Sunlight streamed into the rapidly warming cave shortly after daybreak, and Grym was already sweating as he rose and stretched. Massaging his right shoulder, he rolled the joint several times in an attempt to alleviate the stiffness brought on by several hours on a stone surface – grass notwithstanding. As he gazed out the cave mouth across the treetops, he heard Glynfir groan to his right.

“Ugh. My hip…and my ass!” The wizard sat up and raised his hand to block the light from his squinting eyes as he turned to the dwarf. “You know, when we crashed last night, I was thinking this wasn’t so bad – sleeping rough - but I take it all back. I feel like I’ve been kicked by a centaur!”

Grym laughed, stroking his salt-and-pepper beard “Aye, it does take some getting used to.”

The wizard rose and began some stretching of his own.

“I seriously can’t feel my ass right now.” Rubbing his right butt cheek, he directed a nod to the space between them. “Where’s Lunish?”

“Dunno.” Grym shrugged as he retrieved his chain shirt and began the cumbersome process of getting it on over his tunic. “She was already gone when I got up. Can you give me a hand here?”

After assisting his friend with the armor, Glynfir picked up what had been dubbed the official ‘fire poking stick’ the night before and proceeded to fruitlessly stir the fire’s remains in search of any salvageable embers. Realizing he was accomplishing nothing other than covering them both in a fine layer of ash, he tossed the stick into the circle of stones and turned his attention to the remains of the turkey. Grym quickly recognized the genius of this idea and within moments the two of them were huddled around the carcass and picking away at the leftovers like a couple of crows, the grease on their fingers and faces reflecting in the morning sunlight, and that is exactly how Lunish found them.

“Thought you two might sleep all day!” She bubbled, stepping into the cave around the earthen barrier Glynfir had constructed the evening before.

“Where have you been?” Grym asked her between bites.

“Foraging.” She opened the top of her shoulder satchel to reveal a large quantity of raspberries and three apples. “These should go well with whatever you’re calling this.” She made a circle in the air with her hand around the two of them and the turkey carcass, a slightly disgusted look on her face.

“Don’t knock it until you try it! Grym boasted “Here – pull up some grass.”

He shifted over making some room and Lunish sat down, emptying the contents of her satchel onto the previous night’s bedding next to the turkey carcass and they all dug in.

“So…did we get a reply?” Glynfir asked as he popped several raspberries into his mouth.

“We did.” She confirmed “They want us to go to a monastery called The Luminarium. Apparently, it signaled a perimeter breach yesterday and they want to know the details.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Works for me” Grym nodded, his lower lip protruding in a sign of acceptance. Glynfir’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her suspiciously.

“How far Lulu?”

“About two days I reckon, if we take the road. We might be a bit quicker if we go overland, but it’s pretty rough terrain and you never know what we might run into.”

The men looked at each other and simultaneously blurted out

“Road!”

“But that means another night of sleeping rough” Glynfir deflated

“You’re such a whiner!” She chided him. “I’ve never seen anyone with elven blood so averse to nature!”

“You grew up with this. It’s who you are. I grew up with humans…in a town…with buildings…and beds!” he reminded her.

Grym shook his head. “I’d swear you two were an old married couple if I didn’t know better.”

The banter between half-elf and gnome continued as they stowed their belongings in preparation for a long day of walking. Glynfir’s spirits were buoyed somewhat by having a fully dry pair of shoes to begin the trek.

“We’ll have to head overland to the east for a couple of miles until we pick up the road from Chagrothlond. We can follow that north until we reach the Shand, then take that road west to the Luminarium.” The gnome itemized their itinerary as the group filled their waterskins from a nearby stream.

“You know, I’ve got an old friend that lives up that way.” Grym mused as they pressed single file through the dense woodland. “Draconic wizard named Glamos. Haven’t seen him in more than ten years. We adventured together before I took up this more, ahem, honest work. We should stop by and say hello. He might even have some knowledge of what happened.”

“Draconic? Are you saying you have a dragon for a friend? How have we never heard this before?” inquired Glynfir suspiciously, once again from the rear of the column.

“Not a dragon…draconic.” Lunish corrected him “They are a rare offspring of dragon and human”

“Wait…What? How is that even possible? Stop, don’t tell me, I’m already forming mental images I’ll never be able to unsee.” Glynfir grimaced, closed his eyes, and shook his head as if to expel the undesired constructs.

“I would have thought you of all people, being of mixed species background yourself would be more accepting.” Lunish hid her smile from him as she teased her friend.

“That’s unfair! In my case, the two species were anatomically similar – two arms, two legs, no tail or wings. Ugh! More bad mind pictures! So, is he a dragon with human features, or a human with dragon features? Does he breathe fire? Was he hatched from an egg?”

Grym sighed “I’m glad we’re getting all of this out of the way before you meet him. Saves me the embarrassment. He’s human in stature with dragon features, and yes, he was hatched from an egg. No, he doesn’t breathe fire because his heritage is a white dragon, not red. So, he can breathe frost.” The dwarf patiently itemized answers he had given many times in the past. “Come to think of it, the climate is probably why he chose to retire up in the mountains. It also helps him avoid dealing with curios kobolds like you, and all these ignorant questions!”

“I’m sorry, I’m just interested!” Glynfir tried to defend his position while maintaining a grin. “A white dragon. That means that somehow…at some point…a human male mated with a female ice dragon…” He let the implication hang silently in the air momentarily. “I would love to buy that man a drink. Talk about dedication!”

“That’s why is so rare” Lunish chuckled “I’d be surprised if he survived the coupling… I’m sorry Grym!” She apologized for egging the wizard on.

The dwarf shook his head “You two are terrible!”

“Okay, I’m done.” the wizard snorted “I won’t mention any of it when we meet him, I promise!”

The conversational conclusion coincided with the surrounding forest abruptly serving up a dirt trail perpendicular to their current path. Though barely wide enough for a wagon, Lunish was confident this was the “road” they sought, and the group turned north towards their destination in high spirits.