Before any of the pirates could take another step, one of them suddenly screamed, "Hey!" They all stopped, twisting their bodies to see what was happening. It was the pirate that was guarding Alex that shouted. It was cause I caught Alex trying to make a run for it despite his sword threatening her. But the pirate managed to snatch her after making about a few steps, and he was now behind her, this time holding her hostage with his arm around her form, along with his blade around her throat!

Voss scolded that guy with a scowl on his face, "Bloody hell, idiot, ya almost let her get away!"

One of his buddies barked, "Yeah, Olaf, keep her under- Arrgh!" He held his pained side when he fell backward and hit the ground with a thud. I had the dagger in my hand, stained with crimson as it dripped. I decided to take this momentary distraction and stab that guy in the side, maybe close to the gut. The rest of the pirates all returned their attention to me, then stared in surprise at their whining comrade lying on the earth.

My eyes were still wide, shocked at what I did. My god, what did I just do?! I never stabbed a guy before!

This is a real human being...Not some practice dummy...

What am I thinking?!

I'm trying to protect Alex, that's what!

"Ack! Fuck!" The pirate on the ground shouted accusingly at me, glaring as his hand was holding his side, "You yank, you STABBED me!"

Voss shook his head as he placed back his angry attention on me, "Shouldn't have done that, lad...KILL HIM, MATES."

I gasped, readying the dagger. Great...Now what do I do? I didn't have time to think. A couple pirates charged towards me with weapons bigger than mine. One swung his sword in a fast downward motion. I dodged, my butt landing on the grass, before his pal swung down his ax and I dodged that too by rolling away. I caught the same pirate in time to have me boot him squarely in the nuts. He dropped his weapon, groaning as he held them and fell to his side.

I crawled fast a bit further away, then quickly stood up. But as soon as I got on my feet, Alex, while still held captive at the same spot she's at, screamed at me, "DART, LOOK OUT!"

Then suddenly arms wrapped around me from behind. Another pirate had snuck up from out of nowhere while I was busy a second ago. He shouted as I grunted, "I got him, I got him!" I struggled when I saw the one pirate that had swung his sword down at me was coming towards me, ready to kill me this time around. I managed to kick up my legs, with one foot high enough to hit the advancing pirate at his head since he didn't have time to react. He fell on his back. Then I slashed the top of one of the arms around me with my blade. The guy behind me cried out in pain, turning me loose, then I elbowed him hard in the face. He toppled over too, clutching his face, moaning about his nose.

I staggered away from the two laying pirates and caught sight of my sword still lying on the ground at the same spot from a distance. But I still couldn't get to it cause now I was face to face with Voss, his sword at the ready as he was quickly on me. He snarled, "Ya arrogant son of a bitch! Hold still and die!!!" I put on a brave face, not showing any fear, gripping my dagger tightly in my hand. I can do it...I can do it.

Oh god, I HOPE I can do it!

I thrusted the small blade, but the ringleader recoiled his body. Then Voss actually took advantage of my mistake, and kicked the darn thing out of my hand. I gasped. Crap! Alex screamed for me again nearby, "WATCH OUT!" I jumped back to have Voss's sword miss me by a meer second. The sword kept slicing air in front of me, again and again as I was taking steps back. He lurched a bit further than before and swung once more, that time the sword was trying to reach for my neck. But I ducked low, the bladed weapon barely scraping a string of my hair.

Voss shouted in rage when he brought his weapon down. I rolled forward as he struck the ground. When I stood upright and focused back on him while he regained his stance, Alex cried, "BEHIND YOU!"

I whirled as quick as I did, finding one of his pirate buddies had recovered, swinging down their sword. I tried moving backward fast-

My female companion shrieked, "NOOOOOO!!!"

But I was too late. I was groaning after I collasped on my back, shutting my eyes from the sheer pain I never felt before in my life. SHIT! Damn, that hurts! Then I quickly looked it over, seeing this long gash that was right down from my shoulder to across my chest, the red from the wound starting to stain my shirt. Looking at it almost made me faint. I clasped at my wound when it still hurt like a bitch. Oh gods...This is ten times worse than a wooden sword! I gasped as I looked up at the five chuckling pirates. Uh oh...

