Leethzen

Member of the Guard
Name translation: north dew
Pronouns: she/he

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Apprenticed to Robrek, Leethzen is training to become a talented warrior in all manners of weaponry, her favorite being the axe. He occasionally makes trips with his parent to the wastelands of the Plague Flight, battling with other dragons while Nahlbralvao conducts their research.

She is a rather isolated dragon, spending most of her time with her surrogate father Robrek. When not training or patrolling, Leethzen spends time by the ocean scanning for washed up treasures, namely weapons from shipwrecks long forgotten.

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Training in the plaguelands:

The heat of the Abiding Boneyard was intense and dry, so the flight out to it was a deeply unpleasant one to say the least. He traveled there accompanied by an imperial, who introduced themself as Thain. Thain was not a warrior, as they would go on to explain as the two of them flew, but belonging to something of a diplomat. Those in the clan that had no role in fighting or crafting took care of the other dragons and any guests the clan may have.

The clan proper was at the bottom of a dry river canyon, and was built into the colossal ribcage of some long-dead beast. It was patched with hide and canvas, like a giant tent. Most of the clan was underground, according to the imperial, where it was cooler and they had secured a source of fresh water. Leethzen was welcomed with open arms as he was led down into the cool tunnels. Magic lanterns lit the way as the descended deep into the earth, through tunnels worn smooth by generations of dragons passing through. The main passage ended in a large cavern, where cool fresh water trickled from the rock walls to pool in a deep clear underground lake. Steam from a connecting cavern suggested springs, natural or heated by magic.

The only other tunnel in the springs, cast in shadow by the luminescent crystal overhead that lit the cavern, was a short and clearly artificial tunnel that terminated in a heavy door of dark wood and ivory. That, according to Thain, was their leader's library. The imperial lead her back up to main hall once she had satisfied her thirst at the springs, leaving the library far behind. Alcoves of cool stone lined a side tunnel, some hung with hide or cloth to form crude doors. Leethzen was given one of these, and a generous pile of cushions, to be her den. Thain wished the pearlcatcher luck, promising that he would be meeting his tutors the next evening. However the sun was high in the sky, and dragons rarely moved during the unforgiving heat of the day.

--

Leethzen was highly unsurprised by her first tutors, to put it lightly. As he hefted his axe over his shoulder and walked out into the cooling air, he was met near the entryway by the two most wasteland looking dragons he had ever laid eyes on. The ridgeback was the most striking, for her size, if nothing else. She tipped her hat and introduced herself as Skyheart in a slow drawl. She was lean and scar covered beneath the long black dustcoat she wore, but much to the pearlcatcher's relief was not covered in pustules or anything similarly repulsive. Clinging to the ridgeback's neck was a mirror. They Peered down at Leethzen with three hungry eyes and a near-feral grin. She immediately got the sense that this dragon had never used a weapon in their life, but fought tooth and claw with anything and everything that moved. She was introduced as Ravage by the ridgeback, who gently nuzzled her scarred cheek before the lean mirror clambered down onto the dry earth to get a better look at Leethzen.

"Pleased to meet ya' of course," said Skyheart, "been a while since we got an outsider at the clan proper. I reckon you're tough enough though, you'll fit in all right."

"Good to meet you too," replied Leethzen. "I was brought here to train," she added, "so I assume you two are to be my trainers?"

"Fer a bit," Skyheart nodded, "wife and I ain't big on weapons, as you can see, so I figure the others will be workin' with you on that. But the first step is to toughen up, ain't it? Can't say I know how y'all do battle in the Runis, but I do know that a tough dragon stays on their feet longer."

The mirror butt in, "No better teacher than the wastes," She brushed a claw across the burn scars that covered the left side of her face, an almost nostalgic look coming over her for a moment. "Nothing but hostile beastclan and dragons from one end to the other. All the blood and battle you could drink--"

The ridgeback laid her hand over the excitable dragon's back, the pressure seeming to ease the mirror's excitement for the moment. "Survival training," she clarified, "my raiders walk the dusty Boneyard end t' end, and we're tougher for it. I reckon you'll you'll fight long and hard as any veteran warrior when we're done."

Leethzen stared at the ridgeback for a while. The clan had mentioned it being an... extended trip, but Skyheart made it sound like she might be gone for months. A twinge of worry made her tug at the satchel that held her pearl. Until she was a worthy fighter. As good a protector as Robrek.

"When do we start?"

