Shimmering Light of Darkness (Rogue X Eldarwen)

Fresh air, free space to run all around them. Abraxas felt oddly happy after the night’s events and she sincerely hoped that the day would bring more lovely surprises than the early morning hours had, her thoughts thus flowing along a very similar line to that of Rilos without even knowing. But the best part of all this was the fact that there actually was a lake. Its shiny blue surface was so inviting that neither of the dragons hesitated to rush forwards towards the refreshing coolness that was awaiting them. As soon as Rilos started towards the lake, Abraxas followed, not even needing an invitation to come along. “A bath sounds heavenly right about now,” she agreed, giggling happily as she galloped behind Rilos towards the lake, impatiently awaiting the loud splash that would announce their arrival in the midst of the water.

Of course, as soon as the horse dragon reached the edge of the lake, she took a leap and jumped straight in, submerging every part of herself, including her head under water, sighing happily as her head resurfaced again. She only kept her muzzle above the water so she could breathe properly, but everything else of her body had vanished within the now wavy water. “This feels so good,” she sighed, happily making a few swimming motions. She wasn’t much of a swimmer, being partially horse, but today it was a relief. Not only made it her feel free and relaxed, but it relieved her off the rest of the mud that had not fallen off with the effort of fleeing from humans and dodging trees and bushes.

“What a relief!” The horse dragon swam over to Rilos, nudging him playfully and splashing some water onto him. “Are you getting rid of all the mud or do you need a claw?” She wasn’t really sure if that wouldn’t hurt in the end but she wasn’t certain either she could coordinate her wings enough to scratch if he needed help. Spreading her wings wide, she let the water flow in and around every single corner there was where there could be mud, hoping that nature would do its job. Then again, it usually did. At least, for the time being, any thoughts of humans or shit demons had vanished and the horse dragon felt somewhat peaceful and relaxed.

Rilos jumped in the lake too, stretching out his wings to get them wet on the first encounter. The lake was shallow for him, but when he jumped a bit further, it got quickly deeper, allowing him to dunk his head and soak all the way up his back. He turned around to look at Abraxas, the horse dragon in slightly shallower water than he- But she was smaller too. He shuffled his spines, ridding them of the mud that was slowly dispersing into the water in a brown mush around him. And his claws… The heavy clumps of mud that were stuck under them fell away, making him feel light again.

He ducked under the water Abraxas splashed at him, dunking his head in the water and shaking it vigorously to clear his muzzle. More water shot up into the air. He resurfaced again and huffed out a mouthful of water.
“I think there’s still some behind my spines.” he said, trying to see. It was the one place he couldn’t reach very easily, with wing or claw. Now he looked, his spines had lightened from black to blue and green. Well, he always liked those colours more than his shadow form.
“Do you need any help?” he asked, wading out of the deeper water into the shallower part, avoiding her outstretched wings. They were a handsome red, very different to his own membrane-less bones.

The horse dragon grinned as Rilos began splashing in the water as well, somehow feeling a bit like hatchlings playing with each other and it send a warm feeling through her body. Carefully, Abraxas folded her wings back up when Rilos came out of the deeper water and tried not to grunt as she realised that she had left the wings unfolded for too long and her wound had begun throbbing painfully again. Yet, she didn’t pay too much attention to this, she would have to just live through it. “Wait, I’ll try and get rid of it,” she offered. Lifting herself on her hind legs, she carefully put her front paws onto Rilos’ back and began to fiddle with the bits and pieces of mud that had remained stuck behind the spines but mixed with the water it was an easy task and soon the last of it was cleaned out and the horse dragon let herself splash back into the water, creating yet another smallish fountain. “I don’t need any help, thanks. I seem to have gotten rid of it all. After all, I don’t have any spines that would love to keep something to play with,” she said. Indeed, on the horse dragon there weren’t too many hideouts for mud to remain stuck, apart maybe from the wings which seemed clean however.

Watching Rilos ruffle his spines, she suddenly noticed the odd change in colour that hadn’t caught her eyes earlier. “How come your colours have changed?” she asked curiously. It was an intriguing incident but the colours suited him, giving him a less shadowy and mysterious aura somehow. She was certain however that it had not only just been an illusion from the mud that he looked darker coloured, and it wasn’t just a reflection of the water either, especially now that it had turned somewhat brownish with their bath. Wading back to the edge of the lake, she plunked down in the grass, with the clear intention of not moving at all anymore until the sun had dried her and she had gotten some rest. Looking up at Rilos, she wondered whether he was going to join her or not, and again the question popped into her head if this was going to be the part where they went off on their separate paths or not.

Rilos hummed in delight as Abraxas cleaned away the last vestiges of mud from between his scales, finally feeling clean again. He ducked them under the water a few times when she was finished, feeling the water swirl around his scales.
“Thanks.” He said, sinking into the water, his head the only part above the surface. “My spines might want to keep mud to play, but I certainly don’t!” he gave a grin.

“Hm? Oh, they do that sometimes. I have this shadow form thing I can do, it means I blend into the dark much better.” He waved a wing, looking at the purple and blue scales. “I like these colours better though.”

As Abraxas wandered out of the lake, Rilos shuffled around in the water for a bit longer, still enjoying being clean. The water was looking distinctly grubbier than when they had got in though, and he decided that it was for the best if he dried off too for a while- At least until all the mud had sunk to the bottom of the lake and it was clear and bright again. He flicked the water off his wings as he climbed onto the bank, speckling the surface of the water with tiny ripples. The sun was getting warm already, sweet on the scales, and it looked to promise a clear day ahead. He slumped down in the grass, stretching out his wings like a seabird to catch every ray of sunshine.
“So…What now?” he asked, looking at the lake, and not Abraxas. “I’m going to keep heading for the desert- Whichever way that is… What about you?”

If she was going to pick another direction to go, then he would have to carry on alone. He would miss having the company- It always seemed that it came and went so quickly these days- But she couldn’t fly with her wing injured anyway. Well, he would have to wait and see what she chose, there was no use overthinking.

The horse dragon chuckled, inclining her head lightly at his thanks and joke, curiously eyeing his scales all the while. “Hmm shadow form, sounds interesting though,” she replied, “at least it fits with the mud costume,” she added with a wink. The purple and blue scales definitely had a nicer touch of colour than the earlier darker tone; that much she had to admit. It fit his personality more, she thought, more colourful and open than the dark scales, more playful as well as she noted with a grin when she watched him hang about in the water, enjoying himself.

Though it didn’t take too long for him to come out of the lake to dry off as well, both of them enjoying the gentle caresses of the sun rays on their scales and fur. Abraxas held her head towards the sun, eyes closed and simply enjoyed the peace and quiet, the warmth she felt spreading over her body and within it as well, trying not to think about anything, not even what would be once this wonderful moment of sunbathing was over. Rilos’ hesitating words cut through the silence however, but oddly not disturbing it, especially not since she had been mulling over that exact same question as well, even though she had tried to push it to the back of her mind.

