As if in answer to her question, Akar came around their shelter of rock, weapon positioned on his shoulders to strike once more. His muscles were taut, ready to pull on the trigger at the base of the spring, in case the dragon waited for him. But the sight that met his eyes caught him off guard, and his grip slackened a little.
Standing beside the dragon, holding what looked like a small dagger, was a girl. Upon seeing Akar, the dragon rose up on its haunches, beating its wings--one of which had a hole in it--to keep its position. It screeched loudly, all sharp incisors showing, along with a black tongue.
It was beautiful.
And then, to Akar's further surprise, a voice bellowed out in his head. *Go away!* it said. The dragon's eyes blazed with the words. When Akar did not move, the beast dropped back onto its four legs and dropped its one wing in front of the human girl, protecting her.
He'd heard of some dragons being capable of telepathic speech. And some dragons had riders, though those sorts of people stayed in Adela. There was no saddle on this particular dragon, telling him that this girl had either been lured to it, or had chosen willingly to go with it.
"'Fraid I can't do that," Akar said, shaking his head. "Beast like you fetches a pretty hefty amount of coin. Now," he tightened his hold on his weapon again, "you can come dead'er alive. And I'd rather no harm come to the girl." He flicked his chin in the direction of the shielding wing.