The night's fog held deep within the lively marsh. The tree's leaves were thick, and close together holding back the moon's gaze while the few marsh birds sung their last song before heading back to their nests to sleep allowing the owls to take up their hours of the night, hooting and hunting down small lizards and mice. The wind's blew from the south bringing in warm weather to the marsh while the grey clouds brought a drizzle of rain to bathe the marsh, making it all the more wet. Mud that had already been formed grew thicker and the plants rejoiced while the animals did not, all running to shelter from the rain.

The wind grew deeper and stronger, the leaves which sat upon the trees shaking, and playing along while the clouds gathered overhead to bring down more rain. The night's fog was gone, washed away from the deep rain allowing no more than a meter's vision before being swept away into darkness. The moon's rays no longer touch even the tree tops, as the clouds continued to grow and gather in numbers as if for war. Soon booms and flashes of light could be heard and seen as the thunder and lightning arrived to join in on the fun. Fun is not what the animals would call it as even the birds in their nests were drenched with rain. The warm wind that once came from the south no longer came as the over powering north winds took over.

In the distance a faint sound of footsteps could be heard, and the animals retreated to safer areas, afraid of the human that was now trenching through the mud upon the ground. His boots gave protection from that but at the cost of them getting dirty. It mattered not to the man who wore them though. For all travelers and warriors know at one point you'll have to get dirty. His dark brown cloak fluttered in the strong wind, luckily being lifted so that the edges would not be bathed in the mud like his boots. The hood covering his face only allowed those that could be around to see his nose and chin. His right hand was placed upon the handle of his long sword while the other fought with the wind over his cloak, trying to get it wrapped around his body, but to no avail. It remained whipping in the wind.

His body was already drenched in rain, all his clothes darker from the water as if he had fallen in a lake. Drops of rain ran down his nose, as his stared down at the ground trying to avoid the rain getting into his eyes. Lightning's light illuminated his face momentarily showing off his features for a short moment before thunder struck again after in the never ending cycle. His face was young, showing little age. While his brown eyes were full of pain from past battles yet was still happy with the life he still has. His hair was also brown, cut short as to not block his view during a fight. Yet his face also covered in mud, after falling a few moments before while climbing a small goat path up a large hill.

He was now in the southern region of the marsh, trying to get out of the storm which thundered above with dazzling lights. Soon he knew he would not be able to out run the storm and would have to shelter himself. His eyes darted around as he ran looking for any form of sanctuary, until he had found it. Lightning struck, illuminating a dark area out of the corner of his eye. It revealed a cave, grey in color, it's center dark from the little light that was given. His body pivoted to face it before he jolted into a run to get out of the rain as soon as possible. Inside he found an old fire, maybe five days old and a few apple cores and bones. His hand grabbed the throat of his cloak and pulled it off, letting it fall down so that the water would bother him no longer. His hands were now icy cold along with his face. So he went to the back of the three meter long cave and sat down pulling his legs close to him for warmth. As he sat there his eyes examined the cave. There was nothing special about it, just a long straight cave, with a few holes in the sides and nothing more.

His eyes had grown tired now and he lay down closing both eyes slowly but not allowing him to fall asleep for he felt as if someone or something was near by and he did not feel like letting himself fall prey to them and their weapons. His right hand was on the hilt of his long sword once more ready to spring up at any moment if danger came.

(Word count= 841)

The rain fell from the sky in large sheets, soaking everything everywhere. Thunder came rolling over the clouds, and soon came the lightning. The tree shook as Munwithurix walked by them, the thunder was loud which meant it was going to be a good storm, the first in a while.

Looking around Munwithurix watched streaks of lightning come through the air, instead of the storm nothing much had happened during the first of the day, and nothing seemed to be happening tonight. Being in dragon form she walked through the murky water, her large clawed feet bringing up muck with each step, but she didn't mind the nastiness of the swamp, since it was her home, and she has lived there her whole life.

After a walk around the swamps she turned and started to head to the cave she lived in, but then something caught her eye, it almost lookd like an animal, but animals wouldn't be out in the storm like this. So being curious she followed the thing, and after studying it she knew it was humanoid. Even though she wasn't hungry she wanted something to do. The thing moved through the swamp slowly, falling and stumbling all the way.

