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Slayer or Layer 40

For Lorvianne

By Draconicon

Despite coming out of the feral fog that had taken his mind down the darker paths of dragonhood, into the realms of motherhood and a greater protectiveness than he had never known from wolves, Lorkos still had a great deal of recovery to do after laying his eggs and looking over them. The lack of movement had rendered him weaker than he expected, and as he stretched his limbs, he realized that they were stiffer, slower, more sluggish than they had been before his last pregnancy.

It wasn't a good feeling, particularly while being in a cavern where there was a male dragon that might have taken advantage of him.

Determined to be out of the cavern within the week, Lorkos nevertheless took the time to continue educating his children. Lia and the others born to him of the village so long ago were always in attendance, and as they started to remain awake during the day, the newborns started to pay attention as well.

Perhaps the most surprising was to find Mastar, the mage from several weeks back, coming to the lessons as well. Though the former wolf had been turned into a dragon, if a smaller one, he still had some remnants of the old wolf ideals to him. More than once, he corrected Lorkos on a minor point, and it lifted his spirits to know that there was someone else around that was aware of the ideals of the Pack.

However, not all was well beneath the mountain.

He had barely regained his mind for two days before the male came down to the caverns after one of the lessons. The dragon shook his head as he entered.

"You're wasting your time. Unlike you, they will be true dragons."

"They deserve the option. They came from me, and they deserve to know some of where they came from," Lorkos said.

"You're spoiling them."

The blue-scaled dragoness growled deep in his throat, his foreclaws curling into the stone. It did nothing to intimidate the male, and why should it? He was still weak, barely able to keep himself upright, let alone capable of fighting.

"You need to stop before it gets worse."

"I will stop when they are educated. When they know what the traditions are."

"Hmmph."

"And if you want to stop me, you'll have to take them from me."

The male looked down at him, and for a moment, Lorkos wondered if the other dragon would take it so seriously as to try. They glared at one another for a moment or three, and then the male turned his head.

"This isn't over."

"No. It won't be until they've learned their heritage," Lorkos muttered.

As the true dragon left him alone again, Lorkos slumped down against his forearms. The lessons had worn him out, and he knew that he'd need rest. At the same time, he didn't want to show weakness. The last thing that he needed was for his host to start taking matters into his own hands. Before he'd laid the eggs, his host had been kept at bay after several shows of dominance. That was obviously fading if he was getting this aggressive.

Tomorrow...

He closed his eyes, nuzzling into his forelegs. Tomorrow would be time enough to start taking a stand, and then things would be better.

Morning came, and with it a shriek. Lorkos was on his feet in seconds, scrambling for the exit of the cavern. When another shriek came, he moved faster still, his claws throwing him forward as much as anything else.

What the hell are you doing?!

He ran out of the cavern that had been his dwelling for far too long to find his children in the main cavern with the male. The yellow dragon loomed over them, his shoulders hunched and his head hanging down.

"The lot of you have been led astray. It is time that you learn what true dragons should know, and you'll learn it from -"

"We're here to learn from our Lithia, not you."

The yellow dragon swept his claws through the air, nearly hitting Lia across the cheek. The motion was all that Lorkos needed to see.

With a roar that echoed through the cavern, the blue dragoness slammed into the yellow dragon, bowling him over. He was promptly thrown through the air afterward, but flared his wings, coming around with another roar.

Claw met claw as they clashed, rolling over one another and almost striking several deep blows. Only deep instinct and practiced fighting skills kept them from disemboweling one another right then and there, and several times, that would not have been enough if Lorkos had been at the top of his game.

Another kick, and the blue dragoness went flying backwards. He hit the wall with a thud, sucking air as one of his wings twinged with pain at the joint. He tried to flex it, but it refused to move, barely lifting at all.

And the yellow dragon was coming straight for him.

No, no, no!

Lorkos roared, and as he did, a blur shot past the corner of his eye. Another dragon. Mastar.

The small blue blur slammed into the yellow dragon's neck, knocking him off-course and sending him flying into the nearby wall. Flick, flick, flick. The blue dragon Blinked in and out of existence, almost like the spell, darting in and out of reach as Lorkos tried to pull himself together after that harsh blow.

"Nnngh..."

"Lithia, are you -"

"I'm fine, Lia," he lied. "Get the others out of the cave."

As his oldest did just that, he positioned himself between the male and the fleeing young ones. He was still more than pissed, more than angry. The fact that this male had decided that he was going to interfere, that he would dare to try and strike his Pack...

That called for punishment.

