If It Were Only A Dragon [Chapter 24]

Despite the day still being young, we decided to stop and come up with a plan for attack. One of the dark stands of trees dotting the plains was to offer shelter through the night, hiding us from sight if the dragon were to fly overhead. The cart and our mules, as well as the collection of horses, managed to fit beneath the cover of the evergreen fronds above. The men were equally able to spread out just enough while also giving the troll a wide berth, avoiding both his odor and unpredictable temper. There seemed to be no reservations about its desire for solitude at the edge of our group.

“We’d best prepare our gear in the case we face dragonfire in the coming days,” I directed my men. “As explained by the alchemist back in the capital, rub down your outer garments with the orange potion.”

“And don’t drink it,” Eriques added, rubbing at his stomach.

“We know, we heard your retching afterwards,” Strad joked loudly, gathering laughs from the others.

Apart from my squire chasing the gnoll about, volunteering to coat his fur and loin cloth in the pungent potion, the men worked quietly and diligently. As their leader who would likely soon join them in a battle of life or death, I had nothing to say to perk them up.

Sitting at the edge of the shelter, I scanned the horizon as the sun slowly spread its fiery glow across the rocky expanse of the mountains. With a rag soaked with the resistance potion, I scrubbed at the plates of armor and wrappings of leather at my knees, hoping to not miss a single spot.

Nemona appeared suddenly at my side, leaning against the craggy bark of the nearest tree. “Don’t rub off too much,” she said ponderingly.

“My mother used to say the same thing to me when I was a teenager.”

“…About armor?”

“Uh, no, never mind,” I said with a shake of my head, turning back to face her. “Just keeping watch.”

“If the dragon was about us in the skies, we would certainly hear the tearing of its wings through the air. You may put your guard down a little.”

I tossed the rag down across the set of armor, wrist tired from the repetitive movement. “By that time it could be too late.”

The elf slid down the tree and took a seat on the rough ground. “I know I’ve shared many a statement about this unkillable beast who would do us all in before we could even land a strike upon it…”

“Are you trying to make a point?” I said, glancing back at her.

Nemona puffed out her cheeks with a frown. “All I desire to say is that, regardless of the outcome, these guardsmen and these other allies of fortune all seem happy to follow your lead. Myself included.”

“In the castle’s court…” I recalled with a sigh. “I used to watch the King as he gave out orders and decrees so readily, never with any hesitation or second thoughts. I admired the strength of his leadership. Now that I am saddled with similar power and responsibility, I find it hard to live up to a fraction of his greatness.”

“Ah yes, the King, with all his wisdom and duties,” Nemona groaned. “Might you remember that the ministries handle the Kingdom’s power as well? They each have their own roles and strengths. Much like your allies here.”

I glanced back at the elf, then the rest of my party, somehow smiling and active there in our little camp under the stand of trees. “I see. I see now. Thank you, Nemona. Alas, what is my duty, then?”

The elf pushed herself up from the ground and brushed the mess from her bottom. “Organize for us a plan. And also remind them not to waste food. Some have discovered the novelty of bread soaked in a resistance potion. It seems it will not burn or blacken, even in the depths of a fire pit.”

Despite my fatigue from the journey and the scuffle earlier in the day, I could not sleep. Prince and I watched the horizon while I drew up plans in my mind. I rested briefly, but awoke with the smell of breakfast, ready to explain how the encounter would eventually play out.

“Nariza, I must ask for the use of your illusions,” I addressed the druid.

“Fine by me,” she said.

“That brainless magical livestock?” Eriques asked.

“Exactly,” I said, pointing a finger to the plains beyond our camp under the copse. “The dragon is on the move, feeding as it desires. Likely building strength for something. Having our own fake herd will attract it here. Entice to the ground to feed.”

“It is a smart creature,” Nemona spoke up. “It will surely notice that the illusory animals are not edible. It will try to depart once again, but we will need to move before that.”

“Indeed,” I nodded. “That other small stand of trees across from here. We’ll split our forces between here and there. Be ready with potions and your weapons. This may be our only chance.”

Before it had become too light, we had split our forces between both stands of trees. The men traded their light riding armor for the heavy metal plates, pairing up to secure the armor around their bodies. Coated the night before in the heat-resistant potion, they would block any flames spewed by the beast.

Acting like a real herd ready to graze for the day, Nariza’s magical bovines trudged out from the distant grouping of trees. They chewed away brainlessly at the wild grass, indistinguishable from actual flesh-and-blood creatures.

