(See the end of the chapter for more notes .)

Blake, Ruby and Yang sneak out from the locked-down village, and makes a strange acquaintance in a nearby forest.

Chapter Text

“This sucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Yang, this whole trip was your idea from the start!” Ruby glared angrily at her sister across the table in the small booth the dragon sisters and their elvish friend had relocated to at the back of the bar. Yang was about to make a retort when the third member of their group returned with fresh beverages.

“This is Telëassarian wine, good for rejuvenating both body and mind. It’s pretty strong, so take care not to drink too deeply all at once.” Blake put the three tankards down at the end of the table before dealing them out. “One for Ruby, one for Yang, and one for me.” She graciously slipped down next to Ruby with her tankard and took a small sip, urging the sisters to do the same. Ruby lifted the vessel to her lips and carelessly sucked in a big gulp.

Hmm… Tasty! Thick, round flavour with just a hint of honey and blueberry… Wait, what did she say about strength? Maybe it’s stronger for non-dragons to take? Crapbaskets, she’s noticed me!

Ruby started to wheeze and cough somewhat convincingly as Blake looked over with concern in her eyes, gently slapping her hand against the smaller girls back to alleviate her troubles while Yang contently sipped at her wine across the table, occasionally taking the same deeper gulps as Ruby now that Blake’s attention was focused elsewhere.

“Told you it was strong, Ru-” Blake never finished, as Yang rather forcefully put her tankard down on the table and rose to her feet.

“Yang, where are you going?”

“I gotta get out of this backwater hole, Ruby. I’m getting out of here, one way or another – any means necessary.” Ruby was about to reply when she noticed that Yang’s agitated eyes had taken on a certain… draconic sheen. Getting Yang’s message, Ruby turned to Blake.

“Right. Blake, you know any good, unguarded spots we can use to sneak out from?”

“Well,” Blake tapped her chin in thought. “There’s this spot along the back wall where two houses have this narrow alley in-between them we could use to climb up on top of them and jump over the wall from there, but it’d take some acrobatic skill…”

“Great! Lead the way. Come along, Ruby.” Yang didn’t wait for her two companions to reply, as she made her way towards the exit of the bar. As she was about to step out on the street, she bumped into a young, armoured man with his face concealed under a dark moss-green cloak.

“Watch it, dude! Sheesh.”

“Sure thing, Yang. Likewise to you.” the cloaked figure nodded near imperceptibly as he turned back to his tankard.

Continuing out on the street, Blake took the lead further back from the main gates, soon directing her two companions to two two-story buildings snug against the wooden city walls. Between the houses there was indeed a gap, about one and a half metres from one wall to the other. Blake stepped up to the leftmost house, exhaling and inhaling slowly in concentration. The next thing Ruby and Yang knew, she had jumped up with her left leg against the house, only to once again bounce off towards the other house, quickly jumping back and forth scaling the two walls upwards until she could grab hold of the edge of the roof.

“Yang, lift up Ruby as far as you can so I can try and pull her up.” Yang got down on one knee facing Blake’s rooftop perch.

“You heard the lady, Rubes. Get on my shoulders.” Ruby gingerly supported herself against the wall as she stepped up on her older sister’s shoulders, as Yang supported her with firmly placed hands behind her calves. Pushing free from the wall as Yang rose back up on her feet, Ruby stretched her arms skyward to grab hold of Blake’s outstretched hands. After Ruby had been lifted from her shoulders, Yang began to look for a way to get herself up on the roof as well.

“Guys… Maybe leaving me for last was a bad strategy? I’m not near as acrobatic as you, Blake.” The elf peered down at Yang from the roof.

“Yang, don’t take this the wrong way, but… how much do you weigh?”

“Not that much, why?”

“Hold on, coming down to you.” Before either sister had a chance to interject, Blake had somersaulted off the roof and performed a perfect three-point landing in front of Yang. She gently bent her knees and cupped her hands in front of Yang with her back to the wall.

“Step on up.” Yang did as instructed and put one boot in Blake’s hand, supporting herself by the elf’s shoulders. When she had a firm grasp of the edge of the roof, Blake straightened out and gave her more reach.

“Ooph! ‘Not that much’, goblinshit.”

“Quit complaining, this was your idea.” Yang retorted with a chuckle.

“I’m letting go of you now, I’ll be right up to help you from there.”

After having gotten clear of the village, the three companions began to set up a small campsite in a nearby forest. Yang was struggling with the campfire while Blake and Ruby were propped up against a tree, idly chatting about future hoards to visit.

“First of all Blake, I may love dungeon crawling as much as the next girl, but the Mistralian Mountains are on another continent entirely. Secondly, if I’m guessing the cave correctly - and I use the term ‘cave’ loosely because it’s actually an old dwarven settlement - it’d be very unwise to go into the den of the single crankiest old lizard you’ll ever meet.” Blake fidgeted with a straw of grass as she contemplated the words.

“Okay, just saying that this ’Cinder’ dragon has amassed some serious amounts of glimmer in her hoard.”

“Trust me, we’re better off if we stay well clear of that old worm.”

“You’d do good to heed her words, Blake Belladonna of the Emerald Forest elves. As a dragon herself, Rubolynnhaerisha Roshahgash would know not to pick a fight with her Elders.” The three girls spun around in surprise at the unknown voice. A cloaked figure stepped into view in the improvised campsite. His unseen eyes fixed Ruby’s concerned gaze.

“Yes, I know you and Yahnghiellewonhayrisha are dragons. I am terribly sorry for having to drop the knowledge like this-” the mysterious figure turned his head towards Blake. “- But I’m afraid we don’t have the luxury of maintaining the charade.” Blake just stared at the newcomer, then at Ruby and Yang, then back at the stranger.

“Surely there’s been a mistake of identity. Do these two girls look like dragons to you, perhaps?” The stranger merely shrugged.

“It’s a well-hidden secret that dragons can take human form.” The stranger’s attention shifted to Yang as she hesitantly waved her hand in the air.

“Yeah, uh… I think I recognise you from the village bar – and in retrospect the fact you knew my name should’ve been a tipoff, can’t believe I only picked up on that just now – but if what you’re saying is really true and we do need to be quick about things, I have a solution that’ll both prove us being dragons to Blake, and give me vengeance upon this lousy firewood who simply won’t ignite!” Yang kicked at the unlit pile of wood as she glared at it in furious anger. The stranger chuckled.

“Very well.”

Ruby tugged at Blake’s sleeve away from the fireplace.

“We should probably step back a bit, Yang can get a bit… excessive… when she gets agitated.”

“Why? What’s she going to do?” Ruby chuckled a bit at Blake’s clueless expression.

“You’ll see soon.” Suddenly Yang started to make noises as if she was loudly clearing her throat. She moved her tongue around in her mouth before speaking with a voice that sounded as she had two or three litres of fluid in her cheeks.

“Yeah, tha’ sh’l d’ ‘t…” Taking aim at the firewood, she reared her head backwards before thrusting forward with a coughed word on her lips.

“Dha’ahk!”

With a mighty explosion of light and heat, a stream of fire shot out from Yang’s mouth and ignited her targets with a crackling sound. Blake put a hand over her mouth in shock.

“Ah-heh. Guess the secret’s out then.” Ruby chuckled nervously beside her.