They've circled around me, seeing that they've won. One of them still has that stab wound in their side with their hand placed on it, and another's nose is bleeding, perhaps broken. But those two didn't seem to care about their injuries. They were fighting through the pain, just too gleeful to have me be killed to ignore them for now.

Voss taunted, "Should have ran away, ya sly bastard." His buddies chuckled at that. The ringleader began to raise his sword, ready to make the killing blow, "Let this be a hard lesson to ya." I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for it to end. Well...I knew how this would turn out. Least I died with dignity.

Mom...Dad...Heather...I'm sorry.

All of a sudden, a roar sounded throughout the area. I snapped my eyes open. Oh crap. It sounded like it was REAL close. The pirates that were around me all have their surprised attention to where it came from. When a couple of them moved aside for me, I can see something big, scaly, and blue, coming out of the woods into the clearing. I knew what, or to be precise, WHO, it was right away.

What? Her again?! I was desperately crawling away with my one hand and the other one on the big cut on my body, since I had a massive feeling I knew where this is going. Celine had her narrowed eyes laid on the pirates, her long tail flicking behind her. They all gasped at the mere sight of the dragon. One of them pointed out with his finger at her, "DRAGON!"

Another shouted out in surprise when I made it to the edge of the clearing to lay around and watch this unfold, "Where did it come from?!"

Voss then commanded with ferocious intent, "Well kill it, ya halfwits! KILL IT!!!"

Celine hissed and lashed her tail in response. I saw one of them rush straight at her without a second thought, which stupidly had the female dragon swipe her paw hard and knock him away. He didn't seem to get up after that. When three more charging idiots came at her, Celine spun around, tail swung. One ducked below it, but the other two weren't so lucky. They flew a bit thanks to her tail till they hit the ground. She then snatched the ducked pirate by the leg with her huge jaws, and TOSSED him away like a ragdoll. I watched him scream loudly before he smacked against a tree with a horrid crack, his body slumped down right after.

Voss, who didn't act like he wanted to back down from this one bit, not even with his fellow pirates all ending up dead, yelled, "Ya fucking gecko! YER DEAD!!!!!" With a battle cry, he foolishly ran straight at her with his sword stretched out, wanting to plunge it in her chest. But Celine wasn't gonna let it slide. She decided to send him to hell by burning him alive with her flames. Voss was screaming in agony, spinning around, hopelessly looking for a way to end this horrible outcome, and collasped face first to the ground, dead.

Celine was breathing heavily, snorting at his fastly decomposing corspe. Then she snapped her eyes onto the last pirate standing, Olaf as the others called him. He still held Alex hostage, paralyzed with fear. Thanks to that, Alex finally broke free from him and came to kneel beside me. The pirate didn't move one bit as the blue scaled dragon waltzed calmly over to where he stood with no sympathy shone on her face. I can barely hear the guy pleading and begging for his life with his low tone.

Celine lowered her head down to his level without taking her eyes off him. Then, she said a few words with threat in them, "GET OUT OF HERE."

Olaf did, running away, screaming pretty loudly with his arms up high. The lone dragon watched him leave as she raised her head back up. Even after I could no longer see him, I can still hear him shrieking with terror...Till I could no longer hear him.

Celine finally turned to me and Alex, the only humans left standing around here. I can hear the astonishment in Alex's whisper to me as the dragon began to pad to where we were, "She came back." I held some suspicion in my eyes, certainly wishing internally that she didn't. What is this? Was there some kind of ulterior motive with her all along? I don't see Ly anywhere. Was she actually working with Messina all along and has already brought Ly back to the fortress, and has come to take us there too?

Or maybe...She's here to kill us too. Is that what she's going to do?

I didn't have much more time to tunnel through my thoughts as Celine now stood in front of us. She asked while we looked up at her and she looked down on us, "Are you two all right?"

Well...This is different than I thought. Alex nodded after a moment, "Yes...We're fine." Then she eyed at my wound concerningly, "I think..."

I demanded, "What are you doing here?" I winced with pain when I tried to get myself to stand up but fell back on my butt, "I had everything under control."

