Kinu was half through her bottle of milk and quite close to falling asleep, eyes closed and relaxed in Jing’s arms when there was a sudden sound of a crash and a rumble from far away, accompanied by a louder roar.

Jing looked up in surprise at the noise that echoed through the cave. “What was that?!” She said worried, moving carefully to stand while not moving Kinu a lot.

Kinu blinked sleepily, then as a second pained roar sounded she blinked rapidly, ‘That… that sounds like Leria!’

Jing didn’t like this at all, running towards the exit of the cave. “Stay in here Kinu!”

Kinu squeaked, and tried to push Jing back. ‘no! You can’t go out!’ Her voice was now scared, ‘You’ll give away where my siblings are and get yourself killed!’

Jing winced as she heard Kinu, looking back at her. She was right but… Leria! What was going on?! She had said it was safe here!

Kinu whimpered quietly as the sounds of battle came from outside. ‘This is bad….’

Jing nodded a little, agreeing with Kinu “I don’t understand… Leria said this was safe. And… this battle sounds huge!”

‘Battles between dragons tend to be large.’ Kinu whined.

Jing winced a little as she heard that “But… Why would another dragon show up? Especially in a place like that…?”

Kinu didn’t know, of course. She wasn’t as void of knowledge as a mortal’s child, but she was still a newborn. She did know one thing though, ‘She’s fighting a red dragon… red dragons are twice as big as bronze dragons.’ As she finished this thought there was an agonized cry from Leria.

“A red…” Wait Leria had explained a little about red dragons! She turned as she heard the cry though, hands in tight fists. It was painful for her to stay back like this! If the eggs didn’t need to be protected… along with Kinu, she would have run out of the cave by now.

Kinu gazed up at Jing with fear, ‘There’s nothing we can do though….’ She thought, ‘Just… hope Leria manages to drive the red dragon away.’

Jing bit her lip a little before nodding. “Once things get quiet… I’m going to see if Leria is in sight of the cave…”

The small wyrmling nodded, clinging to Jing, frightened. The battle raged on for a while, then everything went quiet.

Jing was sitting by now, eyes looking towards the exit of the cave. After a little bit of time she looked at Kinu. “Stay here… Alright?”

Kinu whined, ‘Are you sure it’s safe? What if he’s there still?’ There was the sound of wings outside, and a booming voice. “Come out, you scurrying little rakune!”

Jing jumped in surprise at the voice, frozen in fear. That was a huge… and very scary voice.

There was silence for a bit, then the voice came again, “You don’t show yourself and I’ll just kill this pathetic excuse of a dragon, rip her to shreds and spray her around the mountains!” Kinu whined, trembling in fear.

Jing went pale as she heard that, looking at Kinu before standing. Maybe if this red dragon was out of sight of the cave… she could sneak out and find a way to keep the eggs and Kinu safe.

Kinu whimpered, ‘Don’t…’ She hesitated. She didn’t want Leria to be killed but she didn’t want the eggs to be found either.

Jing looked at Kinu sadly “Go into the back and hide please.” She whispered before slowly heading towards the exit of the cave, peeking out and looking around.

The small wyrmling sat where she was left, watching Jing. The rakune could see nothing directly in front or around the entrance to the cave.

Jing nodded slowly, starting to carefully walk out of the cave, tail swinging back and forth lightly through the snow to get rid of her foot prints as she carefully started to walk along, making sure to see the dragon before it saw her.

She saw no sign of the dragon until she reached the platform, and looked around. On the side of the mountain some distance away, a huge red dragon sat upon a crag, Leria’s form below his clawed feet, bronze scales tarnished amber with her blood.

Jing winced as she saw Leria, but made sure not to be seen yet. Ok… now what was she going to do? There was no where else she could go besides the water… But she still felt to close to the cave.

“This is the last call rakune!” Came the red dragon’s voice, claws curling into a large wound in Leria’s one shoulder, causing her to moan weakly in pain.

Jing winced as she heard Leria and finally came out into view. “L…Leave her alone!”

The dragon turned at the small voice, and grinned widely as he spotted the tiny rakune. He flapped his wings as he moved to launch himself and Leria grabbed his tail, the two wrestling, as the red dragon spewed fire at Leria’s face, who let go of him, falling down the side of the mountain. He turned, flapping towards Jing.

Jing watched in horror at Leria fall before looking at the dragon and backing up against a rock in fear. This wasn’t good.

The red dragon landed neatly on the ledge she stood on, and leaned forward, breathing hot sulfurous fumes at her. “So here you are, at last….” He grinned.

