A dragonslayers tale
Chapter 5: The journey begins

Phraan just knew it, the men they had been given were worthless with the one exception of the forger. The healer was still drunk and lay snoring in the carriage and Phraan would eat his saddle if the man knew how to heal anything more serious than a hangnail. They had travelled for a few days already and he was tempted to drag the two convicts and the healer out into the woods and simply execute them. It would be a mercy, after all, none of them stood a chance against a dragon. But Fastonar didn’t agree and so Phraan did keep his mouth shut even when the young guy tried to sabotage every little task they gave him. The road was broad and the wagons solid and they did move forth rather fast but that would change when they got further away from the city, that was a certainty. Phraan remembered how they had struggled the last time, the roads didn’t deserve the name and they couldn’t use carriages at all, they had to use sleds and pack horses and that meant that they couldn’t use much equipment.

The area was packed with farms and villages and it was a very rich and prosperous part of the kingdom. Here there were few problems and they did receive a lot of curiosity since nobody had seen anyone like them for quite a while. But the rumors had spread and many knew that there were dragons up north once again. Some troops were moving north as well and Phraan wondered when they would meet the first refugees.

They had been on the road for a week when Phraan and the others encountered the first real witness to the things which happened up north, it was an officer who was heading towards the city with messages for the king and the man was rather old and also very experienced. He was riding a huge black horse of the breed which was popular up north, sturdy and calm but with great endurance. The animal snorted and wanted to go but the officer sort of calmed him down and greeted the group politely. He did see that Fastonar was in uniform and he probably realized what they were. Fastonar greeted him back and slowed the convoy down. “You come from up north?”

The officer nodded. “Yes, a village on the outskirts of the desert, not far from the Zhar mountains. The army has a camp there, I have been sent south with some news, the high lords want to inform the king of the development.”

Fastonar cocked his head. “Really, do tell please, we want to hear as much as possible”

The officer nodded slowly, he was eying them all. “Dragon slayers right? Good, we need you, and we need you now!”

Phraan looked a bit intrigued. “Is it that bad?”

The officer leaned over the side of his horse and spat at the ground. “It is bad yeah, I was just a kid the last time dragons caused problems but I do remember it. And this will be worse, believe me”

Fastonar frowned. “What makes you say that?”

The officer sighed. “Because the population has forgotten what a dragon can do, and they have forgotten how to protect themselves. The officers we have there are morons and the soldiers are not prepared at all”

Phraan saw that Dhokay and the others were listening carefully. “Why am I not surprised, so, what has happened so far? We have heard of two villages being destroyed. “

The officer took off his helmed, stroked his thin greying hair. “That is old news, now I think eight or ten have been levelled completely. The king must send more men and he has to do something for those who do flee. You will meet those who are fleeing soon, many started the moment the first attack happened. They were very smart if you ask me”

Dhokay rode over and he did look worried. “What type of dragons has been seen so far?”

The officer shrugged. “How the hell would I know? I have never seen one of those ugly fuckers but they say that they have rather large spikes along their backs, and they cannot fly but they do spew flames.”

Fastonar snapped his fingers. “Greybacks, anything else?”

The officer seemed to think hard. “Ah, well, some rather large ones with red bellies, they spew out acid?”

Phraan frowned. “Red bellies? That’s new?”

Fastonar looked puzzled. “Could be some minor change, it has been decades after all”

The officer reined his horse. “Just be careful, the omens are bad. The old wives say this will be a disaster.”

Fastonar scoffed. “And when did we listen to old wives stories? Thank you for the information my friend, have a safe journey”

The officer bowed his head. “Thank you, and the same to you”

He let the horse ran off again and Fastonar turned to Phraan. “Red bellies? What sort of dragon has a red belly?”

Phraan shrugged. “It could be something new?”

