"Eh- Excuse me, Dragon. We're looking for the human you had with you, we could have sworn he walked over to you last night, but.." Zephyria cracked open an eye and glared at the nervous wolf woman that had dared to wake her. The woman took a nervous pair of steps back quickly saying, "Apologies for waking you, Dragon. We're simply worried about your companion." Zephyria huffed in annoyance and lifted her wing exposing the now very groggy and confused Asher resting against one of her large legs. He mumbled in a whining way, "Not yet, Zeph. I'm tired." Zephyria purred in amusement and lowered her wing again. However she made no effort to remain quiet when she responded to the wolf woman. "As you can see my human is fine. What is your name, mortal?" The woman visibly calmed upon seeing the human safe. "I go by Erna. Should I call you something other than 'Dragon'?" Zephyria gave her a small rumble of affirmation. "You may call me Zephyria."

  Asher pushed his way out from under Zephyria's wing groggily and grumpily. "As much as I appreciate you chit-chatting with someone other than me, Zeph, when you speak while I'm so close to your chest and trapped under your wing is like being against an earthquake. Would it kill you to try to speak quietly?" Erna relaxed entirely seeing Asher speak to the dragon so informally. She cut in saying, "Now that we are all sure you two are safe, I'll go let the others know to stop their search and we will prepare breakfast." Asher looked extremely confused, while Zephyria perked up at the mention of food. "Will you be using those little leaves mortals like? If so you will prepare me a meal." Erna thought about it for a moment before responding. "Spices? Of course we season our food. I'm not sure we have enough to feed a dragon even if the rest of us went hungry. Would you be alright with a mortal sized meal, Zephyria?" The mighty dragon pouted internally for a moment, but it was then she had a brilliant idea. "I will accept a mortal portion if you agree to give Asher your 'spices' so that he may cook for me later if I enjoy them."

  Asher spoke up indignantly, "Don't be absurd Zephyria, spices can be expensive. We aren't extorting the people we rescued, it's wrong." Zephyria gave him a small growl of annoyance and confusion. "Why not? They are indebted to us, they should be thankful I am not demanding every last valuable thing they own." Asher sighed and pressed his palm into his face mumbling, "Old gods give me patience, I hate that I understand where you're coming from." He spoke to Erna with tired annoyance in his voice. "We won't be extorting you for protection, please do whatever it was you said you needed to do while I speak to Zephyria about this." Erna looked between them with a complex expression on her face Zephyria couldn't place before nodding and setting off to the others. Asher got her attention by speaking to her directly once more, "Zephyria. When you rescue someone and then take all their valuables your not really rescuing them. Your potentially putting them into greater risk later. Its not really saving if they just die anyways." Zephyria opened her maw to retort but Asher plowed forward saying, "On top of that! Fostering good will is often far more valuable than physical goods. If these people like and trust us, we can learn more, be taken to places like cities, and maybe rewarded later with help in kind. If we simply take their things they will avoid us from now on, or even ban us from their cities which would be counter productive. If your simply counting value, a positive relationship is often more valuable than coin or gear."

  Zephyria glared at him for a long moment, a feint low growl rumbling in her throat. "But when I did the same thing rescuing you and those other mortals you assisted me happily." Asher cringed, "I did, yes. But I'm an exception to the rule. And do you not remember why we had to leave? They were hunting you down, that was in large part because you scared or killed the other mortals in my group." Zephyria quit her subtle growling and tried to think on his words. Eventually she spoke, "I do not understand the ways of mortals." She lashed her tail around, "It is irritating. Very different to dragons. If another dragon saved me from certain death I would give them anything they demanded, even temporary servitude to pay off the life debt. That is the honorable thing to do, even if it would fill me with shame to my very core." Zephyria whipped her tail about some more. "But if that is how mortals handle such things, then so be it. I will trust you to handle this."

  Asher sighed in relief. "Thank you, Zeph. You won't regret it." He ran his hand across his stubble covered chin. "Since we are discussing hard topics, should we talk about what happened last night?" Zephyria responded sharply. "No. I have learned my lesson." Asher hesitated before asking hesitantly, "And what lesson.. was that?" Zephyria looked away. "I do not care about whatever I said last night. I am not strong enough. I will grow stronger." Asher blinked in confusion. Then a moment later he gave Zephyria a pitying look. "You are very strong Zephyria. Your strength was never in question. Last night happened because you tried to-" Zephyria snapped her fangs and growled out. "Because I was not strong enough. Had I not grown tired flying I would not have lost control of-" Asher cut her off mid sentence with single word. "Stop." He lifted a hand towards her raised head and gestured for her to come to his level. Once he had a hand on her muzzle he spoke again, softly and with kindness. "Last night happened because we did not communicate properly. You tried to hide your fatigue from me, and while I noticed it I did not encourage you to land and rest as I should have. Like it or not, you're stuck with me which means we need to work as a team. That includes admitting we have weaknesses and then working together to cover for them. Just like we did now with handling other mortals."

