Sharrag woke up early. He growled as a small amount of pain laced up his wing, which didn’t seem to be getting any better. He stretched out his legs and yawned. The other Shrrg were still asleep at this time of day, it had been a big day previous.

The dragon dragged his feet over to the pool of water and took a large draught of it. The spark helped him wake up. He walked back over to the Shrrg and plunked himself down. His wing sent out another jolt of pain causing him too look down at it. The snapped part of the bone was sticking out with a sharp jagged edge. He had attempted to place the bone back inside but whenever he touched that part it hurt.

He whimpered as he looked to the sky, wishing he could get back up there. It had been so long since his last flight and his good wing was beginning to ache because of lack of exercise. He stretched it out then, letting the green scales of the wing catch the few rays of light that made it through the underbrush.

He shook his head, not letting himself dwell on the fact. He could breath fire now, and that was something to think about, not the fact that his wing was broken. He gazed towards the cave where the bear lived and snorted, whishing he could live in the cave. It would be a lot safer.

Urgralgra had been spotted near the waterfall, and Sharrag was afraid they would find them. It had been luck that they hadn’t so far. He doubted they could hold off an army of the Urgralgra, even with the extra help of his fire and the Urzhad. They needed another plan to help with defence, especially since he couldn’t fly.

That thought set in his head he began to explore a little around the clearing. The previous day he hadn’t been able to do much because of his exhaustion. He walked to the edge of the small outcrop of rocks and looked up at the waterfall, for the first time wondering where it came from. It was strange to have a pool of water coming from a river that came from the top of a mountain. If he had his wings he would find out. He growled in frustration and padded back to his pack.

For the next hour he explored the small area. He stopped and looked up as the first few members of the pack stirred. One by one they got up and went down to the pool for a drink. It was good to have a source of water so close to where they slept.

There was a movement in the cave as the mother bear and her cubs emerged slowly. The cubs were weary of the larger Shrrg and stayed close to their mother. Sharrag felt amusement coming from a few of pack members. He was surprised because feelings like these rarely came from the Shrrg.

There was another surprise in store for him as one of the Shrrg pawed at his leg. He reached out his mind towards it and was surprised to find the wolf sending him images. It sent him an image of his broken wing and then him flying in the air. It also showed a picture of the Shrrg stalking through the forest. Sharrag knew what it wanted to convey. He slowly shook his head, although the surprise that the Shrrg was actually communicating with him was surprising enough.

The Shrrg growled in annoyance at his reply. Sharrag was a great help when it came to hunting and the pack only had five members that could hunt. Sharrag new that there numbers needed to increase, and he made a mental note to try and take another pack around the area and join them to his one.

He sat down and watched the Shrrg. There wasn’t really much to do at this moment in time. He knew that they were in another pack’s territory so hunting to much would be dangerous, besides, they had had quite a substantial meal the day before and Sharrag knew that he could live without food for another few days, hopefully by then his wing would have healed, or at least enough to fly.

He smiled to himself as he remembered back when he was a pup, or hatchling. Then he could climb into the trees and catch all the birds he wanted. Now catching a bird would be extremely difficult under this canopy, and they would hardly make a good meal.

He shook his head, he was thinking to much. He did that when he was bored. With a sigh he lay down his head and let out a snort. He longed to be flying again.

After a while the Shrrg had settled down again and were lazing about. The pups had gone into the pool of water again, chasing the few fish that were in there. Sharrag smiled as he thought of something that could amuse him. Reaching out with his mind he took control of the fish and started to make them swirl around the cubs. A few jumped up out of the water and slapped the young Shrrg on the back of the head. The pups ran out of the water to the land, barking at the fish and growling. One of them was lucky enough to catch one of the fish in its mouth. The other pups instantly went for it.

Sharrag laughed slightly and closed his eyes. A thought popped into his head. He snorted.

‘Why hadn’t I thought of that before?’ he asked himself, hauling himself up from the ground.

He stretched his mind out to the other wolves, telling them what he had planned. The Shrrg seemed happy about it, and ran into the bushed, hiding just outside the clearing.

Sharrag stretched out his mind to all the life forces around him.  He was surprised at the amount of energy in this forest. It seemed like everything wanted to move, even the trees. His first thought was magic, but that didn’t make any sense.

He continued to search through the forest for any sign of a creature large enough for a pack of Shrrg. He searched for almost ten minutes before a strange sign of life jumped out at him. Interested he touched the mind of the creature and his mind was instantly flooded with its memories. He growled in surprise and quickly retreated. It was an Urgralgra.

