On stranger tides (Open)

The woman’s lips moved, and Selene heard the words as clearly as if the woman had been sitting beside her. “Go. This is no longer you battle.” Then the Elv’in woman turned away. “Wait!” Selene called, but the woman ignored her except to raise an arm in the dragon’s direction. Suddenly the skies were a whirlwind around them. Her mount fought to remain beside the ship, but his wings seemed incapable of catching wind. They fell in a spiraling plummet away from the flagship. Selene clung like a starfish as Ragnar’k tumbled. She was sure they would crash into the island.

Selene was wrenched away from the dream with a start, bolting upright and looking around their surrounding cave wide eyed and partially confused. Her hand sought of the warm scale of Ragnar’k, as it often did upon waking. Calm swept over her as the tips of her searching fingers fount the dragon’s wing, and one word from the dream still plagued her; “Dre’rendi…” It felt right upon her tongue rolling with a natural smoothness of long forgotten.

Behind her, Ragnar’k's eye swiveled open and for seconds untold her remained staring at his bonded before finally allowing her to know he had awoke; her nudged her arm. Hungry. Selene chuckled and looked over her shoulder, drawing her fingers up Ragnar’s wing. There was a wildness in him that could never be tamed, touched, nor drawn near to – not even by her. “Fishing then?” Gingerly the lithe girl rose to her feet and stretched, wriggling her bare toes into the sand. Just outside the cave she could hear the water washing upon shore, dragging at the sand with writhing liquid fingers.

Rising, she mounted Ragnar’s back, the beast lumbering forward and out of the cave, he scuffled over the pebbled beack, his claws dug deep, and he slid smoothly into the water. She slipped her feet into the folds by his forelimbs; once in place, he tightened his folds snugly, holding her firm against his back. She slipped the dragon’s breathing siphon from between the blades of his shoulders to her lips. She patted Ragnar’k three times on the neck, indicating she was ready and Ragnar’k dove. Her inner lids blinked up as she leaned close to his neck. She watched Ragnar’k stretch to his full length and marveled at his size.  His black wings were rippling shadows to either side.

Selene felt an echoing gnaw in her own belly and found herself drifting into the dragon’s senses; experiencing the rush of water over scale, the varied scents mixed in the sea: squid ink, spoor of a school of yellowfin, even the tang of poison from a nest of sea snakes. She heard the echoes of distant whales in the water and, closer still, the noise chatter of porpoises. She also sensed the strength in his body, his wings, to move with such grace and power. She gloried in the new sensations, not accustomed to the sudden changes even after 200 years. A new scent was shared with her, it smelled like the finest rare perfume she’d ever smelled. What was it?

Ragnar’k answered her: Shark’s blood.

She cringed lower to the dragon’s back. Suddenly, Ragnar’k darted to the left. Selene, sharing his mind, knew his move in advance and compensated by shifting her weight. He spun suddenly over a ribbed reef line and, snaking his neck down, jabbed his muzzle into the black shadows. He snapped his head back, a young male rockshark trapped in his fanged jaws. In a flurry of razored teeth, the shark was shredded into pieces that could be swallowed. Ragnar’k skimmed the area, collecting every morsel. Selene did not urge him otherwise. She savored the kill, the taste of blood in her throat, the satisfaction of a full belly. But mostly, she enjoyed how she and the dragon were united: one heart, one mind, one will.

Suddenly, the pair erupted from the water and the dragon lunged into the sky. A tower of sinuous dragon displayed against the sun. With an explosive beat of its wings, the black dragon swung in the air. It twisted and banked, revealing the girl on its back. With another beat, it sailed into the air. From its glossy scales, sparks of brilliance outlined it flight. Its jaws were open, and a huge roar flowed from his throat. It was not a cry of challenge, but of joy.

It headed west toward the coast.

When they reached the far shores, Ragnar’k dove down and banked with a soft rustle of wings, his legs bending to allow for Selene to dismount. She pulled the siphon from her mouth and blinked back her inner lids, sliding off the dragon’s scales and hopping onto the beach. Her clothes were wet through and through, the pale scales glittering beneath the sunlight. After a brief look and affirmation from Ragnar’k that there was no one currently on the beach, Selene pulled off the hooded dress she wore and laid it out against Ragnar’k haunches as the dragon stretched out and clawed at the earth. They would dry off and hunt for something for the Bloodrider to eat prior to perhaps moving onto another location or spending some time on this cluster of the world. They’d bask in the sun, Selene’s eyes drifting towards the clouds, thinking back on the remnants of her dream.

