Chapter 9.
"I don't want any night patrols tonight. We've been here long enough, I want the whole clan to get a move on tomorrow evening, and I want everyone to be as rested as possible. Have the Guards spread out on the edges of the island, and keep on the lookout while staying on the ground. Tell everyone to return at sunset, tomorrow, then we'll get into formation and continue northeast."
First Guard Salkonyr heard out Lenhardt's plan, and nodded approvingly.
"A sound strategy. This two-day rest we had was nice, but I agree that we should not overstay our welcome here. Human-populated areas are a lot closer than I'd like. I'll go and relay your orders."
"Please do." Lenny sighed tiredly, and sat down on his haunches as he watched the older dragon hop into the air. Looking up at the late-evening sky, he saw the myriad of stars, and the sight began to relax his tense mind. Stargazing was always one of his favourite things to do; the endless amount of stars sitting quietly on the vast reaches of the sky had a strangely soothing effect on him.
His musing was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings near him. He turned his head to see his mother touching town softly and walking up to nuzzle him.
"Already back from fishing?" Lenny asked.
"The catch is plenty, so I decided to go on a second round today." Lyara explained "I think piling up some reserves would be beneficial if we want to eat before we go tomorrow."
"Good idea." Lenny commented "I haven't thought about that." Suddenly, his voice began to sound defensive"I came back from hunting a while ago, then I had to sort out Guard duty with Salko. He just left a minute ago..." he stopped to take a deep breath and let out a weary sigh "I feel like I could sleep until tomorrow evening."
Lyara took a serious look at her son.
"You know you really don't have to do everything alone."
After a few moments of silence, he hesitantly murmured:
"Dad does it, too."
"Lenny. No matter how much you look like him, you are not your father and no one is expecting you to be." Lyara stated "Asking for help is never a shame, because it's proof that you have the wisdom to face and understand your own limitations. Overestimating yourself and committing mistakes which would have been easily avoidable if you'd rely on help, is not something you should do."
A curvy smile appeared on Lenny's face, as he tilted his head and said:
"This sounded totally like one of dad's usual wisecracks."
"When you spend a few decades with someone, you'll definitely pick up some the their habits over time." Lyara chuckled, and extended a wing over her son's back to hug him.
"I guess so." Lenny mumbled with eyes closed. "I know you're right, I'll try to rely on you more in the future."
"You'll say everything I want to hear if I'll leave you be, won't you?"
"No!" Lenny protested, then as he saw his mother's doubtful smile, a tired grin appeared on his face "I mean... I usually do, but I'm serious this time."
"Alright." Lyara licked his face "I'll get back to fishing."
"And I'll get some... shuteye." Lenhardt yawned and fell to his side right where he sat. "G'night Mom."
"Good night, Lenny." Lyara whispered, and took off, heading towards the spot where she fished earlier.
Lenhardt closed his eyes and stirred himself into a comfortable position, tailfins covering his eyes.
He felt like only seconds passed since he laid down, when he heard someone calling his name.
"Lenhardt! Lenhardt Valdr!"
"Nnngh..." he moaned in irritation.
"I'm sorry to wake you up but you must see this!"
The urgent tone snapped Lenny's eyes open, and he sat up to face the Guard in front of him. He recognized Garenald clawing the ground in anxiety, a worrisome look on his face.
"Okay, lead the way." Lenhardt groaned, voice still drowsy from the sudden wakeup. Judging from the Guard's behaviour, the situation seemed urgent, so he thought it's better to ask questions mid-air. He looked up to the sky, and only saw a few stars which weren't hidden by the clouds. A minute later, when both of them were airborne, heading south, Garen began to explain the situation without questions.
"There is a human settlement just a few minutes of flight from the tip of the island, as the river goes."
"Yeah, I remember. Unusual activity?" the younger Fury asked.
"I guess you can say that." the Guard answered darkly. A few moments later as the southern horizon became visible, the sight made him drop his jaw.
The area of the human settlement was engulfed in flames.
The two dragons touched down at the riverbed, they had a clear view of the scene in front of them.
"There were no explosions, or any loud sounds that would indicate any fighting going on. A short while ago, those little self-built caves they live in began to go up in flames." Garenald described.
Lenhardt took a sharp breath as he turned his head toward the older dragon.
