Draka

I woke to the sound of scraping and hushed chattering. It was in the middle of the night, but the moon and stars gave more than enough light for my sensitive eyes to see. Three small creatures had passed near my tree, and were now heading towards the building where the adventurers slept. The things walked on two long legs, and had small bodies with long limbs and large heads with big ears like toothy leaves. They were completely naked except for simple belts, hung with many small bags and pouches. I couldn’t see any colour in the dim light, but the wind brought their scent to me and they smelled of stone and something wonderful. Not quite like gold, but similar.

I was sure that the adventurers must have someone on guard at all times, but to be safe I got down from my tree as silently as I could and followed the creatures.

The things skulked around the building while I hid in the shadow of another. They were looking at windows, but all of the windows were shuttered. I still didn’t hear any alarm from inside, but maybe the things wouldn’t try anything?

I heard the door open, and the creatures froze.

“I will be right back. I just really need to step in the bushes.” It was Herald’s voice, soft and hushed. The door closed and I heard soft steps. The things had pulled out short knives from their belts. I saw Herald come around the corner, the creatures looking ready to jump her, and I panicked.

I roared. The creatures froze, turning to search for the new threat. Herald whirled towards the sound and screamed “Gremlins!” when she saw the creatures, jumping back and grabbing for the sword on her belt. Then things got chaotic.

The two gremlins closest to Herald leapt towards her, knives out, while she fought to draw her sword. The one at the rear instead ran around the back of the building, either to circle it or to flee. I heard the door slam open and Val and Makanna talking over each other. Figuring that I’d done all that I could to help Herald, and that the three would be distracted, I sprinted out of the shadow. I ran parallel to the back wall of the office building, keeping the running creature in sight, and when it turned the corner instead of fleeing I veered towards it. There was a short, decisive commotion from where I’d left the adventurers. The gremlin looked around the corner, seemed to think better of joining in the fight, and sprinted for the cliff face, presumably heading for the mine.

It didn’t sound like the adventurers were pursuing. I didn’t even know if they knew about the last gremlin, but I did know that I didn’t want it to reach the mine and possibly alert more of its kind. Hoping that no one had moved to where they could see me I used my wings to leap forward in a burst of speed, making for the cliff to put more distance between me and the humans before trying to cut the creature off.

“Shit!” I heard Herald shout. “One left!” She sounded rattled but not in any pain. Good.

“Herald, your bow!” That was Makanna.

“Not strung!”

“It flees in the dark,” came Val’s voice. “I cannot see it.”

I hadn’t reached the cliff, but the gremlin was far enough away from me now that I was worried I might not catch it. “Fuck it,” I growled to myself. I turned and headed straight for where I thought the mine entrance was, again using my wings for a burst of speed. I heard an exclamation from Herald, and then I was on the creature. I twisted my head and snapped my jaws around its neck, knocking it over and dragging it. It was light for its size, and dragging it by my mouth was surprisingly easy. Not knowing what to do I kept running, turning away from the cave and heading for the woods.

“What was that?” I heard Herald shouting from the camp. “Sorrows, what in all the hells was that?”

I didn’t wait to hear the others. I was amazed that anyone could see me at all in the darkness. I dropped down a small slope and was gone from their sight. The gremlin in my jaws hung limp. I probably snapped its neck the moment I grabbed it. I dropped it on the ground, the taste of its blood metallic and vaguely pleasant in my mouth, and cautiously stuck my head up to spy towards the camp.

The adventurers were gone. Two small forms lay side by side in the dirt a distance from the building, and the door was closed. I hoped that meant that they had decided to get some more sleep, but I kept my ears sharp while I looked over the gremlin that I’d killed.

It was female, that was easy to see. In many ways it looked like a small, misshapen human, but the face was very different. Almost bat-like, it had a flat, open nose, a wide mouth full of sharp teeth, and large eyes. I felt very little about killing it, and that disturbed me. Its companions had attacked someone I had stalked for a day. This one hadn’t even done that. They were clearly intelligent on some level, using weapons and tools, and I’d just decided that its life meant less than… what, exactly? My convenience?

I knew that I should feel bad, but I didn’t. I felt less than when I killed the goat. In fact, the dragon in me was rather satisfied and wanted to eat the creature, which was a step too far for me. I compromised by robbing it. Its belt was a simple piece of rope tied around the waist, but some of the pouches smelled very interesting. I couldn’t undo the string holding them closed, so I resorted to carefully tearing one open with a claw. Some small, spiky and angular pieces of metal fell out. I picked them up. They shone white in the moonlight, and when I smelled them it was intoxicating. Not like my coins, not even close, but this would do as a second choice.

