Ymeth [ Peace Delegate]

‘You would hurt me, my queen?’ came a pained, confused question. 

Death Court Candidate Story

From the Death Court RP

Above ground, pairs of dragons and dragons scanned the earth from the air, some dragons tracing sigls in the sky, others holding large electronic contraptions that they used to scan the land. 

“I heard to the north of the Dark Courts several of the scientist’s creatures tried to escape.” one rider commented, patting the back of his multi headed hydra. 

The other rider grimaced. A strong, arresting female who rode on top of a dark court blue. “Did they survive?”

A shrug. “Most were already dying. The riders were just glad that they didn’t come across any of the… what?”

“Death Court?”

“Yeah, Death Court dragons.” 

The female rider paused, reaching out to pat the dark court blue. A message passed between them, a wave of support, understanding. 

“It can’t be easy for the dragons.” the female rider said slowly. “To have brothers and sisters change sides, to be involved in a war.” a pat on the shoulder of the dark court blue who remained silent, chuffing once in response.

“Not easy for us either. We moved to the Vella Crean to avoid war, and now find ourselves trapped in this world with no escape.” 

The two rode on in companionable silence, until one of the hydra heads stiffened, letting out a yowl. 

“Death Court dragons- two queens, a  blood court and a dark court.” the male rider on the hydra frowned. “Near the lab entrances. Are you… are you going to be okay?”

The blue court dragon nodded. 

“The order is… attack to kill…” the female rider said slowly. “I’m not sure-”

‘My queen’ soft, sad words. ‘We’ve found you. Please leave now’

Hexeth reached the hole first and attacked it with feverish energy.  She clawed and pulled at the dirt, ripping it away from the nearly invisible opening in the ground.  A few feet down, her claws punched through into open air, and she let out a jubilant cry.

We have it!  We have an opening.  I can see… Oh!  There’s Bold.  Hexeth pressed her head to the ground, peering through the space she’d made.  Though shadows cloaked most of the interior, the not-Shy’s ghostly pale face swam into view like a bobber lost at sea.

Hexeth pulled away and frantically began digging again.

Something pinged at her awareness.  She brushed it off as nerves over not seeing Naxi’im yet, but looked up anyway.  There, in the distance but growing closer, two specs of colour against the pale blue sky.  Court dragons, and they’d already spotted them.

Hexeth hissed and whirled around, shielding the hole with her body.  Her lips pulled back in a snarl as she flared her wings.

They’re coming to kill our King, she said to Nemondath.  I won’t let them.  We’ll kill them first!

Nemondath let out a mental crow of delight at Hexeth’s words- is they could see Bold, then Naxi’im could not be far behind! She dug alongside her sister, frantic in her movements- they needed to save Naxi’im now, figure out what had caused the destruction, and get home, safely. 

‘My queen, we’ve found you. Please leave now’.

The mental touch of a familiar dark court blue had her raise her head first, looking towards the direction the voice was coming from. 

‘You would dare, attack me?’ she was incredulous. 

The blue had followed her all of his life- had been a happy little hatchling who had eagerly demonstrated how willing he was to obey the queens of the dark court. She had taught him so many things, had considered him one of her most loyal soldiers. 

It had been a good idea, in the beginning, to have a spy at the Courts. She had considered this his selfless sacrifice- to stay behind and watch, monitor the courts of words and missives that might hurt her family and her mate.

And yet. Despite the years that passed, the dark court blue had never changed his mind. Had never peeled away to join her. 

Nemondath did not feel betrayed. It felt- more insidious than that. 

‘My queen, I would have never attacked you. I would have never given away your location. I would have never stood against you- but you attacked and killed my brothers and sisters’.

‘You stole MY child!’ she raged. At Hexeth’s alarm, she turned to face the dragons, pushing herself off the ground with a beat of wings. 

