The Dragon's Prize (18 page)

“Ah.”  The servant nodded, considering that.  “You are not what I expected the savior of our city to be.”

“Oh?”

“I… thought you might be taller.”  The servant blushed.  “And a man.”

“I get that a lot.”  Sandra laughed.  “Sorry to disappoint.

“Oh!  No!  No, you didn’t disappoint… I mean, look at all you’ve done for us!”

“I… you’re welcome.”  Sandra considered it.  Despite the horrors of the night, despite nearly dying many times, she could say they’d done a good thing here.  “What he was doing to you all was wrong.”

*

In the morning, Sandra and Mira stood in the town square with Lightning and Annie.  It seemed like years since they first rode into this ghost town, looking for supplies and a night’s rest.  It seemed like months since they carved a bloody path down and then back up that alley.  And, for all the evidence of their time here, it might as well have been months.  The bodies were gone, piled outside with the rest of the piked corpses and burned.  Black smoke still billowed up into the dawning sky from the pyre.  The blood was gone, too, washed away in the night.

“We’re leaving soon, but I intend to keep my promise.”  Sandra addressed the servant from the night before and the owner of the general store who Mira haggled with just yesterday for supplies.  It turned out the servant was his daughter.

They were both wearing much finer clothing this morning than they had the night before.  Many people in town were, which was heartening.  Their money paid for those things, it was only fitting they should benefit from it.

“You won’t stay for the celebration?”  People were bustling around town, preparing for a feast to celebrate the death of the trolls and the mayor.  “You’re the guests of honor.”

Sandra shook her head, wordlessly.  She was still working through what happened in her mind, but celebrating it was not currently on her list of things to do.

“Alright.  How do you intend to find any mercenaries who are left?  You’re only two.”

“I need your help.”  Sandra nodded.  “Search the town in teams of five and ten.  Look for any of them who may still be hiding, but don’t try to fight them.  They’re dangerous.  Just keep your distance and raise the alarm.  If they don’t run, I’ll come get them.”

“Okay… okay, if it will help us be rid of this scourge, we’ll do it.”

“Scourge?”

“It sounded brave.”  The man winked.

“Yes it did.  Make sure everyone who is searching carries a weapon.  An axe, a knife, anything you can defend yourselves with.  Cornered wolves are the most dangerous.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The man nodded and headed over to a knot of people who were gathered in the square.  Apparently he had the same idea she did, because they were all armed and looked ready to hunt wayward mercs.

Good.

Sandra was worried about sending civilians out to do this work, but there was no way to do it fast enough otherwise.  Even if she did search the entire city, which would take days, they could manage to hide from her while she was at it.  This was better, if more dangerous.

“They’ll be okay?”  Mira looked concerned, although she agreed with the reasoning.

“Ten men with wood axes against a mercenary with a blade?”  Sandra considered it.  “I hope so.”

“Me too.”

“You could stay here if you like, you know?”

“What?”

“With the trolls gone, it’s a nice place.  You’re a hero, you could do anything you wanted and they would only help.”

“I told you before, I’m not leaving you.”  Mira was quiet for a moment.  “It sounds nice, but no.  Not now.  Maybe not ever.  If I walked through the square, I would always remember this was where I first killed someone.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

“I know.  It’s not your fault.”  Mira had that faraway look again, then she turned to Sandra with nothing but concern in her eyes.  “It was your first time too, wasn’t it?”

“What?”

“When you collapsed…”

“Right.  Of course you’d notice.”  Sandra smiled, cheered to have such a good friend.  “Mine too.”

They both stared at the fountain in silence, remembering the night before when the mayor stood on it and talked about sacrificing Mira to flesh-eating trolls.

“The trolls were right.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.  Just… a conversation I had with them.”

“You had a conversation?”  Mira had a strange look on her face.

“I was trying to distract them while I escaped.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, I accused them of being cannibals because they wanted to eat me, and they disagreed.”

“They were going to eat you!?”  Mira looked shocked.

“They’re trolls.”  Sandra shrugged.  “I would have been surprised if they wanted anything else.”

“Oh… oh!  Did you know that when you went out?”

“Yes.”

“Sandra…”  Mira shook her head.

“I didn’t go out intending to get caught.”

“But you went out for me!”

“Maybe it was your idea, but you were right.”  Sandra shrugged.  “Anyway, it’s done.  I lived.  No worries.”

“No worries…”

“Anyway, they were right.  It is different.  Killing them… nothing.  Just monsters.  Killing those mercs?”  Sandra considered the night before.  It came back unbidden in flashes: a sword here, a scream there.  She blocked it out.  “I can still hear them screaming.”

“Me too.”

They stopped talking to stare at the fountain, considering the events of the night.  They were both changed because of it.  For the better?  Time would tell.

They spent the rest of the time in light conversation, discussing the goods that Mira obtained the night before and checking their equipment.  This was the last friendly stop before the dragon’s cave and they needed to be ready now.  Sandra had packed a number of extra weapons from the dead mercs, and insisted on giving Mira a short sword. 

“I don’t know how to use it!”

“The pointy end goes in the other guy.”

“Yes, thanks.  Awesome.  I would have gotten that wrong without your help.”

“I’m very helpful.”

“Really, though?  I’ve got the crossbow.”

“Not helpful when someone is in your face.”

“Okay.  You’ll show me how to use it?”

Sandra considered the request.  Her fighting style was what got them into trouble in the first place.  It was not really appropriate to do that kind of aggressive training going into the danger that they were heading for.  Bruises and broken bones healed, but not in a week.

