Thread: A Slave to Fire (LeatrixSage x A Monster)

The evening was already settling hot and humid across the valley and the miniature city that sat by the river that cut down its center. A bend in the river had cut out a deep chunk of land that turned the Sandbar Township into something a small port city a few dozen miles inland from the ocean. It was that deep, wide river that was the lifes blood of the valley. All trade came up the winding Current River from the ocean, unloaded in Sandbar, and then fanned out across the valley to the smaller villages and far off keeps of the power and wealthy. The people here knew her as Enyo, the ravening goddess that had come down from the highlands as a small girl in seek of vengeance a decade before. She hadnt seen the village in years and coming back to it made her unusually moody. Either side of the wide valley was framed by mountains so high the people claimed they were the bodies of long dead giants and titans that had displeased the gods. It was those highlands that had been her home once. The homestead her father had built had sat just below the easternmost peak, where the sun would be sliced in half as it raised over the valley far below. As a girl, she had believed the sun had slept in that dreary old mountain. The scent of burning pine still brought out memories Cora would have rather long forgotten, along with the faces of her loved ones, and their twisted expressions. The wagon creaked as the wooden wheels settled into the ruts that pitted the muddy road that led through the main gate of the new walls that protected Sandbar. They hadnt been built when she had known the village in her youth, and by the looks of the rubble that was left of the western gate, the walls seemed to have failed at their job. In the distance she could see tendrils of smoke rising from still burning shops and homes, sandstone turned to char and ash, and piles of dead being stacked and prepared for burial. There must have been another attack while she had been on the road, and some of the good people of Sandbar were packing up their meager belongings into sacks and leaving. There was a small tide of them leaving by the main gate as the wagon shed hired for the last leg of journey shuttered down the road. She had seen many smaller groups of people making their way deeper into the valley, headed for larger cities and the sense of greater safety that they offered. This group was just the most recent to give up on their homes and run, the same as they had done in the face of any trouble that came their way. She pitied them for their hardship, and she hated them for their weakness. The governor of the township was under a lot of pressure from the crown to put an end to the dragon problem that was slowing trade. After the recent wars, the countrys coffers were in no fit state to handle the burden of a breakdown in trade routes. When he had been unable to offer up a sufficient defense, the crown had forced the penny -pinching bastard into sending out for dragon slayers. Cora had been two weeks away in Welbourne, learning the battle tactics of the elves that had once dominated the small kingdom, when she caught wind of the goings on. There hadnt been a dragon in the valley since she had left it, but knowing one was back she felt honor bound to return. When the wagon rocked to a stop before the half-smoldered Inn, the copper haired woman snagged her travelers pack and her swords and hopped down. Mud and clay splashed beneath her feet and sucked at her boots as she walked. It seemed the whole township had been doused in water in their attempt to keep everything they knew and loved from going up in flames. It was hard to believe a single dragon had caused so much destruction in so short a time. Only juveniles were given to roaming, but the waste this one had left in its path suggested the beast had to be a young adult at least. She doubted the attacks had been going on for very long without word getting out sooner, but an adult traveling to a new place was simply unheard of. Once they established a den, they didnt leave it. It made the entire situation much stranger than she had first suspected. Enyo, a cry went up that brought her attention to a well-dressed young man that hung on the edge of a boardwalk and waved frantically in her direction. Lady Enyo, over here! It seemed the little prat had trouble with getting dirt on his shoes, and instead of walking to her, he was alerting the entire damn town to her existence. Cora felt every pair of eyes within earshot turn her way and measure her worth. Each man and woman was trying to decide if they believed the stories, or if she looked like the warrior theyd heard whispered about, or if they thought she could even be Enyo at all. They made her skin crawl. Its Cora, she hissed at the man as she stepped up onto the board walk. She was not above stepping on his pristine shoes as she pushed past him, particularly when he was barely taller than her and obviously as soft as a noblewoman. You are the governor? His son, he groused, obviously miffed at his ruined shoes, but fell into step with the woman all the same. He sent me to catch you, there is no time for your meeting, and he demands-his voice caught and the little man swallowed as Cora turned to face him. He had watery blue eyes, like those of a sick horse, and he couldnt quite meet her steady gaze as he dried his sweaty palms by whipping them over his shirt. He demands? she prompted, her tone tight, clipped, and controlled. Shed spent a fortnight trying to get to this measly little village, and now she had the sense they were about to tell her that there was no place for her here. Ah, that you travel to the highlands right away, he continued, voice quivering in a way that made the warrior smile at him as if she were about to eat him alive. We have a horse for you, and you can take any provisions you need. There is a small Inn at the foot of the mountain where you can rest for the night- But, you are afraid the Dragon will hear a slayer has come for him and he will reign down terror on your sad excuse for a city? she finished for him, already knowing the story. It was typical, but it still raked her nerves raw. He was just a coward, she couldnt expect anything more of them. How many of them had ever even seen a dragon before? Where shed been killing them since she had been a child. She couldnt blame them for their fear, they didnt know any better. They needed people like her, but they feared her as much as they feared the dragon. Fine, she sighed, relenting because she was exhausted the small man was too easily spooked to be interesting. Lead the way. He was all too happy to see to her every whim, so long as she was leaving, and by the time she rode out of Sandbar, the sun was beginning to set over the valley. The twilight hours were the safest to travel, few species of dragon could stand the light of dusk and dawn. They saw brilliantly at night, and as well as an eagle during the day, but in twilight, gold and blue hours, they seemed to rely more strongly on scent and sound, and most wouldnt fly until it had passed. Shed be at her destination well before the sun had truly set if she kept a good canter, and she had dried meat to eat along the way so that she could sleep as soon as she arrived. Tomorrow, shed scale the mountain and seeks signs of the Dragon.