The soul-sworn just grimaced and the convoy started moving again. They were reaching an area which wasn’t so populated and Vitile had told the other elves to keep an open eye on the convicts and also be aware of the fact that they now entered a part of the realm where the king didn’t have as many soldiers and where bandits sometimes did strike at travelers. When they made camp they didn’t light large fires and they tried to be discrete. They had crossed a couple of rivers and were heading in direction of the Nhotay Lake when Fastonar did notice that his horse and some of the others had started to limp. It started in the morning and got worse during the day and by noon the warrior had to dismount for his horse was unable to use the leg and some of the carriage horses did have a bad limp too. The carriage drivers were all experienced men who knew how to take care of a horse and one of them went over to Fastonar’s huge brown horse and lifted the foot. It did look normal, no heat or swelling and the man checked the shoe to make sure that it hadn’t picked up a lose rock or something like that. The shoe seemed to be okay and Phraan saw that it was excellent work, the one who took care of the army horses were skilled in deed. The carriage horses stood there and looked uncomfortable too and Phraan started to check their legs as well. A couple of them were limping on more than one leg and the drivers looked confused. “They cannot all have picked up rocks?”

Phraan was puzzled, nine horses were lame in all and at the same time? They hadn’t crossed terrain that bad, the road was still a road and not a cattle track and they hadn’t had any problems with the wagons so far. Shaluun looked worried. “The horses are in real pain, they cannot go on like this. “

Dhokay nodded. “You are right, they are hurting. I can sense it, what can this be?”

Rhuk was staring at the carriage horses. “They don’t have bad legs, nah, none of them have bad legs, cannot do with bad legs”

Dabin sort of rolled his eyes, during the journey it had become rather apparent that Rhuk had a deep fascination for feet. Apparently he saw the feet as the most attractive feature of others, no matter who.

The healer had sobered up now, they hadn’t given him any booze and he was cranky and ill-tempered and a genuine asshole in every way. He was leering at the two elven females and he was being cocky and sarcastic too. But he bragged about his skills and Phraan wished that he could get rid of the man and that fast too. He was ruining the mood. Fastonar gestured to the drivers. “We make camp here, we have to check the animals again and they need rest”

The camp was set rather fast, and Vitile sent Taurin and Thiana out into the trees to keep watch. Phraan saw that the drunkard was sitting by one of the wagons, chewing on some meat and he had become a real nuisance by now. They didn’t allow anyone to drink and the man was constantly trying to find something he could drink. He even tried to beg for alcohol from people they had met on the road and the odd clothes did ward them off rather efficiently. Oham did curse everybody who ignored him and Fastonar did despise the man intensely. The forger was different, he tried to make himself useful and he did even show some interest in their job, Phraan believed that this was an individual who had been unfortunate more than anything else, and made some poor choices.

The lame horses were gathered and Phraan started checking their legs more thoroughly, he had a set of thongs and used them to squeeze at the hooves to find sore spots. The horse he held did almost kick him when he reached a spot in the middle of the sole and Phraan frowned. “There is something here. Fastonar, hold him”

The huge man held the horse and Phraan poured some water onto the hoof and scrubbed it off gently with a brush. Being a farrier was useful now. He blinked, there was a small dark spot on the sole of the hoof and he frowned. “I see something.”

He grasped the hoof knife and the blade did hit something hard, inside of the hoof. He got a very bad suspicion and carved away at the hoof. Dhokay had come over to help hold the horse and he was so strong he managed to keep the animal in place even it this obviously hurt. Phraan grasped onto the object with the thongs, it was very small and thin and he did pull it out with a groan. It was a nail, a two inch long and very thin metal nail and it was no accident that it had ended where it had. Someone had hammered it into the hoof to make the horse go lame and Phraan got up and his eyes were shooting flames. “Fastonar, we have a saboteur in our midst” Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The warrior frowned and looked confused until Phraan held the nail up so everybody could see it. Vitile swore and Kapha gaped, his eyes huge with disbelief. Shaluun growled and Fastonar had gone paper white, it was a sure sign of anger. He turned around and stared at the people assembled, “Grasp Oham”

Rhuk and Dabin did grab the man who struggled and protested and Fastonar went over and grasped onto his sleeves. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Fastonar made a grimace. “No horsehairs here, he isn’t the one”

Peter did hold out his arms without even being asked and he was also free of horse hairs. Aiolo had to be held but there weren’t any hairs on his sleeves either. Vitile stared at the wagon where the healer spent the time with narrow eyes. “Have you seen the healer since we stopped? He does know how to create pain now doesn’t he?”

