Summary: Ishibil is used to defending his forest from Union knights and other humans trying to kill him, but then two humans come to his forest who are different from what he's used to.

Contains: Some blood and gore.

Dragon!M-21 AU.

Thanks to Myriade for all the help she gave when I was stuck in places! And to Laryna for the support as well. :3

Inspired by otpprompt's, 'Imagine your OT3 as a Princess, a Knight, and a Dragon who all live together in a tower.'

Hoard

By Dark Ice Dragon

Ishibil pinned his ears to his head but that didn't stop the howling wind slamming into them, making his ears ache. He could fly through it. Just. But it was like he was trying to fly through water, fighting to keep his wings beating.

All he could see was white as the snow swirled in front of his snout. He had to trust that he was going in the right direction and they were still in the last place he'd seen them.

He'd last seen them by the river... There were a few places there they could have sheltered themselves if they'd found and reached them in time.

Ishibil knew where everything was in his forest and how long it took to fly there, but the wind was fighting him, trying to blow him in the opposite direction. The darkness didn't help; he couldn't see his usual landmarks.

Time dragged to throwing everything he could into flying against the wind, not knowing if he was making progress, or if he was struggling so hard to be flying in the wrong direction.

In perfect conditions, Ishibil could have glided over to the river with one flap of his wings, but now his wings and back muscles ached, resisting him.

He dived when he heard the sound of rushing water under him. It had to be the river. Close. They had to be close!

He didn't see the top of the trees until he crashed into them, wood snapping as he went through them.

He landed into the snow. It wasn't deep, not tall enough to go past his snout but it had softened his landing a little. He lay there, huffing, before he lurched to his feet, shaking himself to get rid of the snow. He couldn't waste time. He would be sore in the morning, but he would worry about it then.

He took in a lungful of air and inhaled snow. He sneezed and then sneezed again trying to clear his nose.

He couldn't smell them. He hadn't expected to, but he needed something of theirs he could track! He had no other way of finding them. They might have found a safe place and he was-

He snapped his attention to a faint flickering light in the distance. Light like that wasn't normal in his forest. That had to be them.

He charged in that direction, not bothering with flying. The light stayed, guiding him and a few times Ishibil stumbled over tree roots and stones that slid out from under his claws but he kept the light in his sight the entire time.

He found the pair pressed up against a rock outcropping, the flames around them dying. The snow around them wasn't as deep as everywhere else but it was filling up fast as the storm continued.

He lunged forward and grabbed them by the cloth between his teeth. He lifted his head so he wouldn't drag them over the ground, hearing them both yelp.

"Ishi-?" someone gasped. He couldn't answer with them between his fangs, so he huffed instead.

He dashed towards his den, not bothering to fly, not when that wasted more energy trying to fight through the buffering winds again. And there was more chance of him sending them all crashing to the ground if he flew; it was safer running.

He felt their hands grab his lip for extra purchase, and good. He didn't have to worry so much about dropping them. It also meant they weren't dead.

Running through the snow was different from flying, though that was because his fore and back limbs burned rather than his back muscles and tail as he forced his way through. But this way he knew he was moving and covering ground.

Eventually he could feel the gradual incline under his claws and it was a relief when he reached the safety of his den. He shook the snow off and he carried them to the furthest possible place from the entrance.

He set them down and curled up next to them, feeling the magic that was just out of his reach try to spark up and do something.

Nothing came as always and he huffed over them instead, nudging them with his snout to make sure they were all right.

"Thank – thank you," Takeo wheezed, his words broken up by a chittering sound. Takeo's jaw wouldn't stop moving, and now that Ishibil could see them properly, both of them were trembling.

The sound of their laboured breathing made Ishibil's insides clench, hearing the echoes of his broodmates' breathing falter as the illness took them.

No. He didn't want to see them die in the same way!

