House Rh'thaou: The Dragonstakes

the continuing stories of the Taratus Clan
by Neishai

Lantessama Isle | Halloween Clutch | True Chaos Clutch
Jiyuu Dragonstake | First Clutch
Cy Dragonstake | Apocalypse Clutch

• • •

"Don't bother bringing the rest," Caoiloch said to Makon. Beside her reclined a nightmarish dragon wearing a silver mask. His name was Zangre, and he looked nothing like the dragon that had first carried herself, Erloch, and Gaeval to Lantessama. "The Shadow Clutch is full, and as you can see, the Halloween Clutch has already hatched." She smirked, stroking her beast along the shoulder.

Makon frowned, feeling a stab of jealousy insert itself between two ribs like a well-placed knife. Things were moving too quickly for his liking, but he could not protest. "As you wish."

Caoiloch smirked. "No need to be so formal. Bonding a dragon is not as you think." She studied her lover for a moment, languoring in the heat of his discomfort. Unfortunately, part of her wanted to take him in her arms and comfort him. How irritating. "You've described to me some dire goings-on over at Cy. Dark, mysterious disappearances, and a clutch of ominous-looking eggs. I want you to investigate, and if possible, bond one of the eggs. I want all of you to do so. Xenos and Hathians sound like tough breeds."

Makon nodded.

"Good. The rest of us will join you as soon as we are able. I will not leave without them."

"Of course not, Caoiloch. You would never be expected to."

"And now that that has been settled. Come here, you are altogether too tense for my liking," she said, spreading her arms as if to hug him. She lay on the floor, propped up by her dragon. He was very creepy to the young cheetah-shifter, but complied anyway, lowering himself to his knees to curl up into her embrace. A black ringlet fell in front of his eyes, and she slid it free then behind his ear, then licked gently his eyelid.

Shall I…help you restrain him? Zangre asked her, curling his tail upward to brandish his blade-embellished tail.

Hmm, maybe…

• • •

Aiko looked at the five candidates waiting. There was a short slender red-haired girl, a tall, muscular woman, a dredlocked paramedic, a black-haired woman, and an aggressive tanned man. Two of the candidates were shapeshifters. That Aiko knew from looking at them. An echoing crack interrupted her thoughts and she turned, surprised. A single claw poked out from one of the eggs.
Then, in an explosion of noise, all the dragons burst free.

There were only two candidates left. Worry pooled in Aiko's stomach. What if they wouldn't bond? This was Jiyuu's first clutch. She couldn't have any bondless.
The two candidates left were the two shapeshifters. There was a beautiful girl, and a frighteningly handsome man. The girl stepped forward. She looked afraid, or maybe she was just nervous. Whatever the emotion was, it drew a yellow and red-brown male toward her. Sylnes stepped back. The male looked her in the eyes.

"You need not fear males any longer. I am Kiku." Sylnes nodded. Kiku lifted a single claw and sliced the bond holding Sylnes' hair back. Loose waves of caramel colored hair fell around her shoulders. She walked to stand by her new dragon.

~ Exerpts from Jiyuu Dragonstake's first hatching

• • •

Makon paced the room impatiently. They had not seen, nor heard any word from, Tyrach in two days. He was angry, nervous, and beginning to fear the worst. There were rumors floating around Cy that had one of the most notorious dragonknights abducting and even killing other knights. Surely not bonder candidates - no - surely not... but Tyrach was among the most contienious and dependable people Makon had ever known. He would have said something by now!

Tyrach... he tried again. He knew it was in vain, but he knew not what else to do! He and Sieban had asked around to no avail (how does an elephant-shifter lose one's self even in such a crowded place as Cy Dragonstake?). He had tried a telepathic communication without luck. He could not even consult Lady Caoiloch, it was no longer safe at Cy. His last message to her and Erloch had been not to come...

Tyrach, if you can hear me, please answer!

Perhaps they did not think this dragonknight Tenken would not do harm to the candidates, but the more he thought about it, the less he trusted this troublemaker all the time.

If anything should harm Tyrach, heads would roll. Literally.

• • •

Tyrach groaned. He winced, squirmed, whimpered. He even cried, though he was beyond tears, at least physically. He wept for himself and those around him. He could feel their pain as cottonball points of red heat. From some he received impressions of dripping blood, squirming intestines, absessed organs, moaning swellings, as well as emotions clouded and drowned out by another: greenish-black sticky despair. Doom.

Encased in the semi-transparent secretions of what those others referred to as "xenos," Tyrach knew he was going to die. Within the soft, warm, pulsing -- nurturing -- cavity of his body, he felt a fetal creature growing.

