Siren's Song, Like a Beacon in the Dark

[PhazonDragon]

It had been one of those rare warmer days during the winter. Snow lightly fell from large, fluffy clouds during the day, and as it went on, slowly melted into a gentle raindrops on a dragon’s skin. An extremely violent green found the chilly water to be strangely soothing as it caressed her warm hide. Lightly dozing off during the last hours of sunlight, Crucith found herself getting more and more restless while the rains waned to nothing but a tender drizzle on the skin of the earth.

It was during that last flare of the sun, obscured by most of the clouds, that Crucith’s body tensed, and her head bolted up from where it lay resting on her forearms. Z’volm, she prodded, already feeling her body’s needs. The green stood, her frame outlined in a shine that was entirely her own, and raised her wings. Males of the weyr! Crucith screeched, leaping into the air, leaving the weyr ledge behind her. She was Rising, and this green was going to make sure everyone knew about it!

Snarling, and biting at a fire lizard that dared to dart too close, Crucith sped around the weyr bowl in a furious circle as she screamed into the minds of the male dragons. No words, just utter distain for a lack of attention. Crucith was a glorious green beauty that was going to Rise now! She would take to the skies and challenge the males to Chase, to just try and Catch her! Males, come to me to Chase! Try to Catch Crucith! the dragon shrieked before angling down to the feeding grounds.

Stiffening in his seat, a certain greenrider was not prepared for this. Oh sure, he knew what was going to happen, and that it was going to happen soon, being an experienced rider like he was, but this... Was uncanny timing. A soft moan escaped Z’volm’s mouth as he inhaled and tried to control his emotions before Crucith completely took over. It was dinnertime, and Crucith was Rising? An unsettling smirk crossed Z’volm’s face as he realized where he was. At a table, at dinner, with a riders all around him. No doubt, at least one of their dragons would rise to Chase his own green? Blood only, you silly beast, Z’volm unnecessarily reminded his dragon.

There were no words in response from Crucith, for her mind was already set on causing pain for the unfortunate cow that caught her attention. Perhaps a bit more gruesome than most would like to have seen, Crucith used her momentum from the dive to slam her prey into the ground, pinning down its twitching body and crushing the head with a giant claw. A dangerous growl came from Crucith as she lowered her greedy head to the cow’s neck, and started to drain it of it’s blood.

As if trying to escape the green’s grasp, even in death, the cow shuddered, and Crucith viciously gripped it in her talons. No escape. Crucith would not allow that. Not even the males that tried to Chase would be allowed to escape. Finishing off the cow, Crucith raised her head to the sky, and looked to the clouds. Dark, ominous, and foreboding. Her favorite kind. She still perched on her kill, waiting for the male dragons to show up.

Groaning as Crucith blooded her kill, Z’volm had shoved aside his plate, and leaned his elbows on the wooden table, his head in his hands. He was dimly aware of the fact that there were others around him, asking if he was alright. All he could think of was that his green was Rising. A number of gorgeous-looking pretty-boys were in the dining hall. So many male riders to choose from. So many would fit his tastes. He would take them all, if he could. Crucith...! Don’t keep me waiting, the greenrider teased.

Where are you, my males? Come to Crucith! Come to Crucith and try to Chase!

Would it be dangerous?

Oh yes. But that was the fun part.

[redwerecat]

One particular creature with a taste for dark, introspective days such as this was perfectly thrilled with the weather. Oh, sure, it was nice to be sunning yourself when you were cold, but sometimes you just had to enjoy the cold drizzling rain. He rather liked the way it seemed to roll off his matte-black hide like so, and how the very faint rumbles of storms echoed over the bowl... ah. He was getting perhaps a bit too introspective. And yet. Skirth shook his head fiercely to clear his thoughts, and sighed deeply. The world smelled so nice after it rained...really nice. Like, REALLY oh-my-god-is-that-BACON nice.

The black-brown creature snapped his eyes open and tensed, his whole body rigid as his attention zeroed in on the delightful creature he could sense. And now hear. Shards she was loud. A feral grin split his jaws, and the lean black dragon flung himself off his ledge with reckless abandon. His wings caught the air as he reached the apex of his jump, just enough to send him in a barely-restrained fall towards the feeding grounds. He hit with the grace of a panther, rolling into the motion and trotting a few steps as he loosely closed his wings around him like a cloak. He'd have offered her a greeting, but his throat was incapable of the action, and he felt like perhaps he'd like to taunt this monstrous viper of a sexy green who stood in front of him like some fiendish blood-smeared angel. (He blamed Liam for his habit of odd eloquence- he read too much.)