Ishibil wrapped himself around them, breathing over them. He didn't have magic, but he could help keep them warm that way. Since they were smaller, they wouldn't need as much heat as he broodmates. Shouldn't. He didn't know.

"Wai..."

Ishibil blinked, looking at Takeo, who was trying to pull at his clothes, his movements stiff and jerky. He couldn't move that much in the space of Ishibil's body had left them.

"Need t' take these off."

But humans didn't have fur or scales under the fabric they wore. That was why they wore it in the first place. "You'll be colder." They would die if they took it off.

"Trus - trust me."

Could he? They were small and he knew how fragile their bodies were compared to his. But they knew their own bodies better than him and how to look after them.

Ishibil exhaled and then nodded, loosening the circle he'd created around them. As soon as they had space, the pair started shakily taking their clothes off.

He wanted to tear through their clothes to make it go faster so he could curl up around them again, but his claws were just shorter than their forearms. One wrong move and he could gut them instead.

"Hey," Tao mumbled, fumbling with the cloth around his waist, "c'n ya keep breathin' on us? S'warm."

Tao wanted him to keep breathing on them? He could do that.

Ishibil leaned in, breathing over them in turns, and bit by bit their movements got smoother and the pair were able to tug their clothes off. The clothes hit the ground with a dull slap when Takeo and Tao dropped them.

They were still trembling though, their entire bodies shaking.

"You can - again," Takeo said, the pair curling up against each other on the ground.

Ishibil wasn't sure what word Takeo had missed out, but he guessed he could wrap himself around them again. He did it, making sure his claws were nowhere near them.

Neither of them complained, and he tightened the circle just that little bit more, so they were pressed up against his scales.

He pulled a wing over to cover the pair, tucking his head underneath it so he could continue breathing over them as well as watch over them.

He saw their eyes close and their breathing deepened; it still seemed a little fast and shallow for Ishibil. Was that normal for humans? He didn't want to wake them to make sure. They needed rest.

…Was this what it was like to have dragon kits? To sleep with someone so much smaller than him against his scales. Not that Ishibil would know, being one of the youngest of his brood. From what his broodmates had told him, the pair were the size of kits that were a few months old.

It...had been a long time since he'd been worried about anyone other than himself. It had been a long time since he'd had company.

Ishibil closed his eyes and sighed. The two were there now, out of the blizard and with him. They should be fine, so long as they didn't get cold again, and he had no intention of moving.

He shifted to tuck his wing more securely, and then continued breathing into the space that he had created, exhaustion starting to pull at his eyelids.

Now that the danger was passed, the aches he'd gotten from flying in blustering winds and hitting trees demanded his attention and he winced.

It would be worse in the morning, but for now, he was going to stay up for as long as he could to make sure the pair of humans he was curled up around were all right.

xOx

Ishibil stirred when he heard something moving close by, and he furrowed his eyeridges. No-one came into a dragon's den, and something was pressed against his scales. It had been a long time since he'd slept alongside someone, hearing their breathing, but what he was curled up around was far too small to be a broodmate and-

Oh. He opened his eyes, seeing Takeo looking back at him. Uh. Right. Now he could think about what he'd done the night before.

He still didn't have an answer for why he'd been so panicked at the thought of losing them (but it was obvious, really, especially when the evidence was in the far too large and too empty den around them).

If Takeo was awake again, then he and Tao should be fine, so he didn't have to curl up around them anymore.

He started to unfurl himself but Takeo shook his head.

"Tao's still sleeping," Takeo said, soft enough Ishibil almost didn't hear him. He was sounding better, his words coming out without his teeth chittering together.

"M'not." Tao exhaled, slow and long. "But I'd still like you to stay like this, if it's okay with you."

"I can keep my wing there," Ishibil said, watching the way they moved. They didn't seem as pale as before. Good.

"S'cozy like this. Nice." Tao stretched, a hand sliding over Ishibil's scales.

"How are you feeling?" Ishibil asked them.

"Much better," Takeo said, "thanks to you."

