(Teach me) Syn's Protégé (Oh master of human-size meals) (Rogue x Zay)

Azenth chewed on the sinewy leg a little more. Human didn't taste half bad, or was it just his monstrous hunger finally being satisfied that made it taste rather good? The leg was quite a mess, muscle, fat and bone bent, sprawled onto the floor... chewed and torn in every which way...Azenth wasn't the neatest of eaters nor the most efficient of killers. Still, he was contented and even though the presence of the somewhat scary desert chaser unnerved him, it was also reassuring. Azenth had never seen a human eater before either.
For a scrawny young human, there was still quite a bit left, Azenth frowned from his bloody muzzle.
"Not sure I can take this all back to the pack....Though....I guess it is yours, Syn." He cleaned his nose with a lick of his large forked tongue, "Maybe you should take it back to your pack." It was true, Azenth was a naiive young lash dragon that knew nothing of the nature of the dragon opposite him.

The mess that Syn and Azenth (although admittedly, it was more Azenth than Syn) had made of the two-legged creature they had killed had gotten too much for the vain desert chaser to stand, and he abandoned his munching for a time while he sorted out his mane. It was caked in blood, and he would rather have a smooth mane than a spiky blood-soaked one anyday. He licked at his paws with his rough tongue, savouring the taste of human- delectable! Azenth had managed to make even more of a mess of himself than Syn had, and he eyed the lash dragon coyly for a moment.
“You’re not used to dealing with fresh kill, are you?” He looked up and down the dragon’s scales- Where was the purple?- then at the rest of the kill. There was a surprisingly large amount left yes, but eating so fast had filled him up quickly; it could be enjoyed later too this way though.

He gave a snort at his mention of a pack, running his tongue over one paw again before speaking. “Haven’t got a pack. Guess that means more for me.” He gave a growly laugh. “Packs don’t like this sort of thing.”

Azenth stopped when he said that, so it was obvious after all. If it was possible to see him blush, then he would have been at that moment.
"I guess it shows a little then..." he lowered his snout looking at the mush of contents all about him. "well, as long as it's good for eating who needs to have a clean kill?" He grinned a little, but was once again shown up for his hatchling-like outlook. "What do you mean no pack?" He looked at the desert chaser as if he was an oddity, ears quirked and head cocked, "but these humans seem so weak and easy, why can't they be prey-food too?" It seemed Azenth's pack so rarely came into contact with humans that not one cared to tell him of the implications. Humans could be irritating prey after all, they had a tendency to that thing called vengeance, like a swarm of angry bees to protect their own.
"You're lying, you must have at least had a pack, that's how your kind live. Like my kind do. We're running hunters aren't we?" He smiled sheepishly, "Well, you are...I think I need to get the hang of this a bit more..."

Syn couldn’t hide his incredulous look at Azenth’s naivety- seriously, what hole had this guy been living down?- but didn’t have the patience to explain the reason why. It would be his problem when scavengers came calling and he had to fight them off himself.
“I mean, no pack. Is that so… odd?” He gave the lash dragon a challenging stare, daring him to press the point. So naïve…
“They can’t be prey food because that’s how the game goes. Apparently,” he rolled his eyes, “You’re not supposed to eat things that can talk.” Although whoever made up that rule was mad, if you asked Syn. Next they’d be saying you couldn’t eat cows and horses, because the humans needed them for their work.

He growled deep in his throat as the lash dragon supposed to press the pack point a little more, his ears flicking back against his head for a moment. “Might have had a pack, don’t have a pack any more. Don’t judge a dragon by its markings, ‘cos that’s how you get burned.” He flicked his tail, then decided he could eat a bit more and pawed at their kill, dragging off another piece of meat, unrecognisable for what it was from the mess they had made. He chewed on it ferociously for a moment, clawing it to pieces. He hadn’t thought of packs in a long time, and now Azenth had brought them up… Well, it wasn’t a happy thought.

