The preparations were well under way and Romas went to the tower of the commander, the chief of the knights, but Romas was also the "son" of the "Old Man", the chief of the knights of the city but also the chief of the dragon hunters.

The old man received the hunter in one of the rooms of the dungeon and they sat down near a hearth with a hot drink, a kind of chicory with honey, in their hands.

The decoration was austere and the men rough.

Not to be forgotten, above the hearth hung a giant wyvern head, well its stuffed skeleton. This was to remind the candidates of the ratio of size and strength.

The light reflected off the massive, slightly yellow stone blocks of the tower.

The ceiling was quite high and had an inner passageway as it was the roof directly above. The perimeter of the square tower could be made above but the loopholes could be opened through the roof, in a sort of interior mezzanine.

The loopholes had been sealed for decades with hay and plaster to caulk the whole thing.

It was relatively warm and a wooden slit let in some external light. You could see the night clouds, reflected only by the light of one of the two moons of Alpha.

A few candles gave a mysterious air to the place where the two men sat.

The table, bench and chair were not far from the fire.

His eyes whitened by time and age, the "Old Man" was blind, but that did not prevent him from "seeing".

He laid his hand on Romas

"Son. "Follow your heart..This may be our chance in this endless war.

Beware of the enchantress... It was she who took my eyes, but I've learned to see better since then.

Accustomed to discerning truth from falsehood and listening to the words of the "Old Man", the hunter climbed onto the mezzanine and opened a door leading to a covered bridge, a sort of secret passageway leading to another small tower, half embedded in the mountain and open to all winds.

Inside, there were many alcoves. It was a dovecote.

By the light of a candle he wrote a small message which he wrapped around one of the legs of a dove and released it: "Safe journey and be careful".

He closed the door carefully and went back down to the guild, into his office and prepared his things and preparations.

The week passed without any problems and I reassured Mum and Dad that I was safe and could manage.

Mum: "Mir... my child... I'm so scared something will happen to you... And Daddy told me that other wyverns had disappeared further west. There was a colony like ours and now we don't see them anymore.

Dad: "All I know is that I once saw a wyvern like us with a human on it and it had straps and a necklace. I was younger and I was scared. They had a black spear like the ones we have but ..how can I say better made.. and the human had like iron around him..and.. he was all black.."

I sighed.

"We're big but not invincible..and we can't live in fear all the time.. That's why I wanted you to be strong. "

Kraa licked me. "Mir is the strongest! Mir can spit fire!"

I smiled and mother kissed me again.

Soon, all four of us rushed under their wings but I was getting too big.

"Say, mum, when I'm bigger and I have my cave, will I still have little brothers and sisters?

Mum hugged me. "I promise!!!" and she looked longingly at Dad, whom I also called Alpha.

Their tails were intertwined and that made me feel better.

It was a cosy nest with my parents watching over me.

Their size and claws gave me a sense of invincibility, like a rock facing the torrents of life.

Slowly I closed my eyes and thought of Grandma.

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The next day was a special day and I went with Krator to the forest around Autrerive.

We looked out over the village, separated from the forbidden forest by vast meadows of pasture and crops.

Then I heard the horn sound. It was the signal!

Quickly, we took off and Krator took cover around the trailer and the two carts.

It was bigger but there were not as many men, but I saw a rider dressed in black on an equally black horse.

He had greying hair, a mustache and a short beard on his chin. A white line in the beard meant an old healed wound, and his grey-black hair was short.

With my keen eyes I recognised a flat suit of armour hidden under a nobleman's garb and a crest showing a wyvern's mouth, a small shield hanging from the saddle, and a long clepsydra strapped to his back. It was a terrifying weapon and from where I was, which was 400 metres above, I could feel fear emanating from the blade. This black sword looked hellish and, as if it was bloodthirsty.

It was obviously a two-handed sword. A dragon hunter's sword.

I hesitated but no sign of aggression or ambush or ambush attracted my attention.

I decided to land in the meadow. There were no obstacles to hide in, so there was less chance of surprise.

Romas looked at Jack as he pulled the trailer down and asked if he wanted his protection.

"No.. it's the little Mir."

He watched as the other wyvern watched.

It was very clever and only the relatively intelligent ones kept a helper on alert.

"CHHHJJJJACK!"

Romas flinched as he heard "JACK" pronounced by a winged snake.

It was a first... then the Wyvern took a more human posture and made the universal salute.

No animal was capable of such a feat.

