Okay guys a bit of action, even though its not as expected.

I have added a poll since I now nearly have 50 votes thanks for all the support and I am working on all the things mentioned. Grammar oh grammar where for art thou grammar! As for the other points I am an amateur writer so I may slip up on things, its refreshing to see guys taking notice of such things and still enjoying the story!

Thanks for all the support guys ENJOY the read!

44.

A Wolf, a Tiger and a Dragon.(stupid thing does not want to center!)

Slyfer does not have to wait long for Vinx to arrive. She enters without ceremony; however, Slyfer has become accustomed to her behaviour and no longer cares if she sees him naked. Vinx flies over with arms and legs hanging. To Slyfer she looks very similar to a bumble bee. Tired wings stop their humming as she lands on his arm, resting on the tub. Her little body slumps down and she lets out a long sigh.

As if realising something she sits up and gives Slyfer a long look. Nodding as if accepting something she point before asking. “What is wrong?”

Slyfer looks at her and lets out his own sigh before sinking deeper into the tub. “What have you been teaching Luna, she… me and her we-“

Vinx shoots up into the air her glow throwing the room into a blanket of green. “What, did you guys… do it? No you could not have, did you?”

Slyfer sits up and splashes her with water before raising his voice. “Are you crazy? Of course we did not do THAT!,” VInx seems to visibly calm down and lands again with hands on her hips. Slyfer holds her gaze, which confuses Vinx. “It all your fault Vinx, she wanted to know what affection is.”

Vinx finally understands why he does not feel guilty. –Slyfer is blaming me? Well I have been teaching her a lot about relationships and things…-

Slyfer’s voice interrupts her thoughts. “Vinx you need to slow down with what you are teaching her, she is not like you or me, right now she is a child in a very,” his eyes glaze over and his cheeks turn red, “ very attractive, soft, smooth body-“

Vinx flies up and starts tugging on his eyelid. “You already have two women, now you are daydreaming about a third!”

Slyfer shakes her off, “It’s your entire fault anyway and I think I may have hurt her feelings when I rejected her.” Vinx slumps down disheartened and lands on his chest. Her small, cold feet makes their way closer to his face.

Eyes big, she looks at Slyfer and says with a bit of sadness in her voice. “I am sorry, what are we going to do?”

Slyfer shakes his head. “I don’t know, is there anyone who would know what to do in this kind of situation?”

Vinx sits down holding her knees while she thinks. “How do you teach someone what love and affection is? It’s something that needs to be felt, it can’t really be explained.”

Slyfer frowns. –Love, affection; is it really what I felt or was it just lust? With Fira and Trisha as well, is it love?-

-Pffft, you think too much little one- Says a familiar female voice inside his consciousness. –The answer to your question is complicated and simple at the same time, but it’s something only you can discover for yourself.-

Slyfer runs his hand through his hair, a habit he has developed to do whenever he feels frustrated. –And here I thought you were going to impart to me some great wisdom on the true meaning of love and the universe.-

The female dragon laughs at his statement. –That would be folly; every creature in this world thinks feels and believes differently than the other. It would be wrong to assume there is some great truth. What is true for one is not to say it will be true for the other, each person loves and feels in their own way. You just need to discover yours.-

Slyfer sighs and perks up a little. He looks at Vinx before saying. “We can’t really do anything now, we can only support her and teach her to the best of our abilities the rest will come naturally…I hope.”

Vinx stands up. “Mmn, we can only try our best!”

Seeing the sudden change in her makes Slyfer think she was not as sad as she was pretending to be. He smiles, a smile that does not reach his eyes. In a blink he snatches her on his chest making sure not to old too tight. “We will try our best indeed, but I believe a little someone still needs to be punished!”

Luna is still sitting on the bed in a daze with a stupid smile on her face when ghastly screams and laughter reaches her. “Slyfer no! Don’t put me in the water next to that thing! Slyfer, Slyfer!”

The screaming stops, but the laughter continues…

The next morning Fira can’t wait to go on the little hunting trip she tricked Slyfer into. She is dressed in a plain white summer dress and on the bed is a basket filled with the best food she could get. They may intend to hunt, but eating the raw flesh always leaves a bad aftertaste. She looks at herself in the mirror for the hundredth time. –Perfect, he won’t be able to last long once he sees me in this. I actually hunt every three days, but he does not need to know that.-

Slyfer on the other hand is stressing out a bit. Dressed in traveling clothes, he is pacing up and down. The reason for his demeanour is sitting in his office area, their eyes following him as he walks up and down. “Listen girls, I owe Fira and that is why I agreed to this, it is nothing like what you are saying. Its not a-“

“Date?” Trisha’s voice is nearly a hiss as she says the word as if it’s a curse. “We won’t be fooled by the redhead like you.”

