*** Kody ***

  The safehouse was a small shack, but still big enough for the three of them. It was in a now abandoned settlement about an hour from the base. A few years prior, when Kody last saw it, people had still lived there.

  "That's the Empire for you right there" he said as they entered the place. "Zeenie, can you transform like this?"

  "Yes, it should fix my leg, but… is it safe?" she said.

  "If you change back quick."

  "Right." Zeenie pulled herself free of William's grip, and motioned for them to step back. They cleared the space, and she began transforming.

  A spike of magic flooded the air momentarily. Kody had to take another step back, and William turned to shield himself from the burst. What magic did he even have? Maybe it was his connection to Zeenie.

  Her clothes scrunched up and disappeared, her limbs elongated, her tail grew long. A slight cracking noise could be heard as her skeleton shifted. She took several deep breaths, her chest expanding as she inhaled, keeping the new size for the next breath. In a few moments, instead of the small vern girl, a young dragon stood in front of them. Light blue scales lined her back smoothly, like a snake, with a white belly and a dark blue pattern running along her side. She leaned on her folded wings, then carefully put some weight on her injured leg. The tendons stretched, her claws dug into the ground, and a slight inflammation faded as the humans watched. She looked back at it, and satisfied, reverted, staying on all fours for a bit before standing up.

  "How's it?" Kody asked.

  "Not completely healed, but it doesn't hurt anymore." Zeenie smiled.

  "Alright, now that that's dealt with-" William spoke up, "What the hell, Zeenie? You throw our one way out of here away because someone scared you?"

  "I was surrounded, Will!" Zeenie snapped back, "I didn't even see the river, I just wanted to get it away from them!"

  "Hey, both of you, calm down!" Kody said, "Or at the very least, keep it down, I don't think they had any mages at the camp, but if they did, they could sense that transformation. Let's continue this inside the safehouse!"

  They shuffled in, and sat down. Kody sat on the bed, William leaned on a pile of old firewood, and Zeenie retrieved a chair.

  "Okay, so, Zeenie, please tell me what happened!" Kody asked calmly.

  "She blew it, that's what happened!" William snapped.

  "Well, next time you can do it all by yourselves then!" Zeenie snapped back.

  "Zeenie, please calm down." Kody said, "No one is blaming you."

  "I am!"

  "He is!" they both objected in unison.

  "Well, I'm not. Can you please tell me what happened?"

  Zeenie sighed and collected herself. "I got surrounded on the wall, so I had to jump. I botched the landing, and tried to run away, but they caught up to me. I fell and wanted to get it away from them, and I couldn't see Will anywhere, so I threw it. I didn't notice the river was there until after it was already flying."

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  "Alright then," Kody said, "We'll need to fish it out."

  "Unless they already have it." William said.

  "It isn't a big river, but it still has some drag. It's probably somewhere downstream, where it's wide and shallow."

  "I… I think I can move the water" Zeenie said. Kody nodded at her. "I've never tried it with running water, but I can move it enough to give myself air underwater."

  "The base is still going to be on alert." William sighed, "I'll keep lookout while you search."

  “Alright.” Kody said, “We’ll rest here until night falls, then head back. Moonlight is strong enough. Zeenie, can you heal fully until then?”

  “I think so.”

  Kody nodded and looked to William momentarily. The ranger looked around the room with some guilt, then got up, and headed outside.

  *** Zeenie ***

  With plans at the ready, the conversation died down. William went outside to clear his head and watch for any pursuers. Kody lay down and took a nap.

  Zeenie sat and tried to rest her leg. The last time she had to do this was when she fell from the top of the ranger’s great tent. A large tree held up the entire thing, grown specifically for the purpose. The very top of it stuck out through a large hole, its leaves forming a second, smaller tree up there. She liked sitting there, looking down at the platforms built onto the tree, the hammocks hanging from its branches, and around at the camp and the neighboring forest.

  She had been following a flock of birds with her eyes, her back turned a bit, when someone had pulled her leg, and she had jumped in surprise. She had accidentally kicked the poor boy, Atlan, who had been trying to get her attention because he had a crush on her. Worried that she might have injured him, she jumped down, and promptly broke her own leg on impact. Humans healed fast - major wounds and broken bones healing in mere hours or days - but dragons did so even faster. She remembered the camp physician planning to break it again so it wouldn’t fuse back together in the wrong way. That was when she had transformed, and reminded them she had less to worry about these injuries. The only really bad parts of it were the initial pain, and then the long sore as her tissues mended themselves. By the time she was finished remembering all this, her leg had almost completely healed again.

  She looked over to Kody, who was by now awake again. He must’ve heard William’s footsteps coming back from his break. The door opened and the ranger stepped inside.

  “It’s getting dark.” he said.

  “Any movement?” Kody asked.

  “None.”

  “Alright then,” Kody stood up, and headed for the door, “time to go and get th-” He couldn’t finish the sentence. As he grabbed the door handle, the door exploded at his face without much warning. The cracking noise was so loud Zeenie flinched, and had barely any time to shield her face from the oncoming spray of splinters. Kody flew back and hit the opposite wall, landing on his back, knocking the breath out of him.

  A figure stood in the door. Average height, wide, almost entirely silhouetted against the moonlit forest. His eyes glowed a dark blue, and his left arm seemed to be pulsing with a similar shade of magic. William tried to surprise him, but the stranger grabbed him by the arm, and pushed him into the side wall, knocking him out.

  Zeenie backed up next to Kody.

  “What do you want?” she asked the intruder, the air already cooling around her. Tiny particles of ice collected on her fingertips, forming razor-sharp - if tiny - claws.

  “Where is the key?” the stranger asked in a low, slightly raspy voice.

  “We don’t have it.” She answered.

  “You have its scent on you.” the stranger stated, and walked up to her. She was now in the corner, and she could see everyone. She didn’t know what to do. William was out, Kody was next to her, choking on air, and in her current form, she was too weak to fight. In her desperation she opted to start freezing something sharp out of the air behind her back.

  “It… It’s in a river, next to the base.” She said, trying to buy as much time as she could. She saw Kody start to draw one of his daggers.

  “Then you’ll help me get it.” the stranger said, and grabbed her. She tried to claw at him, jam the half-formed icicle into his side, but he was either extremely durable, or was wearing a lot of armor.

  Kody lunged at him, but with his free arm, he grabbed the assassin by the neck, and threw him against another wall. Kody fell behind the bed and did not get up before Zeenie lost sight of him.

  The stranger dragged her with him, out of the hut, through the forest. She kicked and screamed, but she couldn’t get free. She tried transforming, using her magic, but the man’s grip on her seemed to be draining away any power she had.

  “Let me go!” she screamed.

  “After you find me that key” the stranger said.