Chp.14: Rhaegal's thoughts

"I finished. You have no more blood on your face"

Rhaegal lowered his gaze and stared at the pool of water below him, mirroring himself in it. He turned his head several times to look at himself from different angles. His muzzle no longer had even a little blood to dirty it. "Thank you, sister" he said.

Maleficial smiled. "No need to thank me. I didn't like seeing you with all that dried blood on your face either"

After they had separated from Haku, Darbi and Kotaru, the other dragons had continued on their way through the night, never turning off the invisibility runes. Only when the sun had come up did they feel they were far enough away to stop. So they had looked for a small plateau and stopped there to rest. As soon as they turned off the invisibility runes, however, everyone noticed that Rhaegal's face was still horribly disfigured.

The wounds had healed completely, and they had barely left some slight scars that would disappear in a few days; however, the blood that had flowed from them had dried and remained to disfigure their brother's face. The left side of Rhaegal's face was almost completely covered in clots of dried blood, making him look hideous.

Rhaegal hated the idea of ​​being dirty; like all dragons, he thought highly of his physical appearance and absolutely didn't want anything to spoil it. So he looked for a pool of water and started washing. The first layers of blood were easy to remove, but unfortunately the driest layers had stuck so much to his scales that it was quite difficult to remove. It was particularly complicated to be able to do it having only a pool of water available to look at oneself, that was also not very clean at all.

Luckily, someone had come to help him. His sister Maleficial, who of them all cared most about her appearance, had noticed his difficulty and offered to remove the blood herself. Rhaegal hadn't been too happy at the idea of ​​having to rely on someone else even just to wash himself (he was still a dragon, and as such he was proud) but he had realized that it was better to let her do it. So he stood motionless while Maleficial cleaned him and stripped the dried blood from his scales.

Even with his sister's skill, it had taken over half an hour to get it all off. But the result had been really excellent: mirroring himself in the pool, Rhaegal could not notice any imperfections in his face, except for between lines of scales lighter than the others that had formed where the wounds were before. The scales were new, so it would be a few days before they darkened and became the same shade as the others.

Rhaegal instinctively touched those young scales. Even though the wounds were gone, he could still feel them burning. It seemed to him that Haku's claws were still there, digging into his flesh. He wondered if that feeling would ever go away, or if his body would remember that event forever.

It wasn't the first time he'd been hurt, but he'd never been hurt by his own blood, at least not intentionally. In the early days after hatching from their eggs he and his siblings had played wrestle many times, but it was just games. Occasionally someone hit the other a little too hard and hurt him or her, but they were always unintentional blows, and that in any case were too weak to leave any wound; the most they could produce was a few bruises.

This time it was different. Haku had hit him with a violence that clearly meant he wasn't playing or joking. He had ripped off half of his face. And it hadn't been an accident, it had been done on purpose.

A part of Rhaegal wanted to believe that in reality Haku had just had a tantrum, that he didn't really realize what he had done, that he didn't truly want to hurt him; but the rational part of his mind told him that his brother had actually hit him deliberately. After that blow, Rhaegal had been shocked, but not enough to no longer be able to hear his instincts that screamed to him to leave immediately: something inside him had told him that if he dared to fight back it could end very badly. So, despite he felt a lot of anger and at least he wanted to respond to his brother, he hurried away.

"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" his sister asked him while she was washing her paws still covered in blood.

Rhaegal sighed. "Yeah" he admitted.

Maleficial bit her lip. "Don't do it. I know it's hard, but the more you think about it, the more it will hurt. We did the right thing to go away, we mustn't look back"

"Yes, I know" Rhaegal said. "It's just... I didn't think he would really hit me"

Maleficial nodded. "Neither do I" she said. "As I told you, it's better not to think about it"

Rhaegal knew his sister was right, but it was hard for him not to think about what had happened. It had marked him deeply. Even though he knew his brother was becoming dangerous, he was convinced he would never go beyond threatening them… but it seemed he was very wrong. He had underestimated how far his brother was going.

Rhaegal had always had great respect for Haku. Ever since they were born, he had understood that he was different: while he and their other siblings played and had fun, Haku spent his time studying the cave where they lived and asking himself questions after questions. Then, after some time, he had started coming out of the cave even without their mother's approval. Rhaegal had admired his bravery. And then, the fateful day had arrived.

Rhaegal shivered remembering that moment. His father's wings blocking out the sun and his claws reaching out to grab him were etched into his mind. Sometimes he still dreamed of them. That day, Haku had saved his life. He had thrown himself between him and his father and pushed him out of his way. He had risked his life for him. No one else had. If it wasn't for Haku, Rhaegal would have died that day.

Rhaegal had been filled with gratitude at the time. He had admired his brother's courage. But she had admired him even more afterwards: despite what had just happened, Haku was calm, cynical, master of the situation. He hadn't panicked and had given them clear instructions on how and where to hide. And then, when their mother had brought them back to the cave, while Rhaegal and Darbi were in despair, Haku had devised a plan. Not a plan to hide: something much more ambitious. Haku had found a way to eliminate the threat, and had convinced everyone to implement his plan.

