Dreamoth awoke in his bunk, a blinding pain searing through
his shoulder, and a cold sweat going down his forehead. He yelled out in pain,
waking up all of Lancoth's troops who were around him.
"Shut up, and let us get some sleep Yuciau!"
one of the creatures called out to Dreamoth, using the name that all of Lancoth's
men thought was his.
However, a Blumaroo, assistant to the doctor
of Lancoth's men, took one look at Dreamoth, and knew that he was in bad shape.
So he ran off to get the doctor.
"Are you sure that he has the wound sickness?"
the Kacheek said, looking at his apprentice who had woken him.
"Yes Tonto, I am sure of it," the desert
Blumaroo said bowing.
"Then we must treat him quickly, or else he
will perish." And the Kacheek jumped out of his bed, which was considerably
better then the other creature's bunks. Booth the Kacheek and the Blumaroo ran
over to Dreamoth's side, and looked at him as he let out another grown. The
Kacheek looked over the deep sword wound upon his shoulder. "It misses the arm
bone, at least his arm should go back to normal. Though it hit some major tissue
in the area where the wing connects to the back." He looked over the wound a
little more by the lamp's light that his apprentice was holding up.
"How is the wound Tonto?" the Blumaroo asked.
"You did well to tell me of it. It is deeply infected, and the wound sickness
has hit Yuciau here," he said as Dreamoth let out another moan of pain.
"Hand me some Redwort Grest."
And Grest the desert Blumaroo handed Tonto some
of the purplish weed from his bag of supplies. "Here." Tonto took the weed,
chewed it a bit, and then spread the pulp upon Dreamoth's shoulder wound. The
weed was common enough in the dessert, and when smashed, could be used as an
antibacterial substance. Tonto just hoped that they were quick enough to counter
the wound sickness. A sickness that only one out of a hundred pets survived
through.
Throughout the long night, the Blumaroo, and
the Kacheek worked amidst the moans of Dreamoth to save him, for not only was
it their job, but because he was Droak's favourite trooper, and Droak would
be very angry if he were to die, and the second in charge Lupe would take out
his anger upon the healers.
It was one day, and two nights later that Dreamoth
awoke to the faces of Droak, Tonto and Grest. He tried to get up, but Tonto
pushed him back down into the bed that he was now lying in. "You must stay in
bed Yuciau, you are still to weak. You are lucky you even survived. Your arm
should be soar for awhile, and I am not sure if you will ever be able to fly
again, because your wing took considerable damage."
"I am sure it's not that bad," Dreamoth said.
"Just let me stretch out my legs, I fell as If I have been cramped up in here
forever."
"You are pitiful in this state Yuciau,"
said Droak, sneering. "Yet, you are so strong to have survived such a state
of sickness. Surviving the wound sickness. You are strong." And with that he
left along with Tonto, and Grest stayed only a moment longer to lie a glass
of water out next to Dreamoth before he too ran off.
Dreamoth growled. A dragon should not be cooped
up in a tent with a bad wing. It was then that he thought fully about his wing.
Might never be able to fly again. His worry was not mainly that he could not
fly, but that he could not make it to Mythouny's lair and back before being
missed unless he could fly. Dreamoth considered turning back into a dragon,
but he knew that then not only would his mission be ruined, but that he would
be affected by the wound no matter what form he was in.
Dreamoth, despite Tonto's warnings, started
to get up, but fell back down in pain. He felt at his shoulder where he had
suffered the wound, and felt large stitches going across. When he redrew his
hand, he found it to be slightly pinkish, but not with blood, by the stench
he knew that it was redwort. At least these dessert thieves know something about
healing. He thought.
Dreamoth sat in the bed occasionally taking
a sip of water from the glass provided him. He wished that he had Mythouny's
healing powers, because then he could just heal his wing, and fly back to her.
In fact, he wished that he did not have to even be there at all, for the whole
place stunk of filth, rot, and sickness.
It was a whole day before Dreamoth was allowed to get up and walk around,
and Tonto could not hold in his surprise. "You were injured so badly, yet you
manage to walk around like nothing ever happened."
Dreamoth silently growled, and would have like
to say That is because a dragon is much more tolerate of pain then you creatures!
But he knew that that would have been a mistake on his part, so instead he said,
"I have wandered the deserts all my life. To fall into pain would be to have
gone forever." Which was technically true, for he had wandered the deserts all
his life.
Droak smiled a wry grin as he walked in. "You
will make a great thief and fighter Yuciau."
And Dreamoth smiled back, though in his heart
he truthfully wanted to turn back into a dragon, and destroy as many of these
foul creatures as he could before he himself was destroyed.
That was the day that Dreamoth first got to
see Boldheart, or Merato as was his real name. "It is quite simple to get creatures
as weak as Boldheart her to talk," Droak said, pinching Merato's cheek,
who in turn spat at the Lupe "All you have to do is threaten to destroy his
female friend who we have locked up over there, and he pointed to a cell in
which a female Aisha was held up with shackles.
"You are a piece of slime Droak! You and the
Lancoth whom you serve!" Droak kicked him in the stomach.