I realised that they must be bits of silver. I’d never seen native silver before, but what else could they be? They looked like silver, they smelled nearly as good as gold, and they had presumably come out of that mine. Was it a silver mine, then, or had they had a lucky strike? Was that… I sniffed the silver, then the dead gremlin. Yes, that was the delicious smell I’d noticed coming off the gremlins. More importantly, did the other two gremlins also have bags of silver on them?

I got the belt off the gremlin by pulling it up over its torso. It was tough going and I winced when I heard bone snap as I tried to narrow its shoulders. I really should have felt worse about what I was doing, but I didn’t. Maybe the dragon was leaking in when I dealt with non-human creatures.

Once I had the belt off I hung it around my neck. It was far from perfect and I’d have to be careful so it didn’t slide off, but it worked.

I took a long, circuitous route back to the camp. When I got there I carefully snuck up to the two small bodies, and froze when I heard voices.

“...fine. I will be fine!” That was Herald.

Makanna answered, “Sure? I can go with you.”

“I am not going out in the dark with that thing out there! I will hold it!”

I hoped that Herald would forgive me if she knew that I had probably saved her life.

I checked the bodies but their belts were gone. Maybe it was common knowledge that gremlins carried around bits of precious metal. It was too bad, but there was the mine, and that was supposed to be full of gremlins. And they must be getting their silver from somewhere.

With that in mind I got back in my tree, settled in, and slept well.

“It’s time.”

I startled awake to my own voice in my ear, nearly losing my grip on the tree and having to catch myself from falling. Looking towards the camp I could see the group outside the building, getting their equipment in order. I left the tree and, keeping to the shadows, made my way closer.

“Final check,” Makanna was saying. “Make sure that everything’s in order. Buckles tight, swords and daggers secure. Herald, do you have the potion?”

The girl in question, who had been stringing and testing her bow, patted a thick pouch on her belt. “Here and safe.”

“Alright. The basic plan is simple. You remember the wolves, Herald?”

“I do.”

“Same idea. You saw the gremlins last night. They’re a little smarter than wolves and they use tools, but the same tactics should work. Might even work better in the tunnels where they can’t circle us. Val holds the front, I poke past him. Herald, you take shots past us whenever you see an opening. Simple.”

“It is a good thing that you are so short, dear sister,” Herald replied with a grin that was only half forced. Looking at them like this I realised that Herald would probably indeed be able to easily shoot right over Makanna’s head. She was even noticeably taller than Val.

“Funny,” Makanna replied drily and pointed to Herald’s hip. “That sword stays in its scabbard unless absolutely necessary, understood? If there’s a group of them I want you looking at the back and flanks, even if they press in.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Val, are you ready to go?”

“The sword is sharp, and the shield is buckled tight,” he replied. “All is as ready as it can be.”

“And I have the nest killer,” Makanna said, grabbing a large package on her belt. “Last thing, then. Come here, both of you. I want to take care of the light before we go in.”

Herald and Val both got close to Makanna, who put her hands on the exposed skin of their necks. She had an expression of intense concentration as they stood in respectful silence, and I thought that they might be praying. Then Makanna uttered a single word: “Sight.”

I hadn’t realised it until that moment, but a strange kind of light had been building in Makanna as they stood there. I could only describe it as a swirling ball inside her chest, near her heart, that I could see through her flesh. Now some of that light travelled up from her chest, through her arms and into the others. They both took on some of the same glow. Herald gasped, and when they all opened their eyes they had to squint against the light.

I sat there, stunned. Had I just witnessed magic? I had been open to the possibility ever since Guy healed himself, but there was something about seeing like this that left me awestruck. I’d never even suspected that Makanna might be capable of something like that, whatever she had done. Magic had never once been mentioned in all the conversations I’d overheard. Why not? Was it illegal? Was it taboo to speak about it? What could you do with magic? Could anyone do it with training or did you need to be special in some way? I had so many questions!

When I focused on the adventurers again they were already on their way towards the mine. That was fine. Except right by the cliff there was nothing but open ground between here and the entrance, and I needed to keep my distance to stay hidden. I could tell that the three were all shading their eyes, and guessed that Makanna had done something to help them see in the dark. Not needing to carry lamps or torches would probably be a huge advantage.

