The Forest Primeval by Sabrewing
Story © 2003, Tegu and Sabrewing are © themselves, mild male/male and macrophilic situations contained herein.

~To Fhones, as dreamy and as sweet of a reptile as they come. Thank you for being an inspiration, and a loving individual. ^_^~

********************

I stood there before the tall glassy structure, holding my hand up to shield my eyes from the glare. The address was correct, but this didn't look like the place I was looking for. That is, until I smacked my forehead, stupefied. The words 'ZUCKER-MUCK NEWS' was right there just above the front doors, emblazoned on large, plastic blue letters. I was here about the job they were offering, looking for an amateur photographer who wanted to do some globetrotting as he or she learned the tricks of the trade. I had something of a shutterbug tendency in my veins, so I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to make a career.

But the more I looked at the building, the more I worried. What if I got stuck doing local jobs? "Globe-trotting" was one of the perks I was hoping to exploit. Getting paid to check out the foreign sights was a great sounding deal. Of course, going up the corporate ladder would lead to my acquiring of these jobs, and I would have to make the first step.

It led me towards the skyscraper, my pronged tail swishing behind me as I walked towards the door that separated the outside world, and the main lobby of Zucker-Muck News.

A few minutes and an elevator ride later, I was standing in the personnel office. A sweet-looking nagaette greeted me.

"Hi, I'm Dana," she rasped, her forked tongue waggling rather suggestively. If I were into her kind, I probably would have reciprocated. Instead, I smiled and politely asked her, "Yes, I'm here about the photographer job? My name is Sabrewing."

She took my resume, eyeing it over. "Well, everything s-s-seems to be in order, so I'll take this in to Mr. Settaysh." She rose off of her tail and slithered towards the inner office. Her muzzle resembled a snake's, and it was pretty, I had to admit. I looked over the various paintings adorning the walls of the white room. It seemed the boss had a thing for cubism -- every one of them had boxes of all shapes and colors.

"You can go in now, Mr. Wing."

Dana's perky voice got my attention again. "Thank you," I replied, stepping into the boss' office.

It was quite small; I had to wonder if this guy was really in charge, at ANY executive level. It didn't really matter, since he would have to be the one I impressed, no matter what position he was (really) in. Nevertheless, Mr. Orck Settaysh III was a daunting figure to behold, a killer whale-morph who looked to be my physical superior by about two feet and a hundred and fifty more pounds, and none of that extra weight was muscle -- I could see his belly folding in on itself where it was wedged up against his desk.

"So, Mr. Wing--"

"Sabre," I interrupted as politely as possible. I didn't have a last name, and having one "assigned" to me was beyond annoying.

"Yes, ahem, of course. Sabre, your qualifications seem to be in good order," he mused, holding up my resume and scanning it as if it was the first time he was laying eyes on it. I wouldn't put it past him. "So this would be your first job ...?"

"Yes, or at least the first one I'd be proud enough to mention." For a little while I'd held a position for a domineering, overlording rat in the merchandising industry. I didn't care to include it on my resume.

Orck nodded and resumed mulling over the paper. "I must be frank with you, we don't normally take the fresh-out-of-school types under our wing," he said, setting the paper down and leaning forward with his arms lying on the desktop. "You're probably one of those types who see our ad and say to themselves, 'Oh, gee willickers, I get to see Gay Paree and get paid to drink piña coladas and take pictures of naked girls!' Would I be mistaken with you?"

I boggled at his logic; it was frighteningly accurate for someone who obviously packed away his share of booze. "Uhh ... yeah, because nobody in this world says 'gee willickers' anymore."

Mr. Settaysh leaned back, nearly busting a hip with laughter. "Haw haw haw! That's good, real good, I like you!" He raised a hand to his mouth and shouted out to Dana, "Get this man a coffee mug, and see to it that his name gets printed on it!"

Dana rolled her eyes and deadpanned back, "I'll get right on it, sir."

Orck settled back in his chair, arms still crossed over his ample gut. "Heh heh, I haven't had a good laugh like that in a while. Thanks, kiddo."

I scratched my head, ruffling my red shock of hair, "Happy to be of service, but I came here to take photographs, right? Or do you have a stand-up comic position open?"

The orca shook his head, "Don't press it. But yes, I like you. I think you'd fit in nicely in the Zucker-Muck News family. How soon would you be able to start?"

I shrugged back, "How soon would you need me? I don't have any pressing matters to attend to, I'd rather like to get started ASAP."

Mr. Settaysh scratched his chin, pondering something. A semblance of a grin spread over his muzzle, "How about today? I have a rather pressing story that most of our usual are unwilling to take. Say it's not up their alley, or they're allergic to some plant, or some other lame excuse. It's down in the Amazon rainforest."

I couldn't believe my ears. My first assignment would be abroad! My fears were utterly ungrounded! "I--that is--sure!"

He smiled more and opened one of his desk drawers, rummaging through it. I leaned over as far as I could, trying to see, but he soon pulled out a rather official looking document. I pointed at it, "Surely that isn't your story ... that looks like something the Feds would keep."

"Look at it," he replied simply, throwing it to my end of the desk. I picked it up and read the text typed all in caps across the top.

"MASS DESTRUCTION OCCURING AT DEMOLITIONS/CONSTRUCTION SITES
IN SOUTH AMERICA, APPEARS TO BE THE WORK OF A MONSTER"

I read further with amazement as the sheets -- faxes, as it turned out -- told the story of numerous tree-demolishing firms no longer reporting their progress; later inspections would reveal that the entire crew was missing, their equipment and vehicles hopelessly smashed up beyond repair, only a few bodies found -- whole or intact -- in various spots of the surrounding areas. News clippings featuring pictures of the violence were strewn throughout the document, and one such grainy image showed a bloody mass of what used to be a worker, but he was unrecognizable to all but forensics, his head and whole body collapsed in on itself in the form-shaped crater he occupied in the ground, as if something enormous had squashed him from above. And beside the figure, on the very edge just out of frame, was what looked like another depression in the ground, unnatural, forced in appearance. No sightings of the crater's creator had ever been reported, and the local natives offered no advice on the matter. They blamed the chaos on "unruly forest spirits."

I slammed the paper down, "Why do you need someone covering this story? It looks to me like someone already has it," gesturing to the large newspaper heading clearly legible on the page.

Mr. Settaysh tapped his fingers together, "For starters, that is a rival news company you see in that fax." He leaned back again, "But also, don't you see anything missing from those notes? Anything relevant to the story?"

I quickly scanned the pages. I could turn up nothing. "It all looks neat and tidy to me. We have murder, wanton destruction, and a theory that something, or someONE, was responsible." The orca shook his head, "You're of the scientist mindset. Theories are not news ... FACTS are news. WHAT caused these disasters? WHO took the lives of these men? I want you to find out."

I stood back up straight after clumping the papers together and aligning them back up into a nice stack, which the killer whale put away. "All right, you have your photographer," I said. "Do I get any special pay since this is such ... dangerous circumstances?"

My new boss smirked back, "That, like any photography job, depends on what you nail down. Bring back ample evidence of this monster, and you'll get paid accordingly. The more photos, the better. You'll be furnished a camera, and ... oh, you'll be going alone. Solo mission, as it were."

"No problem there, I prefer working by myself," I rumbled back. "It ensures the job gets done."

