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The weather had turned again. Dazinara looked up into the sky and watched the ever growing dark clouds. The winds that pushed them had a cold bite to them. They tore through Dazinara's scales and sunk into her skin.

She didn't like storms. For several different reasons. They brought bad memories. The lack of bright light took away most of the sheen of her scales. They were oftentimes too damn cold. A shiver ran through her body. Leaving the hill to the warmth of her cave was a tempting idea, but she was stuck on this hill listening to this man talk about knowing who killed Rakmelor and the guardians of the other territories. She looked up at the clouds one more time before looking back at Taren with a rustle of her wings.

Dark weather for a dark day. Fitting.

Darian scoffed. “What would the Kardeshans gain from murdering the dragons that protected them?"

Taren scratched his nose. “Nothing. They didn't murder the dragons."

Darian scowled. He took a step towards Taren. “Are you toying with us? First you tell us that the Kardeshans killed those four dragons, and now you're telling us that they didn't. I do not appreciate having my time wasted when there is someone out there killing dragons."

“I did not say that the Kardeshans killed those dragons, you did," Taren said as he raised his hands in a placating gesture, shaking his head slowly. “If you're trying to figure out what happened to these dragons, then stop letting your biases affect your conclusions."

Darian ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Look, this past month has seen nothing but stress for me. I'm tired and I just want to figure this all out. You're not helping me by running around the point." He looked over Taren's shoulder. “I'm not inciting any violence here, so I hope that you don't either."

Dazinara shivered at those words. She looked over at where the Ripclaw had been laying down. He had crossed half the distance between him and Darian with his ears pinned back. He nodded slowly at Darian and settled back down. As Dazinara stared at him, Ripclaw raised his head and met her gaze. She looked away and continued watching the argument.

“And just so you know, I am not biased." Darian had taken a step back from Taren, his jaw set.

“Your body language says differently." Taren said. “Why don't you tell me what you think happened to these dragons?"

“The Guardian Front." Darian said simply. Ripclaw raised his head to peer at Darian from behind Taren with his ears perked.

Taren's eyebrows raised momentarily before he tilted his head to the side. “The Guardian Front. What's that?"

Darian crossed his arms. “As far as I can tell, it's a mercenary band. I've found them in nearly every territory in my journeys, working with the dragons protecting the territories or uprooting them and becoming the guardians themselves."

“Is that against the law?" Taren asked.

“No…" Darian started. “No, it's not."

Dazinara did not know that. She looked over to Taren, who was smirking.

“It's not? Then why do you think it's this Guardian Front that's killing them?"

“Isn't it obvious? These dragons must have been difficult for the Guardian Front, and so the Front decided to kill them and harvest their bodies."

Taren sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And this is why I could never be a Slayer."

“Because you're unable to accept simple truths?" Darian asked.

“No, because they are too quick to judge in the favor of dragons. Do you even know why Terador founded the Slayers?"

Dazinara leaned closer. The Slayers had always been there; she never thought about their origins. Now that their origin had been mentioned, she was curious.

“Of course." Darian nodded. “Slayers were founded because too many people were finding reasons to kill dragons after the war ended."

Taren shook his head. “There were only two dragons murdered in the two or three decades after the war. A group of so called 'dragon slayers' took to burning villages and blaming it on the local guardians. Probably some old hunters trying to relive the 'glory of slaying dragons.' Since tensions were high, it was easy enough to believe that these dragons had been the ones to burn the towns. They killed the first dragon and collected the bounty on its head posted by the people of its territory. They didn't get to collect on the second dragon, though. A healer of one of the towns in this territory poisoned this dragon's food with a powerful paralytic and slit its throat. He watched the life drain out of the dragon."

“That's awful." Dazinara said. “Why would this man do such a thing?"

Taren gave Dazinara a sad smile. “Because the fires that the dragon slayers started killed the man's wife and unborn child."

Asher gasped. Dazinara looked over to find him staring at his hands. She leaned over to see if he had something in them, but Asher closed them into fists and nodded. He looked at Taren. “I'm sorry, can you continue?" Dazinara looked over to Darian and found him standing as he was before, with his arms folded over his chest and his jaw set.

“Where did you hear that story?" Darian asked Taren.

