‘Only one left. Thank the Gods I am too good at my job to use these beauties.’ Thug thought as they left the city. Three on yourself and three at your base, that was the rule of thumb for healing potions. A shame he had only brought four, he had needed the money. Still the saying went something along the lines of: One could aways not work, a second could always break, but the third would work like a charm.

Looking down, he started to inspect his body. It would need rest, a ton of it if luck willed it. Still, his right shoulder was back to business and he felt more energetic than during the fight. ‘It is true that healing magic helps with withdrawals, huh.’. He had called bullshit on it before, not that he had cared that much either way.

Entering the forest, Thug guided them to one of his usual camping spots to pass the night, half a day away. Immersed in his plotting, he didn’t notice Hare following silently, tail trailing along the ground.

‘How much manpower do they have? I know nothing about the top mercenary guilds. Fifty, a hundred? Will they be able to exhaustively search all of the outskirts of Yellowhold? The nearby villages and cities? How much time do we have? Is it even possible to run away?...’ The sun slowly sinking into the horizon, he had to start a fire to keep himself warm once they reached it. At least it was a busy season, so another campfire would not be suspicious, if only they didn’t check them.

The growing fire only upped his paranoia. “Can you pass me my pouch?” Requested Thug, attention focused in the flames, as he extended his arm outward. His hand taking in the familiar weight, he started to rummage, searching for something fresh. Cursing between his breaths, he brought out a few pieces of dried jerky. He needed the motions, falling into a panic spiral would be detrimental.

Finally, he turned to Hare, only to stop as she had pulled back her hood, having revealed her horns.

“Too warm for white dragons? I myself don’t like the cold that much.” He had been ready to chastise her but, what the Nethers. Their cover had been blown and, alone, she ought to want to feel the breeze on her face. He just shrugged and waved the jerky a bit, trying to get Hare to take it as he didn’t want to move too much his leg, at least until morning.

“I…I feel ready now.” Her tail coiled a bit. Shame after having gone back on her work fueled her bravery.

“For the jerky? To be fair, you have no other option. It’s this or nothing.” Answered Thug, raising an eyebrow.

A few seconds pause, “To fulfil my end of our agreement.” Her gaze lowered as the shame grew thanks to the, she thought, pity Thug was treating her with.

Thug now understood what this was about. Before he could retort, Hare continued.

“You can take my horns. We agreed to it, right? I am sorry for betraying our pact back then. It was honourless of me.” She felt tears start to form, fearing the pain and disrespect of having her horns cut out. Still, he had done all to help and she had spat on that.

Thug pinched his nose with his free hand. Following that, a fire ignited in his eyes and he throwed her the jerky, causing her to panic as she catched it.

“Do not apologise for my foolishness. Neither do for my lack of coin. And, above all, I am the one who ought to seek your forgiveness the most. I am terribly sorry. I let my demons win and you were almost harmed in the process.” Letting his usual speech slip, he bowed in noble tradition. A few seconds of silence after, he added, embarrassed, “And it’s not a disease, but an addiction. One I could leave way easier than any other sickened.” He had tried after all, always dropping after the second day. He hadn’t cared enough before.

“I, I see?” Hare tried to understand. As the winner, showing respect to the defeat? Too alien for her. That respect was undeserved and was more insulting than anything. She would have acted on it if it wasn’t calming her down. The warm and caring scent he was exuding further deescalated the situation, revealing true care for her.

Thug sighed and, getting up from the ground, walked to her and crouched. “My bad. I am sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Are you really fine?” As she ended the question, Thug ruffled her hair with a soft pat. ‘I see. Maybe this type of weakness is not so bad.’ She tried to excuse her unwary feelings. Now she understood. This was not an obedience pact, but a partnership.

“Yes. Thank you for worrying.” Turning his back to her and returning near the campfire, he added, “And I give you permission to freeze me again if something like that happens another time. Truth be spoken, I only said that crap about you paying off my help to convince you to accept.”

“What?!” Hare’s tail started to shake to the sides as she looked up from the ground. She got up in a hurry and darted. “You can’t renegue on a pact made after a combat! You harm both our prides and warrior status! What has been said cannot be…”

“If you got energy to nag me, eat the damned jerky already. I want to sleep.” Retorted, with half a smile, Thug, cutting her speech in half.

