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I felt my human heart speed up as my vine body followed her scared gaze to the cave entrance … and the fierce figure that watched us there — blocking our exit.

The mother squig was as large as Serali, but with hard black eyes, six legs of razor-sharp talons, four folded wings, and a curved, serrated beak.

I stepped back.

Baby squigs were MUCH cuter that their adult counterparts, and far less deadly.

Serali chirped.

I nodded. "Right, we definitely don't want to blink away and accidentally take a baby with us! We need to get past the mother."

The adult squig took a step forward, body tense with fear and barely contained fury.

I tried to reach out with my magic to calm her. But she was not of my forest, so I held little sway over her.

Suddenly, she lunged for us, sharp talons slicing through the air.

I threw out my vines to form a shield, barely stopping the talons from digging into Serali and me.

"Get us out of here!" I shouted, leaping atop the little dragon's back.

With a sharp chirp, Serali darted forward, pushing past the thrashing squig, and diving out of the cave into the open air.

I pressed my eyes closed, wrapping myself more tightly around her.

I hated falling!

Thankfully, the dragonling quickly spread her wings, pulling us into a glide, then blinked us a ways away.

We landed on the roof of a stairwell on the fortress wall far from the squig nests. I released a stifled breath, human body buzzing with excitement.

Besides flying, these little outings were quite exhilarating! Far more fun and interesting than my patrols of my forest.

A distant screech drew my eyes to the squig caves, and I watched as many adult squigs left their nests, gathering in an angry flock.

"Looks like we riled them up," I sighed. "Better stay away until tomorrow."

Serali nodded and chirped her agreement.

"Did you hear that?" a man's voice called out from below.

"What?" asked another man. "I didn't hear anything."

Serali and I ducked lower on the stairwell roof. I hadn't noticed there were people on the wall when we landed.

"I swear I heard a little voice talking. Something about staying away."

"Shut up, Leo," said the second man. "You're just drunk."

Leo laughed. "Maybe just a bit."

Curious, I crept to the edge of the stairwell roof to see the humans.

Two men in guard uniforms leaned against the stone railing, staring out at the ocean as they drank from flasks. The moons hung in the distance above the mainland, shining orbs lighting the sky.

It was a beautiful view. If I was human, I would probably stop to admire it too …

"Gods, how much longer will we be stuck in this place?" Leo sighed. "Besides Mora, this assignment has been terrible."