  Zephyria stilled at his final words. I admitted weakness before a mortal. I should be filled with shame but once again I cannot see anything but sense in his words. My human is a valuable ally indeed. Zephyria spoke as soft as she could manage with her large body. "I do not like to admit it. It is shameful for a dragon to ever admit weakness or ask for help. A dragon is defined by her strength. By her superiority over all others." Asher rubbed her muzzle softly as she pressed the tip of her snout against him as gently as she could manage. Zephyria felt an urge she didn't understand. Like some force was pulling at her thoughts and telling her to trust this man with.. everything. She fought against it for a moment, refusing to show weakness before a mortal. But, the urge to trust the man was too strong and so she tried whispering for the first time. "If I am not superior to you, to all mortals, to even other dragons.. I do not know what I am. Being a dragon is all that I have left, Asher."

  Zephyria pulled her head back and bared her fangs at Asher in frustration and confusion, this time speaking at a more normal volume for a dragon. "Another dragon could not have tortured that information out of me even with millennia at their disposal. I could not even admit that to myself." Zephyria glared at Asher intensely. "I have known you for a short time by even mortal standards. Why do I trust you so freely? It feels like I'm speaking to a close clutch-mate whom I have relied on for centuries and not some random mortal I happened to meet. It is maddening and deeply suspicious. Is this one of your human spells? I demand answers!"

  Asher looked at her nervously as he spoke cautiously. "That's actually the reason why I wanted to come here. I feel the same way and it scares me as well. I should not trust you. I should not feel safe around you. You are a dangerous dragon and I am a weak mortal who can't even cast magic properly. I should be dragon food, not sleeping beneath your wing like its the most comfortable bed I've ever been in. I feel like a mouse willingly walking into the cats mouth." Asher looked embarrassed now, "I heard that the warlocks had more experience with magical creatures like you. That they form pacts and draw power from them. I thought that they may be able to teach me about why I feel like I'm talking to a sister I could actually trust with my life instead of a dangerous beast who could, and should, kill me for speaking to it like I do."

  Zephyria held his gaze for a long moment, I cannot tell if he is lying! Everything is screaming at me to trust him, to make him an ally and rely on him but it goes against everything my instincts tell me and everything my mother taught. It cannot be coincidence that we both feel an urge to see the other as clutch-mates, and yet I cannot bring myself to place too much suspicion on him for this. There must be a reason.

  It was then when a feminine voice interrupted them, starling Zephyria and causing Asher to jump. "I apologize for intruding Great Patron, it seemed like you were were having a private discussion so we gave you your space and have been careful to not overhear anything. However breakfast is ready and Arbutus would like to speak to you two about the future." They both turned and looked at Erna. Zephyria was the first to break the silence. "We will join you shortly, Erna." Erna nodded tensely and then walked away briskly, clearly uncomfortable. The dragon turned to her human and spoke with a growl in her voice. "Then we will learn about this strange connection. However, you will under no circumstances tell another creature about what I spoke of today. I may trust you for reasons I do not understand, but I do not trust any of these other mortals. If I find out they know I will burn their village to ashes before I let that spread." Asher gave her a curious look and responded softly, "I wouldn't even if you weren't a dragon. What is shared in confidence is kept in confidence"

  The pair followed after where Erna went and found that the wolf-kin had moved their entire fire and campsite over a ways from them as they discussed. Zephyria noticed that and thought, It seems that they were truthful about not wanting to overhear. I am impressed that they seemingly moved the entire fire instead of making a new one. That seems highly inconvenient, perhaps these ones can be trusted more than most if they are willing to put that much effort just to not overhear a discussion.

