When Caveria woke me, it was still night. At least, it was as dark as in the middle of the night.

“Good morning,” she said in a quiet, flat voice. She looked extremely focused, and almost expressionless. “It’s about an hour before sunrise. I will go out and warm up. I’ve started the fire.”

“Good morning,” I said as I sat up and rubbed sleep from my eyes. Caveria nodded and rose, and walked around the crag and out into the open space between the rocks and the steep slope of the peak. I got up slowly, feeling stiff and cold.

Ugh, I thought. So this is the big day. I thought it would feel more... epic. Instead it felt like an unusually dark, wet and clammy November day, when you haven’t slept well and have to get out of bed a few hours earlier than you’d like to. At least we had a fire.

I stretched and did some jumps to try to wake up and warm up, and then sat by the fire and had my meager breakfast. I made a note to myself to talk to Thord when I met him again, and make sure I had coffee and a pot in my backpack. A morning without coffee was a miserable morning.

When I’d eaten, I wandered around the rock and watched Caveria. She was doing martial arts moves, but nothing like I’d ever seen back home. Sure, she was jumping, kicking and slashing and blocking, but she was also launching herself into the air, with fire, and launching all sorts of fire into the air around her. Fire balls, fire beams, fire clouds, fire - everything.

After a while, she slowed down, and glided back down to the ground from where she’d been somersaulting and firing, ten meters up. She stood still for a moment, and then turned and walked back towards me.

“How do you feel?” I asked her.

“Well enough,” she said, still expressionless. “It’s always like this - I could be more rested, more relaxed, more of everything. But it’s good enough. How about you?”

“I feel pretty queasy,” I confessed. “I sort of imagined this happening on a sunny day, on a nice green grassy slope.”

She smiled, faintly. “This suits my mood better. Now, let’s talk. What will happen, is that I call a dragon. If no dragon comes, I continue, until sunset. Then we try again tomorrow. If a dragon comes - I fight it.”

“Right. What do I do?”

“Stay out of the fire,” she said. “It’ll be intense. I will try to kill it and it will try to kill me. We won’t hold backvand I can’t keep an eye on you.”

“How do you kill a dragon?” I said.

“It’s not easy. They’re tough. The easiest is to get above and behind it. They have a weak spot in the neck, where there’s a gap in the scales. Fire, or a sword, in that gap can get through and sever the spine. That kills it instantly.”

“Oh,” I said. “A sword works as well, then.”

She smiled faintly again. “Yes. If you feel heroic, feel free to climb onto the dragon’s back and kill it yourself. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that, except in ancient songs.”

She got serious again. “If the dragon kills me, you’re on your own. Most likely the dragon will celebrate by burning everything it sees, so try to hide somewhere. I’m not sure where,” she said and looked around. “If I kill it, I may need your help.”

“You’ll have it,” I promised. “Whatever I can do.”

“Most likely first aid. Burns, cuts, broken bones, that kind of thing. And,” she said, going over to her pack, “these.” She dug out a few more of the healing cakes. “These are very powerful. If I can’t eat, mix it with water and pour it down my throat. In the worst case, rub it on my skin. It will have some effect even then.”

“Okay...” I said. “I can do first aid, and I have some things in my pack. But I can’t heal any serious damage.”

“No,” she said. “You’ll have to use your judgement. Leave me here, and try to get a healer up here, or - hopefully - get me back down to Davorra. And of course, I may very well be able to walk. I could, last time.”

“Right,” I said. This conversation was not making me feel better. “I’ll do my best.”

She nodded. “Good. So will I.” She glanced up at the clouds. They were still thick and dark, but it was getting at least a little lighter. “The sun is about to rise. I will go and make the call. Good luck, Peter.”

I smiled at her, but it felt like a grimace. I felt sick. I wanted to put a stop to this lunacy. There had to be some other way of stopping the war. But it was too late now. She would go out there, no matter what I did. All I could do was abandon her. And I couldn’t do that.

“Good luck, Caveria. Go kill that dragon.”

She bared her teeth in a toothy smile, with a matching flash of red in her eyes. “I will,” she said, and turned on her heel to march back out into the open space, to call for a dragon.

I walked after her, around the crag, and saw her take up position in the same place where she’d warmed up, with her back toward the mountain and facing the sky. Well, the clouds.

She raised her arms, and began the call. She’d said it was in an old language, and it didn’t sound like words to me. Her voice rose strong and clear, in a slow, keening chant. My skin prickled as she sang the dragon-call. This was it, I thought. She’s really doing it. There’s no way back now.

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The call itself was - eerie. I couldn’t make out any words, but it sounded lonely and empty, and majestic at the same time. I thought it sounded fitting for a being that lived in the sky, and served as the courier of the gods.

It went on and on without any dragon showing up, and I decided I had time to drink some more water. And, I realized when I turned back to our little campsite, I had to pack my stuff. My blanket and bedroll were still lying where I’d left them, and I wasn’t even wearing my sword! Some hero. I muttered to myself as I packed my things, drank some water and got my gear in order. Behind me, Caveria kept calling.

The call must have gone on for more than five minutes, before she finally fell silent. I made sure I knew where we had everything, but I left the fire burning. The dragon would hardly mind a fire, I thought, and it could be useful if Caveria was wounded. Who knows, I thought, the whole thing might be over in ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, there was still no sight of a dragon. I’d settled down right at the corner of the crag, almost out of sight but where I could still see Caveria. She was standing in the same place, scanning the clouds.

