Senputraj yawned, straining his jaw as he stretches his wing to the point that the red tinge of taut skin was visible through the black that covered his scales. In the light of dusk he curled and unfurled his claws and tail, his body still humming with residual adrenaline from the strangeness of his dream. He had been dreaming of how it would feel after learning how to fly in solitude: the air against his scales, the warm ocean currents flowing under his belly and the smell of salt they would bring, the excitement of being so far above everything else without his father there to tell him his posture was the tiniest bit off. The fantasy was exhilarating and peaceful all the same, until a resounding, disembodied voice carried on the wind. The mere memory of it ran claws up his spine.

"Senputraj. Come". His mother noticed his waking and called him closer to the mouth of their cave where the family's meals were eaten. The boy acquiesced quickly enough and in a matter of seconds was tearing the offered stag's thigh to shreds next to his more sedate older brother. His mother and brother barely registered in Senputraj's mind, no more than inconsequential, blurred shapes of colour and movement.

"Your father is hunting." His mother told him, "Our food is almost gone."

Senputraj's lips tightened in effort not to show his malcontent with that bit of news. He thought it was cruel of her to bring it up. All his life he had been training himself to be good for her, and what does he get in return? Senputraj stewed over how it was a slap to the face; his mother knew how badly he wished to go hunting with his father, or any excuse to fly. He sunk lower onto his haunches and braved another bite of meat, this one tentatively smaller for the rolling disdain in his stomach. His mother hid a smile from her son and his antics.

"He wants you to go with him tomorrow". Senputraj's head snapped up, eyes practically shining with hope.

"Really?" He loathed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he craved the confirmation, not quite believing her words.

"Really, Senputraj." she laughed, "You must be ready. Your father is leaving at dusk as usual, with or without you and you know he will not tolerate you being late".

"I know, Mother! Senputraj jumped off of his rear and strayed excitedly around the cave, his wings half extended and twitching as if already in flight. In his flurry he failed to realise that he walked too near Hije. One overactive spin was all it took for Senputraj to knock his brother to the ground with his sweeping tail.

Immediately, Senputraj stilled his body. Horrible guilt flooded his guilt like a massive wave, drowning him in shame. Whatever else he did, he made an unspoken promise never to harm his brother, never again. He steadied his brother on his feet, head tilted down with his neck exposed in a sign of apology.

Hije's response was not what he wanted, but not unexpected either. A flash of blue crossed the corner of his eye and a warm snout nudged his cheek. Senputraj pushed back softly though he did not feel much better. How he wished that his brother would roar at him, throw a stream of poisonous gas at him, but in their life together, Senputraj had come to know that Hije was a forgiving dragon and held nothing against his brother.

"I'm sorry," Senputraj whispered, their heads still pressed to the other's. Hije ruffled his wings. The mutilated flesh brushed against Senputraj. It filled him with an even greater sense of guilt, knowing that his whole life he had been harming his nest mate. It had taken years for the charred flesh to shed and new, pink muscle to form. Even then, the wing was too damaged for Hije to ever be able to fly, the limb looked like the wiring of a sculpture that the artist had put clay on, but forgotten to sculpt. It frightened him to think of what else he was capable of.

"It's fine, Sen, I'm not hurt. You were excited was all. Just watch where you celebrate next time. I am not as quick, nor as strong as you". With that, Hije's tail came around to swipe his side playfully. Senputraj laughed at the tickling sensation and backed out of his brother's embrace. Their mother looked on. She was glad that her sons got along as well as they did, but that did not stop the worry in her heart that came with the innate maternal instinct.

"Senputraj," her voice came as a quiet warning, "behave yourself. I know how much the chance to hunt pleases you, but I will not hesitate to delay the outing if you cause trouble". He nodded sincerely.

"I will, Mother, my honour".

"Good. Now, both of you clear your bones before they rot".

"Yes, Mother!" they answered as one. They smirked at each other from the corner of their eyes and laughed as they hurried to do their mother's bidding.

The next evening found Senputraj so eager that his father had no need to wake him. The young dragon rolled and fidgeted for the majority of the night, his mind and muscles too restless with anticipation for sleep. The nest was too hard and too far from the mouth of their cave for the dragonling to find peace from the wilderness beyond. Senputraj heeded the call of the evening sky and rose before the others, pacing the lip of the cave mouth before settling on his hunches facing the open forest. He never thought to notice Hije watching him from beneath his draped wing.

That was how his Arlecto found his son a few hours later into the night. The sight of a half-full nest may have stirred fear in him in the early days of his sons' childhood, but he knew Senputraj well enough now that his disappearances were hardly surprising. He went to his younger son's side and waited patiently for the boy to acknowledge his presence.

