Vesenthicar and Mojavico landed hard in the grass. There was a strong scent of mud where the two downed dragons had torn up the turf as they bounced across the ground. Regardless of their superficial animosity and barbed remarks, the blue and the copper had long been a team. Both Tam and Galceledes lay unmoving, slumped in the dirt like slaughtered cattle. There was no readily apparent sign that either of them lived. Mojavico sniffed the ice-drake and shoved at his side. Even if they were dead, which would have been a tragic loss, it would be up to them to protect the bodies from harvested by bipeds. Especially with the demon city so close. Cannibalism was the preferred resolution to that problem.

Vesenthicar was having a similarly negligible reaction from Tam. [color=0072bc]"Go!"[/color] she spat. 

Mojavico shook his head, the frill along his neck waggling stubbornly. [color=7bcdc8]"No. I should help you here."[/color]

[color=0072bc]"You need to help your pet half-breed. Look!"[/color]

Mojavico whipped his head around, quick as a viper, and took only a second to spot Drache in the air. How was it that a half-breed had brighter crimson scales than an actual dragon? There was little time to consider that. Shrieking with even more blood-thirsty intent, the Skeeters had clumped together in a swarm and were headed right for her.

[color=7bcdc8]"Damn these bastards back to the abyss they came from!"[/color] Flapping hard, the Harrok was airborn in a moment.

High above, Drache struggled to remain aloft. She had become more powerful than she'd ever dreamed but even now she had her limits. No one had ever told her for a fact, but she suspected that one more attempt at magic would kill her. Watching the massive creature fall in death had been satisfying as hell, but didn't solve her immediate problem. She could no longer spot Mojavico in the skies around her and she doubted many of the other dragons would lower themselves to carry her, the elitist wyrms.

Something foul and sticky struck her right in the stomach. Her eyes began to water right away as she looked down at the slimy substance. [color=ed1c24]"What...? Ew! It spit on me? That's so rude! Dragonballs that smells[i] awful[/i]!"[/color] Concerned and having lived with an acid-drake too long to trust strange substances she watched for signs of it eating through her vest. It didn't start smoking and her scaled skin didn't begin to tingle, but a growing buzzing noise made her look up.

[color=ed1c24]"Oh shit!"[/color]

[color=f7941d]"I agree. That is what it smells like."[/color]

She didn't have time to ask the fire sprite how a creature made entirely out of fire could smell anything. She barely had time to examine her options. There weren't many, and there were fewer by the second. The city below would be safest, but that would mean bringing the frenzied shrieking hellbeasts with her. She could try to flee and hope that the dragons would come to her aid, but didn't think she would get far enough to make a difference. 

[color=ed1c24]"I think they're coming after me because of the smell."[/color]

[color=f7941d]"Perhaps you should take all your clothes off. That won't be any trouble for you."[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"What is [i]that[/i] supposed to mean?!"[/color]

But it wasn't a bad idea. In fact, it gave her another one.

[color=ed1c24]"Alright fine." [/color]

She turned back towards the city and dove. As she did so she carefully removed her pack, cringing inwardly as she let it fall. Hopefully she would be able to retrieve it later, but doubted it. But a small chance was better than it being certainly destroyed by what she was about to do. Using her claws, the busty half-dragon ripped her shirt off, balling the stinking material up in her fist. 

[color=ed1c24]"You'll have to do the rest. Cover me like you did in the old fire temple, but this time don't spare my clothes."[/color]

Cinder's round head nodded and the tiny flame creature seemed to spread out, the orange and red fire licking across her scales. It seeped down her back and across her wings, down her spine and out to the tip of her tail. The heat felt lovely to the dragonkin but did little to sooth her aching muscles. 

The swarm of Skeeters dove after her, gaining momentum in their mad rage-fueled flight. As she drew closer to the city those seemed to smell her as well, abandoning their macabre feasting to rise towards the incoming fireball. 

Cinder's flames quickly ate through all of Drache's clothes until she was naked apart from some jewelry. Her garments burned away in floating embers until she was free of the stink. Purified by fire. Turning back she lobbed the soiled shirt into the face of the closest Skeeter, and her fiery companion closed his protection over her hand.

She wouldn't know if it worked because at that moment her wings gave out and she couldn't cushion her descent, crashing haphazardly into the ground inside Gold Ridge.