After their departure from Miseré and parting with Olivier, Yara and Laras headed for Mirelue, Yilgra’s former capital. Originally only on one side of a river it now spanned across the banks of three separate streams. Upon their arrival in the city they exchanged the calm of the outside world for the hustle and bustle of people pushing their way past each other. Right next to the city gate was a large square, though normally reserved for a market it now stood empty, save for one stage. Atop it stood a man, his dirty blond hair pulled back in a low-hanging ponytail, and equipped with a dishevelled looking gambeson. Behind him stood something covered by a sheet, making it hard to tell exactly what was underneath it.

  ‘For too long have these creatures oppressed us!’ he shouted angrily over the clamour of the crowd, ‘They have raided our holds, stolen our treasures, and now they dare to threaten our homes as well!’

  Yara’s eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, ‘what is he talking about?’ she asked

  ‘Don’t know, the rich maybe?’ Laras joked, ‘you want to go look?’

  Yara nodded and both of them approached the crowd on horseback, carefully parting the masses so to not trample anyone.. The man performing the speech had turned his back to unveil the contraption he’d so far hidden.

  ‘Behold!’ he shouted proudly as he tore the sheet off, ‘My prized dragon-killing ballista!’ he stood before the siege engine, made up of sturdy wood and resting on four wheels it wasn't exactly all that different from any regular ballista.

  ‘How’s it work?’ someone from the crowd asked.

  ‘Ah, a very important question to ask of an esteemed hunter like myself!’ said the man as he walked over to an open crate. Out of it he lifted a thick wooden post with a barbed tip made of black steel.

  ‘This here arrow, nay this bolt, is made of the purest of Norvarian black steel, and it was forged in the fires of Dragoncrown peak.’

  Yara and Laras both raised an eyebrow at this, almost simultaneously even. Making dragonforged weapons wasn’t common knowledge and it didn't seem very likely this man knew the first thing about it. Yara wanted to continue listening to what he had to say, but Laras took a different, more proactive approach.

  ‘Isn’t that steel too heavy to be used for arrows normally?’ Laras asked. Yara rolled her eyes. He really could be insufferable sometimes, then again, she did like that about him.

  ‘You are correct!’ the man replied, ‘under normal conditions it would be, but I have spoken with the masters Elric Den Chlaíomh and Norwen Skye themselves and they helped me build this wonder of engineering!’ he then stepped towards the ballista and began to point at several areas on it before proclaiming their strength.

  ‘Will you be proving its efficacy?’ asked Laras.

  ‘Shut up Laras,’ whispered Yara, her words made near inaudible by the commotion of the crowd.

  ‘Well of course I would dear sir, but as you can tell the sky is clear as ever,’ he pointed upwards to the cloudy and grey sky above. The crowd laughed.

  ‘Yes, not a dragon in sight, why are you presenting it here friend?’

  ‘Laras, shut up,’ said Yara again, looking around at a crowd that grew more and more displeased with him.

  ‘Why because Mirelue is the technological heart of the world, I would be called a farce if I did not.’

  From the sky above a thundering roar sounded, and soon after a dragon coated in red and golden scales emerged out of the clouds.

  ‘A challenge!’ said the man, ‘fear not, my ballista will save us!’

  He loaded the contraption and began to aim it at the dragon. With a loud crack and a twang the bolt flew through the air until it appeared to hit its target. To the surprise of both Yara and Laras the dragon hadn't approached the city. They all watched as the creature fell from the air and presumably landed some distance outside the city. Yara watched closely where she thought it fell before her attention was drawn to the man on stage again. He’d started to accept applause and was going around the crowd with a sack they could put donations in.

  ‘Any amount of thanks is welcome with me,’ he said, ‘it’s all in a day’s work after all.’

  Eventually he reached both Yara and Laras, who quite literally were looking down on what he was doing.

  ‘Would you care to contribute?’ he asked Yara, who he hadn’t heard question anything he’d said.