“From the dragon's mother."

The dragon's mother? Dazinara frowned. If she remembered correctly, the war had ended over five hundred years before. That would make the mother at least a thousand years old. She knew that dragons were long-lived, but she had not met many dragons that were much older than five hundred years.

“Well, the story was interesting, but I fail to see the point you are trying to make." Darian said pointedly.

“I'm sorry," Taren said. “Bad habit, I guess. What I'm getting at is that the Slayers were originally formed to be the executioners for dragons that have failed to keep the tenuous peace, after having been proven, without a doubt, of course, to be either causing harm to Terador's citizens, or trying to re-incite the war. Over the many years between then and now, however, the Slayers have been given more and more responsibilities. Now the Slayers are the only ones to determine whether or not dragons are guilty of what they've been accused of, and their punishments, in addition to being their only executioners. Which is fine, if they were completely unbiased, but so far, all of the Slayers that I've met have been biased towards the dragons."

Darian sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Okay, but what does that have to do with how the Kardeshans killed the dragons without murdering them?"

Taren laughed awkwardly. “I guess that part didn't. I'll get straight to the point, this time. The Kardeshans are involved in the deaths of these dragons, but nobody killed them." Taren turned to Dazinara. “When you escorted the Kardeshans, did they give you anything as a thank you for protecting them?"

Dazinara rustled her wings. “Yes, yes they did. A cask of ale. They said it was a part of their best batch so far."

Taren nodded. “Do you know the hazards of Kardeshan ales?"

Dazinara snorted. “Drunkenness?"

Taren smiled. “That is a hazard of all types of alcohol. No, the ingredients used that give Kardeshan ales their unique flavours thins the blood when consumed in large quantities. Depending on how much is consumed, the effects can last anywhere from three to five days. Which means overindulgence mixed with ignorance can turn into a bruise that could kill you."

Oh.

Oh, that's bad.

Suddenly, the thought of flying back to her cave terrified her. Perhaps she'll just curl around the oak tree with her figure and wait out the storm. What if it starts to hail? Would they kill her if they fell just right? Too many thoughts up on this hill with the gathering storm. She turned away from Taren and started walking. Her paws felt heavy and sluggish. She needed to quiet her mind. She spread her wings. She had to get away from—

Dazinara felt a hand on her chest, and her mind snapped back into focus. Asher was standing in front of her. “Hey," he said simply.

“Hey." Dazinara lowered her head and pressed it into his chest. Asher's hand left her chest and found its way to her cheek, rubbing it gently. His other arm wrapped around the back of her head and cradled it to his chest. “I don't want to die," she whispered.

“Shshshsh," Asher hushed her gently. “You won't. If I recall correctly, dragons are tough creatures. It'll take a lot to bruise you, won't it?"

Dazinara sniffed. “Yeah…"

Asher chuckled softly. “You don't sound like you believe it. You know, this is very unbecoming of a dragon. More ladylike."

Dazinara gasped and pulled her head from his chest, raising it as high as she could. “How dare you!" she screeched. “I am no lady." She lowered her head to meet Asher's smiling, kind eyes with a glare.

“No, I suppose not." Asher said, his smile not fading from his face. “You're a lizard."

Dazinara's mouth opened in shock. Once again, she reared her head back, and she could not stop the smile from forming on her snout. “Oh, that is it!" She placed her knuckle in the center of Asher's chest and pushed hard. He fell backwards with a grunt.

“Hey!" Asher tried to sound indignant, but he was laughing before he finished falling. Dazinara turned away from him as he was getting up and clipped his legs with her tail, bowling him over once again.

“Sorry," she called over her shoulder to Asher as she walked back towards Taren and Darian. “I swear, that thing has a mind of its own." She grinned at Taren. “Dragons are a lot like horses in that sense. Always be on guard around their backsides." Taren was watching the two with a warm smile. Darian barely glanced at her, instead focusing on Taren intently.

Taren laughed. “I'll take your word for it. I can't say that I've found myself around the backside of a dragon…" He looked past Dazinara. “I have much more experience with gryphons. They're bitey." Dazinara turned her head to see Ripclaw helping Asher to his feet. The black feathered gryphon whispered something into the man's ear. Whatever he said made Asher smile and nod. Ripclaw went back to his spot and settled down.

