Ildreth a former slave and soldier for the Sindarith family house was climbing the stairs of the highest tower in the capital city of Jeredain. It was not an easy feat to reach the top level. Carrying the weight of seven days of food and water made the climb a real challenge to both mind and body. 6.247 stairs spiralled around the walls of the round tower straight upwards. That was if you chose the faster and far steeper way. This smaller staircase was imbedded into the walls and left far less room for error than the spiral staircase that brought you up two or three meters with every round. Which sadly was reserved for the nobles and kingsguard as well.  Ildreths path was very similar to a ladder.

One mistake, one false step and he would inevitably would fall several dozens of meters before clashing with a different set of stairs. Once it nearly had happened to him. Since then he did not try to rush things. If it took four hours then it took four hours. To hell with saving an hour or two. His habit of arriving early to his shift was not one he did regret. The tower chamber on top was calming, quiet and as long as no storm ravaged the city it was very good work. There were two chambers on top and a platform even above that, but nobody ever stepped foot on it, since the winds were often strong enough to rip someone off the building.

The upper chamber was charged with daylight duty while the lower one was focused on night observation. Both had 48 windows, all protected by a strong layer of magic cristal. You were able to see through, as if the windows were open. Truly a magical thing. Ildreth was serving daylight duty for the Sindarith family house for almost six years now. The tower had been given to the family as a gift from general Concuzio Adreankov for their support in the swamp wars against the northern tribes. Which was the best thing that ever happened to Ildreth.

In one moment tending to the young miss and fulfilling her every desire as a slave the next appointed guard and daylight duty in the tower. The young miss Floire Clair of house Sindartih had been a real slave master. He often had to work twenty or more hours a day and now he was free and had a job he was very proud of. When he at his duty chamber he took note of the sky. In about two hours he would start his shift. He woke the guard that was sleeping and effectively relieved him off his duty. Then he sank back on the bed and stared into the horizon, where sunlight from behind would soon light up the mountains.

The tower had only one real responsibility. Report irregular sightings from the west, report signal fires and look for unrests below in the city, if ordered. Since there had not been any riots or invasions from the west in the last 10 years, his post was effectively just for show. But all these guard duties were still important, and if the governor ever decided to do a practice run for a signal fire… Well, Ildreth would not have to worry about his head anymore then. So he held his job to the highest honor and did it diligently.

When he had started his first couple of days the height alone made him anxious and scared for his life. Nowadays, he just hoped he would be able to observe something that made his day at least a bit more entertaining. The sight of woodcutters outside the city, daily business in the main castle and the barracks training drills outside the city walls was what Ildreth enjoyed the most. Once he had even seen a noble couple having sex behind a garden bush. Sometimes it was really enjoyable to observe everything and tower above everyone.

Half falling asleep and in thought he was kicked by the night duty guard. “Man, pay attention. I go sleep now, you are up. Don’t wake me up talking to yourself like the last guy, it’s a pain really.” This night guard was new. What might have happened to the old one? Before the new guy could vanish Ildreth interrupted him. “Where’s Philio?” The guard frowned. “You don’t know? He fell down the stairs two days ago. Broke his neck. I’m Ontra. Don’t wake me up.” With that he vanished through the small ladder upwards and shut the wooden trap door.

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Dangerous stairs indeed. Especially downstairs. Maybe it would be better to go the long, less steep way? If there were no nobles on the way upwards, nobody would punish him for it.

Ildreth was thinking about Philio and staring into the horizon. But he pretty much knew nothing about the guy, he had always been rather silent. The guard duty was not a very sociable line of work anyway. Staring off into the mountainside he noticed a light sparkling far, far in the distance. Could it be? It was possible that it was a signal fire. But he had to wait and see now. If the signal beacon on the highest mountain in the area, Arakratah was lit, he would act. Intense he focused on the huge mountain standing out between others and after sometime it happened. Fire.

With the signal beacon being lit, he had to act. But what was coming? The flames were still off normal colour and that just meant a threat was approaching. The kingdom was not currently in war, and a raiding party was unlikely. Trolls? Ogers? What else could there be? When all sorts of horror war scenarios unfolded in his head it happened. The fire turned to a bright blue flame.

Ildreths eyes widened. Quickly he sprung to the ladder upwards and made his way through the trap door. “Man, what is wrong with you? I just fell asleep!”, angrily he stood up and approached Ildreth, that made his was to the next ladder. Then he noticed Ildreths face and realised something was up. A quick glance out the western windows let him grasp the situation. “Oooh, shit.” While Ildreth was unlocking the next trapdoor, that lead up to the platform the new guy handed him the signal flare.

Then he bound a rope around his waist, knowing that it would not help much if he actually fell from the platform. It was nearly impossible to get up again which those winds and clashing to the stonewall from the outside a couple of times killed too. Hopefully the new guy was strong enough to hold him. Quickly he climbed the ladder, bound the flare to a huge wooden spear and lighted it up. It burned for a second, then Ildreth threw the spear as far away from the tower as he could. A big explosion left the sky in green, red and blue dust. It would not take long and everyone would know. Hastily he climbed back inside, luckily there was barely any wind today.

When they reached the lower guard room they were able to grasp the dangers even more accurately. Quickly they left, running down the stairs, two times he nearly fell. With every passing minute he just hoped it would not be the way everyone always told these stories. “Fuuu…”, the other guard fell, slid past him and crashed to the other stairs, that were luckily leading upwards here too. “Aaargh.” Ildreth suppressed the feeling of empathy and hurried past him. Luckily the guard soon followed his lead again. He was not injured too badly.

After thirty minutes of extreme haste and dangerous running, Ildreth was sure, they had long passed the halfway point. Was it enough? No. Continue. His feet hurt, his hands were bleeding from several cuts he received when he went over the stone too quickly.

Especially his knees hurt a lot, so he changed to the rather flat staircase and began running. It was a nice change of pace, but he realised it was severely lacking in speed, when the night guard caught up with him. Quickly he returned to the steeper staircase and continued onwards.

Then it happened. A huge black object smashed into the tower, ripped it apart easily and also threw the other man several hundred meters out into the city. The Tower was still standing, barely holding on. Ildreth used the huge opening to look into the city. It was barely another hundred meters. Maybe they would hear him. “DRAAAAAAAAGOOOOOOOOON! RUUUUUUUUN!!!” The huge beast was already flying a circle around the city and was only now heavily noticed. Easily twenty, maybe twenty five meters of wingspan made him a major catastrophe. Had his warning been for nothing? Was he too late?

Then the giant dragon had returned.

This time with fire.