Three men relaxed in the shade of a small stone bridge. It was currently the middle of the day in the midst of the hottest summer in decades. The creek that normally ran through here had dried up completely about two weeks ago, rendering the spot far less refreshing than it used to be. The same could be said of the surrounding forest. The drought had reduced the once lush and relaxing woods into a yellow wasteland of dying plants. Naturally the skies showed not a single cloud that might stop the sun from beating down on the tortured land, nor were any going to show up given the stillness of the air. With so much heat and very little moisture to go around, it was nothing short of a miracle that the entire region hadn’t gone up in a wildfire. Under such sweltering circumstances, it was no surprise travelers might seek shelter under the stone bridge, which was precisely why these three were there.
“Man… It’s hot.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“At least there’s no wind.”
A gust blew through just as the third brother said that, filling their relatively cool spot with hot air full of dust.
“Great job,” Tom rolled his eyes. “Really improved our situation here.”
“Come on, really?” Dick replied. “It’s not like I control the fuckin’ weather.”
“I dunno,” Harry shrugged. “Maybe you should say something about there being no goddamn rain?”
“Careful what you wish for. He might cause a flood!”
“Har har.”
“I’d rather drown than get fried, to be honest. Seriously, how long are we gonna stay here?”
“As long as it takes. Now shut yer trap before someone hears us.”
The men fell silent. Though at a glance it looked as though they were merely resting, they were in fact waiting and hiding. The three brothers, as evidenced by their rough language, bullish demeanor, and overall raggedness, were actually bandits. Or so they thought. In reality ‘troublemakers’ was a more apt term. Though they certainly misbehaved, they rarely caused any lasting harm with their schemes. The village they lived in was just half an hour down the road, and everyone there knew that Tom, Dick, and Harry just didn’t have it in them to be outlaws. Their presence was actually seen as somewhat refreshing, as their attempts at illicit activities provided some much needed excitement around the otherwise boring village of Ascot. It was a tightly knit community that could never cast out three of their own, even if they caused trouble from time to time.
This latest scheme would surely change that. The trio weren’t the brightest, but they were born big and strong, with bodies hardened by doing menial labor for years. They certainly looked mean, which was what the eldest and self-proclaimed ringleader was banking on. The village had recently scraped together what coin they had and sent it off to a nearby town in hopes of hiring an adventurer that might resolve this drought. Indeed, the excessive dryness and relentless heat were abnormally strong for the region, so they suspected someone or something was causing it. Several farmers had also reported hearing strange cries in the night, and would find some of their livestock missing the next morning. A total of six cows and four sheep had vanished without a trace over the past month. The most likely cause was that they were preyed on by some terrible beast that was invading the area, though whether it was related to the drought was currently unknown.
The villagers naturally wanted these issues investigated and resolved post-haste, but that would require a wizard’s expertise. The aforementioned disturbances were most likely magical in nature, so it only stood to reason that only someone versed in the arcane arts could untangle this mystery. Such people were rare and their services expensive, but the village wasn’t so poor that they couldn’t afford to hire a sage or two in times of need. If anything, they stood to lose much more if this persistent heat wave wiped out their crops. Thankfully they received word that someone was willing to handle their request within the week. The mages’ guild didn’t give them a name, but guaranteed that this ‘Sage of the Sands’ was well-versed in supernatural matters that concerned heat. Naturally the villagers were thrilled to hear that they’d be visited by a proper expert, let alone so soon.
The mage in question was supposed to arrive today at around noon, which was precisely why Tom, Dick, and Harry were laying in wait under that bridge. Now, these three weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they’d heard a thing or two about them wizarding types. They were intellectuals that spent so much time training their minds that it left their bodies weak and frail. Furthermore, assuming they came over from the same town as the guild, they’d need to spend the entire morning since dawn walking if they hoped to reach Ascot Village when they said they would. That meant that by the time they reached the bridge that went over the dried-up creek, they’d be positively exhausted, especially in this heat.
That meant the three would-be ruffians would have a golden opportunity to ambush the guy and extort some valuables from him. He surely had a lot of fancy stuff, being a sage with a fancy title and all. Sure, he probably could take them all out with one spell, but that was only if they gave him the chance to cast it. That was why they were going to ambush him by jumping out from under the bridge and surrounding him. They would then threaten the tired magus until he saw reason and gave them something shiny to avoid a confrontation. If he resisted they’d maybe rough him up a bit, grab whatever staff or wand or crystal ball he had, and run off. They had no plans to seriously injure the guy, and they wanted to avoid an actual fight if at all possible. They’d just flee into the woods if things got ‘sparkly’ since none of them wanted to be turned into frogs.
