257By: Belle the Shadow_Cat
A/N: This is my first time on so be nice people, and please review. Flames are accepted if they are CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Any other types of flames will be used to roast marshmellows. And also on reviewing anyone reviews my story and is registered to or and has a story they'd like me to review mention it in a review and I'll be happy to do so. You may also e- mail me (See profile) my e-mail has a junk mail filter so please put (about the story ) or something like that to let me know to read it. I take anonymus reviews. Here's the Revised Version of Chapter 2.
Chapter 2: Dravidian *revised *
"Great Decisions often take mo more than a moment in the making."
The Voyages Of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting
Dravidian cursed his luck. The wind was too strong for him to fight after flying almost all day, youthful as he was. Sooner or later he would have to land until the wind died down. So he started looking for a suitable place to land when a huge gust of wind kicked up. It was so strong that it blew him right into a cliff face and he started falling. "Come on wings fly, fly," he begged. After tumbling down a ways he finally got into an upright position. He unfurled his wings; he then felt a sharp twinge of pain in his right wing.
"Great," he thought "just what I need a sprained maybe broken wing." Dravidian was falling fast, too fast and he knew it. He had to try and slow himself down somehow. There was nothing left to do except use his wings to slow himself and hope his hurt wing wouldn't give out, even though he risked injuring his wing more.
"All right here I go." He once again unfurled his mighty wings and flapped. Even though his wing was hurt he was able to slow himself down enough so he wouldn't be too hurt if he fell. Then the frequent flapping of his wings then proved too much for his right wing, and as Dravidian feared, his wing gave out. Then he fell the rest of the way to the ground and crashed, causing a lot of dust to stir.
He stood up trying to regain his balance on his legs. He stood up an stretched, he was achy, but aside from his wing, he was fine. Now that he couldn't fly he'd have to walk all the way to his Eyrie on Mt. Dragon. It would be very hard getting there since he relied mostly on flight, and the ground was so different from the air. "Maybe I could find someone to lead me there," he thought to himself. "But who would be willing to lead a dragon?"
Just then, he heard a rustling in the bushes. "If it's some creature that's peaceful it'll be fine, if it's one looking for trouble then I'll give it a good account of myself." He watched the bushes carefully. Finally two black heads popped out of the bushes and just stared at him. He sighed in relief. They were only Felida. "Come out, do not be afraid I am a friend."
They slowly came out of the bushes gazing at him with their amber eyes, full of nothing but curiosity. "Hello," one of the felida said, " I am Silver and this is my twin brother Luna. Do you need any help? We heard your fall."
"Yes, do you know where Mt. Dragon is? For I am Dravidian from the clan of my father Dravidar."
He watched the two cats waiting for a reply. He then watched the two felidas' faces change from friendly ones, to ones full of anger and hate. All of a sudden they lunged at him. He had no choice but to defend himself, he flicked his tail. Even though his blow was light, it was still powerful enough to send the felida five feet back. He was sure they'd back off after that but they went at him once again. He did not understand why they were attacking him but one thing was for sure in his mind, if they wished to fight him then he would give them as good as he got.
* * *
Cytosine patiently waited for the twins to return, it was almost sunset. All of a sudden she heard sounds of fighting. Cytosine was sure that it was Silver and Luna, so she dashed off into the grass going in the direction where the sound was coming from. "I'm coming guys!" she called.
Finally she was reaching the clearing where Silver and Luna were fighting. She was almost there when she stopped dead in her tracks and stared dumbly. It was a dragon; the dragon was a grayish-black color with the deepest ruby- red eyes she had ever seen. It was standing on it's two legs and were towering over Luna and Silver like a tree. Its wings she guessed were at least five feet long. Its two smaller "claw hands" were hanging at his side. No doubt prepared to rip and tear if need be. As she was staring at the dragon she saw something peculiar. The dragon had a white mark on it's front, right claw hand, like herself. Except it was a circle with a bunch of tiny triangles surrounding it, looking much like a shape of the sun. But she dismissed it as a coincidence. Although it was a young dragon-about the age of herself, she knew she was about as tall as his hind leg. She winced involuntarily as she watched the twins try to fight the dragon, and by the looks of things, the dragon was giving the two cats a good thrashing. She finally shook herself out of her daze and started thinking of what to do.
