The Guardian of the Bridge

If It Were Only A Dragon [Chapter 21]

Instead of heading straight east following the road, we redirected ourselves to follow the river’s journey downstream. The footholds there between the lush banks and the rocks of the highlands were no easy task for the horses and the cart. Nevertheless, it was crucial to have possible hiding places there in the foliage if something was spotted in the sky.

Two of my men, Utter and Mutter, had their horses side-by-side as usual. They were the two I had interacted with the least throughout our travels. I had originally thought I was consistently miscounting the number of members of our group after each stop— not that I would ever reveal that to anyone. I also considered that there was simply one man able to move about quickly and appear to be in two places at once. No, the truth was that they were simply a tight-knit pair of brothers who looked very much alike— twins would be the term, in case you’re wondering. I might have thought them to be shy and reticent if it weren’t for them constantly chattering lowly with each other. At that moment when I approached them, they had their bows across their laps.

“I’ve hit plenty of bulls-eyes before,” said one of them. To be honest, I didn’t know which was which, but if I addressed one, it was as good as addressing them both, so it didn’t matter.

“Well, I’ve split an arrow that was previously centered on the bullseye, which was also fired by me,” the other bragged.

“Perfectly easy, but from how many feet away?” Replied the first.

My presence seemed to put them off from their chat. “So, you two seem to be proficient with bows? That will be quite beneficial to bringing this flying beast down from the sky.”

They both nodded in unison back at me. “Yeah, no problem… not a problem.”

My eyes crossed trying to look at both at the same time. “Tell me, what post has taught you such impressive skills?”

“Our post?”

“In the capital, dummy. Well, we—“

“Work in separate districts and—“

“And just do street work. Our parents—“

“Say it’s a good respite from—“

“Always trying to com—“

“—pete with each other.”

“Well, I’ve subdued six belligerent drunks in the upper district this month.”

“And I’ve stopped two break-ins in the gate district. In the last two weeks! Real crimes.”

“You might lock yourself up for the crime of taking my quiver of arrows from our supplies this morning.”

“If it weren’t an affront to our childhood tutors, I would accuse you of not being able to count. I clearly had forty-eight arrows in my quiver, and you had forty-six.”

“That simply means that you took one of mine. And you think I wasn’t going to notice?”

I clapped my hands to break them up. “Well, regardless, that should be plenty of arrows between you two to at least give the dragon something to think about. But I shall inform you— a dragon is told to have thick scales across its body.”

“We know.”

“Yeah.”

“We had these pop-up books as kids telling us all about them.”

I huffed. “Oh, so everyone had one of those pop-up books except me? Well, either way, I’d imagine that going for the eyes would do you well.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll take the right eye.”

“But you’re left-handed.”

“What does that matter?”

“Fine, I’ll hit both eyes for you, southpaw.”

“Not if I hit them first!”

I doubt anybody had ever mediated for the twins before, but I wasn’t going to be the first to try. I hurried my way on past them if only to get some silence and think about how to proceed.

Not that far up the river, I heard a sudden screaming. I jerked my horse back. The protest was from another set of twins, the pair of mules pulling the cart of supplies. Good thing, it wasn’t one of my men screaming out of danger. Bad thing, the reason for the screams was because of the cart itself.

The rear wheels of the vehicle had slipped off a rocky outcropping, risking the entire cart itself to fall down the slope and into the stream below. Prince jumped out from the front of the cart between Farvin and Eriques who were at the reins. Nariza was caught up still inside, her arm waving out for help.

“Get us out of here!”

Most of the others, myself included, had dropped down from their horses, examining the predicament. Jennifer and I grabbed first at the donkeys and their harnesses, guiding them away from the perilous edge. Some pushed from the back of the cart, trying to get the rear wheels back on stable ground.

“Don’t let up!” I called out.

Strad started a countdown among those at the back. “Push together! In three! Two!”

The donkeys complained further, stamping their feet in the rocky ground. Nariza yelled, the contents of the cart rattling and shifting about her. The gnoll rushed from back to front to meet me on all fours, huffing loudly.

“We’ve disturbed something down there!”

“What now?” I asked, hands still straining against the leather straps holding the animals.

“Oh crap!” Someone yelled from the rear of the cart.

With one last cry of resistance, the wheels relented and bucked over the ridge and onto the high ground. All the pushing and pulling turned into forward momentum, nearly crushing me and Jennifer in the process.

Prince growled lowly. Some of the men from the back had scattered. There was a bestial roaring, nothing like an animal I had ever heard. I would have looked to the sky had I not seen the mountainous form and swinging arms of the brute first.

“Troll!” Strad yelled, shuffling on his hands and knees up the embankment with the others.

It was twice as tall as any man I had seen, with shoulders that could have supported entire trunks of trees. The hefty body was covered in dark, slick fur plastered with green moss, and that entire ugly mass wished each of us a slow, painful death at its pounding fists and ripping hands. It glanced about with its yellowed eyes like a drunkard at the closing of the pub, not caring who they brought home to lay with.

