Back at the cave, six weeks later.
"Ew get that off of me dainty!" Carnelian growled at her little brother.
"I want a different name! Dainty is for losers who are weak." He complained. He would not just drop the subject! If He wants a different name so bad why not just change it himself?
Mother rolled her eyes and made a low growl. "These aren't even your real names, just something to call you all until you get some."
He rolled his eyes back, "If they're temporary why won't you just change it, Carnelian!?"
Carnelian. That was what my siblings agreed to call me. She quite liked it, it was a shame her temporary name was gonna be replaced.
i"I think it fits you, 'dainty loser'. I bet the reason you're roaring at me is because you're too scared to battle it out with your strong big sister." She'd taunted. Putting her face right up in his.
"I am not!"
"Are too."
"No. I'm. Not!"
Dainty barreled straight into Carnelian. As they rolled, Carnelian kicked up her back legs to direct her weight back on top of him and nip his ear.
Then he curled his tail to push in between them. It pushed her with such force that she was sent flapping away from him.
It was a hard blow but she quickly recovered. Just as Carnelian was about to charge and headbutt him with her horns, Mother called for them.
"If you can't fight AND keep up I swear on my tail I'm going to eat you both!"
"Sorry, we're coming!" Carnelian squeaked. Her brother shot her a friendly glare and she shot him a petty smirk back.
They both ran to regroup with our siblings, trailing a good distance behind their mother just like baby ducks in case she smacked them with her tail or stepped on them.
After walking through some tall weird-looking forest of trees for a while they finally arrived to a lake. The lake was a clear radiant turquoise color that reflected everything off of it. tiny little fish were visible near the surface, but nothing other than that because the bottom was too deep to pinpoint exactly where it was
Mother turned, whipping her tail around heavily. It was A good idea to walk far behind her or they'd be fertilizer right now. "Don't forget we are dragons, the highest kind. Don't let any misfortune creature dishonor you." She very randomly told them.
Carnelian rolled her eyes. How could I forget I'm a dragon? Instead of speaking like a fancy lizard, you'd think she could speak enough for little me to understand. I don't get metaphors yet! Or— am I the lizard? Just dumber? Stop!
Dainty must've been thinking something similar because right after Carnelian had that thought he said, "Mother must be feeling insecure," he snuck in a quiet, "Silly beetle head." at the end.
Soar started looking worried, "Dainty don't…" His snout pointed at Pele, who was facing them.
His warning came too late, because Mother had heard what he said loud and clear, and looked enraged at his disrespect. She started a low growl, "The only reason I won't stuff your tail down your throat right now, is because you have a cute little attitude like mine. Don't you ever dare downgrade me." she snarled the warning and stared intently at Dainty.
Carnelian and her siblings stared at Dainty, wide-eyed. She was serious about disposing of him if he disrespected her too much. And all he did was joke about her! For a moment, the siblings shifted uncomfortably until Cerberus broke the silence.
Cerberus' middle head said, "Mother, he just meant to joke a little, I'm sure he meant nothing bad about it. Right, Dainty?" He snuck a glance at Dainty.
"Oh, Yes. I'm sorry Mother. I truly didn't mean any disrespect by it. You know how we act sometimes, surely." He said, lowering his head and looking as apologetic as possible.
Poor Dainty. I wonder why she's being such a snob right now.
She looked mad, but thoughtful, "Huh. Whatever." She dismissed, "I took you all here to learn how to hunt for yourselves. To find prey, hunt it, and don't die I guess." She shrugged. "Bring the body back to me when you're done. I'll be right here."
Carnelian nodded and sped away. Mother seemed calm now but right now, she wouldn't put anything past her. This wasn't the first time either. whenever they did something to annoy her— even if unintentional— she'll snap at them, but this is the first death threat.
She also had been bringing back dead animals for us to eat, but they were all so big compared to us, that she never had to bring back any large portions. She probably just wants us to hunt for ourselves so she can sleep even more than she already does.
Carnelian focused on the surrounding area, trying to find some sort of movement that might be edible. The fresh scent of the lake brushed past her nose. She could hear branches and leaves rustling throughout the forest. her eyes were able to pinpoint every single leaf that moved. She never really acknowledged her senses enough to realize how easily she could pinpoint everything.
There was a beefy bullcow thing in the distance, but they were too fat and weak to make her first-ever hunt fun.
it'd be easier to find something worth catching if she flew from above, but her wings weren't quite strong enough to take off from the ground.
Carnelian jumped onto a nearby tree and struggled upwards, like a lumbering hippo on a tree. She kept clawing her way up until she was high enough to see most of the forest ahead of her.
Out of breath she flopped onto a thick branch and rested on it for a good while. That's about when she noticed that these trees were tall. Like— very tall, to the point of where it was ridiculous. Thin vines hung from one tree to the other, connecting most of them.
The lake was directly in the middle of the forest and suddenly from this height, it didn't seem nearly as big. From this view, she was able to get a glance at Tiny going for a smaller sea creature, which was way too fast for him, and Cerberus going for a odd mutated chicken? Um, okay so maybe not one of those.