Speaking of the lanky blonde, Liam didn't appear to be noticing what was happening. Or rather, he was hiding it rather well. The dining hall, of all places. How...public. He glanced up from the book laying next to his plate and shot a look towards Z'volm. Who was...directly across the table from him. Holy hell, how had he pulled THAT off? Z'volm had his head in his hands, breathing heavily. Oh yeah. He was feeling it just as badly as everyone else. Almost everyone, that is. Of course certain people were exempt from this, as their dragons ignored the greens siren call. Liam muttered something rather lewd under his breath and almost began to regret the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing; it was getting warmer in here. well, no getting away from it now. And at least Z'volm was male, and well, damn, he was pretty attractive in a sort of possibly fatal way. Liam raised an eyebrow at the green rider and grinned. This could be interesting.

Skirth's eyes were focused on that deadly green...oh, yes, he knew her reputation. She was as likely to be interested in his words as she was to carve them into his skin. Skirth's eyes whirled a deep violet tinged with just a flash of crimson and he silently stalked just out of her range, tearing a sheep down with his claws and feeding swiftly, never taking his eyes off her. She called out to the males once again, and he mantled his wings and crouched over his kill.
Yes, Crucith. we can try, but you are not about to make this easy, are you? His mindvoice was low and sultry, the rumble of a predator with a smooth aftertaste of dry sarcastic wit.

Fly like you've never flown before. Liam thought to his dragon with a fierce tone that made Skirth somewhat amused. His rider wasn't usually one for such intensity, but Skirth obediently lashed his tail and made ready for Crucith's flight. Liam just smiled, and tightened his fingers rather briefly on the spine of his book, and tried not to reach across that miniscule distance to the black-haired rider merely inches from him. Z'volm...

Crucith...

It was like playing with knives- you might cut yourself, but sometimes the blade was sharp enough you never noticed.

[Wolfy]

There was a green rising.

The Green was Crucith.

Crucith was HIS!

Already in a restless flight, Seeth roared as he heard Crucith's call, echoes bouncing off the walls of the Weyr and surrounding mountains, he roared in anger that another thought to take what was his. Sennia was gone, off to the kitchens, but he knew she understood. And she did, he knew, as she bade him a breathless good luck through the bond of their minds.

Eyes whirling a brighter, angrier red than before, he dove at a near perfect 90 degree dive to the ground, where he saw Crucith and that horrid Black-Brown that was always to cheerful, even if he was so naturally dark. What in the Shards forsaken world was cheerful? Except for Crucith, that is. Yes, Crucith was always cheerful about just the right things.

He landed among the cowering beasts as they sought to get away from the blooding Green and Browns, but had forgotten that others could - and would - come from above. He had trapped two with his massive legs, the first of them a large male bull, the second, a mother cow who would never bear her child.

Crucith roared, calling anyone to attempt catching her. Crucith! No other would begin to would share your humor but me! Do what you wish, I will not stop! He roared once more, then pushed off from the ground, going high in his leap before he flashed out his scarred wings. He flew in circles, restless and ready to take Crucith. But he knew Skirth had a chance. Yes, he had a chance. So he would take his own chance.

With a bloodcurdling shriek he dove a Skirth, ready to kill if need be.

---

"Seeth...." Sennia breathed where she sat a table down from Z'volm. "Good luck, my love...." She shuddered as she heard him roar and so many flinched and looked upwards, barely any realizing what was already happening to Crucith. She knew he would do anything to take Crucith again. Even if it meant hurting himself or others.

Shaking slightly, she stood, forgetting at once the wind flute she had been carving to hang outside her weyr. Z'volm and Crucith and Seeth took up all space in her mind, but Z'volm was so close, so close....

He was looking at him. The other dragon's rider, was staring at a hunched Z'volm, the Z'volm that should be her's, and her's only. What was his name. Liam. Just a boy, really, so quiet and sweet. Crucith would tear that away from him forever. By now, she was unsteadilly standing behind Z'volm, staring hostilely (though she didn't know it) at the boy.

"Go away, boy, you don't know what you're doing," she murmured at him. Seeth's feeling's were one with hers; he had taken complete control of her emotions. At the moment, Z'volm, as much as she couldn't stand him at most times, was the only one she wanted. The only one she had ever wanted like his. She felt the restlessness of her Impressed. She felt his sudden anger and acute hatred.

