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 Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:26 pm
 Tayma plowed through the snow, making a path through the deep white powder. She cast backward glances at the child who followed her. 'Hobble' was his name. According to that blue devil of a dragon, Hazzard. Tayma was still trying to figure out whether the whole thing was some kind of a trick...
She had snuck away from Tarragon for a while, needing some time alone. After so many years with it just being Tayma and Kailani'e... It was taking some getting used to, living with the large family plus Wolftongue and the young dragons that he cared for. Tayma had needed time to collect her thoughts. So she'd gone off on a hike. A long hike. She had told herself that she would take only three days. Three days entirely to herself. She would no doubt be craving someone to talk to by the end of it. That was what she had thought.
But at about noon of the first day... She'd found Hazzard. More accurately, he had found her. He had been looking for her, as a matter of fact. Supposedly, they had only met a few times before, when Hazzard had been in the area around Kailani'e's dwelling, and had never really interacted much. Hazzard didn't know - or he wasn't supposed to know, anyway - that Tayma had been watching as he was confronted by Arbalete and Avale. She hadn't liked his responses. She'd known that he was hiding something. She wanted to know what it was... She'd even tried to have Wolftongue follow him for a while, until he'd lost Hazzard in an avalanche.
And now Hazzard had found her. She'd been surprised, needless to say, even more so by the small young dragon that had been walking on Hazzard's heel, not saying a word, just... staring at the ground. He didn't look up as Hazzard had talked to Tayma. He had seemed entirely unresponsive... He was colored too differently to be Hazzard's son... So why did Hazzard have a kid following him?
Hazzard had explained the situation; he and - he'd hesitated here - a... friend... had accidentally hatched a hidden egg, and the resulting hatchling had been severely injured. Tayma suspected that Hazzard wasn't telling the whole truth... but she couldn't make him... Hazzard had told her that over the next couple of days, the hatchling's health had deteriorated. He had said that he didn't know what to do.
Hazzard had begged for Tayma's help.
And, stupidly, she had agreed to do so. Residual effects from watching Kailani'e help so many people in the past, probably... She couldn't just stand by and... and do nothing... At the very least she had felt the need to get the hatchling away from Hazzard; he was probably right in that he had NO idea what he was doing... And given Hazzard's unusual talent for causing avalanches...
It was probably best to get the child as far away from Hazzard as possible.
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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:10 pm
 Hobble stumbled. Of course he stumbled. With every step he took, he stumbled. With every inch that he moved forward, he threatened to pitch forward and collapse. It wouldn't have been the first time during this journey. In the almost-two days that they'd been travelling, there had been at least three different times when Hobble had passed into unconsciousness from the pain. He was fairly certain that someone had carried him. He knew there was a dragon in front of him, but he didn't know what she - was it a she? - looked like. She - she was a she, right? - had a name, but he hadn't held on to the memory of what it was.
Half the time he was walking with his eyes closed now. Even with his eyes open, he couldn't focus on anything enough to get an image of it, let alone comprehend what it was. He walked - stumbling - and when the dragon in front of him veered in another direction and he bumped into a bank of snow he would stumble in the same direction, brushing against the wall. Following was automatic. He was following, wasn't he? Had the dragon in front of him been there the whole time? Had she left at certain times? He was fairly sure that he'd eaten something, but he couldn't remember what or when that had been.
There was so much pain... so much... pain... Make it stop...
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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:30 pm
Although Tayma had come across many injured dragons, and had helped tend to some of them, she had to admit to herself that she couldn't care for Hobble any better than Hazzard could. She wasn't a healer. Most of her knowledge about the body was how to disable an attacker quickly in a pinch. She was a bodyguard. She had to be in fights. She needed to know how to dispose of attackers... She was a fighter. It was what she did.
But that didn't help her very much here, did it?
So, she was taking 'Hobble' (what a horrible name for a hatchling. Did Hazzard have any sense at all?) to a pack that she and Kailani'e had sent dragons to often in the past: The Mountain Road. Long ago, before the plague, it had been the home of many dragons with magical abilities, as well as dragons who... didn't. It was a peaceful pack. One could almost call it a refuge. And when dragons appeared with recently discovered magical abilities and didn't know where to turn to learn about how to use their gifts, or if dragons were hurt or banished from their pack and needed somewhere to stay, more often than not Kailani'e and Tayma had at least sent them in the general direction of the Mountain Road pack, based on what they had heard from passing dragons. Assumably, the Mountain Road - if they themselves couldn't help a dragon - would know where the dragon could get help. At any rate, the Guardian and her bodyguard had never recieved any messenger from the Mountain Road telling them to stop sending every hatchling with an exceptionally powerful drying spell in their direction...
