I had an interestingly BAD student today, who hurled an eraser at me and called me a jerk.

She is now a banned student.

And this is where I poured my creativity and rage :-D

MINE.

~Angel~

<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

____________________________________________________________
“You have to eat it,” Rayne stated as she offered the bitter smelling stew up to him. “It will keep you from getting an infection.”

Magnus sneered and turned his muzzle away from the larger pot of green sludge, dragon teeth bared as Rayne brought it closer to his face. This was not his usual delicious meals he received from Rayne, this was that disgusting medicine. He swore she was making him eat it as punishment for not telling her sooner about being the slayer.

“It is not tasty.”

“Its not meant to be tasty, its meant to keep you from getting sick,” Rayne said beginning to become impatient with him. “And I can pour it down your throat in your sleep again.”

It had been two days since Magnus awoke from his unconsciousness, eating everything in sight but his wound was still healing even after Rayne sewed up what she could. The wound was too deep to sew up the muscle and whatever else Xipil had cut through and Rayne was worried what she couldn't clean would fester. Dragons were excellent healers though, so why was his little female waving this nasty concoction in his face again?

“Do you want me to go hunting for your dinner or not?” Rayne asked, setting the pot next to his claw, putting her hands on her hips and looking up at him sternly. She would pull the food card.

“You wouldn't...” Magnus snarled at her. Her brow raised as she crossed her arms, waiting patiently. He bared his teeth at her but picked up the little pot between two claws and tossed it down his throat, shaking his head and scrunching his face at the bitter, sweaty taste. “There! Happy?!”

“Yes,” she answered and gave him a gentle smile, running her paw along his arm and side for a moment before walking deeper into the cave. Spitting what he could when she was gone he tried to get the taste out of his mouth, grabbing a barrel of water Dracen brought a few days prior and drowning his mouth in the warm but clean taste.

***********************************************************************

Rayne made sure to get arrows from the mess Magnus called storage, making sure their length worked with the bow she'd become accustomed to over the last couple of days. The one good thing about going hunting? It kept Magnus from pulling anything valuable out of place. She didn't mind hunting, but the bow, the weapon made her remember too many memories of a place she once knew, a place she once loved.

She had a new place now that held warm memories, the dragon surrounding most of them. She smirked a little when she saw him lazily on his back where she had left him, not asleep but trying to rest. She walked close to him but didn't say anything, trying to give him some peace. It became obvious that was a mistake when she tried to move quietly towards the exit. His tail twisted around her and lifted her off the ground, arms free but everything from the ribs down coiled in white scales.

“What are we doing?” Rayne giggled as she was forced to look at the white dragon below her.

“You were going to leave without telling me,” he stated in a suspicious manner, eyes narrowing up at her.

“I was letting you rest,” Rayne sighed heavily in his grip as Magnus tilted her forward, hovering in front of his muzzle. She put her paws on the bridge of his nose, rubbing the silver guard scales a little as he let out a hot breath over her.

“Don't be gone long,” he said in his low rumble of a voice, making Rayne shiver slightly in his grip. He lowered her to the ground and watched her re-adjusted her clothes, quiver and bow, before running his tail blade under her arm and closing his eyes to try once again to get some rest.

The woods were a complete disaster around Magnus' lair, once easy paths with trees as cover were now open to bright light or piles of tall, fallen trees Rayne couldn't climb over. On the way out of the now flattened plain outside the mountain's entrance, she passed the rotting flesh and tail blade of Xipil. No one had touched it since Magnus chewed it off and spat it out. It made her queasy, the flesh already deteriorating as the blade still looked sharp and polished with Magnus' dried blood. Rayne was glad she hadn't met the dragoness who once bore the weapon. Dracen suggested, only to Rayne of course, that Magnus should hang it above his lair-step, warning other dragons of what Magnus was capable of. Dracen however, didn't want to touch it either, Rayne was sure it was like looking at a severed hand for them.

Magnus and Xipil made it harder for Rayne to find anything large enough to shoot close by with the battle. She knew the woods well, but had to push farther into them before finding anything substantial. She stepped over a fallen tree that once stood far above her line of sight, another casualty of the brutal territorial battle, and slid down it into thicker foliage.

