You never told us the forest was infested
"Rachel? Rachel! Yo! Rachel!"
The yell dragged her from a peaceful sleep, and she growled under her breath as she rose her head and peered through the white curtain of her hair at Erica, who was standing above her, framed by bright sunlight. "Wha?"
"It's morning!" Erica said cheerfully, beaming at her friend. She was dimly aware of the bleary look of annoyance from Draco as the dragon cracked an eye open to glare at her, but decided to conquer that little hurdle later on.
Rachel groaned and tried to move closer to Draco, fully intending to just go back to sleep. "This is payback for last night, isn't it?"
"You bet!" The other teen grinned as she bent down and grabbed her friend's arm with one hand, her hair with the other. "C'mon! Get up!"
"Erica, if you don't let go of my hair, you are going to be in a very large, very densely populated world of hurt."
"Oh, is that all?"
I will not kill my best friend. I will not kill my best friend.... Stifling the urge to scream, Rachel carefully pulled herself to her feet and hopped over Draco's foreleg before walking right up to Erica and glaring at her, baring her fangs in a silent snarl. "Happy now?"
Blinking at the rather dangerous tone of the teen's voice, Erica nodded quickly then backed away, putting as much distance between herself and Rachel as she could without leaving the campsite.
Muttering a curse under her breath, Rachel dropped to the ground where she stood and shifted to sit lotus-style, lowering her face into her hands with a drawn out groan before throwing herself backwards to lie on the dirt. And I was hoping to sleep in today.... A growling yawn caught her attention, and she tilted her head back a little more to look up at Draco while he stretched slightly, extending both wings as he arched his back, talons digging into the ground for a moment before he sighed and relaxed, turning his attention to the camp. "You look way too awake."
He glanced down at her and chuckled. "One of us has to be. Erica? Have you seen Bowen?"
"Yeah. He headed into the bushes about five minutes ago. Tripped over Kara in the process," the teen grimaced. "I woke up to the yelling."
Rachel yawned and forced herself to sit up again before she fell asleep, reaching up to trail her nails through her hair until she had worked out all the tangles and starting to braid it. "Next time, let the rest of us sleep in."
"But I like to share," Erica teased, rolling her eyes when she saw what Rachel was doing. Sighing, she walked over to her and knelt behind her, swatting her hands aside. "You're doing it all crooked. Here, hold still."
Draco smiled as he looked from the two girls to the knight that had just stumbled out of the bushes. "Good morning, Bowen."
"Is it?"
The terse reply make him blink and he sighed as he copied Rachel's current posture and propped his head up on his fisted right claw. "It's going to be one of those days."
"You know," Rachel muttered, looking at Bowen as he moved to grab his sword, then cursed and clutched at his right shoulder, "I could just Heal that."
He shot a look of distrust at her, then scowled and forced himself to draw the blade, doing a few practice moves despite the ache in his shoulder. "It's fine."
Erica rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. As if we believe that." She finished the last few twirls of the braid and reached into her pocket, grabbing her last hair elastic and deftly tied it around Rachel's hair before giving the braid a final tug. "All done."
"Oh, thanks!" She rose her hands and trailed her fingers over the braid, grinning in relief as she tucked the shorter wisps of her hair behind her ears. "Okay, I'm as awake as I'm going to get. We heading to another village or what?"
"Might as well," Bowen grumbled as he tied his belts around his waist, then resheathed his sword, his left hand moving to rub at his wounded shoulder afterwards.
Draco sighed inaudibly and let his gaze fall on the knight. More than his shoulder had been wounded yesterday, that much was obvious, and he was only making things worse by pretending otherwise. Rustling of bushes drew his attention, and he mustered up a smile when he saw Kara pick her way around a boulder to rejoin them. "I was wondering where you had gone to. Sleep well?"
"Yes. Considering."
Rachel exchanged curious glances with Erica when they both caught the scathing glare Kara sent at Bowen before they both sighed and got to their feet. "Well if you lot aren't hungry, fine." She smirked and hopped over the nearly extinguished fire and snatched the bow and quiver that was lying on the ground next to Bowen's shield. "I'll bring it back."
"You'd better," he growled.
"You shouldn't look at people like that," Erica called back to the knight as she and Rach headed into the forest. "One day your face will stay that way."
There's a frightening thought, Draco mused, barely managing to hide his mirth. Granted, his good mood withered quickly once he picked up on Kara and Bowen's new conversation. She still has her heart set on that rebellion. And of course, right now, Bowen is still smarting from Einon's confession. Why couldn't I have just ended it all before things escalated to this? He sighed and looked away from the two humans, wincing at Bowen's sharp remarks about how Kara would only succeed in getting herself hanged if she tried to rouse her village into rebelling.