I waited until they had all disappeared inside the opening in the stone before I crossed the field to the cliff. There I snuck in close, then stopped and used my ears and nose. As far as I could tell they had moved in deeper, and so I carefully got right up to the entrance and looked inside. There was no one there, and I followed them in.

As I moved deeper the light faded, but my eyes adapted quickly. I couldn’t see perfectly by any means, but well enough, and once there was no more natural light the same bioluminescent lichen, or whatever it was, began to be visible on the walls. A good distance inside I found the group’s packs resting neatly against the wall. That made sense. I wouldn’t want to fight with a big, heavy backpack on either.

I could hear the sound of their footsteps ahead, and following them was easy. Soon the footsteps stopped, and I heard Makanna’s hushed voic.

“...should be here. Ten, eleven… twelve is there, thirteen over there. Ah, here! Fourteen. This is the one.”

I had followed them to where the tunnel expanded into a large hall. It looked like a natural cave had been opened up and extended. It was messy, even for a cave. There were tables and benches there, standing in fair order, as well as bags, picks and other equipment, but anything small, say, not too big for a gremlin to move, was dumped about the floor haphazardly. A number of tunnels left the hall, each with one or more symbols painted on the wall next to it, barely visible even with the lichen and my excellent eyes. The adventurers were entering one of the tunnels, alert and in the formation Makanna had set out earlier.

I learned an interesting fact here. Knowing languages did not allow me to read the symbols on the walls. There was a very real chance that I was illiterate in every language that mattered here, which didn’t seem fair. But I also had no access to any text, so it was more of an annoyance than a problem.

While I was pondering the inherent unfairness of magically acquired language skills not being perfect, I heard the snap of a bowstring, followed in rapid succession by a squeal and a scream, a second snap, some truly vile cursing from Herald, a third snap, boots slapping on stone, and silence.

"Fine shooting," Val said quietly, and the sounds of their movements picked up again. I followed, as close as I dared, and came upon two dead gremlins. One had an arrow in its neck, the other lay a little farther down the tunnel with an arrow in its butt and its throat slit. Both had belts with pouches, which I quickly looted. Now wearing three loops of rope around my neck, festooned with small bags, I wondered if these three might be able to pull it off without me. The plan had been to wait until they were in trouble and then offer my help in exchange for a cut of the loot or money, but I wasn’t going to reveal myself if there was a real chance of them turning me down. I could always try again. Even if that happened I was already doing great, though. I didn’t know how much silver I had in these little bags, but I hadn’t had any silver at all before. Besides that I had learned a lot from listening to the adventurers. For investing a single day I was very satisfied.

As the minutes dragged on and nothing happened, I thought that I wouldn’t feel too bad about bailing if I had to, and decided to risk getting closer to the group. With my claws pulled in as far as they went I picked up some speed and closed in until I could hear them.

“Loose stone. Alcove here… clear.” Makanna’s voice was a terse whisper, barely audible even over the sounds of their steps. There was a lot of that. There were a myriad of little side shafts running off the main one, where I guessed that the miners had found something worth digging out, and they had to check every one to make sure there were no creatures in them.

I had no idea how long we had been going when I got my chance. I had a sense of great depth, which I chalked up to the dragon just being able to tell such things. I was wondering about how the air stayed fresh this far down, and why it wasn’t flooded. Sure, the walls were damp, which allowed the shiny lichen to grow, and the air wasn’t great, but I felt like we should have been suffocated or drowned by now. Magic, maybe? Simple machinery? I hadn’t heard any pumps or anything but, again, magic?

My musings were interrupted by Val’s loud whisper.

“Two paths open. One more again on the right branch. Looks tight.”

There was a rustle of paper and Makanna spoke. “There’s no second branch to the right on the map. That must be where the gremlins broke through.”

“Should we go in?” That was Herald. She sounded excited, which was not at all what I would have expected, but I guessed that killing two gremlins had gotten her blood pumping.

There was a long silence. “Only two have been seen,” Val said after some deliberation. This clearly carried a lot of context that I didn’t understand.

“I agree,” Makanna said. “If we’re lucky, they’re sleeping and we can get the drop on them. Let’s go. Herald, watch our backs and then follow. I think you’ll need your sword in there.”

They moved on, and I continued until I could see the fork in the tunnels they had talked about. There were two proper shafts leading away from each other at a sharp angle, and a ways down the right-hand one there was a rough hole in the wall. Herald crouched outside that hole, facing down the mine shaft with her bow at the ready. The base of the hole was shoulder high on her, crouched as she was, and not very wide.

