Chapter 19-3

Zakhin'Dakh screeched an acknowledgement, walked forward, and after a few fumbles, picked up the barrel and took off. As they flew over the town Almonihah could hear exclamations of fear below them, but ignored them. They would see soon enough what they were doing, and if they still wanted to fear them after that, well, that was their choice.

It didn't take long for them to fly to the river with the barrel. Filling it on the wing was a bit trickier: Zakhin'Dakh trailed one of his wings in the water and almost fell out of the air, but managed to recover. He had to beat his wings hard to gain altitude again, with both Almonihah and the full water barrel, but managed to get back high enough to fly back toward the town.

Half of the water in the barrel had sloshed out of the barrel on the way back to the fire—bringing a couple more exclamations from below when some spilled out while they flew over the town. Zakhin'Dakh's aim wasn't very good on dumping the remaining water, so only a little of it hissed on the flames Almonihah had pointed out. It looked like the building had once held a forge, which was probably where the fire had started from.

“Guess we need more,” he said, looking down at Zakhin'Dakh's head in front of him.

Zakhin'Dakh didn't know how many more times they took the water back and forth. After a couple times he got really good at not messing up getting the water and not spilling it, and he was more careful about dropping it exactly where Almonihah wanted. The fire started to be smaller each time they came back, and Almonihah sounded happy, so Zakhin'Dakh was happy even though he was getting really tired.

Almonihah could tell that the big griffon was tiring, so when it seemed like the fire was under control, he guided him into land by hole in the stockade. Zakhin'Dakh landed heavily, panting, and Almonihah jumped off to land next to him.

How do you feel, my friend? he murmured in Great Eagle.

Tired. Happy, replied the griffon.

Rest up, and I'll talk, Almonihah said, patting Zakhin'Dakh's leg before walking over to the nervous guards standing and watching the pair.

As he approached, he took a closer look at the damage to the palisade. It was... odd. A rough semicircle taken out of the tops of the posts making up the wall, not quite to the ground at its lowest point. Looking closer, he could see that the edge of it didn't look like it had been bitten or burned or clawed, but rather... melted. A quick glance at the ground didn't show any sign of something other than humans walking, though the many boot-prints might have obliterated any traces of something else.

“So what happened?” Almonihah asked once he was near the guards.

For a nervous moment none of them answered. Finally one spoke. “A dragon.”

Several things clicked together in the half-dragon's mind. “Green scales?”

They nodded.

“What size?”

After a moment, they all answered at once, with contradictory responses. After a moment, Almonihah pointed at Zakhin'Dakh. “Big as him?”

A moment of conference, then one answered, “Close enough.”

So, a green dragon. An adult, but not a particularly old one. “'nd which way did it leave?”

“You're not going after it?” one of the guards blurted out, incredulous.

Almonihah smiled, showing his rather draconic set of teeth. “I don't particularly like a lot of my father's kind,” he growled as he stopped smiling.

The guards looked at him, over at Zakhin'Dakh, and then back at Almonihah. Finally, one pointed to the southwest. “That way, back into the hills.”

“Then that's where 'll start looking.” Almonihah turned and walked back to Zakhin'Dakh. 

Ready to hunt a dragon? Almonihah asked the big griffon.

Dragon? Zakhin'Dakh repeated, not recognizing the word.

You'll see. This one's supposed to be about as big as you.

Zakhin'Dakh screeched in surprise. As big?

Almonihah nodded. That's what they say. Let's go see if they're right.

Almonihah set a fast pace as the traveled, but didn't let Zakhin'Dakh fly. When he complained about it, Almonihah explained that he didn't want the dragon seeing them any sooner than he could help it. Privately, he thought the giant griffon would be pretty easy to see on the ground, too, but it gave them a better chance.

Why? Hunt? Zakhin'Dakh suddenly asked as they walked.

“Why are we hunting the dragon?” Almonihah asked, surprised by the question.

Zakhin'Dakh nodded and screeched an affirmative.

“It attacked those people. It's dangerous, and you can't just talk with dragons.” Something didn't sound... quite right about his explanation to him.

Zakhin'Dakh's screech sounded doubtful, as well, but he didn't ask anything more. 

Soon, Almonihah's trained eye could detect signs of a dragon. Bark that had been scraped off a tree when something large and scaly brushed it too hard... hints of impact points where a large creature had slammed into its prey from the air... they weren't frequent, but they were there.

It was Zakhin'Dakh, however, that spotted the dragon first.

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Yeah, Almonihah doesn't particularly like dragons that kill people, for some reason.

I'm going to try to update every Monday. So bug me if I haven't done it!