A great deal of resentment went through Sandra's mind as she made her way down the mountain and through the woods that were outside of Free Town. All of those mythical animals, who her daughter would have liked, had robbed her of everything. The griffons had stolen her cattle making it difficult to keep her farm, and a part of her was certain that they had also carried off her daughter and thus robbed her of her family. The fairies had stolen her corn and further weakened her ability. Then she found the box of vials and became a dragon, the "dragon in the mountain" and the parts of her human life that she'd lost became less important. She had no need for a farm and as a dragon she could gain power over Free Town as revenge for their ignoring her calls for help. She also had the strength and power to make the griffons fear her and potentially get even for losing her daughter.
She'd loved the power that she'd had as a dragon, but the only thing that had her down was that she was alone. She needed to get a male and the vials again to get her a mate and let her start over. A family of dragons could have easily dominated and controlled Free Town, make the people there do as she wished and make sure the griffons would never pose a threat to her again. Her hopes there had then been foiled by Jim and Abby. At first, Jim was a promising target to secure as her mate and that she'd dominate him to keep him subservient to her, after all, they had been arguing when they first entered the cave. But it turned out that their bond was stronger than Sandra had first assumed. Abby sacrificed her humanity to try and save her boyfriend and did her best to try and hold Sandra to an honest deal, and when that failed, Abby fought. And with the powers of a dragon and a hydra, Abby had been a tough opponent in that it was difficult to try and kill her, and the fight bought time for Jim to transform and unite the griffons and the fairies behind him and Abby. Together, they not only beat her, but turned Sandra back into a human.
Now she was human again and had lost everything. She didn't have the power of her dragon/hydra form and would be held accountable the loss of her farm and everything else. She longed for a chance to get even and make all of them pay for wronging her, but she knew couldn't force the griffons or Jim and Abby into doing anything in her human form. That meant recovering the box, which she was sure Jim and Abby would either hide or destroy... or give it to the griffons to hide. The only way that she'd get a chance to find out what was done with the box would be if she could get the police or the army or the air force to take on Jim and Abby and hopefully strike with weapons that would have the strength to penetrate their hides. That left her one hope that seeing her dragon form had been enough to get the police to try harder.
As such she made her way through the woods as she came down the mountain. It wasn’t easy. Rocks and pine cones cut her human feet and branches and other obstacles in the forest scratched at her sides. It hurt and it made Sandra frequently stop and lean against a tree to rub at her feet or the scratches on her body. The pain was sharp and stinging, but it wasn’t the pain of impending transformation and power, which was depressing for her. It served as a reminder of what she had lost. Her trek down the mountain and back toward Free Town made her truly miss even just her dragon form. Her thick scales had been strong enough to endure everything she was walking over as if it were nothing. In fact, in her dragon form she’d been pretty much impervious to any of the weapons humanity had used against her, and now that was gone.
“You think you’ve won,” Sandra grumbled as she looked up toward where her cave, now Jim and Abby’s, was, “but I will be back… I will get the vials… I will get my power back.”
With that, she then continued on in starts and stops. She couldn’t just stay in the woods and hope that the griffons, Jim, Abby, or the fairies would leave the box of vials unguarded, as that might take too long, and beastly griffons that had taken everything from her before, despite their claims to the contrary, would surely go further if it meant preventing her from gaining the power and security she deserved. That made her dependent on getting back into town, and she continued on her way, especially as the sun began to set on the western horizon.
The forest was already fairly dark before, but as the sun went down it grew darker still, and Sandra knew that with a human’s eyes, she’d never see well enough to make it on her own. She’d either trip over something or walk straight into something that could do a human real harm. Thankfully, though, she hadn’t and as the sun set she began to hear the sounds of automobile traffic. She knew she was approaching one of the roads that lead into Free Town, though for the moment she couldn’t be sure which one. The only thing she could be sure of was that she’d have her chance to get into town and make her report to the police that Abby was the “dragon in the mountain” that had destroyed her farm and caused all the trouble and with her mate held Sandra captive. She figured that would keep the police from charging her with public nudity and might give her a chance of some stability and help until she could be sure that the police, the Air Force, or the Army had dealt with Jim and Abby once and for all, and thus allowing her to go back and reclaim the box of vials.
Reaching the road didn’t improve things that much, as the road surface was hot from the day and Sandra found that she wasn’t going to get a lot of help from other drivers. She knew people had seen her, but no one stopped. After a few moments, she finally got “help,” though in the form of a police officer coming up with his lights flashing.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” the officer spoke politely as he stopped his car and raised his hands up to try and get Sandra to stop walking.
“Oh thank goodness… someone’s finally come to help,” Sandra spoke, beginning to go into the routine she’d been mentally rehearsing to try get the police behind her.
“Help, ma’am?” the officer asked, “I’ve been getting calls of a woman walking down the Parkway Road buck naked… and here you are, buck naked.”
“I am naked… yes,” Sandra said slowly and looked down to her nude form, “but it isn’t entirely of my own volition. I’ve recently made quite the escape and have been looking for help.”
The officer slowly nodded and looked over Sandra’s body, noting the scrapes and cuts from her walk through the woods.
“My name is Sandra Rogers,” Sandra spoke, “I used to have a farm near here, but I lost it when the dragon in the mountain came down and grabbed me… burned down the farm and drove off your chief and his officers.”
“Sandra Rogers…” the officer mused for a moment, tapping the roof of his car, “Sandra Rogers…”
Sandra stood by quietly, as it was clear that the officer was thinking over things as if he was trying to remember something. Sandra was more than willing to let him think, as she had been the dragon in the mountain for so long that many of the officers might have forgotten entirely about her protests that the griffons had been raiding her farm. It might take the officer a moment to remember. Eventually the man’s eyes widened, indicating that he had had a memory flash.
“Sandra Rogers! You’re the one always calling about griffons stealing things!” the officer spoke with realization.
“Yes, they were stealing my livelihood from my farm… but no one did anything,” Sandra answered, “and then the dragon came down from the mountain and finished off my farm and then carried me off. I’ve only just recently escaped.”
“Oh man, oh man,” the officer spoke quickly and leaned into his car to pop the trunk on his car.
Sandra watched as the officer went back to the trunk of his car and then come back carrying a large dark blue blanket. He slowly walked toward her and handed her the blanket, which she accepted. She began to wrap it around her, figuring that her ruse had worked.
“Thank you,” Sandra spoke as politely as she could.
“The dragon held you prisoner?” the officer asked.
“Her AND her mate, a great blue scaled male,” Sandra answered, “they live in a cave in the mountain.”
Sandra raised a hand to point toward where her former cave was. The officer followed her arm into the woods and the mountain beyond. He hadn’t been there when the dragon in the mountain first appeared, but he had heard many of the stories of the dragon and all the trouble it caused. Sandra’s report that it had mate made him even more nervous, as it would mean double the trouble.
“You’re lucky to escape,” the officer spoke.
“Yes,” Sandra nodded, “and if I could get some help… I’d be more than willing to point on a map exactly where their cave is.”
The officer nodded, “You’ll get it. Climb in the back. I may have to take you into the station, but we’ll get you some medical treatment for those cuts and scrapes and we’ll see what we can do for clothes and seeing that you get a place to stay until you can get back on your feet Mrs. Rogers…”
“And I’ll tell you where the cave is,” Sandra commented with a smile.
“And hopefully, the dragon and her mate won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore,” the officer spoke again, which only made Sandra smile confidently as her plan was working perfectly.