Snippet #1629650

Sebastian's moment of victory was not short lived. He drew another arrow from his quiver and brought it to the bow, taking his aim with breath held and arms steady. When released the strip of wood took a true course and met with the tree directly beside the one he had hit previously. This was not met with the same roar of approval he had expelled moments before but rather with a silent appreciation of a new-found skill. Arrow after arrow met the trunk of a cluster of trees and although no shot hit the exact spot he aimed for, even after a few steps back he found himself landing solid hits in a general area which was far more than he would have expected of himself. He was, after all, more of a thinker and a planner in his own mind. Physical skills and attributes were not what he was well known for but a new place called for a new man.

And the man he was a matter of days ago would have intervened after hearing the pitched battle going on not far from him. It seemed Flin and Leander were holding nothing back as their 'training' took place, much to the concern of the teacher-who-had-been. That said, there was a part of him, admittedly a rather large one, which hoped to see the irritating madman take a hard hit, perhaps to knock him down a peg or two, perhaps just for Sebastian's own deranged pleasure. He made no secret of the animosity he felt towards Flin's reckless nature which had shown through upon their first meeting and had so nearly ended with imprisonment for them all. How everyone else seemed to forget that so readily was something he could not even begin to fathom. He was not one to hold a grudge for no good reason but the fact of the matter was he doubted whether he and that vagrant would ever be able to consider each other acquaintances, let alone friends.

And so it came to be that a combination of a skull to Flin's face and a series of arrows protruding from trees in front of him brought a smile to Sebastian's face as he strolled forward, cloak fluttering behind him in the light breeze that peppered their campsite with the first of the year's fallen leaves, to reclaim his ammunition from the edge of the woods.

Two missiles had missed their targets completely and flown off past the treeline. Never one to waste, the teacher set off after them, led by the early morning sun that broke sporadically through the light canopy above. It was an interesting experience that reminded him so much of the English countryside he had hoped one day to retire to, to the point that he leant his head back and stopped in his tracks with eyes closed, breathing in deeply through his nose and exhaling through his mouth, savouring the scents of nature and for the first time thinking that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad if he never made it out of this mysterious realm. Unfortunately the thought would never fully form and any memories of this moment would return to him a feeling a fear rather than serenity.


A low, croaking growl sounded from somewhere off to his left and Sebastian opened his eyes immediately, spinning round on his feet to be met with nothing but shrubbery. For seconds that felt like hours he stood, staring at where he believed the sound to have come from, gently raising his bow. He tried to think about his options but came to one dire conclusion about his actions.

“YAH! YAAAHHH!” He shouted at seemingly empty space in front of him, at the same moment that the others at the camp would be mounting up and preparing to move out, mimicking a programme he may have seen or imagined about what to do in case of bear attacks, while waving his arms in a desperate display of dominance over whatever animal chose to call this their habitat.


Moments later and his voice had become a strangled scream and his waving arms were pumping at his sides to aid his sprint back onto the open plains. As he burst from the edge of the wood he flung his weapon aside, favouring open hands for the fastest run of his life. After making it barely a yard from the shrouded greenery his pursuer made itself visible directly behind him. Twelve feet, from tip of the nose to end of the thin, whip-like tail, and covered in sleek, black scales, the monster leapt over a fallen trunk and opened wide it's massive, silken wings, letting out a thunderous screech which revealed a jaw full of razor sharp teeth capable of stripping the flesh from a rhinoceros.

Propelling itself along on four powerful legs, the dragon flexed the claws of it's front feet as they gripped onto Sebastian's shoulders and pushed downwards. The force sent him sprawling to the ground and gave the dragon enough air to move it's wings and step on the cloaked man's back to give a final jump which caught the breeze, allowing the beast to take to the sky and spiral up, apparently weighing up it's options concerning the collection of travellers below.

A few tense seconds passed, in which Sebastian did not move, before the massive lizard above uttered a gutteral roar and passed them by, the sound of it's wings beating the air clearly audible to all around. And throughout it all, Kali barely reacted. She continued to pack her belongings into their appropriate places and jigged her horse on to start the convoy moving.

“Better be quick or you'll lose us. Gather your things” she offered as she passed by the prone form on the ground, with almost a sense of smug satisfaction in her voice. She clearly knew something no one else there did.


Able to do little more than shakily make his way to his feet the terrified archer looked about himself, clearly struggling with the reality of what just happened.

"Th... But... I.... ... Dragon?" There was no one near enough to hear his incomprehensible question but that didn't matter. He'd continue mumbling to himself for the next few minutes as he set about collecting his discarded bow and walking slowly back to his tent to gather the rest of his belongings. After clambering aboard his horse and catching up with the group he would reach over and pluck a book from the rear of the wagon entitled "Beasts of Eronnis" with every intention of learning as much as possible about the thing which had scared him half to death.