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Phil would never understand dragon hunters.
As he and his group tramped through the woods, tracking yet another group of them, he sighed in disappointment. Really, some of these hunters’ tactics were just cruel. He’d heard stories, recent ones, where they’d killed a dragon just to use her body to bait her mate so they could kill him, too. Some of it was just…they were so unbelievably cruel.
On the bright side, at least they had a former dragon hunter on their side.
Up ahead, Techno hacked through the foliage and undergrowth with a machete, eyes trained on the world ahead. Some of his hunting dogs plodded through, white coats flashing like snow against the dark golden-brown bracken and brambles. Phil glanced back, saw Tommy rubbing his arms. Normally, he, Schlatt, Quackity, and Techno would do this alone, but the dragon from the night before was a hefty one. They’d need all the help they could to get the poor creature back home to the stables, where it could heal. So, Tommy and Tubbo and Ranboo were holding the reins of the horses, whilst Eret and Wilbur walked a little way back from the big time trackers. It wasn’t that they weren’t useful. After most of their trips, the pair would be patching up the scrapes and nicks and even the occasional stab wound (some hunters preferred to go down with a fight, it seemed), Wilbur teaching Tubbo how to stitch with deft, quick fingers and a calming voice. Eret would help Tommy and Ranboo with the dogs.
It was a good life.
Sure, maybe they didn’t live like kings in massive mansions, with vineyards that stretched to the horizon and towers that clawed at the sky. But they were happy, and that was what mattered. They helped dragons, lived off of hunting and trading, and that was that. A good cabin, good horses…they had what they needed.
One of the horses snorted, and Phil glanced back. “Whoa, Petra, it’s alright.” Ranboo reassured, reaching up to stroke her muzzle. The dark bay mare, as tall as Ranboo was at her shoulder, threw her head back and eyed him before relaxing. The harness around her clinked with every step, and she whinnied to the others as if asking for something to pull already. “Alright, okay, I know but we gotta find the dragon first. Okay?” Reaching up, Ranboo started talking in soft, easy tones.
Snorting, Petra trodded on, massive hooves crunching through the dirt and fallen leaves.
“Everyone stop.” Techno ordered from up ahead. He looked back, crimson eyes glittering, and then beckoned to Phil. Brushing his way by, Phil moved to look where Techno pointed, into the trees ahead. “Four hunters. Look what else they have with them.”
Squinting, Phil froze when he saw the monster. “A hellhound.”
“Not safe for the kids. We should keep Eret and Wilbur back, too. Having Tommy or Ranboo getting involved would be a disaster, what with Tommy’s recklessness and Ranboo’s…” Glancing back at the hybrid child, Techno tilted his head to the side. Phil made some quick gestures to Wilbur and Eret, and Eret pulled Ranboo over behind Petra. Then, they started walking the horses by, while Quackity and Schlatt went to Phil and Techno’s side.
“Hello, there!” Wilbur announced as he and the others strode by the dragon hunters. Ranboo and Eret remained hidden behind the horses, although Phil knew that Eret had a death grip on Tommy’s wrist to keep him there. “How’s your day been?”
“Just fine.” One of the hunters replied. Dropping slowly to the ground, Phil and the others surveyed the target.
Whistling softly, Schlatt mused, “It’s a green one. Pretty, too, probably emerald, aragonite, or chrysoprase.” He handed over some binoculars, and Phil raised them to his eyes. Sure enough, they picked the dragon’s elemental signature out immediately. He handed them off to Quackity.
“Wow. Look at those specs, too.” Leaning forwards, he listed off, “Sixty-two foot tail length, probably hundred twenty four overall. The wingspan on that thing must be huge.” He hissed in a breath, “It’s a juvenile male.”
“You sure about that? Green dragons aren’t normally male.” Glancing back, Phil mumbled, “and they rarely let juveniles leave their caves.”
“Sure of it. Black horns, black claws, white scales and patterning on the neck. They look like boas until they’re old enough to have their secondary breath weapon. He’s mid morph. I would say this one’s an axanthic mutation with some mixed white-sided.”
“Aren’t those bullsnake types?” Schlatt asked, glancing over. Nodding, Quackity swallowed nervously.
“No wonder they’ve kept it alive. That one would be a prize to have as a pet.” Techno mumbled, and everyone held their breath for a moment as Wilbur and the others passed by. “Alright, plan. We’re going to go in and take one of them down each. The dogs will take care of my guy.”
“What will you be doing?” Quackity asked. Slowly, Techno rose, grinning, as Wilbur and the others vanished from firing range.
“I’m going to take care of the hellhound.”
With that, Techno slid his boar skull down over his eyes, threw his hair over his shoulder, and charged while drawing his massive broadsword.
