"There it is. Time to end this reign of terror."
The Knight spoke to no one in particular, and silently drew his bow to string it. He'd followed the lost ewe to a rocky outcropping, where the dragon had seized it. The beast was smaller than he was expecting, but minutes after the creature took a bite of the ewe, it ceased its struggling and bleating. The dragon held it to the ground with a foreleg, grasped the ewe's shoulders in its mouth, tore it in half with a sickening sound, and swallowed it in two whole pieces. No wonder there was little left of these things' victims. As it groomed itself clean of blood, he gauged the best place to take a shot. He did not notice the three figures watching him from the brush.
A crossbow bolt thudded into the knight's armor, throwing him off balance and causing him to loose his arrow. It flew past the dragon, making it startle and raise its hackles.
"It's spooked! Quick, grab the net!" Voices echoed off the rocks.
The knight pulled the bolt out. His mail had protected him from a deep puncture; the wound was very shallow. He forgot about the dragon, and drew his sword to confront the mysterious attackers. He made it halfway to the outcropping, when the terrible burning pain started, bringing him to his knees.
Through the haze of the poison's effects, he saw the dragon surrounded by three robed men, monks by the looks of them. Two had nets, and they made short work of entangling the creature's wings and lassoing its long neck. It shrieked in panic, and tried to struggle free. The third one watched, looking occasionally at the knight. He held a crossbow in his hands.
"Hurry up and stick it with the sleeping pin, before he attracts any more of those damn knights! He just ate, so it shouldn't be that hard!"
"I'm trying Abbot, but it's not as easy as you seem to think!" Philip said, dodging the snapping jaws of the furious beast.
"Should I put the man out of his misery, sir? He's spooking the dragon," Philip offered, dragging a large leather muzzle and hemp ropes out of their donkeys' packs.
"No, don't bother. I hit him pretty close to the heart, the poison will stop his lungs soon enough. Just be sure to dispose of him when he's dead like we did the others, and remember to retrieve the bolt this time!"
After the dragon was asleep, bound and muzzled, the three clerics paused to eat a meal.
"One more to go! We have a breeding pair again, at least."
"Do we round up the last one now, or take these two back home and then come back?"
"Now that I have my pets back, I was thinking of staying around. I have old business here to settle, after all. Won't the king be surprised to see how far I've come from mixing salves and cold remedies as his potion maker?"
"Oh, this is terrible! How can I even break the news…If I hadn't sent him away…what happened to poor Peewit?"
"I don't know. I only have the monk's story to go on. Combined with the letters from my father I found, I only know Johan is dead."
"What have I done?" King Pepin was no longer paying any attention to Prince Andrew.
"You had no way of knowing. He's my father, and I didn't suspect a thing until I saw it in his own writing."
"I can't even spare any men to go search for Peewit, if he still..."
"I can go," Cosimo spoke up. "I don't think that King Randolph will want me back in his court, not when word of our betrayal gets out. With your permission, of course."
"Of course. Thank you. And Prince Andrew, thank you for bringing me this terrible news. I know this wasn't easy for you. If you need to seek refuge here, you are more than welcome."
"It would be my honor."
"Your majesty, I need you to approve some tapestry designs for…Is something wrong? What's Prince Andrew doing here?" Even Dame Barbara could read the distress on everyone's faces as soon as she entered the throne room clutching a handful of brightly colored skiens of thread.
"Something awful has happened, Dame Barbara. You might want to sit down."
"Did more knights disappear?"
"No. it's…" he stifled a sob, "Sir Johan has been murdered."
"Murdered?" She wobbled and sat down on the closest chair.
"And Peewit is missing."
"Who…why?"
"My father, King Randolph ordered it. It shames me to admit it, my Lady. I found the order, and spoke with a monk who gave last rites to the killer."
"This is my fault. I just wanted him away from her…I didn't…I didn't want…How are we ever going to tell Sabina?"
The good news is, no one will think to arrest Johan if he's officially dead. See, I always open a window when I close a door ^^