***

Chapter 9:

Dragon Slayer

***

In the world there were three things Brynn detested above all else, spiders, the undead, and evil dragons, and at the moment she just so happened to be in the middle of a decrepit ruin of an old palace that had all three of those things. She found out the hard way that Lord Jierdan Firkraag was a duplicitous dirt bag when not long after she entered the Windspear Hills she was attacked by a band of what had looked like monsters. She had known something was wrong when the monsters' leader, who counted a couple of ogres and a wyvern among his number, spoke in perfectly clear common -no nasty grunts, growls or anything- called her a monster and attacked. Brynn and the others were forced to kill the monsters before there was a chance to clear things up. It was only after the monsters lay dead on the rocky hillside trail that their forms wavered and their true identities were revealed. Brynn had gasped when she saw six paladins of the Order sprawled dead across the ground. All the blood had drained from her face when she recognized on of the man disguised as the monsters' leader as Adjantis, whom she had traveled with for a short while up near Baldur's Gate. Though they had gone their separate ways she had counted him as a friend, and now tricked by an illusion, she had killed him.

Heartsick and in shock, she had welcomed the help of the true ruler of Windspear Hills, Garren Windspear. Firkraag had been harassing Garren for years, slowly ruining him, and apparently the disguised paladins had been another part of Firkraag's cruelty. Sorry that his personal troubles had come to involve the Blades, Garren offered to see if he could make things right with the Order, and grateful, Brynn had accepted. She and the others were left to their own devices in Garren's small cabin in the company of his son. Things would have been fine had Firkraag been content with the damage he had already done, but before Garren had a chance to leave Firkraag sent a party of kidnappers to capture Garren's son.

To save the boy, the Blades had fought through the crumbling ruins of the palace of King Strohm III, battling orcs, undead, and various other nasty things and finally to Firkraag himself, only to find that their battle was far from over. Firkraag had hidden far more than his intentions when he had enlisted the Blades to help him.

Now, her veins feeling full of ice water, Brynn stared up in horror at the sight of Firkraag's true form: a colossal red dragon. On a stone pedestal behind Firkraag, almost hidden by his impressive bulk, was the key to the cell that held Garren's son. There was no way to the key except through Firkraag, and no way Brynn could in good conscience return to Garren without the boy. Still, she trembled at the thought of facing another dragon, this one more powerful than the one she had battled at the shadow temple.

She put on her best game face, pretending to be braver than she felt and unsheathed her katanas. "So, Firkraag, it's your choice," she said in a commanding voice, "give me the key and allow me to leave with Garren's son or die." Behind her she heard her the others ready their own weapons or read themselves for spell casting. She swallowed hard and trained a steely gaze on one of Firkraag's enormous eyes.

Laughing, Firkraag said, "You are fool enough to fight me?" he demanded derisively. "Fine then, if you want to die I will be glad to fulfill your wish!" He roared, the sound echoing all throughout his cavernous lair, and the battle began.

Brynn, Minsc and Mazzy all charged forward, while Aerie, Nalia, Anomen, Jaheira and Haer'Dalis readied spells and Yoshimo took aim with his bow. At the same time Firkraag began to cast his own spells, improving his already nearly impenetrable armor and countering some of the defensive spells Aerie and the others were casting. An arrow zinged overhead and stuck between two of the thick scales on Firkraag's chest, meanwhile Brynn, dodged in and out between the dragon's thick, scaly legs, trying desperately to find a chink in his armor through which she could piece his vitals. She wasn't having much luck, and neither were Minsc and Mazzy. It was looking Yoshimo's arrow had found the only opening, and it hadn't gotten deep enough to do more than irritate Firkraag a little bit.

"Silly little creatures!" Firkraag crowed confidently. "I will tear you to shreds!" He did his best to make that threat a reality by reaching down past his front legs and snapping at Brynn with his terrible jaws.

Brynn dodged just in time, and brought her blades down on Firkraag's armored nose, surprising him more than hurting him. At the same time a rain of holy fire came down from the air, courtesy of Anomen's spell casting. It washed harmlessly over Brynn, Minsc and Mazzy, and unfortunately it failed to harm Firkraag as well until a few moments later when Haer'Dalis' spell caught the dragon and stripped him of his magical protection. Then Firkraag howled in pain for a moment before spreading his wings wide and pushing Brynn, Minsc, and Mazzy across the stone floor all the way back to their with the mighty gust of air he stirred up. Her head ringing and her vision spotted with red and black from a blow to the head she had sustained as she slid across the ground, Brynn dimly saw Firkraag open his jaws wide and breath a cone of fire at her and the others. She stumbled to her feet and jumped out of the way of the blast, hoping everyone else was able to do the same.