However, Tayma had never been to the Mountain Road herself before, which made her... Apprehensive. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to - but she HAD to - find the sheltered pack. She wasn't sure if she'd make it there in time.
She wasn't sure if the young dragon would make it there at all.
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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:38 pm
Hobble took in a shuddery breath. Then he collapsed in the snow. In an instant the older dragon was at his side. Wait, was this the dragon that had been leading him? Or was it the blue male that seemed to be on the edge of Hobble's thoughts? That blue male had saved Hobble at birth, hadn't he? Or maybe the dragon now standing over Hobble was the lighter blue female, the one that had seemed to want to kill him. Hobble cried out hoarsely, the sound seeming strange and alien coming from his own throat.
Worse, maybe this was the dragon that had been leading him. Maybe when the blue male had left, Hobble had died, and he'd only thought he was still alive. Maybe the dragon that he'd been following was... death. Maybe it was leading him to the spirit realm.
No. No. It hurt too much for him to be dead. When you were dead you weren't supposed to feel anything, right? If anything you were supposed to feel... good.
Hobble didn't really need to feel good. Just not feeling the pain would be 'good' enough for him...
Hobble noticed that the snow didn't seem cold anymore. Come to think of it, it hadn't seemed cold for quite a while... Or if it had, he'd failed to notice... All he'd noticed was the pain...
Pain...
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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:05 pm
The hatchling had collapsed. Again. Tayma stood over the poor thing, a worried frown on her face. She needed to get him to the Mountain Road, soon. With any luck they'd have a dragon with healing powers there...
She winced as the young dragon cried out. She was fairly certain that it had been the first sound she'd heard him make during the entire journey...
A moment later, with Hobble hefted onto her back, Tayma set off once more. According to the words of dragons who had spoken to the guardian, there should be a path somewhere in the area...
~
Tayma had found the path. She was on it now, walking - hopefully - toward the Mountain Pack. She was fairly certain that the hatchling had woken up, but as usual, it had made no sounds... Well... That wasn't entirely true. Now he was making this wheezing sound when he breathed... It wasn't a good sign.
The young one didn't try to get down. Tayma made no move to try to get him to walk on his own. She understood that he probably could no longer walk. He was getting worse and worse. He wouldn't last much longer.
She needed to get him to a healer... Fast.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 1:25 pm
Abalis was stretching his legs. Letting out some excitement. Burning off some steam. No, that wasn't a good metaphor... That implied he was angry, and Abalis wasn't angry. Quite to the contrary. He was ecstatic. Soon, in a matter of days, he'd take part in the ceremony to become a student... He couldn't wait...
He frowned as someone came into view. He was still too far away to catch the details of the approaching dragon, but it looked odd... misshapen... Abalis jogged toward the strangers, and as he got closer he realized why the dragon seemed so weirdly shaped.
Another dragon was on the large gray female's back... A young one, a bit younger than Abalis...
He looked hurt.
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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 7:46 pm
Tayma grunted with exertion as she carried the injured young one towards the Mountain Road, staring at the ground beneath her feet. One step. One step. One step... She had to get to the pack to get the young one help. At the sound of clattering rocks, she looked up. A young orange and gold dragon was approaching, a worried look on his face. Good. He could help her get Hobble - oh, how she hated that name - to someone who could help... Tayma frowned as the little child moaned on her back, wheezing as he took a breath. He wasn't sounding good...
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:30 pm
Abalis reached the approaching gray dragon finally... The young one looked even worse than Abalis had first thought. At a glance, Hobble could tell that something was wrong with the young one's paw... After a second look, it was clear that the child was struggling against a fever, probably brought on by an infection... Abalis would probably be able to help, but first he needed to get the young one out of the cold, where it was exposed to elements and at risk of becoming even more infected.
"What happened?" Abalis asked the injured one's carrier. Best to get all the information behind the child's injury. Although it was likely, it wasn't a sure thing that the fever had been brought on by infection. There were a million other possible causes, from contaminated food and water sources to a simple allergy... Any information the gray one could volunteer would be helpful.
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