--

Though, according to the two trainers, there was usually a large group of dragons and their caravan traveling together, this was to be a special case. Only the tree of them, and what gear they could carry. Ravage assured him that they would be sticking closer to the lair, just in case, and to a known route. They had one mission- find the nests of serthis that had started to take root around the lair, and either kill or drive out the beastfolk. Leethzen's concerns about doing this with a lack of training was met with a sympathetic chuckle from Skyheart. "I know you ain't entirely green, dragon," she said, "an' that's the nature of fightin' isn't it? Put that axe of yours to use so we know who t' stick you with later. For now, learn to stick out the hard times where your enemies might falter." If the contagion was a hard place, the Boneyard was downright cruel. It was always hot in a way that was uncomfortable, even though they only traveled in the early evening or early morning. The temperature would drop drastically around midnight, leading to dangerously freezing nights. They slept together beneath a large square of thick canvas, in a shallow pit that the large dragon dug. There was nothing to burn, so there was no fire, and body heat was all they had to keep them through the night. Days were worse. By midmorning, it was too hot to keep moving. Unless one happened to be a fire dragon, heatstroke would set in quickly with no shade or shelter to be found. The makeshift tent was the only shade they had, and lethargy weighed constantly on them from the stifling air. He was thankful they had packed many canteens, though she had lamented their weight at the start. Serthis, she found, were clever and insidious creatures. Far different than doing battle with dragons, they rarely attacked head on. They were ambushed on the very first night, while the trio were huddled together for warmth beneath their shelter. She hardly woke up before a sharp thin blade was cutting into her flank. They were quick to rally, with the mirror voluntarily taking the brunt of the damage, but the trio barely got more than a few hits in before the serthis turned tail into the desert and vanished beneath the hard earth where the dragons couldn't follow. No one had been poisoned, so they reasoned that this had been a warning.

When the baren dust-scape had warmed some, they began to travel in slow circles. Ravage tracked the scent, but they found only small burrows and shallow crevices. "They're around here somewhere," hissed the mirror, "like a rabbit warren. A thousand tunnels beneath the dry earth. A thousand ways out. We have to outwit them, because we'll never out dig them."

The pearlcatcher instinctively looked to the brightening sky, where the rising sun peaked above the desert sands. Likening their prey to rabbits was perhaps a bit uncomfortable, but she was quickly reminded that they were hunting snakes.

It took nearly a full week in that hellish heat to find the serthis' main nest. They were all a little worse for wear, having suffered an attack by a small strike team almost every night since. She personally must have killed three or four of them already. No one had been poisoned, thank Frith, but they were all nursing fresh wounds. Everyone was on edge, especially Leethzen herself, who was near paranoid and often sleepless listening for the faint sound of scales on the dusty ground during the night. Worse, the blood had attracted a train of scavengers that had been following them doggedly. Huge vultures and too-brave pestilent hounds that snapped at their heels and tails. The constant harrowing beasts did not stop, even during the night, which had probably only drawn the serthis to them.

It was a shockingly small thing, considering. Only a score of the beastfolk at most. Warned that they would fight all the harder, Leethzen gripped his axe determinedly and waited. The dragons had split up, with the two smaller taking positions far from the nest. She watched the ridgeback circle overhead, before diving sharply down right on top of the subterranean nest. The weight, the impact, and the sharp digging claws of the dragon collapsed the burrow. Leethzen and Ravage were prepared, charging over the sand to clash with the fleeing survivors. There was no holding back this time, and the desperate serpents wielded their most potent poisons against them. Though it churned the fractured earth into a pit of dust and blood, the three dragons emerged victorious. It was past moonrise, and growing cold, but they could ill-afford to stay out another night. If they were too strong for the poison to claim them, the hungry scavengers would surely finish the job. So they flew on unsteady wings back to the canyon. A refreshingly fast trip after days on foot. At the spring, there were healers waiting to tend their wounds. "One of the matriarch's seekers," said the fae that tended her wounds with magic, "spotted you on the wing." She was too tired to question that much. Much too tired. He had never been so exhausted before, in fact. Hopefully the ridgeback was right, and he would be tougher for having braved the wastes. Those thoughts lulled him to sleep at the edge of the underground lake, unable to bring himself to rise and head back up the tunnel.

--

That excursion was followed by several days of rest. The dragons of the clan stressed the importance of recovery after such an undertaking. "You have plenty of time," they would say, "heal. Then return to grow stronger."

