---

His wings thudded out a steady drone in the air, disrupting the occasional low-flying wisp of cloud. Just above him was the 'floor' of the thunderheads, flying just below the cloud cover so he could see, and still go unnoticed. No one focused on a storm, and certainly not a bit of white in a cloud. It gave him camouflage to watch his lands, with. He could smell the rain that was coming.

Eliesmier was waiting for his next sacrifice, circling above the ailing city that called itself Dragonswatch. They were at the foot of his mountain, in the middle of the closest field, numbering to be well over ten thousand in population. It was a sprawling city that sat in the middle of a dozen trade routes- all linking up at the base of his mountain. The city was prosperous, and it usually produced an extravagant amount of grain and game. Except, they hadn't sacrificed anyone in the past hundred years.

And Eliesmier needed those sacrifices.

So he shifted the ley lines. Normally, the ley lines that met at his mountain sat unusually close to the surface, which was why Dragonswatch was so prosperous in its surrounding area. People were so much healthier and everything grew so much better. Now, they were deep underground, too deep for the once-thriving land to keep its luster.

But now, there was someone running. To be specific, someone was moving on the small, open road towards his mountain- the road that sacrifices normally went down.

The process of accepting a sacrifice was surprisingly easy, given that no dragon ever found out about it. Should his flame take the life of someone willingly letting it, willingly giving their life to him with such an intent, regardless of reason, he will absorb the lifeforce and grow in strength. This usually required a face-to-face meeting, beforehand, for him to at least calm whoever it was that was being sacrificed, so that their lifeforce would give him even more strength- a panicked soul could be a defensive one, after all.

He nearly folded his wings all the way, and abruptly dove.

The rush of the wind, of the lightning cracking behind and around him, of the thunder shuddering the very air, it was an exhilarating thrill that he reveled in every time he flew during a storm. He momentarily forgot about his quarry, closing his eyes and the air streamed around him. Just as abruptly as his dive, however, he remembered his purpose and snapped his wings open.

Suddenly yanked back from his streaking descent, he steadied his wings and shook off the dull throbbing that now tore into his wing joints, from his sudden deceleration. Either way, he was low enough to make out the person riding on a horse, towards his mountain. He suspected that the little hominid might hear him, being only two tree-lengths above the ground, but it didn't matter; the figure was too far away from any substantial cover for them to decide otherwise.

Flapping a couple times to correct his course, he aligned himself parallel with the road and the rider's path, and then began gliding down towards them, gently closing in. As he closed the distance to only a single tree-length above the ground, maybe three tree-lengths away from his sacrifice, he beat his wings, accelerating, speeding up his pace a little.

In seconds, he closed the distance with the galloping horse, and his foreleg claws reached down, closing around the rider and tearing them from the top of their horse. He took care, though- tight enough of a grip to be inescapable, but gentle enough to not pop the little hominid like a stepped-on watermelon.

Nearly simultaneously, he reached out with his back legs and grabbed ahold of the horse, expecting to maybe roast it for dinner. Either way, Eliesmier would be having both a sacrifice and dinner delivery- oh how thoughtful, hominids were! At least he didn't have to burn down their clock towers or some thing like that to encourage them.

With his two new prizes, he beat his wings even faster, refusing to let the weight of the horse drag him down. He was a strong dragon; a mere horse wouldn't defy his strength!

Some minutes pass, as he gained in altitude and flew towards his lair, just barely in sight by those in Dragonwatch on a sunny day. Lightning and thunder shook the world, the mighty cry of another of Water and Air's battles shaking the Earth. He was not too far away; the flight was relatively hard to his normal ones, but still nonetheless easy. He dropped both screaming/flailing horse and little hominid at the same time, though on second thought, half a tree-length might have been a little to high up...

The horse landed on its back- it had fallen, smacked into the ground, and immediately fell silently, presumably with a broken back.

The hominid, however, surprised Eliesmier.

Escaping was rather easy and all it took was a few easy complaints. While the people at this exact town were rather racist, it hadn't seem to spread to authority quite yet and so when she complained about something in her cell for long enough, someone eventually gave in to take a look. During the night. Alone. Stupid comes as stupid goes, she thought.

It only took an elbow to the head, the snatch of a key and fleet-footed movement. Mere minutes later, she found herself outside in the humid night air. Taking a few moments to calm her rushing pulse and regain her posture, the thief thought about what to do next. Surely, she had been arrested before, but it had never been as bad as this - her punishment was execution.

She would likely be pursued her entire life.

While she wasn't already living in ideal conditions to begin with, life was about to get much harder. She would be pursued left and rights by these idiots and their swords and lances who truly believed that by killing her it would be "rightful justice". Not a single one of them knew the true meaning of justice even if it hit them over the head with a shield.

But then again, who was she to talk? She was a thief after all. Still, it didn't mean that thieves couldn't have good morals.

And with that, the Winter Elf decided exactly what she would do. She would find a horse and set off quickly and by morning, she would be able to reach her destination. Or at least that is what she hoped. The longer she had to deal with the thought, the heavier it would become. And the longer she waited, the quicker these idiots would be able to follow her trail.

