Who's the real monster?

Learning

          He had to clean the blood from his scales again, the second time in two days! Thankfully, there was a river nearby, this time with sandy banks, perfect for cleaning the grit from between his scales. He also needed to clean his other pair of arms, he hadn't gotten a chance after that night he was discovered, they were getting an unpleasant smell.

          The blood was thick and stunk of copper, it came off his arms easily enough but seemed to cling to his hands, leaving them deep red. The scales around the stain were turning orange then fading to his regular color. He scrubbed harder, why wasn't the stain coming off? Was blood truly this powerful of a dye?

          He didn't want the others to see him like this, with literal blood on his hands. He resolved to hide them in his tunic until he could reach his gloves, wearing them in combination with long sleeves should hide his arms completely.

         As he approached the camp, the others were talking again. Odoviar was fully human, praising Isabel for her fighting skills as she polished the sword she had used earlier, the dagger and long sword lying beside her.

          Pixie was perched on a branch opposite them staring at the shining swords in wonder. Talen wondered how she had learnt to fight like that as he sat by them, putting on his gloves.

          Fortunately, it seemed Odoviar had wondered the same thing, as he asked Isabel excitedly, "How did you learn to fight so well? Your aim was perfect!"

          She replied, cheeks blushing as she looked at him, "I had a lot of time on my hands when I was young, I often escaped to explore and one day I found an old room in the castle with an archery range. I asked the castle blacksmith to make me some knives secretly, I bribed him with some embroidery for his wife.

          The first time I tried it, I fell in love with it. I practiced every night for years, eventually the blacksmith got tired of me breaking the knives and taught me how to make them myself!"

          She stopped polishing her sword and sighed sadly, "Before I made my escape the blacksmith stopped me and gave me these two swords, I made the dagger myself. He was going to give them to me for a wedding present, but that didn't end happening."

         Talen spoke up to break the silence, "Sorry to break the rest, but we need to keep moving, we don't want to be caught here if someone figures out those people are missing."

          Isabel nodded, and began putting away her tools, her swords disappearing into the folds of her cloak. As she stood up she glanced at Talen, then did a double take, "Talen! The top of your head is blue! It's so pretty, I didn't know your kind could change their colors!"

          Pixie cursed, banging their head against their palms, "I knew I forgot something! Talen, let me see your hands."

         Talen hid his hands behind his back, could she see through the gloves? Pixie glared at him. "Fine, I'll take the gloves off." he relented, taking them off and rolling up his sleeves, "there, happy, I've been caught red handed, literally."

          Pixie snorted, eyes filling with amusement, "Talen, the blood didn't actually stain your hands, your scales turn the color of what they touch, hence why your head is blue from the sky, and your hands are red from the blood."

         Talen paused not knowing what to say. He supposed it made sense, it also provided an explanation to why everyone in the caves was some variation of gray, because everything they touched was gray. Talen sighed, annoyed, "Oh.. well now I can't blend in as well!"

          Pixie doubled over laughing, "You- you just disc-discovered a life changing thing! And you're worried about blen- blending in!"

          Talen crooked a smile, he guessed that was an odd reaction to have, "Enough, enough, we still need to get going."

          Isabel nodded, her face darkening, "We really don't want my father or that prince to find us." She clutched Odoviar's hand, looking at him protectively, "Especially not you, as an untrained mage, you don't want to know what would happen."

         Odoviar winced, "Yeah, I agree, if he's anything like my father.. let's just say, I don't want to be near him either."

They stared into each other's eyes until Odoviar yelped, clutching his ear.

          Pixie flew out from his shoulder and onto Talen's, licking a bloodied fang, "Quit staring you lovebirds, and stop wasting time!"

          Isabel and Odoviar blushed and quickly gathered their things, not looking at each other until they began hiking again. Pixie smirked at Talen, a knowing look on their face. Talen just sighed and picked up his bags.

          When it started getting dark, they stopped to set up camp, exhausted. Odoviar groaned, "My legs, my back, everything hurts!"

          Isabel slapped his shoulder playfully, "Oh stop complaining, you grew up in the woods, you should be used to this."

          He laughed, agreeing, then asked, "So, where are we anyways, how much further to the forest?"

          Isabel pulled out her map, looking at it carefully. After a few seconds, she marked a spot with chalk, showing them close to the forest. "We are around here, we should be there by tomorrow!" She said cheerfully, putting an arm around Odoviar's shoulders and leaning on him briefly.

          Talen sighed in relief, he was tired of all this walking. At least he knew they would be safe in the forest. While it was true the druas did like precious things, they only let in people with good hearts. He knew the knights wouldn't be able to go there.

He just hoped the druas didn't think Pixie was dangerous.