This small illusion of a family did wonders, calming him down. ‘No use panicking. They will soon realise that leaving by the west gate was a fluke. The central provinces are no place for non human kin. That only leaves them with three routes. To the east we have a greater density in people, leaving us with little hiding opportunities. To the south we have the war front against the wolf men, and I am not taking the pup near a warzone. So we can only realistically run away to the north, and that’s what they will think.’

As Hare surrendered, for Thug had stopped listening to her, and started to eat her jerky, he said out loud. “How much do you know about hunting?”

“Huh?”

‘If they will run themselves tired, we can just hide here.’ Thug smirked. That damned knight wouldn’t dare to think about them having the courage to stall for time next to them. Or, at least, he hoped. ‘I only need a week, that will get me in decent shape. There’s a lot of venomous plant life for my trinkets, thanks to the birdkillers being in their blooming season. A week and a retreat to the north? I have made plans with worse odds.’

“I am very good at hunting!! And frozen meat is delicious!”

“I see…Maybe do not freeze the food if we happen to act on it?

“Showing our full power is a sign of respect that prey always deserves!”

“You are courageous only when it comes to your weird customs.”

“We-weird?!”

Thug laughed out loud, enjoying the annoyance of Hare. Before, she had been fairly lifeless, but he was glad she had started to trust him, even after almost destroying this relationship with his own hands. ‘I will see her in her mature form, even if only for an apology.’. Not eating the jerky, he stole a gaze to Hare, still pouting. Her tail, however, revealed she liked the meal. ‘Never again I will betray this pup.’ Thug swore.

………….

“No sightings still?” Asked Ires.

“No, commander.” Hailing, answered a mercenary part of the recon operation.

“How long until Second in Command Marc gets here?”

“Three more days.”

“Redouble the search to the villages and towns to both the west and north from here. Retract the scouting parties from the east and south and redirect them. If, after a day, a trail hasn’t been found, focus on the north.” Ordered Ires. ‘A cold breath. A white dragon brood. My target.’. She clenched her fists. She wouldn’t wait that long, nor she could without greatly increasing the danger of losing her target.

The mercenary, mistaking that action for anger, bolted to their duties, not that Ires, immersed in her thoughts, catched it. ‘Where would a criminal go?. The west is a death trap. The east is filled to the brim with backstabbers loyal to the Inquisition. The south is not profitable…That leaves the north as the only decent option. But, would he take it? Will he have left the monster loose and ran away by himself? Or is he just searching for a buyer?’

“He was reckless in the fight. What does that say of him?” She let out.

‘Adding to that, he was injured in the fight. Would he be able to run away? Maybe he is just resting in the nearby wilderness, waiting for us to tire ourselves out. No, he does not have that amount of bravery.’ A part of her wanted to diminish this as overcautiousness. However, her soldier spirit screamed at her that he had bested her. Twice. If not for the difference in equipment, she would have died. ‘Not taking any risks. Overconfidence is the bane of all warriors.’

She rose from her chair and grabbed her sword. As she left the room, fully equipped, the guards outside the room rushed to a professional position. “Send word to the squads. Focus on the forest to the north of here. Avoid villages and towns, too much work for our limited manpower. I will personally investigate their house.” ‘I doubt he has that much of a death wish to play a bluff so dangerous, but we would lose nothing for checking it.’

“Commander!” They blurted out, dashing to fulfil their new orders.

…

‘This place is a complete dump.’ Ires could not believe her eyes. A mostly empty house, not that well cleaned, with its only table broken in the living room. ‘A few books from the city’s library and…a new bathtub? Was he living like this?’ After a complete checkup, that was way shorter than what he expected, she only found the letter she had commanded that tavern owner to write.

If the paper had been damaged, now it was torn to pieces. Toying with the idea of going back to that netherhole of a tavern, she almost left the house. Her hubris, looking down on what she had found, provoked her into going back to the room filled with bottles. Throwing the bed aside, she cracked the floor below with a stomp. ‘We all think of the same hiding places. Thanks, Dice.’. A small book, torn and degraded by age. ‘A diary?’. Something so ordinary that it seemed out of place.

Pocketing it, she finally left the house. Sooner rather than later, she marched towards the northern gate.

……….

