pt. 2

<Year 13>

After a year of training, they had gotten much stronger and the other two had been included eventually. It turns out they were practicing using Jarkko's abilities and smarts to guide Nylotte so she could use hers properly. Jarkko had also been learning how to convey what he finds during a fight without being seen and how to keep his distance. Now, the entire family of dragons was outside, quite a ways away from the town. At the moment, Zyrtec and Qlome were sparring as their mother had commanded, saying the winner would get more food than the other. Nylotte watched the two of them block each other's strikes, wishing she could join in. Noticing this, Jarkko offered her his plate. "You should eat too."

She glanced at it and sighed, "I know...it's just that it's boring sitting here while they get to fight."

"Nylotte! In that case, wanna switch with me?" Qlome broke away and waved to her, insisting that she should join. "I'll eat your share~."

"Really?! Switch with me right now!" She surged to her feet and ran over, shoving him to the side so she could take his place. "Out of my way! Alright! Bring it Zyrtec!"

"Qlome…" He glared at his brother but Qlome just grinned and sat next to Jarkko. "I'll have to torment you in your dreams for a while."

Qlome jolted and looked at him in shock. "Why?! Don't misuse that telepathic power you maniac!"

"It's my power, I can do what I want with it."

"Hey, don't forget I'm here!" Zyrtec immediately rolled out of the way without even trying to look at her, watching as her clawed hands sliced at the air.

Blocking her next strike, he channeled magic into his arms and blasted her back several feet. "How could I possibly forget you? You battle junkie…" She loved fighting more than almost anything else and had even begun to learn martial arts within the past year.

"Is that what I am? Have I gotten better then?" They traded blows until Zyrtec had to twist to escape and create a momentary pause.

"Of course you have!" He ducked under her next swipe and tackled her by the waist, forcing her to fall backwards and sitting on her to keep her pinned down, holding her wrists above her head against the grass with both hands.

"How kind of you!" She struggled and almost broke free, but then his eyes glowed red and his strength increased by a small margin, but it was just barely enough to keep her pinned.

Aztoria smiled at them and said, "Alright, that's enough. Zyrtec won this time." Hearing his mother, he sighed and let go of her wrists, sitting upright with a tired expression.

Nylotte just laughed and crossed her arms under her head for a pillow. "I love fighting against you, Zyrtec! So much fun! You're the only one who wins against me!"

He laughed nervously, "I've won, what, 23 times out of 356?"

"Yeah, isn't it great?! Everyone but momma has either not won at all or just once!" Getting off her so she could get up, he held out his hand and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

"You haven't been focusing on that footwork stuff." While she had started just one style of martial arts, he was learning bits and pieces from each fighting style he could find. He wasn't able to learn every part of it very well yet, but he could combine the small amounts he did know to help him.

"Why should I? I don't attack with my feet, just my claws."

"Because you could be tripped or tackled like I just did."

"Hmmm...fine! I'll learn one of them but if that doesn't help then I won't learn any of them at all!" She put her hands on her hips and stood proudly, then went back over to the others with Zyrtec following close behind.

Their mother handed him a plate of meat. "Here you go. Since the opponent changed, you get more than I promised."

He eyed it unsurely, his stomach not quite approving of the meal choice when looking at it. "Thanks momma, but I'm not really hungry…"

She watched him look away and hang his head, then pulled him closer, making him sit next to her as he panicked. "You need to eat. If you don't want any meat, then have some of my blood."

"I don't want any." Part of him wanted to accept, but the more he thought about it, the more it upset him. Why did he have to drink blood in the first place? At least he could still eat other food, but...it never left him feeling completely full, as if a tiny space was left that he just couldn't fill.

She sighed at him, then let him escape from her. "Fine. We'll have to talk a bit later." They went back to eating, Nylotte shouting about how she would destroy Zyrtec the next time and Qlome begging Zyrtec to not torment him. Aztoria kept a close eye on her children, glad they were so happy now. It pained her when she remembered how their life used to be, when their faces were full of misery instead of joy. 'I'm thankful for this, but I should've left a long time ago. It's just...I couldn't. They needed me, and then Zyrtec almost died. What do I do now?' With no clue what to do next, she just sat there and watched them with a smile. The wind changed direction after a while of chatting, a scent carried to them. They all froze in place, each turning to look towards the origin, all except Zyrtec. His eyes were wide and he was quivering uncontrollably, a deeply held fear returning to him.