Thankfully there was no shortage of things to do. The patched ribcage that made up the topmost portion of the clan was a common room of sorts. They had a massive cookfire, complete with kitchen, and many dragons spent the cool night hours socializing there. It was almost inevitable that Leethzen be taught to play a few gambling games. She even endeavored once to see the library, when a robed bogsneak had offered to escort her down there. It was surprisingly cozy, with shelves neatly lined and cushions piled in the corners. He saw mostly mages inside, perched at desks or near the great hearth that dominated one wall, magic fire cozy but giving off no heat. The leader was also a ridgeback. It made sense that there were so many, given that the lair was mostly underground.

enance was formidable, with an air of cold hostility that seemed to run from her night-black scales. Leethzen couldn't help but be slightly intimidated in the massive dragon's presence. The leader was polite enough, inquiring about how he had settled in, though she didn't seem to want to chat long. As the pearlcatcher turned to leave, however, Penance did call out with a short congratulation for surviving the serthis, and the first round of training. Despite the interesting books, Leethzen didn't linger in the library long.

It was on one of those cool slow nights that she met the other trainers. There was a commotion at the entrance, which drew the attention of all the dragons up top. A pair of big dragons came through, an imperial and a guardian, who she was surprised to find both had the shining golden eyes of the Sunbeam Ruins. Curiously, he got up to investigate.

The two dragons were clearly warriors. The imperial was a huge bulky old brute, with a mane that was already going grey. His hide was laced with scars, at least what Leethzen could see of it beneath the heavy battered armored plates. He loped in and plopped down heavily near the fire with a loud huff. The guardian had a suit of full plate armor, all shining silver and luminous gold. The symbol of the Lightweaver was carved into her armor and embroidered on the half cape she wore. The pearlcatcher was suddenly less sure about her- she had the look of a zealot. The guardian walked in after the old imperial, settling slightly further from the fire to loosen her heavy armor. Leethzen padded over to say hello.

"Hello, good to meet you," she replied, her voice deep and booming, "it's odd to see another dragon from the Ruins- what brings you out here?"

"I was sent by my clan to train," he replied, "my name is Leethzen"

"Ah, they told me about you. I'll be one of your trainers, actually," she offered a claw to shake, "My name is Iratha, paladin of the Lightweaver. The old timer over there is Umbriel."

The imperial snorted, swiveling his neck to look at the two of them. "I'm old, paladin, not deaf." He chuckled, a particularly chest shaking sound. "But it is good to meet you, young 'un."

--

The two warriors turned out to be tough trainers. They met every morning outside the clan proper, and trained together until the sun had risen and the heat was unbearable. To her surprise, it wasn't just weapons training. While both of them were quite handy with a sword, Umbriel had explained that since Leethzen already had plenty of weapons training it wouldn't need to be the focus. Rather, their focus was on endurance, and thinking on one's feet. Leethzen was quite a bit smaller than her trainers, so to beat them she had to come up with clever strategies or push herself to move more quickly. Even when they sparred with weapons, there was little hope in blocking the big dragons' blows, but the pearlcatcher found that he could get the upper hand if he was fast enough.

As time passed, the sun seemed less unforgiving. It was easier to train later into the day. They began to train in the evening as well. As Leethzen suspected, the guardian was a zealot of the old dragon god. Worship came up now and again, and the paladin was quite pleased to listen to the pearlcatcher about her beliefs. They would spar on the sand, debating and discussing back and forth the merits of the gods. It was nice to have such comradery, even if they were of different faiths.

Eventually, their training would include lessons in channeling elemental magic. Both of the large dragons were adept to some degree, with Iratha being slightly better at it by nature of having been trained by the other paladins. She spoke often of simple spells, which could give you an edge in speed or strength. It took several weeks to master, but eventually Leethzen could bolster herself enough to give her an edge, provided that she could avoid being knocked down long enough.

..

At the end of the season, when she was slated to return to her clan, Leethzen was met outside the clan by the trainers, and the friends she had made during her stay. Leethzen was leaner, with new scars and harder eyes. She had been out to the desert with Sky and Ravage several more times, and spent countless hours practicing form and magic with Iratha and Umbriel.

Skyheart and Ravage met him outside, to cheerfully see him off. They had packed food and water for the trip back to the Ruins as well. "Come back some time now," said the ridgeback, "we could always use a hunting partner." "Survive well," agreed the mirror, "grow stronger." Traveling this time with Iratha for the first half, Leethzen took wing across the Boneyard. She was excited to return home, after everything. There would be plenty of stories to share with he clan when she made it home.

Bio by niyerahain and dracknorin

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Art by niyerahain