Between a Harpoon and a Hard Place (open to all)

Wake glided smoothly under the waves as he looked around for a meal. His eyes darted around, spying some small fish, but nothing the wyvern wanted. Then he spotted the perfect prize. A bull shark! It should be simple. Just a bite behind the head, and it'd be over. He darted towards the shark, jaws ready to kill the predator before it could fight back, but he felt something painful. The wyvern let out a yelp as he tried to fly out of the water. Why does it hurt to flap my wing?

When the Sea Spirit surfaced, the pain in his wing was worse. The dragon turned his snout to see a rope leading from a boat to something at his side. A harpoon! Wake looked down at the boat, fear gripping his face, before quickly biting the rope and flying back to shore. Each beat hurt, but he had to reach land. The young dragon then began to think. Why harpoon a dragon? Were we after the same shark? How did I not notice that boat?

After a few painful moments, Wake finally got to land and touched down, not even caring if anyone or anything was there. He finally managed to get a good look at where the harpoon hit. The shaft stuck up from his right wing, close to the wyvern's body. It was designed not to come out, or dig deeper, and it had pierced the thicker area of his already thick wing. Wake slung his head back, trying to bite the shaft from the head so he could pull it through, but he couldn't get it into his jaws. He then reached with his left wing, but he's body just wasn't designed to reach where the weapon was. After a few minutes he finally gave up .

The dragon then looked around. He didn't see anyone. Wake finally had and idea. He couldn't do anything for the harpoon, but someone else could. The dragon got up, and let out a loud, barking call hoping to get anyone's attention, and praying to Kelarth for some luck.

The Pride of Kryo was on his way to Brysur. With five children and a sixth on the way, he was finally considering getting a bigger house. But he wanted to move to Brysur, like he and San had always planned. Svadilfare walked along the beach, the city still too far off for him to see. For the moment, he was here for a job. A merchant with valuable wares wanted protection while he traveled to Ammos.

Suddenly, Svadilfare heard a noise, a rather big noise. It sounded like... was that a Dragon? Svad frowned. This was yet another time that Celestia was not with him--even though he'd insisted on going alone so he could clear his head and think about a few things. He now regretted that decision; his right hand was still healing so he couldn't really use it for combat. But... something was different about this Dragon's roar. It sounded.. pained. Maybe it was injured?

Against his better judgement, Svadilfare followed the sound, holding one of his swords in his left hand. His shield protected his right. The sound grew louder as he got near. He crouched down when he reached some large boulders and peered around them. There was a Wyvern with a harpoon sticking out its wing. Svadilfare considered his options. He could just quietly continue on to Brysur, or he could try to help the beast.

Celestia flickered across his mind. He would help her no matter what... But then again, he had to; he was in her debt. He held no such responsibility to any other Dragon. Of course, if he was being honest with himself, at this point he would help Celestia because he wanted to. He sighed. If not for her, he wouldn't believe it possible that Dragons could exist peacefully alongside Humans, or even be kind to them.

With a deep inhale and a silent prayer, Svadilfare returned sword and shield to his back then step out from behind the rocks. He moved toward the Wyvern, suddenly loving Celestia for having given him a Moonstone; if this didn't go well, he could rely on his new ability. He couldn't wield a sword with his right hand, but he could still use a fireball. When he was close enough for Wyvern to see him, he stopped.

It occurred to him only then that Dragons couldn't speak his language, nor he theirs. The only way he and Celestia communicated when she was in her Dragon form was through telepathy. All he could do was hope that Celestia wasn't the only one who knew his language, or perhaps his Moonstone could somehow translate. "That harpoon... I could remove it!" he called up to the Wyvern.

The moment Wake saw the human fear came to his face, and his frill-like horns opened as wide as they could. He began to take a few steps back, growling as he did, but the harpoon moved again sending another shot of pain through his wing. Wake examined the wing again. He didn't know if he could get off the ground, he couldn't swim, and running was painful. And then the human surprise him.

He spoke! Wake had never really heard of humans talking to dragon. Granted, he couldn't understand what the human said. Then he saw the man had his weapons left in place, not ready to strike like he thought they would be. The wyvern calmed down slightly, but his grey eyes and open horns still showed the fear he had. And sure as that harpoon in his wing Wake didn't trust the man.

The Sea Spirit stepped just a little closer, to get a better look at the human in front of him. He was clearly some kind of warrior, and that didn't help Wake's trust issues. But then he noticed the mans right hand. The wyvern didn't know why, but something didn't seem right about it.

The Wyvern didn't respond to his words. I guess this thing doesn't translate, Svadilfare thought with a glance to his Moonstone. He'd have to ask Astral the next time he saw her if there was a Moonstone that did. For now he had to figure out a way to convey his intentions to the Wyvern. After a moment, he realized there was only one way to do that... He wasn't overly fond of it and Tali would probably kick his but from one end of the continent to another if she knew.