"Excellent. You leave Thursday, gives you plenty of time to sleep, get fit, and do whatever to prepare. After all, you'll be down in the hot humid Amazon." He looked over my clothes; I had elected to wear my standard attire of a black tank top and my khaki shorts to the interview, I had nothing better. "At least you're dressed for the job."

"Uhhhh-huh," I replied. (I certainly am, thank you for saying so, Mr. State the Obvious,) I thought to myself.

"Dana will order your plane tickets. You'll be flying a private jet, seven o'clock sharp in the morning. Be there, or be ..." Orck's eyes narrowed rather cruelly as he sneered at me, "... Out of your first job."

I smiled back as cheerfully as I could, then turned around and strode out of the office, heading towards the elevator. Dana gave me a perky little head-bob in farewell, which I returned. I could have sworn I heard Mr. Settaysh mutter the word "sucker" as I stepped into the lift, but I gave it no thought, riding back down to the first floor. I'd get his damn pictures, then I would be drinking those piña coladas and taking pictures of naked guys -- yes, men, forget the women. Gotta give my public what they want, after all.

********************

I arrived at the airport on time, and away I was whisked, with my new professional camera strapped around my neck and a few rolls of film, up into the skies and towards the southern part of the planet. It was just me, the pilot, and the copilot in the small, flimsy plane. I couldn't help but think about similar circumstances involving a popular college-professor-turned-archaeologist and his cohorts.

I looked up at the main cabin, "How much farther to Brazil?"

The goggle-wearing otter looked back at me, "It'll just be a couple of minutes, Mr. Wing! You can see it now out of the right window."

I sighed in exasperation, but looked out of the window. I saw a sea of blue that melded seamlessly into a higher sea of green. I couldn't see any way to break through that large green carpet. "Where are you gonna land? There's no runway down there!"

"Land?"

I nodded, expecting the otter to know something I didn't. He snickered to himself, his whiskers twitching, and turned. Then it dawned on me ... my wings were going to be put to use for this! "You can't really expect me to ...? I'm not trained in this sort of thing."

"Just relax, Mr. Wing, it's like flying, just ... in reverse!" I had to admit, he did have a point. I sighed, stepping over to the door I'd just walked in a few hours ago. Asking for a parachute would be pretty impractical. I set my hand on the door handle, "Tell me when to do it ..." I got a thumb's up in response, my ears trying to drown out the humming of the plane's dual propellers to hear my signal. "Now remember, you're only being given one week for this!" the pilot, a hefty-looking bruin, told me. "After that, if you're not on the eastern coast by midnight on Sunday, you're not coming back!"

My heart fluttered, each minute ticking by like an hour. I watched the canopy slowly dragging along the globe, and in the distance, I could make out a small hole, just big enough in the treeline to fit a small house. Or a person. I had a target.

"Okay, Mr. Wing! Jump!"

I took in a deep breath of air through my nose, letting it out slowly. My hand yanked down on the door handle. I was ready.

"Geronimo!" I yelled, and before I could reconsider the move I jumped out of the door, catching the wind shear full in the face as I started my decent back towards the earth. My wings had some trouble unfurling, and for a moment, I thought I was doomed. Tears streamed out of my eyes, straining my shoulders, praying for my body to work ...

I grunted as the rest of me tugged down hard on my billowing wings, which were open and spread out wide over me. The camera strap nearly broke, but thankfully I had been clutching it against me as if my life depended on it. I quickly searched for a thermal to carry me back up, giving a few practice flaps. "Heh, it's been a while since I've had to use you guys," I said to myself, "So don't fail me now." I guided myself over towards the canopy opening, circling it as I arced towards the center. Unknown to me at the time, a pair of large yellow eyes, furrowed in anger, was watching my descent from the safety of the trees, their owner growling in discontent as the plane turned and flew back towards home. I was to become no different from the scores of machines who had met their demise at the claw and fang of this being. That is, or so he thought ... or so we both thought.

********************

I hadn't been on the ground for even five minutes when the humidity started getting to me. It was hotter than a sauna under that treeline, and for some small relief from the heat, I took off my tank-top off, undoing the clasps that let me put it on around my wings. Some semblance of modesty kept the tan shorts on, though.

Stuffing the black shirt into one of my cargo pockets, I surveyed the area. Rich foliage met my gaze from all sides, no signs of the aftermath of a heartless rampage to be seen. I looked up at the sun, already starting its descent to the west, then following its path, going inland and stepping over roots and shrubs in my way. Something told me I should have packed some bug spray, namely the numerous insects buzzing and trying to land on my body. I grunted and swatted at them in annoyance, continuing on. Every good thing comes with a price, I figured.

Dusk fell, and my weary feet were a testament to the mileage I had covered on foot: easily 5 or 6, maybe even 10. I was almost ready to start walking in another direction, ANY other direction, when a sharp pain jolted through my big toe. "Ouch!" I yelped, stumbling forward and landing in a heap on my nose, a small trickle of blood leaking out of my left nostril. I looked back, ready to pick up the branch or rock or whatever it was that had caused my fall, but my jaw dropped as I saw what it was. Blood from the gash in my toe it created smeared the top of the silver object, a piece of misshapen metal that looked like something torn forcefully off of a bigger structure. The beginning of a logo or brandname was on the side, where "GERI" was printed in broad white letters up to where the piece had been ripped away from its parent.

Putting pressure on my foot, I scooted closer to the object, fiddling for the shutter button on my camera. I held it up and took three pictures of the scrap, rather sloppy ones since I was handling the instrument with one hand, sacrificing accuracy for health. I got back up, hobbling a little but otherwise all right, and continued one my way, keeping a sharper look-out for anything that would help me on my way. But my limbs were crying out for rest, and I could do naught but heed the call. Looking around, I found a large tree, propping myself against it as I sat down, taking in a deep breath as I tried to look as inconspicuous as possible with my limbs pulled in against my sides. I would get up again at the crack of down, I decided, try and get the drop on my prey. Heh, 'prey' ... I couldn't have chosen a better word ... to describe myself at that moment. But sleep took me after a moment's rest, and I nodded off into a dreamless slumber.

********************

*BOOM!*

I looked around groggily at the sound, unsure of where I was at first. The humidity brought me to my senses again, but when I tried to look around, all I could see was darkness. Not even the stars were over my head, blocked out by the thick leaves above.

*BOOM!*

I jumped to my feet. A great crash, one that was enough to make the ground tremble! And it was close by! The branches of the great tree creaked and groaned with the strain. I knew my target was near, and obviously very much awake. Was he at work even now? I had no time to think when another miniature quake rocked the area. Whatever it was, it was no mere monster ... and it was huge. I had to act now.

I stuck close to the trees, trying to stay out of sight; who knew what kind of eyesight this thing had. I tried to get a bead on what direction the bangs were coming from, but they sounded as if coming from all sides. My heart beat like a drum .. was this a hopeless task? Onward I went, snout tossing left and right, trying to find the collisions' source. I was unaware of just how hard I was breathing -- if it wasn't for the insects around, I would have been the loudest thing around aside from the thunder raging around me. I spun around, my wings bumping into treetrunks with my crazed efforts to find it, looking from side to side in paranoia. The crashes in the jungle were getting closer, and still I couldn't see what was causing them. Trees fell over, crunching into the ground as branches snapped, paving way for some large thing. I raced around, struggling to keep my footing as the earth vibrated. I figured I was as good as dead. I tripped again, plummeting forward and slamming headwise into something rounded and smooth, and I snarled in frustration as I got back up. Damned metal rubble! But this was larger ... a trio of tube-like structures, joined together from the pointed end down and arcing upwards, leading to an even wider tube ...