"Well, in case you wanted to know Boldheart."
Droak spat out the name like just saying it disgusted him. "My new recruit Yuciau
will be the one to help us get the dragon. Thanks to all the information that
you supplied us." And then he started to evilly laugh.
"Then he too can be roasted by the dragon!"
Merato yelled out, for since his hands were shackled up to the wall there wasn't
much he could do.
Droak turned to face one of the guards. "There
is nothing more we can get from him, so now there is no more need for the female.
Destroy her."
"No!" Merato screamed, and he attempted to hurl
himself upon Droak, but with his hands latched to the wall, there wasn't much
he could do.
"Boldheart!" Lajonah yelled as the guards grabbed
her, and pulled down.
"Pitiful," Droak sneered, but in truth Dreamoth
believed Merato and Lajonah's actions to be the opposite of pitiful, while Droak's
went beyond pitiful into pure evil. Droak looked to his guards who had the sword
raised above their heads. "No! Not in here. Take her out where all can see."
The hooded guards nodded, and then dragged Lajonah
outside. "Would you care to watch with me Yuciau?" He held out his black paw.
"No. My shoulder is starting to pain once more.
I think that I will rest it as not to ruin the stitching around it," Dreamoth
lied, while already thinking up a plan.
"Suit yourself then," Droak said while starting
to walk out after the guards. "I presume that you can find your way back to
the bunks unaided?" Dreamoth nodded, and then as soon as Droak was out of sight,
he began to change.
He fell forward onto all fours, and then his
claws morphed into paws. His ears began to stretch and become thinner, almost
as if they were silly putty being pulled out way too far, and then the same
thing happened to his tail. His spikes disappeared, and his neck shortened.
His white scales turned into yellow fur, and his face turned more canine-like.
Right at that second, Dreamoth must have looked strange, a yellow Gelert with
white drake wings, and clothes that was all too baggy, but then he finished
his transformation, and his wings disappeared into his back. Dreamoth looked
down at himself, and knowing that it would not suffice, he gathered his strength,
and then his clothes changed into a big black robe, just like the robe of the
executioners. He looked down at his shoulder, he still had the wound and stitches,
but he couldn't let sit there and let Lajonah die, so he ran out of the room.
Merato starred in awe as Dreamoth ran out of
the room. In his haste Dreamoth had forgotten Merato, and had changed in plain
sight of the prisoner. Merato knew at that second that the white Draik of Lancoth's
troops was no mere Neopet, for none ad power of that magnitude. To be able to
shape shift. The only creature he knew of that had power like that was the…
dragons. He had no idea as too what the dragon was up to, but he just hopped
that it was a good dragon. For all of Neopia's sake.
Dreamoth ran as fast as his Gelert legs would
allow to where the creatures in black were dragging Lajonah. He slipped in among
them, and none of the others noticed as he helped drag Lajonah.
They dragged the forsaken Aisha up to a large
dune, and all eyes turned to them. Each of the robbed creatures took out a sword,
and Dreamoth just stood there. One of the hooded creatures turned to face him
then. "You! You are not one of us!"
Dreamoth looked at him, and grinned. "No I am
not." And he pulled out his sword from under the long black robes, and swung
it into the robbed creature. He did the same to the other three as they stood
there too dumbfounded to do anything. He then slashed the bindings over Lajonah's
wrists in two, grabbed her paw, and then started to lead her away as Lancoth's
men started to run after them. Luckily, they had a large start on them, and
were quite far ahead of the thieves.
"Who are you?" Lajonah asked as they ran.
"My name is Dreamoth. Remember it well, for
it will be important. I will give you directions, directions that you have to
follow perfectly." He then pulled them down behind a sand dune, and told Lajonah
the way to Mythouny's cave. "And once you get inside, call out as loud as you
can Dreamoth sent me. You must say that if you don't want your memories erased.
There is a great, but kind dragon who lives in that cave. Tell her that I have
sustained an injury, and will not be able to report, and then tell her to be
ready. Got that? Don't forget a word Lajonah. Now run!" and he pushed her, and
she begun to run as fast as she could towards the dragon's cave.
Dreamoth just hoped that she would make it as
he ran back to his bunker. He dodged all of the frantic thieves, and managed
to get inside unnoticed. He crawled into his bunk, and then gathering the last
of his energy transformed back into a Draik, and turned the black robes back
into the thieves' clothes. He had just finished the transformation when Droak
ran into the room.
"There has been treason committed among us!"
he growled, and then he looked down at Dreamoth. "You weren't lying when you
said that you didn't fell to good Yuciau. Your forehead is covered in sweat,
and you look like you have just passed through all of the desert." For Dreamoth
did look like that, but it was because of the strain he had put upon himself,
changing form and morphing clothing twice so quickly. Luckily for him, Droak
took it to be an after math of the wound sickness, so he just shrugged off Dreamoth,
and walked out of the bunker.
Dreamoth hoped with all his heart that Lajonah
would be able to deliver his message to Mythouny. He also hoped that she would
remember to say the message the way he had asked, otherwise the great dragon
would erase her memory. This was much worse then either of the dragons had ever
thought it would be.
The End | 
