The smoke from the burning moss drifted low over the outcrop, carrying with it the bitter stench of scorched scale and blood. The great body of the mother dragon lay sprawled across the stone, her massive wings folding in on themselves like torn sails.
Kael wiped his blade clean on the leathery edge of her wing, though the steel still seemed to hum with heat. The abyss in his veins pulsed lazily, as though satisfied — for now.
Halric groaned again, trying to sit upright where he'd been flung. Kael crossed the outcrop in three quick steps and crouched beside him.
"Don't move," Kael said.
Halric grunted, one hand pressing to his ribs. "Feels like a few bones got… persuaded out of place."
Kael inspected him quickly. No visible punctures, but the bruising was already deep and spreading. "You'll live, but you won't be swinging that hammer for a while."
"That's fine. You swing enough for both of us."
Elara stepped into view, lowering her hood. Sweat had plastered strands of hair to her face, and her hands still trembled from the fight. "We can't stay here," she said, scanning the treeline. "The fire will draw scavengers — and maybe worse."
Kael nodded, but his gaze lingered on the corpse. "We take what we can."
Elara hesitated. "From her?"
"Yes."
He moved to the dragon's neck, planting a boot against the thick muscle. His blade bit into the softer flesh between scales, carving through sinew until the black-red blood welled fresh and hot. He worked with precision, not wasting movements — tendon here, scale there. The materials would fetch a fortune in the right hands, and more importantly, serve as armor against the next fight.
The boy crept closer, his face pale but his eyes fixed on Kael's hands. "Why do you cut her like that?"
Kael didn't look up. "Because she's not just meat. Dragons carry the best steel in their bones, the hardest leather in their hides. Every part is useful — if you know how to take it."
"And you do?"
Kael paused briefly, the abyss murmuring in the back of his mind. Always. "I've learned," he said simply.
Elara moved to help, prying loose one of the smaller claws while Kael worked on the wing membranes. The thin, translucent stretch between the bones was tough but pliable — perfect for binding or crafting light armor.
They filled their packs quickly, though Kael could tell they were leaving more behind than he liked. The body was simply too large to strip completely before the smoke drew company.
By the time they finished, Halric was on his feet — unsteady, but moving.
"Let's go," Kael said. "We put as much distance as we can between us and this carcass before nightfall."
They descended from the outcrop, the boy glancing back at the corpse again and again until the treeline swallowed it.
---
The forest felt different now.
The oppressive stillness had eased, replaced by a low hum — the sound of life returning. Birds called in cautious bursts, insects buzzed in the undergrowth. But beneath it all, Kael sensed a shift. The mother's death had left a void, and the forest was already preparing to fill it.
They moved in silence for over an hour. Kael kept them on higher ground, where the air was cooler and the streams clearer. By midafternoon, the smoke from the outcrop was a faint smudge on the horizon.
Halric finally broke the quiet. "That was no ordinary mother. I've seen dragon matriarchs before — they guard nests, but they don't hunt like that. She was looking for something."
Kael glanced at him. "Or someone."
Elara's steps slowed. "You think she was after us?"
"I think she was after me," Kael said.
The boy frowned. "Why you?"
Kael didn't answer. The truth wasn't something he could explain — not without speaking of the abyss, of the bond that called dragons like moths to a flame.
---
They made camp in a narrow ravine as the light began to fade. The walls of rock on either side gave them shelter from wind and a single defensible path in. Kael set Elara to stringing a perimeter with small bone chimes — crude, but effective against anything that approached in silence.
Halric built the fire, working slower than usual, his breaths shallow from the cracked ribs.
Kael crouched beside him. "Rest once it's lit. You're no good to us if you collapse."
Halric smirked. "You say that like you'd carry me."
Kael didn't smile. "I would — if I had to."
When the fire was steady, Kael pulled a strip of dried meat from his pack, but his eyes stayed on the ravine entrance. The darkness there felt heavier than it should, and the abyss stirred faintly, as if tasting something on the air.
Elara joined him, sitting close enough that her shoulder brushed his. "We should head for the Spine," she said quietly. "If we can cross before the next moon, we'll be out of dragon range."
Kael shook his head. "Dragon range isn't the problem anymore."
She studied him. "You think there's worse."
He didn't answer, and that was answer enough.
---
That night, Kael couldn't sleep. He sat by the dying fire, listening to the soft chime of Elara's traps in the wind. The abyss was restless, whispering of hunger, of wings in the dark.
His mind kept returning to the mother's last moments — the way she'd fought, not like a beast defending its territory, but like a hunter fulfilling a purpose.
It wasn't random.
Something had sent her.
And in the black hours before dawn, when the chimes fell silent and the air grew still, Kael knew without opening his eyes that the forest had found its next shadow.