Ormaia

[ChojiYume]

She did her best to quietly get through the forest. It wasn't easy, being as big as she was. Her black scales glistened in the moonlight, the forest deafeningly quiet. She feared for every small step she'd made. Those hunters could be anywhere near. Just waiting for her to screw up. For years poachers had been after her. Humans were despicable. After Elise, she would never again trust a human. She couldn't, they all wanted her for some reason or another, not that she knew what those reasons were, but she knew she didn't want to find out. She never killed, she had no need to, she just had to run from these people who wanted her.

It always amazed her, human persistence that was. It was like, the more they tried the more stamina they had, the more they felt what they wanted was actually theirs. She let out a small hiss of annoyance, she had to find somewhere to go. These hunter's weren't going to stop at just this.

Ferin's long, lithe body squeezed between the tree's, startling birds and making her slightly happy for the distance she'd put between her and those poachers earlier. That's when she saw it. The small cave entrance, way out of the way. She limped her way over, her nostrils filled with her own blood. She wanted to curse at the man whom had shot the harpoon gun at her, but she had resisted and got away as fast as she could. She'd been covering her trail by swiping her tail across the road behind her.

As she got in the cave she relaxed a little. Looking at her wound though, she had no cause to relax, the harpoon was still inside her leg, and it hurt like hell. She tried to get at it with her large maw, but it was just a little to far. This time she did curse at herself. Fighting back horrific dragon tears. She never really understood the human need for violence, it was like they couldn't help themselves. They didn't even seem to care if someone got hurt, hell half the time they laughed at someone else's pain.

She curled up as well as she could, a pained rumble escaped her gargantuan throat. She fought to keep her breath even. She was quite glad that she had fed off the moon's energy while she ran. She might not have made it here if that had been the case. She closed her eyes and tried to bring sleep to her weary and alert body. The darkness of the dreamland fell over her, as memories of a far off time came to her in shambles.

 

[Cammeh]

"Dora D Dougherty flew out of town
In her own little flying machine...
Dora D Dougherty will you come down
Into this lov-er-ly green?"

Dora sang her little rhyme to herself as she looked out over the forest, far out away from the city and even the farms, on the back side of a rocky ridge. She was looking for a little hideaway where she could set up her own workshop in peace. Nobody in town would give her space for a shop, and some were even hostile to her over it. Told her to go away and be a proper girl like she was supposed to. Told her she was a shame to her mother and father's memory. She snorted at the thought of those words. She barely knew her parents, what allegiance did she owe to them? The only person she wanted to make proud was her Uncle Professor, as she called him. Her uncle who had raised her.

He was a rich, eccentric inventor, who encouraged her love of science and machines. He had a good heart and taught her all she could learn in his shop. He even gave her her first sets of tools. But he was old now, and wouldn't live much longer. His son Hugo was taking over his business, and he was anything but kind. Dora and Uncle Professor both knew that once the old man was gone, Hugo would force her out of the shop at least, if not out of the house altogether. So, they built her a couple of flying machines. The first was the light little flyer that she was currently in, and the second more robust one would carry all her equipment once she found the right spot. He'd also put a large sum of money in a private account for her already, that nobody but she could touch. He knew if he waited and put it in his will, Hugo would do all he could to steal it away. It was enough for her to live on and buy equipment and supplies with for many years to come.

"Oh, there's a place!" she shouted to herself, spotting a gap between the edge of the forest and a the rock face. Maybe she could find a cave. That would be perfect, wouldn't it? She could shelter away from the weather, and be nice and concealed from prying eyes.

Bringing the flyer back down to earth, Dora unbuckled herself and hopped out, stretching and yawning. She'd been flying since the first light of dawn, and the sun was now high in the sky. The first thing she did, though, was to push the flyer under the cover of the trees. It never paid to be too careful. Slavers, bounty hunters and pirates were known to patrol the skies, and what would they think of an unattended flyer out here all alone? That done, she pulled out a small leather pack and strapped it to her back, starting off for the rock face.