I tensed when I heard a soft scrabbling from the left-hand shaft. Herald must not have heard it, because she didn’t react. Then her posture changed. She froze completely, turning her head like she was listening to something, then straightened and fired her bow in one practised motion.

“Oh, Sorrows! Mak, I need help!” Herald called out as she fired another arrow and backed up.

I could hear screeching and scratching from the right-hand shaft, but there was a group of gremlins coming from the left as well. Herald tried to jump into the hole in the wall, but screamed and dropped back out, drawing her sword and backing up farther towards me. A gremlin was waving a short blade at her, and I could see a dark patch on her left thigh, below the skirt of her leather armour.

“Behind you! Mak, Val, behind you!” Herald called out while she fought. She cut down the gremlin in front of her but I could hear more coming, and she was backing up right towards the four sneaking in from the left.

I could have left there. I could have let them die, gone through their bags, and written the whole thing off as a partial success. Instead I roared “Herald! Behind you!” and charged.

The gremlins heard me coming, but it was too late to change my mind now. I bowled into them, biting and slashing for all I was worth, while the ones in front of Herald slowly pressed her back towards me. I hurt two of the creatures in my group badly with my first charge, but the other two recovered and came in with their blades. I didn’t know how to fight. I never learned how to in my old life, not really, but I didn’t need to. I felt their blades hitting me, but they clattered off my scales without doing any real damage. I fought on instinct, almost an observer while the dragon took over.

Herald was not doing well. She was calling out, for help and in warning, the edge of fear in her voice getting steadily sharper as the gremlins pushed in. I risked a glance and saw her still falling back, fighting and losing, limping badly on her injured leg. If she fell she wouldn't stand a chance, and there was no sign of Makanna or Val. I had to do something, so I risked everything.

I knocked one gremlin down by bashing it with my wing, and threw myself at the gremlin separating me from Herald, bearing it to the ground with my greater weight. I felt it stab me in the side and it felt like I'd been hit with a hammer, but I pinned it with my hands and raked it with one of my feet, and that was that. With a few loping strides I was beside Herald and then between her and the gremlins, which fell back in fear and confusion, menacing me uncertainly with a collection of small knives, picks and hammers.

"Behind you," I shouted, turning my head to face Herald for a second while I raked my claws at the little bastards like a cornered cat. "There's still one behind you!"

She stared at me in dumb fear, but a sound behind her made her turn, and that was good enough for me.

There were more gremlins in front of me than I could count in the dim light. More than seven? I’d read somewhere that you could usually tell how many of something you had up to seven. Male, female, big or small, all were armed and gathering their courage to close in on me, but none of them wanted to go first. There were too many of them. I, or rather we, since I hoped that Herald understood that I was on her side, needed an equaliser. We might have one, if I could only do this right. I thought that I had figured out the trick, but I hadn’t practised it. Worst case, I figured that I’d look scary.

I reared back, opened my wings as far as they would go in the cramped space, then threw my head forward and hissed while squeezing my venom glands as hard as I could. Noxious saliva sprayed out over the creatures, unfocused and ungraceful but instantly effective, hitting like tear gas in the narrow tunnel. The gremlins started screeching, coughing and rubbing at their big eyes, and in the confusion I threw myself at them, biting and clawing at anything in range. They tried to defend themselves blindly, but while I took some bumps and scratches the fight was almost completely one-sided. The last few at the back tried to run, but by the time they broke it was too late, and I ran them down by sheer momentum. All I needed to do was barrel into them from behind and step on them, and they’d be out of the fight.

I left behind me a tunnel filled with bodies and blood. The few gremlins that were still alive were moaning and mewling on the ground, and I finished them off as efficiently as I could. Beyond the dead Herald stood, leaning against the side of the tunnel with her sword held in both hands and pointed at me. The dragon did not like that. My blood was running hot, and she was threatening me.

She dares? The thought came from somewhere deep inside me. This frightened, injured child would challenge me? Did she not know that she was prey? Had she not seen how easily I destroyed the creatures that were about to kill her?

I had to fight to control myself. It wasn’t like when I was fighting, where my body seemed to move by reflex. Instead there was an endless spring of rage leaking into my mind. I wanted to hurt her. Maybe not kill her, but I wanted to show her who was the dominant one here, who ruled and who should serve.

“Put that away,” I growled. “I’m friendly.”

