Dragon Hero II: Bounty of the Blood Witch

by C Woodward

  I said, “Hey, at least I am married.”

  Jerak shrugged, “Point taken.” I chuckled a little, “Then again, Talestria is a bit different from other girls. Maybe when we get back to the mainland, you can ask Kalus to give you some pointers.”

  Jerak raised a brow, “Is he good with women?” I laughed. I slept late and woke up hearing Jerak slam the door by mistake or maybe he just didn’t think about how loud he was. I went back to sleep and must have slept till noon when Jerak came back with a few pieces of fruit. “How are you feeling today?” he asked while chewing on some crunchy fruit that looked like a purple apple. It’s hard to describe the taste. It had a mellow sweet taste, sort of like a grape, a crunchy dry grape as big as an apple. He handed me two of them while grabbing the rest. I looked at it and thanked Jerak. He laughed, “Oops! Here is a knife to cut it.” He handed over a small knife. As I held it and the fruit, I realized I wasn’t feeling too much pain. There was still pain, but it was actually bearable, though I’m sure if someone bumped that section of my face, I’d feel it big time. I also noticed I was moving a bit better today.

  “Wow, I wonder if I’ll be able to walk on my own today” I said out loud. Jerak laughed, “Good! Maybe you can work while I relax!” I knew he was trying to be funny but even so, I was happy just being somewhat normal again.

  I was able to walk around a bit and ended up putting on my armored boots since my socks were dirty. I walked while touching the walls a few times, and made it out of the inn on my own. I got a few stares, mostly because I looked like a mummy. I felt a good breeze which stung a bit. The sun was bright and it took me a moment to adjust to the light.

  Most of the people I saw were dock workers, moving right and left with boxes and sacks either to dump in a warehouse or onto a ship. Jerak came out of the inn, “How does it feel being outside?” I laughed but didn’t answer. He walked around me and looked me up and down, “Want me try to find a ship to lead back to Torclyn?”

  I shook my head, “Naw, we should check out the dragon-folk.”

  Jerak grinned, “Yeah! I almost forgot about that!”

  I sighed, “Really?”

  He shrugged, “Are you up to it, though?”

  I took a few more slow steps, “Maybe by tomorrow I will be able to walk a little better. Maybe we should get some provisions today.” Jerak cheered, “Right! I will get a few provisions for tomorrow!” His head sank, “I guess I should go find work somewhere,” he let out a sigh and walked off. I stood out there for a while then went back to the inn.

  The inn was empty except for the innkeeper. He was busy cleaning the front window on the inside. “Oh, you are up!” he said.

  I smiled a little, “Yup, I am getting a little better.” I sat down at a table and took a deep breath.

  “You need anything?” he asked as he kept his attention to some gunk at a corner of the window.

  I leaned back, “No, thanks, just taking it easy.” He spit on his rag and really rubbed hard on the gunk.

  “So, how did you get that nasty wound?”

  I had zoned out for a moment but came back and then answered, “I had a near death experienced with someone nasty.”

  He turned and looked at me, “Sheesh! I am afraid to ask what you did to tick that person off.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, but now I am here, recovering before I venture out. Say, what do you know about the mountain?”

  He dropped his rag and looked at me with a little fear in his eyes, “Don’t go there!”

  I raised a brow, “Why? What is so bad about that place?”

  He stared at me, “Dragon-people dwell there and they are not the friendliest of creatures.” I sighed. Going there might be a bad idea after all, but I like to think I am an exception. It might not be good to tell my life story to this guy, partly because I was tired of explaining it and partly because I had a big headache.

  I went back to the room without any more talking. The innkeeper was fearful of the mountain, but Jerak and I were looking forward going there. Well, I was not crazy, but I was using the things I got from the Dragon Spirit. There was a heavy cloth under the curtain to block some of the sunlight. I slowly laid down, took a few deep breaths and took a nap. I woke up a few times, but quickly went back to sleep. I forced myself to sleep as much as possible so I could be in better shape for tomorrow.

