Lots and lots and lots of--THINGS!

The title has multiple meanings lol.

MINE.

~Angel~
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“Are you ever going to look out?”

“No.”

Rayne was still hiding in his mane when he started to land, refusing to look around as they mostly glided home. She was shivering slightly from either cold, or fear, Magnus wasn't sure which and he didn't ask. He landed in his usual spot with his back claws first, tipping forward slowly as to not jostle his passenger too badly. He waited, and waited, but Rayne didn't move. She sat there, muscles tensed, shaking against his scales.

“We have arrived,” he replied calmly, turning his head slightly to glimpse only her leg.

“I know.”

Magnus' brow grew down in a concerned scowl only dragons could perfect.

“What is it?” he asked as he tried his best to get a look at her, but his neck wouldn't turn much farther than it already had. He wasn't an owl after all.

“I feel stupid,” she answered, sniffling a little. Magnus' entire body seemed to droop hearing the sadness in her voice.

“For?” he questioned, slumping down onto his belly to relax in the shadow of the mountain.

“For not thinking?” Rayne replied in an angrier tone, her patience always shorter when she was upset, which was saying something because most of the time her patience was short.

“About...” Magnus pressed further.

“About—” she stopped to think of what to say. “—All the commotion lately. I should have thought all the chaos would have drawn attention...And not gone trouncing along without being more cautious.”

“So...you can predict the future?” Magnus asked as he tilted his head, knowing she couldn't but he needed to make a point and getting it across wasn't always easy with her.

“What...? No...” Rayne muttered.

“Did you call upon knights to come into the forest?”

“Magnus...of course not.”

“Did you bring the bear knight here as well?”

“...No.”

“You truly think the death of those two metallic meat sacks is your fault? Rayne, you blame yourself too much for things you don't have control over. I hate to let you in on this little secret but you aren't a god,” Magnus stated. “They came to seek me out and kill me. You had nothing to do with it. They chose their fate, I merely gave it to them quicker.”

There was silence, Magnus letting out a growling sigh, trying to convince her that her choices did not condemn them.

“How many?” her voice came through stronger.

“How many what?”

“Mortals have you killed?” she was asking in her guilty voice.

“Lost count,” he answered.

“Eaten?”

“I don't eat mortals, Rayne. Although I might've to finish off a fight,” Magnus stated, rubbing his tail blade along her leg. “They're not very—filling and the clothes will give you horrible stomach problems.”

She snorted a bit, finally rearing back from the safety of the black strands of mane.

“If its any comfort,” Magnus replied as he felt her swing her leg round. “I don't kill mortals unless they're planning on killing me first.”

“What about all the carts and caravans you've stolen?” Rayne asked as she slid down his shoulder.

“I'm usually eating the horses, and by the time I see what's attached the mortals are very long gone. Waste not, hm? Besides, sometimes they have little mortal books and I do like to know what you mortals read about,” Magnus answered as she finally stood in front of him, smirking slightly. “Is that funny in some way?”

“I didn't realize we were so fascinating to you,” Rayne answered, patting his large paw with her own.

“I never said ALL mortals are fascinating,” Magnus grumbled with a large dragon pout, before leaning his head down and nudging her backside with his muzzle. She made a little yelp noise before he snorted his hot breath harshly on her tail. “And I like some of the books I've stumbled upon. I've kept them in my private collections.”

Rayne turned around abruptly, staring at him with intense eyes. Clearly, she hadn't found that section of the cave system yet. Magnus really couldn't fault her for not exploring her new home, he may have had a hand in her being distracted.

“Private collections?” She pressed further. “Private collections of books?”

“Rayne, you are repeating yourself,” Magnus said in a little droll tone, turning his neck around a few times to crack some bones along his spine. “And you know how I feel about that.”

“You have had a private collection—of mortal written books and you never told me?” she demanded as she looked him straight in the face.

“COLLECTIONS,” he repeated loudly, annoyed he had to repeat it. “And you never asked, because I told you no exploring of my cavern which I know now, you broke that rule. So I assumed you had found them on your little hikes through the lair.”

“Show me,” Rayne stated in a controlled manner, before turning and whisking herself up the rope ladder, her tail disappeared into the mouth of the lair.

Magnus sat there, blinking and tilting his head. Had she just given him an order? He smirked, before he stood and stretched his body, wings and tail. He wasn't a dog, she would have to be a good little mortal and ask properly before he would decide to show her.

He heard her little heartbeat come back as he pretended to pick at something in his back foot—and found something in his back clawed toes. An arm? Oh...the boar's arm...He pulled it out and held it up like a dog proud of himself as Rayne came back to the ledge. She was about to yell at him, he could tell from her little stomping trot, before her mouth tightened.

