MIR, the sentient Wyvern.

Jaws of the forest

With the griffin meat, and the winter, we smoked and salted what we could but we were short of everything.

We needed pots big enough for our hands and to store the salt. the precious salt

The gaiters paid off as no one got any more scrapes.

The fire, difficult to accept at first, was soon appreciated for bringing us together, disinfecting and deodorising.

Little by little, the wyverns became formidable warriors and the possibilities were endless, but we needed metals, and a forge and everything.

I was exhausted and one day I fell asleep standing up against my mother who dragged me into my nest and I was soon joined by the others of my age.

The winter went quite well and the same fate befell the giant eagles.

Bags and candles were made and the parts were sorted and stored for later.

Even the feathers were stored.

Rules were made by me through Dad, but everyone listened to me as their leader. But I wanted the role of advisor instead. It was up to Dad to remain the Alpha and I saw to that.

The long winter evenings went well and we were all busy and with the language we all began to tell our stories, what we had seen and if there were any dangers we would write them on the central map, obviously around a fire.

Uncle Black, the wounded wyvern, learned from me how to make pastes and poultices and bandages.

He stored and held the stock of medicinal plants I had brought and we built him a small workbench with fire-stones to heat the fats and ointments.

He also prepared war paint and stored the necessary pigments.

In return, he was "paid" in prey and Dad made sure that the rules were respected by all.

Outside, everything was covered with snow and the landscape was wonderful, especially with a beautiful blue sky and the trees covered with ice and snow.

With no mist or clouds, you could see very far and with the snow, leafless trees, you had high contrast and anything that moved could be spotted.

But one of our serpentine characteristics was that we could also see body heat in infrared. Anything warm-blooded was like a red dot to us and hunting was easier that way, leaving little chance for prey.

The frozen ground without snowdrifts also made it easier to walk and walk on foot without getting stuck.

So one day I went on patrol with my brother and sisters. I was about 5 metres tall and no serious predator could attack me now that the eagles and griffins had been defeated.

I was attracted by a column of smoke in the forest and, armed with a spear, my brother and I went to see what was going on.

When we reached 300 metres, we heard screams and shouts.

A trailer was attacked by Dire wolves, wolves the size of ponies.

4 humans were between the wagon and a fire rekindled from the day before and they had their swords out.

10 wolves were circling and the fire was becoming less and less scary. They must have been hungry and exhausted and had attacked a peddler's or merchant's wagon, and one of the men was already lying there with his throat open, soaking in blood.

The trees were sparse and did not present any obstacle to us.

"Kra, Roa, Kroa, don't hurt the humans..... you know!"

They hissed in agreement. I had been bludgeoning them in the mind to never attack humans. They were worse than ants...their numbers, their weapons and their magic!!!