There was the language barrier, but he saw immediately that the wyvern was armed and had crude protections, but protections. Almost as well made as those of the lizardmen.

The wyvern then walked alongside the peddler and whistled towards the large wyvern that was circling. We moved on and the wyvern stopped so that Romas could get to its level.

He looked at the beast in front of him and was struck by the look in its eyes, the light in its eyes showed an intelligent, sensitive being that still had something... human about it.

He saluted the wyvern and lowered his chest, and head, but without taking his eyes off the monster before him for a moment.

"ROMAS" he said.

"Romassssss ...." then he did the same. "MIRRRRRR"

The wyvern was curious and looked mostly at the sword and armor that intrigued her.

She made an impossible gesture, pointing a "thumb, made of a big claw" upwards to point, to try to say that the armor was well made.

In fact Mir meant "Cool".

The wyvern tried out words that no one understood but it was the language of the secret arcane. The lost language of early man. Thousands of years ago.

The wyvern pointed to "Kratos" for his companion.

But Romas couldn't believe it. A wyvern with furry clothes, a harpoon spear and a quiver.

She sniffed the air and exclaimed OK.

Romas, having some knowledge of arcana, recognised the reassuring word and tried it out in old Latin.

"Escort?"

The wyvern seemed to smile and turned around, "Yesii... work... mercenary escort kill monsters.."

Then they pointed to his sword and asked, "What is that?" to test the dragon's intelligence.

"SWORD....SHIELD... FLAT WEAPON... Chainmail Black Knight"

It was incensed and the creature before him looked... kind, calm and he didn't feel the aura of murder, hunger and savagery of the predators.

Not even the aura of the great wyvern...

Romas pointed at Krator.

"Krrrraaaatorrrr ... Family Papa Frere escort strong very strong!"

I followed the rider with great curiosity and his horse was very worried but he had blinders on and I thought I had to be careful to avoid an accident.

I could feel the good things in the three carts and I was looking forward to arrive in our valley to unload.

But was this a good idea?

No.. We had to keep our lair a secret.

And when I saw the sword and the coat of arms with a wyvern, I noticed the sword crossed with the dragon on a yellow background.

A dragon hunter!...

Don't panic.

I walked at the pace of the carts progressing on the frozen path and pointed with my "finger/claw" at the coat of arms

"Rrrromasss Kill dragon?"

He stopped his horse and looked me in the eye.

"Yes... I kill dragons... evil dragons... that eat men..."

I understood.

"MIR Not eat humans" "MIr ban Alpha mum, tribe"

Romas "You are special"

But the tension was there and after going around, I flew to join Kratos and we watched the road a mile ahead.

There were a few reindeer but we were "working" and Kratos was taking it seriously.

We were proud and wanted to show that we were also noble and intelligent dragons.

As evening fell, I was ahead of schedule and a pile of wood was ready as soon as the caravan stopped for the night.

Romas had a small sword in his hand and headed for the centre of the clearing where I was waiting.

Kratos was further away. The humans were too afraid. Too big, too scary and too dangerous.

Jack remembered the quick death of the bandit leader.

When Romas came within twenty yards of the woodpile, I blew out a spray of flame and the pyre burst into flames.

Men brought in hollowed-out logs to serve as tables and chairs.

The dense trees and fir trees provided shelter from the cold and the fire was intense enough to warm us all.

I lay down with my tail wrapped around me so that I was more or less the size of a human. My torso was strong like a wrestler's but sitting down, my legs were shorter and my attitude was more like a human.

"Kratos Cold..Go Fire.."

The big wyvern lay down with its back to the fire and I sat down next to Romas and Jack.

Jack offered me a drink, but I brought the big cup to my uncle, who swallowed it in one gulp, his eyes sparkling.

He lay still, but alert, and Romas was always ready to pounce.

"Kraaaattosss!" said the wyvern, in a big cavernous voice.

But Romas dared not say a word, not trusting it.

He looked at the monster, who also had gaiters and fur skins for protection.

He also noticed the flint blades on the tail segments, which could wreak havoc.

The wyvern emanated an aura of warrior and hunter. He assessed Romas and his ability to wield the sword, especially the big black one.

One of the men took out a zither and began to play some music, mostly to hide the howling of the dire wolves who were roaming around but had caught the scent of the wyverns and especially the scent of their own death.

Then Kratos asked "Kratos eat wolves?

Jack signalled that he would not, that he had to sleep for the next day.

Kratos slept a little, while I listened to the music. It was nostalgic.