Celine rolled her eyes, her wings folding on her back, "Yeah...I certainly see that you had absolutely EVERYTHING under control. Pretty much did a good job handling these boys. And as for what I'm doing here...Well-"

"Dart! Alex!" To my utter surprise, she wasn't alone after all. Ly also returned, bounding happily out of her hiding spot from the edge of the battle. She reached and stood beside the bigger dragon, her eyes staring happily at us, "I'm so glad to see you guys again!" My eyes were already wide and so have Alex's. So, she's here too! What's going on here? Then the hatchling glanced around at all the dead pirates, then looked up at Celine in confusion, "But uh, Celine...I see more humans on the ground...And one of them ESPECIALLY doesn't look so good. They all look dead. Did you kill them? Why did you do that? I thought you weren't going to do any more killing...Except hunting animals."

Celine shrugged her shoulders, "Well it's not like they decided to run away. I thought of it...But they did something foolish like attack me, and I had to end their lives. Also, it was to save the friendly ones. Besides, I let one live. Least I had pity for one. He looked like he was about piss his pants."

I'd be too if I saw my friends die in front of me. Alex actually smiled. She spoke gratefully, "We're severely grateful you came back and did what you did. Thanks again."

"Don't thank me." Celine's blue tail gestured at the hatchling near her, "It was all HER idea."

Ly said proudly, "I've convinced Celine to take us back to you guys!"

I frowned at Ly without uttering a word. YOU did?

Alex said, giggling deeply, "You did?"

Celine confirmed that with another roll of her annoyed eyes, "Obviously."

"But it's a good thing, cause I think friends should stick together!" Ly explained, "We're lucky you haven't got too far away. We managed to make it back to the meadow where we left you and Celine followed your scent. How sweet is that? Gee, your scent probably smelled as sweet as flowers cause she didn't complain about it. And now we're reunited! Course I foresaw we would and I wish it was much more sooner than now since I wanted to find you guys SO terribly! You have no idea how much I was already missing you!" She went up and started rubbing her snout on my face, "Oh I'm so happy to see you especially, Dart!"

"Ly! Stop it." I let out a sharp, pained groan when I pushed her away.

Ly backed off with concern held in her eyes, "...What's the matter? Aren't yo-?" Then she gasped when she seemed to have finally noticed my wound, "Dart! You're hurt!" Then, after having to stare at one dead pirate for less of a second, she tilted her head at me, "Did these dead humans do that to you?"

Celine sighed, "Yes, Ly. That's why I had to kill them...Except one, just a reminder." I thought grimly upon her words, remembering a minor detail about the pirates. I wished you didn't let one go. You don't know what you've done.

Then the yellow little dragon remarked as Alex helped me on my feet with my arm around her shoulder, "Huh...I guess they've been very bad...Just like Messina."

I replied irritatingly to that, "Yes, and they were about to hurt Alex as well. I was trying to protect her."

"Didn't look like you were doing it tremendously." Celine lowered her eyes to inspect the cut, "Are you ok?"

I snapped, "What do you think, dragon?"

She pointed out, "Well...I see you're wounded, and you're still breathing, so...."

I growled like a dragon at her. Then Alex answered, "It's a bit bad, Miss Celine."

Celine corrected her, "Just call me Celine, thank you."

"Sorry." Then Alex went on, "That cut is not pleasant and he is bleeding. We don't have anything to help him, we need to get him to a healer and soon. If not blood loss, he might also die from infection." I mentally had that image. That isn't a very dignified way of dying.

Ly said worriedly, "He will? Oh no, no, no..."

Celine rose her head above us and said, "I don't know if there's a village nearby. It might take forever to get him help."

I said, lightly shoving Alex off, "Well, besides that problem, I think we should quickly get far away from here. Like, right now." My hand waved towards the dead people, "More of those guys might come back."

Ly sucked in a breath, her wings spread, "MORE bad humans? Really?"

Celine shook her head, "I doubt it. If that guy I scared off knows better, he won't be coming back with help. I think we're safe."

I shook my head, "No, you don't understand-" I grimaced when I moved my shoulder.

Alex said in agreement, apparently seeing what I'm thinking, "Dart's right, we better leave now."

