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Dragon Kin in Golian

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Part 2

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A warded thick wooden door reinforced with metal blocked our way, forcing us to side-track. We passed in a hurry through a few corridors, which vaguely reminded me of the Red Keep. However, those were better lit up, and the fact that everywhere we passed, we walked on thick colorful carpet told me a lot about the relative wealth of the Swordlords. Or perhaps it was the incredible materials available in this world. In Westeros, covering the halls of even such auspicious places like the Red Keep, Dragonstone, or even Casterly Rock with good carpets would have been wasteful and ruinously expensive. Here? From what I knew, this whole region was well-off, but far from the wealthiest on Golarion. My brief meeting with our host did nothing to indicate that she was merely showing off for the guests. I didn't notice any signs pointing that she would frivolously spend on such things unless she could easily afford it.

That was a stark contrast between both my new upbringing in a nomadic tribe and my past life.

Then there was the library we just reached, complete with three neer-do wells. Sunfire charged ahead without prompting, while Tartuccio began chanting an incantation. I wasted no time and ran after my Drake.

This time around, the assassins lived up to their name. One of them managed to dodge most of Sunfire's attention, even if he staggered back with a nasty bleeding gash torn into his chest. The other two coldly and precisely lined up shots with their crossbows, and I was sure I was dead. Two bolts whistled past me, and I heard a strangled cry. I didn't have time to pay attention to it. A third bolt whistled by my ear. It buried itself in the throat of the assassin who survived Sunfire's pounce.

Instead of trying to notch another bolt to their weapons, the assassins threw them at Sunfire. She hissed in irritation and swiped a clawed paw at one, while I ran at the other screaming like a madman. The assassin showed almost unnatural agility and sidestepped my two-handed strike. A dagger appeared in his arm, and he slashed at me, leaving a stinging gash on my left arm.

Light burst in front of the man who sliced me, dazzling him. I wasted no time and pushed him into a massive bookshelf, then smashed his head in with my staff. Meanwhile, Sunfire demonstrated a pithy little dagger was no match for her and savaged yet another assassin.

"Keep watch!" I told my companion and looked around. With no more assassins in sight, I turned back to see Tartuccio on his back, bleeding from two bolts stuck into his chest.

In Westeros, he would be a dead man waiting to expire. Someone this small shot twice with crossbow bolts in the chest? No way he was making it.

Here and now? Linzy had discarded her used weapon and knelt over the fallen Gnome. She sang a quiet mournful ballad and placed a glowing hand upon the wounded man's chest. The injuries almost immediately stopped bleeding, and she looked at me.

"Get the bolts out, and I can save him!"

I've seen it done by our Shamans before. Healing magic was an incredible boon for those possessing it. I nodded quickly and knelt by the stricken Gnome. I put a palm on his small chest, then grabbed the bolt and slowly drew it out, letting the healing magic knit the flesh back together. I did the same with the second bolt, and soon, Tartuccio's eyes opened wide. He gasped and began coughing out blood. That was predictable. Even if healed by magic, chest wounds could leave blood in the lungs, and it had to be expelled. I rolled him to the side and slapped his back a few times, making his coughing fit worse.

"Damn it, that hurt like a son of a bitch! Calistria preserve me!" Tartuccio eventually cursed.

"I think he'll be all right."

"Good. Those were six assassins we faced. This is a major attack. We need to find help before we run into more of them and risk being overwhelmed." At that point, I felt practically naked without proper plate armor.

"The dummy speaks sense." Tartuccio rasped.

That was all the gratitude we got from him.

"I'll fix you up too!" Linzy perked up unabated by the ungrateful little bastard. She placed a tiny hand on my arm beside the stinging wound and sang again. I felt a familiar warm tingling sensation, and my wound closed in front of my eyes.

Did I mention I loved healing magic?

"Thank you kindly, young lady." I offered her the best courtly bow I could from my position – kneeling on the floor.

"You're welcome, kind sir! We'll make a proper knight of you yet!" She giggled.

"We must go before you manage to get me killed for good!" Tartuccio snapped.

"We shall." I got up and picked up my staff. My hands itched to close around the hilt of a proper sword. "However, we have to be careful or risk ending up shot dead." I looked pointedly at the bloody bolts.

