The day was warm and humid, unnaturally warm for the time of year as he recalled from his last visit to the area, and as he passed through the most recent town along the path his newest voyage took him upon, he looked for a tavern or inn to stop off in and rest for a bit to escape the sun and heat. Studying the small town as he walked, it dawned on him that he recalled having been in this particular town once upon a time, and with that realization, he remembered that the only such place to stop off in was on the other side of town unless of course a new one had been built; but judging from the size of the town and comparing it to his memory, he didn’t believe another had been built, and even if another one had, he remembered the keeper and his small inn being a jovial place without the distrust of strange armed men a lot of places had. Reaching the far side of town, he noticed that a small tavern had been built across the street from the little inn he remembered, and he thought to himself, Even small towns like this go through these sorts of changes in twenty years.
Taking only so much heed of the new establishment as noticing it entailed, he made his way over to and inside the small inn from his memory, and the changes twenty years could cause only became more apparent when he did. The small inn was quiet, save for the keeper, a lone bar maid, and a few customers, two of whom sat at a table in the corner to his right and another who sat alone to his left with a very sour look upon his face and malevolence in his eyes. That one smells of evil, he thought to himself, taking note of the angry man sitting alone to his left from the corner of his eye. I wonder what he’s been up to… or is currently up to? He made his way to the bar where he lithely sat himself down on a stool before waving the innkeeper over –the same innkeeper he remembered now twenty years older with most of his hair missing, what was left gray, and a rather rotund middle—and ordering what he remembered being the house best, a dark ale brewed by the keeper himself.
As the innkeeper set about filling his order, the bar maid made her way behind him over to the two men sitting to the right of the door, her gait overly cautious and reserved to him, and that other man sitting to his left caught his eye as he turned his head ever so slightly at the bar maid’s initial movement, noticing the man’s gaze following the bar maid almost lustfully until the man noticed his own head move when the look changed to what he could only think of as jealousy bordering on rage. He knew the man was trouble, but whether that trouble came from a true evil nature or idiocy due to lack of self control, he knew not. He just hoped the man wouldn’t do anything foolish enough to force him to have to take action to put him down because though he knew the man to be bad news he had no desire to be in a confrontation with the man until he could prove the man was evil of his own accord rather than an inability to control his rage.
The innkeeper came back to him moments later after he had moved his gaze from the man to deliberate on the information he had currently gathered from his observations, placing the mug of ale he’d ordered on the bar before him and commenting, “There you are, stranger. Hope you enjoy. That there’s the best dark brew within a hundred leagues of here.”
He smiled slightly, replying quietly as he removed a gold coin from his pants pocket and placing it on the bar, “So I’ve heard. Pardon me if I come of as slightly rude, but if this here is the best dark brew within a hundred leagues, why does it seem so dead in here, as if your competition across the street were getting most of the business in these parts?”
As he raised the mug to his lips, taking a light sip, the innkeeper leaned forward, palming the gold coin and replying even more quietly, “You see that guy off to your left? He came in here several months back and took a liking to Mirina over there, and though she’s repeatedly told him no, he’s stayed, beating up any of my customers that talked to her or even just looked at her in a manner he didn’t like. He’s driven off all my business except my most loyal customers and travelers like yourself.”
“And I take it local law hasn’t done anything about this disdainful menace?”
“Ha!” The innkeeper’s laugh seemed rather forced. “He seemed to scared after hearing tales of this man’s skills. The only thing I could think of. I got no help from him. He all but laughed me out of his office.”
“I thought the guy was trouble when I first stepped in and noticed him, but all I wanted was to get out of the heat for a bit and rest. Obviously though, someone needs to teach this man a lesson in…”
His sentence trailed off harshly as he heard Mirina shout, “Let go of me!” His head snapped in the direction of the man he and the innkeeper had been talking about to see him gripping Mirina’s right wrist with his left hand while his right was coming up as if to slap her. He reacted on instinct alone, motioning in that direction and snapping his fingers as he imagined in his mind the effect he wanted. The man yelled angrily at her:
“You won’t find better than me in this back woods village, so you should not be insulting…” The man’s hand had started coming forward half-way through his sentence, and the sentence trailed off in a scream of pain as his hand forcefully struck some invisible solid surface that had come to being between the arch of his hand and her face. He let go of her wrist to take hold of his own hand, and she fell backwards from trying to free herself from his grip, her tray and the glasses on it flying into the air to crash on the floor as she landed on her rear.