After walking up, her sleep not having been interrupted by Thug’s nightmares thanks to her getting used to them, Hare eyed the dagger that he had given to her yesterday. An edge all around the metallic blade and a pointy end. A simple handle and no guard. It appeared to her eyes like a toy, more an inefficient fang than anything else, and she soon lost all interest in it.

“Damn. I always thought that kids loved weapons.” Was the offhand comment that Thug threw, noticing her disinterest.

Hare turned to him, who was practising some strange dance in slow motion and sweating like crazy, “Why would dragons need weapons? Our claws tear metal apart. Our teeth crack bones. And our breath bypasses the best mortal kind can offer to deter it.” Pride surged in her chest as she quoted her mother.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Strong words for someone who could only run.” Thug retorted, in a monotone, keen on taking her down a peg for her safety.

“Hey!” Her tail rose up and her hands clenched. That had hurt, even if it had smelled of no harm intent. She had fought her share of battles, and she would not be belittled.

“Am I wrong? You may be a dragon, but you lack both experience and battle sense. Claws and all that showy things you talked about aren’t worth anything if you do not hit the mark.”

“I hit you both times!” Her tail smashed the ground, anger pushing away the regret of having done that.

“Once, take it or leave it. And, should I remind you how that first one went for ya?” Thug almost fell after failing a parry to an enemy that wasn’t there. ‘Too rusty. I have forgotten a fair bit too. I do not have a half year to retrain. Tricks ought to do for now.’

“That one was a fluke, I was tired!” Her white fags showed.

“Whatever floats on your waters.” Gave up Thug.

“If you are so smart, then tell me how to use a dagger in my normal form!” Retorted HAre, aching to prove her skills.

“That I will give to you. Still, what you lack is not using a dagger. You lack the things that let you be good with a dagger.” Continued Thug, stopping briefly to regain his breath.

“And those are?” Hare keep in check her anger, as Thug had bit the bait.

“Object permanence, accuracy and spacing. The rest you have to make do with because I know nothing about how dragons fight.”

“Ob…object permanence?” Small clouds of gelid air followed her words. Her tail raised up and started to slowly move. She had not expected that insult. She was not a common lizard.

Thug, noticing the error, moved upwards his hands in surrender. “I misspoke, I misspoke! No need to get that angry.” Coughing a bit, he continued, “I can only talk about your first attack towards me, so do not take my words to heart. Nevertheless, once you started to breathe out, you closed your eyes, leaving a great blindspot. Following that, once you opened them, you waited to check the result of the attack, forgetting to check your surroundings. Leading to me being able to stalk you to your blind point.”

“I am capable of fighting!” Hare crouched a bit and poised the tail to the ready to stab position. “And I can prove it right now.”

Thug nodded approvingly, mostly ignoring her threat and statement. “A good stance. A bit rough on the edges and too aggressive, but a nice starter. Together with that tail it does become fairly unpredictable in its range. Not bad. However, do you really fight in that form? Isn’t it too unnatural?”

Hare snarled. Smelling the admiration for something so basic in his statement had been another stab to her pride, not that it was a rightful feeling. Calming down after a few moments, she shook her head. “My normal form is too brittle. I have yet to pass my fourth moult and it cannot resist strikes well enough. This one gives me more leeway when taking a hit.”

“I see. Can you change back when injured?”

“No.” Hare repressed a shudder, the laughs of his mother when she had done that came back from the depths of her mind. She shook her head, as if trying to knock the pain out of it.

An apologetic look from Thug preceded a topic change, “Want to try the dagger at least? If you are going to fight in that form, better to get a mortal made claw, right?”

Hare nodded, more to move on than from self interest.

“Still, you have both the tail and your breath in close quarters. Maybe throwing it would be good enough?” Divagued Thug.

Thug unsheathed his dagger and Hare focused on it. Time seemed to slow down as her brain started to solely focus on her vision, silencing both smell and hearing. Seeing every nick and scar, including the design of his fingertips, she oversaw as he grabbed the knife, throwed it into the air and grabbed its blade. There he moved his legs, placing his weight in his left leg and bending both a bit to balance himself. Correcting his hold of the dagger, placing it against his thumb and supporting it with the tips of the other four fingers, he raised his arm to a vertical position, perpendicular to the ground, and, as the dagger neared his head, swung out his arm, causing the dagger to fly forward and leave his extended arm in a horizontal fashion.

