Tau was paralyzed by exhaustion but also by terror.

The wyvern (Rapetou) approached him and gently put him back on his feet.

Rapetou: "Me friend!

The other wyvern was as if crushed to the ground.

"It is she who ate Sit...! not me!"

Tau couldn't understand why a monster was talking and was even scarier than the wild wyvern.(No name, well, not yet..)

Tau was resigned to die.

"Take me and spare my tribe.

Rapetou followed Volkor with his eyes as he and Kedra entered the yurt.

Tau said weakly. "Why? Who are you? Do not harm Roth!"

Rapetou: "Roth and I know each other...She is a friend! She was a soldier like me before the great hibernation."

Tau sat on a stone, struggling to keep from fainting.

"You slaughtered our tribe... why? We did nothing to you!"

Rapetou: "This is not my tribe... my family is sleeping in the black mountain, in the eternal ice. This wyvern is a wild beast... and they eat you because you are weak. like rabbits.."

Tau was incensed.

"You have teeth and claws and we are at your mercy! "

Rapetou "Volkor, he is like you but he is strong... he can kill me if he wanted to" You are weak because you have nothing in your head, like them...

Tau: "We have the ancestral knowledge..."

Rapetou: "That's all? and what do you produce? sharp stones and sticks... and barely make fire?"

Tau: "I know all the herbs and potions and what did you do to my son?"

Rapetou "I saved his life twice... I threw him the rope and killed the direwolves and subdued the Wyvern!"

Tau: "That's just witchcraft! He's spitting blades from his hand now."

Rapetout: "No.. Kedra is a man and he is more intelligent than you. He listened to Volkor's formulas and he fought back. You were going to kill your own child. For us dragons, all children are sacred! If Kedra had wanted to, he would have whistled and you would have been in the womb of the wyvern with all your warriors!"

Tau: "How!"

Wyvern is afraid of Kedra! (and me..) He has my scent and the wyvern fears my scent.

Tau : "She is a monster! She ate SIT"

Rapetou : "If you are smart, La Wyverne will give you back SIT! with his memories of you, Kedra and his mother. He will also be able to give you news of your ancestors who left for the eternal hunt."

Tau resigned himself.

Then he saw Roth standing up, leaning on Volkor, and she ran towards... Rapetou!

She hugged him "RAPETOU!!! Oh how I missed you.... my friend..."

Rapetou's face changed and his tongue caressed Roth's hair as he squeezed her neck.

"You are beautiful Rapetou... and your wings are gorgeous with all those patterns....

and... the female, is she your mate?"

"Yes and no.. I checked her out but be careful, she is a wild animal, more stupid than wild raptors..than dilos..."

Roth: "It's good to see you again... I hope you'll stay with us!"

Then she looked at her ragged husband...

"What's wrong with him?"

Rapetou: "Kedra challenged him... and he lost..."

"HAHAHAHA! Tau....by Kedra! HAHAHA!"

Rapetou sat down, rather lay down, and Roth walked back to his yurt for Tau to lie on his fur.

Tau "I don't need this! How do you know this monster? Who are you?"

Roth: "Oh... shut up you big macho man! If you don't, I won't put a hole in your shoulder this time!

Tau: "You're a mountain witch!"

Roth: "uh, no, but you... you're an idiot. you can't even count! or write! You are a caveman!"

Tau was defeated and afraid of his wife now.

Kedra stroked Rapetou's face. "You have healed Mama, I am grateful. And I see you are a friend!"

And Kedra went down on his knees before Volkor and Rapetou. But Volkor straightened him and greeted Roth.

"It is good to see you again... we had only a month to get to know each other but our destiny was forged in the great hibernation."

Roth turned to Tau: "You should know that Volkor is the king of the Ummites, a tribe that disappeared in a cataclysm. There are only a handful of them, but their civilization is very, very advanced. Mine too. I lost my memory after falling against a rock when I slipped on the ice and I am infinitely grateful to you for giving me a family. I want you to know that I am still the Roth you knew, but I fainted because of the 2 lives that have been put back together.

We will save our tribe with our knowledge and Rapetou."

Tau: "But...they will eat us..."

Roth: "And me? I was devoured? I worked for years with the dragons who are a family to me"

Then Tau thought for a moment.

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"What is the black mountain anyway? All we know is that it's filled with monsters... and the black cone turns animals into monsters..."

