Green Fire, Black Blood
Erenn:
Erenn stretched his gleaming neck and the scales glinted sharply across the angles of his face. The dark red scales gleamed softly purple and the blackness within his eyes seemed to swallow the light of the sun. His muscles contracted as he pumped his powerful wings, the purple and blue skin pulsing against the air. Erenn's roar echoed over the dreary valley below him, the only movement belonging to the feeble trickle of a small stream, its waters almost completely dry. He circled and his wings beat the bare, burnt branches of trees into submission. As his obsidion claws scraped rocky sand his turqiouse tail thumped into the ground and reverberated through the empty space. The evidence of dragon fire was everywhere, and the oily green substance that dried where the fire's once burnt dotted the valley with ugly colors. Erenn folded his wings and stepped forward, only to collapse, his great horned head sending shockwaves through the ground when he fell. Out of his mouth came a keening wail, full of pain and barely concealed angst. Great green, oily tears leaked from his eyes and he suffered in the once-verdant valley that he himself had destroyed.
Rilla:
Rilla rubbed her light green arms across the burnt skin of her arms. Her hands were covered in burn salve, specifically made for the painful burns that came with dragon fire. Her smooth green skin was covered in ugly red and black marks, some larger than her entire hand. The thick yellow salve coated practially her entire body, but the pain still made her wince. The almost liquid fire of dragons practically always led to death because it stuck to whatever it happened to touch; survival was rare, especially after more than one raid. Rilla's dark brown hair crackled around her shoulders, the ends burnt. The pale pink flowers that had once grew lushly in her hair were small and withered, the petals falling to the cracked ground. Rilla's clear tears rolled over her face and when they fell to the ground the gentle buds of sapling cherry trees futilely tried to grow. Rilla mourned the death of her host tree- the one she had grown in since birth- in the dragon raids. The beautiful cherry she had been forced to seperate from in order to survive. Rilla would never be able to grow again. She would never feel the wet soil between her roots and she would never stretch her blooming branches to feel the warmth of the sun. Her tree was dead and Rilla felt the deadness in her chest. A gaping hole where her heart should have been.
Erenn:
After another roar of pure agony, Erenn closed his black eyes and his tail thrashed wildly. He whimpered and heaved; oily dragon fire pouring from his mouth. The green and yellow flames leaped around his head and when Erenn opened his eyes again, the absolute blackness was startling. The barbed javelin resting half in his stomach and half on the ground shifted and Erenn fought against the wild impulse to roll away. The movement would only make his death quicker. Erenn's mind was drowning in pain but within the storm he replayed the screams of innocent children and the fire consuming their parents: his most recent raid. In his mind's eye he saw the javelin only after it was too late; the gleaming silver tip racing out of the choking green smoke to impale itself in his side. Erenn breathed heavily and smoke rose from his widely spaced nostrils. His black horns curled into the air, their tips dark blue, and he closed his eyes again. The javelin shifted, thrusting deeper into his belly and Erenn roared loud enough to shake rocks loose from the sides of the valley.
Rilla:
Rilla looked up when the roar shook the trees around her, the shivering branches losing the small amount of leaves they had left. The absolute agony in the cry robbed the breath from Rilla's lungs and the pot of salve tumbled from her hands. Rilla's black eyes widened and she closed them, listening intently as the sound echoed around her. A flash of light speared across her eyelids and Rilla immedietley dove away. She landed hard and the hard ground rubbed harshly against her burnt skin. She stifled a scream and looked up at the swath of yellow fire that lit the tops of the trees. Rilla felt more tears leaking from her eyes and she sobbed as she crawled away from the odorous fire. Raid after raid after raid. It never ended. The dragon's sudden and strange appearance spread across the kingdom like wildfire and the yellow-green tongues of dragon fire followed the news. The barrier that had once kept the dangerous creatures out, was gone and so they swept across the land leaving death and destruction behind. As Rilla crawled away she heard faint screams and battle cries. A faint, but triumphant roar made Rilla squeeze her eyes shut with the pain of an entire village. She crawled away, a trail of green sprouts behind her.
Erenn:
Another wave of pain made Erenn whimper, the massive length of his scaled body tensed and shivering. His tears were puddles of green on the dry earth and nothing could contain the fire raging around his head. A faint roar echoed in Erenn's ears, the call of another dragon, but Erenn was too weak to cry out. He lay and shivered on the ground. A sudden and unexpected rustle of the dead underbrush in front of him made him open his eyes, the black blazing with a strange emotion for dragon. Fear.
