Even from across the room, Actuan could tell the old man was in bad shape. He had staggered through the door of the tavern grasping and swaying at the bar room furniture with his emaciated, claw like hands in an effort to keep from falling to the straw covered floor. Even from here the big warrior could smell his foul reek. A stench such as that would take some time to acquire. Body odor, the reek of cheap wine and the excrement of the horses tied outside told him that he had not always had a bar stool to keep his chin out of the muck.
“Get outta my bar you filthy drunk!” thundered Olaf, owner of The Dragon’s Flagon, at the top of his already anything but timid voice.
Snickers and guffaws followed as Olaf grabbed the old man like a twig, with one hand at his belt and the other grasping the back of his filthy shirt at the collar and marched him stiff legged toward the door.
Not fully realizing what possessed him to interfere in the affairs of a total stranger, and one that obviously had so little to interest him, Actuan was almost as surprised as the rest of the bar patrons when he found himself rising to his feet and heard his own voice saying quite clearly,
“I’d take your hands off my friend there, if you know what’s good for you.”
Olaf whirled angrily looking around the dimly lit bar. His eyes finally came to rest on Actuan and grew quite wide with surprise. Actuan had work hard to suppress a chuckle. He usually tried very hard to avoid unnecessary attention and had come into the bar earlier in the evening using a small but powerful charm of enchantment. The charm concealed his true size and stature from all but those that really took the trouble to look carefully. Such was the charms effect that it disoriented and blurred the vision, so that most people gave up quickly, not willing to make the mental effort to grasp the true nature of the wearer. Now that he had stood and spoken aloud, the spell was broken, and all of the Redguard’s seven foot, three hundred pound, heavily-muscled and well-armored frame could be clearly seen.
Olaf dropped the old man like a bundle of straw and impressed Actuan by actually wheeling and stepping right up to him, meeting his eye, though the large Nord had to look upward a good six or seven inches. In spite of his normal self confidence, Actuan felt his hand drifting toward his huge two handed broadsword.
“You know this sewer rat?” Olaf inquired, but not too gruffly.
“Sure do,” smiled Actuan, lying, “Came all the way from Anvil to meet him here tonight, in fact.”
“Look,” Olaf said lowering his voice, so just the two of them could hear. “I don’t generally mind out of town guests, or judge people by the company they keep, but would you two mind taking a booth in the back? Your friend’s odor is ruining business.”
“I think we can accommodate” Actuan replied, still grinning maliciously. He wasn’t sure that he could stand the old man’s foul stench himself, but decided that he had better see through this strange hunch that had made him break his own rule of anonymity. It wouldn’t do for the King’s own personal bounty hunter to get well known enough to allow certain elements of society an opportunity to give out a good description. That’s how the last guy to hold the job ended up with a crossbow bolt through the back.
Seeming to finally focus his bleary eyes on his benefactor, the old man got up from the floor and wobbled to his unsteady feet. A strange grin spread across his wrinkled and line furrowed face as he took in Actuan’s size before he was hastily grabbed by Olaf and shoved unceremoniously toward his darkest booth in the least inhabited corner of the bar. The bounty hunter followed and squeezed his bulky frame onto the bench across the scratched and slightly sticky oaken table and looked intently at the place Olaf deposited the wheezing old man in a smelly heap. The stench was even worse up close. It made his eyes water. A mixture of excrement, rotten booze and a tinge of sulfur that Actuan could only surmise was the smell of the old man’s liver rotting. He looked into Actuan’s face with wild but curious eyes. Eyes that, strangely, Actuan found very hard to meet.
“Hee hee” the old man cackled, slapping his knee. “I aint’ seen Olaf stared down to in a while! Yer a big feller isn’t ye.” he grinned again.
Trying hard to keep his voice low, Actuan replied
“Listen old timer, I’ve barely got the stomach for your smell myself, It just irritates me when I see people disrespecting the elderly” he managed to get out without taking a breath. Turning his head to the side he reloaded his lungs full of air enough to speak. We can sit here until things quiet down and people stop staring at us, or as long as I can stand the smell, then I’m leaving.