As Mastar was finally caught, Lorkos lunged forward. He felt a pulsing throb in the back of his head as he slammed into the yellow dragon, knocking him back against the wall. Even as the male tried to turn his attention back to the dragoness, Lorkos followed up with one blow after another. Swinging his forelegs, thrashing his neck around to bring his horns against the other dragon's chest, doing everything in his power to bring pain to the male, everything to hurt him. That was all that mattered to him in that moment.

He wasn't sure how long the rage settled on him for, but it was long enough to do damage. The yellow dragon slunk away, pulling back to the far end of the cavern. Holes in his chest bled from the horn blows, and there were slashes along the side of his neck and down his flanks. The male growled.

"This isn't right," he muttered.

"You weren't right. You will not get between me and my children again," Lorkos growled, hunching his shoulders and sticking his head out with his teeth bared. "Or the next time, you won't get up again."

"..."

"Do you understand?"

"You should leave," the male muttered, looking down.

"I plan to, when my children are safe."

"..."

"Leave. Them. Alone."

"..."

"I said, LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

The roar echoed through the cavern, coming back at them with a vengeance, and the male bowed his head in acquiescence. Lorkos nodded, turning on his hind legs and walking towards the exit of the cavern. Mastar followed, the once-wolf trodding along in his wake, the blue-scaled dragon shaking his head.

Lorkos sighed.

"Thank you for the help," he said.

"I don't know where that came from," Mastar admitted. "I was just minding my own business, then, suddenly..."

"...You weren't coming on your own free will?"

"I just came when I heard the roar."

"...And then you stayed."

"I'm not sure why I did that, either."

He didn't do that on his own. And he didn't stay on his own.

Which meant that there was something else involved here.

Lorkos looked down at the dragon as he walked ahead of him, keeping his eyes on those blue scales. They were rather similar to his own, but that had always been the case. Had there been some sort of bond between them? Something that had come together when the curse had screwed up everything in the area? Or was it something more than that?

He looked back at the male. The yellow dragon was no more than a shadow at the back of the cave, but he was angry. That submission, that surrender, wouldn't last for long. They'd need to do something to get out of here sooner than later.

Lorkos was about to take another step when something else hit him, and his mouth fell open.

"...I just fought a dragon," he whispered.

Mastar paused, looking back at him.

"Yes? And?"

"No, no, it's..." He lifted a forepaw, pressing it against his muzzle. "I shouldn't have been able to. And I did it twice, with him."

Once at the start, and once now. There were other, smaller conflicts between them, but even that should have raised the curse that had driven all attempts to hurt dragons into heat. What had happened? Had the curse died off?

No chance of that, surely, but had the laying of the eggs weakened it, temporarily? Had it given them an opening?

"Mastar."

"What?"

"Look at me. Look at the curse."

"Oh, no. Not after what happened last time."

"Just look at it."

"I'm not messing with that. Not again."

"Just look at it. Don't touch it, just look."

The smaller blue dragon gritted his teeth, but did as he was told, leaning in and staring at the blue dragoness. Lorkos held still, not daring to move in case some thread of the curse was activated just from being as mutated as it had become. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that there was something off with it.

Eventually, Mastar's eyes went wide.

"That's new..."

"What happened?"

"It's not gone, but...I can't believe this."

"What? Tell me."

"It's loose. Not enough to slide off, but enough to...I don't know. Change a bit. Not much. Not far, but a bit."

"Can you do that?"

"If it stays that way for a day, so I can study it...yes."

"Do you need to stay close?"

"Well, obviously. I can't study it from a distance, can I?"

Nodding, he walked forward as if nothing had happened. He didn't want to start giving himself or the young ones hope before there was need for it. They could still lose it all, still be stuck with this, but...

But there was the chance of something better. Something that would let them leave sooner. Something that would make the curse easier to handle.

If something can be changed, what should it be? he wondered. I'm normally strong in this form, but that's not going to be as helpful when I'm still recovering. Not to mention that the mammal kingdoms will be able to see me from a mile away when I'm flying in this shape. But if we changed that...

When he had been a wolf, he had been able to travel fairly surreptitiously. Nobody had known he was cursed, and no one had been that much of a problem for him, as long as they weren't scale-covered. If he could get halfway to that, even if he could just get back to walking on two legs...

Being on two legs, disguised... A slow smile crept over his face. That would get me through most of the kingdom. They wouldn't notice me as long as I didn't show off the scales too much, and even if it was slower...

Yes, that would be perfect. If Mastar could change things, if he could go that far with altering the curse, then they had a chance.

They had a chance.

The End

Summary: Lorkos lashes out at his host for rather horrible manners, and finds a possible way forward.

Tags: No sex, fight, fighting, dragoness, dragon, magic, series, patreon reward, feral, fantasy,