On less exciting days, Senputraj could go hours without interacting with his family. They were inconsequential to him unless their help was necessary. He had always been an independent young dragon. Tonight, however, it was a mere few moments until Senputraj turned to address his father.

"Now?" He pleaded hopefully.

"Now." Arlecto agreed. He spread a wing out behind Senputraj, the boy's head only just reaching the thumb of his father's wing, and urged him to take flight before him. The black dragon melted with the night and disappeared in a dive under Arlecto's watch. The larger dragon then spread his midnight blue wings, tensing and releasing the muscles in his legs to push off from the ledge and follow his son into the night.

* * *
The perfume of the forest damp from recent rain wafted up in swirling air pockets. Past the rushing wind, the call of a lone wolf to his celestial lover and the voices of old pines filled the atmosphere with sound. If he let his jaw slacken and his tongue flick out, Senputraj could taste the savoury flavour of the live meat they hunted. The touch of wind currents alternately warm and cool caressed his underside and guided him through the sky.

Senputraj extended his claws. The exposed, hardened bone cut through the crisp night air and left a cool tingle on the connecting skin. The time of dying was nearing its reign and as the nights grew colder, Senputraj grew more comfortable. It was unusual for a dragon to feel that way, he knew. His father, mother, brother, they all preferred the humid warmth of summer, but the lingering chill suited him.

The sky was pitch black now and the terrain below even darker. He could barely make out own wing tips not more than ten meters from his head, let alone his father, but that was part of what Senputraj loved about these flying trips. In the dark he could never make out anything but a mass of shadows; for a short time, he was left apart from everyone, as well as his own body. The concrete scales and bone and flesh all melted away until he was simply a mass of energy oozing to mix with the sky.

"Now." His father called out to him. Senputraj snapped into focus, his perception of his being condensed into his dragon form once more.

He tilted his snout slightly down and forward and did the same with his wings. His father swam through the air like an eel beside him and Senputraj allowed his leathery eyelids to drop over his eyes. There. The scent of a great buck made a discernible path from hunter to hunted. He latched onto it and snapped him eyes open.

"Go." With Arlecto's permission the young dragon spiralled into a nose dive. The haw of his eye closing to shield him from nipping winds. A smell became an outline, an outline a body, a body a clear close up of frightened eyes. And that was the last the buck knew.

* * *
"It was amazing!"

Senputraj claws clacked on the cave floor as he circled his family. His mother snorted steam from her snout, eyes glittering, but never lifting from the hunks of meat she carved from the carcass.

The adrenaline filled dragonling grunted when he realised that no one was paying him any mind. They should be praising him for the impressive kill he made, not ignoring him. His tail twitched minutely to the left.

"Did you hear me, Hije?" His lips wrinkled harshly as they curled in irritation. "I said it was amazing, going on the hunt." His brother only nodded noncommittally from his place next to Arlecto.

"You did well, little brother." Senputraj glowered.

"I'm not 'little'," He spat, "and I did great. Not that you would know, you can't even fly. How are you supposed to know how great a flier I am?" Hije's eyes widened and his mouth gaped, but the sharp voice that cracked like a lightning strike was not his.

"Senputraj." His mother snapped. "Remember your place or you will not be leaving this cavern at all let alone for your precious flights."

"You can't do that!" Senputraj sputtered. Hije weaved his way in between the two, trying to keep everyone peaceful.

"Mother, I- I don't mind really. He didn't mean it that way." Senputraj nodded vehemently. "I am sorry, Mother. I didn't mean-".

"Stop this." Arlecto growled from behind Senputraj, standing menacingly over him. "You are forbidden from leaving unless your mother or I am with you."

Senputraj's mouth hung open, trying to find the words to protest, but his father flicked his tail against the stone to silence him. He felt a frigid shiver seep from his flesh to his scales. What little he had in the way of forethought was the only thing holding him back from letting the darkness take over him.

"And you will not be hunting with or without me until you learn to respect your elders."

Senputraj felt his control slipping. A familiar black smoke engulfing his mind and impairing his resistance to anger. It spread from his mind to his throat and he choked out, "B-but, Father. You can- you can't!" But his father's continence only darkened.

"I can," he stated, "and I will. Do not test me on this". Wisps of charred hands spread their strangling finger from his throat to his gut with each punctuated syllable. From gut to limbs. Limbs to wings. And his control snapped in a jet of blinding orange and burgundy flames.

He flared his wings to their full extent and his chest heaved as he roared obscenities at his father. Another heated stream of gaseous fire pinned the elder dragon to the ground from pressure and pain.

From somewhere on his left Senputraj could hear his mother screeching in despair, his brother, too, was yelling for him. He could not hear what Hije said; both of their voices seemed to come from a great distance. But it didn't matter he could no sooner tear his glare from the burning dragon in front of him than he could hear their feeble pleas.