Finally, after listening to them for another few minutes, he rose to his feet and spread his wings, sparing a glance at them when they looked at him in surprise. "I'm off to find my own breakfast," he muttered to them before gratefully propelling himself into the air, glad for a little respite.
"I think we offended him," Kara murmured, slightly chastised by the thought that she and Bowen had driven the dragon away.
"Well if you'd stop nattering on about trying to raise a hopeless rebellion, perhaps people wouldn't mind being in your company!"
"Well if you'd stop being so pig-headed Sir Knight, maybe your company wouldn't be so torturous either!"
~*~
"Think they're still at it?" Erica asked, looking over at Rachel curiously.
"Probably. They'll probably still be at it when we get back."
"Ugh."
"I know. They sound like an old married couple." The teen adjusted the quiver of arrows that was strapped to her back and ducked under a low branch, carefully following what seemed to be a deer trail. "Poor, Draco. We shouldn't have left him back there."
"He's a big dragon, Rach, he can take care of himself."
"Yeah, yeah. Oh, look! Raspberries."
"Score! Outta the way nature-girl!"
Rachel shot her friend a weird look as the other teen ran past her. "'Nature-girl'? Boy, are you treading on thin ice." Grinning at the sheepish look on Erica's face, she transferred the bow to her good hand and casually headed over to the berry laden bushes, reaching out to pluck a few off. "You do realise that this is not breakfast."
"It's enough to keep me going until we find breakfast," Erica mumbled in between mouthfuls as she grabbed another handful of berries.
"I think we've just found ours."
They both spun around at the drawl and paled at the sight of the five riders as they slowly dismounted from their horses, rather disturbing grins on their faces as the males looked at them.
"Um.... 'Rica?"
"Yeah?"
"Run!" Rachel grabbed her friend's wrist and bolted, pulling Erica along behind her as she crashed through the dense undergrowth, ignoring the sensation of branches and thorns cutting into her arms as she ran, very aware of the sound of pursuit behind them. "'Rica! Scream!"
Baffled, she looked over at the white-haired teen and frowned. "What?"
"Scream! Loudly!"
"What'll that accomplish?!" The ducked around a tree and scrambled to keep up to the other teen, risking a wide-eyed glance behind her at the five men who were chasing them down on horseback. The only thing that was letting them keep their small lead was the face that they kept weaving around trees, making it impossible for their chasers to get the upper hand.
"Maybe we're still close enough that Draco will hear you," Rachel panted, her breath burning in her throat as she pushed herself to keep up their hectic pace. She caught of glimpse of Erica's expression as realization dawned on her and gave her a quick 'thumbs up' before darting left, knowing that her friend would have a better chance of getting away if they split up.
A quick look behind her showed her that three of the horsemen were on her trail, and Rachel stifled a cruse in order to conserve her breath as she put on a bit more speed, weaving and ducking around trees and dense undergrowth in an attempt to stay ahead of them. Well, this is irritatingly familiar. Granted, I don't think these bastards just want to beat me up.... Oh hell, I hope Erica manages to-- Her musings were interrupted by a shrill scream from a little ways behind her, and she grinned at the tone of sheer rage in the cry. Well, no need to worry about that anymore.
Her thoughts were yanked back to the present as an arrow thunked into a tree next to her head, and she instinctively dropped to the ground and rolled, coming up again with her back against a maple tree as the three riders shot past her, their horses grunting as the humans yanked on the reins, forcing the poor animals to turn around in a space that was much too small for them.
Not passing up the opportunity, she spun and ran for a stream she had spotted, just barely managing to jump over it before darting into the thick bushes on the other side. Okay, okay, catch your breath before you pass out.... She could barely hear anything above the pounding over her heart as she warily looked around her, trying to spot the riders. Oh nuts, either I lost them or...
"There you are!"
She shrieked as hands grabbed her, sinking her fangs into the fingers that tried to muffled her voice as she threw herself backwards, slamming the back of her head into the face of the one who was holding her. Still in motion, she rose her right arm and twisted violently, driving her elbow into someone's ribs before lashing out with both feet, knocking yet another man away. The arms around her went slack, and she frantically tore away from the others, scrambling out into the middle of the shallow stream so that she was in the open, enabling her to see exactly where the next attack would come from. What am I doing?! Don't just stand there you moron! Run away!
