"It sure is too bad that we didn't camp out last night!"

  The grumble that Rina got in response was just loud enough to be audible over the rush of the air.

  She ignored it and pressed on. "I mean, we missed the rain, cold food, a colder morning... Really, you were right Ness. We could have had such a great time!"

  That was too much for the young huntress to take silently. "All I said was that if we were there early, we might catch a herd of deer out in the meadow!"

  "Oh, right." Rina nodded in exaggerated agreement. "It's only, what, a quarter of a morning's flight out here? Easy enough with a pack full of venison."

  The smaller huntress's scowl deepened, and she beat her wings harder, trying to gain speed. Rina laughed and matched her pace, her longer wingspan easily keeping pace.

  "Enough of that, you two," Attalee called from above. "There will be plenty to do today, and I'm not going to wear myself out trying to keep up with your games."

  Rina immediately slowed her pace, deftly dodging Ness's tail as the tip flashed past her face. The young huntress followed up with a flicked tongue at her senior, who just ignored it, smiling widely in feigned ignorance.

  Attalee was suddenly beside them, giving them both a hard stare. "Sometimes I wonder why I bothered training the two of you."

  "We're just getting you ready for Saza in a couple of years," Rina supplied, cheerfully.

  "Makers, don't remind me." The pain in her voice wasn't at all feigned. "At least you'll have plenty of training when your turn comes around. When do you suppose that will be, anyway?" She added that last with a bit of a grin.

  Rina looked away and her ears dipped a little. "Err..."

  "You sure seemed to get along with that one guy at the solstice," Ness called out, getting back for the earlier teasing. "What was wrong with him? Tail too short? Horns too small? Wings not long enough? Or was it something else?"

  "Shut up, Ness!"

  "Make me!"

  "Girls!" Attalee shouted before things could get out of hand. It was all friendly, but sometimes the pair had a tendency to say something they didn't mean if it went on long enough.

  Rina gave a long sigh, and then because she knew Ness wouldn't let it go said, "Stell was fine. Fun and everything, but... he was fine."

  "Not much for conversation, from what I saw," Attalee commented.

  For a moment, Rina looked like she was going to come to the man's defense, but eventually was forced to grunt in agreement. "Not someone I'd want to be cooped up all winter with, that's for sure."

  "No chance of that?"

  "Nah, Agon gave me some herbs to take and we were pretty happy going our separate ways at the end of the conclave.

  "But speaking of winter, it is coming and I've got the feeling Saza is going to be particularly fun to deal with this year."

  Attalee winced, taking the change of subject in stride. "I don't think you're wrong about that." It was bad enough being stuck in the caves for most of an entire season, hungry and huddling around fires to fight off the chill. The added joy of a junior huntress-to-be pestering them the whole time might make a trip out into the snow look preferable in comparison.

  "Maybe you can convince Companion Cue that she's interested in extra lessons?" Ness suggested.

  Rina snorted. "He'd never believe that."

  But the young huntress wasn't deterred. "He might not care. I bet he's bored during the winter, too. It's not like shamans have some sort of ritual of fun they can cast."

  "I think that would just make both of them cranky," Attalee said. "Is that really worth it?"

  Both of her juniors shook their heads.

  "That's also a problem for next season. One I'm sure Aunt Rina and Ness would be happy to help solve." She ignored their shouts of protest, raising her voice to drown them out. "Our problem now, though, is checking those apples. And keep an eye out for any prey on the way in."

  The last was added with a gesture towards Ness. The young huntress grinned and started untying the straps from her bow.

  After a moment, Rina did the same. It was a little late in the morning for deer to be out in the open, but they could get lucky. There was also a small pond not far from the orchard. 'A duck or two would be even better than a deer.' The rich, dark meat was always a treat, and a flock might have started migrating early.

  The clearing was one of the largest in the tribe's lands. Between the apple trees, the spring-fed pond, an elevated central mesa, and plenty of game, it would have made a fine site for a summer village.

  Except the ruins of the massive stone house and the land surrounding it were forbidden territory. Same for the nearby Makers' Grove, with its impossibly tall trees scraping the heavens. The Matriarchs generally kept the tribe well away from both.

  They still told stories about a couple of younger members of the tribe who had snuck out there one summer night years and years ago. They'd found them days later under the rubble of a broken wall. No doubt a punishment from the gods for trespassing.