Was it so odd for a pack-less Desert Chaser to be roaming around? Eating humans? Azenth considered this while cleaning his teeth on some cartilage before concluding that yes, yes it must be. He thought how the other dragon might feel, to always sleep without all the other of his kin wrapped up around him and shuddered at the thought.
It leaves you so vulnerable, that's what Azenth hated.
"You know that sounds really dangerous though!" Azenth exclaimed, then a spark of admiration followed into his eyes. That meant this Syn-Dragon must be really tough, he might not even need a pack and he was everything Azenth wasn't. "Th-though I wasn't trying to judge you. I just think it's strange, because it is isn't it? There's not many of our kind strong enough to survive on their own...you must be really great at this." Azenth wasn't thinking to flatter the other dragon, but his curiosity still seeped out into what he said. Syn was a really strange creature that intrigued him.
"How do you even manage it, living on your own all the time?"

Syn couldn’t help but laugh at Azenth’s incredulous exclamation, a vain smile stretching across his face. “Oh does it now?” Maybe having this youngster around wasn’t such a bad idea after all… It was always nice to have someone around to boost your ego just that little bit more. And… Well, the thought of a pack had strangely got him longing for company, and here was company- company that wasn’t adverse to his generally undesirable eating habits. ”Well, I suppose you have to be tough to live out here all on your own- means y’don’t have to listen to whatever someone else has to say though.” He gave one of his paws another lick, trying not to show how pleased he was with the other dragon’s flattery, intentional or not.
“Well, for one, you don’t give away your secrets.” He narrowed his eyes briefly, but continued all the same. “But, you take what you can from a pack, then you leave them in the cold. Or at least, that’s what I did. Then you take all the chances that come past, even if they’re human-sized.” He gave a cold smile. How far could he go before the lash dragon finally twigged that he was bad company to be with?

The idea of not having to listen to others seemed odd to Azenth. Being something of a low-rank in his pack meant it was hard to conceive of independence, but from what he saw before him, if Syn was independent...then he wanted to be too.
"Don't give away secrets, take from the pack?" He spat out the cartilage he'd been chewing on, now just listening closely to the desert chaser. "That sounds a little...difficult...and isn't that also a bit...nasty?" The idea of stealing from his own pack or another not only sounded like suicide but a hurtful one too. "That would mean taking food from another dragon that caught it. That sounds..." He realised his dilemma, that's essentially what he'd planned on doing with Syn. Only good fortune determined that he wasn't in a scat with the dragon opposite him right this minute. "Maybe stealing food isn't so bad then." He paused, unsure of what to do next, "What will you do now though Syn?"

“Nasty? Of course it’s nasty.” said Syn. He was worrying about whether it would hurt his pack? Strange- it might have been how he himself had thought at one stage, but now, he had become so used to living on his own, that the thought never really crossed his mind any more. “But who cares, whe you get what you want, right?” You got things like extra food, food that you actually wanted to eat, not the scrawny little desert rodents that his brethren hunted. It seemed to be one thing that humans had got right, that selfish streak they had. Maybe he had picked up his own streak from actively hunting them for so long?
“Sounds… good?” A sly smile crept onto his face. Maybe this lash dragon wasn’t all he seemed… inexperienced as he was. Without taking his eyes off Azenth, his mind started to whirr- he might not be a pack as such, and so, so young, but that could be a good thing… Maybe Syn could make his mark on this boy. “Well now, I'm getting out of this crap-hole for starters.” He shot the dark bog around them a disgusted look, not relishing the thought of having to traverse through it to get back to the desert again. “Then, back to the same ol’ same ol’- Bit of wandering, bit of hunting, bit of making a menace of myself.” He paused for a moment. “What’s that sound like to you?”

The new perspective caught Azenth off guard, hrm, why was stealing so bad anyway? This dragon just kept on giving him ideas he'd never properly thought about. Azenth didn't know why, it just felt wrong, but that alone wasn't a good enough reason for Syn, so maybe that wasn't a good enough reason for himself either.
Azenth grinned, he too was eager to be out of this foul bog, it wasn't his usual kind of territory as the solid and clean woodland his pack lived in not far from here...
But now Syn had given him a true challenge, ditch the pack that had already been away on a long hunt for many days now and go alongside him, or return back to his old way of living and his old way of thinking.
Azenth felt something he didn't usually feel, curiosity, he wanted to learn more on what Syn's way of thinking had to offer.
"That also sounds...good. Mm..." He rose to his feet and thrashed his tail once with barely contained excitement, "You have a point Syn. I think I'll go with you." A part of him was screaming for him to not be so foolish, but this was too interesting to pass on. "You're different." He concluded, "Though I-I not in a bad way...I feel like I want to know more."

