"Tinly, Tinly, Tinly!" I repeated and a green dress and some undergarments appeared on the tree branch hanging over the pool, but I ignored them and reached for the closest rock. I grabbed it, stood, and hurled it with all my might at the creature perched on the rock less than ten feet away.

The creature had the face of a monkey and had two bird-like wings sprouting from it's under back. It wore nothing besides a loincloth on its thin, malnourished body.

For a moment it looked like my rock would hit its mark, but at the last second, the creature leaped from the rock it had been perched on, dodging it. As soon as the creature hit the ground, it propelled itself towards me, screeching at the top of its lungs. I bent my knees so I was closer to the ground, and prepared myself to meet it.

"Genesba!" Tinly shouted suddenly appearing to my right. The water, which had been in the pool, rose into the air, creating a glass-like wall between the creature and I. The creature slammed into the wall with a loud cracking sound. I caught a glimpse of a blood smear on the other side before the water fell back into the pool.

The monkey-faced creature stumbled backward on its two twig-like legs, clutching at its nose. Blood seeped through its fingers. It gave us ominous looks, its round yellow eyes full of hatred and seemingly bottomless primal hunger, before scampering back over the edge of the valley with the sound of falling rocks.

When I was sure the creature was gone for good or at least gone at the moment, I snatched the clothes provided for me on the branch and quickly ducked behind one of the boulders surrounding the man-made pool. I was brave, but it didn't mean I was comfortable with strangers seeing me in the buff."

"Are you alright?" Tinly called out, and I heard his footsteps padding towards my direction.

I felt a small twinge of panic "No don't come over here, I'm getting dressed!" I said quickly, slipping on the undergarments. The footsteps stopped. I slipped the green dress over my head, and slide my feet into the pair of green slippers that materialized on the ground beside me. Just having them on my feet for a couple of seconds made me wince, they were going to make my feet a bloody mess when we escaped.

"Alright, I'm done," I called out only a few short minutes later, I was an expert when it came to changing clothes in the blink of an eye. I often had to change out of my work clothes when potential clients came by, mostly because most of them showed up unannounced. Not only did we care for magical creatures, but we also trained them too. I stepped out from behind the boulder. My hair tie had disappeared during the mayhem, so my hair hung in gold ripples along my shoulders and back.

Tinly's eyes widened and he straightened, when he saw me. "That color umm suits you," he said, and cleared his throat uncomfortably, and I could have sworn there was a faint pinkish tint in his cheeks.

"Thanks," I said and stepped forward to peered down at the dead valley below, "So was that thing one of the "unnatural inhabitants" of Dragon Ridge Jasper was mentioning earlier?"

Tinly frowned deeply and nodded and looked towards the red rocks, "Yes and no, the things we encountered on our first crossing were far worst than that thing I just fended off, and worst yet we can't fight them with magic while we're down there."

I looked at Tinly again, the more I looked at him the less strange-looking he seemed to grow, "Then why don't we take the other route Jasper suggested You can't fly over this valley right?"

Tinly sighed deeply, "That's a very good question. In fact, it's so good, that I'm afraid I can't answer it," he turned and began walking away.

I stood there for a second, thinking about what he said. I absolutely hated it when people answered in riddles "Wait! What do you mean by that?" I called after him when I realized I was being left behind. I caught up with him on the overgrown path we had taken to get up here, realizing a second too late that that could have been my chance to escape. Oh well, I sure I would have plenty of more chances, and plus I couldn't leave Jasper behind.

When we reached the camp two fires were already blazing in two makeshift fire pits, and three more were being lit. I spotted Jasper leaning against one of the blue carriages with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the men with a dissatisfied look on his face.

He looked up as I approached him, and so did some of the men when I passed them, but their looks were different than Jasper's look "I tried to help and they told me that I was useless because I was a stinking dwarf, and to go stand where I wouldn't bother anyone or get in anyone's way," he said dully when I reached him.

I balled my fists up in anger, "Who did!?" I asked suddenly angry. I glared around at the soldiers hurrying about. They were all too busy for any of them to notice the nasty looks I was giving them.

He shrugged his shoulder indifferently, "Doesn't matter, I think it's funny actually," he pointed to a group of soldiers struggling to put up a tent, "I could've told them that it would be faster if they held up the tent, before nailing the spikes into the ground, but I'm just a stupid dwarf so I guess they'll have to do it the hard way. Plus, I don't have to do any work," he said, but the dissatisfied look did not disappear.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, "So when do you want to try and shake them?" I said in a low voice.

Jasper glanced at me and back at the men, "I was thinking we should try to escape during the chaos of Dragon Ridge." I looked at him nervously and Jasper gave me an exasperated look, "What!? Are you afraid of it too now? You're kidding me!? After making all that fuss about us being terrified of it, you're suddenly afraid of it too!?" He looked amused.