His breath grew shorter, but an animalistic drive kept him breathing his fiery death though it weakened with each second. Arlecto seized the opportunity and fought to stand. He reared up on his hind legs and advanced on Senputraj. Seeing the threatening gesture, Senputraj gave up his breath and surged forward, open maw revealing thick, razored teeth that hungered for the flesh of the offending male charging him.

The tips of Senputraj's teeth pierced the tough hide of Arlecto's exposed neck and sank into muscle and tendon and further down until they scraped against the bloodied bones. In some part of his mind, Senputraj knew that this was wrong, that he shouldn't be doing this, that he shouldn't be feeling like this, but it was a small thought and withering to nothingness as the coppery taste of hot blood flooded into his mouth and left his stomach aching for more, more, more!

Senputraj locked his jaw against his father's struggling body. He brought his front legs up to Arlecto's neck, holding it steady, and yanked his head back, tearing a chunk of flesh from the bone it desperately cleaved to. Senputraj released the body from his grip. Arlecto thudded on the ground. His lungs gasped for breath and the air attempting to leave from his throat spurted from the torn passage exposed in the gap where part of his neck was missing. Whining wheezes filled the cave before the noise gradually quieted and Arlecto was no more than a draining corpse on the cavern floor.

The black smoke, like a whip, snapped back into his body, satisfied for the moment with the death of one. Senputraj came back to himself. He looked at the corpse of his father with a clearer head and knew he couldn't stay for fear of the consequences. He fled the cave with panic in his eyes.

There was a choking lump in Senputraj's throat that paralleled the one in his heart. His wings beat against the dawning sky with difficulty. The blood on his scales dried and cracked and made his skin itch with guilt.

He race over a vast sea of autumn coloured forest. It was surreal to look at. Despite the turmoil inside him, the forest was completely unaffected. The leaves barely rustled and all of its inhabitants were still huddled in sleep. Out here, it was only Senputraj. He was far enough away now that the screeches of his mother had faded, but no matter how far he flew the image of his father's shredded body in his jaws and Hije's terror as he looked at his baby brother stained the inside of his eyelids as a reminder of what he'd done whenever his lids slipped down in exhaustion.

He didn't land. He didn't eat. He didn't sleep.

But his guilty conscience weighed heavily on his mind and no matter how hard he tried to stay afloat in the midst of the air currents, Senputraj sunk lower with every passing hour. A mass of syrup sodden pine needles flew past the right side of his face. The sharp tips clawing at his scaled armour. His eyes blinked in rapid succession, but the fright was fleeting and seconds later his eyes began to seal themselves again.

Another gnarled branch of a browning evergreen grasped for him. This time its aim was true and whacked his head, scratching over his eyes and stabbing sticky green needles in his tympanum. Senputraj's eyes flew open then. He screeched in rage as he tumbled to the ground. Jagged rocks embedded in his flesh where they could and bruised where they could not until his momentum finally gave out and he lurched to a sickening stop.

Senputraj lifted himself to his feet, careful to nurse his aches. His breathing was ragged and choked, his eyes swimming with dizziness. He raised a paw to his injured ear gingerly feeling where the needles had pierced him. A few of them were still stuck in his sensitive flesh. He gripped one in between his claws and yanked the offending object away from him. Senputraj gave a sharp yip at the unexpected pain, snapping his paw back to his ear. He stood, huffing, for a moment before he placed his now bloody paw back on the ground.

Senputraj circled around himself, limping slightly as he gathered the courage to pull the remainder of the needles out of his ear. It wasn't until his head finally stopped ringing that he paused in his pacing. Holding his breath, Senputraj held on to all of the needles. One second, then pulled hard and swift.

His agonized yowl echoed through the forest. The animals from miles around scampered away, hurrying to get home safely. A mass of small black birds took flight, shooting into the brightening sky in a fright.

Senputraj crawled wearily through the trees looking for a dark cave to sleep for the day. Blood dripped down from his ear and the bruises on his wings and stomach burned with every tense and release of his muscles. Despite the extent of his wounds, his body never dulled from the pain it only served to muddle his senses. He could hear from only one side, throwing off his equilibrium. He flicked out his forked tongue, but the rank of copper filled his mouth and left no place for anything else.

It was torture.With every heavy step the pain only worsened and he seemed no closer to a place to sleep. He heaved his weight. Step by step. His lungs struggled to swell. Exhale. Inhale. A black fog crept into his vision and he blinked to chase it away. His hind leg caught on a gnarled root while his eyes were closed and sent him tumbling down into a deep carved ravine. The unforgiving ground seemed to lift up its water-soaked stone fist and knocked the breath from him.