Syn could hardly contain his glee at Azenth’s choice, rising to his feet too. Finally, someone he could actually influence, someone who wouldn’t turn their nose up at his strange way of life. True, it was going to be a handful trying to keep the silly lash dragon from biting off more than he could chew, but he would have to learn that if he bit something, it would probably bite back.
“So, choosing to come with me… I’m not looking after you, you know.” That he was going to make clear for starters. “But, if you don’t make a fool of me, then I suppose you can tag along for a bit. Maybe I’ll teach you something if you really want to find out what it’s like in the real world, not that cozened lash dragon life you’ve been living up till now.”
Before he was going to teach him anything though, Syn wanted to know how naïve Azenth really was. So far he had shown he had hardly the scope of thinking, but he could easily broaden that with some of his ideas. No, it was things that the lash dragon would need to keep him alive- like a sense of direction- that Syn was interested in. If he couldn’t even tell where he had come from, then he didn’t know where he was going to start.
“So, first test- Tell me where you came from.”

"Oh, well, I know that...I didn't think you would..." He said this, though, Azenth wasn't all too sure he knew how to take care of himself alone. Ah, that all came under that mysterious new word "independence" didn't it?
The prospect of single paw'dly taking down his own larger prey, eating alone and sleeping alone should he part with Syn, was scary.
"Well, I'll do my best..." He muttered with uncertainty, what did he mean by embarrassing him? What could he do for that to happen? "Oh, I come from the dark-wood south of here...that's where my pack has it's territory, and a few others lash packs...It's a lovely place really." Azenth's voice had a certain forlornness to it, "But err nevermind that. I suppose we should avoid going there then...unless it's to make things difficult."
He wondered what his family would make of an intelligent dragon like Syn...even if he did eat humans. But now, so did he, didn't he? "I haven't been outside of it much, this bog is.....was....my limit." He corrected himself awkwardly but still tried to sound self assured anyhow, "Why, what do you want to know?" He flicked an ear with curiosity turning to the face the Desert Chaser.
He must come from a very different place...who knows what I might see? Are there more dragons like this one, or is he an outcast?
Horror momentarily clung to him, outcast the worst possible fate for a lash dragon like him.
No, that couldn't be, this was too good of a thing to be "bad"

Azenth immediately got the wrong end of the stick at Syn’s question, and he rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Oh great, here came the life story. That was just perfect, like he cared about the lash dragon’s past and his lovely woodland, with all those other headless lash dragons running around in their little fantasy world filled with rainbows and butterflies. He didn’t have much wish to visit there anytime soon, if they were all as thick as Azenth. And the wood was nothing compared to his desert. “I meant, do you know how to find your way out of here, so we can quit getting our paws wet?” He gave a sigh, looking around for where he himself had come from. Thankfully his sense of direction was near perfect, and he had a knack of remembering places- good, considering he had no wish to continue wandering around the bog for the rest of his hopefully-long lived days. “Good thing I know which way to go…”
He patted the ground in front of him, then, assured he wasn’t about to leap right into a muddy patch up to his middle, started back the way he had come from before their feast, following the prints he had made in the soggy ground. It was a shame they had to leave the rest of their meal behind, but there were plenty more humans running around (they were pretty much vermin on the island, they actually needed culling by a few dragons now and again), and he was full. “So, if this bog is the limit of your exploring, I bet you haven’t see anything like… the desert, have you?” He gave Azenth a challenging smile. It was going to be interesting to see the reaction of someone who had never seen it before… The complete opposite to a forest, and in Syn’s opinion, much more likeable.

If Azenth could have pouted, he would have been. He was embarassed . He'd lived the good life for a long time and now felt naive and vulnerable when stood up next to this hardy and clever Desert Chaser.
Following him back a couple of paces behind he considered Syn's question.
Well Azenth had heard of deserts.
Nasty orange places where the ground flies into the sky and blinds you!
Golden hills with no water and no shade! Imagine that, a landscape with no trees to nest by.
Waves of yellow that spread for miles and miles....with nothing to see. Azenth found the concept of a wasteland so wasteful that it had no features on it. How could Syn tolerate such a horrible place?