“Seems to me someone needs a lesson in being a gentleman, and lesson number one is that a gentleman never strikes a Lady unless that lady has taken up arms and chosen to become a combatant on the battlefield; and even then a gentleman should try to subdue her rather than actually strike her,” he commented sternly, turning on his stool and facing in the man’s direction before crossing his arms over his chest. “I see neither battlefield nor a Lady who has chosen to become a combatant. On the other hand I do see a very ignorant man who has chosen to make a battlefield of this town without knowing all the combatants present.”
The man glared maniacally at him, rubbing his bruised hand while he yelled back, “Mind your own business, you stupid mage, before I have to teach it to you, magic or no magic.”
He smirked slightly, uncrossing his arms and placing his left hand on the pommel of the bastard sword resting on his left hip and his right on the pommel of the long dagger on his right. “Sorcerer, you twit, and I guarantee I wouldn’t need my magic to get the better of an honor lacking weasel like yourself. Though I would suggest you either sit back down and shut up or leave because you’ve had far too much to drink and couldn’t handle a fight in your condition any way.” He paused momentarily and as the man looked about to starting saying something he continued, “On second thought, I would suggest you leave this town and never come back. You’ve caused enough trouble here already, and if you insist on remaining and continuing to cause more, I’ll be forced to dissuade you from that course of action, permanently if need be.”
Perhaps he had said to much, doing more to goad him into an altercation than dissuade him from it, instead persuading him to leave as he suggested, but some times he just couldn’t help himself besides the fact that he new the guy’s type. If he had tried to persuade the guy to leave, it would have only postponed the inevitable because the guy’s eyes shouted psychotic with too much testosterone, and with that information he believed it better to dispense with the unpleasantries sooner rather than later. Furious, the guy reached to his side, tearing the sword there free of its scabbard as he charged forward maniacally intent on killing what he found to be a loud mouthed nuisance to teach him a lesson. He could but smirk as the guy did this, knowing full well that there was no way the guy could fathom exactly what it was he had just gotten himself into, and he bounded forward to meet the man’s charge, easily side stepping the man’s enraged –and thus careless—downward slash and lowering himself down slightly, turning his body to the left just enough to where he was able put his shoulder square into the man’s chest from a low enough angle when he vaulted up from his slightly lowered position to lift the man into the air and forcefully slam him down on the top of a nearby table. The guy’s sword clattered to the floor as the breath was knocked from him and he attempted to break free of his adversary’s grasp.
Easily fending off the guy’s futile attempts to break his grasp, he pulled the dagger at his belt free of its sheath and slammed it into his right shoulder literally staking him to the table by his right shoulder to the sound of the man screaming in pain. Leaving the dagger in place for a moment, he moved around the table where he knelt down and grasped the hilt of the man’s sword, picking it up as he stood back fully erect before taking hold of the hilt of his dagger as he came back around the table, forcefully twisting his wrist and wrenching the blade of the dagger to the left so as the make the wound that much more painful as he harshly tore it free with a splattering of blood, the man screaming out in pain again. “Now let’s see you try using that hand again any time soon to attempt hitting a woman. I would suggest listening to me this time. Get out of here while my generosity is still intact, and don’t ever come back. Our next encounter will not go quite so pleasantly for you if you irk me any more.” He walked over to the bar, completely turning his back on his vanquished opponent as if he no longer existed, where he placed the man’s sword on the counter and commented, patting the hilt, “A keep sake to remember this day, friend.” He turned back around at the sound of shuffling feet and saw his vanquished adversary making his way towards and then out the door, a small trail of blood following him out, and noticed the other two men in the bar staring completely dumb struck at him. “And sorry about the mess,” he added following the blood trail from the table to the door with his eyes, dismissing the other two men as unimportant at the current juncture in time.