Being sure to keep a fair distance away she walked slowly, but quietly, following every movement of the person. After a few minutes the person found a small cave, of course she knew of it, but if you weren't use to being at the swamp you wouldn't have any idea where anything was. The person went inside, and stayed, must be there wasn't anything in it that tried to eat him.

Munwithurix stayed outside thinking what to do, she wasn't hungry, nor did she feel like fighting, but she never let anyone live the swamp, but she had a feeling he would put up a fight if she tried to kill him for sport, unlike the caravan she attacked earlier in the day.

Having no idea what to do she decided to just sit there, she would change into her human form, but she armor and stuff was in her home cave, and that was about a mile away, and she couldn't fly in this kind of weather. So now she had to decide if she should leave the man alone or just attack him...or there always was that other option...capture him, or not, and talk to him, ask him about where he has been and stuff like that. But that's what a Black Dragon normally did, capturing and talking was up to a different kind of dragon, was it the Copper kind? Well, it didn't matter, she just had to decide what to do.

It almost disgusted her to talk to someone...but then again she could learn what was happening in the other towns, like Taras, Balefire and Kellen...

Standing up she walked closer to the edge of cave, ready for an attack if the thing had a sword. She made sure she moved enough so the person could see her, hopefully he or she would come out to see what she was...

The sounds of squishing mud awoke Sekuda, for he had fallen asleep moments before. He shook his head, from the light sleep trying to remember the dream he was having earlier but it had dissipated from his head faster than he would have liked. Dreams were always something he liked to keep and remember. He believed that some told the future while others were just there to keep a man busy while he slept. Sometimes they about your past, most of them being of horrible times you have faced. This one he knew was not like that. It was a different type of dream but since it was gone from his memory he was unable to group it at the moment. Maybe later he would be able to figure out what it was, but not now.

Sekuda's eyes looked around the cave blankly. He could hardly see anything in the dark and he had to rub his eyes a few times to focus clearly in the darkness. The sound of rain outside told him that the storm was not over and would not end for a long time. A burden for him as he did not enjoy the rain very much. Being wet in your clothes was a feeling he did not enjoy, and that is what the rain usually brought. Slowly his body moved as he stood up stretching his rested limbs before taking a few steps around the cave. It was a nice size, almost big enough to live in for a few months. Maybe this would be a resting point during his journeys in the future. Spots like these were always kept in mind, for travellers know they need a shelter to rest in during long travels and caves were an ideal place to rest.

Coming back to reality Sekuda quickly grabbed his cloak. His hands felt it over for a few moments. Luckily they did not find any wet spots indicating that the cloak was dry enough to wear, and wear it he did. His swung the cloak over his shoulders and tied it up at the neck to keep it on. He was planning on going out, he would rather wait for the storm to end, but it would keep him warm while he slept and walked around.

Sekuda's eyes gazed out at the opening of the cave. The night proved to dark to penetrate through and nothing could be seen. Everything was dark, until a flash of lightning struck. During the brief moment Sekuda's eyes took in the figure of a large beast. Black as the night sky which put fear into him. His hand grabbed his sword at the same moment thunder came bringing a large boom. His hands started to shake and he took steps back into the protective cave. Once again lightning struck and he got a better look at the giant beast. He was filled with tearer as he held his long sword firmly. "Go away you dragon of darkness leave me be!" he yelled through the storm. Instantly his free left hand came up and covered his mouth. Why did he yell? The dragon would have left him be if had not done so. Maybe it didn't hear him through the storm? No that could not have happened he was too loud. Then again he had heard tales of dragons, usually they did not have such good hearing and at this moment he hoped these tales were true but for now he could only wait in fear, inside of the dark cave.

Almost to the point of getting bored she heard the person move from inside the cave, she then got anxious for the man to do something. Hearing something she thought the person in the cave sounded afraid...good.

