Chapter Text
There were always words being handed around, cookie to cookie, about the beast lurking around the Salt Flatlands.
With wings that flew it higher than their flags. Echoes of growling that dare challenge them to follow. A tail longer than the saltland's longest rope.
Many rumors and tales circling around townsfolk and city, all about the same thing;
A dragon.
“The dragon of Salt Mountain,” you had heard shouted many times, “claws sharper than a knight's blade. Teeth stained by the beast's thirst for jam, and horns curling and twisting to the skies in an awful crown!” All of this was never run by you, of course. The descriptions were no where near close.
You, the oh, so very scary dragon terrorizing the villages. The easily spooked villages. All you had to do was swoop down and snatch up a cookie's cattle every once in a while– not worth all the fuss! Stormbringer forbid that you eat, oh the absolute horror. The agony of occasionally losing a cake hound.
You used the townsfolk herds as a last resort, typically, or as a pantry for a snack on particularly soggy days. Never had you left a crumble on anyone's dough. You didn't know what the fuss was about, really. Aren't those cookies always breeding more cake beasts? Can't they stand to a talonful a month? Apparently, they could not.
For the past month, a group you've heard called the Kala Namak knights have been after your head. Luckily they had yet to find your den, midway up a mountain, which is where you were now, curled up and snuggled in your nest. Currently in your half-form. You only had two forms. Your dragon form, which was what you were only seen as by other cookies most of the time. Four legs, two wings, long tail, all of that. And your half-form. A cookie body with draconic features, like your tail and wings, and claws. Sometimes you would just let your body choose between whatever form it wanted, which would occasionally be easier to conserve energy. Other times it would be for convenience or whichever form you desired.
You stirred when you heard something nearby. First you thought it was a regular cake critter that you would have to scare off. Then you thought it was a pack of some sort, until you heard that familiar clang of metal.
You didn't want to rise yet. You hadn't even sun baked for the morning, it was cold, your dough was stiff, it was too early for whatever they deemed these encounters. There were rarely ever any battles, since you mostly just chose to flee instead of wasting time and risking jam. But apparently since you stole a dessert beast from a village two days ago, that had led them back.
Now you heard voices, hushed and quiet, as an attempt to not wake what, they feared they knew, was in the cave. You raised your head to a tall, full-armored cookie silhouette in the mouth of the cave, blocking out the light. The wind brought you his scent, and you did not recognize it. You knew that the Kala Namak knights never brought their commander with them to go after you. Who would want to risk their leader on a wild animal that lone cookies coukd take down?
It registered in your mind, that right now as the leading knight walked further into the short cavern, up to your nest, that you were somewhat cornered. When he got close enough to fully view you, he seemed... surprised. This was not the wild animal that was always described. You were not one of the mindless dragons, but you knew you were not one of the most powerful dragon-shifters. The knight ignored the growls vibrating in your throat and the snarls escaping your maw as he cautiously approached. He crouched, though still remained ready to jump back up.
You didn't let him get a word out before you were jumping up, molding to your dragon form. The knight jumped back and tried to threaten with his sword, but you knocked him to the ground in time. You gave him a snarl to the face before running to the cave entrance. The knights outside scrambled back as you spread your wings and jumped. The air lifted you up, and you were on a steady path away. Now you would probably have to relocate, just great.
A pain shot through your side and you stumbled in flight, a roar echoing through the canyons and forests. Your wings flapped off beat as you craned your neck to look at an arrow imbedded in your side. You got a short glimpse of the Kala Namak knights before you had come crashing through the trees. The fall was not pretty. Rocks and dirt and branches scuffed your scales and cracked your dough. You were leaving a jam trail as you walked, now back in your half form. Eventually you were able to find a good, covered spot to rest. Right now, pulling the arrow out was out of the question. You planned to rest until it started to hurt less. Your wing had started aching after the crash, and surely enough when you checked it, there was a tear in the membrane. It must have gotten snagged.
There was nothing you could do but lay there, drifting in and out of consciousness. The sun was falling over the mountains when the Kala Namak knights finally found you. The sound of hooves caused you to stir. You raised your head to see the lead knight walking over. Once again, he crouched next to you, this time closer than before. You growled.
“If those wounds are not treated you will crumble,” the knight said, his voice surprisingly calming. “Let us help you.”
When you didn't respond, he tried to reach for you. Immediately you pulled back and winced, barring your teeth. The knight paused, before taking the risk to pick you up. This was not what you were expecting. When you started to struggle, he simply tightened his grip. He sat you up on his horse, which was starting to freak out a bit. You unsteadily sat, occasionally wobbling one way or the other, and were practically clinging to the horses neck. The knight hopped on behind you, taking the reigns and signaling for the Kala Namak knights to follow.
After you got used to the feeling of being on a moving horse, you tried to sit up. Which was a bad idea, and you almost slid off the side. The knight reacted quickly, catching you with his arm and setting you upright.
“Do not fall, that will not be a pleasant experience.”
You rasted back on the horse's neck, who had eventually accepted the fact there was a dragon resting on it.
The longer the knights traveled, the soggier you got. You felt weak, knowing you could probably pass out any second if you let yourself. And many times you almost did. You got a knock on the back whenever you did, the knight keeping you awake.
“Don't pass out on me.”
Everyone was staring while the horses sprinted through the gates and along the path in Salt Kingdom. The knights had to brush off any questions and interactions from townsfolk, having to get you to where they could tend to the arrow still in your side. Still. It was still there! You were still bleeding. The knights weren't very good at knowing what to do medically. Were they?
Soon enough you were being lifted off the horse and carried to somewhere else. You half mindedly pawed at the knight carrying you. He didn't react much, since your efforts were weak. Your eyes closed and you let your body go slack. The knight froze for a second. You let out a weak grumble, letting him know you weren't dead yet.
You let out a soft grunt as you were set down somewhere. In less than a minute you felt the arrow in your side being tugged on. The knight and someone else talked back and forth with words you were too tired to register. A few moments later they started moving the arrow again, and you started to writhe. Two hands moved to hold you steady, luckily for them you were too tired to fight back. The arrow was yanked out.
You yelled, trying to claw everyone and get away. The hands on you moved to restrain your wrists, and someone else grabbed you by the horns. Which gave them full hold on your head, and basically your whole body at that point. As if things couldn't get more painful, a sudden stinging crawled through the arrow wound. Slowly it started to subside, and you felt something being wrapped around your torso.
You helplessly whined. Was this how those cake beasts felt? In pain, afraid, cornered?
The hands on your horns moved down to your jaw, gently raising your head up. Whoever it was, was warm. You liked that. You were cold, you would take any heat you could get right now. Slowly you let your eyes close again. You heard a female voice say something that blurred into background noise as you drifted off to sleep.