  ‘No,’ she said firmly, ‘thanks though,’ she thought this man was strange, and would rather avoid saying anything to him.

  The man gave her a strange look and Laras had to get between him and her before the braggart could continue.

  ‘She’s not interested.’

  ‘Your questions were marvellous, friend, have you considered joining my crusade against those winged monsters?’

  ‘I was on it long before you were,’ Laras pointed at the sheathed sword stowed on his saddle, ‘so was she, actually.’

  ‘Marvellous,’ he said in almost genuine wonder, ‘we should get something to drink together sometime,’ he was looking past Laras and at Yara, but she gave no response.

  ‘I’m sure we can do so another time,’ Laras replied before turning away. He looked at Yara, ‘hey, everything alright?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, totally fine,’ she said, ‘can we go?’

  Laras nodded and rode away with Yara in tow.

* * *

  Not long after they’d found themselves an inn to stay in. The innkeep unfortunately had no rooms left with separate beds. Laras had offered Yara to move his bed out of the way for her comfort considering what had happened in Miseré, but to his own surprise she was fine with it. After unpacking their saddlebags they sat down. Yara on the edge of the bed and Laras on a stool he’d brought into the room.

  ‘You were insufferable out there,’ she said with a slight smile, ‘the crowd hated you.’

  ‘But our good friend out there told me I did such a good job,’ Laras laughed.

  'Well, you already know that I love to hear you talk, but I don't think our speaker really appreciated your wit.'

  ‘Did you see the way he looked at you when he came by?’

  ‘I didn’t need to see it, I could feel him stare,’ Yara said with audible disgust.

  ‘So what do you think of him?’ asked Laras as he leaned back, quickly remembering that the stool he sat on didn’t have a back, 'did he look like much of a gallant hero to you?'

  ‘He's a swindler,’ said Yara, ‘you?’

  ‘Complete scam-artist no doubt about it,’ said Laras, ‘I mean asking for donations? really?’ he looked Yara in the eyes. She'd let him, and he knew why.

  'I mean, that is what we do too... kind of,' she said, ‘I bet I could find where the dragon fell, if it fell at all I mean.’

  ‘You saw where it went?’

  ‘Kind of, if I can get another look at the square I can probably figure it out.’

* * *

  After taking a second look at the square’s layout Yara and Laras headed outside the walls to where she believed the dragon had fallen, only to discover that there wasn’t anything there, not even a snapped tree top or a crater where it should have hit the ground.

  ‘Knew it!’ they both exclaimed simultaneously.

  ‘So what do you think it was then? An illusion?’ asked Laras as he turned to walk back.

  ‘It looked too real to be an illusion,’ said Yara, ‘I want to take a look at his bolts though,’ she followed him to the city.

  ‘He did offer us a drink, that could be a good distraction.’

  ‘No, Yara, he offered you a drink, not us.’

  ‘I know,’ she said whilst looking down, ‘I’m trying my hardest not to think about it.’

  ‘You could always use your feminine charms,’ Laras teased her.

  ‘No way, I’m not going to do that,’ she said, missing the joke, ‘if I asked him to show me his bolts he’d probably misinterpret it and pull down his trousers.’

  ‘I was kidding, don’t worry.’

  ‘Besides, I was thinking of staying away from beer or ale for a little bit,’ she said.

  ‘I understand,’ said Laras, an idea entered his head when he finished speaking and Yara could read it on his face.

  ‘Oh no, ‘ she said, ‘I’ve seen that look before, what are you thinking?’

  ‘You don’t have to drink alcohol,’ Laras looked at her, ‘you can drink water.’

  ‘And you think he won’t catch on?’

  ‘He doesn’t seem like the type.’

  ‘So you’re going to look at the bolts while I distract him?’ she asked with a sigh.

  ‘Precisely.’

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ‘I can’t believe I’m letting you have the fun part.’

