She was missing several large chunks of her neck, and tail as well. She was sliced cleanly in places, and other places were just torn out. I didn't understand how she'd managed to survive. I knew she would die soon. There was no question about it.
I landed close to her massive head as the storm spell faded. I flicked my tail, and looked her in the eye.
*"If it makes you feel any better I won't be allowing Eric anywhere near your nest," I ignored her weak snarl, "I'll make sure that none of your living kin make it into his hands."
Her eyes lit up hopefully. I flicked my tail. I knew she'd left some eggs behind. There was no way she was going to bring everything she had to a fight she might lose. She wasn't that stupid.
I saw when the light left her eyes. I knew she was dead. Her whole body went completely still. She no longer breathed, and her heart no longer beat. It was time for me to go to the nest.
I jumped into the air, and headed north. Away from the humans of the settlement. They no longer required my protection. My focus turned to keeping my promise to the alpha. She may have tried to kill me on more then one occasion, but those eggs are innocent.
Allowing Eric to get ahold of them was a huge no no. My wings ached. I'd overworked them. Eric might be awake by now. I didn't want his wrath to come down on me before I'd moved the eggs.
I was exhausted. I needed rest. I cut through the wind with ease as I flew northward. I wished I didn't need rest so badly. I glided down on the massive hole in the ground four hours later.
The eggs were cold. It would take me a little while to find them. Savannah, and Ethan jumped off my back right away.
"Jax can you look for the eggs," I offered him my tail, "You'll be able to sense them much easier then the others."
Jax nodded as he was lowered to the ground. He pressed his palms into the ground, and pulsed his power outward. I copied him while allowing the use of my earth ability overlap with my spatial awareness. It was difficult for me to sense things that weren't moving with spatial awareness alone. I bared my teeth as the burn from all the damage I'd done to my muscles set in.
"I found something that isn't earth," Jax pointed toward the largest cavern.
"Where?" I felt a little stupid asking since I had near full access to Ethan, and Savannah's minds.
I didn't need to ask them. Jax on the other hand I needed to ask. I needed to ask what he was thinking. I didn't just know like the others. Jax nodded, and led the way.
I followed him slowly. Trying to slow my stride to the point that I wouldn't pass him while he walked. Jax sped up when he realized just how slow I was walking. I flicked my tail casually. I was happy that Jax was trying to make it easier on me.
He pointed at a specific point in the wall that wasn't entirely rock. I tried to sense the same thing Jax did when he spread his mana throughout the cave system. I wasn't nearly as sensitive as Jax was. I crossed the large cavern with ease. The smoldering remains of a fire sat at the center of the large cavern.
The large hole in the center of the cavern looked as if it was carved out of the stone by claws. They'd dug this hole in the ground. Specifically for the fire. There was probably a hole in the roof for the smoke as well. I drug my talons through the soft dirt.
It didn't take me long to dig through the soft dirt, and find the small store of eggs within.
{I found something,} Savannah called to me mentally, {It's not far from where you are now.}
There were only ten eggs in the hidden cache. I placed them in my wing membrane, and angled my wing so that they would stay within.
"Savannah found something," I turned, and nudged Jax gently, "It's down that thin path off this main cavern."
Jax started walking the direction I'd indicated. I picked him up, and set him on my head behind my horns. He felt a little concerned at being in Ethan's spot. I don't know why he thought of my head as only Ethan's spot. I was much faster then Jax would be on foot.
This was just the smart way to do it. Savannah was right though. This path was much thinner then the others, and there was a cold to it that I didn't like. If I were any bigger I wouldn't be able to fit through the gap easily. Something about this path was creepier then I expected.
This path was the only one we'd come across so far that didn't have any holes that led to the surface. That meant that not a single living wyvern was down this path when the alpha called them all to war. My eyes picked up the first signs of living creatures about halfway in yet my spatial awareness told me there wasn't a single living thing within. There were no bones. Just the broken remains of twisted, and malformed offspring. It wasn't immediately obvious why all of them died, but they were all clean.
Frozen the way they had died after climbing in here on their own. The closest one hadn't frozen completely yet. He hadn't died too long ago. He was missing his entire lower jaw. There was no blood to suggest he'd been attacked.
There was just a hole that led down his throat to his stomach. She'd waited until he died before mobilizing all of her flight. It hurt to know that she'd cared enough about her kin to wait until this one died before heading into the fight.
"Get out," I glanced at Savannah before lowering my head so Jax could step off my head, "I'm going to burn them all."