Approaching quickly, a green one-eyed dragon came to a stop above them with a nasty smirk. "Oh Aztoria~, I said I'd return for that child of yours. Ah, and, it turns out someone was looking for you." His face was twisted with cruel pleasure over the horror on her face.

Standing firmly, she shouted, "Falthgir! I should've killed you back then!"

"Indeed you should've, but you already missed your chance," He sneered.

A large purple dragon with black wing membranes came into view seemingly out of thin air, scowling at her as Falthgir moved out of the way for him. "You, Aztoria, should've died a long time ago. How dare you mate with my younger brother and not with me! You said it's what you wanted, that you would obey, but then you disappeared and him with you."

Zyrtec, his attention mostly drawn to the new male dragon, came to a realization. 'All of us have black wing membranes, even me, but momma doesn't. Didn't that have some sort of meaning?'

Her voice hitched as she screamed, "Who are you to speak of him! You killed your younger brother with your own talons, how dare you show up in front of me again! Royal or not, I won't follow your commands! You can't control me!"

He narrowed his eyes at her and she flinched. "Look at you, taking the form of such lowly creatures and denying your lifeblood." His gaze cast over the four children with a frown. "I take it those are the spawn of my foolish brother."

A chill ran down her spine and she rushed to stand in front of them, holding out her arms to the side to shield them. "Don't you touch them or I'll rip off your wings myself!"

"Zastair, I want the one with the white hair."

"Do as you wish Falthgir. It's time for Aztoria to learn her lesson." His wings flared as his magic gathered to a point at his jaws. Sensing this, she shapeshifted back into her original form immediately and covered her kids, blocking the wind-powered fire that blasted from his mouth with tremendous power. Falthgir slipped in from the side and bit her tail as hard as he could, then pulled with as much strength as he could manage. She shrieked in pain and her wings flailed around trying to protect her body.

"Momma!" Nylotte was all over for a moment, stressing in front of her mother's snout.

Jarkko grabbed her shoulder to make her stop. "Nylotte, do what we practiced and hit them with the loudest scream you have." She stared at him, then nodded, shapeshifting as well and finding an open space near the base of her mother's neck. In the split second that the wing moved out of the way, she took the deepest breath she could. Jarkko placed his hands on his ears and the others followed after, just in time for a terrifying release of sound. Amplified by wind magic and the positioning of her wings, her scream created a shockwave that uprooted far off trees and was accompanied by the snapping of wing joints. With a thud, Zastair fell from the sky and pawed at his ears, raising his broken wings to cover his head while Falthgir had already let go and rolled away.

When she ran out of breath, she almost fell over and Qlome hurried to catch her. "I'm sorry, that's all I can do right now."

"That's all we needed." Aztoria scooped them all into her front paws and took off, bolting skyward. Zastair roared furiously, Falthgir the only one able to pursue. A group made up of a mix of grays and purples dived from the clouds above them to intercept, blocking them from the front. Snarling, she ducked her head to herself and drew her children in closer, ramming through them forcefully without slowing, new rips and tears forming across her scales from their attacks.

Enraged, Zastair bellowed, "Knock her from the sky! All of them!" Wind pummeled them in many forms, accompanied by claws, tails, wings, and snapping fangs. Being crushed from every direction, the dragons grabbed what they could to stop her flight, eventually forcing her to half completely. Rolling in so that her children were inside a protective ball, she hissed at her attackers threateningly.

When a couple of them backed off, remembering the last fight with her, she dropped the young dragons altogether, shouting, "Fly! If you won't fly away then get help! Just leave!" Jarkko and Qlome shifted, but Zyrtec only made wings from his back, not focused enough to do much more with Falthgir nearby. Another reason was so he could speak to ones that knew his human form.

"Catch the filthy spawn of that dragoness!" A few broke off from the circle around Aztoria, leaving to fulfill yet another command from their leader.

Looking at his siblings, Zyrtec thought to them, '(Listen to me.)' Each one jolted but then only seemed to speed up even more. '(If you have allies in this kingdom then approach them in the form they know you best and plead with them. Jarkko, does that sound like something that could help?)'

