A knight comes to kill Magnus and Rayne reveals some of her past.

MINE.

~Angel~

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She was lost in a gentle dream, leaning on a tree and watching a long prairie sway back and forth in the breeze. She took in a calming breath, before she felt the long arm wrap around her waist and a head lean atop her own. She closed her eyes, almost feeling the wind and heat on her face as well as the warmth from the body behind her.

When she heard the scraping of Master Magnus' tail blade far in the cavern, she snapped awake and sat straight up in the cart. She tried to remember where she was and get her bearings, hearing someone yelling far off...was that in her head? It sounded male...but it wasn't a booming voice like Magnus'.

“DRAGON!” it bellowed from outside. Rayne's heart stopped, before she saw Magnus move through the cavern like an angry snake, graceful and damaging all at once as his claws and tail blade sliced and dug into the rock face easily. He stopped close to her cart, his entire frame reading anger and aggression as he looked at her with his yellow piercing eyes.

“Don't leave the cave,” he growled down at her, before he launched himself for the opening.

Rayne's eyes watched him go, before she scrambled out of the cart and towards the sudden sound of clashing metal and claws. Her heart thundered, had Gaerwn followed her after all? Had he gone against his word? She had been extra careful going through the woods to conceal her tracks but...she cursed in her mind, he seemed so genuine...

There was a yelling between the clashes, she heard something strike metal before she got to the lair entrance to see if the dragon slayer went against his word. Magnus was in the large amount of prairie grasses, most of them now mashed down from the movement of Magnus and his advisory. But where was the dragon slayer?

A chiming of armor answered Rayne's question as an armor covered figure charged from the tree line and straight for Magnus, a shield and long sword at the ready. The armor wasn't right, and with the helm knocked away on the current battle field, that definitely wasn't Gaerwn.

The bear knight swung at Magnus with great strength, trying to strike at one of his paws with the element of surprise still at his advantage but Magnus swung his tail and blade around to knock the wind out of the threat once more! The bear ducked and rolled out of the way before clipping Magnus' tail with his blade! Slicing into it along the side! Magnus bellowed a bit in anger, swinging his tail back round and striking the knight! But the bear saw this coming and put his shield up to take the blow, sliding across the wet grasses of the morning and holding his ground as Magnus turned to face him.

Rayne saw it then, the wound along his tail wasn't just a slice of a sword. It looked to be bubbling, like the sword had melted away some of the muscle and scales. An acid enchantment, something fire dragons weren't immune to.

Magnus reared his head back as the knight began to make another charge, letting out a blast of fire that set even the wet grasses aflame! Rayne only saw a glimpse of the knight before the flaming cloud engulfed him. She had to pull back from the entrance the heat was so intense! She feared for her whiskers as well as the short fur on her face! The knight even with a shield couldn't have survived that...

Rayne heard Magnus' fire slow, opening her eyes as he closed his jaw as droplets of fire fell from his lips. The prairie once full of lush but flattened prairie grass now had a gaping wound of black ashen ground and smoke was thicker than fog as it rose into the sky, clouding Rayne's sight of where the knight stood—or had stood. Magnus shook his head and mane a little, a proud stance for himself at getting rid of the pest.

Until the pest came running back across the grass, his shield covered in a layer of black from the fiery blast and his long sword down for a charge! Magnus met his blade with his tail blade, the acidic charm on the sword unable to work on anything but scaled flesh it seemed. Magnus' eyes narrowed before he swung off the knight with an easy flick of his tail! But Magnus cringed, the wound still fresh and flicking blood along the landscape.

The knight rolled over and used his shield to stop himself from tumbling more than necessary, grunting as he lingered in a lower position, watching Magnus as Magnus began to circle the pest before him.

“Beast, your life will end here today,” the knight had the guts to announce, of course his shield still held high over his body.

Magnus' eyes narrowed as Rayne had seen him do many times before, almost closing completely as he observed the knight with pure annoyance. The bear's stance changed, becoming more nervous and edgy but still he held Magnus' gaze.

