The creature made a striking silhouette across the painted sky, a stark dash of whitish gray against an orange, pink, and red background. It was smaller than she would have thought– at first, she thought that was because it was far away, but then Rowena gulped when she realized that it was actually fairly close. In reality, it was probably only about twice the size of a horse.

Still big enough to do some serious harm.

The dragon had two sinewy, strong legs with wickedly curved talons on the end of them that matched the ones at the ends of its wings. It had a squarish face with large, shiny teeth filling up its open, hungry mouth. The membranes of its wings were curiously thin so that the light of the setting sun glowed through them, giving the creature an even more ethereal, magical look.

As though a dragon needs to look more magical! Rowena thought frantically, and looked around for a weapon of some sort. Somehow, she didn’t think that the truncheon was going to work against a dragon.

Mattie had backed up against one of the tall rocks, her hands pressed flat against it. Her face was even whiter than usual; her expression was laced with fear as the dragon turned its pearlescent head toward her. She’d screamed upon seeing it, Rowena recalled, and realized that the beast must be targeting her copper-haired friend.

The creature arched its long neck in the air with another shriek and paused for just a moment, hovering above them ominously before it would begin its terrifying descent. Rowena opened her own mouth to scream, hoping to distract it, when suddenly something flew past her at an alarming rate and hit the creature on the cheek. Golden, glowing blood began to flow from the small wound, but it was better than no wound at all.

Rowena turned in time to see Kieran leaned down and fumbling on the ground for another rock. But the sun was quickly disappearing, making it harder to see the stones on the ground, and the next one he threw was much smaller and only glanced off a wing, hardly doing more than annoying the creature further.

The dragon screamed once more, and Rowena thought there was more of an edge of anger and determination in its cry– perhaps its prey was more formidable than it had presumed. Are the creatures intelligent? Or is that the simple response of an angered beast? she wondered, but there was no time to think. With a terrifying growl, the dragon shook its head and arched its neck again before beginning a graceful but terrifying dive towards Mattie.

A subtle but powerful booming sound erupted from just in front of the shaking, copper-haired girl, and Rowena realized that Sorel had leapt to Mattie’s rescue and used her Rebound Ability, crouching in the dirt in front of her friend.

With a mighty wrench, the creature was abruptly halted in its descent and then repelled several body lengths away.

Rowena heard Sorel grunt with the effort of using her Ability on such a large and strong creature, and she peered into the increasing darkness, hoping that the dragon had decided that perhaps they were more trouble than they were worth. She was grateful that it was such a shiny, almost glowing white– though that gratitude was mixed with fear when she realized that it was circling back around.

What could she do? Rowena’s stomach clenched with the frustrating realization that none of her Abilities or Proficiencies would be of any use to save her friends or herself. Calm Person, Detect Secret… what good would those do her if she couldn’t save them?

The creature had turned its attention to Kieran, its original attacker, and once again let out a mighty cry that chilled her to the bone. She felt herself beginning to sweat, the icy sweat of terror.

“Get to Sorel!” Rowena called out as she herself moved to position herself next to Mattie, behind the tall Shield, hoping against hope that Sorel would be strong enough to use Rebound again and protect them all.

But her order came too late– the dragon swooped and dove toward Kieran, who launched himself to the side as best he could. With its left leg, the creature lashed out, and managed to slice a deep wound into Kieran’s right shoulder before pulling back up into the air.

“Kieran!” Rowena yelled and darted forward, beginning to feel desperate as she ran over to her friend, who was simply staring at the sudden slash that had appeared in his right shoulder. She began dragging him as best she could back to the relative safety of Sorel’s Rebound Ability, unsure if there was even protection to be had there, but not knowing what else to do. There was blood everywhere, gleaming in the last rays of sunlight.

The creature arched back up into the sky and turned for a third time as they slowly, desperately moved towards Mattie and Sorel. Too slowly.

They had no real attack Abilities among all four of them– another oversight for which Rowena cursed herself. Sorel’s Shield Abilities obviously did some damage, but were seemingly not enough to deter the majestic and terrifying beast. Rocks would never be enough, even if Kieran could throw with his uninjured arm.

