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Violet:

Water clung to the vesper dragonesse's fur like a thick coat draped over her lean frame. Nonetheless, she heaved herself from the underground lake, claws blooded, and teeth bared into a fanged snarl as she huffed and panted, spittle flitting from her flared nostrils. Armor scraped and starched by the hooked teeth of a hundred tentacles, she glanced back to see the water at her back had turned a deep indigo, dark as the void as the aquatic monster's blue ichors mixed with its vile ink.

First chance I had in a month, and he slips away for what, some bugs and their pet? She thought, huffing fishy meat from between her teeth, not having ever been one for the taste of calamari. By the night, when is luck going to be in my favor?

Nevertheless, she was not one to give up too easily, even having almost killed the monster single-clawed, her job was far from done. She had to catch her brother, bring him for judgment before their father, and just maybe finally discover what happened to her mother and older brother. Questions always spun in her head, whether what she needed to do was right, what was true, what was merely conjecture. Yet just as when she'd been battling tooth and claw with coils around her neck mere moments ago, she put all of that to the back of her mind, focusing on one singular goal. Her mission.

With another watery huff, she took another step forward, shrugging off some of the water-logged plates of her armor with a deep sigh. It wouldn't do to have the tight straps clinging to her fur, they would fail to let her undersuit drain as it was meant to. Not that there was anything left down here to endanger them, her brother was gone, and the monster vanquished. Yet she still felt so empty about it.

A hacking series of coughs next to her and she spun to see another of her drenched kin drag himself from the water, along with two others on the opposing edge of the lake. They looked in no better condition than she felt, stained by ink and blood, with the tentacles' toothy holes bore into their armor and flesh like perfectly rounded bites. Either way, she was swift to dart to the closest soldier's aid, heaving off thick coils of purple tendrils as he flopped onto his back.

Look at them all, so weak, why did it all have to fall to me? She thought, yet just like everything else she locked away her bitterness. No, no, that's Father talking, no way to talk to honor kin.

"Are you all right?" she asked, voice stern yet cool in the place of her inner frustration. "We need as many wings on their paws as soon as they are able."

"I-I, I'm fine, captain," muttered the soldier, spitting out a bit of water as he rolled onto his front and pressed a forepaw to his chest. "Just shook up, that thing came out of nowhere."

Yes, well maybe if you lived up to your training, shook up would be the last of your reactions... She pressed a forepaw to her face, running it over her scrunched brow and down to her flanged muzzle with a small sigh. _Just leave it, don't think about it, just focus on what you need to do. _

That was getting after her brother, and swiftly her mind realigned itself thoughts all coming to rest on one thing, picking up the trail.

"Good, well, on your paws then." She nodded to his gauntlet-clad foreclaws, then peered over the murky water at the other survivors. "One of you take to the breach over there, see if you can see where the prey went."

One of the opposing soldiers nodded firmly, pressing a foreclaw over her chest as she did so. Yet the dragoness, just like the other two, were seemingly infatuated, more so than simply looking at her with loyalty to their captain. She blinked, cocking her head as her eyes passed to each of them. Every gaze diverted just a little at her stern glare, but she could feel the sensation of admiration coming off them like the warm heat of a summer's sun all the same.

What is with them, am I showing something I don't often reveal? She thought, doing her best to glance back as subtly as she could, just to be sure. No, that is ridiculous, what is really going on here?

"Something amiss?" she asked, glancing over the trio with as level a stare as she could muster. "Well, speak up?"

"N-no, nothing like that, captain..." the soldier directly before her practically squeaked, while the other's averted their gaze. "It's just... Well..."

"You were amazing, captain!" The female soldier finally spoke up where her male compatriots seemed unable to formulate words, leaving Violet a little bewildered herself. "You took that thing on pretty much all by yourself that is just..." She scuffed her forepaws at the wet rocks.

Oh, so that's what this is about? She thought, any semblance of a plan momentarily overcome by swelling pride as she pressed a forepaw to her chest. _I mean, it does feel good but... No, eyes on the prey, the mission. _

"Yes well, I would expect you to have at least known of an Aquaslyth, maybe seen one before," she reasoned, taking a step toward the putridly stained water as the oily soup lapped at the rocks. "One shouldn't have too great an issue taking one out, with the proper skills."

