by Logan Jacobs
I took a deep breath, and I formulated my plan inside my head. If the dragon could be distracted with the cow, we could surround it.
“Alright, girls, here’s what we’re going to do,” I announced in a low voice so as not to disturb the slumbering dragon. “We use the cow as the bait to keep the dragon on the ground. Then we surround it and attack from multiple sides. Sarosh, you should stay back here, you’ll have a good view of the hollow.”
“Thank you, Sir Sebastian,” the elven-like priestess said. “I do not wish to die today.”
“Glad you’ve changed your mind.” I grinned.
Sarosh huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, but the corners of her lips twitched upwards ever so slightly.
“Elissa, you attack from behind it,” I instructed. “Stay as far away from its mouth as you can.”
“Yes, Bash,” my wife said with a rare solemn nod.
“Mahini and Eva,” I said as I took the other two women into my gaze. “Range attack with arrows and throwing stars from each flank. I know the dragon’s hide is tough to pierce, so your throwing stars might not hurt the beast, Eva, but they might provide enough of a distraction for me to execute a killing blow.”
“Good idea, Great One,” Eva murmured.
“I agree.” Mahini nodded curtly.
“On my signal, get into position,” I commanded as I patted my obsidian bow in its holster on Goliath’s saddle to make sure it was there. Then I took the cow’s rope, and I crept forward over the crest of the hollowed-out mountain.
I walked in a half squat as I zig-zagged slowly down the steep side of the gravel embankment that ringed the crest, and a few rocks tumbled down the slope and into the dragon’s nest.
It was a huge area once I got down inside it, like the Colosseum in Rome. The slopes of the mountain walls circled a large flat surface, and situated on the far side of it was a giant pile of rocks, debris, and some scattered cow bones. I could barely see the tip of the dragon’s wings as they peeked over the rim of the nest, and they bobbed slowly in time to its sleeping breaths.
Now, I needed to wake it up.
I swallowed down the sudden lump inside my throat, gathered all of my courage, and pulled on the cow’s rope to lead it closer to the nest. I noticed the girls had moved around the rim and were in the correct positions at the top of the slope, so all they had to do was slide down to the bottom.
Things were coming along perfectly.
I had Goliath with me as well since I wanted to be able to get away once the cow was in position, and I mounted my steed as quietly as I could before I got any closer to the nest.
When I was ready, I thought about making a save point, but then I realized that I might not be able to kill the dragon with the current strategy I gave my women, so I figured it would be okay to go back a few minutes in case I needed to dramatically alter the plan.
“Try number one. Here we go!” I leaned over the pommel of my saddle and slapped the cow on the ass. The herbivore mooed loudly, and I spotted movement in the nest. The dragon’s wings twitched, and then suddenly two huge reptilian nostrils peeked over the edge and inhaled.
I pulled Goliath around and kicked him in the flank to urge him forward at a gallop, since I didn’t want the dragon to smell me and my horse in addition to the tasty snack I’d just dropped on his doorstep.
When I was on the far side of the arena-sized hollow, I pivoted my horse and came to a halt. Then I patted Goliath’s neck affectionately as I peered toward the nest.
“Good boy,” I murmured softly, but my gaze was on Smiguel.
The dragon was crawling out of the nest, but it moved slowly and sleepily as it crept toward its breakfast. One amber eye was squeezed tightly shut, and the other blinked lazily around in search of the cow. The beast’s crimson body glimmered in the fading sunlight, and reflections of red glittered across the slopes of the hollow.
I grabbed my obsidian bow from its holster, and then I carefully waved my hand over my head to the women above the dragon on the slope.
It was go time.
I was counting on the dragon’s poor vision to gain the advantage, but that hadn’t worked out so well for me in Vallenwood. This time, though, I was meeting the beast on its home turf, and it wasn’t likely to run away while people were so close to its nest. All I had to do was not get burnt to a crisp, and this would be over.
Easy enough for a god.