Slyfer looks between the two. “We? When did Luna become a part of this?” Luna is sitting with her feet on the chair hugging her knees her eyes looking at Slyfer as if he is a rare drug and she can get a “fix” just by looking at him, on her shoulder is an angry Vinx still peeved about last night. Every now and then she grabs her cheeks that go red as apples for no apparent reason. Slyfer stops and looks over the girls seriously. “Listen, this is not a date and we will be discussing serious-

Fira’s happy voice enters the tent at this moment. It would not have bothered Slyfer, but what the voice says renders any points of arguments he had…useless. She says his name drawn out and long. “Slyyyyfer are you ready for our date?”

Slyfer goes pale and slumps down into a chair, holding his head in defeat. Trisha’s ears and tail stand up straight, before her eyes slightly narrow. Luna… does not even react. As soon as Fira sees this scene, she comes to a halt.

Trisha’s eyes rake over her taking in her dress and the basket. “So this is your idea of a “hunt”, I knew you were planning something!”

Fira leans to one side and puts her hand on her hip, adopting a haughty air. “You have hunted haven’t you? Do you enjoy the taste of blood in your mouth afterwards…no, then what’s wrong with taking something, to get rid of it?”

Trisha is caught off guard at first before she stands up and walks closer tail swishing. “Then why did you say “date”.” This time it is Fira’s turn to be at a loss for words, but she does well to hide it.

Both the girls turn around when they hear Luna’s voice… Luna is sitting next to Slyfer and rubbing his back with care. Slyfer is holding his head with no idea what to do about the situation. The female dragon said that he must just let it play out, but he feels guilty inside. This is his doing, his fault. He cares for all of them, but knows someone is going to get hurt eventually due to his indecisiveness.

-Why is Fira acting this way I made it clear unless she was willing to follow me, we won’t be able to be together? What has prompted the change…- It dawns on him, but he does not want to believe it. Somehow it makes him feel cheated. –She has changed because I am politically stronger? If I have a woman it will be because of her feelings, not because of political reasons…but is it really so bad? Trisha is also with me due to some political reasons; no she promised way before that she would follow me it’s different. As for Luna, she is confused and still needs to grow and learn.-

Her hand on his back reassures him until she says something. “You feel bad, want to kiss?”

The tent is suddenly deathly quiet…

A familiar voice breaks the silence. Slyfer jumps up and looks at the entrance like a man getting air for the first time after drowning. “Jade come in, come in. how can I help you?”

Jade who had instantly picked up on the atmosphere had already turned around intending to run back to her tent. She lowers her head and sighs before turning around and once again taking in the atmosphere. “Brother you seem busy, I would not dare intrude.”

Slyfer shakes his head almost too fast to look natural, before trying to placate her. “No, not at all we are just planning a small foray, nothing serious.”

Trisha and Fira both shoot him deathly stares after hearing the words. Fira mutters “WE” under her breath and plonks down on a chair.

Trisha does the same folding her arms her face set and brooding. Slyfer walks over and guides Jade outside. “How can I help you, please tell me it is something urgent?”

Jade laughs before saying. “Not at all brother, I just wanted to pay you a visit. Seeing as you are busy though, I’ll take my leave.”

Seeing no way out Slyfer turns around and heads back in with determination. “Trisha, I promised Fira that we would go hunting. Regardless of how she sees it this is something I must do in order to clear my depts. Fira, I know I am politically stronger, but my stance on our relationship stays the same. The tigers have promised themselves to my leadership the dark elves have not and so our opinions will still clash and differ and they may even change their minds in seeing me as their hero. People are fickle and change their minds like the wind changes its directions.” Slyfer finally turns to Luna. “Luna we kissed last night, but that was me showing you that you are not ugly, nor am I repulsed by you and what you are, however you are still young and confused. I realise now that the kiss may have been wrong and it will not happen again until you have grown more mature.”

Slyfer takes a deep, long breath and lets it out. –If they hate me, they hate me I don’t care anymore.- he walks over and picks up his bag. “Those who want to go hunt… let’s go hunt.”

He does not wait and walks out, heading away from camp. The three sit a bit surprised at what just happened. Vinx is the first to fly out, followed by Luna. The other two hesitate a bit. Fira can’t help but feel conflicted he had seen right through her and what he said was true, but it was only a means to an end. She really does have feelings for him.