Wondering if all the fresh air had addled her mind, she spun and ran, staying on the stream's grassy bank as she tried to put a lot of distance between herself and the three perverts behind her. Hoof beats caught her attention too late, and she loosed another scream as an arm wrapped around her waist and hauled her off her feet. Panicking, she rose her left hand and slapped the palm right over the guy's face, yelling out a word of Power and yelped when he dropped her, letting her crash to the ground as he slumped over in the saddle, unconscious. And a big 'yay' for sleep spells.
"Rach!"
She turned at the call and gasped when she saw Erica run over to her. "What are you doing here? Where's Draco?"
"I don't know! Those other two riders just gave up after a few minutes," her friend told her as she pulled her to her feet, her eyes widening when she saw why. They had regrouped. "Oh crap."
Sides heaving as she struggled to catch her breath, Rachel shoved Erica behind her and glared at the five humans. One was still on horseback, the other four were on foot, slowly moving to surround them, grinning all the while. This is bad. Very bad.
"Well, you two certainly gave us a run for it, didn't you?" The one on the horse chuckled. "We'll make sure to repay you for the hunt."
"Erica! Go! Run!" Taking a moment to shove her startled friend into the woods, Rachel spun and bared her fangs at the four humans around her, narrowing her eyes as their repulsive playful expressions turned to something more serious, and more deadly. Only gonna get one shot at this.... Eyeing them warily, she shot a glance at the ground beneath their feet and frowned in concentration, murmuring a quick incantation under her breath as she backed up, keeping space between them and herself as they stepped towards her.
It was obvious the moment the spell took effect. Tree roots burst from the ground and wrapped around the human's legs, trying to drag them back under with them as they howled and hacked at the limbs with swords and daggers. Smirking, she glanced at the one who was still on the horse, saluted in a not-very-ladylike manner, and ran.
"Get back here you bitch!"
Oh yeah, as if I'm actually going to listen to you. She rolled her eyes and sped up, hearing the horseman riding hard behind her as she tore down the shoreline, waiting until the last second before cutting off at a hard angle and scrambling into the forest again. But it seemed the last second was one second too long.
Before she had a chance to fully regain her footing from the sharp turn, the human launched himself off his horse and tackled her to the ground, and she screamed again as he flipped her onto her back and slammed a fist into her jaw, snapping her head backwards. She retaliated in kind, lashing out to tear her nails across his face as she twisted and rammed her knee into his crotch, scrambling away when he wheezed and rolled to the side.
Hearing the other four crashing through the forest towards them, she gasped and forced herself into a unsteady sprint, yelping when she only managed to get a few yard ahead before she tripped and dropped to the ground. Get up! Get up you idiot, else you'll be just like your foster!! The thought sent a wave of fear through her, and she stubbornly pushed herself up onto her knees, reaching out to grasp the ragged bark on a tree to pull herself to her feet, facing the four humans that had caught up with her. This, is not my day.
"Too bad, girl. We were gonna go easy on ya," one of them muttered as he reached for her. "Now though, we owe ya some pain."
"In advance," another agreed, grinning in anticipation...
...before a claw slammed the tree she was standing in front of aside, giving them a grand view of a wide open fang filled maw as an earth shattering roar sent them staggering backwards.
"Rach!" Erica darted forward and ducked past Draco's left foreleg as she caught the teen that dropped to the ground, grabbing her shoulders worriedly as the dragon moved forward so that they were kneeling under his chest. "Rachel! You okay?"
"What..." she paused and took a moment to get a decent breath of air. "What the hell took you so long?" Panicked screams drew her attention to her would-be attackers, and she smirked weakly as they turned tail and ran, barely avoiding the two fireballs that slammed into the ground at their heels.
Draco growled softly as he stared after the still screaming humans, then rumbled and stepped back to look down at the two girls. "Are you two alright?"
"We're fine," Erica told him, glancing at him for a moment before returning her gaze to Rachel. "I think."
"M'okay. I've done enough running to last a lifetime and a half, but I'm okay," the white-haired teen sighed, reaching up to wipe the back of her good hand across her forehead before looking up at the watchful dragon. "Thanks."
Sighing, he lay down as close to them as he dared and carefully lowered his head to meet their gazes. "You're welcome, so long as you never do something this foolish again. You're lucky I was still close enough to hear Erica's scream, else I wouldn't have been able to find you."
Erica frowned a little at that thought, and glanced at Rachel. "You do realise that not only are you insane, but you look like hell. And you shoved me into a thorn bush! A thorn bush! It hurt like bloody hell!"
