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The Dragon
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The Dragon was hungry. He was the only one left of his kind in Barro, because he was the runt of the litter. The others let it be known that if he had the scales to try and leave, then they would tear him to pieces. He wanted to leave, he wanted to see the world, he was tired of feeding off the fat animals who couldn’t climb over things. There was no hunt to it. The pink skinny creatures were better to chase, they ran fast and tried to fight back. But only a few managed to hurt him at all. Most just ran screaming, which in turn betrayed their location and he simply followed and killed. A few had gotten away, and he had just moved on. He knew he was a good warrior. He might even be able to fight his way through a few of his brothers and sisters. But the numbers would get him eventually. He wasn’t sure why he was forced to have this territory. It was probably because they had already ravaged it all so much. The dragon was hungry, and the fat slow creatures were starting to run low. So the Dragon was trying to space it all out. He was not a dumb beast. He could comprehend that if he hurt the land too bad, he would have no way to survive. At some point he would have to attempt to try and make a peace with the creatures of this land. He and his kind were new to this world. There was still so much more to understand. So much more to think about. He found that he enjoyed life. He enjoyed just watching things. Though he also enjoyed eating, sometimes he just was curious about the creatures and used stealth to just see what they did. To learn more about them. The skinny ones were the strangest. They even had other creatures who did what they said. He was still trying to understand the concept of speech and was hoping that some day he might obtain it. As it was he had to just take each thing in stride. To continue living.
It was then that spilt blood filled his serpentine nostrils. He reared his head in it’s direction and began his decent. His stomach rumbled and felt his bestial side beginning to overtake him. The need to devour flesh. He hissed between his fangs and fanned out his wings as he saw in a clearing. Three of the creatures he was interested in were standing there clad in blood. Wounded. Unable to escape. He had seen this before. Some of these creatures seemed to enjoy trying to feed him. He was not about to reject this offering. He began his decent.

Sebastian sat against the actual trunk of the tree he was in, waiting for the sound - or maybe the sight? - of the dragon. If, of course, the dragon would even show up. There was always a chance that the dragon wouldn't come. There was also a chance that the damned thing wasn't even real. Sure, Darius had said he saw one, but that didn't mean to much. It was winter, the man had been wounded, and he had set a pace through the woods that was only a little slower than his own groups. For all Sebastian knew, he had the fever and just thought he saw the dragon. Of course, he couldn't explain the attacks on the city, but there had to be a logical reason behind it. Had to be.

As the moments dragged on, Sebastian took the time to look at the reflection of himself in his dagger. His eyes were back to their normal color. This realization settled him for a minute. Not that he was nervous or anything, he almost never felt nervous. He had to much self-esteem and belief in himself for that. But with his eyes back to normal just meant that there was yet another logical reason for what had happened to him this morning. There's a chance that the slight hangover actually made him believe that his eyes were a different color. There was also the chance that he was going completely insane. Either way seemed like a perfectly fine idea. He had always wondered what the insane though.

That was when he heard it. At first it just sounded like a large bird, possibly an eagle, just flying low. It made sense, at least that was only until his brain fully comprehended what he though. It couldn't have been a hawk. From the sound of it, the thing was still descending from the sky and getting closer to them, sounding bigger and definately more deadly than an eagle. Then another thought struck him. It was winter. Most of the birds in the forest had went south, and the rest of them were probably deeper in the woods hunting.

Quickly, Sebastian stood up on the branch he had sat on, grabbing his bow and quickly fit an arrow to the draw string. He hadn't used Nox's poison on his arrows. He used them to often. If they broke he'd even continue using the arrow heads and form a new shaft for them. Because of this he didn't want any chance that he'll need to shoot someone and keep them alive one day. Sure, poison can usually be washed off, but there was always the chance some would linger. He didn't want to risk it. So instead he had used three throwing knives, specifically made for poisoning, for the poison instead.