Finally, Smiguel spotted the cow, and the dragon let out a low, hungry growl as it inched toward the helpless herbivore. Once the winged-beast was close enough to chomp its massive jaws around the snack, I nocked an arrow to my bow and took aim.
When all the women were halfway down the slope, I clicked my tongue to my warhorse, and the experienced combat steed seemed to read my mind as he moved steadily toward the dragon.
Each moment felt like a lifetime as I waited for the dragon to begin its feast, but then the beast snarled, and it lunged toward the cow with a wide snap of its jaws. The herbivore mooed in terror, but the sound was quickly cut off by the teeth that severed through its neck in a single bite.
I released my breath and my arrow at the same time, and the projectile zoomed toward my target and buried itself deep inside the dragon’s remaining good eye.
Smiguel roared in pain and confusion, and he clawed at his face with a giant talon, but that only pushed the arrow further into his optic nerve.
Suddenly, a fierce war cry echoed through the hollow and bounced off the walls of the small canyon. Then Elissa rushed forward and smashed her mace down into Smiguel’s tail, and the giant, lizard-like appendage twisted beneath her weapon.
Next, Mahini and Eva attacked from the sides simultaneously, and the dragon roared again as it writhed beneath our multiple attacks. I nocked another arrow to my bow and pulled the string taut, but before I could get another shot out, Smiguel released his fire breath, and the heat radiating across the space between us almost knocked me off from Goliath’s back. The girls all scrambled backward to get away from the blaze, but the dragon swung his neck as he poured the lava-like flames across the ground.
I scanned the slopes as I counted heads, and I saw Mahini, Eva, and Elissa all climbing the sides of the hill to get away from fire below. It was like the children’s game ‘the floor is lava’ on steroids, and so far we were still winning.
I let out a sigh of relief, and then I refocused on taking out the dragon. It was completely blind now, and it had ceased its fire breath for the moment, but my heart pounded inside my chest as the beast lifted his snout and inhaled.
Shit. He was trying to find us by smell.
All of the sudden, Smiguel whipped his head around and charged to his left side where Mahini was still scrambling up the side of the slope.
“Mahini!” I yelled. “Look out!”
Time froze as my body automatically responded to the sight of my loved one in danger, and I shoved my bow back into its holster on my saddle. Then I grabbed the king’s lance from where it was strapped to the other side of Goliath, and finally I summoned an ice shield.
The instant the shield was big enough to cover me and my horse, I charged forward into the fiery inferno surrounding the dragon.
My yell had gotten Smiguel’s attention as well as Mahini’s, and they’d both paused in their ascent up the slope. The dragon didn’t stay distracted for long, though, and he sniffed the air in search of the closest target.
Is that you? The dragon’s rich baritone echoed through my mind. The thorn in my side?
“I’m over here!” I shouted across the arena-like canyon. “Come get me, you giant sack of shit!”
You smell different this time. Smiguel’s head twisted from side to side as his ears conflicted with his nose. He could smell Mahini, but hear me.
Mahini remained silent, and I was grateful for that. The desert goddess was only a few hundred feet away from the beast, and I was twice that distance, but it could move fast in either direction at a moment’s notice.
Then my gaze leapt up to the dragon and my beautiful warrior woman, but I was too late.
Smiguel had scurried the rest of the way to Mahini, and he opened his jaws wide before he chomped down around her torso.
“Noo!” I yelled, and rage filled me. Then I clamped my eyes shut to banish the image of her body in the dragon’s mouth as I reset back to my save point.
Chime.
I blinked, and I was standing at the crest of the hollow once more. The girls surrounded me, and all was right in the world. I stared gratefully at the safe and alive warrior woman for a long time as Mahini blushed self-consciously beneath my gaze, so I pulled her close to me and held her for a while.
“Is everything okay, Great One?” the desert goddess asked with a worried frown.
“Everything is fine,” I breathed, and I let it fully sink in that she was okay. “Everyone is okay.”