Phraan ran over and ripped aside the tarp from the back of the wagon, there were nobody there but a track did lead away from the wagon and it was fresh. The idiot believed that he could escape? By hurting their horses? He had probably believed that the lame horses would become such a distraction that he could sneak away. Phraan turned around. “Vitile, with me, Taurin, Thiana, left and right”

The forest elves did nod and disappeared into the trees and Phraan knew that there was no way they would let him escape. An elderly, fat and out of shape man would be caught within minutes in this terrain. He and Vitile ran along the tracks and they soon saw that the man had overestimated his own stamina, the track told of blind panic and he was running towards the river they saw in the distance. He probably believed that he could find some place to hide but Phraan wondered why the fuck the man did run away in the first place. He wasn’t in an ideal position and he could get that at some level, the man was clearly most used to the city and to some travelling into the wilderness like this can be traumatic. Was it the need for booze which drove him? Or was it something even more compelling? No matter what the reason was, Phraan wanted the man to suffer! Nobody harmed their horses like that, with lame horses they were at risk if they got attacked by robbers.

Vitile was dark eyed and her teeth were showing as they ran, she was really pissed off and Phraan knew exactly how fierce wood elves got when they reached that stage. He had seen what they did to orcs they caught alive and it wasn’t pretty. The man was trying to sprint across a small meadow when they caught sight of him. He had shed the healer robe and was running in his tunic and pants and to say that he was elegant would be a terrible lie. He ran like someone who has crapped in their pants and Vitile sent out a shrill sound and arrows immediately bored into the ground in front of the man. Taurin and Thiana had already gotten in front of the man and now they ran out onto some branches and could be seen clearly, with arrows aimed at the man.

The healer shrieked, then he tried to run in a different direction and Vitile rushed forth and kicked the legs out from underneath him. Phraan did pull his blade and pointed at the human with a snarl on his lips. The man was shivering and sweat was pouring from him. Vitile spat at him and the two other wood elves jumped from the trees with catlike grace and walked over, arrows still cocked. Phraan snarled. “So, what is your excuse for this you worthless piece of dung! I ought to leave you for the wolves, or send you back to the city for a really long stay in the torture chambers.”

The man was gasping for air, clutching his chest. Vitile kicked him in the back. “Speak, or I will make you scream like you never have screamed before”

The healer rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t asking for much now was I? Just some wine, but no, you bastards won’t let a man quench his thirst even once!”

Phraan stared at the man with disgust. “You did this because you wanted alcohol? You are more stupid than I expected. Where in hell do you think you could go to find booze here in the wild?”

The man twitched, his eyes were desperate. “There are farmers here and there, they make moonshine don’t they? I don’t wanna end up in the north, it is dangerous up there.”

Phraan growled. “We are more dangerous believe me, you were assigned to us by the king so you have just committed treason. What is the punishment for that Vitile?”

The wood elf was still very angry, she hissed. “Beheading, let me do the honor, please!”

Phraan grinned. “Of course, whence he has suffered a bit. Taurin, remove his boots”

The male elf bent down and dragged the man’s boots off, they were stinking and not overly well made but they were not too bad either. The man gasped and looked terrified. “You ran all the way here so now it is time to run back, barefoot. You maimed those poor horses so it is about time you experience what they have gone through”

The man whined and took a few steps, it was very obvious that he wasn’t used to walking barefoot for he cringed and put his feet down very carefully. Phraan almost roared. “Move!”

He smacked the man over the broad ass with the flat of his blade and the man whimpered and tried to move faster. Phraan could see that he was terrified and also that Taurin and Thiana were very angry. To them such a deed was seen as beyond despicable, harming an animal was a huge sin the way they saw the world.

When they reached back to the camp the man was barely able to move, his feet torn and bloody and he was weeping and begging for mercy. Fastonar was waiting and he nodded at Phraan. “All the horses have nails in their hooves, we found some in those who haven’t gone lame too. The only ones which haven’t been tampered with are Drake and the horses the wood elves use. They don’t let anyone they don’t know handle them.”

Rhuk stood there and was fuming and Dabin too looked as if he was about to explode. “The ponies too?”

Fastonar nodded. “We have to check every horse we have carefully, the bastard have tried to stop us”

Vitile grasped the man by his thin hair. “When did you do this!”

