Hannah's head lolled to the side, she may have looked dead to the untrained eye, but Araya was not stupid, weak at the moment, but not stupid. She saw the rising and falling of the child's chest and the wisps of hair blown away from her face by her chilled breath.

Wings ruffled by the wind she lay there in the dragon's grip, arms and legs hanging limply dangling in midair, she was alive yes. But barely, the cold had frozen her hair stiffly to her head and her lips were blue and cold. Araya had been forced to shift back to her human form, though she had tried many times to shift to a dragon, but the one that held her tightly in its grip felt its pray grow larger and tightened its death grip even more, digging its claws into her side and causing a rib to crack. She had given up on this and now was slipping in and out of conciseness, Blood had pooled in her boots and now her feet were warm and wet.

She sighed and prepared for another jab of pain as her lungs expanded aggravating the already painful broken rib. She let herself slip out of conciseness welcoming the painless black that it bore.

Araya flew high ahead; her dragon form was black, not unlike Aliha's but instead of crimson accents her hide bore blue ones deep midnight blue like Kira's hide. These midnight blue stripes ran from tail tip to her ears. She watched Araya slip out of conciseness and Hannah already out, she knew they wouldn't last much longer; she needed to make her move. Now.

She swooped down and raked her claws against the Aliha's leathery wings, tearing gashes in them and blooding the dragon enraging it. Aliha swung around and attempted to snap at the attacker but with wounded wings she could barely fly let alone attack. She folded the wings close to her body and dove into the forest. Araya and Hannah awoke suddenly to the dragon's blood raining down upon them; burning the instant it hit their flesh. (Dragon blood is acidic.) Araya, as the dragon released its grip immediately shifted to gryphon and caught Hannah on her back as she fell, Hannah landed with a thud on Araya's feathery back.

She swooped down and raked the dragon's wings again to ensure it could not and would not follow. She smiled halfheartedly and flew up above the clouds; she was greeted by the dragon that had saved them,

"Arielle is that you?" Araya asked her gryphon eyes large and sharp catching every detail of the dragon's appearance.

"Yes, It is I, Arielle" The dragon said gruffly and gestured for them to follow. Araya nodded her feathery head and swooped down following the large dragon as she landed in an open field with a river flowing by.

She sighed and abandoned that form keeping her dragon wings for a moment then surrounded in an aura of black light she fell to the ground obviously weak.

"I swore it. I swore I would never use that form again." She said and looked to the ground, her eyes dark.

"You swore? To whom?" Hannah asked puzzled

"My Father," Arielle said softly and turned away,

"I got caught up in the sheer power of being such a beast before," she said softly her eyes unfocused. Hannah nodded,

"I understand." She said,

"No you don't, you don't know what its like to have killed your own sister!" She said angrily and stood up; with a glare at the two she stormed off her hands bunched into fists.

"Well, that didn't go so well," Araya said casually and shifted to her human form.

"How about I get dinner?" Hannah asked a forced smile on her face, Araya nodded and set about making a fire as Hannah ran off to the river to catch some fish.

Aliha sat there and watched those fools flee. Her wings were ruined; she wouldn't fly again in quite a while. She sighed and transformed back to herself, now only a scorch mark on the grass marked that she was once a dragon. She hissed at it almost angrily and cursed as she heard a chuckle in a nearby tree,

"So, Aliha How did capturing the orphans go?" Came a cold voice from the tree. It was Kyril.

"Fine, just a minor setback, I will get them." She said keeping a level head. Kyril snickered and swooped down landing on Aliha's shoulder,

"You know, I could always help you, for the right price." He said softly in her ear.