Overall, it was the best get-rich-quick scheme that Tom had come up with, but that wasn’t a high bar. It was still full of flaws, such as the lack of foresight. The trio didn’t even consider that if this worked out as intended, it might prevent the wizard from doing his job and unnecessarily prolong this unnatural heat wave. Another major oversight was that it was entirely possible the sage wouldn’t use the road at all. He could very easily just fly overhead instead of contending with the old forest road. Or perhaps he was so powerful that he could teleport straight to his destination. For better or for worse, their target had indeed chosen to reach Ascot Village through the tried-and-true method of putting one foot in front of the other. The brothers were made distinctly aware of that when they heard someone approach from the direction of the neighboring town. They couldn’t see the person from their hiding spot, but the wilderness was quiet aside from the buzzing of bugs, so they could clearly make out a set of footsteps and some slight clanging of rustling equipment. They waited with bated breaths until the sounds reached the paved stones overhead, at which point they struck. The bridge really wasn’t that high up and just wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage to pass, so they easily climbed up from either side while yelling their prepared lines in turn.
“Hold it!”
“Bridge tax collectors!”
“Uh…”
Harry stumbled and forgot what he was about to say, as he was rather taken aback by the stranger’s appearance. Admittedly, so were his brothers, but they had already said their part by the time any of them got a good look at the guy. Actually, that might’ve been a woman. It was difficult to tell under all that fabric. They wore a wide ankle-length form-obscuring coat made up of a few layers of silk. The hem of the garment was open in the front, revealing a pair of very short shorts and thigh-high leggings that led down to some heavy-duty sandals. The arms were wrapped up in several layers of yet more cloth that looked especially thick around the wrists. An exotic-looking hood was draped over the head, and a face-wrap accentuated with a golden chain obscured the entire face aside from their short black hair and a patch of slightly bronze skin around a bright yellow eye. ‘Bright’ and ‘yellow’ were also the two main words one would think of when seeing this outfit for the first time. Most of it was dyed in light and vibrant hues reminiscent of honey, gold, or lemons, with some darker shades that bordered on brown. This trend did not extend to the aforementioned face-wrap, which was pitch black, or the off-white bandages that covered every patch of otherwise visible skin aside from the fingertips.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Exotic and flashy attire aside, the would-be bandits remembered what they were doing when they realized this relatively tall stranger was traveling with a lot of luggage. A large and overstuffed bag was slung over one shoulder, a bundle of several wooden staves were strapped to their back, and an askew potion-adorned belt hung loosely from their hip. Having spotted those potential prizes, the brothers were emboldened to press on with their intended extortion. They naturally completely failed to notice that this presumed sage was not tired in the slightest, though that fault was not entirely with them. There was so little visible of the person that it was impossible to tell what their condition was at a glance. If anything, one would imagine they were positively stewing in their own sweat, given how heavily they were covered.
“Listen here, buddy,” Tom got right up in the mage’s face. “This here bridge ain’t public property, see? It’s private. We own it, you use it, that means you owe us, see?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dick joined in from the mage’s right. “Twenty silver pieces and you’ll be on your way.”
“I’d pay up if I were you,” Harry closed in on the left. “We don’t want no trouble, you hear?”
The stranger’s left eye carefully tracked and studied each ruffian as they spoke. Very little emotion could be discerned from that unflinching half-gaze, though it was quite clear that this person wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. They whispered something, though Tom didn’t catch any of it since that wrap was in the way.
“Huh? What’s the matter, buddy?!” he jeered. “So tired you can’t speak?”
The yellow-garbed weirdo motioned for the ruffian to get a bit closer. Overconfident as he was, the guy did just that, and got headbutted in the face with enough force to break his nose and force him on his ass. The traveler then viciously buried their right elbow in Dick’s gut, then thrust that arm in the opposite direction to punch Harry in the middle of his chest, right in the solar plexus. The three brothers were thus left rolling around on the scorching ground within moments, two of them suddenly out of breath and the eldest bleeding heavily from the face.
“Argh! You fucking bastard!” Tom wailed. “You think you can take us?!”
Seemingly forgetting he was dealing with a seasoned adventurer, the oaf scrambled to his feet and grabbed the short axe tucked into his belt. It was a basic woodsman’s hatchet, more a tool than a weapon, but it would still hurt if he hit with it. That was a big ‘if’ as the stranger stepped into his swing, catching his wrist with one hand then driving a knee into the man’s groin. The other two tried the same from either side with their own hatchets. Dick’s strike was dodged entirely and he also took a hit to his namesake. Harry managed to connect, at least. Well, sort of. Though his improvised weapon did connect with the sage’s back, the dull blade just slid right off the durable cloth and the chainmail underneath. Didn’t even rip the coat. Seemingly emboldened by his entirely ineffective blow, he took another wild swing only to get smacked in the face with a fancy stick. The wizard had drawn one of the staves strapped to their back and attacked with it in a single fluid motion that put some serious doubts as to whether they were actually a spell-slinger.