Jing coughed at the fumes, stumbling back in fear. “W…Who are you? What do you want…?” She asked, voice trembling.

“I want to know where the eggs are, and I know you know where they are.” He said, a large clawed hand sweeping to grab Jing.

Jing cried out as she was grabbed, and she whimpered a little. “I…I won’t tell you…”

He smirked, “Of course you will.” He said, “Tell me where the cave is.” She felt a strange tingling in her mind and the strong compulsion to do as he said.

Jing twitched as she felt something wrong, body trembling suddenly. “J…Just….k…kill me… I…I won’t t…tell you…” She said, struggling to get out the right words before she clamped her mouth shut.

He chuckled, breathing into her face as his grip on her tightened. “Oh believe me, I will.” He said, “Over and over… every single day until you tell me.”

Jing whimpered in pain as the pressure against her body grew. “H….How do… you know that…?” She asked in fear, coughing a little.

“Because it was my colleague who cursed you in the first place.” He said wickedly, “But before I kill you perhaps I should burn away the snow on this mountain. There isn’t many places you could have come from to get to this ledge, is there?” He laughed, launching himself into the air, still holding Jing.

Jing’s face went pale as she heard him. Wait what?! He knew about the curse… and even more so… he knew who cursed her?! “N…No! Let go of me!” She screamed, struggling desperately to get away.

The grip grew stronger, the lethal claws digging into her ribs painfully, as the dragon hovered, drawing back and blasting the side of the mountain where she’d stood with flames.

Jing cried out as the claw’s dug into her, body trembling from pain. “N…No… Stop…” She muttered, tears falling down her face. She couldn’t let him find Kinu or the eggs… and he had hurt Leria! Why couldn’t she do anything to stop him?! “Stop…STOP IT!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as suddenly the gravity around the dragon felt like it had just multiplied 50 times over.

“Wh…” The dragon felt the increase in gravity and tried vainly to keep afloat, but then plunged down into the abyss below them, still firmly gripping Jing.

Jing’s eyes were tightly closed as the gravity around the dragon kept strong against his body. She didn’t understand how this was happening, but it meat she could keep him from finding the cave.

The dragon, with Jing, plummeted down the side of the mountain, and crashed into the sea below, submerged in it’s icy waters.

Jing let out an involuntary gasp as the ice water hit her, and she started to swallow some of it. As the same time because of the shock her powers vanished and the gravity around the dragon returned to normal.

The dragon beat his wings as he flailed to get out of the cold water, letting go of Jing in his panic.

Jing felt the grip around her fade, and she struggled to get to the surface, gasping as she made it up and tried to get away but her body was quickly getting stiff and she fought just to stay above the surface, swallowing more water.

The red dragon was flailing in the water beside her, and his giant wing crashed down onto her, sinking her below the waves again. Then the thrashing beast was gone, and Jing was alone.

Jing let out a cry as she was forced underwater again, swallowing more water. By now her body was too weak and she was unable to get back to the surface and instead started to sink deeper into the icy water.

Another large body splashed into the water near her, a scaly claw grabbing Jing’s floating form, then dragged her out of the water. Leria broke the surface, and attempted to fly out of the water, but cried out in pain, splashing back into the waves, keeping Jing above water.

Jing coughed weakly, body shivering uncontrollably and she was struggling to breathe now. She slowly looked up at Leria, trying to speak but too weak.

Leria gritted her teeth, and moved again upwards, and the two disappeared, to reappear by the pond inside the cave. Leria let Jing slide on the ground before collapsing heavily, bleeding from numerous wounds and sporting burn marks that dulled her scales.

Jing just coughed weakly, curling up and continuing to shiver badly and fighting for every breath.

Kinu ran over from where she had watched from the cave’s entrance, and stopped beside Jing first, curling up next to the freezing girl. Jing immediately felt the cold leave her. She wasn’t getting warmer, but she was no longer bothered by the cold.

Jing’s body was still shivering but she did relax at least a little, one hand going over her chest where the dragons claws had dug into her ribs. “L…Leria…” She said quietly, trying to move and look towards her in worry.

The large dragon had not shifted form, breathing weakly as she lay, half inside the lake, breathing heavily, eyes filmy as she lay bleeding badly. ‘I’m… sorry Jing.’ Came Leria’s faint mental voice.

Jing shook her head a little, “W…Why are you… saying that?”

‘I did not…. think I was so weak…. he’s…. grown stronger….’ Leria’s voice felt weaker in Jing’s head.

