Horizon Ridge As clear as the hook in a sweet serenade

@Charon

Sometimes fate can be a hard creature to elude - these were Dante's exact words and Osprey remembered them, when she found herself making her way in the direction of the Stavanger bay. When she had returned to the plateau, she had decide to avoid adventures of any kind for a while. But it took only few weeks, before she couldn't stay within the confines anymore - there was a need, a pull to go outside. After testing the waters in the surrounding areas she knew very well, she had decided to try and keep the half-promise she had made to Charon. To visit him again.

A little over a month had passed since their last meeting and she was sure that the boy would have grown up considerably. Kids at his age changed in a matter of weeks - one moment they were small, chubby and could barely walk, the next - they were long-legged young adults, who had their opinion and didn't fear to say it out loud. Halfway there she decided to have a rest in a forest, which lied nearby a mountain and, what appeared to be the largest pile of rocks she had ever seen. She ventured closer to have a better look and was amazed by the grand force that had brought this down.

"Wow..." Osprey said to herself, observing this in awe.

I made this doodle of Drake and Charon, how Charon sees him anyway. :-)

When Osprey had left the Bay, Charon hadn't expected to see her again. He figured she would go home and that would be the end of it. Maybe when he was older he could visit her, but if she lived so far away that even she wasn't sure she could come visit again, a healthy adult wolf, then Charon wasn't sure if he would ever be able to. Not until 'later', anyway.

Much had happened with Charon in the meantime, but Osprey was far from gone; if not only in the form of Drake, the furry troll. Last time they had visited the Ridge, Drake had really liked the view, so even though he knew that it was a bit far away for them to travel, Charon decided to take him there again. He bounded through the forest with eager steps, because he liked the view too, and maybe he would be able to do some Naturalist things by looking at the clouds — since it was such an open place with a good view, it was a good spot for watching clouds — and things like that.

Charon stopped in his tracks when he caught a familiar scent, and ears stood erect for a moment. He was pretty sure it was Osprey. When he turned his head he saw her there, looking at the mountain. Surprised but excited, Charon said, "Osprey!" His tail began to wag and Charon trotted over to Osprey with his long, awkward legs. Ears were pressed against skull and Charon moved in to lick Osprey's chin as a sign of respect (one that was reserved for very, very few adults in Charon's life).

"What're you doing here?" he asked, curious if it was his request for another visit that brought Osprey into the forest. He glanced to his right and said, "Me and Drake were just exploring."

Osprey was admiring the view for a long while, because it was truly spectacular. The plateau offered some good sightseeing options too, but this was different. Simple in it's beauty, but all the more special. She climbed carefully up the hill of rocks, watching her steps in order to avoid slipping, falling or tumbling down. It had taken a lot of time for her to recover from the previous injury for her not want to have a new one.

Fate tends to have this skill of knowing, what people wish. Sometimes it fulfills it. Osprey had got back down to the lower parts of the pile, eager to continue the journey, when a familiar voice of a child call out to her. Not believing her eyes, she spotted Charon coming her way. She sat down, as she accepted his greeting and at the mention of Drake lifted her eyebrows up for a brief moment, wondering, if there was anyone else with him and then realizing, who he was speaking about. And smiled. She had had imaginary friends as a kid too.

"I was on my way to see you - but it seems that you found me instead," she smiled at him. "You probably hear this a lot, Charon, but you have grown up quite a bit," not the tiny, fluffy puppy he had been. He was on his way to becoming a young and handsome fellow. "How have you and Drake been?" she asked, curious to hear all and everything that had happened in his life after her departure.

When Osprey mentioned that she had been on her way to see him, Charon's tail wagged excitedly. He hadn't expected it after she had left the Bay, because from what he understood her home was pretty far away, but despite the distance, she had come to see him anyway. He couldn't have been happier; there wasn't anyone (safe perhaps his deceased and lost family members) that he would rather have met up here on Horizon Ridge.

Charon didn't actually hear that he had grown up much. Most wolves he encountered were his pack mates, who saw him every day, or single encounters, who didn't know how tiny he had once been (or didn't care). "Yeah, I hear it all the time," lied Charon about the growing-up-thing with a bob of his head. He was still learning how to use his seemingly giant legs now, but overall, it was more convenient to be taller, so he didn't mind (and in his head he didn't look awkward at all, anyway).