As he got into position he took a look at the sky, his mouth opening slightly as he saw the creature. It was real. It was big. And it was coming straight for their little clearing. Two thoughts ran through his mind. He could escape. Run once more and hope the rest found a way to survive and just forgot about him. He'd take the purses of coins he had and move to another city, learn to read, and then maybe become an herbalist. Or a guardsmen. Hell, maybe he'll become an assassin just for the hell of it.
The second thought that ran through his mind was for him to stay here. There was the chance that he would die here, that he would just food for some creature that was beyond his limited comprehension. Then there was a chance that they would succeed. They could get the money. He wouldn't be filthy rich, but he'd have enough to get a start. Hell, if the legends were true about dragons there's a chance he could get some of their scales to sell to smithy's. Not that any smithy would know how to forge anything from them, but the legends said that dragon scales had once produced some of the greatest armor.

Obviously, the second thought was crazy. Any logical man - bandit - would have ran. They would have just went to another city and started elsewhere. It was just the bandit mind. It was their personality. Any bandit who started caring about other people was weak. They were crazy. They were usually dead quickly.
'They always said I was a little crazy,' was Sebastian thought as he took aim for the beast, waiting for the perfect moment to launch his arrow.

Darius hoisted his spear. The creature had appeared. He saw all the others try and scramble to proper positions, though he knew none of them knew what to expect. The only advantage he had was that he had seen the thing before. Not much help as it descended screeching a roar that seemed to make his muscles freeze up. The spear was heavy in his hand as he watched the decent. Time seemed to slow as he could make out all of it’s features in the bright daylight. A serpentine head, snakeyes and teeth that jutted out of scaly jaw. Each tooth was big enough to make a dagger out of, and even from a such a distance looked wickedly sharp. The scales that covered it’s large form rippled with luminescence. They were a bloated corpse purple with black tips, that came out to points. It’s wings were huge and the flesh between torn from battle. The beast had seen it’s fair share, as most prey won’t go easily. It’s tail flailed out wildly behind it, ended in what looked to be a massive bone bludgeon covered in spikes. It’s arms and legs were buldging with muscles and had claws on each appendage that was wide enough to decapitate. Then Darius realized he was daydreaming and time seemed to catch up with itself as the giant hell beast plummeted at breakneck speed towards the helpless scantily clad sacrifices they had set up. There was a loud intake of breath as it plummeted faster that he had imagined it was possible. The girls had absolutely no chance. It was like the hunting birds far to the southeast, who dove fast enough to kill creatures without even letting them know they were dead. Darius let out a battle cry drew back the spear for the throw. Then he heard their horses shrieking in terror.
The next few seconds were disorienting. Darius muttered a curse as the Lizards wings beat suddenly, the gust of wind whirling branches off of trees. The creature shifted it’s course outside of the clearing to the sound of their animals who were whinnying in distress at the smell of the giant lizard. Darius wondered for a brief second if perhaps the animal was smart enough to sense the trap but tried to shrug it off as silly thoughts. Such a mindless killing machine couldn’t possibly have enough intelligence to notice what was going on. And he was sure the scent of the animal blood he had poured around would do well enough to mask his and the others scent. There was no way the damned thing could have possibly figured out that they were there based on the sound of horses. That would be too much. Nevertheless he repositioned himself and watched in disgust as the dragon fell upon his steed first. It was a whirl of flame, claw and fury. His massive jaws gapped to a horrific angle before snapping down on the horses neck. There was a crunch as bone broke and then the dragons claws went to work turning it’s flesh into strips of ribbon. Crushing it’s windpipe then digging into it’s chest cavity to claw at it’s powerful heart. The horse shrieked in terror and confusion, It’s body spasming as it’s throat filled with blood and teeth. The Dragon shook the whole thing around, slamming it’s corpse onto the ground, breaking it’s bones and tenderizing it’s flesh. The beast then unfurled it’s wings. Deciding that that was good enough prey for one meal, and began trying to take off with the horse in it’s mouth. The horse was about the same size as the lizard, only the lizard had grown since people had last seen it. It’s muscles didn’t like the extra weight, but with such large powerful wings, it was certainly a possibility.
It was just about to take off when Darius sprang into action. He charged forward. Not wanting to risk a miss, and leaped downhill towards the beast. He put all of his weight and strength into a stab, that buried itself in the dragon’s hindleg, deep but the scales deflected most of the force. It’s blood sprayed out steaming onto the ground. Darius laughed in fear and testosterone as the dragon whirled around screaming at him and belching out a stream of flame. Darius was wise enough to not waste any time after stabbing the thing and had ran immediately . He glanced over his shoulder, through the burning foliage to see the dragon trying to take off again. There was a flap of wing And the creature began taking off with the horse in it’s mouth again. Apparently the horse and the weight from one of the spears was not enough. Darius cursed, but knew that the others had also sprung into action. He grabbed the chain between the spear and the weight, in a futile attempt to keep the beast down. He was strong, but not even close to the awesome power of this pain fueled beast. He felt himself getting lifted from his feet and screamed out curses as he felt his muscles threatening to tear in order to keep him on the ground.
“SPEAR THE ********!” he cried out in bloodlust! Hoping the others would not be very far behind as the the dragon dropped the horse, vomiting forth flame in a spiral beneath him. In an attempt to roast the other horses, presumably to return and eat their corpses later. Darius cursed again as he lost the tug of war and was yanked up from the ground. He knew this might be his end, but he didn’t want to retreat and risk someone else getting a shot at the gold. Especially since the thing was wounded now.

