In Danger’s Path

If It Were Only A Dragon [Chapter 20]

There were no signs of towns or settlements there in the highlands thus far. As night descended upon the Kingdom, we stumbled upon a copse of trees and brush hugging a decent-sized stream.

As we settled down, I called out to the others to make sure they remembered I was in charge, and to raise morale a bit.

“Alright you guy— you lot,” I said, watching the faces turn my way. “We’re encroaching on the territory where the dragon was last seen, and it’s reasonable to believe it’s on the move. We must all be on alert. Try your best this evening to rest well and ready yourselves for the days ahead. And, of course, while we’re near water, wash up, please. Some of you really need it.”

I saw Henrik, the knight from the university, raise his hand. I responded justly. “Yes, my good man?”

“Sir, I recommend giving out bathing orders as we have females in our midst. And to be prepared to rebuke any of these lads who would dare to peek.”

Eriques smacked his hands together with a loud clap. “And to make sure any drinking water gathered is upstream of anyone bathing!”

“Thank you, squire,” I nodded. “Good thinking, sir Henrik. Jennifer, leave for the river first and bring the Druid with you. Prince, perhaps accompany them, if they allow. Keep an eye out.”

“Can do,” the gnoll said proudly, pushing himself off the ground.

As someone who values his privacy, and who certainly has no strange deformities he wishes to keep hidden, I opted to wait for the others to bathe first. Alas, sleep took hold of me before I could head down to the river.

All things considered, I slept decently in the back of the wagon. The borrowed bedding was starting to smell, and the bottom of the wooden cart was no replacement for a mattress, but the exhaustion from actively leading a group of others turned me into a freshly nursed baby once more.

I would have slept soundly through the night if it were not for the scream that pierced the darkness.

“What the hell is that!”

“Huh? Oh god, it’s so slippery!”

“Where did this come from?”

The commotion woke some of the others up, seemingly one by one. Now normally, I would have gotten straight out of bed to determine the source of the complaints. This time however I decided to keep my eyes shut and teach the men a lesson in dealing with an issue with no clear guidance. After all, if the dragon had actually come upon us, my squire or the gnoll would have come to pull me awake without restraint.

“There’s so many!” Another yell came from outside the coverings of the wagon.

“Someone get a torch lit! It may scare them off!”

Nariza’s voice was suddenly among them. “Don’t you dare hurt any of them! Let me hear you out, little ones. Hey, you idiot knight, what did I just say!”

“Like hell! What if it laid eggs in my throat or something!”

“Who decided for us to sleep here?”

“They weren’t here earlier this evening!”

“Oh god, the gnoll just swallowed one whole! I’m going to be sick!”

The commotion certainly was making it hard to sleep. On top of that, beneath the loud complaints, there was a low, continuous sound, like a humming. My curiosity overrode my exhaustion for that moment only, and I tossed off the blanket.

Sitting on my knees, I threw open the flaps on the wagon cover. Before I could even look out through the moonlight at the situation, something wet and slimy slapped me across the face.

The shock woke me fully. I was able to catch the spongy object before it hit the ground. In my grasp, I found a slimy, springy creature the size of my fist struggling to squirm free. I tossed it down to the ground.

“Frogs?” I hissed, wiping my hand clean of the slimy remains on the wagon.

“They’re everywhere, sir!” The response came back my way.

Nariza skipped my way, jumping back and forth to avoid stepping on the defenseless creatures. She landed on the hitch and presented a fist full of amphibian my way. “Gladius! Look at him!”

I pushed her hand back. “Yes, if you see one, you’ve seen a thousand.”

“Okay, but listen, too!” She insisted, shaking the creature before my face.

“What makes you think I understand a thing about their croaking?”

“Ugh, fine!” The druid said with a huff, pulling her warty gift back to her chest. “They’re running away from something. Coming from downstream.”

“The filth that you and the others washed from your bodies earlier this evening?”

“A creature!” She insisted. “Something big!”

I shoved her aside and scanned the moonlit horizon. “Dragon…”

---

The wave of frogs eventually passed, but the druid relayed their message to the rest of us. Some tried to sleep, myself included, while others watched the sky for anything daring to come near. Even my fine borrowed sheets couldn’t lull me back to sleep.

At the first signs of morning, we began to pack and take in a light breakfast, expecting the worst. I gathered everyone around, addressing them with a plan of action.

“I’ve thought about this long and hard,” I said. That was a lie. “There is a mage from the Ministry of Magics who I assumed we would meet up with before our encounter. She has practical knowledge of dragons, while we can only operate on what I’ve personally learned from the tomes of knowledge I’ve been able to study. For that reason, should we encounter this dragon in the coming days, we must lay low and study its movements and behavior and determine how we will take it down.”

Yes, sticking to observation would allow me to buy more time to do proper long and hard thinking. To determine the roles for each member of our crew to take on. To see if the elf would ever show herself. Maybe even see if the dragon got bored and returned back over the mountains.

Eriques cleared his voice. “There is one among us who has seen it, though. For real.”

All eyes turned to my squire, and I almost called out for him to shut up. He pointed at Farvin, poking at the low, dying fire with a stick that was catching flames itself.

In the quiet, the easterner lifted his head. “Huh? Me?”

“How big was it?” Strad asked first, leaning in.

“Did you see it breathe fire?”

“Is it true it was able to eat livestock whole?”

Farvin lowered his head. “I… have not actually seen it. I was… goofing off, as usual, when it showed up. Far at the other side of town. I did see the cow carcass after it got itself ate, and a field and house were right burnt up. But the dragon had gone off since then, burnin’ and feeding in different places. I might have helped, kept watch on the skies at the least. But since I’m usually just getting in the way, the elder sent me off to the capital to find the help we needed.”

The group went silent. Even though I didn’t owe the man anything, I spoke up in his stead. “I guess then we are all in the same boat, going into this blind. One might say the blind leading the blind, even. Is that the appropriate thing to say?”

There was more silence.

“But more than blind… we are brave!” I continued. “And with that, we shall take on this challenge. In the case we must face the dragon sooner than later, have your sword at the ready and bows strung, quivers full. If it starts to rain fire, try to be aware of where the cart and the supplies of flame resistance potions are.”

“Just don’t mix up the two kinds,” Eriques added with a tap to his chest and a shiver.

“Right,” I nodded. “Eat up and then we shall depart.”

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