In Need of Rescuing?

"Where have you been?!"

Mai roared at the much bigger creature, which suddenly stopped and recoiled from her anger.

{Uh? Uh... I was going... to go north - for... more of those pods we had picked -}

Lygawa held firm in her true form, just at the caves entrance, now cautiously looking at the smaller human who continued to fume at her.

"And then why didn't you tell me!"

{I meant it to be... a surprise...}

So she meant to get me a present...

{...I intended to be only a day... but...}

"But you're here instead - why?"

Mai dropped from her shouting, but she was still very upset.

Lygawa shifted uncomfortably as she looked to evade.

{It was not my choice... I did not want to be here...}

She stopped, but her 'words' didn't give Mai what she was after.

"You still have wings - what's stopping you then?!"

She barked back, while the great reptile slunk down.

{I'm sorry... my sister intercepted me...}

"Sister?"

She's never told me once she has a sister...

[Ryoniya is nearby?]

Nullawhy asked, peering into the cave.

{Yes... but she only just went off to hunt... so please, you must go, yes, I will return later...}

"Not good enough young lady! Tell me what's going on, and then I might do what you ask..."

Mai stood firm with her hands on her hips.

Lygawa wavered some more, but eventually started to explain herself.

{As I traveled north, yesterday... my sister caught me passing by and... forced me to stay here...}

I suppose we're talking about another dragon here but...

"How is she keeping you here?"

{My sister, Ryoniya, is perhaps both faster and stronger than I...}

"So you couldn't just up and go..."

{Yes.}

Mai settled from her anger, but still had questions.

"You should have left a better message than 'I've gone'..."

{But I wrote; I would be back... although that turned out to be untrue...}

The silver dragon refuted.

"No, there were only four words on that paper..."

Lygawa tilted her head.

{I did write more than that...}

Mai sighed heavily.

"It was still fairly dark when you left, wasn't it?"

Mai guessed the rest had been scribbled somewhere off the papers edge by the dippy dragon.

{I am so sorry.}

Mai put her forehead into her hand and sighed again.

At least he's not trapped and crying... but then how...

Mai looked into the big cavern again.

"So this is where your sister has been staying?"

{Yes, and she wants me to remain here too, unfortunately...}

Mai had calmed down completely, and now sort of a way for Lygawa to be well clear of that cave, she now didn't trust at all.

"Is she keeping you here because she's bigger than you too...?"

{Not bigger, but slightly older and a little more powerful...}

"So why does she want you to stay here then?"

Lygawa brought her head closer to Mai.

{She mistrusts Humans - more than Nullawhy or I, so wishes me to keep my distance... despite my stories of how kind and thoughtful some of you can be.}

"Hum..."

{That is why I ask for you to leave, and give me a little more time to ease her concerns.}

I'd rather not let you go back in there...

"How do you manage in the dark?"

{I admit it is unnerving, but in my current form I can clearly hear the echoes, so in some effect - I can 'see' my surroundings...}

"Isn't it cold in there?"

Mai tried a different approach.

{Surprisingly not so much, it's better than being outside at night, yes.}

Mai was getting more annoyed with each of Lygawa's responses - as the dragon attempted to alleviate her worries.

You're making my attempt to get you away from here more difficult...

Mai was just about to voice her distressing 'vision' to the creature, when the need was taken from her, as the two large reptiles suddenly raised their heads to look about, startled by whatever they had both detected.

[What is that?]

Nullawhy swung her body about.

Something strong sounded, almost like a great rumble of thunder that rolled toward them, but it was something Mai was partly familiar with.

An Earthquake!

The forceful ground movement caught up with the growing noise - intensely shuddering the entire ground they stood on, but not for long.

Both dragons took to the sky, getting clear of the moving rocks below, while the silver one gently plucked the woman from the earth too, carefully using her front two feet, before getting clear.

More noise sounded around them, as the big mountain shook, sending loose boulders and stone sprinkling down everywhere, including to where they had all just been.

A section of the mountainside then suddenly slipped, before breaking apart as the mass gave way, crashing and tumbling down the steep side with an amazing amount of noise, spreading over almost a quarter of the slopped side, and promptly covering over the cave's opening with a thick bundle of rocks and soil.

Then the world rested and quietened, apart from the occasional flap from the two reptiles.

[Mai foresaw this...]

Nullawhy guessed correctly - in a way.

{I would have been trapped... under so much rock for sure...}

The silver dragon realised, looking for the now unseeable cave.

They all settled back on the now unmoving earth, on the lesser slopes, where the last of the landslide of rocks had stopped their fall.

{Thank-you so much Mai, yes, I owe you my life.}

Lygawa nuzzled her big head against Mai's body, who gave a few strokes in return.

"You made me worried sick for you, again."

{I am sorry...}

She pulled her head back up to face the red dragon.

{Thank-you, again, for bringing Mai to me.}

[You brought concern to me too, you know...]

They shared a close glance, before Lygawa fidgeted.

{I believe my sister returns...}

"Should I hide somewhere?"

Mai asked, not wanting to alarm the human shy one.

{Perhaps you should... for now at least.}

There were certainly enough places to stay quietly behind around here, but a wide enough gap between a few big boulders seemed quite perfect, so slipping down amongst them, Mai had a little space to move about, but was totally unseen from the 'new ground level'.

Lygawa and Nullawhy took a few steps away from her anyway, standing out amongst the ruined landscape as they waited.

[You are quite lucky we made it here in time Lygawa.]

{Yes, I hate to think of what would have become of me in that collapsed ground hollow.}

Mai heard a faint whistle in the air, before the newest dragon appeared on the scene.

{Lygawa are you safe?}

She sounds like her relation... so I assume that is Ryoniya...

Through the small crack between the rocks, Mai could still see the three's interaction, a little distance away.

{You did not get hurt by the great land shake?}

A slightly smaller and shorter silver dragon landed before the other, looking at her with big light-blue eyes.

{I am fine sister... though your dwelling is-}

{I care not for the damp cave, there are always more... But you were safely away from it, so thanks be to the great sky spirits...}

She touched her spiralled horned head to the other silver dragons and tucked her wings down.

{It was not the spirits that saw me leave the cave though...}

The slightly smaller one swung her thin tail about behind her.

{I see we do have a guest...}

She looked around the area, before settling her sight on the other dragon.

{You too smell strongly of those pesky humans, Nullawhy...}

The similarly silver dragon stepped between the others, turning her attention to the biggest, tilting her two longer cork-screwed horns away from the red, yellow and black dragon.

{She stay's near my latest dwelling too-}

Lygawa added, nervously.

{It is so strong a stench...}

Ryoniya sniffed the air near them.

[I did just have a small... interaction with some of them, in my search for Lygawa this morning.]

Nullawhy was nervous too as the smaller dragon surveyed her with interested light-blue eyes.

{Eh, you too... I would never...}

She shook her head, then moved to the next topic.

{So what then has happened to my shelter...?}

The silver dragons looked to where the cave had been briefly.

{I know of your rivalry with my sister... so did you do this during the shake...?}

[Not at all! That quake collapsed the mountain...]

The red one defended herself as her prickled scales trembled, and Lygawa tried to assist her.

{It's true! I would have been trapped inside, if not for their arrival...}

{'Their'...?}

Drat, she noticed that...

Lygawa visibly sweated with her blunder of 'words'.

In a flash the smallest bounced past the others, almost instantly crunching into the rocks just near Mai and flashed her still quite big head above the watching black-haired woman.

{I knew it... there was a pest near all along...}

Mai gulped as she looked up at the sharp fangs that glistened just above her head.