“Think nothing of it,” the innkeeper replied as he heard the sword slide across the surface of the bar behind him. “That mess will be cleaned up in a jiff, and it’s well worth the effort to clean it up if he’s truly gone for good.” Listening to the innkeeper talk, he moved over to Mirina who was still sitting on the floor amidst the broken shards of the glasses she had dropped when she fell, almost as if dumb struck by the suddenness of what had just occurred… or perhaps in shock that it had happened because of her as she saw it in her mind. He knelt down in front of her, and she came out of her dumb struck state, her gaze immediately snapping to his face as it came into her field of vision.
“Are you alright, my Lady?” he asked her softly, his left elbow resting on his knee, his chin resting lightly in the palm of his left hand and his right hand resting on his left shoulder –quite intentionally away from the hilt of either his sword or his dagger—a gentle smile on his face.
She blushed slightly under his concerned gaze, surprised that a strange man seemed so concerned for her well-being. “Well, I suppose nothings… uh, really hurt… uh, other than my bruised bottom. But this awful mess…”
“Don’t worry about it,” he commented cutting her short, as he reached over, picked up her tray and started picking up shards of glass, setting them on the tray. “We’ll have this cleaned up with no problem. I’m just glad to see he didn’t hurt you. I don’t know what the conversation was about, but I know you were not deserving of the way he was treating you. He’s just lucky all he did was leave here a sword short and the temporary inability to use his dominant hand.”
“Why do you care so much, if I may ask? You’re a traveler through here, so it’s not like you had to do anything about it.”
“Traveler, perhaps, but unlike some, I do not simply stand by idly while a vagrant like that assaults anyone and most especially not when a vagrant like that assaults a lady. A lady deserves naught but respect from any man.” By this time they had finished gathering the shards and pieces of broken glass and stacked them carefully on her tray, and both of them walked back to the bar, where he proceeded to take his mug in hand and take a light draw of the dark ale. Setting the glass back down he started to reseat himself on his stool and stop in mid motion, appearing to sniff at the air for a moment before his eyes momentarily flashed with rage as he turned towards the door. “And now this shall be finished,” he stated harshly as he turned towards the door. “I can’t believe that fool returned.” He stalked towards the door and out, his right hand held out at his side with the palm up and what appeared to be a small red orb resting there. Mirina, the innkeeper, and the only two customers all followed him out quickly, extremely surprised by his sudden out burst, to see him facing the man he had put to sham earlier inside, his right shoulder still bleeding, with a sword in his left hand, and the captain of the town militia and his second in command.
“I’ve come to take you in for assault,” the commander intoned to the stranger, to which he replied:
“I don’t think I’ll let you do anything right now, Captain. As a matter of fact, at this point, I think the only way this is going to end is with one of us dead. I understand it now. I smell the corruption on you just as I do on him,” he nodded with his chin towards the man he had beaten easily earlier. “That one’s the brigand I’ve heard stories about recently, attacking travelers through this area for the last couple of months, and you wouldn’t help the innkeeper here by dispelling him from the town when you knew he was causing nothing but grief and hardship on the innkeeper’s business because he’s been bribing you with part of his take from each robbery.” His gaze moved to the second in command before continuing, “As for you, I’d simply suggest staying out of this. I don’t smell the corruption on you, so I have no reason to harm you because obviously you had no idea about any of this.”
“Shut up, mage,” his earlier adversary spat. “You’re full of shit, and now that you broke the law it’s time you paid the price.”
He smirked slightly at that comment, appearing to bounce the red orb in his hand before replying, “You honestly have no idea who much less what you’re dealing with do you? You both know full well that I’m speaking the truth. If you weren’t in on something together, the good,” he spit the word good mockingly at the captain, “Captain here wouldn’t have come to challenge me on your behalf, having not been willing to challenge you when others came to him with reports of your deeds because obviously if he was unwilling to confront you because of your abilities rather than your conspiracy he wouldn’t have come here to confront me when I beat you so easily and so thoroughly earlier.” His smirk grew till it was a full faced smile before he commented, “Now, let’s see, how exactly would you dim wits know me…? Ah yes, I remember, my reputation in this area was as the Golden Scourge as I recall, though in this current form I don’t quite look so golden,” he laughed. With a snap of the fingers of his left hand, the image of a young, hearty traveler started to melt away, eventually leaving a humanoid reptile with scales of gold that shone brightly in the blazing sun, the obvious half breed child of a human and a gold dragon. “Now how full of shit do you think I am? You know full well what I say is truth because golden dragons can detect evil and deceit as they are the very incarnation of goodness and virtue and even their half-breed, bastard children have that ability being born of their blood and their virtue.”
