Duskfire Glacier I am never the first to know

Whatever she wanted with him, she wasn't getting it fast enough. She barked at him with more insistence, slipping up along his side and trying to urge him to go faster. But this was not something Tryphon was eager to do, nor something he would happily take from a stranger - even with all his spinelessness, there was only so much that the boy would take. As soon as the woman commanded that he speed up, Tryphon stopped completely.

His tail was still curled beneath his body, against his belly. His ears were still against his head, only snaking down to protect his throat as he wheeled about, leveling an agitated glare upon the shadow beside him. "NO." The boy all but shouted. "Who are you? What makes you think I'll do what you want? I apologized!" As he spoke, he scrambled to one side in the hope that he'd out-distance any sort of attack, assuming her foul attitude wasn't the only nasty thing about this lady. "Why are you so mean?"