Hunters, there was no doubt about it.
They struck the settlement by suprise, killing the few rangers that resisted.
Storm staggered to the place where the dragon messenger made his nest and found it scattered from a heavy fight.
A thick pool of blood covered the ground, but there was no trace of a body. A large bloody trail led to the center of the village as if something heavy was dragged along the ground.
With all resistance crushed, the survivors were rounded up and marched into the wilderness, no doubt to be herded into a human city like cattle before being sold to the highest bidder.
Elven slaves were in high demand in human farmhouses or estates due to their skill in nature magic.
A few elves could easily double the yield of such a place with the use of their magic, and could even be sold to nobles to maintain their private gardens if they can't find customers in these places.
The tracks clearly led in the direction of Twin Rivers. Based on the weaker scent, the attack happened several days ago.
It would be too late for Storm to rush after them to try and rescue them and in his current condition, he'd never be able to defeat the hunters on his own.
The Ogre that Storm just killed, must have stumbled across the village after the hunters had already left and thought it stumbled across an easy meal.
"There's no reason to stay here any longer. I should return to the Nesting Grounds ."
He raised his wings and was just about to take off, when something else caught his eye
Deep Grooves were cut into the ground, as if something heavy was dragged through the ground.
"Wagons, several of them! Not all the hunters returned to Twin Rivers after the attack? Some pressed onwards?" Thought Storm.
Based on the direction of the grooves, they were headed to Storm's Nesting grounds.
"I HAVE TO WARN THEM!!" Thought Storm.
He jumped into the air and flapped his wings, the pain in his side suddenly flared up, causing him to temporarily lose focus and fall to the ground.
"I don't have time for this, They're depending on me!!" Storm thought.
He got to his feet again and tried once more, with greater success.
The flight back was torture for Storm, every downward stroke of his wings sent pangs of pain down his side that he forced his body to ignore.
Because of his injury, he was forced to fly low, and his speed was slowed to a mere fraction of his regular speed.
By the time night fell, he'd only covered a small fraction of the distance he covered the previous day.
So he decided to press onward and fly all through the night despite the danger and the pain.
By the time the sun rose again the next morning, he could see the mountains that marked his home.
Thick black smoke was rising from it.
"No,No,No! I'm too late!" Thought Storm.
He landed heavily by the entrance to the cave network. There were scorch marks all along the walls and ground and the debris of battle was scattered all over the area.
Broken iron weapons that were half melted already from dragons fire, as well as broken and damaged scales from a variety of colors were littering the ground.
A thick pool of blood was located near the entrance. Storm took one sniff and immediately identified it as dragon's blood.
There were no bodies, there never was at the end of such massacres. It was one of the first things the hunters always gathered.
A dragon's entire body was a massive treasure trove to a hunter. Dragon's blood, scales, bones, all fetched high prices in the human markets.
So the hunters always gathered them up so that they can be 'harvested' for profits later.
The deep tracks in the ground confirmed Storm's suspicions. The wagons were much heavier leaving, than they were when they first arrived.
Storm rushed into the tunnels, the marks of battle were here too, But in far less numbers.
Even though the tunnels weren't a hindrance to a dragon's daily living, in a battle, the confined spaces would have severely limited a dragon's movement.
His father would have gathered the dragons that were fit to fight at the entrance while evacuating the hatchling and younger dragons deeper into the tunnels.
Once the humans got into the tunnels, it would have been a massacre for the remaining dragons.
He made his way to his family's dwelling. The door had been ripped off it's hinges.
The nest that held Storm's unhatched siblings was broken and scattered all around the room.
The glass dome ceiling had been shattered, and sharpened pieces of glass were littering the entire floor.
Thick dragon blood pooled by the far corner. Something sparkling in the pool caught his eye.
He fished out a small golden ornament out of the pool.
It was a dragon's fang that had been encased in solid gold, and was attached to a chain to be worn around the neck
The dwarves had made this for his father in thanks for saving their settlement one day.
His father lost one of his fangs, earlier in the year in a battle at one of the outlying dwarven settlements against hunters that came there to abduct the dwarves.
The dwarves retrieved it after the battle and the leader of the settlement had it encased in gold and turned into a necklace that could fit a dragon.
Afterwards they returned it to him to thank him for their aid and to mark his sacrifice.
His father never parted with it.
This grim trophy confirmed his father's fate to him.
Tears flowed from his eyes as he wept for his lost family.
He cried for several minutes, before he was able to compose himself enough to think more clearly.
As he looked around the room, he realized with dread that something was missing from it.
"THE EGGS!!!" Storm thought in panic.
He rushed around the room but couldn't find any trace of them anywhere.
He dug through the shattered nest and peeked under all the ruined furnishings.
Something cracked underneath his foot as he rushed around.
He lifted his foot and found a piece of broken golden eggshell.
Storm panicked at first, until he realized that the eggs were close to hatching when he left.
"They probably hatched just before the attack. Father wouldn't have risked them getting caught in the fighting. He would have arranged that another dragon would evacuate them with the other hatchlings of the nest." Thought Storm.
He looked at the broken roof. Based on the shape of the break. It was destroyed from the inside.
"Someone broke through here and fled!" He realized.
Storm flew through the gap. He could pick up a faded trace of a scent in the air.
Not enough to track it or identify who it belonged to, but it unmistakably belonged to another dragon.