In all my time in faerie I had never once encountered one of the large lizards that humans had decided to attempt to tame. Note that I said attempt there.

  Allow me to explain. A long time ago, some idiots decided to try and put a saddle on a dinosaur. Said idiot was either eaten, trampled or both. This continued on for quite some time until they figured out that they needed to feed the beasts first before they attempted anything. I don't know how many people died in this manner but the humans obviously have more cousins than sense.

  Back to the matter at hand, one of those large toothed raptors was bearing down on us. I expected to see a saddle. That would indicate that it had been bred for a purpose. There was no such item. In fact it was leaking smoky mist all across it's body.

  We were in the road, a place where one does not normally find themselves assaulted by a lizard the size of a steer. As such, I had to observe it for a moment before my survival instinct kicked in.

  It was a bit slower than Martins and I found myself scooped up into his arms and across the way before I could say orcish biscuit.

  "You saved me!"

  "Not a problem. Are you eating my cheese stick?" Martin put me down.

  I couldn't help it. It was just so easy to steal it when I was that close. The beast tore down the road heading towards the sea.

  We turn to see another such beast tearing out of the same building. It came from. This building being the place we intended to go to see this unlikely Professor. Our faded Meetup was going to have to wait a minute while these giant bees sorted out their stuff. The fact that they were alive, kicking and pouring out of someone's house in the middle of a popular city meant that some shady shit was going on that I had no desire to deal with. In the realm of things that I never wanted to touch with a human from a distance, this was well within the parameters.

  "It's going to be one of those days." Martin shifted and pulled out a knife the size of his forearm, brandishing it.

  The second beast looked to be less inclined to tear down the streets. I could hear humans getting out of the way. There was a lot of cursing.

  I expected a lot more. This might be a common occurrence.

  "Is this normal? I don't think this is normal. Everyone's acting like this is normal."

  The second dinosaur was approaching us. I realized that we could have moved away further. Why didn't we? Oh because I had spend too long enjoying being carried and held of course. Cursed gods making me stand in the way of a dinosaur that was positively dripping in Shadow Magic.

  "There's something going on with that dinosaur I think we need to get the heck out of here."

  Martin started walking us sideways slowly. He kept his arm and long knife pointed at the dinosaur. The street, once full of people had emptied. I don't think that we looked particularly tasty but I might not be the best judge of things. That was up to their standards.

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  By dinosaur standards, were were probably between swordfish and steak. Did dinosaurs even eat steak? It wasn't something I had thought about and as we moved back, doing the inevitable chomp I was please to see that my training had paid off.

  It was all Instinct after that. Dodging the shade, for that's what it had to be to get it into, prove to be the work of everything I had. I've briefly considered tapping into the thrill for this, but it..

  The tail of the dinosaur was than inches of my face before I ducked down. I rolled, using the high difference between where I was and where I wanted to be to continue rolling down the hill. Martin followed me.

  Something I possessed him into thinking that maybe it was a good idea to start fighting back. But when he saw me out of the way, he folded as fast as I did.

  We were halfway down the road when it figured out we were not there. Were we it's targets?

  Not really.

  It was just raging.

  Well done, shade. It was one way to get one's rage out for sure.

  The clear sign that it was shades.

  "We should probably circle back and check out if Professor Vaugh is in his office."

  "You're literally... we just rolled down a cobblestone pathway towards the sea. I have no doubt in my mind that we could make our way down to the sea if this keeps up."

  Cobblestones were great for lining any pathway for foot traffic. They were absolutely the worst for rolling. It wasn't the ideal way to get banged up, but I would see to it that Martin paid for his crimes.

  "I'm going to need a bath and a massage," I whispered. "Non negotiable."

  "Understood. This was..." He looked around the corner. "Something."

  I peeked out underneath him. His hands were a delight on my shoulder as he realized that we couldn't occupy the same space at the same time.

  The streets were empty save for people watching from the side. If there was anything that could clear a city, shade dinosaurs would be one of new go to ideas. I just needed to figure out how to summon my own.

  The shade had continued down the pathway. The second one was gone as well.

  It was good to know that we weren't the targets at least initially.

  "Do you think that we would have been chased at all if we'd shown up just a little earlier?"

  Martin stepped out into the street gingerly. I stood up holding his hand. My knee was sore, my shoulder was sore. My back was sore.

  "You're going to have to be the first one."

  "Not an issue."

  We stalked up the street, going block by block. We had only rolled down three blocks before my knees decided to make me stop. The way back was far easier. I was appreciative that Martin was willing to hold on to my hand as much as possible.

  Once you've been nearly trampled, you gain a new appreciation for the average everyday dodge to get out of the way.

  It was exactly what I'd expected. An empty office was just sitting there being all unsupicious. It would have been nice to just have a normal day with a normal boat travel.

  Oh well. I could always find something wrong if I needed to.

  "Let's check for the professor." Martin moved.

  "What is your position if you're not a professor?"

  "Cadre."

  That word had a ring to it. I could get used to it. The foyer was a mess. Claw marks ran along the sides.

  All of the lights inside were out.

  Not only that, there was a very distinct lack of color. "I think that we're not alone here."

  Martin stopped at the threshold between the entry and the inside. There was something in the air. The aether was almost palpable.

  It was like we were stepping into faerie. The hold that the magic had over me at that moment was indescribable. The aether wanted me to walk in.

  "Behind me," I whispered, snapping my fingers. "Those were not the real foe. Something else..."

  I couldn't not do it. I tapped into the thrill.

  My mind snapped back to normal and I tugged on his arm. He didn't want to budge so I grabbed his belt. we didn't need to spend any longer there than we had already. The aura emanating from that place was worse than my ex husbands.