He grinned and started to tell Osprey his and Drake's life story ever since they had last seen the storytelling Plateau wolf. "Me 'n Drake have been pretty cool. I started training as a Naturalist so I'm learning to predict the weather by telling clouds and reading the stories in the stars and trying hard to have dreams about cool stuff. Oh, and things about plants and crabs and berries and stuff." Charon smiled and looked at Osprey. He didn't know much about courtesy, being at a very self-centered age, so it didn't even occur to Charon it might be polite to ask how she had been or show his appreciation for her long trip over here. Looking at the pile of rocks, Charon said, "The view is cool, isn't it?" He'd only been here once before, and had been in total awe at the view at the time. Since Osprey had come from up there, he figured she'd just been admiring the view when he had come across her.

ooc: I forgot to tell you in my last post, but that doodle of Charon and Drake is adorable.

Osprey didn't mind that Charon spoke about himself - quite the contrary. She was very curious about everything that had happened in his life during the past weeks and she listened with a genuine interest to him. Smile appeared, when he among other things mentioned that he was learning to have dreams about cool stuff - she was tempted to ask, what this "cool" stuff was, but held back, letting the young fellow have his moment of glory.

"Naturalist sounds such a fun trade to have," she remarked, once Charon was finished talking. "I mean, you can learn a lot about the nature - you will be very smart one day," not that she didn't think about him being a bright kid now. "It surely is. So - how has been Drake dealing with his "furiness"?" Osprey asked politely.

Charon's tail wagged a little as Osprey told him that Naturalist sounded like a fun trade to have. It wasn't quite like if she had called Naturalist a 'cool trade' (but he realised that not all the adults overused the word 'cool' for superawesome things like he did), but it was still positive. "Do you have any trades?" Charon asked, secretly hoping that maybe Osprey was also a Naturalist so that she could teach him lots of cool, secret Naturalist things.

When Osprey said that he would be very smart some day, Charon quickly intervened, "I'm already super smart now!" Because he did think he was pretty awesome already. He was a force not to be underestimated!

Osprey then went on to ask about Drake's furry situation. Charon looked to his side, as though he was looking at Drake, and possibly listening to what Drake was saying, and then looked back to Osprey. "He's pretty okay with it now. He was freaked out at first, but now everyone loves him just as he is anyway, and 'sides, he can freak others out by pretending to be a bear." Yes, Drake was quite the prankster, scaring wolves and trolls left and right. Charon looked to his side again and then back at Osprey and said, "And Drake says that it's cool to see you again."

Charon appeared to be very smug about his chosen trade and Osprey felt happy for him about that. Having found early in life, what he really enjoyed, was a rare gift. She could only wish him to stick to that, not grow bored or disillusioned in it and become the master Naturalist one day. She knew a lot of things about nature, but it would be nice to have a friend that would be an expert and could teach her one day.

"I believe you are - but that always leaves more place to become very-very smart one day," she said. "A trade? No, I don't have one officially, but being a story-teller and a story-weaver has been my lifetime passion," she explained him, beginning to think that maybe it was time she worked for the Chronicler. Just for fun not that she really needed that title to prove others that she was good at making stories.

"Tell Drake that I am glad to see him too and good luck with pranking," she first addressed Charon and then looked over his shoulder at the point she thought the imaginary friend could be. "Why don't you tell me - or show me - what you have learned already?" Osprey asked.

Charon didn't really think he could get even more awesome than he already was, but he decided to not crush Osprey's fantasy thoughts that he would be able to be even smarter than he already was. She also said she had no trade, but storyteller sounded like a pretty cool trade. "Your trade's Storyteller, then," Charon concluded sagely, as though he knew all about trades and had just officially granted Osprey the title of 'Storyteller' for a trade.

When Osprey told Charon to tell Drake that she was glad to see him, Charon giggled. "I don't need to tell him, he can hear you — he's right here," Charon said and pointed his nose to the side, where Drake was standing. Silly Osprey.

Osprey then went on to ask Charon about what he had learned as a Naturalist. He looked at the sky, but of course it wasn't night. "Ummm, I learned some star stories, but they're only here in the night," he said. "And oh, I can predict the weather!" He looked at the sky through the naked trees above his head. The sky was pretty clear; the view was great because of it. "There aren't a lot of clouds around, so it's gonna be colder tomorrow." He wasn't sure if it was true, but this was something he had deducted from watching the clouds (or, in this case, lack of clouds); often it was colder than the day before, the next morning.