Svadilfare removed a knife from his belt and, without stopping to reconsider, plunged it into his right hand. The blade went all the way through, from the center of his palm and out the back, shattering bone as it went. The warrior didn't scream; he'd suffered worse pain by his own hand, by others. He did bite his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the sand. And then he raised his hand for the Wyvern to see. He pointed at the harpoon. He pointed to himself then removed the blade from his flesh.

For a moment he stood there, watching the blood flow from his hand, as if it the first time he were seeing blood. Slowly, he tried to move and bend each finger, tried to close his hand; assessing what damage he'd done. Sharp pains coursed though his hand when he tried to close it, when he tried to bend his middle and ring fingers. His gaze fell to his Moonstone. Surely he could use it to learn healing magic? Later. Right now, he wanted to try to help this Wyvern. He cut a strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it tightly around his hand.

Svadilfare then picked up his knife and sheathed it. He started to slowly move toward the Wyvern again, hoping it had understood what he intended to do. If it allowed him, he'd start climbing once he reached it, make his way to the harpoon.

Wake watch fearfully as the man pulled his knife. What does he want to do with that? The wyvern then got an answer when the human plunged the blade into his own hand! Wake couldn't fathom why the man would do that, but then he pointed to the harpoon lodged in the wyvern's wing, then to himself. And at that, a hint of realization came to the Sea Spirit's ghostly eye. He wants to help my?

He couldn't really believe it, and was still wary, but at least his horns halfway closed, showing he was more calm then before. Wake began to think about this. Should he let the human help, or try to run? Then he remembered his prayer he made. Yes he didn't like this but it seemed to answer the prayer he had. The the man began to walk up.

Wake finally, and reluctantly, sat down to make it easier for the human. There was still fear in his eyes, understandably so considering he still didn't like humans, but he had to have a little faith. This human injured himself to get a point across! Who would do that if they didn't want to help? Though Wake thought it felt weird having a human crawl on him. It just felt... wrong. But he let the man do it, albeit keeping his eyes on him constantly.

Svadilfare was surprised when the Wyvern actually sat down to make his climb easier. His climbing was slow, mostly due to his hand. And it wasn't like Dragons had branches or anything to grab onto. When he finally reached the harpoon, he drew a sword and started chopping just behind the pronged head. It took quite a while but he finally managed to sever it from the shaft.

Svad sheathed his sword as the harpoon head fell to the ground. He grabbed the shaft and pulled it out, letting it fall to the ground as well. And then he looked at the wound. There was really nothing he could do for it... His eyes fell to his Moonstone. Astral had said it would help him learn magic quickly--but not that quick. It took him a couple weeks to master a simple fireball. Oh well. He could at least put a salve on it. The Kryoan fished around in his satchel for the salve Tali had given him. When he found it, he smeared some onto the wound. Then he climbed further up the Wyvern so he could reach the other side.

After applying the rest of the salve to the exit wound, Svad climbed back down. "There," he said, knowing the Wyvern wouldn't understand. "That salve should help it heal faster." He backed away from the Wyvern, collected the harpoon pieces, then went to find a suitable place to toss it. He settled on burying it in the sand.

Wake winced with every chop the human delivered to harpoon, giving a slight growl of pain every once and a while. At least he could tell the human wasn't trying to hack his wing off. Then he heard the harpoon head hit the ground. And then pain hit his wing again, but it only lasted a second as the harpoon's shaft was removed, finally feeling relief in his wing.

While Wake was happy that the harpoon was gone, the human was doing something. It was the first time the wyvern noticed the Moonstone. Where did he get a Moonstone? He then saw to man pull something out, and began to rub something on the wound. He let out a small hiss as the stuff was applied, due to some slight stinging, but stopped as it began to relieve his pain even more. Then he said... something. Wake couldn't understand a word of it, but it seemed to be about the wound.

Then the human picked up the harpoon pieces and stepped back. The wyvern was still shocked that the man had helped him, but he wondered what the this guy was going to do with what was left of the harpoon. The Sea Spirit stayed close enough to watch what the human did, and was happy to see him bury that horrible thing.

Wake then let out a thankful roar as he finally began to test his wing, flapping both to see if it was painful or not. He then looked up, thanking Kelarth for the help, while asking to not get a random human next time.

((Sorry for shortness))

After burying the harpoon, Svadilfare looked back at the Wyvern. It was testing its wing, then it let out another roar. It didn't sound angry, so Svad assumed it was a thank you of some kind. With a nod, he turned and went back on the main path to Brysur.

Exit Svadilfare

((It's fine.))

Wake looked at the man as he nodded, replicating the action. He finally took to the sky, heading inland to try his hand at hunting their. The wyvern couldn't help thinking about the human who just helped him. This was the second time in his life a human had helped him. THE SECOND TIME! He wouldn't believe it if he hadn't experienced.

Sometimes, he couldn't figure out if he was one of luckiest Rogue's on Pyyria, or the unluckiest. Him and his friend get captured by humans, then one frees them. Human sharkers harpoon him, then one removes it. Either way, that was behind him now, and he was still hungry.