Senputraj lay in the small, forgotten crevice of the earth, unable to move. He felt the slow gush of water swirl around him and succumbed to the fog in his vision as it settled over his mind as well.

Meat. He smelled meat. Sweet tender flesh. The dragon dug his claws into the earth and pushed off heavily. He swam his way through the dark air, swaying his head this way and that to follow the scent of meat. He was getting closer now. Dense forest gave way to tilled fields. The scent trail dived straight down into a well sized stable near a larger house. As quiet as the night he flew in, the burnt-red dragon came down to hug the earth again. He slithered his way through the latched door after breathing a small bit of liquid fire to melt the latch.

The beasts inside snorted and nickered. He flicked his tongue at the new scent of excitement as their tails whisked it his way. Staying low on his haunches, he half crawled up the the pen of one of the beasts. Ignoring its malcontented sighs, he easily attacked the creature half his size and ripped its hot flesh to shreds in his maw.

Three beasts he ate this way until a creak came from behind him followed by a sliver of orange light. He snapped bodily to face the intrusion. He must have missed their scent, engrossed as he was in his kills. A disfigured creature stood on two legs in the threshold gripping a long metal fork and a stick topped with fire. Another creature huddled behind the first screamed, its eyes grew wide when it caught a glimpse of the serpentine beast stooping low in their wooden cave. The dragon curled its head back towards its body, slitted eyes studying the intruders. The creature in front grew bold at the sight, taking the action for fear and lunged clumsily with the fork in hand.

The dragon roared and swatted the weapon angrily from the creature’s grip. The two legged creature balked at first, but soon continued the attack with the fire thrust out in front of him. The hulking mass of muscle and scales stilled. All was quiet but for the cowering creatures whimpers and a whistle as the dragon sucked the air around him into his lungs and let loose an unrelenting stream of flames.

When his jaw closed again the misshapen creatures were no more than tiny ashen bones, but the flames didn’t stop. They had caught on the the wood of the beams and its heat spread quickly to the roof of the stable. The dragon shuffled and flicked its tail. He looked back at the remaining two whinnying beasts and tried to decide how many he could take back to the forest. A loud crack sounded through the sizzling. He looked up and saw the roof was blackened and bending with the weight of the fire. Smoke filled his nostrils and blocked his view, but he heard the chunk of wood break away from the roof and felt the erupting pain as it fell against his head.

***
When the dragon woke he was a few yards away from the wreckage. He angled his head to peer over at the leftover fire-rotted wood. The wood was wet and steaming, no longer smoking with fire.

"Oh, good." a stranger's voice came from around the rubble.

"You're finally awake". The dragon scrambled up to his feet. He paced in front of another unfamiliar two legged creature, but as he shifted his weight onto his front right foot a sharp pain ran up the limb. The other creature took a step towards him and the dragon gave a short, warning growl. It held its hands open palmed in front of his chest.

"You hurt your leg in the stable. I would have healed you earlier, but I've never healed a dragon before. I thought it would be best to wait until you were awake again". It took another step towards him. He blew fire from his mouth again, aiming to smite is third strange creature. But the flames never touched it. The heat pooled over and around him, but never touched him. It dropped its hands to its sides when the fire stopped. The corner of its mouth lifted at him.

"My name's Merlin". Slowly, the creature called 'Merlin' sat on the ground in front of him. "I don't want to hurt you, only help. No rush or anything, but the dollophead will be wondering where I am if I'm gone for too long and I don't think either of you would be happy if he came looking". The dragon watched the skinny creature as he sat on his haunches, right paw lifted slightly. He sniffed the air wearily. The smell of manure clung to the loose brown, red, and blue skin that ‘Merlin’ wrapped itself in. A sweet, tingling smell surrounded it, too. It made the dragon’s skin prickle with recognition.

“What’s your name?” Merlin asked calmly, his hands on his knees. Smoke puffed from the dragon’s nose as he huffed at the query. Merlin displayed his hands once again.

“Alright. You don’t have to answer. Just…” he waved his hands searching for words, “Trying to make conversation.”

The dragon ignored it as he ranted about ‘always getting the stubborn ones’ under its breath. It seemed a idiotic question to be asking when faced with something that could kill, but it wasn’t the only reason he hadn’t answered. It had been months since anyone had spoken his name. How had it sounded? Something with an ‘S’...

‘Sssehh-” Merlin looked up at the dragon with a mixture of hopefulness and confusion as he struggled to find the right sounds.

‘Sssenp- Ssenputraj’. The sounds were slightly elongated, but Merlin seemed happy enough with that. He smiled brightly at Senputraj, his eyes crinkling. Merlin nodded pointedly to Senputraj’s injured limb.

“Hello, Senputraj. Would you allow me to help you?”