She dove at Liam as Seeth dove at Skirth, he armed with talons and teeth all as sharp as the sharpest blades and her armed with her Pernese knife.

[PhazonDragon]

As a grotesque sentinel over her prey, the green dragon was bathed in the glow of her own radiance. A bloody and malicious grin greeted the dark-colored brown as he approached. That was one suitor so far. The tone of his voice made Crucith look over his sleek, shadowy form in utter anticipation. She purred with the recognition of her horrible talents, and squirmed with a bit of longing. She wanted to slip next to the brown, to stand close to his strong figure... And claim him as he own with her teeth and talons. Instead, she kept to herself, backing down from her kill, but keeping a protective and sadistic claw on the broken body.

And there was Seeth, her lovely Seeth, winner of her previous, and first Flight at Rocky. Crucith felt her muscles coil and uncoil as she flexed her body, spinning in a tight circle to show off to the brown that had once been the target of her affections. There was a distinct bout of feelings from her own rider; him recalling the night he spent with Sennia, and in turn Crucith’s feelings towards the brown. He was protective, and wanted to have the green for himself, she could tell that. Crucith’s dangerous red eyes trailed over his body as he blooded his own kills, then circled Crucith. The scars... The darling scars of thread. How she wanted to add her own gashes onto the brown.

A tanned face burrowed itself further into delicate fingers.The immediate area around Z’volm had fallen silent with realization--a green was Rising. The feeling of lust was spreading mutually through the weyr. He wasn’t going to be able to contain himself. Tunnel vision had the greenrider staring straight at the rider of the first brown, Liam, when Z’volm raised his head. He didn’t notice Sennia behind him until she jumped at Liam. Z’volm found himself rolling to the side to duck out of the way. Oh... A fight? In his honor? They shouldn’t have! “I’d love to watch you two go at it...” he said, biting back a groan, “But I have a green that’s Rising... Will you two join me?”

He stood, running a hand through his hair, and mussing it up further. He stepped back, nearly running into a rider that belatedly tried to get out of the way. “Mmm... Excuse me,” Z’volm teased, wrapping a hand around the rider’s waist. He grabbed the back of the rider’s head, and pulled his peer close, placing a sloppy kiss on the other rider’s lips, before Z’volm pulled away. He winked, his mind not registering if the rider was male or female, only that he loved that feeling, and Crucith was the one keeping him from getting it again.

Yes! Fight! Blood! Shed blood for your Crucith! the female bugled, rearing up on her hind legs in appreciation. Seeth was a daring brown, and he was allowing his Flight lust to get the better of him. And Crucith liked it. She wanted to watch the two males fight, rip and tear at each other just for the sake of winning the female, but tradition told the green she had to fly. Forcing herself away from the spectacle, Crucith raised her wings, holding them there, then leap into the sky with a screech. Come! Follow! Chase! Prove yourself!

Impatience ran through Crucith’s blood like fire. She had two suitors, and that was not enough for her ego, but she wasn’t going to wait for the lazy and old dragons to rise from their weyrs! She beat her wings multiple times, to gain altitude, before angling and turning sharply to the right. Eyes narrowed and focused on one thing only, Crucith ran her gaze over Skirth and Seeth as she banked around the feeding pens. She flicked her head, as if tossing hair over her shoulder in dismissal, and her steely gaze was back on the open night sky in front of her.

[redwerecat]

Skirth let out a silent snarl, the only audible evidence a flash of white fangs as he tensed himself and dove to the side of the large brown diving at him. The elder dragon's claws caught him soundly across the right flank though, and green ichor spilled down his leg, stark against his pitch-black hide. That HURT. His talons dug furrows into the ground as he raked his claws in the dirt in anger, his eyes blazing a dangerous red.
So it would appear your temper is as foul as your appearance, my friend. Skirth hissed icily, his mind voice dripping acid with every word. How DARE some old beast like Seeth challenge him. Crucith didn't deserve some monster like him, no. Seeth was a brute through and through.

