Chapter 125: The Dragon’s Shadow
Within seconds, we gathered around Trithe, looking down at a long line of tracks in the ground. The mud here was frozen solid, with ice crystals creeping away from the prints. They were impossibly huge, stretching twice as long as I was tall, and looked somewhat like the lizard tracks I’d seen on Earth. The points of the claws plunged several feet into the ground, breaking through the mud into solid ground.
"What in the world?" Soltair asked, mouth dropping. "No not my world. We didn’t have these here. Is this a dragon?"
"They’re rare this close to the Divine Throne, but I can’t imagine what else it would be," Trithe said. She crouched beside a nearby track and ran her finger along the imprint, finding the hard ridged textures its scales left in the ground. "Judging by its claws, it must be several hundred feet long."
"Where do they normally live?" Fyren asked, glancing at Trithe.
"I’m not sure, but they don’t show up in Radia. Anytime one does, it is immediately hunted down by someone dispatched from the Divine Throne. I guess that’s our job now," Trithe replied wryly.
"I didn’t think we’d meet it so soon. How strong are the ice dragons?" Soltair asked excitedly.
She snorted, rolling her eyes in disdain. "As if I’d know. Any dragon is supposedly the epitome of power, commanding spells and magical techniques far above things most mortals can comprehend. I heard stories as a girl that a young dragon broke out of an imperial encirclement in the Cerxov Emperor and destroyed three cities before a ninth-level mage took it down. But dragons are so intelligent they rarely risk appearing in public. Most of them live far from civilization doing who knows what."
"I see, thank you," Fyren said, eyeing her curiously. "You certainly know a lot."
Trithe puffed out her chest, causing her breasts to bulge against her leather armor. "Of course. As the daughter of a City Lord, this much is expected. My lessons covered nearly everything that might potentially endanger my father’s land, which naturally included powerful monsters. Dragons especially, as they are considered walking calamities."