PART IV - A LESSON IN NOT TAKING OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF
“What is it?” Lhawni asked as she narrowed her eyes, the strange, hissing laughing still coming from the creature.
“I dunno,” Callie said with a shrug. “Jesca?”
“Um. Maybe a drakeling? It’s pretty small for one, though. Maybe it’s a baby? The drakelings never come around here, though. There’s too many people.”
This was true. The Forest Drakeling population in the immediate area had long ago learned that the little Sprites or even the occasional Pixie were not to be considered food. Even as the area for the camp was being cleared in the beginning, the few drakelings were scared off, many of the Sprites using their own magic to strongly encourage them to move along. The drakelings, being quite bright actually, quickly got the hint and cleared out of the area. Most of their trees were cut down anyway, so even the hope of a Spritely-morsel ended up simply being too much work.
Jesca took a step and made a chirpy, clicky noise, motioning whatever it was to come down. She didn’t use her new Charm Animal skill, she was still in a bit of an ethical quandary about its effects, but she did cast her Commune with Animals. Now at Bronze, she could verbally speak simple messages to the critters she was close to, and they could respond back telepathically with simple responses. “Come on down. Nobody will hurt you.”
The hissing laughter stopped and there was a moment of silence before a series of colors started to flicker. Bright blues and oranges came from the creature, quite bright in fact. It hopped from the tree branch, landing lightly on the ground. The creature had its wings raised and tail held high, the end of it fanned out in a half circle, and it appeared that the nervous colors were coming from the thin skin of both.
“It can’t be,” Shul’an said with a gasp, standing to get a better look. “Is that …”
“What?” Callie asked, a little excitement in her voice.
“What is one of those doing here?”
“What is it?” Lhawni asked, echoing Callie.
“It’s a Chromatic Drakeling. They live in the deserts far, far southwest of here. Really far, in fact; hundreds of kilometers away. We used to see them in the distance at night from the caravans, dancing in the skies.”
“Chromatic Drakeling,” Callie mumbled, rolling the words around in her mouth. “So it’s like Melga? Or the ones by the Bogwump nest?”
“Another type of them, but yes.” Then Shul’an seemed to remember something. “Careful, don’t lock eyes with it. They can burn them out with their stare if they feel threatened and are close enough.”
Jesca had dropped down on one knee, continuing to make calming, chirping noises. She held her paw back towards everyone, whispering a quick, “Somebody give me some jerky or something.”
Callie’s backpack was right next to her, and she flipped it open, pulling out a piece of dried meat and putting it into Jesca’s paw.
“Here you go,” Jesca cooed, tearing a bite-size chunk off and holding it out.
The blue colors faded from the Drakeling’s display, instead seeming to send a nervous warning as it kept the orange tone and mixed in some new yellows, the colors almost seeming to ripple as they settled into place. It took a couple steps forward before standing on its hind legs and using its outstretched wings for balance. Nervously, the little drakeling came a few more waddling steps closer, then, with lightning speed it stretched its neck and snatched the meat from Jesca’s paw with its teeth, before fluttering into the air and landing a few meters away. The flowing yellow and orange colors seemed to cool slightly, now that the distance had opened up a little, by remixing in some blues.
Callie had seen Melga’s drakeling form flying around the camp several times, but she’d never taken a moment to really look at her. Now, seeing this strange one, Callie couldn’t help but see why the species were called Drakelings. In many, perhaps most ways, it really did resemble the shape of a dragon. It had a long tail, ending with the fanned ever-changing color display, and on the other end was an equally long neck ending with a sharp-toothed mouth. The drakeling’s head was adorned with a pair of twisting horns that extended to the rear, maybe six to eight centimeters in length. From its back it sprouted a pair of leathery wings, which was flowing in the same colors as its tail. Of course, like any good dragon, it was very reptilian, covered in dark blue scales over most of its body, while its chest and belly were a sandy-colored tan.
