Helpful Hoof

Keshet was flying high over a red desert, the sand turned into shades of fire by the setting sun. Wickedly sharp rocks cut through the light like claws, casting long, dark shadows, as if night had started coming up from the ground.

It was pure luck that the glint glanced off her eye, that it had been caught by the sun, that she was the exact type of dragon that she was, that she immediately folded her wings and dove towards the ground, half thinking that she would have something shiny to take home and half feeling like something was wrong.

A bone-chilling screech reached her ears over the whistle of the wind, and Keshet opened her wings, abruptly halting her descent as she took in the sight beneath her.

One of the many large rock formations that littered the desert had fallen and caught a dragon beneath it. She thrashed, the jeweled skull sitting like a mask over her snout flashing in the dying light as she scrambled to push at the rocks that had pinned her in place.

Keshet was surprised to find that the dragon was more angry than hurt, her neckfrill flaring as she writhed. Clawed forelimbs scraped over the rock beneath her, and in the shadows between the rocks, Keshet could make out a hind foot scrabbling for purchase.

In all the thrashing, one of the rocks started to slip alarmingly forward, towards the freed part of the dragon. Keshet descended and put her head against it, flapping furiously until it lost its balance and fell towards the back of the pile.

Abruptly, the noise below stopped. Keshet perched atop the pile and poked her head over to find the other dragon looking at her, suspicious. This close, Keshet saw further glinting scraps: gleaming ore carving its way through the ordinary rocks the way rivers carved through the land. Some of the rocks bore further, deeper claw marks, and some of the shining metal had been set aside in a pile nearby.

“Go away,” the other dragon hissed once she noticed where Keshet’s attention had wandered to.

Keshet, who had a habit of getting into things on her own and needing help getting out of them, did not. “I’m Keshet,” she said simply. “One of the rocks was going to fall on you.”

“They already fell on me!”

“Another one,” she said. “A different one.”

The dragon growled, baring jeweled fangs before the rocks atop her shifted again, putting a more urgent pressure on where she was wedged. “Fine. Fine. Then help, if you want. Or go away.”

Keshet struck a hoof against the rock she had landed on. “What’s your name?”

She roared in ineffectual rage before flopping, momentarily defeated. “Jewel.”

Keshet fluttered down to where Jewel was pinned. Two of the rocks had collided as they fell, pressed together above where Jewel was pinned. With the wrong move, they would be disturbed and might fall inward. Jewel picked up her head, watching Keshet warily.

“I’m not going to steal from you,” Keshet said conversationally.

“Comforting,” Jewel bit out. “Tell that to everyone you meet?”

“No,” Keshet said, matter-of-fact. “Some of them I do steal from.” Then, she asked, “How pinned are you?” It looked to her like Jewel had plenty of room to free herself. It might be a tight squeeze, but the widest point was likely her hips, and they looked smaller than the opening.

“I’m not pinned,” Jewel said. She dug her claws into the rock and tried to heave herself forward. “I just can’t get out.”

Keshet eyed the small feathers on Jewel’s forelimbs and wisely said nothing about her lack of wings.

Jewel snarled under her breath, “Tail’s heavy.”

“Then…” She hopped forward a step or two, balanced with her own wings. “If I grab you, I might be able to pull.”

“Grab?” Jewel asked. “With what?”

Keshet bared her teeth in a grin and as an answer. Jewel growled again but bent her head after a moment. “Grab at the base of my mane. You won’t hurt me.”

Keshet perched on the rock Jewel was laying on, and applied her teeth where she’d been told. Feathers filled her mouth, and the addition of the mane made it harder for her teeth to puncture Jewel’s scales. She bit down and leaned outwards off the rock, pulling until finally Jewel slipped forward and her hindfeet were able to get purchase on the rock. She slithered out, and Keshet fell the short distance to the ground, landing in the dirt, entangled with Jewel before they both managed to pull themselves apart.

Keshet grinned over at Jewel, braying laughter as the rocks groaned and collapsed behind them.