She ran a foreclaw through the sickly mix, a pale sheen mixing with thick bubbles on the glassy surface of the lake. It created an almost perfect black mirror of herself, her dark fur and violet highlights glistening in the dull cavern light as her face peered back from the gently rippling mass. Her nocturnal eyes made it appear fuzzy in the gloom, as the other soldiers muttered and squeaked in old Noctstiriacan.

Urg, a little admiration feels good but makes things become so slow. Her practical mind thought as she swatted away her reflection, perked her years, and whipped up to face the soldiers. We still have a job to do.

"You, to the breach now, as I said, look for signs of our quarry!" she barked, jabbing a wing at the female soldier, who (after a small moment of stunned shock) nodded and took off for the hole where the river disappeared into sunlight. "And you, get up there, see if you can't see any other passages they may have used."

The soldier before he nodded as she directed those stern commands his way, before calling the last soldier to her side. He did so swiftly and without question hopping over the inky lake with a beat of his wings as she set to scooping up her discarded plates, inspecting the damage.

So worn and battered, just more delays. She thought, frowning deeply as she voiced her concerns. ** **

"I take it the wing smithy is not among us?" she asked, glancing his way, even if she already knew the obvious answer.

"Claimed by the depths, Captain," her fellow vesper informed her with a solemn bow of his head.

"May night's honor rest his soul," she stated simply, more so by reflex than out of respect as she tossed the plates down. "We'll need to resupply and rearm, this will not hold up in a fight."

He nodded, not seeming too put off by her straightforward dismissal and narrow focus on the task at paw, neglecting all else. Yet just as soon as he was looking her way, his face hardened into a snarl. She blinked, half expecting him to be angered by her reaction to their wings' demise, but in seconds she realized he wasn't looking at her, but past her. That was almost when she heard the bat-like shrike of alarm, heard the reverberating clatter and heavy thud of a body hitting rock, and spun to face the disturbance only for her ears to fold and her fangs to flare in a snarl.

"I wouldn't be too fast if I was you," purred the white bug dragon as she delicately pinned her foreclaws atop the fallen soldier, each long talon placed like a surgical needle above his heaving neck. "Not if you want to lose another of your adorable little flock."

Night confound these shapeshifters! She inwardly screamed, bearing little time for this. I thought that one was contained when we entered this place!

She had left a whole half wing to watch over the deceitful menace when they had first delved into this squaller, and yet here she was, perfectly poised to kill yet another of her last soldiers. Not that she had any idea what the plea insect had done with the rest of those charged to watch over her. The only thing she knew for sure, was the witch seemed to be enjoying every second of it. In the same instant, the soldier to the Captain's left lurched with a dangerous growl, but she waved him down with a wing, taking a step forward.

"Steel yourself," she declared simply, and he drew back, right as peered up at the insectoid dragon and asked. "I take it, I can consider the rest of my wing gone?"

"I prefer to call them indisposed." The shapeshifter flicked a foreclaw casually, pressing the other a little harder into the pinned vesper's neck. "I am not one to waste a good dragon, I'm sure they will find my cocoons very comfortable."

"That is a whole half wing, you slimy insect!" hissed the second soldier, but Violet waved him down as her eyes picked up movement in the shadows behind their adversary.

"Then I take it their release and you allowing us to peacefully leave is out of the question?" she asked, and the shapeshifter laughed.

"You come into my home, my hive like you own the place. Free half of my prey and now you want me to just let you leave?" She listed the slights against her with venomous conviction. "One hard bite and this one's gone." She squashed her foreclaws, drawing blood. "Then the rest of your pretty guards are no object."

"You cur how dare..." Before Violet could command her soldier to strand down a third time, he was silenced by a flick of the shapeshifter's neck.

She shot a blue missile of sticky slime across his muzzle, then his forepaws, pinning him there, hacking and choking.

"Better hurry, he'll suffocate soon," she mused, casually inspecting a flared wing. "Of course, I could be persuaded to aid you, for the right price."

