Moonpriestess30: I've written 3 chapters for the other story, I quite like it. I don't think it's going to be very long but that's not a bad thing.
Chapter 188 – Into the fire
Makatza yelps as she leaps from rock to rock frantically. Garrett was right about that at least, she really did have great agility and speed in this form. Unfortunately she wasn't fireproof. The High Dragon roared in agony and kicked out with her back foot to knock Fenris aside. Makatza growled in anger and ran over, sliding under the beast and scratching at the inside of it's back leg distracting it from her lover who was getting to his feet. Garrett was making good headway with the drakes and dragonlings that had surrounded them, they weren't quite as fire resistant and a large flaming boulder was easily taking them apart. Literally.
The High Dragon took off, her wings creating a large swathe of air that knocked both Katza and Fenris back down onto the sand and gravel. Fenris gets to his feet first as the dragon begins to circle over them, gaining height. He runs to Katza and helps her up, 'we need a better plan!' Makatza says through half formed jaws. 'We can't keep having her take off every ten minutes, Fenris, I'm getting tired real quick,' she says as she lets her normal mouth re-emerge. She was panting, they had been fighting this thing for a decent half hour and while it was begin to show signs of weakening, so were they.
'Do you remember the Varterral?' Fenris asks simply as he tracks the dragon with his eyes, feeling the tell tale prickle on his skin as Anders focused his healing on the warrior. They were interrupted by a large fireball that was spat their way, Fenris grabs Makatza by the upper arm and they start to run to avoid the impact crater.
Makatza breathes heavily looking around from the rock that they had ducked behind, 'yeah, I remember. What bit?'
'Can you get onto it's back?' Fenris asks as he looks at his lover, she wasn't hurt, just breathing harshly and her grip was weak. 'Cripple the wings while I target the front limbs.'
'Like when Elgon and Ciere and I took down that other, smaller dragon?' She says as she nods. 'Okay, yeah, but I'll have to run up that ridge and jump which means you've got to get her closer to it,' Makatza says as she swallows a burning ball of saliva in her exhaustion.
'Just stay hidden until you have a clear jump,' Fenris says nodding as he looks at her, it was strange talking about this sort of thing. He was worried but at the same time, comfortable that she was going to be fine. Makatza nods and when the dragon lands to snap at Garrett she takes that moment to start running. Feeling the gravel under her toes she breathes in deeply, feeling time slow as she bends her knees, feeling her ankles continue the motion and pressing the soles of her paws into the ground. It all came rushing back as she leapt, her muscles and tendons springing her forward. Her tail helped her keep balance as she landed and kept running, jumping higher and higher up the ridge to gain the advantage. She scrabbled at the side of the mountain as she misjudged the height of the next ledge. Glancing down she could see Fenris appearing and disappearing as he backed the dragon against the wall she was climbing.
She saw her chance as it leapt to the side to avoid a large scythe from Fenris' weapon. Breathing in deeply she sprang from her hiding place and aimed for it's back, on the way down she was clipped by it's wing and it sent her tumbling. Makatza yelped and used her long nails to grab and scratch at it's hide as she very literally clawed her way back up it's flank. The dragon began to roar and buck, trying to dislodge her. 'Stay fucking still!' Makatza swore as she held on digging her fingers into it's scales. Grabbing hold of it's wing she pulled back her arm and with all her force tore her hand through it. She took grip of the hole she had made, feeling the flesh squelch between her fingers as she pulled harshly, tearing the skin and membrane further. The dragon screeched in agony making Makatza's ears pound in pain, but she shook her head to regain some sense and continued to destroy it's wing. Oh my god, she thought in panic as the beast tried to take off. It was lopsided and Katza held onto tightly as it began to rise. She looked at what she would call the wing bone, the limb that seemed to connect to the shoulder; an idea hit her. With a desperate snarl Katza grabbed hold of the one wing and allowed her full wolf jaw to come through as she bit down heavily. Ignoring everything else that was happening she concentrated on bearing down with her full strength against the bone eventually feeling it begin to fracture and splinter. Applying pressure with her other hand she began to bend the wing, and with a very sudden and loud snap she bit through the limb. Gravity took hold of them both and she felt the wind rush through her hair and over her skin as the dragon plummeted to the ground. Makatza screamed as they fell, I knew I hated heights for a reason! She mentally screamed as the ground came rushing up to them.
