Zephyria was woken by a very confused and unhappy Asher fumbling about from beneath her wing. She lifted it up and checked on the man, he flinched hard from the bright light and shielded his eyes. "Are you alright Asher? You told me you drank poison last night and I was very concerned." Asher rubbed his bleary eyes and leaned on Zephyria for support. "Aye. Alcohol. Fairly normal, but I had far too much. Ugh, I can't remember last night at all. I didn't say anything embarrassing, did I?" Zephyria gave the dragon equivalent to a shrug and just said, "I wouldn't know, I was here the entire time. You only came to me after you found the beds at the inn less comfortable than my own greatness." She paused for a moment. "You called Conall 'wolf boy' and then called him cute. I do not know if that would be considered embarrassing but it did seem out of character given your treatment of him so far." Asher blushed red, "Dammit. I hope I didn't make him uncomfortable. I can't entertain that kind of thing and drunken flirting never ends well." Zephyria tilted her head, "You cannot pursue a mate? I understand we are on a mission but I would not hinder such an important thing." Asher blushed even harder, and waved her off. "I'm too hungover to explain discrimination to a dragon. Later?" Zephyria nodded slowly, confused but trusting the man.

  "You still look ill, Asher. Is there a cure for this 'hungover' illness you're struggling with?" Asher gave her a funny look, "I thought you read a bunch of books in your cave, Zeph. Did none of them really talk about alcohol before?" Zephyria felt embarrassed. "No.. the few that did did not explain anything or go into any details. I read what I could pillage, much of it was aimed at hatchlings." Asher responded gently, "Never thought about it like that, makes sense really." Asher looked outside at the mid morning light and winced. He gritted his teeth and stomped out from the converted stable. "To answer your question Zephyria, maybe if we had a magical healer but those are so absurdly rare and expensive it wouldn't be worth it. A good meal and some water and I'll feel better with time." He sighed and shielded his eyes from the sun. "I'll go see if our coin even works down here and try to buy breakfast. Should I try to get you anything Zeph?" "I will eat whatever it is we are hunting today." Zephyria said making Asher wince again. "Dammit, we were supposed to do that weren't we? I hope Conall isn't too upset waiting on us." He sighed, rubbed his face one more time, and set off for the inn's interior. "I'll get something to eat and track down Conall. Wait here?" Zephyria just rested her head back down and fell back asleep almost instantly.

  "Zephyria? You awake?" Asher nudged her nose. With an annoyed growl she lifted her head and saw Asher and Conall both armed and armored with heavy seeming bags on their backs. She spoke with confusion in her voice. "I hope you don't expect me to carry any of that." Asher laughed, "No, no. This bounty is just going to leave us in the wilds for at least one night, probably two." Asher waved for her to follow and they walked on the reflective polished dirt roads towards the edge of the eastern edge of Rannoch.

  As the group reached the edge of town, Zephyria finally asked "What is our prey? No-one has told me yet." Asher rubbed the back of his head, "Right, sorry." He glanced at Conall for a brief second with clear embarrassment. "With the events of last night I'm scattered today." He took a deep breath and focused. "We're hunting two different prey, one of which is optional and only if we deem the risk worth it. The first is our biggest concern, more goblins. Apparently they are in larger and larger numbers lately and they need to be culled. The second smaller concern is some bandits. The guild wants information more than they want them dead, so if we can at least find them that will satisfy the contract. If we kill them and provide the location they'll send someone from the guild to check and then give us a bonus." Zephyria bared her fangs at the distance and gave a draconic smile. "Then let us hunt the mortals as well."

  The group kept a brisk march as the hours dragged by, the grasslands surrounding Rannoch slowly shifting into a sparse forest. The time was spent by Asher and Conall chatting about history and discussing magic theory. Zephyria wasn't terribly interested in any of it but still chimed in when asked. Instead she was just enjoying being out in the open again, no fear of breaking something by opening her wings or having to manage her tail, no breaking the artful roads either. By the time the sun was getting low the two men were walking nearly should to shoulder and laughing while telling old stories. "And so I'm staring at certain death, more iron wolves than anyone's ever seen in one place. And to our backs a river too deep and fast to swim! Our only lightning mage runs into the massive pack and gets killed within seconds. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, an terrifying roar comes from across the lake. I turn and I see a blood red dragon, so I think to myself, 'Ah. So this is how I die. A useless fire mage with an incompetent party. Stuck between a pissed off hero slaying crimson dragon, and an impossibly large pack of Iron Wolves.'" Conall gasped, "How did you get out?" Asher rested a hand on Zephyria's side thankfully. "As it turns out the dragon was blood red, because she was literally soaked head to claw in blood! After saving us she threatened us into doing her bidding. She had me pull an arrow out of her flank she couldn't reach and then washed off in the river. Imagine my surprise when when the blood washed away to reveal Azure scales." Zephyria butt in, "I remember that, little one. I stepped out of the river and the first thing you did was compliment my scales." Asher laughed and gave Zephyria's front right side a few slaps. "We've been traveling together since."