Indeed, though their arcane focus had been drawn, the stranger made no attempt to invoke any magic. They just stood there, holding it firmly with both hands as the misguided siblings continued to roll around on the ground. They truly had no idea what was going on. They couldn’t imagine this weirdly-dressed traveler could be anyone besides the Sage of the Sands the village was expecting. At the same time, this wasn’t some bearded frail old man who’d keel over from a strong breeze. In fact, this wasn’t a man at all. Though the stranger was rather tall and strong, the ground-based perspective gave Tom a better idea as to the adventurer’s overall build and determined there were some unquestionably feminine curves and lumps hiding under all that cloth. Well, that, and he couldn’t imagine any self-respecting guy would go for the dick like that. Either way, it only now dawned on the incompetent gang’s leader that they had bitten off more than they could chew. Their would-be target didn’t even need to resort to magic to handle all three of them with ease.
“Okay, we give!” he squeaked while groaning in pain. “We give, so stop, okay?!”
Tom’s sentiment was quickly echoed by Dick and Harry with some quiet whimpers. Sure, they looked mean and tough, and to some extent were, but they really weren’t fighters. That was why they were hoping to scare the sage into submission. That clearly wouldn’t work anymore, so the only thing left was to beg for forgiveness and hope she didn’t frogify them. Thankfully, the traveler showed no signs of wanting to continue the beatdown. In fact, she hadn’t moved at all since knocking all of them down a second time. She wasn’t even looking at the trio. Her one-eyed gaze was fixated somewhere far above them. Tom noticed this oddity and curiously followed her line of sight. He then immediately wished that he hadn’t.
Soaring through the sky on massive wings covered in bright red scales was the cause of the region’s recent troubles. It was a fire dragon that had made their nest nearby, its mere presence twisting the environment around it. Though relatively young, its torso alone was already larger than a carriage. Between the horns on its head, the teeth in its maw, the claws on all four legs, the spear-like tip of its tail, and the spikes that ran the length of its long spine, it had more pointy bits on it than any of the siblings had seen in their lives. Of course, while dangerous, those were far from the malicious creature’s worst weapons. That would be its flaming breath, which it looked ready to unleash upon the group of four atop that tiny bridge. Indeed, the beast bore down on them as if drawn by something, molten drool spilling from its jagged maw.
“Run.”
That quiet, almost whispered word from the sage was heard loud and clear as the brothers tried to scramble to their feet and flee. Unfortunately, the groinal assault had left two of them completely incapable of doing so. Harry ran over and dragged Dick under the bridge, but he wouldn’t have time to come back for Tom before that beast fell upon him. Looking down at the poor sod, the sage let out a tired sigh. She really didn’t like showing her magic to bystanders, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Sure, these guys tried to mug her, but that didn’t mean they deserved death. So, she sucked it up, focused her power through her staff, and struck the aged stonework under her with its lower end.
That was when things really got weird. A circular geometric pattern of light formed around her ankles and slowly spun in place just above the ground. Black smoke erupted from underneath her clothes and wraps. The adventurer raised her staff skyward, one hand pointing its gnarled head towards her target while the other held it firmly in place by the wrist. The weapon shook and shuddered as if some unseen torrent was trying to rip it out of her grasp. The dark smog swirled around her in an ominous sphere as the air screeched and the ground rumbled. The sheer, raw power flowing from the stranger could be felt clearly by everyone both above and below the bridge, and it scared the hell out of the three brothers. The flying menace must’ve felt it too, for it let out an anxious roar and rapidly turned around as if to flee. Unfortunately for the dragon, it was too late. It had already drifted into the wizard’s effective range.
“Ignum fortis decantus trionis.”
A quiet utterance of four words of power saw the spell take shape. There was a loud crack as the staff shattered and splintered, unable to withstand the immense arcane energy channeled through it. In that same moment, the dragon exploded into a ball of crimson fire with a deafening din, its boiling blood and flaming scales littering the landscape. Tom had somehow found the courage to bear witness to all of this. Or perhaps he was so terrified that he could not look away. Whichever the case, he now realized how truly puny, petty, and pathetic his existence was. A sobering realization, to say the least. As he stared at the filthy fireworks, he couldn’t help but notice the beast’s remains were setting fires to the dried vegetation wherever they fell. A low groan of frustration drew his eyes to the scary wizard lady, at which point he realized why she wrapped herself up so much. That strange smoke had pushed aside many of her bandages, revealing that her bronze skin was covered in nasty burn scars that ran the length of her arms and legs, possibly beyond. However, that didn’t seem to be the cause of her ire. She tossed away her shattered staff, drew another, almost identical stick of carved wood, and trudged off towards the developing forest fire while grumbling under her breath.
“Dragons. Why is it always dragons?”