A/N: First off, to ErrantTalisman:

Happy Birthday!

Thank you so much for all the support and camaraderie you've given me over the past few months. I've said it before but writing fanfic has become a lot more fun since becoming friends with you. I hope we both bring Marci the love, light, attention, and awesomeness she deserves. And I hope your next year is filled with the same blessing.

Cheers!

Chapter 6: Hungry Hungry Dragon

I pulled down my sleeve, having finished marking the sacrifice of the slain rock creature.

That had been a long and unpleasant fight. It had taken me ages to find something hard enough to do real damage to the creep. My fists hadn't been enough. Each time, I had knocked the rock creature down, it had gotten back up always ready with a new insult. That is until I finally broke through its defenses by using its own fist to smash its over-inflated head to bits. Now the rock creature was dead like all the other servants in here.

The entire ordeal only netted me one soul for Selemene, but it was better than nothing.

If only I could say that about the rest of the meeting.

I wandered over to the other side of the now-destroyed and messy dining room. Then I slipped through a door that hung off its hinges. It led to a small pantry. The side room still had the illusion magic to make it look nice, but I didn't linger. I was here for one thing:

Food.

There wasn't much, but I found the sea anemone pudding and lots of mushrooms. I took what I could easily carry. Then I made my way up to the apothecary shop to hopefully eat my fill before I went in search of a bed. My love for Selemene gave me incredible strength, but exerting myself for extended periods could leave me pretty drained.

Tonight, I was even more wiped than usual. I set my haul on the shop's front counter and went about replenishing my energy.

I had just finished licking the log-size bowl of the salty and sweet sea anemone pudding clean. It was not enough. I still felt ravenous and was about to get up to go downstairs for more food when I heard a bell ring. I looked up. Someone had entered the shop.

The visitor was a Sun Fae. Their eyes were wide with fear.

I wondered if I was covered in blood again, but I soon realized they weren't scared of me.

The Fae tried to talk to me, making quite a few guttural sounds that I didn't understand.

When I didn't respond, they said, "Kwerthias?"

I shook my head.

"Glymn?" they asked.

I assumed it was another Fae's name. Again, I shook my head.

Just like that, the Fae lost interest in me. They grabbed something from the shelves, left some coins on the counter, and dashed out. Since I was paying attention this time I heard the shouts from outside as the Fae opened the door and I caught a glimpse of ruby flames in the distance.

Fire.

I got up to follow the Fae out, or at least, I tried to. I made it halfway out of my chair before I plopped back down feeling heavy and sluggish. Had there been alcohol in my food?

The pudding had been sweet enough to hide some, I guess. It didn't matter. I needed to hurry. I grabbed the counter for support and tried to stand again.

After I managed to get my legs under me, I didn't feel so bad. My first few steps were sure enough. I just felt like I was wading through water. It took longer than I would like to leave the shop, but I got there.

Once I was outside, I got a better sense of the situation. The Fae Quarter only had one real street. The rest of it was densely packed with tall buildings that were separated by chaotic walkways and sharp turns. The place made me feel like I was in a forest rather than a city space inhabited by civilized people.

Now the Fae were paying for their barbaric ways. They were flooding into this main street, running from whatever building was on fire. I could not see how far the source of the fire was from here, but it was hard to miss the flames that burst forth at intervals like a water spout.

My eyes were doing their best to figure it out, but my mind was too busy seeing a different fire that was very far away from the Fae Quarter.

I swallowed what felt like the beginning of a coughing spell. Then I heard a young girl shriek, "Fire!"

And I was back. This was no time to daydream.

I started running. I was a bit clumsy at first, but my body adjusted.

I hated town fires.

I hated the smoke they produced.

I hated the sound of coughing, whimpering, and panicked shouts.

And I hated the smell of burning flesh most of all.

Even if Fae-roasted flesh smelled like burnt seaweed and the Sun Fae were beyond divine help in this life, the fire itself still had to be stopped. If it was left unchecked, countless human lives could be in danger.