Trisha feels a bit angry, she had promised to follow him yet now he has these other woman. After what they shared she thought it was a done deal, but now…

Both sigh at the same time and walk out following behind. Trisha to see just where she stands and Fira determined to prove that her feelings go beyond political reasons.

It’s not long before they are quite a distance away from camp, due to the help of the tigers acting as mounts. Slyfer sends out his senses as far as he can and senses only a few animals and plants besides themselves. He then turns to them. “I am going to change and you can get on, if we fly we will make better time and have less chance of being discovered.”

Without waiting for an answer he walks fair distance away. It’s the first time that Luna will see him change and she feels a bit confused at his words. Fira had only seen him in their consciousness and that was a few months ago!

Slyfer lets the beast free and it takes over his every cell. It feels like freedom washing over him. Luna watches as scales, and claws grow on Slyfer. Fira sees the same, but to her surprise SLyfer is almost ten times bigger than before! Not only that his scales have changed. It is no longer just blue. Strange markings have formed on him, making him look even more majestic than before. The markings are black and white and seem to mingle perfectly with the blue. Her eyes follow them as they start on his chest and flow over his powerful shoulders and then down his flanks.

Not only are they beautiful to her, but they seem to glow with a power that is unexplainable. Slyfer turns to them and lowers his large head. His warm breath causes their hair and clothes to flutter. If he wanted to he could eat them all with one bite! Luna steps forward her face almost showing worship. She touches his nose and run her hands down his massive spiked jaw. Fira is standing to one side holding her dress down that was nearly blown up by his breath.

Trisha having seen it before is not as affected like the others, but she still finds herself feeling a bit of awe. –Is this the real Slyfer or is the other one the real him, I feel so confused.- The voices inside her berate her for her stupidity.

-Stupid girl, are you a different being when you change?- She shakes her head, but looking at Slyfer she still feels confused. –If you are still confused, listen to his heart, does it not beat the same?-

She focusses her advanced hearing and like the ancestors said, his heartbeat his louder stronger, but it beats with the same rhythm, the same feeling…the same Slyfer. –What would it change even if he were a different him, the first time we showed… our feelings, he was in this form. She blushes and makes her way forward. Like Luna her hand touches his jaw surprising Slyfer a little since he thought she was angry. The confusion turns to pleasure as her soft hand turns halfway into a tiger claw and scratches along his side. What would have cut trees in half causes Slyfer to want to roar in pleasure! A shudder runs through his body telling Trisha this.

She widens her eyes for a moment before displaying a knowing smile. –So the great dragon has a weakness.-

She soon stops when she reaches a spot behind his foreleg, where the other two are admiring the markings on his flank. He lies down and the three climb up. To their consternation Luna is first and gets the first seat behind a spike protruding just behind his neck. Fira soon chases her up and throws a thick fur where they are to sit. Luna jumps right back into place after it settles. The other two join her and they sit in a row. Underneath them, they can feel his beating heart through the fur and scales as he takes powerful breaths.

His voice enters their minds. “Are you ready?”

After excited confirmation from all three, large wings spread out next to them. Nervous giggles escape all three as his body tenses up below them in preparation. “Hold on tightly!” he jumps and his wings beat down filling the sky with a deafening clap as wind is forced apart propelling them upwards!

Their stomachs lurch and Luna laughs even louder enjoying every moment of it. Trisha and Fira have forgotten their enmity with each other and only hold on for dear life. Only when Slyfer’s body straitens and they glide effortlessly in the sky, does the two relax and look up only to find that they are deep in the clouds. Luna is still laughing with her hands raised above her head. “Do it again, do it again!”

Slyfer’s body shakes as he chuckles at her. The other two goes pale; Fira the second in line clamps her hand over Luna’s mouth. “Are you crazy!” Luna finally calms down and Trish gets enough confidence to let go of Fira. No longer afraid her eyes take in the beauty of their surroundings!

She finds herself smiling without intending too. Luna looks around excitedly, like a child in a candy store the other two are awed by the sights, as they make their way towards who knows where. For hours they fly before Slyfer suddenly starts to circle.

Trisha noticing his actions enquires after the reason. “Have you found something?”

Slyfer soon replies. “Not far to the west is a large troupe of Gnu.”

Trisha and Fira are both confused at this and both ask at the same time. “Gnu?”

Slyfer searches his memories for a bit, but can’t find the name for the animal in a language the two will understand. “It is a large six legged animal with huge horns. The dragons call them Gnu, because of the strange sound they make.” Trisha leans as far over as her little bit of confidence will allow her to, but all she can see is little dots.

