Okay, so Jayfeattheris Awesome has gone to the store. This is my perfect chance to re-post a fic without her knowing it. Well, she'll probably find out almost immediately, but who cares.
Smaug flew over the valley, the wind under his wings. To his right, his mother flew, her dark green scales shining in the sun. To his left was his older brother, Clicks, who had green scales as well, only they were a slightly lighter shade. Smaug was the only one that had inherited the red-golden brown scales of their father.
He had two other siblings, back at the nest. His sister, Jade, who had born in the same hatching as him. And the newest member of the family, Frilla, who was only a year old. Under any other circumstances, Jade would be out hunting with them. But there had been a thunderstorm last night, and Frilla was still frightened. So, Jade had volunteered to watch their sister while they hunted.
Today, they were going to be hunting in a very dangerous area; the human farm. It was dangerous because they had hunted there many times a since Smaug and Jade had been hatched, and because of their frequent raids, their parents had been met with black arrows during the winter of Frilla's hatching. The dwarvish windlance bows had been installed after their last visit, and their father had been killed after taking an arrow for Clicks, who had joined them to help carry the prey back to the nest.
Clicks had been the only one to make it to hatching because while he was still in his egg, a rival male had challenged their father. Their father had won, so, under the cover of darkness, the rival dragon had snuck into the nest and had almost smashed all of the eggs before their father had woken up and killed him. Only Clicks' egg had survived, and he had been named because from the day of the attack, he had been constantly clicking on the shell of his egg, all the way up until the day he hatched.
Frilla had been the only survivor of her hatching because, after the death of their father, the humans had thought that without a guardian, that they would be able to smash all of the remaining eggs and prevent the dragon population from returning. Except, they hadn't been counting on Jade, as she tended to hunt out of sight of the village. She had fallen asleep that night with one eye half open, and had woken from a light slumber to find the humans jabbing their spears into the eggs and killing her un-hatched siblings. As one could expect, Jade's rage was unrelenting, and she had hunted the surviving humans for three whole days before finding and killing them in a cave near the river. Frilla and one other egg had survived, but the other dragonet had tried to fly too early, and had fallen to his death.
She and Smaug had been the only two to have hatched in a clutch of four eggs. A volcano had erupted that year, and the fumes and ash that had been shot into the air had made the egg shells soft, killing the babies inside. Jade was smaller than him now, but she would eventually be large enough to snap his neck with one bit. Female dragons were larger than males because they had to protect their eggs, and in dragon flocks, females that were of age would sometimes fight each other over a male if they were challenged.
Either way, he was not too eager for the day when Jade would see him as a threat instead of a brother. The same went for Clicks and Frilla. Clicks. Most male dragons would have left to have a life of their own by Clicks' age. The only thing keeping him around was probably Frilla, who still had a long way to go until she could hunt on her own. Ever since the death of their father, Clicks had taken it upon himself to make sure that all of his siblings made it to adulthood; even if it meant sticking around Smaug, who would normally be seen as a rival male, even though he still had a few years until he was full grown.
But for now, Smaug was just glad that his brother was still here. He and Jade had always idolized Clicks and their father, and he was proud to have such a loyal dragon as his brother. Clicks' wing brushed his own, bringing him back to the present.
"Three west, five south, eight to the east, and two north. How many do you think we can handle?" Clicks told him. He was talking about the sheep in the field that they could now see in the distance.
" Three load, but five if we can manage. You take point, mum to the east, I'll take west." He answered, using the short speaking that Clicks had taught him. It was important for any dragon hunting party to be able to communicate a strategy quickly, for many dragons didn't often hunt alone in their first few years away from their parents.
"Good plan. You're getting better." Clicks praised," Alright, let's get in quick, and get out even quicker. We don't want any injuries. Smaug, draw fire; you're the fastest flyer. I'll drop load to mum, and blast a signal when we're through."
"Be careful." Smaug's mother told him, before veering off the east with Clicks.
All right. I've got to be careful now. Even if I don't get hit someplace vital, the blood'll still freak Frilla out. Humans were excellent marksmen. It was impossible to not get hit by a black arrow, but as long as he flew with his wings tucked in a bit, it would be too hard for them to hit his heart. It would still hurt really badly, because his wing membrane would be ripped through. But the hit would make the arrow too slow to damage his belly, so he would still be alive.
He dove down, swooping past one of the towers, hitting it with his wing. Ow! It was a lot more painful hitting the tower than he thought it would be. I'm definitely not doing that again! He soared upwards, and then back flipped and barrel rolled into another dive. He could see a dwarvish windlance, aimed at his belly.
It fired, and he barrel rolled to the side to avoid it. He felt the black arrow scrape his wing, and it felt as if a claw had just cut him to the bone. At the lowest part of his dive, he blasted fire on the tower the arrow had come from, and he saw a human jump from it to avoid the flames. They're not too bright, are they? I would rather burn than break my ribs.
Unfortunately, he had been so distracted by the idiot human, that he had flown too low, and found himself crashing head-first into another windlance tower. He lost control of his balance, and instead of sliding on his belly, his hind legs flew up into the air, and he found himself lying on his back in the middle of a town, with the windlance tower collapsed on his neck.
He lay there a moment, trying to catch his breath, and found himself looking into bright eyes. Her eyes were wide, green, and terrified, and for a horrible moment, he thought he was seeing Frilla, until he noticed that it was not his little sister, but a human girl. She screamed, and he couldn't help but imagine that it sounded like the scream that Frilla had made during the thunder storm.
"Go. Run youngling. This is not the day for your life to end." He found himself telling her.
The child just looked at him, bewildered, until she seemed to snap out of her trance, and ran away. Now, he noticed how uncomfortable it was to lay on top of buildings. He looked up, and could see a windlance tower, with the black arrow aimed at his stomach. He struggled, thrashing his wings, twisting his hips, and scrabbling with his paws to get up. Her felt a new, fiery pain flash through his side. As he finally got to his feet, he looked at his side, to see the shaft of a black arrow poking through his wing membrane, with the head imbedded in his side. He hissed at the wound, and blasted fire at the tower before taking off, more pain searing through him as his wing membrane tore because of the wound.
He looked towards the field of sheep just in time to see Clicks drop two dead sheep on their mother's back. She was already carrying two in her claws, and one in her jaw. They had room for five more, if Clicks hunted more, and it looked as if he was going to.
Smaug went into another dive, aiming to destroy another tower. Except, he was so focused on that tower, he didn't notice the one to his left. It was too late, before pain flashed through his tail as the black arrow pierced the end of it. He roared with pain for the first time since he began his attack, as the arrow had pierced through either side of his tail tip. Worse, the new weight and completely non-aerodynamic shape of his tail tip began to unbalance him, and he had to flap unevenly and franticly in order to stay aloft.
His mother, not too far away and hearing his cry, burst into action, her maternal instincts kicking in. He watched as she rushed head-on towards the tower that had shot him. He watched, as she dropped the sheep that they had collected for their next meal. So he watched, as a black arrow pierced through her chest, and sent her plummeting towards the ground.
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