Written By MoonTideMyth
*Land of Monsters: Dragon Wings
Rain poured down in heavy sheets across the forest of KyKi. I pulled my fur cloak tighter around me. From where I stood under the large pine tree the rain looked as if would never stop. Groaning at my luck I pulled from inside my cloak a folded up map. I unfolded half the map. On different parts of the map I had circled certain areas. In these areas I was certain a family of dragons lived, with small hatchlings. My plan was to make my father proud of me, his youngest son. At the age of thirteen I had shamed my family and pack. To gain back my honor at the age of sixteen I left in search of the trust of a dragon's family. So I could be welcomed back to my family and also be a part of another family. Since I've had no luck a year has passed and another will soon pass on my life again. I folded up my map and placed it back into my cloak. There were two more dragon families in the regions around the Kyki forest. If I am lucky I will not have to travel across the sea. Looking out at the pouring rain I decided it was time to move. I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head and face. I turned around and stared at the way I had come and then turned my back on it. My gold eyes glinted in the dim light. With a roar I let my body shifted to match that of the fur cloak, the dark gray wolf. I hunched forward and I transformed into the wolf I was.
Hours passed as I raced through the forest, I raised my head and scented the forest. I turned to my right and continued to run. The rain stopped but my fur was still drenched and water streamed from it. My stomach growled but I ignored it, I was too far from any village to get anything to eat. Hunting also would take too much strength which I did not have. I slowed to a slow trot; I didn't want to scare the dragons in wolf form. If I did I knew I would be seen as a threat even though I was small in comparison to a large male dragon. I stretched and shifted back to human form. I left my wolf head/hood of the fur cloak over my face. I could hear the dragon nest before I reached it. I could hear the young dragons snapping at each other over who got the bone from last night's meal. I made sure I walked on a wide path and treaded with a heavy foot, so as to make my presence known to the adult dragons. I walked calmly as if nothing bothered me and that I acted as if they weren't there. It was a good sign that no adult dragon stopped me, so clearly I was allowed to see the hatchlings. I was no threat. I stopped walking instantly when I realized I could see all eight dragons, correction all nine. The family was living in a wide open clearing with a rocky cliff behind them.
Gazing around the clearing I recognized the male dragon at once; he was a large twenty-two foot tall gold dragon. He sat calmly watching me with amber cat eyes, what worried me was he was not lying down and he was alert. His claws were dug into the ground and his tail was curled around him flicking in what might have been annoyance. His wings were folded tightly against his back. Unlike many dragons I have seen, his face was not decorated with horns. When a male dragon does not have horns on their face or back it means they're a fire breather or have some sort of special gift. This frightened me, no wonder why I had been let so easily into their nest. I could be fried in seconds. His mate lay a few yards away from him. Her emotion was calm, though her eyes were open wide and watching me. Unlike her husbands fiery amber gaze her chilling green eyes froze me to the spot. On her forehead were two backward slanted ebony horns. Along her spine a row of the same ebony spikes which ran down all the way to her tail. One wing was gracefully spread over six of her offspring. Hiding them all from sight, except one. Resting on top of one of her father's clawed hands lay a small black dragon. As dark as her mother with the same slanting ebony spikes. She was too small I realized, a runt. She would never make it with this family. With six brothers and sisters to compete with for food, it was simply not done.
"What bringszz you to my home, wolf." A large voice boomed shaking the ground like a large thunder crash. I could tell the dragon's accent right away with the slurring Z's when an S is pronounced. I looked at the large male dragon.
"My name is Brandon Blood-Fang from the Caltery Valley Pack." I answer with a slight bow to the male dragon hoping to impress him. My efforts went unnoticed. The large male dragon didn't seem pleased by this… either that or he was stiff from sitting so still. He shifted his weight from his back legs to his front and then back to his back legs. He seemed to go from a thought of pouncing at me then deciding against it. His daughter who lay sleeping on his claws seemed to sense his movement and opened her large amber eyes. She lifted her head and yawned, her forked tongue sticking out and curling upwards before slipping back into her open mouth. With a snap of her jaws, she closed her mouth. She watched me, with an unwavering gaze. I looked at her mother who watched me closely, as if waiting for me to attack or do something. You could never tell with a dragon what they are thinking. That's why I left my hood up; being a wolf I usually let my emotions show on my face or with my body language.
