Dusk considered herself as a lucky dragon. She never picked any fights, or annoyed someone (on purpose anyway) and she was always willing to help. But now that she was getting chased by nearly the entire Nightwing tribe, she thought she must be the most unlucky dragon in Pyrrhia . She stared after Pine as he whipped around to look for her, flapping unbalanced for a moment. His gaze fixed on her then hardened as he looked behind her. Dusk quickly turned around as the first Nightwing leapt at her, hissing. She prepared herself for the blow, but it never came. She blinked her eyes open and lowered her wings slowly as she saw the scene. The Nightwing who had attacked her, whom she now recognized as Nyk was lifted into the air, kicking her hind legs and clawing at her neck. "What in the..." She trailed off as she heard Pine growl behind her and turned to see him still in the sky, his palms of his talons glowing with a sharp but soft blue light. And yet, the light seemed to crackle and snarl and blow as if it had its own voice. Dusk's head lowered slightly in realization and awe. That's what animus magic looks like. One of the other attacking Nightwings stood and stared in shock at Nyk while the other let out a furious snort and crouched to glare at her with shining amber eyes. Dusk took a step back and the amber-eyed night dragon spit a curse as she was thrown against the wall. "Dusk!" Pine's voice roared from the air, "Come on! I can't hold them off forever!" This is just the first tide. She remembered, she snatched a look at the two guards, blinking and not moving, their helmets now worn crooked and their spears laying on the floor. They shouldn't leave those there! If one of these Nightwing's got their talons on one.....She shivered and ran for them, willing none of the three attackers to follow her or ambush her. She picked one up and reached for the next, when someone threw themselves onto her, knocking her to the ground. Dusk let out a cry of pain as her snout was slashed by the remaining spear. She felt blood starting to trickle down her face and twisted, trying to escape. "There's no use in that now murderer." The dragon above her hissed. "I'm not a murderer!" She said desperately. The Nightwing above her flexed his claws. "Ha,ha ha......that's what they all say." He raised his talon to smash it into the side of her head and knock her out, and he got yanked into the air, his claws thrashing in attempts to grab her again. Dusk winced as his claws were dragged quickly across her softer side scales and closed an eye as blood began trickling into it as he was thrown toward Pine. She lifted her head and watched as Pine snarled something at the Nightwing, ripping his claws through the dragon's wings. She flinched and closed her eyes as the black dragon let out a scream and was tossed off of the cliff, hitting every sharp rock on the way down. She struggled to her talons and half-ran half dragged herself to the open door. She reached the edge and sat up, stretching her wings to leap into the sky with Pine, when the second wave hit.

Dusk watched with terrified, wide eyes, her ears lowering as the crowd of Nightwings finally caught up with them, even more angry than before. She let out a faint whimper and turned to leap into the sky again. Pine reached for her and helped her up, making sure she was alright before swiveling back to the tide of Nightwings. Dusk had already turned to fly away and she hovered to look back at him. "Pine come on! We should escape now!" But the black dragon fixed narrowed eyes on the crowd. "No. They'll just follow us." Dusk suddenly knew where this would lead. "Pine, no! You can't use your powers anymore!" Pine gritted his teeth as five Nightwings dove at him,each attacking at different spots. He slashed one Nightwing's eyes, not even watching as she let out a cry and stumbled across the sky, clutching her eyes and wailing. Dusk winced, that dragon would probably be blind once (if?) she returned to the palace, an unlucky trait to have during this haywire time. She started to wonder if she should help Pine, as the remaining four Nightwings had started hitting fiercer after he wounded their companion. She watched as Pine roared and ripped his claws across one of the grey dragon's chest, earning a growl of pain and fury. He whipped around to smack another one across the snout with his tail and kick him in the stomach. She looked away,feeling sick as he slit his claws down another from tail tip to the top of their shoulder. Nope....She thought, I think I'm gonna stay over here. She glanced up at the sound of wingbeats and saw Pine, but this wasn't the Pine she recognized. This Pine had cuts on his neck and arms, this Pine had blood on his claws and a dark look that didn't look like an expression a hero would have. But he was her hero, in a way, and no matter what she thought of him now, she knew that they had to move. "Pine-" She accidentally stuttered, as though choking on the name. It's just Pine! Her thoughts protested, He just saved you! "T-thank you." She blurted. Somehow, Pine's gaze seemed to darken even more and he fixed her with a stare that she didn't like. She looked away, not wanting to look at his unreadable expression any longer. "W-well we should hurry before the rest of them find us,"

There was no response.

Dusk's ears drooped a bit as she lifted her gaze again, "Pine...?" She stiffened as she looked at him again. He did look entirely different, his friendly, calm expression that he usually wore was now masked by an illegible leer. His once smooth black scales now bore cuts and scars and even his posture was different, he held his head like he could do anything in the world without even a second thought. He could. She realized with a flash of fear, which she forced herself to think was unnecessary. He could so little as just twitch an ear and end us all. She seemed to shrink under his stare. "Pine," She repeated, a bit more firmly. "Come on, we have to hurry before more Nightwings come." She watched nervously as two burly grey dragons flew towards them, seeming to look straight at her. Why aren't the rest here? She wondered, and somehow, suddenly she knew that they wouldn't. They wouldn't come roaring out of the broken exit and speed towards them with thorn-sharp claws or hiss threats and put up a fight. They would all sit neatly in the feasting hall, a weird distant look in their eyes as they sat. Even their breathing soundless. She looked at Pine again, he seemed to have a bit of that look in his eyes but it was mostly covered by something she couldn't describe. She turned her head to look at the pair of Nightwings as they approached, her tail swishing a bit. One of the two reached to grab her and Dusk jerked away from him. He seemed to have a blank look on his face, he wasn't frowning, but he definitely wasn't smiling either. She shivered and a thought drifted through her mind, was Pine doing this? Controlling more NightWings? As if to answer her, Pine flexed his claws, "Grab her." He growled to the pair. His gaze flicked back to her, "and don't let her go unless I say otherwise."