  Fortunately, the rest of the clearing and the normal forest around it were fair game. Unfortunately, a slow circle revealed it to be deserted.

  That wasn't to say that there was nothing interesting.

  "What are those?" Ness pointed to several long, straight slashes across the yellowing grass.

  Attalee was uncharacteristically hesitant as she answered. "I... don't know."

  "Then let's find out!" Before her senior could protest, Rina was diving to get a closer look.

  The discolored strips turned out to be trenches. They were covered in places with vegetation and cut grass. Some sort of concealment, maybe? Days old, though, judging by the wilting leaves.

  She landed near one of the trenches and looked inside. The bottom was muddy and its edges were already beginning to erode. Nearby, a pile of dirt that could only be from the excavation slumped. Some had already made its way back into the trenches, and more would follow with the next storm.

  Wings rustled as her companions landed. She turned in time to see Attalee give her a look, but the older huntress said nothing and her attention quickly shifted to the reason for their diversion.

  Ness was already at the edge of one of the trenches. She kicked a clod of dirt into the shallow depression and frowned. "What's the point of all this?"

  Attalee was silent as she walked around a trench, stopping occasionally to examine some detail or another. Rina followed along, although nothing really jumped out to her. It was just a big, long hole.

  "It may be a trap," she said as she finished her lap. "Why, exactly, I can't imagine. It seems like a huge effort, with nothing to show for it."

  Just then, the breeze shifted. It brought with it the smell of decay.

  "Or maybe I was wrong and they got something to show for it after all."

  They followed the stench to a nearby stand of trees. There they found their second surprise.

  "A tirox." Rina could only shake her head in amazement at the remains of the massive beast. "They did not catch a tirox! Not with those pitiful little traps! There is no way!"

  That wasn't all that they found. It was an entire camp, complete with the remains of several massive cookfires. One beaten down area had clearly held a shelter of some sort. The ground nearby had been torn up by quite a few feet, although the rain had muddled most of the tracks.

  But the scavenger-stripped corpse of the massive creature was the biggest mystery among many.

  "They didn't catch it," Attalee agreed. She pointed to a section of torn up ground.

  The rain hadn't managed to disguise the drag marks. Those led from the tirox's remains, off at an angle from the trenches.

  When they reached the end of those drag marks, they had even more questions.

  "Maybe one of the other tribes split off a new group?" Ness wondered aloud. They were standing in a circle of torn ground and ripped up grass, trying to make sense of what they were seeing.

  The young huntress's idea might have had merit at another time, but Attalee shook her head. "It's too late in the season."

  "But that explains the tirox," she insisted. "They'll need all the food they can get going into the winter."

  "It doesn't explain how they killed it." Rina was examining the trampled battleground. There were great gouges in the soil, like the beast had been struggling against something. But the only sign of fighting was a single shattered arrow buried in the mud.

  'And an arrow wouldn't even scratch one of those beasts,' she thought, brushing a finger unconsciously across the quiver of arrows at her hip. 'Maybe a newborn calf, but that was a full grown bull.'

  They were all quiet for a moment, considering the problem. Killing a tirox was a feat that normally took teams of huntresses harassing the beast, filling it with spears and keeping it from escaping into the forest before blood loss could take its toll. Yet, somehow, a hunting party had managed to do it in the middle of an open field, without their prey moving more than a handful of steps.

  Finally, Attalee shrugged. "A lucky hit, maybe. A spear at the base of the spine or slipped through the ribs and into the heart."

  Ness seemed to take the suggestion as a given, but Rina frowned slightly. That frown only deepened as a thought crossed her mind.

  "If it is a new group, stocking up for winter, what else have they taken?"

  As one, the three turned towards the grove of apple trees. A heartbeat later, they were in the air.

  It ended up being just as bad as Rina had feared.

  "Nej is going to be maaaaaad," Ness whispered, half to herself. The matriarch was well known for her sweet tooth.

  "Forget her, I'm mad." Rina looked between the single half-rotten apple in her hand and Attalee. "What are we going to eat during the winter?"

  "We won't run out of food. We have plenty of meat. Dried roots. Nuts. And there's other fruit." Attalee’s delivery wasn't particularly enthusiastic.

  "Sure. We might even have enough that everyone can have a bite of stewed berries at midwinter." Without warning, Rina turned and hurled the fruit at the nearest gnarled trunk. It splattered into pulp on impact, leaving a worm wriggling among the remains.