Slyfer feels her movement and enters her mind. At first surprised she tries to block him, but he simply draws her into his consciousness. It feels strange to her and she can sense old and powerful things watching her. She swallows audibly, knowing what they are. –Dragons!- She is soon swept away like a piece of driftwood in a tide until she can see what Slyfer does!

Slyfer’s eyesight is breath-taking and makes her feel dizzy at first. The scene below is the normal dots, but soon the image enlarges several times until she can see the smallest of creatures. Not only that, but each one has a feint aura around it. His voice flows into her mind. “This is one perk of being a dragon.

The scene changes to the strange creatures he had mentioned before, they are indeed large. The biggest is nearly three times her size while the smaller ones are about as large as the wagons they pull around. What surprises her even more, are the small creatures on their backs. Slyfer zooms in. The little thing looks humanoid, but like a very ugly baby made out of bark. Here and there a stray branch grows from a head or arms, some with leaves others even have fruit.

Vinx explains this time. “Those are wood-sprites, ugly and filthy creatures. Many fairies that have let their guard down have been caught by them and taken away to who knows where. I wonder what they are doing so far out.”

Closer inspections shows what looks like sand heaps built on the Gnu. It makes them look like they have humps similar to a camel’s back. Slyfer talks next. “So, should we hunt them?” he zooms out and Trisha can see how he “appraises” the possible meal. To her surprise his eyes stop at what would be considered the best cuts of meat.

Fira also notices this and speaks. “You seem to be a picky eater.”

An obvious shudder runs through his large body and they can faintly hear him mumble in his mind. The only word they pick up is “pellets”! Trisha realises why and starts to laugh at his expense. “You, a mighty dragon afraid of pellets!”

Slyfer snorts irritated. “You may teas me now, but I will be the one laughing when you get a hairball!”

-A hairball, old ones is it possible?- The old ones are silent for a moment. It only serves to increase the panic in Trisha’s heart. –Old ones answer me?-

They finally answer a bit awkwardly. –Yes it is possible.-

Trisha goes pale remembering how she nearly ate every part of whatever she hunted. She does not know if she should laugh or cry! –Why did you never say anything before?-

-It is a sensitive subject plus we don’t know how it will affect you.-

Fira’s laughing interrupts Trisha’s thoughts. “Why so pale Trisha, you seem a bit worried!”

Luna looks between the two not understanding what they are on about until Vinx explains. Luna turns around and looks at the other two, her face serious and set, she puts her hand on Fira’s shoulder before saying in a grave voice. “I poop too.”

Slyfer: “…..”

Trisha: “…..”

Fira: “…..”

After a long silence Slyfer finally speaks. “Anyway, which ones do you want, I have already selected my meal?”

His eyes flit between the Gnu again Trisha and Fira feel their confidence drop as he does every Gnu he looks at is too large and powerful for them to take down. Slyfer laughs inwardly. This is his revenge for the awkward situation they put him through; he wants to force them to work together!

He decides to worsen the situation even more. “Should I look for something weaker, I understand if you won’t be able to hunt these weak creatures.”

Trisha and Fira both shout at the same time. “If you think they are weak, what do you think of us? We will prove you wrong!”

Slyfer holds in the laughter that wants is threatening to spill out. He makes one more circle and the two select their prey having decided to work together to prove the dragon wrong.

Slyfer smirks. “Alright I will give you two the upper hand and grant you the element of surprise.”

Trisha sit forward her face a mask of confusion. “How will you be doing that?”

Slyfer chuckles a sound that’s similar to boulders being ground together. “You are going to jump from my back.”

Fira voices a concern. “What about the wood-lings?”

After a few seconds Slyfer replies unconcerned. “You heard Vinx, they attack fairies besides the fact that they are on my prey only makes them pests.”

At first they are confused at his words, but they soon accept the change. Their mind set also changes once they transform. Coupled with that is the change Slyfer went through on the battlefield. Trisha had heard his pained voice before destroying the humans. Fira had felt it like it was her own. It was like something had broken away from him. She could only describe it as a part of his innocence. Others would call it naivety!

He quickly tells Luna to hold on and starts a dive. It is not as steep as it usually would be, since he has passengers and he needs to break his speed in order for Trisha and Fira to jump off safely!

Wind rushes past making their heart rates increase with every second! The ground draws closer, the dots turning into distinct shapes the closer they get. Slyfer starts to even out and the wind calms down. He spreads his wings out even further almost like hugging the air. The sound of rushing wind completely disappears as he his deathly shadow draws closer to the unsuspecting Gnu.

Slyfer nearly loses himself in the moment, but remains sane for girls’ sake! A hundred meters to their prey, fifty meters… “Jump!”

