Camilla had alot of recent experience with being afraid. She handled it alright, didn't freeze, and usually kept thinking but the sight of the great dragon overhead hit her on a level beyond her experience. The thing was immense, longer than some ships Camilla had seen, its body bedcked in giant scales the size of her dinner plates. It's great head was the size of an ox and filled with fangs the length of a mans forearm. Camilla didn't scream, wasn't capable of action at that level of complexity. She just quavered against Cydric and waited for death. 

The great creature beat its wings, stiring up a hurricane of leaves that obscured her vision and then it was gone and she was in Cydric's arms gasping in deep ragged breaths of air that suddenly had nothing to do with running. She began to shiver slightly, her clothes soaked and stuck tight to her skin from the immersion. Of in the distance the dragon roared again and she thought she heard the distant howls of beastmen.

[b]"Let.. lets... we have to go," [/b]she stammered unsteadily and began to lurch upstream, only barely managing to keep the precious vial out of the water as she fought the urge to vomit in sheer terror. Her limbs were suddenly numb but the fear drove her on, forcing her to put one foot in front of the other. She knew it was foolish, she couldn't possibly move fast enough if the dragon noticed her and decided it wanted her dead, but it didn't stop her from trying.

The forced their way up river for almost an hour. Camilla couldn't be sure that the beastmen had been thrown off, occasionally an animals wild cry would split the darkness, but it might just have been animals. There was a faint haze of light over the river as the reached one of the wider deeper pond like areas where the river bulged slightly into a natural pool. It must have nearly been dawn but the eastern horizon was a distant memory in this dense forest. Camilla stumbled to her knees and drank by the simple expedient of thrusting her face into the cool clear water and then collapsed back onto the bank, exhaustion overcoming fear.

[@POOHEAD189]