He walked into the Nest in a daze. The guards in their dragon forms sitting at either side of the entrance had to double-take before they realized that a person was just walking past them.
A low growl filled the air, but Tate couldn't understand him. The growling noise changed in pitch and length but Tate just looked up at the brown dragon in response. He supposed that if he'd been a dragon he would have been able to communicate even in human form, but he was just a human. There had only ever been one dragon he'd been capable of communicating with, and that had been telepathically anyway.
As soon as he made eye contact with the dragon's steely gaze the form shimmered and the guard's human form took shape. Tate could only stare as the dragon's human form looked to be a twelve-year-old boy. One of the few male dragons he'd met that was shorter than his five foot, ten-inch height.
Despite the dragon's youthful appearance he spoke with a deep voice. "Human, please halt."
Tate stopped and the dragon's small hand hit his chest. He wasn't pushing him but the strength behind the hand stilled him. He looked down at the dragon, he had curly brown hair and grey eyes. His face was delicate and almost effeminant. Really, Tate huffed in his mind, even though they were a different species and didn't view age remotely the way a human did this was getting ridiculous.
The other dragon turned his head toward the entrance to the Nest and let out a loud and high-pitched call. Three short shrieks.
Tate wondered what it meant, but he didn't have to wait long. Bezhar and the two guards who were usually at his door were the first ones he saw rushing to him that he recognized. As the small group got closer he was able to make out the Elder just behind them and to his surprise Lou was not far behind. It was his face that arrested his attention. He looked wild, his hair was sticking up in every direction, and his face looked strange. He didn't have time to figure out why when it became apparent.
"Tate!" Lou yelled in a strangled voice, in a tone that Tate had never heard before from anyone. Lou began to run, passing the already hurrying dragons in an impressive burst of speed. The solid young man slammed into him. Startled Tate barely managed not to fall over.
Tate froze at the strange sensation of someone holding onto him. He awkwardly brought his hands up and patted Lou on the back, once then twice. This was apparently the wrong thing to do because it caused Lou to actually sob. Tate felt suffocated in Lou's embrace. They were as close together as he'd ever been with another person and the increasing sobs and shaking from Lou became louder and more apparent right next to his ear where the younger man had his chin dug into Tate's shoulder.
Not a moment later the others came to a stop in front of the pair, their eyes wide and worried? Well, he supposed it made sense for the worry. He was sure Lou had seen everything and he was sure they were concerned about him being carried off by a strange dragon.
"Human, what happened?" It was Bezhar who spoke first. The Elder was looking him up and down intently as much as she could with Lou blocking her view. She stepped forward and peeled Lou off of him. With Lou's shoulder in her hand, she pulled him a step away and turned his body away from Tate. She looked over Tate from head to toe.
"Are you alright?" She asked in a concerned but level tone.
"I-uh," he had to gather his thoughts. "Yes, I am."
There was a long pause. "What happened?" Bezhar repeated with some irritation. "The little human just said a dragon flew off with you."
"I was getting a dagger we'd left up on-"
"Yes, we know." Bezhar cut him off sharply. "Who took you?"
Tate looked between Bezhar and the Elder. "I don't know. They gave me names but I'm pretty sure they were fake names. There was a male, the one that took me, she called him Void."
The Elder's eyes snapped to life and he suddenly found all his attention on her as she looked at him. A shudder ran through him. "She?" She bit out. "What did 'she' look like?" The Elder was growling now, a tone that was not natural for a human female.
"She-she was about your height but her human appearance was older. She had golden hair and goldish, brown eyes." With each word he used to describe her meager as they were, not only did the Elder's face darken but surprisingly so did Bezhars.
"What did she call herself?" The Elder bit out each word. "What was the name she told you to call her?"
"Yak, um Yakan, no what was it?" He struggled to remember the unfamiliar word especially under such intimidating gazes.
"Yakahna." Bezhar supplied darkly.
The Elder froze, her eyes going unfocused and Tate would swear he saw flames building in her eyes. "Yakahna?" She repeated every syllable with strange emphasis. "Was it Yakahna? Did that creature tell you to call her Yakahna?" The words were barely breathed into the air.
The hair on Tate's arms was standing and he felt like he was about to be incinerated on the spot even though he didn't think the ire was directed at him.
"What did she want from you?" Bezhar asked in a concerned voice, Tate couldn't help but note that this was the first time he'd seen the Captain of the Royal Guards speaking to him with anything like concern.
"She said she just wanted to see me. The male, Void didn't let me stay long. Something felt off, I didn't think she was going to hurt me but I didn't want to be near her. I-"
The Elder's hand on his face cut him off. She stroked the left side of his face with her thumb and looked at him with an expression that he could not decipher. A string of foreign words spilled from her lips softly but the words she ended with he understood. "...I promise."
His head was spinning. He was just as confused by these events as he'd been by the actions of the male and female before.
"Elder, don't-" Bezhar started but the Elder cut him off with a flick of her other hand into the air never even sparing him a glance. The hand on his face slipped around until she gripped the back of his neck, painfully. With a pang of fear, he realized that her hand had partially transformed as he felt the prick of talons on the opposite side of his neck.
"Go to bed, you have training tomorrow. Tate," She paused squeezing her hand. "You must succeed, if you fail I will kill you myself."
"Elder!" Bezhar interjected.
Still looking Tate in the eyes she looked sad all of a sudden. "It is decided." She glanced at Lou who was frozen behind her. "You had better succeed, for both your sakes."
She used the hand on the back of his neck to use her substantial strength advantage to push him by her. He stumbled a little. She looked at the two guards who had come with them in turn. "Take the humans back to their quarters, and make sure the little human's guards are in place before you leave him too. Also, make sure both their windows are closed and barred."
The two dragons nodded and had transformed into their original forms. Their long necks bowed their heads down to the ground. They then used their necks to encircle Tate and Lou and shepherd them along like children.
Lou grabbed the hem of Tate's tunic as they walked. "I'm sorry I grabbed you." He said quietly so only Tate could hear. "That wasn't very, uh-" he seemed at a loss for the words he wanted to say. "I just- I uh thought I was going to be left here." He said his voice trailing off so softly that Tate barely heard him. "Are you okay, big brother?" Lou said after another beat, his voice a little louder but muffled from snot.
Tate was not alright. To say he was confused was an understatement, but it was more than that. He was filled with a deep uneasiness. His very bones felt cold after his encounter with that female. He didn't know how to voice this though, how could he even begin to explain so many things that he didn't understand himself?
For the moment he did what he could, which was to push his unease as far down as possible and shut the door on it. It was a skill he'd had a lot of experience using in his life.
He put his arm around the younger man's shoulders. "I'm not going to leave you, Lou. I promised right? I'm going to get us home." He spoke with all the confidence of a prodigy dragon rider, an elite warrior of the human realm.
It seemed to work. Lou straightened a little, took a big sniff, and cleared his throat. "I know." He said his voice lighter.
They could pretend all they wanted, they both knew the truth but pretending was preferable at the moment.
Tate wasn't sure he could keep his promise at all. Now more than ever the consequences of his failure became clear. For whatever reason the Elder had changed her mind and he couldn't bring himself to think she was kidding or would take it back.
He didn't understand the shift at all but he didn't doubt her words this time. Their lives truly were on the line now.