  I wondered how well I would do on a hike up a mountain when I could barely walk, but I was anxious to see what I could do. The mountain didn’t seem like an epic journey anyway. Jerak came in that night with another loaf of bread and a cheap, cloth sack filled with other things. “Are you awake? Well, I got a wineskin and some more fruit, because that’s all I can afford right now. But, it should be enough for tomorrow’s adventure!” he said cheerfully. I laughed and grabbed half the loaf.

  I woke up the next day feeling even better. My wound still hurt, but I was able to stand up without a problem. I got a little head rush but after a second or two, I was fine.

  Jerak let out a big yawn and looked at me with dead eyes. It took his brain a minute to remember today’s plans. He quickly jumped out of bed and reached for his boots. “So, feeling better today?” he said while getting ready.

  I put my boots on and thought I might travel better without the rest of the armor. Jerak bundled the armor put it on like a backpack. I grabbed the sack of food; figured it was light enough for me to carry. I felt excited as we made it out the door. I was able to walk normally, although, I didn’t want to push it and get hurt. I wondered if hiking was going to be a bad idea.

  We left the town and headed toward the mountain. We passed an orchard of fruit trees which was where our fruit came from. There wasn’t much else on the farms, since there was limited acreage. They appeared to have a constant source of food from the mainland. We found a simple dirt road and met an old man sitting on the outskirts of the last bit of farmland. He stared at us as we approached, “You boys are not going to the mountain, right?”

  Jerak smiled, “Of course we are going!”

  The old man stared at him like he was an utter fool, “There might not be any choguls or bandits but those dragon-people…” I interrupted and sighed, “Yes, we’ve heard. But, I have some connections with them.” I really didn’t know what else to say while the old man stared at me like I was some sort of freak, and in a way I was.

  “Connections? Are you mental?” he shouted.

  I laughed, “Oh, I freed their deity a while back, so they might accept my company.” I said it so casually that the old man scratched his head like I was either telling the truth or simply insane. Jerak and I kept walking.

  A little further along the dirt road was blocked with a log and a crude sign that warned, “Danger!” Jerak climbed over and helped me over. “Danger just makes me want to check this place out even more!” he said with confidence. I laughed but the sign reminded me of reality. What if the dragon-folk attack us before even finding out who we were? I was in no condition to fight, and even when I was healthy, I wasn’t sure some kind of dragon-being might beat the living crap out of me. I needed to sit down for a moment.

  We reached the base of the mountain. There was an old dirt road with a bit of overgrowth. Our trek didn’t seem that bad so far. Occasionally, I had to sit down for a minute before moving on. I found a large branch that made a reliable hiking stick, after pulling away a few tiny twigs. We had to make some switchbacks. They had eroded a little over the years, but were still useable. After a few more rest stops, we decide to lighten our load and ate some fruit.

  “This isn’t bad, eh?” Jerak said cheerfully. I smiled as I cut up small pieces of my meal, “I am surprised I’m doing this well.” Jerak laughed and tossed the pit from his fruit, far down below. I looked up and saw we were already more than halfway up the mountain. I hoped the last bit would as easy.

  We started to hike once again. The path became a bit repetitive, however, the more we hiked, our view of the island got better. I could see the town and the s
hips docked nearby. The water looked so fresh and clean. I really wanted to come back here with Talestria, if things go well.

  I nearly walked into Jerak’s back when he stopped suddenly. I looked ahead and saw our path now blocked by a large stone. We couldn’t just walk around it because on one side was a big drop off and the other was a wall of earth. “This might be a problem, hm.” Jerak muttered. He tried to push the rock, but it wouldn’t budge. It seemed like we were blocked off.

  Above the large stone, we saw a few bones dangling from a crude rope. “I wonder if those are human bones.” Jerak pondered aloud. I looked down and saw a human skull. I sighed, nudged Jerak and pointed to it. Jerak stared and stated, “I guess the town-folk were right about it being dangerous.”

