Work Text:
"There's another one, limpin' off!" Bragden shouted.
"Does it really count as 'limping' when it's flying?" Pakani said.
"Save yer breath fer breathin', Pecan! A few more moments..."
The dwarf hunched over the saddle horn. The slightest twitches of his feet in the stirrups, or of his legs, or a tug or flick of the reins, wordlessly guided the blind drake with perfect precision. So long had they flown together now, Pakanistrasz feared no obstacles but the enemies themselves.
"Now!" Bragden said.
Pakani angled aside and let loose a strafing blast of flame. He heard it catch on undead membranes and caught a whiff of burning Scourge. He'd already turned away from the death knight's striking range before it could respond, keeping pace a safe distance away until the satisfying crumbling of the skeletal gryphon. It gave a last screech and plummeted with its unhallow rider.
Pakani dived after them. He didn't worry about crashing; Bragden would see, literally, to his safe landing.
One perfectly coordinated dance of dwarven blades and draconic talons later, Bragden pilfered what coinage he found, and Pakani set about burning the bodies in cleansing flame.
"Bah, a waste of a gryphon, makin' one o' these," Bragden scoffed.
"It's a waste of any life. Worse than a waste, even."
"I'm glad me old lionbutt is long buried, on another continent," Bragden said. "Hate tae think of me beloved mount lookin' like this."
"What, on fire?" Pakani said slyly.
"Hah. Let's get back tae where tha others fell and do 'em tha same."
---
A bolt of flame went wide, a clubbed tail slapped him across the snout, and the dwarf's frantic yanking and flapping of the reins sent Pakani into a confused spiral. The warrior frothed curses and leaned out to try one last jab at the blue drake they pursued. He leaned too far aside, one foot coming loose, his other jamming through the stirrup, body sliding sideways. "ACK!"
Pakani sensed the imbalanced weight and rolled to compensate at the same time Bragden heaved aside to do the same, and their combined inertia slammed them into a cliff Pakani wasn't aware existed. A metallic clang-clink-clang told him Bragden had dropped the sword on impact. As Pakani scrabbled to catch hold of the rock face, a barrage of arcane magic blasted him and sent him sailing down in an avalanche of scree.
THUD. The snowbank below softened the blow, but the impact of landing still rang Pakani's brain like a bell.
The blue drake cackled from above, then shouted a taunt in Draconic: "Hey Blindie! Try losing the two-hundred-pound tumor on your back and let the dwarves do what they do best: Teaching your mom how to braid her beard!"
Pakani was never good at snappy zingers, so he just hissed and bristled. It probably didn't look very impressive when he was tangled in a pile with Bragden and half-buried in snow and debris. The blue drake laughed again, and then the laughter faded into the distance.
"What in tha bloody names o' me ancestors was that?!" Bragden shouted as he dislodged himself.
"What do you mean, what was that? What was that?" Pakani retorted. Yeah, real snappy.
"That was me missin' a strike 'cause ye weave around in tha air like a drunken moth!"
Pakani pushed himself up to his four feet and shook himself off. "Well, that's only because you were steering me like a, like a drunk murloc!"
"I tried steerin' ye like I steered any beast! Me gryphon were nae half as stupid as ye!"
"Well I'm not a beast, you, bearded idiot!"
"Nae, ye're worse! Ye're blind!"
Pakani's head pulled up and back into an S-curve as he glared squarely at the dwarf. He didn't need to see to know where the loudmouth's little head was at for glaring purposes. "Yeah, well - Well maybe if I had someone who wasn't - Maybe I am, but let's see you fly all on your own, huh?! Gonna start flapping your arms and fly back to the temple all by yourself?"
"I'd fare a helluva lot better, that's fer sure! I thought ye said ye had experience on tha wing! Who taught ye how tae fly?!"
"My - Other dragons, who else? You know, people with wings, and know how to use them, and how to tell someone else how to use theirs without running into stuff!"
"Dinnae play dumber than ye already are, lizard! I meant who taught ye tae take a rider!"
Pakani's tail flicked irritably through the snow. "Why do you care? You can just go back to the temple and get some other drake to carry you anyway."
"Me Pappy taught me nae to quit even under tha most extenuatin' circumstances," Bragden growled.
"Yeah, I'm such an awful circumstance to have to put up with. I'm so sorry my blindness is so damn inconvenient for you."
"Ye should be, if ye're pawnin' yer services as a steed with nae a day in a saddle tae know left, right, or giddyup!"
"I - You didn't even say any of those! You're just flailing around up there, pulling every which way and expecting me to know better! If you're going to act like my eyes, at least act better than the ones I already have!" Pakani huffed.
"Ye're avoidin' tha question."
"Fine," Pakani hissed. "Orcs taught me. Happy?"
"Tha --" Bragden, thankfully, went quiet for a few moments. Probably burning fleas in his helmet trying to do math in his head, working out the timeline. "Tha Second War."
"Good for you. You know basic historical facts. Just... find your sword already so we can leave."
"We're nae goin' back tae tha temple," Bragden said firmly. "Because nae way in hell am I gettin' showed up by blasted orcs as a proficient rider."
Pakani snorted and said nothing.
"Pakanistrasz, ye're right. Ye're nae a beast. Ye're a thinkin' bein'. I didnae raise ye from an egg, ye dinnae know me signals, me language, nae a thing I take fer granted. I knew ye'd be a challengin' mount, an' I'm nae backin' down from a challenge. But just one thing. Why'd ye volunteer fer this, if ye're blind an' yer history with riders is so ugly?"
"I... I don't know. To prove I'm still useful. To fight Malygos and the Lich King. To do something good and -" Pakani hesitated. "To make up for all the wrong I did. To... atone. I guess."
"Those are all good reasons as any. If ye'll take a surly arse like me on yer team again, I'll try tae make things right."
"Well..." Pakani let out a small laugh. "Yeah. Okay. Let's just... try easier targets to start? Or Malygos is going to see us and laugh so hard he blows up a surge needle."
"Aye. An' if I'm to be callin' out directions fer ye, I need a better name tae use. Somethin' nice and short."
"Well -"
"Aha! I got it. Ye're Pecan now."
"...Great."