It had been a hell of a fight.

Alex lifted one blood-covered hand and made a vain attempt at wiping the sweat from his tanned forehead, as he felt the cool mud start to soak through the seat of his trousers. Oh, it wasn’t his blood cover his hand, although it might get covered in his own blood if he waited much longer to get his shoulder patched up from the village “wise woman”. His hand was covered in the crimson, oil-like blood of a Knucker, which lay dead several paces down the river bank.

He had been send to the small village baring the unimaginative name of Riverview to deal with a reported dragon, which turned out to be a red Knucker. Killing the red had proved to be easy enough, he just waited in the brush and had a local boy drive an ox (that he paid for, much to his moneybag’s disappointment) and put a bolt through the back of it’s skull when the beast appeared to feed. The real trouble started when he walked down to the river and stabbed the Red with the spike on his halberd.

A smaller, green Knucker appeared behind him and the only reason it didn’t rip his head off was the young cowherd, who hurled a stone at the beast. The beast turned it’s attack from the slayer of it’s mate, to the young lad it had missed more then a few times over the past moon cycle. With a snarl, the Green bowled Alex over and charged the boy, it’s small quasiwings flared out.

Before the young lad could even scream, the beast had pounced on him, talons digging deep into shoulder muscles and holding the seemingly doomed boy under water. However, the cowherd was not going without a token of a fight. He punched and kicked and flailed the best he could, as the Dragon Slayer regained his feet and the shaft of his halberd.

As the Knuckler bit the right hand from the boy’s wrist, Alex swung at it’s shoulder, severing the small wing off with the axe head of his halberd. Oh how the beast had screeched, as oily red blood mingled with water and the blood spurted from the cowherd’s stump. Enraged, the Green released the boy and leaped at the Slayer, sinking it’s wickedly pointed teeth into his shoulder. Before it could rip the flesh from the bone, he slid the iron bound shaft through his hands, until he grasped the base of the axe head and jammed the spike into the side of the Green’s head.

Yes, it had been a hell of a fight.

Once the adrenaline from the fight had worn off, his broad, right shoulder had throbbed and pulsed with pain, as blood pumped out to soak the green tunic he was wearing. That wasn’t his greatest concern however, the boy was. Half downed and nearly bled out, the cowherd was limp in his hands, as he tied a tourniquet around the bleeding stump.

“Bloody hell” muttered Alex, as he slung his crossbow and then the boy over his good shoulder, “I need a new job. Maybe bein the village blacksmith wouldn’t have been so bad. I could have married that farmer's daughter, the one always winkin at me on feastdays.”

Grabbing the halberd and using it as a walking staff, he gingerly made his way back to Riverview, falling down at the very doorstep of the wise woman as the sun dipped down behind the horizon. Luck would have it that she live on the outskirt of the village and closest to the river. The village had plunged into an uproar when the residents had spotted him. A great feast was cooked up and wine flowed freely, as he and the boy were patched up by the elderly wise woman and her trainee.

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Alex woke the next morning upon a pallet of straw and blankets, naked, his shoulder covered in clean bindings and surprisingly pain free. It would seem that the old woman had gave a great knowledge of herbs (or made a lucky guess that this and that one would kill his pain and not him). She had forced a rather nasty tasting brew of Herkon Kettles down his throat, which would numb most of the pain for a few days, unless he was really straining the wounded limb.

Just as he was sitting up, the door to the small side room opened slowly and the wise woman's trainee slipped in, carrying his clothing, freshly cleaned and repaired. Her pale face turned a bright red in a blush when the slim young girl noticed that the Slayer was awake. She stopped for a few second, staring at his broad (and scared) chest, before dropping his cloths next to the pallet and fleeing.

Alex groaned, laying back down and staring up at the dark ceiling. That was a problem he didn't need right now. He could go from hero to villain real quick if she got over that cute shyness and he really didn't need to be chased out of another village, wounded as he was. Although, it might help him get a move on. Two more towns had put out the request for a Dragon Slayer. Dawn's Star, roughly a day's march away, had something in the town sewers and five days from there, in the mountains, some village he forgot the name to, had something big stealing cattle.



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"Well there go my hopes" moaned Alex, as he sat up and grabbed the tunic, "For my next visitor to be another pretty village girl baring something o break my fast. And aye, that was me that killed those two Knuckers down in the river, managed to nearly loose my shoulder doing so. None of these villagers said there were two beasts, might have saved myself some pain and the local cowherd I used to help bait the beasts might still have his hand. Bugger it all."

With a soft groan, he raised his arms up and slipped the soft linen tunic over his torso. The herbs had numbed the pain of his dragon bite but not when he stressed the torn muscles. A second groan followed, as he flipped the blankets off his now half naked body and did his best to quickly work the wool trousers up over his broad legs and hips. He yanked a broad leather belt around his waist and slowly stood up, stiff and sore muscles all over his body protesting in vain. He then grabbed the leather armor sitting on the floor near his feet and slapped it on with an uncaring grace of a warrior who did the same movements every morning.

"So Bob" he said, walking into the main room of the Wise Woman's house, "I'm calling you Bob until you introduce yourself, just so you know. Care to break bread with me? I'm heading over to the tavern for something to eat."

Alex's weapons were leaning by the door and he stiffed another groan as he bent and picked them up. The quiver of bolts was attached to his belt, the crossbow over his left shoulder and the halberd in his right hand, held a slight forward angle. Not waiting for a response or turning to see if the strange fellow was following him, the dragon slayer managed an almost arrogant swagger through the cluster of houses and up to the tavern.

