Red and brown tents surrounded Yara and Githeon. On their way to cross the northern border they passed through the Anglan military camp. Anglavar was on its second northern campaign in an attempt to conquer Norvaros, something that had until recently been largely unsuccessful. Yara knew the soldiers she passed were leering at her, she looked around and caught their gaze every now and then. She cast her look downwards.

  ‘Not a fan of dragon hunters?’ asked Githeon as he rode up next to her, 'I'd imagine they'd think of you lot as heroes.'

  ‘No, they have other reasons for staring at me,’ she looked at groups of soldiers again. They all sat gathered around campfires or makeshift tables made of tree stumps. Their shallow kettle helmets lay strewn around on the ground while their weapons were propped up against tents and logs. Some of them stared right through her armour. Yara saw a notice tacked onto some of the tent poles, and she could see more of them around the camp when she began to look for them. She rode up to one of them to get a closer look. A messily sketched dragon covered half the sheet, with big letters that said “monster hunter wanted”. Yara took the notice and read the back of it. The text consisted mainly of directions to the General's tent. They approached the hill with the tent at the top when Yara stopped and got out of the saddle.

  ‘I’ll go in on my own,’ she said ‘I don’t think they’d want anyone other than the monster hunter to be there.’

  Githeon nodded, ‘that’s okay, I’ll stay with the horses.'

  Yara turned and began her walk up the hill. She made an attempt to ignore the sound going on around her, to block it out completely. Despite her best efforts a stray whistle still managed to reach her, and every now and then a holler came her way from the leering soldiers. Fortunately the calling and whistling stopped as she got closer to the general’s tent. Two soldiers stood guard at its entrance. Their black and brown gambesons covered in parts by plate. Both of them gave Yara an irritated look.

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I’m here about the notice that was put up everywhere, I figured you needed my help but if-.’

  'Hold on,' the guards looked at each other as they deliberated. before they let her through. Inside a tall woman with black hair done in a low-hanging bun stood hunched over a table with her back facing the tent’s entrance. Two men also stood at the table. They were discussing battle plans before they saw Yara enter, after which they immediately stopped talking.

  ‘I don’t believe I allowed you to stop talking.’

  ‘Your grace there-.’

  The woman turned around. Now Yara could see her angular, permanently irritated face. She had two scars across her eyebrows and a larger one that ran vertically across her pale lips.

  ‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said with utter disdain. Yara recognised the woman in front of her. She had the tell-tale dark eyes of the royal family. Her height and dark hair should really have given it away before Yara saw her eyes though. Before her stood Princess Meya Ebonblade, future queen of Anglavar and Drakeheart to her father, Valos Ebonblade.

   ‘Your grace,’ said Yara as she bowed slightly, figuring that compliance would be the quickest way to move past this.'

  ‘I did not expect you to be here, lady Stormcleaver,’ said Meya snidely. Her tone oozing with contempt.

  ‘I’m only here for the contract that seems to be on every fence post.’

  Meya looked at her military advisors, ‘leave us,’ she said, her eyes deadlocked with those of her advisors.

  ‘Bu-.’

  ‘I SAID LEAVE US. Now go, before I put you in the vanguard,' she warned. The two men hurried themselves out of the tent and Meya leaned back against the table, ‘for what reason do you grace me with your presence, lady Stormcleaver,’ she said, her sarcasm so obvious even Yara could pick up on it.

  ‘I’m sorry, your grace but I already told you,’ Yara had to hold back how annoyed she felt.

  ‘No, please Yara, do away with the formalities and simply tell me.’

  ‘There’s a bunch of notices around of a dragon that needs to be uprooted or killed, that’s all I’m here for.’

  ‘Ah, right,’ said Meya, ‘I’m not sure what else I expected from a girl that shirks her duty.’

  ‘Your grace, if you could be so kind to-.’

  ‘One of our routes is beset by a Liche, victims were found snapped in half and the only survivor recalls getting his leg bitten off clean by a creature that looked made of stone.’

  Yara nodded.

  ‘That does sound like a Liche, I can investigate the scene if there's pay.’