  "I say we find these fucking theives," she snarled, snatching her flint-tipped spear from against a tree.

  Her superior raised one eyeridge. "And do what?"

  "Take our apples back!" Ness shouted, brandishing her own spear. "And some of their tirox, too!"

  Attalee shook her head as the two younger huntresses shared toothy grins. "I'm not saying no, but... the world is a big place. Where do we start looking?" She gestured around at the empty clearing and the squat mesa in the center. Beyond it, empty forest went on and on. The job of months or even years to search.

  Rina let out a frustrated hiss. "So you think we should let them go? After they stole from our territory."

  "Nooo." The word came slowly, like explaining to a hatchling why she couldn't play with a flint knife. "I want to get our apples back. And maybe give the thieves something for our trouble. I just think that we're too late for that. There aren't even any good tracks." She kicked at a clump of dirt for emphasis.

  "The Matriarchs can send a delegation to the other tribes," Attalee continued. "They'll find out who is responsible."

  Once again, she didn't sound convincing. And that was assuming they could even find the other tribes. They tended to be more nomadic, rarely spending summers in the same place two years in a row.

  "So we'll know next spring, at the earliest. Or at the summer solstice. It doesn't help us this winter." Rina was still fuming, but deep down she knew there wasn't anything they could do. That only made it worse.

  "If they're settling nearby, we're bound to see them hunting. Or one of the other huntresses might run into them." A look of worry flashed across Ness's face. "We need to tell the others about this!"

  Rina gave a grudging nod at that. It burned at her, returning empty handed. The whole thing felt like it was their fault, and she knew that there would be jokes at her expense when they returned. But no matter how hard she tried, the huntress couldn't think of anything that she could do.

  With one last half angry, half wistful look at the apple trees, she got a running start and leapt into the air.

  It was a fairly long flight back to the site of the summer village. 'That's probably why they thought they could get away with this. No one ever comes out here. Although we might need to start.'

  That might help in the future. It wouldn't bring back this year's harvest. Wouldn't put food in their mouths during the cold winter months. 'We'll need more meat. And the game is already getting scarce around the village.'

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Instinctively, Rina scanned the ground below. Then her gaze shifted further as she caught something strange out of the corner of her eye.

  The moment she realized what she was seeing, her previously despondent demeanor shifted. Ears pricked, eyes widened, and her lips pulled back in a vengeful grin.

  "I see smoke!"

  Instantly, the other two whipped their necks to follow Rina's pointing finger. A heartbeat later, they were all banking to their right. Wings bit deep into the air as they instinctively pushed their pace.

  There was no question of destination. Smoke meant other dragonettes. And it couldn't be a coincidence. Not when the thieves had been nearby no more than a few days prior.

  Except, what initially appeared to be smoke from a cookfire or two grew into something more. Concerningly more.

  "That looks like a forest fire!" Rina shouted as they got closer.

  Attalee's grunted reply was lost in the wind and Ness didn't have the breath to spare. She was working hard to keep up with her larger comrades.

  Lightning could have hit a tree and smoldered the night away, only now flaring up. Unlikely, but that would be just their luck. Now they would have to get hot and dirty and covered in soot to keep their territory from going up in flames.

  The wind was mild. That was good. It was slowing the fire down. Any blaze that grew this big on its own was bound to spread, the question was just how fast.

  Only, as they approached the narrow swath of smoke, it was clear that it wasn't growing. The forest in this area was thin. Mostly tall, needly evergreens, widely spaced in the sandy soil. Several of them were fully ablaze, towers of fire with the occasional pocket of resin bursting in cracks loud enough to make the huntresses jerk.

  That was all, though. A ring of blackened needles surrounded the burning trees, the extent of the fire's reach. Shrubs and pinecones and fallen needles had burned and smoldered and eventually petered out before the fire could grow to a true inferno.

  They still made sure it wasn't going to spread further. Rina moved along the edge of the charred ground, tossing the odd smoking branch further in and scraping a shallow ditch through deep drifts of dry needles or around fallen logs. The others did the same nearby.

  It didn't take long. Most of what was going to burn already had. The fire would need to be watched in case the wind picked up and blew an errant spark somewhere nearby. For now, it was contained.

  Rina rejoined the other huntresses where they were watching the flames from a safe distance. Or that was what she had thought that they were doing. As she approached, it became clear that they were staring at something at their feet instead of the fire.