"Go back to the others and alert Salkonyr. I want him and three other Guards to check the area around." he ordered "There's no guarantee that those who did this aren't heading towards here, I want to be sure there's no danger."
"Understood." Garenald nodded "What about you?"
"I'll go and scout ahead until you come back." Lenhardt murmured, gazing into the flames.
"I'm not sure this is-"
"I won't take any risks, Garen." Lenny interrupted the other dragon's protest. "At the slightest impression of any danger, I'll pull back. But I want to find out what the heck is going on here."
Garenald stared into his eyes for a few moments, then he wordlessly raised his wings and leapt into the air, heading back to the clan.
Lenhardt also didn't waste any time, he took off and began to approach the human settlement. He flew up high and did a circle around the settlement, sharpening every sense he had for any danger. But no shots or even cries came, the area seemed completely abandoned. He swallowed, and carefully began to descend towards a clearing between the human-made caves until his paws met the hard, unusual ground. A wide variety of scents hit his nostrils as the whole place around him was slowly getting consumed by the flames, but much to his surprise, he couldn't smell burnt flesh, blood, or death.
He slowly began to walk forward, examining his surroundings carefully. From above, the layout of the place resembled to a spider's web: the strange, gray ground he was walking on stretched forwards and backwards, shorter and longer sections branched into it, but rarely seemed to take a turn. He could only compare the gray ground to a path in the forest, except that a path was natural, made by the various animals roaming the forest, while this seemed entirely human-made. Why would the bi-pedals think that walking on this is more comfortable than...
His thinking was interrupted by a desperate scream coming from one of the angular caves not far from him.
With three long jumps, he was at what looked like the entrance, but then he stopped. What if this is just a trap? What if there are murderers hiding inside, wanting to lure him in and capture or kill him too? Or what if someone's in real danger inside? Should he attempt a rescue at all? So far, the humans only caused pain and suffering to him and his whole clan, does this one deserve to live?
Suddenly, an old memory flashed into his mind; a memory of his father telling a tale about how he met a lost Skrill hatchling, and how he carried him back to his nomadic clan despite that he risked his own life by doing so. Back then, Lenhardt was completely baffled by the story. He asked his father why he risked his life for a Skrill, despite that their kind had caused so much sorrow for the Furies? He clearly remembered the amused smile of his father after he questioned him, and he remembered the lecture which came after it, too:
"Son, we Night Furies and the Skrills are mortal enemies of each other. Is it good that way? Of course not. Who knows, what I did might be the first step on the long road of coming to terms with each other, learning to acknowledge and respect the other's existence. Besides that, I am sure that the hatchling wasn't the one who fought against our clan years ago, and nobody should blame one being for an entire community's crimes."
Now Lenhardt knew what he has to do.
He slammed his paws against the wooden entrance a couple of times, then took a few steps back, and jumped against it, adding all of his weight and strength to the impact. That did the job, the rectangular piece of wood broke out from its place and fell to the floor. Entering the cave, he quickly found out who was crying.
Amidst the various objects inside with various shapes, sizes and unknown use, he saw a small human crouching under a thing which had four wooden legs and a flat surface. Unlike the fighting-humans he already saw, this one seemed a lot smaller, and it did not hide its face like the others. Its most unique feature was the relatively long fur coming down from its head. Its large, round eyes and overall small dimensions gave Lenhardt the idea that he's probably seeing a human hatchling.
He quickly ran over the tiny thing.
"Come on, we have to get outta here!" He urged, but the hatchling only shot a terrified and confused glare at him from under its cover. In the meantime, the dangerous groaning and cracks coming from above warned Lenny, that maybe their getaway would be quite timely.
"Oh come on..." the young Night Fury tucked his nose under the wooden cover, then the little human jumped forward, wrapping its limbs around Lenny's neck. As he raised his head, the hatchling clung to him desperately.
"Alright, this works, too." Lenny moaned, and rushed towards the entrance. The room began to fill with smoke, and he heard parts of the ceiling coming down as well. He zigzagged and jumped, a girder barely missing them as they got out from the human-cave.
He ran a couple of paces before slowing down, allowing the tiny human to release his neck and stand on its hind legs. They both turned back towards the cave in flames, and both let out a startled cry as the whole thing collapsed.
"Now that was a bit too close for comfort." Lenny commented, and looked at the human beside him. He saw tears rolling down the cheeks of the hatchling, which took him by surprise.
