Carrion Woods ideas please

[Saxon]

New problem. Last night my Carrion Dragon retreated from a battle that he would have won naked, in his sleep, with his claws tired. It was in friendly dominion and one carrion critter had spawned. Mitlan attacked, killed the critter and the CD retreated. Thing was, there was nowhere to run and he was killed…

Any way around this sort of problem? I suppose some PD would have helped, but Carrion Woods is low on cash and I was expecting to lose the province. I only took it to destroy the temple, as I am counting on a lot of dominion in this game.