Asher ran his newly clawed fingers through his hair as he checked on Conall. "I guess you've asked about it before and I've blown it off. Lets get it out of the way then, Zephyria. Maybe it would be helpful if you explained how dragon courtship works first."

  Zephyria huffed in annoyance. "Fine. Dragon courtship is simple. Dragons are selfish, greedy, and live forever. Finding a mate is as simple as it is impossible, you must find another dragon you are comfortable sharing with. From there, the relationship grows naturally over the millennia you spend together. We do not limit ourselves by gender, either. It is rare enough to find another dragon's company you enjoy that reducing the pool like that would be stupid, even by dragon standards. Having hatchlings is another, entirely separate, matter. I will not discuss that with you."

  Zephyria stuck her face in the two boy's faces, "You two are clearly courting each other and are agreeable to sharing. Therefore you must be a mated pair. And yet you say you aren't despite a mutual attraction so obvious that even a dragon can see it. Your turn, mortals."

  Asher blushed while Conall kicked at the ground like a child caught in the act of doing something wrong. The beast-kin cleared his throat and murmured, "I didn't think we were that obvious. I was just... seeing where things took us? I remember what you said about your family and you not being allowed to decide who you dated, so I didn't want to push it too fast and make you uncomfortable, Asher."

  Asher sighed and said, "I genuinely appreciate it, Conall. You're a kind man for giving me the space to figure it out. However, she's known since we met. I drunkenly called you cute after we got shit-faced drinking together our first night here, apparently. She's been pestering me about it since." Conall snorted and let out a small laugh.

  "Stop ignoring me. Your turn. Explain." Zephyria cut in sharply.

  Asher gestured for peace at her and began by saying, "Alright, alright. Lets get it out of the way then. Mortals, obviously, are more friendly with each other. Means there's a LOT of chances to find the right person for you, if you ever settle down at all. Everyone's different. We have different stages of courtship of varying levels of commitment and intensity. What Conall and I were doing..."

  He rubbed the back of his neck, "This is unbelievably weird to be saying, especially with you right here Conall." Conall chuckled awkwardly and just gestured for him to keep explaining to the impatient dragon. "We were flirting, I guess? It's the step before dating, which is where we form a bond that is usually exclusive to others but still leave room to break it off and find someone else if it doesn't work out. Mortal's don't live forever so if two people don't get along it's far easier to just go find a different person. We were probably pretty close to dating on our own, but you've kind of forced the issue early, Zephyria."

  Zephyria huffed again, "Mortals are so strange. The way your tiny little lifespans changes how you act is so odd to me." Asher crossed his arms, "Hey, it's pretty damn weird the other way too. Sounds like dragons marry the first person they find even remotely tolerable and then spend thousands of years learning to be friends, much less lovers. You cannot tell me with a straight face that's an even remotely romantic way to approach finding a partner." Zephyria grumbled but didn't respond.

  Asher addressed Conall anxiously, "I suppose it's out there and we're being clear about things, now. It's obvious we're both interested, so lets have a chat later about all this when there isn't a nosy dragon getting in our business. We can figure out where we stand in private." Conall gently held the other man's hand and gave it a gentle and re-assuring squeeze, "Agreed. I look forward to it, Asher."

  Asher hesitantly put a little distance between himself and the other man, and then took a deep breath before saying, "I suppose we should head back by now, I'm sure Petra was looking for us to begin that contract. Unless you wanted to work on anything else out here, Conall?"

  Conall wrung the nervousness out of his hands as he refocused himself and explained, "I've got an idea on how to wrangle this magic, but I'm not going to rush it and risk actually hurting myself. Infusing my blade is enough for today, throwing lightning can come later."

  Asher looked to Zephyria for approval, saying, "How do you want to get this back? I was thinking of slinging it across your back at first, but now that I consider it you'd probably be able to just carry it in your claws right? Might ruin the meat a little more, but shredded meat is better than no meat at all. It's up to you, Zephyria."

  She eyed the partially processed deer with the pile of intestines next to it. "I will carry it in my claws. I don't want to risk it falling off and getting caught up in my wings. Being knocked from the air and crashing into the ground is not comfortable, and I worry if you two would survive such a thing."

