Kyri stood on shaky legs and looked up at the scaly viscous-looking face of the reptilian beast that was before her. The beast swaggered through the bushes on four strong legs while keeping its eyes locked on her. It bellowed and began to move forward. She backed up slowly, cautiously, and hugged Unicorn tighter.

Being beneath a small break in the overhead tree branches, the beast’s brown scales glittered in the sunlight. It extended its long neck upward, and its two long black horns seemed to pierce the sky. Its large bat-like wings extended slightly, as if the creature were trying to be even more intimidating. Including its long triangle-tipped tail, the beast was nearly twenty feet long.

"D-dragon…?" Kyri questioned quietly. Unicorn gave a short squeaky mumble. The dragon arched its neck. It bellowed again and snapped its head forward like a cobra. Kyri and Unicorn were knocked sideways to the ground, and something heavy landed on them. The dragon’s jaws closed on air. It slashed with one of its talons, and there was a ripping sound.

The heavy thing that had knocked them over got off them. Kyri and Unicorn looked up to see Aikel offering his hand, though his eyes were fixed of the miffed dragon. Kyri took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up, but she took note of the fact that he had a tree branch in his other hand. He traded it to his right hand after helping her up.

"You’re not going to fight with just that, are you?" she asked.

"I hope we can get out of here without trying," he answered.

As they backed up a bit, Kyri saw the three bloody gashes in Aikel’s back. "Oh, you’re hurt!" Kyri warned.

"I’ll be okay… for a minute at least," Aikel said.

The dragon growled and edged toward them as it prepared for another attack. It lunged again. The branch gouged its eye. It drew back, grumbling.

It struck again, this time using a head butt. Aikel was knocked back. The dragon rose onto two legs and clawed at him. Kyri grabbed his shirt and yanked him out of the way. The dragon’s talons sunk into the tree that had been behind him.

With a lash of the creature’s tail, Aikel and Kyri were knocked to their left. Unicorn fell from Kyri’s grasp and bounced onto the dragon’s leg. The dragon snapped for Aikel again. In mid-lunge, something white slammed into the side of its head. It turned and snapped its jaws. Unicorn had been moving toward its head; she bounced and slammed her horn into the beast’s left eye.

It bellowed in pain. Pegasus flapped desperately and escaped while its mouth was open. He was weighed down by a thick coat of saliva and fell to the ground.

"Pegasus…" Aikel scrambled over and picked him up as Kyri stood and caught Unicorn. The dragon butted him into Kyri, and the four of them slammed into a tree. They landed on the ground in a heap.

Kyri seemed to be the only one that hadn’t been knocked into half-consciousness. She moved off Aikel carefully, trying not to hurt the wounds on his back. She looked up at the dragon and saw it arch its neck again. She cringed as its head shot forward. She heard a whip-like sound and looked back up.

A silver-blue rope of sorts was noosed around the creature’s throat. Its head was being pulled back, but the end of the rope was hidden in the bushes. Two more ropes, one from either side, flew into view and were fastened around the dragon’s muzzle. The beast struggled fruitlessly and snorted in frustration.

"Wha…?" Kyri mumbled incredulously.

The dragon was forced onto its hind legs. A pair of fast-moving figures flitted in front of it in opposite directions, twisting a rope around its wrists. Within a few seconds, its forelegs were bound together tightly, and its tail was fastened to its hind legs. It flapped its wings frantically.

Its captors slowed their flight enough to be seen. A human-like being less than four-feet-tall got behind the dragon’s head and grabbed its horns. He had a pair of yellow-tipped antenna-like objects rising up from his bright red hair. Colorful glittery sparkles appeared for a few moments when he flapped his feather-like butterfly wings.

He yelled, "Friigo! Paralyze the wings!"

A group of five similar creatures surrounded the dragon. Two of them shrunk to about four inches and approached the beast’s shoulders. After a moment, its mad flapping dwindled into bits of twitching.

The red-haired person, who was apparently the one in charge, called, "We’ve half-failed if its quarry bleeds to death. Somebody do something about them!" Kyri drew back worriedly as he pointed to her. A pair of his disciples—one shrunk, one full-size—fluttered toward her.

The larger one landed and kneeled by Aikel. She poured a small bulbous bottle of blue liquid onto her glowing hand. The liquid spilled onto Aikel’s back, and his wounds began to fade. The smaller of the two began two glow until she looked like a tiny ball of light with wings. She flew toward Kyri and tapped her on the forehead before descending and doing the same for Pegasus and Unicorn.

"Are you okay?" she asked Kyri in a soft, caring voice.

"Yes," Kyri said timidly, feeling her pain fade, "Thank you…."

* * *

At the sound of a grumbling whimper, Aikel jumped in start again. Pegasus, who was perched on his left shoulder, flapped for balanced. Not bothering to look at him, the red-haired person, having introduced himself as Roki, sighed and said, "For the last time, it’s tied up. It can’t hurt you." He was walking ahead of everyone, occasionally smoothing his leather hunting clothes. His bright translucent wings were held lazily at an angle.

Kyri was walking quietly to Aikel’s right, holding Unicorn in her arms. Six of the full-sized winged people were flying behind carrying the distressed dragon by the ropes that bound it; sparkles fell from their wings when they flapped. Six others were shrunk to a few inches and were flying around with no formation. Their wings didn’t sparkle when they were small.