Its rampage was stifled, if only for a moment, by the scattering of our forces. Just before it decided who to smash next, several arrows whizzed through the air into its mass. In one of their rare moments of agreement, Utter and Mutter had taken the highest ground and begun stringing arrows, one right after another.

None of the strikes seem to stick, but at the very least the troll was having second thoughts. It pounded the ground with its fists. I could feel the earth shaking as if it were one of the vile gelatinous head cheeses served in the King’s court. I blamed my feet not being able to move on that.

Several swords were already drawn, ready to protect the wagon. The troll paused its pounding, but only to break the silence with a roar. Without warning, it rushed.

Looking like kindling ready to snap in half, Richard was the troll’s first target. With his lithe body, trained in dodging gulls around the capital’s harbor, he slid readily under the troll’s arm, managing to make a swing at its leg with his sword. Henrik and Shanks rounded its backside and struck at it as it recoiled. The blades bounced off its thick, matted fur with no complaints from the beast.

As Prince danced and nipped at its front, more arrows sailed in its direction, followed by sword strikes at its opposite arm. Farvin and Neriza watched from the cart, trying to calm the donkeys and keep them within the hold of their harnesses.

“Druid, can you do something about it? You speak the language of creatures, do you not?” I begged. “Tell us anything!”

Nariza huffed, holding her arms across her chest. “Interpret for a troll? Is that what you want?”

“Like you did with the livestock. And the frogs last night.”

She sighed. “Yes, I know what you mean. I can decipher a few things what it’s saying. But I can already tell you its articulation, not to mention its vocabulary, is incredibly poor. Like a man who has had his tongue cut out and replaced by alcohol. At the very least, it’s incredibly pissed off.”

“Is that so?” I balked, my legs shaking as it pounded the ground once more. “Maybe… hit it with one of those illusions like you did to us out in the forest.”

The druid clicked her tongue. “I hate to break this to you, but this thing is likely too stupid for one of my illusions to work on it.”

“Well, that actually gives me a lot of pride for my squire,” I nodded.

Nariza responded with a rolling of her eyes. “This one’s up to you and your swords. Which you may want to draw sooner than later.”

The mules gave a sudden protest, rearing up against the yoke of the cart. With my hand on the hilt of my sword, I jerked back. The troll was rampaging up the hill toward us. Prince continued to bit at its feet and ankles, constantly dodging its plodding feet. Jennifer and Strad rode on horseback in front of it, distracting it with wide swipes from their blades.

The twins had moved in closer, following my previous advice to seek out its eyes.

“Protect the cart!” I called out, raising my sword, just enough to seem threatening, but not enough to antagonize it into attacking. Eriques took my side, doing the same.

“I’ll not let it destroy our supplies,” he said proudly. “Driving this on our journey here has given me a sense of purpose for once.”

“Good man,” I said lowly, teeth grit, watching the troll’s eyes drift about my men. “We need these supplies for the dragon as well. Especially those potions…”

Nariza and Farvin had calmed the mules just enough to herd them and the cart off further. “Come on boys,” Farvin begged.

Something suddenly came to my mind as I saw the rear end of the cart begin to pull out of the way. “Hold it for one moment!” I called out, running after the vehicle suddenly. The big crate that I had been sleeping atop for the past few nights held the collection of potions provided to us by the capital’s alchemists. I jumped inside and pulled the sheet off it, revealing the collection of bottles. With one of the blue doses in hand, I jumped back out.

One of the twins was nearby, once again aiming for a shot of the bow. I crept up near him. “I need him to open wide,” I instructed.

“Make him scream, is it?” He said, suddenly aiming lower.

I held my breath as the arrow sailed for the troll’s groin. Even though it didn’t pierce, the impact was just enough. Prince and the others jerked back as it began to bellow, holding itself with its filthy, murderous fingers.

I’ll divulge one truth right now. I am no fighter, as I have skipped much training with my sword. But if one were to challenge me to darts in one of the pubs after work, I would certainly put up a fight to keep my honor.

Just as I would have met the bullseye of a dart board, the tossed cooling potion found the troll’s gaping maw. The thin glass bottle shattered in his throat, but that was not to be the creature’s downfall. The concoction went down as it was intended to do.

With renewed anger, the troll began to rampage once more. Any further strikes against it would have been impossible without retribution. But such a temper would soon be cooled. I saw the shiver dance down its arms, then its torso. It began to slow, holding its arms across its chest instead of swinging them about. Its plodding feet began to slow, and its eye moved back and forth, looking for an escape rather than to strike out.

With the renewed opening, the others went for its legs. The troll began to sing a sad song as steel met flesh. It sent a few kicks our, trying to escape us. The tides were turning. I desired suddenly to make my own mark on its hide. Before I could reach it, though, a bright flash blinded us in our tracks.

“Halt! Assault this creature no longer!”

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