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Chapter VIII: The Birds of Prey

We only did what we thought was best at the time, and none could blame us. As soon as we started attacking the two Dragons, something snapped within them, and they attacked, and could blame them. They were just defending themselves when they were being hunted because they needed food.

Surina opened up the wound Maragh had done even wider when she jammed her two swords in it, ripping the hide apart. The creature screamed in pain and it was swearing in Draconic, black blood seeping out of the wound.

Asteron was defending himself against the two attackers and thus had little time to find an opening to strike. We used this to our advantage, though, cause it worked reverse for us. I quickly found an opening when the Dragons raised their claws to attack Asteron, and I shot my magic at the injured Dragon. The Dragons were focussing completely on Asteron, who couldn't manage to avoid being hit. One of the Dragons claws cut him, and he started to bleed from the intoxicated wound. The wounded Dragon opened its mouth and more acid sprout out of its mouth, but this time, it almost hit Surina and Asteron. Maragh got hit, and although it was nothing but a slight brush of the acid, it burned and stuck to him.

Maragh quickly tumbled past the wounded dragon, stabbing it between its scales in the back. It turned around to attack the Rogue, but that cost it its life. One of Surina's swords pierced the creature's neck, and it fell to the ground, writhing, twitching.

Soothing magic flowed from Bardryn as she was praying to her god. It helped us, and it frightened the now lonely Dragon. I used my magic to move at tremendous speed, and once I had a good position, I shot a rolling carpet of fire down the field, over the Dragon. It didn't react fast enough to avoid being hit. The frenzied creature was hacking away at Asteron, and Maragh drove his sword into its back as well. The Dragon didn't pay much attention to it though, but then a lance of light hit it, burning it and raising Asteron's spirit.

The Dragon was just in time to avoid having its head chopped off by Surina, but as it ducked to avoid the swords, a big hammer hit it in the head. Sparks flew from the hammer as it landed a perfect blow, and the Dragon seemed dull and dazed from the sheer power of the blow. It was now an easy target for my magic, but as I hit the creature, it turned around and its acid bomb shot at us again. Surina and Asteron managed to jump aside, but I got a full blow. I got knocked back by the attack, but fortunately I was saved from harm by a magical brooch that I was carrying.

That was the last thing the Dragon would do. Maragh yelled at it in Draconic, and it turned around. Immediately, the rogue's sword pierced the Dragon's lower jaw, cutting it in two. The creature cried out in excruciating pain, but the head was soon quiet as it was chopped of by Surina's killer blades.

Everybody was quiet. You could hear the Dragon's acid burn on the grass. The cattle was running towards the barn in fear, and before us lay two dead Dragons.

We had solved the mystery, and we had dealt with it. The cattle was safe.

'Great job everyone!' Bardryn said proudly. She let go of her holy symbol, and the glow that was on the medallion faded away. 'We have killed our first Dragons, aggressive ones as well! Now, these were just Wyrmlings so they probably don't have much or any valuables, so I say we inform Jones and call it a day. We'll report back to the ministry tomorrow. Take the heads with us, we'll show them to prove our success.' Surina nodded, walked over to the dead dragon which was still intact, and cut its head clean off.

Everybody was smiling and laughing while we were mutilating those children. After we cut of the heads, we decided that we'd carry one of the nails on their claws with us, and so we cut of five toes, which we'd later clean. I borrowed a vial from Bardryn's alchemy set and drained the dragon's blood for research, and Surina took the wings off so she could make it into a trophy hide armour.

We burned what was left of the corpses with Bahamut's sacred fire, and the area smelled of burning flesh, and the black flames that were coming from the bodies were filled with blobs of acid which caught on fire. As I watched the corpses burn and hear them talking about the victory, something dawned on me.

We were going to become Dragonhunters, and it was the most exiting thing I'd ever felt.