Of Feathers and Flames- WoF AU (Archives)

The hallway’s fluorescent lights were situated in such a way that Sundog could crouch, hidden, in the metal rafters. His tail twitched lazily, the alarm still had several minutes before it was triggered, he had been sure to give himself some extra time, he’d made that mistake before, the scar had just begun to heal. The rafters were large enough he could nestle the bulk of his body comfortably, he shifted his haunches so he could jump down quickly when the time came. He checked the human device on his wrist, he had plenty of time before the humans were tearing down the hall to check their alarm. These waiting moments he always used to reflect.



He had come so far. Fighting in the Scorpion Den had brought him much attention and his owner great wealth, humans now sought out his owner seeking to hire Sundog to finish up business and run errands. He thought this was a rather decent arrangement he was in, he would go out and ‘run errands’, his owner would get paid a large sum, and Sundog received free lodging and food. Albeit his room was a little cramped, he could picture it now, clean tiled floors with overhead lights and white walls, he had a small cot in the corner.

He had company too, an old dragoness lived in the room beside him, he talked with her through the boxy window between their spaces. She never told him her name, he doubted she could remember it anymore. She had taught him the Draconic he knew now, he was deeply grateful for it. In the spare time he spent sitting in his room he would run through the words she had taught him through his mind, frightened he might forget them.



The only downsides Sundog could think of were the dreams… Oh, the dreams! They grew more and more vivid each night, stealing away hours of sleep he would need the coming morning. Some nights, a human would quietly sneak into his room, and before he could ask it what it was doing or break its meager spine it would inject a milky substance into his muscles and consciousness would be gone in a snap. The worst part was waking up, Sundog shuddered just thinking about it. As soon as he started to wake up and whatever the humans had injected wore off, a great crushing fear would wash over him, so strong it made his muscles scream in protest. Often a new alloy was implanted into his skin, and less frequently the alloys in his neck were replaced. He’d long since stopped trying to dig them out, it caused more pain than it was worth.



The device on his wrist beeped, bingo.



Just as he’d practiced, he exhaled slowly, breathing gasses into the air. He couldn’t see them, but he’d done this so many times he knew they were there, swirling in the hallway. His ears pricked, human footsteps were approaching rapidly, he could see them rounding the corner into his range. Sundog counted six of them, none armed as far as he could see, “perfect, this’ll be taken care of quickly” he thought. Just as the humans came into view he released small sparks of fire-breath, he could feel the heat as the gasses immediately caught fire, burning invisible flames. The unsuspecting humans ran straight into the cloaked flames that filled the hall. Sundog slid down from the rafters with catlike grace, unbothered by the heat from the flames licking his scales, and the remaining shrieking humans were silenced. Sundog made quick work of them with his dagger and the keen edges of his wings.



It was a simple mission, really. The intent was to intimidate, so he didn’t bother with extinguishing the hydrogen flames in the hallway and disposing of the charred bodies, the humans could deal with the cleanup. His master would get payed greatly for this, and Sundog thought he’d done a rather neat job of it.

He winged his way back to the Scorpion Den, ready for a night filled with dreams.