Hare didn’t hear the thunk of the dagger against the tree, seeing as it pierced some crust and stopped, lacking penetrating power. Hare stopped his concentration, sounds and smells coming back to her.

“...thing like that.” Said Thug, a small ounce of pride emanating from his scent.

Hare, still angry from before, took the same stance. Her sight disappeared as she focused on copying every motion of his to the last millimetre. Once she was ready to throw the dagger, she rested for half a second, shifting her brainpower to her eyesight again. Seeing the tree again, she took in the distance and difference in height between the two of them. Next was the sense of touch, collecting the intensity of the wind around them. Lastly, she returned to a more balanced distribution of attention to calibrate her throw to the finest.

The small but smug smirk of Thug crashed and burned as Hare threw the dagger, hitting the same spot he had and pushing away Thug’s dagger, causing it to fall to the ground.

“Something like that, yes?” She challenged, with an innocent smile and her pride recovering.

Exuding only admiration, Thug’s face was a mask of irritation. In a monotone, he started. “Three years. To hit half, half, the time took me three years of trial and error. You did it in fifteen seconds. Congratulations. I didn’t know you were so much of a fast learner.”

“Maybe you were just very bad at it.” Hare couldn’t resist making that jab. Her tail returned to its usual stance of waving around, Hare herself struggling to not smile.

“I should say something but…Good job. Extremely good job. Hitting moving targets is different, very much so. But I guess you already have a knack at it.” He gave up. Pride was not that bad of a thing if she had the skills to back it up.

Hare puffed out her chest, vulnerable as all dragons to praise, anger already forgotten.

“I guess I will let you hunt. I can give you some pointers while you are at it.”

Hare nodded excitedly. She had missed the thrill of hunting prey without her life depending on it. She was already daring to go, seeking to experience something akin to her mother's sessions.

“Together with…” Suddenly, Thug jumped to her position and pushed both of them towards the tree, recovering the daggers with the motion. “How quick can you turn into your normal form?” Whispered, eyeing the far away, hidden beneath wood, leaves and branches.

“Quick enough.” Hare nodded. Her reptilian eyes nailed towards the north east, from where a familiar smell was coming from.

Thug catched on and nodded, unsheathing his short sword and, stalking towards that direction, hiding behind the trees, added, “Get to it. I need you to not be visible. I say run, you run.” ‘Not even two complete days. Who would have thought that this stupid plan would not work out? Elenia’s ass, I only managed to make a damn trinket.’. His silent steps stopped five metres away from the two mercenaries, who were also sneaking towards their old position.

Not daring to wait and be discovered, Thug throwed his dagger and rushed forwards. His dagger hit the right shoulder of the first, causing him to scream and ready his partner, who jumped to intercept Thug. Surprise in his favour, Thug managed to turn his strike into a flourish, disarming the second soldier and responding with a stab to his neck. A stab that was stopped when a magic arrow stabbed into his hand, exploding in a cloud of magic and blood as it cancelled his attack.

Not falling to the pain, he kicked the knee of the mercenary, breaking it and falling him. Turning around, he managed to parry and push an axe strike with the back of his arm, guarded by his gauntlet of studded leather, but a punch to the face knocked him back.

“And we meet again in merrier circumstances!” Said a man in red dyed leather armour.

“Jim…” Snarled Thug, as he jumped back to avoid being axed. ‘A tree three steps behind.’

“Oh, I like that look. You do not know for how long I have been waiting for an excuse to do this.” He took a step forward, savouring the moment. Thug took one back. “And Timothy, my beloved friend, is here as well. You do remember him, right? He is the brother of that maid you almost raped when you got drunk. The noble lifestyle, right?” Another step forward and another backwards. “And, well, she was very attractive. It was as if she was asking for it, right?” He had completely lost himself in his rage, having stopped enjoying the situation.

Another step and Thug smirked as his left foot hit the tree. “I really should have done just that, shouldn’t I? Butchering that whore would have been less of a headache to...”

Those words caused Jim to blindly strike with his axe, letting Thug simply jump to the side. “Oh.” Was the last word, more like a letter, of Jim as his axe dug into the tree, causing him to not be able to pull it out. Thug used the wide window of opportunity to simply stab him in the neck, just above the chainmail, tearing his throat out as he pulled the shortsword.