“Get rid of that,” she said as she looked like she was about to vomit, turning around and heading back into the lair.

“Its not so bad!” Magnus called after her. “Its only an arm!”

Magnus flayed it quickly, letting the organic material crumble to ash as the bits of armor crumpled and blackened, clanking as they hit the ground.


“TAIL BLADE!” Rayne yelled at him deep within the lair, which he cringed at notably. Xipil's tail blade had finally been taken care of, but not with out Magnus complaining about it. Rayne really hadn't laughed so hard at him ever when he came to tell her about it a few days prior. Did he appreciate it? No, but he would let that slide, only because it was Rayne. Which was also the reason he wasn't going to roar at her for mentioning it again.

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Dracen had perfected the art of moving silently, small spaces, large spaces, crawling down, jumping up. He was possibly the only dragon ever to do so, which was why his latest title had been Dracen the Stalking.

His oldest brother, Magnus the Keeper, had decided to keep the Lady morsel as his mate which was fine with him because it wasn't his life. It also meant he could tease his brother as much as he wanted about something new, since Magnus really hadn't changed anything for 400 years or so. Calling him a book-lizard know it all was getting boring.

Why did he like teasing his older brother? Simple. He sometimes grew bored and happened to be near his brother's precious territory, though since the arrival of Lady morsel he seemed to be around his brother far more often. First, he had to warn his brother about Xipil, there was no getting around that. Then the word his PARENTS were going there after hearing about said crazed dragoness and make sure the Word was still safe. When he found his brother was transforming into a little dragon slayer to seduce his mortal he couldn't very well just wait a few days to confront him about it, Dracen had to yell at his brother as soon as possible. Talking some sense into his brother hadn't gone as planned since Xipil showed up as well. Dracen hadn't even had time to warn his brother about his parents before he had to save Magnus the Ungrateful's life and fetch his Lady morsel. And of course after all that Xipil and Lady morsel's meeting...His brother really went from having nothing interesting at all in his life to complete chaos.

That was why Dracen had kept his distance for the time being, to give his brother hopefully some peace of mind. But Dracen still wanted to know how the Lady morsel was doing after the event of Arjun and his mother's appearance. In case she was dead he wanted to make sure Magnus was still around.

Which was why Dracen needed to use his skills to sneak into his brother's lair and check on the grumpy dragon. What he wasn't expecting was to find Magnus as the dragon slayer and his little morsel in a very interesting position. Dracen may have been the silent stalker, but his mouth always gave him away. He really had to fix that one of these days.

“I thought mortal males were on top?” Dracen thought aloud, before the squeal and the swearing started. He had just enough time to get a head start while Magnus made sure he was not going to crush Rayne with transforming.

“I'LL TEAR YOUR LIMBS OFF YOU LITTLE SLINKING WHELP!”

“I wasn't doing anything!” Dracen roared back at his brother as he felt the lick of Magnus' flame on his tail end. “I was just curious how you two mated!”

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Rayne's face was scarlet, beyond scarlet. She could feel it radiating in embarrassment as she clung the blanket to her body, paw over her mouth to hide her shocked expression. She was beginning to realize why Magnus didn't like Dracen around.

Magnus and Dracen were surely gone since she no longer could hear the roaring or the scraping of tail blades and wings. Hopefully Magnus was chasing the blue dragon out of the territory and not ripping Dracen's wings off. Rayne couldn't have stopped Magnus if he did actually bring bodily harm to Dracen, at this point she was picturing it herself. Knights watching her bathe and now Dracen seeing her and Magnus—She felt more heat come off her face. She would never be able to look Dracen in the eyes again.

She calmed herself down, realizing she could be alone for a while if the dragons were having one of their bouts. She wrapped the blanket around her for what ever reason and gathered her clothing up. Magnus had been pulling things out of storage for her to try on and wear, since she only had one real set of clothing and hadn't gone back to Sagewynd in quite sometime to get her things. Truth be told she hadn't thought about going back there in a very long time, but she needed to, and soon. Her journals were there and she at least needed to bring those with her to the lair. Her new home.

Magnus had also started decorating the room with other random things from his mortal items storage. He pulled carriages a part and put little seats here and there, rugs on the floor where it seemed dry, pots and cauldrons for cooking and boiling water for bathing, a few mirrors intact near chests of clothing, and for some odd reason weapons. Magnus seemed to think to be impressive, he had to show off the fact he'd collected weapons from over a few centuries, although he wouldn't admit it.

