be off." He and Toman exchanged another look but returned to their mounts. A quick survey of the village indicated that everyone else was still closeted away, without so much as a ruffled drape.
"Let's go," Toman said. They did.
"Well, what do you think?" Toman asked as soon as they landed on a hillside overlooking the town.
"Definitely not a real dragon," Esset said. He was simultaneously disappointed and very grateful, but Toman just gave him a blank stare.
"You know more about dragons than I do," Toman finally said.
"Oh. Right. Well, dragons are incredibly powerful, magical, and intelligent creatures. This one sounds strong, but not especially magical or intelligent. Also, physiologically speaking, dragons are well-proportioned, even beautiful creatures. They certainly don't have itty bitty forelegs and massive heads. It's also pretty rare for them to eat people, or really to be evil at all. The exceptions to that are usually very notable, but they really are rare," Esset explained.
"Uh huh. So what is it then, if not a dragon?" Toman asked.
"A monster. I can't really be more specific," Esset admitted. "I mean, it might be a relative of the wyvern, which is dragonish in appearance while still being just a beast, but wyverns rarely have forelegs and their necks are too snake-like and heads too small for them to fit Mr. Carver's description."
"Monster," Toman repeated. "That's disappointingly non-specific."
Esset shrugged. "That's it for my knowledge of naturally occurring dragon-like species."
"So you're saying it might be a mage-construct. Erizen did mention the possibility," Toman said.
Esset nodded. "That means it might have some unexpected traits, but there's not much we can do to prepare for that," Esset acknowledged.
"So what's our basic plan then?" Toman asked.
Esset shrugged again. "Find the lair. If it's a cave, we might be able to trap it inside with a cave-in or something. That would be easiest. If something goes wrong, we did bring supplies. We can't make much more of a plan without more information, but unless it has abilities far beyond what we're aware of, this should be relatively easy."
Toman nodded his agreement. "Can we still call it a dragon? Just for simplicity's sake?"
Esset grinned crookedly. "But I want to call it a semi-drakish monstrosity."
Toman gave an exaggerated wince. "Let's go find that lair."
They could have found the lair by smell alone. The unfinished remains of rotting carcasses—and corpses—littered the ground around the mouth of the large but relatively shallow cave, which was more of the underside to an overhanging cliff that a true cave. Esset supposed that, given how large the creature supposedly was, it would be difficult for it to find any cave large enough to accommodate it. And if the monster was as big as the size of the lair suggested, then Mr. Carver hadn't been exaggerating.
They'd found the place by flying grid searches in the general direction that Mr. Carver had indicated. It had taken them beyond the grey area and into the neighboring territory. Now they flew lower to investigate more closely, since there was no sign that the beast was home now. As he drew nearer, Esset noticed some odd markings in the rocks around the lair. He gulped. The odd marks were gouges in the stone—gouges furrowed deep by claws that were likely as long as his arm or better. Between the gouges and the decomposing bodies of man and beast, there might as well have been "Here be monsters" written on this spot on the map.
"Good, it's gone," Toman said beside him. "You go keep an eye out for it in case it comes back. I'm going to see if I can't make some preparations."
"Sure thing. You be ready to fly if we need to," Esset said unnecessarily.
"Brother, I ain't even gonna dismount," Toman said, laughing. He was intimidated by the claw marks too, but he was still fairly confident.
They could easily handle the vast majority of creatures without magical abilities, Esset
"Let's go," Toman said. They did.
"Well, what do you think?" Toman asked as soon as they landed on a hillside overlooking the town.
"Definitely not a real dragon," Esset said. He was simultaneously disappointed and very grateful, but Toman just gave him a blank stare.
"You know more about dragons than I do," Toman finally said.
"Oh. Right. Well, dragons are incredibly powerful, magical, and intelligent creatures. This one sounds strong, but not especially magical or intelligent. Also, physiologically speaking, dragons are well-proportioned, even beautiful creatures. They certainly don't have itty bitty forelegs and massive heads. It's also pretty rare for them to eat people, or really to be evil at all. The exceptions to that are usually very notable, but they really are rare," Esset explained.
"Uh huh. So what is it then, if not a dragon?" Toman asked.
"A monster. I can't really be more specific," Esset admitted. "I mean, it might be a relative of the wyvern, which is dragonish in appearance while still being just a beast, but wyverns rarely have forelegs and their necks are too snake-like and heads too small for them to fit Mr. Carver's description."
"Monster," Toman repeated. "That's disappointingly non-specific."
Esset shrugged. "That's it for my knowledge of naturally occurring dragon-like species."
"So you're saying it might be a mage-construct. Erizen did mention the possibility," Toman said.
Esset nodded. "That means it might have some unexpected traits, but there's not much we can do to prepare for that," Esset acknowledged.
"So what's our basic plan then?" Toman asked.
Esset shrugged again. "Find the lair. If it's a cave, we might be able to trap it inside with a cave-in or something. That would be easiest. If something goes wrong, we did bring supplies. We can't make much more of a plan without more information, but unless it has abilities far beyond what we're aware of, this should be relatively easy."
Toman nodded his agreement. "Can we still call it a dragon? Just for simplicity's sake?"
Esset grinned crookedly. "But I want to call it a semi-drakish monstrosity."
Toman gave an exaggerated wince. "Let's go find that lair."
They could have found the lair by smell alone. The unfinished remains of rotting carcasses—and corpses—littered the ground around the mouth of the large but relatively shallow cave, which was more of the underside to an overhanging cliff that a true cave. Esset supposed that, given how large the creature supposedly was, it would be difficult for it to find any cave large enough to accommodate it. And if the monster was as big as the size of the lair suggested, then Mr. Carver hadn't been exaggerating.
They'd found the place by flying grid searches in the general direction that Mr. Carver had indicated. It had taken them beyond the grey area and into the neighboring territory. Now they flew lower to investigate more closely, since there was no sign that the beast was home now. As he drew nearer, Esset noticed some odd markings in the rocks around the lair. He gulped. The odd marks were gouges in the stone—gouges furrowed deep by claws that were likely as long as his arm or better. Between the gouges and the decomposing bodies of man and beast, there might as well have been "Here be monsters" written on this spot on the map.
"Good, it's gone," Toman said beside him. "You go keep an eye out for it in case it comes back. I'm going to see if I can't make some preparations."
"Sure thing. You be ready to fly if we need to," Esset said unnecessarily.
"Brother, I ain't even gonna dismount," Toman said, laughing. He was intimidated by the claw marks too, but he was still fairly confident.
They could easily handle the vast majority of creatures without magical abilities, Esset
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