Spilling Blood By Twilight [Ra'Shei and Anguis Tenebris]

It had been a month since Ra'Shei had become the IceWing Alpha and he had been working almost nonstop. This included hunting, fighting back rogues, and most importantly, keeping tabs on the wellbeing of the Tribe's eggs. The Gifted Crystals have been in a rough spot for years, so every egg was a blessing and each should be protected with care. This was why when a female dragon approached him, the Alpha trembled in anger.

"My Alpha," she began, dipping herself into a bow with her wings outstretched. "Something awful has happened."

Ra'Shei lifted his head from his front talons, perking his ears. "Go on."

"An egg from the hatchery. . . It has been stolen!"

This news made Ra'Shei move quickly to his feet, his webs prickling. "When? How? Did anyone see the culprit?" The question made the female shift her feet nervously. "W- Well. . . One dragon saw it. . . It was a group of humans! It looked like they were heading east."

Questions buzzed through Ra'Shei's head. How could this have happened? Did the hatchery not have enough guards stationed there? Why didn't anyone try to pursue the humans? The humans were spotted, so surely a chance to chase them down was available, but someone chose not to. With these thoughts in mind, Ra'Shei growled and skulked from his den. "Thank you. I will be off."

His words caused the female to flare out her wings. "But Ra'Shei-- I mean, Alpha!" Ra'Shei didn't look back, but she kept stammering. "It might be dangerous out there! The humans can hurt you!" The wind whipped away her speak as Ra'Shei spread his wings and took to the sky, heading east. The humans couldn't have gone far.

The band of bandits were traveling quickly, they knew they had to put as much distance between themselves and the dragon lair as possible. It wouldn't be long before they noticed the disappearance of the egg and they had to get into hiding as soon as possible.

In the back of one of the carts sits a young man, Anguis Tenebris age 19. Anguis sat in the wagon of the third cart and was clutching the dragon egg tightly. He was extremely uncomfortable with the the mission as he knew the stakes of stealing from dragons. But the bandits were in massive debt and they would be killed either way. Their only hope was to steal the egg and sell it for millions on the black market. Anguis was constantly looking back at the lair to see when the dragons would take flight.

Just then the wagon shook and Anguis turned his attention to the front to examine what was going on. He saw the carts in front of them had all turned right and were heading towards the cliffs. This caused panic to rise as this wasn't the plan. He put down the egg in a bundle of cloths and started moving towards the front of the cart. "Hey! Where are we going?" He asked the driver, screaming over the whipping wind and thundering of the hooves.

"There were a change of plans while you stole the egg, we are going along the cliff edge in order to cover more ground!"

"But that's too risky, the carts could fall into the ocean, not to mention we will be sitting ducks for the dragons to fly by and kill us! We should have gone to the forest where we can hide and wait for an opening to escape!"

"Not a chance kid, bosses orders! Now sit down and let me focus on not crashing!" The man reached up and pushed Anguis and caused him to fall backward into the cart.

Anguis groaned as his head connected with the hard wood. "Radha is going to get us all killed." He mumbled under his breath. "The dragon egg isn't worth the lives of everyone. We should be more careful." He started to wonder if he could change anything, but Radha was in the first cart and they were already so close to the cliffs. Anguis considered grabbing the egg and jumping off the cart, maybe run for the forest. The dragon would likely still go after the caravan, but maybe Anguis could escape. He could use the money for himself and have millions of dollars to spend however he wants, let these idiots die following their stupid leader.

But Anguis feld an ominous foreboding and he looked back at the lair. A huge dragon had already taken flight and was heading straight for them.

It wasn't long at all before Ra'Shei's keen eyes noticed some specks below. He dipped his wings, allowing him to lose just enough altitude for him to spot the human caravan. The IceWing's lip curled back into a snarl. He knew that was his goal, that was where the precious egg was. Why else would humans be travelling this high up in the freezing mountains so quickly?

Releasing a loud roar from his maw, Ra'Shei tucked his wings and dove at high speeds towards the caravan before landing deftly on his feet right in front of the first cart. The dragon narrowed his eyes with a snarl as he studied the carts. It appeared the real treasures were in the back carts rather than the front. With this information, the dragon Alpha raised his talons and went to slap it around the first cart, hopefully crushing it to debris.

The bandits noticed the dragon flying towards them and grabbed their bows to take fire, but they would do nothing against the dragon scales. Anguis knew he had to get out of there if he was going to survive he had to run. But a debate started in his mind: should he take the egg and risk the dragon chasing him down or leave the egg and possibly lose out on millions of dollars.

Then the dragon landed, Anguis looked up at the mighty beast with both awe and terror. He was frozen in place as he gazed upward at the majestic white dragon. But that all changed when he saw how quickly it destroyed the first wagon. Anguis snapped out of his trance and only thought about running. He jumped out of the cart and started running when he realized the egg would probably be too useful and he turned around to grab it along with the cloths it sat in. He figured the egg would be safer with him than on a battlefield and he could probably use it as a bartering chip as the dragon chased him.

The arrows were merely alike flies as they pattered onto Ra'Shei's hide, causing the dragon to snarl in annoyance and swat them away. He reared back on his hind legs and unleashed freezing frost from his maw aimed for the humans shooting the arrows at him. The Alpha was about to crush another wagon when he spotted a human running away from the battle, and in his arms....

I will kill you, human.

Ra'Shei swept his long tail over the caravan before taking to the sky with a mighty beat of his wings. He caught up with the runaway and landed directly in front of the human. The IceWing snarled and ducked his head so it will be at the bandit's level.

"Egg. Now."

Anguis knew he was in trouble when he felt the gusts of air caused by the massive dragon as it took off. The massive thud as they landed shook Anguis and cuased him to stumble and almost drop the egg. He looked at the massive form of the dragon and found himself shaking, I'm going to die! I was never trained for dealing with dragons. He considered handing over the egg and running, but there was no guarantee the dragon wouldn't kill him on the spot once the egg was safe.

It took some mental preparation to stop the shaking, stand up straight and glare at the dragon before him. "My name is Anguis Tenebris, last surviving member of the family Tenebris!" He spoke loudly and clearly, not yelling but projecting his voice to make him sound more confident. "And you WILL listen to my requests or I will break this egg! He grabbed a knife and placed the tip against the shell, ready to thrust it in at a moments notice.