Shie, Riah and I finished the day’s journey back to camp.  From there, I parted with them to take some time for myself.  I headed out to a small outcrop in the forest so I could try to make sense of everything that had just happened.  It was there that I stumbled upon a startling situation…

Standing just inside one of the caves on the edge of the outcrop were two figures, and one of them was Princess Kiriad!  Curiosity tempting me, I quietly edged closer so I could make out what they were saying, as well as try to figure out who the other figure was that Kiriad was talking to.

I found myself a decent vantage point up in one of the many trees without being seen.  From there I could pick up the conversation, but I still couldn’t tell who the other figure was.  From my perch, all I could see was that the individual was cloaked in red. Very little of her could be seen from under the cloak, save for brief glimpses of what looked like reddish or brown fur as she conversed.

This individual was no one I recognized, yet Princess Kiriad seemed very familiar with her.  Stranger yet was what they discussed.  From where I hid, I listened to the cloaked one tell the Princess about a small village of dragon soldiers two days’ journey southeast of here.  What made the news so important was that the dragon Queen herself – Oscura, she was called - was supposed to be there with her daughter – named Lumina.

I listened intently to the cloaked stranger relay this news in her strange accent, my thoughts coming together as I began to formulate a plan.  I knew our so-called leader would just sit on this news and do nothing, so I decided it was time that someone did something about this.  I started to leave my perch and head back to my pack-mates when I noticed something odd out of the corner of my eye – I could almost swear I saw a bushy red-furred tail with a white tip swing out from under the cloak as the stranger turned to leave.  What kind of creature was this?

Dismissing what I thought I had seen for the moment, I made my way back to Shie and Riah to begin planning what would be our greatest raid ever.  I explained what I overheard, and we set to work.  We started formulating the plan when Riah asked:

“Ever notice there seems to be a lot of kidnapping going on between us and those scalebacks?”

“We’re not going in there to kidnap anyone,” I replied, “We’re going to end this once and for all.  I’m going to eliminate that cold-blood daughter.”

Both Shie and Riah seemed taken aback by this at first, but I convinced them that this was for the best.  This would turn the tide in our favour.  The dragon queen would be lost without her daughter, and we would be able to pick them off as they fumbled in the confusion stemming from the loss.  And just maybe I would finally show my sister that I was right for once.  Maybe I could even prove that I had what it takes to lead instead of that fool Kiriad.

We spent the next few days finalizing our plans.  As on any raid, this would just be the three of us.  We set out before dawn for the dragon encampment.  The day started out fairly uneventful.  We kept our tracks hidden and stayed out of sight so as not to alert any of the leatherheads to our approach.  The three of us were in good spirits.  Then suddenly the unthinkable happened.