The calls of the humans quieted down when they saw Ansgarde on the landing platform. Three tall figures paused on top of the hill and whispered to each other.

She wished Lamassu had not left her alone to deal with this. Human presence in this mythical realm was like an inappropriate joke told during a bonding ceremony. What would Sadie have done? She had no idea. None of her epic stories ever dealt with humans. She never thought to research that inane race.

They were apprehensive to approach, as cowardly as she would expect from their kind. She balled her hands into fists and made the first step forward.

They were a tall race, but she was not intimidated. They carried baskets, not weapons, and she could take to the air at any moment. She faced the one that looked like a woman, ready to exchange pleasantries and establish a civil rapport. She was of a slighter frame than the men, though still taller than Ansgarde, and unlike the other two, at least she had a strip of brown fabric covering her chest.

“Greetings,” Ansgarde called out. Could they even understand her?

“Look what the southern wind blew in,” the woman said in a nasal tone, not acknowledging her. Ansgarde understood the heavily accented speech, but the intonation landed strangely on her ears.

“Lamassu’s little blue pet?” said one of the men, eyeing Ansgarde’s wings with interest. A crooked ponytail held a mess of curly hair on top of his head like a bundle of twigs.

“What is a demon doing here?” the woman asked while looking at her but addressing the men.

Ansgarde gritted her teeth and stood firmly on her feet. She would not let puny humans with weird hair disrespect her. They were a difficulty she did not foresee, but she could be flexible. Sadie would have adapted to the situation. She could too.

“I’m here about the dragons.”

The two men guffawed while the woman fixed her large eyes on Ansgarde. Her dark eyelashes accentuated pale-emerald irises. If only her pupils were slitted, Lower Heliodor imps would be all over her. She could rival the Succubi with her pose.

“Get back whence you came from,” she shooed with her hand. “You won’t find any dragons here.”

“Lamassu said that this is the right island.”

The humans exchanged an amused look.

“Mafic, what’s blue, winged, and clueless?” the ponytail man said to the other who had abnormally large front teeth.

Mafic scratched his unkempt sandy mane, as bushy as his beard. “I don’t know, Felsic.” He looked up while tilting his head. “But it sounds tasty.”

Now it was the woman that roared with nasal laughter while Ansgarde frowned so hard, she could see her eyebrows.

“If you don’t know anything,” she tried to keep composure through their chuckles, “then I’ll find them myself.”

The woman raised her hand, and the men quieted down. She stepped closer.

“Oh, poor, helpless demon. We can’t have you lost on our islands now, can we?” She smiled gummily like one of the Lower Heliodor street vendors right before offering a shady deal. “Come. Maybe our Mystic knows something about the dragons.”

The man called Felsic snorted at her words but then motioned with both hands for Ansgarde to come with.

Gray rocky mountains loomed behind the humans. A stretch of empty blue sky lay behind her. She tightened her wings to stay warm and prevent the wind from knocking her over. She imagined the weather in the mountains to be even harsher. She could use a guide. It was convenient that semi-intelligent creatures inhabited the islands, but she did not appreciate their attitude.

“What do you think, Spinel?” she asked her friend, who quietly sat on her shoulder through this exchange.

Spinel shrugged. “Ai uh?”

A human Mystic, whatever the title meant, sounded promising, so she accepted their offer.

They traveled on a dirt path across a barren landscape. A few plants looked familiar with their green or orange leaves, but some looked more like crystals than vegetation. The wind blew gray dust in her eyes forcing her to squint. Neon-blue insects the size of Spinel hovered about her head, and she kept waving them away, unsure if they were a nuisance or a danger.

Her human guides constantly whispered to each other. Felsic or Mafic, she got them mixed up, the one with a ponytail, kept glancing in her direction and saying something apparently very funny to the other two. The other man slapped one of the insects with force, and it dropped to the ground fazed. He picked it up and slowly raised it to his mouth while looking Ansgarde straight in the eye. Spinel released an involuntary cry when he bit on the insect.

“Tasty blue meat,” he said with a full mouth, and his friend snorted next to him.

Ansgarde’s legs felt like lead while bile rose to her throat. They weren’t bringing her home to eat her now, could they? She had never heard of humans eating demons, but this was a very remote realm. Who knew what these crudes had evolved to? She maintained a safe distance and monitored their every move. She wouldn’t let them trap her.