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Smart as she was for a drake, she did not actually know the human language or that Rye was the young man’s name, but she understood enough to know her task was to find him.

Not that she cared much for humans, or most other creatures in general. As a draconic species, pride was a defining trait of her being, and everyone else was to be seen as a servant to her magnificence. There were, however, a few exceptions.

A certain young baker girl was one such exception. Something about her made Blue’s heart feel softer, and she looked up to the girl with admiration and fondness.

The drake also knew that, for whatever reason, this Rye boy was very important to Madeleine, and even if Blue did not fully understand why or what she saw in him, she respected the girl enough to also respect him.

And so the winged creature flew over the roads, looking for any signs of the archer. Not only because that’s what Madeleine would have wanted, but also because the crab asked her to.

And at least this time he said “please” too.

Complex creatures, drakes take respect very seriously, and anyone who wishes to be at least tolerated by these beings must show the proper reverence to their magnificence.

This was a complicated concept in Blue’s mind when it came to Balthazar, however, since, as far as the drake understood, he was her parent, or at least he should be, seeing as he hatched her, and he certainly had the pride and self-importance of a draconic creature himself, and yet, he was still… a crab.

It was hard on the young drakeling to wrap her head around the idea that, instead of having a big, imposing mother to look up to, with beautiful wings that could house her entire body underneath them and a fire breath that could raze entire villages, what she had was a flightless crustacean for a parent. Instead of beautiful scales, he had a rough shell. Instead of wide wings, he had big pincers. Instead of shooting fire, his mouth only shot many words. Too many words.

It was just not what the small drake expected when she came out of her egg all those months before.

How could she submit to a lesser creature when he wouldn’t even show her proper manners? Sure, he was prideful like her, and she was stubborn like him, but at least she had the draconic presence to justify it. He was just a small crab, mostly cowardly and unable to even defend himself. It went against every fiber of her being to see such a being as an equal.

But, as Blue soared through some clouds, circling around a hill in her continued search, she let out a fiery sigh.

Despite all of those things, and how much she resisted showing it, the drake could not help but care for the crab. His attempts at working on their relationship and learning how to deal with a draconic creature, while often clumsy, still struck a chord with her. If only he was less… crabby.

So long as he was at least trying, she would do her best too, even if it meant they would often bump on each other’s stubborn personalities.

If even a grumpy old crab was learning new things and putting himself out here to help his friends, then the drake was not about to let herself be outdone by him.

She would follow him, and together they’d get back their lost friends. If nothing else, just so Blue could have a rematch against the big red dragon. Her pride demanded it.

With redoubled determination, Blue dove, brushing aside her doubts and attempts at understanding how a crustacean came to sire a drake, and focusing on finding her target.

Scouting the many winding roads, paths, and trails, the winged lizard had not yet found any signs of the archer, and night was fast approaching, making it difficult to see very far, even for her sharp eyes.

As much as she disliked the idea of returning without having fulfilled her mission, with darkness falling over the woods and hills, Blue decided it was time to head back and catch up to the crab and the goblin, settle down by the fire, maybe have some more meat, and then continue the search in the morning.

Following the path she knew the other two to be, her eyes scanned the open areas between the trees, trying to spot any green or gray dots moving below.

After a while, her sights finally picked up a familiar figure. Druma, carrying firewood in his scrawny arms, was making his way out of the forest and back to the road, likely returning to Balthazar as well.

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She hovered for a bit, making sure there were no threats around him, such as wolves, bears, or any other predator that might attack the small goblin. A mighty predator herself, she knew how tempting of a target the little green guy could be to other larger creatures, and as her guardian, she would make sure not to let that happen.

The drake had given herself the job of protecting the goblin after the day wolves attacked and left him severely injured. In her own way of thinking, she knew she liked playing with the goblin on the shores of the pond like they usually did every morning, and his disappearance would greatly upset her, thus, being the bigger one, it was only natural for her to be his protector. Simple as that. Draconic creatures were nothing if not pragmatic.

Reassured of the goblin’s safety, Blue pushed forward, looking for Balthazar. It did not take her long to spot him in a clearing up ahead, but something peculiar made her frown.

He was not alone, there were four other figures around him, and while she was too far away to listen in, it seemed pretty clear to her by the scene playing out down below, that hostilities were taking place.

