Hunting with my Cassia went better after she recovered. She’d tapped me on my head around an hour after I’d finished healing the wound in her side. It was time to get moving. We only managed to recover her bow and a couple of arrows from the nearby tree branches. The rest were either too difficult to access or had vanished into the undergrowth.

  Neither of us wanted to risk another accident. We already knew that Edith was going to be furious with us. Just because I’d been able to fix my mistake did not mean that we hadn’t been reckless. For now, my Cassia and I agreed that she would only shoot her bow when safely standing on the ground. If she was going to ride on my back, she’d have both hands holding on tight.

  “Do you think we ought to think about a saddle?” Cassia asked me as she field dressed a deer I’d caught. The creature had been wary and kept a constant watch. Unfortunately for it, it had not been prepared for me to drop on it from directly above. A cleanly snapped neck was the least I could do as thanks for becoming my meal.

  I rumbled my discontent as I snapped up the guts between my teeth. We had agreed that even though we were hunting to replace what I’d gobbled down, that portion wasn’t desirable for goblins or humans. Perhaps the heart and liver would be, but I’d found those organs to hold a lingering vitality which made them difficult to resist.

  “I am not a ‘dumb’ creature to be saddled,” I hissed in annoyance. “It is bad enough that humans break the will of other creatures to make them into livestock.” My tongue dragged across my claws to clean them. A dragon had its pride. It was important to remain clean and tidy so that I didn’t look like a disgusting vulture.

  A memory idly floated through my mind. ‘Whatever happened to that Bastard bird?’ I wondered. ‘It's probably eaten itself to death back in the Cursed forest.’

  My Cassia pouted up at me, cleaning her own bloodied hands by scrubbing them with fresh pine needles.

  “You know it’s not like that Sanguine,” she tutted at me. “I’d never imagine putting a bit or bridle on you. Something to sit on and help hold me to your back would make it both safer and more comfortable.”

  She always knew how to wriggle in under my defenses. After today, telling my Cassia that I didn’t want to do something that would make her safer was next to impossible. My pride might be one thing, but the possibility of her getting hurt because of it was unacceptable. That didn’t mean I was going to be happy about it.

  “If we’re talking about safety,” I growled grumpily. “The next time I take an extended nap, you’re staying there with me. I didn’t like waking up and not knowing where you were.”

  Cassia blinked in surprise at me. A mixed expression appeared on her face. Her scent carried a similar mix of emotions. Several of these had flavors that I was unfamiliar with. There was some amount of happiness, so she wasn’t entirely against the idea. Underneath of that was a subtle anxiety which I could only recall from situations involving her being a ‘young lady’.

  “I- uhm,” Cassia uttered as she tried to collect her thoughts. She looked away from me in embarrassment. “Maybe… we ought to ask Edith what she thinks? I do enjoy… sleeping under your wing, but… ah, humans… we can’t really sleep for three days straight. Certain things get… uncomfortable.”

  There were a lot of unsaid words in her response. She seemed to feel my mild irritation at how vague she was being, so she continued.

  “I want to make you happy, Sanguine. But I do think I need to talk to Edith about it first, please? She’s already… going to be annoyed with us for running off and getting hurt.”

  That was true. Edith had asked me to wait before going alone with Cassia for an extended period. We’d somewhat respected that, but it had only been a few days. Humans had strange notions about what amount of time counted as ‘long’ or ‘short’.

  It had only been just over six turns of the moon since I’d hatched. In that time I’d ballooned in both size and intelligence. The latter was slowing down a little, but my body showed no signs of stopping its rampant growth.

  When I consulted my instinct about it, I got a muted response. Sixth had occupied that ‘zone’, which lay somewhere between my physical body and my mind. While she was recovering, I’d likely not be getting much help from her. The only information that came to mind was a vague feeling that more ‘extended naps’ would be in my future.

  As I focused on that unspoken part of my heritage, I became aware of a growing sense of danger. It was an ominous sensation that was coming from the rolling fields beyond the Redstone Hills. Silently I stood to my feet and turned my head to look in that direction. Cassia noticed my reaction and stopped what she was doing.

  “Is something wrong Sanguine?” she asked, sheathing the skinning knife she’d been holding.

  “... Yes,” I answered firmly. “I don’t know what yet, but we need to leave. Now.”