More than for himself he feared for his clan. He could sense vaguely the heat of Makon's anger, the electricity of his nervousness, and the chill of his fear. Tyrach could do nothing about it. He wanted to reassure this child tossed so abruptly into the responsibilities of men. Even accomplished leaders needed an advising voice and a listening ear. With the passage of time he could feel the sinking despair consume the young Beta.

Sylnes had been sent on to a safer dragonstake, Jiyuu. He could no longer feel anything for her. He felt a pang of regret stab him briefly as he realized he would never meet the dragon she would soon bond. The dragons of that dragonstake seemed sturdy, and while not exactly fair and beautiful, seemed to be a good lot all around. He regretted most over all the others his inability to reassure and support her, but perhaps her new companion would make up for that lack.

And from Sieban he felt waves of anger and nervousness, but rather than fear him possibly doing something rash, Tyrach felt the grip of indecision hold the antelope-shifter forever back. And that was why he was no Beta like Makon; he was never quite prepared to make real-life decisions, instead waiting for a guiding hand, needing that authority to step in. Makon, he knew, was that figure.

Unfortunately, under the circumstances, he was afraid Makon would make the wrong decision. And unfortunately, no matter how he hoped he was wrong, Tyrach knew he would never live to find out for sure. He, like everyone else entombed in the Nero Sands of Cy, knew he was going to die.

• • •

Strangely enough, it was a bright and sunny day that the apocalypse clutch began to hatch. Perhaps it was only fitting, a day deceptively bright for a clutch that had been cloaked in so many lies. The clutch was hatching under the bright sunlight while not too far away from Cy two wounded riders and their two wounded dragons took on servants of the darkness. In the inner circle, behind the walls of twisted mucus, Madra smirked and stroked her evil queen in the soft light.
"The babies are stirring now, can you feel it?" she asked while her eyes swept the inner circle.
The chamber that Ofeross had sealed off was vaugely oval in shape and the walls were not made soley of mucus. Human figures seemed to be built into its design and their twisted forms protruded slightly from the hardened excretion. Some were awake and muttering feebly while others had not opened their eyes since they had come. Each, however, had the same fate this day. They served as living eggs for the baby xenodragons and would soon feel the scratchings of their inhabitants.
Madra's grin broadened. The time was coming, the birth of her dragon's children. "Alert Cy and the candidates," murmured Madra.
The candidates had all been stationed on the levels directly below the Nero Sands so they were close when the call came. When they came up into the outer circle G*non took a few of them aside, leading them to the dark entrance of the inner circle. Only a chosen few would be bonding to the dragons there. The outer circle's hatchlings would be hatching the regular way so were more suitable for the candidates less prone to violence.
Not many of the Cy riders were allowed into the Nero Sands for this hatching. Silent Wind was there, he had no problems with deaths. It was mostly those from G*non's own crescent, the Demon's Fury Squadron that were present at the hatching. However, they remained in the outer circle. The inner was reserved for Madra and the candidates alone.
Among the candidates left in the outer circle there was some discomfort. The wall of mucus which cut the sands in half was eerie in the flickering light and the egg's shells were pebbled and black. They didn't know what lay beyond in the inner circle but G*non barred the path of anyone who might have been curious. There would be no skipping from side to side at this hatching. Instead, they turned their faces to the rocking eggs as cracks began to spread down their dark shells.

Back in the inner circle, Tyrach found himself in a most unpleasant position. It was one that he did not care for in the least, having a dragon clawing its way through his gut. It was now that Makon noticed the predicament of his friend, though there was nothing he could do. Makon ran to Tyrach and arrived just as the elongated head of a beta drone emerged from Tyrach's body.

"No!" he screamed as he launched himself at the drone. "You killed Tyrach! Die!" He was about to crush the drone into the ground when a figure leapt in between the two of them, a beta warrior.
Stop it, Makon! commanded the warrior.
"No, Dagor, she killed Tyrach so now should die!"

If you kill her now then Tyrach's death will have been in vain! She can still be of use to us! Calm down and you will see. Calm yourself!
[Makon] glared at the cowering drone in front of him and a change seemed to pass through his mind. Yes, this creature could be of use to him someday. "Very well, I will let you live," he said to the drone. "What is your name, creature?"
Orah.
"Very well, Orah. You will now look to me, or else you will die. Understand?"
Yes.
[Makon] fed the two creatures, his fists clenched into tight balls. Tyrach had died here today and he had been powerless to stop it. All he had to show for Tyrach's death was two xenos. They had just better prove themselves to be worth it some day...