  Asher gestured noncommittally, "Works for me. I'm quite fine with your regular landings and I'm not all that concerned with the state of the thing. We didn't set out to bring a deer home, so whatever we can get is a bonus." Asher glanced between Conall and Zephyria, "With that out of the way, ready to go?" Zephyria bobbed her head in response so Asher swung up and held an arm out for Conall. Once everyone was upon her back, Zephyria took the carcass into her claws and held on tight.

  With the extra weight and the inability to properly leap into the air to get the flight started, Zephyria struggled to take off. Her second attempt was far more successful and she began to fly steadily back towards Rannoch. She called out to her mortals with strain in her voice, "This is surprisingly difficult, little ones. I will have to fly low and I may need to take a break at some point."

  Asher chuckled as he spoke with humor, "Look at you Zephyria, you've come so far in the past week! When we first got here, we were exhausted because you couldn't even admit you needed a break." Zephyria wanted to nip at him in playful annoyance but settled for growling at him as she flew. Asher just laughed and the trio kept flying.

  As Rannoch came into view faster than Zephyria expected, Zephyria drifted even closer to the ground and spoke again, "Conall, where would be the best place to take our kill? I do not know your city very well yet and I would prefer to drop this once and not have to deal with it again." Conall hummed and reasoned, "Turn a little left. We'll take it to a butcher and just take what we can get for it."

  As she soared towards the town Zephyria was breathing hard from the combined weight of two mortals, their gear, and the largest deer she could catch. She was so focused on simply flying that she was lost when Asher asked, "Zephyria, do you see those soldiers there? They look like they might be Fists of the Forgotten warlocks. Six of them, I think. You think Petra finally got her reinforcements?"

  Conall responded with genuine confusion, "What warlocks? I can barely see the town properly from here." Asher guessed hesitantly, "Maybe it's the eyes? I didn't notice anything different about my eyesight when they first changed, but now that I think about it maybe I can see really far away more clearly now? I can see all the way to the edge of town with pretty reasonable clarity. It all felt so natural I didn't even question it." He looked at the warlocks even more curiously now. "Say, Zephyria. Are they all looking at us?"

  As Zephyria drifted closer to the town she spotted the six beast-kin mortals in far finer gear than she was used to seeing. All gleaming metal and sturdy looking leather. They were clearly maintaining a safe distance from the town, as though they were guarding it from an impending threat just behind them. Zephyria wasn't trained in any kind of tactics but they seemed to be getting into some kind of formation. She opened her maw to ask Conall if he knew of them when a sharp whistle something flying by her head startled her. "Asher, what was that?"

  Asher began to respond when she caught the glint of something shining in the sunlight flying directly towards her chest. She tried to evade but her heavy burdens made her sluggish. She followed the projectile with her eyes helplessly and with growing fury as the foot long spike of ice flew at terrifying speeds and sunk deep into the deer she was carrying. The projectile just barely slowed enough that it only cut into her chest instead of crippling her.

  She roared in pain and struggled to maintain her flight as she let go of the mutilated deer and overcompensated for the lack of weight. She heard her mortals shout out something but she focused purely on crash landing in such a way that her little ones wouldn't be hurt. She was already flying so low that all she could do was flare her wings and hit the ground chest first. She wheezed in pain as she felt the wound in her chest split wider from the force of the impact.

  "Zephyria!? Zephyria are you alright?" Asher called out from behind her to her left.

  Zephyria got to her feet shakily as a third bolt of ice narrowly missed her head with another scale-shivering whistle. She roared and tried to understand what was even happening. She could hear both Asher and Conall behind her and before her was six warlocks proudly wearing armor painted with a beast-kin's closed fist on each of their chests. Four of them were in heavier armor and were rapidly sprinting towards her while two hung back wearing leathers and jogging into range. Zephyria lowered herself into a wider stance, ready to leap at a moments notice.

  She snarled out, "Conall! Are those warlocks with the Fists? Why are they attacking us?"

  Conall stammered out, "They are! And I have no idea! We did nothing wrong!"

  Zephyria wanted to ask more but the four melee focused warlocks were quickly closing in. She put everything she had into her battle cry as she roared as loudly as possible. It was as though the very air itself shook in response and the warriors stumbled for a moment. Zephyria wasted no time channeling her heart-flame into her entire body, and then into her maw as she fired a bolt at the nearest warrior.