"Brandon from Calterly Valley Pack, what bringszz you here?" A softer voice asked in a musical tone this time I saw who it came from. It was the mother her mouth was slightly open as if she was scenting the air like a cat would. Depending on the family where a dragon was raised varied their way of speech. Some dragons mover their whole mouth when they talk, like humans. Others like this mother spoke without moving her mouth. These dragons spoke by moving sound through their throats and out of their mouth. No need using their tongues to help them speak. These dragons had once been incapable of speaking until they learned the art of Breathing Words. I decided to answer her question with a careful choice of words.
"Well milady of this fine wood and clearing, I have come to ask to serve your fine family." I replied, hoping with all my might that word flattery would work on the female dragon. Instead it was not her who replied first. It was the male dragons booming laugh that interrupted any comment she might have made.
"Melinda!" The male dragon laughed, his mouth shaping each word. "Melinda, darling can you believe this fine wolf'szz flattery. Weaving his flattery like a szpider szpinszz a web!" At this Melinda, the mother dragon smirked or in my opinion it appeared to be a smirk. I pulled my hood down so they could see my face.
"Dear sir I only ask to help your family." I said letting my face turn red with embarrassment, hoping yet again they would take pity on me.
"Telka, pleasze let the lad try." Melinda turned her head looking at me not with cold green eyes but with warm summer grass kind of eyes. I knew at once it was not a welcoming look. To one foolish enough it would appear so but being around dragons a lot I knew she was laughing at me. They would test me and see if I was worthy enough to consider. Telka twisted his head around looking for thing to use as my test or maybe something that would give him an idea. His eyes settled on his runt of a daughter.
"Okay then, Brandon of Calterly Valley Pack, we shall let my oldeszt daughter decide if you are worthy." Using his other claws Telka lifted her from where she slept and with a swift movement deposited her away from him on the ground. She let out a squeak as she was woken suddenly to find herself on the ground. She looked even smaller sitting all alone. She spread her wings so to rearrange them on her back, that's when I noticed how her wings were so small and feeble. There were tears in the membrane of her wings; she would never fly if she lived. She stared at me with such confidence. What amazed me even more was the fact that she was the oldest of the hatchlings or well the oldest female. Telka and Melinda seemed to be waiting, would I strike this hatchling, or would I comfort her. I decided to comfort her. Walking slowly towards her with one hand outstretched I crooned soft words, hoping to at least win her favor.
"Be warned lad, szhe may appear szmall and young but her age is eleven. The firszt from our firszt brood of eggszz and the only one to live." I looked up at Melinda who had spoken. She had to be kidding this tiny runt was five years younger than me! There would be no way of convincing her.
I was finally close enough to touch her; I knelt on the dusty ground before her and stuck out my hand to touch her. Up-close she was the size of a Saint Bernard, she looked big but compared to a normal dragon she was tiny, especially for her age. I stroked one bare finger over the side of her face. It felt like was running my fingers over a heated polished rock. I shifted forward because a rock was digging into my knee. This brought be closer to the hatchling then I had intended. This did not seem to float well with her either because before I heard the warning snarl, she lunged at me. Her jaws caught me in my left shoulder and her right claws ripped down my right arm. I cried out in pain I could feel all her teeth buried into my fur cloak and biting into my flesh. It took only seconds, before she released and stepped back. My blood dripped from her fangs as she still snarled at me. Her face said anger, however her eyes said different. For the first time ever, I witnessed proof of a dragon's sorrow. One tear slid down her cheek sizzling away into mist on her heated black scales. She backed away slowly still snarling at me, till she was safe tucked against her mother's side. I touched my shoulder; it shocked me to see my fingertips painted red with my own blood. I felt weaker now; I could see the blood spilling from the wounds in my right arm.
"There is your anszwer wolf. You are not welcome here. Get out!" Telka roared fire licking from his open jaws as he roared at the sky. Quickly I pulled my wolf head hood of my cloak over my head and shifted painfully into a wolf. I fled from the clearing, I limped as I ran leaving a trail of blood and paw prints. That runt of a dragon changed my life, I could never return to my pack or my family. No dragon family would ever give me a chance now with the scars from a small dragon on me. I am now marked as an exile from dragon kind. They might believe that I had hurt that young or small dragon, thus deserving those marks. I was marked as dangerous, forever. So in the end I will sail over to the land Crepupod and take refuge where ever I can, in any region.