I should have run to the nearest city guard station, but my feet took me towards the little girl's scream. I dashed through the stupid chaos of buildings, fighting the fleeing crowds until I, at last, came upon the canal that divided the Fae Quarter from the rest of the city. I saw two dozen Fae at the canal edge filling buckets with water to help deal with the source of the fire.

That was good.

However, the source of the fire was definitely not.

I had expected a burning building. Instead, I was faced with a fire-breathing dragon. Or at least, I thought it had to be a dragon. It had blood-red scales, horns, fangs, and yellow reptilian eyes, but the creep was person-sized and it stood on two legs with the smallest wings and tail I'd ever seen.

I knew dragons were supposed to come in all sorts of sinister shapes and sizes, but I thought fire dragons could fly. All that this tiny-winged creature was doing was standing on the human side of the canal, breathing that oddly colored dark red fire, and attacking every human guardsman who tried to drive the creep closer to the canal water.

As I took in the scene, my eyes were drawn to a guard who wore fancy gold armor and was standing on a nearby building that overlooked things. I assumed they were the leader from how they were bellowing out commands at the small army of guards who had the dragon surrounded.

Meanwhile, on this side, I heard another shrill cry of "Fire!"

The Fae all threw water across the canal and at the dragon, drenching it. Its fire went out and the creep roared as if in pain. Then it renewed its attacks with added vigor and viciousness, so I'm not sure the water helped.

The guards' leader seemed to agree because I heard them shout, "Merchant King Kwerthias, for the last time: Stop interfering!"

Kwerthias?

I heard the lying scheming temptress before I saw her. A now familiar shrill girly voice snapped, "I'm not one of your minions, Tresdin! Find another patch of kindling for that abomination! It's not coming into my quarter!"

As Kwerthias and this Tresdin person continued to argue, I came out of my corner and spotted the merchant king who was hanging back from the other Fae and looked like…

A Moon Fae?

But no. That wasn't right. Sure, she had the antenna and size, but she was red instead of Moon Fae pink. Her wings and hair were different too. They looked less like lotus petals and more like they belonged on a red Magold flower.

I didn't understand.

Could all Sun Fae look like that? Was Kwerthias some weird sort of Moon Fae? Or was it just another illusion?

Before I could figure it out, the merchant king again cried out, "Fire!"

I took a step back. I didn't want Kwerthias to see me and know that Mirana and I had escaped.

I watched as the Sun Fae tried to splash the dragon again, but something went wrong. The dragon turned away from the guards. I caught sight of its fire blasting across the canal. It was brighter this time before it hit the Fae's bucket water. After that, the entire canal way was filled with steam and screams.

I lifted up my fists, fighting another wave of drunken fatigue. I needed to focus. I didn't need my eyes to fight, but I did need all my senses to—

I saw a blurry red shape barreling towards my head. I ducked on instinct just in time. The red thing sailed over me and landed a few feet away with an audible smack! I whipped my head around to see the shape disappear.

I quickly turned back to the canal. The steam was starting to disappear, but the chaos continued. Tresdin and Kwerthias were shouting at their panicked underlings and at each other. If Mirana was awake…

I patted the pouch that had her but heard no angry response. It looked like she was still unconscious. There was no way I was going to be able to recruit someone to help me with everything that was happening.

So far, no one had even noticed me.

That at least made the choice easy. Since my cover was secure and I was the only one who knew where the dragon had gone, it was up to me. I stood up, turned, stumbled a bit, and then broke out into a run after the dragon.

Selemene must have blessed my search because the dragon was easy to track. It left scratches and burn marks on the sides of the surrounding buildings, so it didn't take much to follow its trail through the quarter and to the far east side.

When I came upon a building with a large newly-made hole with charred edges, I knew I had found the place. The hole faced the canal, but the location of the building was quite a distance from Kwerthias, the human guards, and other people in general. I suppose the Fae had cleared out of here earlier when they heard about a dragon attack.

A dragon attack.

Suddenly, I was missing Davion again. I'd never fought a dragon before. Last night had been my main experience with them and those creeps had all been dead.