My jaw went slack, unable to cry out, or even breathe, at what I saw, my eyes wider than saucers. I had found it.

An enormous shadow of a giant loomed above me, shifting his weight on the heavy-set scaled feet that I had run into. My jaws went dry, arms helpless and numb from shock at my sides as the creature's legs bent, kneeling down in front of me, the reptilian mammoth's joints making loud cricks. I didn't have time to think, literally scared stupid and quivering in spasms, but then it reached for me with one of its claws ...

"Yaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

I was off and running in the other direction for dear life, camera bumping against my chest with my pace! But the predator wouldn't give up his prey so easily, and he was after me in short order.

Scrambling over the foliage and trying to regain some control over my panicked state, I looked back over and over, watching the beast close in on me. With his bigger strides and ability to avoid the little obstacles I fell victim to, it was quite easy for him, but I deftly dodged his walking attempts to snatch me up, ducking around a tree here, crawling under a fallen bit of bark there. He growled angrily, not about to give up, and my strength was giving out. Pants barked hoarsely out of my throat, broken up by my terrified cries, and the running was taking its toll on me. I couldn't take much more. If something didn't turn my way soon, I'd be a goner. It was time to try flight as the answer.

I stuck to the open as much as was safe, but my pursuer made that very risky; his clawtips could be felt grazing the thin membranes of my wings in another of his swipes, making me gasp and duck back towards a tree. In a burst of inspiration, I ran completely around one such tree, now dashing in the opposite direction. And for a while, it worked ... the giant was left looking left and right, snarling as he scoured for his prey.

I concentrated all my efforts on my legs, pushing them to the limit, taking me faster and farther away from him. I knew my ruse would not last long, so I had to gain as much of a lead as possible. As soon as I thought I was going fast enough, I unfurled my wings, spreading them out and starting to flap them. The beating appendages caught the beast's attention, who glared at me with his yellow eyes, and the chase was back on full-speed. My lungs heaved ... I could feel the inklings of lift starting underneath me ... It was now or never, I knew ... I pumped harder, my feet starting to elevate off of the ground ... I arched upwards, heading towards the canopy ... and I was promptly kissing the ground again.

I moaned in pain, an intense weight shoving onto my backside, making me cough and sputter to get dirt out of my mouth. The beast had me trapped under his foot; I could feel every ripple of muscle on it, the triumphant growl of the reptile almost rattling me to the bone as he pressed down harder. My entire body felt ready to pop under the pressure. I closed my eyes, weeping bitterly as I awaited my fate.

It didn't come ... not how I had expected it. The giant's weight shifted off of his foot a little, and in a vain attempt to get away, I shimmied my arms up by my head, reaching for something to grab onto.

The weight returned, and I winced and barked out, my tail pinned down painfully by the great scaly sole. My movement ceased, and again his weight eased off a little.

I went completely still, resigning to the capture, and with a grunt the giant stepped off of me completely. I lay there, not even rolling over to face him... if I could sweat at all, I would have been doing so in spades. I felt something warm, but smaller than his foot press to me, and two large digits closed around my body, hoisting me up. I was lifted, body sagging in agony, to look straight at my captor. His snout resembled a dragon's, long narrow muzzle leading to the main part of his skull, and topped in the back by two long horns that sprang from his scalp right next to each other. His lips curled, baring his fangs to me as he looked me over, turning me left and right in his hand.

"T'lanyr ghis jetarden shmar ..."

I blinked at him. Had he ... just talked? My eyes wandered over his face, not understanding, and my reward was a tighter grip of his claws, my teeth grit as I hung on to consciousness! "I--I didn't ..."

He roared at me, "T'LANYR GHIS JETARDEN SHMAR!"

Stars were sparkling like firecrackers under my eyelids. His deathly squeeze, my own terror ... I thankfully passed out, dangling from the giant's hand, certain I would not wake from that darkness.

********************

I stirred, groaning and feeling like a wreck all over. The environment felt cooler than the forest I had just been in ... maybe that whole nightmare had just been that: a nightmare. There couldn't really be anything as large as that beast. I rubbed a sore spot on my back, sitting up, reaching to pull my bedcovers off of me, only they weren't there.

"Hurrast tyr shema."

I gasped, turning around and looking up to face the giant ... only he wasn't there either.

I was in a cave of some sort; the walls had some sort of glowing moss on them, unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and just gave me enough visibility to look around. My eyes panned downwards, even more stunned to now see him. He stood at around my height now, maybe a foot or so taller, and he was advancing towards me in slow strides. I inched backwards on instinct, getting stopped by a stalagmite in the ground and going still, panting as he approached my side. He again knelt before me, and one of his hands settled on my shoulder, just resting there. He again inspected me, leaning his snout in against me, taking deep sniffs. I didn't dare consider what sort of scent I was giving off, but tried to gather my wits, keep my fear to a minimum. His nose nudged up under my chin, pressing it up, exposing my throat a little.

"Un gyehr utoon ...?" he whispered to me, watching my face intently, though with less malice than I had seen before. I gulped the lump in my throat, "I can't ... understand you," I whimpered, shaking my head, "What do you want with---gyaaah!"

His jaws were clamped around my throat in a second. His razor fangs jabbed into my hide, thin as it was, and it obvious he'd broken the skin in a few places, if not by very much. Again I was still and quiet, eyes blinking rapidly. The reptile rumbled a little, giving my neck a reaffirming chew, and then relinquished his grip. Blood trickled down my throat in small droplets, which he seemed to observe with approval. Raising his free hand to his mouth, he pressed the tips of his two fingers to his fangs, breaking the hide there also, his own blood starting to well from his arteries. Before I was recovered, his fingers met my throat, making me hiss as his blood started to mingle with mine, getting taken into my broken veins to be cycled through my bloodstream.

It seemed like forever that he just sat there with me, keeping me seated as his warm digits shifted along my neck, smearing the red around. When he was satisfied with his work, his hand pulled away, and he started to lick me clean, removing the traces of life-giving fluid. He looked at me after he finished, again uttering, "Un gyerh utoon?"

I grunted, looking back at him, shaking my head as I fought misunderstanding with misunderstanding. "I told you, I don't know what you're saying. Whatever it is you want, I can't give it to you like this. N'raniga myello caddera. Deg shema ry--"

I halted in mid-sentence. What the hell had I just said?! "N'raniga myello caddera." You are making no sense. My god, I was speaking in his language. Did his blood really have that kind of power ...? To make one fluent in another's tongue?

The reptilian nodded and got to his feet, turning away. "Hurrast. Un forl dinnye sherl." Good. I did not think you would wake.

I tilted my head, staring in wonder and amazement at the reptile. I started to get to my feet, seeing only his well-muscled backside. If I had been in any other circumstances, you could have said I was looking at the most attractive beings on the face of the planet. "Who are you?"

"I am known as Tegu," he rumbled back, and he again turned to face me. His eyeridges were furrowed again, and I saw a vicious gleam in his eyes. "And you are an intruder."

