Axiov

The power trio were going to the Coliseum. They were young adults now, and no one could tell them they couldn't. They snuck out anyway, taking the hidden entrance downriver, past the waterfall and through the slot canyon, and then the long glide out over the flat delta, where their drab coloration made them hard to see, and the lack of cover made it hard to follow.

I don't know what they expected. Tell a younger sibling to stay home and leave you alone, and you've made a recipe for them tagging along all evening.

I glided even lower to the ground than they had, afraid to blink in case I lost them, preemptively diving into the sand twice when they looked like they were going to turn. Once I realized where they were going, I darted back to the treeline and followed in a parallel route.

Axiov had been to the training fields once before. He'd begged Eos to take him with her when she took Mastis. It was a low moment for him, and I'd learned that he'd cut you off if you talked about it, even though he couldn't seem to stop talking about his time in the Coliseum. His two friends had been agog. I suppose it was only a matter of time before they went together, and it was only out of stubborn pride that I hadn't begged him to take me along the way he'd begged Eos.

He had been to the training fields once before, but he hadn't expected this. All three of them fought with breath attacks, but they hadn't realized what that meant. They hadn't been trained to coordinate, to cycle through meditation and attack, so that they covered each other at every turn. Bex had dropped first. Two rounds in, and an unlucky strike had sent him reeling to the ground. Kaas turned, distracted, and their adversaries closed, one after the other. Strike, strike. She stumbled, legs folding.

He hadn't expected this, and now his friends were lying on either side of him, and he was crouching against the ground, squeezing his eyes shut and turning away as a webwing clawed him across the shoulder. Behind the nearby rocks, I watched in horror. Axiov was clutching his pearl under him, hind legs folded and hips dropped. I could hear him crying in fear as he lifted himself and fired off a wild contuse, which missed. He dropped back to the ground.

"Axiov," I hissed.

His eyes opened and he stared out at the edge of the field. I stood up so he could see, and realized as I did that the webwing was approaching for another strike.

"Look out!" I shrieked. "Withdraw! Withdraw!"

It struck him as he stood and he fell back again, but he had enough breath for another contuse and turned to shoot it straight into the webwing's belly. It screeched and retreated.

Instantly, he turned to Bex and shoved himself under his friend, pushing him towards where I stood on the rocks. I was watching the webwing, hovering at a distance, but clearly working itself up for another attack.

"I am withdrawing, you stupid hatchling," Axiov shouted, and I realized I'd been yelling the whole time. I closed my mouth as he continued. "Get over here and help me!"

I jerked forward, froze as soon as my feet hit the grass, and then made a mad dash towards Kaas. She was light, delicate limbs falling all over as I tried to get her over one shoulder, and then gave up and grabbed her around the waist. She dangled under me as I lifted us heavily, beating hard at the air. Ahead, Axiov had taken off too, and we dragged the poor Skydancers over the rocks before getting enough height to really go.

I was shaking. My muscles screamed at me that they were going to fail and send me spiraling down to crash on top of Kaas, but I made my wings pump again, and then again, and more times than I would have thought possible, to stop us from falling out of the sky. In my panic I actually outstripped Axiov, darting in among the forest canopy where I felt safer.

"Down! We can put them down!"

I registered the words late and wheeled to go back to the place where he was already lowering Bex to the ground. There was no good way to put them down; I ended up dropping Kaas into a heap of herself as gently as possible, and then having to land straddling her, since I didn't have the energy to pull myself up and away from the ground again.

Axiov had collapsed next to Bex and lay trembling and coughing. I stepped away, feeling awkward about the older dragon's crying, but I also didn't want to take my eyes off our surroundings. I sat and watched the unfamiliar trees until a rustle of small plants and dead leaves made me turn.

Axiov had sat up. "You can't tell anyone about this."

"They'll notice," I said, looking at Bex and Kaas' injuries. There was no way we could hide those, even if we could manage to sneak two entire dragons into the valley.

"I wasn't talking about that." Axiov straightened himself a little and began to wipe his face, weakly at first, and then more vigorously as his need to preen took over.

"Oh." I tilted my head. "Your crying?"

"I wasn't crying!" he snapped.

"I promise I won't tell anyone that you weren't crying."

"Don't get all Shadow on me," he said, glaring, and he might have said more if Kaas hadn't groaned. We went to her immediately and then shared a look.

"What's that plant that old Goss is always going on about? The bandage one?"

"Plantain," I said. "I'll find some."

We patched up our friends as best we could, which wasn't well. The trio had been woefully underprepared in their supplies, and we had no bandages or wraps to keep the broad leaves on. I ended up chewing them into crude, runny poultices. It was full night now, but we felt better under the cover of darkness, and found a sheltered place among the willows at the edge of the forest to stay the night, piled together for warmth.

If that had given me any ideas about the power trio becoming the power quartet, Axiov made sure the next morning to let me know I could forget them. We limped home, flying a little and walking in turns, until we finally waded up the slot canyon and flew one at a time over the waterfall and up into the valley. There was some fuss, mostly from Goss, Eos, and Cruach, and a little from Sikisi, who pulled Axiov aside for a low, hurried discussion about whether he'd gotten any drops. Axiov noticed me watching and puffed out his chest a little.

"No, but we got out alive and mostly unhurt, which I think is a little more important," he said, and turned away before Sikisi could say anything.

I held still as he approached. He glanced at me.

"And you can promise not to tell anyone about that, either," he told me.

Well, Axiov, I haven't told anyone. I've written it down. I can still hear you practicing with Cruach outside, so I know it matters to you at least a little bit.