The Drakeling was indeed small compared to Melga’s form, or the ones in the rocks by the Bogwump. Her body was about the size of Pixyl, once you added in the long tail and neck, so it was understandable that one might think it a juvenile. Still Callie got the sense it wasn’t a baby despite having a main body smaller than Jesca’s outstretched forearm, which was now offering another piece of jerky.
“Come on,” Jesca cooed again as the drakeling finished gobbling down the first piece of meat. It considered her, once again tilting its head inquisitively. Standing up on its hind legs, it began to edge closer again, this time the wing colors having much less yellow in them. The creature was still obviously wary, but it either was starting to trust Jesca, or the tasty dried meat was proving too delicious. It waddled a couple more steps towards the Beastmaster, and then seemed to focus on the promised morsel. Hopping slightly into the air, just a little hop, it flapped its wings just once to get a little closer.
“Watch your eyesss,” Vonn warned quietly. The Lamia had slithered back a few meters to give Jesca space. While the Rangers had more exercises to do, Jesca needed to work her other skills, too, so Vonn decided she was going to let things play out for a bit and not interfere with the Beastmaster side of her student.
Still focusing on Jesca, or more specifically, the tasty snack Jesca was holding, the drakeling made another hop into the air, an almost excited feel to the rippling colors of her wings. They had dropped much of the warning orange, taking on some greens mixed in with the blues instead. As it landed, something gold-colored seemed to pop out of its belly. All eyes, including the drakeling’s, watched as whatever it was rolled across the hard ground before bumping into Callie’s foot.
Callie reached for the object, picking it up and examining it. “Huh. It looks like a coin.”
All hell broke loose! The little drakeling let off a panicked shriek, wing and tail colors changing instantly to a bright, blinding white. It charged Callie, hopping across the distance and flapping its wings crazily. Seeing what looked like a prehistoric dragon-chicken flapping towards her, Callie let out a terrified shriek of her own, instinctively rising to her feet with her back against the shelter wall.
The drakeling wasn’t focused on Callie though. Its eyes were fixated on only one thing. She had accidentally dropped her hoard and now the pink-furred upright had taken it! She wasn’t thinking rationally, or she would have burned the upright’s paw right off. No, all she could see was her hoard in the clutches of another and she needed to get it back!
Claws extended and quite sharp, the drakeling started to run up Callie’s leg, still screeching and snarling. The panicking Callie, her brain not really thinking straight, raised the coin high over her head to protect her hand from the monster, making the hoard now even more out-of-reach for the little lizard.
Its feet easily found purchase on Callie’s armor, and as it got higher, the drakeling’s pointed claws scratched and pierced into Callie’s exposed neck and face, tearing long gashes in her skin and knocking her hat off. The miniature dragon continued scrambling up Callie’s arm, finally reaching her hand and wrapping both its front legs around the coin, trying to wrestle it away.
“Throw it, Callie!” Jesca finally collected enough wits to yell.
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Despite all the panicked screeching in her ear and the sudden pain on her face and neck, Callie was able to understand what Jesca said. She made a throwing motion, the coin slipping out of the drakeling’s grasp as it left her hand, landing a couple meters away. The little lizard leapt off of Callie, diving after the coin, which was rolling on its side in an ever-smaller circle. Pouncing on it, the drakeling scooped it up with its two front legs, before spinning defensively to face everyone. It was protectively holding the coin to its chest, standing on its rear legs as its wing and tail colors slowly changed from white panic to red anger. It was glaring right at Callie, backing slowly away and hissing something fierce.
Callie wasn’t really seeing what the drakeling was doing, though, as the pain of the wounds fully hit her, her hand going to her face and coming away covered in blood. “What the fuck!” she snarled in general at nobody, before hissing from the pain. Lhawni was right next to her, though and shifted into healer mode almost in the blink of a moment. Even as she grabbed Callie’s head to take a look, a Totem was already coming into existence. The shrieking from the drakeling was continuing, almost sounding like it was scolding everyone. Nobody was looking at the creature, though, as they closed in on Callie.