Skirth kept his body close to the ground, prowling like a hunting cat and never taking his eyes off the other brown. How distasteful, this mannerless brute trying for something that should have been his. He snarled again, baring his teeth without a sound, and let his venomous tone and blood-red eyes give off his anger. If it is blood you wish, it is blood you shall have, Crucith. He sprang then, charging with his wings tightened to his body even as his foreclaws lashed out at the other male. He landed from his leap without checking to see if he'd connected with his strike, instead simply following into another leap that unfurled his great wings and took him skyward after the seductive goddess he treasured; the goddess who would as like praise him for his worship as she would abuse him for it. He wanted her to destroy him, if it meant he could claim her even for only the duration of their flight; any pain, any brutality would only enflame his passions for her.

Liam, meanwhile, locked his own icy-pale blue eyes on the other rider, confused at first, then his expression changed to one of cold amusement.
"Boy? I should hardly think so, little girl. You're barely out of your teenage years." He said with a falsely sweet smile. "I'm far your elder, and it would be wise of you to remember that." At the end, his tone dropped to a guttural snarl. He saw her twitch, saw her movement begin before it even got started, and he threw himself out of his seat and let her sweep by him. He aimed for her wrist, to disarm her, and if he just happened to break said limb then so be it. He'd had countless knives pulled on him in the past, and this was just going to be one more on the very long list. But as he drew back a fist, half-contemplating breaking her very pretty little nose in, Z'volm caught his attention. And that was pretty much enough to wipe his mind of almost anything else.

Except, maybe, mauling that prick who Z'volm was kissing. Somehow, that just pissed Liam off, that someone else would get in the way of something he wanted so desperately. He ignored Sennia entirely, simply getting to his feet and giving the rider (who he rather didn't recognize) a look that could have melted steel, and gravitating towards that sexy greenrider he seemed to be unable to ignore for even the few seconds it would take to break the anonymous rider's face. No matter how much he wanted to.

"Z'volm, I do apologize if you liked whoever the hell that was, but quite honestly, right now, I don't care." And he did it anyway. The tall man's emotions were being ignited by everything around him; Skirth's pain, and the dragon's subsequent fury, Sennia's physical attack on him; and when you threw flightlust into the mix, it turned a normally painfully shy and pacifistic man into one who was damn sick of being toyed with. And one who had been in far more than his share of fistfights. The other rider recieved a brutal punch to the bridge of the nose, and Liam just sneered. Nevermind they were in the dining hall, nevermind the crowd of onlookers. Z'volm was what he wanted, and he wasn't about to let anyone get in the way of that until the green rider himself said otherwise.

[Wolfy]

So there it was. She wanted a fight, she wanted blood. And by Faranth, she'd get it.

He smelled the flowing blood of his opponent long before he felt a burning sensation on his ribs where ragged stripes had been furrowed into his hide, oozing his own. It smarted at best; it was a mmere pinprick to som of the other things the brown had gone through. His lips curled upwards, revealing sharp teeth he made use of everyday, whenever he thought he should and however he thought he should. The youngling would not live to see himself catch the jaded Green before them as she flew in search for the one to catch her.

Look and see who it is that's talking,[/color] he growled. It isn't a pretty sight, no, not at all![/color] His vioce had a vicious, bullying, teasing quality to it as he stared insanely at Skirth. With a last snap of his powerful jaws, he, too, was up in the dark, murky air. Crucith would not have a pathetic such as this for a mate. This - this - thing was not fit to sniff her long dead prey's rotten bones, let alone mate with her!

Snapping his threadscored wings out suddenly in the peak of his great leap, he growled deep within his chest, echoes resonating throughout his body and beyond. The time was right. The weather was praising Crucith's ample form. Everything was just as it should be on such a day.

Sennia's amethyst eyes had gone flat and malicious. She felt the sharp retort of a twisted arm as her hand was disarmed of its knife, the burn on her arm would later show an Indian Burn, as Earthians favored calling it. She didn't care. Her eyes had long since narrowed to vicious slits. She hissed "You mightbe older in age to me ((which I highly doubt, her mind whispered, far back where she was still remotely sane)), but Seeth is far older than Skirth. You are still nothing more than a Weyrling, no?"

He was gone. She knew not whether or not he had heard her. She knew why he had left. Another had kissed the one she had laid claim to, and for some bizzare reason, Liam was defending it. Ha ha. As his back was turned, dislocating a jaw it seemed and giving a black eye to whomever it was that had trespassed on inforgiving ground, she aimed the tip of a sharp elbow at the back of his neck as she passed. She smiled slightly as she felt flesh hit flesh.

Her eyes had been pulled back to the magnetic force that was Z'volm. "Z'volm...." she murmured, crooning slightly as she wrapped her slender arms around his waist. "Why don't we go away from them" she said, jerking her head toward the staring riders where they sat, bemused, above their interrupted meals.

