The Beastkeeper's Bride

21: Tooth and Talon

21: Tooth and Talon

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Millie screamed his name silently even as she bolted forward, only to be caught staunchly by Rogane. His arms encased her about the shoulders and she fought against the restraint, terror filling her mind as man and dragon tumbled to the earth with a force that would surely render all his bones to dust.

Blayne grunted, his face contorted, and then his arms locked about the scaled neck, impervious to the rapier sharp ridges that trailed down its spine to the tip of its tri-horned tail.

It seemed wholly impossible to Millie that the odds of the fight would favour her husband and her chest constricted painfully. She watched as he wrestled the vast, winged reptilian creature currently pinning him to the earth. Ash continued to flare and swirl about them, eddying against the soft currents of air that drifted through the clearing, that occurred due to the vehement thrust of limbs and bodies, the brief flare of orange embers and they flickered and disappeared emitting an ethereal quality to the scene unfolding before them.

Stop them! Millie howled uselessly, her gaze pleading as she twisted to look at Rogane. The other beastkeeper held his jaw taut, his gaze intently tracking the fight. She squirmed and succeeded in capturing his attention.

"Have faith in your husband's abilities," he told her simply, the tone of his voice sombre. "Watch. You have invoked the Draëllian in him- none of us would be able to control his actions and decisions presently."

He turned back to his brawling brethren, his leader, and Millie wanted to protest further in whichever way she could, but she noticed the same enraptured attention that Kaede and Caël were bestowing Blayne. Even the Llaelleanoid stood close beside her, still and unmoving as it, too, considered what was transpiring in the clearing while dusk and ash settled heavily against the air and earth, and beside it was the Valkyrie- calm and reticent, almost statuesque once the command to seize had been issued, as it kept silent sentinel over proceedings, wings tucked closely into its sides. She averted her gaze from it, unnerved by the thing that had considered her dinner but moments before.

Millie followed the gazes of the others, turning her attention forward, and found that Blayne had regained his footing, no longer sprawled on his back against the dirt. Streaks of black and grey smeared over his glistening torso, his stance wide and braced as he tracked the sleek beast now circling him- a predator assessing its prey for weakness or vantage points of attack.

"Rogane," Blayne snapped, "take Millie away!"

No! She did fight then, digging her feet into the earth and baulking at the tug of the other man's arm against her shoulders. She was tired and done with the men of her acquaintance believing they had the right to manhandle her- through the skies, through the forest, through her very own estate and home- and she hissed out a breath, glaring for all her worth at Rogane. I will not stop fighting this! She bellowed aloud within her mind.

Rogane hesitated and Blayne caught her frantic movements with an imperceptible flick of his fiery gaze, and that was all it took for Aëghan to attack. This time the beastkeeper anticipated it, lunging to the side and twisting from talon and wing, and then, with a firm glower of malcontent on his face, Blayne began to backpedal, forcing the dragon to follow after him with a slow, threatening sway of its lithe body- wings snapping out and fluttering in a laborious stretch to possibly emphasize his strength and size.

It was only when they were at the other end of the enclosure, almost to the perimeter of the trees disintegrating slowly into ashen wreaths, that Millie realized what Blayne had done. He had taken the beast away from her, opting to let her stay in lieu of her violent protestations but ensuring that she was far from harm's way.