“We’ll go over the basics.”

“Later you’ll teach me how to punch princes?

“Yeah.  Later.  Cheeky.”

“You love it.”

Within the hour they’d covered everything had, considered everything they needed, and were waiting for the last of the civilian patrols to report back.  Most of them returned with nothing to report, the patrol from the rich part of town was taking the longest.  After nearly getting lost in the mayor’s mansion a few times, Sandra didn’t blame them.

Finally, the last of the patrols were back.  They’d found nothing.  Sandra once again confronted the general goods manager and his daughter.

“You’re confident you looked everywhere?”

“As confident as I can be.”  He shrugged.  “There are a lot of hiding places in a city.”

“I can’t stay…”

“We know.  If there’s one or two left, we’ll handle them.  We have some fighters around, just none…”

“As lethal as me?”

“I was going to say good.”

“But you were thinking the other one.”

“Yes.  Okay.”  He put a hand on his forehead.  “What you did in the square?  We’re all very grateful for it, but we also had to clean it up.”  He paused.  “Don’t get me wrong!  We’re grateful!  It’s just…”

“I understand.  We’re leaving now.  Hopefully, we won’t see you again, but if the prince comes back this way please try not to blame him for your hardships.”

“The prince?”  The man looked confused now.  “Why would he come here?”

“It’s the only way from the Riprocks to the capital.”  Sandra nodded toward the distant mountains.  They were barely dots on the horizon in the capital, but now they were closer.  Much closer.

“I… oh right, the dragon.  My daughter told me about that.  I thought you were kidding!”

“Why?”

“It’s… a dragon!  Who in their right mind would try and kill something like that?”

Sandra stared at him.

“I just called you crazy, didn’t I?”

Sandra nodded.

“Look…”

“It’s okay.”  Sandra smiled and clapped the man on the back.  While she was busy having fun with him, part of her was sad that he was so pathetically afraid of her.  She was supposed to be one of the good guys.  “I appreciate the supplies and the celebration in our honor.”

“Well, we appreciate… our lives.”  He laughed.  “You say you don’t want to come back but you’re welcome any time.”

“Thank-you.  Take care of yourselves.”

Sandra clapped the man on the shoulder, then hugged his daughter.  Mira did the same, then they mounted up and headed out of town toward the mountains.

*

Under most circumstances, Stabheart Spire was not a unique mountain.  It was not the tallest in the Riprock range, and it was not the most rugged.  It had only a single mine to speak of, and the city at its base was of middling size.  Sandra had heard of great dwarven metropolises underneath he mountains, where thousands of artisans toiled on works more incredible than anything the sun had ever touched.  Stabheart Town was not one of those.

Stabheart Spire’s only distinction was being home to a dragon.

Sandra and Mira left Annie and Lightning at a stable in the town below.  There was a path up the side of the mountain, to the top where the only known entrance to the dragon’s lair was, but it was too dangerous in the last half for horses.  Without the extra speed, they did not make the peak the first night.  They camped in a shallow cave which looked like it had been used for that purpose before.

“Ick.  Who was here?”  Mira swept a mess of long-mummified garbage out of the cave floor and over the side of the mountain.

“Probably another adventurer.”

“Ick.  Slobs!”

“Well, they obviously didn’t have as awesome a squire as you.”

“I’ll say!”  Mira stuck out her tongue when she found a discarded pair of underwear, and threw those over the side of the mountain too.  “I wonder what happened to them?”

“Eaten.  Probably.”

“Maybe burned.”

“Dismembered.”

“Dropped off the mountain.”

“We can still turn back.”  Sandra contemplated the fire pit, which was the only salvageable part of the long-forgotten camp.

“No.”

“No.  You’re right.  I thought I’d throw it out there just in case.”

“We couldn’t respect ourselves if we came this far and then… just left.”  Mira stirred the long-dead coals in the fire pit, then set about building a fire.  They were warned there was no firewood this high up, so they’d packed some kindling and firewood up the mountain with them.  Mira left the entire load in the cave; either they would need it when they came back down or they wouldn’t.  Either way, no point in lugging it up the mountain.

“I know.  I’m just…”

“Having second thoughts?”

“Not in so many words.  I just wonder if this is going to end well.”

“Not for the dragon!”

“Gods, I hope so.”

“Come on, you gonna help?”

“Right.  Yes.”  Sandra helped Mira build the fire, then set about chopping vegetables they’d purchased in Stabheart Town.  While she’d been teaching Mira how to use that sword, Mira was teaching her how to cook and do all of the things which made surviving in the wilderness bearable, like forage and trap.

There was nothing to forage or trap up here, so they had to rely on purchased supplies.  It was a long time since they’d had real beef which wasn’t cured to the consistency of leather, so they both relished and enjoyed the meal.  Sandra tried not to think about the fact that it might very well be their last.  They huddled together that night for warmth against the chill mountain winds which whipped across the mountain and into their cave.

It was almost evening the next day when they reached the summit of the mountain.  To Sandra’s surprise, the top was not a craggy peak like a normal mountain but a nearly flat piece of rock.  There was a slight slope on one side which ended with a square block that looked like an altar, and across from it on the other side was a hole.  That hole was, apparently, the only entrance to the dragon’s lair and what they would have to enter to infiltrate the creature’s hoard and make off with the prince.  Sandra briefly considered getting in, getting the prince and getting out, then realized that was not the best plan.  In the best case the dragon would hunt them down and they’d have to fight it on a battleground of its choosing.  In the worst case, it would fly straight to the castle and start destroying things in a rage.