mist rode alongside them. Moisture clung to Dayn’s skin like wet fingers. The mountain’s bulk was a palpable presence before them. Everything seemed unreal to Dayn.
At the beginning of the ride, Kresean had been strangely pensive. If ever there was a time to talk of past war stories or to delineate a plan to fight the dragon, now was that time, but as they left the town, Kresean said nothing.
He’s mentally preparing himself, Dayn thought. Best to leave him alone.
The entire ride passed in silence. Finally they came to the river ford where the people had lost the beast’s tracks. Farther upstream the valley narrowed into a steep canyon with many caves along the water’s edge, where the people suspected the dragon kept its lair.
“If this is the ford, then we’re almost there.” Dayn smiled at his companion. Kresean grinned back.
“We’ll have this rascal’s head stuffed in a sack before lunch.”
The two crossed the river and crept up the rocky hill on the far side. The ground sloped down gently until it neared the water and dropped off into a sheer cliff. Dayn started to walk along the edge of the cliff. Below was a series of caves. There were half a dozen small openings, their mouths near the water. Among the rocks below, Dayn spotted some scattered bones. The remains were covered with tufts of bloody wool.
“Ah ha!” Kresean whispered and pulled back from the edge. Dayn did the same.
“Looks like this is it, lad.”
“We found his lair,” Dayn whispered excitedly. He could barely contain his excitement. “Do you think it’s in there?”
Kresean nodded. “I do. Let’s think a moment.”
“Yes,” Dayn said. “So, do we go in after it right away? Or lure it out?”
“Easy, lad. Not so fast. We wait.”
“Wait?”
“Best to be prudent to start. Let’s see the size of the thing first, then we can make our plan.”
“Oh,” Dayn said. “Okay.”
They settled in to watch the cave’s opening.
When half the day had passed, Dayn thought he was going to die of boredom. He had long ago given up lying next to Kresean and staring at the cave. Instead, he paced back and forth. A short while after Dayn had become bored, so had Kresean. Instead of keeping vigil on the cave, he had unpocketed some game stones and was tossing them in a patch of dirt he had smoothed. He seemed completely unconcerned. He’d invited Dayn to join a few times, but the bard wanted to get on with the adventure. This wasn’t what Dayn had in mind when he thought of dragon hunting. Shouldn’t the whole process move a little faster? Perhaps he was being impractical again. Certainly Kresean knew what he was doing. Still. .
Dayn didn’t want to follow that thought, but happily he was interrupted by Kresean.
“It’s finally moving,” the warrior said calmly. Dayn turned around and could hear the scraping sound. Kresean pocketed his stones and moved quietly over to the edge of the cliff.
Dayn flopped on his belly and stared down at the empty cave mouth. At first, he didn’t see anything, but soon he heard a scraping below. It was coming closer.
“What now?” Dayn whispered tensely. “Do we ambush it? Don’t you need to be closer? Are you going to stab it as soon as it comes out?”
“Just wait, lad.”
Clamping down on his excitement, Dayn waited. He envisioned the beast bursting from its lair, unfurling its wings, and leaping for the sky. A reptilian battle cry would wail forth. Excess moisture would spray from its wing tips like deadly diamonds. It would turn its burning eyes upon the pair of heroes on the top of the cliff and-
The dreaded dragon lumbered out of the cave.
Dayn’s excitement melted like a chunk of butter thrown on a fire. He let out his pent-up breath.
“That’s the dragon?” he exclaimed.
Kresean was smiling. “Dragon enough for me, lad.”
Dayn whipped his head about. “What?” He looked back down at the creature. He wasn’t an expert on dragons, to be sure. He would be the first to admit it. However, he had heard tales of the fearsome beasts. He knew about dragonfear scattering entire armies. He knew that dragon fire could destroy a stone tower with one blast, that dragon lightning could blow the tops off of mountains. One shriek from a dragon could freeze a person’s blood. Dragons were filled with magical might and fierce intelligence. Dragons were green, black, red, blue, copper, and gold and so on. This one was the color of mud.
It was no bigger than his mare. It looked like nothing more than a lizard-a very big lizard, true, but a lizard nonetheless. Whatever that thing was, it was not a dragon.
The reptile was moving with the lethargy of a cow. It was close to seven feet long, counting the tail, but never a dragon!
“Are you kidding?” Dayn asked.
“No,” Kresean replied.
“But that’s not a dragon!”
“It is to them, lad. That’s all that matters. We’re here to take care of their dragon. That’s their dragon. Let’s take care of it.”
Dayn sighed and crouched next to the ledge. He looked disconsolately down at the giant lizard. How was he going to make a ballad out of this? Why hadn’t some villager come and poked a spear into that hapless thing long before?
Dayn cleared his throat, lightly. “Well, go lop its head off, and let’s get back.”
“Not so fast. I’ve got a special plan.”
Dayn looked at him. “You need a plan?”
“Always have a plan,” Kresean said. “C’mon.”
Dayn watched as the warrior backed slowly away from the ledge, then rose and started down the hill. It took a moment for Dayn to gather his wits, then he took off after Kresean.
“What are you going to do?” Dayn asked as he drew up alongside, matching strides with the taller man.
“A little something I prepared,” Kresean said as they reached the horses.
“How could you prepare something?”
“I scouted out this job out ahead of time.”
“I thought this was your first trip to Feergu!”
“It is, lad, it is. I’d never been to the village before, just to these caves after I heard about the commotion. Do you think I would have risked our lives coming out here for a real dragon? Be serious.” He unstrapped the flap on one of his saddlebags, removed a large bundle, and set it on the ground. It was a young pig Kresean must have bought in the town. It had been cleaned and dressed and was ready for the spit.
“But I thought. .” Dayn said. “Why not just go poke your sword into the damn thing?”
Kresean handed Dayn the pig and smiled. “I don’t relish the thought of being bitten.”
“What? You faced worst horrors in the Chaos War.” Kresean drew his sword and presented it hilt first to Dayn. “If you’re in such a hurry, why don’t you kill it?” Dayn gazed at the thing over the belly of the dead pig. “I’ve never used a sword in my life!”
“Well I have, and I assure you that my method is much safer. Brains over brawn, lad. That’s my motto. Now, here’s what I need you to do. .”
Half an hour later, Dayn and Kresean climbed the hill again. Dayn frowned the entire way. Kresean carried the pig, which was now stuffed with poisonous Frissa leaves.
They regained their perch and the huge lizard was still there, nibbling at the last remains of one of the sheep carcasses. Kresean wasted no time. He pitched the pig over the ledge. It landed with a thud a few feet from the reptile. The lizard whipped about and hissed. When the pig did not respond, the lizard hissed again, still oblivious to Kresean and Dayn. Slowly, the creature lumbered over. It prodded the thing with its nose a few times and touched it all over with the tip of its forked tongue. Finally, it began feasting.
The lizard devoured the pig, and the two men settled in to wait again. Dayn was miserable. An hour passed, and the lizard began retching. It vomited for an hour, then it wheezed for an hour. Finally, it flopped onto its stomach and lay there, breathing laboriously.
