In the Nest

Gus heard talk of a creature that roamed the forest from a port village first. But most of the villages spoke of the creature. Some only spoke of one, but if you listened close enough to the stories it sounded more like there were about three or four that had been seen moving in the vast sea of trees that bordered the valleys villages. From the ocean, that presumably was past some of the trees, ships that came to port told of sightings of the great winged creatures as well.

Fantastic descriptions of spiked wings dripping down the cliff side then disappearing after the next wave crash. Of a barbed tail the color of new spring growth on the trees whipping out from a bush then back under the cover of the forest. Of a dark shape like moss on rock that glided over the trees just past dusk. After a while Gus’s curiosity grew. These towns had no interest in seeking to know what lived in the forests they lived so close to. Their curiosity stopped at fear and, for a couple very odd towns, sacrificial worship. The people of the valley were practically content not knowing what these creatures were or even what they really looked like beyond the glimpses from afar.

Gus wanted to know. There were beasts that looked to be made of the mountains they lived in, gray and larger than any other creature he’d ever known. They were intelligent and communicated with the village of Gus’ childhood. The dragons were great protectors and wise ones to their people. The tales of the creatures seen past the valley made Gus hope to see dragons not unlike the ones who had kept his village safe and happy as he grew up.

The men of this village laughed him out of a tavern when he asked about paths to the wilderness outside their villages borders. Few men dared stand in the shadows of those trees, when they did it was solely to hunt the wild game that weaved in and out of the forests protection. Apparently hunters had no need for marked paths when they did not tread them often. When the sun rose and the villagers had recovered from their drink they told Gus he should not undertake such a mission. They told him grim stories of the sacrifices made by the towns a few over, the terrible loss of human life and the sightings of a blood stained maw. 


Gus couldn’t help but remember old Kac’ker-kerack, the wise dragon of his childhood. The great dragon had traveled on to the land of the elders just before Gus had been ready to leave, a new dragon appointed to his post. Kac’ker-kerack had been a gentle soul, despite his size, and had only been ferocious when he had to be in the face of the mountain cats and deep cave dwellers. The only time he’d ever let the villagers see him with his maw bloodied was after a fierce battle with the creatures that plagued their village. Gus could not help but wonder if the creatures amongst the trees were of a smaller variety, bloodying their maws with meals made of the same creatures these villagers did. He needed to know for sure, for himself.

Gus set off, lies on his tongue and supplies gained only because he’d told those lies to the villagers. They thought him setting his feet towards home, but in reality he was making his way into the forest. The first part of the journey was rather boring and lonely, the valley stretched out before him and forest further away than he’d first thought. The paths were lightly worn from the hunters boots, but otherwise kept wild by nature. It took Gus until he was right up on the trees to realize the worn paths had given way to untouched grasses and other wild flora.

It was cooler under the trees, the shade keeping him from feeling the heat of the late afternoon sun that had begun to create sweat across his forehead and the back of his neck. There were more things to see and hear under the trees as well. The song of a bird he’d never heard before seemed to follow Gus as he picked his way around tree roots and brush. He caught sight of a small herd of deer, mostly mothers and their young, through a copse of skinnier trees. A large bug, the likes of which he’d never seen, hopped across his path. The height of its leap nearly putting its path right in front of Gus’ nose.

As he slowly made his way, Gus wondered about the villages he’d come across in his travels and their unwillingness to seek out the beasts in the forest. In his pondering he began losing track of his surroundings, the creatures becoming less startling and more common place the further he went. As Gus hefted himself over a fallen trunk and began to hear a rushing-crashing noise like harsh water, he realized that the bird song no longer followed him. He slid off the trunk and landed on the ground past it. The landing was harsh, the ground beyond the trunk having been a great deal longer of a drop than he’d been ready for.

Focused as he was on the new throbbing in his ankle Gus was incredibly surprised when something was dropped in front of him. He was not sure if running into the solid thing or if the shaking it caused in the ground was what knocked him flat to the ground, but of the two it was definitely the former that alerted the thing to his presence. As a huge scale covered head swung to aim large luminous yellow eyes at him Gus realized that the dropped thing was in fact a giant foot with long, shiny claws. Gus tried to stand but his ankle would no longer hold him. The movement had the dragon tilting its head. It leaned in very close, training one eye on Gus as it came closer. It just looked at him for a time before it shifted and Gus felt its jaw bump his foot before everything went dark.

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Ti’segar-sola loved his territory. The trees grew until they hit the craggy surface of the new mountain on which he’d made his nest. When he flew home, from his sister Te’sara-zura’s, he could look down over the trees as they turned from broad-leafed things to spine-leafed towers. He would often fly low enough for his claw feathers to brush against the tops of the broad-leaves at the request of Te’sara-zura. She was convinced his large form would frighten the young-death creatures she was fond of. The humans that had settled along the great river.

