1447

Kendra did her third triple check of all her gear and then checked one more time just to be sure. She knew ten times was excessive, but she wasn't leaving anything to chance. Not after what happened the last time she crossed this dragon.

The previous night, she'd dropped her tiny airship into a gap in the trees where a wide river flowed. She adjusted the trim so she was only a few feet above the water, then lowered her caterpillar.

The caterpillar was an enchanted leather strip about five feet long and two feet tall with floats on it. When it landed in the water, it caught the current while the floats kept it from sinking. It was attached to her airship with a rope, and it pulled her along with the current. That allowed her to creep silently toward the dragon's airship below the tree line where she wouldn't be spotted. She was only a few hundred yards away by midnight when she'd pulled out the caterpillar and dropped the anchor.

It was a perfect position to strike at dawn.

She'd woken