********************

"Intruder?" I asked in disbelief. "Do you say that this forest belongs to--" He cut me off, "No, I do not. Nor does it belong to you, though beings of this size certainly think so."

"So you are the one who destroyed those work areas..." As if I really needed any confirmation, I had just seen for myself how large he could be.

"Destroy? I do not destroy. I protect." He took another step towards me, "And since you know my name now, may I ask yours?"

I headbobbed once. "I am Sabrewing," I replied, keeping my eyes on him the whole time. It was difficult to look away ... this "Tegu" had a very piercing gaze, as if he could read my mind. For all I knew, he could. But, some inner part of me just wanted to keep looking on him, for looking's sake, for as my eyes adjusted to the dim glow of the moss lining the cave's walls, the details of his body came to me.

His body was a uniform green around the shoulders and sides, but dissolved into a light blue upon his chest and abdomen, musculature defined to near perfection. I still couldn't get over the initial oddity that each of his hands only contained two fingers and a thumb, but they by no means detracted from his appearance, complimenting the three toes capping his feet nicely. He was girded in a simple black piece of what appeared to be some leather-like material between his legs, which divided into two flaps in the back around his tailbase. He just had a very powerful aura about him, and while I wasn't scrawny or otherwise lacking in body mass, I felt very self-aware in this moment, and his sharp fangs coupled with the small spikes, the same umber yellow color as his horns, protruding from Tegu's elbows made me even more conscious that anything could, and probably would, happen if I didn't watch what I said carefully, regardless of how I thought he looked.

"Sabrewing ..." he said to himself, turning my attention back to his face. "You do not come like the others." He reached a hand towards me, hefting up the camera still around my neck; I was just as amazed to see it had (visibly) survived my experience underfoot. "Your weapon is different."

"This is not a weapon, it is a camera," I replied, using the English word for it -- my brain couldn't think of a word in Tegu's language that was a proper equivalent. "We use them to create a picture of life as we see it." I silently prayed that my explanation was such that it wouldn't enrage him ... I reasoned that if I had said "take pictures of something," Tegu might think along the lines of native peoples who believed a camera could enslave one's soul in the photograph. Surprising, it was, that I was thinking so rationally at a time like this.

"And you hoped to ... create a picture of me?" he asked, setting it back against my chest. "Or of the other intruders?"

There was that word again. I tried to reason with him, "Tegu, these men are not intruding, they are just doing their job. This area is a good source of wood, wood we need to--"

"Destroy the forest!" he snarled back at me, making an ending, true albeit unwanted, to my words. "Whatever they use it for, they use it faster than it can grow. Somebody has to stop it."

I grunted, trying to think of something. I was all for the environment, and saving the rainforest, but how do you argue against it? "But the people where I am from, they think you are a monster. All they can see is the lives you take, the machines you destroy! You can talk; tell them what you want."

He pressed up against my side, still maintaining the stern look in his eyes. "Do you believe they react as you do?" He walked around my back, running a pair of claws along the arms of my wings, and I shivered a little as my tail grazed his hip; it was uncommon for reptilians of any kind to be warm-blooded. "From each place, I took one man, following as they fled in fear." His snout came close to my pointed ear, "Just as you did. And I would have them in my clutches, where they would squirm and writhe, just as you did." The whole situation felt intensely erotic to me, and I swore I could feel the faint brush of his tongue along the back of my earlobe. However, my imagination was running ... a little wild at the moment, I'm ashamed to say. Tegu continued, "But you were different .. You did not fight back. Where the others still tried to escape, you yielded ... and thus did not share their fate."

I just stood there, listening to him. It was like I was standing in a dream. I wasn't sure if it was one I wanted to wake up from, and if it wasn't ... I didn't want another second to pass. My silence was broken by a groan I didn't even realize I was vocalizing. I looked warily at Tegu, afraid of what he would make of it.

He seemed confused, staring at me. I probably had imagined all of those things; I'll never really know for sure, to this day.

He stepped away from my side. "Do you hear me, Sabrewing? You are the first who has listened. The others all forfeited their lives to the whims of the forest, choosing to let fear control them." He turned back to look at me, and to my surprise, there was a little sadness in his eyes, "You could not know what they did to escape me. Some even preferred ... to take their own life."

I fell to my knees, feeling a little weak. "Tegu! They watched in vain as you rampaged through their midst! You were their enemy! What else could they do?" I didn't know what else to say. Mr. Settaysh had been right about my scientist mindset, I had to see everything from multiple perspectives.

He nodded in agreement, "That I did. The threat was there; it had to be eliminated first."

"So, do you not see? They are not going to want anything to do with you," I continued. "It is a good thing you seek to do, to protect the forest. But to kill in its name?!"

He looked towards the wall of the caverns, where I could make out a tunnel. It seemed to be the only way out. "Perhaps ... I need to show you what it is that I do, if I am truly killing these men for my cause, so you can know for yourself if I am right in my judgment. Then you can, 'create pictures of life as you see it'."

I looked down at the camera, and it occurred to me that all of the time I'd been in Tegu's company, I really didn't want to photograph him. Something nagged inside of me; I couldn't quite pin it down.

"Umm ... sure, that might work," I replied simply. I looked about, almost starting to ask what time it was, but I didn't think my new acquaintance measured anything in minutes and hours, "Is the sun still down?"

"Darkness covers the forest; the animals sleep," he replied quietly, watching me as if to see what I would do next.

"Well then ... should we not be asleep also?" I asked him, stepping over to a smoother spot on the cavern's floor, sitting down on it. It was very cool to the touch, a welcome relief from the heat in the world above. I got down on my side, my head pillowed by my arm propped up underneath it; I faced the wall that had the least amount of the unusual glowing moss. I wondered to myself what chemical might be responsible for the illumination.

Tegu's toeclaws clicked on the rock floor as he approached me from behind. He looked down at me, head crooked in observation, and I looked back up at him. He got down on his knees, lifting my upper wing, tugging it up to my side, making its membrane stretch. I gasped at what he did next: he was lying on his side right behind me. I could feel his chest pressing up against my backside as he scooted closer, his slightly bent knees making my legs mold over them. Both of his arms settled around my midsection, not a snuggle, just ... holding me to him, and I could feel his chin settling in my tuft of red hair between my horns, letting out a small dogged sigh. My tail was thrust back between his thighs, which held it securely there.

If there was any time I wanted to use my camera, it was now. But my hands stayed themselves, slumber greeting me again in the strong arms of the dangerous, handsome reptilian I had come to find ... and I only had five more days with him. I wanted to wake up as soon as possible.

********************

Cool air greeted my awakening body. I rose, alone on the same stone floor as the night before. I had to wonder if it was still nighttime; the only light came from that mysterious moss. However, as I looked around, a small ray of light shone from the far tunnel, and I headed towards it, the exit to the upper world.

