Three weeks since Creedy had regained consciousness, he watched the dragon as she came and went. His wounds, aside from some minor scarring, were completely healed. There was always something that she did that made him marvel. Like the night he discovered that she sang. Hauntingly beautiful and captivating, the sound had filled with the cavern, resonating everywhere. She was a gifted storyteller. The way she related the words and made the twists and turns in the tale boggled his mind to no end. He also discerned that this dragoness was lonely. Years of hiding had been arduous. He wondered how Aryanna had kept on living. Apparently, she found reason too. It had not done anything though in dampening her facetious nature. One night, she had taken him flying, and needless to say, the experience was not unmet with aggravation on his part when she did a roll and dive without warning. The dragon apologized but Creedy couldn't help but detect a grin as she said the words. He would sometime think about Quinn and everyone at the castle and how they were fairing. The dragon had told him that the bull dragon was dead and that people were beginning to rebuild. He wondered if maybe Quinn had survived to see it. He did miss his friend a great deal. However, he also was taken aback by his now current friend as well. Who knew that he would be friends with a dragon of all things. He hoped that one day, she would find the reast of her kind and perhaps that they might not have to hide anymore as well.

"Is it true?" Van Zan nodded his head.

"When?" Quinn was still realing from what he had just heard.

"One of the scouts saw it about five miles from here. It was going inside a cave," Alex said.

Quinn nodded dumbly. So they weren't all dead. Why hadn't this one died along with all the other ones? "What do you recommend doing?"

Van Zan folded his arms. "I recommend we gather together several of our men and guns and leave tomorrow at noon. By the time we get there, it will be twilight and we will have the advantage."

"Sounds good. We'll do that."

"Also another thing. The scout said that this one had forelegs."

"A dragon with with forelegs? A different breed perhaps?"

"Who knows. But one thing is sure. We don't want these critters running rampant again."

Quinn nodded heartily at that. They were just getting back on their feet again after years of terror. There was no way they let it happen again if he had anything to say about it. "Tomorrow then."

Alex nodded in agreement.

Aryanna stood outside the cave enjoying the sunset as the skies became graduations of light to dark. Creedy was inside. He had found her library last week and was making good of it. She had found the look of amazement on his face highly amusing when he learned that she could read and write. Breathing in the cool air, she spread her wings and took flight. It was always so peaceful up here. Especially now that she could enjoy it more freely than before. A sudden warning entered her mind and she flipped sideways. Not a second later, a bullet raced past. She could hear the hum as it's path came all too close for comfort. Looking down, she saw several people armed with shotguns and rifles.

"Crap! This is going to get interesting."

A barrage of gunfire assaulted her as Aryanna climbed higher in the sky. Most of them missed but one rifle found it's mark in her shoulder and another in her leg.

"Darn it! That is going to leave a mark."

Gritting her teeth, the dragoness suddenly flew low and blew fire just above the shooters heads. They ducked for cover and the dragoness took this opportunity to fly back to her cave.

The sound of gun fire roused Creed from the book he was reading. It sounded close. He was just about ready to call out to Aryanna and ask what it was about when she suddenly flew into the cave and landed heavily.

"Well speak of the devil and she shall appear." He thought to himself. He then saw that she was bleeding. Creedy then looked concerned. "What happened?"

She breathed heavily. "Dragon hunters. Dunno how they found me but they did."

Shouts outside the cave and coming closer validated her statement. Before Creedy could respond, the hunters had entered and found them. He jumped in front of Aryanna while she backed up onto her bed of jewels.

"Stop! She's not going to hurt you!"