  The armored man visibly sparked and twitched with the seductive smell of burning fur and flesh. Incensed and enraged she leapt upon the seizing man and ripped into him. Her electrified fangs punched straight through his armor and she was delighted to taste the man's screams as they ripped through the air. A warrior approached from her left and swung a one handed axe that bit into her side like a hungry beast. He ripped out the axe with a squelch and with the grace of a starving animal took a second swing that was cut short by an audible thunk as the blade was stopped short by one of her ribs.

  Zephyria roared in pain once more and bellowed in a way that echoed across the plains, "Betrayers!" The axe wielding man ripped his weapon from her side messily and went for a third chop when he was suddenly thrown to the ground as Asher tackled him with a roar of his own. He lead with his new claws and dug jagged grooves into the armored mans lightly protected sleeves eliciting a scream of pain from him.

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  Zephyria was so focused on watching her little dragon ravage the warlock like an animal that she missed the second warlock closing in from her other side. The warlock rushed in with a great two-handed war hammer and was poised to take a running strike at Zephyria's shoulder when a bolt of lightning cracked across the impromptu battleground causing the man to stumble and catch his fall with his hammer.

  Conall whined as he looked at his left hand and the lightning burns across his palm, he swore to himself and cursed the wild magic he could barely control. He steadied his nerves and ignored the pain, he had a patron to protect. He readied his blade in his right hand and rushed forward to join the melee. He ran forward and kicked the still reeling hammer wielder square in the chest knocking him to the ground with a crash of metal.

  Zephyria crunched her fangs down on the pinned man once more as hard as she could and she felt the man's metal breastplate deform and snap in her unrelenting grip, a fraction of a moment later she felt his ribs snap in her fangs as well. The man tried to scream but only wet burbles came out, then nothing but silence. She savored the way her heart-flame burned and her pulse pounded in the heat of the hunt and the primal joy of taking a life. She licked the man's steaming hot blood from her face with delight.

  She dropped the dead man and with a bloody maw sneered at the warlocks, "This is how you thank me for what I've done for you? Cowards!"

  Asher was still wrestling the man on the ground, he had managed to get the armored man into a choke hold from behind and below. He drew his hunting knife from its sheathe with his spare arm and struck it straight into the weak point of the armor's neck claiming the second life of the battle. He slowly stood up over the dead man and growled at the remaining four warlocks who looked significantly more unsure now. The two groups had a silent stand-off for a long moment which grew even more tense as a furious Asher sheathed his blood soaked knife and finally drew his sword while bolts of lighting jumped between Zephyria's teeth with audible thunder cracks.

  Then one of the casters spoke to the remaining upright fighter in hushed tones that Zephyria picked up anyways, "The captain and Rowan are dead, Gerald's down, and that's a fucking chosen! What the fuck do we do?"

  The fighter responded in a grim but determined tone, "We have to protect this town. Rowan hurt it badly with his axe, we have the advantage."

  The caster began to object but interrupted by Zephyria snarled out, "Protect? From-" She jerked her head to the side as a shard of ice nearly caught her right in the open mouth. Instead the foot long, razor sharp, Icicle carved a gash along her cheek. With a roar of pain Zephyria returned fire with a bolt of lighting that she had been holding. The world flashed white for single eye searing moment. The ice warlock that made the mistake of attacking was thrown backwards and hit the ground with a loud thump. Zephyria was slightly surprised to see they didn't actually seem that badly hurt, at least in comparison to a bolt of that strength which should have killed a mortal instantly.

  Meanwhile, Asher let out a draconic roar and leap forward to meet the remaining melee fighter sword to sword. Conall slammed his boot down on the downed hammer wielder's chest and stood his ground, leaving the remaining caster to Zephyria. Zephyria watched for a moment as Asher and the other swordsman fought. The pair were nearly evenly matched for entirely different reasons, Asher was faster, stronger, and unpredictable as he wove in sweeps with his claws and kicks. But, the swordsman clearly had years of practice and had style of swordplay clearly honed by years of fighting feral beasts and clever mortals alike. Neither could get in a clean strike and were caught in a violent stalemate.