  “Got to do something.” He said as he gripped the stone. He looked around and took a few steps back. I moved out of his way. To my surprise, he did a running jump. He put his hands on the top of the rock while stepping onto the side of the mountain and pushed the rest of his body over. He stood up, put his hands at his waist and grinned proudly. He climbed back onto his side of the rock and extended his hand down to me. I took a deep breath and handed him the sack of supplies. He again extended his hand to me. This might be tricky. I reached up and he started to pull. I shoved my hiking stick into the ground and used it to push while wildly using my legs against the side of the mountain. Jerak leaned back and managed to get me over, as well. The whole movement caused us both to fall and hit the ground. When we stopped moving, my legs were dangling over the cliff.

  After our slight victory over the stone barrier, I was in a good deal of pain and the impact caused my wound to bleed a bit. My head was swimming and I got a healthy reminder of my injuries. My desire to keep going sort of died. As I sat there trying to let the pain die down and catch my breath, Jerak started kicking at the large rock. I was too worn out to care why he was doing it but was surprised when I heard the large rock tumble down the mountain side. “Ha! It was easy to knock it over from this angle!” Jerak yelled with a boost of pride. I groaned, feeling relieved that we wouldn’t have to climb over that thing on the trip back.

  Jerak looked at me, “Uh, oh, you’re bleeding again.” For some reason, I laughed. Thankfully, I only bled a little and after a few minutes I was ready to continue walking. I didn’t have my hiking stick. After our stunt, it went down the mountain side with the large rock. I leaned against the side of the mountain until the dizziness stopped. The trail grew safer after a short while. No longer did I fear taking a wrong step and falling to my doom over the side. We came to a wide path with a few trees interspersed.

  Jerak dropped the bundle of armor and glanced around. I slowly sat down under a tree. The shade of the tree felt refreshing as I felt the sweat trickling down my face. Some sweat hit my wound and stung but I was too tired to care. Jerak took a few steps around, “I am going to look around a bit. Wait right there.” I nodded and watch him go. I saw a lot of large rocks and trees. Looking upward, I saw we were really close to the top of the mountain. “Oh, man!” Jerak yelled. A moment later, there was silence.

  I got up and walked over in the direction he took. I would have called his name, but common sense told me to be quiet, although common sense might also be telling me to leave. I walked, quietly hoping I wouldn’t encounter anything awful. My heart was beating so fast that I felt a little light-headed.

  Speaking to myself, “Please be okay, Jerak. I hope I don’t find your corpse or dismembered limbs anywhere.” I came around a bend in the path, fully expecting to see a pool of blood and a severed arm lying on the ground. I sighed in relief when I didn’t but I saw something else that gave me chills.

  There were footprints, and they were not human. It appeared to be something big with three talons or claws. I saw Jerak’s boot prints and the mysterious ones coming together in a scuffle. But, behind those prints, I saw nothing. The sound of a loud swoop filled the air and I heard and felt a loud thud onto the earth. I slowly turned around and saw a green blur before I lost consciousness.

  My head hurt so badly, I couldn’t move. It took me a moment to realize that I was bound on the floor of what looked like a cave, judging from the darkness and the cool air. Through my eye, I saw the green blur again, but in a few moments my sight cleared. The figure stood at least nine feet tall with large scaly wings. It had two long horns sticking out from the top of its head, and a series of blunt spikes along its spine to a thick tail. The figure turned my direction. The face was obviously reptilian with strange ears that appearing like a webbed, three way prong. I saw fangs sticking out from its broad snout. I didn’t see a nose, and could just make out two tiny nostrils. It glared at me. Surprise filled the air as it spoke in a deep voice, “Didn’t expect you to be awake.” I sat there in total shock.

  As it stared at me, its knees were bent but the legs appeared to have a posture like the hind-legs of an animal walking on talons. The creature’s arms looked about as wide as my shoulders. There was no question that it could break me with one swipe. I saw four fingers with no nails, just a thick boney claw sticking out the ends of the fingers and toes. It something that looked like a leather loincloth. “Who are you?” the creature asked in a stern tone.

  I mustered up my courage and answered, “I, I am Blake.”

  It stared at me strangely, “Why did you come here?” I could feel my heart beating faster, “My friend and I wanted to meet you” The creature snorted and looked next to me. I turned my head and saw Jerak, bound and out cold.

  Another smaller creature, looked similar to the first, but with slightly different horns looked at me and then back to the first one, “I thought you knocked them out.”

