When the two groups reconvened, no one said anything to the male-slave and after he had some rest, they moved out.
At first everything seemed to be fine. In the beginning the expedition was traveling sometimes north-west and sometimes north – the route that normally would be taken back to the capital. But then Leo started to have a bad premonition when the group kept going directly to the north for twenty or so days and on one occasion the empress held another ‘Holy ritual’, taking out the turtle’s head along with a pile of valuable items from the iron crown.
It happened near a larger city where the imperial group commissioned an army squad from the local warlord and ordered them to take the goods back to Vidantia. Besides the imperial majesty mumbling something about needing ‘more space’, Leo had no clue what actually was going on, but it was clear the empress was set on having another adventure.
When he finally couldn’t take it anymore, after making sure there was no one around, Leo asked Dalina about their plans only to receive a look full of confusion in return.
“What do you mean ‘where are we going’?” She asked, “There is still some time left till the war begins and the empress decided to kill another dragon. We’re going to the place it resides at.”
‘F*ck, no! Not another swamp, please!’ Leo inwardly screamed in desperation.
Yes, the turtle meat was incredibly delicious, but after thinking about it with clear mind, he realized the struggle to get to it was not worth it. Unfortunately no one cared or asked for his opinion.
The expedition continued north and soon Leo realized things were much worse than he anticipated. The good news were they never set foot into another swamp again, but the route they took was going directly up the mountains and soon Leo found himself struggling knee deep in a cold snow.
In the beginning from the safety point of view it felt fine – it was only logical that the snow was not a quagmire and it was impossible for him to die in it. Unfortunately he was proven wrong. While crossing another mountain pass the boy managed to fall through the ceiling of some frozen grotto and it took a whole day for the rest to dig him out. From then on mountains became Leo’s most hated type of landscape, right after swamps that is.
It was the common knowledge that the mountain range north of the capital was not as wast as the one in the far east, but it supposedly housed the highest mountain of the continent called ‘The Sky peak’. After realizing the direction of the expedition, Leo could only pray they were not following some tale of a dragon living on top of it.
He purposefully tried to slow down even though he was already moving like a snail and completely ignored Dalina’s smacks that kept raining on the back of his head. The rest of the group would’ve also been glad to assist her, but no one was willing to carry the oversized weapon in case something happened to the male-slave.
Obviously the question about sending Leo back to the palace came up now and then, but the empress insisted on him being an important part of the expedition and pointed at the fact that it didn’t matter how slow or fast they were covering the ground. The main objective was to ‘find another one’ and they had the time to do so.
There was only one upside about the whole thing. While the rest of the expedition members were wearing thick fur coats, all Leo added to his attire was a thicker leather jacket and a hat. Because of his elemental affinity he was not cold one bit and this fact by the rest was immediately interpreted as another ‘gift from the God’. The boy, of course, didn’t care for the thoughts of other people one bit since because of the extreme exhaustion he once again began to have suicidal thoughts.
“This should be the place.” The empress contently said when the group arrived at a large plateau high up in the mountains. They just came out from a thin forest and stood in front of a wide snowy field, “According to the legend the water dragon should live in this lake.”
“B … but how can we get to it?” On of the guards involuntarily blurted out the question everyone had in mind.
Even if the white field in front of them was a lake – it was clearly frozen over. And even if it wasn’t – as long as the ‘water dragon’ was like its name implied, there was no stopping it from coming and going against its will.
The only one not bothered with anything was the male-slave who, seeing that the group had stopped, slumped down in the snow all worn out at the brink of loosing consciousness. For the past days he had constantly battled through the snow, often waist deep and contrary to the pine forests in the south, the wildlife in these parts was rather scarce thus he was constantly starved.
“We probably won’t.” The empress shrugged. Although disappointed the dragon didn’t live in a cave near the lake or had a nest nearby, she couldn’t loose face and pretended to have expected this, “Our goal now is to investigate and we’ll return some other time if we’re bound to go back empty handed. Besides, with how many people we have it’ll probably be impossible for us to defeat it. According to witnesses this one doesn’t resemble the swamp dragon – it’s much faster and stronger. Let’s assess the situation first and act accordingly.”
“Your majesty, what exactly does the water dragon look like?” Another guard asked, but right at that moment loud sounds of ice cracking reverberated across the snowfield.
Stolen novel; please report.
The group instinctively took several steps back, everyone except for the dead tired Leo that is, and with wide eyes witnessed how on different spots of the frozen lake’s surface ice was pushed up almost as if an oversized mole moved below at incredible speed. In this fashion something huge and terrifyingly strong created multiple chaotic crisscross lines almost as if they were playing around, but the spectators seeing it only felt their hair stand on end.
The show continued for ten or so breaths when everything became still silent again, but only for a split moment. To their great horror the members of the expedition witnessed how right in front of them a stream of water, almost like a geyser, shot six, seven yards high along with an enormous snake in the middle of it and while the water dropped down again, the best remained standing tall above the snow and with curious eyes observed the guests.