  Cassia dipped to pick up the deer she’d been dressing, but my body shot forward before she could get her hands on it. Both of my front feet wrapped around her shoulders and I jumped with my hind legs into the air. I heard her give a yelp of shock and annoyance as my wings harshly pumped the air to gain altitude.

  I could feel her confusion radiating across our connection. In return, I attempted to convey the rising peril that I felt approaching on the horizon. She seemed to get the message. Her annoyance morphed into a wary fear.

  There was no time to get her up onto my back. When I had consulted my instinct about my growth, whatever was coming had locked onto my position. Like a hook left floating in the water for a passing fish, I’d bitten onto the bait. With each passing moment the threat grew closer to my location.

  Flocks of birds began taking to the sky as my head cleared the tops of the trees. All around me I could see thousands of wings fleeing into the sky. On the ground below, herds of deer and smaller prey broke from their hiding places in a panicked stampede. Every living creature that I laid my eyes on was ignoring its normal instincts to instead run for its life.

  What the prey was feeling hit me a couple of moments later, as I continued to fly higher. A heavy blanket of terror settled onto my body from an outside source. I had not felt an icy chill like that since I first left the nest. The challenges and threats that I’d faced since then, didn’t hold a candle to it.

  A memory flashed through my mind, of my scaled foot breaking through the snow and my body tumbling down the mountainside. The inescapable horror of being caught in an avalanche beyond all means of escape.

  This sensation was far more terrifying than that.

  My eyes latched onto a black speck on the horizon. It was growing larger with each moment. That wasn’t a bird. Each wing beat sent it sailing up towards me, like an arrow launched from across the world aimed at my throat. There was only one type of creature I knew that flew like that.

  From such a great distance, I could still tell that the black dragon was enormous. If our kind grew larger by devouring magic, this monster must have spent every waking moment since it hatched gorging itself. The amount of prey it would have needed to consume was horrifying, compared to my own hunger.

  I couldn’t allow that monster anywhere near the people I cared about.

  Just before I could pull into a dive, Cassia managed to free herself from one of my claws. She’d been struggling against my grasp while I continued to rise higher into the air. As forcefully as she could, she slammed her intentions across the connection between us.

  In an incredible feat of dexterity, Cassia swung her legs up around my neck and locked her ankles across my spine. I rolled my body in the air to help swing her into position as she reached up with her free arm and wrapped her fingers around one of the spikes running down my neck. My other foot let go as she hauled herself upright on top of me.

  I leveled out my body just long enough for her to drag her body down my back. When she’d finally seated herself in the hollow behind my wings, I immediately started beating them again to gain more height. We’d lost precious moments in the risky maneuver, but her intentions had been clear and correct.

  Cassia was a sitting duck, dangling in my claws. The black dragon was going to catch us before we could make it to a safe position. At least on my back, she’d be more protected. Having my claws free would also allow me to strike back.

  The only advantage we currently had was our greater height. Creatures were often ill equipped to fight something that was above them. The black dragon was flying up to our position from the lowlands, heading against the warm winds flowing down the Hills.

  I let the updrafts carry me higher and higher into the sky, even though it brought me closer to the other dragon. The further away it met me from my Den and my other companions, the better. Each wing flap had the ground fall away from me.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Cassia had to cling to my back with both hands, holding on for dear life. I could feel the terror rising inside of her.

  She loved flying through the sky with me, but the enemy chasing us and the sheer height were bringing her close to a full on panic. Humans were not built to handle the pressure she was being put under. Only the connection between us was allowing her to hold on to some measure of control.

  As I turned my head, the world was stretching out beneath us. This was the highest I’d ever flown by a wide margin. The tops of clouds were visible beneath us. My lungs gave me a warning that the air was growing thin up here and my heart was pounding harder and harder to keep up.

  Beneath us, the black dragon was clawing its way up to our height. My flying skills were unpracticed, but it moved with no grace at all. Immense wings covered in spikes slammed against the air with thunderous claps, announcing its approach with each stroke. It attacked the air like the wind’s resistance was a personal insult.

  That might have been amusing to watch, if it wasn’t also catching up to me with shocking speed. Its sheer bulk was slowing it down, but the strength contained within the monster’s muscles was winning the exchange.

