Dreams and Sacrifices: Part 7

A warm, dusty wind blew across the landscape of the short mountain range, causing the few remaining trees in this place to bend with the breeze. Many trees were not so fortunate as they were either burnt or shattered or both, ruined beyond any hope of recovery. There was wanton destruction of the land everywhere, as if a pack of angry air elementals had descended upon the place in order to stage a wrestling match. No birds sang in this place as they had long since fled the area for less hostile climates. The earth itself even had great gouges of mud dug out and flung lazily at random points in the ruined woodland. When one of the people who were recently arrived in the area took a peek inside one of the wounds in the ground, they found the remains of a partially eaten cow. Apparently whatever was the source of the damage liked to snack on cows.

Looking carefully at his surroundings, the mage in the blue-gray robes motioned to his companions to come to him. He had dark blonde hair falling past his shoulders, which even now was streaked with a light pearl gray. For convenience's sake he had it bound in a low ponytail at the base of his neck. He knew what all the damage that he was seeing meant, but he couldn't really afford the time to study everything closely, at least not until after a certain task was done. He walked a short distance to a rocky outcropping and looked down at the sloping side of the mountain. There was a lot of debris at the base of the mountain, but more importantly the sage spotted the dark, gaping maw of a cave with a convenient shelf of rock located in front of the entrance. The mage carefully picked out the best possible route to the cave with his eyes, noting that there were only a couple of ways to get to the cave. One was to use ropes tied to trees to rappel down towards the entrance, but one could be in serious trouble if the trees couldn't support one's weight. Another way in was to follow a narrow, winding path towards the cavern that had been crudely hacked out of the mountain face itself. But that still required a downward climb to reach the path, but it was a longer descent than the one closest to the cave.

He leaned back from the edge of the cliff face, confident that not only did he find the right area, but he discovered more than one way to reach their objective as well. The mage turned around and strode purposely on the soil covered with layers upon layers of pine needles, his staff striking the ground with every second step. The wind started to tug at the tendrils of hair that had escaped their bindings. A silver pin on his collar flashed briefly in the sunlight like a star saying hello during the daytime. The mage, who had obviously seen many a battle in his career, was not the only one wearing a piece of jewelry on his clothes. All of the members of the group, which amounted to about a dozen people including himself and an injured comrade that had stayed behind with the horses back at the base camp, had the same kind of pin in their possession.

The mage walked towards his companions and met them halfway from where he had been standing. "I have found the dragon's lair at last, and it is indeed located in this mountain range," he said, addressing the party members all at once. "It would seem that Morc's informant was absolutely correct and he really did see a large, winged beast raiding the local villages for livestock and the occasional farmer."

An older woman, the eldest member of the group and one who was on her last field mission before retirement, pulled a crossbow from her back and began a minute inspection of the parts, a habit she always engaged in before a fight. The mage could not recall, during the entire time that he traveled with her, when she had not done that habit of hers. "Very well Gorion," she told him over the sights of her favorite weapon, an enchanted crossbow that was now equipped with some very special crossbow bolts. "When do you want to get started? Shall we deal with the dragon now before he realizes that we are here, or do you prefer to wait until nightfall to sneak up on him?"

"We will start immediately Shandili," Gorion replied, already knowing what his answer was going to be, and so did the woman. She was one of his teachers when he had first joined the Harpers, and this was merely the continuation of an old game that they played over the years. She was a tough disciplinarian, and had hounded him relentlessly to learn how to use his staff to at least defend himself properly. She still doesn’t think much of my fighting skills, though as a mage I do make up for that lack with my magic. Despite her harsh ways Shandili is a good teacher and very patient. I am glad that she will retire to a training school after this mission is over where she can teach another generation to fight.