"Okay, so humans can cry too? You aren't exactly like the bloodthirsty savages I met earlier..."
Upon hearing the dragon's comments, the young human turned towards him, and raised a foreleg.
"Hey, wait, what do you want?" Lenny asked quickly, and tried to lean away from the touch. But as he took a closer look, the little human's paws looked completely unthreatening with those stubby little paw toes which didn't even seem to have claws. He stopped, and let the human reach him.
It touched his snout, and began to gently rub his nose. The touch was surprisingly soft, and Lenny found himself purring involuntarily by the pleasant feeling.
"Okay, now it's my turn." he said to the little human, and leaned forward to thoroughly sniff it around. He smelled its upper body and around its neck, luring out a sound from it which must have been the human way of chuckling. Lenny found the human's scent interesting; he managed to distinguish traces of smoke, a completely unknown odour, and something which smelled slightly... feminine.
"Wait, you're a girl, aren't you?" he asked, still hoping if the little human can understand him somehow. But she just giggled again and began to scratch a spot behind his ears, sending tiny bolts of pleasure running down his spine.
"Alright, unless you protest, you'll be a girl." he purred "Now we just have to figure out-"
"LENHARDT!"
Both the dragon and the little girl jumped at the angry roar. Lenny looked up to see Salkonyr, Garenald and Raylandt coming down at him quickly.
"We need to talk about what you mean by 'won't taking any risks'." the First Guard began, then he noticed the little girl trying to hide under Lenny's right wing "By the holy fires of Wotahn, what is that thing?!"
"I found this human hatchling in one of the burning caves!" Lenhardt explained quickly "She was completely alone and helpless, I had to get her out to safety!"
"You risked your own life to save a human?" Salkonyr asked in disbelief.
"What, I should've let her die instead?!" Lenny retorted.
Salkonyr shut his eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to swallow down what he was just about to say. After a few moments, he spoke up in a calmer tone:
"This place is not safe, we have to get out of here." He took a suspicious look at the younger Night Fury "I hope you're not considering-"
"No, I'm done with that." Lenhardt said firmly. "She's coming back with us, until I decide what to do with her."
The three Guards exchanged a meaningful look, and took off one by one. Meanwhile, Lenny lifted his wing off the small human, and looked into her eyes.
"I'm smaller than them, so I think you could safely get onto my back and hang on." he tried to explain, but he only got a questioning glare in response. After some gentle nudging and showing his nape towards the girl, she finally understood, and carefully moved herself into a sitting position slightly ahead of the dragon's wing-shoulders, leaning on his neck in a tight but not choking embrace.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful." he tried to comfort her a bit, then opened his wings and leaped into the air. The girl on his back let out a startled cry as they launched forward, but as they began to gain some distance from the settlement, Lenny felt her grip gradually relaxing on his neck.
On their way back, he carefully tilted his head to see the girl looking at the landscape around them with a joyous expression on her face. The sight made Lenhardt smile, too:
"You're a weird little thing, I hope you know that."
As expected, the majority of Clan Toemnir wasn't exactly thrilled by the presence of the young human girl, but after Lenhardt convinced everyone that the youngling is completely harmless, they reluctantly returned to their duties and refrained from further complaining. Lenny took his little companion to a clearing around the centre of the island, and lit up a small fire for her from fallen twigs and small branches. He even gave a fish from the pile the hunters collected as a reserve for tomorrow, then shifted his attention to Salkonyr, who let out quite a few irritated growls since they returned from the human settlement.
"I really hope you aren't planning to drag her along with us." he commented.
"No, of course not." Lenny shook his head "I'd like to ask you to organize a smaller patrol and sweep the forest area around the human-caves. Those caves were deserted, which means there are two possible explanations."
"Do you suspect they are hiding somewhere?" Salkonyr asked.
"It's either that, or they've been taken away. Like..."
"I get it." Salko murmured.
"Yeah." Lenny sighed "I'd like to believe in the former."
"Alright, I'll try to round up a few humans for you..." the First Guard began, than noticed the girl's up to something "Hey, what is she doing?"
They both looked at the young human, who impaled the fish she got from Lenhardt to a stick, and hung it over the fire. She noticed the two dragons glaring at her, and questioningly warbled something on her own strange language.
"I have no clue..." Lenhardt said slowly, then turned his attention back to Salkonyr, who was still examining the human's actions.