And so, the cloaked woman ran off into the dark, looking for her temporary companion.

---

---

It was nearly morning now and a blanket of thunder clouds watched over her and the horse she had stolen. The two were much closer to their destination now and as the horse slammed its anxious hooves forward, the woman had deducted that the horse knew they were getting dangerously close as well. After all, couldn't animals sense that type of thing?

She would've been blind to not notice the dragon's shadow as it aligned itself with her and her horse. Well, it seemed that this was goodbye. She was about to jump ship and let the horse run off into freedom, but the dragon seemed rather eager as it snatched both of them up and slowly brought them into the sky, higher, higher and even higher. . .

It took her first and then the horse. She let out a gasp and pulled her scarf closer to her face as she resisted all urge to reach for a dagger and plunge it into the dragon's scales. No, this was her own decision. It didn't stop her from being angry about the horse, though.

As the ground became further and further away, the woman closed her eyes. Sure, like any good thief, she could easily get up high, but this was far too much. Why the hell was the dragon dragging her away, anyway? She had expected to be eaten on the spot, hence her decision. She was quickly beginning to regret it. To make matters worse, sounds of thunder and lightning could be heard from all directions. It felt too surreal to be real. Perhaps it was.

Like a weak-willed little girl, the thief almost fainted. However, she was quickly brought back to reality as she felt herself falling from a rather high altitude. The dragon had let her go, son of a ---

Using the wind at her back as an advantage, she found herself somersaulting and flipping through the air. As she got closer to the ground, she realized that this was nothing. If the dragon had intended to kill her using this method, they would have to try a hell of a lot harder. It took more than this to kill her.

Landing with both of her feet on the ground as if she were a cat, the elf turned to face the dragon, sliding her bow off her back and shoving an arrow into it. Moments later, she had this loaded bow directed at the dragon as if she were trying to threaten it. Maybe this move the killing process along a little faster. Or maybe she'd be able to actually kill a dragon and be hailed a hero. Either would work, really.

"I'm still a little mad about the horse," was all she said as she tamed the bow at the dragon, "Just saying."

Eliesmier hovered there, buffeting the little human with gusts of wind, watching her. He had backed off a little, flying backwards (it was much harder than hominids thought), so he could properly watch. He couldn't help but internally guffaw at the little one's attempts to threaten him. It was pointing an arrow at it! A little toothpick! It was adorable, and encouraged him to break his silence.

With unconscious control, he reached his mind out to the human's- no, it wasn't human. How peculiar. He mentally poked it, testing its mental reaction.

Abruptly folding his wings, he dropped to the stone, a large area on the side of his mountain that was maybe two treelengths in diameter. Taking a step forward to inspect the horse that was between himself and the little hominid, he sniffed it. Satisfied that it was a good horse, he casually opened his mouth just enough to allow a lazy river of oily flame to curl out and light the entire beast on fire.

The entire time, his eyes were on the hominid.

Letting his horse roast- saddle and all- he sat back on his haunches, not too terribly unlike a cat, and stared at the hominid. Experimentally, he raised his snout and sniffed the air again, this time trying for the hominid's scent. After several seconds, he caught it, even through the thin wisps of black, oily smoke rising from the horse, and the horse itself.

This time, he did more than mentally poke the female elf. This time, he spoke.

With thought-speak that was smooth, soft, undoubtedly masculine and almost unerringly calming and maybe even seductive, he thought at her, So an elf comes to grace my presence. How adorable, you are, with that little bow and your brave words.

One could practically feel the amusement in his words, and the pleasure he took from speaking to another intelligent being.

Laying down- more like a dog than a cat, this time- he sniffed his roasting horse and blew on it, this time without fire. The flames shuddered and went out, leaving thoroughly roasted horse, and the faint whiff of air and fire elemental magic.

You know the last time someone came to sacrifice themselves, it was, oh, four hundred years ago? For the most part, people are threatened into it. You hominids are so self-centered, you know. Always worrying about yourself, but most of you will fall apart if a family or friend is threatened. Of course, us dragons are similar, but I suppose this was all up to the Spirits. Who are we to deny our nature, after all? You're more than you look, you know. You've got something to look out for, don't you? Is it just yourself? Or is there something else? Someone else? You came here on your own. Quite a ruckus you left behind; did you break out somewhere? I wonder if you're here because you have no where else to go. Am I hitting something? Oh, put the bow down. What do you think you're going to do, poke my eye with that thing?

He snorted, still clearly pleased with himself- immensely so. It was apparent that he liked speaking to something that could understand, even if he was going to eat it later. Shaking his head a little, resembling an animal of some sort preening in front of an audience, he looked off towards the distant thunderclouds, unbothered by the thunder and lightning.

Listen, little hominid. Hear the Spirits' battle for dominance over the world. They always grow restless in the spring, have you noticed? Water always win in the winter, though, so Air freezes the land. Come Spring, they can never win against each other, and come Summer, they settle a little. Air always wins in the Autumn, however. Water can't do much about it, so it prepares to strike at winter.