As I went around to find the real entrance to the building, I thought back to what the Dragon Knight had told me on our journey to Hauptstadt. Unlike earth dragons, fire dragons had a horrible sense of smell. That probably explained why the creep had not minded entering this stinky building. The place reeked worse than Aiushtha's mystery non-meat loaf. It was a confusion of sweet, sour, salty, cheesy, minty, nutty, and spicey.

I had to blink back tears and yet my stomach still growled. I must be starving if my body found that mess of smells appealing. I punched my stomach into silence. I would have to eat another feast later. For now, I needed to focus on getting this done before the dragon did any more harm or I was discovered here. I didn't want to start anything with Kwerthias until Mirana woke up.

With that in mind, I open the front door slowly. I wanted to surprise the dragon if possible.

Unfortunately, surprise was not on my side.

I had forgotten that Sun people shops often had bells on the door. This door did a good job reminding me of that fact as I entered.

The bell was insultingly loud.

I hurled myself inside of the shop to put as much distance between me and the sound as possible. It was a good thing I did because a stream of flame managed to fly through the closing door right where my face had been.

I focused on my foe, ready to dodge another attack as the door clicked shut, but the dragon wasn't looking at the door or me anymore. I could see it, sitting in a space beyond the shop counter. The dragon was surrounded by a score of fallen corpses of meat.

Not human meat, thank Selemene.

We were in a butcher's shop. Too late, I noticed another side door without a bell that had been left ajar. Perhaps someone had escaped when the dragon entered. That might explain why a third of the meat in here was cooked and smelling. Or maybe the dragon had just preemptively roasted its meal. It certainly seemed hungry enough to eat most of the shop. Even though, it had its back turned to me, I could tell it was devouring one of the smaller corpses of meat like its life depended on it.

Lucky.

I wished I could sit down and eat a third of a butcher shop. Now that I was seeing all the meat, I was overtaken by another wave of hunger and dizziness. The temptation to have a nibble was strong.

Later, I told myself again as I scanned the shop for a weapon. I needed to kill this dragon quickly and my encounter with the rock creature had taught me that I would probably want a better option than just my fists or my prayer knife.

I spotted an abandoned butcher's knife on the counter.

Those things could slice through bones.

That would probably work.

I crept over to the large knife and grabbed it off the counter. Then I stood up to face the dragon. I think a cloud must have moved in the sky because Selemene's light poured into the butcher shop from the hole the dragon had made. The moonlight caught the dragon's scales and made pretty colors. Its wings in particular looked like gemstones with odd patterns on them.

I frowned.

Was it my imagination or were its little wings a bit bigger than before?

I didn't know. It could be another symptom of my hunger fatigue which was why I needed to get this over with.

I approached the dragon as silently as I could. The creep either didn't notice or didn't care, not even when I was standing above it with the cleaver raised. The dragon was just eating its heart out like an overeager Tigri cub.

I pushed away thoughts of training Sagan and lifted the cleaver up a bit higher. I needed to make one clean cut and to stop stalling. There was no need to feel guilty. A dragon was not a Lunar Tigri. Though the creep seemed like a simple predatory animal right now, killing it was a mercy and a service to Selemene.

I knew that.

Not every creature could be saved in this life and sometimes a loyal acolyte had to kill things that didn't fight back to ensure the goddess's future glory.

With my resolve restored, I said a short prayer in my head:

May your soul be cleansed by Selemene's love.

Then I swung for the dragon's neck.

A/N: Well well well, I hath returned...and I am sure you know why. The power of friendship! And also the surprisingly fast turnout of Book 3. It comes out on August 11th. Can you believe it?

In celebration, me, ErrantTalisman, and a few other fanfic authors are doing a ~viewing party~ for the first episode on Discord (text chat) the following weekend. Please reach out to me if you'd like to join.

So far our server has been discussing Selemene, Davion, writing, and of course my girl Marci, so it's already been a ton of fun.

I hope to see you there!

In other news, I recently drafted a new finale to Rats and Royals...if I finished that fic, you should expect more Marci...but you all know the easiest way to get me to publish more...reviewing of course.

I'll see you guys later this month to celebrate Book 3 (hopefully at the viewing party) and to find out what will become of our High Priestess and this hungry runt of a dragon.