Mercedes Lackey - Elvenbane

Shana was fairly certain her foster mother hadn't said anything of the sort, but Keman looked guilty. She decided she'd better intervene before he said something stupid and they were stuck with Myre for the rest of the afternoon.

"It's a...a special exercise Mother showed us," Shana improvised. If there's one thing Myre hates, it's exercise . "You put your hands together like this, then squeeze..."

She put her hands palm-to-palm at about chest-level, and pushed as hard as she could, to demonstrate.

"It's supposed to make your arms really strong," Keman said glibly, following Shana's lead. Shana felt a burst of thankfulness towards Foster Mother, who had thought up these particular exercises and drilled Shana in them. "It keeps you from hurting yourself exercising because you're only working against yourself, see?"

Myre watched them both squeezing and letting go, a crease of puzzlement forming along her nose as she wrinkled it.

"I thought you said you were playing a game," she complained. "That doesn't look like any kind of fun to me. I think you're both making a loon out of me!"

"Well, it is kind of a game," Shana said. "Only it isn't, you know? Why would we want to make a loon out of you, anyway?"

You take care of that quite well on your own, you pain , she thought spitefully.

Myre shook her head, and her spinal crest flattened. "No, I don't see, and I think it's stupid," she snorted. "What's it supposed to be for? What do you need to have your arms strong for, anyway?"

To hit you back when you tease me , Shana thought, but wisely kept her mouth shut.

"So...uh...we can c-c-climb the mountain with Mother," Keman stammered, obviously trying to think of something quickly. Myre did not look convinced.

" You don't need to climb to get up the mountain," Myre sneered. "You can fly. This little rat is the only one that has to climb. And I don't know why Mother wants you on the mountain, anyway, either of you. I'm the one that's supposed to be a shaman. I'm the one with the right name. And I never get to go anywhere, I never get to do anything, Mother just likes you best because you're older. You get everything you want just because you're her favorite!"

"I do not!" Keman replied, stunned at this injustice. "I never..."

"Then how come you get to go on the mountain and I don't?"

"Because I'm old enough..." Keman began, when Myre interrupted him with a cry of thwarted triumph, bouncing on all four claws, her spinal crest as flat as it could go.

"See! See! I told you so! You get everything you want, just because you're older! You even get to have pets and I don't!"

"You could have pets if you wanted them..." Keman began unwisely. And as Shana had feared from the beginning, Myre seized on his words...and on her .

"Good! I want her!" The dragonet grabbed Shana by the arm and pulled at her, with a great deal of unnecessary roughness, making her stumble and land sprawling at Myre's feet, bruising both hands and reskinning her knee.

"Myre!" Keman snapped, shoving the dragonet away. "You leave her alone! Shana is not a pet!"

"Is too!" Myre sneered, snatching at Shana, who tried to crawl out of the way of her claws. "And I want her!"

"Is not!" Keman replied, going red-eyed with fury, shoving his sister again.

"Is too! Everybody says so, except dumb-butts like you!" Myre danced in place, her talons narrowly missing Shana until Keman shoved the dragonet back against a rock and kept her there by keeping himself between her and escape.

"Is not! Only dumb-butts like you think so!" Keman snarled, as Shana tried to scramble to her feet to get out of the way of the impending fight.

"Are you calling me a dumb-butt, crybaby?" The new voice, a supercilious sneer, made all three heads swivel in the direction of the newcomer.

The male dragonet was big, bigger than Keman; that, and his deep-red and orange coloration told Shana which of the other youngsters it was...not that there was any doubt in her mind on hearing that scornful voice. Rovylern, Myre's confederate, and the biggest bully in the Lair.

Rovylern was the same age as Keman, but he "played" with the dragonets of Myre's age-group because he had no friends among those his own age. Not surprising, considering that he had pushed them around until they refused to have anything more to do with him. There weren't that many in the group to begin with; five, counting himself. Keman, Asheanala, Lorialeris, and Mereolurien. Keman had his own interests to keep him out of Rovy's way, and the other three finally banded together against the bully, excluding him from their pastimes entirely by the simple expedient of flying off somewhere he couldn't find them.

So he bullied the younger dragonets, with the exception of Myre, who helped him think up tricks to play on the others. And he bullied Keman, who was smaller and weaker than he was.

He and Myre, however, got along like two of the same litter.

Shana thought they suited each other perfectly, and would have been completely happy if they had just left her and her foster brother alone.

But of course that was impossible. As long as Keman lived at the Lair,, he would be a target...and as long as

Shana "belonged" to Keman, she would be a bone of contention between them.

"Are you calling me a dumb-butt, pea-brain?" the bully repeated, swaggering towards them, his tail lashing the ground, his wings held half-open to make him look even bigger.

Keman stood his ground. "I didn't say anything about you, Rovylern," he said stoutly. "People who eavesdrop usually don't hear things clearly, and what they do hear, they usually don't understand."

Shana flinched. Tact was not Keman's strong suit. Keman, that wasn't too smart ...

"Are you trying to call me a snoop and a dumb-butt?" Rovy demanded belligerently, his ears flat, his spinal crest rising, his tail stirring up a tremendous dust behind him.

"I'm trying to tell you to stay out of this. I was talking to my sister, I wasn't talking to you!" Keman pulled himself up as tall as he could, but still fell short of Rovylern's height by a full head.

"What if I don't want to stay out of it?" Rovy challenged, taking a few steps forward. "What if I think Myre's right, huh? If she wants that stupid animal of yours, I think you'd better give it to her." He drew himself up to his full height, and puffed out his chest. "You'd better do it, butt-head, or I'll make you do it."

Shana chose that moment to try to make a run for it, trying to cut between Rovy and Myre, but she underestimated the length of Rovy's arms. He made a grab for her as she shot by him, and managed to hook his claws into her tunic. The tough dragon-hide of her tunic was thick enough to prevent her being scratched, but he caught her anyway.

In the next moment she found herself dangling from Rovy's claw, high in the air, while the bully laughed and taunted Keman, swinging her in front of him by her tunic. She shrieked and struggled ineffectually, her heart pounding with anger and fear, while her stomach lurched and her tunic tightened around her neck. She felt one claw right behind the nape of her neck; that was the one that had caught in the neckline and was pulling the fabric of the tunic tighter with every moment. She tried to get her hands down to free her throat, but with her tunic all twisted up her hands were pinned above her head.

" Put her down !" she heard Keman scream, enraged. Her tunic tightened a little more, and she choked and fought for breath. Suddenly this had gone beyond the usual bullying. She got a glimpse of Rovy's face. He knew she was fighting for breath and that he was hurting her badly...and he was enjoying himself.