The Sacrifice

[Whitebrand]

Drool slipped from Grat's grinning mouth as he took another step. Soon he would be in charging distance and that wouldn't end well...unless Fiona was exceptionally quick.

"Fox shake too much to shoot," Grat reassured himself. "Fox going to taste so good!"

He crouched slightly, bracing himself for the charge...

[GenericBunny]

The minotaur's taunting made Fiona think of when the dragon first devoured her. The crippling fear and terror she felt when she was so certain that she was about to die. She realized that she was only a few seconds away from reliving it all over again. Only this time, she knew Grat wouldn't be so gracious as to allow her to live.

She took a deep breath, managing to calm herself down just long enough to take her shot. She aimed directly for the beast's chest, and let the string go.

[Whitebrand]

The arrow shot through the air in a blur. One instant it was in her hand and the next it was sailing at Grat's chest. Grat lurched to the side but not far enough to avoid the missile. Grat bellowed and stumbled to the side, his hands coming up to the shaft that had sprouted from his flesh. He gagged as he came to a halt, reeling in surprise and pain.

"What...is..." Grat stuttered as he stared down at the arrow. The shaft was dangerously close to penetrating vital organs, but it wasn't as deep as it should have been.

"That," a deep voice said from behind Fiona. "Is a fox fighting back."

Brand rose from the brush behind the young vixen, having barrelled through the brush and trees at full speed despite his wound. He was at his full size still, and looked furious.

Grat took a step back. Then another.

"Better run," Brand warned as he opened his mouth. Fiona could smell the ozone that signaled an impending lightning bolt.

[GenericBunny]

Fiona felt a great sense of dread when she realized she hadn't critically wounded the beast. She started scrambling to pull another arrow off her back, but wasn't sure she could ready it before he charged her...

The deep voice startled her enough to make her drop her arrow, but she quickly recognized it as Brand's. She turned around to see the fearsome dragon looming over both of them. She knew that his warning wasn't directed at her, but saw it fit to quickly move for some cover out of the line of fire.

[Whitebrand]

Grat ran too, back into the forest as fast as he could go. Brand jerked his head forward and unleashed blast after blast of electric mayhem, chasing the minotaur back into the woods. It was hard to tell if Brand was missing on purpose or not--he fired off so many bolts that he started several small fires among the trees. All that mattered was that Grat was gone and Brand stood firmly victorious.

He took another deep breath and blew out a torrent of ordinary air, blowing out the fires as easily as one might blow out candles. He huffed a lattle bit from his exertions before he turned to Fiona again.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he said. "I should have been here as soon as that idiot showed up."

[GenericBunny]

Fiona stepped up from her cover, and bowed her head. "I should apologize. I shouldn't have tried to reason with him... I should have called for you as soon as I saw him."

[Whitebrand]

"I'm seriously reconsidering letting him stay any longer," Brand said. "He was part of my company, and we had a lot of adventures together but....it's not worth it if he hurts you."

[GenericBunny]

"He knows I'll fight back. But, I'm afraid that might just mean he'll attack me again without any warning..." She shuddered at the idea. "I assume he wouldn't extend the same magical courtesies you have if he ate me either."

[Whitebrand]

"He and I are about to have a long talk," Brand reassured her. "One way or another, it will end with you being safe. He's strong but not nearly as strong as he needs to be to defeat me. Especially without that stupid ax of his."

The dragon tried to set a comforting hand on he shoulder but stopped when he realized he was too big for the gesture. Instead he curled his body partway around her in a protective pose.

Then he spotted the buck.

"Is that for me?" he said, sounding delighted. "You are quite a hunter!"

[GenericBunny]

Fiona finally felt some of the tension from her encounter begin to leave as she leaned into the dragon's scales. "Gods, if you hadn't been here... I don't even want to think about the things he would've done The places I might've ended up in..." She pushed herself just slightly into Brand's protective hold, to help reassure herself that she was safe now.

She looked back to the buck, and up to Brand's face with just a hint of pride. "Thank you. I'm glad I still remembered my training from all those years ago."

[Whitebrand]

"May I?" he said.

He quickly broke off the buck's horns and set them aside. He quickly scooped up the animal in his jaws and began to down the entire animal head first. In moments the neack, torso, and body of the buck was dragged into the hungry dragon's gullet. He looked almost in danger of choking until his neck stretched a bit to accommodate the animal's bulk. Soon the prey had been entirely devoured, the buck's rear hooves disappearing into the dragon's mouth. He swallowed and Fiona saw that she could trace the buck's movement down the dragon's long neck and into his belly.

Brand sighed with great relief as the buck settled into his stomach. The edge off his growing appetite had been sated.

[GenericBunny]

Fiona took a step back as the dragon lifted up her kill. She watched with a look of awe as the buck began to vanish into the dragon's throat. She didn't worry about Brand's ability to swallow the creature, having first hand experience of what his gullet could handle.

She took a step forward, to gently rub her fingers along the slight bulge in the dragon's scaly gut. Once again, thinking about when she was on the other side of those scales...

The vixen happened to glance back to the horns. She turned away, beginning to scan the ground around them, and where the buck originally went down. She suddenly seemed worried about something, as she turned to face Brand again.

"You... you took the arrow out before eating him, right?"

[Whitebrand]

He suddenly looked embarrassed, an amusing expression of a draconian face. He coughed and a moment later the rather wet arrow rolled out on his tongue.

"Ahem," he said. "I guess my stomach thought faster than by brain."

[GenericBunny]

The fox sighed, looking relieved as she stepped forward to gently embrace the dragon's middle. "Good... For a moment I thought I might have to go get it out!"

[Whitebrand]

"I'd have kept you safe if you had," Brand said. "No worries there."

He was still in his dragon form so he couldn't safely return the hug. Instead he patted her gently with his paw and rubbed her back a bit.

"I think that's enough adventure for one day, don't you?" Brand asked as he sighed with pleasure at the embrace. Tomorrow he might be well enough to go back to his anthro form. After that he'd be back in fighting shape again.

[GenericBunny]

Fiona stepped back from the embrace after a moment, looking back up to Brand's face and nodding. "I know I need my rest. I suspect you do too." She was at least happy to see the dragon steady on his feet again.

[Whitebrand]

"Keep the antlers if you like," Brand said. "That was a hell of a shot."

The great beast turned and headed back towards his lair, slowing down to let Fiona keep up with his strides. He was moving with more ease now, and to her healer's eye the wound was looking much better.

Many minutes later they returned to the cave. Brand let Fiona go in first, then positioned himself once again near the entrance to settle down to rest.

[GenericBunny]

Fiona turned to face the dragon once he had settled down.

"Master... Would you mind if I slept out with you tonight?"

[Whitebrand]

Brand looked startled.

Not at all," he said. "I think you'll be safe with me tonight. Here..."

He changed his position a bit, curling slightly to give her a comfortable place to rest.

[GenericBunny]

The small fox sat down, leaning her soft, fuzzy back up against the dragon's scales. She began to lie on her side, curling up against Brand. Perhaps scales and ground weren't as comfortable as his bed, but she felt safer here, reassured of his presence with the sound of each breath behind her.