Skywing walked along the smooth wooden deck of the mightiest ship in Lumara, the Indomitous. It was the same ship that the famous dragon slayer, Arcturus Lund, had set out on to hunt the red dragon that the gryphon found himself perusing as well. What started out as a simple mission of retrieving the red for the king had suddenly turned into a complicated ordeal. The gryphon gazed to the snow-covered mountaintops that were passing far below the ship's hull. They looked like a sea of vast white, with little rough brown rocks jutting out from the seamless blanket of snow. Skywing found himself puzzled by this discovery. When they had found out the dragon was not the flames, teeth, or rage that the paperwork had said he would be, nobody knew what to believe. And the paladin sent to find him? The reports claimed the dragon had killed the man in a fit of rage. That had proven to be false as well. After all, Skywing had seen the man with his own eyes.
He remembered bounding forth to strike at the man, furious that such a decorated hero would betray his oath to the king and let the beast free. However, when he had awoken from his blackout, Skywing found out that the beast had slain none of his wing-mates. Granted, there were wounds, bruises, and injured egos among the others of his flock, but each gryphon that he had brought into this hunt still drew breath. The only one that had died met his end at the ax of a dwarf, not the claws of the dragon. The snowy gryphon shook his head and closed his eyes as he let the cool mountain breeze ruffle his feathers. When he opened them, he found the cloudy sky was no less different, and his thoughts, no less confusing.
Was this red dragon even guilty of the crimes that had been listed on the paperwork? The ones that Garroth had kept reminding the crew during this hunt?
Truthfully, Skywing knew very little of the man that most were calling one of the best adventurers of the realm. Garroth seemed too ready to please for the gryphon's taste, his honor often swayed by the amount of coin dropped into his pouch. Skywing had heard the rumor that despite the dragon killing his friend, he had actually talked the king into paying him more money than was originally offered to do such a task. Skywing stuffed his angry screech in the back of his throat. If it were any of his gryphons that had been claimed by the dragon, he would have done the damn task for free, but then again, he wasn’t the one leading this mission. With a soft clack of his beak that involuntarily ended with a chirp, Skywing resettled his wings against his back. This time, an irritated snort left his parted beak, his breath misting in the air.
He stood on the wooden deck for quite some time, watching the ship start to make its way towards the vast forest that Skywing had found his way in two years earlier. It even looked like they were actually heading towards the forest of despair; the forest that no soul was allowed to enter, above or below, without the permission of its green dragoness ruler. He stood transfixed, as the place filled with him with a cold sort of terror that grew worse the closer he approached. The red dragon had been nothing like that green monster. She had taken everyone in Skywing’s party out with barely any effort, then made him feel like mere prey before her. A tiny thing that was meant to pay worship to her. She had even taken his wing-mates at that time from him. Two gryphons that had been loyal to him more than anyone else. Skywing scowled at the sky. They must have been either statues, or her reluctant slaves, or servants, whatever the dragoness preferred to call them.
“What’s running underneath those feathers of yours?”
Garroth's voice pulled Skywing’s anger-filled thoughts from the forest, and the gryphon spun around without a word, with his striped tail wagging behind him. “A past that’s no longer relevant. Tell me. Are we going to the forest of despair?” He asked flatly.
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“Straight to the point. That is what I like about you.” Garroth chuckled. He strolled over to the gryphon with a smile on his face. “Yes, we are indeed going to venture into that horrid place, for that is where the dragon decided to flee to.” The man gave a large sigh of relief as he placed his hands on the railing and gazed down to the vast patchwork quilt of green that was the forest.
“How are you certain he went there, human? He can be in a thousand of other places by now. Dragons might be slower than us, but they’re not stupid. He will go into hiding first chance he gets,” Skywing padded over to the human’s side and tilted his head to the left.
“Well…let’s just say I know things.”
“Really?” Skywing clacked his beak. “What about the sting of my tail? Will you know that too, if I decide to whip some sense into your head?”
“Ah, there’s hardly need for such barbaric methods when the ruler of this very forest graced us with this,” Garroth pulled out a small, palm sized red orb from his pouch. It looked to be a perfectly smooth thing, with tiny clouds swirling around within its confines. “With a mere touch, this item can show me the closest red dragon for miles around.” He chuckled, pointing to the forest with his other hand. “So unless there is a second red dragon that just happened to be in a place close to the snowy mountain where we lost our quarry, I believe it is safe to say the dragon we seek is hiding beneath those trees.”
“That is sound reasoning human, except I can show you one error in your plan.”
“And what error is that, Skywing? I have a vast ship here.” Garroth turned to gesture to the wooden deck. “We have energy cannons that can blast a hole the size of your head through the dragon’s scales. We have hunters armed to the teeth with equipment, and on top of that, we also have your gryphons.” The human crossed his arms and gave the gryphon an amused smirk. “Surely that is enough to subdue one pesky dragon, yes? We already brought him down from the sky once when he bled all over that mountain, if it were not for that strong magic protecting him, we would have had him bound in chains and back in the belly of this vessel in no time!”
Skywing sighed and looked to the ignorant human with pity. “Sounds so easy when you put it that way, but you know what? You behave as if you own the land beneath you.” The gryphon held up his talon and cupped the air. “One does not simply venture into the forest of despair, not while the Emerald Lady rules over every leaf, every branch, every speck of dust that resides in that dark place.”
“Emerald Lady?” Garroth placed a hand to his chin, and rubbed his rough stubble. “Can’t say I ever heard of anyone going by this title. Is she nobility, by any chance?”
Skywing told the human everything he had known about that night, two years prior. He mentioned the vines, the dragoness that towered over them, and how in a matter of minutes she had brought down ten armored knights and three gryphons with merely vines. When he was finished, he was amazed by the human’s complete lack of concern.
“I will contact my king about this matter.” He said with a smile. “You can rest assured though, Skywing. With everything we have gathered, I am sure we can go in and snatch the red dragon. Heck, maybe we can even deal with that green pest you just described.”
He placed a hand onto Skywings shoulder and patted it softly. “Just you wait, alright? I will contact some people back in Entis. Call in some favors, as you will, and make sure what happened to you back then doesn’t repeat now in the present.” Garroth turned to the forest once more. “Don't worry, Arcturus. We shall have you freed from that red dragon's claws. Hold on just for a day or two, my friend. Garroth and his merry band of adventurers is coming to rescue you.”
“Don't forget the gryphons that yearn for a little payback.” Skywing chirped, thinking to his lost friends. “We will stand behind you all the way, Garroth, if you can pull the required strings.”
“Don't worry your beak with such details, gryphon. I will get a bloody army of mercs if I have to. Let’s see if that green lady of yours can pull the same cheap tricks on an entire army. In the end, she will bend the knee before us, just like everyone else.”
Skywing had a moment of doubt cross his mind, but with the human's smile of confidence, as well as the sturdy ship beneath his paws, he felt like they could indeed succeed. With a final look to the forest, he steeled himself for what was to come. They would retrieve the dragon, save the paladin, possibly save his long-lost friends, and get rid of that green dragoness for good.
“She will know the same bitter taste I swallowed all those years back, and when her trees burn and the dragon lays defeated at our feet, stripped of both title and power, the world will call her lady no longer,” Skywing replied with a confident grin.