“I don’t know,” she replied truthfully. “I have nowhere to go really, nothing planned and no clue what to do.” She felt pathetic by saying this out loud and she knew it sounded lame, but it was the truth. She didn’t have a real plan in her life and being one who mostly kept to herself, except the odd prank she played on others once in a while and the rare company of a companion, she really just went where her nose took her without a plan whatsoever. “Why are you heading to the desert of all places?” She wasn’t sure whether she had asked for his reason to go there yet or not. “I mean.. I could come along? Maybe?” The horse dragon was staring out at the lake, not wanting to look at Rilos, not wanting to impose herself but she did enjoy his company, even though they merely seemed to be fleeing from one bad situation or other. “But I would only slow you down,” she sighed, weakly rustling her recently injured wing.

Rilos’ spines pricked up as Abraxas said she didn’t know where she was going. Maybe she would come with him? He looked at her, his eyes bright. If she didn’t have a plan, and he had only the sparsest outlines of one, why, they might as well stick to the threads together. The sun seemed all the more balmy all of a sudden, warming him inside as well as outside. He hummed in delight. A companion for more than a day!

“Oh, the desert seemed like a good place to be.” he said, still drinking up the sun in contentment. “And my friend Zack, when I saw him last, said that it was really fun. Think, dessert everywhere!” He tried to picture the idea, icecream mountains, jelly castles, pancake streets and cake buildings. Mm, and candied fruits too. After being chased by shit-demons and humans through the night, a visit to the desert certainly seemed all the more inviting. Hopefully there would be icecream enough to melt away that bad dream. He looked at Abraxas in his excitement, retracting his wings again.
“Of course you can come!” he said, fanning out his tails now to catch the sun, spread like the wings of a drying butterfly. “It’ll be all the nicer with you.” He was in a sparkling mood now. “And who cares about how long it takes, we’ll only have nothing to do after we’re there anyway. Have to fill the time somehow, don’t we, even if it’s sunbathing and wandering!”

He looked at Abraxas as she shuffled her wing, easily seen to be injured. “How did you do that?” he asked, trying not to stare. He obviously hadn’t done anything to his wings before, being only scale and bone, but he could see how they were easily broken- So big and flappy, they could catch or tear on anything. He liked having his magic wings over real ones, for sure, but he had caught himself once or twice wishing for that gentle flap and creak when he flew- He was silent as an owl.

Abraxas looked up at Rilos, slightly surprised, as he suddenly started humming happily. When she noticed his bright shiny eyes, she couldn’t help but smile, a smile which widened into an even broader one when he began explaining his reasons. “Dessert everywhere?” she echoed, fascination finding its way into her voice. She had a hard time picturing all this but pink candy fluff trees, fruity flowers and chocolate rivers popped up in her mind – though she lightly frowned at that last one, wondering whether that would even be a possibility in a desert. It was a desert after all, even if full of dessert, so would it really have rivers running through it?

“I have to admit,” she said dreamily, “that does sound kind of wonderful.” Her mood instantly brightened along with his as he invited her to come along. “That’s really kind of you, thank you. I would quite like enjoying your company for a little while longer,” she admitted. It was funny how things turned out sometimes. Playing an evil prank on him might eventually turn indeed into a friendship, who would’ve thought? “Without any of us having a plan, we do indeed have all the time in the world,” the horse dragon mused, smile still on her face. Oh this was going to be so much fun! “Let’s go! Right now?” she suggested, eager to move on, eager to find this desert she had never heard of but which sounded amazing.

Jumping up like a foal, Abraxas shook herself, letting mane and tail fly about wildly with her wings slightly opened too before she folded them back closely to her body. “Oh that,” she mumbled, following Rilos’ glance to her wing. “I had a bit of a disagreement with another dragon but I got away before he could injure me further.” She shifted her weight around uncomfortably, remembering the scene clearly, though she did not elaborate. “Nothing more has happened, I guess that’s the main thing.” Shaking her head once more to rid herself of any negative thoughts, she glanced behind her towards the edge of the forest where nothing seemed to be moving. “Good, the humans have either not caught up yet or they’ve given up.” Looking back to Rilos with a happy face, she asked: “Shall we?”

“I’d like to enjoy your company for longer too.” he smiled, feeling rosy inside. At least he wasn’t being a bore to the horse dragon- Not that it was something he had thought anyway, but it was always good to have reassurance. Abraxas’ look certainly echoed his cheerfulness now, lighter than the almost cruel look she had when they had first met at her pranks, the opposite to the fear that had shown when they had been being chased by the shit-demon and the humans. As she got to her feet, Rilos did too, flicking his tails back to their long lean shapes.

“I wonder which way it is…” he mused aloud, watching Abraxas shake herself down before scanning across the meadow and lake. The forest behind them probably wasn’t a good direction to head in, for obvious reasons. He looked back at Abraxas.
“Mm.” he nodded, not pressing her any more for her wing. It was evident she didn’t want to talk about it. Well, what was in the past was gone, right? “Yeah, here’s for hoping they’ve given up.” Although it wasn’t likely, with the path they were sure to have left through the forest- He for one hadn’t taken the most care where he stepped, and the mud he had picked up again had been slowly flaking off the whole night through.

Rilos gave a laugh, stepping closer to Abraxas and flicking his tails around her like a courtly gentleman. “Indeed. Shall we try that direction?” he said, pointing a wingtip across the lake to the other side. It looked as good a direction to head as any. He started, his steps hesitating for her to follow.

Abraxas felt refreshed and very good, somehow as if the swim, the pleasant sunbath and the sudden invitation to go to a dessert-desert had radically washed away all the fear and panic from the previous night. The horse dragon felt like she could charm even the grumpiest creature into cracking a smile at this moment in time. Watching Rilos stretch out his many tails playfully, she imitated the gesture and fiddled about with her own three, letting them swoosh from side to side, like a dog wagging his tail. Laughing, she replied: “You don’t know which way it is? Well then this should be interesting.” Chuckling, she took a look around herself, wondering in which direction it could possibly be, though it was hard to decide something like that due to the fact that she didn’t even quite know where exactly they were.

At Rilos’ words, she usually would have grown a little uneasy, but even the thought of the humans still being on their trail did not dampen her mood. “Hmm, indeed, our path should be trackable easily enough but they would have been here by now. Anyways, the quicker we move on, the surer we can be that they’ll have a hard time finding us again if they so wish.” No, the prospect of going on adventure to finding such a place, which sounded almost like paradise, was far too precious to have it ruined by dark thoughts, such as the thought of being followed and annoyed.

