Eternal Beasts

Outpost

The big human came to a halt as he moved into the shadow of a large building on the edge of the town. Easing to the corner, he looked into the street. And immediately frowned. What the hell? The place looked well used, a trade town if what he read about them in the book was accurate. And it also looked recently used.

Yet, it was completely empty. Like there was no life. Not a person, a dog, or even a rat skulking in the shadows, looking for garbage to eat. Just nothing.

Then he grunted as something big knocked into him from behind. Staggered a step or two to catch his balance, he whirled around to face it, hand on the hilt of his hunting knife. Only to have his entire body go numb at what he found facing him.

"A dragon!" he breathed hoarsely, eyes flying wide.

Like out of the fantasy movies, the massive head was the size of a small car, reptilian, almost dinosaur-like, with quadruple horns, plate-sized eyes, and a fang-festooned snout that oozed smoke from fist-sized nostrils. The whole of it was armored in smooth, red-tinged black scales in various sizes and shades, the eyes with their slit pupils, a stunning shade of green.

- Not what you expected, my lord? - a warm, friendly male voice said into his mind, forcing him to take another step back.

Where he ran into something else, thankfully significantly smaller than the dragon's massive head, attached to a neck that had craned around the far corner to bring it close.

"You're lucky, friend," a woman's voice said in Qaysho, the darkling tongue, from behind him. "Usually Magnus just eats anybody that isn't me or one of my flight."

Jared looked over his shoulder. And found himself gazing upon a cholim woman, and a tall one, standing only a hand shorter than him. No, wait, not cholim. Something else.

She had the same heart shaped face, with the angled eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes. Yet her pointed ears, visible because she had pulled her long, dark, curly hair into a more functional tail, weren't as sharply pointed as the necromancer's, or those belonging to the four he had killed outside of Black Bend. Nor was her skin the same shade, more brown than grey or slate, her eyes a bright purple instead of the red he had seen all five cholim sport.

"Lucky, indeed," he said, also in Qaysho before flashing a quick smile. "Forgive me, my lady, I'm afraid you took me by surprise, which stole my manners."

With a glance at the dragon who, if he was correctly judging from the energy he was sensing emanating from it, was amused by his awkwardness, he turned to the woman and bowed his head.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jared," he said before straightening up. Where the dragon, presumably this Magnus the woman had referred to, reached forward to bump him in the back again, this time giving off affectionate vibes.

"Kaylee," the woman, who was extraordinarily attractive despite resembling a dark elf, replied with a smile. "And I'm no lady. I'm a dragon rider." She then stuck out her hand.

It took everything that the big man had to not hold down his hand and mentally summon the sword he had fought the darklings with at hearing that. And even more to reach out with his own hand and take her forearm in the accepted handshake common here, on Ethaeron, according to the book.

"Pleasure," he managed, to which she laughed softly as she gave his forearm a light squeeze before letting it go..

"Is it, Jared?" she retorted. "Because it looked like you wanted to draw steel on me for a second there."

- You may be a lord of the Eternal Beasts, but I couldn't allow you to do that, Jared, - the male voice added into his mind.

Oddly enough, that prompted Jared to turn and lay a light hand on the dragon's warm snout.