The Dragon's Cry

You look at the two battalions closing in on you, the strange woman at your side, and the town below the castle walls. I don't care what she's got planned -- I'm getting the hell out of here!

Still in your half-dragon state, you reach out and grab the woman.

"Fool! What do you think you are doing!" she screams, preparing to wriggle herself free. She starts to scratch your arm, then prepares to raise her hand as she did when she launched the fireball at the guards -- but then it is too late.

You leap from the parapet, hearing swords clash briefly behind you, and begin the glide down to the town. The wind rushing past you is exhilarating. It has been so long since you last felt the air beneath your wings. The cool rush, however, is soon stifled by the heat coming from below.

It seems no building is untouched by the fire that rages below. Some are only smoldering heaps of charcoal, blackened shells of the homes and businesses they were before. Some are singed, but intact. And others are still in flames, an inferno your town hasn't seen since your grandfather's youth.

You can feel the woman's eyes staring at you with anger, but your thoughts are caught up with something else -- you've just spotted your family's inn -- and it is no more than a pile of cinders surrounding the metal stove.

You land, ignoring the woman's curses, combing through the wreckage for your parents. Tossing blackened beams out of your way, you are suddenly hit from behind and knocked to the ground.

"Imbecile! You could have ruined everything! Our rendezvous was on the castle walls! Now they will miss us and we must track them down!"

"Listen, in case you didn't notice, we were about to be attacked! From both sides! Does the word 'outnumbered' mean anything to you?"

She narrows her eyes and speaks in a cold tone: "Do not presume so much, dragonling. I had everything under control until you took us down here."

You hear a low groan from nearby. Forgetting the woman for the moment, you immediately search for its source. Again tossing blackened timbers out of your way, you uncover a face...

"Father!" you cry.

"Shree... you're alive!"

"Don't try to speak, Father." You begin clearing debris from around him.

He coughs, and says, wheezing, "It's too late for me. Your mother. They took your mother."

"Where!"

"I don't kno-- *hack* *wheeze* *cough* *cough* *cough*" He looks at you with concern when his coughing fit ends. "Shree -- listen to me. You must find the Children of the Ring. Only they can find your mother. And beware of Shadow. And Shree--" He goes into another coughing fit. "...there is... *cough* *hack* *cough*..."

After this last coughing fit, your father can speak no more. His breathing troubled and shallow, he gasps in short breaths until he stops breathing, his eyes looking toward you, but past you, as if to something behind you. Tears welling in your eyes, you reach out and close your father's eyelids. Soon, you will have to dig him out so he can be buried properly. But right now you just want to go back to the dungeon you were trapped in and hide there, hidden from view.

As you turn, you see the sliver-clad woman with a troubled look on her face.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I kept him alive as long as I could. I had no idea -- we thought he had escaped."

You feel anger welling up inside you as you slowly walk towards her, towering over her. "What do you mean, 'you thought he had escaped?'"

"He-- knew much of a group I have been working with. I believe that is why you and your mother were taken. More, I cannot say."

"What do you mean, you cannot say?"

Her eyes flash fire, pinning you to where you stand. "I mean exactly that. I warn you, dragonling, do not attempt to touch me again. I only allowed you to do so before because we were dozens of meters in the air. You do not want there to be a next time."

You look back at your father, slowly digging him out. What was he talking about? you wonder.

"I cannot say who the Children of the Ring are, but Shadow is the name of a crime syndicate in the mountains to the east. Smugglers, bandits, embezzlers."

You finish clearing your father's body, and, returning to human form, take him to the town temple where you leave him in care of the priests.

Now you have to decide what to do next. You could go searching for Shadow. Dangerous they might be, but at least you might have a lead on the mysterious Children of the Ring.

Or you could look for the silver woman's contact. She does seem to want to help you, and she appears to know -- have known -- your father. She did have the patience to let you take him here. She clearly knows more than you do about what's going on, and there's no guarantee that she would come with you to the mountains -- or even allow you to go.

You hear a rustle of steel in the distance, and the woman whispers, "Royal Guards."

You don't have much time.

What will you do?

Contributed by Kelson Vibber


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