The man tried to wriggle free. “Last…last night, when you were…eating”

Phraan remembered that the healer hadn’t been there for the meal but then again, he rarely was. And it had been raining too so everybody had tried to stay inside of the carriages to stay warm and dry. He could have done it then, easily. They hadn’t expected any danger and the horses were used to being handled by different people. Fastonar sighed and he pulled his sword free of its sheath. “He has slowed us down, we will have to wait here for many days before we can move on, and people are dying up there. Lives will be lost because of this.”

Vitile was almost jumping up and down. “Let me do it, he is nothing but scum!”

Fastonar smiled at her, a swift and gentle smile. “You are bloodthirsty my dear, I remember that from before. Good, I will let you do it. But first we do follow the king’s laws. Any man abusing his majesty’s property is to be flogged. These are army horses, in other words, the king’s property”

He turned to Kapha. “Bring me one of the whips, a solid one.”

The half breed grinned and ran off, he returned after just a few minutes with a long whip and Fastonar nodded. “Strip him”

The man screamed and tried yet again to struggle but Dhokay and Kapha ripped the tunic of him. Then they tied his hands to the wheel of one of the wagons and forced him to stand there back to Fastonar. The warrior did shake the whip and his grin was vicious. “The law says ten lashes for each crime committed. He tried to maim more than twenty horses so I think I will stop at a hundred and fifty”

The man shrieked, hundred and fifty lashes of such a whip were something you could hardly even survive.

Phraan nodded. “It is fair, go ahead.”

Fastonar was a master with the whip, each lash did hit with brutal force and yet they didn’t overlap at all, and they bit into the skin. The man was screaming like a banshee before long and after fifty lashes he was hanging by his hands and blood was streaming down his back. Dhokay tilted his head, the three convicts were standing at the back of the small camp and they did look terrified. This would serve as a reminder also to them. “He won’t last much longer, too weak. His body is already ruined.”

Fastonar sighed and threw the whip away. “You are right, we are not animals like him. Vitile, end him”

The wood elf pulled one of her long curved blades and grasped the man’s hair again, pulled the head back and then she simply slit the man’s throat and cut so deep she almost decapitated him. The body did shiver a few times and she cut him loose and let the body lay there in a pool of blood. Phraan stared at the three convicts. “If you think we are heartless and cruel it is nothing compared with what else you will encounter out there. Orcs will often eat people alive, trolls will crush you slowly and a dragon? A dragon will roast you!”

The three men did look shocked and Phraan pointed at the corpse. “Drag him into the woods, let the scavengers feast.”

Fastonar sighed and put his blade back in its sheath. “And we are without a healer yet again”

Phraan shrugged. “We never had a healer, we only had a drunken coward.”

Fastonar sighed deeply again and made a grimace. “Well, there are villages along our route, there could be some wise woman or something who could be persuaded to aid us.”

Phraan took a deep breath. “Maybe, the village healers can be rather skilled after all. We’ll ask when we encounter some locals”

Fastonar put his hands in his sides. “We can at least ask, so, we have to stay here for some days, I suggest that someone goes out hunting then. We all could benefit from some fresh meat wouldn’t you think”

There were some enthusiastic cheers coming from Dhokay and Shaluun and Vitile too grinned. “Yes, let’s go. I bet there are deer in this area!”

She ran off with the trackers just behind and Phraan had to laugh at her zeal. Rhuk was rubbing his hands together. “Great, fresh meat, good, good. I never trusted that dude though, ugly feet. Can never trust anyone with ugly feet ya know”

Phraan had to scoff. “Really?”

The dwarf nodded. “True, ugly feet equal ugly soul I say. Have you seen the feet of the women of my tribe?”

Phraan had to snort to stop himself from laughing. “No, I cannot say that I have had the pleasure”

Rhuk smiled widely, his eyes were dreamy. “Oh by the allfather they are lovely, so well-shaped, with just the right amount of hair.”

