The world turned and so did the stars. Aci sat staring up into the sky. Enraptured by the multitudes of stars, by their clarity, and most of all by the enormity the vastness represented. It made even her young mind, magically inclined though it was, boggle. How much time did she spend just sitting and staring upwards?

Long enough. She heard the sound of snorting and a gentle patter of heavy feet off to her side. In the time it took her to look that way the creature was upon her. A dark shape itself in the night. It slammed into her already bruised side and sent her rolling in the dirt up against the mesa’s face. This time the pain she felt along her side was sharp and hot. Deep too from how it felt when she hurried to stand. Whatever had charged into her was still huffing and stomping around in the darkness.

It had drawn her blood. HERS! Fury put a muffling mit over her pain. Willing her to stand and face the creature that had dared attack her. Dared attack when she had been doing naught at all. As she gathered herself up she spread her wings. But the sharp pain in her side and bright bands of fire along the wingspars had her reflexively pull them back. The extra pain only fed the fury inside.

She was a dragon of the blackest hide. A queen in her making and she would not be cast down by a paltry plains beast. Tail lashing she eyed the creature as it lined up for another charge. Then she saw it. The miniature form of the bigger, skulking around in the bush a distance back. Whatever beast it was had strayed close to her with it’s spawn and stupidly taken afront at Aci’s presence, instead of fearing her. She would teach the plains beasts to fear a dragon!

The beast began its charge from some thirty feet off at the same time she began to inhale. It was a different kind of breathing. More swallowing air than breathing it in. The oxygen mixed volatilely in her second stomach into an acidic gas. Which she belched out as she started to leap to the side. It worked with surprising efficiency, even if she staggered her landing. The gore wound in her side throbbed worse than when her tail got burned.

A gurgling bellow of pain, that quickly died off, came from the creature as its flesh and muscle melted from bone. A messy and painful way to die. But only fitting for anything that dared to attack or give her afront! The much smaller creature had not moved. Frozen in the brush that partially concealed it.

Aci considered the little beast, moving slowly closer. Its head was oddly shaped, with its ears up high and back, while its small eyes were much farther forward and near to the snout. As she got closer it shied back and she stopped. She didn’t want to scare it off, not yet. Though she was badly wounded her curiosity was as strong as her fury.

As the young beast bolted to another clump of bushes, she followed trying to get a better look. The adult was slowly melting into the ground. There was no way for her to study it right now. By morning only a skeleton would remain to mark her passing. A good reminder to all beasts who would come across it that dragons prowled. And perhaps it would give her insight into the creature if she decided to let the youngster go.

But as she trailed it the beast never bolted off more than ten or twenty paces. As if it was leading her somewhere. Though that was a foolish notion. It was simply a little orphaned animal that didn’t know anything else to do. For a few paces she pondered making it her next meal. But the previous one still sat heavy in her stomach. There was no need for her to eat again, or so much, so soon. Waste not, want not, as her Dam had always instructed.

Suddenly instead of running away as she crept closer, the little thing ran at her. Snorting and flapping its two cylindrical ears at her before veering to the side at the last minute. Its tiny black eye widened as it got close enough to really see her. And for her to see it. Terror froze the beast in place, the smell of it sweet to her senses.

“You are either very stupid, very brave, or both,” Though the animal couldn’t understand her, Aci took some small joy out of speaking to it. Close up now she could see that it had a thick hide pebbled with a myriad of thick warts across the back and shoulders. In the daylight the hide itself would be a dark gray, almost black. ‘Too bad it wasn’t truly black,’ Aci thought to herself.

Slowly she began to walk around it. It jerked slightly, but warring instincts made it freeze again as her tail lashed. She realized then that she could herd the little beast, if she really wanted, with her tail and body. And so she began to push it this way and that, testing to see how much the little beast would take before fight or flight. It was small enough she wasn’t worried about it turning to fight.

She should have been. Though the baby rhinoceros had no horn yet, its compact little body was still heavily muscled. It tore off abruptly, as if fleeing, only to turn with a swiftness that belied the bulk. And turned to come galloping back. This time carrying through with its baby charge that still packed enough punch to make Aci cry out in surprised pain.

