Fae.
Over near the dragon was the fae they had met earlier. She walked alongside the great body of the dragon, dragging her fingers gently across its form and singing a song softly as though it were a lullaby to put the dragon to sleep. The dying dragon quivered at her touch.
"We failed you," Ridley suddenly realised, as the fae came to the head of the dragon the nearest end to where the group stood.
"No, you did not," the fae disagreed in a glittery voice, stroking the head of the dragon, "you cannot fail us when you try your hardest."
"But we did not stop the Empress from taking the dragon's breath," Ridley replied sadly. He was overwhelmingly happy that Marina alright, but also terribly horrified at the possibility that it was too late to matter now anyway.
"It is not yet too late," the fae told him, as though she had read his mind, "you might still recover dragon's breath." She was strangely serene, considering the circumstances.
"How?" Ridley hesitated as the fae stepped forward and drew Ridley's sword from its sheath.
"Eye of the dragon?" she asked gently, and this time received it with no hesitation. Taking the two, she stepped back towards the dragon. For a moment a look of concern did flash across her face, as she held the dragon's eye up to the hilt of Ridley's sword, but then it washed away and she bobbed down beside the dragon, dipping the blade of the sword in the dragon's blood that pooled around its front half.
"From the power of one, to the other," she murmured, and as she did so, a small spark of electricity crackled its way over the dragon's body, across the surface of its blood and up the blade of the sword, causing the dragon's eye to once again, flare out brightly. When the flash had dimmed, sword hilt and gem had fused together to form one. The dragon breathed out its last breath, and great reptilian eyes slid into a dead gaze. The fae stepped forward and returned Ridley's sword.
"You hold the source," she explained, "return the dragon's breath to the source, and restore the balance of this world. Use this blade to slay the Empress." As fae, she was sad that it had come to this, but there was no other choice.
Ridley nodded slowly and accepted back his sword, then the fae turned and began to make her way back around the dragon.
"I can help you no more," she added as she went, and began to sing her lullaby song again.
"Wait a minute!" Damon suddenly perked up, "you can help her." He was referring to Jereez but it was too late, as he looked up and realised the fae had gone. Her song echoed around the cave for a few moments longer, then died away.
It looked like, for now, Jereez was to remain in feline form.
The cat gave Damon a disgusted look.