“Going by your reaction, I take it you partook in imbibing your gift of Kardeshan ale?" Taren asked.

Dazinara turned back to look at Taren and nodded. “Yes. It was yesterday. After I learned about…" She glanced over to Darian. He noticed her stare and met it with a grimace. “When I saw Rakmelor."

Taren's eyes softened as he smile fell. “Ah," he said. “You knew him. I am truly sorry for your loss. Death at such a young age is never fair."

Dazinara bowed her head to Taren. “No, it never is. Thank you. Can I ask that you help keep his name remembered?"

Taren bowed in return. “It would be my honor."

“Good." She turned to Darian. “You too."

Darian took a deep breath and released it in a huff. “I always remember their names."

Dazinara looked back at Taren. “What can we do about my blood? I'd rather not have it spill as easily as you say it can be."

Taren smiled. “Well, usually I'd say just wait a few days until your blood returns to normal, but since you are this territory's dragon, there are some herbs that can be used to counter the effects. We just have to go into town and talk to the local healer or herbalist, and they can figure out how to best help you."

“Well, you don't have to go into town to find him." Asher spoke up from beside Dazinara. He gave Taren a small wave. “Asher Reeves, at your service."

Taren clapped his hands together. “Perfect! What a…" His smile faltered. A small frown furrowed his brow. “Coincidence." He looked between Asher and Dazinara. “Hmm." As quickly as it appeared, the frown was replaced by a smile. “Well, would you be so kind as to go grab a cure for our resident guardian here? All you need is anything that is used to stop any bleeding condition. Actually, so we can do this as quick as possible, Ripclaw?"

Ripclaw raised his head to gaze at Taren, then he turned to look Asher up and down before nodding. “Very well," he deadpanned. “At least it's not your fat ass." He rose to all fours, ignoring Taren's indignant “Hey!" and walked over to Asher. “You've any experience mounting gryphons?" he asked.

Asher shook his head. “No, but it shouldn't be that much different than a dragon." Dazinara tilted her head to stare at Asher. Surely, he hadn't…she looked over to Taren. The man was coughing into his fist to stifle his laughter. A glance at Darian showed that even he was trying to hide a grin.

Asher hopped onto the back of Ripclaw before nodding to himself. “Yeah, just like a dragon."

That was it.

Dazinara fell into a fit of laughter. Asher looked at her with a frown. “What?"

“It's just," Dazianara managed between giggles, “you don't even know." Tears were rolling down her face. “How can you still be so innocent after ten years?"

Asher's frown deepened. “What? I don't…" He turned red. “Oh." Everyone started laughing.

Dazinara was breathless. “'Oh,' indeed. Triss would be offended." Ripclaw's ears swiveled towards her.

Asher gave an embarrassed chuckle. “You are awful, you know that?"

Dazinara nodded. “Of course I do. Now go get my cure. I don't want to worry about springing a leak."

Asher shook his head, still chuckling. “I guess that would be a bad thing, wouldn't it?" He looked down at Ripclaw. “Alright, we should get going." The gryphon gave a curt nod before spreading his wings and taking off with a running start. Dazinara watched as Asher and Ripclaw made speed towards Aldley. For a few minutes, they stood in silence, with the only sound being the rumble of thunder in the distance.

Darian cleared his throat. “We need to clear some things up before this storm gets to us."

Taren nodded. “Yes, we do."

“So you say that it's the ale that's killing these dragons," Darian said, “but that doesn't explain why I found them with their bodies harvested for gods know what. Are you saying that the Kardeshans are doing that as well?"

Taren chuckled. Dazinara peered at him. He almost looked nervous. “About that. It wasn't the Kardeshans that did that, that was—"

“DRAGON!"

A voice bellowed from behind Dazinara. She turned around with a frown. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. What was it this time? She glared at the large man in a dark red overcoat. A worn looking shortsword sat at his hip, and he wore a set of fine leather gloves that went up to his elbow. Gathered behind him was a crowd of townsfolk, their faces grave. One face she recognized immediately. It was a woman with red hair tied back in a ponytail. She lifted a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture with a smirk on her face. Dazinara narrowed her eyes at the man leading the mob.