"Innkeeper" he called, not looking around, "Some food if you would. I have many miles to go this day, if I am to reach my next dragon to slay."

"Well William" said Alex, smiling and giving the Bard a hearty slap on the back. "If you intend to pay for me meal, it is the least I could do to honor your wishes, for a day or two at least. I can't promise your safety, as I imperil my own for a living. Although if you attached yourself to any lord or mercenary worthy of song or the company of a bard, you would find that peril follows you as well on that path, though it comes from wicked men and not a beast there."

"And if you want to come along Lex" he continued, turning to face his second visitor of the morning, "I'll not say no. Indeed, it would be grand to see if you prove worth of calling yourself a.....dragon fighter was it? Oh and ta see if them lovely blades of yours are anymore then flashy show pieces, ye pinched from some uptight Duke. Not that I would be so bold as ta name ye thief nor flashy fop. Nay, I have a feelin that our friend Bard here, will have much brave and noble deeds of yours ta put ta song, that will most certainly outshine me own."

It was a plain and open friendly smile that He left the Dragon Fighter with, as he turned to take a seat at a nearby table. Before the seat of his new cleaned trousers had even taken a few flecks of dust from the chair, the Innkeep had laid forth two mugs of dark brown ale, a loaf of hearty oat bread, cheese and sausages still sizzling from the pan.

"Come friend Bard" said Alex, taking a knife left on the table and cutting thick slices from the loaf, "Sit and break your fast with me. The road will be long today and any questions you may have are best asked now, if you want answers."

"Me names Alex Forge" said the Slayer, in between scarfing down three slices of bread so fast that he could barely taste the sweet honey baked into the oats, "Son of Jayson Forge, blacksmith of Clarcon Village. Born and raised there for sixteen winters before I slew a Lindworm and took life as a Dragon Slayer. Been doin that for about seventeen winters now. The biggest thing I've helped kill though, was a Firedrake, up in the mountains. There was a party of four and twenty of us that went after the beast, only half a score returned."

"Well I hope that covers everything for now my good Bard" he chuckled, placing cheese and sausage on a remaining slice of oat bread, "For Lex speaks true. Fifteen miles ta Dawn's Star and the day is fine for a long walk. With luck, we should make the town by the sun's setting and from there we head below the earth, ta seek some slithering reptile in the old sewers. That should be jolly good fun."

A laugh escaped Alex's lips, as he raised the mug of ale to his lips and drained the dark brew in one go. Placing the mug back upon the table, he fished a small pouch from inside his tunic and place ten small gold pieces inside it, followed by more then twice the number of copper and silver coins. It was not a payment for breakfast, the Bard said he was going to cover that but he still had just a little unfinished business to attend to here in Riverview. Turning slightly in his chair, he tossed the bag at the boy sweeping the floor.

"Do me a favor laddie" he said, standing up with the bread slice and it's cargo in his left hand, "And give that to the cowherd who was workin with meself yesterday. I know that no mountain of coin could replace his hand but that should be makin life a little easier on him and his family."

Snatching the halberd from where it was leaning on the table, Alex glanced at the Bard and Lex, searching their faces for something only known in his soul. A small smile upturned the corners of his lips, once he found that something and he head out the door of the tavern. The warm sun had over taken the tops of the mighty pines and now gently churned a warm breeze, which flowed like the cool waters of the unnamed river that gave the village it's namesake. Long strides carried the big main through the village, till he reached the road, heading east, towards Dawn's Star.

"We head for the town of Dawn's Star" said Alex, changing his long strides to a quick step to keep up with Lex, "Which is having a little problem with a beastie in it's old Imperial waterways. Reports state that something is popping up from the wells and snatching anyone unlucky enough ta be standin nearby. The Governor sent some town guardsmen down into the sewers but they never returned, the fool. After that, he ordered the wells sealed and the people wont stand that for long. It sounds like they have a Lindworm or a big Wyrm if we're lucky, slithering around in them sewers, if you ask me. Although, it could be a Knucker, I suppose. Not one of the Greater Dragonkin, them be ta big ta fit in a sewer, so have no fear of that."

The wore on, pleasant in temperature, with the peeping and calling of birds in their twittering voices to caress the ears. The trade road they walked on had been built by the engineers of the old Higan Empire, with broadly rectangular quarried stones, all nearly swallowed by the earth. Now and then, a traveler could make out the small markings that the quarrymen had place on each stone they cut but that was normally after a rainstorm had washed the thin layer of dirt from the tops.

Twice they were passed by a merchant head west, the first leading a train of mules and the second driving a wagon. From the wagoner, Alex was able to batter a third of a round of strong cheese and a skin of wine. Not taking time off to sit and eat, he broke the cheese into roughly pieces and handed them to his new comrades. The (very) sweet red wine was also passed around, although he would have preferred a vintage a little more closer to vinegar then this one.

By the time the sun was sinking into the west, the forest gave way to flat fields of grain reaching for the sky and the walls of Dawn's Star. The once mighty stones had suffered ill repair after the fall of the Empire and the long dead legionnaires would have wept in shame, to see their hard work so degraded. Not that the wall wouldn't keep any bandit or conquest driven noble from the town, for the shame the shame of it all.

"Well lads" said Alex, as they passed through the gate, "What say we find an inn and get ta work in the morn?"