Thankfully she knew exactly what her prey was today. And it wasn't going to be anything ugly looking.
There was a long bird in the sky with four wings and a golden eagle beak. Its feathers were fluffy and white, and its tail was so big and long it dropped slightly when it flew. It had the legs of a cat and a small mane like a lion.
It was about twice the size of Carnelian, but it was prey. Her prey. Not only that but it was incredibly skinny and fragile looking .
She dropped out of the tree and assumed a diving position straight towards the ground, and right before she could crash she spread her wings and used the momentum to take off upwards.
Her prey hadn't spotted her from under and was still flying south. She beat her wings hard and full one last time before gliding, not making a noise. After days of practicing sneak attacks on her siblings, she was fully confident in this piece of prey. As She dove down the wind made a high pitched swooshing sound.
Right when she was going to barrel into the bird's backside, it noticed her and let out an alarm call, which was quickly cut off by the impact of horns into its stomach.
It screeched in pain and clumsily but efficiently scratched her neck down to her shoulder. Wincing she ripped back her horns and retreated with a kick, but she wasn't nearly done.
Quickly, Carbelian dived down out of reach, and deftly swerved back upwards towards the sky, once again above her prey. She dived with her horns pointed towards its throat. It saw the horn attack coming and turned to counterattack.
But head-butting him twice wasn't her intention. Carnelians horns were shock absorbent but they were quite sensitive at the base because of blood vessels and strong nerves, which was like hyperesthesia in all dragons. Unfortunately, her horns aren't nearly as long and developed as her mother's so it's harder to avoid hitting that spot.
Instead, right before they went into contact she spread her wings heavily and was thrown back by the wind, ruining the bird's momentum. Instead of crashing into her, it was in a panic state trying to not fly straight into her claws.
She was only able to make such an abrupt stop because she was diving down towards it. The bird was flying up towards her so it couldn't stop as fast.
Carnelian quickly made a move and grabbed its limbs with her front claws and tore down its underbelly with her back claws. Finally, she was able to strain so she could chomp on its underneck. But It still was struggling.
She dived and stopped, then dived and stopped, over and over again trying to knock the wind out of her prey.
Until Finally, it was over. The struggle was over. It wasn't a fight since the bird had no chance of winning, so it was a struggle.
The only struggle I'm about to have is carrying this ginormous thing back to my mom.
Today a lesson was learned, don't hunt animals twice your size. Every other flap was a humongous heave. Usually, I'd be able to glide somewhat, but with all this extra weight if I even tried I'd fall straight to my doom. I look like a clumsy pigeon desperately holding a loaf of bread. Carnelian thought suddenly feeling self-conscious
Power was out in the distance, about a mile away. She was holding a super long snake with a barb on its tail in her mouth.
Carnelian wanted to call out to her for help, but then she would get some credit on her first prey. I don't want that. This one is special. I'm sure my mother would disapprove of not being independent. Surely she was only so far? I can make it to her in one piece.
Pushing onwards, Carnelian beat her wings harder and tried to catch any wind currents.
By the time I made it to my mother, only Cerberus, Power, and Archaic had made it back so far.
Cerberus had that monster chicken with enormous claws and teeth. Power and Archaic brought back very long and fat snakes that all had barbed tails and sharp, protruding fangs.
After she had landed she looked back and saw her brother soar flying towards us. He was carrying some kind of weird animal with horns, I couldn't compare it to anything, cause it looked so unique.
Soar tossed the creature and reported, "Tiny went hunting in the lake, he's swimming back right now. Dainty is in the trees fighting some tree-climbing animals. But I think he's already caught a few."
Who asked? "Alright thanks, Soar." Carnelian said automatically, "What is that… thing you caught?" It didn't look disgusting or anything, it was just unique. Like an antelope?
"I wish I knew" he sighed, "It looks appealing though."
It was obvious he wanted to dig in right now, the last time Mother had brought home prey for all of us was four days ago, and it was only one very fat, bloated bull. A snack compared to the usual meals she used to bring us.
Tiny was dragging his piece of prey back towards us too, and Dainty was seen in the distance behind him. Flying with two big cat-looking things in the distance.
When Mother heard them approaching she finally rose from her nap to evaluate our catches.
"Hm. Very impressive." She said once Tiny and Dainty were within earshot. "I meant to hunt prey, not mythic creatures, but they'll do it for dinner tonight." She hummed.
"Um, what are the names of these 'mythical creatures' mom?" Cerberus asked.
His question surprised me. Cerberus never really talks to voice his opinion or ask questions.
She pointed at Cerberus' chicken, "That is a vampire chicken." The chicken had a spiney bright red frill surrounding its head that looked like flesh, instead of feathers it had multiple spiney blood-red shards all across the body wings, and tail.
She turned to Power and Archaic's catch, "These are Crotalus scorpions." The scorpions were more snakes if anything else, but that's probably what Crotalus means. It had a long thick body like a python, and right at the end there was a barbed tail and in its mouth, it had protruding fangs. "These bites to paralyze, wrap-around, squeeze you, and poison you with their tails."
