Chapter Text
She glided down with her best friend. The lake was blue and clear. She and her friend landed in the bank. A bear grunted and ran into the woods as the dragons landed.
Lapis splashed into the shallows. The snow runoff was not bothering her in the slightest. She was a bright blue leviathan. Her scales shimmered like fish scales and pearls. Her two small horns twisted up from her cranium. She had webbing in between her talons.
Fins ran down her spine to her paddle-like tail. Her four wings were like giant fins with cartilage instead of fingers and membrane. She splashed into the water, taking a deep and exasperated sigh. The gills on her neck pushed and pulled water through as she lowered them into the water.
“The water is great today.” She bubbled. Lapis looked at her with her pale green eyes while her snout was under the waves.
“You say that every time we come to the lake.” She replied. Lapis smacked her tail on the surface of the water, making a loud popping sound echo over the surface of the lake.
“Because it is.” Lapis pushed herself into deeper water. She laid down on the beach, crossing her talons while she examined shells. She turned her head to the sound of grumbles. A large drake prowled out of the woods like a scaled cat.
His muzzle and head were much larger than hers or Lapis's. His body was muscular and large like a bear's. His scales were like plates of armor down his back and legs. His tail was armed with a spiked club that he could definitely kill another dragon with.
“Good evening.” He grumbled and sat next to her. Drakes were wingless dragons, but they made up for it in speed and strength.
“Hello, Scorn.” She replied. Scorn's scales were brown and tan, but they had an orange shine to them when he stood in the sun. His deep yellow eyes watched as Lapis leaped out of the water like a playful dolphin.
“How were lessons?” He asked. Scorn was the dragon that could be trusted with anything. He was the most loyal and trustworthy dragon she knew.
She snorted, expressing her distaste, “Unbearable.”
Scorn chuffed with levity, “Such a princess.” She snapped her jaws together as a warning. He didn't even blink. Lapis swam back up to the shallows.
“Hello, Scorn.” She greeted, water dripping off her snout. She caught three trout, passing two to her and Scorn. They growled a thank you, and the friends ate.
“Join me in the water.” Lapis said while skinning her fish with her talons.
“Shedding. The water will cause lumps. Maybe next time, Lapis.” Scorn hummed. Lapis looked at her for her response, her eyes hopeful.
She wrinkled her snout, “Not today, Lapis.” Lapis snarled and thrashed her tail. Scorn's ears perked up, and he glanced into the forest behind them. His tongue flicked out, tasting the air.
She and Lapis got to their feet, sensing his nervousness. She sniffed the air and tasted it too. Whatever was aggravating Scorn was upwind.
“I don't like this.” Lapis whimpered.
“What can hurt a dragon? Even juveniles.” She asked, trying to mask her own fear.
“Humans.” Scorn snarled.
Lapis shrieked, “What?! Where?!” Lapis flared her wings, spraying them with cold water.
“What would humans be doing in the Jaws?” She asked.
“Go. I'm not sure what it is.” Scorn hissed. His tail lashed behind him like a cat's.
“We can't leave you.” She argued, backing up to the water.
“I do not fear pests.” Scorn growled. He exposed his fangs, acid and saliva dripping from his jowls. Something small fired from the trees. One of the humans handmade breaths. She barely ducked low enough to evade it to her neck. Three creatures rounded the thick ponderosas.
They wore metal hides to keep their delicate bodies safe from teeth and talons. Spiked club tails were not on that list, however
“Fly!” Scorn roared. He swung his tail, smashing two of the small humans into a tree. Lapis turned and opened her wings. She leaped into the sky but cried out in agony as another human breath hit her wing. She fell into the water.
“Laipis!” She yelped. She ran into the shallows to help her friend. Blood spilled into the water from her damaged wing. The human breath was still in her wing, the pointed end like a dragon tooth. The other end was feathered, which kept it from going all the way through.