"Yeah, we would have died if you hadn't come along!" Tao patted Ishibil's scales. "We owe you our lives again."

"I didn't do it to be owed your life," Ishibil said with a snort. But then, why had he gone out and saved their lives? They were different from the other humans he'd encountered, but that didn't explain his need to make sure they were safe.

Takeo reached over to the pile of their clothes as Tao opened his mouth. "They're dry."

"They should be!" Tao said with a laugh, changing with the new topic. "I'm sweating!"

Sweating? Ishibil didn't know what that meant, but he guessed Tao was saying he was too hot. Ishibil pulled his head out from under his wing and looked out towards the entrance. Sunlight was coming in and he and he couldn't hear the wind blowing past. The air felt warmer than the last time he'd been awake. The blizzard much have blown itself out.

"Okay, you can look now!"

Ishibil blinked and then ducked his head back under his wing. Tao and Takeo were wearing their clothes again. If they were protected against the elements again... "Do I unfurl?"

Both of them nodded.

It was nice to stretch out again after keeping himself in a tight ball and he stepped away, flexing his wings. Some of his muscles protested, reminding him where he'd been hit. He could still move, but not in the full flexibility he was used to.

"This den is huge!" Tao said, his eyes going wide as he looked around at everything.

Ishibil tried to flap his wings out of habit; he was able to flick them out halfway before they snapped back, his muscles protesting. "Yeah, it is." It had to be, to house twenty-four dragons at once with no trouble. And why it had felt so empty once he was left alone.

"Huh, that's strange..."

Ishibil's ears twitched in Takeo's direction, but his attention was on the entrance of his den. He scented the air, moving towards it. Was that...?

"What i-"

Ishibil snarled, digging his claws into the rock when he saw the thick plume of smoke in the distance, the muffled 'boom' reaching his ears. Startled birds flew into the air in the aftermath.

Someone was attacking his forest. He could guess who, because there was only one kingdom that would dare.

He charged and launched himself into the air, speeding towards the plume. His back muscles strained, feeling like they wouldn't keep his wings up and he would plummet to the ground. He kept his wings open through stubborn will, making them work even though all they wanted to do was fold up and rest.

He could do that once he'd protected his forest.

The fire was at the edge of his forest and while the snow helped to hide the knights' white clothes, they still stood out against the trees. There was about five humans there instead of the usual ten. All of them were knights, the air empty of the scent of magic and that had to be why the Union was always attacking him and trying to find the graveyard. Why they'd tried to steal Tao and Takeo. To get magic for themselves.

The blast radius of the explosion had taken out some trees, earth thrown up against the snow while the trees burned.

The knights saw him coming, not that he'd tried to hide his approach. He roared as he flew through the fire, knowing his scales would protect him from the heat.

He landed on one knight, snapping at another. He bit down and threw them against a tree.

The knights already had their swords drawn and they attacked him. It didn't work. It never did. His scales were harder than what their blades could slice.

He snarled as something shattered against his side and he focused on the human that had thrown it.

His heart thudded harder in his chest, and it must be more poison they'd tried on him before. They'd used a smaller dose and the poison wasn't as strong as the one before. It still affected him, his vision brightening at the edges and the world tilted, dizzying him

He would be fine. He would shake off the poison like last time.

The human attacked and Ishibil didn't bother getting out of the way of their attack, not when he wasn't sure if he would misstep. Their sword skittered over his scales and he grabbed the human in his jaws, shaking them as they screamed.

Ishibil saw movement from the corner of his eyes and he threw the human it, following the arc to crash into the humans as they struggled back to their feet.

Blood stained the earth and Ishibil panted once he'd killed the last human, the aftereffects of the poison still dragging at him. It lasted longer than last time, his vision still wavering and he closed his eyes, waiting for it to pass.

