Threads of a Legend
The young hunter crouched in the underbrush, fixed her eyes on the deer carcass lying in the clearing. It looked innocent, however the body held enough paralysis drug to take down the large creature she was tracking.. The girl scanned the sky for her quarry,a female white dragon. The brute was nowhere in sight and her green eyes reflected her disappointment as she sighed.
Tearalathalos Windslow, or Tear to her friends, was from a middle class family. Her father was a roofer, her mother a doctor. When Tear, their only daughter became a hunter, her parents had saved to buy her a good set of armor. "If my daughter must hunt dragons, she'll have the best protection I can give her" Her father had insisted. The purple leather armor had silver-iron alloy over plate. It had cost them a fortune but it was very sturdy. And even though it was no longer shiny and new, Tear had brought down many dragons in the three years she had been wearing it.
Her weapon was one of a kind. Her childhood friend Stefan Gainhold was a blacksmith and she had gone to him with a special request, a weapon she could use for defense or offence, that was still light enough for her to swing or jab and would not hamper her movement. He had fashioned a sturdy hollow hilt that could be fitted with various attachments, a spearhead, a sword blade, and a brass ball.
Pinkerton, her full grown harlequin Great Dane, looked up when she sighed. The huge dog stood and yawned, then crossed the space between them to sit beside his master.
Tear had trained him to hunt and fight dragons and he was good at it. She saved her earnings for a month in order to buy him a set of dog armor to match her own. Now they were the best human-animal dragon hunter team in the Corps.
"Hey buddy stop moving around so much. She'll see you, then we'll both be sorry." She chided, rubbing his ears affectionately. He whimpered and lowering his chest to the ground, rested his chin on his paws.
Tear looked across the clearing for the rest of her party. There just behind the elm tree was Bastian Medfield. The burly swordsmen clad in dented wyvern scale armor rested comfortably against the bark of the large tree. His oversized buster sword at the ready in its sheath on his broad back. He seemed relaxed but she knew that his body was ready for action the instant the she-dragon was within reach.
Katon Kippon, Tear's other companion was crouching in the underbrush cattycorner to Bastian. Katon carried a lance as long as he was tall and wore gray lizard skin armor. The two men had been hunting together for a long time before she had joined them. When they met her sitting alone in the mission room they had asked her to join them.
Feeling her eyes on him, Bastian turned and gave her a thumbs up. He was the optimist of the group and always quick to back up his friends. She was't really sure why, but he was also very protective of her. After a quick glance at the sky he left his place and scooted across the clearing to her side.
"Hey is Pink doing ok?" He asked as he gave the dog a rough rub on the head.
"Yeah he's doing fine. Just getting tired of waiting. Is the target nearby?"
"She'll be here really soon. She's just acircli'n up there. An' soon as she figgers it's safe she'll come a flontin down, and then BAM we got'er."
Tear smiled, Bastian was always so excited when the end of the hunt was near. She glanced over at Katon again. He was watching the sky. Reaching up he grabbed the hilt of his lance. Carefully and methodically he extended it to the full five meters.
Silently Tear slid the handle of her own weapon out of its leather holster.
"Looks like she's here." The swordsmen beside Tear said, the excitement evident in his voice. She could almost see his muscles tensing for the fight that would ensue.
The shadow of the giant winged beast swooped over head. All four hunters, Pinkerton included, cringed reflexively at the horrible screech she blasted forth. After slowly circling twice, the dragon landed with a thud. It stood rigidly in the clearing towering over the drugged bait.
She was magnificent. Her scales were creamy white with a iridescent sheen. Her two legs tapered down to clawed three toed feet. Her wings like giant leaves of an ancient tree were raised in flight position over her broad back, as she surveyed the clearing for them. Her head was raised and the nostrils flared as she took in huge hissing breaths. She knew that she was being hunted and even though young, she would fight terribly for her freedom. She stood there, reptilian eyes scouring the brush.
Tear's foot was falling asleep but she didn't dare move it, movement would ruin her cover. Her green eyes were glued to the pale dragon a few meters in front of her. Bastian was frozen and alert on one side of her, Pinkerton on the other.
Slowly the dragon's wings lowered to lay flush with her snowy back. With one last snort she dropped her head to sniff at the cadaver in front of her, giving it a few suspicious nibbles.
Suddenly Bastian sneezed.
The beast's head came up, throwing another searching look around the clearing. Now she knew the hunters where there in the underbrush and decided to enjoy her meal elsewhere. Closing her jaws around the bait, she unfurled her wings, preparing to take flight.
"No you don't! Ya aint gett'n away today!" Before Tear could stop him Bastian was drawing his sword and charging the escaping beast. She grabbed Pinkerton's collar and cast a desperate glance toward Katon. He hesitated a moment before rolling his eyes and getting up to help his long-time partner.
"Well there's no avoiding it now." Tear said to the big dog waiting for her command. "Let's go boy."
As she followed her companions into the clearing to help them attack, she unsheathed the blade attachment of her weapon and fit it into the steel base. Dragon fighting was a dance with death, you could easily lose your head with one swipe from the bladed tail. Dangerous or not this was their line of work and Tear and her company were well practiced.