The drake’s frowning deepened. How could it be that such a small crab was always finding so much trouble?

One of the figures below, the largest of them all, was stumbling towards Balthazar, and something about him looked off to her.

As a drake, if there was one thing she had a sixth sense for, it was fire, and she could tell there was a nasty flame brewing within that human.

Which was odd, because she’d never seen a fire breathing human before.

Circling high above the clearing, Blue shook her head in disapproval.

She ought to let Balthazar deal with the consequences of whatever he had gotten himself into as a lesson, but then again, her pride also demanded that if someone was ever going to roast up the crab in a torrent of flames, it should be her.

He was her annoying crab to butt heads with, no one else’s.

With a swift turn, the drake nosedived at full speed, aiming towards her oddly-shaped parent.

***

Balthazar ducked and covered his face with his claws as the bandit stumbled back and forth, looking sick in his stomach, which he likely was, after downing an explosive alchemy concoction.

With a red face and eyes bulging out, Dax suddenly stopped and breathed in before his mouth opened, like the very maws of hell, letting out the foulest of belches with a most unholy sound erupting from within, which reverberated against the trees all around, scaring away the squirrels from their branches and the critters from their hiding holes. Following the unnatural burp came the flames. Like a torrent of fire worthy of a dragon, they blew out of him with violent force, growing into a fireball that quickly engulfed the thug and expanded to consume everything else around him.

Peeking from between his pincers, the crab braced for a very hot impact, when suddenly, at the very last second, he felt himself being picked up by his shell and lifted into the air, away from the explosion.

Surprised and confused, Balthazar turned his eyestalks up to see Blue carrying him in her powerful claws, beating her wings at full force as she struggled to gain altitude. Naturally, this was because she was still young and not fully developed yet, and not because Balthazar was heavy and full of bread.

“Blue!” the crab exclaimed, staring up at her with a big smile on his face. “You saved me! You—” His eyes glanced down, seeing the ground quickly growing distant as she flew higher up. “You are going to get me kiiiiiilled!”

His legs kicked, and his pincers flailed as Balthazar panicked, watching himself go higher and higher, past the tallest trees and through the chilly wind of the autumnal night.

“Bring me down! Bring me down!” he screamed. “Crabs aren’t meant to fly!”

All the kicking and struggling were making the annoyed drake’s job of holding on to the crab more difficult, and for a split second, her grasp on his shell almost slipped.

“Oh lord, no! Please don’t let me fall, Blue!” cried the terrified merchant. “I don’t wanna die like a ripe watermelon dropped on a rock!”

A bead of sweat running down the side of her face, Blue started descending towards a clearing below, where she finally landed the crab.

Gasping and breathing fast, Balthazar fell to his claws and… let’s call them “knees.”

I’m way too old to only be finding out I don’t like heights now!

Glancing to the side, he saw the drake landing on the ground a few paces away, looking at him with an expression of awkward embarrassment.

“Uhm, right,” said the crab as he stood back straight and cleared his throat in an attempt to lower his voice’s pitch. “Thank you for the assistance, Blue. I had it under control, of course, but your help was still appreciated. Just maybe don’t scoop me up into the air like that again without warning. I wasn’t… ready for it, yeah, that was it.”

The golden-eyed creature was still staring at him with an expression of weirded out discomfort.

“I know you can’t technically talk, but let’s… let’s just never speak of this again, alright?”

“Boss! Boss!” called Druma, coming out of the trees in a sprint, pieces of firewood falling off his arms as he ran. “Druma hear big kaboom. Is boss alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now, don’t worry,” said the crab, wiping the top of his shell and letting the rear of his shell drop to the ground. “I’ll just sit here for a moment to rest, and then I can tell you all about the bandits I found.” He looked around the clearing they were in. “I think we’re far away enough now, so let’s just set up camp here for the night.”

With one of his usual energetic nods, Druma started preparing a small campfire, while Blue perched herself on some nearby boulders, scanning the surrounding trees.

As Balthazar relaxed his shell and let out a relieved sigh, a system notification popped up.

[Bandit Thugs defeated x4]

[You have reached level 16!]

The crab’s eyestalks perked up with excitement.

Nice! That didn’t take long. Time to spend some points!