Nox had been hiding in the brush beside the clearing for some time now and he began to wonder if the giant lizard would ever show up. The boy looked at the spear that lay beside him, it was long and heavy with a weighted chain connected to the end of it. I wonder if I'll even get to use this thing. I mean even if Dragons are real what are the odds that the beast that has been attacking the village would even come here and land just to eat three women with almost zero fat on them? just as Nox had this thought The Dragon came above the clearing and hovered for a second. Oh my gods! They are real! The thing is smaller than I imagined it would be, but still could we possibly defeat this fiery beast? There is no possible way just a bunch of humans could take down such a powerful creature. Maybe I should run and live to fight another day... after Nox had that last cowardly thought his father's voice chimed into his head "Nox, my son, always remember that we are warriors and we never run from something that will endanger our loved ones. A coward may live another day but it is always better to die fighting for those you love than to have them die for your cowardice. Nox then felt ashamed for even having a thought about running away and before he ran to join Darius in the assault on the beast he had one last thought We aren't exactly typical humans are we? After this last thought Nox rushed into the fray every fiber of his muscles was tensed and ready for battle. The first action Nox took was to throw the heavy spear at the dragon and hope it peirced the scaly son of a b***h. Nox heaved the spear with all of his might at the beast and watched as the spear hit the beast, but did not stay inbreed in it's flesh instead it knocked away a few scales and left a mid-sized gash th creatures side. Now the boy was running at full speed and lept onto the chain that Darius clung to trying to bring the dragon to the ground. Nox threw his weight down and pulled on the chain, but he was just short of being able to bring the two down to the ground. "Darius if we drop our weight at the same time and pull I think we could get our feet on the ground, then we would have a better shot at bringin down this scaly b*****d!" he said hoping the giant man would listen to his plan and go along with it.

Standing very still and watchful, Talia took notice of everyone's actions.
Kristalia watched in fear and awe as Darius ran to attack the dragon, followed by a quick Aliana who surprised her with her spur of the moment endeavor.

Right after Aliana had rushed Nox and Sebastian, helping her companions hold down the beast, while Ragni used his spear to severely wound it.

