The only thing really going through Oakley’s mind was that he was glad he’d been dressed for a long walk when he was transported to Charrunir. He knew for certain that he would have had countless blisters by now, with all the walking and running he’d already done. He was the kind of person that spent most of his time inside his own house, so he wasn’t used to this much exercise at all.

Oakley’s travelling companion, the demonic Rigdraz Irnollath, was completely different to what he’d expected. Where Oakley had seen the man’s towering height and impressive muscles and believed him to be little more than a strong brute. Instead, Rigdraz was quite the opposite. While he was strong, his focuses lay much more into his studies, than anything physical.

Oakley wasn’t the best at conversations and neither, it seemed, was Rigdraz. They walked down the path from Branchkeep in a comfortable quietness. Neither felt compelled to fill the calm with chatter.

Oakley didn’t really know where they were going, but Rigdraz appeared to know the way, so he was content with just enjoying the weather and knowing that, with every step, he came closer to catching Hariel.

About three hours into their walk south, Oakley spotted a handful of people, lingering by the path. They were far enough ahead that Oakley could warn Rigdraz- who had his head in a book- and hopefully form some sort of plan for getting around them.

“What should we do, do you think?” Rigdraz asked in a hushed tone.

“I was asking you?” Oakley said. “Don’t you need warning for the magical hiding effect thing?”

“Oh, no. I’m good for now. However, those ruffians up ahead- they need to work on their illusory skills quite a bit.”

“What do you mean by that?” Oakley asked, squinting at the collection of what just looked like travelers.

“They’re pretending to be humans, like me,” Rigdraz smiled, a tad smugly, before frowning slightly. “They aren’t doing a good job at all.”

“What do they look like?” Oakley asked curiously.

“Scales… claws… wings…” Rigdraz mumbled to himself for a moment, before his face lit up. “You said you had dealings with a dragon upon arrival in Charrunir, correct?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Oakley said slowly.

“Then they are likely searching for you,” Rigdraz grinned. Oakley’s expression took Rigdraz’s grin back off his face. “That’s not a good thing, I assume?”

“We need to hide, or turn back, or something,” Oakley said, his voice rising in a growing panic.

“We’ll be fine,” Rigdraz laughed. “Unless, of course, you have any of their treasure? Nobody is silly enough to steal from a dragon’s hoard, though.”

Oakley stayed silent.

“You didn’t steal from the hoard, right?” Rigdraz repeated, but Oakley’s lack of response caused him to close his book and hide his face with a large, red palm. “Show me. Show me exactly what you took from the hoard. Quickly.”

The urgency in Rigdraz’s tone prompted Oakley out of his ashamed silence and he started to turn out his pockets right there in the middle of the street. The half-drunk potion was still back in Branchkeep, but Oakley revealed the collection of assorted coins and the golden necklace.

With every new item, no matter how small, Rigdraz’s face somehow fell further and further into despair.

“So, first things first,” Rigdraz said, thinking hard. “Ditch it all. Every scrap of it, just leave it here. Likely, just off to the side of the path. Then, I’ll cast a little charm on you, to hopefully avoid them detecting any residual magical energies on your person. That should work for now. Let’s just hope none of the stuff you picked up was cursed. It’s always cursed.”

“I didn’t know,” Oakley tried to explain, but Rigdraz was in a problem-solving mode at that moment. Though it pained him, he left the coins in the grass beside the path and threw down the golden necklace alongside them.

“You know now,” Rigdraz said, gently steering Oakley away from the treasure and down the path. “Now we just have to put as much distance between you and that as possible.”

Oakley felt a cold feeling travel up his spine, as if he had just pulled away the bedcovers on a cold, winter morning. He felt exposed. He didn’t know why, until he noticed Rigdraz’s fingertips glowing bright blue for a moment, before fading back to normal.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Let’s hope it holds up,” Rigdraz muttered as the two of them gradually got closer to the disguised dragon people. “Let me do the talking, but don’t give away anything that might make them suspicious.”

Oakley nodded along to what his companion was saying, though he was so confused with what was going on that he didn’t want to question things and show just how out of his depth he was. He had to, though, to avoid mistakes.

“I’m sorry,” Oakley said, “but why are they here? The dragon that owned that gold is dead.”

“Oh, you killed the dragon?” Rigdraz scoffed. “Then we’re really in for it. Dragons aren’t always solitary beings. The oldest ones are, but others… others communicate in families. Each dragon has followers, beings that either worship the dragons themselves, or have dragon blood within them. What has likely happened is one of the relatives of the dead dragon has sent out followers searching for magical traces of the hoard, in order to find the killers.”

“Most of the killers aren’t from this world, though,” Oakley said, “we were forced into fighting it by Hariel.”