“Good.” Her frown deepened for a moment, but then she shrugged it off. “What is the plan?”
“You guys all need to stay here and watch from the sidelines,” I informed them in an apologetic tone. “I can’t stand the idea of anything happening to you.”
“We came into this quest knowing the danger,” Eva pointed out with a stubborn lift of her chin. “I came to help, not to watch.”
“I am still a little scared,” Elissa admitted, and she bit her bottom lip. “But I want to help, too. I don’t want to just stand around.”
“I need you all to stay safe,” I insisted, and I swallowed down the emotion that rose inside my chest. “That is the most helpful thing you can do.”
“Sir Sebastian speaks wisely,” Sarosh interjected. “You are all mad to think you stand a chance against such a beast.”
“Bash can do it,” Elissa argued with fire in her emerald eyes. “If anyone can, it’s my husband.”
“I admire your faith in him,” the priestess said. “We shall see if he performs to expectations.”
“I’m the one who volunteered to kill the dragon,” I reminded the stubborn women I loved more than anything. “I didn’t sign up for any of you dying, though.”
“We won’t interfere,” Mahini sighed, and she tucked her obsidian hair behind her ears. “I understand your wishes.”
“Good.” I nodded. “Now, I’m going down there with the cow, and I’m going to try to sneak up on the dragon while it’s eating.”
“Good luck, my love,” Elissa said in a solemn tone, and her emerald eyes filled with tears.
“Gods don’t need luck.” I grinned. “But thank you.”
I kissed Elissa, Mahini, and Eva on the foreheads, and then I nodded to Sarosh before I grabbed the cow’s rope and Goliath’s reins.
I considered what I had available in my arsenal and contemplated how to proceed as I made my way down the gravelly slope. Smiguel was already half-blind, and I’d succeeded once in completely blinding him, but his sense of smell was also superb. It would be hard to sneak up on him, but I wanted to try. If I could get up close, I could drive Lucian’s sword through his neck and end this.
Besides, if it didn’t work, I could always try again and again until I got it right. Such was the awesome power of the God of Time.
I was determined as I put the cow into position, and I slapped its ass to make it moo. Then I galloped away to the far-right side, and as Smiguel began to peek his nose over the rim of his nest, I eased Goliath along the edge of the canyon.
The dragon inched sleepily out of his nest and crept toward the snack placed temptingly in front of it, and I moved around behind the lumbering beast toward its tail.
Fortunately, the wind was on my side, and it blew into my face like a sigh of relief. It swept my scent away from the dragon’s nostrils and allowed me to remain undetected as I approached the beast’s tail.
Smiguel growled with hunger as he lunged toward the cow, and he snapped his jaws shut around the herbivore’s skull.
I dismounted Goliath as quietly as I could, and I pulled Lucian’s sword out from its sheath on my hip. Then I crept the rest of the way to the back of the dragon who was distracted by his surprise treat.
Smiguel might be a mythical creature, but he was obviously too dumb or sleepy to question the sudden appearance of a cow next to his nest, which was fortunate for me.
I was a few paces away from the dragon’s body at this point, and I considered how I was going to approach things. I wanted to get close to Smiguel’s neck before I struck him, so I squatted down to creep beneath his legs.
The dragon’s thick lizard-like tail flicked happily as it munched away on the cow, and he didn’t notice me moving stealthily beneath his body, so when I was close to the swinging jaw of the giant beast, I took a deep breath and gripped the hilt of my sword tightly.
Then I lunged upward and sliced into the underside of Smiguel’s neck, and black blood spilled out from beneath his massive jaw.
Smiguel roared in pain, and he twisted to find the source of the attack. His giant dragon talons grabbed me, and the sharp edges of his claws tore into my armor with a sickening crunch.
He was massive and powerful, and even when half-blind and wounded, he could still put up a fight.
“Fuuck,” I groaned as the weight of Smiguel’s talons crushed into my lungs.
“For Bash!” A trio of voices yelled out a collective battle cry, and I managed to glance through Smiguel’s legs to see the three warrior women running down the slope.