Tartuccio glanced that way and shuddered, then nodded.

We crept out of the library and checked the nearby rooms for either survivors or assassins waiting to take us in the back. All we found was unfortunate souls murdered in their sleep. In one of the rooms, we found a young man who had made a stand trying to protect a fair maiden. He had bashed in the head of an assassin with a candlestick, only to end up with an arrow in the eye. The woman was on the bed, another arrow sticking from her chest.

It was a grim sight all right.

"Is everyone all right? Linzy stuttered. The young bard was obviously unaccustomed to such gruesome sights.

"Pathetic!" Tartuccio sneered. "They couldn't even protect themselves, yet they thought to conquer the Stolen Lands!"

"Remind me again, who just ended up with two bolts in the chest?" I drove the air of his sails. "Let's go."

Down the corridor we went, finding more rooms filled with bodies. No one hid into a small kitchen near the stairs, which allowed Sunfire to unapologetically gobble up half a roast chicken laying abandoned on a table. At that point, we heard commotion and screams from nearby and quickly went to check it up.

Amiri, a large fierce woman I met earlier tonight was at the far end of the corridor. She roared a battle cry and fell upon three assassins who just ran out of a side room wielding bloody daggers. The first of them had just a moment to widen his eyes before the barbarian woman loped off his head. Another darted at her, trying to get below her reach and bury his knife in her guts. He smashed the hilt of her over-sized sword into his face then split his skull open.

The last assassin thought better of his chances and tried to run, only to end with a blade in the back.

"Pathetic rats." Amiri snarled and planted a foot in the back of her last target. With a mighty pull, she drew her sword from his chest. She looked around, finally noticing us. "Oh, it's you." She glared at Tartuccio.

He didn't make a good impression on the other adventure seekers during the feast.

"Stay out from under my feet, or I'll strike you down!" She gave him a smile that was all teeth and turned around. "Blood for Gorum!" Amiri proclaimed and vanished down the corridor.

That was a familiar name. A familiar action as well. Many warriors from my tribe worshiped the god of War, and went running in search of another opponent even when it wasn't the best tactical choice.

"Barbarians…" Tartuccio scoffed.

I felt odd at sharing the sentiment, and these days I was the next best thing myself!

"I think that's how heroes should be!" Linzy pipped up, demonstrating exactly how young and inexperienced she was. As a bard, it was not surprised she would have a skewed idea of what combat was. There was little real glory in the act itself, and I was thinking that as someone who was quite good at it. I've been trained by the best and fought beside my namesake, Duncan the Tall, and he was the best. That changed nothing. There was glory in victory, in vanquishing worthy opponents or ridding the world from blackguards. The fighting itself? There was precious little glory there. It was a butcher's work.

Meanwhile, Tartuccio rubbed his forehead and let out a long-suffered sigh.

"What? They should be noisy, sweaty, smelly, and always look either for someone's head to lop off or something to gobble up?" The Gnome waved his hands in exasperation. "Calistria save me from such heroes!"

I re-evaluated his outfit in sight of the new information. Calistria was an ancient goddess of lust, trickery, and revenge. He was courtier thinking himself a ladies man. It fit when I thought about it.

"Calistria stings. Grandma says so!" Sunfire told me.

If I was a braver or crazier man, I would speak more with her mother about her blessing sending us out on this journey. She was an ancient and wise dragon, which was another way of saying she was one of the most terrifying and dangerous creatures in this world. She certainly wasn't one you asked many questions of when she gave you your marching orders.

It was things like these, that didn't make me want to know who Sunfire's grandparents were. It sounded like they were very much alive, which would make them more than a thousand years old. That meant they would be beyond powerful, borderline divine.

Them sending us on this journey alone wasn't feeling me with confidence, to say the least. They were either sending us away from greater danger, something I didn't want to think about, or this was some kind of test. Neither option spelled good things.

However, those were things I could do nothing about. And it wouldn't matter if we got murdered by assassins tonight, so I had to focus on the here and now.

Heavy metal grate blocked our easy path down. It was securely locked, and even with two magicians and a Drake at my side, there was no way to get those open.

