The white dragon saw the blood and looked away. That's horrible! She quietly slunk away, looking for any water source. That should be easy, she thought, considering that it had rained. The rain now was just sprinkling, and the clouds were moving away. As she left, she was unaware, though, that she had left a trail in the dust. The white dragon eventually found a puddle that was slightly dirty. No matter; her magic white fire could easily burn the dirt out without evaporating too much water. She scooped some water up with her wing. She now thought about how she would approach the bigger dragon. Should she be invisible or seen? She decided that she would be more trustworthy if she was seen. She shimmered and reappeared. She then carefully walked through the charred forest until she was behind the big dragon. Suddenly, she wasn't sure anymore if she should do this. The bigger dragon was at least 1/2 of her size bigger. It was too late now, though; the camo-brown dragon was sure to have heard her.
Dragon watch private
- Falconpaw apprentice
- Closed
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Vincent began limping towards where he knew the calmer river would be with his tail trailing in the mud, and as he limped, he thought. He hoped that he didn't attract anything with the scent of his blood. Other creatures came to this river to drink and might find the scent irresistable, and he wasn't in any condition to be fighting. He also realized that the white dragon had disappeared when the lightning hit. She must have turned back into that ripple and flown off while I was distracted, Vincent thought. She's probably still in the area. I hope she doesn't find me injured like this. The storm was also something he needed to think about. It had moved in so quickly, even for the unpredictable mountain weather. Now, it was moving away.
Something suspicious was going on with all that had happened today, Vincent decided. Something strange and powerful had moved to his valley.
Suddenly, Vincent froze as he neared the calm river and perked his head up. He realized he was being followed. As he whipped around, preparing for a fight, he cursed himself for not paying attention. He had been deep in thought and hadn't smelled the other dragon, whose scent was so strong now, or heard it squelching through the mud behind him.
He saw that the dragon following was the white dragon. He crouched and tensed, baring his fangs and snorting smoke through his nostrils to show he was ready to fight even though he was injured. The dragon was smaller, so he might have a chance. -
The white dragon flinched and, as she did so, dropped the pitiful water, which splashed on the ground, making mud fly onto her foot. She tried to shake the mud off her foot, but is was no use; there was mud everywhere. She looked past the bigger dragon and noticed now that there was a river. Why didn't I see that? she thought, angry at herself for getting into this mess for no reason. She shrunk away, slowly backing up. She realized that she had gotten herself stuck in the same situation again. At least she had no fear of another sudden lightning strike; the storm had passed. Then, she realized that the lightning was what got her out of the first mess.
-
While Neo was thinking, the storm clouds had moved away. With a jolt, he realized this and called new clouds, hoping he hadn't been seen. Neo also waited until the clouds were thick again and descended in a fog. He glided down to the bushes on the other riverbank and waited, invisible.
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As Vincent realized the other dragon was trying to back out of the fight, he relaxed slightly, distracted. He flicked his eyes up quickly at the sky and back. From the quick glance he took in, he realized that another storm had seemed to form directly above, and a thick fog had descended. Definitely unnatural weather, he thought. He sniffed the air for anything unusual, but the scent of the smoke he had recently snorted still lingered. Remembering the white dragon, he focused his attention on the situation at hand and tensed again.
"What have you done here?" Vincent demanded in a deep, rough growl that resonated from deep in his throat. He narrowed his eyes and bared his fangs. -
The small dragon looked confused. I haven't done anything... Is he mad about the spilled water? She dismissed the thought. Then, she looked behind the big dragon, seeing the unusual fog that had appeared from seemingly nowhere.
She focused back to her own problem. This dragon seemed ready to battle, even when injured. A small pool of blood had already formed under him. She had watched other dragons battle before and decided to circle around to his backside, near the river.
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Vincent saw the movement through the thick fog and knew that she was trying to edge behind him. He decided to let her keep trying until she was trapped between him and the river. He circled in the opposite direction, trying to get around her, shifting through the thick layer of ash and giving her a wide berth but keeping his injured right side facing away. It was hard to keep focus on the white dragon through the thick, shifting fog. Her figure was blurred at the edges, blending in with the fog, but Vincent could still tell where she was.
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She noted that he allowed her to get closer to the river. He also kept his left side towards her, leaving it open for attack. She edged a little closer to the river, her tail tip dragging in the water.
