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Balik's tail thrashed angrily at the insult, and he was just getting ready to attack her when she started moving. Again, he found himself surprised by her abilities, and sneered. She was proving to be much more troublesome than he had originally thought.

He decided to take the fight to her. As she leaped for the tree branch, he sprung forward with incredibly surprising speed for such a large creature, and planted himself beneath her, watching her with his yellow reptilian eyes. Even though taking flight to pursue her into the air was impossible thanks to the dense foliage, he figured that she would have to come down eventually, and waited eagerly for the opportunity to dig his claws and teeth into her flesh . . . .

Though her windstorm severely tested his ability to remain upright, and increased his level of wariness, most of his focus remained on her. He was determined to kill her, and it would take more than that to fully distract him from his goal.

And so, while she seemed occupied with blowing into her fist, Balik dug the claws of his feet into the soil to stabilize himself and went about solving the problem of getting her out of the tree . . . . by slamming his enormous fist into the trunk next to him, splintering the wood as if a car had just rammed into it. The tree shook violently, and since she seemed to be focused on her sorcery, it would hopefully knock her out of her roost high above him . . . .

Balik snarled fiercely, and opened his jaws to reveal gleaming rows of yellowed fangs, prepared to lunge forward and snap his teeth shut on her tiny little arm. He did not fear her sword, which appeared to be just some little trick to him.

However, he never even got the chance to try, because at that moment a green bulk rushed past Asherah from straight above, and smashed into him with a resounding crash. Caught by surprise, Balik crumpled like a house of cards, and found himself flat on his back with a clawed hand wrapped securely around his throat. Looking up, he found Lani crouched on his chest, snarling. One hand held him down by the neck, while she held the other in the air above her, claws extended, ready to cut him open at a moment's notice.

"If you value your life, you will leave this human alone and be on your way, Balik. You have threatened the lives of both my brother and our guest, and I will not hesitate to spill your blood."

Balik snarled with unmatched fury, but he knew when he was beaten. A groan of pain from nearby signified that Shattil had come to the same conclusion.

With an expression that conveyed his rage at being defeated, Balik reluctantly said, "On the blood of my people, I swear to leave you, your brother, and this human in peace." He then listed the names of the eight islands of Virconia, sealing the oath. Lanuk forced Shattil to make the same promise. To break such an oath meant that they would certainly be condemned to eternal damnation in the afterlife.

With that, Lani released him and stood, and her brother did the same. "Now go," she said, and watched as the two of them picked themselves off the ground and turned to slink away into the jungle. Then Lani turned to Asherah with an expression of relief, and said "Let us continue on our way. We are not far from the village now." That said, the female Draconian led the way down the path once again, with a limping Lanuk following not too far behind.

Lanuk seemed hesitant at first to let her near his injured leg, then sighed and let her do as she wished. His face remained stoic as she worked her magic, and as she drew away, he flexed his leg, testing to see how well it was working now. He was surprised to find that he no longer felt any pain, and looked at her for several long seconds, seemingly unsure of what to say or do.

Finally, he settled on a small nod, and turned to continue marching down the path.

Lani, who had been watching this short exchange between her brother and Asherah, laughed softly. "What he means is 'Thank you.' As I mentioned before, my dear brother is a bit stubborn, especially with strangers, but do not worry. He will come around eventually."

Then Lani bowed to Asherah, and motioned for her to continue along the path. The village was not far now.

Lani noticed Asherah's display of exhaustion, and chuckled softly. "Do not worry," she said as they continued down the path. "We are almost there."

They would continue through the jungle for another six or seven minutes, before finally passing another bend in the path . . . . and walking straight into the midst of a busy Draconian village.

Set upon a lush green hillside, the village consisted of several small huts and buildings constructed from wood and stone. If one expected to find shoddily built structures, such as might be found in the village of a third-world country, they would have been quite surprised. Their houses and shops had been built with care and skilled craftsmanship. Straight planks of wood, carved with intricate symbols and designs, had been used in the construction of their walls and roofs, and small stones had been carefully fitted and mortared together to form pathways and various other structures. Color had been added through the use of various pastes and oils to paint murals and pictures upon the walls.

As for the inhabitants themselves, dozens of Draconians of many different colors could be seen scattered amongst the buildings. Many adults walked back and forth along the pathways, carrying out various tasks. Not too far away, a small group of adolescents wrestled in the dirt, apparently playing some sort of game. Young hatchlings, barely four feet tall and skinny as twigs compared to the adults, chased each other between the buildings, laughing loudly. The air buzzed with noise. Had they been human, this scene would not have been out of place in any other village.

However, only moments after the trio arrived on the scene, everything went silent as the inhabitants took notice of Asherah. Their combined initial reaction was one of surprise and bewilderment as they all stopped to stare at her, but it quickly descended into a combination of curiosity, suspicion, and confusion.

Lani and Lanuk led her up the hillside through the village, towards a large and lavishly decorated building at the top of the hill. As they walked up the street, Draconians moved out of their way and stayed there, leaving a permanent circle of empty space around the three.

In this manner, they slowly made their way toward the house of the Wise Ones . . . .

Not far from where the creature emerged from the water, there sat a small fishing village, set on a rocky bluff overlooking the ocean. Its population was small, with only about sixty Draconians living there in total.

One of them, a young adolescent, was currently making his way down the shoreline, looking for a good spot to cast his net or use his spear. Most of the good spots near the village had already been taken by the older fishermen, and he preferred to fish alone anyway.

As he walked along the rocks and sand, he saw the blue form of the creature in the distance. At first, he mistook it for another Draconian, and because there weren't any in the village whose scales possessed the same shade of that color, he walked closer to investigate. However, when he got within 500 feet of the thing, he realized that it was no Draconian, and immediately dropped his equipment to spread his wings, flying back towards the village to warn the others.

Within a few minutes, a group of five adults- three men and two women- were flying towards the place where the creature had last been seen, intending to investigate.

The creature did not fluently know this language which the dragon had spoken, but has heard it on a couple different occasions. It reaches out toward the ocean and a small ball of water rises from the seas before changing shape into that of a small bird. The watery bird flutters over to the creature and "perches" upon it's shoulder. Moments later is flies back to the ocean and falls like rain back into the sea and the creature looks back to the dragon and responds in the same language, telling him that if they didn't know what it was, then all the better, but to know that he means no ill will.