Rivalries

It was about mid-day and I was still settled by the river, listening to the gentle melody that came from the flowing water. The rocks on the bank had began to click as the water ran across them, ocassionally sweeping a few small pebbles into the current.

With every breath I drew I could smell the fresh and sweet scent of dandelions, pansys, and honeysuckle. The warmth of the sun rested on my scales as I rested on of my paws in the cooling water. As I lied in the grass, the breeze gently blew and caused the foliage around me to sway.

The atmosphere was soothing and could have easily put me to sleep if it wasn't for the loud rustling that had occured from my right.

Two small and sickly pale dragons emerged from the bushes, torn ad tattered skin hanging loosely along their bloody sides. These two dragons both were diverse in features, size, and even in there actions.

Once I knew of their presence my eyes quickly opened and my body soon shot up; my muscles tensing as I took in the apperance of the two creatures.

The two of them were standing beside each other; bloody, gashed, bruised, and ill. Thorns were lodged into their bodies, hardened mud had hidden their scales. Both possesed odd and different bodies of which the dried earth had cracked over due to the sun's powerful rays.

The pair seemed rather weak, as if every step was a fight that took every ounce of their almost vanished strength. I watched as their chests rised and then fell as they struggled to even breath in the fresh forest air.

"Who are you?" I asked my voice filled with confusion and curiousity as I watched the two strangers with slightly narrowed eyes.

After a long moment that was filled with the sound ofthe two newcomers heavy breaths, the oldest of the pair raplied "I'm Storm, she's Serenity." he said, his chest still heaving as he continued to gasp for air.

As soon as the names reached my ears I began to wonder what the talents of the young dragons could be. I also wondered on how they came into the unhealthy state I saw them in. I could fell my stomach turn and managed to open my mouth again.

"Why are you here?" was my next question I asked them.

A small, shrill voice answered me now "We're lost." it was Serenity,whom asked me, I could hear the fear in the young dragon's voice and felt the sympathy I held for them run through out my body.

"Do you know where you came from then?" I knew by the look in Storm's eyes he was growing weary of my many questions, so I made it my last after I saw them shake their heads no.

W sat, the three of us, for what seemed like decades of contempt silence. Our eyes continued to roam over each other's features. I suppose it was silly for me to let my eyes examine the unseen scales, color, claws, and characteristics the dragons held. Every aspect of their bodies was covered with a thick, cracked layer of mud. Although the mud was all that meet my eyes I continued to try and discover the features of the two.

Their breathing patterns had now regulated into slow and steady of their chests.

"Perhap you two would like to bathe off that mud?" I asked, signaling my tail towards the river. They rose from the ground and walked into the cool, relaxing flow of the water. After awhile the mud was either removed by the river's current or sofetened until they could remove it with their claws.

Serenity's apperance was in fact serene, she has long, draceful limbs, blue scales, aqua green eyes and a thin tail that swayed gently, side to side. Her brother, Storm, looked rather different. His scales were a chesnut brown and his figure was bulky and musuclar. Black harsh eyes had been placed within his face, his tail large and thick like a log.

Both their bodies were still covered in scrathces, gashes and cuts, all of which would heal on their own, but would take a time just as as any wounds. Taking in the fact that they more than likely would want to rest I decided to ask what happend to them later.