Phraan knew that dwarves were rather hairy and Rhuk’s tribe was infamous for being hairier than most. “I am sure they are delightful”

Rhuk snickered. “Know what? Having one of them dancing on your back is about the best you can experience, those wonderful feet, aahh, the mere thought”

Phraan fought the need to roll his eyes, the mental images it called forth…Better not think about it. “I do think that my tastes are a wee bit different from yours…”

Rhuk scoffed. “Oh but you are missing out my friend, if you have tried a dwarf woman you won’t go back to the hairless elven tits, no sir. Dwarf women can really make a man happy!”

Phraan cringed and smiled, oh Akhi curse that dwarf, now he had some even worse images to struggle with. “I will think about it, if you excuse me, I have to check upon my horse.”

Rhuk just waved a hand and Phraan ran off. He didn’t really want to know more about that dwarf’s sex life, it was more than enough with what he already knew!

He went over to Drake and made sure that the horse had everything it needed, being stuck there didn’t sit well with him at all, it made his nerves itch and he knew that every day they stayed put meant death. After a while the hunters returned with a small deer and some rabbits and Vitile and Thiana began preparing some stew. The wood elves were experts when it came to using herbs and spices to create marvelous meals out of even simple ingredients and Phraan did remember how Vitile had kept them all fed back in the old days. They settled for the meal and even the three convicts did get their fair share of the food. Peter was praising the stew wholeheartedly and wanted to know what spices she was using and Vitile was giggling and laughing, claiming it was an elven secret.

Aiolo and Oham did eat in silence and Oham in special showed a very distinct lack of table manners. Phraan knew that dwarves are infamous for their lack of manners or rather, for having their very own view upon what manners was, but this was way beyond that. Even an orc would have been more posh for Oham was simply grabbing the food with his hands and stuffing it into his mouth. Rhuk stared at the man and his face told of a great deal of disgust and loathing. Dhokay turned around so he didn’t have to look at the man and Thiana and Taurin threw horrified glances at each other. Vitile whispered to Phraan. “That man doesn’t use anything when he…relieves…himself, not even leaves. Just his hands”

Phraan almost spat out his food, it was a bit too much information for one day, first Rhuk and his confessions and now this. By every God there was!

The two trackers agreed upon keeping watch that night, they were so in tune with the forest they would sense it the moment anything approached their camp. The trees and animals would warn them. Vitile came with Phraan to his sleeping spot in one of the wagons and they lay there staring at the stars up overhead. Vitile sighed and put her arm around him, she was as warm as ever and Phraan enjoyed the skin contact. Too many years without touching anyone had left him starved for just that and she was luckily enough as cuddly as a kitten when she was in the mood. “Do you really think it will be like before?”

Phraan sighed and put an arm under his neck, stared up. “Of course, I have no reason to believe otherwise”

Vitile sort of grimaced, she turned her head around. “I don’t think it will be like before”

Phraan frowned. “Why is that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, call it a hunch. But it is gnawing at me, don’t you find it weird that the dragons have appeared so suddenly? In such numbers?”

He had to look at her, frowning. “You are right, it is odd, but if there are hidden breeding grounds they could have stayed there until they were too many to stay any longer”

Vitile sort of snorted. “Ah Phraan, listen to yourself, really? Dragons hate each other, they wouldn’t stay in one area for years and years without killing each other. And a breeding ground? That is even less likely, we have seen what male dragons do to others if there is a female nearby. It is sheer carnage. When the huge species did disappear back then we all believed they had simply killed each other off fighting for the few females, very few of them were felled by people remember?”

Phraan realized that she was right. “The dragons did go in packs back in the old days?”

Vitile nodded. “Because there wasn’t any food to be found anywhere, the winters had been terrible for decades remember? They had to become pack hunters, they do that just to keep the species alive.”

He sighed. “Yes, but it could be that there has been a famine up north?”

She turned around, leaned her chin onto his shoulder. “We don’t know what is up there Phraan, the lands north of the great mountains are unknown terrain, yes, we did believe that we and the fights for mates had killed every dragon that existed but what if we were wrong?”

He let a hand run through the silky locks and frowned. “Wrong, how?”

She took a deep breath. “I have been thinking Phraan, and I have seen things in retrospective. Do you remember the packs of dragons? Some were large but there were never more than twenty dragons in any of those which the larger species formed. And how many females did we see?”

Phraan stared down at her. “Ah, I don’t remember?”