Giggling, she smiled at Rilos as he let his tails swarm around her, liking this manner about him. Following the direction his wingtip pointed to, the horse dragon nodded. “Seems like a good direction to me! Far away from everything and off to find a new adventure. We’re off to see the desert, the wonderful desert of dessert,” she grinned. When Rilos began to step away, she glanced back towards the forest one last time before she quickly fell into a light trot to catch up with the dragon, falling back into a slower pace as soon as she was by his side, and so they went round the lake in happy unison. Insects and smaller animals were waking up everywhere, crossing their path more and more, the further they walked, leaving the peaceful lake further behind them with every step they took. Trailing after her thoughts, the horse dragon suddenly asked in wonder: “So, your friend Zack, he never really told you where this desert was? Only that it existed?” It was rather curious, but then again, she often neglected such vital information when she was overly excited about something, which she was almost certain this Zack had been, even if she did not know him, but finding a desert full of dessert… who wouldn’t be excited??

Abraxas seemed pretty convinced that the humans that had been pursuing them wouldn’t catch up, despite their easily tracked path so he tried to push his worry aside, enjoying the meadow and the lake instead. He couldn’t quite rid himself of it though, the heavy feeling that they were being followed weighing on his wings.

“Haven’t got a clue which way it is.” he smiled as his tails flicked inbetween hers, watching her bright lit-up face. “But that sounds really good, the wonderful desert of dessert…” he repeated her words, grinning as it conjured up more sweet images. He kept flicking his tails close as they made tracks, enjoying her company. He couldn’t keep the foolish grin off his face as the sun rose slowly in front of them.
“No, Zack’s not really one for placing things. He’s very small, so how far away something it is much further for him than for you or me.” For the little paper dragon, getting to the bakery down the road and back was a day’s exercise- Especially if he carried cake too. “He seemed to think it existed at least…” He had been very excited when he told Rilos of the desert, and the spine spike had left quickly afterwards to start out for it. Now he was starting to regret not asking for more specific directions- Although they would hardly have helped, considering they now didn’t have a clue where they were.

When they reached the other side of the lake they headed deeper through the meadows, still heading away from the forest. Things buzzed around them, and Rilos shook his head as a few irritating insects took an interest in his face. He sneezed as one landed on his nose, shaking his head again more furiously. He figured he should be grateful the most annoying thing was the bugs, but that hardly lessened how frustrating they were. The meadow stretched out in front of them, a river that they hadn’t seen before weaving through its grasses from the lake to some other nameless place. In the distance there were a few mountains lining the horizon, barely visible as darker fuzzy blue triangles, their feet covered with the dark green of more trees. It was all very picturesque, something Rilos wouldn’t have seen or appreciated from the sky.
“You know, it’s quite nice to walk somewhere for once. Meadows aren’t half as pleasant from the sky.” He swished his tails through the grasses, stirring insects into the air. A bright blue butterfly twirled up into the sky, its wings having a slight iridescent tinge to them. “I would never have seen things like that from up there.”

The sunlight was a blessing after their long night, Abraxas could only mull that thought over and over in her head as the brightness was lighting up the way ahead of them and the warmth kept growing on her scales and fur. Snuffling lightly into the grass as she bent her nose down, the horse dragon let her tails whip around in a swinging movement to accompany their light step and mood. Grinning at Rilos’ explanation of Zack, she nodded: “Yes, I can understand that. Distances vary with size. The poor little dragon, carrying cake all by himself,” Abraxas chuckled at this thought. It must be something of a view to encounter but it was adorable all at the same time. “He seems to have quite a liking for dessert, it seems,” she added, smiling up at Rilos, who seemed to be very fond of Zack indeed and it made her think that she wouldn’t mind meeting that little one at some point, thus she added: “He seems like someone worth meeting.”

Abraxas looked at her companion with not only a little surprise when Rilos suddenly stated that he actually enjoyed the walk instead of being up in the air. With a pleased smile, she agreed: “There is so much you cannot enjoy or even see when you’re flying over things. I often walk around for a while just for the fun of it. Plus, being a horse dragon, I prefer remaining on the ground most of the time, it lies more within my nature than taking to the winds all the time.” Her eyes followed the little blue butterfly that was swirling around Rilos’ nose before she looked back at him. “I am glad to hear you’re enjoying it,” and she honestly meant it, secretly having been afraid that he might get bored with this way of travelling soon, since it was not what he was used to and he would only be held up in getting where he wanted. “Then again, when you’re up in the sky, you have a very impressive view as well, and so much further than when you’re on the ground. You can see far into the distance, maybe even see what lies behind that mountain range over there.” At those last words, she nudged her head gently towards the mountains whose peeks had appeared on the horizon not too long into their walk.

As they kept making their way through the meadow, the river keeping them company, only irregularly turning away from them to make a slight turn into another direction only to weave back to them shortly afterwards. A shiver of anticipation ran down Abraxas’ back and with that sensation she jumped a little, hopping around in excitement. “Oh, I can’t wait to see this!” she exclaimed once more, beaming up at Rilos, yet again images of various desserts flodding her mind. However, somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice whispered to her that she shouldn’t be so careless; they couldn’t know what might wait for them on their journey to the desert, if they were not maybe in for a nasty surprise at some point. The horse dragon wasn’t pleased with that dark note being struck up but she knew better than to ignore it and unwillingly her eyes were straying over her back towards where they had come from, unable to not look back to check whether they were being followed or not, despite the fact that she thought they wouldn’t be. Still she kept her smile on her face however, not wanting to unsettle Rilos, who had finally seemed to stop worrying as much as before. They should look forward to what was lying ahead of them and not keep looking back over their shoulders to what has been and hopefully wouldn't be ever again. Thus, she playfully nudged Rilos again, jumping around like a hatchling, enjoying the sun and the anticipation of being surrounded by desserts.

Rilos shrugged noncommittally at the thought of flying to see what lay the other side of the mountain range that was ahead of them, their sharp peaks grazing the bottom of the sky in a slightly darker shade of blue. After all, that would mean leaving such enjoyable company. They could have been huge, but from the distance, he couldn’t quite tell- and it wasn’t as though he was used to seeing things from the ground anyway, stuff seemed so much smaller from the sky. He had to agree though, sometimes the view was much more impressive from the clouds, although for now, he was content.

He grinned as Abraxas hopped around, reminding him of a sprightly foal in her excitement. His own excitement had been building for a while now, but his imaginations of what lay ahead had increased tenfold with her own ideas of what they might find.
“It’s certainly going to be something to see.” he agreed, tracing the winding of the river all the way through the meadow ahead of them. It looked like it might be quite a journey, but was that really a bad thing? Of course, it meant they would have to wait a while to finally tuck into sweet treats, but having company for a few days was almost as welcoming as the final prize. And as strange as their first meeting had been, Rilos was definitely enjoying having Abraxas around, her excitement simply infectious. Why, he could hardly see why he was frightened of her to start with!

He gave a rumble of pleasure as she bumped him, flaring his spines and setting off at a lolloping gallop through the grass, a laugh on his lips as it rustled around him and stirred up all the insects like floating spinning tops. The river bent around in front of him suddenly and he splashed through it, showering his dried scales all over again. A few stones rolled over under his claws, shifted by his wake, and a frightened silvery fish darted off downstream, flicking its tail this way and that in escape. He leapt onto the other bank with a kick of his hind legs, sending the bright red flowers that he landed in scattering in every direction.