I shook my head, "I wouldn't say I'm afraid of it, I'm just more wary of that place now. Back when I was taking a bath one of its "unnatural inhabitants" tried to attack me." That mental picture of the creature charging at me was still fresh in my mind. I had been prepared to fight it, but if Tinly hadn't shown up when he did who knew what would've happened? I had had no weapon, I probably would've gotten my face mauled off!

Jasper looked up sharply and raised both his bushy brown caterpillar eyebrows, "Really? Are you alright?."

"Yeah I'm okay," I said and let my eyes roam over the half set up camp, I noticed Tinly was talking to Givin. He pointed at the direction we had come from, and Givin got a disturbed look on his face. "And I don't think that creature was supposed to come up from the valley. Why do they call it Dragon Ridge anyways? Wouldn't Dragon Valley be a more suitable name?" I asked Jasper because I knew he knew the answer.

"You would think but the legend goes that once a giant dragon, look the biggest to ever grace the heavens, landed where Dragon Ridge is today and closed its eyes and slept. A thousand years passed, and rock and soil gradually covered its body, and trees and vegetation grew in that soil and rock until it looked more like a mountain than a dragon. It looked so much like a mountain that the people even began to believe the story that the mountain was a sleeping dragon was more legend than fact and began to use it as a crossing between this mountain range and the next, hence the name Dragon Ridge. Then one day the dragon awoke from its slumber and flew away leaving behind the valley and a curse upon it for being tread upon as it slept," Jasper finished.

I raise an eyebrow, "Yeah, I'm sure that's what happened," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I hadn't been to believe in fairy tails, even as a kid. Our world was vast and full of magic and seemingly endless possibilities, but there were limits and boundaries to it too. Those boundaries didn't include a dragon big enough to make this valley and then sleep for a thousand years.

Jasper gave me a wry smile, "You know for someone who acts and speaks before thinking you have a surprising lack of imagination."

I watched Givin leave in the direction Tinly and I had come from, "I want to escape tonight before we go down into that place. You should have seen that thing back there," I shuddered, wishing that I had a weapon like Jasper did.

Jasper tilted his head back and looked at the darkening sky. The setting sun shone brightly in his eyes, "I think I rather not face those two," he said referring to Givin and Tinly, "when they can use their magic. Surely you must have sensed the power waves coming off of them."

Now that he mentioned it I had. I had felt it when Tinly had easily created that solid wall of water between that creature and I. I also didn't believe that the king would send out anyone weak to carry out his work either. Our king was both wise, good, and at times cruel leader.

In the end, the tent that the soldiers hadn't let Jasper set up, was intended for him, me, Tinly, and Givin. Rorris had been the one to lead us too it. The exterior of the tent looked like it was made of brown canvas, nothing fancy, but the interior was a different story. Like the carriage, the tent was much larger on the inside then it was on the outside, four times bigger to be exact. A long table, big enough to seat twenty people, twenty- five if you squeezed, stood in the tent's center, and every inch of that table was lined with scrumptious looking dishes ranging for duck drowned in lemon sauce, to plates heaped high with colorful fruits from exotic places. Just looking at the spread made my mouth water.

"Wow," I whispered, stepping inside. There was a fire going in the corner in a fireplace, and a chandelier hung in the air above us. There were giant plush pillars strew everywhere, each with very intricate stitched designs into them. There was also a couch and a bookcase.

"Please have a seat," Tinly said, coming in behind us. "We can start eating as soon as Givin gets here. He's um investigating something." He walked over to one of the chairs pushed up against the table, and pulled it out. After a moment's hesitation I walked over and sat in it, and he pushed it back in. Jasper sat in the seat next to me and Tinly sat parallel.

"Space magic never ceases to amaze me," Jasper said, looking around the vast room inside the tent.

Tinly picked up a golden goblet sitting on the table in front of him and raised it to his lips, "It never ceases to amaze me either and I've been living with it for years. He took a sip of whatever was in the goblet. Curious, I reached for the goblet that was in front of me. I brought it to my own mouth and tasted its contents. It was wine, a very sweet wine, but also very delicious. I took another sip.

We all looked up when the flap of the tent opened and Givin walked in. His green robe was coated in a thin layer of red dust. "I don't think we have to worry about the Dracons dropping in for a visit, while we sleep. It appears the place you took her was- Oh hello," he said when he noticed Tinly wasn't the only one in the tent.

Tinly stood and greeted Givin at the entrance of the tent, "I invited them to dine with us tonight, I hope you don't mind."

Givin's eyes landed on me, and a smile crept onto his face, "No I don't mind, everything here looks delicious."

I felt my stomach turn, and I suddenly found that I suddenly didn't have much of an appetite anymore.