Talia was about just beginning to formulate a move, when Tamaro rushed with a spear and chain. This made Talia gasp in surprise as the man looked somewhat animalistic and very brave in his actions. At first Talia watched as he climbed to the beasts back and then after using the spear and losing it, he swing ed the chain, brilliantly executing his plan to trap the dragons flaming mouth.
"Something...i have to do something"

Her companions actions spurred something inside of the silvery blond, something very primal and savage.
Talia moved her hands to her boots and withdrew the dagger hidden there.
"What to do....?"
Standing very still she watched as the others struggled with the beast, her body tense as she wished for an opening to execute her plan.
"NOW!"

In a split second Talia took the "stage" in this battle, running towards the dragon with more force than speed, her eyes never straying from its moving tail. In the few seconds to come Talia had reached the scaly bastards tail and grabbed hold of it as it swung about, very carefully glancing at her chance to jump off as it was swung over its head.

Talia let go of the tail and fell on the beasts neck, the quick b*****d taking notice and trying to shake her off, but Talia was a tad quicker, climbing up its neck towards its head, sure and strong fingers tracing the different size scales leading her up to what could be called its forehead.
Talia's eyes scanned its head until it found the dragons eyes that looked like huge dark Cole's of fire.

Talia took a few momments to look into those eyes horror overtaking her at what she saw in them.
"No..." Her voice slipped out as a whisper as the monsters eyes reflected herself at first and then in a split second she saw her death, gruesome and warped as the goddess ripped through her flesh eating her inside out until all that was left was the ebony skinned woman staring back.

"NOOOO!" Talia let out an animalistic yell as she raised the dagger that was being held within her fist and rushing it down quickly to the beasts eyes, once, twice, three times before the dragon in its pain and anger threw her off his head.

Talia fell to the ground,a groan and whimper escaping her lips as she felt one of her arms bend an audible pop being heard.
"Ooooow..." She cried and sniffled as she got up, holding her dislocated arm softly as she watched the dragon's mangled eye with a pained and smug expression.
"it was worth the pain"

Sebastian would have laughed at Darius's comment had the situation been different. If he was facing men, he would have laughed. Facing a dragon, though? Even with the tide of the battle looking like it was better for them than it he refused. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that there was a dragon. He took a throwing knife out as the beast roared with pain when one of the females, Kristalia he thought her name was, stabbed the beast in the eye. The throwing knife wasn't large, but it was sharp and it was a great way to keep a grip on the beast.

As he raised his arm to stab the beast, though, he felt something happen. It was as if the creature was growing at a fast pace, getting bigger and bigger as the moments passed. He stabbed down at the place where the wing met the scales, but the dagger rebounded. The scales had grown much stronger than before, making his dagger more or less pointless. He'd need something much sharper and much stronger, but he refused to risk damaging his daggers that were strapped to his back. It was while he was figuring out what to do when the dragon shook, violently, until he flew off. Before the dragon started growing he was only a few feet off the ground. If he had fallen off before he would have maybe just been left with a few small bruises. But the beast was growing at an alarming rate, and when he fell he landed hard, the wind being knocked out of him and he was lucky his daggers had sheaths. As it was he would have two large dagger shaped bruises running down his shoulders and going to the center of his back.

He groaned as he got up, his back hurting, but the pain quickly resided as panic overtook his mind. The dragon was now huge. Only one thing could run through his mind as he saw the dragon in all of it's might. Survive. That was the only thing he could do, he had to survive. He hadn't just obtained his freedom for the beast that they had be so close to killing to just go around and kill him now. He would run. He knew the forest pretty well, he could circle back to the city. Get some directions to the next city and go there, start anew once again. He wouldn't be wracked with guilt for leaving the others behind as many would. He didn't know them that well. He would feel sorry for the younger ones, and Darius. It was because of Darius that he wasn't with the bandits, but this was life. It was cruel. It was harsh. Only the smartest or the strongest survived.

