Saving Zedrick

Shira yawned widely as shi slowly rose from hir slumber, stretching out as widely as shi could. Despite being only seven feet tall, the white dragoness could take up plenty of space, especially considering the size of hir wings and tail. Shi came out of the cave shi'd curled up in and looked around, glancing up at the nearly full moon overhead. Perhaps it was just the energy of that moon, but shi felt something calling to hir. Something that needed hir attention. Shi felt fully awake, despite the odd hour, so shi took flight.

The hills around hir rather small lair were filled with dragons. Some of them were nocturnal, some were diurnal, and a few just woke and slept whenever they felt like it. There was quite a bit of activity in some of the caves nearby, couples or groups mating with one another, parties and gatherings of various kinds, meals that had recently been caught, all manner of noises. Though a very quiet, near-inaudible crying from one lair caught hir attention. There's no way it could have been coming from a dragon - not even hatchlings were that small and quiet - but it certainly seemed to come from a creature intelligent enough to cry. Remaining quiet as possible, shi glided in and peeked just into a cave.

If shi hadn't been trying to remain silent, the sight before hir certainly would have stunned hir into silence. Shi saw another dragon - an anthropomorphic, red one, perhaps eight feet tall - playing around with a tiny creature at his feet. While at first shi couldn't tell what it was, a few moments of careful observation revealed it was a raptor. The raptor had apparently been shrunk to only a couple inches tall, less than half the size of the paw that pinned him to the ground, a paw he was being forced to lick and rub just to keep the sadistic being above him pleased. It disturbed Shira slightly to see that little being used against his will like that, and shi knew shi had to do something.

Shira paused to size up the situation. Shi could sense that the dragon was fairly skilled in magic, as if the shrunken raptor weren't a hint, but shi also knew hir skills were far superior to the red's. The adolescent red was certainly physically stronger than hir, and had a noticeable size advantage, but Shira wasn't wanting any sort of physical fight; even with hir magic it would be a fairly even match. Shi decided to just walk in, casually as possible, and lead in to hir real reason for being there gradually. Shi did not want to provoke the red any more then necessary. "Hey there," shi said, perhaps a bit playfully, "What are you up to?"

"Nothing!" The dragon roared at Shira, with enough force to make even the herm recoil a bit, and the raptor put his paws over his ears to try recover his hearing. The red gave Shira a look of pure guilt, one that suggested he already knew what he was doing was wrong. Shira glanced down at the dragon's feet, and the dragon quickly shoved the smaller being away, trying in vain to hide him.

With a smirk, Shira moved closer, glancing down at the smaller scalie. Shi saw that he was chained up in such a way that he could struggle quite a bit, but never mount any effective resistance. "Well, it seems like you caught something to play with... didn't your family tell you not to play with your food?"

Growling, the red moved closer as well, standing only a snout's length away from Shira now. "Oh, that?" he spat, glancing in the raptor's direction briefly. "I caught him breaking in here around dusk and trying to steal from my hoard. Only an idiot would come into my lair and try steal from me." The dragon said boastfully, earning him only another glare from Shira.

"You seem awfully confident, but how did he even get in if you are as good as you say you are?" Shira asked, causing the red to growl at hir. "And really, why bother with the elaborate punishment, if that's really what you're going for? He's certainly learned his lesson by now. Just look at him." Shira paused to glance down at the terrified mini-raptor again, "I think that the only thing he wants to do is get out of here. He won't bother anyone in these mountains again."

The red seemed very unconvinced. "Please. He's learned how to act, big deal. If we let him go he'll just do this again somewhere else. I'm not going to even let him have the chance!"

That was enough to drive Shira over the edge, and shi slapped the red over the snout, glaring right into his eyes, hir own swirling angrily. "I will not let you torture an innocent creature. For any reason. Either give him to me, or you will have to force me from your lair. Are you really willing to fight over something that small?"

"As willing as you are!" he roared, a breath of flame coming directly for Shira. Shi quickly dodged out of the way, shaking hir head in disbelief. Hir move brought hir rather close to the smaller scalie, hir right paw crashing down mere inches from his form, making him bolt upright in fear. Shi had to ignore him, though, as shi focused on the other dragon. Another blast of flame came for hir, and shi let loose a breath of ice, dissipating the flame right before hir snout. Shi reached down and grabbed a single coin off a stack right next to the tiny raptor, then threw it with full force against the red's belly. It caught him off-guard, and it made him flinch in pain.

Shira had a very short time to act, but shi didn't waste even an eyeblink of it. Shi lept and pounced on the other dragon, pinning him on his back. Shi then started a spell, glaring directly into his eyes, hir own still swirling with color and magic. The dragon beneath hir started to shrink steadily, roaring angrily at hir. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" He roared, though with Shira's snout so close to his own, he couldn't attack hir without injuring himself as well.

"I'm only doing the same thing to you as you did to that raptor," Shira said, leaning in closer, "After all, you seem to see nothing wrong with it." The red opened his muzzle to protest, but a quick breath of ice from Shira sealed his muzzle shut, silencing any further protest he might have. Shi let his size reduce to only half of the raptor's, leaving him as a mere inch tall. Grinning to the red, shi set him down right next to the raptor, undid the chains, and placed them on the dragon. They were too loose to work well, but they'd at least make it impossible for him to follow hir. "Just relax, this is only temporary. You'll be back to normal in, oh, about a week..." Shi chuckled, before carefully taking the raptor in hir paw and flying off, back to hir own cave.

The raptor and dragon didn't exchange words until they landed in Shira's lair, perhaps ten minutes later. "Those spells are only temporary," Shira assured, "I might be a mage, but even I can't make something like that last for more than a couple days. A weaker dragon like that one couldn't possibly have placed a spell on you that will last more than twelve hours. You'll be back to normal before next nightfall. So until then... why don't we enjoy one another's company? I don't have visitors very often. What's your name?"

"Zedrick... or Zed..." the diminutive raptor said, seeming to relax quite a bit. Shira kept him in hir paw, cradling him to hir chest, one finger softly stroking over his back. Shi tried to be as gentle as possible with hir little friend; he had already been through too much this evening.

"Well, Zed, make yourself at home here... you're free to leave anytime you want, though I think you'll want to wait until you are normal sized again." Shi chuckled softly, leaning down to give him a soft lick on his snout tip. "But for now, sleep might be a good idea... what do you think?" Zed just nodded up at Shira. "In that case, let's get comfortable," Shira purred, lying down with him in a deeper part of hir cave, where the morning sun wouldn't wake them. Shi just held him softly to hir, caressing him and trying to get him to relax.

It seemed to be working quite well, too. Zed purred and closed his eyes as Shira's paw softly worked over him. "I will protect you," Shira purred quietly, "I won't let anyone else do that to you again." Zed didn't respond with words, but shi saw the smile growing on his face, a smile that warmed hir own heart. It was only a few minutes before he fell asleep, gently held by the larger dragoness. "Sleep well, little one," shi purred as shi heard him snoring lightly, closing hir eyes and dozing off as well, paws gently curled around the raptor to prevent anyone from hurting him in the night.