Violet dove to her companion's aid, only to have her paws stick to the resin just as much as his as he desperately tried to rip it off, muffled cries escaping his suffocating muzzle.

"Name your terms, witch!" she hissed, attention snapping back to the insectoid dragon, earning a flanged smirk.

"You seek the runaway prince, don't you?" she asked, and seeing no sense in hiding the truth anymore, Violet nodded.

"Yes, but what of it? Out here he means nothing?" she asked, as her suffocating companion let out a muffled yell.

"Yes, probably the reason he is out here in the first place," the insectoid muttered snidely, running the tip of her tail over one of her fangs before rubbing the beads of venom she drew into her pinned prey's wounds.

She effortlessly let him go, casually slinking away as he staggered like a drunken fool in an effort to retaliate. With a gentle flap of her pale wings, she sank down to Violet's level, poised before her before lathering the back of one forepaw in saliva.

"But your little runaway made off with my brother, for one. I'd like to see him back." She pressed her sticky forepaw to the soldier's muzzle, melting the resin like butter while leaving his forepaws pinned as he gasped and wretched. "Not only that, but I imagine there is a substantial reward for those who aid in your prey's capture?"

"I know not what you've heard of the runaway prince, but I am not at liberty to offer any reward," Violet countered, stepping up between the bug and her pined companion as he tugged at the resin pinning his forepaw to the ground. "But name your terms, and maybe we can come to an argument."

"Oh, you are adorable, so willing to negotiate," the pale witch teased, flicking her tail at the princess. "I want compensation for my hive, the return of my brother, and..." She paused, looking the captain up and down. "Well, there are details we can work out later."

Squinting, the lead vesper cocked her head, yet while her focus was on keeping the insectoid witch distracted, a small ounce of it was on the shadows that shimmered behind her.

"I think that can be arranged, compensation at the least but..." She trailed off subtly positioning her paws for a pounce. "I have to warn you we..." She saw a flash of eyes in the dark as her third soldier, the female vesper, appeared right behind the bug. "Don't negotiate with vile insects!"

The two furred dragonesses both exploded into the air at the same moment, claws outstretched, and fangs bared, right at the sly shapeshifter. She thought that was it, that there was no way the monster could avoid them, but the insectoid dragonesses whipped around, moving fast as lightning as she reacted. Her tail shot out like a lance, smacking over her helmet, and shifting her momentum. Violet flared her wings, steadying herself in the air only to hit the stone with a hard roll as her armor clattered.

The second assailant meanwhile, at least had enough in the way of the element of surprise to land a blow of the bug. Her claws scraped the hard chitin on the shapeshifter's neck, hearing a snarl from the bug as she kicked up, striking the vesper's underside with her spine. In a flash of cyan fire, barbs metalized there, almost impaling the soldier as she rolled aside with a yelp of alarm.

"Did you seriously think you could take me by surprise?" the insectoid asked, darting away from the soldier's return strikes, only to snatch her outstretched foreleg in a foretalon. "It's adorable really."

Her voice was level and cool all the while, broken only by a few pants as she shoved the vesper down, her unarmed and lighter form perfectly outmaneuvering the plate-clad vesper. With a pained yelp, she rolled the furred drake onto her back, coiled back, and spat a large wad of cyan goo over his neck, pinning her to the rock. As if it were the most casual thing in the world, the insectoid stepped off, the spines on her back vanishing in another fiery flash as she posted opposite the captain.

Violet rose to her paws, chest heaving, flared nostrils sucking in far less air than her bellowing lungs demanded. All the while, the bug casually observed, a coy smirk plastered over her fanged face as her four cyan eyes shimmered.

"What's your name, witch?" she hissed, as the two circled each other in identical low prowls. "Good to know the name of a worthy opponent before I beat them."

"Xenna, if you must know the last name you'll ever hear," she mused, flaring her wings, and sweeping downward. "Because, there will be no besting here, princess!"

"We'll see about that," was all Violet mused, posting just as low, before her body uncoiled like a spring, fangs, and claws ready as she erupted into the air.