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When the dragon was directly between him and the river, Vincent lunged with his jaws open. He did not actually intend to bite her, just scare her and make her jerk backwards to fall in the river.
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The white dragon backed up quickly and her back foot slipped into the river. She looked over downstream and a note of triumph flashed in her eyes. She gave a small roar and turned around, falling into the river. She disappeared under the surface.
-
Vincent felt uneasy at how confidently she had jumped into the water. He saw the splash and walked quickly but cautiously to the bank to see where she went. He kept his feet far back but stretched his long neck over the edge. The clear, cold water rippled from the disturbance. At the sight of the ripples, Vincent remembered that she could change, so he looked for a strange ripple as well as a white dragon. His gaze pierced into the shallow water as he quickly searched for her shape underwater.
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The white dragon knew that when she was underwater, there wasn't really any reason to be invisible. (Although, she left a black shadow in the water to any over-viewer.) She cruised underwater in the river, passing fish and just enjoying the peace. Suddenly, the calm river current shoved her roughly into the wall. The current here was much faster. She looked around in the water; the river sides were much farther away now. I must be in the eastern river! she thought with dread. Then, her lungs started to hurt; Most dragons could hold their breath for a while, but they needed air sometime. She pushed her way to the surface and gasped for air, but as soon as she came up, she swallowed some water. She coughed and spluttered but managed to glimpse her surroundings; the river was much deeper here, and the walls were steep. They were also covered in caves. She struggled to swim towards it, but she was pushed roughly aside by the waves. As she headed towards a large rock, she reached out with her legs, trying to grab a hold of it. She did and climbed her way to the top, above the surface of the water. She knew she didn't have much time before the waves made it too slippery. She searched for a cave close by and finally spotted one; it was close to the surface of the water but looked like it led up. She quickly spread her wings and jumped for the cave. She glided over to the cave, but then she realized it was smaller than her wingspan. She tucked in her wings and slammed into the floor of the cave. She quickly crawled up deeper into the cave, ignoring the pain in her side. She was finally safe!
-
Vincent continued his search for the white dragon. He switched his gaze to downstream and searched for a few seconds, but the fog limited his vision, and he couldn't see far. He didn't see her there so looked upstream instead. All he could see was the water rushing out of the white fog. Then, he sweeped his gaze over the other rocky bank to see if she had climbed out. He could just see the rocks poking out of the fog. His eyes scanned the opposite bank back and forth for a few seconds more as he tried to make out any moving shapes that could be a dragon.
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Neo backed away slowly, but when the gray dragon started looking, he stayed still. There was a chance that the gray dragon would follow the white one, and if the splashes touched him the liquid on his scales would freeze them, making him unable to move. He also hated caves and crevices. Neo's body was specially adapted to high places and thin air. The pressure underground at a certain depth was enough to kill him. Nevertheless, Neo wanted to see how this turned out.
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Seeing nothing, Vincent decided it was time to move on. Staying still while a pool of blood formed under him was sure to attract creatures, and they wouldn't be seen coming through the fog. Vincent waded into the middle of the cold river with the water up to his shoulders and started walking upstream. He crouched as he walked, submerging himself up to his chin so he would be less visible and so the water could rinse the blood and dirt from his wounds. This left a trail of blood flowing through the river which might attract creatures, but more likely the blood would disperse through the water so that it was hardly detectable.
Vincent continued upstream until he encountered a small pond and a waterfall. It was a thin waterfall but it was very tall and crashed onto the rock ledges down to the small pond. Vincent crouched at the mouth of the river and made sure no animals were drinking. It was hard to tell through the fog, but he was satisfied nothing was there and waded to the bank on his left. This waterfall was on the same cliff as his outlook perch, so he followed the wall with the huge clearing to his left until he was directly under his ledge.
Vincent needed to find a safe place to rest. His wounds had stopped bleeding and were starting to scab over so the scent of blood was gone, and hopefully, nothing would be encouraged to come near. He found a boulder near the cliff wall and curled his body around it, squirming down into the dirt, relying on his camoflauge scales to hide him. He kept any scabs facing the ground, boulder, or cliff wall so they wouldn't give him away. Then, he let his eyelids droop closed, but he was still alert to smells and sounds. He rested there in a light doze, waiting for his wing to heal. -
The white dragon lay there in the cave, panting. When she had crashed on the ground, her side had hurt so much! She looked at it now, trying to determine if anything was broken. Nothing was broken, and she remembered the gray-camo dragon's fate in his crash. She was lucky nothing had broken, but she wasn't going nearly as fast as the bigger dragon.
