They walked for what felt like another hour or two, taking rests and breaks every while. 

Fennyr still hadn't eaten anything. His urgency to hurry to Lok'shire emptied his mind of all other thoughts. Whenever his stomach started feeling hollow he would bring to the surface of his consciousness the memory of the headless body in order to tame his weak flesh. The method may seemed harsh to some but to Fennyr it seemed necessary.

As they walked, nobody spoke. The only sound was the crinkling of the dry leaves under their talons and the occasional cry of a bird. Otner, about halfway through the walk, started to sing an old camping rhyme that they had learned when they were just hatchlings but when no one joined in he quickly shut his snout. 

They kept walking. Fennyr was on edge the entire time. To see the corpse and to know there was a Lur'drake in their midst was a terrible burden to carry. He jumped at every sound and his scales were permanently raised along his spine with anxiety. 

The group stopped for a break once more. The light in the woods seemed to be darkening. Fennyr assumed that the time must have been around sundown, even though he couldn't tell through the thick canopy of leaves and branches. 

The forest around them did not differ in landmarks. The only thing Fennyr could see as he looked around him were trees. He felt as if he and his friends were an island in the middle of an ocean of bark and leaves. 

Pyria interrupted his thoughts. "Do you guys think we're getting closer?" Her voice sounded rather hoarse from lack of use. All eyes turned to Fennyr, waiting for him to answer. I'll never get used to this leader business. He thought.

"I don't know." Fennyr admitted. Their faces drooped. 

"Frankly, I'm not even sure if we're going west." Otner stated. 

"Could someone fly up and see where the sun is?" Sulak wondered, thoughtfully. "The leaves may inhibit us all from getting out, but if someone would at least stick their head out from the canopy, we could get our bearings."

"Great idea, Sulak!" Pyria praised. Her eyes were alight with hope that Fennyr hadn't seen in what felt like eons. 

"But I don't think that just anyone can fit their head through the leaves." Grali pointed out. "Only a small dragon can do it." 

There was a pause, then slowly, silently, inevitably, all eyes turned to Azul. 

"Really?" She groaned when she realized everyone was staring at her. "Fine. But only just a glance." 

"A glance is all we'll need." Fennyr smiled in spite of himself. To have an answer to a problem, even just a small problem like finding where west was, gave him such a feeling of hope that he felt as if he was slowly filling up with light. Perhaps if they just solved a number of small problems he and his friends, both old and new, would survive. 

Azul spread her wings and flew to a high branch. She half-flew half-jumped from branch to branch as she was climbing. The branches were so close that at times Fennyr would lose sight of her through all the twigs and leaves but her azure scales or her smiling snout would always reappear.

"Are you there yet?" Otner shouted up. 

"Almost!" Azul's voice was muffled by the canopy that separated her from her friends. A moment passed. "I see the sky!" She shouted with elation. Everyone below her cheered. 

"Which way is the sun?" Fennyr asked.

"Well, the sun sets in the west and the sun is setting now so...." She paused.

Sulak shifted his talons impatiently. "Well, are we going the right way?" He shouted.

"As far as I can tell, yes!" Azul's voice was filled with cheer and happiness. 

"All right, then." Pyria yelled. "Come on down and let's keep moving again."

"Wait. Hold on." Azul's voice suddenly lost all its joy. "There's something out there." The group went tense. Then, from above, came Azul's astounded gasp. 

"I see wings." She yelled. "And the glint of scales. It's a dragon!" 

Fennyr couldn't believe his ears. Someone was coming. Perhaps it was one of the citizens of Lok'shire coming to lead them to the town. A small part of Fennyr's heart fantasied that it was Sulfer coming to save them, full of regret for what he had done to Fennyr. 

Stop it. He lectured himself. Father-...Sulfur will never apologize. I have to forget about him.

"I'll see if I can fit through this space and tell them that we're here." There was a rusting and crackling overhead as Azul, with a shower of broken twigs raining down on those below, finally forced her way out of the confinements of the forest and into the endless expanse of the sky above. 

"I'm out." She yelled to the group. "I'm going to talk to them. I'll be right back." Her voice came through the brush, then came the dry sound of wings flapping away. The rest were silent, waiting excitingly for her Azul's return.

Precious moments passed.

"Do you think she'll be back soon?" Grali asked Sulak, her eyes wide with worry. 

"Of course, she'll be back." Sulak said, trying to reassure her. 

More moments passed, flitting away like anxious butterflies. 

"Why isn't she back yet?" Pyria wondered aloud. "Do you think she's okay?" 