Strangely though, the flowers didn’t scatter sideways, they scattered into the air, red whooshing around him in a cloud. He drew his head up sharply, taken aback by the flowers-that-weren’t, looking down at them in confusion as they started to swirl around him and slowly upwards. They were sprites, little creatures that lived for the flowers that they tended to, dressed in fallen petals and spidersilk, and various other tiny things that they took fancy to. But if there was one thing they did not like, it was a large dragon bowling through their world without any heed for who was living in it. As if they were one being, they drew in a breath and let it out with a high pitched squealing sound, making Rilos shake his head in irritation at the noise. It was surprisingly loud for such tiny creatures.
“What are these things?” he squeaked, trying to back away from the angry red cloud. It followed him, a few of the more incensed creatures beating vainly at his nose to make him leave their patch. They had little strength, but a few of the more intelligent chose a different plan and went to collect little pouches of pollen, throwing them down on Rilos and making him sneeze as the grains whooshed around and ticked him. “Ooh, they don’t seem to atchoo! like dragons very much!”

Pleased that Rilos immediately joined in her playfulness, Abraxas set out to follow his gallop, giggling at his spines as they were wiggling about, whether it was on purpose or not, she wasn’t quite sure, but it definitely looked funny. A darting movement to her left caught her attention and she lightly swayed from her course to investigate the creature that frantically was trying to escape the two dragons’ feet. The horse dragon merely managed to get another glimpse of purple before whatever it was seemed to poof into thin air, leaving Abraxas to stare in surprise with big round eyes, before she decided to drop the matter and cantered away to catch up with Rilos, who was happily crossing through the river by now.

The flowery shower the spined shadow dragon produced on the opposite river bank was making the horse dragon jump in excitement once more as she absolutely wanted to join into that fun. As she splashed into the water with a big jump, purposefully sloshing drops everywhere, she abruptly halted mid-step as she saw the flowers all of a sudden gathering up into a ball and launching themselves at the surprised dragon’s nose. The noise that suddenly erupted from those flowers – where those not flowers?! – made the horse dragon throw up her head in annoyance. It was unexpectedly loud and somewhat irritating to the ears. Though it didn’t seem to be a consistent noise and it soon ebbed away again.

Abraxas cocked her head to the side in interest as she watched the puffy red cloud frantically try to attack Rilos. Snorting with laughter as her dragon companion had to sneeze at the vicious tickling the sprites or faeries, or whatever these beings were, had going on. She was relatively glad now she had been distracted and had not followed quite as closely on his heels, and was now untroubled by this little incident but rather could watch it happily from the side lines. “It’s quite fun to watch actually,” she laughed, “but they really don’t seem to like dragons.” Waddling around in the river a bit to get a better view of what on earth these creatures were actually trying to do to Rilos’ nose, she added, highly amused: “Or maybe it’s just you they don’t like. After all, you’ve been treading on their flowers.”

Of course, as soon as she had said this, another wave of red dust came rushing towards the two dragons, though rapidly deviated away from Rilos and came straight towards Abraxas. The horse dragon was so astonished at the sudden appearance out of nowhere - after all, neither of the dragons had moved further into the flower bed - that the little creatures were already fiercely tickling away at her nose before she managed to back away. Even from this close up, since a clearer view she could definitely not get, she could not determine what these beings actually were. “How exactly are we going to make them stop?” She didn’t want to hurt them but she definitely wanted to make them stop fiddling around in her nostrils. With a loud sneeze, she sent a part of the group flying into the air but of course they immediately swooped back down into her nose. “Aren’t they disgusted by fiddling around in our snot?” It definitely wasn’t the most ladylike thing to be asking but the creatures had Abraxas wondering at their intentions. In an attempt to rid herself of the nuisance, she bent her nose down towards the water, clearly wanting to cool off the tickling, but she halted a mere hoof’s breadth from the surface. “They can’t swim, can they?” Her nose was itching so badly by now that she barely managed to say these words in an understandable manner and she so badly wanted to ease the feeling but she had qualms about killing the beasties, in case she accidentally drowned them. “Any bright ideas?” she managed to muffle in between a few minor sneezes.

“’S’not funny!” protested Rilos between sneezes, trying to back further out of the swirling cloud of sprites. He shook his head in frustration, trying to paw away the little creatures that had gone back to beating at his scales. “I didn’t mean to atchoo! step on their atchoo!! flowers.” He looked down at the nearest creature, following it’s flight with one watering eye. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!”

He flicked his tail in frustration as the little beasts continued with their attack, shaking his head from side to side to dispel them. A few fluttered to the ground, dazed as he whacked them, but there were always more to take their place- their numbers seemed limitless!
“I have no idea…” He swung his head round to look at the horse dragon, pulling a face when he saw she too was covered by the little red creatures, his disconcerted expression at her words disappearing as he sneezed again. All his attempts at ridding himself of the little beasts seemed to be in vain, and in a fit of frustration he suddenly stretched his wings wide, crouching for a moment before leaping into the sky, shooting up high and fast.

The sprites fell away as he outstripped them, twirling over a couple of times in the air to blow off the pollen sticking to his damp scales. Ah, that was better, having the sky to himself, not filled with little monsters. As he looked down at the ground, he saw that the creatures made a swirling red blot on the green of the meadow, looking distinctly menacing with their violent scarlet colouring. Another movement in the field caught his eye and he saw a flash of purple darting through the grass, some strange creature that, if he wasn’t previously occupied, would have definitely warranted an investigation. Maybe they could chase it down and find out what it was? He took note of its position and turned back to the bigger problems that were currently at hand. He swooped down to ground level again, staying just aloft as the sprites decided to come after him again as he shadow passed over them. He kept up his low coasting, the tips of his wings flicking against the grass as he beat them every so often to quit from crashing. As he zoomed along the length of the river, the cool air above it making him sneeze again, he hardly caught Abraxas’ words, craning to hear.
“What?” he called as he passed overhead, pulling his legs in close to his body so he didn’t whack her accidentally. He let out a long run of sneezes, huffing out smoke as they got worse, which made his eyes water even more in turn. Blinking furiously, he checked behind him to see if he was still being pursued, then floated down to the ground, landing with a splash amongst the waters of the stream, padding cautiously back around the closest curve of the water to look for Abraxas.

“Uh… Run for it?” he suggested, his eyes widening as another bunch of sprites spotted him and headed in his direction. He gave a little huff of annoyance, leaping out of the stream and running off through the field, trying to keep ahead of the malicious flying cloud. To the horse dragon, it must have looked crazy, the big dragon racing around the field followed by a cloud of beasties. It pursued him without stopping as he tried to confuse them dashing this way and that, suddenly finding him upstream of Abraxas in his erratic flight- with all his twisting, he had lost his sense of direction. Laughing at the chaos of his escape he ran down the stream, shouting to the horse dragon as he grew close.
“Come on, let’s go!”