She didn’t believe me. I could hardly blame her. I heard the menace and restrained violence in my voice, and I knew what I must look like. Herald did her best to move into more of a fighting stance and to calm her ragged breathing, but her injured leg must be hurting her more now that there was a break in the fighting. I consciously tried to calm myself, relaxing tensed muscles and taking a few deep breaths. I folded my wings tight and sat back on my haunches, trying to look less threatening.

“Listen to me, kid,” I said, voice a little more normal. “I know that you can understand me. Your friends are in trouble, right?”

Herald shifted on her feet, eyes flicking all over me. “You can talk,” she said unhelpfully.

“Focus! Your friends?”

Her eyes went briefly to the tunnel opening. I could hear the sounds of fighting echoing from it, and I’m sure that Herald could as well.

“What are you?” she asked instead of sticking to the topic at hand.

“What does it look like?” I snapped. “I’m a fucking dragon. And I’m here to help, for a price. You’ve seen what I can do. Yes or no?”

There was another burst of noise from the side tunnel, and I heard a female voice scream in pain.

Herald’s eyes went desperately towards the sound. “Yes! Anything, yes!” she said almost instantly, and I knew that I was in. I could almost see her mind racing, going through the horrible possibilities of what the beast in front of her might ask of her, and I knew that she’d meant what she said.

“Gold, or silver,” I told her simply. “We can decide on the amount once the job’s done. I’ll be fair, don’t worry. Agreed?”

“Agreed!” she said quickly, relief plain on her face.

“Good. Can you move? Do you need to use a potion?” I very carefully asked this as if it was the most natural thing in the world, trying to sound like I was highly competent and experienced in these things.

Herald was already moving towards the hole in the wall. I couldn’t help but notice that while her sword was down, it was still out and pointed in my general direction. “It hurts like a devil, but I can move. The potion will take too long to do any good anyway.”

There was some awkward shuffling as we got close. She clearly didn’t want to get too close to me. I was very aware of the fact that I was facing a scared teenage girl with a sword in her hands, which she was at the very least competent with. I wasn’t keen on getting in range of that, and the dragon still being furious didn’t help. Unfortunately for me I knew that I would have to trust her to some degree for this to work.

“Can you shoot your bow in that tunnel?” I asked her.

She looked dubiously at the hole, then retrieved her bow from where she had dropped it. That meant that she needed to get close to me. She kept her eyes locked on me the whole time, flicking between my head and my forelimbs, and scuttled back as fast as her injured leg would allow once she had her bow. I held my breath and stood my ground, trying to look like the one in control here.

“No,” she said after holding the bow up to the hole. “Not well enough to be useful.”

That was a big relief for me. “I’m going to go first,” I told her. “I need you to call ahead and make sure that your friends don’t try to kill me. Do it now. Hurry!”

She took another look at me, then stuck her head in the hole. “Mak! Val! Hold on, I am coming!”

“Hurry!” came Val’s voice from the hole.

“I am bringing someone! She…” she paused and turned to me. “Are you male or female?” she whispered.

“Female, appreciate it, not the time,” I hissed back.

“She is not human,” Herald called down the tunnel. “Do not hurt her!”

I didn’t wait to hear a reply and leapt up in the tunnel. As I passed her I realised again how tall she was. I only came up to her hips when I stood on all fours, and the roof of the tunnel was low enough that I had to keep my wings tightly folded. Herald would probably have to crawl.

“Follow as fast as you can,” I told Herald, and then I was off. I couldn’t run, but I was sure that I could move faster than almost any adult human. I could hear Val shouting threateningly and the occasional slap of boots on stone, but no active fighting. There was none of the lichen in the tunnel, but it wasn’t particularly long and almost completely straight, so I could see the exit as a weak light. Near the end I stumbled on a dead gremlin, then found two more right where the tunnel exited into a huge, high ceilinged natural cavern.

The lichen grew thick here, making the cavern almost bright compared to the mine. It grew on the walls, on the ceiling, and on the multitude of stalactites, stalagmites, and pillars that spanned the vertical distance. Water dripped constantly, and I could see a large pool, almost an underground lake, that was lit up not only by the lichen but by a glow from below. Outside of the exit I could see Val’s back. He was surrounded by gremlins that circled him nervously, not attacking but unwilling to back off. The floor between them and Val was littered with their dead. I couldn’t see or hear Makanna anywhere.

I wasn’t sure how to proceed. The situation seemed clear. Makanna was out of the fight, gone, dead or injured. The gremlins wouldn’t let Val any deeper into the cavern, but they also weren’t likely to let him leave, so he couldn’t turn his back on them. Whichever way he faced, every so often one of the little creatures would try to sneak in on him, and he would whirl and lunge at it. It would back away, and then another one on the other side of the half circle would try the same thing. The many dead gremlins showed that they couldn’t take Val straight on, but he was constantly in motion, and they were many. Soon he would get tired and slow, and then they could get him.

