A dragon might well be fiercer than any monster she'd ever fought before, but H'aanit wasn't alone as she fought it.

A Shared Story

Nowadays, one had a higher chance of being struck by lightning than they had encountering a dragon. Still, there were said to be a few left wandering this world, wreaking havoc and devouring any human who came too close.

Hence why H'aanit had always thought her Master's story of how he killed the Clifflands' dragon rather far-fetched. Yet he'd always said it with such conviction, even as the tale got twisted and the descriptions more graphic. He'd always stuck to his story, even when young H'aanit had openly expressed her doubt.

When she saw the beast in front of her in the Frostland forest, protecting the herb she needed to recover Z'aanta from his petrified state… There was only one person in her mind that she wanted to tell the tale to, only one person she knew would listen to her every rendition, each more fantastic than the last – she was sure.

As the dragon let out a mighty roar, H'aanit swore to her Master that she would tell him this tale, time and time again until he was as sick as hearing it as she was of hearing his. With Linde crouched like a coiled spring by her side, H'aanit raised her bow and let out a mighty battle cry as she nocked an arrow straight into the beast's wing.

Startled into immediate pain, the dragon roared again, flapping both its wings as it tried to free the arrow from its skin, whipping up a wind so fierce that it sent Linde flying back into the forest.

"Linde!" H'aanit shouted after her companion, her attention momentarily elsewhere as the dragon continued to roar and thrash. With the gales only growing in strength as she was distracted, H'aanit soon found that she too was sent flying back into the trees.

Only her back didn't hit bark as she struggled against the dragon-made wind. Much to her surprise, she hit a rather human shaped object, knocking them both over as the dragon roared once again.

"Alaic?!" H'aanit exclaimed in incredulity as she pushed herself off the man, more shocked to see him than she had been to see the dragon… Almost. "What bringens thou-"

"Silence." Alaic covered her mouth with his hand, moving into a crouch next to her as he scanned the sky, listening closely for the beast. "Don't disturb it."

"Thou knewn there wast a dragon inst the woods?" H'aanit whispered in accusation as she readied another arrow, half an eye open for Linde as she scanned the trees.

"...Yes." Alaic admitted as he twisted a throwing dagger in his hand, clearly tortured by the fact that he hadn't mentioned the beast before. Especially since it was now roaring rather close to them. "Susanna and I thought it would have migrated south by now and you'd be able to get the herbs easily."

"Well… It hast not."

"Well, I can see that now, H'aanit." Snapped he in response, loud enough to stop the dragon's cries as it located its prey. Swearing under his breath, Alaic pulled H'aanit behind a tree with him as the beast made a clumsy landing. "Get the herbs, I'll hold it off."

"And leaven thee alone to facen the beast and ben eaten or slay it, tellen the tale of thy triumph?" H'aanit straightened her bow, eyes scanning the horizon for another wing. "Never."

"H'aanit, we can't-!" Before Alaic could finish his thought, H'aanit let her arrow loose once again, piercing the beast's other wing and grounding it.

"There. It cannot fly." Satisfied with herself – and too wrapped up in the idea that her Master had slain one of these monsters to admit that this quarry was perhaps too big to take on – H'aanit swapped her bow for her axe as she started to sneak towards the screaming dragon. "Art thou coming?"

Rendered silent by her impressive display – the only person he'd ever thought could take on a dragon was Master Z'aanta, or perhaps Susanna in her youth – Alaic could only look at the woman in dumbstruck admiration as she moved in for the next attack. "I'd only slow you down."

"Nonsense." H'aanit chuckled under her breath in response. "Two weapons art betteren than one. And since I doe not knowen where Linde hast disappeared to..."

The dragon roared once again, knocking branches off of trees as it whipped its tail around in the snow, searching for the hunter who had already grounded it. There was nowhere for it to escape anymore, the trails between the trees were too small, its only choice was to face those who hunted it head on.

Still, it couldn't exactly do that when the pair came at it from its tail side, Alaic holding the thrashing tail down with all his might as H'aanit charged up it screaming, her axe raised high to strike the beast in the skull.

Thrashing wildly, the dragon tried not only to shake the man off its tail but also H'aanit from its neck as it shook it back and forth, determined to be rid of the pest.

"H'aanit!" Alaic screamed her name in fear as she lost her footing and fell, her axe falling from her hand as she gripped onto the dragon's neck for dear life. Nearly 15 feet in the air, even a fall from this height into the snow could prove fatal, or at least end her profession as a hunter. So she clung on as tight as she could, watching as Alaic threw daggers at the dragon in what only worked to make it twist its neck even more.

Just as H'aanit's strength was starting to give out, just as she started to consign herself to this fate, there came a mighty growl from the woods. A growl H'aanit recognised almost better than she recognised her Master's voice.

"Linde!"

Weaving through the trees like she'd grown up in them, running faster than a bat flew out of a cave, Linde came to her mistress' aid once again as she launched herself into the base of the dragon's long neck, forcing it to the ground. Thrashing its head in the snow in determination to stay alive, Alaic rushed over to pin it down, to hold the beast steady as H'aanit finished it off.

Recovering her axe, H'aanit moved to stand over the beast, to look it in its eyes and read just what it was.

Aside from being quite obviously (and rightly) scared, there was also an intelligence behind those eyes, an intelligence that H'aanit knew had once allowed it to communicate with people like her and Z'aanta. However, decades, centuries even, away from humans had worn that intelligence thin, had made it violent, desperate for the thrill of the hunt, the blood of humans to spatter onto its face not for sustenance but for sport.

It was a monster that could not be allowed to dominate the food chain, yet H'aanit couldn't help but feel pity when it closed its eyes as she brought her axe down.

With the clang of her axe hitting bone echoing through out the snowy woods, a silence came over the trio. Then came the pattering of paws as wolves, leopards and other predators approached, sniffing at the blood filled air.

After the next snowfall, the dragon would be all but forgotten, buried deep beneath the next blanket of snow as one of these predators took its place as the top of the food chain. Such was the nature of life, H'aanit explained to Alaic as they recovered the herb-of-grace and returned to Stillsnow. One day, they too would become food for the soil and beasts. Today, however they were victorious.

Today, they had earned an improbable tale of their own.