Before Rilos could even reply to her question, amidst all his frantic run about in various directions in a vain attempt to shake off the evil little creatures, the horse dragon’s nose had arrived at the very maximum of tickling it could take and she sneezed loudly, the momentum of it all, dipping her head into the water. She hit her nose on one of the stones at the bottom of the river, yet at the same time she saw the water turning red, not from blood but from the beasties that were frantically trying to escape their new problem.

Eyes watering from the sneeze, Abraxas lifted her head and kept an eye out for Rilos who was jumping around like a gazelle, performing loops and whatnots as he was rushing over the field. For a moment, the horse dragon worried that he might disturb even more of these vicious sprites along his path but the view was simply too hilarious to take seriously and she soon burst out laughing, adding more tears to her already burning eyes. Most of the sprites had in the meantime managed to clamber out of the water and were now furiously shaking fists at her, their wings too wet yet to carry them aloft once more and the horse dragon gladly took this chance to sneeze quite a few more times in hopes of making the still ongoing itching stop.

No matter how hard the two dragons seemed to try with whatever means they had at their disposal, they couldn’t get rid of the flowery sprites, which were launching themselves in full eagerness at both of them whenever they got the chance, new sprites seemingly popping up out of nowhere whenever they had managed to get rid of merely a few. Abraxas was making her way out of the river on the side they had first jumped into it when Rilos suddenly came splashing around a bend in the river, closely followed by a cloud of red sprites. She didn’t even manage to say anything else when Rilos was suggesting making a run for it as yet another enormous red cloud made its way towards them. Their red colour seemed bloodred all of a sudden with the density of the sprites having bundled up together.

She didn’t wait for the swarm to reach them but picked up her legs and made a run for it, back over the grass, hoping they would not suddenly have green sprites on their heels as well, who would try to protect their grassy homeland. The further they gallopped through the greenery, the more purple animals seemed to be dashing around their feet, frantically trying to get out of the way of their claws and hooves. The horse dragon looked over to Rilos, opening her mouth to ask if he had any idea what these things were, when she already missed one and went flying onto the ground as she stumbled over the beastie.

Grunting, she lifted herself back up, the purple beastie sitting in front of her growling and miaowing almost as it seemed to try reaching for a bump on its back. Blinking, the horse dragon observed the wonderous creature for a little longer, specifically noticing the long spikes it seemed to have protruding from every inch of skin on its body. The purple grew a little darker around the legs and belly, and despite the spikes looking vicious, Abraxas couldn’t help but think that it was rather cute. Like a mixture between a hedgehog and a cat. “Oh just look at it, Rilos! Look how cute!!” she squealed in excitement at this new discovery. Immediately, the small animal looked back at her, its eyes glowing with a vicious glimmer. “I am not cute!! How dare you insult me like that after almost trampling me to death!” Abraxas merely stared at the hedgecat, eyes wide open, dumbstruck by the fact it could talk.

The sound of Abraxas’ laughing just made Rilos laugh harder himself, twirling just for the fun of it down the stream, making the pebbles underfoot clatter. She was surrounded by angry sprites- who, from the short glance he got, seemed to be shaking their tiny fists at her- it was all quite bizarre. From a strange night, it had turned into an even stranger day, but he didn’t really mind; having Abraxas as a companion was turning into quite the adventure!

He hopped out of the water after her, flicking water off his tail at the cloud still pursuing him, hoping that it might put them off his trail. He glanced back at it hopefully, only speeding up as he saw that it was nearly as dense as a real cloud! He was already sneezing, pollen sticking to his nose, and he didn’t fancy having that lot throwing even more tickling dust on him too- he would be sneezing for days!

Their crazy wake didn’t seem to turn up any more sprites, but it was getting hard to tell, with the sheer volume of those they had already disturbed. From the maybe twenty or thirty that Rilos had disturbed with his first jump, there now had to be… well, hundreds! Despite their strange train, it felt like his spirits were touching the sky, and he couldn’t help but jump in excitement at their exciting, but probably (hopefully) safe adventure.
“You know Abraxas, this is kinda fun, despite the oddness of it all!” he laughed, rattling his spines in delight. The purple creatures that started to appear under their feet were just as fascinating as the rest of the meadows, and if it wasn’t for the fact that they were being pursued, he would have stopped there and then to inspect one. He grinned at Abraxas’ confused expression, keeping half an eye on the ground underfoot. His smile dropped anxiously when she suddenly fell and he skidded to a halt, casting a glance at the cloud that had started to fall behind, then crouched among the grass, trying to hide from the little monsters- although he wasn’t quite small enough to be camouflaged amongst the meadow plants, which barely came halfway up his middle.

He regarded the purple creature in eager interest, smiling with a little confusion at the strange mishmashed together noises that it was crowing. It was fascinating, it had spikes like him! Although, a few more all over… And a strange little face with bright eyes.
“What is it?” he asked, turning his head to one side. He recoiled slightly as it looked at Abraxas, his eyes flicking between the two in surprise as it suddenly spoke. “I mean um… What are you?” He quickly readdressed his question, hoping he hadn’t offended the hedgecat with his assumption that it couldn’t talk. Hopefully it wouldn’t take offence… He hadn’t come across many other animals that could talk, and certainly no animals that had seemed so unlikely to before.

His fascination with the creature was suddenly diverted as the sprites caught up with them again, swarming around the ends of his tail before slowly advancing on them with a malicious intent clear in their actions. He flicked his tails to try and rid himself of them, squirming as they explored the spines along the top of his back legs. “Um, little thing, do you know how to stop these sprite-things from chasing us?” He wriggled, feeling their itching powder trickle between his spikes. “Sort of now, if you please?”
He normally wouldn’t have pressed the hedgecat, after its angry outburst, but he really had no wish to be sneezing for the next few days, and the possibility was growing ever likely as the tail end of the sprites started to catch up with those prior. “Please?”

Shaking her head to Rilos’ question, Abraxas tried to figure out herself what exactly the creature in front of her was. It was definitely not stupid, the eyes were blinking at her fiercely as it addressed her and the horse dragon was about to take a step back to prevent it from jumping into her face, in case that was its intention. Rilos was quick on keeping his distance as well and immediately redressing his mistake of considering it incapable of speech, just like the horse dragon had thought as well. The creature appeared all the more wondrous now and Abraxas couldn’t help but repeat Rilos’ question herself, adding: “We have never seen any being like you before.” The intelligent eyes were glaring from one to the other without really responding, or rather without having the time to respond as suddenly the sprites caught up with them and began swirling not only around Rilos’ spines but began playing with Abraxas’ tails as well, finding her fur rather fascinating it seemed. Within seconds, she had the impression she was itching all over and thus quickly joined in Rilos’ pleading. “Please, that would indeed be very kind of you.”