* * *

  Yara regretted having gone with Laras’ idea nearly immediately, she also deeply regretted not asking Julie to take on this chance encounter for her. If there was anyone who could charm her way through a conversation with an absolute dimwit, it would be the succubus she'd befriended. In the short time Yara had sat at the bar with him all she managed to learn was that his name was Murphis. He’d managed to worm his way out of every question she asked about the dragon and it made her head hurt.

  ‘Have one on me,’ said Murphis slyly. He was trying to coax her into drinking, something she almost regretted swearing off now.

  ‘No, I can’t,’ Yara faked a laugh, she had her eyes focused on her glass. There was no way she'd lose sight of it.

  ‘You’ve been drinking water all evening, what’s wrong?’

  ‘Not really interested in ale, or beer, or mead, or any other alcohol. Tastes pretty bad,’ that had to be the worst lie she'd told that evening.

  ‘What’s the real reason?’

  Yara had to think quickly for a response, ‘I’m taken,’ she blurted out almost instinctively, doubling down on the lies, ‘couldn’t you tell?’

  ‘Tell from what exactly?’

  Yara looked at his face and raised an eyebrow before pointing out her ponytail, ‘oh, I forget,’ she said, ‘they don’t do that on Angalir.’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘On Talamh Fiaigh the girls wear ponytails to point out that they’re in a relationship.’

  Murphis laughed and downed another large swig of his beer, ‘well, you don’t have to worry, I won’t tell him,’ he said as he leaned towards Yara, who immediately hung back to avoid him.

  ‘No, but thanks though,’ she said, ‘even if I wasn’t, I’d prefer not to.’

  ‘Really?’ Murphis asked, ‘what’s there to stop you?’

  ‘I have this thing,’ explained Yara, finally she'd got to share some truth, ‘if someone touches me it makes the hairs on my neck stand on end.’

  ‘That’s weird, honestly,’ he put his hand on hers, ‘so you don’t like that?’

  ‘No,’ she pulled back her hand immediately, 'and if you keep doing it you’ll lose a few teeth.’

  Yara heard the pub door open and close. Immediately she looked over and saw Laras. For a second her heart was in her mouth. Finally this awful charade could be coming to its end.

  ‘Laras! Over here,’ yelled Yara. Laras immediately walked over to them and stood next to her.

  ‘How’s this going then?’ he asked, looking back and forth between his friend and their collective opponent.

  ‘Fine,’ said Yara as she stood up, pulled him down, and kissed him on the cheek, ‘I’m kind of tired though.’

  Laras, caught off guard, immediately stood to attention and put an arm around her. He was more than willing to play along for her.

  ‘You want to go?’

  Yara nodded and took his hand before walking out in front of him. Once they were both sure they were out of view of the pub windows they stopped the act. Yara shivered, she'd felt a little gross.

  ‘Was the arm thing too much?’ asked Laras when they’d stopped.

  ‘Maybe a little, but it was nice too...’ said Yara, ‘how do people actually behave like that?’ she looked at Laras, who shrugged.

  ‘It's a certain level of comfort, might not be for everyone,’ he looked back at her, ‘the kiss was a nice touch though.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Yara looked away to hide the fact that she was blushing a little, she'd have liked for that kiss to be on the lips though, ‘what’d you learn?’

  ‘Right, uh, well the tips are made of regular old iron,’ he said, ‘he painted them black to make the façade convincing, to be expected of course.’

  ‘So what’s the plan?’ asked Yara, ‘we find out what he’s doing with the gold?’

  ‘My idea exactly.’

  ‘He could just be gambling it away.’

  ‘No, that wouldn’t make sense, ‘how would he convince the dragon to work with him.’

  ‘We could tail him out of the city?’ suggested Yara, she wasn’t a fan of the idea but it might well work. Laras nodded.

  ‘Sounds like a good idea to me, I’ll go get our weapons and armour.’

  ‘Actually, you stay here and I’ll go get them, I need the walk.’

* * *

  Following a man while wearing full armour proved to be quite the endeavour for them. Remaining unseen wasn’t necessarily the problem as they were under the cloak of night, and their ability to sneak wasn’t impeded by their armour, however remaining unheard was another task. Yara and Laras tailed Murphis all the way up a nearby hill, where he sat to wait with the bag of donations he’d brought with him. The very same dragon he’d pretended to have killed the day before came down from the sky above and landed in the field.

