[Survival] pt. 1

<Year 13>

The four of them were reaching into the corpse of a small monster Nylotte had hunted down for them, the dragons in their human forms to make travelling with Darezen more convenient. The beast looked like a deer, with large antlers, a huge body, fangs, and clawed hooves singling it out as a monster. Smearing the black blood on their skins a bit blankly, they were attempting to cover up their scent. Zyrtec had woken up only around an hour ago and was having trouble focusing, his mind drifting off while trying to control the blood. It was difficult, much harder than using his own. He swayed a bit when making more blood come to the surface, close to losing balance altogether. Nylotte supported him how she could, letting him hold onto her arm when he needed to. "Are you sure this will work?" Darezen asked while scrunching up his nose at the smell.

Jarkko glanced at him. "No, but it will help. The better alternative would be to be able to have enough to swim in so we can cover it completely, but we can't catch that many."

"...how long do I have to travel with you? I mean, I don't exactly have family waiting for me, but I was working as a blacksmith, not a hunter."

"Do you know how to survive outside?"

"Yes…"

"Then there's no problem there."

"But--"

"We've already told you before that you will die. Personally I'm no fan of allowing a creature I barely know to have all our secrets. The only reason I haven't killed you myself is because you're Zyrtec's friend and I'm not strong enough to fight Nylotte." Darezen paled, taking a few steps away from Jarkko.

In response to the threat, Zyrtec, even while exhausted, shot him a glare and hissed, "Touch even a hair on his head and I'll off the hand that did."

Monotone, Jarkko raised his hands with a sigh. "I'm not doing anything, they were empty words. If you trust him I have no choice, but let me advise you, brother. We allowed the dragon that took you from us to survive, and all those guards? They were useless and attacked us as well when they saw what we were, regardless of whether we had been saving them. That thing isn't a dragon and has been plainly obvious that he's displeased to be here with us. We are all being hunted down by an enemy we stand no chance against, and yet he keeps insisting upon an answer to why he got dragged in." Looking at Darezen, he added, "Despite what you might think, this is tiring and hurting us as well. Watch what you say and stop bothering me." Zyrtec tightened his grip on Nylotte's arm and watched his brother closely, trust beginning to dissolve.

Darezen felt a tad guilty, and seeing the situation he bowed slightly and said, "I'm sorry."

Jarkko narrowed his eyes, then turned away after clicking his tongue. "Forget it. Keep going before we're caught." They were quiet for another few minutes, then Zyrtec started to fall, his eyes closing slowly.

Nylotte dived to catch him, then held him off the ground. "You can sleep, I'll carry you." He tried to smile but fell asleep too quickly for it to form, going a bit limp in her arms. Darezen was worried about Zyrtec, but something about Jarkko was distracting him all the time, setting off his danger senses constantly, especially when he smiled.

"We stressed him too much. Here, set him down and help me get the rest of the blood out." Jarkko tried to wave her over but she shook her head in refusal.

"I won't put him down. I said I'd carry him and I will."

"Uhm...if you'd let me, I can get it done for you," Darezen said nervously. When Jarkko didn't respond, he lifted his hand and created a bowl-shaped barrier, then used the other hand to form one that looked strange. Acting quickly and using his power in a way that sent chills down the dragons' spines, he filled the large clear bowl with black blood in a short period of time.

"Is there a reason you didn't help sooner?"

"You didn't seem to want my help…"

"That's idiotic. If you had a way to make it easier then you should've done so before my brother overexerted himself." Irritated, Jarkko avoided Darezen as he drenched himself and everyone else with it, not bothering to warn Darezen to hold his breath or have his eyes closed and dumped it on him without a word. He wiped at his eyes crazily and sputtered, caught off guard.

'It stings…' Rather than wait for him to finish, Jarkko started walking away, leaving the corpse behind.

Nylotte stopped him and asked, "We won't eat it?"

"No. It's what we used to cover our scent. While they'll be able to track us by following the blood, it's a simple fix."

"Really?"

"Yes. We just need to run through an entire herd of them and cause a stampede. That will trick them and they won't be able to know which one is us."

"Hold up a moment!" Darezen was tired of this. "I'm not a dragon, I won't survive that!"

"You have barriers."

"That doesn't mean anything here."

"Those 'meaningless' barriers were able to pin down a king among dragons for a short period of time. I'm certain it can handle these monsters that even Nylotte could easily kill." Once again he was ignored and Jarkko moved on, forcing them to follow after him. "Where did you find that one?"