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The wound which had finally stopped oozing blood started anew. As did new fires along her side. She took a swipe at the little rhino, but it danced out of the way of her clumsy attack. The pain was getting worse and worse. Demanding more and more of her attention even as the little beast made for a second charge. Aci groaned and growled. Though she tried to focus, her head swam. For the first time she felt dizzy and it made her wobble and fall down like she was newly hatched.

This time fury wasn’t helping her. It was only an irate little flame that refused to go out. With a snort of triumph the beast trotted closer to her in a false charge. Aci watched it approach, tensing to lash out and end the beast’s existence. But the damned little thing kept dancing outside her claws and tail now. Slowed by her wounds and by fatigue, she realized her own mistake. One that her Dam had warned her about.

“Beware your pride, my wyrmlings. For even the lowliest creature can bring about the fall of great beings. Pride will kill you faster than any jaw, claw, horn, or weapon. Remember this, or die from your own foolishness,” Her Dam had schooled them in her deep and rumbling voice. “Many a dragon has been felled thinking they were always more clever. But cleverness is not the only factor. It is always better to retreat than to die.”

Too bad she hadn’t thought about that lesson sooner. She had thought the young beast would not be able to hurt her. Now her blood fell fresh onto the packed red earth and golden grass. It filled the air with its acrid scent. The little rhino’s nostrils flared and it made a high-pitched squeal before turning to bolt off into the night. Leaving Aci swaying on her feet, wings barely able to lift and keep her balance.

“AND KEEP RUNNING!” Aci managed to roar, without any real feeling, after the little beast. Her everything hurt and she still had not found any shelter where she could rest. Not only had she not found shelter, she’d found greater injury! Her ire had turned inward in the end. Turning slowly she realized the little rhino had led her quite a ways from where her parent lay, oozing into an acidic puddle.

They were still in the shadow of the mesa. But not too far away she spied what looked like a cave entrance on the side of the rocky cliff face. It gave her enough energy to limp that way, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

Each step was agony. Halfway to the opening Aci couldn’t hold her wings against her sides anymore. They fell to drag at her sides as she limped her way along the face of the mesa. Towards the beckoning crevice in the rocky red face. A dark hole meant safety. It still meant home to her as well. But this dark hole was dry. The rock was red and the vegetation sparse. Overhead the stars watched her trials without judgement. Yet their twinkling lights seemed to be taunting her now.

“Weakling!” “Runt!” “Disgusting slug!” “Mewling grub!”

The voices of her siblings seemed to come from the sky. Taunting and jeering as they had always been when their Dam was not around. They had delighted in tormenting her too. One of the reasons she had picked up magic from their Dam. It helped to have magic on your side where tormentors were concerned. Her Dam had certainly approved of her thinking and use of what she was taught. It was probably that reminder that gave her the last extra umph she needed to get inside the cave.

The moment she entered the cave she knew it without needing to see. The air grew colder. Even in this dry climate it was also wetter, for which she was thankful. A horrible thirst had crept up on her as quickly as the rhino had. She staggered further inside to find the cave went deeper into the mesa. But here, at the entrance, a natural grotto. A natural spring flowed from somewhere underground into a pool that was as clear as crystal.

Collapsing beside the basin she all but let her snout fall into the water. Sucking in great mouthfuls of the crisp and clean water. This water reminded her of home, and yet it didn’t. The fine grit here was sand, not clay. And there was something else about it that made her pause in drinking. Looking down upon the water she recoiled from it in surprise. Because she was never ever frightened. Except maybe this once.

Staring back at her had not been her elegant and sleek form. With scales so black they gleamed with iridescent rainbows in the light, and eyes like finely cut black opals, Or they did when not covered in dirt and her own blood. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been someone or something else's bodily fluids. But this figure lacked the gore and grime.

The figure in the pool was without injury, but was blacker than black. It swallowed light and devoured shadows, becoming darker with each and every one. Eyes of a hypnotic blue and gold swirled, their slitted gaze was the only thing that seemed solid in the water. Its amorphous form was only vaguely draconic in shape, she now realized. The wings and tail were mere gauzy silhouettes in the water.

‘My mind is clearly addled by injury and exhaustion and is making me see things,’ Aci found herself thinking with growing sleepiness. Even as it had (not) frightened her, it had enthralled her. The shadowy dragon in the water purred softly. Or was it technically a burble, coming from water? Either way it sounded like her Dame had when she was newly hatched.

** Sleep, Acinoryvy. Sleep. ** Said a soft voice in her mind. And she did.