  The energy it was burning to overpower the wind was more frightening than anything. Waves of magic slammed into me from below, carrying that aura of terror with it. I’d never felt so much vitality contained within another living creature, not even myself. I could ‘taste’ it, as the wasted excess soaked into my scales.

  It was buried under a sickening flavor of death, but I finally identified one of my siblings in the flesh.

  Third finally came close enough that he was able to open his mouth and roar.

  The sound went beyond noise, visibly shaking the open air. Water vapor suspended in the air was blasted away from his wicked maw in a wave. I could see it approaching me at breakneck speed. That much force would knock Cassia clear off of my back. My own teeth snapped open in response and I roared right back.

  “DIE!” / “FALL!”

  Competing waves of Intent slammed into each other mid-air. Third smashed his desire for my demise across the sky, attempting to drown me in a flood of his malice. My own desires were more focused. I didn’t need Third to die, just stop what he was presently doing: flying.

  Our willpowers clashed with each other as the sky between us was split in half. My roar swung downward like a sharpened blade, pushing straight down the middle. Third’s thrust upwards with a thousand spears.

  I could instantly feel that the magic within me was not enough. Third was an absolute behemoth. The intent behind his roar was incredibly wasteful and unfocused, blanketing the entire sky so that I could not escape. But he could afford to waste as much energy as he wanted, just to overpower me. There was enough magic behind his roar to kill me twice over.

  Just as my roar began to falter, I felt a surge of magic enter my body from three separate sources. One was on my back. Two were further away, one in the hills and the other in lowlands, but growing closer.

  Unexpected as it was, I had no time to waste on investigating.

  My roar redoubled, hammering down on where I’d cut downwards. The air at the tip of the blade shattered like glass as my Intent was forced through. The fabric of the sky was cut through. Third did not have enough time to react before it sliced into his body.

  His immense black wings snapped closed against his body. His roar cut off sharply as his oversized body began to plummet down through the air. I dipped my head and dove after him. There was no telling how long my Intent was going to overpower his own. I needed to do as much damage as possible before he regained control.

  Prismatic shards whipped past me as I hemmed in my wings and dove downwards. Cassia was still clinging to my back, but she’d passed out. Her arms were locked together around my neck.

  Third’s body tumbled and rolled as he fell back towards the ground. I could hear him howling in rage over the rushing wind. The terror he’d been exuding had cut off while he focused on trying to free his wings. He went out of sight as he fell through a cloud.

  I continued diving after him.

  Third’s tail lashed out at me as I exited the cloud’s bottom. My head dodged out of the way, just in time to avoid being knocked senseless. I wasn’t able to avoid the spikes along the end of his appendage. They sliced across my face. My blood flowed freely and mixed with the condensed water on my scales.

  My sibling had managed to partially unfurl his wings, not enough to fly, but enough to control his descent. He twisted around, trying to catch me between his jaws. I ducked around the outside of his head, swinging my own claws on the way past. The sharpened edges skittered across the scales of his lower jaw, then deflected upwards into his mouth.

  Now it was Third’s blood spraying into the air. My claws managed to slice through the soft tissue of his cheek and left that side of his mouth open to the air. Third screeched in pain and anger. From the sound, I guessed he wasn’t used to his prey being able to injure him.

  We continued exchanging blows as he toppled towards the ground. I was able to gouge my claws across Third’s face and neck several more times, but he made me pay for it dearly. I was a little too slow in dodging out of his teeth’s way. They sank into the flesh of my right forelimb, tearing out the meat of my calf.

  Just as we were approaching the ground, Third managed to snap his wings back open. The wind billowed up beneath his wings, carrying him away from me. In the time it took for me to pull out of my dive I’d come close to the top of the trees. Several pine branches scraped the bottom of my belly as I attempted to pull up.

  Third had the height advantage now. I flapped my wings furiously to gain speed and altitude. My head turned back towards his last position to try and gauge how fast he was moving. Alas, the sun was in my eyes and made me squint, losing track of him.

  Somewhere in the pull out of the dive, my Cassia had woken back up. She was moving sluggishly, peering around like I was to catch sight of the black dragon. I didn’t have the time to watch what she was doing, but I could see her pull her bow from where she’d hung it across her shoulder.