He sent a message to his wolves to get back into the clearing. Without question they obeyed, sensing the worry of their leader. He sent out his mind again, back to where the Urgralgra was. To his horror he found more, and he counted. Angela had only taught him to count to ten, so he was a bit confused, but in the end he decided to try and count them in groups. Eventually he got five groups of ten and then seven.

He looked back at the wolves. There were five of them, six if he included himself. There was also the Urzhad, although she was asleep at that moment. He could try to turn them away, but that would be impossible with so many of them. He continued to think, until he was distracted by a small growl. He looked down at the wolf that had made the noise. It was the last male of the group.

He reached into the Shrrg’s mind. The Shrrg tilted his head and effectively asked what was wrong. Sharrag showed him an image of the Urgralgra making there way towards this clearing. The wolf growled worriedly. Sharrag sighed. This meant that they would need to move again, and fast.

Suddenly a tree snapped and fell somewhere in the forest. The Shrrg and Sharrag all jumped in surprise. Sharrag growled dangerously, they were closer then he thought. There would be no use outrunning them, especially with his broken wing. Deciding quickly he reached out his mind to the sleeping mother.  She growled in annoyance, but when he showed her the picture of what was coming she was instantly awake. They communicated through a rapid series of pictures and feelings, although how she did was unknown to the dragon.

He growled to wolves to get their attention. They were all instantly listening. He lead them into the cave near the waterfall and towards the end. He made sure all of them were in before he himself walked into the cave, and that was when the first Urgralgra walked into the clearing.

It saw the disappearing dragon tail and roared out a challenge, running towards where Sharrag and his wolves were. Sharrag spun around, waiting for the Urgralgra to come into the cave. As soon as it showed itself Sharrag opened his maw and covered it with emerald fire. The scream of the creature echoed over the valley in large waves, causing the other Urgralgra to come rushing towards the sound of the scream. Sharrag covered them with fire as well, and eventually they realised that they weren’t going to get through the entrance of the cave.

They fanned out away from the entrance, Sharrag could feel that there was about four tens and three left over, still a substantial amount. Thinking quickly he attacked their minds, but as soon as he did something else slammed into his. He quickly shielded himself from the attacker, growling in frustration. He didn’t have any experience breaking through another’s barriers, so he didn’t know if he could.

With a snarl of annoyance he sank back, not trusting himself to go outside the cave. He wouldn’t be surprised if they had those things that fired sharp sticks. Angela had used one to hunt animals and it was powerful enough to bring them down. He doubted one could kill him, but they might hurt enough to distract him.

His pack slunk deeper into the cave. The male of the group stayed behind, picking through the dead bodies. Eventually he picked up a sword from the corpses and jogged towards Sharrag. Sharrag sent out his mind to question the wolf, and he replied with showing Sharrag a picture of the Shrrg running around the enemy, before darting in to cut there legs with their weapons.

Sharrag looked at the wolf in surprise. They were definitely getting more and more intelligent. He showed the images to the other Shrrg and they gladly walked up to the bodies and pulled out the swords and other weapons. Sharrag could feel that it was slightly awkward for them to be carrying such unwieldy things in their mouths, but he could also feel a greater sense of courage in the small group. Maybe having these things made them feel more dangerous, he didn’t know.

They walked down to the end of the cave, where the Urzhad was waiting. Her cubs were staring at the group cautiously. The end of the cave was a huge cavern, luckily big enough for the Shrrg pack, a dragon and the Urzhad and her cubs. There were also streams of light shooting from the roof, lighting up the cavern. A small trickled of water came from the roof as well, and landed in a small pond of water.

The Urzhad tapped him on the shoulder. Getting used the fact that he was the only one who could communicate with another he stretched into her mind. He was surprised to find she was a little angry, and not that surprised to find her completely worried about what was to come. She sent him a couple of images, saying that if they didn’t get out of here, he would be the first one to die. He didn’t expect any less.

He shook himself and took himself out of her mind. He needed to get them out of here somehow, yet he didn’t know how. Stretching out his mind again he kept a close look at what was going on with the Urgralgra. They were still waiting for him to come out. He growled in annoyance. This looked like it would be a game of patience.

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Hey guys, new chapter. I hope you enjoyed, vote and comment if you did. See Ya!

Pennator^^