Wings battered the rock around them in a flurry of damp dust and speckles of water, yet before their claws could lock, Xenna darted to the side. She moved with the fluidity and grace of a dragonfly stalking over water, her fangs swiftly brought to bear, aiming right for the vesper's neck. Yet that was the last thing Violet would allow to happen. Almost subconsciously shifting her attack from a claw strike to an evasive dodge, she hopped right, before flaring her left wing in her opponent's path.

With little more than a split second to consider the sudden shift in movement, the shapeshifter barrelled right into the Vesper's outstretched flight limb, flung up and over the taut membrane as Violet rolled her shoulders and flapped the offending wing. Xenna rolled, sleek spine grazing the leathery surface of the wing as she was cast back behind Violet, before bouncing once and coming to a skidding halt. Like some kind of delicate feline, her claws scraped the rock, landing perfectly on all fours, leaving silver furrows in the damp surface.

Violet immediately swerved to round on her opponent, but not before Xenna struck out, talons akin to diamond daggers glancing her thigh plates with a series of deep gashes. The metal shrieked as it was marked by her claws, and with a wince, the vesper thought she would surely feel a burst of pain. Yet her armor remained true, defiant in the face of Xenna's talons as she spun and charged the shapeshifter. With reactions like lightning, the insectoid dragoness darted left, yet not one to be taken off guard by her agility twice, Violet hopped the opposite way, before reversing her momentum with a shove of her forepaws.

Xenna hissed as the full weight of the bat princes shoved against her left flank, sending her skidding across the rock in a floundering mess of pale claws and flapping wings. Violet came to a skidding halt, panting hard, yet not before Xenna's tail whipped out and coiled tight around her neck, yanking the vesper after her. With a yelp, she was heaved right over the fallen shapeshifter, before Xenna kicked up and sent the vesper rolling over her, slamming right flank first into the rock.

"You are good at this, I'll give you that!" the pale dragoness muttered as she heaved herself to her paws, wiping a speck of cyan blood from her nostrils. "But not good enough."

"Spare me your goading, snake!" Violet spat, staggering up from the rocks, legs quivering like jelly as she snarled. "All your kind does is rely on tricks and deception, where is your honor?"

"Tricks, deception?" Xenna's shoulders rolled like lioness ready to pounce as she snarled. "I don't need any of that to best you!"

Violet's eyes popped wide as she realized what Xenna was about to cast her way, rolling aside right as the pale dragoness coiled back. With a hissing breath, the bolt of stick cyan resin flew through the air, fanning out upon the rock where Violet had just stood with a hard splat. Like a flower it bloomed, yet just as one of her assaults missed, Xenna was ready with more. The vesper ducked to avoid a second as it whizzed right over her head, before swerving and running right at her opponent again. She watched the insectoid dragonesse's paw placements, knowing for sure that she was about to doge again. Only this time she was ready.

The pair were mere inches away from each other when the former moved to evade. Yet in the same motion, Violet coiled her tail around and spun. With just as much ferocity as Xenna, her tail shot forth with the blinding speed of a cracking whip. It connected with the shapeshifter's legs, sweeping her lighter form out from under her. In the same motion, the princess spared a wing over her opponent's back, locking her neck between the erect light limb and her shoulders, before yanking her downward into a roll.

The perfect tackle, Xenna was cast to the floor, while the princess landed on her paws, pinning the shapeshifter under the full weight of all four legs. She snarled down at her opponent, just as Xenna's muzzle quivered and flickers of cyan fire bubbled in her throat.

Oh no, you don't, flame spitter! She thought, half ready to freeze the insect with her own icy breath.

Instead, she shoved one foreclaw around Xenna's neck, poised on the edge of choking the shapeshifter and squishing more than enough to quench the flames. Xenna coughed and spluttered, blue embers flitting between her fangs and flared nostrils as she narrowed her eyes at the princess.

"Stand down, fiend, you are beaten!" she declared bluntly, sharp eyes fixed right on Xenna's, at least until the monster smirked, making her blood run cold.

"Don't be so sure, princess," she cooed as if being pinned down at Violet's mercy were just a mere inconvenience. "Why don't you take a gander?"

