The voyage continued and I was at the bow of the little steamer.

Leaning against the railing, I thought back on the days gone by.

Einrich approached me, leaned against me and ran his hand down my neck.

“Emilie, you know, you're a cheerful person and I'm glad to have met someone like you.”

My red scales hid my color, which would be scarlet by now.

“Einrich... I ... I'm sorry I used your bunk last night... I ... I'll be more careful.”

The captain smiled

“That's okay... I discovered your other self too.

He looked me straight in the eye, then, unconsciously, I leaned my head against his shoulder and he stroked my cheek.

My tail was whipping on the floor behind... I couldn't hide my joy... Maybe Einrich... no... we were so different...

Glacias passed by at that moment and coughed loudly. then grumbled something nasty.

A man and a dragon... How despicable!

But Smith, had another objective.... to find a red orchid.... the tribe, the varans were a secondary objective.

2 weeks before, at the board of directors, of the Smith laboratories, the sponsors had the intention to close the Smith laboratories and to recapitalize their company by closing the unprofitable units.

The flowers that grew at the Lizaros tribal site had the property of pushing the limits of life and aging. But it was a race against time to get there before the end of the bloom.

Mathias had a little monkey. A capuchin.

In the evenings, he wanted fruit but he had already had his fill. So he climbed on the roof of the boat where fruit was hanging. He tried to grab a mango but he got stuck and the boat moved on without him.

Panicked, he fled into the jungle and was chased by a dark and unknown predator.

He went through the vegetable tunnels with his mango in his paws and he ran to the boat through the canopy.

But he had attracted to him something that was now looking at the boat and started to follow him.

The next day, the trip went smoothly but pieces of wood were banging on the hull and this woke up the captain.

"Shit, we missed the junction! he shouted and threw the engines full astern.

But just as they reached it, smoke came out of the engine room and the propeller stalled.

Carried away by the strong current, the boat was heading for the rapids.

"Kardon: Hurry, Emily, do something!"

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I grew to my dragon size and took the boat between my paws and we went through the rapids but the old raft was rotten and it broke in two.

There was nothing I could do magically for that wreck.

We salvaged what we could and I was loaded like an elephant and the pilot felt sorry for the ship "It was a piece of shit!

Everyone was on my back and goodbye comfort life/cruise for me....

Finally, I was useful.

Mathias: "I have a reliable friend who has another ship that can continue the expedition".

He contacted him with his satellite phone and a meeting point was fixed.

I walked through the swamps and felt all kinds of animals under my feet, even ran over a caiman.

"Einrich: Are you okay, Emilie? Not too hard?"

"I'm a dragoness, I'm dealing with it. But thanks for the concern."

The captain of the other boat was cruising along at a brisk pace, a full bottle of whiskey and suddenly the engine stalled. He went to see what was going on, but a black shape jumped onto the boat and tore the captain away from his controls.

Only a bloody gurgle came to the surface to attest to its existence. But with a final gesture, the boat accelerated and smashed against the reefs and exploded.

I heard the explosion and turned my head to see a plume of flames rising into the sky.

We reached the wreckage and tried to salvage what we could.

Flares, a few flashlights, some gasoline, rope and that was all we could salvage.

While Karin searched through the rubble, Owen patted her on the head.

"Stop, Owen, this is not the time.!!!"

Then he stopped.

In its place, bubbles were coming from the water, where he should be.

Karin shouted after a moment: "OWeN???? OWEN???? Where are you?"

No more tracks, no signs!!

Everyone climbed on top of me, scared.

I tried with my senses to find Owen, but all I could say was: It smells like human blood... Owen must have been devoured.

I detected magic, swam like a crocodile, but there were no tracks. He was well and truly lost.

It was a tragedy.

To put all at ease, I increased a "little" bit my size up to 25 meters and 5 meters high with the 4 on ground.

I threw fireballs and only caimans turned around with their bellies in the air.

"I'm sorry, I tried everything. I looked for hours and Karin was crying a lot.

"We have to cancel the expedition," said Mathias... Livingstone, my friend is dead, now it's Owen. I don't need all that money.

Smith didn't say anything, but he absolutely wanted to finish this expedition, the stakes were too high.

The night was dark and the monsoon rain chilled to the bone. Only my wings provided a little dry shelter.

Glacias: "I take back all the bad things I said to you, Emilie, you save us!

I was cold and hungry but I enlarged the portions and used magic as best I could and tried to make a shelter on Magique, a kind of hut, which was a success. (Leomund's hut)

This spell enables the magician to magically create a solid hut, made of the most common material in the area where the spell is cast (stone, wood or, in the worst case, peat). The floor area of this shelter is 3 m² per magician level; it is flat, clean and dry. The shelter resembles a normal cottage in every respect: it has a solid door, two or three windows with shutters, and a small hearth.

This shelter offers safe protection against strong winds, but has no heating or ventilation. It must therefore be heated like a normal house, and extreme heat inevitably affects its occupants. That aside, the shelter offers considerable protection, being as solid as a normal stone building - whatever the material it's made of. It resists fire and flame as if it were made of stone, and is impervious to normal projectiles.

Doors, windows and even the chimney are intrusion-proof, as the former are fitted with a magician's lock, and the latter with a metal grate at the top and a very narrow flue. What's more, all are equipped with an alarm spell. Finally, this spell conjures up an invisible servant who comes to serve the magician.

The shelter's interior contains basic furniture of the magician's choice: up to eight bunks, a trestle table with benches, four chairs or eight stools and a desk.

Then, the next morning, Smith had spotted orchids on a wall with his spyglass.

He moved away from the group and went to the waterfall and climbed up, but something followed him.

And just as he grabbed the orchid, a terrible bite greeted him on his leg.

A giant monitor grabbed him and started to swallow him.

But the varan fell, a magic projectile perforating its back.

I was right on target and I charged at the monster which must have been the size of an Asian elephant.

I was put in close quarters and blew fire into his mouth until he passed out.

I could feel Rudia's magic in it. He must have been boosted.

The animal was healed and tied up and thus the mystery was solved.

The tribes worshipped the monitor and came out of their hiding places to admire the catch, but it was me they worshipped next. Boats arrived as reinforcements and everyone was able to reach the hotels where we rested to recover.

An investigation was well conducted but entirely in my defense.

Having regained a normal size, I was able to take the plane and finally return home. The expedition had been a success and I had proven myself as an anthropologist and adventurer.

And my salary was paid