Jing looked at Leria in worry, “Y…Your going to be ok though right?!”

Leria was quiet. Kinu whimpered, sitting up and looking at the larger dragon. Jing could feel the fear and worry in the small wyrmling.

Jing didn’t like this more and more. She looked back and forth between the two scared. “Leria… Will you be ok?”

‘I’m…. sorry….’ Leria’s voice was faint, and the large dragon’s eyes seemed not to see, the film over them glazing. ‘NO!’ Kinu yelped in despair, dashing towards the adult dragon.

Jing’s eyes widened in horror, struggling to get up and get over to her. “Leria?! Leria?! WAKE UP!”

The small wyrmling was trying to push on Leria’s large body. ‘Jing come on! We need to get her into the lake!’ She cried.

Jing blinked in surprise, Right! The lake could heal her. Nodding she quickly moved forward and started pushing against Leria to try and get her into the water.

Even with the two pushing, they could not budge the giant dragon. Kinu cried in despair. “She’s too heavy!”

Jing backed up for a moment, “Wait a second alright Kinu?” She said before moving her hands up towards Leria and concentrated on weakening the gravity around the dragon. After making sure it was stable she moved forward again, pushing the dragon towards the water.

This time Leria was much lighter, and Jing was able to push the dragon into the lake, and she slowly floated into it’s waters until just her head remained on the bank.

Jing nodded a little, letting the gravity go back to normal before she fell back to the ground, coughing hard and hand going back to her chest from pain.

Kinu moved beside Jing again and nuzzled her worriedly. ‘Maybe you should go in the lake too.’ She suggested.

Jing shook her head a little, breathing hard. “No…I…I just need to rest…” She said quietly, mind mixed up by so many things, especially the fact that red dragon knew who she was… and about her curse.

Kinu sensed these thoughts in her, but simply snuggled closer to Jing. ‘I can’t warm you up because I’m a silver dragon, but I can make it so you do not feel cold.’

Jing smiled a little, hugging Kinu, her body was still shivering but at least she didn’t feel the cold. “Thank you…”

‘Though maybe you should get out of those clothes to let them dry.’ She suggested.

Jing looked at her soaking wet cloths and nodded a little “Good idea Kinu.” She said, and at least the cave was warm. So even though she didn’t have another set of cloths she would be warm. She then started to take off her shirt first.

Kinu moved back, watching Jing quietly, silvery blue eyes curious as to her furry skin.

After a minute Jing had taken off all her cloths, shivering still as she tried to get some of the water out of her fur and wring out the cloths.

Kinu smiled slightly, then looked to Leria. The large dragon was quite still, but was breathing. She sighed, ‘Why did that scary dragon come…. how did he find us?’

Jing shook her head a little “I don’t know Kinu… But I’m worried that the eggs arn’t safe here anymore… I mean if he knows they are in this area… he can just come back and continue searching.”

Kinu whined, ‘Twenty metallic dragons set up the magical defenses of this cave.’ She said, moving closer to Jing again, ‘How would we move the eggs and make a safe haven on our own?’

Jing blinked in surprise as she heard that, but hugged Kinu gently. “I’m not sure…”

‘I think the cave itself is still safe…’ She said, nuzzling against Jing. ‘He can blast the whole mountain and not find it.’

“Wow… At least that is good to hear… But I don’t understand. If that’s true… Does that mean he can only find it when someone tells him?”

Kinu nodded, ‘That’s why he wanted you, he wanted to force you to tell him where the cave was.’

Jing winced as she heard that, hugging Kinu tightly “When he told me to say where it was… something felt wrong… like the words wanted to come out of my mouth. Is that one of the red dragon’s powers?”

Kinu nodded, ‘Mind manipulation,’ She said in a soft whimper. ‘I’m glad you were able to resist it…’

Jing sighed a little, resting her head against Kinu. “That dragon… he… he knew who I was….”

Kinu nodded, ‘I heard it all… what will you do?’

Jing shook her head “I don’t know…”

Kinu curled up against Jing. ‘I don’t want him to find us.’

Jing hugged Kinu and closed her eyes. “I don’t want him to either… We should wait until Leria is better… She might know what we can do.”

‘Okay….’ Kinu snuggled, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Jing didn’t move much, just trying to relax with Kinu as her tail gently wrapped around the small dragon.

The newborn was soon fast asleep, too much had happened in the short hours following her birth but sleep eluded Jing for quite a while before finally succumbing to sleep, curling up around Kinu.