"Hey, leave my friends alone," she commanded, stepping out of the bushes.
"Leave them alone, they were the ones that attacked me," pointed out the dragon delivering the twins another hit with his tail.
"Cytosine, he's from Dravidar's Clan, even worse this one is his son," Luna managed to say.
"What?" Cytosine said, her eyes narrowing, "Well, it is my destiny to take revenge for what your clan did to my family."
"What!? I don't even know what you're talking about." Said the dragon.
"Well let me remind you. About five years ago your clan came and killed all of my clan except me, because I got away, for no reason." Cytosine said. Then all three of the cat's charged at the dragon.
"Five years ago? I was just a baby dragon then. Why should I be responsible for what my clan did? I am sorry that my clan did that to you, but now I have had enough of this!" he then with one mighty swing of his tail, flung them against a wall.
Cytosine knew that she was beaten. She then waited for him to deliver the final blow, but it didn't come, "Aren't you going to finish us off?"
"Why?" questioned the dragon. Cytosine then looked into the dragon's ruby- red eyes and saw w hat she had never seen before in a dragon: mercy and kindness. "I see no reason to. I am truly sorry for what my clan and my father did to you. I don't know why he would do that. I am quite close to my father because I don't have any siblings. In fact, I have never heard of that incident happening in my father's clan. Perhaps you made a mistake-"
Cytosine fur began to bristle. "I didn't make a mistake! I'm sure it was your clan. You look just like your father. Don't think I'd forget, Dragon. We Felida are not as dense as you might think!"
"I was never saying-"
Cytosine growled again. "You're probably just letting us go out of pity. Besides, you should want to kill me. I'm the last felida from the Wind Clan. I'd think your father would probably want me exterminated."
"Whether he'd want you exterminated or not it is not mine to say. And I'm not going to kill you just because my father bares a grudge against your clan. And I didn't spare you out of pity. It's just I don't believe in senseless killing! I'm not that kind of dragon."
Silver looked at the dragon intently. "Then you're probably a spoiled princeling who's looking for a favor."
Dravidian shook his head and sighed. "Believe what you want, cat. I can promise you I'm nothing like my father. You could say my father and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye on some things. I just don't see him massacring your friend's clan easily. He may be a little quick to judge and doesn't think things through, but I can't see him doing something like that, I just can't. He hates fighting large groups of anything. He even hates battling other dragon tribes for his family's honor. You don't know him like I do."
"No, we don't," agreed Silver. "But we know what he did to Cytosine's family and-"
'Are all felida this persistent?" Dravidian thought as Silver went on and on.
"Mr. Dragon?" said Luna.
"What is it now, cat?" sighed Dravidian.
Luna padded over to the dragon and stared at him for a moment.
"Yes . . ." said Dravidian slowly. Luna's stare was beginning to unnerve him.
Luna waited for a moment then spoke. "I think you're telling the truth . . ." he paused for a moment. "I . . . I don't know why, but I think you're a really nice dragon, even if you do look big and unfriendly. It's this feeling I have. It's telling me you're alright."
"That's nice to know," said Dravidian, then he thought, 'At least one of you thinks so.'
Cytosine stopped for a moment and stared at Luna. He'd have these feeling about other animals now and again. She wasn't sure how much she believed in Luna's feelings, but he had a knack for judging an animal's character. It was he that first convinced Silver to come and meet her. He had told her and Silver that he just knew she was a nice felida, and all the things their clan was saying was not true.
Silver looked at his brother again. "Not another one of your 'feelings' again. He's a dragon. What makes you-"
"I just know, Silver. Just like I knew with Cytosine!"