Just before he was about to run to the tree to grab his bow and leave the fight, he saw the horse and it's rider attack Darius. He saw as more people emerge from the woods. Some robed, some naked. If not for the fact that they looked crazy and that they held weapons. He couldn't run, he couldn't escape. It was either fight and hope for survival, or accept his fate and die. He looked back at the group, then at the dragon, then at the people. Trying to think of something. Some way he would survive. That's when it clicked.

"Ragni, I got a bag of coins at the tavern if you watch my back and make sure I don't die!" he yelled to the mercenary. It wasn't the honorable thing to do. Surely the sell-sword would be better use to the people that couldn't fight, but Sebastian wasn't raised like that. As much as he told himself otherwise, he was a bandit. It was him, or it was death. That was the way of the world. Before he could get an answer for the merc, a horse with a robed rider came charging at him. He took the throwing knife that was in his hand and threw it as hard as he could, aiming for the horses neck. He watched as the blade sank into the creature neck, causing it to fall mid-gallop, the rider being thrown forward. As the rider fell a few feet in front of Sebastian he drew his twin daggers for the first time since meeting the group. They were his prized possessions. His first loot from a raid of his. The blades were about as long as his forearm, curving slightly and ending in an extremely sharp point. He rushed towards the man on the ground as he began to get up slowly. Quickly, he slashed at the mans throat, feeling the spray of warm blood against his face as the cut was made and the man slumped to the ground.

More were coming. Then there was the dragon, now a towering beast that could easily swallow him whole. The odd's were very much against him and the rest of the group. Chances of survival were small, but that thought was pushed aside as the survival instinct grew stronger and stronger. The instinct told him to fight, and he would do just that.

Some time passed and Jacob finished preparing his medicines, he briefly hoped that none of his comrades would actually need his help but if what they sought after was actually real, they may need much more then what he could provide. He packed his bag and put out the small fire he had made by dousing it with water from the well, then kicking loose dirt on top of it. He lifted his bag and stood, as he straitened his legs a familiar sent caught his nostrils; smoke. At first he thought it was his own fire, but with a quick glance he knew the source had to be else where. He closed his eyes and his nose twitched as he tried to figure out where the smell was strongest. Opening his eyes again he looked to the forest and finally saw large plumes of dark air that dissipated within seconds. His eyelids widened, could that be his comrades? Jacob started walking towards the smoke, then he heard a large animalistic howl and his pace quickened. What else could it be other then his friends fighting the dragon, which he was realizing just might be real.

As he drew closer, he could hear more bellows both human and dragon. Jacob followed the sounds, by now his feet were moving as fast as they could carry him, his pack firmly in his grip against his shoulder. His heart was racing.

He stumbled into the clearing with a look of disbelief smeared a crossed his face. "You have got to be kidding me." A huge winged creature with gnashing teeth and fire for breath loomed before him. He watched as Darius made a move striking the creature on the underbelly with his spear but was stunned to see the wound 'heal' over. As if that wasn't enough he heard hoofs and more shouts coming from the other end of the clearing; men pored in around them, one attacking Darius and another being attacked by Sebastian. A surge of adrenaline made his heart beat harder. What on earth had he stepped into?

Jacob did not hesitate, sure he was scared but his friends were in trouble and he would do his best to fight. He dropped his pack and pulled on the curved sword at his side, it came free without much difficulty. One of the men on horseback galloped towards him with a blood lust look in his eyes. Jacob followed Sebastian's attack style aiming for the throat, but his timing was off and instead he was knocked to the ground as horse and rider moved past him, his sword falling free of his grip. He caught his breath and reached for his sword, this time with more focus. As the rider approached for a second time, Jacob stepped to the side and swung the sword from above his right shoulder and dragged it a crossed the side of the man. He hadn't got the throat like he planned but he still delivered a killer blow.

By now his breathing was labored and he could feel sweat dripping down the side of his face. He moved his hand to wipe it away and found his wrist had changed to the color of blood. He must have sustained quite an injury when he was knocked back, but he had no time to worry about that. Jacob tightened his fingers around the handle of his weapon and moved to engage another man in battle.