Inhospital first contact

The blow of incorporeal energy hurt as much as a physical blow, as both aliens realized when they came to their senses far from their ship, in an overgrown and desperately in need of reconstraction river station. Their front paws were tied behind their backs... as were their hind legs, tails, and wings. Dragon Alat, fighting nausea, twitched his bound limbs slightly. And he'd been afraid of predators and mutants on this planet... Silly. Sentient creatures are always more dangerous than ordinary animals, but they can still be negotiated with. Alat tried to sit up, but the dizziness and weakness that accompanied the magical attack prevented him from even raising his head. "Artem was right," the dragon and the wolf heard the dialogue from the middle. "More and more monsters are appearing. Forgotten Ancient has become arrogant". "But we've already learned how to resist it," replied a rougher and older voice. "A starship and tranquillizer, where else can we find such a noble swag? We need to ask these aliens if there have any more - and unguardef. "What are you mumbling about?" She-wolf Valsha growled. "Untie us immediately!" "She speaks English!" exclaimed the first voice in surprise. "The creatures have learned it too! Stop rumbling and ask them questions!" The female wolf was roughly lifted by several people and freed from the straps, but only temporarily, in order to chain the female even more securely to the bars of the cage, which barely fit Valsha. "You won't get out of here, even if you grow wings or use magic!" Alat, who had resumed struggling with the straps, barely had time to freeze when several people turned to him. They were dressed in surprisingly clean and well-made clothes for a post-apocalyptic world. Alat looked at their faces - adults, young people, and even elds, a few women, but mostly men - and they all looked at him with fear, apprehension, and hatred. Xenophobia is a terrible thing, which was subjected to the inhabitants of many planets, who suffered from one race, but directing their hatred to all different from themselves. It is extremely difficult to convince such intelligent beings of the innocence of others... But Alat tried! After all, they were sentient people! But it didn't work out for him; instead, Alat's attempts to explain resulted in his mouth being tied shut with a belt. "All those flattering speeches..." the oldest of them all watched as a cage with a growling Valsh was hung on a chain. "We will take care of you one by one. Tell me, where did you come from? How do you get supplied with such equipment and weapons?" "Fuck off, you idiot! Savages!" Valsha screamed, rocking the cage. The pain receded before the anger. "You may live in the ruins of the city, but you've only recently lost your tail, you bald monkey!" "That has nothing to do with my question. Answer it if you don't want to get hurt!" The man waved his hand, and the cage began to rise using an old but still functional crane. Now it made no sense to answer - it was unlikely that people could make out anything over the rumble of the chains and the clanging of the crane itself. Alat, who was sliding along the ground, thought vaguely that they weren't expecting an answer. The crane turned, causing the cage to hover over the river, and the scraping stopped - Valsa's curses became audible, lacking English words. But there was still nothing interesting or useful for humans in the alien language. "Maybe we should beat your friend up so you'll talk, huh? What's the deal with you two?" Alat growled through his teeth, and Valsa, not hearing half of the words, just kept on swearing - she no longer shook the cage, fearing that she would fall down into the flooded part of the city... The chains were strong enough to prevent this, but the people themselves were too cruel, and the crane began to slowly lower the cage towards the water. Alat somehow raised himself and pressed his ears, watching as the cage slowly sank into the river, which was large and full of water. Some of the people began to read something that sounded like a prayer about "the filth carried away by the water"... Fanatics! The old man approached the pier, frowning at the psalmist, and only signaled to stop the crane when Valsa was almost touching the surface. "This is serious. Remember the questions and answer them". The roaring river terrified the wolf, who didn't know where to go. Now, hanging over the abyss, she couldn't answer any questions even if she wanted to. Alat roared for both of them, trying to convey what they wanted to hear. But he was kicked to shut up, and the wolf, screaming in fear, was lowered a few inches, causing her wet tail to flop. "What do you want to know?" Her voice was finally distinguishable. "I am a cosmopilot, and this dragon is too! We came to your planet just to collect water!" "You - who? Aliens? Look, what you turned the world into", nodded the man behind his back. "Who gave you such weapons?" "You came up with this devastation themselves!" didn't lie Valsha. "We haven't lost your demonic tricks!" One of the women shouted. "Stop talking to her! Drown the witch!" Alat rushed up, but his attempt to get up ended in complete failure, and the dragon painfully fell on his stomach, seeing how the cage began to sink. Alata was also picked up and dragged to the shore by the angry people, who wanted to vent their anger. Although the dragon was slightly taller than a human and twice as heavy, the people were too angry to care. Valsa, who was thrashing around in the cage again, saw the dragon being carried to the edge of the shore amidst the war cries. The cold, rushing water had already reached her belly, but at that moment, the female was more afraid for her rescuer: had he only brought her back to perish together on this planet? Valsa began to curse again, frantically thrashing around in the descending cage and trying to break free from the straps that bound her to the bars. But she couldn't do anything; the straps just tightened around her wrists and above her