The blue scaled dragon argued, "Look, I know you want to get him to a healer sooner than later and all, but I think we oughta try to help him out right now. Who knows how long he'll last like this without anything? I told you, we're safe now. No one else is coming."

I told her with a serious look on my face, "We just told you we don't have anything to help me. Besides, you obviously haven't heard a single thing about these guys. I hear they're not to be underrestimated."

But she just shrugged with a forepaw, "So what? They're just normal human beings. Big deal."

Ly interjected, "Well, I'm so ready to get away from here. I don't want to meet any mean humans that might come back, and I realize I don't like being around dead humans for too long. It makes me think about Dart and Alex...Dying. And I REALLY want Dart to feel TOTALLY BETTER so he can be happy and less grumpy again. I swear I think I'm having a vision of him DYING like Alex says in the future!" Her claw pointed towards the nearby dead pirate, "It's about as real as that meanie!"

Alex asked with a quirked brow, "What are you talking about...Visions?"

"Oh, please don't get her started with that." I moaned, "We don't have time to argue about this." I trudged past the dragons with Alex for my bag and my sword from a distance, "We need to get as far away from here as possible now. Alex, get my dagger."

Alex refused with a shake of her head, "No, I'll grab our stuff, you go grab the dagger."

Celine let out an annoyed huff as she spun around. Then she offered, coming over to us, "Alright, alright, I'll carry the stuff, you worry about the dagger and Dart." Alex nodded at that, then went to where my dagger landed.

"Oh! Oh!" I watched Ly volunteer as she came over as well, "Can I carry the bag? I wanna help! Please?"

Celine spoke in a disgruntled tone, her wing shoving at my stuff, "Fine. Go grab it." With a 'yay', Ly ran over to where the bag and the sword are.

I demanded with a serious expression, "You know...I thought for sure we were done with each other?"

Celine simply replied, wings ruffled, not making eye contact, "...So have I."

Don't appear that we are.

Very soon, all of us made tracks away from the aftermath of the battle. I walked through the woods alongside Alex and Ly while Celine just took the lead. Each time I moved, a small pulse of pain coursed through my body. This certainly was the worst pain I ever felt in my life. Sure I got knocked out by a dragon, twice, and felt sore from it, but this was different. Makes me wonder if my dad ever got hurt in his adventures. If he did, did he actually whine about it? I can't see that, he never mentioned with his stories that he whined about it. But I am, despite my best efforts not to.

I suppose I suspected that I'd get hurt before I tried running away from home, but I guess I haven't pictured it'd be THIS soon. Or be THIS painful. I haven't exactly pictured killing a human being either. Well, STABBING a guy is more accurate, I didn't kill anyone. But still...It was quite shocking. I thought maybe I'd only be fighting dragons and not feel a thing, I didn't plan on ever stabbing or killing another human being. It just felt kinda wrong...As wrong as walking along with two dragons that I was supposedly done with.

I know dad had fought against a person before, to save someone else or to protect himself from some jerk that bothered him, or maybe a few of them at a point or two, but I'm wondering if he ever felt that way before also. But maybe that was the point of it. Doing something you never did before was nerve wracking and traumatizing, but then the more you do it, the less you feel about it. Maybe when it came to killing dragons, perhaps it felt like the same thing. Only I think that was ridiculous. I don't think THAT bothered him much.

For my sake, I hope I don't have to fight any more people for a while. Heck, even a bunch of dragons, I know how that went the last time. I seriously could've gotten myself killed. I wanted to protect Alex, I didn't want to die like a pathetic man in front of her by not doing anything, dad would've been against it, but then again, fighting at the cost of my life was crazy and he would think so too. Heck, mom and Heather would've thought so as well. I don't know how to fight, I've gotten lucky for a little bit, like I kinda have when I fought with Gunther at the village before that scary night. But I knew I wouldn't have been able to beat all the pirates. I'd be shocked if I managed.

But it was worth it at the end. As shocking as stabbing a guy was, even when I didn't plan on stabbing another person during my journeys, it was the right thing to do. She is alive...And so am I. Barely. And the pirates are all dead.

