on her haunches with her back to him and stared silently out across the forest and mountains beyond. Yogoloth went after her, hobbling on three legs as fast as he could, his ribs aching and his hind leg throbbing from the sudden movement. He eventually caught up with her and hesitated briefly before carefully wrapping his fore legs around her, his left paw held out a little awkwardly to prevent aggravating it further.

"I... I didn't mean any of the things I said...", the young hybrid began. The gryphoness returned the hug almost immediately and leaned gently into him.

"But you're right, I don't know how things work out here.", she began, more tears threatening to fall from her eyes with every blink. "I do miss my stone heaters and my dry stables. But I'm here for you for as long as you need me."

"I'm so sorry, Natanii.", Yogoloth murmured, not even sure she should even accept his apology. A slight smile began to grow around the gryphoness's beak.

"I know people have bad days, Yogoloth. I'm not a delicate flower you know..."