  As they approached the cooking fire the smell of freshly cooked food filled Zephyria's senses, it smelled delicious. Their leader, Arbutus called out to the pair. "Come! Come! We've prepared a feast! Well, as much a feast as we can manage on short notice." Zephyria stalked forward intensely making the wolves nervous. Arbutus spoke with a little uneasiness. "Is everything well, Dragon? Zephyria, I mean. We noticed you two having a private conversation but did everything we could to not overhear. Even the smallest know not to intrude on one of the Great Patrons without permission." Zephyria paused, worked to restrain herself even a little bit, and took a few steps back. She licked her lips and spoke, "The food. Whatever it is I want it. Give it to me." Arbutus's attitude change dramatically, he elbowed the one Zephyr remembered was Conall and said jovially "HAH! You were right, pup! The dragon does like the Wyrmgrass! I thought you were pulling my leg." He grabbed a wooden plate and held it up to Zephyria. "Cuts from a terror wing leg seasoned with a local m-" He was abruptly cut off as Zephyria shot her head forward and snatched up the bird meat. There was a loud snap of wood as Zephyria took the entire plate with her. The entire group cringed as she ate plate, bone, and meat all in one go. Arbutus tried to recover best he could, "Seasoned with a local spice mix and Wyrmgrass. Wrymgrass is a rare spice here that the warlocks here told me was heavily favored by the Great Patrons." Zephyria wasn't really listening at all. She hadn't ever tasted anything nearly as good as this. Fresh kill is one thing, seasoned and cooked meat is another. But this? This was in an entirely different category of foods. She could only describe it as divine.

  Asher sat down on a heavy blanket the wolves brought to all sit on and was handed a plate of his own and Zephyria laid down near the group, just behind Asher while leaning her long neck down and into the circle. Arbutus spoke up once more, "I'm afraid we used up what little the warlocks carry so only Zephyria's meal was seasoned with it." Asher nodded in gratitude and they all enjoyed their meals for a bit. As they were all finishing up it was Arbutus that unsurprisingly addressed the entire group. "Asher, Zephyria. We discussed it and as thanks we'd like to try to introduce you to our town. If you follow us back we'll vouch for you, help get you some coin if you need it." He spoke more directly to Zephyria, "And, we'll help you source more Wyrmgrass if you'd like. We want to pay you both back for saving our lives. Those Shimmer Beetles had caught us at the worst possible moment. Overconfidence nearly cost us all of our lives."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Asher and Zephyria traded a glance and Zephyria gave him a little nod. Asher responded for the pair saying, "We would be incredible grateful for all of those things. We've traveled far and a place to trade and rest would be invaluable. But, you said you would Vouch for us? I take it that dragons aren't well accepted here either?" Arbutus cringed slightly, "Aye. I can't promise they'll let you in at first. There's a colony of green dragons a ways away who have a habit of raiding communities. They're far away and rarely travel from their nests, but that doesn't stop people from hearing stories and growing afraid." Arbutus scrunched up and he bared his own fangs very slightly, "Before you saved us, Zephyria. I was one of the fools who had come to believe dragon's weren't even like the Great Patrons. Simple minded beasts who pillage and destroy more on instinct than a mind. I don't say this to insult you, Great Patron, but tell you that you'll be fighting to be accepted. On the other claw, our little team has quite a bit of sway amongst the people here. If we say you can be trusted, they'll at least give us a chance."

  Zephyria wasn't really paying attention, her mind was wandering as she thought about what a mortal settlement must be like. I've only ever heard them described in the books I stole, but those have been about as helpful as a void beast when dealing with mortals. I have no idea what to expect if we follow them. If they are built for mortals then they must be quite small, surely. Will I be able to go anywhere or will I be too big and break things? I hope I don't ruin things for Asher by accidentally breaking something. I would hate to have to go find another group of mortals to rescue to get another invite.

  "Zephyria?" Asher asked. Zephyria looked at him in bewilderment. "Yes?" A moment of silence spread as the group stared at her expectantly. Asher asked again, "Are you going to ask your question, then?" Zephyria had no idea what was going on, just that she was expected to ask something. After a moment of hesitation she asked a question that had been at the back of her mind this morning. "I know nothing of warlocks. Why do they call me a Great Patron?" Asher blinked in surprise and said "I meant a question about the trip, but that's as good a question as any."

  Arbutus laughed, and clapped the warlock, Conall, on the back saying "That's a question I'll let the warlocks explain as we travel. Its only a few hours, plenty of time to learn about warlocks and our culture!" Conall cringed back and looked nervous, looking between Zephyria and Arbutus. He composed himself and said, "I'll do my best, but you know my past, Arbutus, why do you-" The leader clapped him on the back again hard enough to cut him off and then stood up. "Then let us be off!"

