“I would like to do this quest,” I said slapping the golden inscribed paper onto the counter.

Clara stared in bewilderment, her eyes shifting confused between the paper and my face.

“Are you sure, it’s only your second quest?” she said. “ The quest entails you hunt down a scarlet dragon, do you have any idea how dangerous they are?” She cleared her throat raising herself to her full height. “ By the good grace of Atalanta I cannot recommend this,” She pointed at the lettering on it. “It’s S Class, that’s the highest rank! It’s practically a death wish.”

“I said I would do it,” I replied. “I am confident in my skill, if it's too dangerous I can always withdraw,” I reassured her.

She grumbled in frustration. “One moment.” she scribbled something down. She unfurled a long map on the counter. A large circle in the center with small houses and roads going to it must have represented the kingdom of Ariadne. It showed detailed images of mountains, rivers and forests outside the walls as well.

“We don’t have much information about the scarlet dragon, it was spotted around here, “she said pointing to a mountain range at the edge of the map. “It was spotted in the Nesrakian Mountain range, its still quite a distance away but if it flies toward Ariadne it could cause a lot of harm. It also interferes with travel routes for merchants and travellers since they have to reroute their journey to avoid going to close into its territy. The extra travel fees and less imports and exports will cost Ariadne millions of Denarii in losses.”

“What about other dragons, why is there only one?” I asked.

“Dragons are solitary creatures by nature, the dragon eggs are abandoned by the parents. The baby dragons fend for themselves and leave the nest as soon as they can in search of new territory and a mate, the dragon in question has recently awoken in search of a mate, the reason nobody knew about the dragon before is because dragons have been known to sleep for centuries. This one likely hasn’t woken up for over 2 centuries.”

I nodded. “ I will be heading out now.”

“Do you need the map?” she said.

I tapped a finger against my temple. “ I got it all in here.”

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “Maybe I doubted your S Class abilities too much.”

I couldn’t help but salivate whenever I thought of the reward. Three million Denarii! That would last me years and years, I could probably buy my way into nobility with that kind of money!

…

I looked down from the peak of the mountain. Icy crystals glinted of the rocky face. The wind ruffled my hair, frost grew with each breath as if I as well could breath fire. … Maybe I had been a little too confident in my sense of direction.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I closed my eyes and focused on the mana in the air. That was the surefire thing to do.

I followed the mana trails in the sky. They were spiralling upwards in a long funnel.Tsk! I winced. The mana around here was weird. It wouldn’t have been an issue if it simply stopped me from sensing the latent mana in the air but it also interfered with my ability to send out my mana and navigate. I probably could do it but I didn’t want to needlessly expend mana. It was one of the many lessons that Olivere had taught me.

The ground shuddered under my feet. Despite the magical turbulence I could sense strong mana signatures near by. I skidded down the side of the mountain landing on a ledge. There were only a couple of meters of visibility before a low cloud obscured the rest. I made out a brief roar of some animal. I snapped my head in the direction of the still calm cloud. An animal-eared figure burst out from the cloud and smashed into the rock face below me. Powerful gusts of wind blew away both snow and cloud alike. The force of the impact rattled the mountanside. A red dragon burst out from the remaining clouds snarling. It landed on the ground in front of the figure.It opened its maw wide crouching into its haunches, angling its entire body behind its mouth. A vermillion flame flickered in the depths of the beast’s mouth before blossoming and erupting in a blindingly bright.

A voice penetrated the air.

“Icicle lance!”

A chunk of ice the size of a car lodged itself in its mouth. The dragon grunted awkwardly at the newfoud object in its mouth. Judging by the speed at which the hot fangs melted through the ice it wasn’t very effective. Before the ice completely disappeared it shone a bright blue and overwhelmed the fire. The dragon barely paused this time and launched itself onto its front legs and flipped itself over. Its legs and tail made a wide arc in the air. I had seen similar moves watching gymnasts during the olympics. I would never have believed a creature that large could be that agile.

“Shoot!” I muttered scrambling to the end of the ledge. I should probably do something and not sit around.

I took a deep breat and cupped my hands tightly together.

“SCRAM!” I boomed. The vibrations shook the air and reverberated through the mountains. Perhaps more startled than hurt the dragon looked around meekly before launching its massive body into the air and disappearing into the sky.

***

Well you really saved us there! Said Amelia.

“No he … didn’t!” said Wulf tearing his remaining arm free from the mountainside. “The situation was under control.”

I hesitated before uttering my next words. “It’s quite a coincidence seeing you here though, I also took up the quest to hunt the red dragon,”

“That makes us enemies!” growled Wulf.

“Or …” I said. . “That makes us allies,”

Amelia put a finger to her lip. “You know Wulf … that doesn’t sound like a bad idea,”

“I know how you feel about working with others but I think it’ll be alright.”

“So, what do you say,” I stretched out a hand. “Partners?”

Wulf slapped away my hand. “Not in a million years.”

Amelia skirted forward and took my hand. “It’s ok, he’ll warm up to you,” she said brightly.

“We’ll discuss the plan when we get to our den, it’s not far from here,”

We walked for a bit to a large boulder. It seemed oddly placed.

Wulf put his foot against it and slid it a bit to the right. It revealed an opening. It led to a small den. The walls were rough with large depressions in them. This didn’t seem like it was made from the weathering of wind and snow.

“Is this an abandoned monster’s den?” I asked quizzivkly

“Huh,” said Amelia. “Oh, Wulf carved it out a while ago, it used to be one of our dens during quests. We thought we’d have to leave it when the dragon woke up but luckily that’s not an issue anymore!”

Animal hides and weapons hung from the walls. A wooden barrel was in the corner and a large oak table was in the center. Candles strategically placed on the walls flickered on. Covering everything in a yellow glow.

Wulf drew forth a large parchment. He unfurled it on the table placing small rocks on the corners to stop it from curling back up. A detailed map was etched meticulously on its surface.

He pointed at one of the various mountains. “We are here.”

He pointed at a large red cross. “This is the dragon’s nest, the plan is we lure it out distract it, Amelia will wear it down. We’ll then trap it and then I’ll deliver the finishing blow.”

“How exactly are we supposed to capture it?” I said scratching my chin.

“With this,” said Wulf lifting up a tarp in the back. I could make out some large metal contration behind it. Considering the hump was larger than Wulf was it did seem quite like the dragon-capturing device.