Tartuccio gave the door grate a good look and pointed at fine, almost invisible runes etched in the metal.

"We're not blasting our way through that."

I agreed silently, and we followed in Amiri's footsteps.

We continued to creep through the halls until we reached a small inner courtyard. The decision to use stealth saved our lives. A group of well-equipped strangers waited in the hall, while three of our hosts' guards confronted them. It might have been a fair fight, especially if we could catch the invaders in the back.

"Prepare to attack when they're engaged," I whispered quietly.

That plan died stillborn. Heavy footsteps rocked the ground. We saw the large doors behind the invaders swing open. Even more people in similar outfits – black hooded cloaks, leather or chain armor, knives, and short swords, walked in, led by a tall man in a robe.

A magician that one, and not someone I would dare face fairly. Magic made any such notions a fool's errand.

No one could question the guards' courage. Even outnumbered four to one, their Sergeant stood tall and proud.

"Drop your weapons, and we'll spare your lives! Our reinforcements will be here soon!"

"How generous. I'm afraid I can't offer you the same courtesy." The assassin's leader almost sounded apologetic at that. "Hey, ugly mug! Get here!" He shouted.

A huge figure burst into the courtyard, and the assassins scattered. One wasn't fast enough and got trampled to a pulp for his trouble.

A fucking huge cunt of a Frost Giant ran past us and straight at the guards. It rumbled something ugly in its crude language and pointed a blue palm at the Aldori. A hail of ice shards cut them to pieces and shattered the door behind them.

The assassins ran past the giant, and it ponderously followed them. A loud crash announced the ceiling collapsing in their wake, ensuring no one could directly follow them.

"Are we supposed to face that!?" Linzy giggled nervously.

"Grandpa says giants tasty! I want to check!" If I ever forgot that Sunfire wasn't a human but a Dragon, comments like this one would remind me what I was dealing with.

"Perhaps when you grow up," I muttered. "I wish your mother or father was here. A Frost Giant is something they might enjoy fighting."

Sunfire chirped happily at that.

"Our hostess has faced worse and is still here. Now it's more important than ever that we find and help her!" Tartuccio pointed out.

"I didn't know that," I noted.

"There are many things a dummy like you doesn't know. Onward!"

"Is he always such a ray of sunshine?" Linzy looked at me for guidance.

"I have no idea." I shrugged.

We went through the courtyard. I could see no useful weapons on the trampled assassin. The shredded guards did have a few swords and a shield that appeared intact at a glance. On a closer examination, they were frozen brittle. A strong tap with my staff shattered the wooden shield.

Frost Giants weren't something mortal men and women would dare face without solid magic support, great cunning, or, preferably both.

More creeping ensured, and for a second time tonight, it paid off. A long corridor waited for us on the other end of the inner courtyard. One side was locked with a warded grate, while the other was partially blocked by collapsed ceiling that provided vital cover. Behind it, a pair of assassins waited, bantering about a few bloody corpses.

"There are two of them. Do you think we can get them before they know we're here?" I whispered to my companions.

Linzy patted her crossbow, while Tartuccio raised a hand, and frost formed in his palm.

"The one to the left is bowman, take him out first." I retrieved my crossbow as well, and we crept in position, while Sunfire waited back in the courtyard.

One of the assassins noticed us moving, however, by then it was too late. I lined up a shot and let loose, with Linzy following suit. My bolt kind of hit, nailing the assassin's leather armor just below the shoulder to the law. Linzy's shot struck him in the right shoulder, making his bow useless. The swordsman charged at us, showing that he was braver than smarter. Tartuccio sent a ray of frost that slammed into the assassin's chest, slowing down the bastard and making him cry in pain. At that point, Sunfire vaulted over us, using her wings to glide right in front of the injured swordsman.

She bit his face off. Literally. That was a new one and made me feel a bit squeamish. Behind me, Linzy threw up her dinner.

"Don't waste any more time, let's go!" Our self-proclaimed leader ushered us forward.

Sunfire turned her bloody muzzle at me and looked at me in confusion, sensing my emotions through our bond.

"We'll talk later," I reassured her and slowly made my way over the collapsed ceiling.