Seeth rushed into the air after Crucith, now ignoring Skirth as best he could. Crucith. Nothing is worthy of you but the greatest of being, not even I perhaps. But I will still try my hardest, my own sadistic best.[/color] He shook his head violently, his eyes swirling an ever brighter tone of lust.

[PhazonDragon]

Looking back once more, Crucith found that Seeth had injured Skirth. The ichor flowing from the wound made the green’s mind writhe in pleasure. They were fighting--her suitors were fighting over her, and she was going to enjoy every last bit of it. She let an evil rumble leak out of her throat, even as the dragon pulled up, beating her wings to gain more altitude. Both suitors called to her, vying for her attention. Pointedly ignoring them, Crucith growled again, only to her voice echo through the mountains.

No, that wasn’t Crucith. That was the sky. Even with her limited eyesight in the dark, she couldn’t miss those ominous clouds that loomed closer and closer with every second. As she stared, a quick flash of lightning lit up her field of view, causing the sly look of malice that graced the green’s draconic muzzle. Not long after, thunder rolled through the mountains, and the slim form of Crucith banked again, leveling off and veering sharply towards the peaks of the Rockies.

He licked his lips, tasting the other rider on them, and was about to move away from the crowd, when a solid smack made Z’volm raise an eyebrow. He turned on his heels, spotting Liam, who had undoubtedly just given the rider he kissed, a solid punch to the face. Z’volm grinned at the look on Liam’s face, and the words that came from his mouth. “Oh, I don’t mind...” he murmured, closing the gap between them, and raised a hand to place it gently on the brownrider’s cheek. “One sharding good punch there.”

So close. His skin tingled where it touched the rider’s face, and it took all of the greenrider’s will to resist curling his fingers and digging his nails into the unmarked flesh. Fingers twitching, Z’volm’s hold on his will nearly snapped, when an arm around his waist cause him to jerk his hand away from Liam. Sennia whispered his name into his ear, and Z’volm turned into her embrace. “Sennia, have you no manners?” he wondered, a teasing glint in his eyes. “The Flight isn’t over yet. And why deny dear Liam a chance?

“No, you two will come with me,” the rider purred, extracting himself from the female brownrider’s grasp to slip into the crowd of the dining hall. He kept himself visible to the riders of Crucith’s suitors, but was careful to stay out of their reach. As he weaved through the crowd, his visible skin came in contact with various others, and Z’volm bit back a urge of emotions. Staying in the dining hall was a bad idea, given his current state, and what was going on with his green, but he wanted to give his potential bed-mates a run for their marks.

Her rider’s emotions became entangled with her own, and Crucith found herself hard-pressed to figure out Z’volm’s thoughts from her own. Growling, the green pressed forward to the mountain peaks, at an altitude that made the air hard to breathe. Folding her wings against her body, Crucith used her momentum and smaller frame to rocket through an opening in an outcropping of rock. Exhilarated by the daring move in the dark, the green menace grabbed hold of Z’volm’s mind, unaware of the greenrider now doubled over against a table.

Without waiting to see if her chasing males would attempt the risky maneuver, or sweep around the rock, Crucith let out a long howl of excitement, aimed at fueling the lust in the males’ minds. Seeth, her first mate since Rocky, and Skirth, the brown who was more like a shadow. There would be more challenges to determine which was best for her.

[redwerecat]

Thunder rumbled, and a flash of brilliant lightning suddenly made the sky glow white. And the only thing Skirth could see was a brilliant emerald form ahead and up. He growled in longing, his voice a silent as ever, but the next peal of the oncoming storm seemed to echo his sentiments. Terrible night for a vicious flight. It was ironically fitting, really.

The dark dragon followed Crucith through the dark-light-dark pattern of light, chasing her with all the dedication in the world mixed with steely determination to beat the opposing brown. His muzzle curved into a brutal snarl. Not a moment later, he banked sharply, following Crucith's flight path down and straight toward the deadly rock face of the mountains beneath them. He let out a soft breath in amazement as Crucith shot through a narrow break in the rocks. Skirth's own blind chase of the female had him going to fast to make anything but a split-second decision, and he knew he had to do something soon-!

And he was never, never going to turn away a challenge. His wings folded around him like a cloak, and with a mental scream that was half terror and half wild thrill, he shot through after her.