Rayne remembered the knights all too often. Was it really her fault they were dead? No, she didn't believe she really could have saved them. What she was worrying for was Magnus. Dragons and mortals lived by different standards, different gods even. Where Rayne knew she was possibly breaking many sets of doctrine, Magnus was simply being—a dragon. Dragons took what they wanted, killed for many number of reasons and lived however they seemed comfortable. Rayne understood why dragons really didn't live near each other, they needed space merely to keep from killing their own population. He had killed many mortals in his life, what was two more?

What really made her nervous was it wasn't one knight that showed up, it was two. They didn't show up separately, they were together and knew each other obviously. One knight showing up at a time could have easily been isolated events, but together could have meant someone was paying them to come specifically here. Someone who could afford to pay for the knights travels and services. Someone who was more than likely a Lord, and someone who will notice their disappearance after a while.

What was she thinking of doing? She didn't know yet. She certainly could sit and wait to see if the pair of them were just going by looking for a job. Something told her in her gut that wasn't the case. She kept thinking she could go to Sagewynd and see what was going on, if there was something spreading around there about the area, and then she kept thinking Magnus would insist on going with her. Was that a bad thing? She couldn't tell yet. The one time he had been in Sagewynd with her she still thought he was Gaerwn, the dragon slayer. Something made her nervous about taking him with her, but she really couldn't pinpoint what.

She'd run the idea by Magnus, see what he thought when ever he got back from skinning the scales off his brother's hide. For now...what could she do to pass the time? Her and Magnus were supposed to have a lesson on courtship rituals and for some reason that had him a little frisky. She shook her head a little as the thoughts of Dracen appearing came back. She would have to ask for some sort of door when Magnus returned.

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Ridder began to think he'd be lost in this forest forever. He knew it had been two days since he left the pond, eating what he remembered was alright to eat of the plant life in the forest but what was getting to him was the fact he knew he was moving in circles. He would think he'd found a new path and stumble upon a familiar broken trunk or where he broke a few branches. He was either going to find the dragon, or find his way out of this labyrinth of trees and shrubbery.

Then he heard the rumbling and the familiar scream of female lungs. His ears perked, before he began making his way steadily but quietly towards the sounds. He saw the valley drop and stalled, keeping low in the foliage as he tried to find the sound of the voice he had heard below in the underbrush. He hadn't been here before, and patches of fallen trees and scorch marks told him that the dragon was nearby—or had been recently. He didn't hear another scream, but he heard the deeper voice of something and the cracking of branches and tree limbs. He looked to see if there was an easy way down, but not without sliding and possibly hurting himself as well as giving himself away to what ever was coming closer. He instead waited, paw on Baedden's sword and kept low to hide his ears.

A form came charging through the foliage on light feet and speedy legs, obviously knowing the layout of the area as they kept their pacing fast and their strides long. The grey tigress.

The bashing of the trees came next before the white dragon in all its carnal fury followed her, tail swishing and twitching behind him as he lost her in the brush. He spotted her and dove, actually DOVE to catch her in his large paws, making a dome around her to prevent her escape! Ridder's heart needed to calm, if it thumped any louder the predator would surely hear it and know his presence but the tigress was alive and still in the clutches of the great white beast. Was he going to eat her now? Ridder had to find a way down, he had to stop this.

“I got you, you little sneak...” the—dragon—DRAGON spoke aloud. Ridder's eyes grew saucer-like, he must have been dreaming...never in all the dragons he had faced had any spoke...they were beasts...

The clasped paws peeked at the prize underneath them, and found nothing. The dragon looked around with narrowing eyes as he stood back up, trying to find the tigress. Where had she gone? Ridder thought she was surely captured, it looked like the dragon had her.

The dragon growled deeply, head turning and twitching around with every little sound before a thick but short branch flew of its own accord and smacked him in the jaw! The dragon growled harder as it left a mark on his pristine white scales, before turning to where it came from, although now the laughing gave her away.

Ridder couldn't believe it, he was completely lost. The dragon towered over the much smaller tigress and seemed to be smiling—SMILING at her as she rolled around on the ground in a twitching mess.

“You wounded me!” he boomed at her as he rubbed his jaw where the branch hit it. No, Ridder was dreaming, this was all some hallucination of some sort of bug bite.

“I got you,” she giggled, turning her head to the side and staring at him softly. “I got you before you could get me, that was the deal.”

“You hurled something sharp at me!” he responded, although even Ridder's dream form could tell it seemed in a mocking way. “It could have impaled my eye!”