She nodded. “Exactly! The small species like the dreklugnins could be as many as fifty in a pack but the larger dragons had a limit to how many a pack could contain. And all were males”

Phraan shook his head. “Not right, we did kill females remember? That huge Long tail we caught outside of that burned village? And the giant storm fire we felled? That was a female too!”

Vitile sighed and had an expression upon her face equal to the one she would have when scolding an insolent elfling. “The long tail female was sick Phraan, remember? There was poisonous fungi growing all over her belly, she was dying. And the storm fire was half dead from blood loss”

Phraan sighed. “You are right, so, what is it that you really are saying?”

Vitile curled up a bit closer to him, her leg wrapped over his hip and her head resting on his chest. “What we saw back then were just a forewarning, they were the front troops. What we will face now is the real army”

Phraan scoffed. “What?”

She nodded slowly. “They were the weak ones, the ones who couldn’t survive up where the dragons come from. They had to leave or die, and that was why they cooperated so well. I think the smaller species we did see were scavengers who followed the larger dragons to feed upon the scraps they left behind”

Phraan felt a sting of unease. “So you think that we haven’t seen anything yet? That there are more dragons coming this time?”

She nodded. “Yes, many time the numbers and way stronger too.”

Phraan continued to play with her hair. “So why haven’t they come before, and like you said, they wouldn’t just stay up there waiting for the right moment to strike? If they are strong they would leave to hunt wouldn’t they? Why should all of them come down south at once? Isn’t that a bit weird?”

Vitile sort of writhed. “I know, it doesn’t make sense, we should have seen some dragons showing up rather often, not a whole bunch of them, but hear me out, what if they are being controlled?”

Phraan scoffed. “Vitile, you are a wood elf, you know that dragons can’t be controlled. They are too fierce, too wild. Nobody has the power needed to control a dragon”

Vitile bit her lower lip. “What if someone does, in spite of it all?”

Phraan held his breath for a second. “Are you serious? That is impossible, and that many dragons?”

She put her arm around him. “I know I sound crazy but it is a feeling I have, there is something up north, and I think we will meet it before this is over”

Phraan grimaced. “I hope you are wrong Vitile, I really do.”

She smiled but the smile was a pale one. “So do I my friend, we barely made it back then, I cannot imagine what will happen if I am right.”

Phraan swallowed. “Let us forget about this, look, the stars are all out, isn’t it beautiful?”

She nodded. “Yes, look, the sword is visible, that is a good sign isn’t it?”

Phraan stared at the famous constellation, it was rare that it was entirely visible and he stared at the big red star which represented the pommel of the sword, sometimes it seemed to disappear and when it appeared again it was seen as a sign of imminent change. “Yes, I am sure it is a good sign. “

Vitile sighed and nuzzled his neck, it made the hairs stand up on his head for it felt very good, and also very erotic. Her hand did slide downwards and a devil awakened in her eyes. “I think we have better things to do now than to think of the past. Don’t you agree?”

He grinned and kissed her with hunger and before long they had forgotten all about dragon slaying and were engaged in way more pleasant ways to spend their time.

They were awakened the next morning by Dhokay who was laughing claiming they had kept everybody awake for hours and Phraan had to blush and admit that yes, they had forgotten to keep it silent. They had to stay there so most of the group did split up to explore the area, the horses needed a couple of days to recuperate and Phraan was still very angry at the bastard who had crippled them thus. Taurin and Thiana had smeared healing potions onto the hooves but even that needed at least a day to work properly. He was glad the idiot hadn’t tried to maim Drake but if he had the stallion would have kicked him to death and perhaps that would have been for the better.

Phraan spent the day fishing in a small lake nearby, he caught some trout and a huge local species which gave a good fight but were inedible. The meat tasted like mud and looked like raw dough and it did stink too. The only use people had for those fish were as a source of bait and the huge scales were pretty and could be peeled off and used to adorn clothing and to make jewelry. The convicts were ordered to oil the harnesses and Peter did his fair share of it whistling and singing to himself. Oham was cussing constantly and Aiolo didn’t speak at all, he just sat there with the cloth of oil and looked as if he was terribly bored. Dhokay had volunteered to watch over them and he wasn’t going to let them become sloppy. It took two more days before they were back on the road and by then everybody had grown very impatient, the horses were well rested now and none of them were limping so they could keep a brisk pace. The landscape wasn’t too hard to cross here and the road was well used. They kept driving for more than a week before they met another road coming from the east and it was not as much in use as this one. Shaluun did see fresh tracks indicating that a rather huge group of horses had been travelling north just a day or two before them and Phraan got a suspicion he got confirmed three days later. They caught up with a group of men and Phraan didn’t need to take two looks to determine that these people were there to do the same job as them. The group had camped by a river to rest their horses and Phraan would have welcomed more slayers if they had been like himself and his group, professionals.