"Stop fighting," said Dravidian. "If I told you what happened before I landed would it put your mind at ease?"
"Yes, do that, Dragon," said Silver. Cytosine nodded in approval.
Dravidian quickly told about his fall. "Now, you see what happened. I just fell that's all. Now I'll be on my way. But first I was wondering if you could-"
"See, he's going to ask us for a favor now! I knew it!" shouted Silver.
"Hold on to your fur, cat. I was just wondering if any of you knew the way to Mt. Dragon? All you have to do is point me in the right direction and I'll be off."
"What is it?" asked Cytosine. "Shouldn't you know your way home yourself?"
"I have never gone this far out before. And I rely on flight. I don't walk. And the ground is so . . . strange. I don't recognize anything."
"You're hopeless, Dragon," said Cytosine. "I do know where Mt. Dragon is. But if you don't even recognize anything then what makes you think you can find your way home from my directions?"
"I'll manage."
"You kidding? You'll be as lost as a butterfly in a cave. I do you one better. I'll lead you to your home myself. I know this place like the back of my paw."
"Why?" Questioned Dravidian. "There must be something your after."
"After?" Cytosine laughed. "I just ask for an audience with your father, dragon. No more. Besides, you didn't kill us even though you could have."
Dravidian thought for a moment. "Well, if there's an audience you want, then I'm sure my father will do so. I could use a guide anyway."
Cytosine nodded. "All right. Come on, Dragon. We can still make some time before nightfall."
"You can call me Dravidian you know, Cytosine."
"Fine, Drag-Dravidian. Just let's go!" So Dravidian and Cytosine started walking toward Mt. Dragon.
"Cytosine, wait for us!" cried Silver.
"No, you guys stay here. You are NOT coming with us," growled Cytosine. Then the felida and the dragon once again they started walking. Since they had they're backs turned they didn't see the sly grins that passed between the twins as they raced after them. After about a half hour of walking Cytosine looked behind her and saw that the twins were once again following her. Cytosine didn't know whether to be angry or relieved.
Cytosine let out a sigh of exasperation, "Would you please stop following us."
"We're not," said Luna innocently.
"Luna's right, we just happen to have some business up that mountain. And it so happens that we are traveling the same road as you. So technically we are not following you."
"Can't argue with that," Dravidian smiled.
"All right stop trying to trick me, you can come with us," Cytosine agreed. She was actually very relived they were coming with her; she just didn't want to admit it.
"We weren't tricking you, Cytosine, we really did have business," said Silver.
"Yeah, our business was to watch you and make sure you don't get into any trouble. After all who's going to save you if a Manticore decides to attack?"
"Not you!"
"Yep, Cytosine's right. That definitely leaves you out, Luna," agreed Silver.
"Hey what about you? You couldn't fight a Manticore with no legs."
"Shut-up," shouted Cytosine and Dravidian at the same time, which was much of a surprise to themselves, as well as Luna and Silver. The twins then fell immediately silent. This was a big surprise to Cytosine. So then, the four travelers set on their journey to Mt. Dragon to find out what destiny awaited them.
Another new thing! Pronunciation guide (in case you were wondering)
Cytosine = sit-toe-sign
Dravidian = Drav-uh-d-an
Hope that helped. There's the revised Chapter 2. What do you think? Is it better? For those of you that read the first version you'll noticed I added a few things in. I had been reading over reviews and, like many of you, I thought that this chapter was quite a bit rushed. I deleted The part where Cytosine told Dravidian what happened to her family for two reasons. 1. Now that I think about it I doubt Cytosine would be willing to tell the dragon who's responsible for her family's deaths her life story. 2. Cytosine acted WAY too friendly to Dravidian. I think she needed a better reason for leading Dravidian too. This chapter also provided some much needed character building for all the characters. And I hope this satisfies some of your questions. Thanks for your time! And Thank you all for your reviews.