Lindyss sighed as she trekked through the frozen wasteland. Grimmy had sent her off to acquire some human and dwarven goods to broaden the baby dragons’ horizons. She carried a massive bag on her back, and a shivering fairy queen, Erin Koller, was sitting on her shoulder. The fairy was using Lindyss’ hair as a makeshift cloak to keep herself warm. She puffed hot breaths into her hands and rubbed them together. “Why didn’t one of the dragons fly you there and back?” the fairy queen asked.

“I don’t know,” Lindyss said, her expression darkening. Why would she know what a giant oversized lizard was thinking? It’s not like she was an oversized lizard herself. “Maybe they were too lazy to fly. After all, why should they fly when they have me here to walk for them?”

Erin’s teeth chattered together. “Aren’t you supposed to be good with magic? Can’t you conjure a fireball or something to keep me warm?”

“I can,” Lindyss said, “but I’m more proficient in bringing the dead back to life. I wonder if your skeleton will have wings.”

Erin glared at Lindyss. If it weren’t for the cold, she would’ve stood up and slapped the cursed elf’s pointy ear. “There aren’t any bones in my wings.”

“I guess that answers that then,” Lindyss said. She exhaled upon seeing the entrance to the holy dragon’s den. “We’re finally here. You’ll be warm soon enough.”

“About time,” Erin said and grumbled.

Lindyss walked into the cave and shouted, “Grimmy, I’m back! I brought everything you wanted.”

Lulu’s head poked out of her cave. “Grimmy left.”

Lindyss blinked. “Left? What do you mean left?”

“He took Leila and his kids to the southern continent,” Lulu said. “But, uh, it seems like he forgot about you.”

Expletives burst out of Lindyss’ mouth, and she tossed the bag of things she had bought into a random corner of the cave. “Did he say when he was coming back?”

“He didn’t,” Lulu said and nodded. “However, judging by how often Leila comes back home, I think you’ll be waiting anywhere between two years to three hundred years.”

Lindyss took in a deep breath through her nose before exhaling through her mouth. “Thanks.”

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“Are you going to chase after him?” Lulu asked as Lindyss turned and walked away. “If you are, can you take me with you? My family’s been stressing me out lately, and I know Mom doesn’t want to admit it, but you’re strong enough to take me away from here, right? You beat her up once.”

Lindyss stopped walking and turned to gaze at Lulu. “I’m not going to chase after him,” she said. “Why would I go looking for him after he clearly abandoned me? I didn’t even want to come here in the first place!” She furrowed her brow. “But if you’re looking for a place to relax and destress, I know somewhere we can go. You can fly us over there.”

Lulu’s eyes lit up. “Really? Let’s go!”

***

Vur glanced around after stepping through the portal. The first thing he noticed when he walked through was the river coursing through the lush cave. Tafel noticed him staring. “I think this is part of the southern continent,” she said. “Outside of this cave, there’s literally no water to be found. I think I would’ve given up if this river wasn’t here.”

Vur furrowed his brow and walked to the edge of the river. He squatted down and took a sniff. He blinked and shifted his gaze onto Tafel with a weird expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Tafel asked. “Is it poisonous? That shouldn’t be the case, right? Those pale people have been living off of it for centuries, and when I drank some, it felt like it refreshed my mind and restored my mana.”

Vur pointed at the flowing river. “This is dragon drool.”

“Dragon drool!?” a surprised voice shouted from behind the two. It belonged to Emile. His eyes were bulging, and his beak was wide open. “That delicious water is dragon drool!?”

Susan blinked. She flew over to the edge of the river and dipped her beak into it. It still tasted delicious. She glanced at Emile. “It was a good thing that purple barrier was there to stop us from discovering the source; imagine if the dragon woke up and ate us.”

“You’re still drinking it even after knowing it’s drool?” Emile asked.

“Just think of it like milk,” Susan said.

Emile flew over to Susan’s side. He paused, and a moment later, he dipped his beak into the river as well. “At least the taste doesn’t change after knowing,” he said after drinking a few gulps.

Tafel stared at the river with a complicated expression. A sigh escaped from her mouth. “Well, what’s done is done,” she said and shook her head. She gestured for Vur to follow her, and the two walked along the river until they reached the purple barrier in the rock wall. “It’s behind this barrier, but I’m not sure if we should fight this thing anymore. What if it’s guarding the sleeping dragon?”

“What is it?”

Tafel shrugged. “I didn’t get a good look at it, but it seemed to be really strong.”

“Were you chased too?” Emile asked. “Susan and I heard footsteps in that tunnel, so we fled, but the sounds kept getting louder and louder. I thought we were going to die.”

Vur raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t look back to see what it was?”

“And risk crashing into a wall? No thanks!” Emile shook his head. “The tunnel bends and curves a lot, and while we were flying, whatever was chasing us felt like it was close enough to breathe on my tail!”

“I turned to look,” Susan said and raised a wing, “but I didn’t see anything. I think it might’ve been invisible or something.”

Vur stroked his chin before nodding. “Alright,” he said and turned towards Tafel. “How do we get through the barrier?”

Tafel shrugged. “Smash it?”