The purple little beastie looked at Rilos with contempt written all over its tiny face. First, the big clumsy creature insulted its intelligence and now it was all of a sudden seeking its help. Yeah right. Huffing in annoyance the hedgecat looked from Rilos to Abraxas, who was now joining in with the bigger one, -after having stepped on the hedgecat!!- and then back to Rilos Seeing the pleading looks in both their faces as the dragons’ eyes regularly flickered back to the cloud that was now menacingly advancing over their whole bodies, the hedgecat finally decided that it might actually do something to help these two. There was nothing to be lost by it, was there?

With what could only be described as a growl, the purple being turned away from the dragons to face the sprites and within seconds was beginning to swell up to balloon size, it’s spikes sticking out into every possible direction. All the while it kept growling at the sprites, who did not seem to notice anything but the two dragons who had disturbed their peace in their flowerbed. It was then that the hedgecat attacked!

As it charged towards the cloud of red sprites, looking like a balloon with spikes to it, hopping up and down like bouncing ball that was ready to unleash its deadly sticks, the horse dragon’s eyes opened wide and she had to bite her tongue not to start laughing out loud. “Rilos,” she hissed in between her teeth, but she couldn’t say anything more. Her whole body was quivering with the laughter she was trying to suppress at the vision presenting itself in front of her. The purple beastie looked like a blown up hedgehog and yet it was jumping like a kitten trying to scare off an invader. The combination was quite simply hilarious, and the snort that finally managed to sneak its way out, was quickly disguised by another sneeze of the horse dragon. She wouldn’t want to anger the spikes; they looked painful, very painful.

Apparently, the sprites seemed to be thinking much along the same lines, despite the fact there were so many of them and just the one purple creature growling and miaowing at them. They did not retreat however, but they did halt in making every single inch tickle. Until suddenly more of the purple creatures began jumping around like hopping balls, spikes out and growling, joining in with their personal acquaintance and the sprites suddenly seemed to gasp and began making a flight for it.

Rilos shrunk away from the hedgecat’s malevolent look, trying to look as innocent as possible- it was an honest mistake, he hadn’t known that the little beast would turn around and suddenly speak! He rustled his tails uncomfortably, trying to wave away the sprites slowly clambering up his scales, but it seemed to do nothing for his plight. His look became increasingly beseeching and he shuffled uncomfortably, trying to rid himself of the fairy dust that tickled his scales. He gave another sneeze, his nose dipping into the meadow grass as more red magic whisked around them. He sneezed again and looked back at the hedgecat, wishing it would help them.

His wish was actually granted! He blinked in surprise as the little creature suddenly turned from glaring at them to face the cloud, his spirits suddenly soaring. It was going to help them! Although… what happened next was the least of what he expected. He shuffled away from the hedgecat, wrinkling his nose to try and withhold another sneeze, the incessant growling of the little beast sounding both menacing and quite cute at the same time. As it grew larger and larger, it started looking ever more ridiculous, until it was as round as a ball. To compare it to the creature it had been a moment before, he would have judged its former appearance almost normal, even though it clearly hadn’t been, but this was just so far removed from anything else at all…

He watched it in growing amusement as it started to bounce up and down, chasing after the sprites that surrounded them. When it took an especially high leap, snapping at the fairy-like creatures, he had to bury his face in the dirt for a moment to try and conceal his laughter, the spines along his back flaring in mirth. He tried to control his laughing, setting his face straight again before he looked up, but the sight of the hedgecat trying to fend off so many sprites was just such a ridiculous sight… He squeezed his eyes shut and looked up to the sky, a grin stretching right across his face. It wobbled as he almost laughed, the strange meowing and growling a strange noise for any animal to make, but coupled with the appearance of the little beast… it was just too much to bear without laughing outright.

It was obvious that the hedgecat was doing something right to dissuade the sprites though, as his scales stopped their unendurable tickling, and his grin turned from one of mirth to one of relief, looking down at the little creature fondly. He gave a surprised laugh as it was suddenly joined by many more of its kind, watching them in awe. How they managed to keep on their feet while being so rotund was amazing- and how did they not spike the ground, or each other? Maybe it was some sort of magic…

He gave a cheer of victory as they started to scare the sprites off, his eyes bright as he looked at Abraxas. “They’re scaring them off!” he crowed, flaring his spines again. They were in no way as impressive as the hedgecats’, but a few sprites fled away from them, apparently mistaking them for a very strangely shaped hedgecat perched on his back. He watched the little creatures with obvious gratitude, the grin staying on his face.
“Thank you! Thank you!”

The itching feeling of the sprites beginning to scramble all over her back made Abraxas shudder time over time up to the point where she almost couldn’t stand still anymore, yet she did not want to disturb the hedgecat’s manoeuver, whatever it was it was doing. At least it seemed to be working, which was the most important part. Her eyes huge and teary, Abraxas followed Rilos’ example and pretending to sneeze, which in the end she did and thus hitting her nose on the ground, the horse dragon burried her muzzle in the high grass so as not to offend the hedgecat by laughing out loud, even though the snort might already have given her away. It was simply too funny to watch the little ball hop around and chase away sprites.

“Rilos, it’s working, it’s working!” She cried out in amazement just as Rilos was emitting his own cry of victory. “This is amazing!” As Rilos flared his spine in response to the sprites’ flight, she grunted. “If we’d known spikes worked, we could have poked them sooner already and maybe spared us some of this.” Cocking her head to the side as she watched the hedgecats slowly grow back to normal, or what was normal for them, she added: “However, it would only have been half as much fun if that had worked.” The grin on her face was visible from miles away as she remembered not only the hopping balls but also Rilos’ wild goose chase over the red field just a few minutes earlier.

The creatures all came waddling back with the first hedgecat they had spoken to and began to curiously examine the two dragons as if they had never seen dragons before in their lives. Happily letting them sniff around her feet, the horse dragon joined in with Rilos, and chorused her own thank you’s. “We would have never gotten rid of them if you had not helped us! That was so very kind of you!” The polite thing to ask was if there was anything they could do to return the favour, however before Abraxas could open her mouth to say anything else, one of the hedgecats was starting to poke her in the leg with one of its sprites, and she jumped up in pain, yelping at the nasty sting. The hedgecat in turn jumped itself, afraid of what the horse dragon might now do, and immediately blew itself up into a huge fat ball, which was now holding its spikes precariously close to Abraxas’ belly, who was holding her breath so she would not accidentally impale herself on the hedgecat.

With shifty eyes, she looked over at Rilos, wondering what to do next. Every hint of laughter had died away from her and she was thinking about lifting herself up on tiptoes as much as that was possible with half hooves, half claws. “Help?” she whispered almost inaudible as she stared with wide-eyes back down towards the hedgecat, not daring to speak or breathe properly, scared that any word or movement would send the hedgecat into a frenzy and spike her up. Finally, she risked to glance away from the beastie once more and after another quick helpless look to Rilos, she turned to the hedgecat. “What now?”

