“No, I don’t think I have,” came the frosty reply.

“You hurt me with your harsh words madam,” was the sarcastic response, “well, enough with these pleasantries, I thought I made it clear that nothing happened in the Dead Forest.”

“I don’t believe that for a second, especially after your little pet tried to kill me.”

“You must know fair lady; I would never do something like that to you. My pet acted on its own volition, killing you was never my intention. I would never dream of it.”

Though as interesting as their banter was, I found it to cliché for my taste. As soon as the arrogant would-be assassin came in range, I gave him a whack to remember. Unfortunately, the bastard had a relic on him that bore the brunt of my claws, saving his life. He lurched forward with a scream of pain. I could feel him glance in my direction before turning back to the cleric.

“I have to say girly, I wasn’t expecting someone of your standing to rely on sneak attacks,” the man droned out in a pained voice.

Taking it in stride the girl simply responded, “Well you thought wrong, if you can use underhanded methods, so can I. Now scoot along before I have my little friend here tear you to bits.”

I heard Elizabeth give a rumbling, which apparently surprised the man, “Holy, where did you come across a god damn dragon!?”

“Language you scoundrel, now go scamper back to whatever hole you came from before said dragon burns you to a crisp.”

I could feel Elizabeth draw from her inner reserves, that was not an empty threat.

“Now, now, no need to get feisty. I was just visiting, it's not every day that a high priestess leaves her temple. Let’s converse like civilized people for a second. You truly don’t need to travel to the Dead Wood forest. Honestly, even we don’t know what happened there, all we know is that one of our bases has gone completely dark, and every recon team we have sent has failed to return. Said base housed an extraordinarily dangerous entity. I think that’s about as much as I’m allowed to say, but let it be known that neither I nor my employers wanted to kill you. That previous incident was from a rogue agent and was not condoned by any authority.”

“I have trouble believing you or your authority, both of whom tend to be nothing but liars and thieves. Now scuddle back to your little organization before I change my mind on letting you go.”

“Very well, I will leave you be. I know I can’t stop you from going to that cursed forest, but remember, it’ll be your death,” With those final words the man slinked off into the darkness.

The Dead Forest, hmmm, judging by context clues that means that I was either living in or by said forest. It is an interesting tidbit of information. I put a bloodied claw in my mouth and made a mental note of his magic signature. The man said one of their basses, meaning there was more, which also meant that it was likely there were more deadly items floating around.

That artifact he was wearing was one example of such an item, the bracer on his arm was a personal item of Dragur, a curtain dragon hoarder. Dragur should have died from old age some time ago, only two to three thousand years after the killing fields. Death of old age for a dragon meant that it either lost the will to live, or its mana reserves busted their banks, and from what I remember, Dragur had some mana problems near the end of the war. His hoard must have been looted, which is a very good way to get cursed after he died. I hope to all that is holy that this organization didn’t get some of his more powerful acquisitions.

I stomped down my desire to sigh, though Dragur wasn’t exactly a friend, but we were still on good terms with each other, it’s sad that I will never see him on the battlefield again. He was relatively young for a dragon too, but war forced him beyond his means. May he rest in peace. As I was lost in my reminiscing, I felt a slight tickle on my nose as a pitch-black strand waived in my face trying to get my attention. A curse. I wrapped it carefully around a claw and focused on it, a small smile donned on my beaked face, a curse from a certain dragon.

I quietly accepted the curse, letting me sense the arrogant assassin. Though he acted like he didn’t know Elizabeth was here, he brought a bracer that would let him shrug off dragon’s breath. How suspicious. I was about to drop back down to the cavern’s floor when I stopped myself, since I was playing doctor, might as well help Elizabeth. I slowly shifted back to a humanish form and left my wings to act like a feathered cloak, but not before snatching up the coin and informing it gently but firmly, that dragons were not prey.

POV shift---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tried my best not to sigh in relief at the strange man’s retreat. I was exhausted from healing an impatient dragon, and Elizabeth only had one breath attack left in her. Mr. Adle needs to come back fast. If it wasn’t for that unknown attacker, I’m sure the man would not have been so cordial. The sound of soft shuffling put my mind on alert, I felt the man leave my barrier, and nothing else has entered. Fearing the worse I grabbed a talisman I made before my trip.

I looked out into the pitch-blackness around me, I could still hear what sounded like rustling, but I couldn’t see a thing. There, movement. My chest constricted and my heart quickened, and I launched my attack. Only to stare dumbly when I saw who I just attacked, the strange physician