Osprey was amused, how very self-confident Charon was. It was a trait that she didn't like in adults, but kids always were adorable, when they thought that they knew everything about the world. She had been like that at some point in her life too, yet she had a feeling that she had rather annoyed a great deal of people, while acting as a little know-it-all.

"Silly me," Osprey nodded in agreement and laughed at her mistake, then cast a glance to the spot Charon had pointed Drake to be and winked. Even with the knowledge of existance of the imaginary friends, it was always easier to see yours than the one that belonged to someone else.

"Alright," she had lifted her muzzle too to have a look at the almost clear sky above her. There were some clouds, but not many. "And do the stars tell stories only at night or you remember some you can reveal me now?" she looked down at Charon expectantly.

Charon was happy to have another willing victim to tell all about his Naturalist stuff. He excitedly told Osprey about the weather, even though he wasn't super good at weather things just yet. He felt even less confident about the star stories, but he reckoned he could make up a couple. He'd learned that one from Thistle, but he had forgot the gist of that one, unfortunately. Something about a guy biting someone else's balls, from what he remembered. Wait, wasn't it a goat biting someone's balls?

"Well," Charon started, "I learned one story from Thistle about a guy who was really awesome and killed a giant who had taken a lady and then the guy-who-was-really-awesome had a goat bite his balls because uhm, I guess he was trying to be funny or brave or something, and then they felt bad for the giant's daughter so they put the dead giant's eyes in the sky as stars so that she could always look at the sky and see her father. Oh! And they all had super difficult names like Thathdilion or something, except they were all different names, but I don't remember what they were called exactly. But they were viking names." Charon looked at Osprey as he rattled on about the story, and then paused to see how she liked the story, even though it wasn't quite the way Thistle had told it to him.

Osprey didn't mind to be such a victim - she liked Charon a great deal and would have all her eyes and ears on him as long as he kept talking and telling. It reminded her of how she had filled the role of the elder and wiser sibling to the younger generation of the DiSarinno-Redleafs. Having the little fellow here and now made her feel the same way - happy, important and needed. Somewhere inbetween there were the first buds of sisterly love appearing. Unbeknownst to her, of course. These kind of things take time to be realized.

"Wow... that is some story," she complimented him, even though she had got lost at the point, where "a goat bit the cool giant's balls off to be funny". She wonedered, how far the Charon's retold version had wandered away from the exact story, but then again it was always possible that with the truth came the realization that the original wasn't as half as funny and great. Leaving a bit of a mystery and room for one's imagination to fill in was a good way to keep the audience listening.

"Do you and Drake want to accompany me on the trek?" she beckoned to the slope that was going up. "It promises to be dangerous and adventurous and would need two brave men to accompany me?" she told him, inviting him to play a game.

Charon's tail wagged excitedly as Osprey mentioned liking his story. He tried his best to tell the story as best he could, and it was nice to see that Osprey liked it, too! Anyway, he intended to observe the stars and make up stories of his own, too, because with how many stars the skies had, surely it could use another story or two.

Osprey asked Charon to accompany her, and he nodded. "Of course! We're always up for dangerous stuff!" It seemed like a good idea to stick with Osprey, now that she was here. He wondered if she would come down to the Bay after their adventure in the mountains, since she had been headed this way.

Following along with Osprey, Charon asked, "Where're we heading to?" Because even when you were doing dangerous stuff, it was good to know what you were up against, and what level of dangerous there was.

"Well... I heard from an old crow that there is a dragon's lair hidden somewhere near here," Osprey began to lay out her plans to her comrade and, while her tone was serious, the look in her eyes gave her away - there was excitement and joy for the game they were going to play. "I wanted to fetch you in the first place, but since I met you here, then we are going look for it - if luck would have it - we will find it too," she said.

"The thing is, however, that not only the dragon's den is hidden, but also there are a lot of dangerous creatures lurking around these lands," she went on, weaving the tale, as she cast her glance around to find bits and pieces that would fuel her imagination. "Such as the witch-rats, the angry bear spirit, giant mountain trolls that are not that friendly at all - Drake probably has heard about them and a couple of ghosts and some other beasts too."

