NEAR THEIR MEAGER shelter, Tiwaz looked out at the overcast sky. Careful not to disturb the assorted fallen branches Doom had placed to camouflage their shelter, she emerged with their depleted water skins. She tugged her cloak closer around her shoulders then headed towards the sounds of flowing water. She crouched unsteadily on her still healing leg and started refilling them, her eyes scanning the area to spot some sign her friend was returning soon. She pressed her lips together as she completed her task.

High pitched shrills of fright mingling with snarling barks interrupted her return to the campsite. Her hand instinctively dropped to the hilt of her knife as she hung the skins and her cloak on a branch before she ran towards the sounds. She slowed briefly to assess what she found. Her eyes narrowed in recognition and barely restrained hatred of the pair of creatures. “Griliks.”

The beasts appeared as a cross between the hyenas and wolves she used to fight in her youth, ugly with a severe case of mange. The two were attacking a dragon nest. Many eggs lay broken, their contents spilled onto the forest floor. Bodies of hatchlings were strewn everywhere, the two throwing the little bodies around. She saw one remaining hatchling scrabbling at the steep wall of the nest, drawing the attentions of the monstrosities.

“No!” Tiwaz leapt over the things, landing between the dragonet and them. The two beasts paused as she crouched, knife flashing in the light. “Death only for survival,” she hissed at them. With an inarticulate yell, she lunged at the closest grilik, dodging its snapping jaws to drive the knife through its eye and into its brain. As it dropped, she turned her attention to the other. “Not to entertain!”

The beast hesitated, torn between fleeing and attacking. That moment gave Tiwaz the advantage. She leapt on its back and drove the knife into its chest. It collapsed under her and she rolled off onto her knees, panting. She wiped the blade on its hide and slid it back into its sheath, then turned to the alley cat-sized infant dragon.

The panicked reptilian flapped tiny, undeveloped wings, biting and scratching until it realized she wasn’t harming it. It chirped at her, licking the places it had broken her skin. She smiled faintly. “It is okay, little one. I have endured worse.” She looked at the other bodies and sighed. “I will stay with you until your parents return.”

Shortly, the sound of leathery wings drew her gaze up to a pair of dragons the size of draft horses. Their hides were mottled moss green and damp earth browns, and their eyes flashed with fury and confusion at the sight before them. The larger one with the blunter muzzle lowered its head, growling. It drew back when the smaller one with a more tapered muzzle snapped at it. It backed away, allowing the other to approach Tiwaz.

Without fear, Tiwaz held out the dragonet, holding it supportively. “Forgive me. I did not get here in time to save more than this one.”

“A pink skin helps dragons?” the first dragon said as the smaller one lowered its head to allow the tiny survivor to climb onto it. Grudgingly, it stated, “We owe you a debt for our child’s life.”

“There is no debt.” Tiwaz met the larger dragon’s eyes, determined. “Death should not be enjoyed. I will not tolerate senseless cruelty to any living being.” She looked to the little dragon. “May this one grow strong and wise.” The two traded bewildered looks as she turned and headed back to the shelter, retrieving the water skins and her cloak along the way.

Tiwaz looked out into the darkness, worry darkening her expression. She hesitated only a moment, having promised Doom she would wait for him. Then with determined resolve, she stripped and took her panther form. Without a second thought, she loped deeper into the forest, following the unique tang of the gromek’s scent in the air.

Pain-filled shouts and dissonant shrieks became audible and she ran faster until she reached her friend. A pack of massive, wild boar with razor-like tusks had Doom backed to the edge of a wash overlooking a crevice so deep the bottom was shrouded in mist-filled shadow. His lower legs and hands bled from their attacks after he had gotten the tiny deer carcass thrown over a branch. Unable to steal his kill, they focused on him.

The ground under his feet crumbled and he grabbed a sapling before he tumbled into the darkness below, falling heavily against the now exposed rock. He wheezed, trying to catch his breath and squeezed his eyes shut tight, waiting for the beasts to descend on him. He looked up sharply at a roar, watching the dark form of the panther leap over the boars’ backs. Tiwaz stood between them and him, snarling and lashing her tail.

“Ti,” Doom wheezed, trying to catch his breath. “Ti, don’t! There are too many for you.” He struggled to pull himself up, the pain in his hands almost blinding him. “Too dangerous! You never trained to fight as a panther!”

Unsure if she was ignoring him or had slipped so far into her combat focus she never heard him, Doom couldn’t say. He watched in dismay as she leapt at the first one to move forward, sinking her teeth in the soft spot just behind its foreleg, her back claws raking its softer underbelly. The beast shrieked, mortally wounded. The others turned their focus on this new obstacle and threat. Her ears flattened against her skull as she roared defiantly.

Her roar was answered by two more. Both Doom and the boars looked up as the two forest dragons Tiwaz had helped earlier descended. Three boars died in moments, the rest fleeing. The larger dragon walked over and, with an attempt at being careful, grabbed Doom’s belt and lifted him back onto more secure ground. The dragon met the panther’s eyes. “Now there is no debt, panther shape-shifter,” it stated in brusque tones. The dragons then took the corpses of the boars they had killed and left, leaving behind the one she had slain.

The gromek got to unsteady feet, regarded the panther as she climbed the tree enough to grab hold of his kill and pull it down. Maneuvering it across her shoulders, she grabbed her kill, then looked up at him, waiting on him to follow, worry in her eyes for him. “Thanks for coming after me.” He smirked faintly at her. “But I thought I told you to rest!” Her eyes reflected her amusement as they headed back to their shelter.