  ‘I brought you all they were willing to give me,’ said Murphis, a tone of fright commanding his voice, ‘I tried asking for more.’

  The dragon ripped open the sack and its contents spilled out. It ranged from pyrite coins to jewellery, all of which was valuable.

  ‘One sack?’ asked the dragon, ‘do I let you live for such a meagre feast?’

  ‘It doesn’t catch as much attention anymore, not after all that talk about ashknights slaying a dragon at Miseré.’

  ‘It will have to do,’ it sneered at Murphis before opening its jaws and unhinging them like a snake’s. In one scoop it took in all the valuables strewn across the ground and swallowed them whole.

  ‘What are these “Ashknights”?’ said the dragon as it finished eating.

  ‘They’re dragon hunters, REAL dragon hunters.’

  ‘Have you seen them in person?’

  ‘I met them during my presentation.’

  ‘And you are certain they did not discover your secret?’

  ‘Nah,’ Murphis dismissed the dragon’s concern, ‘the bint’s pretty but she’s dense, and as for the bloke he asks questions but doesn’t really know what he’s on about.’

  ‘Is that so?’ asked the dragon as he sniffed the air before lowering his head and approaching Murphis, ‘is that why I can smell them on the wind?’

  ‘Y-you can what?’

  ‘Reveal yourselves, “Ashknights”.’

  Realising there was no reason to hide anymore both Yara and Laras walked forward from their hiding place.

  ‘That my slave is a fool was already clear to me,’ it sneered, ‘but one that would let himself be followed by two humans with the intent to do me harm has to be his crowning achievement.’

  It opened its wings in a futile attempt to try and intimidate Yara and Laras. They both pulled their swords out of their sheaths. The dragon backed off slightly, its wormlike body slithering backwards with each step, then it lunged forward to try and attack. Fortunately for the pair of dragon hunters it missed completely. Its diet of gold had weighed it down and it likely wasn’t used to actual fights. The dragon whipped its tail around and flailed its large wings to try and fend off his attackers, but this failed too. Yara dodged a swing of the dragon’s short arm before she stabbed into its armpit It began to leak an orange fluid that was reminiscent of both blood and molten gold. The dragon cried out in pain and tried to jump away from her, only to receive another wound from Laras, who’d approached it from the other side. He carved through its flesh until his blade hit bone and upon pulling out his sword it was red hot. When it tried to flee Yara cut through the membrane in its wings and the creature stopped moving entirely. It’d given up but not yet died from its injuries. It refused to speak again, not making a sound until its final gasp, when Laras drove Drakeblight’s blade through its head.

  Murphis looked on with a frightened look from behind a rock he’d used as a hiding spot, his expression of dread not leaving his face even now that his dragon master was dead. Yara approached him and dragged him out of hiding by the collar before she threw him to the ground next to the dragon’s corpse.

  ‘What’d you say again?’ she asked as she audibly cracked her knuckles, ‘Pretty but dense?’

  ‘I- I-.’

  ‘Leave him, Yara,’ said Laras, he put his arm between them, ‘he’s not worth your trouble.’

  ‘T-Thank you,’ Murphis stammered after he saw Yara turn away.

  ‘You’re fortunate my patience with you hasn’t ran out yet,’ said Laras as he lifted him up by the collar, ‘I’m less forgiving with my punches than she is.’

  ‘Please don-.’

  ‘Get out of here, don’t speak a word of your little misadventure with this thing, and never swindle anyone ever again, got that?’ asked Laras, Murphis nodded quickly.

  ‘I will, I won’t I mean, I-.’

  'Good,' said Laras, he let go of Murphis' collar and dusted him off, 'Now I suggest you make a run for it before I change my mind.'

  Murphis turned and ran, while Laras ran to catch up with Yara, together they walked back to the city.