"You're welcome," Rachel smirked, shakily getting to her feet. "I gotta go back and find the bow, else the Grumbling Wonder will kill me."
"The hell you are! There's still one of those wackos out there!" Erica growled as she stood and grabbed her friend's arm.
"Is there?" Draco rose and gave himself a little shake before looking at them, frowning at the bruise that was just starting to form along Rachel's cheek. "Do you know where you lost the bow?"
"Yeah." Rachel rose the arm that Erica wasn't attached to and pointed back the way she had come. "It's back upstream a bit, where they tried to grab me the first time. Oh, hey, 'Rica, since you're not letting go of me, grab me some of those leaves off that peppermint plant, would ya?"
"What this? Why?"
"Because I bit one of them and I've got this godawful taste in my mouth."
"Ick."
"You have no idea."
A low chuckle rumbled out of the dragon as he waited until Erica had handed her a fistful of the leaves before leading the way back upstream, trying to slow his pace so that they'd be able to keep up. Making sure to glance back at them from time to time to make sure they truly were alright, he shouldered his way between two trees and stepped into the stream, lowering his head to take a long drink of the cool water.
"He punched you?"
"Yes, he punched me. And then I slammed my knee into his crotch and turned him soprano. Ow! Erica! That's a bruise! It hurts! Don't poke at it!"
"Sorry, sorry!"
Draco rose his head from the water and looked over at them, frowning at Rachel as she swatted Erica's hands away and put some space between herself and the other girl. "You told me you were alright."
The worried rumble made her blink and look over at him, startled by the very real concern in his eyes. "It's just a bruise," she shrugged, dropping to one knee on the edge of the stream and thrusting her hands into the water, washing her hands and nails thoroughly before repeating the procedure on her bare arms, face and neck. "Besides, it's not like I didn't return the favour."
"Hmm." He stepped over to her and gently reached out to nudge her in the ribs with the curve of a talon. "And the other wound?"
She frowned at him and got to her feet, shooting a glance at Erica. "I'm fine."
So she hasn't told Erica about everything that went on with her - what did she call them? Ah yes - her foster family. "Just making sure," he murmured, his tail cutting through the waters he was standing in as he started to pull his claw away from her, pausing when he felt an almost unperceivable shudder go through her.
"Hey! I got it!" Erica called, drawing both their gazes as she held the finely polished bow above her head. "Can we get out of here now? I keep thinking someone's gonna leap out of the bushes at me."
"Yeah," Rachel muttered, glancing behind her for a moment before stepping away from Draco and looking over at Erica again. "Yeah, c'mon. Let's go."
~*~
"Thought you were going to hunt for breakfast," Bowen frowned as the two girls walked into camp empty handed, frowning when Rachel silently handed him the bow and quiver of arrows.
"We were. But, y'know, getting attacked and running around half the forest kinda put a damper on that little plan," she muttered lowly as she turned and walked over to her horse, grabbing her cloak that Kara had placed there and firmly wrapping it around herself.
"Attacked? Are you two alright? Was it Einon?"
"No no. It wasn't Einon," Erica said quickly, looking at Kara reassuringly. "Just some morons who thought they could have a good time. Draco has excellent timing, by the way."
"That I believe," the knight smirked, glancing at the dragon that stepped into the camp. "But we'd better get going just the same. If whoever you two met has any 'friends' in the area, you can bet they'll come for a bit of revenge."
Rachel winced at that and rose her hands to tug off the elastic that held her braid together, raking her fingers through her hair until it came free of the braid. "Let's go then."
Bowen glanced away from her as she pulled herself up into the saddle and looked at Draco. "I missed something, didn't I?"
"Men," Kara grumbled, walking over to Erica as the teen beckoned to her. "Is she alright?"
"Truthfully... I dunno," Erica frowned, looking after the teen that was guiding her horse away from camp for a moment before vaulting onto the horse, shifting until she was comfortably seated in the saddle. Sighing, she held an out to Kara. "C'mon, you can ride with me."
"Oh no! We're not bringing her with us!"
Draco frowned and shot a look at Bowen. "You'd knowingly leave her here, Bowen?" When the knight winced, he turned and looked at Kara. "Go with her. I'll follow you all from the air."
Erica threw an arm up to shield her face from the kicked up whirlwind of dirt as Draco launched himself into the sky with powerful wingbeats, then looked at Kara. "Methinks a certain dragon's worried about a certain stubborn someone."
"I noticed," Kara said as she took Erica's hand and let the girl guide her on how to get onto the horse, grasping the sides of the teen's belt once she was seated. "I've never ridden before."
