~Risen~By~Dragons~

~~~*~*~*~~~

~Discovered By Strangers~




~~Chapter 2~~






Murdoc walked past Ryu, receiving a strike across the back of his head as he passed. Ryu
looked over at Sasuri who seemed thouroughly in a state of shock and terror. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump off the bed and whip around, facing him, her heart racing and her breath caught in her throat. Feeling a pang of guilt for letting Murdoc out of his sight, he approached her slowly, causing her to back up in fear until she hit the wall, then slid down to a sitting postition. He bit his lip, then walked over to her and leaned down, putting a hand on her shoulder, until he was at eye level with her. "Are you alright?" She looked up at him, not saying anything. "You okay?" She looked down, then nodded slightly. "I'm sorry about what happened. I should have been keeping a better eye on Murdoc." She knew he was apologizing for what Murdoc had done, and found herself wishing that he would just leave her alone for a few minutes so she could calm down by herself. "I'm sure that you need some time by yourself, so I'll leave you alone." Sasuri looked up in surprise, then turned away. She heard him walk out of the room and drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them.


"That's it. I'm leaving. She walked over to the balcony and leaned
over the edge to see a ledge on the aircraft 50 feet away. "I should be
able to make that." She suddenly looked closer at the ledge and was
able to see inside the room beyond it. Inside, she saw several men trying
to subdue Diablo. They had ropes tied around his jaws, feet, and neck, and was trying to lead him over to his cage. Diablo lifted and swung his head to the side, sending several men flying. He let out a muffled roar,
trying to get loose. He managed to get away from the men and ran to the edge, jumped off and caught a draft of air. Sasuri watched him leave, then glanced over to the ledge and grasped the balcony rail in horror when she saw the men taking aim at him with tranquilizers that could knock him out for good. "Diablo..." She felt her heart starting to race and, without thinking, climbed up onto the railing, then jumped off ; Ryu ran out at the exact moment she jumped. He gripped the railing as he watched her fall, then almost choked in shock when he saw two holes rip in the back of her shirt, and two magnificant pitch black wings with 5 inches of midnight blue on the tips burst forth. She caught a current with her vast wingspan of at least 15 feet, and rose a few meters, then took off quickly towards Diablo. Looking back at the ledge, she realized in cold fear that they weren't
aiming tranquilizers, they were POISON DARTS!! She turned back just as they fired 4 of them, and found herself racing the darts with all she had. *Come on, 10 feet left.* She strained hard, beating the air with her wings as hard as she could. She looked back and saw that the darts were catching up to her. She watched in horror as they slowly passed her and slammed into Diablo's side, causing him to cry out and start to fall. "Diablo!!!!" She pulled her wings back into a dive and tried to catch up
to him. But he slammed into the ground before she could reach him and
she pulled back, scared to see what shape he was in. Seeing some men heading towards the area where Diablo landed, she went to dive down
to where he was, but felt something holding her back. She turned around
in shock, and was shocked to see Ryu holding her back. "Wh-what?
Ryu, what- how can you-" He jerked his head behind him, and she
looked behind his shoulders to see that he had matching wings to hers, except that his were pure white. She had no idea what to say, then looked down to see they had reached Diablo, who had a broken wing and wasn't moving. She instantly twisted in his grip, trying to get loose, but he held her back, gripping her around her slender waist. She grasped his wrists and tried to pry them away, but she failed. "Let, me, GO!!!!!!!!!" She said in perfect english.


"You're learning, good." He muttered, as he tried to hold her back. She could feel his grasp weakening because her wings were in the way of him getting a good grip. He slowly started moving backwards, his huge wings pulling them back towards the ship.


"Let go!!!!! DIABLO!!!!!!!!!!" She felt the beginnings of her tears and tried to stop them. But she failed and they slid down her golden brown cheek, rolling down and hitting Ryu on the arm. He was startled at the splash of warm wetness, and looked at her to see she had collapsed into his arms, trying to hide her tears. He reached down with one arm and lifted her up fully, turning and heading back to the ship. He could feel her wings go limp against his forearm, and she buried her face into his now-bare chest, as he had taken off his shirt to avoid ruining it. *How was she able to let out those massive wings without doing anything to her shirt execpt making 2 foot rips in the back?* He stared at her for a moment, then stopped in midair, studying her. *She's quite the handful.* "hmmmm.....Diablo...don't...leave me...." She muttered, half asleep. Ryu closed his eyes, feeling the guilt running through him. *She certainlly know how to get whats he wants.* He thought to himself bitterly as he turned and headed back in the direction of Diablo. *No one has ever been able to manipulate me befre, not even Murdoc, and now she's doing it in her sleep. What is it with this girl that makes her so special?* He landed in the clearing where Diablo had landed, and set her down, then walked over to the giant.


"How is he?" He asked one of the men.


"He's almost gone sir." The man said proudly. Ryu glared at him, enraged.


"And who told you to kill the dragon?!!"


"Y-you did, sir."


"I told you to shoot this dragon out of the sky and kill him?" He said slowly, the anger in his voice almost to the boiling point.


"Well, not you directly, but we were informed that you wanted this done."


"And who was the one who told you this?"