"Come on, Kilgharrah. He won't be nearly as dangerous if we teach him to control his powers" Merlin reasoned. The Great Dragon only stared down at him shaking his gold tinted head in refusal.

Senputraj sat aside from the two. He watched them argue over him, not taking much interest as he could barely understand what they were saying. He focused on his leg instead. Stretching and curling the limb, admiring Merlin's magic.

"He is too much of a risk, young warlock. If either of the Pendragons find you with him, you will both be killed, you know this". Senputraj observed as Merlin turned his head to look at the younger dragon. His fists clenched and unclenched.

"He's only a child," Merlin said so softly that Senputraj had to strain to hear, "If I leave him on his own he will hurt himself and others. Please, he just needs to learn control".

"I will not have anything to do with him. When I look at you, I see all you have been and all you will come to be. With him it is only darkness, a void".

"So what if you can't see everyone's lives?" Merlin shouted. "Just because you can't see what will happen shouldn't stop you from doing something instead of leaving one of your own in the forest to die." Kilgharrah peered into Merlin's eyes as if looking for his reason for conviction. Merlin held the gaze. The Great Dragon appeared to have found it, or else given in until another day because the next thing Senputraj saw was the elder dragon bowing his head to the boy.

"Your plan is still unwise, but I can see there will be no swaying you now that your mind is settled, young warlock." Kilgharrah harrumphed, "I suppose I will do what I can to help you tame the wild one". Merlin’s face erupted into a relieved smile and thanked the dragon profusely. When he turned to Senputraj with a wink.


***
The next few weeks were filled with rigorous training for Senputraj. The warlock, Merlin, would spend hours with him each day to help him grow comfortable around humans. Senputraj still found them to be malformed creatures, How do they keep balance on two legs and not four? How do they survive without wings?, but the young dragon came to tolerate his presence and refrained from attacking the boy anymore.

Merlin also taught Senputraj how to speak again. Relearning how to speak telepathically was not so hard, as he had known how since he was a child, but speaking aloud was difficult for him. Not only did he have trouble pronouncing ‘b’s, ‘m’s, and ‘p’s, but his tongue loathed to comply with his learning. Every lesson, without fail, he would be distracted by the smells that bathed his tongue when he opened his mouth to speak. But no matter the tribulations, Senputraj liked being able to speak aloud. On slow days when neither of his mentors could visit him, he would wander farther from the edge of the clearing Merlin made for him and find unsuspecting animals to play with. He would sneak up behind them in the quiet of the forest and slowly crescendo his favourite sound. His tongue would slither out from his mouth and all Senputraj had to do was breathe out steadily for the hissing noise to spook his victims.

Kilgharrah was more difficult to get along with. He still taught Senputraj, how to fly with more precision and efficiency and how to control his fire to only burn his target, but he was cold and snappish throughout. The Great Dragon seemed to fear him, Senputraj could see that. Every so often, Senputraj would look towards Kilgharrah seeking praise for a particularly good shot or long glide and be met with loathing and suspicion instead.

One morning, the moon was full and high in the sky. Senputraj was sprawled on his back in the centre of the clearing basking lazily under the starlit sky when Merlin found him. The warlock joined him on the cool, damp grass. Senputraj glanced over at the boy. It seemed to him that Merlin was shrinking more with every week, but the boy assured him that it was Senputraj that was growing so fast.
Merlin rolled his head towards the dragon as if sensing his thoughts and scratched the underside of Senputraj's chin. A content purr vibrated through the dragon. Merlin folded his hands over his stomach and sighed.

"I'll be gone for a week or so. Arthur needs me to come with him while he plays prince for one of his father's lords. You should be fine, Kilgharrah will still be here if you need anything". Senputraj stared thoughtfully at the moon.

"I'll be fine on my own, you know. You always treat me like a child". Merlin laughed, his eyes crinkling with his usual easy amusement.

"I don't doubt you," he pat the crown of the pouting dragon's head, "but I feel better knowing you have someone who will be here for you if you need it".

"He won't. Kilgharrah only tolerates me for your sake" he said. He doesn't care about me. Merlin sat up, startling the dragon, and stared incredulously down at him.

"And I thought Arthur was the only dollophead I had to take care of," Merlin muttered under his breathe. "Kilgharrah does care for you, he just- doesn't show it very well". Senputraj looked on doubtfully. Merlin huffed a breath of frustrated air and waved his hands as if attempting to flag down an explanation from midair.

"He does, only- he's like you". The warlock jabbed his side with a finger, but the dragon barely felt it. "He's got thick skin. He has trouble letting anything in or getting anything out, but I promise, he does care for you and he will help you if you ask for it".