“No!” I yelled out in warning, but it was too late.
Smiguel growled, and he dropped me like forgotten trash before he lunged toward the women charging down the slope.
I could feel the rumble of his fire breath building inside his body as he lumbered over me, and I pictured my three beautiful women dying in a fiery inferno.
Fuck that.
Chime.
I reset back to my save point, and I took a moment to suck in sweet life preserving oxygen. That was a close one, but I was still no closer to defeating the dragon than I’d been two attempts ago. I needed to figure something out, and the women were obviously not going to let me just die. If only they knew how inconsequential my failures were, maybe they wouldn’t rush in to save me when Smiguel got the upper hand.
I couldn’t reveal the secrets of my power, though, since any time I’d tried before had always ended disastrously, so I shouldered the burden of my godhood and raked a hand through my hair.
“What’s the plan?” Mahini asked with a worried frown.
“You guys need to stay up here,” I instructed. “Even if it looks like things aren’t going great, you have to stay out of the path of the dragon’s fire.”
“But, Bash,” Elissa pouted. “I want to help you. I’m not afraid.”
“Right now, you’re alive.” I fixed her with a stern look. “And that’s the way it’s going to stay.”
“What about you?” Eva interjected, and her gray eyes were full of concern. “We followed you to help, not to watch. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I do.” I furrowed my eyebrows. “I was the one who volunteered, after all.”
“My place is at your side,” Mahini pointed out. “I knew it would be dangerous, but it’s still the most important choice I’ve ever made. I would die for you, Great One.”
“I don’t want that.” I shook my head as the memory of her being eaten by the dragon sprang into my mind. “I want to go home with all three of you safe and well by my side.”
“Sir Sebastian is right,” Sarosh said with a sage nod. “You are all crazy if you think you can stand a chance against such a powerful beast. Go ahead and admit you are not a god, and we can be done with this whole dangerous fiasco.”
“Fiasco, huh?” I chuckled. “We haven’t even gotten started yet.”
“We will stay behind,” Mahi
ni sighed. “If that is what you wish.”
“It is,” I confirmed, and I gave Eva and Elissa a hard look until they nodded their agreement. “Good. Now, I’m going to go slap a cow’s ass and kill a dragon.”
“Good luck, my love,” Elissa murmured with emotion dancing in her beautiful emerald eyes.
“Gods don’t need luck,” I repeated, although she didn’t remember the first time I’d said it.
Then I took the cow and my horse and crested over the rim of the canyon.
I wasn’t doing so bad for only having tried two times so far, but I expected it would take many more attempts to end the dragon’s life once and for all. Still, I needed to come up with a better plan, so I considered my options once more.
The sleeping dragon breathed deeply, and his wings fluttered. I could see a couple of holes in the leathery extensions, and I remembered how my obsidian bow had shot arrows through them during my encounter with Smiguel in Vallenwood.
If only my arrows could pierce through the dragon’s thick hide, then I’d be in business, but so far I’d only managed to damage his wings and eyes. I was certain the lance would penetrate the beast’s natural armor, but I hadn’t really gotten a chance to try it out yet.
So, that’s what I decided to do. I wanted to vanquish the dragon like a true knight on a white stallion, and I had everything I needed to pull it off.
I put the cow into position, and I slapped its ass again. It would have almost been comical how casually I touched a cow’s backside if it weren’t for the gravity of the situation. I was here to end the dragon’s reign of terror, and the result justified the means.
Once I saw the nostrils peek over the rim of the nest, I galloped away on Goliath’s back until I was a safe distance away from the cow. I chose the king’s lance, and I gripped it tightly even though it had the Return to Hand ability. I hadn’t tested the ability in combat yet, but my ability to see an item’s stats hadn’t led me wrong yet.
A moment later, the slumbering dragon was rising from its bed and meandering over to its snack. I waited until the wide jaws opened, and then I chose that moment to attack.