  Even Zephyria could tell Conall was captivated with Asher. The wolf man said breathlessly, "That's amazing. I doubt another person alive could share a story as unique as that." Conall looked to the pair and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been traveling together? You two are so close now, I have to imagine this must have happened years ago." She gave the dragon equivalent of a shrug and said, "Keeping track of that sort of thing is a mortal activity. I've lived at least a century, likely longer. Months and years are the same thing to me." Conall only looked mildly surprised by the answer. Asher nervously rubbed his neck and shrugged off the question. "Its been long enough, I guess?" Conall gave him a suspicious look but before he could pressure Asher for more information Asher changed the topic. "The sun is setting but I'm not really sure where we are, Conall, should we set up camp here or push on a little longer?" Conall put a hand to his muzzle and thought about it, "We should keep going for now, the report for the goblin den isn't that close and the trees have been getting denser, we'll be safer if we're more concealed. Stay on guard from here on out."

  The trio stalked through the rapidly darkening forest until Conall was satisfied. He found the group a small clearing and they made camp. Conall and Asher started a small fire in the center of the clearing, and Zephyria laid down around it. The former warlock looked at the sky illuminated by a bright moon and commented, "Looks like a storm is coming through. By the Patron's grace it will be gentle. If all goes well just some wind and rain." Conall looked to Asher with concern. "I didn't wish to make you feel belittled earlier, but I did notice you're lacking a tent or shelter. Are you-" Zephyria interrupted Conall with an unnerving Draconic laugh. Conall puffed up and looked like he was about to snap at Zephyria but deflated sadly after a moment. He mumbled something to himself that Zephyria couldn't hear and Asher looked embarrassed saying, "Conall, this is a big misunderstanding. She's not leaving me to sleep in the rain, she thinks its funny that you think I need a tent at all." He turned to Zephyria who had the smuggest look on her face. "Quit giving him that look you egotistical beast." Asher marched over to the still extremely smug dragon, lifted her wing, sat down by her side, and then tugged at her to pull it back over. Zephyria continued to stare at Conall smugly. "My human doesn't need a tent. You do. Enjoy the rain, wolf." Asher punched her in the belly futilely so she lifted her wing and nipped at him with a rumbling purr of amusement. "Quit antagonizing him, Zephyria! He was just trying to help." Asher said with honest annoyance. Conall finally said, somewhat embarrassed, "Erna told us you were sleeping together... But when she phrased it like that, I thought she was pulling my tail. I didn't realize she meant literally." Asher just laughed and laughed.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Eventually the trio settled in for the first night of their shared adventure. The mortals snacked on trail rations and sipped from their canteens. As the air chilled, the wind whistled through the trees, and the moon was hiding behind a cover of clouds Conall retreated to his tent to weather the night and Asher sheltered beneath Zephyria's wing. Zephyria on the other hand was thrilled to be out in the elements. In my many years I've never seen a storm like this. Thunder echoed in the distance, rattling Zephyria's heart-flame in a way that caused her to purr in pleasure. Rain was starting to come down in sheets on her, though she felt no discomfort. The storm is charged with lightning, I can feel my heart-flame resonating with it. I wish I didn't have to shelter the little one from this, what I wouldn't give to soar through those cloud and feel the charge crackle across my scales. There's something different about this rain too, invigorating. Zephyria was lulled into a deep sleep beneath this invigorating and soothing storm. She found herself dreaming of flying through a storm with biting whipping winds and intense lightning arcing constantly. She few freely and without reservation, and then she noticed an unusually scaly but familiar mortal upon her back, its claws slightly dug into her scales for support. Her heart-flame thrummed with the power of the storm. Lightning directly struck the pair eliciting a roar of delight, then-

  "Zephyria! Dammit, Zephyria!" Asher shouted at her. She woke up confused, grumbled, and growled out quietly, "I was having the most wondrous dream. Why did…" She opened her eyes all the way and took in her surroundings properly only to see far more mortals than there should have been. Beside her Asher had his blade drawn and was next to Zephyria's head protectively, Conall was near her back guarding her as well. "I told you to not wake your damn pet up! Now I'll have to muzzle the damn dragon beast by force. You could have made this easy on yourself boy, but noooo you just had to get the animal involved."

