Chapter 1
"The queen wishes to see you." A voice demanded making the Nightscale it addressed startle out of a rather enjoyable nap.
The night it had just endured had been traumatic, with many more lives lost than usual during the raid. Humans were easy enough to deal with but taking their resources and trying to survive at the same time could prove difficult even for the genetically gifted. This particular group of humans had been troubling for some time.
Unlike others in the area they had stayed put, despite their food source being constantly plundered and the Nightscale couldn't help but wonder why. He figured that, either stubbornness or downright stupidity, it didn't matter so much why, so long as they kept the hive healthy and the Queen happy. Speaking of which.
"Can I ask why she has requested me?" He asked the voice. It belonged to a plump looking dragon called a Gravelgut, she flittered her wings about in nervousness as the Nightscale stretched out his wings.
"Something about the most recent raid I think." She replied with a sharper tone. She didn't enjoy being questioned about things she didn't know. "It's urgent." She hurried when the Nightscale stared longingly back to his charred piece of stone.
"Fine." He sighed padding forwards to the nearest of the nests plummeting edges. He spread his wings and confidently let them catch the upwards draft to start the flight off with a glide. The Gravelgut took off after him with not nearly as much grace but she still managed to catch up to him in a short amount of time.
"Hurry now." She rushed, "the queen is expecting you as soon as possible." The Nightscale rolled his eyes sarcastically but quickened his pace ever so slightly so as not to offend the other. He knew it wasn't her fault. The queen could be a handful at the best of times.
He wondered what this was all about. Was she not satisfied with what she had gotten this raid? He had thought that maybe she would be understanding with the amount of casualties this time around but perhaps that wasn't the case. He sighed, silently begging to whoever it was that would listen, to make the worst punishment he could get an extra shift on scouting and raids. That he could handle. A bitten off wing or a tailfin? That was something he couldn't.
He'd have to tread lightly around this one.
It wasn't long after this thought that the Gravelgut came to a halt in front of a glowing pit of lava. She let herself fall slightly to a ledge not so far from the pit where a small pack of dragons was huddled around something small and covered in human items. Curiously the Nightscale curled his head sideways trying to get a better look at the thing. What was it?
"Nightscale." He jumped.
"My queen." He addressed. While he was focused on the thing she had emerged from the pit - smouldering blobs of molten rock dripping from the horns covering her back.
"I'm thankful for you coming so quickly though the crowd of others I have not summoned is something I am not as thankful for." She raised her voice to a higher octave and the dragons scattered.
The Nightscale landed thankfully and began to inspect the object. He sniffed at it curiously.
It was some kind of soft thing wrapped up in a furred skin. It seemed to be a canine of some sort from the smell. Perhaps a wolf.
The Nightscale prodded his nose harder into the thing trying to see what it was and jolted backwards when it moved. The skin fell away at the wrapped up seam revealing a sweet-smelling, pink, human hatchling.
"My queen?" The Nightscale questioned uncertainly.
The queen sighed, irritation clear in her voice. "An idiot of a twin-head brought it to me as a prize. We can't give it back but we cannot eat it so I'm in a bind as to what to do."
"And... If I'm so bold as to ask, my queen. Why do you need me?" The Nightscale asked nosing the human hatching once more. He stared up at him with brilliant green eyes; not an ounce of fear in them. It was unnerving.
"I have two options." She stated. "Kill it." The Nightscale grimaced inwardly, "or allow it a chance at a pure life."
"How do you mean a pure life?" He brought his head up to meet the queens eyes.
"There is more to this world than meets the eye my Nightscale. I have power in me that would allow me to change the form this one takes. He would be part of our nest and we shall take care of him. Allow him to be one of us. A pure entity like us instead of a filthy, murderous human."
The Nightscale swallowed and looked back to the human. It was waving it's stubby little arms around trying to reach for his nose again. He lent down and let it grasp him with it's pathetically helpless digits. It was hard to believe something as sweet as this could be described as murderous.
"Would he survive my queen?" He asked softly.
"That is why I am having trouble deciding. It is not guaranteed that he has the strength needed in his body to be able to take the change properly. If he survives he may be disfigured and mutated. He may even revert one day. But I should hope he is strong enough."
"Where will he stay? If he is changed now it is past hatchling season. He would have no others like him around."
"He will stay with you." The queen insisted. "you tire of being alone I understand that. With this little one you may not have to be so alone."
"You're asking me to be a guardian my queen?" The Nightscale said timidly not daring to take his head away from the gentle pats the hatching was giving him.
"Yes. Do you accept?"
He thought for a moment. "If I say yes, my queen, will you not hesitate to change him now?"
"Do you accept?" The Queen asked again, with a little more force.
A moment of silence passed. The Nightscale thought to himself. He looked to the hatchling with the big green eyes.
"I accept."
With that the hatchling began to scream and the Nightscale lept back in surprise.
The hatchling was morphing and changing before his very eyes. He whined in pity as the queen worked her magic over the young thing.
The screaming became louder getting more and more dragon like as the body stretched and contorted into a mutilated halfling. Neither man nor dragon.
The Nightscale had to look away. He whined timidly at the horrific screams wishing he could do something himself to ease the little one's pain.
It continued. Screams getting louder and louder, more horrific and dragon like until finally they stopped. The queen panted looking pleased with her work. The Nightscale nervously turned around. He sighed in relief. No mutilation had befallen the pup.
It squeaked out a scared little shrek. Nervous around it's sudden lack of sight. The Nightscale breathed out a coo to the little one trying to comfort it somehow.
Being the last of his kind he didn't know much but he did know that Nightscales were hatched with their eyes closed. It took over a human month for them to see and hear properly.
The Little one hiccuped out a reply. Scared and nervous but less so now that it felt the Nightscales head nuzzling into his.
"Take care of him." The queen said softly. The spell had cost her more energy than she had bargained for. "It took a lot to get him like that. I won't have him coming out wrong."
"I'll do my best, my queen." The Nightscale said softly. Most of his attention now on the hatchling who had somehow gotten the hiccups from it's recent scare.
The Nightscale laughed out a gentle purr and nipped at the back of his neck to make sure the scruff was safe enough to carry him by.
The queen sighed and sunk back into the depths of her rancid magma pit. Once she was gone the Nightscale hooked his sheathed gums around the pups scruff and took off back to his stone.
It had only been mere moments but he already knew he would give his own life to protect his pup.
His little hiccup.