The female dragon gave him an amused look. "Well, at least he's got nerve."
The male growled sounding like the dragon he was. "We should just kill them." He raised a hand and Tate saw talons extend from his fingers that were at least five inches long.
The female held up her arm blocking him before he could swing at Tate. "Stop, they may be disgusting cultist slaves but they themselves haven't committed any sins."
The man gave her an incredulous look. "How can you say that, they came through the mist, they should not be here."
"Where is that written? When was that decreed?" She said almost nonchalantly. "This has never happened before, for some reason the mist let them pass, we can't just kill them of our own volition."
"Well, what do you have in mind then?"
The female studied them hard, Tate wished she'd stop looking at him so much, it made it hard to breathe and think. After a long pause, she said. "We'll take them to The Nest, Elder Narka can decide what to do with them."
"The Nest! I don't want to go to The Nest it's two days out of our way. Or did you forget that we are in the middle of an important errand for Father?"
Tate watched the banter between them and was happy to just listen, especially since the possibility of their immediate death seemed to be resolved. He was learning a lot just from their back and forth and also becoming more confused at the same time.
She sighed and rubbed her temples. "No, I have not forgotten, but I am not taking them with us, nor am I leaving two humans here to wander around on their own. Who knows what trouble they could get into, who even knows if they are friends or enemies."
The male scoffed. "I would think the marks told us all we need to know."
She gave him a look that clearly indicated she thought he was stupid. "Did you not pay attention to our history lessons?"
"What are you trying to say?"
She rolled her eyes. "They are just humans, we have been cut off from them for three thousand years we don't know what they know, think, or believe. Besides if one of them tries anything do you really think a couple of humans can harm us? We will take them to The Nest, and from there whether they live or die is not our problem, but I will feel better in my report to Father if we can say we delivered them to a higher authority."
The male looked unhappy but finally grunted his agreement. "I suppose that means I'm stuck in human form for the next two days." He grumbled, glaring at Tate and Lou resentfully.
The female nodded, "Not unless you intend to carry them on your back."
The male dragon's face showed disgust at the mere suggestion. "Over my dead body."
"Stand up." The female snapped. Lou sprang to his feet, his fear making him responsive. Tate took longer to get up and she grabbed him in frustration and yanked him to his feet. He let out a moan.
She looked him up and down as he stood awkwardly hunched. Without warning she reached out and grabbed the edge of his shirt and pulled it up roughly. Lou let out a small gasp, even though he hadn't seen himself he could imagine how it looked. After all, he'd been strapped to a horse for who knows how long and had crawled on his belly across the ground all night. He wasn't even sure how he'd been standing when the Shadows had found him, adrenalin maybe? Not that adrenalin was in short supply in this situation but his body finally seemed to have told him to give it up, he ached all over. He was pretty sure his ribs were at least bruised if not broken from the jostling of the horse, his wrists and ankles smarted and as he took a good look he saw scrapes that were oozing blood and clear fluid sluggishly.
The female wrinkled her nose once again. He wasn't sure if he'd ever met a woman who he disgusted more than this one. "What happened to you human, was your body dragged over rocks?"
"It's a long story." He said after a long pause not daring to meet her eyes, he was concentrating on breathing here after all, no need to make it more difficult on himself.
She backed away and shook her head. "I don't care, can you walk?"
He nodded. "I think so."
She looked at Lou coldly, "You, help him. If you fall behind I'll tie you both up and drag you if need be. As you may have heard we are on an important errand and we really don't have time for you, but I also can't ignore you so don't make things more difficult than they have to be or you won't like the consequences."
Lou nodded frantically and went to put his shoulder under Tate's arm. "Big brother, you really do look awful. What really happened."
Tate couldn't say anything for a moment as the strange party of four started walking. "I-I'll tell you about it later."
The male and female dragons marched relentlessly toward the forest they'd seen earlier. Tate and Lou had no time or breathe to talk as they stumbled along. The dragons only occasionally looked back to make sure they were following them.
Tate had so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to ask. Two dragons had descended from the sky and transformed into humans. His entire foundation was rocked. He was terrified and fascinated. They were the flame that he wanted to touch so badly but knew would burn. As much as he'd been forcibly separated from the close communion with a dragon, he longed for that connection again. He wanted to speak to a dragon, to hear stories, to just be with them. Here were two wild dragons, unbonded, and in human form. For the first time since Aquana died, he could speak to a dragon. However, they seemed to view him as something strange and repulsive.
Thankfully, Lou asked one of his most burning questions. The poor kid's voice was timid but Tate was proud of him when he asked. "You keep mentioning cultists and our marks, begging your pardon, but what did you mean by that?"
It was the first time the two dragons had broken stride. They looked at each other not stopping but slowing. Then the male looked back a puzzled expression on his face. "Do you really not know, what we meant?"
Lou shook his head. "I've never heard of any cultist. What cult is it? What do they believe?"
The male dragon shook his head in wonder. He opened his mouth to speak but the female cut him off. "If you do not know, it is not our place to tell you of such things. All I will say is that your human realm was cut off from the rest of the world for a reason. Anything you want to know beyond that you will have to ask the Elder."
"The Elder? Are they at this nest you mentioned? What is the nest?" Tate asked through panting breaths.
The female looked back once again and for the first time, she looked at him just a little differently. Was it pity? Firmly she said. "The Nest is the birthplace of dragons. It is our ancient city. We do not all reside there like in the ancient times but it is still considered the cradle of our civilization. It's not a place I like to go, but they are the best ones to figure out what to do with you according to the law."
"Don't you know what the law is about people coming through the misty veil?" Tate asked with a groan.
"Stop talking human, it's doing your body no good. And no, I don't know, humans coming through the 'misty veil' as you call it is not something I've ever heard of happening. Now stop speaking both of you, I don't want to hear your voices anymore."
They took a few more steps when the female did something once again that Tate did not expect. Without looking back this time she said. "I'm Wyla and this is my blood brother Wyen."
"I'm Lou, and this is Tate," Lou answered her. Tate looked at him and could only shake his head internally. Lou's fear seemed to have receded some and he looked delighted that introductions had been made. Tate was not so sure himself, they were out of immediate danger, but this 'Nest' sounded like it could be a dangerous place for them. After all the female, Wyla, had not said anything about them being safe in the long run, just that the 'Elder' would know what to do with them. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next, he was in a land that man was not supposed to enter facing beings that he was now realizing he knew very little about despite being mentally linked to one for over half his life. He was very confused, he'd thought he knew everything there was to know about dragons, but maybe he knew nothing.
How could they take human form? Had Aquana been able to do that? He didn't know of any dragons that could. Had she lied to him, or kept things from him, or had she too been in the dark about her own abilities? Who were the "cultists" and what did their marks have to do with them? Were the marks that he and ever dragon rider so proud of something to be ashamed of here? He didn't know what to think or what to do. What could he do but walk on? He didn't know what would happen when they reached The Nest, he couldn't even hazard a guess.