"No. But I've heard of them." He nosed forward a bit closer to Syn, lowering his head closer to him. "How do you even live there? It sounds terrible, like..." He struggled to find a comparison. "Like when your pack only brings home half a deer." Azenth couldn't see the silliness in his statement, considering how other dragons did not have the luxury of eating so often and given to them freely. "Why would you like them? They attack your eyes don't they?" He was now walking abreast to Syn, not familiar with the path they were taking, it must be going to the human village a little ways into the desert land.
Azenth had never dared go even to the bog before, however close to home. So this was outrageous, but he allowed himself to be lead by the clever dragon. "My pack, when can I see them?" He asked, a small pebble of anxiousness growing in his gut.

At Azenth’s analogy Syn snorted derisively, rolling his eyes and looking at the naïve lash dragon in scorn. He really did have a lot to learn- what had he really just taken under his wing, so to speak? Well, there would be no more coddling for him, that was for sure. “You live there like you live anywhere else. If you lose your focus, you die.” He wasn’t going to step around the harsh facts; they were there plain to see, if they weren’t ignored- the view most people took. Syn didn’t believe in blinding himself to the truth with pointless hoping though.

“You, youngster, need to learn the meaning of frugality. Half a deer isn’t a poor taking; it’s a feast for the hungry. The world is a harsh place, things aren’t just given freely. Steal what you can from the world; the only punishment is death, and even he can’t catch you if ya run fast.” It was a bleak view of the world, but Syn had never had it any different. It was all just a case of perspective. The desert was no more harsh a place than the marshes they were picking their way through. Syn knew the way well to the human settlement in front of them; it was where he had got through into the marshes in the first place. Azenth would have quite the culture shock when they came close. Most of what Syn was showing him seemed to be a culture shock- including solitary life.
“Your pack? Don’t you get it yet? Your pack is dead. You follow me now, there is no other. This is how it is, so shut up about your dear lash dragons and your poncy perfect life and get real. Life ain’t gonna treat you sweet, and neither am I.”

Azenth found that hard to understand, how was living in the desert just like anywhere else? He wasn't humored with the time to think about it though as Syn snapped back at him. "Frugality" huh? What a strange word. Now they were back onto stealing, that thing Azneth had thought was bd but Syn showed was just fine, because that's how life was.
"Right, so you. You can show me new things?" He repeated out loud, it seemed okay enough. Azenth was easy to lead into danger, and seeing the bizarre Desert Chaser had pulled in his curiosity, which usually, didn't even exist given that he'd scarcely bothered to do much but sleep and watch the pack nest.
But that would be gone to him. It still made him shudder. But then again, maybe he'd just travel with Syn for a little while, return with lots of knowings and things and then the pack would respect him.
That was the extent of his plan and innocently stupid thinking when he said;
"Ah, uh...I understand Syn. Then I'll follow you. I'll do my best I swear." Which he was, looking on ahead as the bog trees thinned out and the expanse of the bleak horizon slowly unfolded.
A human village was to be found. A big nest for humans. He tried to imagine what they might be like, were they all like that one he'd eaten, or were there different colours and sizes? He hoped so because that last one was terribly thin and bony and stringy and bland.

OOC| Feel free to timeskip whenever, or just tell me and I'll do it xD

Syn sighed. This one was going to take a hell of a lot of work. And patience- a lot of patience, but it would pay off. Eventually. Hopefully.
“Yes, I’m going to show you new things. You’re going to look at the new things and, if I tell you, you’re going to eat the new things. Comprendo?” He wasn’t going to explain it again, even if Azenth didn’t understand. The naïve young dragon would certainly learn fast enough once they reached the village they were headed for- he himself would probably be in for a bit of a learning curve too, finding out how much (or little) the lash knew of the world.

“Good. Make sure your best is worth my time, because I’m not interested in training you up if you’re just going to be crap at everything I tell you to do.” He gave Azenth a fierce stare, the look a lot less frightening than it should have been due to Syn’s diminutive height. Curses to these dragons that walked only on their back legs! Well, Azenth better not underestimate him for it… he was sure to learn Syn was dangerous now, closing in on the village in front of them as they were. It crouched on the land like an ulcer, spreading out in all directions without any heed of what it was encroaching upon- if the land around had been anything more than bog and desert, Syn would have been annoyed at such liberties they were taking on what was rightfully the land of dragons. As it was, it was hardly a desirable spot. He came to a halt a little way away from the town, making sure they weren’t close enough to be visible to any guards, or their words overheard by a sharp-eared scout.
“As you failed to lead us back to where you’ve come from, I’ve got another test for you. Don’t muck this one up, cos I ain’t coming in to save your sorry ass.” He smirked, looking towards the town. “I want you to sneak in there and come back with something important, something that’ll bring a human out to us.” And then, dinner.

