There were quite a few of them. Reports were one thing, Vedette could read those until she was blue in the face but it wasn't the same as being out here in the thick of it. She was not as heavily armored as even the bandits roaming the forest, but that was for stealth. She was used to these surroundings, maybe even more so than any of the men trying to kill her now. As a younger dragon she wandered these very woods accompanied by her father and shot rabbits for supper. She knew how to make herself silent, just as she knew how to make herself invisible. Her face pressed close to the snow, her hair fanned over most of her face and only one eye was clearly visible there. Of course if someone happened upon her she would be seen, but her hiding spot was a good one. She was waiting. Listening, watching, and smelling her surroundings.
They did little to mask their scent. They thought that men were after them, soldiers, they had no idea that a dragon was on their trail now. Of course, she'd been nearly hit once tonight. When she went to pull that arrow what was left of his eye came with it. Gruesome work, but they were gruesome men who robbed and killed those in their outposts. Vedette didn't feel forgiving. She was suppose to kill all of them. Tracking them wasn't difficult, but it was the fact that these men fanned out and broke a part.. they didn't stick together. It was very much like chasing rabbits.
Someone in the woods let an arrow fly to her right. Vedette was already moving, rolling in the snow until she was on her feet and off at a run. Narrowly missing her was another arrow. She turned her head and saw the man, nocking another arrow. Vedette ran around a tree, dodged another one, weaving in and out with the speed of one of those rabbits she was just thinking of. A low branch, she grabbed hold and shot up onto it, then the next. With her back to the tree she nocked an arrow and waited. He was following her prints, wasn't he? Running had made it difficult to conceal but as she turned her body just slightly she saw what she was waiting for.
A few more steps. Just a few more.
His run brought him around the tree and to the small space between other trees. He was looking for her prints and did not have time to turn when he heard her arrow fly. It went right through the back of his neck and the steel tip protruded from his open mouth as he turned and fell with wide eyes. The only sound he made was that thump to the ground. How many more were watching? She heard more crushed snow there off a distance and turned herself, concealed by the thick branches of the tree and watched out that way.
If she saw too many.. if she could find one large group of them they would not know what hit them when she changed. They could not run from her freezing fog. They could not hide when the reeked of human smells. She would find them. But right now, the game of catching them was as fun as the game of catching rabbits. One at a time.