“Parlor tricks and illusions,” the Captain retorted, but before he could continue the half golden dragon shot back:
“You’re as dim as your friend over there if you truly believe that. Only a complete moron would consider falsely taking the guise of my kind, knowing the persecution we go through for being neither fully human nor fully dragon, disdained by both races for our half breed states. It’s not exactly a very intelligent intimidation tactic, but then again, I do suppose neither of your fortes would be intelligence, now would they? Now shall we dispense with this pretense and finish this? Your lack of original, intelligent arguments is starting to bore me.” Motioning with his left hand towards the people behind him, he said, “Now all of you need to back away from this. I don’t want any of you getting hurt accidentally when this goes off.” He bounced the red orb in his right hand again for emphasis before bending his knees slightly into some sort of fighter’s stance. And as the four of them backed up closer towards the inn and the captain’s second also backed away closer towards the tavern across the street, the captain came charging at him with sword unsheathed and its point coming at his heart in a thrusting motion. Stepping to his right to allow the sword to sail well past his person, the captain’s momentum continuing to carry him forward, he thrust forward with the heel of his left hand, striking the captain in the chest with enough power to send him flying backwards in the air to land on his back nearly five feet away with a thud, a very painful moan and his sword skidding across the road out of reach. Taking the offense, the half dragon started forward at the very same time his previous adversary did, and snapping his gaze to the man, he smiled just reaching the captain before the fool man, and he threw the little red orb he’d been holding in his right hand forcefully towards the ground.
With a deafening roar it exploded in a blaze of flames nearly ten foot high and ten foot across in a cylindrical shape, the blast knocking his earlier opponent flying away from him, hair and clothes singed and sword also skidding across the street from him as he crashed back to the earth, and the flames engulfing and cutting off from view both him and the captain who had currently been struggling to regain his feet, leaving only screams of pain issuing from the cylinder. As the man tried to get back to his feet, the half dragon burst from the flames of his spell, leaping at the man and sending him back to the ground with a heel planted firmly against is chest. As the guy struggled to get out from under the half dragon’s pin, the half dragon’s eyes moved to the captain’s sword lying a few feet away and he jerked his head to his right, the sword flying up into the air above his head and arching back down to drive home into his opponent’s left shoulder, staking him to the road as he had the table in the inn earlier with a scream of pain. Removing his foot, he looked up at the other sword lying just in front of him, and it also began to float in the air, floating towards him and making a number of elegant strokes as if being wielded by an invisible swordsman.
“You… You Devil,” the man screamed up at him, stuttering as he futilely attempted to remove the sword from his shoulder so he could get back up despite the fact that he was in no condition to continue the fight being unable to wield a sword in either hand now.
“Monster perhaps though only to idiots like you that caused me to earn the reputation the Golden Scourge, but I’m definitely no devil… I’m the wrong color, you twit,” the half dragon chuckled, waving a golden arm in the man’s face in reply before continuing: “Now as I recall, didn’t I say if you irked me any further that our next meeting wasn’t going to go nearly as pleasantly for you?” The sword spun around in the air above the man, eventually coming to a stop at his bidding with the tip aimed down at his adversary’s head before forcefully descending towards the earth to stake the man’s head to the road, killing him instantly without a scream of any sort, only a gurgle of blood and a few spasms. “You had your warning,” he intoned before shrugging and turning from the body to the captain’s corpse, burned beyond recognition now that the flames of his spell had died away to reveal the spot where the captain had been. His eyes moved up to the second in command, and he commented, “Looks like you just got promoted. Why’d you back away like I asked anyway?”
The new captain’s reply came quickly, “I was young the last time you came through here twenty years ago, but I still remembered you when you took your true form. You helped that same innkeeper then as you did now, so I was certain you were telling the truth and the captain there had indeed been involved in illegal goings on.”
He smiled slightly, “Well now, seems this town’s going to have an intelligent Captain of the militia for a change. Seems like I just did the whole town a favor, though I must say I’m surprised that you remembered me after twenty years.”