The heat from the dragon's flame dissipated and Brynn saw Jaheira and Anomen crouched down, their shields held out before them protecting Nalia and Aerie from the fire. Haer'Dalis had managed to scoop of Mazzy, who had been knocked unconscious when she was thrown her across the cavern, and had gotten out of the way of the flame just in time. Minsc had also managed to dodge, though his armor was looking a touch singed. Yoshimo, already out of range of the dragon's flame breath had manage to get off another shot at Firkraag, this one sticking into the soft flesh in the roof of Firkraag's mouth before he had managed to close it again.

Brynn concentrated for a second and used the healing power she had gained not long after she had left Candlekeep to make her head stop aching, and then attacked again before Firkraag could recharge and breath another blast of fire again. Minsc and Jaheira joined her soon after while Anomen worked to restore Mazzy to consciousness and Haer'Dalis, Nalia and Aerie cast another volley of spells, between them sending over a dozen balls of magical energy burning into Firkraag's scales. Brynn slashed her right-hand katana across on of the scales weakened by the magical attack, managing to draw blood, but not much more. Firkraag retaliated by snapping at her again, almost catching her right arm in his teeth. She managed to bring her blade back up in time to jab it into the roof of his mouth, making him jerk his head back.

Despite all the minor hits she and the others had scored Firkraag was still going strong, and was faring far better than the Blades, who had at least one party member down for the moment and two or three who were singed by the dragon's breath.

Firkraag prepared to use his wings to send another gush of air out and throw Brynn, Jaheira and Minsc across the room again, but as he brought his wings down Yoshimo shot an arrow through the relatively unprotected skin of his right wing, ripping a hole in it. A second arrow, this one Mazzy's -she on her feet again thanks to Anomen- shot through the air and ripped through the other wing. Firkraag snarled and growled, and using his teeth snapped the offending arrows in two and pulled them out of his flesh. Taking the opportunity afforded by his distraction Jaheira smashed her club, Blackblood, into Firkraag's front right leg. The acid on the club's thorns ate away at the scales it hit, and Jaheira's second blow struck the tender skin beneath.

"Enough is enough!" Firkraag roared, furious. "You pests are too much trouble to me!" Beating his wings furiously he sent Brynn, Jaheira and Minsc flying through the air once more and then charged forward.

Brynn slammed against the stone steps that led into the lair, her whole body going numb for an instant before something that felt like a tree trunk catch her in the ribs and throw her into one of the cavern's walls. Her breath was crushed out of her lungs with the force of the impact and a terrible pain ripped through her as she felt the bones in her right arm and her rib cage snap like dry twigs. She could hear the shouts of her friends as they tried to gather themselves together for another attack, but she couldn't focus. The pain was so bad she felt sick to her stomach and she just wanted to lay there against the stones until she fell unconscious. She made herself get to her feet though, gritting her teeth against the agony she was feeling. It was fight or die, and Brynn wasn't about to just give up and die. She exhausted the last of her healing power to stabilize herself and ease the pain. Her vision cleared marginally, but her left arm remained unusable because it hurt too much to move it.

Chaos reigned in the cavern. Jaheira had somehow managed to dodge the dragon's tail -that's what Brynn assumed that tree-trunk like thing that had slammed into her was- and was all but unharmed, Minsc and Mazzy, protected by their armor, were also on their feet and relatively all right, though Minsc was favoring his right leg a little as he went in and attacked Firkraag again. Aerie was crouched over the prone Nalia, healing her, and Anomen was similarly crouched over Haer'Dalis. The only one she didn't see was Yoshimo.

Frantic, she scanned the cavern, and spotted him lying slumped against the far wall. All the feeling drain out of her body for a moment before panic took over. Half-running, half-stumbling she crossed the cavern, screaming silently for him to get up. Aloud she shouted, "Jaheira! Help!"