And it had worked. Together, they had killed their father. Rhaegal remembered the joy he had felt at seeing the dead body of the one who had tried to kill him. He had vented on it for all the fear it had put him through. And then, once again, Haku had come and supported him. Rhaegal had been grateful to him again. And when Haku had explained to them that they had to prepare for their journey to the outside world, Rhaegal had seen in him a real guide. And finally, when weeks later their mother had kicked them out of her territory, and Haku had urged them not to give up but rather to believe in their strength, Rhaegal couldn't help but think: 'He's someone I could follow'.

For a while, Rhaegal had no doubts that with Haku leading them they would always be victorious. His plans were always successful and he never seemed to go wrong. However, the more time passed, the more it seemed that a rift was forming between Haku and the rest of the family. Everyone had noticed how Haku had started acting like he was a supreme leader and how he expected them to always agree with him. Rhaegal had ignored those signals, sure that it was just a passing situation; after all, they were still dragons, and which dragon didn't think himself superior to the others? They were called an arrogant race for a reason. Rhaegal was convinced that he would have all his life to change his brother's attitude, so there was no reason to have such an argument while they were still in enemy territory; it was better to postpone it once they arrived at the Thul Oasis, where they could even argue out loud without risking attracting anyone or endangering the family.

But he was wrong. Within a single day, everything had degenerated. Rhaegal remembered seeing their mother flying to the fairy capital, and hearing the crash of her attacks shortly afterwards; he had been terrified, fearing that Haku might be hurt, and so he had run to look for him together with Darbi. They had found him near the capital, intent on admiring the show. It hadn't been hard to understand that he had caused all this. Rhaegal couldn't believe that Haku had planned such a thing without telling anyone about it. He had been very angry with him at the time. And then, Haku had started drawing the nullification rune. Rhaegal had tried to stop him, but Haku had ignored him. And then, Rhaegal had seen him. That murderous look, that evil smile, those horrible words he had said before killing their mother. Suddenly, the kind brother who supported everyone had turned into a complete psychopath.

Rhaegal was furious with his mother for the way she had treated them, but still he had many fond memories of her; he didn't want to see her dead. Haku, on the other hand, had clearly enjoyed that event. He had enjoyed killing the parent who had brought them into the world and raised them for three months. Rhaegal had been quite scared, but he had tried to convince himself that Haku had his reasons, and that maybe he knew some things about their mother that he didn't. But he was still angry, so he confronted him. But while he was trying to talk to him, Haku had addressed him with such a frightening tone and look that he turned pale. In that moment, Rhaegal knew that his brother had become dangerous. What happened in the following days only proved that thesis. And so, he and his many sisters had made up their minds and walked away. But Haku had not only tried to stop them, but he had hit Rhaegal, demonstrating his danger. Rhaegal was convinced that his brother would have screamed at most; he certainly didn't expect him to go so far.

In a way, Rhaegal felt responsible for what had happened. Sure, it was mostly Haku's fault, but maybe he could have done something about it. Instead of waiting, he should have spoken to him immediately. He should have tried to make him understand that he couldn't make such decisions arbitrarily, that he wasn't the boss. Instead, he hadn't. Perhaps, if he had acted sooner, things would have gone differently…

But it was too late now. He missed Haku, and knew he had lost him forever. He hoped he was wrong, he tried to believe that his brother really hadn't passed the point of no return, but he couldn't. In the original plan, he and the others would have had to leave and leave him alone; so Haku would realize that actions had consequences and would change; when he joined them at the Thul Oasis, he would prove to them that he had realized he was wrong and they would welcome him back, becoming a family again. Rhaegal wasn't worried that Haku couldn't survive on his own: his brother was too good for him to get by. They would be separated for a few months, maybe a year, and then be united again. It would take them a long time to heal their wounds, but they would succeed.

But now he knew that was just a pipe dream. Haku would never return, and if he did, Rhaegal and the others would no longer accept him among them. Their family was now separated forever, and Rhaegal couldn't help but think he could have avoided it if only he had done more… If only he had spoken to him at the right time, if only he hadn't been so cowardly, if only he had been closer to him…

In the end he shook his head. Maleficent was right: thinking about those things was useless. They were in that situation now, and all they could do was keep going.

When he and Maleficent returned to the others, their sisters had already rested enough and were waiting for them. "We're done" Rhaegal said showing his clean face. "Now we can continue. Do any of you still want to rest, or have any ideas you want to share with the others?"

Sisna immediately raised her paw: "Me!" she exclaimed. "I would like to reiterate what I said yesterday: let's capture an adventurer and let him tell us what these beasts are that we don't know and what risks they pose for us. In this way, if we ever cross them, we would know how to avoid them and possibly deal with them"

Several of their sisters nodded. Just like when Sisna first proposed it, that idea was quite successful. "Put it to a vote" Rhaegal said. "Who is in favor?"

Twelve out of fourteen dragons approved of Sisna's idea. "The majority have spoken. We will" Rhaegal said after counting them. "But we have to plan a way to avoid attracting attention"

"I've already thought of that" Sisna said. "I've thought about this for all the night... well, almost all the night. I think we could get information without our prisoner's screams echoing throughout the region. Listen..."