Roth took Kedra in his arms and pointed to the sign on her neck.

"You see!!?? This is the sign of the Destroyer's blessing... Your tribe can be among the elite.

We can crush the elves and the enemy kingdoms!"

Tau: "We have our pride as hunters!"

Roth: "We'll survive this winter, but who's to say we'll still be here in the spring? How many died? How many died of illness? Infections...hunting accidents..."

Tau lowered his head, out of arguments

Roth: "In our tribe, no one ever died of hunger or sickness! and we had plenty of free time. we were happy, we bartered and created clothes, wonders and it was a pleasure to trade.

Tau: "You are avoiding the question! "

He pointed his finger

"What's this!"

And he pointed to the frozen ground and "THIS!??"

"Look! Everything is destroyed! It's all rocks! And we're starving! Don't tell me you were eating rocks!

Volkor intervened.

He unwrapped the black tablet and turned it on.

"This is Roth's! Look at the pictures."

It showed the Village with the human, Kobold, Elf, dwarf and fairy population but also the Carno kobolds and Ummites. The statue of the Hydra and the happy faces. Then the ships and dragons playing with their human brothers. And also Rapetou and Krakou eating in a restaurant for Dinosaurs and their human friends. There was Roth. She was as young as she is now.

Tau looked at Roth.

Roth: "The Village is in the middle of the mountain... Frozen. It's a time ark.

It is a raft in a stormy sea...

We have crossed the great void, the fire of the stars and the burning of the time and the sun to arrive here, in the light. Our Goddess saved us, spared us so that we could live again. There is nothing else."

Tau: "Then why the black cone! monsters???"

"Our Mother Goddess is the Destroyer and her husband is the Devourer... They love us as the snake loves its young but .... He is the Destroyer...That is his nature...

To survive and see all these smiles, each of us had to make sacrifices and pay the Djizira, the tax of life and existence...We all know the price of life...but it is so."

Tau leapt with anger. "Then you are all monsters! And you are one of them!"

Roth slapped Tau who reared up from the impact

"DON'T EVER CALL ME A MONSTER AGAIN!

What did you think? You think your gods lifted a finger to save us? to allow us to live? We too have prayed to our ancestors and to the gods of nature... Not a single one has reached out to us! There is only the poor Goddess of Destruction who reached out her paw to us! We've been dying to serve her to save us and she did... not promises!

And your gods who cursed us... Luckily she ate them! So you have two choices for you and the tribe:

Either you get your act together and become everyone's shaman again by learning from us, or you stay dead in this stony desert waiting for another wyvern to come by for lunch."

Tau: "Kedra challenged me and I lost... he's the boss!"

Roth "The caveman life is over...we will become a nation like the elves and crush them! You have a choice: Eat or be eaten!"

Tau sighed. This was the Roth he knew but much stronger.

"Sorry honey, sorry Kedra. Where do we start?"

Roth smiled .

"Go wash up, you stink! I'll wait for you in the diaper."

Volkor left the couple alone and patted Kedra on the back.

"It's your turn now... call your warriors... we have work to do!"

The men came out with assegais, scared but not missing a beat and They knelt before Kedra and Volkor.

Without saying a word, Volkor went to the village stele, a rock, and drew his sword.

The warriors had never seen metal before.

And they looked at the finely chiseled blade.

After a moment, Volkor turned and struck the stone, which must have been about 6 or 7 tons.

Then nothing.

And he turned around.

The next moment, the stone slid on itself, cut at an angle, a clean cut as if by a laser.

He sheathed his sword and the warriors fell flat on their faces before the former king.

The message was clear. He didn't need to say anything. The demonstration screamed out.

"Kedra!"

Kedra approached the wyvern and stroked its snout to the horror of the warriors.

The monster flattened itself and Kedra climbed on top.

The next moment, the wyvern leaped up to the sky, turned and fell on a deer and brought it back to the village.

Kedra dismounted and went to Volkor's side.

Kedra "Our meat needs are solved!"

Then he visited Sit's mother with Volkor to explain to her how to bring Sit back.

The poor mother clung to Kedra "I beg you... make Sit come back... even in an egg... My little poor Sit... Then, crying, she threw herself at Rapetou's feet.

"Give me back my child, I beg you, Great winged dragon!"