Shandili nodded, her short gray hair moving ever so slightly with the motion. She reached in a side pouch and took out an oddly glittering bolt and loaded up her weapon. The only other mage in the group, a young man named Orin, put away the spell book he had been studying and concentrated on the task at hand. He, like Gorion, had refrained from using magic (well, strong magic that is) so as not to warn the dragon they were hunting that there were mages, and possibly a small army in the vicinity. Out in the open air the scaly beast would have the definite advantage, which was why he may have taken pains to clear the area, though admittedly he had done a sloppy job of it. He cleared his throat to get Gorion's attention, and when he had the sage's interest he wondered, "Shall we stick to the plan we had discussed earlier, or are you and Shandili altering it?"

"We are changing things a bit," Gorion admitted. "For starters you will be placed a few feet from the entrance along with Hortence and Tern."

"But… " the young mage began to protest.

Gorion leaned against his staff, not out of weakness but out of habit. "You are a little too inexperienced to face a dragon head on young man. It would be reckless of me to place you in too much danger, besides you are going to be much more useful where I will place you," he informed the magic user. All of his companions leaned in closer when he indicated that they should, and when they did he told them, "I know some of us are due to arrive in the village of Taringville tomorrow, and some of you could use a rest in town. Our first priority is dealing with the dragon, and it has taken longer than the Herald had thought in tracking it down. Now stick to the strategy that I am about to relay to you, and if everything goes according to plan by nightfall we should have one less problem to deal with. Here is what I have in mind… "

 

The elfin archer Yen'satil led the way down the long stone corridor since he, out of every Harper present, had the best eyesight. It was a measure of the elf's courage that he was doing this at all without visibly panicking, for he hated being inside of caves. His fear didn't have anything to do with his heritage, rather it was more related to the way he preferred a more open area to fight because, as he so often put it, in a field or a forest you can see the enemy come for you. Of course his belief really made sense only to another elf, but the sentiment was there nonetheless.

The party had left the climbing equipment like the ropes and spikes stuck into the more stable rock near the beginning of the long, thin ledge that brought them here. Gorion had reported that there was not much room to move on that rock path, and he was right. It didn't matter that a person had enough room to walk normally; it still had felt as if there was only two inches of stone to stand on. And the path was not really all that smooth, in fact it was rough hewn and seemed to delight in catching the feet of the unwary. More than one Harper found themselves hugging the wall during the entire trek to the cave mouth.

A faint reptilian smell permeated the roomy tunnel, a scent that was overlaid with mustiness for there was a fresh crop of fungus growing in lumpy, white clumps wherever water dripped from the ceiling of the cave. Gorion risked a Clairvoyance spell and was rewarded when he found out the creature was in the next room, which was only a few feet away. The group walked around a bend in the tunnel and found a light at the other end of it. A man carrying a sharp pike with a long, thin blade waited just around the bend in the event that the dragon fled his lair. The tip of the weapon was also coated in poison that would weaken the creature, though not necessarily kill him.

Gorion stopped and made sure that the remaining Harpers were still with him. Yen'satil had returned from a quick peek deeper into the cave and reported that the dragon was in fact home. He had also said that it appeared to be dozing, though everybody present knew that a dragon that looked like it was asleep most likely was not. When everybody indicated their readiness to deal with the dragon once and for all, Gorion led the way to the creature's main chamber, with Yen'satil by his side.

The Harpers stepped into a huge round room with many stalagmites and stalactites everywhere glittering with a white substance that was in fact minerals built up slowly over the years by water seeping through the rock. Someone had managed to drag a huge iron blazer inside the grotto, and there was a large fire burning inside the object, fueled by entire trees broken casually in half. Whoever or whatever did that must be incredibly strong, the group knew. And the answer to that question lay curled up against the far wall.

Gorion paused upon sighting the creature since it was only one of the two that him and his organization was seeking because of all the wanton destruction that was caused by the pair of flying lizards. The one that they were currently tracking, or at least the one that the Harpers thought they were tracking was a young Blue that had sadly gone insane. That creature spat lightning of course, but he had also gone on a rampage and destroyed anything that he could get his claws on. That alone could have explained the destruction that had taken place outside, though the dragon that the group was currently staring at was not the Blue that they had been searching for. True that creature, or more importantly the remains of the creature (amounting to a few scattered bits of bone and hide) was sitting off to the side of another dragon.