~Exerpts from Cy Dragonstake's Second Apoc clutch, by Sherra

Dagor looked up at Makon as he and Orah ate greedily. Are you not pleased with us, Makon?

Orah stopped eating, "looking" up sharply. She had no eyes to speak of, but she was highly empathic and while she was not technically bonded to the young shifter, fully capable of feeling his emotions. Not only that, but like many xenomorphic dragons, she was capable of "seeing" any warm-blooded animal through its body-heat. Any change in Makon's body heat would indicate a change in emotion.

Makon watched her, a lip curled in disgust at the sight of her ugly beetle-like head. Dagor watched every twitch in the young shifter's face. "No," Makon said throatily. "I hate you all. You're ugly, you disgust me! You killed someone I hold dear! I hate you!" It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming, grabbing random objects and hurling them at the two dragons.

Orah and Dagor stared at him. The smaller female lowered her head in shame. She did not understand his repulsion; she was what she was, after all. All she understood was that they were inexplicably tied together, she and Makon, and through him Dagor. All she understood was his rejection of her, and yet his demand that she stay with him. She and Dagor regarded one another for a moment solemnly before he spoke again: Makon...I too broke 'shell' through someone's chest cavity. It is our nature that we kill in birth. Do you hate me, too, then?

Makon stared at him through tear-filled eyes. His face was contorted and flushed through his fur with such strong emotion. Orah saw the heat blaze around his head and shoulders, as if his head was aflame. Finally the glow faded as the battle within was lost. Try as he might, he could not bring himself to hate Dagor. He shood his head. "No....I don't hate you. I don't hate you either, Orah," he said softly, curling in on himself. Their hunger was briefly forgotten as the pair of xenos wrapped themselves around his hot furry body. "I'm sorry..."

Silence seemed to engulf the trio and Makon finally lifted himself wiping tears from his eyes. It was then that he realized something was amiss, that the Inner Circle was indeed quiet as two very different xenomorphs were born.

Both of them were deep crimson red and emerged from the gaping wounds with cascades of blood. One had silver spines, the other gold. Both had wide sweeping crests that arched out from the back of their heads. One, however, one was male. A king. A xeno-king. The young queen and king glared at those who dared to approach and both let out piercing shrieks of rage.
Kill them! screeched the king.
Massacre them all! bellowed the queen.
Every xeno in Cy picked up on those calls and all eyes turned to the Cy knights. That was when all chaos broke loose. Baby xenomorphic dragons seemed to be pouring from every crevasse to attack the knights while the already bonded ones watched on. They pushed the dragonknights back into the outer circle and the people already there with their dragons cried out in horror as the monsters emerged from the inner circle. The one unbonded candidate in the outer circle, Sieban, rolled to one side as a xeno lashed out at him.

Yeah, stay away from him, you monster! shrieked a voice mentally as a red figure jumped between Sieban and the xenos. Sieban watched in wide-eyed amazement as the creature swatted away xeno after xeno, roaring triumphantly when they stopped attacking. Hey, Sieban, said the red as he turned around. I'm Lethoc.
"Nice to meet you," said Sieban dazedly as he reached out to touch the creature that had protected him so.

~Another exerpt from the Apoc clutch

Makon, Dagor, and Orah found themselves swept along with the flood of xenomorphic dragons. "We must find my friend Sieban!" he told the dragons in his charge. In their wake were several carcasses of xenos that had taken up the charge against anything resembling a dragonknight. It was then that he saw Sieban, the black-and-white antelope-shifter paired off with a red, striped dragon. He looked far more normal than any dragon he had seen yet, and briefly he wondered why he had been taken to the Inner Circle to begin with. Dagor glanced back at him and he instantly regretted the thought. The big black xeno made a close approximation of a grin, forgiving him, and ran with Orah to come to their aid.

On his way Dagor swiped at a lesser xeno, a low-ranking drone, out of his way. The Blue landed hard against a wall, stunned for a moment, and was forgotten where he lay.

As Orah and Dagor reached Sieban and Lethoc, the Blackbuck shifter cried out in surprise. "Lethoc! Watch out!" The Red Hathian-cross braced himself for battle, realizing finally that they were on the same side.

"Sieban!" Makon waved his arm at the Gamma warrior with a huge grin, happy to see Sieban alive. "These are Orah and Dagor."

Sieban nodded to them then waved to his own dragon. "Lethoc. I was worried about you. I heard screams ... Where's Tyrach--Makon!"

