Vali And The Dragon

Chapter 5

A/n:  Hi.  This is... this is a thing.  I'm tired, but I'll try to keep my promise. (Oh my, I just forgot that I've never described Reaan.  I will in this chapter.)

(Skybrooke: Naga aren't entirely snake-like, simply an in-between.  Yatacath are similar to Khajiit but more animistic, cat-like, humanoid beings. Paraxo are similar to the Rito in BOTW, bird-people who have wings with joints and muscles in the feather-like wing tips/fingers.  They are exceptional at Fire and Air based magic as well as Healing magic)

Night had fallen, and the duo had set up camp.  Vali had climbed into a tree to sleep after Reaan climbed up and dared him to do the same.  It was surprisingly comfortable and Reaan had to curl around him to keep him from falling out of the tree.  Fenni and Dog were at the base of the tree, under a lean-to that they had made, goofing off all the while.

Dog kept watch, growling at those that came close to the small camp, Fenni actually kicking someone who tried to grab her in the night.  It was mostly simple shades, but the aforementioned kick-ee was a horse thief.

Of course getting kicked by a 850 kilo (1,873 lbs) shire horse in the face would probably kill a man of any type, but come sunrise, no horse thief was to be found.  He might have been buried, or had somehow survived and ran off, but who's to say?

Vali ended up somehow slipping into a hollow in the tree and while trying to get out, somehow wedged himself further down in the hollow.  Reaan ended up having to loop a rope around Vali's arm, and hoisting him out of the tree hollow.  Reaan slipped down from the tree, Vali sitting against the trunk, up on a branch.  

Reaan started taking apart the camp before looking up at Vali, still sitting in the tree.  "Are you goin' to help or not?  Because if I have to get you down, I won't keep you from falling out of the trees."  Vali chuckled before slipping down from the tree, landing cat-like, on the ground, his eyes lighting up child-like, yellow sparks in the grey of his eyes.

Reaan smiled, his fangs peeking through a smile.  He smiled and chuckled softly. "Heh... Are you sure you're just a half-elf?  Not part Yatacath or something?"  Vali chuckled as well and replied, "Nah...  I just had a lot of practice jumping down from different places."  

Reaan smiled again, his grin wider, showing his mix of fangs and teeth.  He ruffled Vali's hair, and hooked Fenni up to the cart, trying to crawl into it and failing.  He laughed quietly,before turning to Vali, and slightly smiling before asking softly.  "Um, hey, could you help me out here?"  Vali chuckled before picking Reaan up, his mixed brown ultramel python-like tail trailing into the cart and curling into a nest-like shape, large enough that Reaan could sit and look out of the cart, which he did, smiling up at Vali from inside.

Vali laughed before climbing up on the front of the cart, starting off for the town that was about three hour's travel off.

The duo rolled into town hungry and exhausted.  Reaan had fallen asleep, his ash-blonde hair that was cut to the bottom of his ears fell in waves in his face.  His honey-coloured skin was stretched across the long, thin fingers of his hands, resting on his face. They were blocking the light from his eyes.

Vali smiled and poked Reaan slightly, waking him up after the third or so try.  Reaan smiled before yawning, and trying to twist out of the cart in his half-asleep haze.  Vali slipped down and helped him out of the cart.

Reaan and Vali chatted and joked, asking around for quests and other "Need help from adventurers" kind of stuff.  They found one eventually, an older Paraxo woman, who needed them to find her son, who had gone looking into the odd noises coming from the cave.  

Reaan smiled calmly, and assured the Paraxo that they would bring her son back from the caves.  They headed out and found the cave quite quickly.  It was around the place that the Paraxo woman said.

The cave itself was dark and warm, condensation dripping down the walls.  Vali made a face, stepping back from the cave with a shudder.  "I-it's w-w-warm and s-slimy..."  He said, holding his hand to his chest with a childish look in his eyes, like a small child who had thought he had seen a monster in the corner of his eye.  

Reaan took Vali's hand, looking it over.  "It seems fine... just try not to lean on the walls..." Reaan mumbled, trying to be comforting.  Vali smiled faintly, tinges of blue and black in his eyes.  Reaan lit a lantern that he had bought in town and slithered in, his hair fluffing up in a warning crest.  he let out a raspy hiss and slowly slithered into the cave.  He twisted his head up, opening his mouth to try to pick out where the Paraxo man was.  Vali shuffled into the cave, feeling his heartbeat slowly grow faster.

Reaan suddenly bolted down a path, into the darkness of the cave system.  Vali shuffled after him, his heartbeat thundering in his ears and trying not to scream, struggling to breath.   He struggled backwards, trying to escape from the system, only to get lost further down inside it.  He searched desperately for an escape, His heartbeat filling his ears, blocking out any sound other than his breathing struggling to escape from his chest.  

He grabbed for something, anything that could help him, to calm him down.  His ears rung, his eyes wide, looking desperately for any way of escape.  He felt something curl around his leg before jerking him down to the ground.  Vali cried out in fear and pain, feeling his leg dislocate, falling to the rocky ground.

He tried to crawl to a medium-sized tunnel, whimpering in pain as he dragged himself through the tunnel, bumping into a warm-ish scaly thing around the same size as a person.  He felt himself being picked up, and the next thing he knew, he was outside, in the ground with the grass brushing against his ears and the back of his neck.

His breath eased, and his heartbeat calmed to the point he could hear again.  He felt a numbing tingling sensation in his ankle as Reaan popped it back into place and someone else cast some sort of healing spell.  

Reaan looked at Vali with his deep brown eyes full of worry.  "Vali... you could have told me that you were claustrophobic.  You didn't have to go in..."  Reaan slithered off, face in his hands.  "R-reaan... I just wanted to be helpful..."  Reaan looked up, before saying, "H-hey... It's fine, we'll just try to avoid going in cave systems like that one... Or any if we can avoid it..."  Reaan smiled, trying to be comforting.

Vali sighed before trying to get up.  The Paraxo man helped Vali up, and Reaan picked him up, slithering to town, talking to the Paraxo who introduced himself as Zasa Sharpbeak.  Zasa was a Magpie-like Paraxo, with shiny pins and other trinkets sewn onto his dark grey tunic.  He grinned and flapped a few feet ahead of the duo, singing a short repetitive song.

Once they got to the town, Zasa flew over to his mother, letting her know what had happened.  It turns out that the cave had an entity inside.  A Thorned Soul, a lost soul that had somehow attached itself to a plant that often grows out of control.  It tried to attack Zasa and Reaan, the latter ended up shooting a fire-based spell at the soul, burning it to ash and dust.

The mother smiled and taught Reaan a few more spells, a really good healing spell, an air-type spell and a flame-based spell.  She also gave the duo a pouch of coins.  Reaan and Vali smiled and thanked the woman, saying that if she needed anything to try and contact them.

The duo asked around for more work and ended up finding one, which will be saved till the next time!

A/n:  Hello my dears!  I do hope you liked this chapter!  Have a good day!