Magnus shot a single cough of fire at the knight, aiming for him and hitting the shield square on! But the knight merely held it tightly and let the fire roll over him.

What he felt after that was the rumbling of Magnus' body as the white dragon charged him! Taking a strong swipe with his front paw and knocking the knight and shield a part from each other! The bear rolled hard but got to his feet as his shield was lost somewhere beyond the tree line, disappearing into the foliage.

The knight and white dragon looked at each other for a second before the knight started running and Magnus released another stream of fire! Following the knight's body to finally be rid of the annoying pest!

Rayne couldn't believe the bear was so fast, being able to keep ahead of Magnus' flame. She could only imagine how hot it was down there with the heat making her eyes water from above. She watched as the flame started to die from Magnus' maw, he needed to take a breath but refused to stop until he hit the knight.

Then the knight made his move, straight for Magnus! The flame dying and the knight following quickly behind the disappearing stream! Rayne's fist tightened as Magnus finally stopped to take in a deep breath but it was too late. The speed of the bear was evident now, without his shield he was faster and lighter. The long sword he swung sliced along Magnus' bicep and hissed as it ate away at scaled flesh, Magnus roaring in pain and the flame releasing into the sky instead of on his opponent. It bled and ate away at skin as the knight went to strike at Magnus' neck! Clear now he wasn't going to back down!

Rayne scrambled, knowing she had seen it inside Magnus' storage cavern and darted for the place as fast as her legs would carry her. She crawled over debris of chairs, carts, rugs, chests and finally spotted the bow. She grabbed it and with a little more digging grabbed a quiver of arrows, praying to herself they would work.

Magnus grasped the blade with his injured arm's paw, letting the blade seer into his flesh but the pain became too much and he threw the blade and its owner across the clearing, managing only half that distance when his bicep screamed in agony. He shifted his weight off of his injuries, ready to release another flame as the knight scrambled to stand.

PING! The knight froze as his armor vibrated when something struck his chest plate, as did Magnus. They blinked at each other before the knight turned to look at the arrow at his feet, and then he looked up.

The last thing the bear saw was the silhouette of a figure on the mouth of the cave, and the arrow going through his eye. He fell forward onto his knees, before falling on his stomach, the arrow breaking when his face hit the ground.

Magnus stared still at the collapsed body, blinking as he pulled his injured leg up closer to his chest before he looked to his lair and to Rayne. She held the bow, one knee bent up while the other steadied her body, breathing hard and wide eyed. Magnus stared until her eyes looked at his, and then her gaze came back to reality. She dropped the bow like it burned her paw and tossed her rope ladder over the edge of the cave, scurrying down it like a mouse and walking to the knight. Magnus frowned, she killed him, easily, was she expecting to rouse him awake now?

No, when she rolled him over to take off his breast plate she motioned for Magnus to follow her, no words, just her paw and started for the stream. Magnus still stood on three limbs, dumbfounded and intrigued all at once. With some grace he moved through the edge line of forest and to the stream, looking down as Rayne scooped up water in the breast plate like a bowl. He watched her with large curious eyes as she approached him, lifting the plate up and pouring the cold water into the wound along the side of his tail. He let out a growling hiss through his teeth, but the cold water numbed the pain slightly after Rayne did it a few more times.

“Lay down, Master,” she said in a quiet, but direct tone. “So I can see your paw and arm.”

It was odd, Rayne was there, but it felt like someone else had taken over. Shock maybe? Had she never killed before? And what then happened with the arrow through the eye of the knight? THROUGH his eye? Magnus kept his focus solely on his mortal pupil, trying to find the answers as she cleaned his new wounds with the cool water. He hadn't said anything to her, he could only thing of one thing to ask and at this moment, he couldn't bring himself to ask it. Was he the one in shock? Yes. Clearly he was.

Rayne moved back and forth for a long time, rinsing and numbing the wounds before disappearing back up into the lair. Magnus took a moment to collect his thoughts, ready to demand what ever had just happened from the small tigress. He needed answers. In truth if he had been more curious about her life before coming to his lair, maybe he would have known she was a marksman—at some point in her short life.

