Serpent Queen

4

The wind howled around Alyssa as she zipped through the atmosphere, hot on the heels of the dragon that had collided with her. Though fast herself, the dragon she'd come in contact with had a speed that made it hard to follow. 

Alyssa would catch a glimpse of its silvery wings or its odd shaped serpentine-like body, but nothing more. It could maneuver its body in a way that Alyssa couldn't. Its slim stature made it easy for the beast to disappear into the sparse clouds. 

It wound its body around the same way the wind tore through the clouds, with unfriendly violence. 

Out in the open or on a battle field, Alyssa could easily best another dragon. And even now, up in the free atmosphere, she should've been able to. 

But the slightly smaller dragon could turn quicker which made it unpredictable. 

She could hear its screeches as she followed closely after it, her senses telling her that she was within meters of it. She was close enough to just breathe out her deadly poison fire, but killing the other dragon wasn't her intention. 

She wanted to scare it, not end it.

And it was scared, she could tell. 

Running, hiding, fleeing, fretting...All attributes of another dragon that did not want to be caught, yet it didn't have a choice. 

When she caught sight of what looked to be a dorsal fin on its back, she lunged at it. She slammed into it from the side, knocking the dragon up above the clouds to where she could see it. 

It spun uncontrollably into the open air, exposing it completely. It was the short-lived moment Alyssa had been waiting for, like the curtain being lifted to reveal what was being kept secret.

 Alyssa instantly realized why the dragon was so impossible to catch up to. 

Hovering opposite of her was a dragon that looked to be more like a sea serpent than anything else. Its body before appeared to be silvery, but really it was more of a reflective blue with hints of silver. It was smaller than Alyssa, but not excessively. 

Sharp dorsal fins stuck out from various parts of its body, allowing it to be far more aerodynamic than Alyssa's was. The way it could move was unlike what Alyssa had ever seen before. She found it to be more bendy-straw than Draca. 

And before, maybe its confusing movements would have kept it out of sight and danger. 

In the clouds where it could whip its body around at any moment, it had the advantage. But here in the open air, the tables had turned. And it seemed aware of that. It hissed at Alyssa, warning her to stay back. 

But its threats would've been useless had Alyssa attacked. However, she didn't. 

She was more concerned with the fact that she was staring at another Draca. Aside from Ashlena and the Draca they encountered only months ago, this was the first one she had seen living in a very long time. 

And it was an old one, maybe even from the original dragon empire. 

Scars traced its narrow body, leaving Alyssa to assume that she was looking at another war dragon--An experienced one at that. The way it was able to avoid Alyssa for even a couple minutes was impressive and only one with experience would be able to. 

But as impressive as it was, it was extremely unsettling. 

She hated the idea of having another Draca around, especially since she had no idea what side it was on...If it had even taken a side in the war at all. After all, Alyssa hadn't. She had stayed extremely neutral despite the fact that she would turn the tables for whatever side she joined.