Dragon Tales 07: China

We waited as they rested. After about a 15 minute rest, the slavers got everyone up and moving. That's when we hit them. MeiLing and I just blinked into place, reared up on our back legs, spread our wings, and roared. Oh, what fun. Using my huge wingspan, I pushed the forward group of slavers ahead of me, down the trail; and MeiLing used her wings to herd her group right back down the trail they had just climbed -- they didn't know how to react.

However, this was a seasoned group of slavers. They quickly reorganized and turned to confront us. I have to admit, they had some guts. Spears forward, they came right at me. The ones in front were trying to stab me while the ones to the rear were throwing their spears. Too bad for them that I was impervious to their attack. I just kept moving forward and forcing them back.

Finally I really took note of what they were doing. There seemed to be a person in charge, so I just walked right into them and snatched him up and shook him like a rag doll. His head sort of snapped around a bit -- I think he got whiplash -- and then I just held him, looking him in the eye. He was not happy, but did not seem to want to give up either. So I calmly set him on his feet and pushed him onto his butt. I then grabbed the next guy in line and repeated the process -- shake, rattle and roll. He didn't even stand on his feet when I put him down, he just sort of collapsed. I then folded my forearms across my chest and stared at them while sending out a large mental shout and image showing them laying their spears on the ground and sitting down.

A few of them got the message, layed their spears down and sitting down. The others sort of looked around and shook their heads like they did not believe or understand what was happening -- a bit of shock I suppose. I grabbed one, took away his spear and set him on his butt. The others quickly followed suit.

Seeing that they were rather docile at the moment, I turned around to see what was happening with the rest of our mission.

Our hunters seemed to have the middle of the affair in order. There were several dead or injured slavers, and the women were being released off to the side of the trail.

I wandered over to the edge of the bluff in time to see MeiLing dispatch the last of her crowd. She had morphed into a large snow leopard and had chased the slavers most of the way down the trail, apparently bounding effortlessly from rock to rock with the occasional pounce, swipe of deadly claw or bite. Stopping at the bottom, she looked up at me rather pleased with herself.

I walked back to the clan, checking for injuries. Other than a few stripes on the backs of a couple women from being lashed a bit, and some sore feet from the forced march, everyone seemed okay. I then turned back to the few remaining slavers -- about a dozen fairly strong-looking men who were starting to come out of their shock.

I morphed back into my cute little girl human form and walked into their midst. That shocked them even more. Seeing one of the men who had had sex with me that first night I walked up to him and said, "you are a lousy lover." Then I kicked him in the face. Turning my back on him, I pointed to the leader and said, "come with me." I then headed back to our hunters and the women.

The head slaver followed me and I led him to Han and Chou. I informed them that this appeared to be the leader of the slavers, and that there were a dozen of them still alive. I wasn't sure what to do with them. I'm not one for needlessly killing animals or humans. I could kill and had often killed to eat, but it didn't seem right to me to kill these guys now that they were no longer a threat (at least I no longer saw them as a threat). I'm not sure what Han and Chou wanted to do either. Bloodthirsty MeiLing was quite prepared to wade into them in her leopard form and dispatch them, or just toss them off the bluff into the river (which would have been less messy for her). She just rubbed up against Chou and gave the evil eye to the slaver as Han and Chou talked with him.

It seems that the slaver was very willing to head down river with his remaining men and stay away from our little clan. He had never encountered anyone like us, nor even heard of anyone (or anything) like us. After a bit more discussion, the slavers were allowed to pick up and head out. We slowly wended our way back down the trail to the river and found a spot to camp away from the bloody remains of the dead slavers.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

There was a lot of celebrating within the clan that night. Lovers were reunited and everyone was feeling pretty good. We sent a couple of the hunters to the top of the bluff to ensure that the slavers did not return. MeiLing and I blipped out, grabbed some deer, and blipped back to the party. A good time was had by all (and MeiLing and I enjoyed the night with Han and Chou).

In the morning, the clan took their time getting things together. The story of the rescue had to be told to the women and kids. I think that most of them had no clue what MeiLIng and I were. So we showed them

With everyone gather around, I morphed into my cute dragon shape. Then MeiLing did the same. We then grew larger. We then morphed into the eagle shapes we had used (very large eagles). We then morphed into our large, fierce dragon shapes. Then we both morphed into snow leopards. We then changed back into our petite human forms. They were rather shocked by it all. We then explained a bit of what we were and some of the things we could do -- like changing form, changing colors, talking mentally (telepathically), moving ourselves (and others or objects) through space and even time. We explained too that there were others of us in the world, and even in the river valley. However, they were keeping to themselves. They had not seen the humans as we had, and MeiLing and I were the only ones who really wanted to be involved with them.

During most of this discussion, explanation and demonstration, Han and Chou had been to the side. They were watching us, but they seemed to be in a serious discussion. When everyone was finally ready to hit the trail, they sent them off and pulled us aside.

Han explained that we needed to talk some more with the slavers. Apparently, the attack was not an uncommon occurrence. Slavers (and other robbers or bandits) were an on-going problem, and Han and Chou had an idea how they might protect the clan and other similar groups.

They asked us to fly them down to a spot just ahead of where the slavers were. We morphed into our dragon form and took them down river, soon overtaking the slavers. Finding a wide spot in the trail, we landed and waited, and Han explained what he wanted us to do.