  'Naturally, I'm the King's daughter, not some poor idiot,' Meya conceded, ‘speak with the survivor and then head out, I’m sure you’ll at least be marginally useful there.’

  Yara turned around and wanted to exit the tent.

  ‘I do not recall allowing you to leave.’

  ‘May I go, your grace?’ asked Yara with a somewhat cynical tone. It was clear she didn’t do a great job at hiding it.

  ‘I’d watch your tone, if I were you,’ said Meya as she turned around to face the map on the table, ‘but yes, you may go, and tell the idiots outside they’re allowed in again.’

  Yara stepped outside and looked to the two officers, who had been listening in on the conversation. She nodded at them to let them know that they could go back inside and continued to walk down the hill. Once again she ignored the soldiers that hollered at her from a distance.

  ‘You got the contract?’ asked Githeon when Yara got back to her horse.

  ‘I did, you wouldn’t happen to have spotted the infirmary, right?’

  ‘Afraid not.’

  Yara sighed.

  ‘Alright, I suppose we’ll have to have a look around then.’

  They found the infirmary not long after they started looking. It was a large series of tents all coloured black and blue, which contrasted with the colours of the other tents. Inside Yara had asked for the man that’d been attacked by a creature on the road, and she was pointed to him right away. He lay on a stretcher, where he was resting to let his wound heal. His eyes lit up when he saw that a woman approached him, as opposed to one of the many male healers.

  ‘Saints, are you one of those valkyries those northerners keep going on about?’ he said, his voice filled with genuine disbelief.

  ‘Uh... well you're alive, so no,’ Yara said, feeling a little weird about his comment.

  ‘That wouldn’t be so different from my current situation, I suppose.’

  ‘I need you to tell me what you know of the creature that took your leg,’ Yara replied, preferring to avoid any small talk.

  ‘You mean what I saw?’

  Yara nodded as she sat down on the edge of the stretcher, ‘I’m a knight of ash, here to kill that dragon before it does any more harm.’

  ‘An angel of battle after all,’ the soldier’s face formed a sad smile, ‘What do you need? Location? Size?’

  She cringed a little at his comment, but tried to move past it as soon as she could, ‘as much as you can tell me.’

  ‘It was further up the northern road, where the pine forests start, I think there might’ve been a barrow or burial site nearby.’

  ‘What made you think so?’

  ‘The stones, there were cairns along the road and some small ruins too, the creature hid in the underbrush while my patrol and I passed.’

  ‘I’m assuming it attacked when you got closer?’

  ‘Jumped out faster than anything I’ve ever seen, it snapped at Honan and Marcus, bit them clean in half when it caught them, I was lucky to get away,’ said the soldier with a hint of fright in his voice, ‘If you can call this luck,’ he moved the stumpy remainder of his leg.

  ‘Do you remember anything else?’

  ‘Yes, it didn’t eat us, I'd bet my salt the northerners put it there to catch us unaware,’ he said, ‘If you don’t mind, milady, I had a favour to ask.’

  ‘Go ahead,’ again Yara cringed, trying her hardest to hide it.

  ‘Get me my leg back.’

  Yara raised her eyebrow, it wasn’t the kind of request she was expecting. The way he'd been behaving had made her feel like he was about to proposition her, instead he requested a lost limb to be retrieved.

  ‘The healers and physicians can’t do anything until they have it here to reattach it, at least that's what they tell me. I need that leg to get back to work after the war, can’t stand without it you see.’

  ‘I’ll…’ Yara wasn’t sure how to answer him, ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ She turned around and wanted to walk out the tent, but stopped when she noticed Githeon was arguing with a soldier. She watched on and refused to interrupt him as he continued to talk. Eventually the conversation ended and Githeon joined Yara as she left the tent.

  ‘What was that about?’

  ‘I got a job from that man there, told me he got in trouble for something he claims not to have done,’ said Githeon, ‘I’ll have to be the judge and see what's going on.’

  ‘Great, I know just about where to go for my dragon hunt,’ said Yara, ‘all I need is some bait.’