“I know!” cried Rilos as the little sprites were chased away, fleeing back to their little holes from where they had come. Served them right, trying to mess with two dragons fifty times as big as them! There were still a few tickles along his back, but hopefully they would go, taking the last traces of that annoying little adventure with them. And hopefully, he would never have another brush with those tiny pests again. He saw Abraxas’ grin and couldn’t help his chuckle. “You just liked watching me make a fool of myself running around this meadow.” he laughed, not really minding. After all, those leaps and jumps had been quite fun… And they would never have found the little hedgecats either if they hadn’t disturbed them so much, who were quite fascinating, even if a little defensive about their size.

He watched them fondly as they shrunk back down to their normal size, letting them potter around his feet and sniff at his scales. One scrambled onto his back (how, he wasn’t quite sure, they seemed particularly agile, despite their strange shape) and started snuffling at his own spines, intrigued by how similar they were to its own. Letting it pat at some of his shorter spines, he watched them explore Abraxas’ paws, flinching at her sudden squeak. Things went quickly from funny, to dangerous. The thought of having all those spines stuck in your middle… well, they would take more than a few hours to get out, that was for certain. Rilos froze in place too, not wanting his own movements to disturb the little creature, catching the horse dragon’s worried look. What to do? The hedgecats had already demonstrated they weren’t up for being treated like a pet, but they still had some of those animalistic tendencies… They weren’t quite cat, but maybe they liked things that cats liked? A plan started to form, and he hoped that it might work. If not… well, maybe he could knock it out of the way?

“Stay still.” he whispered, glancing at the little animal still on his back- it had decided to curl up in the hollow of his shoulders, and was absentmindedly patting at his spines, hopefully not much of a problem- then slowly shifted one of his tails closer to the threatening hedgecat, twitching the end, trying to lure it away. His purple scales gleamed still with water from his frequent dips in the lake and the river. Still flicking his tail this way and that, he started to try and entice the creature with friendly words, the whole image looking rather ridiculous. “Hereeee puss puss puss, come and get the nice mousy scaley thing… You know you want to… Just let down your spines like a good puss and save Abraxas from hurting…” He flicked his other tails further away, making the grass rustle this way and that as it bent. They were mice… or snakes, or sprites, anything that might lure the little animal away. “She’s not going to hurt you, we promise. Just put down your spines.”

Abraxas didn’t move and she only barely dared venture another glance towards Rilos, though her head quickly swivelled back to her dragon companion again when she noticed the little creature curled up on his back like an actual cat taking a nap. It was simply too adorable a sight not to look at it and crack a smile. She did have to wonder however how it had managed to get onto the dragon’s back, and she was about to ask, but Rilos looked just as surprised as she did. Quickly, she switched her attention back to her little predicament however, still frozen to the spot so as not to accidentally have a few spines stuck into her belly after all. The hedgecat seemed somewhat content underneath her body despite the fact it had all its weapons out in the open.

After another careful, worried glance towards Rilos, she was relieved to see that he had had an idea about what to do and was now slowly stretching one of his tails towards the hedgecat in an attempt to lure it away. The way he talked to it almost made her chuckle, but she was afraid that would only make too much movement, so she simply followed his advice and stood very, very still. Finally, to Abraxas’ luck, the hedgecat’s attention was caught by the flicking tail and after an initial growl in its direction, the beastie slowly began to hobble towards it. After a few more seconds of contemplation, it wiggled around on the spot and suddenly jumped at the tail, its spines slowly retreating as it did so.

“It worked!” the horse dragon squealed in delight, still only turning head towards the happenings, leaving the rest of her body rooted to the spot, and as unmoving as possible. Only when Rilos had drawn the hedgecat far enough away from the squishy regions of her belly did the horse dragon dare turn around. Snorting, Abraxas wanted to get in on the fun and began teasing the little purple beastie with her tails as well, though to her surprise that drew more and more hedgecats to join in the play. After a few more moments, there were about half a dozen hedgecats jumping around the two dragons’ tails, playing with them like any normal cat would with a ball of yarn.

“This is quite amazing, Rilos,” she laughed. “Who would’ve thought that a little creature like this could have two so very different sides to it.” The moment she said it out loud, she realised that it was a stupid statement in truth, since most creatures had more to them than just one easily visible aspect. “Do you think they would want to come along on our trip for a bit?” she silently inquired, edging a little closer to the shadow spined dragon. She did not want to blurt this question out loudly at first, in case Rilos might have some objections, but the beasties were just too cute not to at least try and persuade them to join their adventurous travel.

Rilos grinned as the hedgecat finally leapt after his tail, flicking it this way and that to make the little creature chase him round and round in circles. He couldn’t help but laugh again as the rest of the little animals joined in, his tails being pounced on once after another as he tried to escape. Two finally teamed up and managed to pin his green tail down, one chewing on the tip as he fluttered it vainly, but he didn’t really mind, as its teeth seemed nowhere near as sharp as the spines that adorned it. The other pushed its friend away, patting at his tail as he flicked it, squashing it to the ground for a minute before letting it free so he could twitch it again. He watched them play for a bit, then looked at Abraxas, the little creatures chasing her tails around too.

“It did, didn’t it? I thought it might swear at me or something, for treating it like a cat.” He gave an embarrassed smile, twitching the long spines at the top of his head like they were ears. They really were the strangest little things, and he wasn’t going to get bored of their company quickly. Although, that one chewing on the end of his tail was starting to make it a little sore- he flicked it over backwards, making it snarl and half puff itself up, before it realised there was no danger and let itself down again, promptly leaping after his tail again as he tucked it around his paws. It really was the strangest little thing. The one on his back had dropped off to sleep, and was snoring lightly every so often with a gentle whistling sound.

“I… I think it might be nice if they came.” said Rilos hesitantly, watching the hedgecats play. “They’re a little strange, and the spines might be dangerous if it came to it, but I’d rather have them around than being chased by those nasty sprites again.” Yes, spines over sneezes any day. And it looked like they were quite at home in the meadow, so if they got bored of them, then the little beasties could always just potter back to their… wherever they lived. “Don’t you think?” He looked up from the nearest hedgecat at Abraxas, hoping the horse dragon hadn’t been too put off by the little one that had nearly spiked up her belly.

He stood again, trying not to disturb the hedgecat still on his back too much. “I wonder if they like cake…” he mused. They were strange enough for something like that to appeal greatly to them, he thought- or it might make them angry. He couldn’t quite tell. In the case of the first, then at least there would be plenty to go around, what with them heading for a dessert desert after all. “Well, if they want to come, fine by me.” He smiled, looking around to see which direction they had been heading in. With all his chasing round in circles, he had lost track!

Abraxas’ attention was regularly diverted from Rilos to the hedgecats playing around with their individual tails and even chasing each other around the field, though she definitely heard what he said about not minding them coming along. She frantically began nodding when he inquired if she was opposed to this idea or not, after all, she had asked the question. “They’re too adorable to leave behind, unless of course they wouldn’t want to tag along.”

