The Dragon Rider

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HeliumJack

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A flurry of spells and explosions and then pain, were the last things that Suzanne remembered from that day when she finally woke. Groaning, arms and abdomen and back and shoulders and everything on her protesting, she raised herself off the hard tree roots and ground that she had come to a rest on. Blinking, her eyes registered that it was dark, and the stars and moon were out. She had been knocked out for an entire day. Hooray. The red-head hoped nothing too terrible had gone wrong with their war effort while they had been unconcious. Speaking of they...
"Hey!" She called out, scrambling up from the small, human-sized crater she had made, and bolted over to the small, blue, breathing mountain that had created a fairly larger crater in the dirt, along with clearing the trees from around it. "Thul, wake up!" Suzanne called out, going around to the dragon's head, gently shaking it.

The dragon rider jumped back as a spurt of fire and smoke came from the blue dragon's nostrils. She stayed where she was, watching as he shook his head and stood, checking himself over. After he checked over his legs, he unfurled his wings, and a shock of pain rippled through him, as well as through Suzanne. They both looked sorrowfully at the source of the pain. There was a huge chunk in his wing, big enough to stop him from flying until they could get a mage or healer to reweave the flesh.
"I guess we're walking back to camp." Suzanne sighed, looking at her companion.


 
Mortho sat at the camp fire, a look of worry on his face. He had bandages covering his forearms and his robes were slightly tattered. He had managed to get out of a pretty bad fight with only minor injuries, but yet he was still worried. He had asked around the camp about Suzanne, but no one had seen her come back. So he waited impatiently, staring intently at the fire. Finally he had enough and stood up, saying he was going looking for her and marched off.

He walked past trees that had either been knocked over, probably from some powerful spells Mortho mused. He walked past more debris and stopped, he thought he had heard voices off to the side. He walked faster and reached a pair of craters and and rushed over, he looked over the edge of the larger crater and sighed with relief. "Oi, you two had me worried sick." He said as he slid down into the crater.

He had another look of worry as he saw the dragons wing. "Oooh, that's not good. Want me to patch it up? Even though I do mostly ice magic I can do a bit of healing." He said as he inspected the wound.
 
Suzanne was inspecting the injured wing as Mortho strode up to them, absorbed in looking it over to make sure there wasn't any blood still leaking from the veins that had been ripped open. She didn't want him to bleed out on their lengthy walk back to camp. Thankfully, Thul quietly warned her that the mage was approaching them. Else she might have stabbed him out of fright. They were too close to the border between them and the enemy for their guard to be down. The two of them and Mortho had been one of the first small groups, trained to work together, to join the civil war over the throne, and the war had been going for a number of years. The three of them had seen their share of ambushes and death.

When he spoke, Suzanne turned, and fixed Mortho with a wide relieved smile. "I'm glad someone noticed we were missing." The dragon rider moved out of his way to allow him access to the hurt wing, her brow furrowing a little. "If you can reweave new flesh, feel free to. I don't want only his bleeding to be healed and then the healers not be able to replace the rest of it.."
 
Mortho nodded, "I'll try to do what I can. Gonna have to use a lot of energy though..." He grumbled the last part to himself, since he wasn't proficient in healing magics he used up more energy than he had to, but this was important so he didn't mind. He rolled up his sleeves and then carefully took out the chunk of wood out of the dragons wing, being careful not too hurt him too badly. Once out, Mortho placed his hands over the wound, closing his eyes and focusing as a soft green glow came out of his hands.

The wound slowly closed, new flesh slowly coming out and covering the wound, finally scales came out from the wounded area and Mortho took off his hands, panting slightly as beads of sweat rolled down his face. He wiped off his forehead and sighed, "There we go, should be fine now." He said with a tired grin, before he had gotten there his energy levels were only half full, doing the healing drained him of most of that so he was pretty tired now. "Let's go back to camp now, I need something to eat and some rest sounds divine."
 
