3 More Family Bonding

Pain. A sensation Destorianaxe was becoming intimately familiar with, greeted her when she awoke the next day. For laying down, ignoring her sites she had been fetched by her mother, dragged from the ledge and literally thrown down the path, beaten by her protector in the older dragons rage of being disobeyed. Cracking an eye carefully the young black dragon feigned her troubled sleep more as she carefully glanced around. Neither sires nor her brother seemed to be present.

As she rose on shaky legs her lean belly growled at her, the rumble audible enough to echo gently in the cave. How long had it been since she last ate? How long would it be before she could again? Slowly she circled the cave, trying to walk off the dull ache in her young body. She limped gingerly around the dark chamber wincing every time her body shifted on her injuries. She had thought the one called mother was a protector, how wrong she'd been!

Just like her father, mother had savagely beaten the young dragon for disobeying her commands. Thrown down the stone path then beaten until she lost conciousness. Only to awaken to the aches of her punishment. Glancing around warily, she noted the silence of the lair. No raving brother, no overbearing mother, no bloodthirsty father. Where was her, for lack of a better term, family? Staggering across the chamber the wyrmling made her way down the corridor, having the first chance to explore her home... or was it prison?

Rather than return to the subterranean gorge where she had experienced a great joy followed by greater suffering she followed the passage up. The damp air along with a trickle of water easily spoke of the weather outside. As the entrance loomed the peal of thunder rumbled all around the peak. The ledge she stood on overlooked a grim mountain range, rain slashed down through the open air though the cave mouth had been worked slightly so such weather would need to come from a very specific direction to enter the lair in any great amount.

Looking at the dark sky and foul weather she almost leapt out, but as her muscles tensed she felt her claws gripping the stone tightly. Ready to back a way a voice asked, "Don't you want to escape? That's your hearts desire is it not?"

Of course it was she chided herself, wanting to flee these savage sites and her insane brother was all she craved but she didn't know anything, her belly was empty and she feared this was a trap set by her sires to punish her again on the folly of trying to flee from what they claimed was her purpose.

"You're made of sterner stuff though, you survived what most were cowed by, you can fly. Freedom lays beyond that ledge, but only if you go swiftly."

Wasn't she listening to herself...? Wait. That wasn't the voice of her inner doubts arguing against her rational. Freezing in place, Destorianaxe turned her head slowly to regard a figure leaning casually against the mouth of the cavern entrance. Rain soaked part of his body, yet he seemed to pay no notice to it. Noticing her gaze the figure grinned slightly and waved, "Yes, hello there."

Blinking she looked curiously at this confusing creature. For the most part it looked like a dragon only its body was all wrong, rather than shaped like herself or her sires this one was smaller, more lean. It lacked a tail or wings. Oddest of all it stood on its hind legs and crossed its fore legs over its breast. While she was studying it, the creature had casually been wiping the wetness from its drenched half. "You know you could be neighborly and invite a guy in."

Destorianaxe blinked staring at it, "But you are already in..."

The creature chuckled indicating his soaked half, "Half, only half, be rude to barge fully into another's lair. So how about it? Invite me in before it starts raining cats and dogs again would you?"

Destorianaxe shook her head, her body moving to block the entrance of the cave mouth, "I don't even know who or what you are..."

Snapping his claws the figure looked as if realization had just blossomed inside his mind, "Ah silly me, well hard to say who and what I am, easiest consideration would be I'm your fairy godmother..." Throwing his arms wide trying to look majestic the creature blinked, "Wait, that sounds wrong, in a multitude of ways. Ah better yet I'm your Draconic Godfather... err... no, now i sound like a mob boss..."

Destorianaxe stared at the curious being as he rambled on lost in his own thoughts, growling low she was about to smack the thing when he looked off into the distance. "Oh bother. Sorry kid, times up. I'll try and distract them again in future just be ready to make your escape when it happens." Turning her head to look where it had looked Destorianaxe cringed seeing the two large black dragons in the distance, her brother flying somewhat unevenly in their wake. Looking back to the strange being she blinked for he no longer was there, not even the puddle that had formed under his unprotected side was gone as if he had not existed in the first place.

As she looked around her parents swooped down each with the carcass of a large animal in their jaws, the mother smacking Destorianaxe with the hind quarters of her carcass to push the wyrmling back down the cavern as her brother literally crashed onto the floor. "Sister!" He yelled but got the mother's tail along side his head, smacking him into the wall and slumping dazed to the ground.

Back in the main lair the father was sat back biting into the carcass he had brought in, watching the mother and daughter pair with barely disguised anger, but his anger was heightened when his son was not hot on their heels. Growling the large black dragon stalked back up the corridor. The mother dropped the carcass and began digging into her own meal. When Destorianaxe moved over, her mother growled and stared at her. "Those that hunt, eat. Sleepers get what vultures get."