  Zephyria turned her baleful eyes towards the remaining caster, but was aghast and felt her blood begin to boil with fury to see Cardinal Guard Petra flanked by a dozen guards sprinting from the town and closing the distance rapidly. The caster she had been staring down followed her gaze and was visibly relaxed and emboldened by the coming reinforcements. She prepared to leap upon the caster to even the odds before she had to fight even more mortals. However before she could fully act, Zephyria and the warlock alike were astonished as only a moment later one of the guards shoulder checked the caster to the ground and held a blade to their back. The ice mage that Zephyria had struck was groaning as she slowly sat up, only to be roughly shoved back down by another guard.

  Cardinal Guard Petra sprinted faster than any mortal Zephyria had ever seen run and interrupted Asher's fight in a flash of gleaming metal scales. She snapped a flat hand against Asher's wrist forcing his grip to weaken, then wrenched his arm at a bad angle while ripping his blade from his hands and immediately dropping it to the ground. She kicked the staggered human backwards and away from the warlock he had been trying to fight. Without hesitating, Petra caught a wild sword strike against her bracer and used the swordsman's momentum against him to grip his arm and wrested his sword from him, throwing it to the side. With the warlock so close to her already, she stuck her leg out behind his leg and tripped him. She followed the man down and crashed down upon him with the full weight of an extremely pissed off and heavily armored soldier.

  Zephyria watched as she disarmed the pair and the moment she clearly had the warlock completely pinned to the ground she exploded at Petra in pained fury, "What, exactly, is happening here? Did you think you could get away with betraying me? After all I agreed to do for you this is how you repay me?"

  The swordsman tried to get free from Petra's pin and without hesitation she headbutted the man right in the nose sending him back into the soil and eliciting a groan from his now bloody lips. She snapped back at the dragon, "How the fuck should I know what is happening? One moment I'm sitting around waiting for you to sign your FUCKING contract and then I hear you roar and thunder about betrayal so loudly I swear the entire fucking town heard you! Then, I look outside and see you slugging it out with half a dozen Fists!"

  Petra slowly stood and lifted the armored man in front of her in an impressive feat of strength by his armored collar. "How about you fucking tell me why the fists decided to try to kill our gods-sent dragon without so much as even contacting me?"

  The man had a bloody nose and croaked out, "We were sent to save you! We're here to help!" Petra laughed in his face, "Save me from what, warlock? The dragon?"

  The bloody man coughed wetly and nodded, "Yes! The fucking dragon! The one terrorizing Rannoch!"

  Petra let go of the man and shoved him backwards dismissively, he stumbled but steadied himself with a face full of confusion. She snarked, "You shit for brains moron. Save me from the dragon. Why didn't I think of that when I was paying her to protect the town! Oh goodness me, she's done such awful things such as scaring the cook of an inn once and fucking up a few of our annoyingly shiny roads. What a menace she is." Petra turned to Zephyria with grim humor, "Zephyria, what exactly were you doing outside of town?"

  Zephyria growled in annoyance but played along, "We went hunting to feed ourselves and brought back a deer to sell."

  Petra barked out a laugh and ridiculed the warlock, "Oh deary me, what a fucking terror she is hunting and bringing back trade goods. Why you might need an army to take out such a monumental threat. Might as well have the council of patrons declare war and personally come down to battle such a deadly and destructive foe."

  Petra's tone was suddenly filled with ice as stopped her mocking, "What in the patron's names convinced you I needed help with her? The only call I put out was for reinforcements against the incoming war, not to kill one of my only fucking allies."

  The man looked absolutely befuddled now, "War? What war?"

  As Zephyria watched Petra make fun of and interrogate the man, she noticed several more beast-kin running over from the town. They were the very same she recognized from the town square last night. The same odd uniform and signature leather coats. They carried bags stuffed full of something and were rushing over to anyone injured. They seemed to confirm the death of the two that died and then dragged them off to the side, throwing wide cloths over them. They moved to the injured mortals and began to treat them, what Zephyria didn't understand is the glances they kept throwing not at her but the wounds she carried. She wasn't sure why, she was still too angry and in pain to think properly.

  Meanwhile, the hammer wielder that Conall had pinned tapped Conall's foot and said, "Please, let me up, warlock. It's clear there's been a grave error. I will not attack, you have my word... For what little my word is worth to you now." Conall hesitantly let up on the man, and then coming to a decision reached his good hand down and helped the hammer wielder up who said, "Thank you, my name is Gerald. I would ask yours but I must attend to the cardinal guard before my ally makes a greater fool of us than we have already done." Conall nodded and the two men approached Petra.