She turned to Carnelian "That's some sort of a type of griffin. The Minoan snowy owl and lion mix one."
She turned to soar, "That's a marasmus, quite the delicacy and very rare. Don't hunt those anymore." Soar nodded as she went on,
"Dainty, those are jungle leopards, they live like monkeys and kill like a big cat." The Jungle Leopards were cute, it has tails that curled twice and heart spots and stripes all over their body.
And finally, she turned to tiny and lazily pointed with her claw. "How in tarnation did you find that in a lake?" She asked, visibly confused. Tiny looked surprised, "Oh um, I'm not sure, I found it in the very deep end. That lake went down forever." Tiny fidgeted. Mother put on a serious expression but didn't talk about it. She moved in and said, "That's some sort of alligator-spinosaurus thing. I'm not exactly sure, I'm not built for underwater adventures."
Mother stood up tall and declared, "You all will be granted permission to hunt for yourself from now on. Don't go around killing mythic beings for no reason, go for actual prey like Cerberus' chicken, or the bloated bull I brought you guys."
"Hunting too far from home means you most likely will run into other dragonets. If you do, as long as you don't enter their home, their mother should stay out of your business." She said, It felt as though she was slightly annoyed by that fact.
"How do we know she won't attack us?" Carnelian asked. Slightly confused. Mother rolled her eyes, "Us older dragons have some rules, you'll know once you get that age. Enjoy your freedom while you can."
Tiny was still confused, "But if we cross into her territory won't she have the right to kick us out?"
"The territory's dragon's make are only for raising young, to warn a dragon not to cross or there will be problems." She said indifferently. "But when a dragonet crosses a territory, it means battle with the dragonets already living there." She turned her head to look at us, "Overall, you can do whatever you want in another territory unless they say otherwise, and if you don't like what they tell you, whoever comes out on top gets to make the rules."
Carnelian and her siblings turn to each other. Unease etched its way into her heart. It felt like Mother was skipping over some things that she had a problem with.
…
…
That night Carnelian and her siblings went back to the ledge in the cave to go over what they had just learned about the territory battles.
Power stomped her foot. "We should go straight to battle and steal as much land as we can!" Her twin dropped his eyebrows in annoyance, "We barely even know our territory. Wouldn't it be better to patrol our territory before setting out for others?"
Tiny was kneading a tiny rabbit he caught on his way back. "I agree with Archaic. We won't be able to keep our territory if we don't know our way around it." He said half present.
Carnelian put her vote as well, "I agree with him too, power. I don't wanna jump straight into battle to fight. I wanna fight to win. We haven't even learned how to use dragon breath."
Cerberus suggested, "Why don't we patrol around our territory solo for a couple of weeks, and then start practicing fighting as a group? Then we can start taking over the other territories."
Dainty, who was half asleep, muttered loudly, "Why don't we just not fight them and keep to ourselves?"
Power rolled her eyes, "That's the worst thing we could do!" Her brother patted her on the back soothingly with his tail, nodding agreement.
Tiny turned, "That is the worst thing we could do, Dainty. If we expand our land and it gets stolen back, at least our main territory would be safe. If we take no action that could lead to us constantly fighting to keep our territory, then fighting wouldn't be worth it cause it'd be a no-gain game."
"Huh," Dainty hummed, curling up and going back to sleep.
"I think Cerberus had the right plan, and Dainty has the right current. I'm tired. Let's plan the rest of our attack plan when we wake up." Carnelian sighed.
"About time" Dainty muttered again,"You're keeping me awake."
The rest of Carnelian's siblings went to snuggle with Dainty. Carnelian wasn't going to join them, quite yet because she had a few worries about Tiny's little piece of prey and mother's reaction to it. Mother was so collected and unbothered by things— unless she gets annoyed— that when she showed interest and uncertainty toward that spino-alligator thing, Carnelian couldn't help but be intrigued as well.
Stalking towards the edge of the ledge, Carnelian peeked over to her mother, who was lying on the floor drawing with her claws. I a picture, or— perhaps a map.
Mother was muttering something and a mixture of wind and fire rose from a specific part of the map aggressively forming two dragon heads. On one the fire swirled and created black shadow, on the other all the fire burnt out and all that was left was the stormy wind.
Mother then huffed, annoyed, before formed a shield around her.
What is she doing? Carnelian wanted to ask but refrained from doing so.
The dragons' mouths started moving as if talking to her. Mother was unhurriedly nodding her head while her tail tip flicked impatiently. Finally, Mother started speaking with a bored, tired tone, through the hushed, muffled sound the shield was given I could hear her say something like, 'Otherworldly…', '…near my den', '…attack…', 'but…' and '…bring'.
The shield muffled anything else but Carnelian could kind of catch on to what was happening.
The other dragons were looking thoughtful. They were too quiet for me to hear through the shield, unlike my mother, but after exchanging and few more words I heard mother say, 'Go…' and '…in three months.'
It seemed like their conversation was coming to an end as Mother laid her head down, so Carnelian stealthily stalked back to her siblings' huddle pile and flopped onto them like a queen. Quickly going to sleep in fear of being caught.