As Kibble concentrated, visions filled his mind. Again, he didn't know how he knew, but the eggs were about to hatch. That was the pull, the draw that had brought him here to where this wyvern lay protecting her clutch. The wyvern hissed at him, not threateningly but with an understanding. Kibble knew the basis of wyvern; it was bred into him. A female wyvern, as soon as a clutch hatched, would abandon the nest, and then it would be the strongest that survived.
It was standard across the wyvern race; even miniature wyverns would be abandoned. The reason behind the abandonment was the voracious appetite that the wyvern had at birth. Within hours at the most, hatching wyverns could fly, and it was then their responsibility to hunt and find food. If a mother stayed nearby when they did hatch, they would likely become a food source. Especially in their weakened state after watching over the clutch.
Kibble opened his eyes again and croaked before clicking a repetitive sound at the wyvern. He knew the larger breeds weren't considered for their intelligence, but rather for their basic instincts of hunting and surviving, the means by which they lived and usually died. The female turned her head, looking at the clutch; her body was curled round.
Kibble sat patiently and waited; it wouldn't be long now, and he would then take over. He had a plan; a rather dangerous plan if it turned against him, but at least a plan. The hierarchy of his kind gave him a position of authority, even if it was loosely followed by many of his kind. Again, he didn't fully understand how these preconfigured memories existed, but they did.
As the time ticked by, the adult wyvern became more agitated, knowing that the time was close. The reason the town may not have seen any visits at all recently was probably due to this exact reason. The wyvern wouldn't travel far to hunt before returning to its clutch. Usually, it would stay within sight, which, within the bowl in the mountains, was a difficult thing to do. That's probably why she looked almost emaciated. Her ribcage was visible.
It then happened. Cracks began to appear, and slowly the snout of the first wyvern began to poke through the shell's inner membrane. It shrieked as soon as its head was clear, and Kibble thought how daft it looked, only a head protruding from the shell. It was a dark green colour, and its head shone from the egg's moisture in the daylight.
Then a second egg.
The process continued until five of the six eggs had hatched. The sixth remained still, nothing occurring. All the hatchlings were a similar size to Kibble, and they squabbled and snapped at each other. One started to eat its egg, crushing through the hard shell and the remaining membrane. This caused the others to do the same.
Kibble still stood watching, not interrupting, not doing anything. He was no more than thirty feet from them, but in their initial birth state, as their wings still struggled to unfurl, he knew they couldn't get anywhere near him. The mother lowered her head towards the sixth egg and nudged it with her snout. There was no response, but her snout getting so close to the other five caused them to turn and snap at her, trying to bite her. Meat was meat after all.
The wyvern hissed at the young, pulling her head back and then slowly unfurled herself from around the clutch. As she stood stretching, Kibble could see how desperately malnourished she was. She needed to eat, and now that her young were hatched, her maternal role was complete.
She didn't even look back at the hatchlings as she beat her wings slowly at first before gaining enough momentum to lift off, and Kibble watched as she immediately headed towards the town. He wasn't surprised; even he could smell the scent of blood in the air this far away. She would probably find herself some easy pickings or at least cause some chaos for the invaders of Killic.
The hatchlings shrieked after her as she left, but that was it. Their lives had now begun, and it would be survival of the fittest. The largest of the clutch, the first hatchling snapped and shoved another out of the way as it approached the unhatched egg. It then, without any consideration, smashed its snout against it, cracking it. A gloopy liquid spilt from the egg; there was clearly no hatchling inside, and it started to eat it. The other four then pushed and shoved towards it, snapping at their sibling, trying to force it away.
It didn’t take kindly and turned and bit down on one of them, its teeth easily sinking into the soft scales. They would take time to harden.
Kibble couldn’t lose his prize and barked at them, chirping and clicking. He hadn't made a sound previously, and that drew their attention. One of them squawked and started to hobble toward him. Its footing was unstable and uncertain; it didn't realise that wyverns usually hopped, not walked. Its wing got caught on a rock, and it fell forward, squeaking as it face-planted. Another took advantage and snapped at it, biting its leg and tearing a scale free.
