Eliza threw some dirt on the fire as the two men escorting her prepared the horses. It has been a few days since she left the capital in search for Thalia, and she was starting to get worried, time was running out. The deep footprints she left behind were easy enough to follow, but of her sweet elf there was no trace still.

Hours later, the situation did not change. She decided to stop and have lunch. A few minutes later a strange, distant roar interrupted the silence of the wilderness. She looked around, curious, but she could not see anything. She went back to her backpack, taking out her supplies.

A shadow passed over her, while another roar reached her ears. She looked up in the sky: three armored dragons flew past, their knights riding on their back. “Oh fucking hells. Men, to the woods!” She shouted.

She rushed to her horse and raced to the nearest patch of woods, her men following behind. She glanced upward, they were definitely coming back. The yellow flame on blue field perfectly visible on their garments: They were imperial dragon knights. But how did they find her? She left the city at night! They must have overheard the conversation with her uncle. How foolish of them to assume the traitors all perished at the castle.

One of the dragons swept behind her, releasing a river of fire that completely engulfed the two soldiers. She barely had time to witness their deaths, when another dragon landed in front of her, the huge winged monster easily big enough to swallow her and her horse in one bite. “Lady Eliza Norbran, in his infinite mercy the emperor wishes to offer you the opportunity to surrender and swear allegiance to the eternal flame.” the knight said, standing over the dragon in a pompous pose.

“Tell the emperor to go fuck an ogre!” said. She took out her sword, and charged.

“Foolish barbarian” the knight answered, then commanded his dragon to advance.

Eliza got ready to jump. Just a few more feet. They were now close to the maw of the huge beast. It opened its mouth and prepared to bite. She jumped.

And landed against its forehead, plunging her sword into its vulnerable eye. The creature roared in pain and shook its head, but she gripped her weapon and stood firm.

The dragon threw its head against the ground. She finally slipped. The creature was left dazed by the impact, leaving Eliza precious seconds to run behind it, while the dragon knight tried to regain control of the wounded beast. She whistled. Where the hell was her horse?

A distant tremor reached them. On the horizon, the angelic face of her elf appeared. “Well, if that isn’t perfect timing.”

The proud warhorse her uncle gave her finally reached her, barely fazed by the dangerous beast that very nearly devoured it. She jumped on the saddle and galloped for the forest. The knight finally took back control and was now trying to get into the air again. She looked around for the other two knights, and finally spotted them going towards Thalia.

She pushed her horse to to the limit. The pained roars of the wounded dragon getting closer. The trees right in front of her. A sensation of heat against her back. She turned the horse immediately. The torrent of flames hit just in front of them, scorching the earth. The temperature so high she could feel her skin cooking even from several feet away from the flames.

But she did it. She got behind a large tree just in time before another burst of flames flooded the area. She got deeper in. The horse struggled to ride through the rough terrain, but the dragon had even more trouble doing the same. Yet it made its way through, throwing its mighty weight against the ancient trees and burning those that refused to budge.

Their chase went on for what felt like hours. Her horse was starting to get tired, she could not keep up for much longer.

She went behind the biggest tree she could see, jumped off the horse and let the poor beast escape. She quickly climbed the tree. The forest quickly filling up with smoke. Up there, she could observe the movement of the dragon below, with the knight on top. Could she remain hidden? No, it would find her eventually, or the fire would force her down. It got closer, darting around its reptilian head trying to find her. Just a bit more. She jumped down.

The knight found himself forced against the scaly skin of his dragon, the force of the impact breaking several of his ribs and knocking him unconscious. She did not fare much better, she broke something in her right leg, she could no longer move it. She gritted her teeth, trying to suppress the intense pain. She gripped his neck with one of her arms. Feeling her on top of it, the dragon tried to shake her off, throwing both of them off its back. She found herself with her back against a tree, and the heavy weight of the armored knight against her, yet she managed to keep him in her grip.

The dragon stared at her, unable to decide what to do. It roared with all its strength, in frustration.

The ground trembled.

Thalia woke up in a good mood that day. The capital was just a couple of days of march away. She could not wait to see her mistress again. She checked again the road in front of her, she really did not want to accidentally kill anyone that happened to be in her way. Fortunately there was none, only a few houses on the left that looked they had been abandoned for years, and a couple of birds in the air.

She wondered what kind of birds they were. Judging by their relative size, they were pretty big, as long as her forearm, a bit less maybe. They looked scaly. Dragons? No, the last wild dragon in the kingdom was killed centuries before.

She squinted her eyes. Were they coming towards her? They were, and fast. She was starting to get worried. Then she finally spotted their insignia. The empire. She was definitely worried at that point. Dragon knights were famous throughout the kingdoms, and even outside of human lands. What chance did she stood against the elite of the empire? Could she get away? Could she run fast enough?

She closed her fists. That was the old Thalia. Those knights were here to conquer the kingdom, her mistress’ kingdom.

Embrace it.

