Volos, Dragon from the west

          “We shouldn’t be doing this!” Eful warned; his vocal chords vibrated to form the harsh, deep, growling dragon language. His tail twitched in irritation.
         The budding trees shook as Volos landed, broad midnight blue wings flared to slow his hasty descent.
         “And why not?”
         “The elders forbid it! We aren’t supposed to fly this way! Attor will take us there when we reach our 20th winter.”
         “You saw my nest mate come back from where the Day star rises! He was gone for six nights! They were only supposed to be gone for two! Espon was hurt! His wings were torn! Attor was there, he allowed it to happen! I want to know what caused it!” Volos roared.
         Wind whistled through the empty arms of maple trees as Torren appeared above, flapping furiously to keep his large thickset frame aloft.
         “What’s taking you so long?” Torren barked impatiently.
         “Eful doesn't want to come with us to find out what happened to my nest mate. He's too afraid,” Volos growled.
         Torren curled up his wings and dropped as quickly as the dove he had roasted with his internal fire a few moments earlier. His wet mud brown legs shuddered violently as he landed. He held his snout inches from Eful’s much smaller gold one. He stared at the smaller dragon. Eful flinched, his tail drooped. Torren simply snorted amusedly.
         “I knew he was wingless. Let’s go Volos. Leave him, we’ll go alone.”
         “No!” Eful roared. “I’m coming,” he snarled. He flapped his golden wings twice before he rose into the air; three more powerful strokes brought him above Torren’s impressive standing height. “I am Not! Wingless! I’m as brave as either of you.”
         “Good, let’s get going then,” Volos said as he flapped his leathery wings. They moved quickly and powerfully, like oars through water, lifting his heavy body into the cool spring air. “Let’s go.”
         “About time!” Torren exclaimed, leaping into the air like a giant grasshopper.
         Volos took off as soon as Torren opened his wings. They kept the day star at their backs as they flew. Though the day star began to set and it was getting dark, the dragons could still see that the land they were flying over had many developments they had never seen before. Trees that looked as if they had been knocked down lay stacked like pyramids. Fields of strange plants grew in squares that covered miles or more each. Strange shapes hid in distant shadows. Light shone dimly from small holes in their sides, smoke drifted towards the dragons from narrow protrusions on the top of the strange shapes.
         “What is this?” Torren asked, flapping faster to catch up to Volos.
         “I don’t know.”
         “We shouldn’t be here,” Eful whined. His labored breathing making it hard for him to speak clearly.
         “Let’s go around,” Volos said as he tucked in his right wing. The wind tugged lightly on his left. He turned; the others followed.
         They continued their flight along the distant edge of the strange new anomalies. They passed more areas where trees had been cleared, more strange fields, and more strange structures. These ones had all been burned. They kept flying. Torren slowed.
         “I smell blood.”
         Volos slowed as well and sniffed the air. “So do I.”
         The day star began to rise. A cry of alarm drifted up towards the dragons as the day star shone on the dragon’s reflective skin. They listened warily as a chorus of clangs, booms, and yells steadily became louder and louder. Volos was reminded of how when one bird squawks, the rest do too. As the light settled on the ground it became obvious to the dragons what was making the racket. Strange two legged creatures.
         “What are they?” Eful asked slowly.
         “I don’t know,” Volos replied.
         Tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk. A few strange new noises rose from the din below. Torren roared.
         “Something hit me! My wing!”
         Eful drifted lower towards Torren. “There’s a hole in your wing! And there’s something stuck in your leg! What’s going on?”
         Tunk, tunk, tunk. The noises resumed and drifted towards the dragons again. This time, there were hundreds.
         “Fly up!” Volos roared, flapping his own blue wings faster.
         Volos and Torren rose, their massive wings propelling them upwards like a feather in the breeze. Eful rose more slowly. His young wings strained to raise him.
         Hot red blood tumbled through the air and Eful’s flapping slowed. His tail went limp. His wings were torn. Wings unable to keep him up he fell a small ways. He flapped his torn wings even harder desperate to stay aloft. He hovered for a moment and looked at the older dragons before falling backwards towards the ground already wet from his own blood.
         “Eful!” Volos roared.
He watched his friend as he fell. Eful’s body glittered in the day star’s light like a lake in early morning. Eful landed with a loud thud heard by even Torren and Volos. Eful roared, unable to move. The two legged creatures rushed towards the broken dragon.
         A ravenous inferno exploded into existence engulfing six of the strange creatures with its many tongues. The two legs scrambled to get away as more were swallowed whole by white hot fire. The fire slowly grew smaller as Eful grew weaker. The flames Died. Eful’s head drooped lower. The flames, both his first and final breath of fire, went out.
         “Eful!” Volos and Torren roared in unison. Their cry echoed until it sounded like a chorus of furious dragons.
         Volos flew down as quickly as he could to get close to his friend. The two legs flocked away in all directions creating as much distance as they could between themselves and the dragons. Volos’ wings grabbed at the air as they tried to slow him at the last second. Volos’ thick legs bent as they struck the ground feet from Eful’s claws.
         “Eful! Eful!” Volos called
         “Volos,” he coughed, “you should get away,” He coughed again.
         “No.”
Volos turned to look as Torren landed behind him, sliding on the blood soaked ground behind Eful.
         “You created your fire,” Torren said
         Eful cracked a grin. “I know, it tickled,” Eful panted. Blood dripped from his tongue.
         Torren choked back a chuckle. “Yeah, it does doesn’t it.”
         A quiet tunk sound invaded the pause in conversation. A sharp stick buried itself in the soggy earth by Volos’ tail. The two legs skulked closer. A large ring of two legs surrounded the dragons. “You need to go now,” Eful wheezed.
         Volos glanced at Torren. Torren shook his head. “We aren’t leaving,” Volos growled. Torren snorted in agreement.
         The two dragons shuffled closer to Eful as another tunk sounded in the distance. Torren held a large wing above Eful. Volos did the same, their wings overlapped above their dying friend. Volos draped his long spiked tail over Eful’s neck and head. They waited in silence. Further tunk sounds disrupted the quiet like a rooster’s crow at sunrise.