'(I'm not so sure. Only talk to ones that you can trust with your life and have the strength to actually do something, whether that be connections or their own power.)' Zyrtec repeated this to the rest and they all agreed, splitting up and copying Zyrtec's form. The dragon's following them hesitated when the four of them dived directly into the city and hid among the people there, the guards making a fuss over the appearance of dragons. Sticking to the shadows while both the guards and the dragons were distracted, Aztoria's children all began their search. Nylotte and Qlome were struggling the most, having only made temporary friends with people that were normal. Jarkko thought about speaking to the mages, but was hesitant. As for Zyrtec, he had a few in mind, but didn't think any of them would completely understand.

While peeking out from an alley and watching, Zyrtec was at a loss. '(Have any of you found someone yet?)' With each one replying they didn't, he sighed and leaned against the wall. '(Not even Jarkko? seriously?)'

'(What does that mean?!)'

'(Didn't you have that guild of mages you were talking with?)'

'(Yeah, but I suspect they'd sooner just study us and the fight than help with it.)'

'(Alright.)' Now that he thought about it...a mage. That one friend that followed him everywhere. 'And I only just got them to stop doing that so much with that carving. Fine…' Tracing his steps, he made a different turn and went to the shopping section of the city, searching for the person he'd remembered quietly.

"Zyrtec! What brings you here?! Hey, did you hear about the dragons fighting just outside the walls?!" Someone grabbed his shoulders from behind and turned him around to face them.

Relieved he had found them, Zyrtec said, "Darezen." This person was half beastkin and half elf, with blonde hair and fox tail while having the ears of an elf. Normally, one with beastkin blood wouldn't be too great of mages but he had elf mixed in and was quite capable, holding the rare spacial magic.

"Yes~?" His slitted dark blue eyes shone with joy that Zyrtec wasn't trying to run.

"I need your help."

"Oh? With what?"

"My family is in danger. My momma is going to be killed and then me and my siblings."

"Seriously?!"

"Yes, I need your magic to help."

"Why are you still talking?! If you need my help then start going already!"

Zyrtec nodded to him and led him back behind the shops and houses to keep out of sight, Darezen following obediently. 'He kept the carving.' In fact, he had tied a string around the sturdiest part of it then put it around his neck. '(I found a spacial magic user that wants to help. I'll be listening for you so think my name when you need to get me again.)' They all gave words of recognition. In a low voice, he said, "I need to tell you something first, before we get there."

"What is it?"

"We aren't human."

"Ah, well, I mean, you don't exactly act like a human, and in the first place you don't smell like one. So what, are you hybrids the kingdom doesn't approve of?"

"No, originally we weren't humanoid in the first place."

"Then what are you?"

"Dragons." Darezen almost fell over for a moment but didn't slow, just looked shocked, borderline terrified.

"Uhm...d-dragons? You're a dragon?"

"Yes. My momma made an enemy we didn't know before we hatched and they found her so now we're going to die."

"That's...a bit...well, doesn't really change who you are though." Darezen had been through prosecution for being a hybrid and could be more accepting than was safe sometimes. "I'll help if you can tell me how…"

'(Jarkko, I need you to tell me what to do. What do I ask of him?)' After a brief answer, Zyrtec stopped behind one of the larger shops near the gate. "I'll carry you. When I do, you need to create a space for my momma and the rest of us that the dragons can't enter."

"Ah...that's quite a bit you're asking of me. I'm not sure I can do that but I guess I'll try."

"That's all you need to do." Shapeshifting completely, he looked down at his friend from a crouched position and said, "Either get in my paws or grab my neck." Darezen nodded nervously and went over to the white dragon, pulling himself up to be just behind his head at the top of his long neck.

"Uh...shouldn't I sit further down…?"

"You won't be able to get close enough from there. Just hold on." Tensing his hind legs, he bounded upwards, flaring his wings and heading skyward with great power. 'He's heavier than I expected…' It caused a slight strain on his wings, still too young to fly properly with added weight. Darezen shouted in alarm and hugged his arms and legs around Zyrtec's neck, holding on for dear life.

'His scales are so hard to hold onto...in the first place, he's a dragon? I knew he wasn't human, but to be a creature many view as mere animals...this is so strange.' The nearby roars of the larger dragons made him shake a bit, unsure if this was a good idea. Zyrtec flew past the attackers quickly, smirking at them as they got even more entangled with nets.

"Darezen, be ready, we're almost there." Furling the outside edges of his wings, he created funnel shapes from wind in front of his nose, effectively speeding up. 'I'm doing what you told us momma. I got help since I wouldn't run. How much it'll help is uncertain, but we're almost there to help you momma.'