Violet's ears drooped as she felt the sharp prick under armor, and dared glance back to see the tip of Xenna's tail flickering with cyan fire as it morphed into a sharp blade of silvery chitin.

Stabbed in the back, of course! She looked back down at the smug shapeshifter, her face flat with irritation. How could I have come to expect anything better?

"You lack all honor, witch!" she spat, right at Xenna's face, but the shapeshifter's expression didn't so much as twitch as she retorted wittily.

"But I boast the instincts of a survivor, little princess." Violet squished a little harder at that, drawing a gasp from the bug. "Do it then, you will die of blood loss long before I choke!"

She's bluffing, she's lying! She thought, sure they would both die at this rate, or become locked in an eternal stalemate. _But she's calm. Her breath slow, by the night, curse this fiend! _

"I would say the same to you, I still draw breath, you must have a reason," she countered and regardless of her sharp breaths, Xenna choked out a laugh.

"Please, if I wanted you dead from a mere prick, I would have laced the thing with venom," she cooed as if it would have been the simplest kill in the world, before wrapping one foreclaw around Violet's choking foreleg. "Now, how about you get off, and we work out a deal."

It is all an act, she knows she is beaten, she is just trying to talk her way out of it! She thought, yet the dagger in her side did a great deal in the way of persuading her to stand down. Night curse these shapeshifters!

Nevertheless, with a reluctant snarl and a shove, Violet's crushing grip loosened. In the same instant, Xenna creased her slack forepaws and rolled, heaving the whole vesper round, before flipping the pair, so she was the dragoness on top. Violet grunted hard as she was shoved against the stone, hacking as a portion of the air was knocked out of her lungs. Even so, she glared up at Xenna, now practically straddling her. Yet with her bladed tail still poised to strike, and with no leverage to counter, the Vesper could do little more than snarl.

"Now, now, little princess," Xenna cooed, running a claw up Violet's neck as if expecting a goose ready for slaughter. "While you would make such a fitting addition to my hive, I do believe we had a deal to discuss?"

"A deal negotiated from a position of dominance, is no deal at all worth standing by," Violet retorted, but the shapeshifter only grinned deviously.

What is it, what does she know? She thought, squashing the flare of heat in her ruffled fur as the monster regarded her. What can she see? Confound them and their tricks!

"You are more eager to have me off you than I anticipated," she purred, withdrawing the blade from her flank, and running it before her eyes. "I will admit I am surprised."

"What in the night's name is that supposed to mean!?" Violet growled through gritted teeth, only to earn a sly wink from the insectoid.

"I think you know but as you wish, your highness." Seconds later and Xenna swept off the pinned princess with a mocking bow, stalking right back to where the two soldiers still struggled to yank themselves free of her resin traps.

She makes a mockery of my wing, tries to kill me, and now taunts my feelings!? The princess has never engaged such a witty opponent. _What choice do I have but to hear her out? _

Staggering up to her quivering paws, Violet pressed one forepaw to her heaving chest as she coughed and wheezed.

"So, this deal of yours, your terms remain the same?" She hated every word of what she was saying, the idea dripping like venom in every syllable, while Xenna merely seemed to revel in every second of it. "Or do you merely intend to waste more of my time?"

"You talk as if your time is so precious," the bug mocked, stalking over to prowl around the princess, once again as inspecting a fine meal fit for a banquet. "But as far as I know it has been many years and you are still no closer to your quarry." _ _

"No thanks to you and your ilk," Violet spat angrily, rounding on her. "We were within striking distance of the prey, until you..." She trailed off at Xenna's dismissive look.

"My what, I didn't do anything, you were free to take him." She nodded to the cave exit. "But you talk of family with such disregard, such dismissal. No wonder you fail to appeal to him."

"What is that supposed to mean?" the princess asked flatty, scuffing a foreclaw at the damp rocks.

"Oh, I think you know," the shapeshifter responded, lifting up one forepaw, rolling it before her eyes as if to inspect the shift as it became a mockery of Violet's own. "Mimicking requires more than just looks, my kind have a sense for such things."