Suzanne watched Mortho carefully, in case he used too much energy, and in case something went wrong with the wing. Thul had knocked mages over before when they healed a nerve, and the entire wing twitched in response. She had been the victim of this twitching, too, and it wasn't pleasant. There had been fractured ribs before, and she didn't want Mortho to use all of his energy on Thul, get a fractured rib, and then not be able to heal himself. She'd get into trouble for letting her mage partner be injured.

When he finished, she gave him a grateful, if a little bit cautious pat on the shoulder. He made her feel uncomfortable and awkward, something that most people did to her, but she had never gotten over it with him, despite the fact that they had known each other for a few years, and the fact that their trainers had often tried to force them to become friends, or at least comfortable together. Suzanne didn't know how he felt, but, she just felt stiff around him, partially because something about him irked her and got on her nerves. Thul was totally okay with Mortho, but then, he was pretty great with all humans or dragons. His dragon wisdom, Suzanne was convinced, was the reason for this.

When Mortho was finished, Thul gave a happy roar, and automatically jumped into the air, careful not to knock Mortho over, though the wind kicked up by his wings, Suzanne thought, was enough to knock over anyone that wasn't used to it. I will return in a moment or so, Suzanne. Thuls sent her mentally.

Suzanne scowled angrily up at the disappearing deep blue speck. "Wha-!? Come on, Thul!! I'm hungry!" But the dragon did not answer her yell to the clearing. Sighing, she looked to Mortho stiffly. "I'm sorry. He feels the need to make sure nothing will attack us again on our flight back to camp... And you'll probably fall off of him if you don't rest for a minute, first." These weren't her thoughts originally, they were Thul's, sent over their mental link. "You should sit down." She snapped as her stomach rumbled, grumpy that Thul had left them, in what she knew was also one of his many attempts to get them to like each other.

She sat down herself, taking her thick red hair out of its ponytail, which had come loose during their fall and had proceeded to hang in her eyes, and quickly tied it back up in its usual smart ponytail, before she lay back on the ground, scowling to the night sky. "He'll be back in a minute, so we can head over to camp soon."
 
Mortho twitched slightly when Suzanne patted him on the shoulder and he looked at her over his shoulder. He wasn't used to and didn't like it when she touched him, despite them being partners for the past few years. He watched Thul fly up with a relieved look on his face, he had been worried for a while. But not for Suzanne's well being, if something had happened to her Mortho would have been chewed out and maybe even stripped of his mage status. That was the last thing he wanted, so if he had to keep her alive then he was willing to do just that.

But the dragon Mortho liked, in general all mages liked dragons. They were wise creatures and if a mage got lucky a dragon might even teach them how to increase their magic capabilities. Mortho watched Thul fly off and sighed as he heard Suzanne explain why the dragon had flown off. "You do have a point, thinking about it now I don't feel the strength to hold onto him. And he does fly pretty fast, I'd have fallen off on the way to the camp."

Mortho groaned as he sat down and leaned against the wall of the crater, he looked at his forearms and noticed the reddish stain on them, "Great. They must have opened again." He grumbled as he tore off the bandages. He reached into his robes and wrapped them around again, he would have healed them but he didn't have enough spare energy. He sighed and looked up at the sky, looking at Suzanne out of the corner of his eye. He had always felt awkward around her, oh sure he trusted her with his life. But only because she might suffer the same consequences that he would if she died on him. He looked at her when she spoke, "Oh, that's fine. I need a minute to rest."

He sighed and took off his robes hood, running a hand over his matted hair. He needed a bath, his hair was matted with dirt and blood from the battle he had gone through earlier.
 
"He wouldn't have flown fast with you being all tired." Suzanne said sourly. Thul was better than that. She, however, if she had been a dragon, would not have even thought of it. Indeed, she only considered it when Mortho spoke of it. It made her want to throw a rock at him. Well, that was one of her usual moods towards most people, but it happened with Mortho much more often.

