by Andrew Rowe
While I processed that particular development, the mist surged through me.
It was cold.
The kind of cold that you feel when you’ve been out in the snow for a few too many hours, and then you get just a taste of warmth again, and it feels like your skin and muscles have suddenly decided that it’s time to die.
I fell to my knees. My vision swam. The pain in my hand was bad enough that I was already barely functional, and this new sensation was too much for me to consciously fight through.
Where conscious thought failed, my instincts prevailed.
My entire aura shifted to flame, shielding me from the cold. The draconic mist passed beyond a moment later.
I shivered, but I was alive.
As the mist surged to the opposite side of the room, I stood and turned to face it. The heat from my changed aura did not banish my pain immediately, but it began to help.
Pain was irrelevant at that moment, though. Before I could consider how to proceed, I was running, raising my weapon.
The dragon re-solidified before I could reach them, opening their jaws wide.
They took a deep breath, drawing in mist from around the room.
I didn’t know exactly what they were doing, but I didn’t have to. My instincts told me that it was dangerous, so I acted, commanding the fireball to fly toward the creature’s open mouth.
It didn’t matter.
The dragon exhaled.
A jet of arctic air blasted from the creature’s jaws, enveloping the fireball and continuing toward me.
If I wasn’t already badly injured, I might have thrown myself out of the way. As it was, if I fell, I didn’t know if I could stand again.
So, I fell back on what was always my first instinct.
I slid to a halt, pulled my sword arm back, and swung upward.
Sever.
A crescent shockwave of fire followed in the wake of my swing, splitting the dragon’s breath in half.
The cut wasn’t wide enough to stop the blast entirely, but I shifted to a sideways stance as the remainder passed over me, evaporating as it crashed into my blazing aura. I felt the cold, but only at the last moment.
The moment my aura faded to nothing.
I’d pushed myself beyond exhaustion. My body could no longer maintain an entire shroud of flame. Only my blade remained burning, since it was still drawing from the sword’s power, not my own.
The dragon was in far worse shape. My incendiary slash had crashed into their chest, tearing a great gash through scales and skin. They roared into the air, shaking the room, but I was undaunted.
I closed the distance more cautiously as they howled, lowering my weapon. “This has been a good fight, but I’d like to stop here. I don’t want to cause you any permanent damage.”
I moved my injured hand to where my crossguard met the scabbard. A metallic seal held the sword in place.
I loathed the idea of breaking that seal. I despised the knowledge of what might happen if I did.
But I wasn’t ready to die.
The dragon lowered their head, snorting jets of icy air. “Such arrogance. You have wounded me, but I am not so easily beaten.”
I stepped closer, but kept my sword lowered. I was within the dragon’s reach now, but they were still outside of mine. “No, but you see now that I can harm you. And you are aware I have been holding back deliberately.”
“And you expect to be rewarded for your restraint? In what world is hesitation a mark of valor?”
I leaned on my sword. I felt tired, then, and not just because of my fatigue.
This was an argument I’d fought many times before, and it was far less satisfying than the clash of steel against scales. “It’s not about valor, or glory, or any number of lovely words people use to justify killing. My goal remains the same as when we first spoke. I want to leave here alive, without having to kill you. If that makes me a coward in your mind, fine.”
“You are no coward. I see that, now. You are far worse; you are an idealist. And idealism in the face of death? That makes you a fool.”
I sighed. At least they were using “you” instead of “thou” now. I could see where this conversation was going, but I wasn’t going to stop trying. “I don’t suppose you’d let me just walk out the way I came?”
“No.” The dragon shifted, scratching away a patch of melted scales. “My charge remains. We will fight until one of us can fight no more.”
I considered the wording on that. “Can you still hear me speaking when you’re in that mist form?”
Huge eyes narrowed. “Indeed. But if my body is mist, I cannot be harmed. Even your flames cannot burn my mist away.”
I stretched my arms and legs. Feeling was slowly returning to my left hand, but still not enough to use it much. The chill in my bones was only growing worse. I needed to stop fighting and replenish my body heat soon or I’d lose consciousness.
“Enough talk. Now this ends.”
That was my signal to dodge. I was always grateful to enemies that telegraphed their attacks.
The claw came at almost exactly the angle I’d expected, so when I jumped, I cleared the swipe easily.
The tail followed, swinging high to knock me out of the air. I maneuvered my sword between us and the dragon pulled their swing to avoid being burned.
When I hit the ground, I thrust straight at the gap where my crescent had cut. The scales there were gone — I’d be plunging the weapon straight into the creature’s chest.
The dragon turned to mist, just as I’d expected.
I swung my left hand upward, focusing for just an instant, and drew from my sword’s aura. A blade-like flash of silver emanated from my hand, shearing through a section of mist.
The dragon staggered back rather than surging through me. As I’d expected, they were able to sense what had just occurred.