heels. The water was rising higher with every passing second, already reaching her shoulders, and her own fate had finally pushed aside her fear for her friend. The she-wolf raised her head, trying to calm herself before being submerged. She closed her eyes to avoid seeing what was happening to her friend, and the loud splash hit her ears, causing her to curl up and let out a short whine. Then she opened her mouth again, even though it was useless. Her body continued to resist. Nothing could help her, and no one could save her now. The water slid down her neck, rose higher, and finally covered her, splashing under the top of the cage and then engulfing her completely. Only then did the wolf open her eyes and see the overgrown bottom beneath her, still littered with the debris of civilization. And her savior, who had been caught up in the same predicament. The dragon, once seen as a powerful protector, was now close to death and helpless. Alat was lucky to have sunk between the dangerous debris, but bound as he was, he could neither save himself nor help her in any way. It was impossible to free his front and back legs, which were tied together, nor to crawl towards the she-wolf, and she, in turn, had no way of reaching him. The fish, which had initially fled in fear, returned to observe the new inhabitants of the seabed with cold curiosity, realizing that they were harmless. Even the weak creatures weren't afraid of the bound predators, whose legs twitched in a futile struggle, whose tails trembled, and whose mouths gradually lost the bubbles from their inflamed lungs. Alat was still wriggling around, trying to get close enough to some sharp enough debris to free himself, but Valsha, watching him with a mixture of hope and fear, knew that the dragon didn't have enough time even to free himself. Maybe he could cut through the belt and swim out with his legs tied, but that wouldn't save her, and the humans would probably stop them from swimming out. They couldn't even cover their mouths and nostrils with their bound paws, and that was what they wanted right now... The water caressed the fur and straightened the mane beautifully, but demanded bubbles in return, waiting for it to finally flow inside its guests. Pets, mad with fear and heat. Still looking at each other with frightened concern. When Valsha encountered the alien planet first time, she felt fear and pain for her friend who had died there. Now, her friend, whom she could no longer call anything else after what they had been through, was dying right in front of her, stirring up the mud and tumbling around. She wanted to open her mouth and drown, putting an end to this spectacle, but she forced herself to hold back, even though she didn't understand why she was resisting fate. But Alat was resisting. He arched, churned, and mooed, baring his teeth at the fish and writhing to free his wrists... He twitched his toes when thin seaweed got between them... Even as he died, he continued to cling to life, even if it was a life full of suffering and suffocation. Valsha lowered her head and pressed against the bars, closing her eyes as if trying to hold back her thirst for air. Her heart was beating too fast, and the dive was too rapid, but no matter how much she prepared herself, she would not be able to outlast the dragon and hold her breath longer than he did. Something seemed to be forcing her to open her mouth, causing her to release tiny bubbles. The toes on her hind legs curled up, and her feet curled under her, betraying her intense impatience, along with the fidgeting of her hips and the twisting of her bushy tail. Her belly sunk in a pitiful gesture, contracting as it lost its previous bloatedness when the poor wolf was first submerged. The dragon was no better off, with its eyes rolling back and its whining growing quieter as its mental state degraded back to that of a puppy due to the lack of air, which was only two meters above. Turning on his side, Alat saw this alluring proximity and the unimaginable distance that he could neither reach nor swim to, only to remain rotting on his native but mutilated planet, killed by those he had tried to protect. In frustration, the dragon buried its face in the ground and twitched its tightly bound wings, which ached from the constriction as much as its lungs ached from the lack of air. Valsha was also gradually losing her mind, growling with a bunch of bubbles and scratching with her claws, turning into a hunted but furious beast. Her eyes lost their focus, her mind became clouded with a sweet and hot haze, and her chest itched and sucked, tempting her to breathe... a little... Clinging to the cage and twitching her paws painfully, tearing the skin into the blood, Valsha felt that in a few more seconds she would be finished. She couldn't restrain herself from opening her mouth on her own, only the pain still allowed her to remain on edge. Alat was almost dancing in the seaweed and streams of water, only an ugly dance interrupted by small and large tremors. The dragon's moans became quieter and more pitiful, and the bubbles almost stopped coming out of his teeth and nostrils, only a few remained. But even in this state, even as he began to fall apart and lose consciousness, Valsa continued to admire him. The male could no longer resist the urge to breathe in, but the belt continued to tighten around his mouth, and he hadn't yet drowned, but now was the moment when he couldn't resist any longer. The female also shook her head and curled up her legs as much as she could, squinting and protesting. But the water still flowed into her sinuses and mouth, forcing its way into her throat and trachea, filling her compressed chest like an empty sack. Valsa gasped desperately, feeling the water swelling inside her. Her eyes rolled back, her body convulsed, and her fists unclenched... The dragon also lost the battle of the water element, coughing and roaring, but this time with water, calming down, twitching at first, and then simply going limp like a soft and quiet toy.