I stood on the edge of camp watching the sun rise. When will the attack on the village happen? Will Kyanite and Duha get there on time? So many questions and no answers. All I can do is work on this castle. "What are you doing up this early Kyros of the mountain?"

I turned to see the Purple Dragon that was talking to me. She stood there the sun making her glow. Her purple armour looked the same as the scales that covered most of her body. My eyes followed the lines of the armour seeing it thicker in places where she had softer scales. "Thinking on my friends." I said pulling my eyes away from her body.

Purple Dragon smiled at me. "There is no need. Red Dragon left in such a fury, I know he will call up the armoured fang at least. The best soldiers we have."

Would he be that much of a fool? If he takes a whole army to rescue Reina then the humans are all goners. I shook my head. "I hope he isn't that foolish."

Purple Dragon laughed. "You misunderstand. Red Dragon is the only one that could call us to war. He is a proven soldier of skill. You should only worry if we are called home. If we are then... he aims to remake the world."

I sighed. "Never mind all that. There is nothing I can do from here. Tell me what we need to do with that castle."

"We need to start with that web. It is strong stuff and could make very good rope if we can soak it in something to make it less flammable. We gather it and weave it into rope. I will ask my brother for that job. Next are the walls and gates..."

I stopped listening to her and just nodded as she carried on with his list. I hope we can make this place good for the people coming I will believe the people will be alright until I know differently.

"..so we will need stone and iron as a priority."

Those words drew me back to what she was saying. "Of course."

She smiled. "Come with me. We have started, and if we work, your mind will not wander."

"Ahh sorry." She chuckled leading me to the castle.

As we got there I saw the Dragons hard at work. They were pulling the web down and rolling it up in to big balls, with others cutting trees and working on the rotten gate. The yaspilrmeth were pointing and talking about the houses.

The yaspilrmeth worked with the Dragons with some difficulty. I left Purple Dragon to help the others talk to her kin. The work was doing a good job of distracting me until we stopped to eat. Once the sun was fully up and the sky a nice blue, we walked back down to the camp, where breakfast was waiting for us courtesy of Green Dragon. She served us with a smile making me frown. She is always smiling I don't know what that is about. It's like she is laughing at a private joke.

I took my food and found a space to look out over the landscape below the castle. The dirt track followed the contours of the two mountains that the castle was nestled between. From my perch on the rock, I could see for miles.

The path was overgrown and trees came to the edge of it. They overhung the path, and the underbrush narrowed it to the point where only a few people could walk it. No waggons through there until we've cleared it. The sense of peace I got from looking over the tops of the trees calmed my fear.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a bear walking through the hills there. I slipped from the rock and walked towards her. She stopped going up on her hind legs. She sniffed the air and seemed curious; I moved closer, offering her some of my meat.

She took it from me. How the hell do I talk to another bear? I grunted at her thinking about what we were doing. She seemed to understand and looked to the castle. I knew she could smell us and was not intending to go near by the way she moved. Trying to grunt and grumble to make myself understood was easier than I first thought. It came naturally to me.

She turned and started to lope off in the direction of the village. "You are asking the wild bears to help like Wolf did the wolves?"

I jumped, spinning, and realised that Green Dragon had deliberately stayed upwind on me. I really don't like this Dragon. She is rude and creeps up on people. "I tried." I mumbled.

Green Dragon grinned at me as I walked back to the camp to get back to work. She will cause trouble! I know she will. I think I will need to talk to Kyanite about her. I felt myself growling as I walked away.

Between the army coming and the attack of last night, I felt useless. People came to me knowing I could talk to the Dragons. That was the only reason they came to me. No one wanted me to help since the meeting with Reina. "Ahh, there you are Pup. Please come with me I have something of great import for you to do." I turned from looking out over the brunt ground outside the wall.

I sighed following Blue Dragon to the tent. Another translation, I expect. The Dragon stopped at a bed and gestured to the man in the bed. "My brother tells me you have been shown his skills and I can't find him. This man was hurt, and I am not an expert in these injuries. My brother has been training you. Please help this man."

Looking down at the man lying on the bed I saw his leg was badly burned. I winced at it. "You need me to help with his wound?"

The Blue Dragon nodded looking more desperate. "Please Pup... he is in great pain. It was an accident at the smithy." She said wringing her hands together. Why does it smell like hot metal in here suddenly?

I set to work washing, taking the dead skin off and dressing the wound just as Topaz showed me. It feels good to be needed for something other than translations, but I hope this isn't them trying to make me feel better. I thought as I worked. Every movement I made reminds me of the way Topaz showed me how to do this. I couldn't help but smile.

Topaz walked in, saw the leg I'd just finished dressing, and let out a happy growl. "I had just been told about this injury Katja. I'm impressed by your work." He said as he looked at the leg.

"Thank you, Topaz," I said, stroking his arm. The Blue Dragon next to me frowned slightly then walked away. "Did I say something wrong?" I asked looking at her back.

Topaz took my hand and led me out of the tent not answering my question. He walked into town and stopped near the entrance of an alleyway. He looked down at me, his ice-blue eyes meeting mine for the first time in a while. "No... she just doesn't approve of... it does not matter."

I could see it mattered a great deal. I looked around at all the people rushing about and took Topaz by the hand. I walked down the alleyway with him to find somewhere quiet. Soon I found somewhere away from everyone else. A small piece of green space that was quiet and away from the bustle of the village. I sat down and patted the ground next to me. He sat and waited for me to speak. "It's important for you so tell me. I will hear you out even if you think it will upset me."