Phil, Quackity, and Schlatt jumped into battle, making short work of the men. Apparently, they didn’t expect much of a fight, other than the dragon. Even then, the poor animal didn’t seem to have put up one in the first place. Hadn’t had the chance. Massive harpoons were embedded in its flank, and one wing was thrown to the side. The delicate white membrane had deep rents through it, blood spattered over the dried leaves and sticks below it.
Sides heaving, the dragon laid there as laboured breaths wracked its body.
Slowly, Phil moved over, crouched down beside it. “Ssh, ssh, it’s alright. Wilbur, Eret, get the horses over here!” He shouted, turning back and moving to its head. Chains spread over the dragon’s side, and he spotted the white scales on the neck. This wasn’t white-sided patterning, that was down lower around its throat and under its jaw, on the underbelly and showing in the colours of the wing membrane. Flank heaving, the dragon groaned and lifted its head slightly, chains clanking together as they dragged across the bloodied earth. “Hey, hey, ssh. Ssh. Schlatt, Quackity, work on the chains. Techno, get the harpoons cut and secured.”
“On it.” Schlatt replied, and Quackity said something quickly before swearing every so often, running his hands over the damage as he slashed at the chains. Sucking in a breath, Phil ran his hands over the dragon’s cheekbone, settled it down again and looked at the poor thing.
“I’m sorry this happened to you. We’re not going to hurt you. I promise.” When he glanced over, he found an eye was focused on him. Stripes of deep brown cut through the pale green, like a log crossing over an algae-topped river. “Hey, hey.” The dragon grunted, started huffing in pain, and moved carefully. “Stop, stop, you’re going to hurt yourself.” He glanced down, and the dragon grunted before lifting its head. “Hold on, hold on, you’re okay, you don’t need to keep—” Freezing, he stared down at where the dragon was laying.
There was a ditch underneath it, and something else was in there.
Glancing at the dragon, which had raised its head to set it on the ground, Phil inched over. Blood pooled underneath it, but that wasn’t the dragon’s. No, there was a distinct shade to dragon’s blood, and this didn’t have it. “Phil?” Wilbur asked.
Looking over his shoulder, Phil met his son’s gaze and said, “This dragon has friends.”
+++
The last thing Sapnap remembered was Dream crashing, sticks and branches tearing at his skin before they smashed into the ground.
Slowly, he came to. Somewhere, there had to be George. George and Bad. They’d been running—running from what? He couldn’t remember—what else wasn’t he remembering? What if he’d forgotten something important?
Blinking his eyes open, he looked around. Cream walls reflected soft golden sunlight back at him. This wasn’t his room. No. No no no nonononono this can’t be happening this can’t be happening. Without thinking, he yanked the pale blue covers back, yanked his legs over until they hit dark wood floors. Then, he staggered for the door, breath hitching in his throat as pain spiked up his leg. He didn’t notice the bandages wrapped around his arms or his head, kept stumbling through the hallway.
“Dream—” Sapnap croaked the name, looking around for his friend. Wincing, he touched his head, shook it and kept walking. He had to find Dream.
He made it to the doorway, stumbled out in the snow. There was what looked like a stable off to his side. Ignoring the burning pain in his feet, he made his way over and shouldered the door open. Spikes of red-hot fire snapped across his nerves, but he ignored it and looked inside anyways. Stray bits of hay coated the dirt floor.
There was Dream.
The dragon was curled up on a bedding of hay, horses bigger than Sapnap had ever seen huddled around him for warmth. One of them was snoring. Dream, meanwhile, raised his head and churred at Sapnap, spines rattling against one another as he moved. “Dream—”
Sapnap. What are you doing? Making his way over, Sapnap stumbled and dropped to his knees, gasping. His ribs hurt. Sapnap!
“I—we have to get out of here—we have to go now—” A hand settled on his shoulder and Sapnap punched before thinking. With barely a drift of wind, cool, steady fingers wrapped around his own shaking ones. A man with blond hair and kind blue eyes knelt down by him. “Who the hell are you?”
“My name’s Phil. You’re Sapnap, I presume?” When Sapnap stared at him, Phil chuckled and then nodded at Dream. “your friends have been telling me quite a bit about you.”
That was when George popped up.
Leaping over Dream’s back, the grey wolf trotted over and started chatting, “He knows all about what happened! And he’s perfectly fine with us staying here, too, said it himself! Right, Phil?” With bright eyes, George looked to Phil.
Chuckling, Phil rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, why wouldn’t I? The more the merrier.” He helped Sapnap limp over to Dream and the horses. “Your friend Bad is still sleeping.” Standing weakly on one foot, Sapnap peered over the closest horse’s side to find Bad curled up, black fur shuddering softly as he breathed. The little cat familiar seemed well comfortable in the warmth.
Sighing, Sapnap replied, “Alright. We’ll only stay for a little bit.” George cheered. Holding up a hand, Sap added, “But not for long. We still have a witch to go find.”
(They did not, in fact, only stay for a little bit.)