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I awoke with a cough as the rising tide licked my feet. My eyes slowly opened, groaning a little as I looked around, trying to get a bearing on my blurry surroundings. I pushed myself to my feet, making sure not to make too much noise in case my brother had soldiers out looking for me. As my vision cleared I could clearly see down the beach. _Not a soul... _I thought to myself as I began to make my way off the beach. I quickly began to scale the cliff, my wings still too wet to fly. I couldn't risk it either, my brother wasn't a fool and he knew that I would try to fly if I could. _He probably has half the legion's archers trained on the sky... _I thought as I felt my claws grasp the rocky outcropping on top of the cliff. I breathed a sigh of relief as I found I had managed to climb my way into a forest, which wasn't that hard to accomplishing in this region of Talos.

I didn't have much to wear right now, no armor, no weapons unless one counted claws and teeth and a pair of plain, blackish gray, baggy pants. Worst of all I was still chained. If I had something to heat them up with I might be able to free myself...the fools didn't even bother to chain my hands behind my back. The locking mechanism itself was quite easy to reach as well. My ears perked up as I heard rustling and clanging not far off. As I youngling I had gotten a lot of practice moving silently, frequently going off on my own into regions of the city where most though it was foolish to go without escort. One would barely hear the soft sound of my claws digging into the grass as I walked. I soon found my way to the edge of a clearing by a well traveled road, unfortunately with many travelers came many bandits. I peered over the bushes, spotting a good sized caravan being attacked by a large group of bandits. _If I help they might be able to help me get to another town....damn cuffs _I retreated into the bush and took a deep breath before trying breath fire and melt the chains. Instead of an unbelievable hot, blue flame I gagged and coughed up sea water. I decided that it might be best if I sneak by and continue on. I was about to move on when I heard a voice behind me.

"OI! Look what we's got ere...."

The large grizzly bear said to his smaller, vulpine companion. The orange fox carried a short sword that from the looks of it had seen better days while the ursine carried a two handed mace. There were a few dents in the latter's weapon that seem to scream the fact that he let his weapon do the talking most of the time. I wasn't a big dragon, short, light on all accounts (accept for one) but that came with a few advantages. The fox lunged at me first, sending a thrust at my lower rib cage. I quickly spread my hands and used the chain to block, the clang of metal on metal ringing through the forest. I quickly cross my hands and used the chain to wrenched the blade from his while sending a kick at his leg. He was pulled over with his sword, his knee breaking with a sickly snap before I threw him about a meter to one side. He howled in pain as I quickly brandished his sword, taking hold of it just in time to evade a swing from the bear's massive mace.

The bear unleashed a ground shaking feral roar before sending a flurry of wild swings at me, one of them just grazing my arm but still enough to make me yelp. I remembered what I had been taught when I was a youngling, quickly moving in between the maces head and his, where his massive weapon was useless. I stabbed the bear until his brown fur was stained in blood, not to mention the ground. In his last act of violence the bear grabbed my throat, hefting me up so my feet were off the ground. He brought his mace around into my rib cage; his dying swing still had enough strength to hurt but thankfully not enough to break anything. I hit the ground, winded as the fox started to get up. Before he even knew what happened his sword was through the back of his neck, pinning him to the ground.

"I've had about enough of these chains...."

I growled angrily, leaving the fox's sword in his neck, raising the chains to muzzle height before taking a deep breath and exhaling a brilliant, deep blue flame. The metal was soon glowing red hot and I turned my eyes away as I pulled the cuffs apart. I caressed my side where the mace had made contact, wincing slightly. _May as well finish what I started... _I thought before wrenching the sword from the fox's neck. By now there were only a few caravan members left and I had to hurry if I was going to do something. I took off in a sprint, keeping my body in as low a profile as possible.

The bandits had surround the last four caravan members and where starting to beat them back. I singled one of the 7 bandits out as another slew one of the members. I roared in anger before running past him. He turned just in time to see me flourish my blade and send a sweeping blow into his lower abdomen. I let the blade drag through him as I slid to stop myself, my claws digging into the soft earth as the bandit fell to the ground, his eyes wide in shock as he quickly bled out. I was already swinging my blade at another bandit. He reacted this time as I sent a slicing blow towards his neck, parrying it and moving for a counter. I ducked under his blade, humming as it past just above my ears, counting myself lucky for having folded them back. I cursed myself for having used a two handed grip again. I quickly let go and lashed out with my claws, he suddenly went limp as my claws broke through the back of his neck. I lowered his body and planted my foot on his chest as I wrenched my claws from his throat. There were two remaining bandits; the caravan members had killed two more of the bandits before I watched the last caravan-er die.

One the two was a large dragon; he had a lot better clothing and weapons the others, obviously the leader. The other was a smaller wolf who seemed to have no weapons on him. I cocked my head, slightly puzzled before charging the dragon, my blade humming as it spun in my hand. I heard another blade moving in the air, instinctively stepping back as I felt the rough nicked steel blade cut into me. I yelp and growled in pain as I looked down quickly to see how bad it was. I thanked the gods that he had only caught me with the tip of his blade, the wound was still nothing to laugh at but I would be fine. I was about to counter attack when he disappeared with a thunder clap, the unarmed wolf disappearing as well. I wondered if the wolf was a magister, I had seen something similar when I had visited the Arcanium, when a magister teleported.

_I guess they will return for their loot once I'm gone... _. I slowly started to pick through the carnage for anything useful. On one of the caravan members I found a fine pair of daggers, keenly balanced and razor sharp. There seemed to be a Celtic knot - like design in the steel. I quickly stripped a belt off one of the dead caravan members and fixed the twin sheaths behind my back. I quickly tested them to see if I had positioned them right. As I did I thought. For once I was thankful for my father spending years teaching me to fight. I was no were near good but I could hold my own, especially against a few bandits. I silently thanked him, hoping he was at peace now. As I turned to leave I heard a soft groan coming from the wreck of a cart, followed by sobs of anguish. I quickly ran towards the chart I had thought the noise had come from.

"Hello! Anyone?!"

I called out, waiting for an answer. I continued on searching, eventually turning to leave when I heard a soft, and feminine voice call to me. I looked around again before moving to where I had a clearer view of the area, the center of where the carts had stopped.

"Please....d-don't kill me...I give you whatever you want..."

I turned see a beautiful white tigress in a simple green dress, stained with the blood of her friends and family. She was huddled up near an overturned chart, cradling what I thought to be her mother. I could see the fear in her eyes as I turned. _Poor thing... _She was maybe a year younger than me, possibly less. I knew how she felt; my own family slaughtered in the past few months, my mother dying in my arms as hers did right before my 21st birthday. She died two weeks before I was supposed to be hung, I don't think she would have been able to stand the sight of me walking to the gallows.

"Shhh....Im not going to harm you...Im not one of them...."

I say in calm, soothing voice as I edge closer.

"How can I trust you?"

She asked nervously, staring at the blood on my claws. I quickly wiped the blood in the grass.

"If I was a bandit, there would be a lot more with me. I need to get you out of here; they'll probably be back soon."

I said, slowly edging closer. I turned to hear a shuffling noise, watching as an older male tiger stumbled towards us and fell to the ground, dead. It was her father. I quickly moved to the girl. She sobbed uncontrollably as she tried to get up and move to his side. She fainted mid stride, thankfully falling onto me instead of the ground. I quickly checked her over for any wounds before picking her up, cradling her in my arms as I started to head down the road, hoping to find a village before sun set.