I stretched my arms as I stepped into the light. Thankfully, my soreness from the "eventful" day prior was almost gone completely, the night's sleep refreshing me. I looked about, not seeing any sign of my host. "Tegu?" I called out, answered by the whoops and chirps of a flock of birds taking off into the sky above the ceiling of green. He hadn't said anything about going anywhere without me. I thought of what it could be that called him away. To bathe, breakfast, morning walk ... all viable scenarios, but none of them came to me right away as being correct. Then I saw him coming towards me -- he was again in his giant form, and his footsteps, though less frightsome than I remembered, still caused the fallen leaves on the ground to rustle and the earth to quiver under his mass. I couldn't begin to fathom how much he weighed at this size. Then it occurred to me that I had never seen him shift from one size to another; for all I knew, he could be any size he wanted, or even two different beings! I would have to ask him either to show me later, or at least how he did it, before my week was up.

"Ahh, there you are," I said up to him, giving what probably looked like -- not to mention FELT like -- a meek little wave. He replied with, "Hmmm. Good, I did not have to wait for long."

"Wait? Do you mean we are going to ...?" I asked. He couldn't want to show me NOW!

To my dismay, he nodded. He looked back over his shoulder, "I have found, past the great river, another collection of your kind, and their machines are poised and readied." He turned back to look at me, "Do you wish to travel by flight? ... Or should I be your guide?"

I just stood there, looking up at him. Guide? What did he mean? "Would you like me to follow you ...?" Tegu merely knelt down and turned his head, making a snorting chuff to the side, as if indicating something. I seemed to understand what he was getting at.

Making a few practice squats, I positioned myself over a column of lifting air current, notably difficult in this environment, and jumped up, starting to loop in a small circle to collect the thermal's energy. It carried me up alongside the reptile's body, and he kept his watch over me. As I came to the upper ridges of his royal blue front, I steered myself towards him, my dim shadow visible and gliding its own trail up his form. My tail swished in a graceful arc as I 180'ed at the last second, snapping down and coming in for a landing on his shoulder.

"Most impressive," he rumbled, his warm breath completely overriding any dampness that hung in the air naturally. "I envy you, Sabrewing. You must be able to journey where you wish." I looked down a little, "Thank you for your kindness, but I do not use them as I could, I admit ..." I looked at his face, the dark, warpaint-like marks that adorned his temples an interesting contrast to the goldenrod of the ridges lining the top of his snout, and he rose to his feet once more, making me lean forward with the momentum. "Could I ... do you suppose we could talk, Tegu, along the way? I would like to learn more about you."

"Certainly. I have many questions for you, too, Sabrewing," he replied, and I watched far below upon the forest floor as his titanic legs carried him forward, and he commenced his walk towards the construction site. I had no idea what to expect of this, but I knew it would not be pleasant. Better to occupy my thoughts with what made this great beast tick.

Listening to the crunching of snapped branches left in his wake, I shivered. "Sooo ..." I muttered, trying to think of something sensible to ask. "Where have you come from? The world has not seen a creature like you before."

"On the contrary," he countered, "The world has seen those like myself for a long time." He seemed to be enjoying myself. Was it possible that such a dangerous creature had a sense of humor? He was full of surprises, that was for sure! I rephrased my question, "I mean the people where I come from. Where have you been all of this time? Down here in this rainforest?"

"Yes." Tegu ducked under a large tree branch, and I squatted down and leaned into the side of his neck to brace myself.

"And there has been no one who has seen you before now?" He shook his head. This just wasn't possible, there was so much of the globe that men of science had uncovered already; to discover an entire new species as large as Tegu was, and could be, was unthinkable. But then, I thought with a sigh, the hunt was still on in a certain lake in Scotland for an even more certain plesiosaur.

He seemed to be waiting until my curiosity was sated, for which I was thankful -- every question I posed just led me to more. "What are you? And how is it you are able to change into ... this?" I asked, gesturing down at the rest of the giant's body. His abs rolled with his chortling laughter, and what appeared to be a smug grin crept over his lips as he stepped over another fallen log. "I grow because of a favor ..." His voice drifted off a little, and his eyes took a more serious tone, "... of my dear k'y'ortha." I heard that last word as just that, one of his own language, and my brain could find no translation for it. Whatever it was, there was a great deal of emotion behind the word. I couldn't help but feel my spirits drop a little as I wondered if it might be his version of the word "lover", or even "mate."

"K'y'ortha?" I asked, trying to keep any inflection of regret out of my voice. "What does that mean?" He didn't seem to hear me, though.

"And I am just what I am, nothing more, and from our similar appearance, you might be able to decide for yourself," he hissed. "Now I must ask you ... who are you? Why are you here? Why did the great silver bird drop you into this forest?"

" Great silver ...?" I mentally smacked myself, he was referring to the plane. "I came here to use this camera to collect pictures of this place ... of you, to be frank. I was dropped from that airplane, or 'great silver bird' as you put it, because they had nowhere to land. It was not alive, it was a machine; there were people inside who were bringing me here."

Tegu snarled a little. "Hmm, more machines ... and it brought you here to ... create pictures of me, you say?"

I nodded, looking down after seeing the glimmer of the water ahead; we were nearing the Amazon River. On its opposite bank, we would find men doing their jobs ... just doing their jobs. "Yes ..." I said in a near whisper. "Word was in the air about the damage being done, the lives being taken in this region." I looked at him regretfully, "I was sent to discover its source."

He halted in mid-step, his gaze suddenly VERY piercing; it felt as if just his yellow eyes alone could sear me to the bone. "And what do you intend to do, now that you have found me?"

I shrugged helplessly, being truthful with him, "I do not know. Now that I have seen you for myself, I cannot bring myself to hold the camera anymore." Even as I said the words, I tried to reason why I was saying them. Out of respect? Maybe he wouldn't even show up on the film, being some kind of phantasm? But here I was, on his shoulder, and I could hear the tips of his footclaws digging into the dirt below as he approached the river's bank. It was a situation where you wanted to pinch yourself, see if you were dreaming.

(Yourself ...)

I looked around; I could have sworn I heard someone speaking, but it was just the two of us in the area.

(The two of us ...)

I blocked out the voices. I knew where they were coming from now, and I wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of admitting ... well, the whole truth. I hastily changed the subject, "I know now that you are a ... sentient being, so it would only be right to ask you if you want to be shown in pictures."

Tegu merely kept his strides, stepping into the river, and descending into it up to about his midsection. He waded through the water, "You asked about me already. What do you call your kind? What 'are' you, as you put it?"

"I am a ..." I tried to think of the words that described what I was. Only the English would do here, though. "I am a efreet dragon. I am a combination of two types of creature, a efreet and a dragon." It felt strange using "a" for everything, even in another method, but near as I could tell, "an" did not exist in Tegu's language. Vowels, consonants, they were all irrelevant -- there weren't even words for "vowel" and "consonant".

We were almost halfway across the river. We were going slower than we could have been, and I had to wonder if it was intentional. Perhaps Tegu was genuinely interested in what I had to say. Or, more morbidly I thought: he was pacing himself to get the drop on the demolitions team.

"Two creatures ... and which of these two do you most resemble?"

"Dragon."

The reptilian turned to look at me again, going so far as to dip his snout closer, snuffling me with his flaring nostrils. "Dragon ... perhaps that is what I am, as well," he mused, and he lifted his arm up to rub his forefinger against my side. There was a spark deep in his eyes, as if he was toying with me, holding something back. I wondered what it could mean, and our trek continued on the opposite side of the river.

********************

The containment area of the demolitions team was only a few miles into the interior of the rainforest once we had reached the other side. A few minutes after Tegu's feet had left the water, I could hear the telltale sounds of machines at work: buzzes, grinding, whistles and bells ... and Tegu would waste no time in ceasing their activity.