Lhawni made a wincing face as she ran her hand over Callie’s head, casting her Diagnose spell. “I don’t think it’s that bad. A lot of blood from your scalp, but nothing is spurting out of your neck. It also looks like it didn't get your eye. Don’t move while I fix this.” The Totem pulsed, pushing healing magic out to dull some of the pain. Many of the scratches and holes were fairly shallow, and the Totem’s power served to heal them fully in just a few moments.
“What the hell was that about?” Callie growled, making a bloody, contorted face as Lhawni did her work. With her unbloodied hand, she gently pushed Jesca aside to glare at the chittering creature. “Seriously! What the hell’s your problem?”
The drakeling, for her part, was still glaring angrily back at Callie, and still holding the coin tightly and protectively to its chest with its front legs. It was barking little squeaky noises at the Gnome as the red colors swirled on her tail and wings, obviously quite pissed.
“Careful, don’t antagonize it more,” Shul’an warned again. “It will burn you.”
As if in response to the Salamanderkin, the drakeling’s eyes glowed brilliantly for a moment, causing Callie’s hat, lying upside down on the ground where it had fallen, to burst into flames. “That will teach her! Now she can’t mate!” the drakeling thought to itself.
“Dude! Not cool!” Callie growled at the drakeling as she quickly stomped on the hat to put the fire out. Even in just a few seconds, most of the inside fabric had burned. Plus there were two scorched holes, one going in and another back out, right through the leather. Fullo wasn’t going to be happy.
“Stop moving!” Lhawni snapped, grabbing Callie’s head and holding it still. “You don’t want this to scar, okay?”
Seeming satisfied that it had made its point, the drakeling reduced the scolding-like chattering down to something that sounded more like it was grumbling to itself. Confused eyes, except for Lhawni who was still focused on Callie’s bloody head, watched as the little creature started to shove the gold coin back into a … pouch?
“It must be a female,” Shul’an suggested casually, pointing out the obvious. “Drakelings carry their young for a time after they hatch.”
Jesca took a step forward, dropping down to one knee as she tore another bite-sized piece of jerky off the larger one. “That was not nice!” she said simply.
The drakeling, done storing the coin back into the pouch it had popped out of, looked up at Jesca. She was still standing on her hind legs, wings and tail extended and red colors undulating in them, although they were slowly easing and becoming more orange. With both her front legs, she gestured towards Callie with a ‘but you saw what she did’ type of gesture, as if to explain everything.
“That was still no excuse!” Jesca scolded, actually wagging a finger. “You could have just asked for it back!”
“What did I do?” Callie said, scrunching her face at the dull pain leaking past the Totem, and still trying not to move as Lhawni continued to work. “Or is she just crazy?”
Jesca giggled, tossed the piece of dried meat towards the drakeling, who caught it in midair, and looked back to Callie. “You took her hoard. She was trying to get it back.”
“Her … hoard?”
Shul’an joined Jesca, adding giggles of their own. Soon, Vonn joined the giggles, followed by Thucax. Everyone was still wary and on edge, but the tension seemed to dial back several degrees.
“What do you mean I took her ‘hoard’? Like … a dragon hoard?” Callie asked, spreading her arms in confused exasperation. “It was one freaking coin!”
“Stop moving so much!” Lhawni snapped. When Callie didn’t, she threw up her hands. “You can just keep bleeding then and enjoy the scars!”
“Oh. Sorry,” Callie mumbled, finally hearing her friend’s words and offering her head to the Healer again, trying to hold still. “But … hoard?”
“Drakelings tend to collect shiny things,” Shul’an attempted to clarify. “Shiny or pretty stones, mostly. She’s not very big, and gold is heavy, so one coin might be a lot to carry in a pouch for someone her size, I suppose. If that’s a gold crown, it’s actually worth quite a bit.”