Its scales were of gray color and it had golden markings stretching down its body that was fat enough for a grown man to hug, but no one of the present cared for the beauty of the beast. The disproportionately large head besides the two coal black eyes housed a slightly opened mouth that could easily swallow a cow, although it was hard to imagine where would a victim go afterwards with how thin the beast’s body was. And contrary to a regular snake this ‘dragon’ didn’t have the typical venom teeth of a snake and the signature fork shaped tongue – its teeth resembled more those of an alligator that were meant for tearing apart the pray.
The host and its guests stared at each other for dozen breaths – former full of curiosity and the rest in panic until the silence was broken by one of the empress’s guards.
“Gulp … yo … your majesty … I … I think you should retreat …” The guard somehow managed to stutter out some words.
Obviously it was unacceptable to suggest the empress would run and even though she was in complete panic, the loyal guard was still putting the empress’s life first. Of course, the empress couldn’t agree more, but was hesitant because the moment she ran, most of the group would probably be slaughtered.
At the same moment the beast either lost interest in the staring contest or felt its guests might try to leave not asking for a permission. Without any hiss or roar it opened its mouth like a large gate and dropped down on the closest human who all this time lifelessly sat only few yards away from it.
There was a reason why Leo didn’t have any reaction. Because of the severe exhaustion and starvation in the past days he had frequent hallucinations, albeit none were as vivid as this. Now, sitting in the snow, he thought he was having another one and was waiting for it to end … or to pass out like it often happened.
When the beast decided to attack, the sense of deadly danger returned the male-slave to reality. In panic the first impulse was to run, but the heavy weapon on his back reminded there was no way he could get away. Leo almost began to curse it, but suddenly got an inspiration from the man he respected in his life the most – Lyam.
He had never forgotten his father killing the two rank six beasts on the ship and the coolest martial technique that existed in the world. After discovering his original affinity mutated into lighting, most of all Leo was upset for his dream of replicating the Fire claw technique being over.
But now, when the huge snake suddenly focused him, for some reason Lyam’s heroic image appeared in Leo’s mind. He didn’t know from where or why a sudden burst of strength filled him and despite being dead tired a moment ago, the boy suddenly jumped to his feet, grabbed the handle of the weapon on his back and swung it towards the incoming jaws which surely were about to swallow him whole.
“You asked for it, bitch! Fire claw!” Leo shouted just like his father did all those years ago and under the stupefied eyes of the elite guards and the members of Vidas family, the snake’s head was neatly split in two, bathing Leo in a shower of blood and brain matter.
Before passing out from the corner of his eye Leo noticed looks on the faces of expedition members clearly indicating he successfully managed to copy Lyam’s technique. His lifelong dream has been to one day reach his father’s level and he never imagined the day would come this soon, and in a god forgotten mortal realm like Dreadlands at that.
‘Turns out I can do it after all!’ He whispered to himself in ecstasy, ‘Thank you, father!’
It took some time for the empress to come to her senses and she was the first one from the small crowd who did.
“Did you get the chant?” She suddenly shouted, almost in panic, “What was the divine chant he just used?”
It woke the rest up from stupor and people began to discuss what exactly Leo screamed just now. Obviously he did it in his native language, but the religious nuts took the Lyam’s ‘battle cry’ for something the God had taught the male-slave.
After writing down all versions the group could think of, Dalina realized her protege was lifelessly lying in a pool of blood and rushed over to check his condition. Meanwhile the rest began to secure the body of the ‘dragon’ that was slowly sinking back in the lake.
Snake’s scales turned out to not only be wet, they were covered in a thick layer of mucus making it extremely slippery and it took a lot of effort for the guards to pull its body out the ice-hole. It was already dusk when after measuring its length, the ‘dragon’ was piled up and the twenty odd yard long body now formed a mound in a size of an average carriage.
“Looks like we have no pot to make a stew this time.” One of the guards snickered to her mate, “Do you think he’ll roast the dragon?”
Empress, overhearing it loudly stated, “We’ll feast on this dragon after we’re victorious in the upcoming war. Now – prepare for the Holy ritual!”
“Your majesty! Isn’t this thing too big?” Dalina was concerned.
“I think it’ll fit in, barely.” The empress said and threw a glance and the unconscious Leo, “But it’s going to take a toll on me – I might pass out as well. Set up a camp afterwards and we’ll return tomorrow.”
Surprising the rest, the empress actually managed to store the snake away although she had to consume all four of the remaining dark-crimson horned beetles she had on her. Nevertheless she passed out and stayed unconscious for two days while having a slight fewer. Qi overuse for a person who had never practiced it still lead to a Qi deprivation, but fortunately to ‘fuel’ the storing process empress’s body was used only as a medium thus she didn’t suffer serious consequences.
On the other hand Leo’s feat resulted in the male-slave falling in a dozen day long coma. With one move he called for the remaining Qi reserves and poured everything he had in one swing. Luckily he had lived in Dreadlands for almost two years and his body was used to function without absorbing Qi from the environment thus just like the empress he also managed to recover relatively quickly.