“Ain’t ye even goin’ to ‘let me buy you a drink?” the old man asked with a mischievous wink.
The big bounty hunter was surprised at the question and thought it had come out backwards.
“Sorry, I don’t think you need another one and I’m not planning on sitting here long enough to buy you a drink old man.” he said as kindly as he could, but it still came out gruffly.
“You misunderstood me” the old man said with a strange look. “I’m buying.” With that he reached under his foul smelling cloak and pulled out a large heavy coin. It hit the table with an impressive thud. Actuan knew what it was immediately, although the old man quickly covered it. His veiny hand barely large enough to hide the large golden disc. It was an Old Imperial Sovereign. Actuan looked quickly toward the bar. Although the clunk of metal on wood had turned some heads their direction, the bar’s usual patrons had quickly looked away, shaking their heads and laughing quietly between themselves. The sound of normal bar room talk resumed.
Imperial Sovereigns were things of legend. It was every treasure hunters dream to find one. Left over coinage from an Empire long extinct and once powerful, they were pure gold. The “gold” coins now minted and used by the king that he served were an alloy of gold and other far less precious metals, the largest denomination of which would take over a hundred to equal the value of one Sovereign.
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“Where in Hells Gates did you find that?” Actuan hissed, looking at the place occupied by the old man’s face again, with great effort. “You know you can’t spend that here, unless you want to buy the whole bar, and maybe most of the town” he said in a hushed whisper.
“Found it in the cave of a dragon” the old man said mater of factually. “Don’t worry, it’s dead,. I crawled up to it and poked it with a stick and here I am still a kick’in.” he giggled strangely. “”I was real drunk a couple of nights ago and fell down a hole outside of town. When I woke up I was laying right near him. His carcass is laying on a couple a hundred of these and a bunch of other fancy lookin stuff too big and heavy for me to carry out by myself. “Been lookin’ fer a feller like you, all big and strong.” the old man wheezed. “Thought I might try to get Olaf ta help me but yer better!
“Old man, I think I am going to let you buy me that drink” Actuan said through clenched teeth. “Ya got anything smaller. The old man actually did.
Although he was reluctant to let the old man out of his sight when he left the bar a few hours later, Actuan felt fairly certain the old man would meet him the next morning at first light, down by the stables. Saying only that he had a good place to sleep, Actuan watched the old man’s back as he staggered and swayed from side to side while making his way down the street. Actuan turned and re-entered the tavern asking Olaf if he had a room upstairs.
“Not staying with your friend?” Olaf smirked, but seemed willing to let it go when the ridiculous asking price in gold for the room was forthcoming.
Actuan spent an uneasy night only dozing lightly. The large metal golden disc under his thin pillow was keeping him awake for multiple reasons. Not only was it hard, but its bright surface seemed impervious to the warmth of his body, remaining unnaturally cold. His one fitful dream was filled with frozen dragon’s gold.
When the furniture in the room went from pitch black to only slightly more visible, he was up. He removed the Sovereign from under his pillow and held it up in the dim light. This coin had not been a dream. Dressing quietly, he made his way downstairs, through the empty bar and then quickly through the deserted streets to the stable. There he entered the stall of his horse Starfire. The black gelding nickered softly at his touch. Checking his gear, but gathering only some rope, and his two leather bags. He left on the horse blanket, and led him quietly out of the barn and into the street. There he looked up and down for the old man. He was no where in sight. Actuan hoped that he hadn’t fallen down another hole. Silently he cursed himself for letting the treasure of a lifetime walk away in a drunken stupor.
It wasn’t long, however before he saw the old man coming up the street. The stark early morning light causing him to cast a large elongated shadow as dawn began to rise over the town. As he grew closer, Actuan could tell that he smelled no better than the night before, but he seemed to stagger less. The old man merely nodded as he walked away, not even looking back to see when Actuan fell in behind him, leading the horse. Suddenly Starfire reared, violently, lunging backward, the big horse jerking savagely at his arm. The rope burned his hand as he let the horse take some of it before pulling him in. Talking soothingly to the animal, Actuan was finally able to lead him up the street after leaving additional distance from the old man, who had not looked back. It was a good thing that, as the old man had promised, it was not far.
