Noah hiked the rest of the way in silence. Izzy was apparently giving him the cold shoulder, which was just fine with him. He didn’t really care if she was angry with him, and he was happy to not have to talk.

His thoughts swirled in dozens of different directions as he walked. He wondered how things were going with the rest of the dragons and wizards. Because there had been so much spy and hacker activity lately, Noah and Izzy had agreed that they would not have any contact with Falcon Cross unless it was an absolute emergency. Status updates were an unnecessary risk. If intercepted, simple updates would alert Saul’s army to Noah and Izzy’s mission. This whole mission, like so many in this war, relied on the element of surprise. Saul might have a large army, and more powerful magic. But the good wizards and dragons had so far managed to outsmart him at every turn. Well, almost every turn. He’d captured the dragon ruby, which had been a devastating blow to the side of good. But Noah believed in his heart that good would win out in the end. It always did. Evil was not a solid enough foundation to stand the test of time. Truth and right would prevail one day, even if that day turned out to be further away than Noah hoped.

By the time Noah began recognizing familiar trees, the sky had turned black as night. There was an almost full moon up there somewhere, but thick clouds had blocked out its light completely. Noah was glad for his keen dragon eyesight. Even in the near darkness, he could see several feet in front of him. Izzy was not so lucky. He heard her stumbling behind him several times, and it made him feel triumphant that his ability to walk through blackness so thoroughly trumped hers.

He felt a little bit guilty for thinking this. After all, he and Izzy were on the same side. It wouldn’t hurt him to be a bit more gracious to her. But Noah wasn’t feeling particularly gracious at the moment, and, besides, there wasn’t much he could do to help Izzy. Turning on any sort of light was out of the question at the moment. They were far too close to the Redwoods Base Camp to risk being seen. Izzy had supposedly put up an invisibility shield around them, but Noah didn’t put much faith in invisibility shields these days. Saul’s men had shown over and over again that their dark magic was capable of breaking through even the heartiest of invisibility shields. Noah wasn’t sure why the wizards even bothered with such shields anymore.

Noah was trying to rely on old fashioned methods of staying invisible: moving slowly and silently, and blending into the dark trees and brush as much as possible—that sort of thing. Of course, this effort was somewhat hampered by Izzy’s constant stumbling. Noah gritted his teeth and kept moving forward. If they were ambushed because of her carelessness, he was never going to let her hear the end of it.

And yet, the possibility of ambush didn’t seem likely. Things were quiet here. Too quiet. Eerily quiet. Noah breathed in deeply, trying to pick up on the scent of shifters or wizards. Or even humans. But even as they crept closer and closer to base camp, all he could smell were the scents of the forest. He breathed in the aroma of bark, of leaves, of dirt, and of stones. But nothing living. The silence weighed heavier.

Noah told himself that he should relax a little. There was nothing here to fear. Perhaps Saul had completely abandoned the Redwoods Base Camp, deeming protecting it an unnecessary nuisance. After all, the dragon stones were all accounted for, and Saul knew that none of those stones were here in the redwoods.

And yet, the uneasy feeling Noah had persisted. It continued for the next half hour of slow, steady hiking, until he reached the small clearing in the redwoods that was just a short distance away from the Redwood Dragons’ cabins. This clearing had previously been used as a landing area. When Noah or his clanmates flew into their camp in dragon form, they would land here and shift back into human form for the short walk to the cabins. Noah knew that, if Saul still had wizards and shifters guarding this camp, they would have been watching this spot. But there was still no scent or sound of anyone out here other than Izzy and himself.

Nevertheless, Noah’s nerves were on edge, and his hair was standing on end. Something wasn’t right here. He looked back at Izzy, raising an eyebrow at her, questioning. He wasn’t sure if she could see his face in the darkness, but she seemed to understand why he was turning around. She shrugged, and shook her head in a way that implied that she had no idea what was going on here, either. Noah took a step toward her, until their bodies were only inches apart. She smelled like a mixture of sweat and soap, and he felt another involuntary rush of arousal. Her breathing was slightly labored, and, against his better judgment, he allowed himself for one split second to imagine what it would feel like if he was the cause of her breathlessness. The stiffening between his legs returned, and he quickly forced his thoughts back to the present situation. He reminded himself that he was mad at her, that she was a coward, and that he was only tolerating her. He could not allow himself to think about her as anything other than a nuisance. Any kind feelings toward her would take him down a slippery slope, he knew. So he was all business as he whispered in her ear.

“It sounds and smells abandoned, but I have a feeling that there’s something here we’re missing. Walk close behind me, as quietly as possible. And be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.”

Izzy nodded, a few loose wisps of her dark brown hair brushing against Noah’s face as she did. He resisted the urge to close his eyes and enjoy the feeling of her hair against his face. Instead, he turned and started creeping along the old familiar path to the cabins.

