This is a truly fantastic commission by TheOwlette featuring Ashar and my good friend Thorphax! I've written something to go with it, which you can find below. Just want to say first that I really love how this came out! It's really really amazing <3 Owlette did great with it! Read on if you like:

The dust cloud was concealed by a high ridge between two mountain peaks for much of the morning. Ashar managed to go for his morning flight and even hunt without noticing it, and he was just burying the remains of his kill when he looked up and spied the haze of it drifting over the rocky ledge. He merely blinked, at first; perhaps it was just a blast of wind blowing some dust loose from the mountainside, or a bit of cloud, or even a couple of other dragons wrestling... Either way the source, whatever it might be, was not far beyond the edge of his territory, so the black-and-orange dragon decided he needed to investigate.

Even weighed down by his recent meal, a flick of his wings was all he needed to get airborne, and he spiraled higher and higher, nearly wriggling in delight as the air raced across his scales, caught under the wide taut membrane of his wings, and helped him surge higher, higher into the sky. Lean and with broader wings than the average dragon, Ashar needed only a few moments to reach the altitude of the ridge, and up and up he went, banking away from the wind and twisting his shoulders to turn, peering over the ridge to locate the source of the dust.

But it wasn't just a little puff on the wind. It was a big, proper cloud of rising dust, carrying not just from the other side of the mountain, but from the deep valley below: there was a road there, used by traveling anthros and humans, and that much dust could only mean the road was [i]very[/i] busy today. His wings flapping easily to keep him balanced on the wind, he drifted closer, curious. This road led from the forested region to the east through the mountains to the flat plains to the west, bypassing the town on the other side of his territory but for a small, winding, treacherous trail that led up and over two sizable mountains. A few times a year big traveling caravans of merchants would rumble down the road going from one side of the mountain range to the other, and usually they'd stop at the head of the trail to show some of their wares to the townsfolk; Ashar even liked to visit the wagons himself--in the company of some anthros, so he wouldn't frighten the tradesmen--to get a look at the sort of goods they sold, even if he rarely bought anything.

Ashar let himself drift a little lower, peering down through the rising dust--and backwinging just as quickly. This was no caravan.

This was an army!

There was no mistaking it. The road was a nearly endless stream of soldiers, wearing or carrying weapons and armor and standards with a crossed red-and-yellow insignia, even a few siege engines rumbling along here and there, the marching feet and grinding wheels kicking up a truly massive cloud of dust. Though a few looked up in his direction, shaded their eyes against the sun to see him, or even strung bows in case he made to attack, most only kept marching: big quadruped dragons like himself almost always lived without rule from or allegiance to any of the human or anthro kingdoms, and strong as dragons could be, there was no reason for him to attack such a massive force when there was nothing to gain from it, so his shadow over them was little cause for concern.

The same could not be said for the dragon. The army marching beneath him was massive, beyond anything he'd ever seen, and outnumbered the entire population of the village across that narrow trail--but like most people, this army was bypassing the track as well. He sighed a little. The townsfolk--some he knew, a few he even counted as friends, rare for a dragon--were safe from this threat, or so he hoped. Certainly it seemed unlikely such an army would be summoned to attack the town! Wheeling around, he flew from one end of the column to the other, trying to get a sense of the numbers, but there were just so many... A few thousand, at least!

Maybe the soldiers didn't mean to attack his friends, but Ashar still felt like they needed to know about this army! So he peeled away from the valley and stretched himself out for speed, racing across the mountains nearly as fast as he could, weaving between peaks, diving through valleys, and at last coming to the broad green bowl-shaped valley that sheltered a small lake and a cluster of wood and stone buildings: Aurecia, the inhabitants had named their village. With the sun near its zenith, it was bustling with the activity of all the little bipeds going about whatever they did to occupy themselves, talking, trading, cooking, smithing... He always marveled at how busy they seemed to so constantly be, and did not envy them for it. A dragon's life seemed so much easier by comparison.