“That is an intriguing question,” the horse dragon agreed, “dessert desert for a bunch of hyped up creatures almost sounds better than paradise, doesn’t it?” Sighing, Abraxas began imagining the various sorts of dessert she was hoping to find in the desert they were headed for and absentmindedly began whacking one of her tails on the floor, unaware of the fact that there was a hedgecat hanging on to it, which was slowly beginning to be annoyed by the rollercoaster it had embarked on. With a shriek, the horse dragon realised where the sudden sensation of pain was coming from and gently laid her tail back on the ground so the hedgecat could remove its claws and itself from it and retreat back onto firm ground. With an apologetic grin, Abraxas turned to the cat and gently nuzzled it.

With that, she also returned to their current situation, pushing thoughts of generously chocolatey desserts to the back of her mind. Beaming at Rilos before turning her attention back to the hedgecat, the one which had nearly clawed off her tail edging closer and closer to her, and cleared her throat rather noisily, in her opinion, before she spoke: “Rilos,” she looked over at her friend with a huge smile, “and I wanted to invite you to come along on our adventure to seek out the wonderful desert of desserts.” A wave of squeals, and miaows followed this even before the horse dragon could say another word. The hedgecats were nudging each other, eyes were glittering and they began to tackle the dragons’ legs with affectionate brushes while they were darting around like an agitated school of fish.

As Abraxas looked over to Rilos in surprise, she noticed the dragon look around, a little confused. Following the spined shadow dragon’s gaze, Abraxas too realised that she was unsure of where exactly they were now or where they had to go, or rather, where they did not want to go. A cold shiver was sneaking down her spine at the thought of running into the humans’ arms, or even bumping into the shitdemon. Shaking herself, she tried to get rid of these memories and focused her attention back on the hedgecats which were swarming around the dragons’ legs in excitement. “Uhm, well I guess that settles it?” she asked hesitantly, the hedgecats not really paying attention to her words anymore as they began to fall into formation around the dragons it seemed, their noses pointing downstream, or so she hoped. With another glance at Rilos, she shrugged, a helpless smile on her face. “We can only hope it’s the right direction.”

Rilos laughed at the absentminded look on Abraxas’ face as she started to imagine the effects dessert might have on the little hedgecats, watching one race after its friend between them and off through the grass. Looking up again, he saw the impending pain that was about to come Abraxas’ way as another hedgecat hung onto her tail for dear life.
“Um Abraxas…” he started, but she had already realised, and he burst into more laughter at the look on her face instead of continuing, laughing so hard he managed to shake the hedgecat on his back off onto the floor, the little beast scrabbling at his scales as it slid over his side and out of view.
“Oops, sorry.”

He twisted his head around to see where the creature had landed, then carefully laid his head next to it, nudging gently at his side in an attempt to make it jump up and back onto his back again. It seemed the hedgecat had other ideas though, as it climbed onto his nose, then promptly made itself a bed between his long front spines, curling its tail around a few to hold itself in place. When it didn’t move further Rilos lifted his head cautiously again, turning to look at Abraxas with bemusement.
“What do you think of my new hat?”

At least the other hedgecats seemed content to just leap around their feet (a good thing, he didn’t want to turn into a walking bus, however cute they were), and make a lot of noise.
“I suppose that means they’d like to come too then!” he said, looking up to where his hedgecat was still sitting on his head. “This one at least doesn’t seem very inclined to leave.” He climbed gingerly to his feet, trying not to knock the little creature off, then, feeling it tighten its grip, relaxed a little, looking at the escort that thronged around their paws. He took a few steps, the hedgecats behind him jumping forwards to point the same direction as he moved past them. “They certainly seem sure that it is, and it’s away from where we came from, I think.” He looked up with a grin, then started picking his way through the short creatures, watching where he put his feet. “I guess it can’t do much harm following them. They seem to know a bit more about this place than I at least do.”

They must have made quite a strange sight to anyone watching the little procession of dragons and hedgecats, the two much larger beasts picking their paths carefully through the small bouncing purple creatures around their feet. After a while they seemed to understand that being right underfoot wasn’t quite the best plan they could have (a few near misses of paws and hedgecats made them realise that, neither Rilos wanting to step on such a spiky bundle, nor the hedgecat wanting to be squashed), and they spread out a little further, racing through the meadow in front of them through the long grasses. The forest and the lake where they had come from didn’t come back into sight, so Rilos assumed that they were being led the right way to the desert- or at least away from all the monsters they had encountered the night before. And hopefully not into new dangers either.

Laughing out loud at Rilos’ play with the hedgecat, she had to admit: “That hat is very nice indeed. Cute and fluffy!” That last part however, she added in a lower voice, leaning closer to Rilos so that the animal would not hear her and maybe take it as an offense. It was merely moments until the whole squadron was on the march and the hedgecats were scurrying around in a huge heap of excitement. After quite a few stumbles to avoid hitting the hedgecats weaseling around her feet, Abraxas was glad when the beasties finally understood that they should not remain underfoot, especially when the feet belonged to big dragons such as Rilos. Even the horse dragon’s smaller feet, and hooves, could already severely hurt them and it was unnecessary to complicate their journey. However, none of the tumbling around seemed to put the hedgecats off their wild enthusiasm, on the contrary, with more and more eagerness they marched with the dragons, turning further and further away from the grass plain that had seemed to be their home.

“Indeed, they seem confident enough, so we should probably just trust them and follow them for now,” Abraxas agreed, she herself not very certain of where the hell they were on a map anyways. Their surroundings didn’t seem familiar to her, thus she was fairly certain she had never been here before. “We will see soon enough where we are being lead and whether it is the right direction towards the desert.” The horse dragon could however not suppress a relieved sigh every now and then when she realised that none of the previous night’s disasters reappeared in their vision and she was gradually beginning to really believe that neither the shit-demon nor the humans were going to follow or hunt them, so she forced herself to finally and completely put those events from her mind.

The landscape turned only more beautiful after a while, if that was even possible. The river had finally crept closer again and its glittery surface marked their own path, winding itself through the lush grass, which was more and more interspersed with flowers in all forms and colours again. Abraxas was about to say something to Rilos when suddenly a huge shadow appeared on the ground a few steps before them and seemed to excited slither towards them. The horse dragon was so surprised, she jumped up in fright and instinctively spread her wings to lift off, only to have a searing pain shoot through her wing, making her shriek and lose her balance. As she tried to somehow regain her footing without going down face first, the shadow imitated her frightened jump and hurriedly slithered away again, assuming the appearance almost of a beaten dog, running off with its tail between its legs. The hedgecats were bolting around in wild circles, moving between the dragons legs, back towards where they came from before then moving towards the shade, agitated sounds escaping the many throats. Suppressing a few more whimpers of pain, Abraxas looked at Rilos with wide open eyes. “What on earth was that?!”

» And there was Darkness throughout the land.. (Lycanscar X Eldarwen)
» Rogue ]}-Shadow & Light-{[ Aero
» The Beauty and the Chicken (Rogue X Eldarwen)
» Darkness falls. Jaej meets his end, another finds more friends.
» Eldarwen & bluemoonstonight {Title to come}