  Zephyria growled and stood up to her full height, towering over the mortals around her. She growled deep and low, several of the mortals surrounding them involuntarily taking a step back. She stared into the eyes of the man who had called her a pet and snarled out, "The first time a mortal called me a pet he was a fool who thought I was an entirely different, lesser, creature. But you. You have no excuse to mistake a dragon for anything but a force of nature to which you pray does not turn its fury upon your pathetic little life." Zephyria's heart flame was crackling with power, even the flame itself felt different. More electric. She didn't focus on it, instead she channeled that power into her entire body. Her claws and fangs crackled first, little snaps of lightning cracked between her horns, even her very scales gained a charge. She charged up a bolt to instantly destroy the fool who thought she was lesser, thought she was a pet!

  The man got out a single word, "wait-" before a thunderous crack of lightning took him straight in the chest throwing him backwards, audible crunches followed as he tumbled. Zephyria snarled at the other mortals in a fury. Before she could leap forward and rampage she felt a warm palm upon her side, lightning crackling between its fingers but not hurting it. The puny mortal that dared to touch her spoke- No. Her human, spoke. "Zephyria, focus. Don't let the anger control you. We're stronger together." Zephyria took several panting breaths before finally convincing her body to take a slow calming breath. The dragon's rage cooled but didn't dissipate, instead it hardened into an iron focus that she could use.

  She softly nodded to Asher and he let go of her side. Studying her enemy she found eight mortals in a evenly spaced ring around her. The mortals seemed well armed and healthy, but even Zephyria could tell it was mismatched and collected from a variety of sources. She felt Conall brush against her back as he took her right side, making sure she had a guard on each side of her. Asher shouted at the mortals, "You are the bandits of the Redfeather Woods, correct? You have a choice, surrender to the authority of Rannoch or fight us now. You do not have the advantage you think you do." Zephyria growled and snarled at the mortals, but didn't attack.

  Luckily for her, one of them was brave enough to rush a pissed off dragon. She swung a paw out and sliced through the mortal's arm and torso, the lightning in her claws coursing through his flesh causing him to convulse for a moment. In that moment two of the eight bandits dropped their blades and ran away in opposite directions while the remaining five rushed at the trio with a cry of fear and anger. Zephyria heard the clang of swords from her right as Conall engaged one, to her left she saw Asher take on two of the bandits at the same time, which left her two to handle first.

  Her two foes were very different, one had a heavy suit of armor and a large blade, the other a bow and seemingly no armor at all. The archer ran back a few paces and started to draw while the heavily armored one rushed her. She fired a quick bolt of lightning into the armor expecting it to course through the metal, but the armor just glowed for a moment before returning to a normal appearance with the man inside not even slowing down. Zephyria took the alternative option and pounced upon the mortal, crushing it beneath her weight. She quit bothering channeling into her claws and tore at the armor, rending it open with harsh shrieks of metal, until the screaming mortal inside quit making noise. The archer was given the time to let her arrow go, and it sunk into Zephyria's shoulder. She stoked her heart-flame and fired a blinding bolt at the archer, causing it to jerk hard once and then fall over.

  Zephyria turned to help Asher first and received a throwing knife to the muzzle, cutting her nose very slightly as it clattered across her scales and fell to the ground. Zephyria saw that it was one of the two that had run, apparently it went for gear or grew some scales and decided to fight. Beside Asher was a dead bandit and he was still engaged with the other one the two caught in a standstill duel. The knife thrower looked at her dumbstruck for a second before drawing another knife and throwing it at her face. This one didn't even cut her. Let out a rumbling growl of sadistic amusement and then leapt upon the man, along the way she swung a wing out startling the mortal Asher was dueling letting him land a crippling blow upon its leg. The knife thrower crumpled under Zephyria's weight with a crunch its chest caved in and it never moved again.

  Silence overtook the bloody battlefield they called camp. Zephyria stood there panting from the strain as Asher walked up to her and just leaned against her as well, his breathing hard. Conall stepped into their view and surveyed the fight. "Eight dead, one ran away." Zephyria bared her fangs in triumph. Conall sighed and pushed his fur from his eyes, "I killed one. One! By the Patron's Claws, you two make a terrifying team." Asher steadied himself and spoke, his breath still hard. "We need to track the last one, the contract wasn't for the bandits but wherever they were holed up." Zephyria nodded, accepting this. "We must honor the dead first, little one." Asher sighed, "Same deal as last time?" Zephyria gave a sigh back but nodded reluctantly. Neither wanted to engage in the others rituals right now. Conall looked between them confused. "I'm missing context. What do we need to do?" Asher held up a dagger, pommel first and said with fatigue lacing his voice, "Do you want to start carving the dead up for their hearts, or do you wanna dig a big hole?" Conall looked disgusted, but looked between the blood soaked dragon already digging a pit with her claws and the knife being held to him. He grabbed the knife.