The Highlands

If It Only Were A Dragon [Chapter 19]

As we returned with Nariza to the forest village, I had to remind myself of the plan. “So, uh, here’s the deal,” I spoke up, marching up to her side. “So as I was saying back there, the gist of things, is that the villagers think poorly of you. Well, of the things they thought you were doing out there. I mean, they didn’t know it was you specifically, but they figured something evil was going on out there.”

“Yes, yes, it is all said and done. Their animals will find their way back to them and the puppets shall disappear.”

“Perfect,” I said, patting on her shoulder as if it seemed to be the right thing to do. “Well, we’re kind of holding up a deal with them. And we just need to show them that we dealt with, or in the case… captured the evil.”

“She might as well be evil with the smell about her,” Eriques whispered intentionally loud from my other side.

Nariza leaned past me and glared at the squire. “This one has not experienced a woman in her natural state it seems. Perhaps never a woman at all.”

I waved a hand in front of her face as a distraction. “Pay him no mind. The lot of us haven’t bathed for a good three days. We all stink in our own ways.”

Farvin spun around to face us, continually walking backward and nodding. “I have had nothing but the rain to wash myself for over two weeks now.”

I sighed. “I suppose a stop at the nearest river would do us all some good.”

Nariza suddenly stopped, holding out her hand before my chest. “Hold it. There is a beast in our midst.”

I felt for the hilt of my sword. Surely enough, there was a low crackling and shifting in the brush. “One of your pets, druid? Or perhaps one of the hounds from the village?”

Before I could speak another word, a shadow leaped from the brush. “Gladius!”

I jumped out of the way, but it was soon pouncing all about me, almost seeming to laugh. “Prince?”

The others dodged his playful leaps about the trees. Nariza held close to me, eyes locked to its motions.

“I’m sorry, Gladius!” the gnoll called out to us, his voice moving about us in his excited state. He finally ended up before our feet, kneeling on his paw-like hands, head down. “You three all left last night before I awoke for the night watch! And then… then I heard that you went off searching for something bad… and then it got really late, and I wanted to come after you!”

“We are quite fine, my friend,” I laughed. “Did you get lost here in the forest?”

Prince sat back on his haunches. “I, uh… you see, this forest is quite dark and thick. And to think that something strange was out here, too.”

“The ferocious beast,” Eriques chuckled. “Ready to take on a dragon but afraid of nature herself.”

The gnoll reared up and swiped at the squire with his paw. “I have lived in human abodes my entire life! The touch of moss and mud on my paws is… strange. Unsettling.”

Nariza suddenly dove at Prince, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You poor thing!”

Prince lurched back but remained in her grasp, his eyes pleading at me. “Who is this woman?”

“Another ally,” I said with a shrug.

She jerked back off a sudden at me, eyes judging. “Why did you not tell me that you had such a creature in your midst? I would have joined you without another word. Aren’t you just the cutest, fluffiest thing?”

I clicked my tongue. “I thought you were against keeping animals.”

The druid shook her head and let go. “A creature as intelligent as this could never be a pet. He’s practically a furry little human himself. An adorable one, aren’t you,” she concluded with a pet to the top of his maned head.

I could almost hear the sound of purring above his suddenly timid groans. “I get it,” I said, giving in. “Let’s deal with the villagers and get back to the others. There is a bigger beast to take on down the line.”

Our deeds were recognized with a meager celebration and a few sacks of dried foodstuffs. After departing the forest village, I ended the charade of Nariza being our captive and explained to the others about our newfound ally. Though not thrilled with her proclivities or hygiene, many were happy to hear that she would not be digging into our supplies of meats. The druid herself rode happily in the cart with Prince.

It was but a few hours into that day’s journey when we found ourselves climbing up in elevation. The once thick forest began to fade out as well. Before long, the mossy and leaf-littered road turned to hardened mud, embedded with slick rocks and boulders. Birds cast shadows upon us from above, seeking perches in the sparse woods.

At the very least, the forks in the road were more easy to spot when it was clear. During a break for lunch that day, Farvin pointed out the jagged peaks of the mountains on the horizon.

“If you keep your eyes on them, we’ll keep heading east.”

I stared more, looking left and right across the expanse that lay before us. It was true, there were no signs of the mountains reaching their end in either direction.

“We are so close, and only after so many days,” I pondered aloud.

“Actually, Gladius,” Eriques spoke up, mouth full of rations shoved hastily into his cheek. “They just look so close because they’re so big.”

“How big exactly?” I asked, still studying the form on the horizon more carefully.

My squire swallowed the mouthful of food. “Bigger than… the capital. Bigger than… the sea.”

“The sea?” I recoiled. “Surely that can’t be true.”

Eriques wagged a finger at me with a grin. “You’ve caught me. I’ve never seen the whole sea after all. But it is true, even real big things look small from a distance.”

“Is that so?”

Eriques nodded and gnawed off another piece of hard tack from his rations. “When we were young, me and the other lads on the streets would lay down and cup our hands and fingers, peer through them, pretending we were crushing the castle within our grasp.”

I stood up, an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. “The castle? And what would happen to the people inside the castle? That could have been a time when I was on duty!”

My squire held his hands in the air in front of him. “It was just playin’, I swear, Glad. Make-believe.”

I sighed and sat back on the ground. “Well, don’t try it again, lest one of you discover some sorcery in the palms of those hands.”

Farvin swallowed a bit more of his food and finally spoke up again. “I tried that make-believe stuff too, Eriques. Did it with the sun, mashing it between my fingers. Too bright, it is.”

I forced down the last bit of my rations and wiped my hands against each other. “So, the mountains are the far reaches of our Kingdom. What is beyond them, I wonder?”

“If that’s where the dragon came from,” Eriques hummed, “Then I’d like to not find out.”

I glanced back at the rest of my men and our two newfound allies, the word dragon freshly returned to my mind. “Indeed. Let us focus on this singular dragon, for the time being. Now that we’re out in the open here in these lands, we can’t let our guards down. Who knows where it may be or what destruction it may be sewing right now.”

<– Previous Chapter | Next Chapter –>