Four dragons shuffled about in front of a twisted spire of rock, glancing awkwardly at each other.  They weren’t all strangers.  Zenaida and Reverence knew each other from egg transporting that spring.  Quill and Prometheus were childhood friends.  Still, none of them really knew how to approach each other, given that the thread that linked them, Terranon, still wasn’t here yet.  Zenaida lifted a claw to wave to Quill, who nodded back.  Prometheus watched Reverence drape himself over a rock like a scarf.  Finally, with a rush of wings and stirred sand, Terranon arrived.  She gazed at them all, stern for a moment as blue sparks drifted around her.  Then, she bowed, a smile breaking onto her face.  

“Welcome!” she called.  “I heard you all were looking for a challenge!  Fortunately, I have one for you.  I know some of you haven’t met yet, but we should all know each other’s names from the letters I sent.  We will have to work together if we want to be successful.  Sand wyrms are large and dangerous, even to a dragon.”

Reverence raised a claw.  “What’s a sand wyrm?” he asked.

“They’re a big worm that burrows in the sand and rock.  They have sharp teeth, but a lot of meat, and they tend to hoard shiny things.  They also eat humans and young dragons, and this one lives near a village, so we should really get rid of it,” Terranon explained.  Quill and Prometheus’s eyes lit up at the mention of shiny things, while the thought of protecting dragonets made Zenaida’s brow furrow in determination.

“Let’s get to it, then,” Prometheus growled.

Terranon shook her head.  “It won’t be that easy.  We have to find it, then lure it out.  In its tunnels, we won’t have room to fly, which is a death sentence.”  She looked at each of them in turn, her eyes serious.

“Where was the last place it was spotted?” Quill asked, stepping forward.  “That’ll give us a place to start.  And I think I have an idea for luring it out.”  The other dragons looked at her with curiosity, but she didn’t elaborate, and after a moment’s pause Terranon decided to answer her question.

“It was last seen consuming a merchant’s wagon on a road east of here.  I suspect it’s built its burrow under the roads in that area, to target those trying to pass.  There’s been at least one other instance of a traveler being lost there,” she said.

Prometheus lashed his tail a bit, iridescent wings flared.  “Lead the way,” he said, again in a growl.  Terranon nodded, and without further discussion, she led the group into the sky.  Prometheus followed close behind her, with Quill and Zenaida less hurried after.  Reverence chose to wrap himself around Zenaida’s neck rather than try to keep up with the much larger dragons.

The group flew east, passing over rocks and sand and barren scrub.  After half an hour’s flight, they came across a road, part of it sunken into the earth like it had collapsed into a hollow space underneath.  Terranon guided them down, landing at the edge of the sinkhole.  “This is where it attacked,” she said.  Everyone nodded.  It was obvious.  “We’ll spiral out from here,” she continued, “until we find where it’s currently hiding.  The spot will be a large circle, the same size as this one, and it’ll look like it’s ringed in jagged rocks.  Don’t step in the ring, as those are its jaws, hidden beneath the sand.  Once we find it, we lure it out.”  She glanced at Quill, but the other sapiere remained silent, only returning a firm nod.

Reverence checked out the hole.  Its diameter was as wide as he was long.  Such a creature would be a challenge even for the sapieres in the group, let alone him.  His ears flattened as he regretted agreeing to this.  Well, he couldn’t exactly back out now.

After a moment of sniffing around to learn what they could of the sand wyrm, Prometheus was the first to lead them back into the sky.  They soared slowly, watching the ground for any suspiciously circular rock formations.  The sun moved, tipping later and later into afternoon.  Zenaida was already tired from the journey she’d made; the Frigid empire was quite a distance from the Scorched empire.  She began to lag behind the others, and Reverence switched to riding on Quill to save her the extra weight.

Finally, Prometheus spotted what they were looking for.  Along another road, worryingly close to the village, rocks jutted out from either side of the wheel ruts.  The road would never have been built so close to such sharp stones, and the dirt they sprang from was freshly disturbed.  The group wheeled about, landing a safe distance away.  All looked to Quill.  It was time for her plan.