He paused long enough to circle the town once. He'd learned quickly when dealing with smaller creatures that when one wanted to approach them peacefully, it was best to make sure he didn't surprise them, and despite being almost a regular visitor to the town at this point he knew that many of the inhabitants were still at least nervous about him, if not afraid. Who could blame them, when he was so much bigger and stronger, he supposed, but there was nothing he could do about that! So he flew a circle around the perimeter of the town, a few hundred feet up, before finding a broad flat open space near the shore of the lake to land. Not only was it a space clear of obstructions that might snag his wings or tail, the ground was damp here thanks to the water so nearby and the blasts of wind from his flaring wings as he set down didn't kick up much dust.

"Ashar! Hey buddy!"

The first villager to greet him was Silas, as usual: the shaggy dark-haired equine anthro had probably started heading for the lake the moment he'd heard the sound of his wings on the air. Giving his wings one [i]long[/i] stretch, he tucked them in against his back and perked his head towards the horse. "Silas! How are things here? Quiet?" he asked. The army seemed to be passing by, the town didn't look uncommonly busy or like it was preparing for something... They likely hadn't heard about the army at all yet.

He skidded to a stop on his hooves, and reached up without hesitation to stroke the scales of Ashar's broad neck. "Yes. Just a typical day until you showed up! How about you?" He kept rubbing, and Ashar arched his neck just a little, encouraging. He did like the feel of the pettings...

No. He shook himself all over, the motion driving his friend back a step; there were more important things on his mind right now than neck scratches! He glanced around until he saw the red-scaled bipedal dragon standing closer to the edge of town, leaning against a building: Thorphax, who ran the town guard, and reliably tailed him whenever he came to visit. Sometimes he just wanted to tell him it was all right, he wasn't going to cause trouble, but he'd never called out the watchman for it... and now it was a good thing he'd come, preparing to do so again.

"Hey. Thorphax." The dragon looked up, seeming surprised to be addressed directly. "News for you."

He came over to hear. "What's that?"

"I was over by the east-west road a little while ago." He looked around, to see if the dust cloud was visible from town, but the mountains seemed to block it from view, down in the valley. "There's an army marching west, a big one. They don't seem to have any interest in Aurecia, but I thought you might want to know."

Thorphax frowned. "How big?"

"A few thousand at least. The biggest I've seen, definitely."

"That's a big army!" Silas kicked at the ground a couple of times, his hoof leaving indents. "But who?"

"Going west, you said? Could be Thenna. Did you see their banners? What did they look like?"

Ashar bobbed his head up and down. "Yes. Red with crossing yellow stripes."

"Thenna. I was afraid of that." Thorphax looked back into town, then up at Ashar. "They're most likely trying to invade Hyress. We owe the Hyressian king our loyalty and support..." He put a hand on the hilt of his sword; Ashar stiffened a little from the gesture, even though he knew it wasn't because of him. "I have to talk to the leadership. Silas-- Don't let Ashar leave." He turned and set off into town at once, nearly running in his haste, before he could be made to explain himself.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ashar huffed, his tail lashing back and forth. He wasn't a subject to be ordered around, he was a dragon, and he'd do as he wished! "Don't let me leave... What does he think I'm going to do? Join them?"

Silas started stroking his neck again, soothingly. "Of course not! He probably just wants you to stay long enough to know if we'll need your help, that sort of thing. Like, if they decided to send some men this way, you could probably just knock a few trees across the road coming here and make them turn back without any trouble."

He huffed softly, but that sounded sensible enough, he supposed, and he was on friendly terms with the villagers, after all, so if there was potential for them to be in danger he probably wouldn't mind helping out. "All right," he said after a moment, and let the scratchings help him get over the indignation of one of the bipeds attempting to control him--again.

"There's the happy dragon I know," Silas chuckled when the rubs brought a low purr to Ashar's throat. "Have you eaten? We could go see if Martin's willing to part with a few sausages for you."

Full as he was, his still mouth watered. The bipeds sure did have a way of cooking food that gave it such interesting, exciting tastes that he didn't get to experience with fresh prey! It wouldn't do to overeat, though... "No, I'm fresh from hunting," he finally said, though there was audible reluctance in his voice. "Some water would be good though."

