Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Wrath of Maw

She had advantages that Pannu hadn't, when he made the voyage with his group. First was the Bowl itself. Shortly after she covered them, they discovered niches right where they huddled. Chet had bent forward, only to have his head disappear into a large-ish niche. Stan and Stella found another to the right of that, and Harvey found a third to the left.
   "It makes sense," Onnu murmured into the wind. "This is the most sheltered part of the Bowl." Despite the howling from above, her muzzle was right next to their beds, so they heard well enough.
   "Sleep now, if you can. I know it is early, but I am here."
   Charon didn't stay overhead any longer than it usually did, which made her wonder why it had arrived so early. Had another meal pulled it in their direction ahead of schedule? What if they'd had another group of kin make the Crossing? Except Crossing hadn't drawn it to their group, so why would it do so this time? Surely, He wouldn't have transmogrified another human into a weak or wounded dragon!
   Unless they were wounded trying to defend a group of kin? Or wounded because there were no kin to protect? I don't know how I would've reacted to being in a dragon body, without the others needing me, or knowing Charon was there.
   She might've flown as high as she could, right off the bat. If Charon were within the line of sight at the time, on their planet, it would've seen a fledgeling dragon and lunged for it.
   There could have been another group who'd recently Crossed, who were all injured trying to cross a river. Perhaps they didn't have a dragon to protect them. Or they could have had a phenomenally unsuccessful hunt that caused a stampede. There was no way to know now, as Charon would have consumed every scrap of evidence.
   All the same, Onnu decided to investigate after Charon had passed over.
   She dropped off her passengers, to explain their nocturnal absence as best they could, and immediately flew away. Pannu would have questions, but he would surely have noticed that Charon had come early, and guessed her intent.
   She flew in the direction opposite of Charon, as always. It was generally a smart practice to go away from a predator; but today, any traces would be left where it had been, not where it was going. It seemed to have passed over the rubber clover grove, rather than the water, which was a slight deviation from its normal path. The Maw was so wide, it could easily swallow both, but it had chosen to veer that way. The question was, had it devoured hapless victims in the grove, or along the path away from it?
   Nothing moved in the grove, which was unusual. The grazers were usually moving around by now. Was this indeed where it fed, or were they more wary than usual?
   She flew what they would call south, though they didn't really know. Anything "down" (away from Charon) from home was south, "up" (toward Charon) from home was north, and of course, east and west were loosely to the sides.
   She looked for anything out of the ordinary, like a tree bent out of shape, or drastically smaller herd sizes. A tree that had toppled would have flown up into the Maw, so she also looked for gaps in the trees.
   That was the most unsettling thing about Charon: it left very little evidence of its passing.
   About two dragonhold lengths beyond the grove, she found what she was looking for. It wasn't quite what she'd expected, but it did make sense, when she thought about it. It wasn't a smaller than average herd, but the most irregular herd she'd seen thus far. It was perhaps indelicate to refer to them as a herd, but from the air, kin were small shapes that weren't always easily distinguishable.
   She landed near the group and called out a greeting.
   "Ho! Have ye lost your dragon this night?"
   There was much milling about and murmuring, but no one came forward. She took two small steps forward, and they did not bolt. It was indeed possible that they'd lost their dragon, for they knew not to fear her.
   "There is shelter nigh, and aid for the wounded. Would you ride with me, or walk?" She wasn't sure how the home kin would react, but they'd just been talking about expanding to other holds, so these kin could be relocated, once they were more stable.
   Finally, a greyskin stepped forward. "Some of us cannot walk. Others are fatigued beyond their limits."
   Onnu walked slowly up to the greyskin and lay down. "I offer my services to those who require them."
   This ragged band of kin was smaller in number than either of theirs had been, but if they'd made Crossing when Onnu and Pannu had, they would have traveled much greater distances to reach them. Losses would have been inevitable. She barely felt their weight on her back, or in her arms.
   Greyskin acted much as dragonfriend had, helping kin aboard, or suggesting they be carried. Many of the kin here, she noticed, did not understand Draconic; which made him, and the handful of elves and centaurs, all the more invaluable as translators.
   "Okay, that's everyone."
   She nodded and rose, cradling the thin kin to her keel. She decided to walk to the dragonholds, as this group was not strong enough to make the flight. She wasn't sure they would even make it to her home Bowl, as weak as they were! She walked as fast as she dared toward one of the smaller dragonholds, which was the closest, and filled in the greyskin on the way.
   "...So I can bring, or send with a winged one, what healers and powders we have. Our hunters are much recovered from their journeys, and the grasses on this planet are edible for many kin."
   This prompted a quick rundown of the terminology they'd come up with so far, such as kin, Bowl, and dragonhold. They'd been so busy surviving, they hadn't come up with many words yet. The only term they did have, that gave them all the shivers, was Night Beast. They'd appeared on a wide grassy plain, with an unobstructed view of the Maw. That she called it Charon made no difference. What did impact them was that they were not safe from it here, as their dragon had promised.
   "That's not true! You see those spires? No, not mountains. I forget, your eyes are not as long as mine. The mountains you see are actually the dragonholds I mentioned. There are spires that point inward, like an open cone. As long as you're under one of the spires, or in a sleeping niche, you are safe! Your dragon did not lie."
   When she drew even with the pondlake, she saw some of her gryphons and birdkin headed toward them.
   "See? Here come some of our littles now! Your dragon's sacrifice altered Charon's timeline, which told us something was off. I bet they came to see if they could help."