There was one thing Lethe was seeking above all: The magical golden bracelet that would grant her the power to survive the devastation that was coming to her village. With it, she would live. She would be granted power of her own, and she would escape the horrors she knew must be coming.

That her quest would lead her to this mountain, to the lair of this dragon, she had never guessed. But she had known it would not be safe.

She kept to the river, at first. She poled a small craft towards the mountain, and disembarked as close as she dared without, she hoped, giving the beast warning. Already, she had the unquiet sense that it knew more of the goings-on around it than she would prefer.