The stone closed in on either side of him, and he could feel the way the ichor from Seeth's prior attack smeared on the stone, how the slightest bump in the stone tore the skin across his shoulders- but he was through. The black dragon's eyes faintly shone past the violet of lust with triumphant green, as he dove after Crucith with a smug thought.
Now that was impressive. Pretty little vicious thing, you sure you want to settle for a brute like that guy?

Meanwhile, Liam wasn't sure what was going on. Mostly because a few seconds after his last words, some little bitch's elbow caught the back of his neck and he fell to one knee with a snarl. His eyes flashed with rage as he stumbled back to his feet, one hand rubbing what would be an impressive bruise in a few hours...

On the other hand, he was distinctly aware of the lingering sense of Z'volm's fingers on his cheek, and the faint words of...was that praise? And don't think he didn't catch the violent look in those eyes. Jealousy shot through him as Sennia wrapped her arms around the target of his attention, but Z'volm pulled away from her too, dancing away from them both to weave through the crowd. And those last words of his? Not an offer he was about to refuse.

Liam smiled and let out a low growl, mirroring what his dragon was feeling verbally. He looked at Sennia, and snorted.
"Weyrling or not, I don't really fancy losing, little girl." He said mockingly.

[Wolfy]

Seeth snorted impatiently as he flew through the rapidly darkening sigh, feeling the tingle of the coming storm across his skin as the heaven's anger created the fine filigree that would soon coat the sky in brilliant light. Tossing his had to rid himself of a stray paper (oh, so brilliant, the idiots, he though savagely of those you dared to pollute his unwilling home) his eyes narrowed darkly on the dark, shadowy form of Skirth, his rival, his enemy. He was watching his Crucith as if he had a personal right to her, the bastardly runt. He had never chased her, he knew not the challenges in store, and Seeth doubted gleefully that he would be able to outsmart and outmaneuver the older, more classified dragon.

He saw the sudden turn toward the mountains, and producing the most savage, bloodthirsty grin imaginable, he roared once again, something he might be slightly amused come a more sane time, when he wasn't clouded with the emotions he was now. He had much more energy and strength in store, ready for anything that might come at him.

Sennia let Z'volm go, however upset she was at doing so. Lust was getting the best of her, or at least that was what she would feel in a few days time. Z'volm might feel differently. It was amazing what could happen in the heat of the moment. She saw the look upon Liam's face, a look of deadly intent and jealousy, as he began to follow Z'volm across the room. Blank faced she stood stock-still for a moment, then turned toward one of the tables.

She leapt on top, scattering her fellow Riders and Weyrlings at once, ad used her long legs to her advantage. Passing Liam, who still struggled through the confused, milling mass around the tables, she said clearly, loudly enough for the whole hall to hear, "Liam, you are a such a dear young child. Do I look like I am little, of all things, to you?" She was walking but still displaying her full height of six feet, complete with bare arms and leather boots adding to her size (she had cast off her jacket long ago, it seemed). She didn't even glance at him, nor change her expression, even when she heard the scattered sniggers around the hall.

Oh, such a daring maneuver. Nothing actually new, but for the darkness and the storm. Even as he thought this, cold tears began to pour from the sky, followed by great flashes and immediate deafening booms across the mountains. Unlike his smaller brother, he was not so impressed by the daring stunt by his beloved, but more consternated. Did she truly need to use such a tiny opening? He was quite large, having ancestors in the enormous Benden line that showed their blood through him. Oh well. Time to fly.

He folded his wings as tightly against his body as his bulk would allow and free-fell, if that is what you could call it, no, more like bulleted toward and through….

He felt the sharp sensation of sharp rock burning across his skin, but he made no attempt to halt his progress through the small hole. He smelled the tang of dragons’ ichor and knew that he was not alone in the fact he was to large for this stunt. Skirth was injured as well. He growled in gleeful happiness.

And then he was through. He felt the last of his wings leave the dry tugging rock behind and his newest wounds cool with the freezing rain of mid-winter. His muscles shuddered temporarily in the blissful coolness, but then the shook himself with a snarling growl and stretched his wings, rising quickly through the sheets of pouring water and cloud. Flying faster now, the thrill of adrenaline bursting through his veins just as lust did, he flew farther above Skirth and closer to Crucith.

What was wrong? her mind exclaimed as saw her love collapse against the table. Have we done something wrong? The young Harper looked fervently at the trembling figure that took all notice. SHe sped to a run, and jumped off the table beside him.