With the griffin meat, and the winter, we smoked and salted what we could but we were short of everything.
We needed pots big enough for our hands and to store the salt. the precious salt
The gaiters paid off as no one got any more scrapes.
The fire, difficult to accept at first, was soon appreciated for bringing us together, disinfecting and deodorising.
Little by little, the wyverns became formidable warriors and the possibilities were endless, but we needed metals, and a forge and everything.
I was exhausted and one day I fell asleep standing up against my mother who dragged me into my nest and I was soon joined by the others of my age.
The winter went quite well and the same fate befell the giant eagles.
Bags and candles were made and the parts were sorted and stored for later.
Even the feathers were stored.
Rules were made by me through Dad, but everyone listened to me as their leader. But I wanted the role of advisor instead. It was up to Dad to remain the Alpha and I saw to that.
The long winter evenings went well and we were all busy and with the language we all began to tell our stories, what we had seen and if there were any dangers we would write them on the central map, obviously around a fire.
Uncle Black, the wounded wyvern, learned from me how to make pastes and poultices and bandages.
He stored and held the stock of medicinal plants I had brought and we built him a small workbench with fire-stones to heat the fats and ointments.
He also prepared war paint and stored the necessary pigments.
In return, he was "paid" in prey and Dad made sure that the rules were respected by all.
Outside, everything was covered with snow and the landscape was wonderful, especially with a beautiful blue sky and the trees covered with ice and snow.
With no mist or clouds, you could see very far and with the snow, leafless trees, you had high contrast and anything that moved could be spotted.
But one of our serpentine characteristics was that we could also see body heat in infrared. Anything warm-blooded was like a red dot to us and hunting was easier that way, leaving little chance for prey.
The frozen ground without snowdrifts also made it easier to walk and walk on foot without getting stuck.
So one day I went on patrol with my brother and sisters. I was about 5 metres tall and no serious predator could attack me now that the eagles and griffins had been defeated.
I was attracted by a column of smoke in the forest and, armed with a spear, my brother and I went to see what was going on.
When we reached 300 metres, we heard screams and shouts.
A trailer was attacked by Dire wolves, wolves the size of ponies.
4 humans were between the wagon and a fire rekindled from the day before and they had their swords out.
10 wolves were circling and the fire was becoming less and less scary. They must have been hungry and exhausted and had attacked a peddler's or merchant's wagon, and one of the men was already lying there with his throat open, soaking in blood.
The trees were sparse and did not present any obstacle to us.
"Kra, Roa, Kroa, don't hurt the humans..... you know!"
They hissed in agreement. I had been bludgeoning them in the mind to never attack humans. They were worse than ants...their numbers, their weapons and their magic!!!
Jack, the peddler had all his wealth in that wagon and he had thought it best to go through the forest for a shortcut, avoiding the highwaymen, believing the monsters and wild animals were hibernating. This was only true of Jurassic reptiles and monsters.
The wolves were not of this opinion.
He looked at the battle which was in favour of the wolves and the guards and helpers were getting tired of the fangs and claws of these monsters.
They were also running out of arrows and the battle had been going on from mid-night until early morning, which was now.
He looked up and saw a wyvern followed by 3 others.
"WYVERNS!!! WE ARE LOST!!! TAKE REFUGE IN THE WAGON!"
But they were all busy trying to save their lives.
Suddenly, one of the wolves collapsed just before a hiss and a huge Tchak.
A harpoon had pierced his neck and he lay on the ground.
Then arrows shot at a second wolf, which collapsed and the other eight growled, looking for the threat.
They snarled more and more and attacked the poor humans.
TCHAK,
A third wolf collapsed and a fourth followed, pierced with small spears for us but large for a human. These were our "arrows" which we kept in a quiver on our backs.
The humans countered and the wolves moaned with various wounds and a few arrows were enough to drive them away.
We circled like vultures and the humans regrouped and retreated to the shelter of the wagon.
The four of us then landed on the wolf and withdrew our arrows to retrieve them.
Jack immediately saw that we were trained wyverns and looked around for the rider or trainer but saw no one.
He looked at us and thought. Maybe they are trained wyverns that have escaped but pulling spears??? I've never seen or heard of them...
He became frightened with the possibility that we were intelligent monsters.
Having retrieved our projectiles, we got busy taking the crystal monster hearts and then I turned to the humans. I did not approach them.
However, I had the spear in my paw and pointed at the trailer.
"MIR TROC!!!" I shouted..
Jack: "A talking wyvern?"
He stepped out a bit looking through the doorway, "Don't hurt us!"
But I couldn't understand what he was saying... it was a foreign language. very...
I signalled to my sisters to go and get Mummy and Daddy, and to bring the bags of griffin fur, the beaks and talons and a bag of salt.
