A Dragon’s Tale

Kendra did her third triple-check of all her gear and then checked one more time just to be sure. She knew ten times was excessive, but she wasn't leaving anything to chance. Not after what happened the last time she crossed this dragon.

The previous night, she'd dropped her tiny airship into a gap in the trees where a wide river flowed. She adjusted the trim so she was only a few feet above the water, then lowered her caterpillar.

The caterpillar was an enchanted leather strip about five feet long and two feet tall with floats on it. When it landed in the water, it caught the current while the floats kept it from sinking. It was attached to her airship with a rope, and it pulled her along with the current. That allowed her to creep silently toward the dragon's airship below the tree line where she wouldn't be spotted. She was only a few hundred yards away by midnight when she had pulled out the caterpillar and dropped the anchor.

It was a perfect position to strike at dawn.

She'd woken just before the sky began to brighten in the east. She planned to put an arrow through that dragon's heart the moment she saw the sun peak over the horizon. Now, she thanked Illuminar that they were voluntarily climbing down out of the airship.

This would be easier than she thought.

She double-checked the quiver at her side -- the dragon-slayer arrows were too heavy for her back -- strung the Dragon Slayer, then set off after them. She couldn't believe her luck and thought that maybe Illuminar had blessed her after all.

It would be an easy hunt.

* * *

Beth followed Ethan, Alana, Rachel, Serif, and Raklan, walking close beside her husband as they went. It was strange just how much she'd missed him in the short time she'd been away. By her count, it had been nine days between her death and now.

She smiled wryly; her death.

The Argo's crew walked in silence, though they were armed to the teeth. Alana had her bow and a short sword at her side, which she had grabbed from the ship's armory. Ethan had his war hammer and spear, as well as two satchels whose straps crisscrossed on his chest. One held the metal grenades, the other held the new wooden ones. Serif and Raklan both had long spears in their hands, longswords at their waists, and large shields on their backs.

When they were a hundred yards from the hill, the thin forest ended and opened onto a large clearing that appeared to encircle the hill. Ethan motioned for everyone to stop.

"Here's the plan." He whispered. "We're going to circle around the hill from the cover of the trees until we see the entrance. Then Rachel, Serif, Raklan, and I will sneak up."

Alana opened her mouth, but he held up his hand. "Honey, you're deadly with that bow from any range. I want you to stay back, hidden behind cover. Then if he leaves the cave, I want you to put an arrow through any weak spot you see. He hopefully won't notice you, and you can get a good sucker punch in."

She nodded. "I'll go for the eyes, or maybe even his mouth if he leaves it open long enough."

"Good idea." He nodded. "Once the rest of us are at the entrance, we'll use the leftover metal grenades." He indicated one of the satchels that was slung over his shoulder. "I'll throw them as far inside the cave as I can and Rachel will use her magic to give them a boost. Serif, Raklan; be ready in case he comes charging out after us."

Serif nodded, while Raklan grumbled something that didn't sound like a compliment.

Ethan ignored him. "If the first round of grenades doesn't get him, I'll toss some more and then we'll retreat back into the forest and come back later. Worst case scenario, I'll use the wooden grenades to distract him while we escape. Everyone clear?"

There was a general murmur of assent from everyone but Raklan, who grumbled something. Serif gave him a look, shook his head fractionally, and then Raklan too mumbled something in agreement.

Beth found herself wondering how Serif could have Raklan so completely under control. Raklan was easily a whole head taller and probably twice Serif's weight and all the difference was muscle. Yet the bigger man quickly and easily capitulated to the smaller.

It made her curious.

Very curious.

She looked at the sky. It was bright blue and nearly cloudless, though the sun hadn't risen yet. She thought it couldn't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes before it would, as the hue in the east was quite bright.

Dawn was coming soon.

"Let's go." Ethan said, and they started winding their way around the base of the hill.

It only took fifteen minutes to find the entrance because it wasn't concealed at all. It was cut into the rock of the hill, and the opening was relatively small, round, and about six feet across; just big enough for Havorleth to enter without difficulty. More importantly for the larger dragon, no more than two men could come at him at once, and they would be easy prey for his dragon's breath.

Beth remembered reading that this was the reason dragons preferred caves for their hoard. The small entrances made any would-be robbers easy targets for their breath, making it easy to defend without the dragon endangering himself.

