The Hunter and His Dragon

A Choice to be Made

****Alec's POV****

They hunkered down outside the cave entrance, waiting patiently for any signs of life. The grass rustled around them as the branches swayed up in the trees. Bird calls were distinct up above. He could almost imagine the feathery animals asking why the dragons weren't up in the air enjoying the sky with them as per usual. Alec wished they would be quiet, but supposed their natural background noise would disguise any annoying whines —Clary— or sneezes —Simon— or even astute observations on the wildlife —Catarina— that we're made by certain members of the group. Only Magnus kept quiet out of the humans, and Alec was reevaluating why he didn't immediately think to bring Magnus along for this mission in the first place. Why they didn't use the plan he'd carefully concocted?

It's because he's a hunter, that's why, his treacherous mind told him. Of course a hunter could not be trusted. Not with the matters of dragon civilization, when so many lives could be put at risk if things were to go wrong. Father might scold you if he even knew you considered using his plan.

But Robert wasn't here right now, was he? Alec's heart was allowed the chance to explore feelings better left in the hazy mist of unknown and pushed back. It was dangerous to entertain some of those feelings. He couldn't tell for who it would be worse however.

Keep it to yourself Alec. Just keep it to yourself.

***Magnus's POV***

By no stretch of the imagination was Magnus a patient person. He would much rather get challenges over with as quickly as possible, rip the bandaid off so fast the pain could hardly be felt. But with hunting it was understandably different. There was a waiting game in the hours of the hunt as prey drew near. This prey would be of a higher caliber than he was used to, a trill of excitement pinging in him. This dragon almost killed Robert Lightwood. I'd admire him if he wasn't apparently worse. It was weird to term any dragon as worse than the king after what he'd done to his mother, but it happened nonetheless.

So Magnus waited beside Alec and the others.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

His eyebrow twitched as the day bled into night. Stars glittered on the horizon like prime jewels found on the market. They mixed with the sunset, winking off amber purple light. He might've found them beautiful if aggravation wasn't spilling out of his core and demanding satisfaction.

"What's taking some long?" He hissed under his breath.

Alec rumbled lowly, wings fidgeting behind him. Magnus had a feeling the prince wasn't much more patient than he was at this point. "How should I know? It's not like we know his schedule. This could be normal behavior for him."

Magnus gave him an incredulous look. "You can't be serious. That-that's absurd. Doesn't he need to eat? And drink? I can't imagine a food and water source is down in that dank cave for him."

Isabelle snorted. "You don't have to imagine, it is very much impossible. Scouts have scoured these caves in the past and the only thing they found was jewels and bedrock. I can tell a stream runs nearby due to how thick the foliage here is, but it's not enough to constitute a water supply long term. Especially not for a dragon. He'd have to go out for more water at some point."

"Huh. Interesting." Magnus muttered, taking the information in.

"More like amazing. You're so smart Izzy," Simon said.

Izzy keened in approval, dark eyes glowing as her red wings seemed to spark and dance with a fiery energy. He wondered what kind of power the younger Lightwood had. She didn't seem to take after Alec or their Father, and she didn't exactly resemble Maryse in scale tone, though the body structure was almost exactly the same.