Interlude the Second

Uncanny Familiarity

I flew through the crisp air towards the frozen ruins. I had left a day after the rest of the party, but because I was a veteran member of the guild, I'd been delayed in leaving. The guild leaders were confident that between my skills of survival and my broom, I'd be able to catch up to them before they reached the dragon's cave.

Shouts and roars broke the quiet stillness of the arctic waste, I was close, and fighting was going on. People were scattered throughout the ruined city, fighting winter wolves and other white hairy beasts with horns that stood on two legs. One of the upright beasts was poised to strike a wizard that was by himself. Why did squishy wizards tend to end up in those situations?

I fired a pair of arrows, felling the angry beast. The wizard looked back and nodded his thanks before running behind the building. I took aim at a winter wolf, but Thia, an Elven sorcerer, made quick work of it before I could get a shot off.

All fell still. I flew up to make sure nothing else was lurking in the shadows, but there was nothing else, we were alone. I flew to meet the rest of the party, getting an idea of who I was working with. There was the Human wizard I had saved, a Dwarven sorcerer, Thia, and Lilleth, an Elven ranger. She was a wood elf, similar to me. The dwarf tried to cut off a pelt from one of the winter wolves. To my dismay, he cut down the back, then around each arm. I wasn't a trapper, but I knew enough to know that was not how you skinned an animal.

We headed off to find the dragon's cave, and they asked me to track the way. It wasn't too hard, tracking dragons was my specialty, and it appeared the upright beasts—yetis—went to the cave frequently. We arrived within an hour. I cast my darkvision spell on the human so he could see, and we ventured inside. The cave went down nearly as soon as it opened, going deep into the mountain.

The path ended at an icy shaft going straight up, and I had to do a double-take— the shaft was exactly the same as the one I'd had to climb with Vox Imperium when we'd fought a white dragon in the training room. The others started discussing how to get up, but I shook my head. "Does anyone have a length of rope? I have one, but we'll need two to reach the top and have enough to tie to an anchor."

Lilleth handed me a length, and I tied them together, worrying about what I'd be able to tie the rope to at the top. "I wish I had an immovable rod..."

"What was that?" Thia asked. "You said you wanted an immovable rod? I have one here."

I thanked her as the dwarf helped me tie the rope to it. That was going to make things a lot easier. It was uncanny though, why was everything so familiar?

I flew up and placed the rod where it would help everyone get over the ledge. I expected to see a thin wall of ice in front of me, but it was another tunnel instead. Not too far ahead, it opened into a large cavern with faint light within it. I paused and listened. Breathing— big breaths. The dragon was probably sleeping. That was a good sign. Either that, or it was—

A little bit of noise attracted my attention below me. I flew down to Lilleth pointing out holes in the ice. They went in, then turned upwards. I looked up. Sure enough, there was another grouping of them about a dragon's stride up the wall. "They're probably marks from the dragon climbing down to get whatever the yetis bring it."

Lilleth, the dwarf, and the wizard didn't have any problems climbing the rope, but Thia started slipping almost immediately. I took her up on my broom, following the wizard to make sure he didn't slip too. We all made it safely, then crept towards the cavern entrance.

I held up my hand in a fist—a motion to stop—just before we reached the entrance. The breathing continued as I'd first heard it, but louder now. I flew ahead on my broom, trying to make as little noise as possible. The element of surprise would serve us well, if we could utilize it. I flew up to the top of the entrance, hoping the dragon wouldn't be watching the ceiling as much as it would the floor.

I peered my head around, expecting to see the dragon on a shelf on the far right. It wasn't there, but there was a tunnel leading up, where the light was coming from. Instead, the dragon was in the near right corner on a ledge. It was facing the corner, its back towards me. It bobbed its head in sync with its breathing, sometimes twisting its neck ever so slightly. It wasn't sleeping, it was eating.

There was something off about the dragon though, instead of pure white—like a dragon of its age should have been—its scales had a gray tint to them. Gray enough that it wouldn't camouflage well in the snow. What was going on?

I turned back to my party, pointing at the dragon, then pretending to eat a chicken leg. Everyone moved into the cavern silently, preparing to attack, while I cast my mark on the dragon. I was still in the air, about the same level as the dragon. I held up three fingers, then pointed one at the dragon, then two.