She stopped a moment as she found a large patch of dark berries, untouched by anything around it. Poisonous, she was sure of it. She could almost hear Father Tobias' voice as she looked at them, telling her if the animals aren't eating them, she shouldn't either. The animals knew better than anything what was safe and what was not.

She spotted a game trail nearby and decided it was worth a shot, she'd come down a different path today since she didn't find much else on her usual path this morning. The trail seemed new, probably because of all the sudden changes in the forest's environment. She kept her steps light and careful, looking for any fresh prints in on the forest floor or any movement in the underbrush.

Rayne took in the thick woods around her, glad to see at least most of the place avoided the beasts' brawl. She ducked low as she heard something moving in the underbrush, not exactly close to where she was now but close enough. She took an arrow from her quiver and put it in place, drawing it tightly. She searched for the source of the sound with her eyes as her ears picked up the direction it was in, unable to see it from this distance away. She slowly made her way closer to the source of the noise, spotting a deer pulling the leaves off a bush between thin saplings. Rayne steadied her breathing, waiting patiently for the shot she wanted to kill it when the deers' ears perked and it ran off in a fright, disappearing after a few short jumps.

Rayne hadn't moved, nothing around her moved enough to trigger the deer's instincts. It couldn't have smelled her from that distance, not without a strong wind. What did it know that Rayne didn't?

Then Rayne heard it, something familiar in the distance but growing closer. Dragon...wings? She frowned a bit before the trees crashed all around her! Chaos ensued as something broke through the canopy! Rayne ducking out of the way of a large trunk before kneeling in the now bright sunlight, listening as more trees collapsed like dominoes places she couldn't see or focus on.

Her eyes couldn't stop looking at the large creature before her, its body casting a long shadow over Rayne's head as fiery eyes pierced through the darkness. Purple wings blotted out the forest behind it, and five horns crowned the back of its head.

It, she. Red scaled and the deformed, scabbed over tail end told Rayne exactly who came crashing down through the foliage. All female Rayne had ever seen only had two horns but this—bulky beast of a female had five. Rayne's heart was trying to beat out of her chest as the she-dragon growled, baring teeth at the silver tigress. All at once Rayne knew Xipil was going to kill her, right then and there.

“Hello little whore,” Xipil purr-growled at Rayne before monstrous jaws came snapping open at her! Rayne's instincts worked faster than her mind did, drawing the bow back up and shooting clear into the gaping mouth of teeth and death! Xipil roaring back in pain as the small arrow pierced the large flesh dangling at the back of her throat! Stumbling back as a claw tried to reach for the arrow!

Rayne shook terribly before her mind screamed at her to stop thinking about moving and MOVE! She bolted, heading into the deepening woods where the deer had run and not stopping as she heard Xipil's fire explode from her throat behind her. She must have burnt the arrow because the next thing Rayne heard from behind her was Xipil roaring,

“YOU LITTLE BITCH!”

Moving far faster than Rayne thought she could, she darted between trees and tried to watch her step through the foliage, she knew the terrain and knew it had its own way of masking a sudden and abrupt drop. She could hear the breaking of tree branches and trunks behind her as Xipil made her own path through the forest, a long trunk crashing to Rayne's right and knocking several others down around her. She ducked under a breaking branch and headed into the thicker wood, hoping all the noise and commotion even from this distance could draw the attention of Magnus.

She heard the loud intake of air behind her and darted towards a tree three times her width, pulling in close as the heat and fire erupted around the tree trunk violently! Flames licking at her fur and hair as her body grew covered in her own sweat! The flames began to recede and Rayne moved, knowing Xipil was just about out of breath and wouldn't be able to blast her again.

She ducked behind another thick tree just as Xipil released another blast of fire! Trying to think of something to do...anything! Think, Rayne THINK! The flames began to weaken again and Rayne darted forward, jumping down into a ravine under a rotting log, hoping the now burning smoke clouded her scent enough to mask her from Xipil's keen nostrils.

Rayne knew the terrain, and Xipil didn't. That was a start. The ground shook around her as she heard several other trees crack and tumble to their deaths, feeling the shuddering under her again when they finally found their burning resting place. Xipil was large and clumsy in the terrain because she couldn't move through the trees like Rayne could, wasting valuable energy in knocking out a path rather than just moving through.

“YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER! OR YOU'LL BURN YOU LITTLE WHORE!”

Xipil seemed to use her rage as a source of power, and right now she was definitely angry. Rayne's legs shook as she tried to stand to move, fear beginning to get the best of her as smoke drifted from above into the ravine. She needed to focus, Magnus would come, she just needed to keep Xipil busy until then.

Magnus, still injured from Xipil's blow coming to her rescue made a knot in her stomach. Xipil, the dragon who almost killed Magnus. Xipil, the beast who almost let Magnus bleed to death. Rayne had her focus now, her focus on the bitch-dragon who almost killed Magnus.

And just in time, a tree trunk aflame was rolling down towards the ravine and hit the rotting log above her! Cinders spraying all around Rayne as she ran from the falling debris. She crawled up slowly to peek over the edge of the high ground, spotting Xipil far too close for comfort shoving another large tree over in the hopes of spooking Rayne out of her hiding place. She snapped up a deer in her jaws thinking it was Rayne and shook it into bloody bits. She crawled out and pulled an arrow free and aimed for Xipil's tender point under her ear, before letting it fly and darting into another run. She heard Xipil cry out as it struck its mark, Rayne sprinting into the trees still standing tall like a wall beyond the flames.

“YOU ANNOYING LITTLE INSECT!”

Rayne didn't have a plan save piss off the she-dragon and keep ahead of her wrath. She needed another plan in case the dragoness' strength outlasted Rayne's arrows and speed, or the forest was gone before then. She darted behind a thick trunk as she watched the spray of fire swipe in a wide horizontal arc through trees, doubling the forest fire already in progress. Rayne coughed as her lungs inhaled more smoke than she could handle, running forward before one step didn't hit the ground. She tumbled and slid down a steep groove in the forest landscape, using the heels of her feet to slow her down as she reached a small creek bed. She let out a little whimper of pain as she knew her ribs and arms were going to be bruised after that, but she needed to push the pain away if she ever wanted to know if she was right.

Her eyes looked up at where she fell, and suddenly something came into her line of sight. She crawled over to the patch of dark berries untouched by animals. Poisonous. If she could at least get some of the juices in Xipil, it wouldn't be enough to kill her but slow her down...Rayne pulled the berries from their stems and mashed them in her paw, gushing the poisonous juices in her palm before pulling out as many arrows as she could hold and rolling the tips in her paw. She felt the steady steps of Xipil close by, another blast of flame careening over trees nearby as the creek reflected the orange light. She was closing in. Rayne grabbed more berries and shoved them into her quiver, using a few arrows to puncture them inside the quiver's bottom and washing her paws as much as possible.

She had a plan, but for it to work she had to hit Xipil at the points where her scales were thin, where the poison could enter the blood stream. Still a challenge but she knew where those places were. She stood up and urged her legs forward, climbing out of the steep groove in the earth on the other side. She pulled an arrow from her quiver, the tip sparkling with black juices as she peered through the smoke and flame for the large body. She coughed as she inhaled more smoke but everything but the fire had gone eerily still. She coughed again before the ground shook behind her violently, the weak earth she was leaning on shifting behind her and threatening to slide her back into the ravine! Xipil's body coming through the smoke and weaving back and forth towards Rayne with a predator's gaze!

The motion of Xipil's body made it difficult to aim for a tender point, but Rayne steadied her breathing and let the arrow fly! Nailing Xipil in her nostril and making the she-dragon jerk slightly in surprise and rage! Rayne pulled another arrow from her quiver and fired at Xipil's exposed pad on her claw as it tried to pull the new annoyance from her nostril! Xipil's paw slammed down as both arrows became forgotten over the beast now before Rayne.

