What hit me first was the smell. Concentrated urine and a scent that felt like an unholy marriage of dog and cat faeces caught in the back of my throat. The room I’d entered was the size of a large mess hall and was brimming with gold coins, jewels of different sizes up to the size of my fist and items of various decorative purposes. There were also broken pieces of armour, helmets, weapons and what looked like the contents of a blacksmith's. Dragons weren’t known to be particularly fussy about their hoards, merely going after the shiniest objects they could find, before swallowing them whole and retreating to their nest, waiting for their ill-gotten gains to come out the other side, hence the smell.

  There was a clutch of three eggs to my left, each of them smashed, the shards lay strewn across the gold-covered ground like a child would discard an object they were holding when their interest was seized by something else. My hands gripped the spear tighter, a slight throb in the backs of both of them telling me that whatever poultice Gertha had used had pretty much finished its work. That was good. I’d need them to take on a Dragon.

  I looked back at Eggs.

  “You ate three Dragon hatchlings?”

  Eggs chirruped, and their mouth hung slightly open as their frill and eyes widened. I took that to be the closest Eggs could manage to a smile, given how it stoked the embers of my heart.

  I picked my way through the Dragon’s hoard. I could see a significant impression, easily the size of ten horses, lying side by side in the middle of the room. I was awed by the scale of it, imagining how big the Dragon must be, stealing a glance at Eggs, I wondered how big they might get in time.

  My awe subsided and was quickly replaced by an alert sense of fear. I was right where this Dragon slept, where it laid its eggs, and if it returned here to find me standing here by three smashed eggs and one of its hatchlings’ corpses, then I would be eaten.

  “TULLEN!? WHERE ARE YOU?” I heard Sayo call from the courtyard. I ran out to meet her, delivering the firmest and most urgent shush I have ever had in my life. I did not want to risk the mother Dragon coming back so soon. Eggs bounded after me, chirruping as if we were playing a game.

  Gertha was now supporting Sila, as Sayo looked at me, her mouth half open as I put my finger to my lips and got closer.

  “There is a Dragon hoard in the tower. Eggs smashed all of its…eggs.”

  “A hoard?” Gertha gasped.

  “Eggs destroyed a clutch?” Sila’s eyes had widened like small round shields.

  I motioned with my free hand, slowly moving down to quieten them.

  “Sayo, take Sila, I’m going to grab what I can,” Gertha whispered.

  “You won’t want to put those coins in your mouth, trust me,” I said.

  “I’ll boil them first. I can’t taste anyway.” She smirked and went inside the room.

  “Gertha, we can’t wait here long. We’ve nearly lost all light.” I softly called to her, but whether she heard me or not, I couldn’t say.

  I looked at Sila and Sayo, anxious that a Dragon would descend on us at any moment and not knowing how long Gertha would take.

  “You two take cover, and I’ll check the perimeter,” I commanded, relieved that I was met with no argument. Sayo and Sila huddle near a wall while I walked around the tower, Eggs following behind me like a loyal hound. If a hound could fly, breathe fire and was large enough to almost ride before being thrown off. They trotted behind me, on all fours, their wings creating a mild breeze which kissed my neck from behind. I resolved to work on that last part.

  I was rewarded a short while later with tracks that clearly belonged to a Dragon on the other side of the tower to the entrance Eggs had used. They looked to be perhaps a day or two old, I could tell because the edges of the marks were rounded and there a few leaves inside some of the identations. The tracks led to a large opening in the tower, much larger than the one Eggs had entered through. This opened into a separate room, smaller than the hoard room, but it had a vast, clawed-out hole in its centre.

  This was where the Dragon burrowed down underneath the ground. I didn’t dare explore it for fear it might be beneath its hoard, resting. I followed the tracks in the other direction, and they led me to another part of the wall, marred by claw marks and missing bricks, which disappeared about halfway up.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  So this Dragon liked to climb to take flight? Interesting and also worse than I thought.

  If the beast was that bloody heavy, it needed a helping hand to get in the air, then it was bigger and older than most. Which meant it was smarter. I didn’t want to hang around here any longer than I needed to, so I jogged back to the hoard, ignoring the quizzical looks Sayo and Sila gave me.

  I entered the hoard room. I couldn’t see Gertha, but the sounds of coins trickling down coinheaps told me that she was in the far corner.

  “Gertha, it’s time to move. We need to find somewhere safe to camp for the night.”

