The wyverns had made their home inside a cave on the side of the mountain, a cave I was currently following their lead into. Seconds after I vanished into its gaping maw my talons hit the rough stone of the cavern, causing me to wince as I put my weight onto a particularly sharp piece of stone.

Moss carpeting is so much better than this, I thought privately, longing for the comfort of my home in Yavleth in the time before Kazlar had gone mad.

Before I could get sucked back into the past and all the heartache that was associated with it, the wyvern leader spoke.

"This way."

I adjusted my wings so they would rest comfortably along my back and followed closely behind the wyvern in front of me. My eye was still adjusting to the darkness after the bright sunlight, but even if I couldn't see the wyverns behind me I could most certainly hear and almost feel them behind me. The unnerving sensation caused me to shudder slightly but I tried not to let any unease show.

After a tense few minutes, we drew to a halt. My eye had finally adjusted to the darkness, allowing me to observe the scene in front of us. Three tunnels branched into three different directions, and stalking out from the righter most one was a wyvern.

Its eyes widened when it saw our group, and they only grew larger when they passed over me. The wyvern instantly crouched down when it saw its leader, its head bowed so low that it was touching the ground.

The wyvern leader spoke to his subject in their language of growls and hisses, something that I was not at all accustomed to. From my uncomprehending view, it seemed like the wyvern leader was about to attack the newcomer in anger, but after a few more guttural noises the wyvern rose to its normal height and hurried back down the tunnel it had just come from.

Confused, I reflexively cocked my head to the side. What was that all about?

With a sharp click of his beak-like mouth, the orange-eyed wyvern dismissed all the wyverns in our entourage, leaving him and me alone in the corridor. He must have spotted my bemused look before he did so because once they'd all disappeared from sight he said, "She is surised to see you, all the wyberns will be. You thollow my lead, and you no forget I am in lead. If you disregard me and the other wyburns see, I hab no choice but to fight you, something I like to aboid."

At my somewhat pensive nod of acknowledgment, his whole demeanor shifted from serious to almost...excited in less than a second.

"Enough of that! Come, come, let’s all story swap. There is a lot to learn from dragons, after all."

I followed closely behind him as we walked down the rightmost tunnel, hoping everything would work out in my favor, though with my luck I knew it likely wouldn't.

Suddenly I realized I had completely forgotten something. "What's your name?"

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"Srah," he said simply, not pausing his walk.

"Srah," I murmured, testing the name. It felt almost natural in the way it easily rolled off my tongue.

I wonder if all their names are more similar to the noises they communicate with to make saying names easier.

"My name is Rylar," I offered, and though he eyed me curiously he said nothing in response.

As we rounded the last bend in the tunnel, my vision was filled with rows and rows of blinking yellow eyes staring straight at me. It was unnerving, and without even thinking of Srah's earlier words I instinctively shrunk back.

While Srah spoke in the Primal Tongue — as I had opted to call it — to his subjects I took the time to examine my surroundings and hopefully calm my racing heart.

The cavern stretched far above, further even than my eye could see, and well beyond the reach of the fires consuming bundles of wood they had posted at seemingly random intervals.

How do they have fire? I haven't seen a single wyvern use an element. Maybe their elemental use is much more undeveloped than dragons, but if that's true then they'd still need to be near fire to make these.

Deciding to leave my question for another time, I continued observing the cave, my eye passing over at least a hundred forest-green wyverns, if not more. Their physical features were nearly identical, with the only ways to tell them apart from each other being a few scars, different muscular physiques, or any deformities that I suspected arose due to a mutation.

Why have I never heard of wyverns before if there are so many? And why are they all so similar? Surely there are different kinds of wyverns out there, just like there are different kinds of dragons, so where are they?

Srah's announcement drew to a close and he beckoned me to follow him with a small jerk of his head, leading me deeper into the cave of wyverns. The rows and rows of wyverns split down the middle as we walked, the gap instantly closing as we passed. While I instinctively felt uncomfortable with being surrounded by so many potential enemies, I also felt excited. So far this had gone so much better than I had expected, and if things continued this way I could leave in one piece with an alliance intact. All that I needed to do now was talk. A lot.

A few paces later we drew to a halt, now standing in the center of the wyvern horde. Following Srah’s lead I settled down on the stone floor, curious to see what would happen next.

“Tell your story of your trabel here, and I tell ours,” Srah commanded.

Though I would have liked them to go first I knew arguing wasn’t in my best interest, so I began my tale, making a mental note to leave out some pieces they didn’t need to know.

“I come from somewhere in the far north, in a place called Yavleth…”

I held the audience in rapt attention as I droned on, occasionally needing to clarify things such as what a Falinthian was. I skipped over the part about my element and the prophecy, though that made explaining why the dark Ryzinthin had targeted me difficult, but I managed.

For the first time during my retelling, murmurs were breaking out through the crowd. Confused, I asked, “Do you know the dark elves or where I can find them?”

Srah hissed from beside me, “Do no speak of the Evil. They kill, they bad.”

“But…,” I began, before remembering our agreement.

Srah narrowed his eyes at me, warning me to stay silent, but it was too late. The other wyverns began to hiss, some of them shouting at me in anger.

“Friend of Evil is no friend of wybern!”

“How dare you question the king?”

“Kill him!”

For a moment it was silent, and then the chant took up.

“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”

Srah rose to his feet while I backed up slowly, trying to create space between us.

You idiot, he warned you this would happen and you still ruined the whole thing!

Srah made a move toward me and I just barely dodged him, his teeth so close I could feel them glance across my scales.

Still backing up I said, “I don’t want to fight.”

His orange eyes met mine, his expression even, though I swore I caught a hint of defeat flash across as he replied, “Neither do I.”

And then with a viscous snarl, he lunged.