Well...Not exactly. I know there are more. I'm certain, other than Alex, that there were a bunch more than six. And I do hope we don't run into any more of them. The reason why me and Alex urged that we get away from that clearing as fast and far as humanly possible in the first place was, according to the stories from my father, The Bloodthorn Pirates aren't exactly the forgetful types...And they tend to not let go of stuff, when it came to one of their own dying.

I think you can understand the gravity of the situation unlike Celine. She didn't understand it at all.

If she never did, boy would she be in for a shock.

I was looking off the trail as we continued to trek in the night. But that was the least of our worries, for now, considering the problem we're facing. I needed help and soon, but I'm not sure where the nearest village is, or if we're far. Celine did have a point...It could take forever to find help. I kinda knew how to heal myself, but I'm no expert, and noticing how bad the cut on my chest is...I think that's beyond my capabilities. I sincerely hope we find some way to help myself, or find help at all. I want to stay alive and protect Alex.

Then I glanced at Ly, with the bag of apples hooked around her neck, who did not notice me staring at her. Then I looked towards Celine now, still strolling, her tail swishing and with one of her wings holding onto my sword stuck in the holster by the belt. My eyes were filled with distrust. If I died, and she stayed with the dragons...I can't be certain if she'll survive without me. Anything could happen with them.

We found a big rock for me to sit on, figuring we had walked for a very long time and were far enough away of that clearing with dead pirates. I sat down beside Alex, shaking a bit thanks to my wound being exposed to this chilly night. Ly planted her haunches in front of me, leaning forward, gazing directly at my horrid slash. She reeled back with a scrunched up face after staring at it for a second. She said, "Yuck...That's gross."

I actually found myself chuckling at that, "Well no one says you can look at it, Ly."

Ly playfully smirked, "That's right. No one did." Then it was wiped off her snout to show a face with worry and concern, "Are you ok?"

I answered with a grunt, grasping my wound again, "Just feeling hurt."

She commented, "It LOOKS like it hurts...A LOT." I just blinked in a pained expression. SURE DOES.

Celine sighed after placing my sword on the ground nearby. Then she faced all of us, "Alright, we're far away from that spot. You feel safe now?"

Ly exclaimed, throwing her gaze at her, "I DO! No dead humans and live angry humans around...I'm good!"

Alex got on to the serious topic, "We gotta help Dart. He's still bleeding."

I reminded her, "But we don't know where a village or a nearby healer is. We don't know where to go." I winced and moaned once more from pain, "We're totally screwed."

Alex lamented while Ly stared at me with worry, "Oh...If only the dragons we escaped had some things that we would've took to heal your wound."

I remarked, "I doubt if they had any. Messina didn't count on healing us because of stupid stuff, probably in her words...Or healing one of her dragons for that matter. Not like they get hurt most of the time."

Then Alex suggested, gesturing to Celine, "Well, we could let her take us to the sky and-"

I utterly refused with a wave of my hand, "No, no, no way. I'm not letting a dragon carry me again. I don't know about you when you rode on her back, but I've gone through that twice already in someone's paws and it's always frightening."

Celine stated with a snort, "Gee and I thought you had fun with our last flight."

I shot her down with a glare, "That's right. Keyword. LAST. I'm never flying with a dragon again."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I don't feel like carrying a whiny person again."

I'll give you whiny, you bitch.

The yellow hatchling proclaimed in relief, "Thank goodness! I didn't want to grab Celine's tail again anyway. It's not a comfy place to be at!"

Celine stated, "I didn't feel like getting dragged down by a chattering hatchling also so we're on the same page."

Ly said, "I'm glad. I didn't want to get left behind all alone here either." She glanced warily around herself, "It's kinda creepy around here at night."

Then Alex protested, "But we won't be able to find help quicker if we don't do it the quickest way. We have to fly!"

The yellow little dragon actually agreed, "On second thought, flying sounds great. I'll grab your tail whenever you ask me. Or I'll just ride on your back and hang on for my dear life up there. Let's just help Dart get better!"