Seeing it now, it made perfect sense.

Alana found a large boulder to hide behind at the edge of the trees, about a hundred yards across a grassy field from the cave's entrance. The boulder had several dense bushes nearby so she could still see from concealment. Ethan, Rachel, Serif, and Raklan snuck up to the entrance, making sure to stay completely out of sight of the dragon within.

They stacked up next to the entrance, waiting with bated breath.

Beth -- who knew she couldn't be seen or heard -- threw caution to the wind and ran inside. The cave wasn't terribly deep, maybe fifteen or twenty feet before it curved to the right and up a short rise. After another ten feet, it opened up into a small room about twenty feet round with a ten-foot domed ceiling.

Havorleth was there, sleeping next to a small pile of gold.

Beth cocked her head to one side.

Why was the pile of gold so small?

The gold that Havorleth was sleeping next to was incredibly valuable. However, it was far too small for a dragon of his size according to everything she'd read about them. It seemed like a dragon his size should have a hoard at least five times this size, and ten times seemed more reasonable.

It was so small.

Why was it so small?

It made no sense according to everything she'd read. Havorleth would need a far larger hoard to get enough magic to grow to his size and still be able to enchant himself effectively.

So why?

Why was Havorleth's hoard so small for such a large dragon?

* * *

Kendra snuck toward the boulder where the wood elf in the green dress was concealed. The chocolate-haired elf was too busy concentrating on the entrance to the other dragon's lair to notice anything else, which was good because Kendra wasn't sure she could've snuck up on her otherwise.

The bounty specified both of them, and it did say alive was an option. Looking at the wood elf, she was glad the bounty was for the living.

She slipped the small vial of enchanted chloroform out of her belt and wetted a rag she kept for this purpose. The chloroform became much more potent with the enchantment. It knocked them out almost instantly and kept them unconscious for twenty or thirty minutes.

Kendra stole through the forest toward her quarry, using all her skill to keep the noise of her movement down. It wasn't easy and she was out of practice. Fortunately, the ambient sounds of the forest and the wood elf's hyper-focused attention made it much easier.

About the time the small dragon reached the other dragon's lair, Kendra was right behind the wood elf. She reached out and clamped the cloth over the elf's face at the same time that she grabbed her around the waist to prevent her from escaping.

The elf did exactly what everyone does when this happens.

She instinctively took a sharp breath in.

The enchanted fumes overwhelmed the tiny wood elf in moments and she went limp. Kendra let her to the ground slowly, making sure she wasn't hurt. She wasn't, though she'd have a nasty headache when she woke. She checked her pulse, which was still strong and healthy.

Kendra then silently drew one of her Dragon Slayer Arrows from its sheath, nocked it into the bowstring, activated her strength-enhancing vambraces, and then looked at the sky. It was so bright she was surprised that she didn't see the sun peeking over the horizon. It might be another few seconds -- possibly a minute or two -- but not longer.

It was almost dawn.

* * *

Beth was walking out of the cave toward Ethan and the others when she noticed something in the distance. Where Alana had hidden, there was a head with very dark hair poking up. At this distance she wasn't sure, but it didn't look like the wood elf's head; the hair was too dark and looked black compared to Alana's chocolate-brown color.

She also noticed the shadows from the sun were finally starting to disappear. The moment the sun's light fell on the dark head, a woman stood up holding an enormous bow...

But it wasn't Alana.

She was too tall and the bow she held made a stark contrast to the wood elf's bow. This one was dark gray with a wide slot in the middle and looked vaguely metallic, whereas Alana's bow was made of graceful, elegant wood. The woman drew the bow back -- evidently with some difficulty -- and aimed it at Ethan.

Beth panicked.

She did the only thing she could think of to save her husband. She concentrated all of her willpower into making her hands solid, then she ran at him as fast as she could. She made contact and pushed him in the chest as hard as she possibly could, throwing all her body weight into the push hoping to get him out of the way.

It only partially worked.

She got a good push for a moment, but then her concentration slipped and she ran right through him.

"What the hell?" Ethan said as he jumped back in shock.

Barely a second later, an arrow slammed into the rock behind where he had just been standing. It made a loud clanging, scraping sound as it hit the rock wall.

