Some young teen Dray/bit of backstory?
Dray didn’t like playing with the other young dragons. They were too rough and a lot faster and stronger than him. Downside of being only half dragon. Sapphira didn’t mind. She was always in the thick of it, asserting herself as one of the toughest group. She fit in better with the others, but Dray? He looked too much like his dad, a human.
Dray knew there were muttering about how a clan leader shouldn’t have married a human and have half-born children. But his mother Indra was the biggest, scariest dragon for miles around and no one, for all their talk, felt like challenging her.
So he was seated on a fallen log at the edge of the woods, carving at a stick with the knife his dad gave him recently. Something about not wanting Dray to use up his knives, but Dray had seen the twinkle in his eye. Dray was determined to make something wonderful to give him as a thank you.
“What do we have here?” Comes a voice off to his right. “The little half breed? What’s he doing?”
Dray looks up sharply. These were a couple of the bigger, mean, younglings. “What do you want?”
“Just curious what such a small helpless runt is doing out here by himself”, says the first. “Oh look it’s got a knife. Trying to make up for your lack of claws, huh?”
“No”, he said almost defensively. “My dad gave it to me as a gift. Now go away. I’m busy.”
The ringleader rolls his eyes. “Yeah sure. Super busy hacking at an old stick with a knife from your human dad. What makes you think you get to tell us what to do? You think you’re better than us just because your mom is the clan leader? Well I think she’s weak. After all, who would want to have pitiful kids with a human?”
Dray jumps up, his quick temper flaring. “You take that back! My mother is not weak! She’s the strongest dragon and you know it!”
“Aw look it’s getting angry”, they taunt. “What- are you going to try and fight us?” They get a little more serious looking and slowly moved in.
Dray tenses and clenched his knife and wood he was carving. “I don’t want to fight you.” He didn’t want to disappoint his dad. Dad didn’t like when he fought out of anger.
“Well maybe we’ve decided it’s time we teach the uppity runt a lesson.”
Someone grabs him from behind and knocks the knife and carving out of his hands. He tries to twist out of their grip but they were bigger and stronger, so he bites down on the arm holding him with his sharp teeth. Whoever it was restraining him howls in pain and releases their grip. Dray grins, only to take a hard hit to the side of the head that sends him tumbling.
“Stupid runt!” The bully he had bit was dragging him up from the ground. “Hold him.” The other two jump at his words and pin Dray’s arms behind his back and no matter how much he struggles, he can’t pull free.
The first punch sent hits his cheek, knocking his head to the side. But then came the second and the third. Dray struggles, but he was held tightly. Tears welled up in his eyes from the pain and the other boys just laugh. A knee to the stomach and they let him fall to the ground, curled up to protect himself as they kicked at him. One of them picked up the carving he was working on and snaps it in half before climbing on top of him to start hitting him again.
The punch never lands, and there’s someone holding his wrist with a tight, white knuckled grip.
“Leave him alone!” An angry voice yells, throwing the bully off of him and kicking him in the rump. “Get out of here.”
Dray looks up through his swollen eyes and sees her. Hands on her hips, yelling at the bullies, sending them scampering. Her long brown hair is wavy and shiny and perfect, and her clothes are all greens and blues and silvers. He knows her- well knows of her. She was too pretty and popular for him to ever approach. Legossi.
But right now, she’s not just pretty or popular, she’s his savior. Once the bullies are gone, she kneels down in the leaves and helps him sit up. “Are you alright? That looks bad...” she reaches out to touch his bruised and swollen face. “You’re bleeding.”
“ ‘s just my lip”, he mutters, dazed from the beating and the timely rescue. “Th-thank you. For helping me.”
She smiles and it makes him feel warm like sunshine inside and sets his heart racing in a totally different way than before with the bullies. “It’s what any decent person would do.” The little broken carving catches her eye and she picks the pieces up. “Did you make this?” When he nods, she smiles again. “It’s so pretty! I love it. You have some skill with this sort of thing.”
The praise makes him feel a little better, even though the carving is broken. “It was for my dad”, Dray says. “He gave me the knife.”
Legossi picks it up out of the leaves and hands it back to him. “It’s a nice present. You should keep it safe so you can make more carvings.” After he takes it she helps him to his feet. “Now come on. I know of a little stream where you can wash your face. It might help a little.”
She takes him by the hand and looks back to make sure he’s going to follow. And he knows at that moment he would follow her anywhere.