  Gerald said, "Please. A moment Cardinal Guard. Something is deeply wrong with this situation and I am ashamed I did not realize it sooner." Petra glared at him and bit her tongue as he continued, "We were sent here at your request to kill a blue dragon that had been terrorizing your town and was too much for your guards to handle. We were sent as your saviors. Our orders were specifically to hunt down the dragon and avoid the town as much as possible to avoid worrying the people. Not only that but we have heard nothing of a war. It's obvious now the order was forged or else you would be assisting us in our moment of need, not beating and berating us for attacking the dragon. That, and the dragon clearly respects you."

  He continued solemnly, "Our leader is dead at the fangs of your ally, and so is one of our good friends. I beg for your mercy and ask that you allow us to stay in Rannoch and give us all a day to lick our wounds and grieve. Tomorrow we must discuss this in detail, especially this war you claim is happening."

  Petra scoffed, "Are you fucking kidding me? I've sent out a dozen letters with proof and begged for a detachment of warlocks to help fortify us. We've got a fucking fortress a days walk from here full of bandits being demonstrably armed by northerners. We've already had an attack on Rannoch directly and our guards have been having to send larger patrols due to ambushes. The war is just beginning and you're telling me nobody fucking knows?"

  Gerald spoke reassuringly, "I believe you now, Cardinal Guard." He gestured to a still furious looking Zephyria, "We have dead to mourn and injured to care for. Your dragon is bleeding quite badly. Keep us under guard and house arrest for a day, and you have my word we will do everything we can to assist you once we understand our situation better." He bowed slightly, "We came here with good intentions and a desire to help, I just ask you give us the chance to pay for our mistakes."

  Petra's anger deflated and weariness crept over her features. She sighed and spoke more softly, "You know the laws of the Fists as well as I do. That decision isn't entirely up to me, anymore. She's not just a dragon, she's a Great Patron. An independent Great Patron, maybe, but those still fall under the Fists's laws so long as they take a member of the fists as a warlock. The man that was holding you to the ground is a rightful resident of Rannoch, a trained member of the Fists, and the dragon's only warlock. Your life is in her claws, now."

  Gerald's calm expression slowly twisted to confusion, and then dawning horror as he truly considered the position he was in. "A dragon with a warlock? Is that even possible?" He murmured in astonishment. His previously strong stance was replaced with weariness and regret as he slowly nodded at Petra who only looked on with pity.

  Meanwhile, Asher was to her side inspecting the axe wound on her shoulder and the dirt packed puncture wound in her chest. "Zephyria, the wound in your chest looks like it could be bad but the mud in there is preventing it from bleeding too badly. We'll still need to clean it properly, and soon, if we don't want that to get infected. What I'm actually worried about is these axe wounds. I know you'll probably be fine but you're still bleeding quite a bit." Asher kicked at the actual pool of blood that had formed next to Zephyria as she stood there, eliciting a splash. "We'll need to get those healer types to look at this before we go anywhere. You've bled enough any other creature would be dry by now. I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet, honestly."

  Zephyria was still standing there with nasty wounds and a slowly growing puddle of blood to her left side. She could taste her own blood dripping from her cheek and she was sure the wound in her chest couldn't be any better. She felt battered and beaten. As the adrenaline of a close fight wore off and her boiling rage began to slowly cool she found she just simply didn't understand what was happening. "Once again Petra is accused of trying to have me killed. And yet she seems to come to my aid, as well. Can I even trust her? Can I trust anyone in this cursed town? I should just take my mortals and leave, that would be the smart thing to do."

  Zephyria glanced at Asher who was still fussing over the wounds on her side. "The contract be damned, I have no obligation to protect a town that keeps trying to kill me. My mortals will get over the betrayal, eventually." She looked back at the somber looking Cardinal Guard and the defeated looking warlock. "Wait. What did Petra say? Their lives are in my claws? I don't exactly understand why, but perhaps...? Perhaps, I can use this."

  Zephyria let a slightly feral grin split her lips as a brilliantly draconic idea came to mind. It was, perhaps, the most clever thing she had ever considered. She schooled her features, stood tall, and approached the pair of mortals with a devious plan.