  ‘Should check the mess tent, there’s probably some there,’ Githeon said. Yara nodded and turned to leave but Githeon shouted something after her, ‘good luck!’ Githeon shouted after her.

  'You too, bring the bird. It makes you more intimidating,' she replied, certain that he wouldn't be able to hear her.

* * *

  After a lengthy conversation with a sleazy cook at the mess tent Yara had acquired two dead rabbits deemed unfit to eat. She held the animals by their legs. The cook had done her a service by slathering them in some foul-smelling liquid that would attract predators from anywhere in the area. It would've been a hazard to walk around with for anyone not trained in her line of work. She'd also brought with her some rope to make it easier to haul around the Liche's head.

  Yara walked over a narrow path that snaked over the forested hill. The silence was deafening, hardly any birdsong filled the air and it made Yara feel uneasy. She tried to brush it off as nothing more than the putrid smell of the dead rabbits warding off anything in the surrounding area, but she knew it couldn’t really be that. Wind howled between the tall pines and conifers that dotted the landscape. She'd nearly where the patrol had been attacked a few days ago. The only thing she had to go off to find it had been both vague directions and mostly faded footprints in the dirt. She thanked whatever saint had given her the attention to detail she had. Though the stench of her bait did its best to mask out any other scent, ultimately the stink of dried blood overpowered all. It was hardly visible, but some of the blood splatters were still fairly distinctive on the tree bark and rocks. This particular part of the path was flanked by boulders, each covered in thick layers of green moss and lichen. Yara focused her hearing now that she was at the site of the attack. The eerie silence worked in her favour now, it allowed her to catch anything out of the ordinary. She threw the bait into the middle of the path and chose a spot to hide.

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  She could hear something move slightly not too far away. Then she heard a branch snapping in the distance. Other forest sounds became more clear the more she concentrated, and soon her efforts were rewarded as she could hear a hiss-like groan, followed by the sound of rocks hitting each other and pebbles falling off. The sounds came to a halt after a quick snap and clack. The dragon had revealed itself, like Yara had predicted it couldn't pass up that easy a meal.

  Yara jumped out from behind her hiding spot, Skycleave in her hands and ready to charge her foe. She looked at the dragon through her visor. It was just as she’d heard it described: Covered in moss, with skin that appeared like rocks, and a short, triangular, beaked head that could snap bone in two with a single bite. It hissed at her. One bite of that dragon might not pierce her armour, but it would dent it something fierce. Yara had heard of bigger Liches which could snap horses in two. She was glad this wasn't one of those. She realised she had to be quick, find the animal’s weak spot, and take it out immediately. Her memory of their page in the encyclopaedia was hazy. Its skin appeared to be made of rock, so no weak spots there. There was only one thing she could think of: the inside of the mouth. The Liche's front legs had once been wings long ago, but now they were stumpy short things, with only a memory of a membrane attached to them. It flared them out in an attempt to intimidate Yara with its size. She made her first steps forward, then began to circle the creature. It followed her every move and dug its feet into the ground, Yara took this as a sign that it would jump at her. She was right. In an instant she jumped out of the way of the creature’s heavy body.

  ‘You first…’ she muttered to herself as the dragon stared her down. She continued to walk in circles around the dragon. It was almost like a dance in some strange, perhaps macabre way. Once again it prepared to leap forward. This time Yara took advantage of a possible weakness. She slashed at the creature’s wing. Skycleave’s tip sunk into the creature’s flesh as she pushed it in and dragged it through. The membrane was thick and hard to cut through, but it was softer than its hard, rocky shell. The Liche yelped in pain and immediately turned. The sudden movement caught her by surprise, and she stumbled whilst attempting to dodge. Yara’s heart was racing as she stared down the dragon. It hissed at her again, its worm-like tongue flailing about as spit flew out its mouth. Yara counted herself lucky that Liches couldn't spit fire. The dragon lashed out with its wing arm and managed to swipe Yara to the ground. She dropped Skycleave as she fell, and could hear the sword’s metallic clatter when it hit the ground. The Liche appeared to be more interested in the weapon than whoever was holding it however. It began to investigate the sword, nudging it around on the ground. Yara got to her feet and ran to pick up the weapon. Once the sword’s hilt was firmly in her hands again she challenged the Liche a second time. She had to think quickly. It had learned from what she’d done when it jumped, so there was no chance it would try that again. Yara looked at it again as it opened its mouth. The perfect weak spot was staring her in the face, and so she opted for that as her target.