Wait– that wasn’t quite right. They may not have attack Abilities, precisely, but…

“Kieran!” Rowena hissed as she carefully supported him and half dragged him towards Sorel.

“Ro?” Kieran said, fear lacing his voice. It sounded dazed and distant. “Ro, I think I’m hurt–”

“Focus! Not that your aim with the rock wasn’t impressive, but how about you… I don’t know… blast it with a fireball or something?” Rowena said frantically.

She thought she could see the creature beginning its next descent just as the last moments of sunlight slipped under the horizon, leaving the group in pitch blackness.

“Oh. Right!” Kieran said as though he were waking from a daze. A few seconds later she heard him make a grunt of intensive concentration that became a cry of effort.

It had to have been only a few seconds, but they seemed like hours to Rowena as she waited, suspended in darkness, clutching Kieran’s arm, to see if he could pull it off. He seemed to be losing a lot of blood…

Suddenly, a massive fireball erupted from Kieran’s hands and flew towards the dragon, illuminating the creature as it neared. Rowena peered at it intensely– the face looked almost soft, as though it was covered in fur rather than the expected scales, and the warm glow of the fireball made the beast look even more otherworldly. Rowena felt removed from her own existence for a moment– how could she be here, a ROGUE in the wilderness, staring at a creature that hadn’t been seen in an age?

Her trance was interrupted when, a moment later, the fireball hit its shoulder with a fierce explosion, causing the creature to cry out and tumble over midair, a burning gash torn open in its flesh. The fireball went out almost as suddenly as it had been created, and Rowena felt like she could hear the sound of her own heart beating furiously as she strained to listen instead for the whomping sound of the dragon's wings, hoping to pinpoint its location.

She managed to hear the whomping for a few moments, and tried to calm her own breathing to focus on it, but the sound seemed to be fading. Into the distance? Or had the thing landed? Was it on its way, crawling across the land, to simply tear them to pieces with its teeth and talons?

Rowena couldn’t be sure.

They all waited for what felt like an eternity, only the sounds of their ragged breathing piercing the silence.

If the creature came back, Rowena wasn’t sure what they would, or could, do.

They waited.

Finally, she whispered in a shaky voice, “Is it… is it gone?”

“I think so,” Kieran replied faintly. Rowena was gratified to hear that he sounded as afraid as she felt.

“Sorel?” Rowena called out.

“We’re here,” Sorel replied from only a few feet away, but she sounded as weak as Kieran.

“Kieran, can you make a small light or something?” Rowena asked guiltily. She hated asking him to do any more than he already had, but they didn’t have time to build a fire and she needed to see her friends and make sure everyone was-- well, if not okay, at least surviving.

He gave a small grunt and suddenly, a small, pinkish glowing orb appeared in between them, casting a gentle light onto the group. It looked exactly like the ones he had conjured up so recently– when they were enjoying their evening at the Wandering Vine. Had that only been a few days before?

Sorel looked sickly and wan despite her brown skin, her face pouring sweat as she panted. Mattie looked even worse– there were tear tracks down her freckled cheeks and her eyes were wide with shock. Her breath came in quick, shallow gasps, like the panting of a rabbit that had only just escaped the jaws of a hungry wolf.

Rowena was glad she couldn’t see what she herself looked like.

“I defeated a dragon, Ro,” Kieran mumbled, and she turned to catch him as he stumbled into her.

“Wyvern,” a breathless, quavering voice said.

Rowena turned her head back to look at Mattie curiously. “What are you talking about?”

“That… that was a wyvern,” Mattie’s reddish gold eyes, rimmed with pink from the tears and illuminated by Kieran’s orb, looked into Rowena’s. For the first time, Rowena realized that Mattie's eyes weren't just full of fear-- they were also bursting with awe.

“‘s a dragon,” Kieran insisted weakly. “Don’t… take that… from…”

With a sudden lurch, he vomited on the ground next to them and then abruptly fell over.

“Kieran!” Rowena cried out.