I then drew arrows on the ground with my spear between a man and a wyvern and exchanged bags, drawings of coins and walked away.
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One of the warriors went to look and came back to the merchant.
"Jack, come and see. the wyvern has drawn arrows it looks like a trade."
Jack: "Barter? It's often the case with hunters and trappers but never with a monster..."
Phil "Yes, but without them... we'd all be eaten... and look, they have primitive spears, and protection. Like the deep trappers. It's strange."
An hour passed and, to their horror, 2 large wyverns landed and then licked us and they had large bags under their paws.
The humans watched from the shelter of the trailer as we rode.
Dad took off with Mom and hovered several hundred feet above us.
Kroa stood beside me and watched.
In the bag, a wicker roll was unfolded and I spread out carefully folded beaks and claws and griffin skins and bark with drawings on it.
There was salt glued to fir resin,
A big hammer
A large anvil
Iron bars with different colours to show bronze, copper
And needles
Wire and pliers and knives
We stepped aside and the group came out escorting the merchant to my improvised stall.
"OHHHHH. Imperial eagle beaks!!! talons and griffins! This must be worth a fortune! Oh the beautiful griffin skin!
The trader quickly forgot the situation and went into trade mode immediately.
He signalled to come and the soldiers were on the alert, not forgetting our strength and ferocity and the two dragons flying overhead.
The trader immediately recognised our intelligence and made contact without any confidence but with escorts.
He had his escort and I had mine.
Trappers and hunters were the same. One would make contact while the others were hidden, keeping watch.
Jack then took out a barter scroll used in the empire with the goods and their value.
And a lot of people didn't know how to calculate and that was where he made his profit.
I approached to 2 meters and put my spear down.
The humans lowered their swords, but held them firmly.
"MIRRRR" I said, pointing to my chest.
"Jack did the same" and I repeated JACKSSSSS" in my snake accent.
"Your name is Mir, I see"
"MIRRRR" then nodded.
He took a bow which I observed and I did the same, putting my paw on my chest.
I knew that what I was offering was invaluable and I wanted to go further, to discover more.
I pointed to "KROA" and he understood that this was my little brother. We should have been twins but the difference in size was important.
I then stuck a spear with a rabbit skin on it and said "TROC".
He then showed the rabbit skins and their value, which was not much, a copper coin. He had to sell them for at least 5 to cover his costs.
Then he took the pile and put in some coins which I inspected.
Looking at the official chart, he realised that I could count.
10 copper coins to one tin coin, which would be one Euro.
100 pewter coins for 1 silver coin and 10 silver coins for 1 small gold coin and 10 small for 1 large.
Immediately I showed the gold coins for the beaks and talons and... he agreed. I lost but I gained a business partner.
I sold everything and bought some stoves and knives.
I then ordered jars, rope and the base for a forge. and... salt... but it cost a fortune and I preferred to mine it myself.
The day was coming to an end and he prepared a meal so I added our portion and it was cooked with spices.
We lay down by the fire and started a sort of dialogue and one of the men came up with a box containing a gem.
Jack signalled to speak and I understood.
It was a language spell and to my surprise Latin symbols appeared and formed a kind of virtual circuit.
The red light enveloped us, hesitated a little on the law and Kroa and the next thing I knew we were communicating.
Oh... Latin!!! I remembered studying it a long time ago but it came back to me as if I had to get back on my bike.
"Jack, my name is JAck and your name is Mir, right?"
"Ah.. Uh... Yes, Jack... happy to do business with you...."
"BUT... how do wyverns talk?"
"This is my tribe... they were wild but they are my family. They are very loving and I managed to bring them together as a tribe and get them to give up their animal way of life... now we are hunters and we have secured the area. "
It made no sense but he was looking at someone and not a monster.
"Thank you Mir for saving us from the Dire Wolves, the terrible wolves. But why? Why aren't you attacking us? What happened?"
"I saw Dad with an arrow and I don't want to lose my family. I love them more than anything else in the world and I have forbidden the tribe to go near the houses, farms and livestock.
The trader nodded his head in agreement.
Jack: "So, you're like some kind of beastmen, silly men, but your speech is impeccable and you seem to know how to count. How did you learn?"
I began to think.
"Yes... I have plenty of memories from my egg I knew all that before..."
The shopkeeper had heard of legends of reincarnation and I was probably one of them.
Jack: "The wyverns are considered bloodthirsty monsters and only the little ones that come from eggs are raised in stables for dragon knights.."
"I kind of suspected... but I didn't know that... actually... I don't know anything about this world and I'd like to explore it. We had to face famine and the wolves, eagles and griffins came here driven by hunger.."
"And bartering is your idea?"
"Yes... we need tools at least to build our village."
