Dragon Blossom

Of friends old and new

"Bestenar, my armor!"

Frey urged the young squire, to whom he was delegating more responsibilities each day and, therefore, more trust. The boy had started out clumsy and reluctant, but had become reliable and efficient as he'd noticed that Eri was annoyed when Frey praised him. Runa had no siblings, but she had lived long enough to understand the nature of their relationship.

In less than a minute, Frey was armed and ready. His armor was barely a light steel breastplate, greaves, and gauntlets; he didn't even wear chain mail. Dragonslayers needed the best balance between weight and protection, especially in moments like this.

"Eri!" Frey's firm order was met with the swift reaction of the little girl who bathed her father in her orange fire, granting him additional strength. Bestenar had already prepared Jumper for the knight to mount with a leap. He galloped past Runa who waited to do the same.

"Take care of Eri!" he shouted at the brat. "If anything happens to her, I'll hold you responsible." And so they rose on the pegasus, in search of the dragon. They had to scare it away or eliminate it before it attacked the caravan. They had been traveling with the ambassadors of Pellegrin for a week. They had seen it flying nearby that morning, unsure if it posed a threat, on the advice of Lady Mera, Eri had used her dragon voice to speak to it from a distance, but the response had been a bravado.

Runa rode behind her husband this time, holding him while imbuing him with magical power. Soon it was enough for his enchanted greatsword to materialize in his hand. They reached the winged monster flying a few hundred meters away, ready to attack. Jumper was adapting to Frey very quickly, moving as he did, it seemed like he was jumping on a floor of air when he dodged the flames of an intense red that the dragon launched at them. It was a beast of whitish blue scales, with a slender figure and long curved horns similar to those of bulls. It wasn't particularly large, but it proved agile and ferocious in the sky. Avoiding the attacks with sudden flaps and launching treacherous bites that Frey either avoided or deflected with his imposing sword.

Runa gave Frey even more magic until his sword shone as if it alone reflected all the sunlight, extending its reach. Frey adopted the unicorn pose and Jumper seemed to merge with him, flew in a straight line towards the dragon, avoiding its flames with sudden jumps to the sides without losing direction, the beast avoided the attack at the last second, diving and rising again to be behind them. Ready for his own attack.

Runa was ready. She wouldn't have been able to gather clouds to launch a lightning bolt, but when the dragon attacked their rearguard, she unbalanced it with a rain of ice arrows. Some even managed to wound it through its hard scales, the howl of pain gave them time to turn around and for Frey to adopt the hippogriff pose. Once again Jumper knew how to follow him and flew describing a curve that gave impetus to the side blow that impacted the monster's shoulder with only the tip, but it was enough to disable its right wing.

The beast roared, screamed, struggled and launched flames in all directions, but it was useless, it ended up falling in a spiral until it crashed into the trees of the small forest next to which they had camped.

Runa looked at the ground expecting to see the explosion, instead, her mixed eyes saw Lady Mera on the back of Moonlight, closely followed by Eri riding her young mare Peony. They were going straight to where the dragon had fallen. She got Frey's attention so they could intercept them.

"Miss, don't be afraid to spur your mount, hurry, or you won't arrive intime," Meraxes knew they couldn't waste the opportunity, when the war had reached them, they would need allies, if the dragon was still alive, her lady could subdue it, if not, she had already made the oath and could change to her true body if she needed to protect her. She was impressed by Eri's mount, the little mare had stopped growing but was almost as fast as adult horses. She let herself be guided by the girl as if she were as experienced as her parents. She followed her just a few meters behind.