The Dragon's Blood (Part 89.3)
During which arguments are made...
89.3
The world though, as it would turn out, wasn't finished with Trakaan Astranax just yet.
Three loud thuds signaled the simultaneous arrivals of the remaining members of the Council, that and their roars, deafening to his ears.
Quickly and with great commotion, he was free and the shadows retreated. He lashed out at thin air as he struggled to regain his bearings, holding his flame but not his talons, tail or wings. He hit nothing, and settled for a defensive posture as his vision made tried to make sense of his surroundings.
Zorrak and Karanthus were still before him, only mere strides away, but now they faced the three new arrivals, their teeth bared, their claws out. The Dragons circled each other, hissing and snapping, their great bodies coiled like vipers, ready to strike, only the knowledge of what was at stake halting them.
One of the arrivals, Tiamat by her appearance, multi-colored and somehow more beautiful than even Domina, crept close to him, never taking her eyes from the Shadowdragon, whose own dark eyes promised worse than even murder.
“Are you hurt, Astranax, did he truly harm you?” She asked him, concern written all over her features, concern and something else, outrage.
Perhaps he could hope to dream that at least this one wasn't outraged at his presence. He was here out of duty to his beloved wife. It was what she wanted for him, what she'd always asked of him in the case of...
“He merely hit me to stun me, Mistress Tiamat,” he responded in a whisper, both of them still watching the others. “He was trying to goad me into attacking him so they could both have an excuse to finish me.”
“Stay close to me then,” she whispered back, her words not without compassion. “Millenius will deal with them. We'd expected this reaction.”
The dragons hissed and snapped at each other. Millenius and Tarrasque on one side, Zorrak and Karanthus on the other.
Trakaan felt no small bit of shame. This was all because of him. He'd been responsible for enough, the dissolution of the Council would be too much, far too much.
He made to intervene, to lay himself in the path of the two aggressors, anything to stop it, but was halted quickly by Tiamat, who held him back with ease, her serpentine body wrapping itself around his own.
“Foolish Wyrm,” she whispered into his ear, her words swift. “I know what you are thinking and you must stay back. Not even your legendary foolishness can dissolve the Council of Dragons, but you will surely find yourself dead if you dare intervene. You are one of us already, but not one of us yet as well. Stay back I told you, stay back and allow Millenius to work his magic.”
“He is an interloper!!!” Zorrak began, his voice louder than ever, more deafening than any thunderstorm, flashes of lightning coursed all about his massive blue-gold frame. “And worse yet, he is an interloper that has caused the deaths of hundreds of our kind... nay, thousands... he has the entire race of man against us. We hide now... hide like rodents... forced to disguise ourselves as the descendants of MONKEYS!!! HOW DARE YOU DEFEND HIM, MILLENIUS!!! HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME, A SENIOR MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL!!!”
Karanthus didn't speak, didn't bother chiming in at all. His gaze had already left the others, his gaze was back on Trakaan, meeting him eye to eye.
End Part 89.3
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