"So - are you up for the challenge? Because it is not meant for the fearful or people with... sensitive nerves," she stopped and looked down at Charon.

ooc: the game that Osprey has in mind - is called "adventures" or something like LRPG (sounds funny in this context).

When Osprey mentioned crowd, Charon remembered a story he hadn't yet told her, about Shiv, the chattery magpie and the crab, and yipped an excited "Oh!", only to fall silent once he realised he was about to tell his story right through Osprey's. A dragon's lair?! The story of Shiv the magpie was easily forgotten as he listened in awe to Osprey's story, which sounded way more exciting!

Witch-rats, angry bear spirits, giant mountain trolls that aren't friendly (like Drake)... It sounded pretty cool! The more danger, the more exciting the story was, according to Charon. "Cooool!" he said finally, so when Osprey asked him if he was up for the challenge, a positive answer wasn't very far.

"Yes! Of course we're up for it!" He was almost bouncing in place as he thought of how incredibly cool this was going to be! Couldn't wait to get started.

"Wonderful," Osprey returned with the same amount of excitement, her tail wagging and her mind going through all the amazing possibilities in this real life story. Even though she had grown up and become more mature and was an adult most of the time, she had kept her inner kid alive to help her see the world as something wonderful and amazing every single day. When you were older, it was too easy to slip into "been there, done that" mode and therefore deny yourself a lot of simple pleasures and moments of joy. Too often adults sought reason for every deed, when - in fact - they should have been enjoying the act of doing and not wasted time in thinking about the necessity to do it. Osprey didn't have such a problem - she let the kid take over and throw all the rationality and seriousness out of the window.

"Alright - first things first - we need to find tracks. A dragon leaves his lair at least once a day, therefore there must be some scent or some scales lying on the path it took today or yesterday. You will know the scent, when you catch it," Osprey instructed her brave comrade. "I will sniff this way," she beckoned to one side. "And you sniff that way. When you find something - call out loud."

This was so exciting! Charon had never hunted an actual dragon, and even though the prospect was a little scary, it was also super exciting in a good way. He listened to Osprey's explanation of what a dragon's lair looked like. Charon did not know what scales would look like exactly, but he was sure that, like the scent, he would know it when he saw it!

Tail wagging in excitement, Charon nodded and dashed in opposite direction, to where Osprey told him to look. He searched near the base of the mountains, because there were lots of rocks and, considering they breathed fire and all, Charon figured that a dragon would therefore like sleeping in rocks, where he could not accidentally incinerate his own home or anything of the sort.

Charon's nose hovered near the ground and wiggled a little as he sniffed the air, searching for something cool. He eventually found a pile of feathers, probably from a bird or something. Maybe the dragon had eaten the bird? Near it lay some small chips of stone that had fallen from the mountainside, which could easily be imaginified into dragon scales. Charon lifted his nose and made a childish "Awoooohwooo!" howling sound to call for Osprey and ask for her immediate assistence in identifying the dragon scales and what appeared to be the death of a bird (though there was no carcass to be found anywhere).

Osprey took the other path and pretended to be busy seeking the dragon, while in reality she had caught the actual scent of a rat and began to follow it's tracks, which were quite fresh. Soon she arrived to a crevice, located between rocks. Her ears perked up and her tail began to wag excitedly at the prospect of a nice, little hunt. She lied down, shuffled close to the rat's hiding spot and with part of her muzzle now stuck in the rat's hiding place she continued to sniff. It's smell was very strong there and she let out an impatient whimper, which after a while turned into a sudden yowl of pain and her moving backwards and away from the spot quite quickly. The rat had bitten her in the nose and there was a trickle of blood there, which she licked off quickly.

She would have made another attempt, had it not been for Charon's urgent call. Osprey replied to it immediately with a quick, shrill yip and then proceeded to dash to his spot. "So - what did you find?" she asked him, when the young fellow came in sight.

Osprey soon came into sight after his urgent call, and Charon's tail wagged as she did, eager to show her his find. He pointed his nose at the pile of feathers and scooped some of the stone chips up with his paw. "I think that the dragon killed a bird here," he said, pointing at the feathers, "And these look a lot like dragon scales!" This was his proudest find, and what confirmed that it was actually a dragon that had killed the bird.

"What do you think?" asked Charon, looking curiously at Osprey to see if she agreed with his findings. He didn't notice the cut on her nose and completely forget to ask her about her own findings, too excited about his own side of the search.