It was actually for this reason that he’d chosen to forgo flying this afternoon. Keeping his sister happy didn’t take much and with his lands as pretty as they are it was hardly a hardship to do as she asked. The sun was filtering through the broad-leaves and he could hear the ground dwelling creatures that had grown used to his presence here. The bird song often cut off nearly as soon as he was within earshot though, funnily enough the other creatures capable of flight found him very scary. He could hear some heavier movement ahead, but it almost sounded like the larger deer-like creatures that passed through once or twice a year. It took feeling a little young-death creature slam into his fore-leg and crushing several of his claw feathers before he remembered that the deer creature definitely had four legs. He swung his head to look at the creature as it stumbled back from his leg.

He hadn’t actually seen a young-death creature up close before. Despite his sisters affinity for humans, she treated the small village worth of sacrifices she’d acquired not unlike the dragons of old treated their hoards. Thats to say, she was very secretive and protective of the creatures. Ti’segar-sola recognized the coverings it wore from the clothes-lines Te’sara-zura kept up on her territory. Though the coloring looked different the fabrics appeared to be of similar material. The little thing was in different layers of grey and lichen green and birch wood brown.

Unfortunately the little thing also wasn’t moving. Ti’segar-sola lifted the human a bit so that he could assess the small thing. The human was so small in his claws, he couldn’t believe the irresponsibility of the young-death parents because surely there was no way the human that’d run into him couldn’t be more than a few moons old. He cradled the human toddler against his chest, careful to keep the sharper of his claws from catching the child as he weaved through the trees hoping to come across parents.

He spent nearly an hour scouring the nearby areas, hoping he would come across larger human he could leave the still-unconscious child with. When the sun started to set in earnest, Ti’segar-sola realized he wasn’t going to encounter the child’s parents. He also realized that he was too far into his own territory to go back and safely pass the child off to his sister. He shuddered at the possibility that the villages closest to his territory had taken up the same sacrificial practices as the ones closest to his sister. He was not the dragon that should be put in charge of these small, fragile creatures.

“Don’t worry, little one.” Ti’segar-sola rumbled to the child. “I’ll take you to Te’sara-zura at first light.”

He leaped into the air, clutching the child gently, and headed for home. Once the little one was well settled in his nest, large enough for both of them to rest easily, Ti'segar-sola curled around the human in hopes that it wouldn't be able to roll past him. The nest wasn't exactly made for fragile creatures to wander about in unsupervised. He slept for a few hours he thought when he woke. The moon was high and the night sky around it was a deep tone like the belly scales of his sister Ta'sigo-saca who lived most of the year in the ocean. The child was still asleep in the middle of his nest.

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Gus woke slowly. First noticing that he was very cold. Then, that he couldn’t feel the pack that’d been along his spine anymore. Finally, and maybe most alarmingly, that all he can see around him is rock and the very tops of trees. The wind, wherever he is, is so loud that when he tries to lift his head to see over the rim of this bowl of rock it practically drowns out his own thoughts. When he tucks back down against the soft lining of the rock bowl, the skin of Gus’ face feels cold and tight. He can tell his hair is a mess as well his shawl and scarf. As he unwinds the scarf from his throat he gulps at how tight it had gotten while he was out. Had he slept much longer it could have cut off his breath. Gus winds his scarf around his left hand, the glove from that side missing for some reason.

He only had a few moments shifting around, trying to find out how high he could lift himself before the wind became an issue and trying to locate his bag of supplies, before the occupant of the giant nest arrived. Because once he saw the dragon he knew the huge rock bowl had to be a nest.

“Oh dear, you’ve gone quite close to the edge little one,” The dragon rumbled and nudged Gus away from the windy edge of the nest with a claw.

Once he was seemingly far enough from the edge for the dragons liking Gus could feel the big eyes scan over him. He was rolled over onto his stomach abruptly, which Gus squawked involuntarily at. A deep ‘hmm’ came from the dragon before Gus was rolled back onto his back.

“Unusually good bladder control for a hatchling, fascinating.” The dragon muttered as he continued the assessment of Gus, taking special interest in his scarf-wrapped hand.

“Wha-! I’m not a hatchling! I mean I’m sorry, oh great one.” Gus tried to sit up and bend at his waist, one hand extended out to the side. “I am Gus, of the mountain villages protected once by Kac’ker-kerack and now Young Ka’har-herack. I am on my Years Travels, oh great one, and sought to learn of the dragons of this region.”

Gus stayed bent over as he waited for the dragon to respond to their villages traditional greeting. Hoping against hope he didn’t offend the dragon on accident. After a moment he heard a sort of huffing noise. His head shot up to see the dragon and nearly rammed his nose into the dragons snout. It seemed to be taking a long sniff of him and Gus wasn’t sure what that meant. Kac’ker-kerack had never done that before, well that he knew of at least. The dragon drew back and laughed.

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