The Sentinels

15: Pain

Dante and his two remaining brothers circled around Ryker first, trying to steady his fall. After diving for a few hundred meters at a time, Reagan decided flying beneath him, soaring almost, while the storm continued to rage around them, would make the landing less like crashing. The shifters on all of their backs were frantic and afraid, Dante could feel it in his promised and guess it of everyone else. But she kept a controlled stature, trying hard not to let her panic get the best of her. Ryker wasn't moving his wings but they were still halfway outstretched, which made Reagan's attempt at guiding him with one of his wings more difficult. The shifters on Ryker's back were only barely holding on.

Dante remained calm however, summoning the serenity in him that was usually buried behind his rage. He concentrated hard to keep the fear of losing Ryker at bay. Still, there was a pain in his stomach that felt as if daggers were being pushed into his gut. Fear literally stabbed him—he tried his best to keep the impact as dull as possible. Kendra was panicking enough, she didn't need his worry to top it off.

Dante slammed his wings up and down as hard and fast as he could, trying to fly to the other side of Ryker's body to mimic Reagan's actions. The rain falling down on him made everything much more tiring. Thunder constantly ringed in his ears, large drops of water kept burning his eyes. He hated flying during a storm.

What he hated even more was keeping his cool in the midst of all of the chaos.

Dante saw, blurred and out of the corner of his eye, that Tyrion flew closer towards them. They were rapidly losing altitude, and Dante feared they would crash soon. In this constellation, they would surely break multiple bones upon impact, and to continue their journey would be impossible. They needed to come up with another landing solution—one that did not include several bone fractures.

As if Tyrion had read Dante's mind, he shouted, "Dante, you're larger than Ryker is. Maybe you can try to fold his wings against his body and grab him from above."

Dante tried to picture the scenario and quickly came to the conclusion that it might work, even if it would look ridiculous. To pull it off, Reagan would need to remain below Ryker. Albeit Dante was the bulkiest of the four, the broadest and strongest, he still couldn't carry a fully grown, multiple-ton weighing male dragon.

Mentally, perhaps, but definitely not physically.

With his dragon-fist-sized heart beating furiously against his chest, Dante circled around Ryker's body until he was above him. The muscles in his wings were strained—it was becoming increasingly tiring staying up in the sky with these conditions. Maneuvering his way up and above Ryker only exhausted him more.

Silently, he sent a tendral of concern through the link to his promised, wondering if she was alright. Instantly she sent back confirmation. Without them exchanging words, they still communicated effortlessly. He couldn't wait to be entirely connected to her—he really couldn't. But now was not the time to think about that.

"Hold on!" he shouted as loud as he could to the unfortunate souls sitting on his back.

Within an instant, Dante pulled his wings closer to his body, dropping in altitude, and grabbed a hold of Ryker's left wing. He wasn't broad enough to reach over to the right wing since it was still too outstretched, so he awkwardly pushed Ryker's wing against his body. Quickly, he moved closer to Ryker's center, wrapped his legs around Ryker's tail and with his front legs grabbed Ryker's neck.

"Spread your wings now, Dante!"

Dante hadn't even noticed just how much altitude they'd lost—when he finally did look towards the ground, it was alarmingly close.

And with all the strength Dante could muster, unintentionally pulling some strength from Kendra, he spread his wings and braced himself for impact.

The first thing that knocked out nearly all the air left in his lungs was Ryker's weight. By spreading his wings so abruptly, Ryker's weight slammed into Dante's joints as if he'd been hit by lightning. Sustaining the hold on his twin proved to be the hardest part of all. He was heavy, as predicted, but the pain in his joints made holding him nearly impossible. He bit down on his teeth, screaming in his mind to keep him from letting go.

It hurt. His wings hurt, his shoulders hurt, his talons hurt. All four of his legs felt like they were being ripped out of their sockets. But he held on to his brother, all of their lives depending on him. He couldn't let go. He wouldn't.

He roared out loud this time as he felt the fire of anger rage through his veins. And then, finally, Dante could tilt his wings slightly and they soared in the sky, just a little bit of the pain subsided. Reagan, below Ryker, shouted something Dante couldn't hear. Then Dante saw Tyrion fly towards Reagan, dropping in height to level him. Tyrion was out of Dante's sight then which made Dante uneasy. Tyrion had been his watchful eye—now Dante felt alone with the responsibility of saving his twin. He couldn't see how far away the ground was, where the tree-line started. Was there a hill close-by they could crash into?

Dante nearly lost his mind.

When Tyrion finally levitated higher again, Dante saw that the little she-devil and her siblings were tightly sitting between the others Tyrion carried on his back. Reagan was up to something.

"We're almost low enough to land. Reagan will carry Ryker's weight just before he touches the ground, which will be when you'll need to carry him again so Reagan doesn't break his legs underneath him."

Dante blinked at Tyrion to show he understood before the brown dragon flew higher. Dante concentrated all his strength on his physical abilities and didn't want to risk a verbal response swaying that resolve.

"Now Reagan!" Tyrion yelled and instantly, Dante felt relief in his joints and almost reeled back but kept steady as hard as he could. He felt his promised's panic sicker through him, only intensifying his own.

He bit down harder and braced himself again for impact. He grabbed his brother tighter, pushing the last bit of strength into his muscles and spread his wings again to hold up Ryker's body and stop soaring. The weight hit his joints again, less intense this time since they were already numb with pain. Through his brother, Dante felt Reagan touch down. Something snapped then and Dante could barely keep his grip on Ryker—without Reagan beneath him, Ryker crashed onto the ground. Dante let go.

In a matter of seconds, his muscles screaming in protest, Dante heaved himself into the air to keep himself from crashing also. He roared again and after a few seconds finally let himself land.

He was utterly drained.

Dante felt it coming down on him in waves. Exhaustion. But before he gave in, he touched Kendra's mind to see how she was doing. He could feel no pain, no panic. "We're all fine," she yelled from behind his head.

He would have smiled had he the strength to. Instead, he turned his head to see behind him. He spotted Reagan in the distance, the sleek black dragon laying unconscious on the ground. Ryker, equally without senses, laid in a field of wet grass just a few meters from Dante. The shifters on his back were frantically trying to find a way to get off of him, but seemed fine otherwise.

It was only then that Dante finally gave in and closed his eyes, welcoming darkness like a remedy about to save him.