“Hide in the lake!” Scorn snarled, “Fly!” Lapis dove into the lake, disappearing into the depths. She spread her wings as Scorn spat acid at the third human. She took the air, leaving Scorn hissing at the trees. She guessed that there were more than just three. If Scorn was in trouble, he could dive into the lake and get out in another spot. Acid drakes could hold their breath for three hours.
Her scales shimmered in the sunlight like miniature mirrors. The sun was setting in the west. The dragon tooth-shaped mountains cast long talon-like shadows across the valleys below. She heard wing beats as two dragons followed her. A bright red dragon and a green one that looked like a snake with wings.
They roared after her. The flame breath shot a column of fire at her. She yelped and dove below it. She was no match against two fully grown dragons. She needed to get home, where she would be safe.
She banked right, turning harshly to get her pursuers to lose sight of her. She swooped down into the trees, tucking her wings in close to her sides, not to clip them on the trees. She landed and hid in some dense bushes and trees, hoping that they covered all her bright scales. If she were on a snowy peak, they would never find her. She just couldn't risk flying that high without losing her breath and falling to her death. Juvenile lungs were not as capable as adults.
She heard the wing beats pass by overhead. She didn't move for several long minutes. She had to remind herself to breathe several times. She finally gathered the courage to step out of the needles that were poking into the bottom of her talons. A rustle made her freeze faster than water in the peaks.
A deer bounded out from a bush. It stared at her with its glossy black eyes. Its large ears twitched at every sound. She took a shaky breath. The forest moved, and jaws clamped around the deer, completely enveloping it. The amphiptere's scales shifted from the forest camouflage to her emerald green. Her forked tongue licked her lips after she swallowed the deer whole.
“There you are, tiny rat.” The amphiptere hissed. The amphiptere’s yellow eyes turned into slits as she struck like a snake. She leaped away, using a tree trunk for leverage. She jumped up to a branch, using her serrated claws to latch onto the bark. She flapped her wings to help with her weight on the thin branches. The larger dragon wouldn't be able to open her wings in the tight space.
The amphiptere roared as she tried to bite her again. She climbed up higher to avoid the attack. She jumped from tree to tree like a squirrel until she was too heavy to climb anymore. She should be able to make it to the sky now.
She glanced down and really wished she didn't. The amphiptere was coiling around the tree trunk, gnashing her teeth. She pushed off the tree not to let the winged serpent catch her.
The sun set, leaving darkness in its absence. Clouds had rolled in from the west. This was not helping her shiny problem. Another column of fire nearly burned her wing. The large red dragon was swooping down on her, trying to pluck her out of the sky. She rolled, thankful for her flight maneuvering class. She darted away as he caught himself from crashing into the trees.
She climbed up into the sky. Maybe the few clouds that were hanging in the sky would be low enough to hide in. She glanced down, seeing both the dragons following her again. She was running out of things to use from flight class.
The cloud ahead wasn't getting any closer, and she felt her breath slipping from her lungs. They were too high, and she was thousands of meters in the sky now. She still tried. It was just out of reach. Her vision was becoming blurry, and her lungs burned.
The stars started to get blotted out as she forgot the motion to flap. She felt like she was drowning. She blinked and slowly opened her eyes. Her insides wrenched, and she realized she was falling. She extended her wings to slow her fall. The air felt like it was trying to rip her wings off.
The trees were rapidly approaching, and she managed to catch herself on an air current. She had to scrape her claws along a tree to slow her momentum. Her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest as she hugged the tree for dear life. She almost just plummeted to her death.
Her break was short-lived as the wing beats followed her. The red and green dragon both dove for her, claws and fangs extended. She yelped and jumped down to another shorter tree as the red dragon took the top off the tree she was previously on.
“Just die!” The amphiptere hissed. She tried to bite the juvenile, but she ended up taking a bite out of the wood when she jumped into the air. She had one more idea. Human territory. Most dragons avoided the lands of the monsters. She was much faster than the full-growns, but they could use her fatigue against her.
She beat her wings as hard as she could. The two dragons roared behind her. Her snow white scales weren't exactly helping her to hide against the black canvas of the night and the light that reflected off the clouds.