The fires were still going though, and he huffed, lumbering his way over to the closest burning tree. The heat from the fire had melted most of the surrounding snow, making it easier to move, and Ishibil made sure each step he took was stable before he put his weight on it. The fire shouldn't spread, not with everything covered in snow, but he should do something about it just in case.

He pushed himself up and used his bulk send one tree toppling down, the snow hissing and steaming when it got in contact with the flames, the fire extinguishing after that.

There weren't many trees still on fire, most of the damage was from the blast. It didn't take long before the air was filled with steam and Ishibil looked around, making sure there was nothing else that needed to be put out or any of the knights were moving again.

Nothing else moved, and he huffed, flexing his wings in satisfaction. Good. He gazed out at the lands outside his forest, trying to see if there were any more humans there. As far as he could tell, no-one else was there.

But why would the Union send knights to attack his forest like that? They'd been prepared, bringing poison with them, but the other groups of knights had gotten much further into his forest before Ishibil had spotted them. Setting fire to the edge of his forest was...far too obv-

Ishibil whirled around, his lip curled and ears flat as he used one of the trees to launch himself into the air again. His wings snapped out as he beat them, trying to gain as much altitude as quickly as possible.

Where the fire had been, it was the furthest part away from the graveyard. The Union had to know the distraction wouldn't work, or else they wouldn't have used so little of the poison and less knights than their usual groups.

It was harder to fly when his wings were already tired and his body was still recovering from the poison, but it was mostly calm air and he struggled to keep himself aloft.

Once he saw his broodmates' graveyard, he snarled, diving towards it. It should have been covered by snow but the entire area was clear, as if it hadn't been touched by the blizzard. By the edges of the graveyard were more of the white uniforms. How had they found the graveyard?

His nostrils flared, scenting unfamiliar magic. Mages. Most of the people there were mages. He'd thought the Union didn't have many mages. But there was dragon magic intertwined there as well and Ishibil eyed the staffs in their hands. Bones and the tips of horns dangled from them; they must have come from other magical creatures they'd killed.

He didn't care. What mattered was defending his broodmates' graves first.

He saw some of the mages raise their hands and he recognised the movement from watching Tao cast magic.

He swerved but the branches shook as shadows shot upwards, each one aiming for Ishibil. He tried to fly away from them but they were faster, and the shadows wrapped around him, forcing his wings shut.

No! He struggled against the magic as he plummeted but it didn't give, slithering over more of him and binding him harder until he couldn't move his wings or limbs.

He smashed into the ground, roaring as one of his wing bones snapped. Dazed, he tried to fight the magic.

The magic bound him to the earth, pressed in further, making the pain flare harder as it shifted bone. He flinched, roaring again as he tried to move his wing to a position where it wouldn't hurt, and break out of the hold.

He heard someone approach and he snarled at the sight of the mage walking towards him. They were dark skinned with yellow hair, and there was someone on their nose, protecting their eyes. In their hand was another small round seethrough item filled with liquid. More poison. He could throw it off like he had before, but with his broken wing, his healing ability would be slower than usual trying to deal with them both.

The mage didn't falter, didn't act as if they were afraid of him.

Ishibil wanted to roar, but the pain and the magic was constricting his chest, making it hard to draw in breath.

"I must thank you," the mage said, and Ishibil snarled again, the magic not allowing him to do much else. Why would a Union mage thank him? "If you hadn't so generously marked the graves of your brethren, we would have found it much harder to find them." The mage smiled at him.

Ishibil froze, widening his eyes. What? They'd found his broodmates' graves because of him?

"Hm, you're still completely healthy," the mage said, peering at him. "I wonder why your body didn't start failing like the others."

The mage knew? The mage knew what had happened to his broodmates? And why did the mage think he was supposed to have died with them as well?

Ishibil furrowed his eyeridges, sniffing. The graveyard scent was changing. Fading.

He stared at the shadows the mages had called up. The scent hadn't weakened in all the time Ishibil had been there, only growing stronger as more of his broodmates joined each other in death.

It had only started fading when the mages had used the shadow magic.