Senputraj wondered if his own family had been the same way. He grumbled, slightly disbelieving, but Merlin only laughed again and closed his eyes. The dragon kept watch over his mentor as the boy dozed off beside him.

"I need you to patrol the forest near Camelot tonight" Kilgharrah told him a few days after Merlin had left. "I have business in another part of the forest". Senputraj nodded. He was eager to prove himself.

"I can watch the forest for you". Kilgharrah eyed him carefully, judging and knowing anyone in a single glance.

"It will only be for tonight, little one," Senputraj only just held back a sneer at the babying term, "And if any trouble happens to arise, you reach out with your mind and call to me. Do you remember how I taught you?" Senputraj heaved an impatient sigh.

"Deep breath. Find your presence. Focus on it. Imagine pushing my voice to you. I got it, Kilgharrah. Can I go now?" The smaller dragon jittered where he stood, waiting for the Great Dragon to let him leave. When Kilgharrah finally gave him leave, despite the exasperated look he often gave Merlin, the deep red dragon was off, blending into the night sky.

It felt good to fly off on his own. For the past couple of months Senputraj was never far off from his mentors and at first his mind had been foggy with disdain. The fog had since lifted and he didn’t mind their company much anymore, but the fresh, unshared air still swept under his wings with the excitement of a lone wolf.

He circled high above the trees, spiraling lower as he found the area of forest he was responsible for tonight, near a quiet castle. Nothing suspicious caught his eye as he flew the perimeter, so it felt safe to land in a small patch of land bereft of any trees or large shrubs. Senputraj stayed in the clearing for a while. He let his nose, ears, and eyes grow familiar with the surrounding wood, intimacy with its smells, sounds, and sights would alert him to anything abnormal.

As he wandered farther out from his landing site on his patrol, so too did his thoughts. The smell of wild grass wet with fresh rain faded from his mind and was replaced with thoughts of praise at his return to Kilgharrah and Merlin from a successful patrol all on his own. His imagination filled with thoughts of his mentors' congratulations for his accomplishments that he never quite received from his parents or Hije.

In his distraction, Senputraj failed to notice the armoured man behind him until it was too late. The knight's shining broadsword pierced through his wing. The man held the blade still, the steel ripping down Senputraj's inflamed flesh, before yanking it completely down the thin skin and hopping away from the dragon. Senputraj howled in agony.

He swung his body to face his attacker and raised a talon to retaliate the blow. It was a younger looking man underneath armour that seemed to have swallowed his lithe body in its cold, metal embrace. The eyes behind the visor were the round and determined eyes of a young boy with intentions not unlike his own. For flash Senputraj saw Merlin in the human's face. Merlin would not have wanted him to hurt anyone. It was control of himself that Merlin taught him and control that he wanted the dragon to practice. Conflicted, Senputraj struggled to reach out to Kilgharrah for aide. He hesitated mid-strike and left his claws suspended above the knight.

It was that hesitation that the knight needed and he thrust his sword forward, slicing Senputraj's palm. He backed up, mind racing for a way to escape without hurting the human. His wing was too damaged to fly even a short distance. He tried again to call out to Kilgharrah in desperation, but all he could focus on was the blood soaking the contrasting grass. He felt weak.

Bleary eyed, Senputraj watched. A spectator to his own death and unable to do otherwise. The glittering white light of the advancing knight turned to darkness as his eyelids fell over his eyes.

***
When he opened his eyes again, Senputraj was face to face with a burned skull. Its jaw hung open in a silent scream. He lay in the middle of a damp cave, staring at the dead man's skull and unable to move. His head was still fuzzy with blood loss. Leaves rustled on the other side of the cave and Senputraj saw the pale figure of another dragon. It- she. Senputraj could tell from the scent of her. She must have been feeling bold because she crept towards him slowly with an anxious look. Her scales were milky white, but he could see thick lines of raised, pink scars down the length of her body. The female picked up a large bone, with the meat almost too chared to eat, from a pile that Senputraj saw was the knight’s separated body. She carried the meat closer to Senputraj and rolled it the remainder of the way, nudging it with her snout. rolling it all the way up to his own snout, the other dragon whined softly, but Senputraj found he couldn’t gather enough strength to lift his head, let alone eat. He tried reaching out to her. He focused as much as he could on her and pushed the message to her. Hurt. Nothing happened. She paced in front of him, but otherwise she showed no indication that she had gotten his message.
Senputraj spent what felt like hours staring death in the face both literally and figuratively. He stared in grotesque curiosity at the sunken black sockets of the dead man’s face and let the feeling of blood oozing from his veins wash over him. If this is how he was to die, fine. He would accept it. He would have prefered being killed quickly by the knight instead of his life slowly draining away, but he was not ungrateful to the female dragon. She paced still, whimpering every so often as she did so. She reminded him of Hije. Quiet, small, light-scaled, and worrisome. Senputraj felt sorry that she had to watch him die.