She didn't know what to do. What was she thinking coming out here? They would kill her because of who her mother was. That wasn't her fault. A column of fire swirled past her from the red dragon. She tucked in her wings, diving down to the trees. The red dragon roared and slashed his talons at her tail, trying to ground her.
She swooped down into the tree tops, darting around them. She was glad she was the fastest flyer in her age flock. The larger dragons weren't as nimble as she was, smashing through the tops of the evergreens and slowing them down. The green amphiptere bellowed, her voice echoing off the mountains.
The amphiptere gained some altitude and then dove down, using gravity to dart past the juvenile. She smacked the young dragon with her long tail. The red dragon caught up to her, sinking his talons into her back. They plummeted to the forest floor as she cried out in agony.
The red dragon flipped her around and held onto her neck while pushing her into the ground. She felt something crack in her wing as they hit the ground. Pain seared through her wing like fire.
The red dragon pressed on her throat. He was almost three times her size. She clawed at the talons around her neck, trying to pry them from his steel-like grip.
“You will pay for your mother's injustices.” His snout curled into a grin. The amphiptere landed, slithering like a serpent as she tucked in her wings.
“Kill her.” The amphiptere snarled. She suddenly shrieked as lightning arched around her body. She flopped down in the needles. A large purple and gray wyvern snarled. He was almost three times the size of the red dragon. He was snarling, and lightning arched off his muzzle.
His forelegs were strong and mighty wings. They flared. His gold eyes darted between her and the red dragon. White lightning-shaped markings ran down his wings. He was the color of a storm cloud that had the most powerful lightning strikes. Ones that killed dragons. Large snowflakes started to fall from the heavens, promising the snowstorm that was moments away.
“Leave her alone.” He spat, the lightning getting more intense and spreading down his neck. The red dragon growled and let go of her. Oxygen filled her lungs after being stripped of it for a second time tonight. She got to her talons, breathing hard. The red dragon's neck glowed as fire built inside, ready to release. The wyvern's yellow eyes narrowed.
She hadn't noticed before, but a figure stood by the lighting wyvern. It was small and stood on two legs. The human wasn't wearing a metal hide like the others were earlier. He wore long drapes over his head, and his hands were in his pockets. One of their weapons that spat human breath was strapped over his shoulder.
The purple wyvern opened his jaws, the electricity arched off his teeth and tongue. The white hot lightning lit up the forest as it amplified between his top and lower jaw. It arced over his body and wings, amassing in the growing power in his jaws. A bolt of lightning struck from the wyvern. It hit the dragon, and he howled as the fire extinguished in his throat. The bodies sizzled on the ground. The thunder clapped around the trees.
She took a shaky step back, lowering her head in fear. Wyverns were the strongest of the elemental reptilians. He didn't seem bothered at all by the human standing next to him. His gold eyes studied her wounded wing.
“You are safe now.” The human said. He looked up from the cover of his drapes. She saw shocking gold eyes. They were as striking as the wyvern's eyes. Humans did not communicate like dragons did. Their thoughts were private, and they spoke aloud, not telepathically. There was only one way that a human could speak with a dragon.
The wyvern tilted his head, raising one of his frilled ears, “There's more.” She and the human both turned to listen. Wing beats drummed the air.
“You need to leave.” The human warned, turning with the wyvern.
“Hide in the land of the humans.” The wyvern ordered. Lightning started to charge around his body.
“But–” She wanted to go home.
“It's not safe here. You will be safe there. Avoid humans.” He growled, “We will fend them off. Use the trees and the approaching weather to mask yourself.” He lowered his head and forelimbs. The human stepped beside him, and she saw something on the wyvern's back. A human-made seat on his back. The wyvern nudged the human onto the seat and stood to his full height.
“Go, little one.” The wyvern opened his massive wings, jumping into the air. She took a few steps away as the wyvern roared into the night. Thunder clapped. Her wing burned with pain, but she turned. She followed the smell that turned every dragon away. A border of the two worlds as the snow picked up in intensity. Dragon and human.