Azenth nodded solemnly, he had no reason to argue with the Desert Chaser. He could only hope he would not shame himself again on this small task. It made sense didn't it. Human things would lure human food, how could he possibly fail on it?
The desert village was sleeping peacefully and relatively silently, aside from the shifting of sands in the desert wind. Their trek from the bog had nested them here, quite a few hours from where they had began. What a long walk it had been too.
All he need do now was perform for Syn.

Azenth looked about, there was only the odd guard here or there, barely awake, though. But one sanded house on the skirt of the village caught his eye in particular, it was slightly further from the rest and the nearest guard was out of the eyeline. This would be the one to take from. Azenth, as stealthily as a bright crimson, purple and blue male lash dragon could, approached the modest desert-kind house. Creeping as quietly as he could, he picked up his muzzle and breathed through the gape that was the "window", no glass here in a poor desert house, as large as a room or two.
He saw the nested bipeds breathing softly, curled up together on a stone floor barely covered with some straw and blanket matting, a baby wrapped in some rag near the female biped.

Azenth stole around the house to the rug-flap entrance and nosed his way under cautiously. Daintily, carefully, he slipped inside, reached out his neck and hooked a piece of the slack from the blanket to the tip of his mouth and lulled it's tiny body gradually away from the mother. Once it was free, he whisked it out of the house and tip-toed back to where Syn would be waiting.
The soft and squeaky biped-spawn made a strange yip and a small gurgle of discomfort.
"Rook shyn!" He called, flaring his nostrils with pride, "A mipyed shpwawn!" He said, his voice muffled by the blanket. He dropped the biped down with a satisfying flump at the desert chasers feet, awaiting his praise.
"Oh..." He examined it, "Biped spawn is noisy!"

As Azenth sneaked off as unsubtly as possible, Syn settled down for the inevitable disaster that would follow the hapless lash dragon back from the village. It would happen, the desert chaser just knew it. While he was gone, it was strangely quiet- pleasant. Azenth’s constant questioning and naïve promises had filled up the quiet of the night, and now he had disappeared off for the time being, it was only more noticeable. There wasn’t even the chirrup of night animals or the quiet rustling of the desert sands- they were too close to the edge for that. The two-leg settlement managed to stop most of the sand coming in the direction of the desert, heaping up against one side of the town’s perimeter and stopping it from blowing through to where Syn sat.

The young lash dragon returned faster than Syntribos had thought he would, carrying a little bundle with him. Well well well, it looked like Azenth, for all the lack of skill he had shown so far with navigation, and keeping out of the worst of the mud, and even just getting on with general life, he had actually managed to do something right for once. Maybe he had some promise yet after all? He got to his paws again, eyeing the child thoughtfully, then flicking his ears back with distaste as it started to scream and cry.
“Picked the noisiest one in the village did you?” he huffed in displeasure, but couldn’t say much more than that. He had to admit, begrudgingly, that Azenth had actually done a good job. “Pick that up and we’ll get moving. Time to learn the difference between luring away a dinner, and being foolishly greedy. It’s a fine line. No doubt you’ll be on the poor side of it.” He turned away, letting the younger dragon have the pleasure of carrying such an unpleasant bundle with him. “We’ll be going fast- too fast for whatever two-leg looks after this brat to stop and raise a patrol to take with it, but not so fast to outrun it. Then we’ll dispose of this one and take the prize.” He gave a feral grin, already starting to make tracks around the side of the village. There was no way he would be heading back into the bogs again.