But now I was there. “Don’t turn around,” I called from the tunnel and instantly regretted it. That was possibly the dumbest, most obvious thing I could have said in this situation. “I’m here to help. Herald is behind me.” I paused and decided to bring up the most obvious issue immediately. “I’m a dragon. Don’t do anything stupid!”

I saw Val tense, but to his credit his attention never left the gremlins, and he continued to keep them at bay. “What did she–?” Makanna’s voice came weakly from beside the tunnel’s exit, and I stuck my head out and looked around the corner. Makanna was sitting on the stone, her spear in one hand and supported under her armpit while the other covered a wound in her side. There was blood all the way down her side, pooling on the ground. A lot of blood. I couldn’t see any colour in the light of the lichen, but I was sure that her face would be ashen. Our eyes met…

Makanna swung her spear my way, and I wasn’t quite fast enough. It caught me on the nose as I pulled my head in and drew back, and it was only thanks to the length of the shaft that I got a smack instead of a cut.

“Ow!” I exclaimed. “Oh, you absolute bitch! That hurt!” I forced myself to stop whining and turned my head back into the tunnel. “Hurry up,” I shouted. “Your sister’s hurt pretty bad.”

“What? Mak! Makanna! Oh, hells, oh, Mercies…” I could hear Herald groaning as she picked up speed, crawling as fast as she could.

“Tell her not to try to stab me again so I can get out of this hole!” I told her as she came into sight, and she quickly complied.

“Mak, let her out! She’s friendly! I’ve got the potion, hang on, just… let her out!”

I turned back to the exit. “Alright,” Makanna said. Her voice was weak and tired. I saw the spear get pulled back and stuck my head out again. Makanna was looking straight at me, and we locked eyes for a moment. I couldn’t help but notice that the spear point was aimed right in my direction.

“Introductions later,” I told her before I jumped out.

I could have charged past Val, but the ceiling was high and I was in the mood to strike some awe into the creatures, human or gremlin, around me. Not waiting for Herald, I spread my wings and leapt up. Val stumbled forward half a step at the loud snap of my wings grasping the air, and the gremlins shrieked and scrambled away as I passed low above them. I climbed as high as I dared, circled a thick pillar, and came hurtling back towards the group. Some of the gremlins broke and ran as I swooped towards them, but they weren’t as agile as mountain goats and didn’t weigh as much, either.

I had always been an adrenaline junkie. Climbing and motorbikes fed into that. I’d gone bungee jumping plenty of times, done some skydiving and hang gliding, and tended to go way too fast for my skill level the few times I tried skiing. I had never been a stranger to taking risks, either to thrill myself or to impress others, so it seemed natural to me that I should come in as low and fast as I could, grab one of the gremlins, and then basically bomb it into the cave wall before turning away. The thing shrieked and howled as I snatched it, then went silent with a loud crack a fraction of a second after I released it. I felt nothing but a wild surge of joy. As I turned back the gremlins were in complete disarray, some fleeing, others trying to track me, and Val was among them, a whirling dervish cutting them down with every swing of his short blade, kicking and smashing with his shield when his rhythm didn’t allow a cut.

Herald was with Makanna, probably giving her a healing potion. I saw a group of gremlins come together behind Val, preparing to rush the girls. I screeched, a sound I’d never made before, and dove. The cavern seemed to freeze at the sound for a second before I struck the group like a hawk, braking hard with my wings and pinning one of them with my feet. Two of the group fled, and the last one caught a swipe of my claws to the throat. The one under my feet swiped at me with a small pick. The angle was awkward for both of us, so I took to the air, eliciting a gurgling shriek as I pushed off, and then simply dropped the unfortunate thing once I got high enough.

Then it was over. There were gremlins running in the distance, scrambling over stone formations and squeezing into crevices to get away, but the fight was over. Well over a dozen gremlins lay dead or dying. Val was kneeling by the girls, panting hard, and Herald was hugging her sister, who looked a little more lively.

I landed on a tall, broken stalagmite and let the dragon out. I spread my wings, raised my head, and roared. The sound filled the cavern, bouncing off the walls and echoing from every direction, and the humans stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me in fear and wonder.

Good, I thought, the human and the dragon in complete agreement, and I looked down on them and smiled.