A Place of Life and Death #2
The surety of this sensation made me think that it really had been one of the few things Mother managed to pass on to me.
If it had been that, then it was all the more important that I listen to the urge.
Verona was clearly greater than even I had been aware of, and if this was something she desperately wanted me to know in her last moments, then it would be best to heed that warning.
Once I had more information, maybe I would share it with Leon.
However, for now, this would have to be a secret even from him.
"I will have you know that I worked very hard to earn points in the months I lived here!" I huffed, hoping to deflect a little of the questions I felt brewing in the minds of the other two dragons present. "You try fighting giant snakes and bears when you've only just hatched!"
"I didn't mean to belittle your efforts, Allura," assured Grysbok, back to being on edge around the hormonal dragonelle once again. It annoyed me, but it's better than continuing down this line of questioning.
"I assume Kalon only brought it up because he was worried a foreign party may have taken your mother's stone," hedged Trent, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Yes. To have any Dragon Heart fall into nefarious hands would be a tremendous loss. But to lose the Heart Stone of a dragoness who was clearly both old and powerful... it would have been akin to a national emergency at the very least," nodded Kalon, his eyes roving about the riverbank once more.
This time he seemed to take in the evidence of battle that had slowly started to be consumed by the forest.
Unlike the blood and bodies within the river bed, the sides and forest surrounding it had begun to heal.
Mother's claw marks that had scared the high riverbanks were partially covered in tree roots now, and the scorched bark on the trees themselves had started to be covered in new growth.
Only the riverbed itself seemed almost frozen in time.
"I'm also glad that you've managed to preserve her remains," continued the large black drake.
"Though dragons care very little about their bodies after their souls have left- Heart Stones aside that is- it would still leave a sour taste in ones mouth to think of the very people who've taken her life to become more powerful using her bones and scales.
It feels like just that much more of an insult. Even if that is more of a 'human' sentiment than that of a dragon's."
He wandered over to skeletonized corpses that were left of my mother's murderers.
Though 'wander' might be the incorrect word for a being as large as Kalon in a space as small as this dried-up riverbed.
More like four shuffled steps while attempting not to crush small humans.
Though it was rather amusing to see Benson scrabble out of the way, even though Kalon wasn't even getting all that close to him.
"This is the true mystery..." Kalon said, sniffing the remains and looking about as confused as a dragon could look without human facial muscles.
"The armor they wear is shabby and unenchanted, their bones contain next to no mana, and yet they clearly smell of a dragon. It would seem that they did indeed attack Allura's dam, yet I cannot fathom even the weakest of our drakes having trouble with such lowly beings.
How could they possibly take the life of a being at the peek of predatory life on this planet. I have never heard of a mild-mannered dragoness, but I suspect that if one did exist, even they would laugh at such feeble attackers."
"I-It seems that the theory that she was already nearing death wh-when she chose this n-nesting site holds all the more true then," muttered Benson from where he now stood, hiding behind the large brown leg of Grysbok, peering out to also look over the corpses.
"Yes," agreed Trent, poking one of the skeletons with the tip of his sword, his face scrunched up in disgust.
I suspected over the thought of these men doing harm to a dragoness, rather than any particular aversion to skeletonized remains.
Though... the thought of such a man having a fear of skeletons was rather amusing to think about.
"My best guess is that these men got extremely lucky and brazen when they came across a mostly dead dragon with a clutch of eggs and decided to bet it all on snatching even one of them. They would either have to have zero regard for their lives or be uncannily stupid..."
Leon sidled up to the captain before crouching between the man and his dragon partner, pawing through the corpse's belongings with his bare hands.
I saw Benson wince at seeing a prince of the kingdom dirtying his hands like this, but mostly I hoped that Leon was planning on washing those hands before setting them on me again.
"Brazen or stupid, they have to..." he mumbled, now digging through the inner lining of one skeleton's leather vest.
It was coated in dried blood, and the rusted flakes scattered to the ground as the prince moved about.
"Ah, found something!" he announced, and I saw him pull out a palm-sized metal disk.
"What's that?" I asked, snaking my head as close as I could between the bulk of the male dragons and the much smaller human males.
"An insignia," smiled Trent, taking the rusted and dented item from Leon's outstretched hand.