“Aithusa!”

The pale dragon snapped to attention and gazed out of the mouth of the cave. She spared him a quick glance before taking flight. Senputraj oogled at the empty spot where the dragon had been. He resigned himself to dying alone when she failed to return after a few minutes in his elongated time. He shut his eyes and wished for death to come soon.

The sound of wings beating entered the cave and echoed off of its curved walls. One he recognized as his female saviour, the other he recognized as well, though this one was much larger. The pale female swept into the room and turned to caw at the other to do the same. It was a squeeze, the larger dragon had to angle their neck and crouch low to the stone floor. Senputraj's heart lifted when he saw who it was.

"Senputraj," Kilgharrah had that same worried look that the female donned. It couldn't be right; Kilgharrah didn't care that much about him. "I see you have met Aithusa, but why are you here, little one? You should not have been hurt". The Great Dragon snaked his head closer to Senputraj to see what damage had been done and consequently saw the burned corpse of the knight next to him. Senputraj opened his jaw a crack, trying to explain to his mentor, but the words refused to come out. They clawed at his throat and clamped on to his uvula. Kilgharrah's tail came around behind Senputraj to rest gently on his head.

"I know it was Aithusa who did this and not you. It is alright, little one". For the first time, Senputraj did not mind the moniker. Knowing his mentor was here with him set his heart at ease and the name felt like an embrace wrapped around a frightened child.

"You need to stay awake, little one," Kilgharrah spoke firmly, "I cannot heal you while you are sleeping, do you understand?" Senputraj blinked his confirmation. Kilgharrah began to chant and the cave filled with golden light. Senputraj locked his red flaked eyes on Aithusa's silver.

While Senputraj healed, Aithusa kept him company. She slept curled up beside him now. He held his hand up to his face then unfolded his injured wing. The cuts had closed and now only the scars had remained. Both Merlin and Kilgharrah had worked every few days to sew the sliced flesh back together, but neither had the magic to repair the skin and muscle so that it looked as pristine as it once did.

Aithusa had caught him glaring at the ugly, grey skin running across his palm, wrapped her own scar riddled tail twist around his leg and bumped her cheek against his. He asked Merlin one day when they were gazing at the stars, why Aithusa had as many scars as she did and why she would not talk to him. "She used to travel with, Morgana". Merlin's eyes grew sad. "When Morgana ran into trouble, Aithusa went with her." and that was all he could say on the matter. Even without the ability to talk, the two were able to communicate just fine. A bump of the tail, a puff of breath, a certain stare; Senputraj and Aithusa could speak to each other with their bodies and that was just fine for them.

Today Merlin and Kilgharrah had other duties to attend, so Aithusa stole Senputraj away to a hidden glen. A small waterfall rushed down an algae covered crag and flowed through their glen. The dragons curled into each other beneath a still willow, drinking in the other’s companionable silence. They lay like yin and yang for hours listening to birds chirp and water drip, never moving but to nudge each other’s snout with their own. Come midnight their peace was crushed by an ambush of knights in red and gold cloaks surrounding the glen. Each had a strong wooden crossbow aimed at the pair of dragons.

“Hold!” One shouted. But some words have no use over someone’s mind nor their muscle. Words can persuade and they can try to command, but at the end of the day, when the air is dark and stale and motivations overpowering, words are only words. Senputraj saw the arrow fly from the knight that words could not effect for fear. White feathers twisted the shaft in a sublime dance as the momentum impaled Aithusa’s chest with the arrowhead. Senputraj could see the whites of her eyes. Aithusa opened her mouth and a gush of blood soaked the white feathers of the arrow red.

Maddeningly red. All Senputraj could see was red and all he wanted was black. The black of charred bodies and grieving widows to match the darkest shade of black that Senputraj felt when he looked at her sickly white scales being covered in red. He wanted the black of death. The shadow that had not greeted him since Merlin and Kilgharrah had become his friends crowded his vision, promising to bring the black despair that he craved. Senputraj unhinged his jaw and let the animalistic nature of the shadow take over and cover the knights in a heated blaze.

***
Hije flexed his neck. A scream ripped through his eardrums and harmonized by a high pitch ringing. He scratched at the side of his head, trying to physically swat the painful noise away.

"Hije? What's wrong?" Mirania stepped in front of him with worry in her already bloodshot, sunken eyes. He shook his head in frustration and told his mother of the scream that still rang in his head.

"I think it's Sen. It feels like he's in pain".

"Why is-"

"I don't know why, but we have to help him". Mirania nodded curtly and grasped Hije by the juncture of his shoulders and carried him out of their cave and let him down on the ground.