That was enough for Kibble, and he immediately formed lightning on his jaws. It wouldn’t be a full-scale hit, but it would be enough to get their attention. He released his bolt, striking the one that had just bitten its sibling, the lightning racing across its still-moist body and carrying to the others. Within moments, there was a cacophony of noise as five new hatchlings writhed from the lightning caressing their bodies.
Kibble then barked and hopped toward them, allowing his lightning to crackle threateningly. The one that had tripped and been bitten in its leg squeaked and pulled back, shuffling back towards the others. The larger one, who had been eating the egg, snapped its head around and growled at Kibble. Kibble didn't falter as he continued toward them. The blue lightning crackled loudly as he neared them.
The sight of the lightning and the effect it had caused all of them to start backing away. Kibble didn't let them and again shot another bolt at them. Five hatchlings spasmed as the lightning washed over them again. Their bodies locked as their muscles contracted from the blast.
Kibble didn't stop until he was standing almost next to them. Another bolt of blue crackled on his jaws. He turned his head deliberately, looking at each one in turn, his mind pushing his thoughts out. This wasn't the same as influencing; this was different. This was him imprinting himself and positioning himself over them. He may be a miniature wyvern, and they would soon outsize him vastly, but he was of an ancient bloodline, one they could only ever dream of being the lineage of.
He hissed and stood, his neck straight up, his eyes watching them, and spread his wings. They clacked and hissed at him before the largest reacted first. It lowered its head. Slowly, the others noticed what their sibling had done and followed suit. Within a very short time, five new hatchlings were prostrating before him.
With a guttural growl, Kibble placed his authority over them. They clicked in response. All of them slowly came to agree with his position and authority as the imprint took hold.
Kibble had just secured himself a clan. He knew that in a couple of hours from now, as their scales and wings dried in the bright sun, they would be able to fly.
SJ hadn't returned to the cave for long before leaving again. There were things she needed to do while Lorna and Darren tried to form a strategic plan for their next steps. Her priority would be to try to locate Zej and Lythonian. The group in the cave had no healer stationed with them, and Lythonian could be critical to any ongoing attempts at fighting back. Additionally, she needed to locate Kibble and then scout the town to determine what was happening, and if an opportunity arose, cause some chaos. It was as she left the cave again that she saw the shape above the mountains to the east. It had been weeks since it had visited the town.
The wyvern's shape was unmistakable as it glided over the mountain ridge heading straight toward the town. The sight didn't surprise SJ since there had been enough blood spilt to draw the attention of any predators on the plateau. She really hoped that it would cause the invading troops problems as she set off over the treetops, heading east and cutting across the lake's surface.
From the height she flew, she had a decent view, her vision giving her the added ability of travelling while looking in all directions, and it didn't take her very long before she spotted a rowing boat. It had been pulled onto the shore of one of several small islands that were situated in the middle of the lake. She immediately swooped down toward it, and on nearing, picked up the scent of burning wood, although she saw no smoke. She allowed her nose to lead her as she turned and followed the trail.
There ahead, inside a copse of trees on the western bank of the far side from town, the smoke from a small fire, and two beings she knew very well sat by it. She would have shouted if she had believed they would have heard her from the distance she was. Instead, she turned immediately and plummeted to the location.
A little overexcited to find her friends, she almost careered into the ground as she landed by the fire. Lythonian jumped as she dropped out of the sky like a rock, and Zej's hand had already moved towards his warhammer.
"Only me," SJ said as she regained her breath and grew.
"SJ!" Zej said.
"I wasn't sure where I would find you or if you had headed to the crags."
"No. We tried last night after leaving the town, but the crags on this side have been blocked. There is a group of about forty on this side."
"You must have got close to see them?" SJ said, surprised.