His voice was soft and velvet touching against Selene’s mind, the only being in existence who could hear the dragon’s voice and the power rumbling behind it. If they made a false move now it could be mistaken as a sign of fear towards whoever it was that approached. Instead, the pair continued to lie upon the golden sand, absorbing the heat from it to become familiar with the veils of magic that gathered thinly around the current lands. They had been following the currents of magic, sensing when they waxed and waned, adjusting their course in order to find the entrance to A’loa Glen once more and return to the age old fight they had been taken from.

In a blink the presence disappeared and Selene’s heart jumped up her throat, Ragnar’k lifted his massive head, finally giving indication that they had sensed something coming near and the smaller woman rolled on her side, snatching up the hooded dress she usually wore and yanking it on over her head before her features could be exposed. Unfortunately the movement was not fast enough and Selene was certain that the creature or person which had approached had gotten a glimpse of the golden locks but not her facial features or eyes.

“Ragnar’k, rev’oc em!” she commanded, the black dragon’s movements already set as he shifted and came between the woman upon her perch and the Bloodrider who was adjusting the dress along her petite, but curvaceous body. Selene knew that the scales beneath her skin still glowed a silvery hue beneath the sun’s gold rays and that from afar, if she were not covered, her torso would be like a glittering diamond; attracting unwanted attention.

When the intruder spoke, Selene tilted her head up and moved around the flank of Ragnar’k, whose tail-tip coiled about her sleeved wrist. The hood managed to conceal Selene’s face, casting a shadow from which two glowing eyes of fire and brimstone peered out. “I would say that neither is sneaking upon such a pair if you have no ill-intent.”

Ragnar’k: Dark little creature. I will kill it and it will not lurk.

On ouy l’iw ebe urt. Both replies were sent through their bond, a soothing hand stroking his flank as he stared upon the woman hovering above them on her stone perch. “You must have a strong bond with magick to find us with such ease.” The rise and fall of Ragnar’k’s chest and the calm rhythm of his heart set Selene at ease. He was not an untouchable foe, but many mistook the giant beast for a mere dragon. Once upon a dream she had seen in the dragon’s memories a time when she had been away, searching for the… something, that another had come but by the time she had arrived, they had been long gone. It was then that the Skul’tum, those wretched beasts of darkness had come for Ragnar’k. This woman, she smelled of something akin to the foul beasts and reminded her of Vira’ni.

"What do you call this cluster of isles? It is not a place we have seen before."

Thick black lashes marked her doe shaped eyes against her pale skin, the platinum blond made her seem more apparition than actual creation and Ragnar’k’s dark colors only made her seem that much more ethereal, as if the softest breeze could send her shape wafting away, carried in the currents of the wind to never be seen again. They were aerial creatures and as such could navigate those currents expertly, but where Ragnar’k had sturdy wings to carry his great mass; Selene lacked the proper appendages to truly be airborne.

“Trev’r Ragnar’k.” The command was verbal this time, heeding the warning of the creature perched above them. Soon her fingers touched nothing more than air where Ragnar’k’s flank had once been. The black dragon began to shrink in size, his ability to shift into a younger version of himself but still retain all magical potency was something that very few had had the chance to witness. The spider, Vira’ni had been among the few and she had perished, consumed by the spiders she had birthed. With his tail still coiled around her wrist, Ragnar’k’s scales took on the same color as Selene’s and his wings flapped to bring him upright, his claws pressing against her skin before they helped him climb along her arm. His tail wrapped about the thickness of her neck and he settled, perched upon her shoulder with his fire-eyes staring ahead and towards Eclipse – the unknown woman.

“I am Selene and this is Ragnar’k of A’loa Glen. Is there something we should call you?” Not wanting to offend, and being capable of seeing without opening her eyes, Selene took note of the posture the other contained within her self-restricting bubble. Something in the stance, predatory and waiting reminded her of the ways Ragnar’k would skulk and stalk until he was ready to pounce. Usually the endeavors proved to be only the young-in playing a game; but at others she knew that there was the intent to kill. A splash caught Selene’s attention and she turned towards the water, momentarily exposing her back and the open space around the puckered scar at her back. The edges appeared raw and irritated but there was no obvious sign of trauma, nor did her movements mirror any kind of pain rippling through with the motion. At the same time, the cross shaped scar looked completely healed.

Realizing the exposure, Ragnar’k crawled and suspended himself from her back, splayed over it with his body as the shield and his claws digging into Selene’s sides with wings outstretched.