The body falling, Timothy, hidden with invisibility, screamed, destroying his hiding place, “Jim!!” As he raised his hand, a powerful breath attack freezed him to death, leaving a standing corpse pointing at Thug.

Picking back his shortsword and tearing a piece of Jim’s clothes to bandage his injured hand, he growled, “I didn’t tell you to fight.”

The white dragon pup, a very visible creature thanks to her pearl white scales, sitting in a tree answered, “Duels are sacred.” She snarled, biting the air.

‘What a piece of work.’. Giving up on discussing here, he signalled with his head to the north. “Let’s pick up the pace.”

…….

Ires pressed on against branches and bushes. It was more like a rock boulder pillaging its way across a forest than it was of a human running through it. Her armour letting her crash against small trees and shrubbery without slowing her run, she slowly caught up to the retreating criminal and its monstrous companion.

Thug, not being a fool, turned around to meet her charge, jumping to the side to evade her greatsword, which crashed against the soil after smashing several branches, burying herself in sticks and leaves. A cleave around her shook the unwanted plant matter, cutting in half a medium sized tree, crashing against another and provoking another rain of wood and leaves.

“Calm down man! You gotta be gentler.” Laughed Thug from a safe distance of about five metres, having used the chaos to shadow out of her reach. Nonetheless, Ires detected the fear in his eyes.

“You have destroyed four patrols and evaded another three. Permit me to be extremely angry at your games.” Coldly answered Ires.

“Not asking me to surrender? You hurt my feelings.” Thug started to walk between the trees, circling her.

Knowing time was to her advantage, she stood her ground. “Do I need to repeat myself? Lay down your weapons and hand over the dragon. I may let you leave.”

Thug smirked, but the way he gripped his weapons revealed he understood that he was running out of time. “Even after gutting your subordinates? What a caring leader you are.”

‘Pitiful provocations, I won’t fall fo…’

“I guess it runs in the family, huh? I know nobility, I myself am one. And I resemble my father very much so…like father, like son I guess?”

Ires rushed forward, her weapon tearing random chunks of wood as she plowed towards him. Reaching a distance of a metre, she turned around, using her momentum to cleave again around her, threatening to bury them both between the nearby trees. Her sword passed by a tree without hitting it, destabilising her stance and letting Thug kick her towards a real tree, moving her sword to stab into it with her inertia, cutting through it like butted.

Trying to regain her footing, she withstood half a dozen hits from Thug as he struggled to hit the armour with enough force to harm her. Grabbing her sword, her muscles flexed as they generated enough force to cut with the greatsword its way out of the tree, cutting half of it. Not stopping the motion, she speeded her rotation, almost cutting Thug in half and tearing a good chunk of his chest armour. The tree wasn’t so lucky, soon crashing against another as her sword made another cut, this time from side to side.

Using the distraction of the falling debris, which Thug, and not her, had to evade, she pressed forward, stabbing and cutting away. Or, at least trying, as Thug kicked or knocked the falling debris onto her, causing her to lose sight several times and miss some strikes. The rest, Thug either parried or dodged.

“Stop fighting like a coward!” She snapped. Focusing all her strength into an overhead strike, she smashed the ground Thug had been standing on, causing a great cloud of dust and dirt and launching stones like shrapnel. Raising her sword again, she recovered her nerves and dashed into the cloud, thinking Thug had baited her into it to run away. Crossing the cloud, she saw Thug throwing one of his trinkets against her and cut it in half with her sword. A weird feeling as she cut caused her to gaze at it. ‘A rock?’. Thanks to the dust, she had mistaken it for a trinket. Looking up in a panic, she was hit head on with the true utensil.

A pain and stinging like she had never felt before befell her eyes as the liquid inside seeped into her face, causing her to claw at her helmet trying to rub her eyes with her left hand. The enchantments kicking in, and the pain lessening, she cleaved a third time around her, trying to fight Thug blind. After half a minute, or an hour for her, she started to see again, if blurry. She was alone.

“May the Nethers take your whole bloodline!” She screamed. Not controlling her rage, she cut down another tree nearby. The sounds of it crushing down did wonders to expel the tension she had accumulated. Breathing out, she looked around.

The, now, disaster zone appeared as if a tornado had cruised through this specific section of the forest. Regret and shame growing, she looked to the north. ‘Bested yet again.’

Her subordinates soon reached her.

………….