Garrett was already running over to Fenris when the dragon began to descend. 'Alright, we've got one shot. You take the head as it lands and I'll grab Katza,' Garrett says quickly, not giving the elf a chance to rebut. Garrett ran a little more to the left as it seemed that the beast was going to fall on it's side. He could see Makatza holding onto it's spines and broken wing for dear life, it had gotten a lot higher than any of them had expected. 'KATZA!' He shouted gaining her attention. 'Aim for me!' He instructs. She could only look over in his direction as everything was moving too fast, the beast hit the ground with a shuddering thud, the force alone rattling Makatza's teeth in her head. Her knee clipped her in the cheek and she felt something crack and pop, pain blossoming in her face. Her momentum threw her from the dragon and it was all she could do to kind of aim towards where Garrett was running towards her. She allowed her shift to take over and become her normal self, even if the dragon wasn't dead, she was done.
Fenris rolled to the side as the High Dragon collapsed onto the floor, the impact causing the ground under his feet to shudder. He fought for his balance for a moment before changing his grip on his sword and delivering an uppercut across it's throat. It wasn't enough to slaughter the beast and it began to sit up, hissing. Fenris made some mental calculations and feinted to the left as it lunged, he spun to the right and brought his sword down, activating his brands for more strength and speed. The blade cleaved through it's skull, snapping a horn and shattering the brow bone, causing it's eye to pop. It began to flail and whip it's head from side to side, yanking the sword from Fenris' hands. He swore and had to move quickly out it's way. There was a blast of ice from Anders which temporarily caught it's head and held it in place, Fenris jumped from it's foreleg onto the back of it's neck and began to pry out the sword. It snarled and howled in agony, trying to break from from the ice that had wound itself around it's head With a final tug he managed to free it from it's lodging and just as it broke free from the ice, Fenris drove the blade down and deeply into the back of it's skull, severing the spinal cord in one sharp movement. The dragon was killed instantly and it's limbs gave out, collapsing. Fenris lost his balance and fell off the creature landing on his shoulder which he instantly felt pop in it's socket and made him swear in pain.
Garrett half carried Makatza over to where Anders was having a brief moment, fighting mentally with Justice. Fenris got to his feet, holding his shoulder as he looked over at the Champion and his cousin. Makatza had a hand over her face, she knew she had broken her cheek bone and that pop was her eye, the blood vessels bursting. He limps over to her and tries to see, she shakes her head painfully. 'It's okay, it was my own fault,' she says without moving her lips, 'I forgot about the impact,' she explained.
'Can you heal?' Fenris asks worried.
'Getting there, I'm becoming more numb but my mana has taken a beating,' she says as Garrett leads her to a rock and sits her down.
'See, I told you we'd be able to do it!' Hawke says grinning only to get himself punched in the arm by Makatza who wasn't happy with him. Fenris slumps onto the floor next to her, he'll have to wait to have his shoulder popped back in, it burned like the blazes but it was bearable. Just.
Anders, having regained control runs over to Katza, taking the lyrium potion that Garrett passes him as he goes to check that the dragon is actually dead. He drinks it quickly and shudders as the mana hits him, 'Katza, Katza, are you okay?' Anders asks as he reaches her. 'Shit, you've taken a beating,' he says as he begins to heal her.
'You don't say,' Makatza says dryly. It doesn't take long and she can still feel some bruising but at least she could see out her eye and the intense pain in her jaw had practically gone. 'Let me guess, bruising for a while.'