Mist or not, that part of the dragon’s body had been erased.
I shifted my blade, keeping it inside the draconic mist, located inside the chest cavity. “At any moment, I could change the aura around this scabbard into the same type that just cut through your mist. This would tear through you like paper. From my position, I could cut through your neck before you could pass through me. Make no further motions.”
The mist held its position.
“I’ve watched you move. You can’t move backward faster than I can move forward, so if you retreat, I will follow, and I will cut you. If you try to return to a corporeal state, my sword will be inside your body. Nod if you understand this.”
The draconic mist remained still for another moment, then slowly lowered their head and raised it again.
“Good. You cannot advance, retreat, defend, or attack. Therefore, you can no longer continue to fight. You have fought well and proven your strength. I offer you the chance to surrender and conclude this battle. If you accept, you must not attack me again, and I will withdraw my blade from your body. Do you accept my offer?”
The dragon hesitated.
Moments passed.
And then, ever-so-slowly, they nodded their head.
I took a deep breath, stepped back, and lowered my sword.
“Good.”
And with that, I unceremoniously collapsed to the cavern floor.
Chapter III – A Dragon’s Quest
“Human.”
I shivered. My everything hurt.
Some parts of my everything hurt more than others.
Fortunately, I was wrapped in something warm, and something heavy and even warmer was on top of me.
It took me a moment to orient myself. What was I wrapped in? Furs?
I felt something shift atop me, then my eyes finally opened.
Something — or rather someone — was looming over me.
Instincts kicked in. I went straight for my sword, only to find that it wasn’t on my belt. With the figure on top of me, I couldn’t dodge effectively, so I pulled back my arm and prepared to strike.
They leaned
down and grabbed my wrist before I got a chance. “If you want to go another round, I’m not saying no, but we should both probably rest first.”
I paused, resisting the urge to attack.
The speaker looked to be a woman in her twenties wearing loose garments of all white. Her clothes matched with half her hair; it looked like it was roughly half black and half white. Given how unusual that was, I assumed at the time that she was using hair dye, but it was hardly the most important one of her features.
When her mouth had been briefly open, I noted that her teeth were just a little bit sharper than they should have been. And, even more importantly, she had the silvery white scales covering large portions of her skin.
I remembered where I was.
Or at least where I had been.
That woman must be the creature I was fighting. I suppose she moved me here to rest after I collapsed.
I grunted. “Ugh. Sorry. Took me a moment to get my bearings.” I relaxed my hand.
Even while in a humanoid form, she proved capable of an impressive growl. “Your reflexes do you credit, though striking me would have been unwise in your current state.” She released my wrist.
I took a moment to process that, as well as the remainder of my surroundings. We appeared to be in the same cave, but the mists had cleared, and I was in a different chamber. A living chamber, from what I could gather. There was no bed, but I was in what appeared to be the world’s largest pile of blankets and pillows.
The dragon pulled away from me just slightly, giving me a better look at her. She had some sort of makeshift bandages around her midsection, but they probably weren’t very effective, given that she’d put them over her clothes.
That was a little strange. She was clearly not a medical professional.
There was another bandage on her face — presumably from where I’d cut the mist with my aura. That one had already been soaked through with blood. I knew the reason; it wasn’t going to heal naturally any time soon.
Anything cut with my aura was annihilated utterly, and I hadn’t met a creature yet that could heal from that completely without magical help. If left alone, it might clot slowly and scar, at best. At worst, it might just keep bleeding indefinitely.
That was unacceptable.
She shoved a flask of liquid toward me. “Drink.”
I accepted the flask and drank. It was just water, as far as I could tell, but I definitely needed it. I handed it back a moment later. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to impose on your hospitality.”
“You have...” The dragon’s voice was notably lower, closer to human volume. Perhaps she was adapting to speaking to me, but from the way she turned her head away, I thought it might have been embarrassed. “You successfully completed my trial. Thus, I am to treat you as a prospective wielder of Dawnbringer. Allowing you to die a moment after defeating me would have been an unacceptable outcome.”
“Agreed. Nevertheless, I appreciate you letting me rest here. Thank you.” I shifted my position to cradle my injured hand atop my chest. It wasn’t hurting quite as much as it had been right after I’d punched the dragon, but it was still in bad shape. I didn’t see any exposed bone, which was good, but I still suspected I’d fractured a couple of my knuckles. I wasn’t going to be getting much use out of it soon.
Not that my off-hand had been as functional as my main hand in a long time. I’d taken a spear right through it years before, and it had never completely recovered.
“You are...welcome.” The dragon seemed to consider the matter resolved, so she laid back down on top of me.
I blinked.
Was she sleeping on top of me?
Huh.
Oh well, it’s warm.
I went back to sleep.
***
I don’t know how long it was before I woke back up, but my hand was burning pretty viciously when I did. I gingerly brushed the hair out of my eyes and attempted to sit up.