  ‘COME ON!’ she shouted at the dragon in an attempt to taunt it. Liches, being about as intelligent as the rocks in their armour, tended to react like animals did, and so it hissed in response. As the dragon lunged forward Yara made a deft sideways step and grabbed hold of the creature’s stony skin. with this grip she climbed onto its back. Her sword held backwards in her right hand while she kept herself steady on the creature's back. The dragon shook to try and get her off as it looked up at her with its jaws hung open. That’s when she struck. In that moment she drove her sword down its throat, letting go of the dragon's shell and pushing Skycleave through with both her hands. It gurgled out a hiss as bright red blood poured from the wound and down its throat. It took but a few seconds for the Liche to die after that.

  ‘Now to turn you over…’ said Yara as she climbed down from the dragon’s corpse. She pulled Skycleave out and pushed the Liche onto its side with great difficulty. Yara had to cut around the armour on its belly and opened it almost like a trapdoor.. Its innards flowed out alongside the stench of a now no-longer digesting gut. She could see the shape of a human's lower leg inside of the creature’s intestines and didn't wait a second longer to cut it out of there. She'd managed to retrieve a partially digested leg from inside, looking at it made her gag, but she couldn’t simply leave it behind. Next she removed the creature’s head to present it to Meya Ebonblade, as proof that she had in fact killed the creature.

* * *

  It wasn’t a long walk back, but every step felt heavier from the weight she carried. Yara regretted not bringing her horse to do most of the heavy lifting. Eventually she made her way to the medical tent again, where she brought the soldier’s leg back to him.

  ‘I didn’t think you’d actually go and get it,’ he said as he looked at his severed shin and foot. Yara had taken the liberty of cleaning most of the goop off of it.

  ‘I figured I might as well, since I killed the dragon anyway,’ said Yara, ‘I hope the healers can help you.’

  ‘So do I,’ he said, ‘thank you, it’s appreciated.’

  Yara turned to leave, for a second she deliberated if she should say anything more, ‘you’re welcome,’ she decided that would be enough. Still she had to drag the severed head all the way to the General’s tent, where Meya would likely be waiting and ready to sneer at her. On her way to the general's tent Yara discovered that the previously quite rambunctious soldiers were dead quiet now. It was still the middle of the day, so Yara looked at them. The by now dried blood on her face, combined with her fierce expression and the Liche's head had indeed scared off the men who'd leered at her the previous day. The guards outside the General’s tent looked at what Yara brought with her. Their eyes widened at the sight of her, all dirty and covered in dragon blood.

  ‘I’m here for-.’

  ‘We figured that out already,’ said one of them, a little perplexed, ‘Go on in.’

  Yara stepped inside through the tent’s flaps. Inside Meya was preparing for battle. She’d equipped a set of plate armour with a layer of chainmail underneath. From her belt hung a sword with a crossguard made of the same black steel as Skycleave. She looked up from her maps and turned to Yara.

  ‘Ah, you again,’ she sneered, ‘I trust you succeeded?’

  Yara dropped dragon’s head in front of Meya and kicked it towards her, ‘yes, here,’ she said, ‘you were right, it was a Liche.’

  ‘Who knew? perhaps I too can become a dragon hunting nutcase one day.’

  Yara chose to ignore her comment, instead focusing on her journey northward, ‘I had a request, before you send me to get paid.’

  ‘Speak,’ said Meya as she picked up her helmet, it was shaped like a dragon’s head, much like her uncle’s.

  ‘My friend and I, we’d like to cross the frontline before any battle kicks off.’

  ‘What reason would you have for going into the savage mountains? Nothing there but raiders and barbarians.’