  A screech echoed from overhead as Third dove at me out of the sun. He had me in the exact worst position possible. There was nowhere I could dodge in time to evade his outstretched claws. Either those or his teeth would catch my body and carry me to the ground.

  Just as Third closed the gap between us, an arrow whipped out from behind my wing. It barely avoided scraping my scales and flew onwards. The arrowhead buried itself into the black dragon’s right eye. His screech cut off and he reflexively turned his head away from the pain.

  With only a split second to react, I rolled onto my back. Third’s claws lashed out blindly at me, slicing across my flanks. My hind leg kicked outwards, burying my own claws into the soft scales between his back left thigh and his groin.

  We sailed away from each other. Third tried to turn back towards me, but he wasn’t able to arrest his dive in time. He didn’t spot an oncoming tree before it clipped his right wing and sent him spiraling down into the forest below. His enormous body smashed through several tree trunks on the way down.

  Cassia and I both felt a great deal of shock at our good fortune. Third had us dead to rights. In a single moment, we’d regained the upper hand. That didn’t mean we could relax. Until my sibling was dead, we needed to keep fighting.

  I landed on a rocky outcrop that stood over where Third had crashed. His immense black body had cratered the earth, sending debris flying across the hillside. A cloud of dust hung over the new clearing between the trees. Third was dragging himself up out of the crater as I arrived.

  Cassia slipped off of my back and collapsed to her knees on the ground. She tried to pull her last arrow out of her quiver, but her fingers kept fumbling it. I rumbled at her and nudged her back. She’d already done enough. Her lucky shot had saved both of our lives, but she was clearly about to drop from exhaustion.

  Whatever she’d done to resupply my magic, it had drained her own energy to do it. My gemstone sat dull and empty on her chest, only a flicker of power still inside of it. She had dark circles under her eyes and it looked like she’d not eaten in days.

  “I’ll handle this,” I growled resolutely. I might be limping on one leg and heavily wounded, but there was no way that I was going to let my sibling anywhere near Cassia.

  My eyes settled on Third as he finished pulling himself out of the crater. His right wing was dislocated and the membrane was torn by broken branches. The various wounds on his body oozed blood across his dark scales, particularly from his thigh. I might have hit an artery with my claws. If he didn’t do anything about it soon, that was the most likely thing to kill him.

  Third glared up at me with pure hatred in his eyes. Even after falling out of the sky and getting mauled, he still radiated an immense aura of danger.

  “If you leave now, I’ll let you live,” I barked down at him.

  “HAH!” my sibling howled back up at me. “You are a fool if you think you will leave here alive.” Third’s voice was a mixture of gravel and bile. “I’ll rip out your heart and put your skull on my hoard. You claimed what is mine by right!”

  Beyond his threats, I didn’t know what he was talking about. My only other sibling I’d talked to was Sixth. She’d not mentioned any reason for Third to hate me this much. As I narrowed my eyes at him, the eyelid I used to sense magic slid into place. An intense aura of death hung around Third in a fog, as I’d felt earlier.

  He might just be a monster who hated the entire world, but it was better to check.

  “I want nothing of yours!” I declared loudly. “If you want the vitality in my body, you have no claim to it.”

  Third spat at me, a glob of acidic saliva splattered across the stone beneath me.

  “‘Vitality’?” he growled. “Never heard of it. I’ll have the Vitae in your blood when I devour you, Runt. Do not pretend that you didn’t claim Blood as your Domain.”

  ‘Vitae, huh? Guess I was close to the right name at least,’ I thought to myself. ‘What’s a ‘Domain’ though? I do feel an affinity for blood. Maybe it’s too do with my name?’

  I could tell that the only reason Third was bothering to talk was to buy time. Already, the wounds on his body were beginning to stop bleeding. The magic he was burning to do it was just as wasteful as ever, but I could admit that an ability like that would be useful.

  “If Blood is my Domain, how about I borrow yours?” I growled back at him. My eyes focused on the blood flowing from his wounds. He was trying to stem the flow, but perhaps I could speed it up?

  I had only a little magic left in my body, but it might be enough to spook Third into running away for now. He simply had too much raw power for me to overcome on my own right now.

  Just as I started to draw on my power for this ploy, a ball of fire slammed into Third from overhead.