Last edited by Zay on Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

Such cleverness was to be expected from clever Syn! Even if he still felt somewhat disheartened by the dragon’s persisted put downs, he never let that cloud his vision, Azenth wanted to do this right.
“As you say Syn!”
Awkwardly, he picked up the noisy little ball of blanket and soft, stubby human in his mouth, taking care not to nip it and make it even louder. Though he suspected it’d be a tasty snack later, maybe.
Azenth follow Syn, somewhere between a trot and a run he could hear the rising of people behind them. Shortly after that, shouts like those of the insane among the bipeds. This one sounded a little angry though, Azenth reminisced to a time when he was still a small lash dragon, a mere hatchling.
He and his brothers and sisters had played together and got lost together, his mother dragon had shouted something like this. He looked down at the tiny biped spawn, it’s mouth all toothless and gargly, face wrinkled into discontent.
“Naww Syn the spawn doesn’t look too-” He stopped, Syn would loathe him for that comment. Azenth had to kill people, not pity them. They were petty animals, afterall. “Right behind you.” He covered, he looked back to see a few humans clustered together, pointing, screaming, running.
“Wow Syn.” He exclaimed, his jaw wide open, “You were right, look at them!”
Azenth anticipated the next feast they would have. Hopefully it would be better than the terribly scrawny and bony nighie they had eaten in the bog. She had squirmed too much while he was eating her for his liking, and the flesh was far too thin and sparse to make much of a meal.

Azenth’s instant obeying of Syn’s commands was quite pleasing to the dragon, and the smile stayed on his face as they made their way quickly around the side of the village. His ears were constantly swivelling as he picked up the noises of the growing human discontent to one side, the tiny child that Azenth carried in his mouth, and the sounds of the night all around. It sounded like there was quite the group psyching themselves up to follow the two dragons- but not one too large, they were moving too fast for that, as the desert chaser had planned. Perfect. An actual menu would be available for what he wanted to eat for dinner.

He slid to a stop a little way away from the village, looking back to see how effective Azenth’s steal had been. Although he wasn’t going to say anything, he was actually quite impressed by the amount of humans that had woken- but not too many. The lash dragon showed some promise after all.
“Would you look at that,” he said quietly, his tail flicking from side to side. “I guess they want their precious little bundle after all.”

The precious little bundle promptly started screaming, drawing the gathered humans’ attention for real. Maybe a couple of minutes, then the real test would begin.
“Silence that morsel, its done its part,” Syn commanded, curling his claws into the dirt in anticipation. “I take it you know how to use that weapon of a tail.” He looked pointedly at the lash dragon’s blade, then continued, “make sure you use it well, keep it clean. I’d rather not have to clean my whole pelt again before the day is nigh.” To make his point even more clear he took a couple of steps away from Azenth, his tail twitching again as the humans ran forwards.

Azenth said nothing...Looking down at the squealing baby, back to Syn and then the furious people, charging closer every second.
It didn't feel right to do this, but it was as Syn said he must do. Humans were humans, young or old.
"Yes Syn." He finally replied, a little break in his voice.
He scooped up the baby in his mouth and ran a little further away from them with it, and then, he had to do it. Placing it on the dirt carefully he pulled up his tail and flinched two times attempting to kill it. But he couldn't, even if Master Syn had told him to do so.
He felt deep shame, Syn would be so disappointed. Pulling up the baby in it's blankets from the ground again he raced back to Syn, the humans in tow, and put the spawn aside, preparing for their attack.

"S-Syn, I'll fix the baby after this. They were getting...too close." He lied reluctantly, then bending his legs ready for their attack. And he realised, Syn still hadn't taught him how to fight well enough. He would watch Syn then, and then he would learn it.
"What do I do? I mean...which one I...I don't know how..where......" He muttered, eyeing them up as they came closer...closer still..."Syn? Are you listening?"

Ah yes, this was very good, Azenth taking Syn’s word as law. This, this he could do something with. There was a lot to work on in the lash dragon- a helluva lot- but maybe, just maybe he could get something good out of this. He stood his ground as Azenth rushed off to deal with the baby, calmly watching the mass of humans charging angrily towards them. Well, relatively calmly- a shred of nervousness did dare to raise its head at the sight of so many furious two-legs, but he squished it deep down inside him. If worst came to the worst, he could always go for the really underhand route and leave Azenth to deal with the whole mess himself. After all, the lash dragon was the one with the baby’s blood on his paws…

He couldn’t quite decide if he was surprised or not that Azenth hadn’t dealt properly with the human spawn when he came back; half of him thought he might, being so under the desert chaser’s sway already, but the other half knew that Azenth still was on the verge of disobeying him. Nevertheless, it would have little matter in a moment’s time; in fact, it might have been an advantage, making a couple of the two-legs divert from them before attacking. Anything to make the odds easier. The lash dragon was babbling, but it was hardly anything important, just more mindless drivel- he did need to learn when to shut his trap.