He turned to look at me, as I could barely make out the site on the horizon. "Now you shall see if what I do is wrong, if I kill when I do not have to," he hissed in a low growling tone, and before I could protest, he was on the move. I huddled even closer to his neck, deathly afraid of what was to come. The falls of his soles took on the thunderous quality once more, the same he had used chasing me, and the ground groaned with each pound of his feet. Prey were to be hunted this hour.

In perfect discord, the manpower behind the deforestation project rang with shrieks and cries as Tegu and I drew near. I sat there, transfixed by the sight below. Equipment and vehicles were abandoned, some coming out to gawk at the giant in shock, others in the intense fear I had felt. But all scattered away from the bulldozers and cranes and mulch-spewing circular saws that pervaded the area. The great giant's eyes soured and narrowed as he watched still others flee from their own tasks, chainsaws in hand that had been spinning against and into the trunks of great trees only a few minutes earlier. Tegu stepped through the crowd, and I covered my ears to block out the crunching noises I was sure to hear from some unwary (or wary ...) person meeting the giant reptile's judgment-delivering feet.

Broken wires sparked and oil gushed from the various machines on which Tegu took his anger out. He growled, lifting his knee high to position his sole over a lowly trailer, its occupants scampering outside and out from in his shadow as it descended again, flattening the structure as if it were built of straw ... and already my friend had picked a new target, snarling at a pair of dump trucks parked side by side, with immense logs piled and bound in their beds. His toeclaws caused a great CLANG! from their metal sides as he punted them, sending them end over end hurtling into a vast rocky outcropping, where they burst into a flood of yellow and orange. My jaw gaped in shock, the explosions ringing in my ears. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The rocks collapsed in on themselves, tumbling down onto the wreckage, a cloud of dust brushing outwards and effectively containing the fire.

My rapt attention turned back to the site. I was certain I would see some unfortunate soul, bloodied and gored with Tegu's wrath. Imagine my surprise when I saw a great many fleeing into the woods. Morbid curiosity held me to watch where the dragon-like titan took his frustrations.

Whether he was doing it to honor his word to me, or he had always done it this way, Tegu was confining his destruction to the actual equipment. No one in the world below would ever know; all they saw was a great roaring monster who was devastating all in his wake. However, from my vantage point, with my scientific mind allowed to gain a new perspective, certain nuances of the reptilian's behavior made themselves known to me; how he would hold up his feet, for instance. If a spot was still clustered with people, he would bring them down slow, waiting ... and when they had been cleared out ... down, his foot would slam, taking out the contraption in question. But, as I watched, not all people can be so lucky.

A muffled, blood-curdling wail echoed in my ears, and I gasped and zipped my eyes back and forth, trying to discover its source. Tegu advanced forward, looking over his shoulder, and I looked down past his tail. A pair of workers, in their terrorized state of mind, had run directly into Tegu's path, and between the ground and his fully settled footsole, they had given up the ghost. Their reddened frames, shattered under the skin, were plain as day in the crater-like footprint he had left. Tegu snorted, and I looked up at him. The same saddened look he had shown in the cavern had returned. That look ... it made me want to think ... just sit at a desk with a pen and scratch paper, and think. I felt like I had a jigsaw puzzle in front of me that I had completed before, but suddenly found out I had only put together 700 pieces of a much larger 1000-piece set. Maybe I had been hearing him wrong this whole time. I had to ask him more questions. Now, obviously, was not the time for clarification of any matter.

Another explosion snapped me to awareness, and I yelped as Tegu's shoulder lifted up. He had planted his foot atop a large storage building, its roof caving in as the lights inside sparked and fizzled out. His leg then kicked forward, the great beast snarling as the wall exploded in a shower of wood and shrapnel, coating the bare floor around a series of stumps. Workers on the sides, still shaking fitfully as they watched their workplace become heaps of rubble, scrambled towards the few remaining vehicles that remained intact. Tegu bent down and snatched one up, the wolfmorph who had just been running towards it skidding to a halt in his tracks and yelling as he quickly got back to his feet and joined a cohort in another car. Tegu tossed the empty sedan far off towards the river, where it arced down into the thicket of treetrunks, the crashes and bashes following its trail resulting in silence. The cars near us all roared to life, tires screeching as they started to pull away towards a makeshift road. The giant followed them, focused solely on the rear of the party, an egg-blue van. He stomped after it.

My eyes caught what he did not, and I jumped to my feet in a burst of a adrenaline. "Tegu! Look out! In front of you!" I shouted in plain English, pointing over and over at the gleaming silver blade that stood in his path. Its jagged teeth pointed straight at him, the immense, six-foot circular saw positioned directly parallel with him. And it was spinning ...

He would not listen, and raged onwards; the desire to frighten these people out of the forest for good was too great. I grunted and hissed in worry, digging into the pockets of my brain, bringing the giant's language back to the forefront. I had the words. I had to act! Tears streamed down my eyes as my lungs burned to get them out.

"TEGU, HUATH KUN'YEEDA!"

The dragon grunted, his eyes snapping down in front of him to the deadly machine. His left heel dug into the earth, planting him in the spot and keeping him from going any further forward. But momentum got the better of his other leg, which was already starting forward in another step.

His eyelids locked closed, an immense pained screech making the very air quake. Tegu's lurching sole ricocheted directly off of the sawblade, spraying a gush of blood out that stained the metal and continued to spray from it with centrifugal force. He fell backwards, which in turn caused me to plummet from his shoulder until my wings managed to snap open, guiding me back down over him in a haphazard falling glide, landing with a hard grunt on the mulch-covered dirt. Tegu growled as he crashed onto his back, favoring his wounded leg which was lifted up into the air a little; a jagged cut had been sliced straight into the bottom of his foot, but my warning had prevented it from being much larger ... nothing had been severed from his body. But he needed to be treated, and with how he was now, no one would be able to help him. And we were miles from a hospital. I was on my own.

Whimpering slightly, I said to him, "Please, you need to shrink down again, so I can help you ... We have to heal that ..."

He looked at me through his wincing eyes, nodding once or twice, another pained groan escaping his lips. I jumped backwards as I watched his size altering techniques take effect. No magical glow surrounded him, no Hallelujah chorus came to announce him. His body merely ... shrank, his hundred-foot size being condensed into smaller proportions in seconds. I remembered myself and rushed back to his side, as he now lay still on the ground, once more my height.

I rushed to his foot. At this size, the wound looked much more manageable, but it was still in need of medical attention. I fumbled into my cargo pocket and ripped out my tank top, tearing it at the sleeves and sides into shreds. I bunched a couple up together, making a substitute for gauze, and as I held it in place against the gash with my knee, I used the others to bind it, holding the black material in place as I tied the ripped shirt around his foot.

He winced more, but seemed to relax as the cloth settled in against the wound. I crawled back up along his side, looking down into his eyes, "That was close," I said, taking one of his hands in my own, petting the backs of his fingers. I felt like I was at the bedside of a dear friend in a hospital ward. "Are you all right?"

He grunted, pulling in at his foot, then promptly pushed it back to where it was as he winced. "I will be, with your efforts," he replied. I looked back at it, deep red already staining the black fabric. "How soon does your kind heal?"