"Unforturnately, Alex, I'm afraid I agree with Dart on this one." Alex and I looked at the big female as she went on, "But for different reasons. We escaped from Messina's fortress and her dragons could be scouting for us from above. If we take flight and if any of them are nearby they'll certainly spot us. It's too dangerous to fly. That is if they don't spot us below out in the open, which we're not right now."

I sighed. Oh great...I didn't think of that after we escaped from that fortress. Messina wouldn't let us all go. She'll probably do anything to prevent us from foiling her plans. Even sending her troops out to find us escaped prisoners and do the dirty work for her.

Ly's expression went wide as she nodded a few times, "Oh yes that's right, I forgot! We cannot let Messina catch us! I don't wanna be grounded again!"

Alex worriedly asked, "Then what do we do now? I don't want him to die. A noble hero like him doesn't deserve it." I was grinning at her words. Huh...Hero. That's a first. You have NO IDEA about me, Alex.

Ly looked concerned again, her wings sagged, "I don't want him to die either. There has to be a way to help him." Then she shut her eyes real tightly, her talons on one paw at her temple, trying to find another vision I imagine, "Maybe if I can see another vision..."

Alex looked confused again upon this at first, then she added, "We gotta patch him up somehow, try to put pressure on his injury."

I looked around the area for a bit, before spotting a particular tree across from us. I pointed at it, "Those leaves on that tree...They look big enough to cover it."

Alex and Ly looked towards the tree. Ly stated amusingly, "Wow, that was fast. You sure they'll help?"

Alex answered, smiling a bit, "They might. They may not be some magic solution that heals all wounds, but they may do it." She raised a finger to suggest, "But we'll need something to tie them up."

"Wait a minute." The blue older dragon cut in, having us look at her, "Don't use the leaves yet."

The silver haired woman demanded in surprise while Ly cocked her head, "Why?"

Celine thought for a moment, before she stated, "...I think perhaps we may have something that'll help heal the wound."

I frowned, "Huh? How? Is there something I don't know?"

Celine stated, "Well...Technically me and Ly have the solution...I THINK."

Ly reared back her head in surprise, "We do?"

Alex tilted her head confusingly, "You do? What are you talking about?"

Celine didn't answer. Instead she instructed as she came over, nudging Ly with a paw, "Move over, little one." Ly got on her fours and stepped aside, letting Celine take her place.

My brow still wrinkled, I asked after she planted her behind on the grass, "What the heck are you doing?" I watched Celine raise both her forelegs. She took a deep breath with her nose and let it out, then she used her talon...And made a cut on her front leg. My face went wide. What did she do that for?

Ly gasped as Celine's face showed some slight twinge of pain, "Did you just hurt yourself? Why are you doing that?"

"Calm down...I'm not going to die." She smeared some blood that was oozing a bit from her cut with the same paw that made it. When she appeared to be ready for...Whatever, she lowered that smeared paw of hers down till it hovered in front of me. She advised, "Just hold still." Then she pressed it against the painful cut. I grunted as she began rubbing it all over the wound. My form was moved a bit cause of the pressing movements of the dragon, but I kept motionless as much as I could, even when her paw was making me move a bit.

All of this still left me basically confused. I don't get it...What is she up to? This some kind of dragon trick? Celine was finally done and pulled her limb back. I examined the wound. It appeared she smeared her blood all over it, besides some of mine still stained on my shirt and skin. Then the big blue dragon ordered Alex, "Ok...Now you can patch it up."

Me and Alex looked at each other for a moment. She shrugged with her hands, then got off the rock and jogged over to that big leaf tree. She picked a couple of them off and ran back over. Meanwhile I was tearing a sleeve off my shirt, thinking this will help tie the leaves to my body. Then me and my human companion got to work on patching up the cut. I held the leaves while she tied them up, while Ly watched on with relief and Celine just stared at us without showing much emotion.

With our hard work finished, I took a deep breath. Well...This will have to do...For now. Celine let out a tired yawn, "Well...I guess that's all done. Now, since we're all safe and sound, let's try to get some sleep."

Ly whined, "Aw, now? But we just reunited with Dart and Alex. I have so much to talk to them about."

Celine simply stated, "And I'm getting tired from going through all that trouble, including killing some people, so I need some shut eye, and all of you should too. They won't be going anywhere."