Adjusting how she was holding Zyrtec first, she said, "Over those hills. There was a huge group of them."

"Then that's where we're going."

"But…"

Nylotte smiled at him and he paused. "Don't worry, I'll protect you. You're my brother's only friend after all, you're priceless. Just stay close to me." Jarkko sighed but didn't speak, leading them closer to the herd.

"Alright, remain in your human form to make sure the scent is still covered. If we return to our original form, it might get rid of the blood of the monster." Nylotte nodded to him as they moved along quietly, sneaking up on them. Observing for a while, Jarkko saw a gap open up when the larger bucks moved further away, then spat, "Now!" And bolted, the others following closely behind. This spooked a few of them, causing a ruckus quickly. As the monsters either panicked or tried to attack, they didn't slow down one bit and kept sprinting forward. Eventually everything descended into chaos when they got close to the center where the younger ones were, starting a stampede. Now forced to avoid their hooves, Nylotte stuck close to Darezen, who soon set up a barrier around everyone but Jarkko, who was too far ahead. They were knocked around way more than they liked before it all finally settled, the herd disappearing over the small number of hills. Darezen dropped his shield and fell to his knees, panting heavily.

"That was...difficult…"

"Are you okay? Zyrtec wouldn't forgive me if you're hurt." Nylotte crouched down next to him and scanned him silently, then got back up. "You look fine, just tired. Hey, Jarkko, what do we do now?"

"As much as I would like to have all the answers, I don't." He crossed his arms and looked at the ground in front of him. "We can either stay here where we can replenish the blood masking and struggle, or we can find another town and attempt to live there at the risk of being tracked by our scent."

"Maybe staying where we can always hide is better…"

Interrupting quickly before they could get any further with that decision, Darezen raised his hand and said, "The three of you are thirteen years old, right?" With Nylotte's nod, he continued, "Well, the capital was destroyed so we can't go to theirs, but what about attending a school in one of the smaller territories? I know where the king will be moving and it's to the neighboring town run by the duke. There's a school there."

"School? What's that?"

Jarkko sighed, tapping his foot. "A place where all the humanoid races go to learn things and form connections. Why would we go to one of those?"

Getting to his feet, Darezen chose to stand his ground. "Protection. It isn't that easy to infiltrate a place that's guarded after being attacked. They're going to be cautious for a few years and the security will be doubled. I'm not sure if you saw, but a few of the dragons were defeated by the royal soldiers, and now there's a group of them."

"Yes, they can kill fully grown dragons, and we still count as hatchlings. We haven't even become fledglings yet."

"But that's the entire point--"

"What do we do if they attack us? Plead innocence as they slaughter us?"

"No. If you don't want to be attacked, then don't give them reason to. It's as simple as that. I'm not sure how you see all of us but as long as you don't do what those other dragons did, you'll be left untouched. The royal soldiers only deal with threats to the kingdom or the king himself, they won't bother with the petty squabbles between simple guards and children."

"On what basis do you know that as a fact?"

Darezen frowned at him and shook his head. "Common sense. Did the king and his soldiers do anything to protect the people when that purple dragon crashed into the bunker? No, they fled while keeping the royalty shielded. Now, there's going to be more of them and all of them will be beside the king twenty-four-seven. Jarkko, I thought you were smarter than that, why are you so against it?"

"Because you're the one who suggested it. I don't trust you. You're the same race as all those other creatures. You weren't there when Nylotte saved a guard only for him to shout and try to stab her."

"It's clear that man was just scared. There's a battle going on and suddenly a dragon grabs you. Even you would lash out and not be sure who's friend or foe. Also, I'm not the same as them, I've been locked up and nearly enslaved because I'm no one race or the other, but two at the same time. There is a difference, and not every person is the same."

"If it was your idea I still won't."

Nylotte stepped between them when she saw Jarkko's hand clench. "Enough. Darezen, how old do you need to be to enter a school?"

"Fourteen."

Looking back towards Jarkko she said, "It's still a little under a year away. We can do both, right? I think we should wait for Zyrtec's opinion though." She was hesitant and didn't want to compete in a word game with Jarkko. 'Only Zyrtec and momma were able to make him back down completely all those times before.'

"He'll side with that thing without thinking about it." Nylotte scowled at him and he paused. "Fine. We'll let him wake up."