Rilla:
As soon as she was well clear of the burning, she stumbled to her feet and ran, chased by the fear and panic behind her. Like most tree nymphs, Rilla was unused to running, but she ran anyway. The salve did little to ease the burns on her body and her modest dress of moss and cherry blossoms, burnt as it was, kept catching on the dead branches around her. Pain erupted in her chest and Rilla's heaving sobs constricted her air flow. She raced blindly through a patch of dead brush before stumbling out into the open,where she finally stopped and collapsed on the ground. When Rilla lifted her eyes to see what was before her she had no air to scream with. She hung her head and laid down on the ground, awaiting the death this creature would bestow on her.
Erenn:
The sudden appearance of the being startled Erenn so much that he lifted his huge head and eyed the sobbing mound on the ground. The flames around his head were slowly dying, but they still cast a yellow hue on the green skinned creature. Its dark hair was dotted with pink flowers and is dark green clothing puddled around its knees on the ground. Another wave of agonizing pain made Erenn lower his head with a crash. His chin knocked against the hard ground and he whimpered, his black eyes filling with more tears.
Rilla:
When oily fire did not immedietly descend on her, Rilla opened her eyes, and when the looming dragon's head had crashed to the ground with a clearly vocalized cry of pain, Rilla lifted her head and looked. Through the ugly flames Rilla met the dragon's huge black eyes with her own and she saw the absolute agony inside them. Rilla blinked as pity and understanding crashed down around her. The dragon did not move, it's eyes silently pleading in their utter blackness. Rilla lifted herself from the ground and slowly walked around the side of the huge dragon. The vibrancy of its scales snuck past her wall of fear and Rilla felt the beginnings of awe sprout in her mind. When she walked past one of the delicately beautiful wings she gasped and then hid her eyes in horror. Cutting through the scales of the dragon's gold and red uderbelly was a massive javelin, coated in black blood that was eerily similar to her own.
Erenn:
When the creature stood, Erenn could see the terror coating every inch of its body. When he met its eyes he started and only barely kept himself from moving in surprise. The blackness of its eyes matched his own, and for the first time ever he gazed into depths of darkness exactly like his own. His surprise was interrupted by the shift of the javelin, the wonder in his eyes turning to pleading and pain. When the creature walked around him, out of his line of sight, Erenn closed his eyes, his mind circling with the possibility of release from his slow death. He felt a soft tug on his side, a lance of pain, and he immedietlely whimpered, his giant teeth grinding into each other. The tug stopped, but then a ripping, tearing torrent of fire spread out from his belly and Erenn roared, unable to stop his wild, crashing roll away. When Erenn stopped thrashing, his jaws were dripping green foam and his eyes were tightly shut in terror. He gradually opened them and realized that the constant pain that had been assualting him was gone. Erenn gently moved his tail and swiveled his neck to see the great, blood-soaked javelin lying on the ground next to him. He looked farther and saw the creature sitting on the ground next to it. Its black eyes were wide and its small, delicate mouth was opened. Erenn moved his scaled legs and stood, turning and lowering his head so it was right in front of the creature. He licked the foam from his jaws with his red forked tongue and bowed his head, His chin touching the ground.
Rilla:
Rilla had to use all her strength to pull the javelin free. She wasn't entirely sure it was the smart thing to do, but her heart ached with a strange, unfamiliar pain for the dragon. When she finally pulled the weapon free, the ferocity of the dragon had scared her. She dropped the javelin and stepped back, her legs collapsing under her. She fell in a heap and sat, watching the dragon as it slowly stopped thrashing and turned toward her, its horns casting shadows on the ground. It's face was flecked with green foam and Rilla's mouth opened in wonder tinged by fear. It stretched its neck toward her and the bulk of the dragons head blocked out the sun. She shrank back, afraid, but unable to move; awed by the majesty in front of her. When the dragon lowered its head in front of her, it took Rilla a moment before she realized the dragon was bowing to her. It's forked tongue darted out of its mouth, too fast for Rilla to even move, and licked her. She blinked once, stunned, and then a rumbling voice echoed inside her head. Thank you kind stranger. I am Erenn, and I am indebted to you. How may I serve you?
To Be Continued...
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