"You told me Freya wasn't the warlike sort, right?"
Having returned to her true form, Ysera beat her wings awkwardly, dodging the lashes of three enormous vines in midair. She turned and spat a mouthful of highly corrosive, venomous dragon breath, melting the dryads below, who kept hurling javelins at her, down to bare bones. Then she complained in exasperation to Dick, who kept turning into light and darting around beside her, "You also told me she was sane! But look! This is what you call sane!"
"Sorry... I didn't know things would turn out like this either... Watch out!"
Bang!
Ysera reached out with her claws, caught the incoming vine, and shredded it. Then, before a second vine could crack through the air and whistle toward them, the two darted off in different directions.
The Green Dragon Queen had good reason to be angry.
Five minutes earlier, she and Dick had reached the deepest part of the Conservatory of Life as though they were out on a picnic. A small pavilion stood there, and inside it, they had found the Life Guardian Freya sleeping at the edge of the land. Just as Dick and Ysera had guessed, this Life Guardian was supplementing the place with the energy in her own body, maintaining the balance and integrity of this miniature world of life.
Dick had decided to wake her, but after he used his High Guardian authority to rouse the sleeping Freya, what greeted him was not her gratitude, but a venomous vine whip covered in thorny barbs.
Dick vanished from the spot in a flash, dodging the blow, but Ysera, who had been watching from the sidelines, was caught completely off guard. She could only assume her dragon form to withstand the surprise attack. The price was an ugly