Bastion dashed right up to the dragon and swung his extra large sword. The blade hit the beast's chest at an angle and bounced off barely nicking the surface as he clumsily rolled to avoid the huge jaws. However, as soon as he was out of harms way he rolled right back and grabbed one of the long horns mounted on the dragon's head. He swung himself up, and clamped his legs around its neck right behind the head.
Tear took her stance between the dragon's legs. Here she was protected somewhat from the animal's deadly attacks but very much in danger of being caught underfoot and crushed to death. She jabbed her weapon blade upward into the weakly armored underbelly. Howling with pain and rage the dragon tried to twist her neck down so she could grab Tear.
Pinkerton seeing the danger his master was in, growled a warning and launched an attack at the beast's eye. The threat from the dog's attack caused the dragon to rear back hurriedly.
Katon circled the dragon searching for chinks in the scaly armor, waiting for an opening. Spotting one, he lunged forward jamming all of his weight and momentum against his enormous spear. The spear penetrated the hide but slipped to the side missing the heart. The beast swung her massive tail and hit him, a glancing blow to the shoulder that sent him sprawling.
"Katon!" Tear dodged out from under the belly and sliced at the wing tip that strayed too close. She ran to help her companion. "Are you all right? Can you move?"
He nodded and pushed her aside as the monster tried to grab her in its jaws. "Pay attention." He scolded as he got his feet under himself.
"Really great that ya have time to gab, mind giv'in me a hand?" Bastian yelled from his precarious perch atop the beast. The dragon flung its neck in a wild attempt to dislodge the intolerable enemy sitting there. Bastian grabbed handfuls of the stringy pallid hair running down the beast's neck in order to stay seated.
"Be careful! I don't want to spend my afternoon picking pieces of you out of the trees!" Katon shouted darkly at the other male hunter.
Bastian threw a cocky grin at them. Then devoted all of his attention to keeping himself firmly seated.
Tear smiled at her teammates' antics. Then dodging the flailing tail, she resumed her position under the belly. Suddenly the clawed left foot kicked her. The glancing blow knocked her off her feet and sent her flying. She tried to force herself up but the world was spinning. She fell onto her back, staring up at the leaf rimmed toothy jaws were looming above her. She had a moment to admire the size of the deadly pair of incisors dropping toward her, knowing too well that her armor was no match for the crushing power they could exert. She braced herself for her Inescapable demise.
From his rapidly descending perch Bastian saw her danger and knew he had to do something. Quickly he shoved his sword into its sheath and pulled out his hunting knife. Summoning all of his strength he dug the short blade between the scales around the course hair and pushed it in as hard as he could.
The beast shrieked, forgetting all about the defenseless girl on the ground. She swung her head back again finally dislodging Bastian. He tumbled down the monster's neck and off the shoulder, Landing awkwardly on his backside.
The monster flung its head from side to side, driven crazy from the painful knife wound. Katon saw his chance and charged strait for the unprotected breast. His razor sharp spear sunk deep between the white scales up to the shaft. Letting lose a horrifying death scream the dragon stumbled, trying to escape the cold steel piercing her heart.
Quickly Bastian ran to Tear's side and scooped her up. She squeaked in surprise.
"Sorry 'bout that," Bastian set her down and blushed faintly as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Didn't want 'er to fall on ya."
Pinkerton came over to Tear and sniffed her. "Aww Pink, were you worried about me?" She smiled and hugged him. "What a sweetheart."
"Sure, thank the dog. At's just wrong. He didn't risk 'is life savin ya." Bastian grumbled under his breath.
"Just what did you think you were doing, jumping the dragon like that?" Katon scowled at Bastian as he yanked his spearhead from the giant carcass. "The idea was to drug it, follow it back to its nest and kill the young. But you really screwed that up!"
They stared at each other for a while both willing the other to give in. Tear looked from Bastian to Katon then back to Bastian again.
"Come on guys we killed it right? Pink can find the nest easily, right boy?" The dog barked an agreement and licked Tear's hand.
Bastian nodded and looked at the dead dragon. "Any way, we should call the 'arvesters to clean 'is mess up. Though I want 'ne o these 'orns." He bent down and started carving one of the jagged projections off the fearsome head.
Katon sighed in resignation and took his spoils out of the wing membrane.
"So what part do you want Pink?" She asked her dog. He whined and nuzzled her hand. She patted his head. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She laughed and cut a slab of meat off the side of the big beast as his part, a claw from the right foot as hers.
"Ya got the right idea Pink." Bastian praised the dog. Then he hacked the tail from the beast and slung the it over his shoulder. "We'll eat good tonight."
Tear watched Katon scold Bastian for being greedy then smack him over the head. Then she looked down at her dog and smiled. "Well shall we go?" Pinkerton barked and trotted after the other two members of their party, his armor clinking softly. Tear looked back at the beast and patted her pouch that held the claw.
Another job well done, now they just had to report back and collect their pay. Her ribs still ached where the dragon had kicked her but the satisfaction she felt now was well worth the bruise. She loved her job and wouldn't have it any other way, not for all the glory in the world.
-The End-