The sickle-winged shadow of a dragon passing overhead had gone un-challenged, but not un-noticed. Concealed by the depths of the lake, something lurked beneath the reflective surface, biding her time until the stranger was past, as so many others had simply flown by. Though it seemed that would not be the case this time.

[i]Blood in the water.[/i]

She could taste even those few drops, diluted and dispersed as they were by the time the invisible currents of the lake brought them to her waiting jaws. The interloper, a thief as well as a trespasser, had killed [i]her[/i] prey on the shores of her lake!

The massive creature stirred again, dredging up the dark tendrils of lake-weed and blooming clouds of mud under wicked talons as she shoved off the bottom and moved towards the shore. The bright sunlit sky overhead shimmered on the surface of the water, concealing her every move through the cool lake.

It wasn't hard to find the snoozing drake, so brilliantly he gleamed there at the edge of the water against a backdrop of dark river stones and verdant foliage. A wavering white slab until the lake-dweller's eyes broke the surface, third eyelids sliding back just as her narrow nostrils appeared. Like a great alligator, her progress towards him was no more notable than the listless drifting of a log, the undulations of her long tail barely rippling the water to move her closer. 

She caught the scent of gore and blood and male dragon, her nostrils flaring wide before clamping shut with distaste. [i]He'll be slow on an empty stomach.[/i]

The serenity of the soporific scene shattered in an instant. The dark smudge of eyes and snout floating harmlessly on top of the water erupted in a geyser of white-water, the deluge spraying in all directions as a scaled monster came charging out of the lake, massive fanged jaws agape with a challenging snarl, wings outstretched, tail lashing with violent intent. The dragoness brayed with righteous indignation as she pounded up the rocky beach, preceded by the forbidding mucky scent of the watery depths from whence she emerged. The terrible sound echoed starkly against the trees and back across the lake, small animals panicking and birds lifting from the canopy in fright.

It would be difficult to tell exactly what colour the dragoness was with all the algae clinging to her scales, though as the greenish film cracked under unfamiliar strain it would turn out to be very nearly the same jade hue as the creature underneath.