Twenty minutes after that, still no dragon. I was battling sleep and wondering if the whole day would be like this. I hoped Caveria wouldn’t fall asleep out there, but judging from how focused she’d been I suspected she was firmly in control of herself. I hoped so.

Five minutes after that, the dragon came.

I had just decided to get up and walk around, when there was a sudden, red flash in the clouds. I sat up abruptly, while Caveria began calling again. And then, out of the dark clouds, a dragon appeared, launching another fireball that exploded right above Caveria.

My mouth fell open as the huge creature swept in a circle around the battle site, and then landed in front of Caveria, its leathery wings beating slowly, leisurely.

“I have come,” it said. “Greetings, worthy opponent.”

“Greetings, worthy opponent.” Caveria bowed deeply.

The dragon was huge, bigger than any animal I’d ever seen. Like a whale, perhaps, except it looked like a lizard-like dinosaur with great, bat-like wings spreading out from its back. It was majestic, alright.

The only thing that wasn’t majestic was its voice. It was high-pitched and sounded almost whiny. A creature like that should have a deep bass voice.

“I am come to challenge you,” Caveria said. “Rule 1. There shall be a honorable fight.”

“Rule 2,” the dragon replied, “There shall be only one survivor.”

“Rule 3,” Caveria said. “There shall be no surrender.”

“Rule 4,” the dragon said, “There shall be mercy from the winner.”

Caveria bowed again, and the dragon lowered its head.

When it raised it again, it narrowed its eyes. “It is customary to bring a gift.”

“Customary,” Caveria replied, “but not required. I am deeply sorry, worthy opponent, it was not possible this time.”

The dragon regarded her in silence, and then glanced towards me. “No matter. You have brought a companion. When I defeat you, I shall treat myself to him.” It stuck its tongue out and made a low, rumbling sound.

I wanted to hide behind the crag, but forced myself to stay. No, I wanted to get down from the mountain, now, and drag Caveria with me, but - no such childishness, I told myself. We’re here to kill that dragon, and to stop the war. Not run away and hide.

“Let the battle commence,” the dragon said.

“Let the battle commence,” Caveria echoed, and rose into the air, on pillars of fire shooting out from her feet.

The dragon flapped its wings and launched itself into the air. It banked and flew in a tight circle to the left, and then lined up towards Caveria.

It opened its mouth and launched a huge fireball. At the same time, Caveria launched an equally huge fireball towards it. The two fireballs met in the middle, in a billowing cloud of fire. And then the fight was on.

I had seen Caveria fight before, but never like this. She shot through the air like lightning, using blasts of fire to launch herself higher and sideways, and maneuvering constantly to get behind the dragon, all the while sending a constant stream of fire towards it.

The dragon, for its part, seemed to rely on firepower rather than speed, as it lumbered through the air and tried to overwhelm Caveria. Although it only looked lumbering, I saw after a while, compared to Caveria’s blazing speed. In reality, the dragon was agile and graceful. Caveria was faster, though.

The battle went on, with the two opponents now surging into the air, now falling back, and now circling each other in an insane, fireball-laced dogfight. I thought I could see what Caveria was trying to do - use her superior speed to launch herself above and across the dragon’s back. She’d managed it a few times, and had sent a couple of fireballs towards the dragon’s neck. She had to watch out, the dragon twisted and launched fire back at her, and the wings were a real danger too.

I felt even more useless than usual. Caveria had been right - there was nothing I could do. There was definitely no way I could get up on the dragon’s back, and I couldn’t even imagine trying. They moved so fast, and besides, most of the time they were twenty meters or more in the air. All I could do was watch, wait, and hope Caveria wouldn’t tire.

It didn’t seem like it. If anything, the dragon seemed to be getting tired, or perhaps it was just that Caveria was speeding up even more. She was so fast - I had trouble tracking her in the gloom, as she shot from side to side across the battlefield, and launched complex patterns of fire that forced the dragon to twist and dodge.

Suddenly, the dragon launched a fireball in my direction, and I had to jump back behind the rock, just barely dodging it. I realized I’d walked out in the open to see better. That wasn’t smart. But - dammit, I wanted to go out and cheer. Caveria was winning! She was getting the upper hand, and the dragon was clearly on the back foot. It looked annoyed, and it was struggling to keep up with her barrages of fire. And she still didn’t look tired!

Right then, right after Caveria had made another leap across the dragon’s back, and launched a spear of fire straight at its neck, the dragon broke away and hovered in the air, staring at her with narrowed eyes. It looked frustrated, I thought. It raised its head, and I thought it would send an even bigger fireball, but instead, it screeched, and launched itself straight into the air, straight up, and disappeared into the dark clouds.

I searched the sky frantically, and saw Caveria hovering uncertainly in the middle of the field and looking up. Some kind of trick? It would come back, dive-bombing out of the clouds, I was sure of it. But nothing happened.

Caveria swerved suddenly, back towards the sky where the dragon had come. I heard her curse, but didn’t have time to react before a fireball shot out from the clouds, right towards her. She blocked it, and then got out of the way, fast, as another dragon burst out of the clouds.

If the other dragon had been huge, this one was... immense. It flew right into the middle of the arena and stopped in mid-air.

“Rule 5,” it said, “either of the champions may designate a stand-in.”

“I’ve never heard of rule 5,” Caveria said shakily, hovering before the dragon on her fire pillars.

“It is rarely invoked,” the dragon said, “but it is invoked now. Defend yourself.”'