  "What's that?" It looked like some torn up ground to Rina. The kind of patch that a pack of boar might leave after rooting for food.

  Silently, Attalee pointed.

  It hadn't registered as a print at first. Just a few nearly parallel depressions in the dirt. The scale was simply too big. Only after long heartbeats of staring did the pattern emerge.

  Her eyes widened and she took an involuntary step back.

  "Yeah." Ness's usual energetic demeanor was subdued for once. "It looks a bit like a nauliker's prints, but..."

  "But naulikers don't grow to be the size of a small hill," Rina finished, unnecessarily.

  In fact, the low slung, green hexapeds rarely grew past a dragonette's waist. They tended to be pack hunters, too, with an extremely poisonous bite.

  The trio were all quiet as their imaginations flew with the idea. The thought of just one of those predators grown larger than a tirox, much less an entire pack of them, sent an involuntary shiver down Rina's spine and to the tip of her tail.

  "It could be a prank." Rina didn't sound like she believed her own words.

  Attalee had been quiet up to then, but she shook her head, hard. "Do you know anyone who would go through this much trouble, to risk the forest for a prank?!" By the end of it, she was nearly snarling, ears pinned back and lips pulled up to expose her teeth.

  Rina took an involuntary step back, then caught herself as she realized she wasn't the target of her friend's fury. "Then, what?" she asked, rhetorically. "Have the Dragons returned?"

  The comment was met with silence, and a weight settled in her guts as she actually thought about what she had said.

  It was ridiculous, of course. If the children of the Makers had come back, they would have made themselves known. Come out of the sky to Companion Cue and the Matriarchs and the entire tribe.

  "No." Attalee was firm on that. She motioned around, and for the first time Rina noticed that there was a clear path. More massive footprints and broken branches stretched in two directions. "Whatever it is, it can't fly. Dragons could fly."

  The stories were certainly clear on that. But...

  "Just because they could fly, doesn't mean they had to. And there's nothing else big enough to do that. Nothing big enough to take down a tirox, either, if you hadn't noticed which way that trail goes." Rina jerked her head back up the path, towards the direction that they had come from. "Nothing."

  "Why, then? Why would a Dragon be here? Now? Traveling on the ground like a beast?"

  They locked eyes. After a moment, Rina flicked her ears and glanced away.

  "We're not going to find out standing around here," she muttered.

  "What was that?"

  "I said, we should be following this trail. It's fresh! And we can see it from the air!" Rina was getting more enthusiastic as she spoke, and she extended her wings slightly, tail flicking in excitement.

  "So we go chasing a 'Dragon' and let the forest burn behind us?"

  "This fire doesn't need all three of us to watch it! I can go, follow the trail, and come back as soon as I've found the Dr- found whatever made it."

  Attalee didn't look happy with the idea. Neither did Ness, although for very different reasons.

  "Why you? I'm just as good a tracker as you are! I can go!"

  "Because I've hunted alone a lot more than you have."

  "So what? I passed the trials. I'm a huntress. I can do anything you can!"

  Rina sighed and she clenched her jaw, trying to come up with a counter. Ness was a huntress. She could follow a trail this obvious in her sleep. 'But, damn it, this was my idea!'

  "If it's another tribe, Rina knows them better," Attalee interrupted.

  "But-"

  "You've only attended one midsummer conclave as a huntress. And you spent most of it at the games."

  Ness gestured wildly at the tracks. "That's not a bunch of huntresses! And maybe my magic-"

  Once again, Attalee cut her off. "It's not alone. Remember the arrow we found?"

  Rina had to admit, that was a good point. 'I had forgotten about that.'

  It was also enough that Ness gave a single, grudging nod.

  With the battle won, Rina put a hand on her fellow's shoulder. "I'm just going to go find it. Then, who knows? It might be up to you."

  The younger huntress gave a halfhearted shrug, and then a hint of a smile. "If you don't get eaten."

  "Well, if that happens, at least you'll know you were right from the start."

  That earned a snort from Ness and a flicked ear. Even Attalee was smiling as she said, "Follow the trail. Find out what made it. We'll follow when we can. And... stay safe." Her gaze softened at that last.

  "It's just like you said," Rina replied with a cocky grin. "Whatever was here can't fly. I can."

  With that, she sighted on a path clear of trees and got a running start.