Part of me got a gut feeling with the way she worded it, that something ain't right. I narrowed up my eyes suspciously, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just saying she'll see you guys in the morning." I blinked twice in response. If you say so... She started turning her body, "Can I sleep now? I'm ready to go to bed."

I demanded before she could walk off, "Hey hold on...What was all that about?" Celine eyed me, her eyes asking me what I referred to. I pointed at my leaf-patched injury, "This. Why were you smearing blood all over it?"

Alex stated confusingly, "Yes, even I don't get it."

Ly shrugged with a paw, "I don't get it either."

Celine craned back her head and sighed tiredly. She commented, "I was hoping I'd tell you this tomorrow, but...Fine." She looked at us, wings flattened on her back, "It was supposed to help your wound heal. I think my blood, dragon blood, has strong healing."

All three of us were surprised about that. What? I didn't know dragons have that. I, the only one, spoke it, "Really? How'd you come to realize that?"

She actually smiled and brought up, "Didn't you notice that I used to have red cuts on my body? I had them when we first met, but now they're healed. Didn't take them no time at all. I've seen it happen before, on me, and another dragon. Of course there still can be scars, depending how bad the wound is, but most of the time they disappear almost quickly. I figured if that can happen to me, I suppose it could happen to a human. That was the whole point of it. Just thought I share some blood to try it out."

"Wow..." Ly praised, "That's incredible. I didn't know that." Then she added when she thought, "But I never get hurt, so that explains why."

Alex was astonished about this too, "Me neither. I didn't know a dragon's blood can do that."

I said, surprisingly curious about this, "Have you ever done this before?"

"No." Celine answered, "In fact I never tried it on anything. I don't believe there is a guarantee. Sharing blood with a lesser creature is a bit off with nature. It's a good thing you're patched, or else who knew if it'd work?" I shot my head to the right in agreement. Ok...That makes sense. Then my distrust and paranoia started flaring up, my hand placed on the leaves on my chest. I hope it doesn't affect me negatively. Since it is dragon blood, who knows what it can do to a person if it touches someone's skin or an open wound?

Too late to think about that now...

Ly said hopefully, "Well I hope it does work on Dart. Cause it sounds very cool."

"We'll just have to see." Celine said with a huff, "Ok, enough. I'm tired, now goodnight." She finally headed over to a spot that she quickly found and slowly lowered her belly to the grass. She laid her head, curling it around herself, with her tail flopped too.

Ly tilted back her head and yawned as well. She looked at us with a tiny smile, "I think I am too. It has been a long day."

Alex smiled at her in return, getting up off the rock. She said, strolling over to lift the bag of apples off Ly's neck, "Me too. Time for bed." Ly was smiling to pieces, seemingly still happy that she's around me and Alex again. Mostly me I'm sure. Although I still didn't feel too comfortable about this reunion. My human companion turned to me when I softly grunted from that twinge of pain, after pushing myself off the rock as well. She asked, "You gonna be ok sleeping?"

I replied with a sure nod, "Yeah, I think so. Probably gonna feel sore all night."

Ly honestly apologized about it, her gaze around Alex's form, "Sorry again that you're hurt, Dart. I really hope you get better. Anyways...Goodnight." Then she padded off for a spot to lay on like Celine.

Alex said, her tone filled with gratitude, "Thanks again for being brave again and trying to help me before Celine showed. You did alright." I made a tiny smile when she looked around a spot to lay around too. You're welcome. Glad I didn't DIE for you. I've got VERY lucky tonight. I placed my hand on my shoulder, my palm touching one of the bandaged leaves. Well...I'll have to get comfortable laying around with this injury.

Why did my third night away from home have to be like this? One night I had to sleep in a freakin dungeon, now here comes this pain two nights after. And I'm sleeping near dragons again when I was beginning to get used to sleeping without them last night.

Why do I always have the worst luck?

*****

Messina roared, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THEM?!"

Her black scaled guard shuddered from the sudden fear she gave him. He responded, "I'm sorry, your highness, but we have been looking everywhere all night last night and all day today."

"And yet you STILL have not found them?"

He continued, "No. They don't seem to be around the smokey lands, they must be at the farther reaches from here by now."