They entered the ruins of an old castle. It’s battlements covered in weeds and tall grasses. Tree limbs grew through archers turrets and all about was the smell of mildew and the sound of dripping water on the flagstones. Actuan could see the old man crouching down between two large blocks of hewn granite. The black soot of someone’s campfire marking the side of one of them. Pulling away some dried branches and a tumbleweed, the old man straightened.
“Tie your horse, we are here” he said.
“Won’t we need a torch?” Actuan asked, irritated at himself for not thinking of it sooner. He walked over to a nearby tree looking for a dried branch to snap off.
“You will not need one,” the old man replied. “The rising sun will shine down the tunnel, it is not long” Then he disappeared from sight as he crawled downward into the darkness.
Deciding to snap off a tree limb anyway, Actuan tied Starfire to the tree and followed after him. It was a tight fit, but as the old man had said, it was not far. The tunnel was steep but soon opened up into a large dimly lit cave. There, by the dim light of the tunnel exactly as the old man had described, lay the dead dragon.
It wasn’t as big as he expected, but it was big enough. Roughly four times the size of Starfire, not the giant dragons of legend, but a formidable beast none the less. Its six inch claws looked razor sharp. Approaching the body, he reached out to touch the hard dry scales. Ebony in color, but seemingly translucent. He gave it a shove. It rolled off the mound surprisingly easily, sliding oddly down the surface of the large pile and bouncing to a stop a few feet away. Beneath where it had laid the large golden sovereigns glowed in the diffused early morning light. He stared at them in wonder.
“Beautiful aren’t they!” commented the old man crouching down to touch them.
“Yes they are!” agreed Actuan, “And worth more than either of us could spend in a lifetime”
“I suppose it depends on how long one might live” the old man replied softly. “I’ve seen many more years, already, than you”
“Then my share should be greater” Actuan burst out giddily. “With the time you have left, you will need far less!” he said as he began sliding the golden saucer sized coins into his saddle bags.
The old man smiled strangely at him but did not argue.
“Don’t you wonder what happened to the dragon? He asked quietly.
“Who cares?!” his dried body is there and the treasure is mine! Actuan bellowed. The plans he was making for spending the first part of the treasure swallowing all but the last of his reason.
“Have you, I wonder” continued the old man, “ever seen a lizard shed its skin?”
Actuan thought of a snake he had once thought he had seen while gathering firewood as a boy. It had laid quietly even after he moved the log. When he pulled out his knife to kill it, he had found it to be a thin shell of scales and skin that looked almost exactly like a real snake. His father had explained that snakes and lizards skin did not grow but every once in a while they had to crawl out of it and leave it behind. Actuan looked again at the surprisingly light body of the dragon that he had shoved off the pile of gold. Then he looked up at the old man, who had subtly moved to block the tunnel.
“You may also be interested,” the old man said, holding up a small amulet “In this little trinket that was in the dragon’s horde. “I think you may have seen something like it before”
Actuan looked down at amulet hanging from the chain around his neck and saw its twin in the hand of the old man. Silently, the old man let it fall. In the stillness of the cave, the sound of the amulet hitting the pile of gold coins created a klaxon of noise exploding in the bounty hunter’s brain. His eyes swam and vision blurred. When it at last cleared, standing before him was something terrible and black. The reek of sulfer, flowed freely from it’s warm breath. The voice was deep and terrifying.
We dragons are the most vulnerable just after we have shed. Our scales are soft. We are weak and must feed for them to harden. I am, unfortunately now the size where most humans don’t make much of a meal, but you will do nicely. After I’ve finished you off, and my skin hardens, I will then, naturally, eat your horse. Thanks for bringing him and tying him so securely.
The tree branch in his hand eventually proved useless.