He started to sit up, "Soon enough." He then tried to stand, "We must go back now. I have shown you what I brought you to see."

I promptly pushed him right back down by the shoulders, boggled by his attitude, "We cannot go now! Your injury could become infected, or worse! And you cannot cross the river in your condition!" I looked from side to side, then pointed towards the rock outcropping towards which he had kicked the two trucks earlier, "We should rest over there, we will be protected, and food and water will be close by."

Tegu merely eyed me. He again gave me the impression that he was searching for something ... searching for what? He needed to get better, soon! I got onto my knees beside him, "I will help you to walk." Getting on his right side and caping my wings around myself like a cloak, I lifted up his arm, then nudged my head underneath, being wary of my horns as his arm now settled across my shoulders. I helped him keep most of his weight on his left leg as he carefully rose, the smell of the oil laced about the area stuffing our noses. Industrial fumes were everywhere; I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, I had no doubt that Tegu agreed, and we had quite a distance ahead of us.

My arm settled across his lower back, holding him in against me as we made our way towards the stony pile. I had never been as sure of his weight and size as I was in this moment: his musculature made him a noticeable load to bear, even with his left leg working to share some of the burden. But I took in a deep breath and chose not to think about it. The phrase, "He's not heavy, he's my brother" popped into my head over and over. With what he had said earlier, regarding dragons, it seemed even more fitting.

The sun was low in the sky when we reached the pile. I could still make out the demolished trucks under a couple of the fallen boulders, and scorch marks dotted the ground. No bodies were seen anywhere.

Tegu and I had not said a word to each other during the entire walk. It was strange, we merely exchanged looks. Not even ones at each other, just ... looks. I would look aside, watch how his lips would curl with the onset of the injury making itself known to him, and pause to regain his stamina, our progress halted, and we would continue onward. And as I looked forward, seeing our destination becoming bigger with each ticking minute, I could feel his eyes on me, studying me as I had with him. The word "empathy" came to mind ... I did not know if it was an accurate term for what we were doing.

Reaching the side of a larger boulder, I knelt and lowered the dragonmorph to the ground, unfurling my wings again as his arm slid off of my shoulders. He sat back against the rock. "Thank you ..." he rumbled, his tail settled alongside the granite. I returned to his ailing foot, tightening the loosened bandages, "Are there any plants that will hasten the healing?"

One of his clawed hands settled on the arm of my nearby wing, "Time will suffice." I wanted to argue the point, say how the sooner he was all patched up the better, but he continued, "By the rising of the moon, I will be at full strength again." His tone, coupled with the notably tender stroking his claws gave my wingarm, told me I could trust him. I had followed his judgment this far, and he had not let me down. I abandoned my attempt and nodded, telling him, "Then, I will go get us something to eat." I started to rise, then remembered enough to verify something. "Uhh ... do you prefer plant or animal for feeding?"

Imagine my surprise when he gave me a smile and replied, "Both." Tegu was omnivorous; new things about him just seemed to trickle out by the second. I chuckled and nodded, hunting down dinner as my reptilian friend rested against the boulder, taking in the last of the sun's rays that spread across the tree-edged landscape.

********************

Night was upon us; the stars overhead twinkled like the tiniest of gemstones. I couldn't say so aloud, considering why there were no obstructions to their view, but I was very refreshed to see them again, what with the long while spent under an aerial blanket of leaves.

I had scrounged around for nearly two hours, trying to catch some small animal. On foot, with a trap ... you name it, I tried it. However, something would invariably go wrong, usually myself creating some disturbance, and my prey would elude me. In the end, I simply got a couple handfuls of berry-looking fruits that looked non-toxic. They would last us the night, at least, which was all Tegu had said he'd need, if even that long, to recuperate.

"Dammit!" I snarled as a stick I was holding snapped in half. My companion looked at me strangely, both from the term and what I was doing. I had been rubbing two branches together over some tinder and log splinters, trying to get a fire going. It wasn't really necessary, what with the ample warmth all around, but I thought it would provide some sort of ambiance.

"What is the problem?"

"Eh, I was trying to create fire," I replied, tossing the sticks away in a snit and joining the reptilian by his side. I propped my arms up on my knees and leaned forward, sighing. "I never managed to when using the natural method."

Tegu nodded, staring over at the discarded twigs. Something told me that he didn't quite believe fire could be created by rubbing two sticks together, but then, I wouldn't have known he could grow if I hadn't experienced it first-hand. He turned back to me, toying with the black wrappings that bandaged his foot, "Tell me of where you come from. Why do your kind seek to destroy this place?"

I looked at him, giving him a sad smile, as my tail swished absently on the ground. "I will be using a lot of words that you will not understand," I explained to him, "But I will do my best to explain them when the need arises." He nodded his understanding, and I began.

"We have something called 'civilization' ... civilization is something that we strive for. It allows us to create, sustain, and even rend apart aspects of us that can somehow advance us to make us 'better'. Who we are, what we do, how we do things, it is all influenced by civilization." I stared down at the ground as I spoke, feeling like I was regaling the history of modern society, which I probably was. "Most of all, we communicate with one another, and work for, and provide for one another, and we do so in a number of ways. But, everything we do for one another is, at some level, linked to the planet we live on. We take from the earth to sustain our lives, but that is not all." I felt like I was incriminating myself of ... something as I kept going. "We squander what the earth provides, because we do not think about the future. Wood from these trees is transformed by machines into shallow, meaningless valuables, such as furniture that pleases our senses in our homes, or into paper that we produce in excess because somebody in this world will be there to exchange part of their worth for it. Animals are hunted until all are dead, purely because we crave what they have and we do not. Large buildings, constructed by us that stretch as tall or as far as the eye can see, are the result of rock and metal taken from deep under the dirt, emptying the world." My nose dug into my arms, "But we continue! Even knowing all of these things, we keep going as if whatever bad may happen, will happen to someone else! We are a great scar on the face of this planet!"

Tegu looked at me through my entire speech, his eyes getting narrower and narrower, scrutinizing at a very deep level. I breathed deeply, gathering my wits again.

"Are you saying these things?" he asked me after a moment of silence. "Or is somebody else?"

My breath left me again. "What ... do you mean?"

He gestured to the camera, still hung around my neck with its leather strap ... after all this time, I still had not removed it, even though I had not used even one whole roll of film. "You support these errs you speak of. You, too, create, sustain, and rend apart, no different from the others. And now your words drip with disdain and the knowledge of one scorned. Surely your opinion cannot have been so swayed before."

I couldn't argue that point and win to save my life; he was right. I recycled, sure, and "did my part" by turning off room lights and air conditioners, but I did not do anything on a grand scale. And why had I used the words I did, and gotten so angry towards the end? I suddenly felt very self-aware, like I had been caught trying to impress him when, in fact, I didn't have a leg to stand on.

"I think you should leave, Sabrewing."

I turned with shock. My jaw metaphorically hit the ground, my heart pumping through an extra beat. "You think ... no, you cannot be serious!"

He looked away from me, settling himself up against the rock more comfortably, "This is not your fight. Your mind, your home are still where you come from, and therefore, they are still influencing you. Finish your 'creation of pictures of life as you see it' and get out of this forest." His eyes never looked back my way, instead closing as he settled in the darkness for the night's sleep.