I pointed three fingers, and we all let off attacks. Lilleth and I let off a pair of arrows each, the wizard let off a warbling bolt of energy, and the dwarf created a shimmering wall around the dragon, leaving just enough space between it and the icy wall for us to get arrows through.

We let off a barrage of attacks. To my surprise, the wizard started shooting a crossbow at the dragon. Was he martially trained as well? I let off several arrows, using my enchanted gloves to help steady my aim. I also called forth a radiant hammer to attack with us. It reminded me of both Darion and Keothi.

My stomach twisted inside of me as the dragon turned slightly and I saw its eyes. Instead of being a pale blue, the eyes were black with blue centers. Black mist ebbed and flowed in the white of its eyes. Something was seriously wrong with this dragon.

We continued to pelt the dragon with arrows, bolts, and spells as it tried to turn around. It snorted in anger. Finally, it broke out of the barely shimmering wall surrounding it, flying over where the wizard had moved to separate the party. That had been a smart move.

The dragon beat its wings, creating enough force to knock the wizard over. It let out a bit of a roar. "Puny cattle."

I flew to where the dragon had been eating, spreading out our party even more. I glanced at the unidentifiable corpse he had mostly devoured before firing more arrows at him. I gave him an indignant glare. "You won't last long. Bahamut sent me."

The dragon roared, blowing his icy breath on the elves and the dwarf. I was a bit annoyed— I'd wanted him to focus on me, not the others. I could take more hits than any of the rest of them. As if in answer to my annoyance, he flipped over and landed on the ceiling, crawling towards me. "Pesky snack!"

I smirked at his remark. He was going to focus on me. The glint of the medallion with Bahamut's image caught my eye as I cast a spell. I reached for the menacing dragon, but his tail hit me before I could connect. The tail came back and hit me again. It hurt, but I was glad it was me and not someone else.

The others continued to pelt it with arrows and spells, though some spells didn't have the effect that they should have. It was like the dragon simply willed them not to work. I dodged his maw as he came in for a bite, but he caught me with his claw. I cast a spell with incredible power and reached up to touch the dragon's snout. "This is for my father!"

I touched the snout just as my glowing hammer struck him from below. The scales twisted and shrunk under my hand, and the dragon fell to the ground. It didn't move.

I'd done it! I'd killed a dragon! And not just any dragon, an ancient dragon. I was so excited to tell my father all about it! I felt vindicated for the experience I'd had so many years ago under a green dragon's claw.

The scales on the dragon began to change. The gray coalesced into a dragon's shadow hovering above the now pure white corpse. Of course, the dragon had been possessed by an evil spirit, and now it was angry.

It flew at me, striking with its claw. The claw went through me, but I felt as if life was being drained right out of me. I didn't have much left in me, maybe drawing its ire had been a mistake. No, it was what needed to happen. I'd be fine.

My party continued their barrage, but the bolts and arrows passed right through the shadow. I tried to reach for it with the spell I'd just killed the dragon with, but it lithely dodged away. It flew away from me, and I tried to hit it with my quarterstaff as it retreated, to no avail. It shouted as it flew to the hole in the ceiling, "Tiamat will rise again!"

I wasn't having it. I shot a couple of arrows, though only one passed through. The others ran beneath the hole, continuing to fire at it. We couldn't let it get away! Thia brought down a pile of earth on top of it. The dwarf was furious. "Are all of you elves crazy? That could cause the whole cavern to collapse!"

The fighting wizard shot one last crossbow bolt as I got to the hole, passing through the shadow and causing it to dissipate. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to tell anyone what had just happened.

The others gathered around the corpse of the white dragon, peeling off scales, harvesting meat, and pulling out teeth. I wanted to keep one of the teeth, but that was part of the bounty required by the guild. As it was—with the spell I'd killed it with—we'd be one tooth short.

That reminded me, that was why I'd been late in coming, I'd had to take a detour to get a magical bag that would keep everything cold. It could hold more than it looked like it should—like Melima's—but it also kept anything inside cold. We didn't want the dragon meat to rot before we got back to town.

There were enough scales left over that I was able to keep a few of those. I had to have something to show what I'd accomplished. It wasn't every day that you killed an ancient dragon.