He started struggling again. Not only had he lead the Union to his broodmates, the mages were using his broodmates' magic against him!

The human waved a hand and Ishibil's nostrils flared again, magic filling his nose and his snout forced was opened. He snarled. Magic built up in his throat but all it did was stay there, as useless as it had always been.

"So the reports were right: you don't have any magic." The human lifted the item in their hand and uncorked it.

Ishibil growled, unable to do anything more as the human walked over and crouched next to his snout. Ishibil wrinkled his nose at the scent, getting a whiff of something unnatural before the mage poured the poison down his throat. He'd never tasted anything like it. Bitter and pungent, as if the mage had put something rotting inside his mouth. His throat tried to close up before more could get in but the mage kept pouring and Ishibil tried to breathe. The poison went down wrong and he coughed, feeling the poison slip in as he spluttered, helpless against it.

"Crombell wanted this one alive," the mage said, standing up again, "so he could collect better results." The mage waved a hand and Ishibil's snout snapped shut.

Who? But the poison was taking effect; it was as if something had rammed into his stomach and knocked him sideways. The edges of his vision brightened as his head flopped. His heart raced as he felt the liquid hit his stomach. Stronger. This one was so much stronger than before.

"We've got enough of the potion to last carrying it out," Ishibil heard, the voice fading in and out like the wind was catching it.

"Then we can dig these up without being disturbed."

No. No… He couldn't let that happen… But the best he could do was twitch, flushing hot and cold.

He tried to growl as one of the mages waved their staff, the tip glowing and he was lifted up into the air.

Ishibil heard a whoosh and then one of the mages staggered back with a scream. A brown shaft was sticking out through the mage's shoulder, blood spreading out from the wound.

Who-

Tree roots ripped up from under the earth, lashing out at the mages. Some of them were able to shield themselves from the roots while others were dragged down. With the mages distracted, Ishibil dropped again, stunned when he hit the ground.

He only knew of one pair where one was a mage and one used a bow.

But how had they known he was here, and why were they helping him?

The magic around him weren't as tight anymore, but the poison was still affecting his body. He had to wait until it wore off.

Could Tao and Takeo distract the mages for that long? He didn't want them to. It was dangerous here and-

Another arrow flew out from outside the graveyard, but it bounced off a shield thrown up by the mage. It was followed by a streak of lightning that crashing into one of the shields. Ishibil could smell burnt earth in the aftermath, but the mage was still standing afterwards.

"Found them!" one of the mages crowed triumphantly, waving an arm. The trees rustled as the shadows coalesced above the graveyard before tendrils shot out, all going in one direction.

Something flashed in the distance and then Ishibil heard Tao's familiar yelp.

Tao and Takeo floated into view, wrapped up in shadows. Tao's legs were kicking out against nothing Ishibil hadn't seen Takeo glower like that before, his eyes narrowed and Takeo looked as if he was about to lift his lip to bare his teeth.

"Ah? My, my, now this is a surprise," the mage that had shoved the poison down Ishibil's throat said. The mage smiled, but it wasn't like Tao or Takeo's. "Prince Tao? The Prince that had suddenly disappeared in the night a few moons ago? I didn't expect to find you here."

"Yuri," Tao wheezed, and Ishibil narrowed his eyes at the ice-vines again, growling. If a mage needed to concentrate to cast their magic, the Union mage had to be constricting Tao's chest to keep him distracted. "Was hoping to never see you again. And I thought it was time I went on adventure. See the world."

"Especially when the rumours started growing that you knew magic."

"That was another reason, yeah."

The magic around Ishibil was weakening as the mages focused on Tao and Takeo. It wasn't enough to free him just yet.

"I think you'll enjoy working with us," Yuri said.

"Yeah, I won't," Tao said, shaking his head. "I don't think digging up graves as 'fun'."

"You say that as if you'll remember your previous life," Yuri said with a wider smile. "Kill his knight," the mage said, turning back to Ishibil. "We don't need him."