“Are you saying that a MORTAL could injure a DRAGON with half a stick?” the tigress asked, sitting up and staring at him with an unbelieving frown.

“Eyes are very fragile, on every creature!” the dragon stated as he seemed to be growling but pouting at the same time. The tigress rolled her eyes before getting up and standing in front of him.

“Let me look at it,” she ordered, pointing down with her paw. The dragon growled in warning at her, baring teeth but she didn't even flinch. Yes, Ridder must be against some tree right now after some sort of poisonous bite drooling away for him to have this crazy a dream, or those mushrooms he had last were the bad kind.

“Magnus, let me look at it.”

The dragon slowly lowered his head and body down, leaning his injured cheek towards the tigress as if it were obedient to her. Obedient? A dragon? His dream theory was looking more and more possible, but the ground under his feet felt too real, the smells, the colors were too clear. He was awake, but how was this possible? Dragons speaking? Mortals and dragons interacting without fear? Without bloodshed? Perhaps he simply lost his mind in the maze of trees and wilderness.

The way she moved wasn't cautious, it was with certainty. She touched the jaw of the white scaled creature and rubbed the dirt mark from the skin without so much as flinching at the closeness of his teeth. Had she really tamed the white monster?

The dragon let out a sound Ridder had never heard before, almost a purring—but all too loud sound. The yellow-gold eyes were focused on the tigress, almost soft and content.

What in all hells was going on in this forest?

The tigress kissed the jaw of the predator like she were kissing a puppy, smoothing her silver hair down and leaning back a bit.

“Honestly Magnus, you are a baby sometimes.”

The dragon's smile came again but this time more predator-like, before beginning to wiggle down onto his chest and side. He cornered the tigress with his arm and forced her to slide up against his chest.

“I wasn't looking for—this,” the tigress motioned to her current position, legs pinned between the muscle of his arm and his chest. The dragon yawned loudly, ignoring her completely.

“What was it you needed so urgently to talk with me about? I believe I have a moment now to listen,” the dragon replied, lying his neck down as well as his long muzzled head, hanging onto the tigress like a stuffed toy.

“Sagewynd,” the tigress answered, “I want to get my journals and some of my belongings from there.”

“Meh...” the dragon responded, “Why?”

“Because that is MY work and MY things. Wouldn't you want your books you've written in and collected?”

“I would yes, but mine are easy to get. Your things aren't as nearby as you'd like to think.”

“You could fly us out of the forest,” the tigress suggested, “And we could walk the rest of the way there. I think you're strong enough to carry what I want even in your mortal form.”

“Playing to my vanity, are you my little Rayne?” the dragon ask as his head turned to observe her with a careful eye. “And what will I get if I help you with his venture?”

“Gratitude from your mate isn't enough?”

Mate? MATE?! Ridder barely held down his utter confusion and disgust. The gods never would allow a dragon, a beast to become joined with a mortal being. It was against the natural order! Unholy!

“Mmm...” the dragon pondered, leaning his head up and tapping his chin with a careful claw. “You could be in my debt...That could be fun...”

The tigress sighed heavily, squeezing free of her entrapment and standing with her paws on her hips in front of his muzzle.

“Would you rather I went alone? Because I will.”

The dragon's jaw snapped a few times in warning, eyes narrowing again as the tigress before him.

“Fine,” he stated abruptly, “But only because you need my help desperately to fetch your precious things. Not now though...Give me a few days time.”

The tigress smiled up at him even when his head turned away regally and with annoyance.

“Thank you, Magnus.”

The unsatisfied growl was easily read even from where Ridder was hiding.

“I know...You my little mortal...Should thank me properly,” The dragon rumbled as his head turned back to her. The tigress' brows quirked upwards, before something happened that Ridder was sure was against nature.

A band, the dragon wore a band on his long digit like a ring. With a few twists of it there was no longer a dragon, but a mortal.

A naked white tiger stood where once a monstrous sized being inhabited. As if that wasn't shocking enough, the grey tigress squealed playfully and ran back off into the foliage the dragon rammed through prior.

“You can't hide from me! I can smell you!” the tiger yelled still in the booming voice, disappearing into the foliage behind her.

Ridder felt his body lean back on his tuft tail, looking at the ground for realization to appear. He had new truths now, he would need a new plan to match. He could go now and see if he could kill the dragon in this little form, but what of the tigress? What was he supposed to do about her? Kill her?

He needed guidance, his goals were now unclear. Surely the dragon would die, but he needed to get out of Morio forest and fetch the other knights. He could write to his lord then, and let his lord decide the mortal female's fate.