These men were amateurs and even worse, cocky amateurs. Even he had been a novice once, he hadn’t known one thing about dragons and he had been terrified the first time he saw one. But he had known that he was ignorant, he had listened to the experienced slayers and he had known that it took only a tiny mistake to kill a man. These men were confident and even if they had been told what to do that didn’t mean that they were experts. You are never an expert until you have survived for at least a year in this business, and few lasted that long.

Phraan saw that the group had a leader, he appeared to be the only slayer among them, the one who would do the job so to speak. The half elf did see that the man had his roots back east, he was a handsome fellow with thick curly black hair, an elegant moustache and he appeared to be a nobleman. Well, dragons don’t ask you for your pedigree before they roast you. The man rode a large long legged thoroughbred which probably cost a fortune for Phraan had hardly ever seen a more beautiful horse, too bad it would end up as steak pretty fast if its owner didn’t turn around. The man hailed them and Phraan did slow down the convoy. These people travelled without wagons, they belongings were carried by mules and Phraan frowned. That was a huge risk to take, mules are docile beasts but for some reason they are more afraid of dragons than horses and bolt the moment they smell one. Phraan managed to smile, the man bowed politely “Allow me to introduce myself, I am count Waslav of Akhibar, I am a dragon slayer as you can see”

Phraan raised an eyebrow, he did see a lot of equipment yes, and some of it wasn’t half bad but they appeared to lack the most important thing of all, experience and knowledge! He managed to keep his voice calm. “Have you killed many dragons my lord?”

The man appeared to like being called my lord and he smiled from one ear to the other. “No, but I am sure I will be the bane of countless of these beasts. I am looking forward to meet these the mightiest of beasts”

Phraan did look at the tent which was placed by a huge oak, it was bright red and that is not a very good idea unless you want to be fried. Dragons are for some reason drawn to red. “I see, pardon me for asking but what sort of armor is that? I haven’t seen that design before?”

A young man was polishing some parts of an armor which hung from a pole next to the tent. It was very pretty with lots of gold and embellishments but Phraan thought it looked more like the plume of a peacock than a real armor. “Oh it is a brand new design, with this on no claws or teeth can pierce me. It is made from the very best steel”

Dhokay sat next to Phraan and he had to pretend to be bending down to fix his stirrup to hide his wide smirk. Phraan felt a need to roll his eyes but he didn’t do it, instead he kept a stiff smile on his face. Steel was no good, no matter how good it was. The only armor which had any effect at all against a dragon is scale armor made from dragon skin and that only protected you for a short time. If the dragon manages to catch you in its maw you are dead no matter what you are wearing. “I see, I bet that must have been expensive?”

Phraan would have loved to see what this armor would look like after a rock jaw had played with it. Those dragons crushed anything, the jaws were so strong they ate their way through solid bedrock and metals were just snack for them. Waslav nodded with pride. “Oh yes, I paid two thousand gold for it, but it is worth it. I am gonna make a name for myself”

Phraan smiled and tilted his head. “I am glad to see that we aren’t the only ones heading up north, the problem is supposedly greater than anticipated.”

Waslav grinned widely. “We will reach them before you but don’t worry, we will leave a few also for you”

He did look as if he didn’t put much faith in the group and Phraan felt another surge of rage rush through him but he held it back. The other group had many horses and they were of the light and fast breed typical of Akhibar, wonderful animals but skittish and not at all strong enough for such a job. Dhokay cleared his voice. “So, how come you decided to become a dragon slayer?”

