Rain Dance

Voltaire went over to Kimi and held her. "Easy Angel, easy..."

"That tells me absolutely nothing about him!" barked Quetzalcoatl. "I want to know who that bastard is!"

"He's some ruthless demon overlord somewhere with lots of fire and brimstone!" Voltaire snapped back. "Other than that I don't know much."

Kimi turned and hid her face in Voltaire's chest. "He wants to kill me" She whispered.

"It's not going to happen," Voltaire reassured, hugging her tighter. "I'm not going to let that happen."

Adair worked on the splints in the background, saying nothing.

"I'm so sorry" Kimi whimpered. "I thought I could hide, That Brother and I could get away... I don't want him to hurt you"

Voltaire glanced over to the unconscious Dragons. No wonder she was terrified of him.

"Impossible odds are our specialty," he tried to reassure. "We've survived the Gales this long."

"Talmara isn't some mortal that lives by a set of codes of honor." Kimi replied, her voice still low. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "He'll kill you"

Voltaire nuzzled her hair. "I won't let him hurt you," he said with a slight edge. "I won't."

Kimi buried her face in his chest again with a small sob.

"Shh..." Voltaire soothed, rubbing her back. "Shh..."

"Enough of this," growled Quetzalcoatl, rising off the ground. "We're going."

"But you're not fully healed!" protested Ava.

"I know a spring where I can heal myself and my changelings," said the dragon, scooping up Mikaela and the prince. "It won't heal their arms, but it will heal everything else." He flew off.

Kimi continued to cling to Voltaire and sob. She was so afraid.

Both Ava and Adair came over in concern, now that they weren't preoccupied with the Dragons.

"We're going to be leaving now," said Voltaire. "We're going to go far away from here and it's going to be okay."

Kimi nodded softly, her sobs slowly quieting, though her shaking never stopping.

Voltaire picked Kimi up before going onto Ava's back. Ava quietly took off.

Kimi fell asleep in Voltaire's arms, but Talmara haunted her dreams.

(Skip when ready. He'll come in a ltle while after they next land, before they get to the tournament)

(k)

Voltaire did not sleep well. Between Kimi's nightmares and his own paranoia he couldn't let himself rest. All the while he felt rage boiling up inside of him. He had never wanted to hurt someone so badly. He had never wanted to kill someone so badly. Fire streamed out of his mouth with every breath as he held Kimi closer.

"Landing soon!" announced Ava, as she flew toward a small mountain.

Kimi woke again with a small start. She had been doing that a lot since she fell asleep.

Voltaire stopped his angry fire-breathing upon her waking. "Hey angel."

Kimi curled closer to him. "I had the nightmares again." She whispered.

Voltaire nuzzled her hair. "It's okay, angel. I'm here. No one's going to hurt you."

Ava landed on a cliffside where some caves were nearby.

"Taire, what if he finds us?" She whispered

"We roast him and Ava eats him," Voltaire suggested, trying to lighten the mood a little. He'd never seen Kimi so scared.

"He doesn't sound like he'd be tasty," replied Ava disapprovingly.

"You can throw him back up afterward."

"I'd like to see you try." An unknown voice stated from the darkness of the cave.

A tall man with unkempt black hair strut out from the cave, his amber eyes glowing and his face marred by three scars. A scar under his left eye, a scar on the right side of his chin and a small scar in the left corner of his mouth, transforming his smirk into a sneer.

Kimi shrunk away in fear, clutching Voltaire's shirt.

Ava froze, the feathers on her neck standing up as she let out a low hiss. Her pupils were slits. Voltaire and Adair also stiffened.

"Who's there?" Voltaire growled, though he suspected he already knew. He breathed fire lowly as he pulled Kimi closer to him.

"My darling Kimi hasn't told you about me?" The man sneered. "I'm hurt."

Kimi whimpered

"Oh, I've heard plenty about you. None of it flattering," Voltaire growled back. Had this guy been following them, or had they just chosen the wrong place to land? "Does his majesty have nothing better to do than stalk young girls?"