SLyfer lets out a loud roar as the launch into the air. As they do beautiful limbs turn into deadly weapons! Slyfer’s roar causes the Gnu to freeze in fear. A hunting tactic taught to him by the old ones. The freeze allows the other two’s aim to be more precise. Trisha finds it easy, but Fira struggles to keep her balance in the air and veers of target!

Trisha sees the Gnu’s back growing bigger in her vision and lets out her own roar before crashing over it. The thing nearly loses its footing but keeps upright. Her claws dig deep and whips her around its back with the momentum of her jump. With a mighty pull of her front claws she soots forward and digs her fangs into its neck! Warm blood gushes into her mouth and it nearly drives her sanity away. Claws dig deeper and har jaw clamps ever tighter like a vice! The Gnu lets out a powerful bellow and they start a stampede. Fira who had landed on the grass, avoided injury and is soon sprinting after the Gnu with Trisha on its back. Stifling dust fills the air!

Slyfer had given one powerful beat of his wings launching him up before diving for his prey. The thing never stood a chance as Slyfer crashing down on it instantly breaks it back. Powerful jaws follow and clamp down on the helpless creature. It nearly bites the thick neck clean through.

He lifts his head and lets out a powerful roar; it causes the rest to double their pace!

Fira can barely keep the retreating Gnu in her site as she runs. Heart racing she can smell the blood! It drives her muscles into frenzy and she picks up the pace. In the back of her mind her instinct tells her the creature is slowing down. With one mighty push she escapes the dust in its wake and runs next to it. She takes a few more powerful bounds and launches, aiming for its neck!

Trisha sees a red blur in the corner of her eye and then feels a shudder that runs through the huge creature, it lets out another bellow before crashing to the ground nearly throwing her off, but she clings with every ounce of strength she has as they roll through the dust! Trisha grunts as a hoof crashes into her middle. It angers the wolf and she pulls down with all her strength! The Gnu’s head dips and its front leg caves! A loud snap fills her ears and they all come crashing down her world turning into a conflagration of fur, grass, dust and blood!

She is only aware of one thing; her Jaw is still in place. The Gnu’s lifeblood gushing out nearly soaking every part of her! She lets go only for a second, before taking another better bite and tearing it out.

Trisha feels the creature stop breathing and finally let’s go. She walks around to find a bloody wolf panting with triumph in its eyes. The two look at each other, a feeling of respect wordlessly flows between the two, before they turn to feast on the kill!

Slyfer seeing them triumphant lets out a glorious roar that makes the grass vibrate. Little creature are even now still scattering from the carcass in front of him. He briefly ponders how they would taste, before dismissing the idea since they look like bark.

He dips his head and pinches the skin on the dead creature’s side. With a lick of his barbed tongue he easily strips off a huge piece of pelt and skin. He throws it aside and takes a huge bite from the large piece of exposed meat.

They feed for hours and the sun stats to set. The two woman are done first but afraid to show their “dirty” side to Slyfer, they stay in their beast forms and watch as he eats. By now Vinx had to stop Luna numerous times from starting to eat with Slyfer! The girl would only sit one side for a while before trying again. She had also caught a wood-ling and inspected the creature. It’s was a bit bigger than Vinx, but in her eyes so much uglier! Vinx had told her to throw it away like a mother would to a child that picked up something strange, in some dirty place.

Luna had then plucked a strange purple fruit from one of its branches out of curiosity. The thing had then writhed in pain before drying out and turning to dust! She watched in curiosity… then wanted to eat the fruit only to discover it had turned into some kind of jewel.

Smiling she put it away returning her eyes to her Alpha, eating his fill and ignoring the grumbling coming from her stomach.

Night soon arrives and Slyfer finally finishes. He is surprised at the amount of life force the Gnu contained in its flesh. It is not as much as that of the griffon but came very close to it. he turns to find the four others sitting with pained expressions. Before he can ask, they start to protest. “Why must you bee such a picky eater, half the time was spent searching for the best pieces of meat!”

Slyfer only growls a reply making them quiet. The dragon closes his eyes and the temperature drops noticeably, the air becomes denser with moisture before tiny droplets start to form numerous as stars. The droplets gather and turn into a floating river! Before the others can say or ask anything. The waters rushes over and crashes into them. It cleans away all the blood and grime before spilling away to crash somewhere else.

Slyfer looks down at the other two expecting looks of gratitude but what greets him, is a tiger and wolf in a sorry state fur hanging and resembling drowned rats. What is the most surprising is the sheer killing intent emanating from the two!