But what she wasn't expecting was the man to shout at her, and he called her by what she was...so must be the lightning was giving her appearance away, but that didn't matter, she hoped the man wasn't going to fight very much...
"Well, I am quite surprised that you knew what I am," walking closer she was almost at the cave's entrance, "and I don't want to go away, because as you can tell there is not much happening in the swamp at the moment, except for what is happening right now." she chuckled and brought her head closer to the entrance, her horns were out of the rain now, but the rest of her head was still getting soaked.

"I wasn't planning on hurting you, well, only if you put up a fight," shifting her weight she leaned down on to her front legs which were now infront of her, her head now rested on her feet as she looked into the cave, she saw the person, it looked human and it looked like a man, which was fine, if he was some kind of other race then she would suspect that he would have something up his sleeve, but humans were easy to predict, unlike the elf type and others like that.

"I have been watching you for a little while now, but I do not wish to fight at the moment, and I have just had my night time food." she was glad that she had low light vision, it made it easy to watch people in the dark and what they did. So, trying to make a conversation she tried to make herself less threatening looking, but she didn't trie to hard, "You know, on your behalf, I don't think it was the best idea yelling at me, and lucky for you I am not hungry, even though I have been stalking you for a while you still shouldn't have yelled. If I was a different dragon and dindt know you were there I would have known when you shouted." She hoped this man wasn't going to faint or anything, because she wanted to hear the gossip on what has been happening. She hasn't been out of the marsh for some time because she had been working on her magic and becoming for powerful.

Sekuda was quivering where he stood unable to make a move in any direction or even speak at the time. His eyes were full of fear and his mouth quivered. At this moment he should have fainted or try to run but some courage in him held him there, but it was not enough to stop him for shaking. When the dragon spoke he could not understand it at first, maybe it was just his fear. Whatever it was it stopped him from understanding but soon his body relaxed his mind listening to the words of the dragon, but he still stood alert. He could not tell if the dragon was telling the truth or not.

His eyes remained on the fangs and horns of the beast. Their sharp edges brought more fear to him but he felt safe to see that only the horns were able to get inside the cave and not the mouth. He could not be sure though. It was still to dark outside to see how large the dragon really was but his mind painted him a picture of a terribly large body with spikes three feet long and gigantic wings stretching far out. He blinked a few times still not being able to say anything back to the dragon, every part of his body was on a lock down.

Soon though his body became full of life as he got control over himself. His hands gripped harder on his still raised sword unsure of what to do. His mind raced with many ideas of escape. Only few plans coming to mind. The first was to simply rush the creature swinging his sword wildly around, but his eyes reminded him why this wasn't such a good idea. His second one was to pick up some of the loose racks in the ground inside of the cave and wip them at the Dragon hopefully hitting an eye then rush to the opening of the cave and get away. This also was thrown away for he doubted his throwing skills were that great. The last plan was simply to wait it out and come up with another plan hopefully, since this was all he had left he took it.

Sekuda slowly slid down the rock wall into a sitting position the sword layed beside him. "Alright dragon....if you do not wish to kill me then what are your desires?" he asked his voice still shaking as his eyes continued to gaze at the horns and teeth. He hoped that while he talked to the dragon his mind would come up with an idea to get out of the situation. Till then he would have to talk it out.

Temathil flew low through the rain trying to find a break in the forest canopy so she could land. the rain was soaking the feathers of her wings, making them heavier by the minute. Soon she would be out of energy and with her wings weighted down so, there was no hope of gliding to a soft landing.
There! She thought as a sudden break opened over the entrance of a small cave. She flapped her wings a couple times to try and dislodge the clinging water before gliding in, for what turned out to be a hard and sticky landing. She hit the mud hard and almost fell as it clung to her feet. It was far from a smooth landing. She quickly got her feet from the mud and ran into the dry cave.
As she entered she suddenly stoped. Blinking in suprise. It looked like a dragon and human were already here. It didnt seem like the dragon noticed her yet, and taking a look at the human he was obviously cornered and afraid. She slid her sword softly from the scabard.
With my wings wet as they are, this could be difficult. Watter poured off her wings as a steady stream and her hair was matted down from the rain. She was completly soaked, her robes clung to her, creating a great hinderance.
"If i could sneak up on the dragon, hopefully the fight wont last long...."