Suzanne glanced over at the mage, and then pulled a small block of cheese wrapped in paper out of her hip pocket, and tossed that at him instead. "Here." She told him stiffly, "Eat this. It oughta help." To Thul, she told, Hurry up. Leaving us along isn't going to help us like each other.

The dragon, if it was possible, mentally sniffed, in a way that had no bite to it. I am on my way back, and getting you two to not despise each other was not my intention. Everything on the way back to camp seems clear.

Suzanne didn't believe that it wasn't another one of his attempts to get them to be more friendly, but, didn't pursue the issue. She only hoped that Thul's eyesight had been good enough to fully scout their path, as her own night vision wasn't the greatest. She had come to rely on Thul since they had met as infants. Well, he had simply been in his shell, waiting for a compatible match to touch and hatch him. Huge lines of children lined up in every village as the dragon eggs were brought around, having been brought down the mountain were the riderless dragons live, and the eggs were meant to solidify the dragons relationship with the humans. Suzanne's family had been poor before an egg had hatched for her, and they were immediately raised to a noble status, having one of the hundred or so dragon riders as a daughter. She saw them relatively little, which was okay with her. Thul was all the family she needed.

Just get back soon before I throw things at him. Suzanne told him with a small mental sigh.
 
Mortho grunted in response, "With a rider like you I find that hard to believe." He muttered under his breath. He usually wasn't so offensive, in fact he was a calm person. But Suzanne had a habit of grating on his nerves. He reached out and caught the block of cheese. He looked at it with an annoyed look before he tossed it back. "I'm fine, I just need rest." He said icily.

He disliked accepting help from anyone, even something as small as a piece of cheese. The fact that he already was in a sour mood from Suzanne's attitude didn't help. While he had originally been born into a noble family, he had always dislike having things handed to him. He had grown up as what most would consider street trash until a mage found him and took him in. He had spent his early years learning under the mage once he had discovered Mortho's natural ability with magics.

Even after he became a mage, Mortho had still worked for everything he had, and he liked it like that. He of course never told Suzanne this, he knew that she was a noble woman, even if not by blood, so how could she understand him?
 
Suzanne scowled as the block of cheese hit her shoulder, temper flaring. "Take it and eat it!" She shouted and sat up, lobbing it back at him. Her soreness from being knocked out and hitting the ground as she had was pissing her off, as well as his attitude. Suzanne had always hoped that perhaps one day something would just click and they would be friends, but, nothing of the sort yet. It was quite the opposite. "You need strength in case we run into some more attackers." She told him sternly, acid trying to drip from her voice as much as she was trying to hold it in. She detested having to look over him and make sure he was okay like she did, but she did need him, and there would be consequences otherwise. She just wished he wasn't so hard-headed.

You mean you wish he wasn't as hard-headed as you. Thul told her gently. I'm nearly there, try not to kill him before I get there. Command wouldn't appreciate one of their trios being disrupted.

She could practically see the toothy, weird grin dragons had developed when they were amused. She could feel the amusement through their link, but also a musing disappointment that Suzanne always felt when Thul tried to make them bond and it didn't work. ...Hurry up. She told him sullenly.
 
Mortho glared at Suzanne as the cheese hit him then fell on the floor, "You expect me to eat it after it fell on the floor?! Please! You insult me." He yelled back at her. He huffed as he put back on his robes hood, hoping Thul would return soon. He growled softly as Suzanne spoke again. "Don't speak to me as if I'm a child. I have more than enough strength to fend off an attacker. Besides, there aren't any left after that battle we had, and if there were Thul would handle them right now!" He said with just as much venom Suzanne had used.

Mortho shook his head and turned around, his back facing Suzanne. He grumbled slightly to himself, with all the dragon riders available he got stuck with the most stubborn one out of all of them. He didn't think they'd ever got along unless something life-changing happened to them both.
 
Suzanne wanted to run over there, wrap her hands around his neck, and strangle the asshole out of him. "Well I'm sorry for trying to look out for you!" She snarled back, furious.

