Bethjoy.com

Chapter Two

The next morning at dawn, when the suns gold rays were just reaching over the horizon and the birds began to sing, Arnold and and Schelsh walked to the front of the inn leading their horses. Nancealia and Celticia were all ready standing beside their horses.
“Greetings fellow adventurers!” said Arnold, “This is Starlight.” he added, motioning to the pale white stallion he was leading.
“And this” said Schelsh introducing his coal black stallion, “Is Midnight.”
“Starlight and Midnight, their names certainly go together,” Celticia said with a smile towards Schelsh. In the light of day she noticed that Schelsh was a lot younger than he had looked in the dim light of the inn, and a lot handsomer. “This is Bonnie,” she continued introducing her own horse. Bonnie was a light brown mare. She was small a small mare but larger than a pony.
“And this,” said Nancealia swinging up on the back of her horse, “Is Lady.” Lady was a deep chestnut colored mare, her mane was exactly the same color as Nancealia’s hair. Lady was built for speed and obviously much higher of quality than Bonnie. In fact she looked equal to even Arnold’s fine horse. The rider and horse were very well matched indeed.
“She’s a splendid looking horse.” said Arnold looking with admiration from the horse to the rider, “Where did you get her?”
“I bought her from a noble who had been robbed and needed some ready money and I was very fortunate to get her. She has a speed and strength that is amazing and rather uncommon in mares. But we can talk more about horses on the way. Let’s get started.”
Arnold agreed and they mounted their horses and in the beauty of a spring morning they rode down the main road toward the north.
Plenty of provisions had been packed on the horses, for all though Arnold and Schelsh may not have had much experience with dragons, they did have a good deal of experience with long journeys, and they knew that a lot of provisions always come in handy. Nancealia also knew the good of this and had packed enough to last her and Celticia for several weeks.
They soon left the village behind them and after about an hour or so the first glimpse of the McClarve castle came into view
Nancealia, who was leading, turned her horse off the main road to a path leading into a forest. It seemed frequently used by horses though little traveled by others.
“I thought it was shorter to take the main road to the mountains?” asked Arnold.
“Yes, it is shorter to the mountains. But we’ll be going to the Lesser Dragon Hills first and this route is shorter to go there.” replied Nancealia, “Besides the main road runs right in front of the McClarve castle and I usually don’t go that way. It’s best not to intentionally stir up trouble if you can avoid it.” with that remark she continued down the trail and Arnold had the impression that Nancealia was not very welcome at her Uncle’s castle. He was quite right for all though for Rose’s sake her daughter would have been taken back into the family by the other members, Lord McClarve would not hear of it and made all of his children promise not to to speak to or have anything to do with the girl, and never allow her to come near the castle.
The party of four, or eight including the horses headed down the forest path. It was very pleasant at first in the early morning coolness. The trees of the forest, mainly oaks, rose up above there heads and there were many birds singing in their branches. However as the sun climbed towards noon it began to get hot. They stopped for lunch when the sun was quite high in the sky. Lunch was mainly the provisions that would spoil soonest, some things do spoil faster than others they are usually eaten first. They had a good lunch and the horses lunched on the fine grass and drank from a stream nearby.
During Lunch Arnold asked, “What is our road going to be like?”
“Well,” said Nancealia, “We are going to be in this forest probably until this evening, if we keep up a good pace. After the forest there will be a few hours riding across a plain and then we will be at the Lesser Dragon Hills.”
“So named because the Lesser Dragons live there.” interrupted Celticia.
“Yes,” replied Nancealia, then continuing, “There, we’ll probably stop for a bit and maybe fight one of the Lesser Dragons before proceeding onwards. After that it will depend on several circumstances where we shall proceed.”
“Which routes would we take depending on the circumstances?” asked Schelsh.
“Well, it mainly depends on what I find out about Dearth from some of the dragons. We might go directly toward Dearth’s lair through the barren wastelands. Or we might make our way through the Lesser Dragon hills until we hit the Medium Rare Dragons.”