  The first one pointed at me, “I did, but this one has somehow recovered already.”

  The second stared at me, “I don’t think they are hunters. That one looked too wounded for battle.”

  The larger one nodded, “Plus, he had no weapons on him and the other had only a mace.”

  The second stared at Jerak and then at me, “Why did you come here?”

  I sighed, “I, uh, we came here to meet the dragon-folk.” The first dragon laughed, “You seem to have accomplished that.” They didn’t seem very hostile, mostly cautious of us. I guessed they didn’t see us as a threat but weren’t too happy that we had come.

  “It was foolish to come here!” The second one shouted.

  Number one asked me in a more calm tone, “So, why did you want to meet our kind?”

  I took a deep breath, “I thought you might be able to help me.” I wasn’t sure if I should say that, but it sort of came out.

  Number two shouted, “Why should we help a human? Your kind haven’t been kind to us!”

  I took a moment to carefully think of my words, but my mind was cloudy with the pain in my head, “Um, how is the Dragon Spirit doing?”

  They glared at me with anger in their eyes. I thought, “Oh, crap.” The first dragon-being came right at me and put its massive hand to my throat. He lifted me by the neck, cutting off most of my air flow. My head was getting light and I almost fainted. “No, human! No! No mortal should utter my master’s name!” he said in an angry tone. I could feel the boom of his voice.

  I struggled to breathe and uttered, “I, I, am not mortal” The dragon looked at me strangely but held his grip. He stared right into my eyes. To my surprise his strange eyes widened. Before I knew it, he put me down on my feet. I coughed and try to breathe in as much air as possible. He stared down at me, “Who are you?”

  The other being walked up behind him, still looking angry but confused at the change of events. Breathing heavily I spoke, “I am the one who freed him.”

  They looked at each other, then back at me. The second one lifted me up and stared in my eyes, “Say that again.”

  I directly right back at him, “I am the one who freed him.”

  Their eyes were a gold color with pupils that weren’t a circle but a narrow oval. “You speak the truth, but.” one of
them uttered.

  One said to the other, “He could be insane.”

  The other muttered, “He seems to be of solid mind.”

  One of them sniffed at me, “He smells different too.” The first put a claw on my bandaged wound. I felt a sharp sting in that tender area. He stared at the blood on his finger. He smelled it and immediately seemed to be amazed. He extended it to the second dragon folk, “Smell this.” The second one sniffed and showed the same look of surprise, “It can’t be.”

  The first one, still looking at me, said, “Your blood smells like ours!” My jaw dropped. I didn’t expect that at all! I nearly passed out so I leaned against the wall of the cave. A long moment of awkward silence passed between them. They looked at each other and bowed their heads my way. The first one spoke, “Forgive us for being harsh with you.”

  The second continued, “We didn’t know it was you.” I took a deep breath but was just too puzzled to utter a word. I laughed nervously, “Um, no problem,” They looked at me. The second one ripped apart my bindings at my wrists. I rubbed them, “Thank you.”

  They both did the same for Jerak but he was still out. “Your friend should be fine when he wakes up. I followed them to another chamber of the cave. It was poorly lit but was much bigger and more comfortable than the last room. I sat in a simple chair made from the sliced trunk of a tree. It was made for their size, so it was wide and a bit too tall for me. I was sitting by a table that was just as simple and stout. They both sat and offered me a mug of water. I noticed a bunch of dried meat, hanging along the wall; I hoped none of it was human. I smiled and gave them a polite nod as I drank from the wooden mug full of water. After finishing my water, one of them requested, “Please tell us your tale.” I smiled. I guess I might as well tell them everything I can.

  I spent, I don’t know how long, telling them my stories. I figured they would be mostly interested in my encounters with the Dragon Spirit. I had almost gotten to current events, when I heard Jerak in the other chamber. He sounded like he tripped over something and hurt himself. The two dragon folk looked over at me. Jerak came in, “Oh, there you are, Blake, I was wondering what hap…,” He looked at the two dragon-folk. His face turned white and he quietly went back to the other room. The two just laughed. I laughed a little and started to tell about our current situation.