"Are you… faeries?" Kyri asked timidly asked the red-haired leader.

"We’re not dwarves," he said laughing.

"Okay…" Kyri said.

"Faeries?" Aikel wondered.

As Roki stepped onto a very large tree root, he turned and called, "Switch!" The smaller faeries grew to about four feet and took dragon’s ropes from the others. The others shrunk, and Aikel assumed that they must feel more natural that way. The group continued onward.

Only then did it occur to Aikel that someone should ask where they were being taken.

"Our troop—or village—Nalya," Roki answered, "Since your home was attacked, we’ll get you—and any more of your kind we can find—a temporary settlement."

"We’re going to live in your village?" Aikel asked.

"Possibly…. Our troop warder Prithvi knows the details."

The group was walking down-hill. The lower-planted trees were taller, and the treetops were fairly similar in height. The leaves were continually thicker, and the light dimmed. The tips of Roki’s antennae were engulfed in small orbs of white light. Following his example, the six smaller faeries began to glow. The others were busy with the dragon.

"Why…?" Kyri said quietly, trailing off.

Aikel had a feeling she was talking to him, and he knew what she meant. Still he asked, "Why what?" and kept his eyes forward.

She looked up at him and asked, "Why did you save me?"

He had carelessly gotten himself injured when he pushed her away from the dragon’s strike. He shrugged to her question and crossed his arms nonchalantly. He said, "I’m in training to be a swordsman. Swordsmen protect people whether they like them or not." He turned his head away.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her glare at him, but her scowl turned into a warm smile.

"You’re a bad liar," Pegasus whispered.

* * *

Nalya Troop was a plant-scented town that was nearly invisible until you stepped into it. The buildings were small wooden structures, and most of them had leaves on them. Some were on stilts, but most were in the trees on wooden platforms of varied height. Despite the faeries’ ability to fly, there were stairs and ladders between platforms and ropes that served as railings.

The city was dark due to the overhead foliage, but a few gaps in the leaves allowed the sunlight to shine through. The sunless places were lit with softly glowing lanterns and a few bright fireflies. The bright flowers and the sparkling darkness gave the place an aura of eerie peace.

Most of the buildings’ ceilings were no more than six-feet-high. One of the few that was higher was a long pleasant-looking building on its own platform. It served as an inn for the town’s visitors. Roki had left to speak with his superior, and he led Aikel, Kyri, Pegasus, and Unicorn to this inn when he returned.

The innkeeper had offered two rooms for the four of them. Aikel and Pegasus took one; Kyri and Unicorn took the other. The room had a long low bed with navy sheets on the right side. There was a small table against the wall by the window, an oval magenta rug in the middle of the floor, and a lantern in the center of the ceiling. Save these and the door, the little wooden room was bare.

When Kyri and Unicorn entered their room, they looked at it wearily for a moment before collapsing onto the bed. After a few moments, there was a knock at the door.

Unicorn looked at Kyri, whose face was buried in a pillow. She bounced halfway to the door and called, "Come in!"

A faery with a tray of fruit entered, asking, "Are you hungry?"

"Thank you," Unicorn said to her as she set the tray down on the table.

As she started to leave, she said, "The large building just to the west of here is café of sorts, if you get bored."

"You want some fruit, Kyri?" Unicorn asked as she hopped onto the table.

"I’m not hungry," Kyri mumbled.

"You should eat something," Unicorn said. She rolled an orange off the table; it fell onto the bed near the pillow. "You’ve had a long d…" she began. She looked regretful.

"It’s all one day?" Kyri asked. She began sobbing into her pillow. Unicorn hopped down and snuggled up against her neck. "My mother was alive this morning…."

See, you can cry, Unicorn thought sadly.

* * *

Unicorn was cuddled affectionately against Kyri’s wet face when she awoke with a start. She only recalled being startled and had no idea what had awakened her. She edge quietly away from Kyri and looked around. The room was dimmer because there was no sunlight coming through the window. She could hear the muffled sounds of crickets from outside.

After a moment, she heard something else. She moved to the door and pressed her ear against it. She heard voices that were a bit higher-pitched, like faeries’. The faeries seemed to be right outside but were trying to be quiet, so Unicorn could only make out a few words. She heard Kyri’s name and something about summoning, magic, and monsters. Despite their volume, the voices seemed to be arguing.

There was the sound of a door opening quietly, and the faeries voices instantly stopped. After the exchange of a few words, the door closed. The faeries were silent for a moment before Unicorn heard Roki’s voice again.

"Prithvi," he said clearly, "we need to try."

There was an exasperated sigh. "Fine, fine," a female voice muttered. Unicorn jumped back in start as one of the faeries knocked on the door.

"Come in…" she said. She looked at Kyri, who was sitting up and rubbing her eyes. The door opened and three faeries entered. The woman in the lead was about two inches shorter than Roki, who was behind her, but her air of superiority made her seem three times higher.

Her long hair was a shiny ivory color. A series of small braids began just behind her bangs and was styled in a net shape, hanging down over the rest of her hair like filigree. Her silver-blue eyes were hard and piercing. She straightened her dark-red silk robes, glanced at Unicorn, and turned her gaze to Kyri.

"On behalf of our race," she said formally, "I would like to request a favor of you, miss."

Kyri blinked a few times, as if wondering whether or not she was the one being addressed.