Messina yelled, "Are you kidding me?! They're already out of the area! Blast it all!"

The guard apologized, "I'm sorry...It'll probably take us a bit to look for them."

The one eyed queen snarled and stamped her paw to the floor, making the drake quiver, "Then why are you in my room talking to me with bad news? Haven't I gave you FOOLS enough an order to keep looking?! Get back out there and don't come back here again till I see all their heads on a platter. Yes, for all the trouble they're putting me through, giving me a MASSIVE headache, I am granting you the order and all you idiots the order now to KILL them!" But then she raised a claw, "But bring back the hatchling alive. If I find HERS on a platter, I'll toss you in the lava myself! UNDERSTAND!!!"

The black guard stammered, nodding multiple times, fear dripping off his scales, "Y-Y-Yes, ma'am!" He spun and ran out of her room, his tail disappearing out through the opening.

Messina growled, trampling over to the mound of jewels. She plucked one diamond and threw it across her room against a wall, shattering it into pieces. She shouted angrily, the sound reverberated on the walls in her room, "FUCKING BRAINLESS SALAMANDERS!!!" Her ears can hear that it echoed in the hallway outside before it went silent.

The queen dragoness breathed heavily. She wasn't kidding around that she was STRESSED out by all this crap. Between four prisoners having escaped from her talons and are far enough from her home that they must've reached the lands much better than hers by now, and with the fact that those same prisoners had killed a few of her subordinates, and fearing they might give her some more trouble in the future, like ruin her plans, she's gotten a VERY BAD HEADACHE.

Then a moment later, she sat down, and taken a deep, relaxing breath, her talons rubbing her temples in circles. Get a grip...They won't cause her any trouble. Nothing much more than they've already given her. She dropped her forepaws back to the floor, and looked out the balcony to see outside from where she sat as her tail slid around on the stone floor. They're just one hatchling, one adult dragoness, and two puny humans. Even when they're together, they aren't a match for her and her legion of dragons, not even that defiant blue dragoness and that son of that dragonslayer are strong enough to stop them. Sooner or later, her troops will find them. Messina then made a toothy smirk, chuckling deviously within her throat at the meer thought she's having. And she can't wait to see those heads on a platter. She also cannot wait to mount them on a wall. Maybe in her room? She doesn't have any trophies of her reign in her room. Besides her LOVELY treasure.

Oh yes! That's perfect! She can admire her treasure AND her victims at the same time in her room! She can sleep well if she sees those particular faces every night. Ah, that'll be nice.

A voice cut through her AMUSING thoughts, "Messina?" Her ears perked, bringing her eyes towards a new lone dragon standing at the opening within the darkness. He said, "You want to see me?"

A smile crept along her lips. Messina responded, "Ah, yes, my FAVORITE assassin. I've been expecting you. I was going to try to inform you, but I was too busy. And I'm HARDLY busy. Have you heard about the escaped prisoners?"

The dragon replied, "Yes. I heard all about it since I got back. Quite an odd predictament you're in."

"Yes, indeed...Don't remind me." Messina rolled her eyes disapprovingly, "Most certainly the WORST." Then she grinned at him, "But...You might be the one that'll quickly solve the problem. You are the best tracker SLASH assassin within my tribe."

The hidden dragon replied with a sure nod, "Just give me the order, and I swear I will put an end to this mess at once."

Oh, she knows he will. She knows he can pull off the jobs she lays on him very smoothly. Messina commanded, "Go find the prisoners, the blue dragoness and the two humans, and kill them so badly that they WISHED they hadn't tried to escape me. But bring back the hatchling, will you? I don't want her dead, I want her alive. I cannot stress how important she is to all of us...To our cause against humanity. You get me?"

He bowed to her, "Consider it done." With those final words, the shadowy dragon left. Messina started chuckling, before tossing her snout back and laughing very loudly, her laughter echoeing probably down the hall outside her quarters.

Oh...This will make things MUCH EASIER for her.

And much more QUICKER.

Now they'll have a hard time surviving out there. When they meet the assassin, they'll fall before they'd even lay eyes on him.

Looks like trophies will be served VERY SOON.