She took time to inspect her cave: the walls had many ledges, offering a spot to lay down and watch the entrance; the floor was covered in a glowing soft moss or fungus, making the floor not so hard; the entrance of the cave had a small pool of water that was filled by the fast-flowing river; and the river itself provided fish to eat. All in all, this would be an ideal place to live. Although, something else could be living here. She walked around, trying to get a good sniff of her surroundings to see if there was anyone else there. She could only smell the musty cave because the water washed away any other smells. Guess I'll have to figure it out by sight, she thought.
She explored for a while, getting used to her surroundings and looking for any other signs of life. There were many tunnels in the cave, all leading to dead ends except for one. It led above-ground. Perfect, I'll have an emergency exit if the river floods or anything else happens. She crawled up the tunnel to emerge outside, underneath a tree. A living tree! She was amazed to see a whole forest teeming with life: the birds were singing; the trees had leaves, rustling in the wind; and the forest floor was humming with the sound of insects. So this is what's on the northern side of the river! She thought excitedly. She had known that there was another river up north, but she had never been on the other side before; her life had been filled with dead trees and the lonely sound of the wind breaking their branches.
She was excited about this new discovery, but she had to protect her cave. She crawled back down the tunnel and realized that she didn't know which paths to take. She figured that if she only followed the left wall, she was bound to come across her cave sometime. She scraped the floor, leaving a trail so she would know the way later. She continued exploring until she finally found her cave again. What a relief! She knew that eventually, she would come to know the path by heart, but it never hurt to be prepared. Satisfied that there was no one else there and exhausted after all the things that had happened recently, she settled down on one of the ledges and fell asleep.
-
Satisfied the gray dragon was not a threat, Neo moved on, searching for the scent of the white dragon, but to no avail.Neo concluded that the ripple dragon had moved far away. Neo flew back to his nest on the peak of the mountain. Neo's nest was in the perfect place. Most other animals, and all other dragons couldn't survive the harsh conditions. Neo's fog made it impossible to see very far, there was always snow, the pressure was low, and the air was extremely thin. Any animal able to survive would be easily seen by Neo's adapted eyes. Neo closed his underlying clear eyelids, but kept his main eyelids open. This was how he took naps, because Neo was instinctivly watchful.
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After an hour or so, Vincent could not stand staying still any longer. He opened his eyes and made sure no animals were around. He took a breath of the air, testing it for any animal scents. There were a few old scents, including rabbit, fox, and deer, but no recent scents.
Satisfied, Vincent stood up, stretched his cramped limbs, and smoothly slithered up the boulder. He sat and stretched open his right wing, laying it flat on the rock so he could see the outside and inspect. It had healed okay. The edges of the hole were scabbed, and the skin was a slightly pinker color where a few layers were torn away. It looked like it was going to be alright.
Vincent looked up the high cliff, at the spot where he knew his ledge would be. He couldn't go up there any more. It was possible to scale the cliff, but then he would be cornered without a quick escape. He shouldn't fly until his wing had totally healed. He thought he might still be able to and gliding was probably still possible, but he didn't want to risk widening the whole. -
Neo woke up and instinctivly took in every faint smell. No prey or competition, and the gray dragon was at the bottom of the cliff, near his perch. It took him a moment to remember that it was hurt, and that made it hard to land. He glided down from the clouds circling his peak in a descending storm. Neo's storms matched his mood, and right now he was feeling energized and rested. This meant lightning and lots of rain.
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The white dragon woke in an uncomfortable position in her cave. She decided to walk around to stretch her muscles, sore from the hard rocks. She looked around at the moss below her ledge and had an idea: she would use the moss to make a bed for herself. She traveled through the tunnels, looking at the ground for the claw marks until she found a tunnel that had not been marked yet, meaning that she had not traveled here when leaving the above-ground tunnel. She scraped up some moss from the tunnel, taking back load after load after load of moss to her ledge. Eventually, she had a make-shift bed and fell asleep again, now comforted by the moss.