“Yes? I am right here and I do not have hearing problems. You don't need to yell," Dazinara said dryly to the man.

“I can yell if I bloody well want to." The man jabbed a finger in her direction. “Considering we're here to have you step down from your position as this territory's guardian."

Dazinara reared her head back, her wings flaring out. They wanted to get rid of her? Why? She had protected them well enough in her last thirty years of service to the kingdom. She looked from the man to the crowd and back to the man. “What is the reasoning behind this?" she asked him.

A hushed curse made her glance behind her. Taren was glaring at the man from under her wings. “What are you doing?" he hissed under his breath. As she resettled her wings, Taren took a step behind her, as if he was trying to hide from the man.

“The reasoning is that you lack the morals to do your job correctly," the man replied with a sneer. A few people from the crowd shouted their agreement. “You caused a hard working family man to forsake his wife and child for your own devious intentions."

“That's ridiculous!" Dazinara growled.

“Is it? Have you not descended out of the sky throughout the years to take this man away on a whim?" the man asked.

“Yes, but—"

“And have you not taken him away at times for sexual gratification?"

Dazinara bristled. “That is none of your business?"

“No?" The man turned to the crowd. “Is it our business that our supposed guardian takes one of the people she's meant to protect away from his friends and family at random?" The crowd shouted a resounding “YES!" The man turned to Dazinara and shrugged. “The crowd thinks otherwise. We are here to ask that you resign as guardian. Besides, once you're no longer our guardian, you can whore yourself to whomever you—"

“WHISPER, NO!"

Dazinara couldn't determine who shouted that. She was too focused on charging the man in red. He drew his sword and rolled out of her way. The crowd behind him fled from her, screaming and shouting in fear. A sharp pain lanced across her side. She whipped around to take a swipe at the man, but a small black stone with brightly glowing runes landed in between her and the man and let out a deafening bang.

Dazinara flinched away from the noise, her ears left ringing. Darian stepped in between her and the man that she had attacked. The thought struck her violently, that she had just attacked a man for little to no reason at all. If she had a chance to refute the man's accusations, it was gone now.

Her side ached. Dazinara winced and moved her paw to it. She froze when she felt a warm, sticky wetness underneath her pad.

Oh no. Slowly, Dazinara brought her paw up to her eyes. A small line of blood streaked across her palm. Not good. Hesitantly, she looked at the wound in her left side. The man's sword had managed to leave a thin cut along it. She looked around and saw the crowd now standing a good distance away from her. That was it, she had lost her role as protector of her territory.

After Darian had finished making sure the man was alright, he walked over to Dazinara, stopping momentarily to pick up the small black stone, which he quickly pocketed. “Are you okay?"

She shook her head. “He managed to cut me."

Darian frowned and examined her wound before laughing. He lowered his voice. “As if that will kill you, thin blood or not. Asher will be back soon and have that patched up in no time. But first, we have a crowd to appease."

“I don't see why there is a crowd to appease in the first place." Taren said from the other side of Dazinara. He walked around to her. At first, she thought that her aggression had scared him, with how white he had gone, but he didn't even take a glance at her. He was glaring at the man in red. She now understood why he had not bowed under Darian's intense presence earlier.

The man's face went slack. “T-Taren? What are you doing here?"

Taren let out a humorless laugh. “That's funny. I should be asking you the same thing." He took a step towards the man and the man took a step back. “Go deal with the crowd," he said to Darian. Darian frowned at Taren before turning to the crowd.

Taren continued. “Or, I should be asking 'why are you convincing these people that their guardian is unfit for duty?' or 'why did you goad this dragon into attacking you?' I have so many questions for you, and I have no clue where to start. No, wait, I do. What's your name?"

“I uh," the man played with glove, his other hand moving stiffly. “It's Liam."

“Liam." Taren clicked his tongue. “What were Merrick's orders for you and the other men?"

Liam glanced back over to the gathered crowd. Darian had approached them and was calming them down. “It was, uh, to observe and report the activities of this territory's guardian and wait for further instruction."

“That's what I thought they were, so why did you ignore those orders and act on your own and—stop playing with that blasted glove!" The man dropped his hands down to his sides, and something clicked in Dazinara's mind.

