Tarquin

The sun shone down relentlessly, glinting occasionally off an exposed, bleached bone, dead so long it could no longer be identified. The Abiding Boneyard stretched out around him in every direction, with no sign of life anywhere other than the occasional lizard he had grown too weak to chase. The heat was heavy, and it felt like his scales and feathers would burst into flames or melt clean off him. Tarquin trudged along slowly, his feet and wings dragging in the dirt. How long had he been stranded in this destitute wasteland? His crossing over from the Sea of a Thousand Currents seemed like a lifetime ago. What would he give to be back there right now, even with its horrible salty air at least it had water. All he knew now was that he couldn't stop moving, not even for a moment. If he stopped, he would collapse altogether and then the vultures that had followed him here would descend on him.

Suddenly, a sound broke through the constant haze of buzzing insects. At first, Tarquin didn't even know what it was, his mind too exhausted to think straight. It was only when it was too late that he realized it was the beat of dragon wings.

Tarquin felt the massive body slam into him, sending him tumbling through the dirt. He could only lay there gasping, the shock and exhaustion too much. He felt more than saw a shadow fall over him, and he looked up to see a reddish brown spiral staring down at him. It's eyes red and angry.

The spiral pinned Tarquin's neck to the ground with it's claws, leaning in close and giving a graveling growl.

"P-Please! I mean you n-no harm! I just want w-water!" Tarquin managed to squeak.

The spiral seemed unaffected by his cry for help, and it opened its jaws to reveal a slowly building ball of red energy. Tarquin struggled weakly in its grip, feeling all hope drain out of him.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Gabbin!"

The spiral stopped and swiveled it's head around angrily. "Stay out if it." He growled low.

"What are you doing!?" The voice said, and somehow in Tarquin's shocked state he registered that it was female.

The weight of the spiral's claws on his throat lifted away, and Tarquin weakly scrambled to his feet, but stayed crouched low to the ground. He looked to the source of the voice and saw a purple skydancer with ebony armor shoving past the spiral.

"I'm doing my job." The angry spiral growled.

The skydancer turned and stood protectively over Tarquin, facing the spiral with a stern look.

"Our job doesn't involve killing defenseless dragons! Look at it, it's practically still a hatchling!" She snapped.

The two dragons stood for a moment, locked in staring match. Then, finally, the angry one huffed and backed down. She then turned to look at Tarquin.

"Why are you here?"

He nervously glanced at the spiral before replying, "Please, I just need water. I've been wandering in this wasteland for days..."

She considered him for a moment. "Alright then, come with me." She helped him to his feet and began to lead him in one direction.

The angry spiral flapped his wings in shock. "You can't possibly bring an intruder back to camp! They could be a spy."

The skydancer scoffed. "You're so paranoid Gabbin. Besides, if they cause any trouble we'll just kill 'em."

He "hmphed" and took off into the sky, no doubt to watch them from above.

"T-thank you." Tarquin said weakly.

"Oh of course, I feel like refusing to take in a lost hatchling would be a bit hypocritical of me." She laughed softly at a joke Tarquin didn't understand.

"Anyway, don't mind Gabbin, he's a bit 'attack first ask questions later', but he means well. At least, I hope he does. What's your name by the way?"

"Tarquin."

"Well hi there Tarquin! My name's NightGlitters, I'm sure my clan will take good care of you."