Rayne shifted and let the ground carry her back down into the ravine, taking a step before reaching the bottom and running along the creek bed as the red dragoness barreled into the natural small valley! Rayne pulled another arrow from behind her and into place, waiting for the sound of Xipil to take in a breath and try to blast her into ashes...And when Xipil did, Rayne skidded to a stop and fired another arrow, piercing the soft folded scales under Xipil's jaw! Making Xipil hesitate and giving Rayne the chance to fine cover—anything! Rayne dashed behind a shale rock not much larger than herself when Xipil released the blast, curling into a ball as the flames licked the top of her head! She watched the flame begin to recede and climbed up the steep creek bed! Survival throwing everything into her limbs as she got out of the way when another blast nearly took her tail off! She had one moment of real clarity, and her thought literally asked how the hell dragon slayers KILLED dragons! She could barely keep moving out of one's way!

Three arrows in, how many would it take? Rayne didn't know but she knew as she hid behind a burning tree trunk Xipil hadn't felt a thing. Rayne coughed harder, smoke flooding the area like waves as the heat almost grew unbearable. She had to get out of there, she needed to head to clearer foliage. A branch hissed above her as another cindering limb fell from the sky like hell fire, Rayne shielding her eyes as the ashes and burning bits exploded too close to her. She could feel the heat, the searing cinders as they burned her fur and bit into the flesh of her paws and clothing. She rubbed her paws on the hot but still green ground, making sure they weren't burning anymore before looking at them, patches of burned skin there but not as bad as it could have been. She started coughing worse before chancing leaving the hidden place. She crawled under the fallen tree trunk and saw through the smoke and ash Xipil, watching her wing as it twitched involuntarily. Her pupils were dilating and shrinking as she seemed to forget what she was doing. The poison was working! Rayne crawled out from under the log and knelt on one knee, stablizing her stance while her chest coughed as she fired another arrow tipped with berry poison at the folded flesh of Xipil's shoulder and arm. She snapped at the air but she didn't seem to be able to find where the foreign object had come from. Rayne coughed worse, she knew she was suffocating but by the gods she would bring the damn she-demon down before she died. She owed Magnus that. She fired another arrow at the dragoness, watching it sink into the flesh between her digits, another into the groove of her collar bone, where ever Rayne could sink into flesh she did. Rayne watched in satisfaction as Xipil's body began to convulse, twitching before falling down hard onto her wing and side. Rayne stumbled forward through the growing smoke and stood in front of the twitching mass of muscle and scales, letting the huge pupils focus on her as Xipil's mouth began to clench tightly. Rayne coughed heavily before crawling onto Xipil's face, pulling out an arrow and pulling it tightly into place. She pointed the tip at the eye, Xipil looking terrified and possibly having a hallucination. Rayne's paws shook, watching the eye, remembering once she said she would never kill a dragon, remembering Magnus would have died, knowing Xipil might be scared off for a time but never leave him alone.

She closed her eyes as she tried to keep from coughing, but couldn't let the arrow go. She loosened the string of the bow and took a few steps off Xipil's head, tumbling into the low foliage and watching the world burn around her from her back. She wasn't going to live through this, she came to terms with that. She just hoped Magnus could recover. He didn't deserve to be alone.

***********************************************************************

Magnus couldn't fly, not with the muscles in his chest still tender. He bore through the forest and into the newly burning portion, roaring for Rayne and trying to find her in the heat and deadly smoke. He couldn't hear her heartbeat through the flames eating everything, he couldn't see her through the smoke. He followed the flames to their edge but nothing there, then to the other edge and saw Xipil twitching involuntary and drooling on her side. He knew it had to have been her who started this but where was Rayne? Then he saw the small form next to Xipil, sprawled out and covered in flecks of burns. He scooped her up slowly and saw she wasn't coughing but her heart was beating, his body trembling with rage and sadness. He stood up as high as he could and flapped his good wing around to clear the smoke, praying that she would start breathing in or coughing. Her heartbeat slowed, too slow to keep beating and Magnus felt his heart being pulled from his chest. Not Rayne, not now! He flapped his wing again and sucked in as much air into his lung as he could, blowing out the flames nearby and rushing clean air around them.

Her body suddenly started coughing, and her heart was erratic but beating harder. He let out a choking sob, before holding her close to his chest, cradling her and covering her with his wing to keep her from the heat and smoke. He took one look back at Xipil, before he slashed a tree with his tail blade, watching at its mess of burning branches land on the dragoness. If she lived, he would kill her later. Right now, he needed to get Rayne to a safe place.