Osprey regarded Charon's find with a long and measuring gaze, then she leaned down to sniff first at the feathers than at the pebbles. Her expression so serious, as if she really was looking for a proof that this was - in fact - a true clue of a dragon having been nearby. The tiny downs tickled her nostrils and after a while she sneezed loudly.

"I think," she said, lifting her head and rubbing her muzzle with her left forepaw, "that this is an excellent find. The scent of the dragon is a little faint, but I am sure that if we find more feathers or scales along the way - we will find it's lair too." After saying this she cast a glance around, searching for similar pebbles and, when there were none, she set for equally small, but a bit different ones.

"This way!" Osprey beckoned Charon to follow, leading him to a spot, which was scattered with little stones of various sizes. "Look at these - these are paw-stones. Wherever they go, there is always a whirl of them around their feet," she explained. "Oh - and look, it leads somewhere," she exclaimed, spotting something similar in the distance.

Charon looked eagerly at Osprey as he showed her his find, and to his great joy she actually confirmed that these were, in fact, dragon scales and a mauled bird, clearly mauled by a dragon. He sniffed the air and did not smell much, but he was certain that the scent was there and that they would find more when they'd look.

Osprey found something else that was exciting, so Charon quickly followed in tow and looked at the pebbles she pointed out. Paw-stones. He'd never heard of them, but it was evident that Osprey was much more of a dragonchaser than he, anyway. As she said that the trail lead somewhere, Charon followed it with his eyes. He was eager to get moving and nearly took off, but then realised that they were forgetting some very serious and necessary business before they could take off to the next collection of paw-stones.

"Wait!" Charon exclaimed. "Before we can go, we should get dragon-detective names, because then if one of us dies from being scorched to a crisp by the dragon, the other has got to tell heroic tales about how awesome the other was! Deal?" He looked briefly at Osprey's face, but whether or not her reply would be positive then quickly continued with his own name: "I'm Dragonbearstarchaser, 'cause I chase bears out, and I chase stars for their stories, and I chase dragons right now! No wait, that's confusing, 'cause the tale wouldn't be about bears so people'd get confused, and it's kind of a long name anyway. But Dragonstarchaser sounds like I'm chasing dragonstars and not dragons or maybe they'd think that I was a dragon chasing stars, so ummmm, I'll go with Sir Knight Starchaser. Does that sound okay??" After his long ramblings, Charon looked back at Osprey to see her reaction, hoping it would be positive. And, of course, eager to hear what sort of heroic name Osprey had in mind for herself!

"Dragon detective names? That's so cool!" Charon's excitement was contagious and now Osprey was all back to her childish self. A great plus was that the kid was actively participating in the game, offering his own ideas. Usually it was her, who had to come up with things all the time, making the equilibrum unevern.

"Yeah, I think it is better to go with Sir Knight Starchser," she agreed with him, even though it had been a bit of a challenge to follow through his rambling. "Because there are both dragonbears and dragonstars in the world - I can tell you about them another time though," she explained him, memorizing these two words and keeping them for future use.

"I will be Lady..." she paused, closing her eyes for a moment to find the right word. If Charon had sucha great name, then she should have one as well. "... Nobless Firecomet." Peregrine would probably be rolling in the ground from laughter, but - hey - one couldn't say that it lacked a touch of originality. "So - lead the way, my brave Knight!" she told him, letting him choose the right direction.

Hahaha, I love how Osprey just used Charon's catch phrase "that's so cool!" :D

Osprey confirmed that dragon detective names were pretty damn cool, which further excited Charon, the excitement boomeranging back and forth between them and cummulating with every bounce it made. Charon was glad that he had found a friend that was super creative too, so that they could write their own stories together. Being creative together was much cooler than being creative alone. Thanks to Osprey involving him in the storytelling their previous meeting, Charon's creativity was sparked; she had helped him develop some parts of himself much by this.

"Cool, I'd love to hear about them some other time!" Charon excitedly exclaimed as Osprey mentioned the existence of dragonbears and dragonstars. They both sounded pretty cool, but it would have to wait for another time.

Then Osprey went on to think of her own dragon detective name. Charon tilted his head and held his breath in suspense while Osprey came up with her name, and smiled to confirm it was a good one when she did. He wasn't sure what a Nobless was, but he'd ask some other time. Whatever it was, it was probably something cool and important.