"Certainly. Come on, let's get some from the well."

Silas led the way into town, Ashar padding along just behind him. Thorphax was nowhere to be seen, in his meeting with the town leaders apparently, so for once he didn't have somebody armed tailing him; that didn't seem to affect his reception from the townspeople, though, with some of them saying hello, or giving a friendly wave or a hand or nod of the head. Others said nothing, or stayed as far from him as possible, while a few went to the extreme of hurrying inside and slamming doors to get them between themselves and the big dragon. Oh well.

Once at the covered well at the center of the village, Silas let the bucket down into the cool water down below, waited a moment, then steadily cranked it back up--Ashar would have offered to help, but he had difficulty grasping it, and the last time he'd tried he'd damaged it! Instead he only sat on his haunches to wait, tail swaying slowly behind him, and once the bucket was up he dunked his nose in and sucked it try in a few long draughts, washing his mouth and throat clean of the last remains of his earlier meal.

"It must be nice to be so big and strong," Silas said as he drank.

Ashar took it as a compliment for a moment, until he looked up from the water to see the concern on his friend's face, his ears twisting warily this way and that, a frown across his muzzle. "Hmm?" he said, interrogative, to let Silas elaborate.

"Well--" His tail swished, noisily. "You're so much bigger than us, you've got the scales, the claws and teeth..." He waved a paw vaguely at his snout. "When there's trouble, you know you can defend yourself. But I've never picked up anything more dangerous than a butcher's knife. If there was a battle here, I don't know what I'd do. Or if I'm even capable of doing anything useful in one."

Ashar tilted his head. He was, just as Silas suggested, quite confident of how to handle himself in a fight, and if the odds ever looked against him, he could always just spread his wings and fly away faster than any pursuit. But he'd never thought about how the other races must feel in such situations, or even that most of them might have no training or experience at all to help them through it. That was another problem dragons didn't have: physical prowess was everything to his kind. It decided territorial boundaries, possession of prey and treasures, even decided if they were worthy of a mate--a dragon learned to fight whether it liked to or not, even one as friendly and carefree as himself.

The silence stretched on, and on; he didn't know what to say that could help, not when self-defense came so instinctually to him. At last he decided just to try to comfort him, nosing at his shoulder and saying, "don't worry. I'm sure they won't come here. And if you're ever worried about it, I'm sure there's someone here who can help teach you how to use a weapon."

"Yeah... I suppose so." He sighed, and put a hand on his neck, stroking again, gently, almost to comfort himself more than his big scaled friend. "But still. It must be nice."

Ashar only nodded--but then straightened up when Thorphax emerged from the town hall across the square, several other men in tow: some guardsmen, some the town's elder leadership, and the guards were carrying something big and leathery that was more familiar than Ashar would have liked! The sight of it set him growling at once, and he resisted the instinct to bare his teeth.

"Ashar! Thank you for staying. We need your help," Thorphax said.

The dragon eyed the saddle they carried darkly. "In what way?"

"Hyress must be warned about this army, but the road they're taking is the fastest way there. If any of us tried to go that way, they'd stop us."

He cut him off with a growl. "So you want me to fly you there."

"Please. It's the only way the King will get the advance warning he needs to marshal his defenses. You can fly right past them without them being able to stop you, and you can fly farther in a couple of hours than they can march in a week. We need your help."

Ashar sighed, and looked around: from the grave faces of the town council, to the nervousness of the guards--and the small crowd that had gathered--to Silas's clear worry. He didn't like the saddle, he didn't like carrying any of them around--well, except Silas--but he wanted to make sure they were safe and happy. Silas--all of them really--were his neighbors, his friends. He wanted to help. Heaving another sigh, he said, "okay. I'll do it."

The smaller creatures let out a collective relieved sigh of their own. "Thank you," said Thorphax. "I'll ride you there; it's about fifty miles. Far for us but not for you. Just crouch down so we can get the saddle on, okay?"

