The high-pitched yip of the dragoness lifted from her as intense pain flooded Fia's shoulder. She twisted around with the thrashing Viliant and landed on her side. Though she gasped, she could not breathe with the wind knocked out of her.

Over her, Viliant loomed. A hasty series of blinks fell over his eyes which softened for a moment. Though he recognized that he had just hurt his already-injured friend, rote necessity fell back over him. Stay out of the way! He bounded over her to pursue the child again.

No! Fia flipped over and wriggled on her belly. Like a snake, she snapped onto the spike of Viliant's tail and yanked backwards.

This time, it was the dragon's turn to yelp and fall to the ground. The pressure at his tailbone had caused him to land on his chest. A livid hiss lifted from his maw as he turned back to her. Meanwhile, his tail evaporated like wispy smoke in Fia's mouth. Viliant got back up and continued running.

Stop it! Fia could not run fast enough to catch up, so she spit another fireball at him. This one sailed past his horns and smacked against the side of a tree. Unlike the trees of her homeland, this one's smoldering bark caught fire quickly. Oh no…. Fia dashed to the base of the tree and danced fretfully at its roots. Though she thought about spitting on the bark to put out the embers, she fanned it with a wing instead. I'm gonna start another wildfire if you don't stop!

Put it out while I'm gone. Viliant rustled around in the forest farther ahead. The telepathic signal between their minds was growing weaker and would soon be lost completely.

Viliant…! she gasped in his mind. If she wanted him to agree with her, then he needed to appeal to him on his own terms. The kid's already gone! We'll waste more time hunting him down. We need to get out of here and keep moving. In a last, shrill attempt to convince him, she begged, Let's eat!

Though he did not acknowledge her, Viliant's mind remained connected to hers. He should have run out of range by now, but instead, the dragon with hunched shoulders and head hung low slunk back into view. I guess… I can agree with that much. Kid's a waste of time. I'm hungry. With his stomach rumbling, Viliant paced around the fallen iron-bear corpse.

Even if he did hunt down the last witness, the father would go searching for his missing wife and son. In a matter of time, the marks of dragon claws on the body would direct the hunt back to them. Instead, the child could run back and cry about the unbelievable appearance of dragons. It would take a while for the adults to realize that a hysteric child spoke the truth and find the mother's body to prove it. The most sure way for the dragons to buy more time for themselves was to simply keep going.

Viliant had restrained his anger enough to see this logic. Amazed, Fia's mouth dropped open. Her eyes widened out of sheer happiness.

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Are you gonna cook? Or do you expect me to? Eying the bear carcass sidelong, Viliant did not look inclined to wait.

Coming! Hastily, she started spitting on the small fire and licking the side of the tree to put it out. After that, she skipped on three legs back to the iron-bear. The soreness in her shoulder made her stop short and walk the rest of the way.

You okay? You didn't hurt yourself when you jumped on me, did you?

Uh-uh. Fia sat with her claws folded neatly beneath herself and wrinkled up her nose. If anyone had worsened her injury, she definitely blamed Viliant for that one. Rather than bickering over that, she wanted to prove him wrong by a different means. No, you didn't hurt me, Fia shared. I actually feel pretty good. The nice lady did something to help my shoulder. I wish she was still alive…. Maybe we could have brought her with us.

Viliant kept his head low. His drooping lids stared into the stream of fire as she began cooking the massive hunk of flesh. The metal glowed orange as it heated up and contained the bear like a roasting pot. Fia, you do not get to blame this on me.

Huh?

You do not get to have everything your way and act righteous when it all goes wrong! A low growl sounded from his throat as he expressed his hostilities. Look around you! This is your fault.

Fia shrunk away, and her flames sputtered. From the side of her eyes, she glanced at the fallen body of the human mother. The longer mark of Viliant's claw adorned the front of her slit, bloody neck. He's the one who murdered her, not me! roared in Fia's mind. The humans would have died regardless at the claws of the iron-bear, so she caused no more harm than already existed in the world. Still, she felt terrible. If only she could have done more….

I was just trying to help, she squeaked.

You want to help? Then help yourself! You need to focus on helping your own people!

Her cooking fire died out completely. Fia could not focus enough to produce a flame, tilting her teary eyes back to the leafy canopy. Freedom meant little if she still could not do what she wanted—what she thought was right.

I need to save my people and only my people. That's my burden, Fia thought to herself. To Viliant, she intoned at last, I understand.

Good. From now on, listen to me.

She swallowed back the lump in her throat and continued cooking the bear. Thanks to its flesh roasting within its own, heated metal, the cooking had continued even without her. Ultimately, the metal was too hot for Viliant to touch, so Fia pulled it back with grasping claws and chomping jaws. The two dragons set on their meal and ate more than they should, much too quickly.

Viliant coughed and almost threw up everything that he had eaten so far. As soon as he swallowed back his gag, he resumed eating with renewed fervor. Once they had both their stomachs stuffed, the dragons flopped onto their sides.

We can't sleep here, Viliant said, even as he lay motionless on the ground just like Fia.

I know, but I want a nap, Fia whined.

Just five minutes, Viliant confirmed.

As long as they left long before the armed humans showed up as reinforcements, a short nap would not hurt. The dragons would travel much faster afterwards and make up for lost time.