Something snapped inside Ishibil and boiled his blood at those words. He bellowed, the magic around him disintegrating as the mages' attention snapped to him again, backing up a step, their staffs held up in front of them. He tore out of the magic and charged at Yuri. His fangs found no purchase on the shield Yuri threw up, and snarling again, Ishibil felt the magic collecting at his claws, stronger and fiercer than any of the other times magic had tried to come to him. He knew what to do and he swung an arm, smashing a fist into the side of the shield.

The mage crashed through a tree, the shield protecting them from the impact before shattering. Ishibil thundered after them, crushing them under his claws and then tearing them in half to make sure they were dead.

Screams were piercing the air again, a steady 'fft-thwock' predicting when another scream would sound.

Roaring, Ishibil whirled back to the graveyard, seeing shields flicker. Tao and Takeo were in his periphery, standing close together as they defended themselves, and Ishibil tore through the mages the pair weren't engaged with.

It didn't take long until Ishibil couldn't see any more other mages standing. With a growl in his throat, he stalked back to Tao and Takeo and curled up around them as tightly as he could pressing his scales up against them.

Ishibil covered them both with his wing, and that way he would know they were protected.

He stayed there, feeling the last dregs of the poison fade from his body. When no more mages popped up to attack them and all he could hear was the wind, he relaxed with a long huff, his growl abating. The magic in his claws faded and he flexed them.

"Hey, Ishibil...?" he heard from under his wing, and his ducked his head to peek under it.

"Yes?"

"Are you feeling better?" Tao asked, stroking his scales.

"I am." He rumbled deep in his chest at the touch. The poison was gone, the mages were dead, and Tao and Takeo were alive. That was all he needed right then.

"What about your wing?"

His wing? He flexed the one that had been broken in the fall and huh. The bones had already mended themselves, the muscles moving like his wing hadn't been injured. "It's fine." That was faster than how long he usually took to heal.

"That's good." Then Tao chuckled. "I guess it's a good thing you didn't sit on us; we'd be flattened if you had."

Ishibil blinked at him, his ears flicking, trying to make sure he'd heard Tao correctly. "What do you mean?" Why would he have sat on them? That would have hurt them and he didn't want to do that.

"Well..." Tao shared a glance with Takeo, who cleared his throat, so Ishibil looked at him instead.

"We noticed that you didn't have a pile of horns in your den," Takeo said.

"I don't." Ishibil tilted his head to indicate the graveyard behind them. "I put the horns I find here." That was why he collected them in the first place; the horns had reminded him of his broodmates. …He should stop doing that and get rid of the skulls he'd collected; he didn't want to lead more of the Union there.

"Huh," Tao said, looking in that direction even though he wouldn't be able to see past Ishibil's bulk. "That's not really a dragon-y thing to do; I thought you always slept on piles of whatever you hoarded."

"…The rest of my broodmates did," Ishibil admitted, one of his ears flicking at the memory. "I didn't have an as strong urge to hoard as they did."

Takeo was studying him. "Did you ever sleep in piles together?"

"Not really," Ishibil said. "Since I didn't hoard as much, I tended to sleep with one of my broodmates." The others had slept on their piles.

Takeo nodded. "Hm..."

Why was that important?

"So..." Takeo trailed off, and then exhaled, looking back at Ishibil. "Would you say that your hoard might have been your broodmates, rather than horns?"

Ishibil almost discounted the idea as ridiculous straight away, because it was. A dragon collected what they were driven to; they didn't just have what they were interested in as soon as they were hatched.

But...

It also made sense. He'd never felt the need to hoard anything until his broodmates had started to die, and the horns he'd collected were something to remember them by, rather than something he'd wanted to keep for himself.

Oh.

"...Yes," Ishibil said, his voice faint to his ears. "I think I did."

Tao was stroking his scales again. "I've never been part of a dragon's hoard before."

