"Dragon," the Serthis hissed, raising her spear. "It's one of the four-eyed, should we go for it?"

The older serpent didn't answer for a while. "I see it, it's rather small, probably one of the young." He paused, and went on. "We could easily kill it, but perhaps not..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" his partner asked. "Dragons are dangerous, you know that. With the merging just a few months away, you can't possibly be considering letting outside threats get to us."

"Just the opposite. The four-eyed are brutal, it would do us well to have one on our side. Unless, of course, you want to be wiped out," he said. "If it's all the way out here with no other dragons in sight, it's probably lost. I don't even think we'll need to resort to violence."

The younger was silent for a moment. "Fine. But if everyone back home thinks it's too dangerous, I'll kill you myself."



"His name's Artus." The Mirror was shoved in front of the Longneck travellers, most of whom flinched back after seeing him. "He's strong, fast, and best of all, he serves Talona."

Artus lowered his head as he'd been instructed to. He didn't understand, why were all the Serthis he knew gone? Who were the newcomers, and why had they told him to pack up his things and talk to the nomads? But he didn't ask questions, because it didn't matter what he wanted. He was a dragon, he was filth, he had one chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Beastclan and that was to do exactly as he was told.

An older Longneck, one of the few that didn't back off from him, walked a full circle around him. "You're still a child, aren't you?"

Artus didn't respond until the back of a Serthis spear became known in his tail. "Yes, I am," said.

The Longneck nodded, and looked at the Serthis guard. "I'll give you forty gold and ten pounds of preserved fish for him."

"That's rather low, even for you, Friede," the Serthis said.

The Longneck, Friede, grinned, "I'll raise it to fifty if you tell me where you found him."

"Deal. But not here, come with me." The two exited the room, leaving just one Serthis guard, Artus, and five Longneck nomads in awkward silence.

Eventually, one small Longneck stepped up to Artus. "I'm Ruhm, wanta be friends?" He extended a cloven hand, and Artus shook it gently. "Friede is my mom, she does all the cool stuff. One day I wanna be just like her!"

Artus tilted his head at that. The two Longneck looked nothing alike, Ruhm had mostly straight, dusty fur, while Friede's was light gray and curly. "You don't look much like her," Artus pointed out.

"But she's still my mom," Ruhm said. "She's kinda like everyone's mom. What's your mom like?"

"I don't really have one," the Mirror said. "I don't mind, though."

Ruhm looked very troubled at that. "Oh. I used to not have a mom, but now I have Friede. Maybe Friede can be your mom too?"

Artus didn't get the chance to answer, as Friede and the Serthis came back in. "Artus, leave with the Longneck," the Serthis said. "They're your responsibility now, understand?"

Artus nodded, grabbed what little belongings he'd brought with him, and followed the Longneck out towards their supplies. He silently trailed behind the group, careful to make sure they could tell where he was, but to not distract them.

"Mom! Mom, guess what?" Ruhm asked, his voice easily reaching the back of the group. "Me and Artus are friends!"

"Really?" Friede responded, in a voice that suggested that she thought as much.

Ruhm nodded, "Yeah, but I gotta tell you something." Friede leaned over slightly so he could whisper in her ear.

"Well, we'll see," she said after he was done. She looked over at Artus, and slowed her pace so that she was walking by his side. "I don't think I've formally introduced myself yet. I'm Friede, I lead this group."

"Ruhm told me about you," Artus said. He wasn't quite sure how to handle a conversation like this, the Serthis had never talked to him just for the sake of talking.

Friede laughed, "I should've figured as much. I don't think it bothers him in the slightest that you're a dragon, in his mind, you're just another stranger we decided to pick up."

The Mirror was quiet for a bit. "I don't want to be rude, but... why did you take me?" he asked. He didn't know why he suddenly felt comfortable enough to ask questions, only that he just felt safe in a way that the Serthis never made him feel.

Friede considered the question for a moment. "Well, we wanted protection. We're all strong, but a dragon attack could cause us major losses. That's why some of the others are wary of you for now."

"I understand," Artus said. "The Serthis have taught me well, dragons are a plague on the world and they're better off dead. My own mother left me for dead before I was taken in, if it weren't for them, I would've died or become just like the other dragons."

Friede softly smiled, "But you're not like other dragons, I know that, Ruhm knows that, all you need to do is let everyone else know that." She placed a cloven hand on he head, "How about you help load up some supplies, it'll go far faster with you helping."

Helping. It was never helping with the Serthis, only doing. "What do you need?"



"The southern Icefield!" Ruhm declared as he slammed a map on the table they were gathered around. A route had been drawn, making a long loop around the coast with other Beastclan settlements and trustworthy dragons.

Artus looked at it closely. there wasn't anything wrong with the route itself, per say, but it was much longer than their trips through Dragonhome and the Starfall Isles, each of which took about three months. "How long will it last?" he asked.

"Eight months, if we go quickly," Rahm answered. Some of the other Longneck muttered in annoyance, but he continued, "Friede specifically said that that's were we should go next, and everyone here should trust her decision."

The mention of Friede forced everyone to silence. The leader of the Longneck nomads had grown sick in the past week, and Ruhm and Artus were the only ones she allowed to see her. "How is she?" someone asked, finally breaking the silence.

Ruhm didn't respond, and Artus cut in, "She's still sick, we don't know from what, but she'll recover soon. She just needs her rest, that's all." His answer seemed to calm the others, who had grown much more trusting of him in his recent months.

"We'll head out in three days," Ruhm said. "Make sure you bring plenty of preserved plants, as much as you can carry, and prepare yourself for the cold. Your fur is enough here, but I won't have anyone freeze under my watch. Artus, I need to talk to you." While the rest of the Longneck went towards their tents, the two of them went near the covered wagon where Friede had been resting.

"Artus, we can't keep lying to everyone," he said in a hushed voice. "Mom is dying, they deserve to know the truth!"

"The truth?" Artus asked. "The truth is, we're going to find a cure for her, and we aren't going to give up until we do, or-or you know."

"And then what? What will they think of us when they found out we were lying the whole time? I'm going to be leading them, do you really think they'd want to follow a liar?" Ruhm demanded.

"Oh, and you want to tell them that you're giving up on her?" Artus asked. "Great way to make a good impression, I'd follow you anywhere."

Ruhm was silent for a while, and then sighed. "Fine, you win," he said. "But when she dies, you're telling them."

"I won't have to."



"I can't believe it," Artus grumbled. "Two weeks in this frozen desert, and I'm going blind." Over the course of their journey, the Mirror realized that his heat vision was becoming steadily worse. He could still see the way most creatures did, but hunting was much harder than he was used to.

Ruhm laughed. "Now you know how the rest of us feel," the Longneck said. Neither of them had spoken of their recent fight, and they were slowly getting back to their old friendship. "It might just be me, but you look a whole lot bigger than you used to," he said, doing his best to judge the (much larger) dragon's size.

"You're telling me. My crests have been driving me crazy, though I'm cramping everywhere else, too. I know dragons get random growth spurts from time to time, but this feels way stranger than that," Artus said. If he was being fully honest, he'd felt weird ever since the group started going south. Fish, formerly one of his favorite foods, made him sick to his stomach, his claws got sharper while his teeth got duller, and his skin felt itchy everywhere.

"Maybe you got some dragon disease?" Ruhm suggested. "Not that we've seen any dragons in a while, maybe something airborne?"

"How could I get an airborne disease? I can't fly, Ruhm," Artus said, hitting the Longneck gently with his wing. "You see these? Worthless."