  The four wolves expertly broke camp and were setting off within minutes. Zephyria wasn't sure where they were headed, so as the wolves set off she hung behind for a moment and practiced her brand new 'whispering' skill. She asked Asher by getting close to his ear, "Asher. I was not listening. I do not know where we are going." Asher couldn't help it and belted out a laugh. The wolves all turned back, but seeing that Zephyria was speaking to Asher quietly they all sped up a and put some distance between them. Those mortals really do want to avoid overhearing something. Is that really cultural or do they just fear me? Asher stifled any more laughter and responded quietly. "They're taking us to the town of Rannoch. When we get there we're going to approach as one group while following behind them. You don't have to do anything but avoid hurting anyone." Zephyria gave the man a nod and they caught up to the group once more.

  Asher quietly gestured for Conall to come speak to them as they walked to Rannoch. "So, Conall. What can you tell us about warlocks? We don't know much if anything at all. What a patron is might be a good start given Zephyria's question earlier." Conall looked between Asher and Zephyria nervously. "To be honest, I had assumed you were patron and pacted. It's unheard of for a Great Patron to let someone who isn't bound to them speak to them so freely or travel with them like that." Asher sighed and Zephyria growled at him. Asher set a palm on Zephyria's side and spoke with a measured tone. "I don't think its a good idea to question a Dragon's decision making right in front of them. That, and you still haven't told us anything." Conall seemed to deflate, Zephyria couldn't tell if he was nervous or something else but even she could tell the wolf just seemed.. sad. Conall spoke more subdued and nearly monotone. "Right. Well, Warlocks form pacts with intelligent magical beasts. The warlock gains significant power, but becomes bound by the rules of the pact. The pacts are supposed to be mutually beneficial and not take advantage of either side." Asher broke in, "Supposed to be?" Conall winced and spoke with a small waver. "Most would say always. But my previous patron.. I hurt people that didn't deserve it." Conall gestured to the others saying, "They keep calling me a warlock, but I'm not. I broke my pact. I'm not even a part of their trio, really. I'm just… Just. Never mind. You were asking about warlocks. I can answer questions at least."

  Zephyria watched as Asher placed a hand on the wolf man's shoulder squeezed it once, and then let go. "Alright then, Conall. So say you form pacts for power, but what does that even mean? I learned to be a pyromancer by strengthening my mana core and then mastering spell forms and runes, or at least tried to. What does a warlock do that a mage cant?" Conall seemed to brighten up a little bit, now that the trio were back on topic. "Right, you mages use runes. I heard about that somewhere but it made no sense to me. Warlocks cast magic intuitively like the Great Patrons do. The difference between us and them is efficiency. Great patrons don't need to be efficient because their entire bodies are practically mana cores, where we only have a small amount to work with. Because of that untrained warlocks often kill themselves by accident by drawing upon far too much mana for them to handle and leaving their bodies husks. We have orders to prevent this, I come from by far the biggest one, the Fists of the Forgotten."

  Zephyria finally cut in, "So that is why you call me a Great Patron? I am a magical beast and could form pacts if I so chose?" Conall nodded. Asher gave her a look with a raised eyebrow that seemed to say 'Really? You only just put that together?' Zephyria looked away slightly embarrassed. I'm far too distracted. Its hard to believe but I'm actually nervous about the opinions of a bunch of mortals. Not individually, but If I upset them too much they might claw Asher out from their nest before he can learn what he needs to learn.

  Zephyria sniffed the air, suddenly drawing both Conall's and Asher's attention. "Something smells rotten." She sniffed the air again wondering what- Zephyria was torn from her thoughts as a screech ripped through the air, followed by another and another. Within seconds the air was filled with a chorus of horrible high pitched screams from all around the group. The wolves in the group readied into combat stances. Arbutus called out "Patrons protect us, its a fucking swarm of goblins! Erna, Arhein! You know what to do, stay center and take out the biggest ones. Asher, you said your a pyromancer right? They're going to-" Asher cut in sharply, "No. I'm not. I was trained to be but I'm not. I'll fight by Zephyria and cover her sides." Arbutus swore fiercely but carried on, "Fine then. We're going to be surrounded. Zephyria, stay where you are and make yourself as big a target as possible, just worry about getting as many of their attention as possible without straying too far. Asher, Conall! You're both melee fighters, pick a side and protect her flanks while keeping an eye on our ranged. Keep them safe first, flesh and fur is far weaker than scales." Asher and Conall flanked Zephyria, Asher was on the right and Conall was on the left. Arbutus finished snapping his commands by saying, "I'll keep on my toes filling in where I can. If all goes well they'll rush you like ripper beaks to fresh carrion, Zephyria, and we'll be able to pick em off while their distracted. Goblins are weak and stupid, but unbelievably fearless."