  ‘He’s a judge looking for work, I’m just looking out for him,’ said Yara, ‘I have my own reasons.’

  Meya put on her helmet as she walked to the exit of her tent. Her visor was still open, and she looked down at Yara, ‘you’ve got a few hours until we attack,’ she said, ‘I suggest you hurry.’

  Yara shook off Meya’s hand before she could continue talking.

  ‘And you should find a port soon after you cross. We’re about to punch through them like they’re nothing, and it’s likely that none of their cities will be spared,’ Meya shook her head, ‘See the military pay tent for your payment, a hundred Pyrite will do fine,' she then exited the tent, Yara could hear her shout from outside. She followed suit. The entire military camp had begun to move after they’d caught that their general and Drakeheart had called for it. Yara walked through the crowd and attempted to ignore the massive amount of noise. She eventually reached the tent where she’d be paid. After she was handed her coin she left to find Githeon in the mass of soldiers. She found him not long after, still handling the dispute he mentioned before she went to hunt the Liche. Yara only caught part of the conversation. She wasn't exactly a great eavesdropper so all she'd garnered was that it was about an injury of some sort. One of the soldiers raised his fist and appeared to want to punch Githeon in the face, but another held him back.

  'What's going on?' Yara asked, instinctively reaching for her sword.

  ‘Fuck off, slag,’ said the soldier that’d attempted to throw a punch when he noticed someone had joined them.

  'could be a bit more respectful about it,' Yara replied, 'could you just tell me what's happening here.'

  ‘Didn't I just tell you to fuck off?’ he asked, now with his attention focused on her, ‘Piss off or I’ll throw you on your arse.’

  ‘You can try,’ said Yara as she adjusted her vambraces, still coated in dragon blood. She was mildly impressed by the man's insistence.

  ‘I’ll beat you something fierce,’ the other soldiers let go of him and he started to wind up a punch.

  ‘Yara st-,’ Githeon was interrupted by Yara’s fist flying through the air and hitting the soldier square on the nose as he came at her, it made an audible popping sound as her fist collided with it. Blood started to gush down from the soldier's face, and the spiky ends of her knuckle guards had left cuts in his skin.

  ‘You bnoke my nose,’ he yelped in surprise, ‘Fucking whore!’ he threw a weak attempt at a punch which Yara sidestepped.

  ‘It’s a wonder they even let you join. Valos really will take anyone these days.’ she said before she shoved him onto the ground and turning attention to Githeon, ‘Why’d he threaten to punch you.’

  ‘He’s the one that actually did what the other guy's accused of, or at least that’s where my investigation got me.’

  ‘What did he actually do?’

  ‘Left two kids without a dad at a farm a few hours south, allegedly anyhow, then he blamed the man that hired me.’

  ‘Did you?’ asked Yara after she’d gotten on her haunches and grabbed the soldier by the collar, ‘Be nice now, I don’t have a lot of time, and frankly I don't want to get caught up in kicking you.’

  ‘Why’s it matter, he was just scum. How's this world any different without that sop in it.’

  ‘You killed a father, what do you think those kids are gonna do now?’ Yara raised a fist.

  ‘Yara stop,’ said Githeon, ‘He might be guilty, but it’s not our job to exact revenge on him, they'll have justice.’

  She lowered her fist again and let go of the man’s collar before she standing up, ‘get up,’ she said, ‘show us who you take your orders from, he can handle it.’

* * *

  Not long after the dispute was settled by the soldier’s commanding officer and Githeon had received his payment they’d left northward. The camp wasn’t far behind, but both Yara and Githeon were hurrying over the muddy dirt path northward. Githeon kept in mind how much more fierce her reaction had gotten once she'd learned about what the crime was, but chose to not bring it up yet.

  ‘Drakeheart Meya said we should leave from a port as soon as we could,’ said Yara as she looked ahead.

  ‘I don’t imagine they’ll leave any town intact.’

  ‘No, they won’t,’ she said, ‘But I had an idea.’

  ‘Go ahead.’

  ‘I think I’d like to see Talamh Fiaigh for myself.'