“Take them off." She growled at Liam.

“What?" Liam croaked.

“Gloves. Off." She stalked her way towards the man, her tail flicking behind her. She leaned in until she was inches away from his face, a deep growl in her throat. “Now." Liam blanched and started to remove the gloves slowly.

She was right. Liam's left hand was horribly scarred. It looked as if something had eaten away at it. She motioned Taren over to take a look. “Ah, he's here for me. I have to ask you why you know him later. This man's a bandit."

Liam's face went from white to nearly purple. “We were out—"

Taren cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Why do you say that?"

Dazinara grinned at Taren. “Now it's my turn to be roundabout. Do you know how dragons 'breathe fire?'"

Taren nodded slowly. “Technically it's not 'breathing fire.' It's some sort of internal secretion that they spit."

Dazinara nodded. “Yes! That's exactly it. There is something else that it does as well. Rakmelor showed me this after I told him he was being far too cruel to the bandits he caught." She picked up Liam's left glove and gathered a small amount of bile in her mouth, just enough to coat her tongue, and she licked the fine leather.

Nearly immediately, the glove started dissolving. It gave off a foul odor as it liquefied. Taren grimaced. “That's gods awful. I don't think I'll ever let a dragon lick me now."

“If a dragon wanted to lick you, they'd lick you. You wouldn't really have a choice in the matter. Now," Dazinara turned to Liam. “I am going to take you back to the crowd and let them know that a bandit was trying to overthrow their guardian, and you'll lose credibility. It's hard to follow a bandit." She placed a paw on the man's back and pushed him back towards the crowd.

“You still attacked me. That's hard to forget." Liam protested.

“One roadblock at a time." Dazinara replied.

“One wh—' Liam started, but Dazinara shoved him forward, causing him to stumble to his knees on the ground in front of the crowd.

“So it appears that you have been led by a bandit." Dazinara called out to the crowd. A few of the people sneered at Liam as he scrambled back to his feet, but others still looked at her.

“But you still have ruined the sanctity of one man's family," an older man called out from the crowd.

As she opened her mouth to respond to him, a child's voice called out from above.

“DAISY!"

Dazinara looked up to see Ripclaw circling above her. Soon he dove downwards and the same voice let out a shriek of glee. The gryphon landed smoothly and trotted up to the gathered crowd. He now had a bandage wrapped around his head, hiding his missing eye from view. He also had an additional rider. The young girl with a shock of curly red hair slid down Ripclaw's back, dashed over to Dazinara, and hugged her foreleg.

She lowered her head to press her forehead against the child's. “Hello, Angie."

“Did you see me?" The girl let go and bounced on her toes. “Daddy let me fly on the gryphon. He's pretty, isn't he?" Ripclaw let out an indignant sounding squawk which Angie either ignored or, didn't notice. She leaned in and whispered. “Don't tell Mommy. Daddy didn't ask her if I could go."

A smile worked its way onto Dazinara's face as she looked up at Asher, who was approaching her with a small burlap sack in his hand. “Oh, I won't tell her, but I think she already knows."

Angie looked up at Dazinara with wide gray eyes. “Can she read minds too?"

Dazinara chuckled softly. “No, I think she's just a healer."

“Oh." Angie said as she nodded. “Okay." Her eyes lit up. “Oh! I'm gonna be a sister!"

“I know, your father told me. Are you excited?"

“Mmhm! He's going to be the best big brother ever."

Dazinara frowned. “He's going—"

“Someone get that child away from the beast," called a voice from the crowd. Dazianra jerked her head up to glare at them, a growl rising in her throat. A hand rested on her shoulder. It was Asher. He stooped down to pick up Angie.

“I leave for five minutes and you gather a crowd of unruly townspeople. Can I ever expect you to not cause trouble?" Asher asked dryly.

“Never," she shot back. She looked at the crowd and scowled. “It seems someone has been riling them up today."

“So it does. What's the issue?"

Dazinra jabbed a claw in Liam's direction. “Him." She said.

Asher stared at the man. “Still trying to cause problems?" He turned to address the crowd. “Like I told everyone at the Inn, I am not being kidnapped against my will by Whisper here."