“That’s a funny name” laughed Arnold, “Why are they called that?”
“Because that’s how their flames will cook you. The lesser dragons don’t spout flames but the Medium Rare dragons do. Surprisingly the Rare dragons have become extremely rare.” Schelsh and Arnold had another laugh at that.
“But they are still quite dangerous and Dearth is a Burt-to-a-Crisp dragon so you’ll need to know how to avoid dragon flames. My father died by not avoiding the flames.” She seemed to be remembering the day her father died as she spoke the last words and there was a sad look in her eyes. But she soon continued, “So remember, if you can avoid the flames you’ll do all right.”
“And how should we avoid them?” asked Schelsh.
“One of the best ways to do this is to jump on the back of the dragon since most dragons can’t or won’t burn themselves so it’s pretty safe up there.” replied Nancealia.
“Unless the dragon flies to the roof of the cave and bumps against it several times forcibly…” added Celticia.
“Yes, but you can usually change your position so that the dragon is merely hurting himself in order to avoid that. And while the dragon is doing that he is usually stationary and it’s a good time to throw a sword into it’s heart.”
“I’m assuming that that is a way to kill a dragon.”
“Yes, especially if in the dragon’s hoard there are a lot of swords. You can pull it out of its sheath and throw it and if you aim correctly it may kill the dragon. But some times the dragon’s scales are too hard for the sword to go through. However Celticia has brought down many a dragon by this method.”
“What if the scales are too hard for a sword to go through?” asked Arnold.
“Usually if Celticia tells me that the scales are to hard I try to climb onto the dragon’s head and plunge my sword into its brain. Usually the eyes are the easiest way to do this, and I can at least blind the creature so that it doesn’t know where it’s going and where Celticia is and it can’t doge things. Sometimes it will come crashing down after hitting the cave walls or sometimes it will just keep flying around until it is exhausted. Also it may die of lose of blood. Any way a blind dragon is not as dangerous as a dragon that can see. However some times the dragon never flies low enough to be caught and ridden.”
“What is the best thing to do then” asked Arnold.
“Use the sword through the heart method, and if that doesn’t work either make your way out of the dragon’s cave at top speed or just throw anything that is rather sharp at the dragon and hope to hit its eyes. Most of the smaller dragons don’t have hoards of gems and gold but you can usually find something in the caves to throw at the dragon.”
Arnold and Schelsh nodded and the meal finished soon after. They remounted their horses after clearing things up, and after having a good drink from the stream. They proceeded along their way way at a quick trot. Their was very little talking for the trail wound around and there were many branches in the way that had to be moved unless you wanted them to hit you. However after they had been riding this way for about three hours they joined another path that seemed more used and the going became easier.
Celticia (who had a fine voice) sang a few songs at the request of Schelsh who was beginning to be fascinated by the beautiful young girl. Of course Celticia was all ready fascinated with him and the beginnings of a romance was underway. Neither Nancealia nor Arnold talked much, but they did enjoy the singing and listening to Celticia and Schelsh talk.
The shadows were lengthening and it was almost time for the sun to go down when they finally exited the forest.
Since both Arnold and Schelsh were very ready to get to the dragons they decided to continue riding rather far into the night. A bit before midnight the outline of some hills could be dimly seen in the distance. They halted close to the banks of a nearby stream and built a campfire. Blankets were unpacked and every one had a quick snack then lay down to sleep.
The night past silently and with out anything of interest happening in it, which was rather unusual for that area. The next morning everyone was up early. The hills seemed larger in the morning light. They were covered with grass and many sheep and goats roamed about on them. As they ate breakfast Arnold said to Nancealia,
“I would not have thought of grass, sheep, and goats in dragon territory.”
“Well, the lesser dragons don’t breathe fire, which is why there is grass. And where there is grass goats and sheep can usually live. The lesser dragons eat them, but they make sure that they don’t eat so many that the flocks lessen. That way they always have plenty of food.”
“I see.” said Arnold. After that the conversation at breakfast was not really worth recounting.