[Wk48] The Fate of the Dragons, Part 4
The dragons were a mixed bag of responses to Saftal’s weep laden warning. Most of them felt as Saftal had; the Wraicha were not real. Saftal had seen something, but it wasn’t, couldn’t be, a Wraicha.
A quiet few believed in the Wraicha. These few hunkered in silent lumps, their wings drawn tightly around their bodies, their posture mimicking the tense wrapping of their auras against their scales. They listened to Saftal’s shock and fear, and their auras darkened with sadness.
“There is no saving them,” a quiet one finally said. He crouched in the shadow of Etyn’s deepest cavern, hidden from the maw of the cave and the rest of his clan.“They are not strong. And the Wraicha are relentless. It is done.”
“No,” Saftal insisted. She paced along the outer shelf of the cave, dust disappearing down its shear side as she moved.
“No. It is not done. They are many, and they are alive. They don’t know what has come for them. They are alone, fighting the Wraicha. They are alone, but that does not make it done.” Saftal felt the prickings of rage at the corners of her aura. She stopped her pacing and turned cutting eyes upon her clan.
“I refuse to hear this cruelty. This carelessness.”
Saftal hissed the last word of her thoughts between her fangs, a thin laser of plum steam erupting as added emphasis to the disdain and insult embedded in the accusation. The dragons recoiled as one, their auras curling in wounded surprise around their bodies. After many hushed moments, a different quiet one said, gently,
“Saftal, we would help. Of course we would. But the Wraicha will not fight us. They will not even acknowledge us. We cannot prevent them from attacking another creature. You will see for yourself should you go to try. The Wraicha attach where they are called. We dragons do not call them. Cannot call them. So they do not answer.” The dragon blinked sadly at her. “It is why so few remember them. It is why so few believe in them. How can we help them if all we can do is watch?”
Saftal glared. Her clan lifted from the cave and began their flight to Orachii in stiff silence. One of Saftal’s siblings murmured to her that maybe the elves would help, but the hopeful sentiment didn’t take the sting out of her clan’s dismissal. Saftal’s spiral of loss and heartbreak deepened as they traveled; she could see her ache echoing along the edges of her clan’s auras as they moved through time and space towards the elves for their biennial celebration.
Stay tuned for the final part of the series next week! Catch parts 1, 2, and 3 first!