He watched as a large spool of wool fell to the charred prairie floor, casting clouds of former plants into the air like fog. A short time after that Rayne came back down the ladder and gathered one under her arm while her other arm held some of the extra vines from her rope ladder and what looked to be an arrow. He frowned slightly when she put the spool and vine down, holding the arrow up to him.

“Will this go through your scales?” she asked. His eyes widened for a moment before they focused on the tip of the weapon, then back to Rayne.

“Yes, I think with some effort,” he answered in a lower rumble. With that Rayne had all she needed and tied the end of the vine to the arrow. Without a word Rayne crawled up and onto Magnus' tail and with more guts than most males would ever pretend to have, began to pierce his numb flesh and sew up the wound tightly. After a few wary growls, Magnus stopped watching and closed his eyes.

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The forest radiated with the sounds of prey and predator alike as Rayne worked on the three wounds. After sewing all of the fresh wounds closed as best she could, she wrapped them with long sections of the wool fabric, sewing them with a looser stitch.

She went and washed herself up stream, trying to get the dragon's blood off her fur and clothes as much as she could before returning to her teacher's side.

“Rayne,” he said as she came back into view, a forced calm tone about it.

“Yes, Master?” she asked in a gentle voice, unable to meet his gaze as she braided her hair behind her,

“What in all hells was that?”

That hadn't been the question she was expecting first, but she took in a stabling breath and began to gather the supplies she had taken from his lair.

“What specifically?” she asked aloud, nothing reading defiant or rude in the tone. Magnus blanched a little but he had gathered his thoughts and now was ready to have his answers.

“The shot you made, where did you learn to do THAT?” He asked in a much louder tone than intended.

“Priests taught me how to shoot,” Rayne answered him as she salvaged some of the wool. Magnus' eyes narrowed with the somewhat short answer.

“Aren't most priests pacifists?” he inquired in a lower voice.

“Mmm, but they don't like starving too much.”

There was a long silence between them again as Rayne tossed the breast plate into the stream, hoping it would be carried well beyond the lair's entrance before being found.

“Were you raised by reading, hunting priests?” he asked as she walked close by.

“I was at the temple a lot, yes,” she answered. “my mother...my mother and father were never married. My father deserted us before I was born but my uncle took us in. Nearby his old house was a temple of the now, old order and my mother went to cook there sometimes, bringing me with. When I was five the priests graciously started letting me learn from them, what ever they could teach me they would. They said if I were going to be there all the time that they'd have to teach me to do something to help the temple, a sort of trade for keeping me around. I learned then how to hunt from one of the fathers and every morning after I turned nine, I brought them what ever I could get for morning meal.”

She stopped and stared at the ground a moment, Magnus had gone too quiet and she didn't want to continue unless he wanted her to. She grabbed the vine in her paws and began to work with it to make a sturdier rope, her paws needing something to do in the awkward silence around them. This was not the Master she was used to, he would sometimes ask her things that made him curious but it didn't seem natural for him to be giving her this much attention.

He cleared his throat, before beginning to stand, taking his time as he walked back towards the entrance and looking over his wing at her.

“Thank you, Rayne,” he stated, before turning his head back around. Rayne frowned a little, wasn't he going to ask her about the knight?

“Master!” she called after him, following him into the clearing. Magnus' brow quirked up as he turned his head to her again. “Aren't you going to ask me if that was the knight?”

“If that was who now?” he asked as a scowl presented itself. Rayne turned her head slightly as she gave him a gentle look of confusion.

“The one who tried to follow me into the woods?” she reminded him. Magnus' face shifted to slight panic, before scowling once more.

“Well was it him?” he demanded in his normal tone of voice.

“No, Master,” she answered shaking her head.

“Good,” he said simply, before beginning to make his way awkwardly back into the high up lair, one arm of no use made it slightly more difficult. “You would have been in VERY big trouble if it had been.”

Rayne smirked, there was her Master, all the hollow threats and everything.