The young cheetah-shifter found himself bowled over by the Blue his Black had knocked aside. Dagor roared with rage and self-reproach, realizing his mistake and ready to tear the smaller drone to pieces. Let him gooooo!!!

"Wait, Dagor....look."

The xeno perched atop him was large and scary-looking, though still smaller and less shrewd than Dagor was. Like Orah he had no eyes, but was graced with horns similar to the eye-crests common to Hathians. Instead of clawing and snapping on him, this dragon sat, padding his chest and only barely touching him with those horrible claws. His teeth were bared in a horrific grin that was tilted upward good-naturedly. His tongue lolled out like a huge dog's and he leaned forward -- Dagor roared again -- and licked Makon.

Hee hee.

"Ugh! Makon!"

Makon resisted the urge to vomit, the dragon's drool connecting with the side of his face to the Blue's tongue. "Wh....what's your name, boy?" he asked as if to a dog, despite himself.

Uh...Usiorn. The big Blue continued to grin, turning to regard the others. There was a large crack in the armor on his head where he had hit the wall.

"Ahh..." was all Sieban said, grinning to the Blue finally. "Nice to meet you Usiorn. Will you help us fight?"

Uh huh!The big drone nodded enthusiastically, instantly feeling dizzy. He moved away from Makon, who quickly rose to his feet, and sat for a while until the sense of vertigo passed. I don't feel so good...

Makon patted him on the shoulder careful to avoid a set of silvery spikes standing on end there. "It's all right Usiorn. You go ahead and take it easy. We'll fight ourselves a way out." He was cut off from further comment as they all heard a draconic scream. A pack of vicious xenomorphs had backed their green sister into a corner. She was of similar Hathian features to Lethoc. "Let's go!" Makon waved the others into a charge forward, surprised as Usiorn joined in the chase. "Stay back Usiorn. I think we can take them. You should rest."

No chance. She needs our help!

Makon nodded. "You're right."

Someone help me ... please!

We're coming! We'll help you!

The female Hathian-cross looked to see a pack the size of her assailants approaching at top speed. With them were strange bipedal creatures, but there saw no malice about any of them -- at least aimed at her. She nodded, growling at the xenos closing in on her. One slashed at her with a front claw, another snapped at her tail, grasping it in his teeth. She cried out in anger and pain, thrashing her tail but unable to pull it free. Let go of me! Then another lunged at her, slashing at her shoulder. It bounced off of silvery armor, but it seemed to be a signal for the others to fall upon her. In impotent rage she fell beneath their claws and teeth.

After what seemed like ages, her flesh torn and oozing with blood, Pencara felt the weight on her release as three or four xenos were tossed up and away from her. Snarling, roaring, the sound of tearing flesh and finally several loud, wet crunches and the remaining xeno attackers turned tail and ran. Pencara finally rose up to see a Red Hathian-cross and a Blue xeno-cross grinning at her. There were others, but this pair was keen to be up front.

Are you all right?

You're bleeding, let me--us help!

Her Red and Blue brothers glared at one another and snarled, falling upon eachother in a ball of snarling, slashing, and growling. Wide-eyed she stepped past them and looked at the two bipeds.

"Are you all right?" Makon said quietly. "We can help you get some medical attention and some food, if you'd like."

Food?! Usiorn took a hit to the side of the head as he stopped in shock. When he recovered from his latest head injury, the dizziness settling into a vague nausea in the pit of his stomach, he spoke: I am so hungry Makon, will you feed me?

Makon stared at him for a moment then sighed, realizing that he had yet another dragon in his care. "Sure, Usiorn, why not?" he muttered. "Pencara too, the more the merrier...I guess..."

Dagor sidled up to him. What's wrong, Makon? Look at all these dragons. They are yours to command. These Alphas of yours -- I've noticed them floating around in your thoughts -- they don't command these dragons, you do. Right Orah? You're loyal only to Makon, not some Alphas across the stars?

I live only because of you Makon. You and Dagor. I will serve no one else, unless you tell me to.

And Usiorn?

I love Makon! He is so great!

Ha, ha, ha. Well I am Sieban's dragon. You all can do whatever you want... Lethoc smirked and Sieban patted him on the shoulder.

He sighed and shook his head as he chuckled a little. "No, we all follow our leader, Lethoc. Makon is our Beta, and we do what he says."

The Red seemed to shrink a little as he stood and Pencara rumbled a deep but feminine laugh. Actually, I would like to accompany you all, if that's all right. In this group, there is certainly an air of family...

• • •