Beth breathed a sigh of relief... at least until she heard a rumbling from inside the cave.

"Who's out there?" Havorleth's voice boomed from the cave.

The element of surprise was lost.

The dragon was awake.

* * *

Ethan heard Havorleth's question. But he stared at the Dragon Slayer arrow in shock for a moment anyway before turning to see where it had come from.

"Kendra!" He hissed.

Then he realized where she was standing.

"Alana." He breathed, as concern for his wife subsumed all other concerns.

Kendra pulled out another arrow and Ethan dived for cover. It wasn't much, but there was a small boulder about two feet in diameter a couple of yards away from the entrance of the cave. Serif and Raklan had taken cover behind another nearby rock, so they were protected.

*Alana, are you okay?* He thought to her.

No response.

*Alana!*

Still no response.

"That bitch!" Rachel fumed as she hit the dirt beside him with fire in her eyes. "If she hurt Alana, I'll roast her alive." A fire blazed behind the mage's eye, leaving him in no doubt that the redhead meant the threat quite literally.

"Get in line." Ethan growled in agreement.

A subtle shaking of the earth brought Ethan's attention back to the situation at present. Havorleth was clearly coming to see what was going on and they were completely pinned down.

He did the math.

If he was going to help Alana, he needed to get out from behind this rock. But if he did, the irate dragon huntress would likely skewer him. The more pressing problem was Havorleth though. From where they were taking cover, the larger dragon could roast them alive without leaving the cave.

He needed to keep Havorleth pinned down.

He grabbed a metal grenade out of the satchel and looked at Rachel. "Get ready to boost the throw."

She nodded.

He activated a grenade and threw it as far as he could into the cave. The moment it left his hand, there was a powerful gust of wind that carried it faster than his arm could've alone. There was a slight shaking of the earth and it sounded like Havorleth had jumped backwards, then...

BOOM!

Ethan and Rachel were showered in earth as a huge cloud of dust poured from the cave's entrance. Rachel put her sleeve over her mouth and Ethan dumped the metal grenades on the ground so he could use the cloth satchel as a filter.

"Again." He said, lobbing another grenade, which Rachel again boosted far into the cave.

BOOM!

Another shower of dust and earth covered them, which gave him an idea.

"Rachel, I'm going to lob a few grenades to create a smoke screen so I can get to Alana. I need you to boost the throw, but don't let them get near where Alana is hiding."

"Done!" She hissed. "Kill that bitch."

Ethan dropped his weapons and grabbed three of the metal grenades. He lobbed them as far as he could over his head somewhat blindly in Kendra's direction. He felt a sudden and powerful burst of wind moments later.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He chanced a peek over the top of the rock. The grenades had landed more or less on target. One of them was way off, but the other two had created a nice plume of smoke-like dust that obscured both his and the Dragon huntress's vision.

He grabbed two of the remaining metal grenades, but dropped the other three metal grenades at Rachel's feet.

"Keep Havorleth occupied." He said. "I'm going after Alana."

She nodded and he took off running as fast as he could. He would've flown but was worried the altitude would expose him to Kendra's arrows. Not long afterward, a stiff breeze arose from out of nowhere and started blowing the smoke away.

"Kendra." He growled.

He ran as long as he dared, then hit the dirt behind a small rise in the earth. He waited until the strange breeze died down, then grabbed the two metal grenades and lobbed them over his head toward Kendra again. He made sure they wouldn't go far enough to put his bride in danger.

BOOM! BOOM!

He gave it a second for the dust clouds to fully develop, then charged straight toward her, calling his dropped weapons to his hands as he ran. He burst through the cloud of smoke ready to dodge an arrow and throw his spear...

But Kendra was nowhere to be seen.

Throwing caution to the wind, he leapt forward, using his wings to give him a boost. He landed just behind the boulder that Alana had been hidden behind.

She was okay.

She was unconscious on the ground but didn't have a mark on her. He checked her pulse which was strong and healthy. She didn't even look like she had any bruises.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

The scales on the back of his neck stood up.

He whipped around to see Kendra a mere dozen yards away. Her bow was drawn and a triumphant smile was on her face. The dragon huntress had once again laid a trap... and once again he'd fallen for it. She had him dead to rights.

She loosed the arrow.