Backing off Destorianaxe felt her belly rumble but did not try again to see if her mother would help her sate her hunger. She crept even further back as the father stalked back in dragging her unconcious brother by his tail before resuming his own food. The older dragon stared at her with undisguised contempt, though some of that was also aimed at his heir who apparently had also failed to hunt anything.

Curling back up Destorianaxe watched the two older dragons gorge themselves. When her brother awoke, their father snorted and pushed some of his carcass to him. She looked hopeful but his dark gaze told the tale well enough that this exception was for her brother alone. Glancing to mother, the large female snarled at her daughter making Destorianaxe lower her head. When mother was finished she took the remains back up the cavern, snatching up what her brother was nibbling on half heartedly.

Destorianaxe watched as even the scraps were to be denied her and curled up even tighter upon herself, she could feel her brother eyeing her and she kept herself alert. While the pain of hunger rumbled through her she would not give any of them the satisfaction in denouncing her further if she complained of it. Still she gave her mother a withering look when the large female returned, curling up even tighter on herself.

The evening past in relative silence, their father spoke to her brother some but her mother seemed to pay her little attention, even compared to the day prior the adult dragon seemed relatively more distant from her daughter. Destorianaxe couldn't figure it out, but with father and brother conspiring she knew something had been decided while they were out, and whatever that something was, would not be in her best interest. Likely, from the denial of food, they hoped to weaken her enough for her brother to recover his supposed dominant position but eyeing the wastrel of a wyrm, even suffering from hunger she could not find it in herself to fear anything he did. Now if father helped him, things would get bad fast, she held little imagination in trying to thwart either of her parents more developed strengths.

The night past in a tense silence, sleep evaded her, ever aware that her parents including now her mother seemed less inclined to protect her, so much like the birthing pit keeping an eye on her brother was now a vast priority. Then of course was the protest of her belly, it had been over a full day since last she ate. Between her flying lesson and the beating she received her body was in desperate need of nourishment. When morning finally came the larger dragons rose, the father nudging her brother awake with some difficulty, even going so far as to slap the sluggish youth with his tail to jar him from slumber. The mother looked towards Destorianaxe who slowly rose under the mixed gazes.

"Good, hunger is often the best teacher daughter. Today is hunting, as before, you eat what you can catch. You catch nothing, your belly goes unfilled. Understood?" The female commented off hand.

Destorianaxe nodded simply trying to keep a quiver out of her limbs, if the father or her brother saw her weak she knew the night to come would be filled with far more pain than just hunger and worry. As seemed normal the males lead the ascent to the exit with father taking the lead, brother was behind often glancing back eagerly towards Destorianaxe who followed behind mother, so distracted he almost walked right off the cliff after father took wing launching out into the mist choked daybreak.

Stumbling her brother nearly fell before mother reached out and pulled him back so he could take off properly. Mother then soared out into the sky leaving Destorianaxe as the last to leave. Looking into the vast sky she glanced aside to where the strange being had been. Fairy godmother, draconic godfather... whatever you name yourself, help me... Her thoughts went out before taking a few steps back and launching out into the open sky.

Had she turned back to look a slender draconic figure stood in the mouth of her families lair watching her move through the air. Then nothing, just a silent cave dotting the mountain peak.

Destorianaxe felt free for the first time in days, to feel the chill upper air washing over her tender scales was like a cool bath that cleansed her of her fatigue, it could not help with the hunger, but she felt greatly refreshed even as she struggled to keep up with her family. Father and mother were easily ahead with brother often sinking low in the air, it seemed like most instincts catching updrafts eluded his tiny mind and more often than not saw his altitude faltering.

Destorianaxe shook her head, sometimes she wondered just why she should be afraid of her brother. While he was undeniably stronger than her, he was mostly a brute of little intellect. Using her speed and cunning, avoiding a lumbering dullard shouldn't be THAT challenging. Still there was her father to consider, while her blood memories seemed to say the surviving brother and sister were a mated pair it was not a forgone expectation that a more fit male might try to claim her with her brother proving to be wanting in their bloodline.

Shuddering she shifted in the air, focusing on faster currents in the air to sweep past the males and catch up with her mother. The larger dragon only glanced at her briefly before pointing down. Destorianaxe swept her gaze below then back, the mountains of her home seemed so distant now, lost in the joy of flying and her own thoughts their travel had covered a great deal of ground. A swampy forest now stretched around the ground. It seemed this would be the place to hunt, but what was she to hunt? Her mother did not elaborate as she caught a faster current and swept off into the distance, from even this height Destorianaxe could see what looked like open grasslands over that way, seemed they would hunt in different spots.

Slowly circling, she swept her gaze across the murky landscape wondering what constituted food out here?