  The trail was as easy to follow from the air as she had hoped. The torn ground and trampled brush were easy enough to spot through the widely spaced canopies. Here and there, yellowish wood showed through torn bark.

  If she flew low enough, Rina knew that she'd catch the sharp smell of fresh resin leaking from those gaping wounds. But she remembered what Attalee had said, and remained at a healthy altitude. It slowed her down a little bit, but hopefully not enough to matter.

  The path led to the bank of a good sized stream and didn't reappear beyond it. After a quick circle to check for danger, the huntress was forced to make a low pass before finally landing near the muddy shore.

  It looked like someone had dragged logs from the forest and into the water. Silt had splashed across rocks, recently enough that it still wasn't completely dry. More of those massive tracks were everywhere, clear as day in the soft ground.

  There were more prints just upstream of the disturbance. Smaller. Clearly made by a dragonette at the same time as the rest.

  "Damn, Attalee was right." Rina spoke aloud, even though there was no one to hear her. "But who are these people? Why are they here? It still doesn't make any sense!"

  One thing was clear at least. The group had headed upstream. She spotted shifted rocks and water sloshed onto the bank. Rina took off and flew low over the water, just above the tops of the trees that grew intermittently on either side.

  Her eyes darted left and right, looking for any place that her quarry might have left the stream. Then she hunted ahead in case they were close enough that she could catch sight of them.

  There was a patch of blackened grass and withered leaves at one point along the trail. The sharp smell of smoke pervaded the area, although there wasn't a clear source. Rina circled the place several times, and her confusion only grew.

  "Did they build a bonfire in the middle of the stream?!" Enough of the rocks were coated in soot to certainly look that way. It was another mystery, and one she'd hopefully have an answer to soon.

  The stream grew narrower, flowing faster as the ground got steeper. Ahead and off to one side, the cliffs rose towards the sky. Dark stains showed where water poured over them, a few still trickling from the last night's rains.

  It was as she was looking towards these cliffs that a great gout of flames erupted. The blast engulfed a stand of trees just in front of her and set them ablaze in an instant.

  Rina jerked as the heat hit her like a wall. She banked and whirled as more fire exploded out from a hidden canyon. It was accompanied by a sound like rolling thunder, only louder and infinitely more terrifying.

  Before she knew it, Rina had turned completely and was sprinting back the way she had come. Her breath came in gasps as her wings worked harder than ever before.

  'What in the Makers' names did that?!' It was some sort of magic, of course. But more powerful than she had ever heard of, much less seen.

  It wasn't long until she slowed, curiosity beginning to overwhelm fear. Clouds of black smoke rose from pillars of orange flame behind her, but it had come no closer. Nothing was chasing her. The skies were clear.

  No doubt Attalee and Ness would be here soon. With so much smoke, they wouldn't have to stay low and follow a trail. Rina knew that they would be coming. Probably were already coming. All she needed to do was circle where she was and they would find her.

  Only, Attalee hadn't just said to stay safe. She had also ordered her to find out what made the trail. And no huntress was a coward. 'I was surprised, is all,' she told herself.

  As she turned once more, Rina decided on what she would do. 'Fly over that canyon. See what's there. Keep plenty of altitude. Don't let them get the drop on me again.'

  Her flight back was slower and more cautious than before. Rina untied her bow and pulled an arrow from its quiver. Flint tipped rather than the wooden points used for rabbits and small game.

  Thick smoke and turbulence around the fire's edges forced her to go wide around the inferno. Wind from the canyon was channeling it outward, towards the barrier of the stream. Every so often a great burst of sparks and more dark smoke would shoot up from the middle of the blaze.

  Everything was hazy as she tried to pick out details below. A flash of movement on the cliff edge caught her eye. It was a dragonette, sprinting along the ledge. The figure lunged and tackled... something.

  Rina banked and dropped a little lower. Whatever it was, the thing was dark and about the size of a young wolf. It thrashed for a moment before falling still.

  As its killer rose, she caught sight of black fur and red blood and her eyes went wide.

  'Delerion...' It had been years since she had seen one. A group of huntresses had brought the corpse into camp. They had filled it full of arrows then cut its head off for good measure. It was a good thing that the monsters were smart enough to avoid villages or large camps, because their power to cloud the mind was utterly terrifying.

  Which was why bringing one down from so close was impressive. This huntress must have had a will of granite to fight off the hallucinations long enough to kill it.