"Stop that, now!" the princess hissed with a stomp of her own foreclaw. "I seek my quarry under orders of the king, that is all!"

"If you wish to keep telling yourself that, be my guest, darling," Xenna cooed, dropping her claw back down. "As for my terms, they still stand. Reward enough to compensate for the damage, and the return of my brother."

"A pardon for one aiding a fugitive will be hard to come by from my father," Violet said bluntly, but at the hard look Xenna shot her way, she sighed "But I will do what I must."

"Good, I think we've both proven we're more than a match for each other should things go awry, so what reason do you have not to trust me?" she responded. _ _

Oh, I can think of a whole list of reasons. She thought, reluctantly nodding. Nonetheless, as Xenna stalked off to her struggling soldiers. _Why can't things just be simple, why do I have to be saddled with this witch? _

"That breach in the wall leads to the river Taldruid, it's a sheer drop on the other side, but any dragon with half a brain can reach the water," she prowled around the first soldier, who glared at her like she were the sole focus of his rage. "Now, now, don't give me that look."

"Just release them and be done with this, we are losing time," Violet snapped, nodding to the two soldiers, as she went to check on the third, still out cold on the rocks. "You give them no reason, and they will not raise a claw against you."

"Oh, I am pretty sure they know not to already," Xenna purred, as she released the squirming pair from her resin bounds, earning a series of growls and angry mutters, but not so much as a claw swipe. "That is it, good soldiers, make sure to follow your orders."

"And the rest of my wing, those too?" Violet pressed, and Xenna rolled her eyes, or at least one pair of them.

"The more you take the more I'll expect back, princess," she challenged, hopping up to her new acquaintance. "This one is going to be out for a few hours too."

Great, just more time we don't have to waste! She inwardly screamed, as Xenna flicked the sleeping vesper's ears. Still, if she knows the area as well as she says, if she can lead us to them...

"Very well, you two!" She jabbed a wing at the two soldiers, both still rubbing strands of sticky resin out of their fur. "Watch him until we return, and you..." She looked at Xenna. "Lead me to the rest.

"What, you expect me to follow orders the same as the rest?" she mocked, cocking her head. "How about you ask nicely, princess?"

Oh by the night, this is dreadful! She inwardly hissed, pressing a forepaw to her face, dragging it over her wrinkled muzzle as she bowed her head. Noncornealiss save me from this mess!

"Very well, can you take me, please," any true appreciation in the words was lost as she hissed them through clenched fangs, but Xenna shrugged and nodded nontheless.

Good, because that's the best she is getting! The princess's mind hissed as she made her way back up the rocks at the shapeshifter's side.

"Your armor and weapons are damaged, I assume?" Xenna asked, glancing her way as the two came upon a small patch of moldy old bricks in the cave wall, surrounding a crooked arch fitted with a rusty iron gate. "Their spirits too, I imagine."

"Yes, but what of it, this is Noctstiriacus steel, it will not break," the princess instead, running a wing over her dented and clawed shoulder plate.

"Not with the right care, it won't," Xenna countered, and Violet's ears folded as she knew what she was hearing was correct. "But I just so happen to have sway over every smithy in town."

"Your little syndicate, I imagine," Violet deadpanned, as Xenna opened the door and motioned for her to go first.

"Your Highness," she muttered in mock formality, before following through the narrow tunnel after the princesses passed. "And yes, if you must know, running a town has its benefits."

"Oh, I bet it does," Violet droned, as she began up a set of grimy steps, right as Xenna poured.

"Besides, you don't expect me to follow you around looking like this do you?" she asked, right as the tunnel filled with cyan flame. "I will need some armor of my own."

In a flare of momentary alarm, Violet did her best to swing back in the narrow tunnel. Only to see the casually grinning face of a cyan-eyed vesper behind her.

This is going to be awful. Her mind droned, yet as if reading the thoughts from her expression alone, Xenna seemed to know exactly what to say as she added smugly.

"Oh, this is going to be the start of such a wonderful alliance, my princess," She dropped into an insincere bow, as the princess merely snorted in disgust and marched on down the tunnel.