"You have a wyvern village?"
"Let's just say it's a secret place and we fish and make traps to survive and we'd like to do a bit of farming so we don't tax the forest."
"We'll be back soon with what you ordered in a week. Will you protect us?"
"Yes, of course Jack.. ah, yes, bring a dictionary if you can find one and a beginner's grimoire.."
Jack: "Monsters don't have a system and I would like to know if you have one?"
"Yes... and we are sentient wyverns"
Jack: "When I do my system evaluation on you I see your name and sentient wyvern.. not Monster.."
"Mum and Dad are very big but I'm not yet and I'd like to see the world. Do you think I could ever go with you? I could make myself useful to protect your convoys.."
Then he looked up.
"And the others, could they hunt for us? Other skins?"
"Better. There will be eagle and griffin eggs... we saved them to sell one day.."
Immediately, his eyes clicked.
Jack: "You can't imagine how much gold this represents... we could even have our own estate and castle!!!!"
"Ah yes... a castle with dragons in it... game at will... cattle... mountains of gold..."
I was already dreaming of the future... of the possibilities...
"And a harem?? is that possible???"
Jack laughed and presented me with some honey beer. Monsters hated....specially reptiles.
But I gently took the cup and dipped my long tongue in it and went back and forth almost viciously, like the butterflies.
ARGGGGhhh I said
They took fright but I drank the rest and made a fiery upward return.
I spat fire!
"AHHHH how delicious!"
Add a barrel to my bill and some iron set wooden cups or set horns to put them on.
And... add a flag... we'll draw a wyvern to signal that this is our territory....
Jack laughed and I lay down, he sat up, our heads level with each other.
"We'll give it a try later and hire your wyverns as escorts or transporters. We need to register them with the guild and give them a coat of arms so you don't get shot on sight."
But my biggest fear is that we'll be captured and trained as mounts.
They're worth more than that... they're smart, they talk, and they can make things... Especially the wounded ones."
Jack began to think.
"Let's say at first you'll need a submission collar to indicate that you're my property, even if it's a fake. And then register them with the local guild like the beastmen. The most marked are the lizardmen. Some are recognized but most are monsters."
The night was too close, so Dad put down a boar and flew back over us.
I flew up and explained to him that we were going to have something to take care of mum and the others... and lots of other things.
But he would have to ask toton (Blanche's dad) to escort the caravan and make sure nothing attacked it until the next village.
"Don't go near the village. We'll get our reward when they come back with what I asked for."
And so the merchant made his way to the village to the east, Autrerive.
The soldiers looked at the sky, torn between fear and safety.
But all the monsters were gone. A trade route could be opened under the protection of mercenary dragons.
But their smiles faded as a tree trunk fell in front of the cart and another one behind.
Bandits had set up an ambush, probably tipped off by carrier pigeon that a reckless trader was using a side road, a shortcut.
One of the guards raised his shield but the bandits were 10!
Jack looked up at the sky, his escort still there.
He blew a horn just as Barabas began to laugh.
"BURL OR LIFE...well...maybe!!!" The muscular twenty-something bandit was surrounded by his henchmen.
"I have been informed that you have treasures on board the cart and it would be a shame not to be able to share a little bit of good fortune with nice people like us. "
He laid his axe on the ground and his white sheepskin made him look even taller.
Others had machetes, a good pitchfork and long knives, probably confiscated from other travellers.
Often they hung around the last inns listening to any would-be traveller, with the complicity of the woman innkeeper. Anything was possible to make ends meet and survive the winter.
If animals and monsters struggled against hunger, for men it was the same but with the added difficulty of gold.
The bandits were never far from the villages and towns to avoid the dangers of the deep forest where powerful and hungry predators roamed.
Krator had heard the horn and thought that he should protect the caravan but not attack the humans... It was a contradiction, but when he saw that the bandits behaved like wolves, he thought about it. But he could not think any further... not yet.
So he dived in, roaring and holding his spear.
The next moment Barabas was in the air, skewered, and then fell back, dead before he hit the ground
"A WYVERNE HELP!!!"
The soldiers were as scared as the bandits, what if she turned berzerk with the smell of blood?
They prayed and begged the reptile "Krator... save us!"
The bandits rushed back to flee but Krator had stone knives strapped to his tail segments. And with one sweep, he tore the backs of four bandits at once.
The others were grabbed by his talons and thrown several metres at Jack's feet.
They stank of blood and Krator licked his lips but had the good sense to have restraint and flew away.
The village was in sight and Krator went home without forgetting.
"JACK PAY KRATOR!!! DON'T FORGET!!!"
They palpitated and some of the soldiers, squires noted the strength and violence of these winged monsters. 6 or 7 tons with a wingspan of 25 meters, they were the jaws of the forest.