The knights did not leave her much time to prepare. The closest dragon flew over her, spewing fire. She covered her head with her hands, the heat burning her skin, doing only superficial but horribly painful wounds. She quickly patted her hair, to extinguish any lingering flame. The other one flew directly towards her face and blew its deadly breath against her. She barely had time to cover her face, once again the fire burned her skin. The pain was really starting to affect her, but she gritted her teeth and focused.

They were about to circle back. She studied their movements. She bent her knees and jumped. The immense energy released into the ground blasting away chunks of earth around her feet. The sonic boom gutting the nearby trees. The knights scrambled to move their mounts out of the way, but it was too late, she managed to grab one between her hands. The huge talons of the creature dug into her flesh, drawing blood, yet she held on and slammed the beast down. The powerful body of the dragon simply collapsed under the immense force. It stopped moving almost instantly.

She stared at the carnage, blood splattered all over her. Only now she realized she was holding her breath. She took her hand off the crushed beast and looked at her trembling fingers. She did it. She killed a dragon. And a man.

Her stomach revolted. She bit her tongue, trying to keep herself from throwing up.

The other dragon came back. It threw itself against her neck, digging its sharp teeth deep into her flesh. She screamed in pain, then reached behind to grab the beast, but it managed to slip away. She could feel blood dripping down her back, but the wound was not too severe.

The dragon circled back. She jumped again, but this time the knight was prepared and easily dodged her assault. Her fall cracked the ground, as the blast uprooted several more trees. The dragon attacked her neck again, biting down hard against her skin. She threw herself against the ground, pinning the creature under her shoulder. The dragon thrashed around trying to free itself, cutting her with its claws. She grabbed its neck and squeezed, until it stopped moving.

She stood still. Her breath slowed down. Her body shivering from pain and adrenaline.

She heard a roar in the distance. She looked around, the sky was clear, but there was a tall column of smoke rising from a patch of trees in front of her.

She stood up. Another dragon? What was it chasing? She started walking. Another roar. She began to run. Her feet plowing through the earth.

She reached the fire. Another roar. She was barely able to spot the dragon under the smoke. And next to it there were two humans.

Her heart stopped. She looked back at the dragon. She raised her foot, and stomped down.

Eliza woke up, coughing. Her battered body resting on a soft surface.

“Mistress! You’re alive!” a most sweet voice said.

She opened her eyes, Thalia’s face filled her vision. “Hi there, my sweet little elf.”

She giggled, then gently kissed her. “I am so happy to see you mistress.” she said, with teary eyes.

“Me too, Thalia.”

She noticed the dried blood, and the burns, and the cuts and bites all over her elf’s body. “They did a number on you, didn’t they?”

Thalia nodded, with a weak smile.

“Are they all dead?”

She nodded again, her smile fading away.

She tried to stand up, using Thalia’s thumb as support, her right leg still limp. The pain was almost unbearable, but she pushed on. Then she bowed. “Thank you, Thalia. For saving my life. I am so proud of you.” She could feel her muscles tense under her feet, then slowly relax.

“Mistress…”

Eliza laughed. “If anyone would have told me my little maid would single-handedly defeat three dragon knights with her bare hands, I’d have bought them another beer. Yet here we are.”

Thalia spotted her broken leg. “Mistress! You shouldn’t have stood up! Oh gods, I hope I didn’t do more damage picking you up. I’m so sorry. Does it hurts, of course it does. I...”

“It’s fine!” She shouted. She immediately regretted her outburst, as pain flared up again. “All right, it’s not fine, but I’ll survive. What about you?”

“I’m-I’m fine. Everything hurts, but no bad wounds.”

“Good. Good. Lemi would have a heart attack trying to patch you up.”

They stood in silence for a few seconds, then Eliza slowly lowered herself down. “There should be my stuff somewhere not too far from here. I’ll see if I can patch something up for this poor girl” said, as she carefully moved her leg.

In about an hour, Eliza managed to make a support and fix it to her leg, all under the worried gaze of her elf, vibrating with the frustration of not being able to help her. Once finally ready, Thalia very carefully picked her up and placed her back on her hand. Then they began their journey back to the capital.

Along the way, her sweet elf talked about what happened while she was alone.

“So you met a god? Like, a real god?”

“I think so. What was left of him at least. He was a lot more down to earth than I expected. Dad always described him as this supreme, mysterious being.”

“Maybe he was, when he was still a full deity.” Eliza smiled. “And then an adventurer party attacked you. The fucking guild, I never liked them. My father loathed them, but they did help him find the Tear, so he had to let them operate in the kingdom.”

Eliza sighed, looked down at the ground, hundreds of feet below her, then back at her. “All right, Thalia, there’s really no point in delay the inevitable. You know what we will find at Roserun. I hate to ask you to...”

“I will.” She said.

“Oh. I. Well. All right. I. Gods damn you, girl, I spent every evening of the last week thinking of a good way to convince you to help us, and then you say yes, just like that.”

Thalia chuckled. “I had time to think as well. Midia was right, refusing to use my power will only cause more and more damage. And… Well if I have to use it, I want to use it for you, mistress.”

Her heart was bursting out of her chest, swelling with pride, and love.

“Thank you, Thalia.”

The elf smiled, then kissed her again. “I’m sorry for your castle.”