She hadn't been walking long before she found a large break in the rock; it was quite large, but small enough that it couldn't be seen from the sky. Maybe big enough for a trolley car to pass through. She pulled a lantern out of her pack and cranked it up, powering the battery until it shone brightly into the cave. She grinned to herself, proud of her find, and eagerly headed in to explore.

 

[ChojiYume]

Ferin had lost a lot of blood over the night, this stupid harpoon jammed in he foreleg. She could barely move now that she'd been laying down for hours. She had just woken up from her dreams, gone night mare and she was now wide awake and alert. Which made it more evident to her how much trouble she really was in. This wasn't good at all, and she wasn't really able to stand herself up. She shifted lightly and flinched, not only at the pain, but the feel of her own blood on her scales it cave her a creeping sensation that she couldn't really shake. It was worse cause she couldn't move herself out of it. Suddenly her head snapped to the entrance of her little hide out.

She heard the hum of an human aircraft, a small one maybe, but she heard it land. Curse her luck, they'd found her after all. But what could she do, she was in to much pain to move, and she feared making noise, highly doubting that it would send the human away. No more likely, any sound would make it more curious, but what there wasn't much else she could do. She didn't want to be the monster these humans had made her out to be. She would not kill if she could help it.

So she tried to roar a might roar, but it came out as a choked rumbling and screeching of obvious pain. She swore to herself, she was coming off as weak. She tried again, but still the same rumbles and screeches came from her. She could only hope that did it. She lay there and waited.

 

[Cammeh]

Dora had only taken a few steps in when she paused. What was that sound? Were there rocks threatening to come down on her? It didn't quite sound like it. And that smell...it smelled kind of metallic...no. No, not metallic. Blood. She sniffed again, then called out carefully.

"H-hello? Is there someone in here?"

Because of Ferin's black scales, she couldn't quite make her out, even when the flashlight passed over her, but she thought she had seen something at the back of the cave in the darkness. She did stop to pull a mallet out of her pack first, though, just in case whatever it was wanted to hurt her. She didn't want to kill anyone, but she didn't want them to kill her either. So, with mallet in one hand and lantern in the other, she carefully started towards Ferin.

It wasn't too many more steps more until she felt the blood squelching right under her shoe. Shining the light down, she quickly jumped out of the trail of blood, then started to follow it.

"Are you hurt? Do you need help?" she called out again, not sure who or what was causing this large trail. She didn't smell any decomposition, so hopefully they were still alive.

 

[ChojiYume]

Ferin's heart almost stopped when she heard the girl and saw the light. She sounded, scared, or... worried? Ferin couldn't tell. But shouldn't the light glaring off her scales give her away. Well maybe not, she wasn't exactly clean right now. She tried to move and get up maybe but that had been a bad idea from the start, she got up a good ways but her cry of pain was excruciatingly loud. The pain was there in that wild dragon screech, and she collapsed back down into her pool of blood. Disgustingly it splashed onto her scales.

This was it. She couldn't get up, this human would be able to do whatever to her. Ferin really didn't like the options she had next, but she had to do something. So she did what probably no other dragon had done. Spoke telepathically to the human.

"I am Ferin, the dragon, and you, human, and not a welcome sight to my eyes." She growled to prove her point, she was just being defensive, nothing more. She hoped she would get a good response out of this action. Or, at least, some kind of noticeable reaction.

 

[Cammeh]

Dora clapped her hands over her ears at the screech, then looked to make sure the sound hadn't attracted anyone from the outside. She knew all too well what happened to dragons in Ormaia. If this one was hurt, no doubt the injury had occurred at the hand of pirates or hunters. When Ferin spoke, as much as it shocked her, it confirmed her suspicion. She hadn't thought that dragons could actually communicate. The always seemed highly intelligent, but like everyone else, she had considered them mute animals, just like eagles.

"F-ferin?" she repeated, making sure she'd gotten the name right. She was also understandably nervous, but she just couldn't leave her here to die, or worse, to be found by someone else. She carefully replaced her mallet into her sack, to show she didn't want to hurt her. "I'm Dora. I-I don't want to hurt you. I know I'm the last thing you want to see, but I'm not like them. They're evil men with no souls. Please, let me help you. At least let me tend to your wound..." Holding her lantern up, she carefully made her way forward again. Now, she could see the harpoon shaft protruding from the beast's leg, out of reach from her mouth, and the heavy, sluggish flow of blood that was still oozing from it. "Oh no...this is very bad..."