Happily Munwithurix made herself even more comfortable on the ground, she moved her head into the cave so she could see better and hear without fault to what he would say. Being quite pleased with the turn out of things. "I am just wondering what has been happening in Taras and the other towns, like Kellen, latly," when she said this something moved quickly into the cave, and she wasn't sure what it was, it could have been an animal of sorts...or an enemy of hers, like the rodent that also roamed this area of the swamp...well if it was him then he will be dead soon enough.

"And I promise you I will not eat you unless you carry little or no imformation of my desire, and then maybe I might let you try running for your life. But I must tell you I am a highly trained Mage." taking great pride in the last sentence she straightened herself, she had trained long and hard to become the mage she is now.

"Is there anything happening the the City on the Bay? For I have heard rumor of a small fight happening there, but my resources could be wrong," a person she knew gives her information from time to time, and she had heard of a battle happening at Taras, but like she had said the person could be mistaken. "and has anything else happened in the horsemen town of Kellen that is worth my time?" she once was planning on attacking the small town and leveling it, but she never did.

(Sorry its alittle shorter then I would like, but I don't have time to put more.)

As the dragon began filling up the small space she began to get a bit skiddish and restless. She feared being trapped in here between the wall and the dragon, even if it hadnt noticed her yet.
She shook her head telling herself there was still plenty of room for escape of the need arose. She returned her attention to the situation at hand, she crouched along the wall in a shadow, not that it helped much considering the brightness of her wings. She tried remedying this by folding them under her cloak. this was easier said than din though and her cloak just covered half the wings.
"This could pose a problem", she thought.
Then the dragon spoke to the human. It wasnt going to eat him, but that held for as long as he gave her information. she wanted to know about an attack on the city.

Sekuda still remained frightened inside the cave. The dragon had been able to move in closer which was not what Sekuda wanted. This made everything harder for him as fear began to come back to his mind though he was able to hold it off for now. Even though he was scared he did not move away from his spot he was sitting in, making himself as small as possible in hopes that the dragon wouldn't see, but it was highly unlikely, closer to impossible that the dragon could miss him now. The long sword of his sheath remained in his hand tightly clutched. He didn't intend to use it unless used in self defense.

To the dragon's questions he could not reply at the moment. It had been some time since he himself had been in those towns or heard news of him but the war in Taras was for sure heard by his ears. So he spoke up in an attempt to stall the dragon, still doubting it would let him go. "Taras is indeed having a war......of Kellen I have nothing to say..." he said quietly. He did not intend on telling this dragon any news of Kellen, for Kellen was his favorite and he feared the dragon only wanted news of other towns to know when they were at their weakest. So it could fly down with flames dancing from it's mouth.

While he did sit there he did something other than talking. Thinking. He was still continuing on with escape plans, anything working for him now. Every moment he spent here was another moment dead to him. While thinking he always tapped his fingers upon a hard surface like a table or in this case the rock floor. It was an old habit given to him from his mother. It had always run in here family and he had taken it also living on the legacy of finger tapping.

After moments of peace Sekuda decided to speak up, to give him more time of course, "I....a-am sorry I'm not so in tuned with the outside world like you are...only some news reaches my years..." He took a deep breath ready to begin another sentence when he thought he saw someone else inside the cave, moving along the walls. It was only a glimpse for he could not see it clearly, but hope once more started to push away the fear inside of him and his voice grew stronger. "Maybe you would like to know of something else?" he asked staring at the dragon's eyes.

Temathil saw the mans eyes fall on her.
At least he knows im here. And it seems he is keeping the dragon distracted.
She waved a hand hoping to catch the mans peripheral vision. All she needed was a nod or hand movement to determine if he really did see her. the dragon would be hard to take down with a dozen strong warriors, but two, that would be difficult.

she kept crouched, her sword ready to strike. she knew she would not fell the beast with one blow and had an escape plan forming for after the first and maybe second strike. It did involve getting wet though which she did not like at all.