It was at that moment Thul decided this bonding session was going to do all of nothing, and stopped circling the clearing, just out of their sight. It was only a moment more before he landed, eyes sad and disappointed, like they always were after the two of them fought or argued. He thought that they had great potential to be friends, if they would just get over themselves and open up to one another. "Get on, both of you." He rumbled lowly, his tongue forming the strange human words as he spoke aloud. "Mortho, sit in front, please. I do not want you to have a dizzy spell and fall. Suzanne will hold you and make sure you stay on." Before Suzanne could protest, his head snapped back to look at her, and sternly, he mentally told her, I'm tired of the two of you being enemies. You need each other now more than ever with this war going on.

Suzanne groaned inwardly, but, of course, Thul was right. She walked over to him, waiting for a moment for Mortho to climb into the hollow where Thul's neck met his body. They had ditched the saddle in favor of speed, and all there was on his back were to thick strips of leather to protect a single rider's legs.
 
Mortho huffed, "As if I told you at any time I need to be looked after!" He shouted over his shoulder. His patience was starting to run out, all he wanted was to return to camp and sleep instead of being in a crater next to Suzanne. He had a look of relief as Thul landed next to them, he walked up to the dragon then stopped once he heard what the dragon had said.

He approached more slowly, stopping next to the dragon, "Is it necessary for her to hold onto me? I doubt I'll lose my grip." He said as he shuffled his feet slightly. It wasn't that he didn't trust Suzanne to hold onto him, it was just that he disliked all sorts of human contact, even something as simple as shaking hands unnerved him. Growing up he was lucky to get any sort of friendly contact, usually it was just people trying to hurt him. Even after he was taken under his teacher he didn't grow accustomed to being touched.
 
"You're a part of my trio, it's kind of my job to look after you!" Suzanne yelled back just as angrily after Thul landed. She accepted his help, why wouldn't he just accept hers!? She didn't understand it. It was the entire point of the trio, to grow stronger within the three with the other two's help. To become a part of a group that worked together and help each other out when they needed it. Suzanne wasn't too stubborn or stupid as to refuse help from him, as much as she disliked having to rely on him, but she needed his magic.

Then Thul snapped around and glared at her, stopping her further words, before looking coolly at Morthos, his thoughts about what Morthos had said very clearly on his scaled face. If the dragon had his rider's outspokenness, he would have told the mage, "Stop whining and get on." But, he simply waited for Morthos to realize that the dragon was thinking of Morthos's own well being and then climb aboard.

Suzanne was waiting impatiently, and if Thul hadn't have sent her a mental message to more or less keep her mouth shut, she would have told Morthos to stop being a baby and get on the damned dragon already. But, she listened to Thul, shut up, and waited for the mage to climb on so that they could head back to camp and get something to eat and a warm fire to sleep by and perhaps a mage to erase her soreness.
 
Mortho gave a frustrated sigh, "Don't give me that look Thul." He mumbled as he climbed onto the dragons neck, his body stiff as he waited for Suzanne to hold onto him. He understood why he needed to be held onto, but it didn't mean he had to like it, just the thought of Suzanne grabbing him had him on edge. The only reason why he climbed on was because he knew Thul was slightly annoyed with him. Mortho then realized that he had been acting difficult, and was debating between apologizing or acting like he was still in the right.

"By the way... I was busy with healing Thul so I didn't ask... are you ok? You don't look wounded, but you might have broken bones, if that crater was anything to go by you took a pretty bad fall." He said to Suzanne over his shoulder with an annoyed tone. He wasn't annoyed at her, more at himself for finding it difficult to apologize for snapping at her. "And... I suppose I was also too busy being difficult with you." He said with a slightly strained voice.
 
Thul crouched down so it would be easier for Mortho to clamber onto his back, his wings up for Mortho to use as extra handholds if need be. Suzanne sometimes still needed help clambering on. Thul didn't think it was easy for anyone to climb atop what was basically a lizard, fifty times larger than it was supposed to be. "I will give you whatever look that I think either of you need." Thul said amiably, snorting smoke when Mortho settled in, tickled by the odd sensation of a different rider. But, Thul was as hungry as Suzanne was and getting anxious to be going, so he didn't try to make Mortho shift and move around.