As Lady Nobless Firecomet suggested he lead the way, Sir Knight Starchaser nodded. "Follow me, Lady Nobless Firecomet." The name was still a little foreign on his tongue and he had to think clearly while pronouncing it, but it would get better in time, surely. Sir Knight Starchaser galopped over to the paw stones not far off. "Look, Lady Nobless Firecomet! The trail is leading this way!" The first few steps were easy to distinguish for Sir Knight Starchaser, but after a few the paw stones seemed to end. Maybe the dragon took off here? Deciding that wasn't a good enough answer, because a flying dragon would be too hard to follow, Sir Knight Starchaser said, "There are less stones here. It must've — look, over there!" There was a crack in the mountainside where Sir Knight Starchaser pointed, which showed a large cave. The dragon might have needed to squeeze through a bit to fit in, but the two wolves would easily be able to get in there.

Lady Nobless Firecomet did as she was told - she followed Charon obediently, occasionally putting her snout to the ground and sniffing, pretending to be very immersed in searching for the dragon. Now and then she would stay behind, having found a particularly interesting scent, but she would always keep an eye out for the Knight and caught up with him quickly, if she had stayed too far behind.

The paw-stones ended and for a moment it seemed that their little quest had run into a dead-end. She cast and expectant glance at Charon, waiting for him to come up with something and being ready to help out whenever it was needed any moment. But the kid's imagination worked like a clockwork machine - he spotted a crack in the stones ahead of them and identified it as the dragon's lair.

"Good job, Star-" she began, stopping abruptly and looking ahead with a panicked gaze. "Watch out! Fireballs!!!" she yelled and slammed her body to the ground, covering her ears and face with her forepaws. The last thing Firecomet wanted was to be turned into dust even before they had seen the dragon itself.

Drake had been momentarily forgotten, although perhaps later, Charon's imaginary friend might give him a beating for not including him in the play. Somehow, when you had real friends to hang around, it was easy to forget the ones you made up yourself.

Sir Knight Starchaser's tail wagged briefly as he was praised for his find, and he was eager to explore the place they'd found. However, the cheerfulness was short lived, for soon Lady Nobless Firecomet warned about incoming fireballs. Gasping, Sir Knight Starchaser pressed himself firmly against the ground, crouching up close to Lady Nobless Firecomet. He flattened his ears and, rather than covering his own face, he put only one paw on the side of his face and used the other to further cover Lady Nobless Firecomet. After all, it seemed like the knightly thing to do, to protect the lady in his company from the incoming searing.

"It stopped!" Sir Knight Starchaser informed the Lady Nobless Firecomet, and he got up on his feet and made a dash for the crack in the mountain he saw. "Quickly, over here!" Sir Knight Starchaser dashed through the crack. His heart thudded in his chest and he looked around, wide-eyed and adrenaline streaming through his veins...

And there it was, the giant dragon! Well, there wasn't really anything, but in Sir Knight Starchaser's world, there very much was! "Careful, Lady Nobless Firecomet!" he shouted out warily. "It can't throw more fireballs up this close, so we gotta stay close, even if it's scary! Lady Firecomet, try to grab its tail to tackle it, while I attack it from the front!" Only by working together, they would be able to defeat this mighty dragon. This didn't seem to be one of the friendly dragons, like the story dragon that Osprey had told him about before, and eager to throw more fireballs at them, so their only chance to survive was to defeat it!

Charon was living up to his chosen name and rather than protecting his pretty face from burns, he lent a paw to save Osprey's. A very chivalrous thing to do, even more because there weren't so many people, who, when attacked by balls of fire, would remember to save their friend's skin. A moment later the danger was over and after informing her about this, he dashed towards the dragon's den. "Hey, wait for me!" she called out to him, getting up to her feet and running after him.

The room behind the crack was spacious and would make a good home not only for a dragon, but - let's say - for a wolf too. And Osprey, who didn't have a den at the plateau felt sorry that it was not possible to take this one back home. Just think of all the great stuff she could bring inside and how many friends she could invite to stay over! The knight's voice, however, brought her back to reality - laying out the plan of defeating the dragon. She listened and nodded in agreement. She was ready to act right there and then, when...

"Where is Drake?" she remembered the furry troll friend that had tagged along and suddenly disappeared. Had a fireball hit him?