Otner's giant smile was back on his snout. "Oh, I'm sure she's-"

"AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" The scream bounced around the forest. Then the scream was silenced and the horrible figure of a small dragon crashed through the canopy and landed with a sickening thud a few feet away from Fennyr. 

"Azul!" Pyria screamed, tears in her eyes, her newfound hope evaporated like dew in the mid-day sun. 

Azul was bleeding from her nose and mouth from the impact of her fall. Her eyes were open and she was panting. 

"Azul." Fennyr knelt besides her and looked into her emerald eyes. "Are you alright? What happened up there?" 

Azul made no indication that she had heard him. Her eyes didn't even twitch. They were distant as if looking far away into some horrible and coming future. 

"Why? Why me?" The little dragon muttered. Her voice was like that of a sleepwalkers, blurry and dazed. 

"I'll see you in Celio, Coal." She whispered before her eyes fluttered shut. 

Fennyr placed his palm in front of her snout to feel for any air. "She's still breathing," He announced to the group. "but barely." 

"What could have caused this?" Grali wondered aloud. Her eyes were huge and she seemed to be rambling on, talking so fast she hardly paused for breath. "What kind of creature could make a dragon fall out of the sky? Basilisk? No, they can't fly, plus she would be turned to stone. Enemy dragon? No, there's no scratch marks or burns. Manticore? No, she would screaming in pain, not passed out. What is it? What is it? WHAT IS IT?" 

Grali dropped to her knees, raised her talons to her head, and pressed them against her temples as if she could wring an idea out of her brains like water out of a wet cloth. Sulak silently placed a talon on her shoulder, his expression concerned but not surprised at her outburst. His lack of surprise signaled to Fennyr that Sulak and Grali must have known each other before the arena. However, he did not dwell on this long. 

Pyria was staring in horror at Azul's unconscious body. She seemed to be frozen with shock. Fennyr felt an urge to rush over and hug her, to assure her that everything was all right, but he smothered the impulse like a miniature flame beneath his claws. 

Fennyr turned and inspected Azul. Otner walked to the other side of her to do the same. As far as Fennyr could tell, she had no cuts, open wounds or as it seemed broken bones. The only thing that worried Fennyr was the fact the blood was still running out of her mouths, possibly signaling internal injuries. 

"Fennyr." Otner's eyes were horrified. He was staring at Azul's back. "I don't think she's just unconscious." 

Fennyr's blood turned to ice as he came to the other side of Azul. He was afraid to look, but he knew that he could let his terror show. 

And then, he saw it. 

A single puncture mark was on her shoulder, startlingly dark against her sapphire scales. The wound  was deep, deep enough to scrape her shoulder blade. The exposed muscle was almost a dark magenta instead of a healthy pink and a dark substance mixed with the blood that was steadily pooling in the crater. 

It was the mark of a Lur'drake which meant...

Oh Amilkali. Fennyr prayed for what felt like the first time. 

Suddenly, a howl cut through both the silence and Fennyr's thoughts like a serrated knife through fabric, leaving only tattered remains of sanity.

Everyone reacted differently to the dreaded sound. 

Otner's eyes went wide and he looked up at the forest canopy in horror. 

Pyria curled her talons into fists and snarled. 

Sulak dropped to his knees and clutched his claws together, his mouth moving with silent prayers. 

Grali's anxiety dispersed with the roar. She stood up from her position on the  ground and glared at the cover of leaves and branches. The determination in her expression almost made her look like a different dragon. 

A crash was heard from above, within the branches. Something was coming towards them. Something big, much bigger than Fennyr. Then, with a boom, muted because of the leaves underneath it, the something landed in front of them. 

It was Fennyr's worst nightmare.

At first, he was so afraid he could only see process bits and pieces of the monster that was before him. 

A wolfish head with fangs jutting out from its upper lip, salivating at the sight of the travelers. 

Two dragon forepaws with scarlet scales and saw-toothed talons sharper and longer than Fennyr had ever seen before. 

Bat wings stretched out to reveal an enormous wingspan. 

Eyes the color of freshly spilled blood with no pupils or white space. 

And the worst part, an exoskeleton tapering off into a deadly stinger like that of a scorpion, the top coated with venom black as night but with a crimson shine.                                     

Then, Fennyr mentally clacked the pieces together like a deadly jigsaw puzzle. It was then that he truly realized what the thing was. 

It was the creature that Renzr parents terrorized their children with stories of. The monster that was the very purpose of the wall that surrounded the city. The beast that had been terrorizing the whole of Paridosa for a decade. 

It was a Lur'drake and it was then that Fennyr knew that he was going to die.