"So if you find the cave-dwellers, I'll fly the girl back to them. Hopefully she'll find her family there, and this whole thing will end to everyone's satisfaction."
"Right." Salkonyr replied. "I'll come back when I found something."
"Take care." Lenny said.
"As always."
Salkonyr took off and disappeared into the night sky, so the young Night Fury could continue watching the girl. By his estimation, the girl was a little smaller than half the height of the humans who attacked Toemnir valley. He had no idea how old she can be, and he really wished if he could find a way to communicate with her somehow. He could ask so many questions from her...
At some point, the girl decided that she burned the fish enough, and began to chew down on it.
"So you don't like raw things, huh?" Lenny asked from her. She seemed to enjoy the fish; she must've been quite hungry before. As the girl finished her meal, she wiped her mouth with the colourful second skin she wore, and raised her foreleg to caress the Night Fury's forehead. Once again, the softness of the touch marvelled Lenhardt.
"How is that some of your kind are so hostile but you happen to be so kind?" Lenny whispered to her. The girl mumbled something in response, then snuggled up to his side. Lenny raised a wing to cover her from the cool winter night, which she seemed to take very gratefully.
"There are just so many things we don't know about you." Lenny continued his thinking out loud "Your kind does everything in its own way, and I'd like to understand why and how. I'm not convinced that we have to hate each other. But figuring out what's wrong should be the first step to set things right, don't you think?"
He looked at the girl again, and he noticed that her eyes are closed; her breathing slowed down, becoming orderly and calm.
"Sleeping instead of wondering about things you can't fix in the middle of the night?" Lenny chuckled. "Maybe you're right."
A few moments later, his earplates twitched as he heard someone coming towards them. He turned his head towards the source of the rustling, and recognized Melyan walking towards them.
"Grandma!"
"There you are!" she smiled warmly at him "I've been searching high and low for you." She stopped, peeked under his wing and added: "And your little protégé."
"Grandma, please!" Lenny sighed "I've had enough berating for today, please have mercy on me!"
Melyan stopped, and took a long look at him. Lenhardt's ears flattened on his head, and a guilty smile appeared on his face.
"Sorry."
"Lenny." Melyan began slowly, after sitting down next to his grandson, her tail curling around her legs "I wanted to say I'm proud of you for making the right decision."
The young Fury's jaw dropped.
"Oh... really?"
"Why, is it surprising?" Melyan asked back, shooting a curious glance at him.
Lenny gulped.
"Umm... no. I mean... I thought that you... you may not exactly like humans because... well..."
"Because of what happened to your grandfather?" she asked calmly.
Lenny examined his grandmother's expression for a moment before answering. Her tone might have been calm, but he couldn't miss the hurtful flash in her eyes which occurred every time Wordren was mentioned. Lenny talked with her many times since they left their home, and he knew how sad and lonely Melyan had become after the events in Toemnir valley. He had not expected her to accept a human's presence around the clan easily, but her opinion seemed to be different.
"Lenny." Melyan sighed "As far as I know, this youngling has nothing to do with what happened to us. Therefore, she does not deserve any kind of negative treatment; she can't answer for actions she never committed."
"I'm glad you see it that way, too." Lenny let out a huff of relief "Most of the others aren't so understanding, I fear."
"You can't blame them." Melyan replied "When our loved ones are hurt, the first instinctual reaction we have is the thirst for vengeance. Lots of families have been torn apart on that day, there isn't a single Fury here who hasn't lost a close friend or a relative. The pain is still fresh, and many dragons think that you're rubbing salt to the wound by bringing a human here."
"B-but..."
"But" she continued, placing a wing on Lenny's back "that is generalization, which is wrong. No hatchling can be held responsible for the sins of their parents. She is just as innocent as you are. And do you know what I would do if I could meet the ones who killed my mate?"
Lenny shook his head silently.
"I would ask them, why." Melyan whispered. "Killing them won't bring Wordren or anyone else back. But if I could understand the reasons, it might help me to accept what happened. The others will reach this conclusion as well, just give them some time."
"I thought of something similar when I crashed inside that cave to save her." Lenny said, looking at the young girl beside him. She was awake, and curiously watched the older dragoness who wasn't there when she fell asleep.
"Oh my, you're so cute." Melyan purred at her, and leaned over to sniff her. The girl let out a friendly warble again, and raised her foreleg to touch the face of the dragoness.