He could have made this walk with his eyes closed. He had traveled this same path thousands of times. But he kept his eyes wide open, peering into the dark brush and expecting something to jump out at him at any moment. Nothing did, however. He made it to the edge of the small trail without seeing or smelling another soul, and found himself peering out at the cabins where he had grown up.

In this clearing, here in the heart of the redwoods, stood eleven cabins. They were lined up in two rows, with a large open space between them. The fire pit and barbeque still stood in the open space, although the logs were missing that he and his clanmates had once used as benches to sit around the fire pit. The cabins themselves seemed to have suffered a great deal of damage. It was difficult to see the full extent of destruction in the darkness, but Noah could tell that whoever had lived here had taken pleasure in tearing up random portions of the old cabins. A wave of anger washed over Noah’s heart. He would make Saul’s men pay for treating his beloved home this way. Who did they think they were, coming in here and treating this sacred ground like trash?

Noah took a tentative step forward into the clearing. Still, things were silent. He was beginning to truly believe that there was no one here. He kept his ears alert and he breathed in deeply. No smells. No sounds. He took another step.

“Noah, wait,” Izzy whispered from behind him. Her voice sounded worried, and Noah rolled his eyes. Of course she would be afraid. She was a pretty girl, and she might be a good doctor, but she would never be a true soldier. Not when she made all her decisions based on fear. Let her stay in the trees, hiding. He was going to go look at his old cabin up close, and see what repairs his home would need.

Confidently, Noah took another step into the clearing, holding his head high. That’s when he smelled it. The awful stench hit his nose with such force that he physically doubled over for a moment. He forced himself to stand, covering his nose and looking around for the source. It smelled like death. How had he not caught wind of it before? The smell was too strong to have appeared so suddenly. Noah gagged and peered ahead of him, thinking there must be a pile of dead bodies up ahead that he’d somehow missed. Perhaps that was why this place was deserted. Someone, or something, had beaten him here, and had already killed of Saul’s soldiers.

“Noah! No-ahhhhh!”

Noah’s name, screamed from Izzy’s lips, sent a chill down his spine. He whirled around, instantly ready to shift and fight. The uneasy feeling was back, and stronger than ever. But before he could even turn a complete one-eighty, something struck him in the side and knocked him to the ground.

For a moment, he lay there stunned. It was the sound of Izzy’s screams, which were now yelling out magic attack spells, that roused him. He let out a roar, and began to shift. His skin thickened and began to turn into dragon scales. His legs and arms began to grow and morph into the legs and arms of a dragon. He felt his fingernails becoming sharp claws. Less than a minute more, and he’d be a full dragon, ready to fight whatever enemy it had been that had knocked him over.

But then, suddenly, a fresh wave of the awful death stench hit him, and he found himself unable to breathe. His roar was cut off, and he gasped for breath. Noah saw a large hairy hand, covered in slime, reach down to grab him. The hand itself was as big as a man, and it easily wrapped around Noah’s entire body. Noah struggled to get away, but the smell of the creature was so bad that he could only gasp for air and do his best not to vomit.

Noah found himself raised into the air, and staring into two eerie yellow eyes, each eye the size of a man’s head. The creature looked like some sort of cross between an ape and a man, with perhaps a little bit of abominable snowman thrown in. Its hair was gray, and covered everywhere with the thick slime that Noah could now tell was the source of the awful smell. The slime oozed from the creatures nose, mouth, ears and eyes, and ran in slow trails down its whole body. Its fingers were long and ended in sharp claws, and Noah struggled fruitlessly against the creature’s grip.

Noah tried to concentrate on breathing. He could not finish shifting if he couldn’t breathe. But the smell of this monster, its slime just inches from Noah’s nose, made breathing itself a nearly impossible task. The creature held Noah suspended in midair, somewhere between his human and dragon forms.

For a moment, Noah stopped struggling and tried to get a better look at the thing, whatever it was. It eyed him back, curiously, and then, seeming to decide that Noah was most definitely a threat, it bared its teeth at him with a huge roar. Noah was not easily frightened, and could handle the sight of the long, sharp teeth—each one as big as a man’s arm. But the smell of the creature’s breath was another matter. That alone was enough to nearly cause Noah to pass out. Noah struggled to stay conscious, trying to focus his breathing. For a brief moment, he thought that this might actually be how he died. What an awful way to go, he thought, done in by the stench of some sickening beast.

But Noah had forgotten one tiny detail: he was not alone in this fight. As his vision blurred and his limbs started to go weak, Noah heard Izzy’s voice shouting out spell after spell. Somehow, in the midst of this horror, her voice came into sharp focus, and he clung to it. She was his only salvation.

