Chapter 3

The sight of blood flowing from the dragon's nose stirred Hector, giving rise to a possible victory or at the very least escape from this rampaging beast. Acting quickly he took hold of the dagger in front of him, jumped to his feet and began to swing the small blade back and forth shouting for all his worth. "Get away from me, you monster."

"Just who are you calling a monster?"

A confused expression formed on Hector's face and looked up to eye the dragon, baffled to see it held a similar expression.

"What…what did you say?"

The dragon stood rigid for a moment, its scales shifting in color from: black, blue green, until finally settling on a dark shade of purple. Witnessing the scene unfold brought a slight giggle from Hector, which he suppressed immediately. It would do him no good to tease the monster who was about to eat you.

His actions must have taken notices by the dragon as it shifted its neck about, appearing somewhat startled by the color of its scales. "Oh my, I've never turned purple before."

Hector released a bout of fake coughs as to get the amusing image of the purple dragon out of his mind.

The dragon took notice of him once more, its scales shifting from blue to black, a fierce expression riddled across its head. "And what may I ask makes you feel like laughing?"

Hector glared up at the dragon, pointing his dagger at it as if the action alone would be enough to frighten the beast away. "Will you stop that!"

"Stop what?"

"Getting in my head, that's what."

The confused look returned the dragon. "Uh?"

"Well how else can you explain how I'm hearing this strange voice, if you're not putting it in my head?"

"I'm sorry to break any notions you might have of me being a mind reader," the dragon said, "but this how I normally speak, though I have to say I'm very impressed, I don't think I've heard of a scavenger who could speak dragon."

For a moment Hector merely stood there, his mind unable—unwilling—to understand what was going on. Only a few minutes ago what were nothing more than a slur of rambling grunts, deep throated growls and angry hisses, now flowed forth as common words as clear as day, with a female voice that sounded almost musical. The more he thought about it, the crazier the notion grew. The sensation of nausea formed in the pit of his stomach, until he felt his legs finally give way and he welcomed the oncoming smack of the muddy earth if only to relieve himself of this nightmare.

Though Summer could not read mind like the others, she knew the signs of when one was going to vomit or pass out. "Whoa there!" she cried moving quickly to catch the scavenger in the membranes of her wings, mere moments before landing in the pile of dung once more. "I don't know what you scavenger find appealing about rolling in dung, but I think once is good enough."

Summer gazed down at the scavenger, it looked so peaceful and calm now that it was asleep. The fear and confusion flowing off it had faded and was left with a sense of wonder, though Summer found it difficult to tell if the sensation came from the scavenger or herself.

How was it that they could suddenly understand one another? Could it be true that they were somehow sharing each other's thoughts? The voice she heard from this…male…yes it was indeed a male, was strong and bold that nearly made her wobble yet she sensed a soft tenderness as well.

She had to know more about this young scavenger.

Though first she had to get him clean.

Hector awoke to the stinging sensation of cold water. Eyes wide open, he thrashed about only to find something pressing against his shoulders. After taking a glance behind him, he was even more shocked and over come with fear at the sight of the dragon he encountered in the jungle looking down at him with a faint smile.

"Get away from me!" he shouted thrashing about with even greater effort. "Let me go!"

"Nothing doing," the voice he heard before calling, "Not until you're fully clean. You wouldn't believe the layer of slim I've had to scrub off of you."

"I don't care," he snapped pushing against the dragon's paw. "I hate the water, I can't swim, now let me go!"

The dragon released what sounded a like an annoyed grunt before adding. "Don't be such a hatchling. The pond is not even that deep. Now please just hold still I'm just about done."

Realizing he had no real say in the matter, Hector relented, hoping for a better chance to escape later. Truthfully the dragon was right; the small pond she held him in did not appear very deep as he could feel his toes brushing along the bottom. Looking down, a new sensation of fear swelled up inside upon discovering he was nude and quickly plunge his arms below the water crossing his hands to conceal himself. "Uh…where are my clothes?"

"I placed them in a patch of sun light to let them dry. They were as smelly as you."

"So," Hector said glancing back up at the dragon, "you've seen me naked?"

"What an odd thing to feel embarrassed about," the dragon said her female musical voice echoing in the small chamber, "it's not like I've never seen a naked mammal before, though you have less fur than a sloth."

Hector could help but wonder if he had just been insulted or not, only that this madness had gone on long enough. Glancing up and raising his arms, palm out flat in a pleading manner he said in a causal tone, "Okay I'm ready to wake up now."

"What?"

Hector shot a glance over his shoulder, eyeing the dragon with her purple scales glittering in the faint light. She's almost radiate. Hector mentally slapped his forehead for even thinking such things…and about a dragon no less.

Realizing that the dragon was still gazing down at him as though waiting for an answer, he took a deep breath before saying, "Well this is nothing but a dream okay. Any minute now I'm going to wake up in front of that dragon statue still covered in mud and grime, so as much fun as this has been I think it's—"

Hector's ranting was cut short as the dragon brought her tail about slapping its tip across his shoulder.

"What the?"

"Sorry," the dragon said with an amusing expression, "did that hurt?"

"Well yeah," Hector said, though truly wished he hadn't which meant…

"Then this is not a dream," the dragon said as though reading his thoughts.

"Then all of this, me being able to understand you. This is all really happening?"

"Yes," the dragon said eyeing Hector as though looking for something. "Well you're all cleaned. I'll wait for you outside while you get dressed."

Summer sat before the cave opening. The rain had stopped altogether and the heat from the midday sun made short work of the thin layer of water giving rise to a soft gray mist giving the jungle a mysterious appearance. She always loved these times of day. Like so many Rainwings her scales felt energized while in the path of sunlight, and where as most Nightwings slept throughout the day, these were moments she felt the most active, tending to the crops with the other Rainwings or checking on their live stock to make sure nothing go loose.