"I'll run. You follow me. I think I can track where he is by his voice". Mirania winced. Hije had always loved his brother. She could she Senputraj's pain was affecting Hije as well; her son had a crazed look in his eye and his claws twitched with every moment of inaction. With the plan in place, Hije ran, slithering across the forest floor like a winding snake. His mother took to the air and followed the flashes of bright blue that peeked beneath the forest canopy.

The Senputraj's screams lead his brother and mother to Camelot. Mirania flew over the castle walls, but Hije was left watching the glimpses of Senputraj's familiar figure spreading fire over the castle. A boy in worn blue and red cloth approached the gate from inside.

"Are you Senputraj's brother?" He asked. Hije nodded wearily at the stranger, but worry for his brother clouded his mind. Nothing could get worse than this anyway.

"I'm Merlin, a friend of your brother. I can let you in if you can help me stop him. I tried already, but-" the boy paused, his brows knit, "Something has taken over him. It's happened before, but I can't bring him back anymore". Merlin looked to Hije desperately. "I'm so sorry".

"It's not your fault. Sen is in pain. Something horrible must have happened". Hije peered above the stone walls sadly where his brother still flew in his crazed state. "I don't think anyone can bring him back from this". Merlin blinked slowly. He held his hand over the lock of the gate. His eyes burned gold and he spoke under his breath. When he lifted his gaze back to Hije the gate was swinging open and Merlin backed away.

"I have to keep Arthur safe. I can't help you after this". Hije nodded gratefully.

"Thank you for taking care of my brother". He said and started towards his brother's chaos. He paused when Merlin called out for him. The boy seemed to be fighting for words.

"Senputraj, he- he loved you. He told me he never wanted to leave any of you, only he was afraid to hurt you. He loved you". The boy spoke sincerely as if trying to convince Hije of some impossible fact. Hije brushed his tail against the boy's arm in comfort.

"I know" and then the dragon was off, twisting through stone arches and paths to get to his brother.

By the time Hije got to the courtyard where he saw Senputraj last, his mother had already begun the process of talking his brother down. Hije could see the pair twisting in the air violently and cursed himself for not being able to help for his skeleton wing. Please make him stop screaming, I don't want him to hurt. Stop screaming. Stop screaming. Hije chanted over and over again.

Mirania sacrificed her own safety to distract her crazed son from destroying the people below. She flew past his face and around his flapping wings, using her lithe body to narrowly avoid his line of fire. Their mother was older though, the death of her mate had dulled her senses so Senputraj was slightly more agile than Mirania. As she faked a left, but Senputraj anticipated her move and slashed his mother's throat in blind rage. With the last of her strength, Mirania dug her talons past Senputraj's flesh and locked her hold, dragging him down to earth with her.

Hije watched helplessly as they fell. Senputraj grappled with his mother to free himself from her claws, but her dead claws locked into his flesh and the two fell to the earth with fround shattering force, disappearing behind a thick stone wall. Hije ran into the maze of whitewashed stone walls. When the archways finally lead to the right place, Hije found his brother tearing his teeth into their mothers corpse and swallowing large chunks whole.

"Senputraj! Stop!" The blue dragon screamed in despair, but his brother went on unphased. Hije tackled his brother and wrestled him to the ground. When they were younger, Senputraj and Hije would wrestle for fun. Their wings would flap and smack one another's face, their claws would scratch and their gowls would playfully threaten. But there was nothing playful about this fight. Hije faught with all his strength to pin his animalistic brother to the ground. He wished a simple talk would be able to calm Senputraj down, but his brother had no civiliazed manners to speak of anymore. He was an animal locked in cage and prodded for too long. Senputraj head wriggled through the grasp of Hije's wings and flailed sharply back and forth in the cramped hallway. He failed to notice the walls were too close together for his antics and his head came crashing into the immovable stone. All at once the struggling stopped and Hije quickly let go of his brother's weight.

"Senputraj?"

Merlin came dashing through the archway and stumbled as he saw the carnage.

"Sen!"

The warlock pulled Hije's shoulder, trying to get him away from the bodies of his family.

"Hije. Hije you have to go. Arthur and the knights are coming now. If you stay here any longer you'll be killed". As he spoke Kilgharrah descended upon them and took Hije into his hold.

"I will see that this one is safe," his eyes boar down on Merlin, "Next time you will listen when I say nothing good can come from one of your plans, young warlock". Merlin nodded absent mindedly and Kilgharrah flew with the despondant brother towards the woods.

The boy sat cross-legged on the ground and pulled the dark dragon's head into his lap. He rested his forehead to its snout. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders only to be place in his heart. Merlin whispered a broken, I'm so sorry, as the tremble of armour clad feet rushed towards him.