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Home is Where your
Allies are Summary of previous part
(read in full here)
Genster and Gloed, Naga
hermaphrodite dragon masters from Zekira have found themselves into
trouble. They're stuck in a cave, far from their ideal habitat, being
assailed by an invisible, intangible rock-swimming creature who loves to
play with it's food. The Naga, being no slouches themselves, have fended
it off for days, but the lack of food, water and sleep is of course
getting to them. There is no help in sight, the locals all know better
than to come close to the cave and there are no dragons close enough for
Genster to use her innate summoning abilities.
But their luck changes when Schub, a reptilian
humanoid enters the cave, hoping to be able to go for a swim (even if he
was warned not to). As a spaceship engineer trainee he is not familiar
with the dangers of this planet. Gloed, thinking their enemy has returned,
knocks him from his feet and the blue-skinned youth loses
consciousness. Just as Schub is waking up, his commanding officer Grash
and communications officer Blad realise that the
third of their crew is missing and go out to look for him. The two older
reptilians are savvy and hardened men who know to look for tranq darts and
to alert the local authorities before venturing into the cave.
After a near escape, the five run for their lives and take off with their
ship, only to be shot by the locals who obviously prefer outsiders to be
eaten by the creature in the cave. The team pull out all the stops (and
some illegally applied boosters) and make it to space. But their ship is
damaged and they need to stop at the next planet over, Erizon. Once there,
the two Naga are given the option to wait for repairs to be made or to
seek their own transportation. As luck would have it, a dragon was close
by and Genster was able to contact it to give them a ride.
*~*~*
Continuation
The dark shadow of a dragon, passed along and the mythical beast landed a
short distance away. The midnight blue dragon had patches of lighter
colour on his wings, making him look like a map of the stars. This dragon
was clearly bonded as a dark-skinned human descended.
"Greetings." Ladeyn
said and introduced himself, "I heard some people wish
transport."
Gloed posed herself in front of her deaf sister, intending to take up the
bargaining in her usual act-first-ask-questions-later-style, but it was
Genster who laid the first contact. Turning her attention to the dragon,
Angith, she relayed their story. With her lacking social skills, her story
was crude and full of weird turns. But to Angith it made sense.
"Our job as watchers is to protect others,
is it not?" he asked his rider.
"When we're at home." Ladeyn added.
"It won't take long to bring these girls to
a place where they can further their studies."
Ladeyn shrugged. As usual his efforts to find the Xinaith again had
yielded no success and he might as well humour his dragon. Though to call
the six-armed gorgons "girls" seemed to be a bit of an
understatement to the scientist. He'd seen plenty of alien races over the
years, but most had legs.
Gloed hissed, uncertain about this man's cooperation, she was ready to
take him on. Genster could take hold of his dragon if need be and then
they would be out of here anyway. Once more, Genster stopped her sister
telepathically and assured her that the duo would help them.
"So where were you headed?" Ladeyn asked them.
"Zar" Gloed hissed, drawing out the consonants in a menacing
way.
Ladeyn looked back to Angith and asked: "Do you know it?"
"Do I ever not know a place?"
the Tanzanite-coloured dragon replied.
Ladeyn grinned, knowing his dragon did have an uncanny ability to navigate
as most of his colour did.
"You're in luck ladies, we know of the place." Ladeyn bowed
politely and gestured for the Naga to embark.
*~*~*
An invitation to Balehome
Angith appeared in a purple sky over a desolate landscape with tall spires
that escaped the dangerous gasses below. Though the city was more used to
space travel, there was a place where dragons could land and offload
passengers and goods. It wasn't often used so Angith landed without a wait
and left the Naga.
"My sister tells me to give you her thanks." Gloed mumbled.
"It was my pleasure." Angith
replied.
Then Ladeyn and Angith departed and left the Naga to find their own way.
Genster stared at her sister and said: "What now?"
They might have lied a little as Zar had not been where they'd been headed
at all. But then, they hadn't gotten lost because of an accident either.
So Genster could not blame her sister for lying as she'd done the
same.
"The dragon probably realised." Gloed told Genster.
"Angith wouldn't betray us."
Genster was certain of that.
"Well I guess it matters little where they dropped us as long as it's
where we want to be."
"Do we want to be here?"
"No, but we can get to The Refugium from here and from there board a
ship and then we're back on track. We just need to decide which planet to
go to and which dragons to bond."
Her words weren't cold yet when a chitinous dragon appeared next to them.
The Myrmex Warrior Venom had been sent out to look for candidates to bond.
Candidates who were big on family, who would strengthen the line of his
queen and would care for her children.
"If you want to bond, come with me." Venom said.
Genster took a step back, wanting to analyse the Myrmex' words and
intentions, but Gloed was eager to find a place where they could get
strong allies. This warrior bug dragon was nothing if not strong. And if
push came to shove, she could always poison him with her bite or squish
him with her tail since he was delightfully corporeal.
"Take us." Gloed agreed, grabbing her sister's hand and waiting
as they were being teleported across the stars, arriving just outside a
cavernous burrow.
*~*~*
Hatching
text
*~*~*
Credits: all background images and
reptilian pictures found with google. |