"Too close," Zej said. "We just barely got away." Zej held up his arm, where panels of his plate armour had very fresh gouges in them.
"At least you did, though."
"Aye. But we are trapped now."
"Maybe not. I have located Lorna, Darren and the guards from the ridge; they had run before the attackers reached them. They are hidden in a cave on the far side of the lake. An old mine."
Lythonian smiled at the comment. "That's good to know. How are you doing? Have you seen any of the others?"
"If you mean those in the town, then yes. They have full control now. I think you and Lythonian were among the last pockets of resistance. They have herded the townsfolk to the barracks. The jail yard is full, and they had them sitting outside the barracks in rows. Zigferd is locked in a cell, and their leader has spoken to him."
"What was said?"
"Nothing really; he was just trying to show his hold of power over him." SJ didn't really want to tell them about the ent councillor; there was enough bad news already without adding to it with the deliberate murder of a prisoner. "There is one thing that might interest you, Lythonian."
Lythonian frowned. "What's that?" His usual stoic face and calm demeanour, which he presented as the town cleric and representative of the church, were not visible. His face held the same worry that it had when SJ had first met him after discovering the church money was missing.
"The reason behind the attack on the town. It's Bellakiy."
"WHAT?" Lythonian shouted, his surprise removing any caution. Not that anyone would hear him on the western side of the small isle. They were easily a kilometre, if not further, from the town where they hid.
SJ explained to them both what she had witnessed and was taken aback when Lythonian suddenly turned the air blue, her eyes opening in shock at his outburst. Zej just chuckled at his reaction, which was so out of character for him.
"You say you have informed Wystria?"
"Yes, she is aware."
"Good. She will have to act. There is no way she can allow her name to be sullied."
"That's what Petunia had said as well. I just hope it's soon. I'm waiting to hear what they have planned."
"Knowing her family's history, I'm sure she still has enough contacts," Lythonian affirmed. Lythonian was, after all, a draconian who had trained under Wystria and knew her better than most.
"Have you rations?" SJ asked.
Zej looked a little sheepish. "No, that's the one thing I didn’t grab. We had hoped to get to the crags and never expected to be stuck out here."
"Well, you need to head to the far side and meet up with the others. Darren is there, and they had mentioned sending out a hunting party. There will be plenty of food, I am sure, once they are set up properly."
"Aye, we will," Zej said.
SJ called the rations she still had in her inventory from the desert to her hand and handed them to them. "Here, have these. I will be going back to town, so I will grab more food while I'm there."
Lythonian took the wrapped parcels gratefully before handing one to Zej.
"Thank you, SJ."
"Not at all. I'm just glad you both made it away okay, and live to fight another day."
"And that we will," Zej said as he unwrapped the parcel and sniffed the contents. "What is this?"
"Desert rations. It may not look like much, but it will provide you with all the nutrients you need, rest assured. I survived on them fine in the desert region. They may not taste the greatest, but they do the job."
Zej bit into the parcel of food. He scrunched his nose up, the taste not agreeing with him, but still swallowed.
"Thanks."
"Right. Once you have eaten, get on the boat and get over to the far side. Do you know the mine's location?"
"No. I have never been on the west side of the lake before," Zej said.
"Nor I," Lythonian added.
"Okay. Well, if you get across first," SJ scanned the distant shore before spotting what she was after. There was a tall pine tree that stood higher than those around it. "Head to that tall pine," she pointed. "I will meet you there in a while and then can guide you in."
With the instructions given, SJ shrank and took off, turning and heading towards the town. It was southeast of where they now were, and she would be approaching from the northern side, via the windmill. Thinking of the windmill reminded her of Gladys and her husband Hubert, who owned the cottage by the lake in the valley next to hers, where Charlotte, Brian, and Terence lived. She hoped they had got out safely and would check. Hubert could be a stubborn and antagonistic man, but Gladys was a grandmotherly figure in comparison, always offering her milk whenever she saw her. The thought filled her with melancholy as she wondered if the town would ever be the same again.