“We know that!" An older man shouted from the crowd. “We're here because it's tearing you away from your family with its dragonly wiles."

Asher laughed. “Dragonly…" He set Angie down. “Go play with Ripclaw." He stood up and nodded to the gryphon. “Watch her, will you?" He asked before turning to the old man.

“I have a few issues with what you said. First of all." Asher held up a finger. “Whisper is not an it or a beast." He held up a second finger. “Secondly, where's this proof that she's tearing my family apart? Actually, I have proof of the opposite."

Liam sneered at Asher. “And what proof would that be?"

Asher gave Liam a long stare before answering. “Some mighty convincing proof." He raised a hand and beckoned someone from the crowd. Dazinara smiled as the woman she had seen earlier pushed her way through the crowd over to Asher.

“You are all saying 'proof' too many times to be comfortable."

Asher chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. “Sorry 'bout that. So why didn't you stop this unruly mob from forming, Rachel?"

Rachel shrugged. “Wanted to see how deep of a hole he could dig for himself before I had to step in." Her face scrunched up in a frown. “It's a shame D–Whisper was stopped before she could maul him. Would have made for good practice." Asher turned white, and Rachel gave a tinkling laugh. “I still don't know why you married me with that aversion to blood you have."

Asher smiled weakly. “As if a little blood could stop me from marrying you." He looked over at Dazinara and his face went slack. “You're bleeding." It was a statement devoid of emotion.

Dazinara lowered her wings to hide the wound. “It's nothing."

Asher shook his head. “No." He took a staggered step towards her. “No, it's not nothing. Let me see."

Dazinara frowned and took a step away from Asher, her tail lashing behind her. “Are you okay?"

Asher stopped and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I'm fine, I just need to—"

“Hey, Ash?" Rachel called out. Dazinara looked from Asher to Rachel.

Gathering underneath her feet was a mass of shadows.

And like that, Rachel was gone. The shadows yawned open and swallowed the woman whole.

A silence filled the hill as Dazinara stared at the spot that Rachel had been standing moments before. She shook her head. No. No, not again. She looked at Asher who had fallen to his knees.

His mouth open and closed, but no sound came out.“Rachel?" he croaked in a hoarse voice before turning to Dazinara. “Where did she go, Daz? She was...she was right there."

“Mommy?" Dazinara turned to look at Angie, who had stopped playing with Ripclaw to look for her mother. Dazinara's heart seized in her chest as she noticed another mass of shadows forming underneath her godchild. The shadows didn't get her as Taren pushed the child towards Ripclaw, who caught her before she could hit the ground.

Taren was the next one to get swallowed by the shadows.

Someone in the crowd started to scream. One turned to many as the mob scattered and fled. Liam was the next to go. A shadow devoured him as he ran away. Asher hadn't moved. He had sunk down, his hands hanging at his sides and his chin tucked into his chest.

Dazinara took a step towards Asher, but her foot found no purchase on the ground. She tried to reel back, but soon another foot lost ground. Desperate, she flailed for anything to grab ahold of, but nothing was within reach. Before she could even get a sound out, she was enveloped by darkness.

***

Dazinara was unaware of how long she tumbled through the void. Was it hours, days, or minutes? There was nothing she could use to mark the passage of time. She tried her fire, but it didn't ignite in this place. She could do nothing but think.

It was torture.

The scene from before she fell played over and over and over in her head. Rachel, Taren, both lost to the shadows, and Asher! How could she get his despondent figure out of her mind? Now he was going to turn around and find her gone as well. Her heart broke for the man who lost everything. No, not everything. He still had Angie.

But at what cost? Taren had traded places with the child. He didn't even know Angie and yet he had sacrificed himself to save her. That settled it. If Dazinara ever made it out of this place and found Taren on the other side, she would have to thank him.

An action like that earned him her name.

A light bloomed in front of her. A way out. She flapped her wings towards the light. Like hell she was going to bleed to death in the darkness. Just a little bit further and—

She was out.

Dazinara tumbled in the open air, the world spinning around her. She hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Stars swam in her vision. Someone familiar was standing in front of her. Someone with kind eyes.

“Asher," she said, her head still swimming. “Asher, what happened?" Before she could get an answer, darkness swallowed her vision and consciousness fled from her.