‘You stole our livestock. You hurt OUR Mother.’ Distressed words from the dragon whose every wingbeat brought him closer. ‘Please leave’

Nemondath snarled. Her tail raised high in warning. ‘You would dare attack me’ 

‘I would never attack you’ 

‘The other is not court, Hexeth.’ Nemondath warned. ‘You are a Blood Court, you will have sway over other court dragons. But that- that is an abomination from a different world’. 

A few days ago, she would have hesitated at the thought of killing another dragon.  She would do anything to protect her Court and her family, but killing seemed a line too far.  Until they stole Xirameth.  They struck first, and in defending what was hers, Hexeth had killed for the first time.  Staring up at the approaching dragons, she knew it would not be the last.

Three heads, Hexeth replied as the dragons drew close enough to pick out details.  All the more for me to rip off!

With a bellow of challenge, Hexeth threw herself into the sky.  She pumped her wings at a rapid pace, charging toward the ones who dared threaten her King.

Deep beneath the ground, Naxi’im picked his way to the lab where Bold and the Magpie waited for a large enough opening.  He’d felt the triumph of his bond as she found the hole, and then a sudden wave of rage.  His queens were under attack, and they’d not had enough time to open the hole large enough for any of them to pass through.  Too much longer in this space and the smoke would drag him down to unconsciousness again.  He could feel it creeping in at the edges of his mind.

Naxi’im shook the Pigeon off from his leg, though the pitiful creature clung stubbornly, and sent it over to stand in the corner with Bold and the Magpie.  Four projects.  A pathetic number given how many Magpies he’d replicated and how far Fungus had spread.  Enough to start over at least.

Dizzy but determined, Naxi’im set his claws into the hole Hexeth had started and began pulling away chunks of glass and concrete from the ceiling.  It would be slow, difficult work.  The concrete was made to withstand earthquakes, the glass thick enough to hold thousands of pounds, yet at least he could see daylight.  He just had to dig.

The hydra snarled, spewing acid in the Blood Court’s direction, two heads rearing forwards, one holding back as it assessed the distance between themselves at the Death Court queens. The dark blue court held back- their wings were held high above them, stinger waving with warning, but their eyes whirled a sickly green and purple.

The female rider leaned forwards. 

“Can you do this, Ymeth?” she murmured. “If we don’t kill them, they will kill us.” 

‘But she is my queen’ came stricken words. 

Nemondath charged towards the dark blue court, and Ymeth hesitated in the air- the hesitation giving the Death Court queen enough time to fly straight into the rider and dragon, stinger raking down Ymeth’s side. 

Both dragon and rider screamed at the attack, and sickly green and purple eyes whirled crimson as the dark blue court bellowed. 

‘You would hurt me, my queen?’ came a pained, confused question. 

‘I will NOT let you hurt my Court!’ Nemondath raged. ‘I will not let you hurt my children’ 

Ymeth reared back, flying harder, higher into the air, using his smaller size to take weave around the dark court queen.

‘I will not let you hurt my rider’ he snarled back, and attacked. 

Hexeth dodged deftly to the side, her wings folding tight to her body as the acid sprayed through the space she’d occupied a second before.  She was not within raking distance yet, but she had her own weapons to wield.

Flaring her wings out to pull herself up short, she focused on the three-headed abomination and spat out a sticky glob of burning blue flames.

The hydra heads deftly dodged the blue flames, frantically beating their wings to get away, to get far from the devastating blue fire that had already injured so many of the Courts. The wind blue wild- flames flickered as they fell to the ground, small, smoldering clumps that littered the tops of trees, the fields here and there.

The rider cursed as flame landed on their jacket- immediately discarding their clothing. 

‘Death Court, quadrant 625- they wield the blue flames!’ the alert went out. ‘Bring sand, bring magic, control the fire!’ 

Distracted as they were in avoiding the blue flames, they left themselves open to physical attack.

Ymeth raked claws across Nemondath’s flank- who retaliated by lashing her tail wide, catching the tip of a wingsail. 

‘You could have been one of us!’ Nemondath screamed. 