  Below her, the dragonette staggered. She caught herself, but seemed unsteady. Almost drunk. One step was all she made before collapsing onto the corpse of her prey.

  The reason became clear a moment later as Rina spotted the sleek, black form on the other side of the canyon. Mate or sibling or child or parent, it didn't matter. The delerion was focused on its partner's killer and was using its dark magic to exact revenge.

  Rina hesitated only for a moment. Any caution was overridden by the sight of a fellow huntress in distress. She was above and behind the foul monster and she drew back her bowstring as she began a shallow dive.

  The shot was an easy one. Her prey was completely unaware of her, focused as it was. She loosed the arrow and was rewarded by a screech of pain and sudden thrashing as the point buried itself in its back.

  Gripping the bow with one hand, Rina slipped the knot free from her spear and turned her gentle descent into a screaming dive.

  It was a maneuver every huntress practiced over and over again. Bows could wound larger game, but it took a lucky hit to put them down quickly. That was where the spears came in.

  The beast spotted her approach in the final moments and tried to dodge, but Rina adjusted her angle ever so slightly, then pulled out of her dive just as she released the spear. She skimmed just above the wounded delerion right as the point buried itself deep into its flank.

  There was the sound of a wet thwack and the scream of pain cut off behind her. A quick look backwards showed that the impact had sent the beast staggering over the edge of the cliff. Rina winced as it landed on top of her spear, shattering the shaft and probably the brittle flint point as well.

  That left the unknown huntress below, now pushing herself to her feet.

  There wasn't any question of what would happen next. Rina came down for a landing and the other huntress stepped back to give her room.

  'No, not a huntress!' It was a shock to realize that the dragonette in front of her was too short and stocky to be a female. He was well over a head shorter than she was, the oddly twisted tip of his left horn only coming up to her chin.

  There might be a little growth left in him, though. He was definitely young, at least a few years younger than she was.

  His clothes were odd, too. Not any sort of hide that she'd ever seen before, and they had strange fasteners. The belt at his waist held an assortment of items whose purpose she could guess at. A sheath that looked impossibly long, an empty quiver, some leather pouches.

  He definitely wasn't someone Rina recognized from any of the solstice celebrations. 'Kind of cute, though,' she had to admit. Dirty and a touch scrawny, sure. He had still managed to kill a delerion up close. Even if he looked a little dazed from the ordeal, that was quite a feat.

  Then he lifted a hand, and extended one finger towards her.

  When it didn't stop, she smacked it away. "Hey, snap out of it!" She was a little louder than she needed to be, and regretted it as he flinched. Now that the excitement was wearing off, Rina was remembering that she was alone, and the dragonette in front of her likely had friends around.

  "Where are the rest of you?" she asked, at a more reasonable volume.

  He looked at her in obvious confusion and said... something. It wasn't a word that she could make out.

  "Your friends. Where are they?" And then, "Hello? Are you okay?"

  Again, the young male spoke unintelligible gibberish.

  'Did the delerion do something to his mind?' If it had, maybe Cue could fix him. Or his own shaman.

  Gently but firmly, Rina grabbed his hand and pulled him to the cliff edge. She was suddenly reminded of the roaring fire down below and winced. 'At least it probably won't spread.' The single stand of trees at the mouth of the canyon quickly thinned out.

  "Where are the rest of you? The ones who did that?" She gestured towards the fire below and looked him in the eyes to make sure that he understood.

  She wasn't sure if he caught the meaning, but he did start talking. The way he spoke sounded flat, syllables long and drawn out compared to what Rina was used to. She was starting to gather that there was meaning there. Then one of the words jumped out to her.

  "Dragon?"

  It seemed to catch him off-guard, but he nodded enthusiastically. He started to say more before the world seemed to shake.

  From the burning forest below, a giant emerged. Red as the flames that birthed it, the monster roared as it pushed burning logs aside. But these were roars of anger, not pain, and it took no notice of the embers that showered it.

  Four legs as wide as tree trunks carried it forward. Enormous wings were furled along its back.

  'No... one wing.' The distant thought registered only faintly as she took an involuntary step back. Then another. Until the cliff edge hid the terrifying sight.

  She hadn't believed. Not really. Even with the tracks, the fire. It had just been a crazy idea. Half hope, half stubbornness.

  "A Dragon..." she whispered as the strange dragonette started yelling its way. "They've returned..."

  And for better or worse, she knew that everything was about to change.