"Anyway" she said after pulling back from the human "You did exactly what your father would've done. Your mother said this too, we met for a brief moment while I was searching for you."
A proud smile appeared on Lenny's face.
"That feels good to hear. Thanks, Grandma."
"Don't mention it." she purred and nuzzled the young dragon's face. The little girl between them watched excitedly, and cried out something.
"Y'know, those funny noises you make are cool, but I'd prefer something more understandable." Lenny chuckled while looking at the girl.
"I'm thinking about giving her a name, addressing her as 'human' all the time seems a bit rude for me." he said, turning back towards Melyan.
"You kind of have a point..." Melyan answered thoughtfully.
"How about... Clawless?"
The dragoness burst out of laughter.
"That's just so silly!"
"Well... yeah I know, but it fits her, she's the most harmless thing I've ever seen!" Lenny said defensively, then joined her laughter "And, the first time she raised her foreleg to touch me, I was like 'Where the heck are the claws on this thing?' and I just looked and looked..."
After a few more seconds of titter, Melyan calmed down enough to say:
"Alright, so Clawless she is." she grinned.
"Yeah, you like it, girl?" Lenny smiled at her, and she mumbled something in response.
"I'll take it as a 'yes'. Not that we have a choice, anyway." he laughed.
Just a few moments later, they heard someone calling the young dragon, and as they looked up, they saw Salkonyr coming down to meet them.
"Salko!" Lenny greeted him "That went fast!"
"It did." the First Guard confirmed "We've found the humans we were looking for. They are just a few minutes of flight east of their settlement, and some of them went back to fight the flames. I guess they want to save what's left of their homes. Garenald spotted a column of armed humans with those rolling fighting things heading south. I suspect they were the ones lighting up the area in the first place. "
"So they are going away." Lenny concluded. "That's good. You hear that, Clawless?" he asked, looking at the girl again "You're going home!"
The little girl looked at him with wide eyes.
"We're gonna fly again!" Lenny tried, flapping his wings a few times.
Now that lured out an excited scream from Clawless.
A while later, as the early morning light began to soften the darkness; Lenhardt, Salkonyr and Melyan were above the forest, circling around the spot Salkonyr mentioned previously. As soon as Lenny managed to notice the humans pacing around, he sought out a clearing, and carefully spiralled down. The humans saw their approach, and just a few moments after the three dragons and the girl landed, there was a smaller crowd at the edge of the clearing.
Salkonyr nervously clawed the ground as he took a look around.
"Now this is definitely unpleasant." he growled.
"Easy, Salko. They mean no harm." Lenny told to him.
"Uh-huh."
In the meantime, Clawless began to eye the crowd around them, then suddenly she screamed and hurried towards a tall human. The human let out what sounded like a cry of relief, and ran forward, hugging the girl and lifting her up.
"Aww." Melyan smiled at the sight, tilting her head to the side a bit.
"Great, can we go now?" Salkonyr asked with a hint of impatience in his voice.
"Salko!" Melyan chided "Don't ruin the moment!"
"Yeah, let's wait for a minute, I want to see the reaction." Lenhardt butted in, narrowing his eyes at the tall human holding the little girl.
Not releasing her from the hug, the man eventually turned towards them. He raised and shook a foreleg, which looked like a gesture of greeting, then loudly said:
"Спасибо."
"I think that should be something like 'thanks'." Melyan concluded.
"I agree." Lenny sighed "Okay, let's get out of here. We don't have much time before sunrise, and we still have to prepare for leaving this place tomorrow."
All three of them were in the air, heading west a bit to disappear from the eyes before heading straight towards their temporary home. Despite how hard he tried not to, Lenhardt found himself looking back a few times, wondering what will happen now to the young human girl. He learned quite a few things about humans, such as not all of them hate dragons, which was at least promising. Hopefully, today he made a friend, and hopefully they will remember what he did for them.
"What's wrong, Lenny?" Melyan asked, noticing her grandson's distant expression, and flew a bit closer to him.
"Nothin'." he murmured. "Now we should all focus on the journey ahead of us. We still have a long way to fly."
End of Part Two
A/N: And with that, this current part stands concluded. But worry not, we aren't even halfway there, there's still lots of things to talk about. ;) So be prepared for the upcoming Part Three, the escalating conflict, more food for thinking, and generally, more fun!
As always, please ask/comment/review.
Until next time! o/
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