"There's nothing to it, really. Not when you're just a passenger. You just concentrate on not falling off." Erica let the reins rest lightly in her hands as she looked over at Bowen, feeling the mare dance a little in impatience.
It wasn't long before he had finished securing his saddlebags and pulled himself into the saddle, and she took that as a cue to mean that he was ready to go, gently tugging on the reins to turn the mare around before heading after Rachel. "There are days where she worries me."
"Your friend?" Kara asked, receiving a nod as a response. "Is she a warrior?"
"Rach? No. She's just head-strong, and very independent. And stubborn." Erica paused and chuckled softly. "Though God help whoever tries to challenge her on anything."
"I pity Draco then," Bowen said as he rode up next to them. "That dragon's taken quite an interest in her, you realise."
Erica frowned at the tone of his voice and looked over at him. "You ever think that he's just lonely? He's been alone for a long time thanks to dragonslayers, and you're not always the best of company yourself there, Bowen. Rach treats him like an equal. I bet he doesn't get that a lot."
"I treat him--"
"Like a dragon." Erica finished for him, holding his gaze for a moment before gesturing in the direction Rachel had gone in. "She treats him like a person. An equal. And that makes a world of difference."
~*~
Rachel sighed as she let the wind play with her unbound hair, reaching up to brush some of it out of her face when the mare stepped out of the dwindling forest and onto the edge of a lush plain, taking a moment to look around before urging her onwards. A gust of wind from behind her blew her hair off her shoulders completely, and she frowned as she twisted to look behind her, feeling annoyance well up in her when she saw Draco standing nearby. I don't need to be looked after like some six year old child!
"Rachel, are you alright?"
The genuine concern in his voice make her wince, and she looked away, guilty for feeling angry at him. The sensation of something brushing against her arm made her blink, and she couldn't stop a smile from spreading over her lips when she turned and saw Draco next to her, her skin still warm from him rubbing his cheek against her. "What are you doing?"
"You looked like you needed it," he answered, smiling when she chuckled. "You didn't answer my question."
"I'm fine." When he shot her a sideways look, she smirked and rolled her eyes. "Really. I'm okay."
He nodded a little and let silence fall over them as they headed out into the field, waiting a few minutes before looking at her again. "I was worried."
"I know. I just needed a bit of time alone to recover is all. This hasn't exactly been the most relaxing of mornings." She reached up to rub at her aching cheek as she spoke, hoping that it wouldn't bruise too badly.
"You cannot heal yourself like you do others?"
"I can.... but I tend not to. For one thing, it takes twice the energy and usually knocks me out afterwards. Damned if I know why, though." Slightly frustrated, she lowered her hand and glanced behind them, easily spotting the two riders behind them. "They're talking about us."
"Oh? Still?"
"'Still'?"
"Mmhm. Kara seems to only speak of two things. You and I, and building a rebellion."
Rachel frowned. "Damned woman needs a hobby."
Chuckling, the dragon spread his wings a little, marvelling at the playful mood that had crept up on him as he lowered his head to her and winked. "Shall we give them a bit of a show?"
"You mean..." Making sure to turn so that her hands were hidden from view from the others, she pointed upwards, grinning when he nodded. Glancing behind them again, she rose her hands and undid the clasp of her cloak, shucking out of it. "Erica's gonna freak."
Draco grinned and waited until she had brought her horse to a stop before crouching low next to it, feeling her leap from the mare onto his back, her weight barely registering as he stood and spread his wings. "Hold tight!"
"Oh dear lords! She's gone and lost her mind!" Erica yelped as she watched the dragon take to the air, staring at the form that was clinging to the back of his neck.
Bowen sighed and rose a hand to rub at his aching shoulder. "I think she had help."
"I thought you said that dragons didn't let anyone ride them," Kara frowned, looking over at Bowen. "Or was that some dragonslayers nonsense?"
"Can we not start with the yelling?" Erica looked at both of them irritably. "Bad enough that the two of you woke me up this morning. Besides, I think we--ack!" The last was due to the dragon that swooped down and did a flyby of them, and she tightened her hold on the reins to keep the horse from bolting as she looked up at the duo above them. "You're insane!!"
Rachel frowned a little and leaned closer to Draco as he did a barrel roll, his wings curling around himself. "What'd she say?"
"Oh, she just said we were insane. Actually, I think she was speaking to you more than I."
"Yeah well, took her long enough to figure that out." She grinned and held onto him a little tighter, hearing his laughter echo on the winds. "Let's go dive-bomb them again!"