This one was huge, bigger than the Blue was, and he was covered in fiery red scales. Gorion knew both from personal experience and the information supplied by an arch mage friend of his (who incidentally was quite fond of the color red) that this creature was highly intelligent, if a bit erratic, and thought nothing of eliminating his foes in a bath of flames. Some people back at the Harper Hold had dubbed this one Big Red, though one person called him a disaster in the air due to the incident where the creature had toyed with a fishing vessel for hours before he had set it aflame. Naturally the monster had laughed when he watched the humans on board frantically trying to put out the blaze, though he got bored and flew off before he could see whether or not the "puny things on two legs" were successful in their efforts. They did manage to save the ship, though the pair of Harpers who had been present on board had reported to their superiors that half of the passengers did not survive the attack.

The sage approached the dragon cautiously, hoping to catch him unaware. Before that could happen a piece of the creature's skull split open, revealing a large and dangerous reptilian eye.

"You puny things," he rumbled in a bored voice. "I, the great and widely feared Firkraag, could sense your presence as soon as you arrived in this area. Did you really think that you could sneak up on the likes of me? Pathetic I tell you, pathetic!"

Knowing that this being could easily pick out the leader of any group Gorion stepped forward and said, "Firkraag, I know that I, I mean we, can never possibly use stealth to approach you. In truth we were on the trail of the Blue that you have obviously dispatched with ease." The sage was gambling heavily on the fact that the beast would be vulnerable to his flattery due to his reportedly huge ego. That would give the others time to adjust to fighting a fire-based dragon instead of a lightning based one.

It worked for the creature replied lazily, "Ah, you have found out how easily I have dealt with the likes of Herk'Taliantithalisis here. He was troublesome, though his stupidity ultimately did him in. Hmm, I still need to decide what to do with you weakling mortals," he mused, sitting up on his haunches and spreading his wings a little bit. The dragon was obviously trying to look impressive, and he was so sure of himself that he even ignored the Harpers ringing him with weapons. "What is your name, insignificant little human? I always like to know the names of the fools that try to kill me right before I return the favor. I am somewhat bored, so amuse me with your words mortal."

I'm not surprised that this dragon has no intention of letting us leave here alive. In fact I'm counting on that for that shall be his downfall. Gorion of course kept his thoughts to himself. "I am Gorion Greylain, and I offer you a chance to leave here in one piece so long as you leave this place and never come back."

Everyone was sweating while they waited for the dragon to answer. The only thing that the mage regretted at the moment was that he had no way of letting his comrades who were not in the same room as the rest of the group know that they were about to face the same being that was responsible for the boat incident. Also many of the Harpers had expected and prepared for a fight with the now departed Blue, and thus they had many anti-lightning devices and spells secreted away in their belts and bags. Very few Harpers in the cave had anything that could withstand dragon fire for any length of time.

Firkraag, the large Red dragon that had taken over this cave for his own use, stared at the brave, though some would say foolhardy man in the long robes. The winged menace lowered his great, wedged-shaped head until it was almost level with the sage. Gorion was nervous, he couldn't deny that, but he stood his ground and boldly met the creature's stare. The monster sniffed the mage from head to toe, bathing the man in a sea of breath that smelled like a combination of old spices, sun baked snakeskin and brimstone.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Firkraag pulled his head back, signaling the end of his inspection. Apparently he had made his decision on what answer to give to the Harper standing in front of him. He let a dramatic silence fill the air as the two legged creatures infesting his lair waited anxiously for his reply, a response that everyone hoped would provide for a better solution than having to fight a dragon on his own turf.

The group didn't have to wait any longer for an answer as Firkraag opened his mouth filled with wickedly sharp teeth and gave them his speech.