She fell to her knees, sending a jolt of pain through her whole left side, as soon as she got over to Yoshimo. Her insides went cold as she looked him over, noting with a sick feeling that though he was breathing, each breath was short and shallow. White bone showed through his skin where his leg had been shattered and his right arm was bent and an unnatural angle.

She felt a hard lump forming in her throat, and a terrible hate began to burn in her chest. There was no way Yoshimo would die, that much was certain of, even if only for as illogical reason as that she simply didn't want to think of what she would do if she lost him. However, for hurting him Firkraag was going to die, and she was going to be the one to make sure of that.

She stood up as soon as Jaheira reached her. "Help him," she said.

"You are hurt Brynn..." Jaheira began.

"He's hurt more!" Brynn snapped, clenching her good hand around her katana's hilt. "I'll be fine!" Which was true enough. Anger made her pain fade, determination made what she could still feel endurable. Firkraag was going to die. A feral shout escaped her lips and she charged.

Before Firkraag could react to her attack she drove her katana deep into the muscle of his foreleg, piercing right through his scales, and using the blade as a hand hold she swung herself up onto his back. Firkraag bellowed in pain as she stabbed the blade in and again as she pulled it out, and he jerked around wildly as he tried to dislodge her from his back, but Brynn stayed on, plunging her katana into his flesh again and holding tight to the blade until she regained her balance. Firkraag swung his mighty head around and tried to catch her with his jaws, but Brynn dodge his teeth and leapt directly onto the top of his snout, straddling it.

She looked directly into his red eyes as he tried to shake her off or bite her legs without any success, and her lips pulled back, showing her own teeth as she shouted, "Time to die, Firkraag!" She raised her arm back and thrust her blade up to the hilt into one red eye and twisted it in a full circle. Firkraag bellowed again, the sound rising to a terrible keening as Brynn's katana drove into his brain, and then as Firkraag died, his death cry died away too. Brynn had just enough time to pull her blade out of the dragon's eye socket before he crashed to the ground, tossing her against the stone.

She felt more of her ribs shatter as she struck the ground, but she didn't particularly care. She closed her eyes against the pain and got to her feet. She coughed and tasted blood on her tongue as she walked unsteadily over to where Jaheira knelt over Yoshimo. "Dragon's dead," she said, leaning against the stone wall and using it to support her as she sat down. "He okay?"

Jaheira looked at her, frowning. "Yes, he is fine for now, just resting," she answered. She gave Brynn a good once over, "But you are not fine. Lie down and let me heal you."

Brynn felt tired, more tired than ever before in her life. The pain in her ribs threatened to overwhelm her, and she said weakly, "Yeah... I think I will..." and then blackness took her.

***

After regaining consciousness and rescuing Garren's son from his cell -not to mention looting Firkraag's impressive hoard- the Blades returned, a little woozy, but triumphant to Garren's small cabin, toting Firkraag's hideous head as a trophy and enough red dragon scales to make suit of armor. Grateful, Garren invited them to stay the night, though it might be a little cozy, and Brynn accepted the invitation with a smile that showed just how relieved she was to be able to rest inside a nice warm house. They were treated to a heroes feast of pheasant, wild vegetables, and an old bottle of wine Garren had kept around, and on with their stomachs pleasantly full, turned in for the night before the sun had even fully set, so exhausted that their eyes closed moments after their heads hit their pillows.

All except for two of them, that is. Sitting out on a rock ledge overlooking a small, clear pool, Yoshimo and Brynn watched the last of the sun's light make the sky turn crimson and then midnight blue as the stars came out. For the most part they sat talking quietly, each glad to have the other's company and to be able to spend time alone. It was best, they had decided, to be discreet until she found a way to deal with Anomen, and they were pretty successful, no one had even guessed yet. Well, except for Haer'Dalis who had spent the last two days of the trek to Windspear Hills winking slyly at Yoshimo and singing bawdy songs under his breath.