With my spyglass, I watched the second party of my allies across the way. Despite my best judgment, Eriques was to lead them. At the very least, none of them— Strad, Jennifer, the Gnoll, Nariza and the archery twins would need any specific directions. I attempted to make a hand signal across the way, only to remember that we had agreed on no such form of communication. With a bit of arm flailing, my squire noticed me and waved back, at least telling me that he was paying attention.

Nemona stayed at my side, hoping to placate Greep, the troll, and prevent him from rushing out before the appropriate time. The others brushed at the horses, readying them for a horseback assault.

Farvin paced not far from the edge of the trees, scanning the horizon. I waved at him to approach. “I promise you, we will slay this beast, avenge your home that it has burned.”

The easterner shrugged. “I don’t doubt that.”

“I’m sure you’d like to take a strike at it,” I suggested, patting at my thigh where my sword hung.

He shook his head. “I am more than content watching over the cart and passing out supplies where needed.”

I slumped down and nodded. “Apparently Nemona is interested in parts of its body, that its bones or something could hold power. How about before the elves and other magi get a dig at it, we can cut a piece free of it? To show your family at home that you played a role in this endeavor.”

“Surely I could never decide.”

I suddenly came to my senses and felt around at my belt for a tiny yet-used armament. From a narrow pouch of leather, I brought out my utility knife. “Here. You may plunge this into its flesh, just to say you did so. So what if it may have stopped moving by then?”

I passed it handle first to the easterner, who took it carefully in his palms. His mouth almost moved to form a ‘thank you’ when the sound of flapping wings suddenly tore the still air.

Its shadow passed above us first, gliding over the unfazed illusionary bovines. I dared not step too far out from under the pine canopies for fear of being spotted. Then I sighted it with my own eyes, its wide wings turning the creature in a circle, a maneuver to descend to its prey. No, the day the dragon would become they prey.

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If It Were Only A Dragon [Chapter 23]

The elf took up a seat beside Eriques on the cart, pushing Farvin to the back compartment with the Gnoll and the Druid.

“I’d bet that Greep and that thick, matted fur of his is fireproof,” Nemona admitted to me out of the blue, the both of us at the front of the formation.

Nariza leaned forward through the flaps of the wagon. “Is that so? And did he volunteer to test that theory? Or are you just going to throw him unknowingly into the fray and see how it goes?”

Nemona waved her hand back into the druid’s face. “I don’t need permission from some stinky mud-rolling druid. Just because he’s simple doesn’t mean he can’t think for himself. I’ve not heard you nagging Gladius about this nice Gnoll here after all.”

“Prince can properly articulate his thoughts and feelings, and he’s joined us willingly,” Nariza rebutted. “Isn’t that right my little fluffy man?”

I almost heard a purr from under the cover of the wagon.

The druid strained her neck to watch the troll plodding along with us. All of my men and their horses were giving him his distance. “Look at him. Greep here is like a human toddler who is apt to throw fits. He needs to be protected from the big feelings he’s experiencing, and suddenly homeless he is as well.”

Nemona shrugged. “So you say, but recall that you too are like a toddler compared to my five-hundred-plus years in this realm. All humans are. And yet, young Gladius here is our royally ordained party leader.”

The druid poked at my shoulder. “You hear that, castle human? She’s deferring to you, so tell her that we’d best leave the troll be.”

I glanced back and gave the troll another look. It was impossible to tell if he was happy or sad or even capable of any such complex emotion. “I can tell Nemona, but… I’d fathom neither of us could tell a toddler nor a troll what to do when it finds the thing that burned its home down.”

“For the record,” Nemona butted in, glancing back at the druid, “In the blink of an eye that an elf is at the age of toddling, it has already learned to communicate and regulate itself quite well.”

Nariza huffed and slumped back behind the flaps of the cart’s covering, ending the debate, at least for that moment.

The flatlands blew with a cooling and refreshing breeze. It would have been nice should something foul not had caught the wind. I kept my composure and said nothing, only double-checking that the troll was not upwind of us.

“Something stinks like hell,” Eriques spoke up, reminding me of the teachings of etiquette I had yet to offer him.

I sighed loudly to direct the blame from myself. “And this is after I told every one of them to bathe themselves properly in the river the previous night.”

Nemona lifted her nose to the air. “It is not simply body odor. What’s that in the distance I see? Guide us there.”