Waslav stared at his polished fingernails with a pleased expression within his eyes. “My king wants to have the head of a death wind mounted above his throne. I promised I would get him one”

Phraan almost let out a very hoarse and very disrespectful laughter but he hid it as a sneeze. A death wind? The most feared of all the dragon species, the one type of dragon few slayers had ever fought since it was suicide. Oh this man was bold but he wouldn’t last long, Phraan was sure of it. Dhokay kept smiling. “So, have you trained? Have you learned enough about this very dangerous task to be able to handle these monsters?”

The man smiled and nodded. “I have spoken to many dragon slayers and I have read the good book too”

This time Phraan had to give Drake a discrete push with his heel and the horse did step around, just so the half elf didn’t reveal his expression of utter disbelief. The good book? It was a scroll which had been written by a wise man some two hundred years ago, it contained the various methods used for dragon hunting and it was all a whole load of horse dung. If you wanted to commit suicide by dragon that book was your perfect guide to the afterlife, otherwise it was just a fairytale. “I see, ah, and the slayers you spoke to, may I ask their names? I have been in the business since the problems started and I may know them”

Waslav nodded with zeal. “Of course you can, Arguan the brave and Hasupar of the lance, brave men, and very skilled”

Phraan heard Shaluun laugh from further back in the convoy, he heard everything and Vitile appeared to have swallowed something which had gotten stuck for her face was red and tears were flowing down her face. Phraan pinched the inside of his own thigh to stay serious. “I see, I haven’t heard of those gentlemen I fear, they must have been fighting in some other area. I recon they have slain many dragons?”

Waslav nodded. “Oh yes, Arguan have killed more than five hundred, included several death winds and iron wolves.”

Phraan held his face neutral. “Impressive, and Hasupar?”

The man appeared to be so full of it he didn’t notice the odd tone in the half elf’s voice. “He has an even more impressive record, A hundred storm winds and two packs of frost jaws and he has even killed a thousand mist bloods.”

Phraan bowed his head. “I am indeed stunned, such bravery, I can see that you have been taught by the very best”

Waslav just grinned and Phraan turned his horse around once more. A thousand mist bloods, they were the most rare of dragons and among the most feared of the species too, there had been perhaps ten mist bloods spotted during the entire time he had been hunting dragons and only one had been killed. This man was a complete fool if he believed that he was able to fight dragons, but it was his funeral. “We better get going, the horses shouldn’t get too cold before they start moving again. I am sure we will meet once more my lord, and good hunting”

Phraan didn’t add the phrase he wanted to use, it was a blessing elves say when they meet someone who is sure to die soon. Instead he just whispered it to himself. “May the winds embrace you”

The man was still smiling and Vitile trotted up next to Phraan as they left the campsite, she was still red and wiped tears from her eyes. “Phraan, I bet ten gold coins on him dying in his very first dragon encounter. Even a dreklugnin can kill such a fool”

Phraan sighed. “I am sorry I cannot bet against you for I think so too. What a complete moron”

They both laughed and noticed that a small man came walking along the path, carrying some wood on his back. It had to be a servant and he stopped and looked up at them. He was rather old and his face had the expression of someone who has seen it all before and no longer gives a flying fuck about anything. He spat on the ground. “So, you have had a chat with his grace now have you? Or shall I rather call him by his real name, dragon-food”

Phraan cocked his head. “That is at least what he will become if he doesn’t change his ways, you are his servant?”

The man nodded, the small beady eyes were filled with sarcasm. “Oh yes, his mule, his dishwasher, the one to rub his feet, wash his dirty clothes and if he wasn’t so convinced of his own irresistibility I would have had to wipe his ass as well, phew!!”

Vitile giggled and the old man hoisted the wood higher up onto his shoulders. “He does think he knows how to kill dragons but he is as clueless as a freaking nun in a brothel. I am going to leave as soon as we find a village or city, I am not going to commit suicide by sticking to that piece of crap”

Phraan frowned. “You have seen dragons haven’t you?”

The old man nodded. “Oh yes I have, I was ten when the last ones were killed or disappeared the last time and I survived an attack, greybacks. They leveled our village completely and I made it because we had a deep well and I climbed into it. But I saw, oh by the gods did I see.”

Phraan sighed. “Then I wish your master would have listened to you old man, it could spare his life, and that of his men here too”

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