"She does not want me to show an interest in you. She thinks I should find a nice Dragon." Topaz said, looking at the ground and rubbing his hands together, filling the air with the smell of hot metal.

Ahh, but it should be his choice. "I see."

He took my hand and moved in front of me, morphing into a human. "I do not care what she thinks. You are the greatest woman I have ever met. The only thing that will make me leave you alone is if you do not want me around you."

He stroked my cheek and I smiled. Well, I'm happy to have him spend time with me. "I'm not going to stop you. I enjoy your company a lot."

He made another happy growl and leaned towards me kissing me on the cheek. "Then I will stay close until you accept me." He stood, morphing into a Dragon, and picked me up, holding me to his chest gently. "It is hard to follow the request of the honoured mother right now."

What does he mean? Did he make a deal with my mum? He let my legs down and my feet touched the floor. I smiled running my hand over his scales. "We should get on. I'm sure many people are looking for me to translate for them."

Topaz smiled at me hugging me to his chest. "You have many skills, Katja. Do not let people forget that. Will you defend me when the attack happens again?"

My arms wouldn't go around him but I hugged him as tightly as I could. "I will."

He let me go and watched me for a moment, before taking my hand and leading me out of the alleyway. Letting him go was hard. I didn't want to leave him but we both had a lot of things to do before the attack. I ended up finding a group of people sowing metal disks onto leather shirts. I helped them with their work and found that people started to come to me to translate what they needed now I was working.

At lunch, someone brought us food and we took it in turns to eat. We needed to so that we would have enough for everyone. My turn to eat was last as I was the fastest at sowing the little disks on. I ate the quickest too. We worked until there was enough for most people in the village. I saw Reina walk over and look at the pile of clothes. "You're good at that." She said standing next to me.

"Mum showed me how to sow, and this isn't too different than making pouches."

She smiled and pointed at the shirt in my hands. "Make sure you keep one for yourself. Your mother would skin me if you fight unprotected again."

I nodded, and when I looked up again, she was gone. After I finished another shirt the people started to run over and take them. The army is here! I put on the shirt I had just finished and ran for my quarterstaff. Then I looked for Topaz. He was standing in the middle of a group of people as a human his shield at the ready. He smiled at me as I walked up next to him.

"Remember the plan! Don't show yourself unless you need more strength." Reina shouted as she walked down the line.

Topaz shouted the order in Dragon and it was passed down the line. The army was huge and stretched before us in a long line that seemed to go around the whole village. Someone ran up to Reina and I saw her pail at the note in her hand. She came to us and looked at the yaspilrmeth ether side of us. "They have us surrounded. Green Dragon say we need to morph now."

Topaz hummed looking at the field. "If Green Dragon say so... however I would ask a Red."

"Red Dragon said he would stay in human form until they attack then morph when they can't avoid the dragon fire. We will suffer losses from arrows like that!" Reina said through her teeth.

I looked around and smiled. "They aren't close enough yet to see us clearly behind the walls. So make a weak point for them to focus on."

Reina smiled and nodded writing a note and handing it to the massager. "We will see what Green Dragon says. I think right now they are trying to lure us out."

I nodded looking at the line of people. The messenger came back. "He says that may not work. It appears he is sorting it out. How long do you think they will do this for?" Reina asked me.

Shrugging I looked at Topaz. "They are coming." He said making everyone turn to see the army coming for us.

The mounted men sat on their horses still where they were at the start of this. The foot was approaching us slowly. "That's not good. Maybe it's because we killed the scouts." Reina said.

"More than likely... but I don't see any bows." I shielded my eyes looking for them as I spoke.

Topaz made a huff noise and pointed. The men in the back had bows. "All we can do now is fight and hope that Kyanite is coming." Reina said softly.

I nodded standing ready next to Topaz. "Good luck to you both. Try to stay together."

Reina walked away from us to stand with Green Dragon who walked closer. They were talking and seemed to be planning something. I turned to watch the long line of people coming for us. I will stand my ground the way Mum showed me. They will taste my strength. The strength of the nightwolf pack.

Duha walked over to me as I watched the movements of the Dragons in the largest of the two armouries. "You seem tenace." I looked down at her.

"I have called my people to war over the possibility of my wife being in danger. I'm tenace because there are going to be losses. Those losses are on me."

Duha chuckled making me frown. "People don't go to war without knowing they could die. We all know it is possible."

I looked at the Dragons, they moved about with their armour and weapons gleaming in the light as they polished them. "That doesn't mean those people want to die."

"No they don't, but they accept the possibility."

I turned on her my anger making me growl. "And those people in the village? The place Pup came from? They knew what war meant? They accepted their fate?"

Duha met my eyes with her yellow ones. I saw no fear of my anger in those yellow eyes, all I saw was the hardness that this kind of thing had forced into her. "Innocent people always get caught in the crossfire. In a sense, you Dragons are lucky in so far as the war will not reach your innocent. Everyone else has to face the situation you are now, their loved ones in the firing line." She looked at the people moving about and sighed. "Get angry Dragon, then do something about it. I saved two. How many will you save?" With those words, she turned and walked away.

I watched her retreating. She has a point.... but how will I save those people. Maybe the people in the town could tell other humans we will protect them and with the might of our army, we could... "Brother?"

The call brought me out of my mind and I turned to a Green Dragon. "You seem wound up. Is there something I can help you with?" He said, stopping in front of me, his hands clasped behind his back.

Maybe putting a Green Dragon on it would help. "Yes, brother maybe you can. Come let's talk over here." I put my hand on his shoulder and led him out of the room.