The saddle was a large hunk of leather with a number of long, solid straps. Since it had to keep out of the way of his wings, it could only anchor around the base of his neck and the base of his tail to remain stable, giving the assembly a long, narrow appearance. He crouched low to the ground, and on it went, centered between his wings, straps running around his chest, shoulders, neck, and the base of his tail, as Thorphax tucked a few things into the saddlebags, one at the back of the saddle and one against his chest.

"Easy there. Nice dragon... nice and easy..." one of the guards was saying, unnecessarily, as if he was a spooked horse--one of the feral ones, anyway--rather than an intelligent being! He nearly nipped at the dog just to make a point... until he saw the dog untangling a bridle.

"That's not necessary," he growled.

Thorphax shook his head. "It is."

"It is not! I'm not going to bite you... unless you deserve it," he amended himself with a snort. "And if you need to tell me where to go, you can just tell me. I don't need the muzzle and I don't need the reins." This time he did bare his teeth, warningly.

"Yes, but in Hyress they're not used to having a dragon around, like we are here. Even with me riding you, they're liable to look at you as a threat--"

"Like you do?"

Thorphax stopped, and flinched, and shook his head after a moment. "I follow you around to make sure nobody causes you too much trouble. Not to make sure you don't trouble anyone. The point is--if you're wearing the bridle, the soldiers and knights at the capital won't worry you burning down half the city while we're there. Trust me, this is better."

"Or I could just tell them I've come peacefully."

Thorphax took the bridle himself--the dog holding it had taken several steps backward in the face of all those big sharp dragon teeth. "I can try that when we get there, and take it off if they believe me. Otherwise..."

Ashar lashed his tail, snarled, stamped a hind paw. This was unnecessary. Demeaning. Mean! But they were insistent-- Time was of the essence-- "Oh fine. Just get it over with."

Another sigh of relief. "Thank you. Open up, now," he said, raising the metal bit towards his nose, and Ashar did as he was asked. In went the bit, all the way to the back of his maw where he couldn't get it between his teeth, and then all the straps went tight, around his snout, behind his jaw, and at the base of his skull, holding it in place, quieting him, and cutting off any attempts at fire.

While the rest of them and Thorphax discussed whatever final matters they had to coordinate, Silas leaned close and stroked Ashar's nose. "Be safe, friend," he said softly, and Ashar rumbled softly in response, pressing his snout against the hand. "Be careful, and fly fast, and be careful in the city. Thorphax has been there before, he knows them. He'll keep them from antagonizing you, and you'll be back here soon I'm sure."

That was the last he managed to say before Thorphax climbed up into the saddle and took hold of the reins--jerking them back a little, and making him growl, turning his head back to glare. Not a good start, and he hadn't even left the ground yet! But the two-legged dragon was only busy strapping himself into the saddle for stability, not even seeming to notice, before finally he looked forward. "Ready?"

Ashar growled again, but bobbed his head. He'd flown with someone on his back before, and though he didn't [i]like[/i] it, he was used to the additional weight. "Rrrrnnh."

"Good. Let's get going; there's no time to waste."

Okay. That Ashar could do; nothing came more naturally to him than flight. After giving Silas one last nudge goodbye, he stood up and pranced backward, spreading his wings out and giving them a couple of experimental flaps to make sure the saddle didn't catch them anywhere, and that neither the saddle nor his rider came loose! Once he was satisfied everything was properly settled, he gathered himself, took a deep breath, and launched himself into the sky.

This wasn't Thorphax's first flight, but it was still a sudden enough leap to make him yelp in surprise, a sound that gave Ashar some small satisfaction. The sky was [i]his[/i] domain, and even this bipedal dragon didn't truly belong there! Now to show him what he could really do, he thought, and beat hard with his wings, the membranes snapping loudly taut with every stroke as they thrust at the air. His limbs all tucked in tight for speed, and he pointed himself west, flying as quickly as he could. Thorphax had asked for speed, and that was what he'd get! Maybe he wasn't happy about wearing the bridle, or having a rider... But this was important. So he put in all the effort he could, surging across the sky towards the distant city, and far outstripping the army on the road.

He glanced briefly back at his rider: he was hunched down very low on his back, his face grim and set. Good. This was the time to be serious, after all... They had an important message to deliver.