"Murdoc has made your commands clear, sir." This hit him hard with shock. He stared at Diablo, who was almost finished, and walked over to him.


"Can you still save him?"


"I'm not sure. These darts could have done quite alot of damage that we don't know of-"


"Well find out what the damage is and fix it!!!" He snapped harshly. "You let this dragon die, and I'll make sure that every one of you join him!!" He ran his hand over the top of his head, feeling helpless, and not liking the sensation. He ran a hand over the dragon's neck, and felt an odd sensation run through him. "Wha...what was that?" The dragon opened one eye and looked up at him. Diablo's normaly golden eye had flecks of silver swirling around inside them. *I'm not going to pull out of this.* A rich but tired voice said in his head. Ryu loked around, startled, then clued in and looked down at Diablo. "You..." *Yes, I am speaking to you through my mind. I am all that Sasuri has left for guardians, but I'll be leaving her soon so I ask of you, while abandoning all of my dignatiy, that you
take care of her until she can find a sutible home. As much as I loathe you other humans, my love for Sasuri overrides it. I am giving you the ability to speak our language as a way to let her know that I wish I could have lived with her longer, and I apologize.* Ryu felt something like warm water running through him, and looked over as he heard groaning, to see that Sasuri had woken up.


"Diablo!!! Oh god, Diablo, are you okay? Please tell me your okay." Ryu stepped back to let her talk to him, watching all this in shock, as he could now understand what they were saying. "What, no!! You're not going to leave me with these men, are you? You...." "Him? Diablo, I don't want to live with him. I want to stay with you." Diablo growled low but dangerously, causing Sasuri to step back slightly. Diablo let out a growl that sounded like a sigh and Sasuri felt tears come to her eyes, as his closed, and she fell to her knees, torn by her only friend's death as the dragon's last breath slipped out of his lungs. Sasuri slid over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying softly. As the other men left,
Ryu got to his knees beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. She didn't move for a moment, then turned back at stared at him for few seconds. Suddenly, her hand whipped out and she struck him hard. "*sshole. How could you do this to me?" As she was speaking in the dragon tongue, she didn't expect him to answer, but he looked over at her, rubbing his cheek.


"I didn't order the men to do that. Murdoc did. Not me." She looked shocked at the fact that he understood her, and was even more shocked at the fact that she could understand HIM.


"Y-you can speak my..."


"Yeah. Somehow, Diablo was able to grant this gift to me before he..." She looked down at the ground again, then stood quickly.


"Murdoc sent them?!" She instantly let out her wings and took off to the sky. Ryu groaned, let his own wings out and took off after her. She looked behind her, and saw Ryu wa squickly catching up to her. *D*mn!!!! He's faster then I think. Well, he wants a show, I'll give him one.* Closing her eyes, she strained her wings, and pulled ahead 20 feet. Glancing back, she saw he had moved ahead 30 feet, and was almost behind her. *Oh no. He's NOT gonna catch me. I am gonna hunt Murdoc down, and-* She was interupted as he caught her around her waist. "Let me go!! Please, just let me hurt him a little, he ordered them to kill Diablo! PLEASE!!!! Ryu, I'm begging you!!!! Let me go!"


"Sasuri, no. Killing Murdoc won't bring back Diablo!! It's alright, I understand why your upset, but-"


"How can you understand how mad and upset I am? To lose the only friend in the world. Now that Diablo's gone, I have no one!!!! How do tyou know how that feels? You have no idea."


"Is that what you think? Well I have something to tell you. Do you know why I have this group of men here?" She looked at him, confused. "Because I wanted revenge on the people who killed my entire family in one shot." She was startled at this. "Right in front of my eyes, when I was 16, 4 men came into our home. They killed my mother, father, and 2 brothers, then hung their bodies up and burned them. The only reason I survived was because I got onto one of our horses and took off. The only other family member who survived was my sister who, if she wa salive, would be around your age now. For 4 years, I hunted the people who killed my parents, until I had almost killed myself 8 times. I then realized that risking my own life for something that wouldn't bring back the people I loved was foolish."


"So instead, you dedicate your life to destroying the forests and villages?" Sasuri retaiated.


"That's not my choice. I have a commander who I've got to listen to. Also, this position gives me many chances to find my sisters." He glanced behind her at her wings, and ran his hand over them. She stared at him, not knowing what to say. "You have the Black Wings." He said in a hushed whisper. She winced as he said this. There were three sets of extremely rare wings that people are born with. The White Wings were all white, and the sign of a person who possesses white magic. The Black Wings were all black, and were a sign of someone who possesses black magical powers. But he couldn't remember what the Ebony Wings stood for. He glanced at the ends of her wings, which she was quickly pulling in, and could see that they had midnight blue on the ends, and his breath caught in his throat. *She's got the Ebony Wings.* He realized. Since she seemed ashamed as it was, he didn't show his shock. "We should head back to the ship now, it's getting dark." Since she didn't answer, he took it as a sign that she didn't care. Gathering her in his arms, he headed back to the ship, landed on her balcony when they got back, and pulled in his wings. Slipping into her room, he layed her down on the bed, pulling the blood red blankets over her, then turned to the balcony doors, locked them with a key, and left the room, locking the door behind him with the same key, then headed back to his own room, deciding that he would deal with Murdoc later on tomorrow.