  The first of the goblins came into view, soon two, then four, then a dozen. Within moments at least two dozen goblins, Zephyria couldn't count them all, were rushing towards the team of six. Zephyria wasn't impressed. What disgusting and pathetic little things. Matted brown fur, flat wrinkled muzzles with jagged little fangs, somehow both lanky and muscled, and they barely come up to these mortal's chests. Vile. Arbutus said to make a distraction? I can distract these little beasts. Zephyria took a deep breath, stoked her heart-flame and pushed it into her lungs. She aimed her head slightly to the sky, Asher covered his ears in preparation, and let out the mightiest roar she had ever given the world. Conall stumbled from the sheer volume from being right next to her and within a moment every last goblins eyes locked onto Zephyria. Without a moment of hesitation the entire swarm rushed Zephyria as one. Zephyria widened her stance, fueled and fanned her heart-flame, and before she could shoot a bolt Asher called out "Zephyria, charge up a massive bolt and fire it center of the swarm on my command!" Without hesitating to listen to him, she put everything she had into one massive bolt of lightning and held it. The swarm rushed closer. Asher held a palm on her side. The swarm packed tighter and tighter in their frenzy to get to Zephyria. A few of the furthest goblins abandoned their surrounding advantage by running right past several of the flabbergasted. Asher kept waiting. Before Zephyria got nervous and fired off the bolt anyways, Asher shouted "NOW!" And covered his eyes. Zephyria involuntary closed her third eyelids and let the bolt snap away from her with a boom! The world turned white for a moment, and in that instant over half of the goblins fell over dead. Their bodies smoking and some of their more flammable belongings catching fire.

  Prepared and ready for the blinding flash, Asher leapt forward with his blade cleaving into two, then three of the surviving but stunned goblins. In less than a few seconds a desperate ambush of numbers and endurance had turned into a one sided slaughter. With the goblins still hyper fixated on Zephyria the beast kin were able to cut them down without even a single bit of fur lost.

  Asher was the first to speak up, "By the old gods, what in the void was that? There must have been-" He looked around in a circle, even peeking under Zephyria to see to the other side. "-Thirty? Is this something you have to deal with often? Because if it is I'm not sure I can be convinced to stay." Zephyria let out an amused rumbling chuckle. "Do not fear my little one. I will protect you from these pathetic weaklings even if they throw twice as many at us. I am a dragon, after all."

  The wolves' leader, Arbutus, looked between Conall and Erna and said in a slightly panicked tone his volume raising with each word, "Warlocks. You two know monsters better. Why, by the claws of the Great Patrons, did SO MANY ATTACK!" He calmed himself for a moment before speaking more rationally. "I mean, I've seen a swarm as big as 10 before. It hit that caravan we were guarding and destroyed some things before we could cut the little beasts down. But Asher is right, there must have been around thirty. That's.. That's unheard of."

  After a long pause Conall voiced his thoughts. "Goblins are hungry and fearless little creatures. They have a tendency to swarm larger creatures with sheer numbers and then use that meat to feed their swarm as they rapidly multiply to repeat the process. Its why they attack groups like caravans as well. I'm hesitant to say for sure, but our dragon here probably drew them in. There's enough meat on her to probably double that swarm. But, the little bastards are, were, too stupid to realize they were attacking a Great Patron, much less a dragon." Arbutus just sighed, his hand paw against his muzzle in exhaustion. He spoke wearily. "Alright.. Alright. I'm not sure I can take a another life or death situation back to back like this, lets just hurry home. I need a bath, a stiff drink, and a week of rest after all this."

  Asher halted the man before he could take more than a few steps. "Wait. Zephyria needs to honor the dead. Least we can do is help her gather the beasts hearts." Zephyria was proud of her human for learning to honor the dragon customs so quickly. The group of beast kin looked liked kicked puppies as they looked around at the 30 odd beasts with their matted disgusting fur. Arbutus looked like he was going to argue but just sighed, drew his hunting knife, and gestured for the group to help. Soon Zephyria would honor these disgusting little creatures, and they would finally make it to Rannoch where she would see a mortal settlement up close for the very first time.