 

[ChojiYume]

She shifted back as much as she could, which was so little it made barely any difference. She did see the girl put that strange thing away though. Maybe she actually meant her words. This being seemed genuinely worried, then again it all be an act. Ferin blinked a little bit when the light turned on. The amount of blood that had already come from her wound was what worried her more than her actual wound. It meant that it had probably severed an artery tough that could also be just the largeness of the wound.

She growled a little bit, only a little, but that was because she was scared. She put her head down to Dora's level. "Dora... is it possible for you to help me on your own?" she paused a little bit, "I highly doubt it... even if you got it out of me.. I would probably bleed out... and leaving it in would just increase the chances of some kind of infection or poisoning." If Dora listened close, she could hear a waver in Ferin's 'voice'. She was really scared. Ferin wasn't ready to die, but she would rather be dead than caught.

"This is what they wanted, me weak and incapacitated enough that they could do to me whatever they did to all the other dragons I watched get hunted down." She did something like a sigh and groan. Laying her head down she looked at Dora, feeling a little light headed. "I'm.... getting tired... and... why does a human care what happens to a dragon. They never did be... fore." She started to nod off.. which.. might not have been a good thing.

 

[Cammeh]

Dora's eyes went wide. This was...very bad. Without another word, she set down her lantern and pushed up her sleeves, and got to work. The harpoon was the first thing to go; it was massive, twice as thick as her thigh, and barbed. She had to saw the shaft off, then cut the wound larger to avoid massive tearing when she worked the barb out of Ferin's leg.

It was a long, exhausting process, and she had nothing to ease the poor dragon's suffering. She constantly apologised when she made a move she knew would hurt, and kept up a steady stream of chatter, explaining everything that she was doing, trying to keep Ferin calm and awake. She tried to be hopeful, but the anxiety and worry in her voice could not be hidden, especially during the two hours that she was elbow-deep in the wound with both hands, alternatively applying pressure and trying to sew the large vessel back together.

It wasn't until the sun rose on the following day that Dora was fairly confident the dragon would live. There didn't seem to be any infection, and hopefully, the bandages dipped in alcohol would keep it that way. She'd had to make a dangerous but desperate night-time trip back home in order to get more supplies, and almost couldn't get the flyer above the trees on her way back because it was so loaded down. She didn't dare bring her larger flyer, it would've been impossible to hide.

Now, as she waited for Ferin to regain her strength, she sleepily poked at the campfire she'd built. A large boar from the forest lay roasting atop the coals, fully wrapped in strips of bark. Listening in the silence for Ferin to speak again, Dora was soon nodding and dozing off, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.

 

[ChojiYume]

Ferin was in and out of a waking state throughout the whole time. She was awake when she was in the most pain until her body refused her any more awareness. She grunted and roared even at times when Dora did her work, but when she spoke she did not 'bite her head off' so to speak.

"Human.. kindness... is a burden.. little... one.. don't.. waste your.. energy.." She was trying to ward her off, in a kind way, telling Dora that she was being a fool in a way. That this endeavor was a foolish one. But as she came and went, her view on what was going on changed. Slowly, her words of warning turned into words of thanks and apologies.

She did seem to like Dora's comforting words, she could even hear them when she was sleeping as a distant rumble, a sweet encouragement to the impending death that awaited her. Or so she thought. Though she was glad that the metal monster was out of her. She even had missed the humans presence when she'd left to get supplies.

And when Dora finally fell asleep, Ferin drew her wing out, and pulled Dora to her warm scales where there was no blood underneith her and they slept together in the quiet night.

 

[Cammeh]

Dora started awake again finally, forgetting where she was at first. Her next thought was for Ferin. Was she okay? Had she eaten? Dora crawled out from under her wing, her body sore from the ordeal, and looked over to check on the boar to see if it was still there. She wouldn't have minded if Ferin had eaten it, she needed it, but now Dora was hungry too. She also looked up to check on Ferin's leg, and the dragon in general.