Other frightened women watched as Sit's mom was about to be torn to pieces and others turned their heads away from the gory sight.

But the wyvern caressed the poor mother with her muzzle and cheek.

She kissed her claws and paws, begging for help, but Rapetou lay down to stop this comedy.

"Mother of Sit. I have nothing against you... I wish to be part of your tribe and live in peace with you... I promise to protect and love you and I will do everything I can to give you back your son... Only the great Goddess Destroyer can perform this miracle.. So I will help you pray to her even if my God is her husband, the Devourer..."

"Who are you, powerful dragon?"

"I am rapetou, but like sit... I had a mother like you but I did not know her. Wicked people replaced my baby blood with wyvern blood and I had to live like this all my life.."

The mother cried, the wyvern next to her(Rapetou) was not, anymore a monster in her eyes but she felt the aura of a great warrior instead.

"Protect us, great dragon..." and she stayed for a moment, head down, looking at the ground and hand on the creature's claw.

"I feel your heart beating and the warmth of your blood...Thank you, Rapetou..."

She stood up and motioned for the wyvern to enter her yurt.

She untied a shoelace that dropped an outer section and took 2 pegs to lift the skins and make like a porch leading to the inside of the yurt.

"It's small but you can sit next to me. This is your home now."

Rapetou was moved by the mother's gesture. and the tension in the village fell. Kedra and Volkor moved to another abandoned yurt and together with the tribesmen began to replace the worn skins.

It was a hard day, but also the first of many busy ones.

The next day, everything was quiet and calm. Nobody wanted to provoke the dragon, the wyvern, the wizard or Kedra.

It was almost noon when they got up.

In his magical inventory, Volkor dropped a whole buffalo, doubling the food supply.

Immediately the joy and celebration started again.

After a good feast, Volkor invited Kedra, Roth and Tau to follow him to a small rocky outcrop from which they could admire the scenery and see any approaching enemies.

Volkor pulled out a flexible tablet from around his wrist, larger than Roth's, and handed the tablet back to Kedra. This is your mother's... It's up to you to give it back to her. Don't forget she's a soldier, a Warrior like your dad.

He pointed to the map and other points.

"Here you are in a stone desert and a simple crossing point. Tundra, and bushes.

You'll starve to death.

He looked at the area of forest, river and even constructions, ruins or fortified places, temples.

"This is the elf area and the other tribes or villages... perhaps a kingdom. Do you communicate with other tribes?"

Kedra: "Not that I know of, our ancestors traded a little with the elves and the mountain men but they are dead now...I was born after all that.."

Volkor : "You were much more numerous before?"

"Yes... but the war first made us flee here, then the famine did the rest.."

Volkor nodded.

"We have to leave... to the south, to join the tribes in blue on the map... They are allies of the black mountain. "

Kedra: "But how are we going to do that? The saber-toothed tigers, the wyverns and the dire wolves? We're going to get torn apart!"

Volkor: "No.. we will eat wolf, tiger and ride the wyverns..! We will be stronger. Very strong! And we must leave right away. The winter will kill you with the cold.. "

Kedra lowered her head... "We're out of wood...and not enough fat..."

Volkor straightened up and rolled in his wrist armor the flexible screen and looked at Rapetou.

"With our friend...we'll all make it. Eat, get strength, broth and blood...

Take tents, not yurts. You will change the poles and we will sleep together.

Immediately Volkor showed the diagrams of cutting and placing the poles recovered from the yurts for easier and more convenient transportation.

He took the heaviest one from his magic inventory and Rapetou did the same.

He also showed his boots and how to make shoes with skin and rope soles and the necessary tools like needles, even in bone.

This was the beginning of a revolution.

3 days later, everyone was ready and satisfied.

We were afraid for water but Rapetou magically created water from the surrounding condensation.

Thus, the long march was formed and the tribe advanced towards the black mountain, along the elven woods.

Volkor, walking "In a few years, these fertile woods will be ours..."

Scouts on the branches spied our movement and we could see from far away, between the branches, that they were also stirring.

Maybe they had left us alone, to starve on our own, without fighting, but we were moving on. They were looking at the sky, worried to see two wyverns circling like vultures.

One of the elves said to his companion: "They are damned. The wyverns have marked them... Tonight there will be at least 2 less of them. "

His companion smiled.