“Magicae invado. Magicae appugno. Magicae invado.”

Her voice was angry and authoritative, but it sounded like the sweetest music in Noah’s ears. At first, the creature holding Noah seemed impervious to Izzy’s attacks. But she must have worn him down, or finally found an attack that worked, because in an instant, everything changed. Noah felt the slimy fingers that had been holding him go lax as a stench-filled roar of pain escaped from the monster’s lips.

Then Noah was falling several feet to the ground. He landed on his back with a thud that nearly knocked him out. Luckily, his back had already thickened into dragon scales, which lessened the blow somewhat and kept him from what probably would have been a broken spine if he’d been in full human form. Noah lay there for a brief moment, shocked to find that he was alive and out of immediate danger. Once again, it was the sound of Izzy’s voice that snapped him back to reality.

He turned his head to look over at her. Even with his dragon sight, she wasn’t easy to see in the darkness. Her black uniform blended into the black night. But every few seconds, a burst of light would shoot out from her magic ring, illuminating both her and the awful ape-man monster, which was now focusing its full anger on her. Izzy fought bravely, Noah had to admit. He had judged her to be a complete coward, but as he watched her parrying the monster’s attack, he had to admit that she had courage. In this moment, when it really counted, she was brave. She was fighting with everything in her, and not shrinking back. She had saved his life.

This realization hit Noah right in the gut. He had given Izzy nothing but grief over the fact that she had come along on this mission. And yet, if she hadn’t been here, he would very likely be dead right now. Noah had never felt so humbled. With every ounce of strength he had, Noah pushed his half-dragon, half-human form up from the ground. He brushed off the remnants of slime as best he could and stuck his nose straight up toward the sky, searching for fresh air. He took a deep breath, and felt clean air filling his lungs. With it, his strength rapidly returned. He took another breath, and another, and then let out a loud roar.

He began once again to shift. His body grew, larger and larger. The scales that had covered his back continued to thicken and cover the rest of his body. His head morphed into a dragon head, and he sprouted wings and a tail. The last tattered pieces of his human clothing fell away, and he stood in the clearing of his old home, a full dragon against the backdrop of magnificent redwoods.

The monstrous creature was still attacking Izzy, and she was still fighting it with all her might. Neither one of them seemed to have noticed that Noah had risen, and had finished his transformation into a fearsome dragon. The slime-covered creature seemed hell-bent on killing Izzy.

Oh no you don’t, Noah thought. Not on my watch.

With another giant roar, Noah bounded across the clearing toward the slimy monster. He took in a deep breath without slowing his pace, preparing to unleash a stream of fire at this strange enemy. Izzy looked up and saw him coming, then quickly turned to run out of the way. She’d been around dragons long enough to know what was coming next.

With a burning, sulfurous blast, Noah let loose his rage. He had hoped that this creature would be vulnerable to fire, and he was not disappointed. Despite its ability to defend itself rather well against Izzy’s magic attacks, it was no match for the inferno of a dragon’s rage. It screeched in pain when the first blast of fire hit it. Then, it crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain. Noah continued to send fiery streaks at the monster long after he was sure it was dead. He was filled with rage, and was taking it out on this now-expired monster.

“Noah!”

Once again, Izzy’s voice centered him. He ceased his fire-breathing and looked up at her, his big dragon eyes slowly focusing on her silhouette. She stepped forward, between him and the burning heap. Her black uniform once again showed off her perfect curves, this time against the backdrop of orange flames. She took another step forward, and put one of her hands on his giant dragon chest. He trembled at her touch.

“Noah, it’s done,” she said. “It’s dead.”

Noah nodded his giant dragon head and quickly took several steps backwards. He took in a deep breath, then let it out with a roar, shifting back into human form. When his transformation was complete, he stood there, sweating and gasping for breath, and unable to keep himself from staring at the burning pile of monster that had very nearly defeated them. Izzy walked quietly over to the pile, raised her magic ring, and said, “Magicae aqua.”

Water spouted from her ring, and Izzy waved her ring back and forth like a hose until the fire was completely out, leaving only a sizzling, steaming pile of ashes.

“Aqua terminantur,” she said quietly, ending the water spell. Then they both stood there for several long moments, staring at the wet black circle that covered a good portion of the ground in front of them.

Eventually, Izzy looked up at him with an expression of mild shock. She was panting heavily, and little streams of sweat were running down her face. Noah could see the veins in her forehead pulsing. She was undoubtedly coming down from a heady adrenaline rush, just like him.

“I almost died,” she finally said, struggling to get the words out.

“So did I,” Noah said. Blood pounded in his chest, in his ears…in his groin.

Without pausing to think, he crossed the few feet between Izzy and him and put his lips on hers. She tasted salty, like the sweat of battle.

She tasted like the warrior she was.