“You were the reason I joined the militia. I wanted to help others and keep the people of this town safe as you had. How could I forget you? You were a bigger influence on me than my own father was.” He chuckled slightly.
“Glad to see my little episode
twenty years ago was a good influence on someone.” He smiled, and before he could continue, the innkeeper piped up:
“Rynach, you old dog, why
didn’t you say it was you when you walked in earlier?”
Rynach turned to face the innkeeper and replied, “Because I didn’t figure anyone here would remember me after twenty years. It’s not like I was here that long, and you were really the only person who’s life I affected anyway… or so I thought till just now.” He turned back around, looking first at the body of the fool who had started this whole thing and then to the captain’s charred corpse. “I suppose we should really clean this up, eh?”
The new captain replied, “I’ll get the undertaker right on that.” But as he spoke, Rynach started concentrating and within moments a portal of some sort appeared that looked to open up into nothing but darkness.
“I would suggest all of you staying back while that portal is open. My uh… acquaintance –for lack of a better word—in there might attempt popping his head out, though he’s a little too large to actually fit through the portal itself.” Using his magic, he threw first the captain’s charred remains through the portal and then the other man’s, swords and all, before closing the portal. “I’ve not allowed the burial of villains I’ve vanquished, Captain,” he intoned after he had finished with his work, “because some times after burial they come back as undead, far worse than they ever were in life. They’ll be eaten by my acquaintance there, not allowing them to return as undead unless they want to return as ghosts.” He shrugged, unconcerned whether or not they believed him. “Now maybe I can finish my drink without being bothered by any more idiots like those two. You’re welcome to join me, Captain. Drinks are on me.”
“No, drinks are on me,” the innkeeper replied. “You just helped this town and my business yet again. I couldn’t possibly expect you to pay for drinks after that.”
Looking around Rynach noticed the two men who had been in the inn before all this started were now across the street conversing with people that had come out from the tavern and that there were a number of other people who had come out from other buildings nearby, and all of them were staring at his golden-scaled form shimmering in the sun. “Well, I suppose there’s no point in me returning to my other form now, is there?” he asked sarcastically as he turned back towards the inn and motioned for all of them to enter. A number of other people entered the tavern after them, most likely all old customers of the innkeeper’s driven away by the guy he’d just killed, and there was much celebrating taking place with the people in the inn taking turns toasting to his and the Captain’s health. As he sat there enjoying the jovial atmosphere he remembered from this inn twenty years ago, Mirina sat down next to him, evidently off shift as he saw another bar maid hurrying about the room taking and filling orders, or perhaps was given a break by the innkeeper to relax after having experienced all that.
“You came all this way to find him?” she asked him, referring to the brigand he’d dispatched.
He smiled slightly before replying jokingly, “And you came all the way over here to ask me that question?” He took another sip from his glass before continuing, “No. I came this way because of rumor of a different evil. I didn’t hear stories about him till I was already in the area, and I thought I’d come here on the way in the hopes of finding him and dealing with him in due order… and that I did. So what are you really wanting to know, Mirina?” he asked her, smiling slightly and locking his gaze with hers.
She returned his smile, though she broke from his gaze and turned away from him slightly before responding, “It’s a silly question, but I was wondering if you’d take me along with you when you leave. I want to see the world, not be a bar maid all my life, but I…father wouldn’t let me just go out into the world by myself. ‘It’s a dangerous place,’ he’d say.” She fell silent, obviously embarrassed by her request.
He took another sip from his drink before replying, “Well, I suppose I could teach you how to use a sword if that were to be your desire, but I can’t really teach you magic. I’m a sorcerer, so my magical aptitude is all innate, born of the blood gifted me by my father’s dragon heritage. I must warn you now though; I’m a dangerous person to be around. I have many enemies, and I face many foes with tremendous power. Traveling with me will not be an easy path, and if you hope to survive it, you’ll need to learn well what I teach you. I’m not the Golden Scourge for nothing, after all.”
“I’ll learn well anything you teach me if you only take me with you. I promise that.”
“Well, if you’re not dissuaded knowing what you face traveling with me, I have no problem showing you the world provided your father has no quarrel with it.” And thus would be the start of a beautiful partnership: the Dragon Knight and Mirina, destined to become a great swordsman and eventually one of the greatest arch mages to ever live. But those are different tales for different days.