397 22.2

I bathed Ethan in my flames for a few long seconds as he held his breath. Sure my mana couldn't hurt him but that didn't mean the heat didn't bother his sensitive innards. He just wasn't willing to chance it. It wasn't that he didn't trust me. It was more instinctual.

His body didn't trust the fire. I kept on going for another two hours. When I still didn't see anything I flew back toward the guild. I flew lower on the return trip. The little hidden niches, and advanced base camps were easier to see at this lower height.

I could see that a large number of them were looking skyward, and a few even seemed to notice me passing. The more people I passed the more prepared they were for a fight. They hadn't been informed that I was coming either from the look of it. I dropped down. Flaring my wings wide as I came in for a landing in one of the few completely clear spots.

Ethan reminded me that there could be traps on the ground. I activated my foresight ability, and added enough mana to know what would happen if I landed there. I pumped my wings hard as I veered away from that clear spot. Aiming for a safer spot a little further down only to be surrounded. Ethan stood up on my spines which prompted me to lower my wings so he was visible.

"EASY," Ethan shouted, "He's not a threat."

They kept their weapons leveled at us. Ethan jumped off my back to land a shy ten feet away from the guy I'd picked out as being in charge. The ease at which he landed the thirty foot jump made the men in front of him tense. I lowered my own stance, and tensed my muscles for a possible fight.

"I told you that he's not a threat," Ethan leveled his gaze at the spear wielding commander, "If he wanted to hurt you he would've done so already."

The leader stepped forward turning his spear toward Ethan only to have the pointy half vanish into my maw in a movement so quick he didn't realize what had happened until his spear was gone. I'd immediately drawn my head back after chomping down on the weapon so my own head was over Ethan's left shoulder with the bulk of my body behind him. Ready to pounce without hesitation should these idiots threaten my bonded again. Several beast arrows bounced of my hardened scales. One pierced the leathery flesh of my right wing.

It didn't hurt. It had failed to go all the way through. They'd been aiming for my head, and shot when I moved but they hadn't expected me to go so far so fast. I focused my cold blue eye on the archer that had managed to hit the leathery part of my wing. A flick of my tail was all it took to remove the annoying projectile.

I could see her pale visibly from the back lines. She wouldn't fire again without orders to do so. Beast arrows were rare, and expensive because they were much better then regular metal arrows that were just enhanced with the bow's power. I spit out the part of the spear that was still in my mouth. Aiming toward my own tail to avoid hitting any of the humans here, and worsening the second misunderstanding I'd had that day.

"Raul," a skinny guy shouted from the backlines.

He was wearing a backpack that looked more like a giant radio.

"Don't attack the dragon," the skinny guy shouted at the spear guy, "He's part of our reinforcements."

Confused, and disbelieving murmurs spread through the gathered crowd.

"This beast is reinforcements," Raul, the spear guy gestured toward my head with what was left of his spear.

It was obvious that he could tell that his weapon wouldn't do him any good, but he was still unwilling to let go of it. Seemed like Erik had gotten the message. I switched to my human form so fast that all the air where my bulk used to be rushed in to fill the void. I circulated my mana, and to all the normal people watching, just appeared right next to Ethan. A few arrows sailed through the air headed for where I had just been.

I used my air affinity to push the arrows down so they hit the ground in front of the humans on the other side of the encirclement instead of the humans. The downward swipe of my hand wasn't missed by those who'd seen me appear next to Ethan as I manipulated the air. They lowered their weapons slowly, and more humans followed their example. They weren't relaxing at all, but they weren't jumping to attack anymore. The skinny tech guy had been working on squeezing through the crowd when I switched forms so he hadn't noticed me switching forms.

"Don't shoot the dragon," he jumped out in front of Ethan.

Putting himself between Ethan, and the spear guy. Glancing over his shoulder to check on me only for his eyes to widen in surprise when he saw two people, and no dragon.

"Where the fuck did he go?" the skinny tech guy shouted.

I covered my mouth as I tried to stop myself from laughing, but a few sniggers made it through my fingers as the tech guy focused on me. He stared at me with confusion. That made me chuckle more. I found this genuinely humorous. I focused on pulling in the childish humor.

"He is the dragon," Ethan pointed at me while using the most serious tone he could at the moment.

"That's a guy," the tech guy stepped forward pointing at me.

"No," I managed to stop laughing as my expression turned serious, "I'm a dragon. A storm drake to be exact. Not many of my kind around so I can't really blame you for not knowing that my kind can take a human form."