Suzanne clambered on behind Mortho, settling in a space much more narrow that Mortho was sitting in, Thul's spikes practically digging into her back and stomach. Not to mention his scales were sharp against the cloth of her pants. She complained none about this. The dragon rider should have known to wear padded pants on her dragon, but had not even thought of it. It wasn't like she hadn't suffered scale-burn before.

Her arm carefully and gently wrapped around Mortho's middle, holding him firmly. Her other hand reached around him to hold onto the largest, main spike on Thul's back. "It's fine, Mortho. I'm fine, and don't worry about being difficult. We're both difficult." She replied stiffly. Ready, Thul. "Hold on."

Thul jumped into the air, wings flapping with incredible force, pushing him and the two people on his back high into the air, heading to camp. Suzanne, actually, considering Mortho's question, decided to have a small look over of her bones. She took a few breaths, expanding her rib cage, and then rolled her shoulders, since those were the only things that hadn't been tested within the past few minutes. Two broken ribs and a broken collarbone. Lovely. She'd have to get it looked over by a different mage, so she wouldn't have to bother Mortho much longer that night.

Thul sighed as he flew along, feeling the pain that spiked when Suzanne moved around. He hated both of their stubbornness, but at least Mortho had tried to mend it a little. Mortho, he sent him a rare mental link to speak with, Suzanne has a couple of broken ribs and a broken collarbone. Can you manage to fix it sometime soon?
 
Mortho shifted on the leather padding that covered Thul's neck. While it didn't bother him too much he imagined it would be a lot more uncomfortable without it. He held on tightly to the dragons neck as Thul took flight, his back then stiffened as he felt Suzanne grab onto him. He was on edge and felt anxious, more because of Suzanne holding him than being high in the air and riding a dragons back.

Mortho felt Suzanne shifting behind him, he held back a sigh, she must be injured he thought to himself. He didn't want to call her on it since it might have just sparked another argument, he settled for letting it go and letting her go to one of the medic mages back at the camp.

Mortho jumped slightly as he heard Thul's voice in his head. You know I'm still not used to you doing that. I wish you'd give some sort of warning when you're going to speak to me. Mortho mentally grumbled back, Anyways I'm pretty low on energy, if I use anymore I'll pass out, or worse. Besides, we're not far from the camp, she can get healed better there and it wouldn't hurt for you to be checked over as well. I'm not very confident in my healing abilities.
 
"Relax," Suzanne muttered to him, trying to be reassuring. "You're more likely to fall off if you're tense." It probably wasn't the best way to get him to relax, but, they despised each other and there was no real way to relax him. She had had to rescue men before, and then, when they were on Thul's back with her, it was simple to pull out a few... tricks to get them to relax. Nothing too over the top, mind you. A kiss to the shoulder or cheek, or if they were especially nervous and their character wouldn't be too offended by it and they were a little too large for her to keep them on herself, a kiss on the neck. Partially, it was just to see what she could get away with, being a dragon rider. And it was amusing, seeing what a female, hardly properly clad in a white shirt, vest, shorts, and knee high boots, could do to a nervous male with a simple touch or murmured word.

Not that she would ever think of trying it on Mortho. It sent a little shiver, of what she figured was disgust, through her. Or maybe not disgust, just, being a little repulsed. Maybe it was just the hair flying past her neck. Chill out, Suzanne. She scolded herself, but the idea was tempting, now that she had thought of it. Just to piss him off...

No. Thul reprimanded her, and she sighed, resting her head on Mortho's shoulder unthinkingly, closing her eyes. Thul turned his attention back to Mortho, with a small chuckle. And how should I warn you? But, what if I gave some of my strength to you? Thul had just thought of the idea. He knew he could transfer energy to Suzanne, he could do it with Mortho for sure. And, he wanted to get them to bond even more.