It wasn't easy to act like nothing had happened at least not for Brynn, who up until three days ago had labeled everyone she met in one of three ways: 'friend', 'enemy' and 'other'. Most people fell into one of the first two categories, and to her the line between them was clear, though she could move a person from one category to another in a split second if she deemed it necessary. The 'other' category was reserved for people she couldn't decide on, but she hadn't met too many people like that in her life, and so she could count on one hand the people who fell under that heading. Whatever their status Brynn was always forthright in making sure the people she met knew what their label was, unless drastic situations made her act otherwise. Any enemy of hers knew that he was her enemy until her blades made sure he knew no more, any friend of hers knew he was her friend from the moment she first proclaimed it and everyone else knew it too. Now, however, she had a brand new category: 'beloved', which had Yoshimo as its lone member, and she was finding that pretending he fell into the 'friend' category was difficult, if not damn near impossible. Yoshimo on the other hand seemed to be faring better, having had practice in keeping his true feelings hidden, and he was content for the time just to be able to admit to Brynn how much he cared about her after months of silence.

Brynn snuggled up against him, pressing her cheek against the hallow of his shoulder and let out a contented sigh as he slip an arm around his slender waist. "You know," she said softly, "when I saw you lying there after the dragon knocked you out I felt my heart stop for a second. Nothing else seemed to matter right then. Gods, I was so afraid."

Yoshimo squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "But look, we are both alive and well now, you and I, so there is no reason to dwell on it," he told her.

Brynn shrugged. "I know, but it's hard not to dwell. I've only had three days with you like this, not even that because we can't let everyone know about us yet, and... well, I don't know what I'm trying to say exactly, but I wanted to tell you how I felt right then."

Chuckling a little Yoshimo said, "I think I understand. Don't worry about the past, it is gone and we have a present to live in."

"What about the future?" Brynn asked. "Do we worry about that?"

Yoshimo paused thoughtfully. "No," he said. "We have all day long to worry about the future, aijin, so we need not trouble ourselves with it now."

"Mm," Brynn agreed, "I like that, and I like 'aijin' too."

He looked down at her with a curious expression. "You know what it means?" he asked.

Brynn nodded. "It means 'beloved' or 'darling,'" she said.

Yoshimo gave her a bemused smile. "Where did you learn to speak the language of Kozakura and Wa? I was not aware that many westerners knew it."

"Oh, they don't," Brynn said, "but Master Touga taught me in exchange for my teaching him how to read and write in common. I'm a little rusty, but when I was younger I was quite fluent. Gorion always said I was a natural with languages."

"You had the accent right," Yoshimo agreed. "Most foreigners mangle even the simple words."

"Master Touga used to have a fit if I messed up," Brynn said with a smile. She sighed again and reluctantly pulled out of his grasp. "But enough about languages, the past, the future and all of that. It's getting late and we should probably be getting some rest if we want to get an early start tomorrow."

Yoshimo echoed her sigh and stood up, offering a hand to her to help her up. "I suppose you are correct," he admitted.

Brynn stood up, keeping his hand clasped in hers as they walked toward the cabin, only letting go after they got close. "Come on, Watashi no aijin, this dragon slayer needs her rest."

To Be Continued

***

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The dark stage lights up and into the spot light walks everyone's favorite grouchy message girl, Chryseis de Curion. She pulls a sheet of paper out of her cloak and smoothes it before she turns to you, the audience, and says, "Yeah, I'm back. For a minute there I though I was free of this hell, but nooo, Blue has to bring me back." She rolls her eyes. "So anyway, Blue writes:

'Dear Readers,

I seem to have recovered from my bout of mush-induced tiredness, and I'm back with a vengeance! Some content notes: 'aijin' and 'watashi no aijin' are Japanese, and they mean respectively (unless I translated incorrectly or my Japanese-English dictionary was lying to me) 'beloved' and 'my beloved'. I chose Japanese after a little planning a research. Since Yoshimo is from Kara-Tur, the oriental setting for the Forgotten Realms he would either have spoken the languages of their China-equivalent countries, Tibet-equivalent countries, or their Japan-equivalent countries. I narrowed that down to Kozakura and Wa (Japan-equivalents) because his name sounds more Japanese than Chinese or something, and so decided that any endearments he might use ought to be in Japanese. On a side note I also chose the names of both Brynn's sword master and Yoshimo's bounty hunter mentor so that they meant something in Japanese, more or less just because I was short on good oriental names. Anyway, that's about all I have to say for now, keep in touch and all that jazz.

Thanks

The Blue Sorceress'

Chryseis frowns and crumples up the paper. "I hate this," she mutters as she walks off the stage. The lights go out and she says a little louder, "I really, really, hate this!"