There was something heavy on top of me.
The dragon. Fortunately, she was still in humanoid form, otherwise I was pretty sure I’d have been smashed to mush.
I didn’t drop straight into combat mode this time. My subconscious must have processed that I was in a safe place.
Slowly, I managed to extract myself from beneath the dragon. She didn’t even wake up, which surprised me.
Then, briefly, it also scared me.
Did she bleed out in her sleep?
I’d been so badly injured myself that I’d fallen asleep without treating the dragon’s injuries like I had planned. If I didn’t give her some help, the injury on her face might have gotten worse.
I reached for my bag, but it wasn’t on my hip. My sword was still missing, too. It was a testament to how awful of shape I was in that I’d fallen back to sleep without going to find it.
I extracted myself fully from the impressive blanket mountain and began to explore the rest of the room.
The chamber was large and well-lit. I counted eight torches hanging from metallic holders on the walls. Their flames were bright green, indicating that they were obviously enchanted.
Aside from that, there were piles of stuff everywhere.
Not traditional treasure, though, like I might have expected in a powerful monster’s lair. There were a few old weapons here and there, but most of what I found was more practical. Hand-made clothing of...dubious quality, bottles of some kind of liquid, and most interestingly, an entire corner of the cave filled with books.
They don’t have printing presses where I come from, so I was pretty staggered by the sheer quantity and variety of tomes.
I was impressed, but I wasn’t here to admire the dragon’s collection. Fortunately, my sword and bags were in the same place, near the entrance to a larger cavern.
I opened my belt pouch and sorted through it, finding fresh bandages, water, and a jar containing a healing poultice.
I left the sword and pouches behind, heading back to the blanket pile, and sat down next to the sleeping dragon.
I shook her gently.
She sat bolt upright, snarled, and tried to bite me.
I snatched my hand out of the way just in time, then caught the clawless hand that swiped at me a moment later. “Hey. Just me. Sorry I woke you.”
The dragon growled. “Human. Waking a wounded dragon is among the least wise things you could do.”
“Dragon? Is that what they call you?” I shrugged. “Anyway, doesn’t matter. You’re injured.”
The dragon looked down, following my gaze. “Yes. It is uncomfortable. I will sleep until it is gone.”
I frowned. “Do you heal much faster than humans, then?”
“Obviously.”
“How long do you expect that wound to take to heal?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “It does not matter. A few hours? A day? I will simply sleep until it heals.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “You probably don’t want to do that. Leave those wounds like that and you could get an infection.”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “That sounds uncomfortable.”
There was a moment of silence while I stared at her and processed her statement. “...Have you never been injured before?”
The dragon snorted, which was kind of strange, because she still produced a little bit of mist from her nose even in her humanoid form. “I am nearly impervious to harm.”
I couldn’t deny that. “Okay. When a human is injured, we usually clean the wound, then apply something to help it heal, and bandage it. I see that you bandaged your wounds already, which is good, but the one on your face soaked through. And, based on the nature of the injury, it might not heal properly on its own.”
I didn’t mention the fact that the torso bandages didn’t look like they were serving any function. They were a lot less important and didn’t need to be dealt with immediately.
“I did not have bandages. This was once a favorite shirt.”
She sounded serious, so I nodded in what
I hoped would look like a respectful fashion. “Right. You did fine for a first attempt at bandaging, but I’ve done this a few times before. If you would let me help you...”
The dragon growled, but then turned its head. “Fine. Do what you must, and then I will sleep.”
I gingerly removed the dragon’s facial bandages. The skin underneath looked bad. I’ll save the description, but bad.
I cleaned the wounds, applied the poultice, and wrapped them. By the end of the process, I was feeling a bit better. “Do you want me to change your other bandages as well?”
“Fine. Don’t bother waking me unless you must.”
The dragon went back to sleep.
She slept for two days.
***
I remained in the cavern for most of that time, only leaving for long enough to orient myself. We weren’t far from where we’d fought — this room was concealed in a side-passage that had been blocked by a boulder that I’d mistaken for a part of the cavern wall.
Once I knew where I was, I found the area where the wall of stone had popped up to block my path. I pressed a hand against it, extending my senses into the rock.
Reshape.
The stone slowly slipped back into the ground, merging with the cavern floor.
Making an instant wall like that is a useful technique. I’ll have to start practicing it.
I found a well with a bucket right outside the cave, so I used that to refresh my water supply.
I could see a trail leading further into the forest, presumably to that sacred sword, but I wasn’t quite ready to explore yet.
I still had enough supplies to last for days, and the dragon had more in her cave. I wasn’t in any hurry.
I spent most of my time reading through the dragon’s books.
I was on an unfamiliar continent, but fortunately, more than half of the books were written in Velthryn — one of the languages I spoke fluently. It was a slightly different dialect but still easy enough to understand.