I was dumbfounded, stunned, and I felt like somebody'd just held a magnum against my significant other's head and pulled the trigger, leaving me to watch him die. I wished I had never come to this place. The fact that my plane would not be returning for me for another four days ... suddenly didn't even matter anymore. Nothing did.

As quietly as I could manage, I scaled the rock formation. Though to be honest, I wasn't doing much of anything "quietly" right then: my snout was contorting with my attempts to surpress my sobbing, tears trailing down my cheeks. I slipped, wailing louder as my shin was scuffed, but continued my ascent, reaching the highest boulder, nearly 8 feet in diameter, and sat on it, looking up at the diamonds overhead ... looking for some sort of answer.

In my mind, Tegu had effectively sentenced me to death. My lungs heaved as I bawled, my mouth going dry, and I dug my muzzle in against my chest as I sat there, stymieing what noise I could. It was no use, the aching in my chest proved too great for me to stifle, and I sat there under the starlight, venting my sorrow.

Teardrops cascaded down on the camera, and I hooked my hand under it, lifting it off from around my neck, holding it before me to look at. There was a small crack on the plastic shell just under the shutter button, but it otherwise looked serviceable. But, as I thought to myself, I just wanted to see it gone, anything that reminded me of the outside world gone. I didn't want to associate with anything modern anymore, if it would allow me to remain with the dragon I had only met by force a night ago. My eyeridges furrowed in anger, snarling ferally as I stared longer and longer at the camera, seeing red, my fangs borne. I jumped to my feet, holding the camera back like it were a football, and then vaulting it hard into the jungle, growling in a harsh tone, "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!"

A flock of birds cascaded from the far canopy, taking off into the sky as the camera landed some yards away, smashing beyond repair against the ground. My rage not sated, I frantically looked about me, seeing the only other modern thing I had with me: my khaki shorts, and I angrily ripped them down my waist and off of my body, wadding them up and tossing them in a spin, collapsing back onto the boulder, panting loudly.

Silence greeted me as I recovered. I didn't move, my bare body shuddering as my melancholy returned, and I whimpered to myself, "Please, take me back ... don't make me go ... please ..." It seemed like hours I was sitting there, begging to the stars, when I heard a scratching nose coming from the rocks below. I sniffed and turned, gasping as I watched Tegu approach where I sat.

"Do you know why I defend the forest, Sabrewing?" he asked as he started to join me, vaulting up onto the rock. I shook my head, and he hummed, and looked out into the forest where I was facing, looking much like the sentinel he was. Briefly he looked down at me, answering, "It is because I have come to know it far better than others could ... for it came to me."

I looked up at him, not understanding. "Came to you ...? But, how ...?"

He looked back at the treeline, "When the machines and your kind came, I knew somebody had to stand against them, or else all would be lost. I rose to meet the call, and victory would come, but then more machines would follow, and the fight began anew. I thought my struggle was in vain." He looked down at me again, a glimmer sparking in his eyes, "But then beheld the spirit of this forest. It was vibrant and healthy, coming to me from a dazzling shower of silver and crystal." His gaze turned up to the stars, seeming to look at something in particular. "It was because of my fight that it still existed ... my k'y'ortha ..."

I remembered the word from earlier in the day, how much emotion had been attached to it such that it had no English translation. I was suddenly very humbled. "And ... k'y'ortha, that is the forest spirit?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. "My struggle, it said, gave it life ... and I knew, then, the love these trees, the creatures within, the boundless love they felt for their protector. I bonded myself to the spirit, dedicating my future, my being, to its perseverance." To my surprise, he gave me a smile, "It might please you to know, that the shape my k'y'ortha took, was of a great dragon ..."

I blinked, looking up at the stars. "A dragon of crystal and silver ... it must have been so beautiful to look upon." Then I looked down in shame, "And yet I cannot hope to be any comparison."

Tegu knelt by my side, his palm coming to rest on my shoulder, "Tell me, what is in your heart right now?"

My eyes scrunched tighter, afraid to look on him. His free hand guided my snout to the side, facing him directly, and my eyelids crept open, seeing his handsome muzzle mere inches away from mine. My lower jaw fluttered, speech not forthcoming. "I ..." I hissed, sweating bullets, "... I, too, love you ..."

I expected his palm to release my chin, my cheeks burning hot as I could do nothing but look into his eyes, my emotions as bare as my nose, as my body at that moment. His fingertips caressed my chin as he watched patiently, as if expecting more. Whether he wanted it or not, I obliged.

"You are ... the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. From when I first laid eyes on you, you were extraordinary. I could not complete my task because ... because ..." I swallowed, the toughest part yet to be said, "... I wanted to keep knowledge of you to myself. The rest of the world would come and find you if they knew about you, and rush to perform all manners of tests and experiments on you ... but I am greedy, and do not want them to know. Now that I have met you, I cannot leave your side ... please, do not cast me out! The camera is destroyed, there are no pictures that can come of it!" My tears were returning, and still I was made to look into his face.

But something I hadn't noticed, was his hand on my shoulder had slipped further around, and now was wrapping around my shoulders, tugging me closer. I lost all control of myself, and squeezed to him with both of my arms around his barrel chest, rejoicing in his warmth against me. Snout digging into the side of his neck, we simply held each other, my wings sagging weakly as I rose to my knees, the moon shining brightly over us. I could not have prayed for such a perfect situation, my friend's claws stroking slowly down my back as our chins each touched to the back of the other's neck.

I pulled back to look at him, my helplessness leaving me. "If you would have me," I uttered, petting a palm on his cheek, "I would be honored, and proud, to dedicate my future, my being, to your perseverance in your struggle ..." I cupped one of his pectorals with my palm, rubbing in little circles. "I'll stay forever by your side. Joryn th'roa zet-en le," I echoed in his language.

He responded by taking me by the hands, guiding me to stand with him. His claws came to my hips, just holding there as he looked at me, our green scales nearly identical in color in the quiet night air as my yellow-green chest faced his blue. "You would bond yourself to me? To the forest, and guard it with me?"

"To the end of my life," I replied earnestly, my own hands coming up to his shoulders.

And for the first time when I was in his company, Tegu reached down and snapped off the leather loincloth he wore. Our naked forms pressed together, and I could hear his voice whispering into my ear as we embraced under Luna's warm glow atop the granite boulders.

"So shall it be ..."

********************

"MONSTER STRIKES AGAIN!
CLAIMS NEW VICTIMS"

"Two days ago, Handyman Logging Company filed a report that its latest contracted site was no longer calling the
offices to confirm their progress. When investigators flew to Brazil to see for themselves, they found the entire site
in the same condition as those of rival companies throughout the area. Buildings were smashed, and everybody
had seemingly disappeared. Two bodies were uncovered, both suffering from bone fractures too numerous to
count. A sweep of the surrounding area has already been begun.
One of the items located near the wreckage some five miles away was a broken camera from the Zucker-Muck
News agency, one of the highest rated in the nation. When confronted with this evidence, the company admitted
that they had sent a promising young hire, Sabrewing, down to the Amazon to get exclusive coverage of the
monster reports, but would not comment on questions regarding his inexperience and subsequent acceptance of
this particular job. Speculation is that this young photographer is yet another victim of the monster attacks.
In other news, a great earthquake rocked the Los Platanos region, with damages ranging ..."

~Fin