He nods with a weak smile as he takes care of the other knicks and scrapes she had, 'yeah, for a few days but your own mana will help the healing,' he agrees. With a brief look he glances down at Fenris. 'Are you going to let me heal you?'
'It is just a dislocated shoulder,' Fenris snaps. It was the same one as usual, it didn't need much to slip out it's socket. A sign that he was getting older that he didn't like. Makatza rolls her eyes and lets Anders know that she can take care of it and thanks him for his healing. She kneels in front of Fenris and smiles softly at him as she takes hold of his wrist and elbow.
'Okay, breathe in,' she says softly. As he does so she twists and feels it slot back into place. Fenris swore blue under his breath and punched the ground with his other hand before exhaling heavily and rubbing his eyes. 'Better?' Makatza asks feeling bad that she had to hurt him to help him.
He nods and then breathes in deeply once more, 'yes... thank you. Are you sure you are sufficiently healed?' He asks as he touches her bruised cheek, her eye was still slightly bloodshot and her lip had a slight split. She places her hand against his and then helps him up and dusts him down as she smiles at him.
'I am perfectly fine. All fingers, all toes,' she teases as she lifts a leg to show him her bare feet. 'Not bad for fighting my first dragon huh?' Makatza grins. 'Not that I want to make a career out of it,' she adds with a shudder. 'They don't taste great,' Katza says pulling a face. It's nice that he's not fussing over me and worrying that I could have gotten hurt, she thinks as she looks at him.
'Fenris! Come get your bloody sword!' Garrett complains from where he was standing on the dragon's corpse. Anders was searching some of the dragonlings for useful things and Garrett wanted to get all he could from this expedition. 'I can't get it out,' he moans as he pulls it. Fenris sighs and walks over with Makatza who began to look at the dragon's teeth. He climbs up to where Garrett was whinging and looked at him, 'it's stuck,' the Champion pouts.
The Tevinter elf rolls his eyes and takes a hold of his blade and with a sharp twist and pull slides it free from the creature's flesh. 'You were trying to pull it through bone,' he states simply as he looks at the blade. His lip curls back in annoyance as he notices a knick along the length, he would be able to hopefully sharpen that out. He makes his way back to the ground to Makatza who was gingerly lifting the tongue of the dragon. 'What are you looking for?' Fenris asks as he leans his blade against it's head so he can help her.
'I was thinking about taking a tooth for papa, I think he would like one,' Makatza says thinking. 'Maybe one that he could carve and one of the smaller ones that I could have made into an earring,' she said smiling.
Fenris nods, 'he would like that,' he takes out his dagger and Makatza points to one of the largest ones. 'Maybe you should take a few for yourself. Seneschal Bran was not happy about you coming today. Wearing something from a High Dragon would certainly dissuade any of the nobles from making any ridiculous comments,' he muses with a dark smile.
'I could wear a crown of dragon spines and teeth, like the Dread Queen,' she laughs lightly as she rolls her eyes. 'Oooh I could get one made for Kiana, she'd love it and hate it,' Makatza smirks and gingerly takes the tooth that Fenris hands to her. It was still half covered with gum and she winced at the sight. 'Gross,' she mutters.
Fenris chuckles, 'you wished to have another?' He asks. Makatza nods and points to a marginally smaller one from the lower jaw. With a fair bit of working he manages to pry it out the jaw and he stands, he takes the larger one back and wraps them both up in a cloth that he then puts into a pouch. They both walk around to where Garrett seemed to be doing something, Makatza gagged and spun around burying her head against Fenris as she saw her cousin. 'What are you doing?' Fenris asks in a little bit of disgust, his hands resting on Katza's shoulders.
'Looking for the damn fire gland,' Garrett says simply, he was covered in blood and had made a large slit in the dragon's throat and was currently up to his waist inside the creature. 'That thing is rare as fuck and will make a powerful item-'
'You're in the wrong damn place!' Makatza says simply from Fenris' chest.
Garrett emerges and looks at them. 'I'm what?'