Before Mortho could respond, they were at camp, and Thul gently landed in the large clearing specifically made for the dragons. He shook Suzanne awake with a wing, who jumped of blearily, stomach growling, and offered a hand to Mortho to help him down in silence, not expecting him to accept the help.
 
Mortho grunted at Suzanne, he knew if he kept tense he had a higher chance to fall off. It didn't mean he was more comfortable with her holding him. And the fact that she was wounded didn't help either, he was slightly on edge since he wasn't sure how wounded she was.

Mortho tensed more when Suzanne rested her head on his shoulder, the only thing that kept him in place and not pushing her off was the chance that he would fall if he pushed her off. Letting her lean against him was much better than taking a fall, especially in his condition. As soon as they landed he'd push her off though, he thought to himself. Mortho growled softly as he heard Thul chuckling in his head, Did you make her do this? Tell her to get off! I don't... like people touching me. And maybe you could nudge me when you're going to say something, He sighed mentally, And I suppose you could give me some of your energy. I wouldn't mind healing her in that case. Mortho responded as they landed.

Suzanne jumped off before Mortho had a chance to nudge her off, which was a good thing in retrospect since she might have chewed his head off. He turned over in his seat to jump off when he noticed Suzanne holding out her hand, he stared at it and reached out to grab it. Instead, he grabbed it and set it aside as he hoped down, "You're injured, it'd do more harm than good to you if you helped me down. Now, stay here, I'm going to heal you." He placed his hand on Thul's neck, "I'm ready Thul, feel free to give me energy when you're ready."
 
Thul was a little taken aback by the question about what Suzanne was doing, and the accusation that he had told her to do it. She's just tired. He said gently. That fall wasn't the easiest on her body. I'm surprised she got away alive. Anyhow, Thul mused to himself as he glanced back at them, it was endearing to see her asleep on her human partner's shoulder. Thul needed to have her tired more often if she acted like this, though it was probably the reason she was so snappy that day.

Suzanne simply stared a little groggily as Mortho jumped down, before she realized that he, once again, was refusing her help. She got angry, huffed out, "I am not injured, and I don't want you healing me.", and then turned and went to stride away before the dragon's head reached out and snapped deftly around her ponytail. The dragon rider froze, paralyzed. The dragon, on the other hand, was as calm as could be, and gently began tugging her back, which she instantly complied with.

Thul sent out a probe of energy, connected it to Morthos' mind, and told him, Take as much as you need. I will not be harmed. And she won't be moving anytime soon. Thul snickered mentally, and Suzanne was slowly starting to speak. "Let me go, Thul, let me go, I'm fine, I'll be okay, I don't need healing. Please let go of my hair!" The look on her face was rather like a lost puppy, or a puppy that had just had its favorite bone taken away.
 
Mortho settled down as Thul explained what happened, In that case... I guess I was overreacting. I just... really don't like people touching me Thul. It's hard to explain. He sighed mentally as he glared slightly at Suzanne, "I'm going to heal you. I don't know how badly injured you are, you might even be hurt more since we just rode on Thul." Mortho's glare then turned into a look of amusement as he saw Thul drag her back by her ponytail.

Mortho's head perked up as he felt the probe connecting with his mind, he nodded at Thul as he began to draw in energy, making sure to get just enough to heal Suzanne. Once he was sure he had enough energy he cut off the connection and stepped away from Thul, "Thank you." He said with a nod at Thul, Mortho then stepped to Suzanne, he grabbed her by the shoulders and softly pushed her into a sitting position.

"Relax now, I don't want to hurt you more." He said as he focused again and his hands glowed a faint green, Mortho ran his hands along her stomach and frowned, "Broken ribs? How did you expect to hold onto me if I were to fall." He said softly as he began to heal them, more beads of sweat coming out on his forehead. Once they were healed he wiped off the sweat from his forehead and brought his hands up to her neck. He shook his head, "And a broken collar bone." He sighed as he healed it.

Mortho stood up and wiped his forehead again, "There. You're healed." He said with a tired voice.
 
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