“You make sure you don’t get injured, by using claws and teeth,” Syn said patronisingly. “Know where your claws are?”
He laid his ears back against his head, then took a couple of steps sideways, separating himself from Azenth so the humans couldn’t circle and pin them in place. Hopefully the lash dragon would have enough sense to see that…

Azenth nodded quickly, nervous as he was, this made him quick to react now. He crouched his legs and swished his tail from side to side, ready to slash at them...Well, until his nerve truly did break. The humans had caught up, in a moment of panic he lunged forward as if to attack, only to dodge past them, charging toward the village, of all places.
He wasn't thinking straight now, he'd left Syn and the baby there, though he was no longer thinking of them. Azenth was running without a particular aim at all. It never occurred to him to escape, either, truth be told, the whole thing just rather scared him.
The look on the faces of those two legs was so filled with intent and hatred. The kind that doesn't take years to grow and build.

Azenth stopped suddenly, kicking up the dust in his midst.
"Syn come!" He shouted across the plain. "GET HERE. We can't die!" He howled again.

Now he realised what he wanted, was for the two of them to just find what they could that was already dead, and take that for food. It hadn't troubled him to kill the stray adventurer, but this had struck a chord. Maybe it was the time, maybe it was that it was a soft and small spawn, or was it the horror in their eyes?

"SYN!" He gestured quickly for him to follow.

It was good to see the young lash dragon preparing himself for battle, as Syn had instructed him; maybe this one did show some promise after all? There might be hope for Azenth yet, a little spark of something Syn could use to bend the dragon’s will to his own ways, converting him into one of Syn’s disciples. Yes, he very much liked the idea of that, having disciples. Of course, it would be a lot of work, if they all had to be taught so much as this dragon, but it would be worth it…

But then his illusion cracked. Right down the middle; Azenth bolted. Not even metaphorically, his nerve failing, but he literally ran for it, dodging past the nearest humans that passed him- and leaving Syn suddenly to deal with a very angry mob of two-legs all by his own. That was a frightening thing to be faced with, even for one as bloodthirsty as he. The desert chaser, as with everyone, had doubts and fears, and was not immune to them.

Although, he resented the tone Azenth was taking with him; who here was the master, and the apprentice? Was it not Syn’s place to be giving the orders? He growled under his breath, determined to disobey what was, in reality, an order; but then he looked properly at the humans coming for him and decided it was a less-than-wise plan. So, he too, made a run for it.

He raced after the lash dragon, putting as much distance between himself and the humans as fast as he could, regardless of the fact that he knew he would tire quickly at his speed. Desert chasers were made for endurance, not sprinting, and the heavy meals that Syn kept catching himself didn’t help with the situation. He kept running as he met with Azenth, his growly voice even more threatening than usual. “Azenth, you speak like that again to me, you’ll be left to two-legs faster than you can lose your nerve.” He looked behind him, hissing angrily to himself when he saw they still had tag-alongs. “Come on, faster, dammit!”

Azenth scowled a little, half in the fear still eating at his feet, and half in mild annoyance at being so easily cast off. He only wanted to help Syn, but he was already overtaken again and struggling to keep up.
Azenth couldn't argue though, he didn't want to be left to the people, worse still, to be abandoned by Syn. He had no pack now, for a while anyway.
"Wait Syn!" He called with a shrill note.

---

There they were, on the edge of a small, rocky, desert cliff overlooking yet more sand and stone. It was Azenth's turn for lookout, it felt that way for most of the time actually. Syn was very close by, sleeping. It was still nighttime, they had escaped the humans of earlier, empty pawed. Azenth could only imagine the beating he would receive when Syn awoke. Verbal or physical, it would sting, and the pit of disappointment in his achingly empty stomach was a heavy weight to be sitting with. He flicked an ear back to Syn, quietly hoping he wouldn't awaken just yet. But Azenth was feeling exhausted and frail, he longed for his turn to sleep.

Standing up from his guard-spot in the sand, he plodded over to Syn. He dare not touch the dragon, though. Cheerfulness was not a virtue of his. Azenth snuffled a little, staring at him in his sleep.

» Rogue X Saphire [title to come]
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» [Watch yourself] Rogue X Liz [Fire or Lightning?]
» Ghost & Rogue [In for a penny, in for a pound...]
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