Ves’ra left early in next morning. She had enjoyed sleeping with her band for the last time, but it was time - to stay any longer would challenge the leadership of both the shaman and the chieftain - as well as giving up her name. And she really wanted to keep her name, it would serve as a memory of her tribe for the rest of her life!

She travelled at a leisurely pace, to push herself would serve no purpose. She would try to sneak in the old wyvern’s nest in the night - when it would be sleeping and helpless. If all went according to plan she would just drop her prey on the ground and have a delicious meal without any fight.

She would set out to leave the forest after - there was no need to immediately seek out a tribe of her own. She was sure the humans she met were some specialized monster hunters - perhaps she could join them. That was for the future though, she had a wyvern to kill first.

She arrived at the site of the battle early in the evening and climbed a tree that had good view of the huge tree the other wyvern lived in. She’d observe the place for a few days if needed - she saw no reason to climb a tree as huge as this one without reason.

She didn't need to wait long - the wyvern returned only a little after she started her observation. She immediately left her perch and started trekking towards the tree - it was still three fifth of a day from her position and she needed a little food before she started her adventure.

Ves’ra managed to catch two squirrels before arriving at the clearing the tree stood in - she ate one immediately while keeping the other as food for the her climb. The tree really was huge - at least a hundred times her height - more than three times more than the normal trees around.

She’d need about a quarter of a day to reach the wyvern’s nest if she didn't want to be noticed, not something she’d normally do, but she’d suffer through more for another wyvern.

She began her climb once the sun set - she wasn't sure how good her prey could see in the dark, but seeing that it was a diurnal animal she doubted it would see much. The tree wasn't warm enough for her to see in the dark by itself, and while the air and water - or their absence - gave a rudimentary understanding of her surroundings it wasn't enough to climb. She had to surround her claws with a thin film of energy and use the minimal glow to orient herself.

That made the whole exercise a little harder, but Ves’ra was confident she would still be able to reach her target in time.

She wasn't so sure an eternity later. Her arms and legs were shaking from exhaustion. She needed a break, luckily she had already planned for that and there was a dead squirrel secured by her side.

She felt a whole lot better with her belly full of food, though the squirrel was dead long enough that it would taste better if cooked. She couldn't start a fire in a tree though, even less being as far up as she was now.

Ves’ra set out with new energy - ready to tackle the last part of the climb. She was ready for another break when her magic - constantly searching for another heat source - finally found her prey. There was only one problem - the wyvern guarded one egg and she really really wanted that egg!

The wyvern wasn't newly born - it was the second parent - the humans only killed one after all. The wyvern was curled protectively around its offspring, so she couldn't kill it as intended - the egg would get destroyed as well!

Perhaps she could steal it while the parent was out hunting and kill it the night after? But that wouldn't work, the tree lacked any kind of green and she seriously doubted her ability to conceal herself during the day.

While she may have had some chances fighting the beast on the ground she wouldn't bet on her chances up here, in the middle of its domain. Perhaps she could use her magic to lift the egg out of the protective embrace of the wyvern? But she’d have to get really close to do that and wasn't that sure of her ability to get near the wyvern undetected.

Stolen novel; please report.

…

Perhaps she was approaching this wrong. The wyvern was taller than her, even walking on its wings, and even less agile on the branch than it was on the ground. As long as she was right and it wasn't able to fly in the night she was actually better off than she would be on the ground!

She could increase her advantage further, there was no reason to fight fair after all. Ves'ra wasn't sure how feasible her idea was - she had never tried magic within an area as big as now - but now was the time!

She immediately started creating a dense sphere of energy between her claws, making sure no light shone on the wyvern.

Once she was at her limit she imagined the spell drawing all heat out of her surroundings. She would probably die if she took all of that heat into herself, so she didn't. She told the spell to heat up the air around the tree, but not directly near the tree. Furthermore, she directed the spell to continue drawing heat from around the tree, and above them, heating the air immediately around them.

She created another sphere of energy, imagining it using the air to rip her prey's wings apart, to stop it from flying off, and released the spell.

Her plan worked even better than intended, the spell ripped a huge gashin the wyvern's wing, causing it to cry out in pain and anger.

Being as near to the creature as she was she immediately froze up, only for a sphere of water to land on her head, startling her out of the cry induced haze.

Ves'ra allowed herself a grin, her precaution had worked exactly as intended!

The wyvern was still looking around as far as she could see - her sense of heat was somewhat hazy because of the water running over her head.

The wyvern didn't seem to notice her - it obviously had no way to see in the dark - so she created another sphere of energy. Her prey's gaze instantly focused on her, and she shot an ice spike at it just to make sure it knew it was her that attacked it.

The wyvern shot her a hateful glare, knowing it wasn't only fighting for its life but also for the life of its spawn. Seeing that she was way out of its reach - she had decided to climb up until the branches wouldn't be able to support something as heavy as the wyvern - it would have to take flight to get to her or wait for her to kill it with magic.

She grinned at it - she wasn't sure if the beast was smart enough to understand the gesture, but it wouldn't do any harm. She remembered how the wolves had bared their fangs to them, so she smiled at it again, making sure to show her teeth this time.

It seemed she had thought right - the wyvern snarled in anger and head snapped forwards, intent on driving the intruder off its tree. Well, it never hurt to try and intimidate one’s enemy she thought. It was futile with her though, she knew to be unreachable for it.

The wyvern seemed to know that too - it was suspiciously eyeing the cold air around it - she didn't want to give it anymore time to think, so she sent a strong gust of wind at its fully healed wing while attacking its head with another spike of ice.

The monster made up its mind - it looked around once more - noticing the slowly rising sun that would allow it to see at least a little.

It rose in the cold air with a triumphant cry - at least until it left the immediate surroundings of the tree, the surroundings that had slowly been cooled down by her magic for the last few minutes - and then dropped like a stone as it arrived in the magically hot air.

Ves’ra watched the wyvern’s death with barely concealed glee, she had killed a superior enemy solely by relaying on her wits, and a little magic. Her eyes focused on her prize. The wyvern egg. She would only be able take one with her, so she was glad she there only was one - she didn't know what she’d have to do if she had to chose.

She studied the egg a little - noting it was nearly double to size of a kobold egg - before taking it and reverently placing it in her bag, encasing it in a protective cage of ice that she enchanted to draw heat from her surroundings, creating an as effective incubator as possible. She really hoped the wyvern wouldn't decide to hatch while she travelled downwards, that would be highly inconvenient.

She made it down the tree without anything hatching, and was happy to see the adult had actually died from the fall - she was really hungry. After indulging herself on as much wyvern as possible she took as many scales, spikes and venom glands as she could carry.

Now she had to plan what to do next. She wanted to go out and find a human village, but that would have to wait until she had a familiar, the chieftain’s warning fresh on her mind.

It would probably best if she waited until the wyvern hatched anyways, its egg was quite heavy and carrying it for an extended period of time would tire her out fast. She didn't really have a time limit, she was young and winter wouldn't be for more than a year. She would have to create a hut to safely sleep and keep the egg, she was tired of sleeping in trees.

Ves’ra had to admit to herself that she probably didn't have the patience required to built her own hut like in her village. She didn't have to though, she was a shaman with powerful magic! She could just built a hut of ice - she would have to find a stream for water - getting all that water out of the air would otherwise be tiresome.

With a new plan firmly in mind she happily set out in the direction she saw the humans leaving, it wouldn't hurt to move towards her target.