Chapter Fifty-Six – The Dragon’s Favorite Strays
Chapter Fifty-Six
MURR
I take to the air immediately, a natural instinct in response to a threat. Power surges through my wings, my shift from two-legged form to battle form something that takes place between one breath and the next. As I rise to meet the other drakoni, I send my thoughts out automatically, looking to touch the mind of the stranger, to find out who it is and what their purpose is.
The sensation of reaching to be met with nothing is as jarring now as it was the first time it happened, and just as disappointing. I circle higher, trumpeting a warning sound that is universal. Go no closer to my territory. Dakota is mine. Rabbit is mine. Aggie and Dottie are mine. Stella and Kermit and all the cats are mine.
I will protect my new family from anyone that approaches and means them harm.
The strange dragon bugles an affirmation and rises higher as I do, an agreement without words that she acknowledges my claim. A female. Unmated, judging by the scent of her. She smells like fire and ash and drakoni…but also faintly of human settlements. Her color is a dull red, a signal that she is not crazed with a mating heat. This strange female is not a danger. She is not flaming, not attacking. She is letting me set the pace. When I fly higher, she goes higher, as if to reassure me. I try to send her a greeting once more, but it fails again. There is nothing but silence on the other end, and as we circle each other, I realize this will go nowhere unless something changes.
So I decide to land.
I glide down carefully to the ground, where the females are in a panic. Dakota is covered in fear scent and squatting on the ground in front of the bookstore, loading her weapon. Rabbit is behind her, gathering up cats and herding them into the building. Aggie’s and Dottie’s chairs are vacated, and they are probably hiding inside, too. Their fear makes me feel bad. The female has indicated to me that she is no threat. She is likely just curious and wondering why I do not touch my mind to hers in greeting. I need to calm my humans and somehow explain to the female drakoni that I have lost my telepathy.
When my feet touch the ground, I shift to my two-legged form and straighten. I move quickly to Dakota’s side, putting a hand on her weapon when she raises it. “Is ok, Dakota. Is friend.”
“W-what?” She’s shaking with fear, her face colorless.
“Friend,” I say again, and cup her face. “Murr protect Dakota. Yes?”
Her mouth works quietly, no sound coming out. She thinks for a moment and her shoulders relax. She nods. “Okay. Thank you, Murr.”
I turn around as the female lands. She tucks her wings in daintily, and as she does, I can see one of her horns is slightly twisted and crooked atop her head, marring her otherwise perfect frill.
I…know that horn. It matches a slightly twisted tooth.
The female drakoni immediately switches to her two-legged form, getting to her feet and beaming a wide, human grin at me. “I know you!”
“Yes,” I say slowly, my mind buzzing with awareness. I know this female. She is younger than I am, easy in her own hide and with a fierce streak of rebellion. She served alongside me when we were a fighting unit under the Salorians. I have forgotten all of that.
Fothessa. I know her name and how it feels in my mind, but I do not know how to say it aloud.
She moves forward, smiling, and that crooked tooth is evident in her mouth. “I didn’t know you were nearby, Murtades.”
Oh.
My name.
All of it. I had forgotten so much of it.
“Murr-ta-deez?” Dakota echoes, surprise in her voice. Her hand touches my back. “Is…is that you?”
“Me,” I agree, tasting the word on my tongue. “Mur ta des.” It feels a little different in the mouth than spoken in the mind, but it still feels comfortable…and like it belongs to me. “I did not remember.”
“Some of us recover faster than others,” Fothessa says, all smiles and delight as she approaches. “I’m Fothessa in the human tongue, but you can call me Thess. I’m from the nearby fort, and I mean you all no harm.”