"That's not many other people who could say that," Takeo said with a small smile.

Tao laughed at that. "True!"

Ishibil blinked at them. What...? They weren't — except-

It was both of them being threatened that had caused him to snap, to push through everything to defend them. The first thing he'd done once he thought the immediate danger was over was to go to them rather than to the horns or the graves.

How he'd gone out in the blizzard to look for them because he was worried about them.

He was treating them as his hoard.

Ishibil glanced between the two. "It's not strange to you? Won't your kingdom send people to rescue you?" That was what had happened to the princesses and their kingdoms.

"They don't know we're here," Tao said, making an expression that scrunched up his face. "And I don't want to go back."

Ishibil stared at him. "It's your kingdom." His den. Why wouldn't he want to go back? Even though Ishibil's broodmates had all died, it was unthinkable for Ishibil to want to leave. If he did find himself away from his den, he would have tried his best to go back. It was his den.

Tao gave him a small smile. "The Union's powerful, and constantly trying to expand their territory." Tao exhaled, leaning back on Ishibil's scales. "They don't do it just by crushing their enemy."

"Marry?" Tao was a prince, a royal in his kingdom, wasn't he?

"Yeah, it's a union between two people." Tao laughed a little at that. "That's how they got most of their power in the first place: marrying into the bigger countries around them and then taking over from the inside."

"That's...what they were trying to do with you."

"Yeah." Tao nodded. "I would have 'disappeared' anyway once they found out I had magic, so I decided to do it on my own terms. I dragged Takeo along with me."

"You needed someone to keep you out of trouble," Takeo said with a smile.

Tao laughed. "Yeah, I do."

"So…you want to stay with me?" Warmth was blooming in Ishibil's chest.

"Of course!" Tao said.

"We wouldn't have come here to help if we hadn't been worried about you," Takeo added, nodding.

Ishibil rumbled deep in his chest, giving them a small squeeze. Then he furrowed his eyeridges, looking between them both.

"But...how did you know where this was?" The pair had never travelled close to the graveyard.

"We saw the direction you flew in when you saved us the first time," Takeo said. "And we thought the explosion was a distraction-"

"So we started running in the opposite direction," Tao finished for him. "We heard you roaring too."

Ishibil exhaled, closing his eyes. He was glad they'd come. If they hadn't…

He opened his eyes again, unwinding himself from the pair. Right. He couldn't sleep just yet.

"Mm? Ishibil?" Tao said, looking up at him.

"I need to get rid of the skulls," Ishibil said, hefting himself to his feet. His legs shook, not wanting to take his weight, but he had to do it as soon as possible. He needed to fix his mistake.

"We can do that," Takeo said, and when Ishibil glanced back at him, his ears pricked in surprise, Takeo was smiling.

"Yeah," Tao said, standing next to Ishibil and patted his leg. "You should rest."

"But-"

"We weren't drugged," Tao interrupted. "We were just carried by magic; we're fine."

…That was true. Ishibil gazed around at the graveyard, his heart heavy and his ears flattening as he tried to memorise how the graveyard looked.

It needed to be done and he could visit whenever he wanted. But maybe he should stop doing that too, in case someone found it that way.

He didn't want to forget them but it was for their protection.

"Ishibil," Takeo said, his voice soft. "We can take them to your den, if you want."

Ishibil started, his ears flicking up. They could, couldn't they? They could keep the skulls instead of destroying them.

"Yes!" He circled around the two again, rumbling in his chest. "I do."

He heard Tao's laughter. "Understood! But we can't do that if you're holding us."

Oh. Right. He nuzzled the two as he straightened himself, his rumble not abating.

"Now go rest," Tao insisted, patting Ishibil's snout. "You need it."

But he wanted — Ishibil yawned as far as his snout would allow and it was as if his body was agreeing with Tao, falling asleep as he stood.

Fine. He would go to sleep.

His hoard would still be there when he woke up.