  “Yes, yes, fine. I have more than enough now.” Gertha’s head poked up from behind one of the coin heaps. She’d filled her bag to near bursting, and I could see the shine of gold and silver before she fastened it shut.

  “Ok, I’ll grab Sayo and Sila,” I said.

  “Tull, catch.”

  I whirled around, and Gertha tossed a diamond the size of my fist. I snatched it out of the air in awe. I’d never held a diamond before, let alone one bigger than any I’d seen even at a distance.

  “What in the Mummer’s-”

  “We’ll need an offering for the Arcuzane, and they love these rocks,” Gertha said, stuffing a handful of coins into her pockets.

  “Why do I have it then?”

  “It gleams like the sun in the right light, and you’re the most Lizard proof.” She grinned and patted the side of my face.

  “So I’m the bait then?” I asked.

  “Such a clever young man, it’s why I like you, lad.” Gertha chuckled and exited through the hole in the wall.

  I followed after her, Eggs shadowing me. Sayo and Sila came to meet her halfway in the middle of the courtyard with Eggs and me close behind.

  “Sila needs rest,” Sayo said.

  “Agreed, but we can’t stay in this area. A Dragon made its lair here, and we’d be standing peasants in a field if we didn’t make some distance.” I added.

  “We’ve nearly lost the light.” Gertha groaned.

  “Then we travel in the dark, as soon as we stumble across a place to camp. We stop and take turns keeping watch.”

  “Fine, but you’ll go first.”

  I sighed, not bothering to reply, and the five of us made our way into the night.

  #

  It was near pitch black when we came across an abandoned hamlet, perhaps a thirty-minute trek from the fortress. It had only eight buildings, each of them either an old home or a building of craft. I could make out the long-dead furnace of a smithy, illuminated by the moon’s light. The smallest building on our left was once a cottage, now a husk with a third of its roof missing. It was notable that the windows and the door were intact. It creaked slightly as I opened it and ushered everyone inside.

  Eggs didn’t fit through, but managed to enter through the roof with a quick flap of their wings. Leaves were strewn across the floor, which had a slimy sheen. It smelled of damp and mould, especially near the ceiling opening. The furniture was still vaguely intact, but the fireplace lay empty, as did what might have been a welcoming threshold in better times was now empty.

  I leaned in toward the others, whispering, “This will do until dawn breaks, then we should check out the other buildings, just in case there are others here, so do not make any noise.”

  Eggs raised their head to sniff as the others leaned in toward me.

  “We could check them out now?” Sayo hissed back to me.

  “No, Tull’s right, we’ll get separated in the dark, and there are things in the wilds with much better night sight than humans.” Gertha cradled Sila’s head in her arms as he started to drift off into sleep. He looked utterly exhausted.

  “Look, it’s not perfect, but I’ll take the first watch, then Sayo, then Gertha. Okay?” I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring manner, but I remembered Ulther used to tell me it was the sort of smile that made women and small children cross the street, as if his was any better.

  Over the next half an hour, Gertha and Sayo drifted into sleep as Eggs coiled around them. I smiled; at least they’d be somewhat comfortable resting against Eggs. A wing covered my friends, and I hoped it would give them a semblance of warmth. Eggs was still awake, though, sniffing and tasting the air, then looking at me with the big golden eyes.

  “Nice to have a watch partner again,” I whispered, and I kept low as I watched out of each window in turn. I couldn’t see much beyond the smithy in the moonlight; the impenetrable darkness obscured the rest. I couldn’t help but think this was going to be an uneventful watch, and as the familiar sensation of fatigue began to weigh more heavily on me, I wished I could just drift off into sleep.

  My eyes were watering and my brain swimming when Eggs sniffed several times, and I heard the gentle scrape of claw on wood as they shifted. Their growl snapped me out of my state, and I immediately looked out of the nearest window. The moon had come out in its fullest now, and most of the hamlet was dimly lit by it.

  I saw eight figures in various states of ill-fitting clothing by the smithy, circling it slowly, searching high and low.

  “Are you shitting me?” I hissed in a hushed tone. I turned to the others who had started stirring when Eggs had shifted. I could just about make out their faces, so I padded over, as silent as a fox, so they could see me. I held a finger to my lips, and they all nodded.

  I turned back to the window where I’d seen the eight figures. Clothes hung off emaciated, withered bodies, wisps of hair hung from nearly bald heads.

  I drew my blade and swore to myself once again.

  They were moving in perfect synchronicity.