Deaf to her sister’s anguish, Hexeth took delight in her opening.  She had hoped for distraction of some kind.  This worked.

As the rider called out his warning, Hexeth released a scream and dove straight for the hydra’s chest, claws and teeth seeking tender flesh.

The three headed hydra let out a shriek, each head screaming a different pitch as claws and teeth tore through soft flesh. They spat desperate acid, acid that flew but lack the potency of a calculated strike.

The rider screamed, a different, wretched howl, and from the distance, a howl from a draconic throats echoed in the air, signalling reinforcements still a long ways off. 

Claws scraped and grasped at Hexeth weakly, heads trying to snap and tear, to pull away. Wings struggled, beating asynchronously in the air as they stared tumbling down towards the ground, pulling Hexeth down with them. 

Hexeth pushed off from her foe, using the hydra as a spring board to give herself extra luft.  For a moment, she watched him fall, dragon and rider tumbling together toward death.  Good.  Let the human die with the passing of his dragon.  As it should be.

Then Hexeth turned and examined her sister’s battle.  A lowly slave like the blue should have been no match for Nemondath, and yet her sister hesitated.  Why?

‘My queen’ desperate words, pleading. As if the blue could not still decide whether the queen he had served so loyally for so many years his his leader, or if she was his enemy.

‘Join us, Ymeth’ soft words that she crooned to the blue she had raised so much like her own. Had he been practice, for her to be better equipped for Xirameth? ‘Join us now, drop your rider and-’

Nemondath had drawn attention to the wrong words: because at the mention of the rider, Ymeth’s eyes swirled crimson. 

‘I will not abandon my rider, my bond’ his words were harsh, fangs gleaming as he raked at her with renewed vigour.

But Nemondath was bigger. Stronger. Equipped with new abilities. She was more than a dark court queen- she was a Death Court Queen now. 

‘You could have been a trusted general’ she said sadly. She had not wanted it to come to this, but she would make a decision for Ymeth. As long as the rider died, there would be nothing holding him to the Courts. Blue fire built in her chest, flinging out of her in a high arc. ‘You could have fought by our side as a leader, not a slave’ 

The dark blue swerved, avoiding most of the blue fire- but as he brought up a wing to protect his rider, it splattered against his wing sail. 

Nemondath hissed in alarm. ‘You fool!’ 

Wingsail burned, scorched by blue fire. The female rider let out a piercing scream of pain as Ymeth’s flight faltered and he fell sharply to the ground. 

Hexeth watched the blye spin toward the ground like a pinwheel on the wind.  He’d survive the fall at that rate.  She needed to end him.

Hexeth arced into a dive toward the tumbling blue.

Nemondath watched her sister dive down. She would take care of the issue- she would kill the dark blue that caused her a little bit of sadness and regret. It would allow her to move on, to focus only on Xirameth, Naxi’im, and her new family.

And yet.

‘Leave him, sister’ her tone was sharp. ‘We need to find Naxi’im and leave before reinforcements arrive. They will try the blue fire- take home the bodies’ the blue dragon crashed onto earth and she watched it’s limp form.

Still, even in death throes he held his rider tight towards his chest, cushioning most of the blow.

‘Leave him’ she repeated.

He had helped her save Xirameth by showing where her daughter was being kept.

He had helped their court by sharing information.

With this, Nemondath decided she had repaid her debts to the blue dark court.

‘Goodby Ymeth’ 

Hexeth pulled up sharply and looked to Nemondath.  Why was her sister asking to spare this pathetic slave?  

Her eyes travelled to the hole.  It was wider now and she could see Naxi’im’s claws slowly crumbling more and more of the barrier, but he moved so slowly.  A touch of his mind revealed sluggish thoughts and a burning awareness of how short his breaths came.

Hexeth forgot the blue and dove to the ground.  She landed with several hopping steps and clamoured up to the opening.

Help me, sister.  He is weak and we need to get him out.  And then Hexeth began to dig again.