“It was a smart play, if an evil one,” Rigdraz shrugged. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Oakley, you’ve gotten yourself caught up in some nasty spiderwebs with this one.”

“I’ll try not to next time I get pressganged into a fight with a dragon,” Oakley muttered, trailing off as Rigdraz put on a wide grin for the lingering travelers.

“How goes it?” Rigdraz said, continuing walking but being as cordial as he could for the group.

Having been told that their appearance was faked, Oakley could see the inconsistencies in their looks. It was the same effect as ever so slightly crossing your eyes. Double images that matched up almost perfectly- almost.

Oakley smiled and kept quiet as Rigdraz exchanged niceties and the both of them pushed on. Oakley also noticed one of the travelers’ eyes flashed yellow for an instant. He must have been doing some magic trick to check for the dragon gold- like Rigdraz had said.

As the party of four didn’t decide to attack the two travelers, Oakley assumed they’d gotten away with it. He did just have one problem, now, however.

He had no money.

“Enjoy the lovely weather!” Rigdraz called over his shoulder as they left the suspicious people behind. “What charming people.” Rigdraz’s voice dripped with sarcasm, so much so that Oakley couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

“If we are going to be travelling together for the foreseeable future,” Rigdraz said, “please don’t be messing with any more dragons.”

“I can’t promise anything,” Oakley laughed, though he genuinely had no idea if he could make a promise like that. His luck so far in this world was… unsteady, to say the least.

“We’re definitely going to need to put all our cards on the table, though,” Rigdraz said. “I can’t be dealing with shocks like that all the time. I’m a nervous wreck as it is!”

Oakley laughed along with the taller man, though they both understood that the conversation was more serious than their light-hearted attitude suggested. It was the kind of stilted politeness two strangers gave each other while their mutual friend left to go fetch the drinks.

They both continued walking on, trying to not draw attention to themselves, as they could feel the eyes of the disguised people trained on them for at least another ten to fifteen minutes, until the distance was too great for them to be an immediate threat.

Oakley felt the chilled feeling leave, though he didn’t exactly feel any warmer after that encounter.

“You’re quite good at these magic tricks,” he remarked, looking up at Rigdraz, who shrugged modestly. “You also knew about dragons.”

“Okay, but everyone knows about dragons. It’s a little hard to miss them,” Rigdraz said. “Secondly, thank you. I’ve been studying up for years. There can never be enough books for one mind.”

“Studying up for what exactly?”

“To apply to the Strantu Observers, in Garrian Tryne.”

“The capital,” Oakley nodded, “but who are these observers?”

“Think of them as a collection of the best mages this island has to offer. Unlike those in Trunstanz or Ozirith, Charrunir’s best like to dedicate themselves to the advancement of knowledge itself. Everyone else seems to be more intent on making use of that knowledge- usually for more nefarious reasons.” Oakley suspected that Rigdraz could talk forever about the magical ins and outs of this world. He knew that he needed to learn more about the basics of the place, but barely any of the jargon that Rigdraz spouted made any sense to him.

Rigdraz looked down, as if sensing the confusion within Oakley.

“They’re clever wizards,” he said with a wink. “I like them better than the arcane organizations in some of the other countries in this world, which is why I came here.”

“That makes a little more sense,” Oakley nodded. “Thank you.”

A cool breeze washed over the two of them as they spoke, Rigdraz attempting to explain more about why he liked the Strantu Observers. Oakley felt a chill around his neck. It was unlike the temporary one Rigdraz had given him, so he naturally reached up to feel his neck. There was something cold around it.

“Uh, Rig,” Oakley said, “is this normal for dragon hoard treasure?”

Pulling his hand away from his collar, Oakley revealed to Rigdraz the golden necklace that they had discarded earlier that day. Somehow, it was now dangling around Oakley’s neck once again.

“That is… not good,” Rigdraz said with an anxious sigh.

“Thanks, magic man,” Oakley smiled nervously. “I think even I could’ve guessed that one.”

Oakley and Rigdraz looked down at the necklace and then to each other. Before Rigdraz could stop him, Oakley’s curiosity took over him, and he unlocked the locket, springing the latch open to reveal the necklace’s inner secrets. Nothing.

Oakley didn’t know what he’d expected, but absolutely nothing was a little underwhelming for a necklace that stalked its owner.

Rigdraz grabbed at the necklace, clicked it closed once more.

“I have a feeling those people hunting you down might still want a word with you,” he said, his eyebrows pushed up together, tense.

“Then I have a feeling we should speed up,” Oakley suggested, to which Rigdraz nodded, and the both of them started to walk just that little bit more urgently.