The Sky Demons Part One: Journey

Chapter Fourteen- Riddle me this

Serefk’na- Riddle me this

 

The spectre moved towards us down the length of the tunnel, its quiet footsteps telling us that only one creature had followed us from the safety of the cavern. Without the collective shadow of its herd, the dark cloud that was usually all that could be seen of the dweller had been reduced to a transparent, almost invisible aura and for the first time we were able to see what one truly looked like.

The shade dweller stood on four legs, slightly taller than Nightshade. His front half was that of a horse with gloomy pale fur and a bedraggled mane that obscured his eyes completely. His back half was more like that of a dragon, covered in shiny green scales with a long spiny tail and sharp talons on his reptilian back feet. The dweller snorted and stamped one of his front legs, at which point I noticed that instead of having the hooves of a horse, his hooves were cloven- split into two parts so that he might move more easily on rocky or earthen terrain.

The dweller trotted towards us, his nostrils flaring as he took in our scents. I took in a sharp breath and moved in front of the others to meet him, only to be ignored as he trotted directly past me, his dark aura brushing close, making me flinch and step further away. He came to a standstill directly in front of Senka and stared down at her, his ears twitching. She stared back, her body tense against the fear of that ever-writhing shadow. The shade dweller opened his mouth, revealing rows of horrifyingly sharp teeth. And licked her.

No one seemed more surprised than Senka. With a grimace of faint disgust she wiped the saliva off of her face; the shade dweller’s tail flicked briefly from side to side, and then he licked her again.

“Um… what’s going on?” asked Tigre, standing close to Nightshade and watching the dweller with a mixture of weariness and bemusement on her face, her fingers twitching as if she was waiting for the moment when she would need to grab her scythe.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m under attack!” growled Senka, trying to shove the animal’s face away. The dweller nickered and pushed his forehead against her shoulder.

“Awww, looks like shade dwellers aren’t so bad after all!” cried Asher, he moved forward and patted the dweller's neck, and in response the dweller moved his face towards our friend so that he could stroke its nose. The dweller’s shadowy aura flickered over Asher’s hand, causing him to flinch and Gensan chittered angrily, then squealed and shoved against Asher’s legs so that the young hybrid stumbled backwards and away from the other animal.

The shade dweller nickered again and threw his head back; the dark aura surrounding him slowly evaporated and the torches closest to us sprang back to life. I hadn’t even realised just how tense I had been until my fear dissipated along with that aura, leaving me feeling both drained and full of relief at the same time. The dweller returned his attention to Senka and began snuffling at her hair.

“See,” said Asher, “he’s just a sweetie, he doesn’t want to hurt any of us.”

Senka, attempting to neaten her now mussed up hair, looked unconvinced but Nightshade moved forward with hesitant steps and sniffed at him until he sniffed back and neighed. The dogriff stared at Tigre.

“Nightshade thinks he’s safe,” said Tigre, though she sounded unsure.

I placed a hand against the dweller’s neck and he leaned into it. His fur was soft and velvety and his skin warm to the touch, I patted his neck and then stroked his scales, careful to move my hand in the same direction that they ran so as not to hurt him, they were hard but radiated heat, just like a dragon's scales.

“I think he’s safe too,” I replied as the dweller turned his head and tried to lick my arm, “let’s keep moving.” 

The shade dweller followed us through the tunnels, trotting directly behind Senka- too close for her to feel overly comfortable- nudging her with his nose and trying to get her to scratch him behind the ears. She acted quite put out by it, though a few times I think I saw her trying to suppress a laugh.