“These creatures can be an absolute nuisance in the cities,” Thucax added. “Always flying off with something important. We had one in the area of our home that loved to steal metal utensils or tools. If it was shiny, the thing would fly off with it.”
“Flights of drakelings are actually domesticated in some mining areas,” Shul’an continued, “because they’ll bring back small chunks of valuable metal or gemstones that may have been missed by the miners, to add to their hoards. They can then be collected by their handlers.”
The drakeling, upon hearing this, stared gape-mawed at the dark Salamanderkin. These uprights so casually stole drakeling hoards? At once, she launched into a new round of scolding barks, this time aimed at Shul’an. Part of her began to think she might need to reconsider this whole ‘friends’ thing, if they were just going to keep taking her stuff!
“Did … did she understand you?” Thucax asked, looking first at his fellow Ranger and then back to the lecturing drakeling. “I didn’t think they were that smart.”
Shul’an narrowed their eyes slightly, glancing briefly towards Jesca. “Strange. I wonder …” Then, directed at the little creature, they asked, “Would you be willing to make your wings blue?”
“Go ahead, you’re safe,” Jesca cooed quietly. “You have your hoard back and nobody will hurt you or take it.”
Jesca’s calm words seemed to cut the last of the drakeling’s chattering rebuke towards Shul’an off, and it carefully considered the kneeling Beastmaster. Almost hesitantly, the flowing colors, having continued to move over time to slightly less tense yellows, rippled into a mix ranging from light blue through to a mid-purple. Just on the wings though. The tail still retained the other colors, just to make sure everyone was aware she was still irritated.
“If she understands us, that means it’s translating through your Companion skill, right?” Thucax said with a tentative excitement. “Is she your second Bonded Companion? How does that even work? Something becoming one, I mean.”
“I really have no idea,” Jesca said. “Artemis just … was … when I woke up that morning. I didn’t do anything special, except trip and fall over her.” She looked back at Callie. ”Too bad she’s not up here. She could have fixed your face right up.” The unicorn was working that afternoon with the herdmaster to size a larger saddle and work on some mount training.
“What’s wrong with my face?” Callie said in a panic, raising her hands to her head.
Lhawni sighed angrily. “Nothing will be, if you would stop moving! Don’t make me call Ambria over to knock you out!”
“Sorry,” Callie mumbled again.
“Isss she bonded, Jesssca?” Vonn asked. “Is there a way to determine that easssily?”
“I could try to recall her as a test,” the Cheetahkin said. “Or better yet…” Her words trailed off as she focused on the little drakeling. Suddenly, all the bright light left the Drakeling’s eyes, and she looked around the area and at everyone. After a moment Jesca shook her head in brief confusion as the drakeling’s eyes turned white again. “I could look through her eyes. It seems she must be.”
“Cool!” Callie cried excitedly. Jesca has her own baby dragon!
“Did she fly all the way here? From the deep deserts?” Shul’an asked. “That is a long journey!”
Jesca and the drakeling looked intensely at each other for a few seconds, before their eye contact was broken. “She said she flew almost non-stop for nine days to get here.”
“Why?” Vonn asked.
“Something apparently called to her. Made her stomach hurt unless she flew in this direction. She’s been here for nearly a week, watching us to learn our ways.” Jesca then made a snort of laughter, before falling back on her rear, laughing out loud even harder.
“What is it?” Vonn asked.
Jesca looked back at Callie, snorting with laughter again.
“What …” Callie said carefully, it being obvious she was part of the joke.
Glancing at the rest of the people briefly, Jesca cleared her throat, slightly regaining but barely holding her composure. “She had a curious question.”
“About what …”
“Callie, she is wondering if you are stupid,” Jesca smirked.
“What? Why!? What did I do?”
“She was curious if you knew Pixyl is female, and that no matter how often and how hard you mated, you will never be able to have babies.”