What lay before my eyes was something like a mirage, akin to seeing the heat distort the air above the street on a summer’s day. It was much darker though, like a dark cloud, hugging the ground. A low buzzing accompanied it. Breaching the hill, we found the epicenter, an odoriferous ridged mound about the size of two horses, buzzing with flies. The horses immediately began swatting at the air with their tails. The pests made attempts at my nose and ears.

Nemona jumped down from the cart’s bench before it was fully stopped. Even the troll refused to move it any closer, but the elf acted as if it was a tome to open up and study. Despite my better judgment, I felt the impetus to approach with her.

“Do you know what this is?” She mumbled and glanced back.

The odoriferous mound was being attacked over and over by the cloud of flies. I was already holding my nose. I would have held my breath if I did not need to breathe in the foul air to respond. “It’s shit. And going off the size, it’s from our dragon. Can we go now?”

Nariza joined the steamy, buzzing fray. “No maggots squirming quite yet. Going off the insect activity, no older than a day.”

“Indeed,” said the elf, swatting flies from about her face. “Do you know much about reptiles, Gladius? Lizards and snakes and the like?”

I forced another breath in and then out. “Does a gecko count? I used to find and catch geckos on the stone walls of my basement when I was a child. I would scare my younger sister with them, perfectly harmless as they are. They mostly just liked to sit about all the time.”

Nemona nodded. “A gecko hiding out in a cold, dark basement eating little bugs is one thing. A massive dragon who has recently flown over mountains, scouting out unfamiliar territory? It’s bound to be starving.”

Nariza clicked her tongue smugly. “I have heard that certain reptiles have no sense of being full.”

“Eat and eat and eat, they will,” said the elf with a reluctant nod of admission to the druid. “And all that activity will heighten the thing’s metabolism and digestion.”

“Ah, so just the opposite of your average noble,” Eriques noted from his seat on the wagon.

“Faster digestion means more shits like this one,” I added, attempting to shift myself to a position upwind of the stinking pile. “We might even find a path of them, like fecal breadcrumbs.”

I noticed suddenly the druid closing in on the mass with far too much intention. Her fingers suddenly grazed the molted mass, dragging out a boxy object that was hard and slightly metallic, were it not covered in filth.

“Oh dears,” she mumbled, nearly cradling it in her arms. “Do you recognize what this is?”

“Something to keep your hands off of,” I huffed, ready to leave.

“I know what it is,” said Farvin suddenly, jumping out around the wagon’s bench.

“A bell for a cow,” said the druid.

Surely, it was a sort of bell, one so packed so densely with filth that it would likely never make a sound ever again.

Nariza rolled it around in her hands. “A man-made object to restrain an animal to always be in earshot of its human slave-masters. No doubt, the dragon also heard the sounding of this bell and learned it to be the sound of a ready, helpless meal.”

“Give it here,” Farvin asked as if it were an infant belonging to him. He held his hands out expectantly.

I watched as the filthy instrument went into another pair of hands. “Oh, so we’re all going to touch it now? Both of you better keep to yourselves there in the back of the wagon. Until we find clean water once again, you shall not touch a single thing. Especially my bedding!”

“I recognize this,” the easterner said, wiping down the coating of muck from the rough metal surface. “It comes from my village. My uncle is the blacksmith there. He made these. They almost gave me one to put around my neck to prevent my wandering off once again.”

I blew a stray fly away from my lips and shook my head. “Great, can we put it down, then? Once this is all taken care of, your uncle can make more.”

Farvin looked up suddenly. He looked at me, then the surroundings. The forested river was a good ways behind us. The flatlands continued on for some ways, dotted with collections of dark stands of trees. “We’re near my home village.”

“And about how many cows and bigger livestock did your village have?” Nemona asked.

“Yes, how many did you enslave?” said the druid with heavy judgment in her voice.

Farvin shrugged. “A couple dozen cows, I’d say. Some families had a horse, there was a pair of oxen, too.”

Nemona scanned the sky. “This dragon of ours has been out about, patrolling, but returning to where it knows there is food.”

I would have kept scanning the sky with her if a fly hadn’t decided at that moment to seek out my tonsils, a victim to my open-mouthed breathing to save my nose. Between spitting and hacking to free the bug from my throat, I was able to mutter my orders. “Let’s get a move on. Somewhere we won’t be seen from the sky.”

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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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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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