—

From the Hatching

The bonding of the dark red signalled the end of the hatching, and noise crept back in around the edges of the gathering. Yet for one particular blue dragon standing sentinel at the back of his small group, the only noise he heard whispered across his mind like mist on a summer morning.

::Why don’t you want me,:: the voice asked.

::I do.::

::Then why do you ignore me? Why will you not make space for me?::

::You are asking me to betray them.::

::So you would betray me instead?::

Ymeth tried his hardest to keep his focus on the other newly bonded, on the assortment of hatchlings, on Shiqinth excitedly talking about his next tactic for how to approach the monarchs. On anything that was not the leonin form of Nemondath curled around a hatchling as beautiful as an eclipse. He yearned to see her, and knew that the act would blind him. He looked anyway.

Nemondath lay exactly as she had throughout the hatching. She looked different than the last time he’d seen her. Stronger, more deadly, like a finely honed knife. Her Dark Court heritage still declared itself through the spikes along her neck and the venomous tip to her tail, but the four horns atop her head were now crowded with others. The lethal tiara was on full display as she tilted her head down to nuzzle at the near mirror image of herself held between her paws. Dark where she was gold, matte where she shone, but no less beautiful. The hatchling stared at him from across the way, and even from this distance he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes. The pain that blasted through his mind nearly stole the breath from his lungs.

::WHY?::

Why did he choose the Courts? Why did he remain loyal to the ones who had hurt him so many times? Why did he stay with his rider when no love existed there. She felt it. She took his connection to the woman back at the Vella Crean and threw it in his face. It was flat, dark, lifeless, whereas she burned bright enough to scald him. All she asked was his love.

::Why don’t you want me?::

Ymeth closed his eyes, unable to deal with the chaos around him any longer. There were voices, dozens of voices, raised in celebration of new links forged and new hearts filled with love. He remembered such a day long ago himself, but his bonding hadn’t come with a sudden swelling of adoration and acceptance. She was one of Shy’s creations, and she took him in as her given purpose in life. He bonded because he had to. Because to do anything else promised insanity and death.

At the back of his mind, deep in the hidden recesses, another mind prodded at his own. It sent no words. The distance between them was too far to convey anything further than impressions. There was curiosity in that mind, and a question of how long he planned to remain there.

::Hey, Ymeth, are you alright,:: Shiqinth asked.

Fury built up in his chest like a trapped fire waiting for air. He let it out, let it into his lungs, and suddenly he was the fire. Every pain he’d suffered, every friend he’d lost, every time he felt like little more than a set piece to be moved by the humans of the Court, all of it came roaring into his mind with a sudden ferocity that all he could do was scream.

::NO!::

Silence descended on the cavern, but Ymeth didn’t hear it. His thoughts were turned inward, rooting out the fragile link that bound him to another. He grasped it tight in his mind and pulled. Confusion blossomed, followed by panic and a desperate scrabbling. The other mind was a rat, an infestation, and he excised it without a moment of hesitation. Awareness of his rider dimmed, then fell silent. He waited, searching for any hint that remained. Pain throbbed through his limbs and lungs and mind, but it was the pain of an overworked muscle. Soon enough, the pain faded as well, replaced by a swelling of warm, yellow light.

Ymeth opened his eyes to see the yellow and black hatchling scrambling free of Nemondath’s grasp. He stepped forward on shaky legs, hesitant at first, and then bounding across the sands to tumble halfway and wrap himself bodily around her.

::Sodonth. Sodonth, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I waited. I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry.::

::It’s okay,:: the dark yellow hatchling cooed. She licked at the tears on his cheek, then crawled up the spikes on his neck to nuzzle against his head. ::You’re here now. That’s what matters.::

::Ymeth,:: Nemondath called. The dark queen lifted her head high as Xirameth crawled down from the platform above her and came up to her side. Nemondath motioned to the other space beside her. ::Come stand with me, my knight.::