I should be there right now, she thought a frown forming, not wasting my time with some crazed scavenger. But the notion that they could understand one another still baffled her. A part of her wondered if this was another part of her Nightwing gifts she was born with. This was her first encounter with a scavenger after all. Maybe the ability was there all along and it just needed a well place jolt to bring it out.

Though, she thought rubbing the shore part of her muzzle, did it have to hurt so much?

A sudden rise of merriment and annoyance enveloped her and turned her gaze up just in time to see a pair of dragons circling above.

"Hello there Summer."

Summer rose to her feet stepping back a bit to give her two friends room to land.

A smile formed on her face as she quickly greeted them, rubbing her face along their own. "Peacemaker," she said with pleasure, then stepped back to bow politely to the other Rainwing, "and it is good to see you Princess Firefly."

Firefly's scales went through a series of colors so swiftly it almost made Summer dizzy. "You know you don't have to refer to me as Princess."

"True, but I still like to."

As much as Summer enjoyed her time with Blackberry, Raven, and her fellow winglets from the Jade Academy, she loved to be around these two as they each shared one common trait. They were all hybrids. Firefly, daughter of Queen Glory of the Rainwing and Nightwing Deathbringer, caption of the Rainwing honor guard. The young Rainwing princess lived up to her parents' willful and brash nature, never wanting to place others in harm's way but always stood ready for a fight should the need call for it. The one thing that set them apart was how Firefly held a far better control of changing the colors of her scales.

And then there was Peacemaker, a true oddity among Rainwings, though not much was known about his father, his mother Hope claimed to share fond memories of their time together and the blissful, joyful emotions that flowed from her whenever someone mentions him was enough proof for her. Peacemaker was the perfect example of a Rainwing; always full of merriment, love to take long naps in the sunlight and held a great interest in strawberries and making pies. Though several years older than her, he held an almost childlike mind and she found the amusement watching over her every time they crossed path refreshing.

"Hello there Summermoon," he said with a bold smile unfurling his wings a bit.

Oh my, Summer thought with a flutter in her heart.

The one thing that always lit a fire within Summermoon, were Peacemaker's wings. Unlike any other Nightwing or Rainwing, the membranes of his wings were a beautiful array of colors. She loved to watch him soar over head; a living rainbow that was her's alone. If only I was brave enough to tell him how I truly feel.

The awkward silence that fell upon Summer was broken as Peacemaker grunting heavily. "Say uh Summer I was thinking about making some of my favorite strawberry pies, would you care to join us?"

Summer would more than love to join him; she loved how he placed so much pride and joy into making his pies. She was about to answer him when she took note of the look on Firefly's face, the deep red shift around her eyes, and the sensation of anger burning off her. Before Summer knew it, the young princess was upon her, clamping her forepaws about the base of her neck whispering, "Don't you dare. I've had nothing to do but eat his strawberry pies every morning for the past week. If I have to go through it once more I might very well lose my mind."

Summer was at a loss for words, she knew Firefly had a temper but for her to snap like this out of the blue caught her off guard. She was about to say something when noise drew her attention and shot a glance over her shoulder barely catching a glimpse of the scavenger, then turned her gaze to her friends. She didn't really know what to expect on how they'd react, but she had to know the truth, and most of all she knew they would be open minded.

"Uh…I'd love to," she said twitching a bit as she was over a sensation of fear. Scavenger can be so terrified sometime. "But before that there's something I want you to see."

Summer then turned to the side, lowering her neck to gaze into the cave. "Come out scavenger, these are my friends they won't hurt you."

Feelings of confusion flowed from her friends. "Did you just saying scavenger?" Firefly asked.

As if on cue the small scavenger emerged from the shadows. He wore his outer pelts, patting them down to remove any wrinkles, he eyed the three at them in turn and Summer could feel a layer of fear swelling off of him, but there was something else, amazement.

"Ah it looks so cute," Firefly said, "Summer where did you find it?"

"I came across him while looking for Rosethorn's pet sloth."

"Why are you referring to it as him?" Peacemaker asked.

"Well," she began knowing there was no turning back after she uttered these next few words, "I can tell by the way he talks."

The baffled feeling grew in volume. "Talks?" Firefly muttered. "You mean grunts right."

"No he really can speak," she said then turned to glance down at the scavenger, "go ahead, say something."

"Hello," he said plainly, the strong tone of his voice ringing in her ears, "my name is Hector."

"So your name is Hector," Summer said eyeing him, "well it'll be easier for me to refer to you other than scavenger," she chuckled to herself thinking how brash he behaved showing no sign of the fear she felt earlier.

"Well?" she muttered turning back to her friends who still appeared baffled, giving off a mixture of confusion and annoyance.

"Uh, I know Mirage meant it as a joke when we met him at the Jade Mountain Academy," Firefly said in a harsh manner, "but honestly, lay off the cactus juice."

Now it was Summer's turn to feel confused. "What?"

"Summer, all that scavenger did was grunt and mumble," Firefly said bluntly, "that's all they can say."

Confusion began to give way to panic and fear as her friends doubted her words. "Please you have to believe me, he can speak like us. Peacemaker?"

"I'm sorry Summermoon," he said calmly, "I don't know what to believe. You've always been different, maybe this is just another part of it," he paused in an attempt to stifle a yawn, "for right now I'm beat. I think I'll take a nap. Care to join me Firefly?"

"Yes," she said turning her gaze away from Summermoon, "anything is better then listening to this nonsense."