Warriors of the Dragon

Dragon Smugglers

They spent the following day preparing for the journey to the frozen North and as the afternoon turned to evening, they checked the shipyard for the ship Ariemme had promised to provide them. The shipmaster told Dawn that they had a ship arriving at noon tomorrow with the naiads the Empress had promised. Dawn was surprised and nervous to hear that the ship they'd be on would be manned by naiads, but preferred them over human men anyway.

They had to borrow horses to pull the furs they had bought for their dragons and they led them to the outside of the city as the sun started to go down in order to check that they were enough to cover their dragons.

When they left their dragons with the promise that they could join them on the docks at noon the next day, the sun had gone down completely and they returned the horses and wagon to their owner before they made their way back to the tavern. Especially as a group, they found it difficult not to gather too much attention in the streets, but it was only near the taverns after the occupants had had too much to drink that the strangers got too close.

Dawn had her veil drawn over her face as she made her way into the tavern first and Sephira tensed behind Craven when she saw a large, old naiad man position himself in Dawn's way and reach his hand down to touch her. Dawn stepped back in disgust, but before she was forced to defend herself, Craven had his hand on the man's throat.

"Hands off." He growled, before tossing the heavy man into one of the tables. The men whose table he was thrown into were angry but none dared get up to challenge the tall, muscular orc warrior.

"Thank you." Dawn told Craven, quietly, putting her slender ivory-handled dagger back in its pale leather holster.

"Maybe we can get food up in our rooms?" Isolde suggested meekly.

"Hide in your rooms!" A man shouted as Dawn, Craven, and Markus started to descend the stairs. Sephira found herself at the back of the group when a large human man got up from the table close to her and pretended to not notice her as he waited close to her as if he were about to walk by. She was achingly aware of his eye on her and as he suddenly made a move to grab her, she took her dagger out lightning fast and let its sharp dragon-glass blade swipe through his forearm, spraying her mask with blood. His screams made the others turn around on the stairs as the man fell to his knees predictably holding up what was left of his arm as the blood sprayed with each heartbeat and poured down his elbow. Another man made a move to grab her and she chose to not use deadly force and used his own inertia to let him fall into the bar before she kicked his head into the edge of the counter to knock him out. The third attacker was a naiad with a knife and he tried to take her by surprise, but she blocked his attack with her dagger so fast it knocked the knife out of his hand. She could've killed him but instead kicked him in the stomach making him fall over an empty stool with the wind knocked out of him. She had drawn one of her swords and pointed it at his throat threateningly.

"You touch me, you die." Her voices warned making the other men shrink back. The naiad man had fear in his eyes as he put his hands up in defeat. The whole thing had happened so fast the others in the tavern had only had time to freeze and watch. Isolde covered her mouth in shock at the horrific sight of the wailing man gripping the stub of his arm and Markus grabbed her shoulders gently to guide her away from the scene after Sephira had stormed up the stairs past them. The male dark elf knocked the wailing one-armed man out with a quick flick of his arm before disappearing up the stairs.

"Should we leave the tavern?" Markus whispered to Dawn in panic, side-eyeing Sephira in fear as she entered the room.

"None of them are dead. They can go to a different tavern." Craven announced indignantly. Sephira picked up an empty bottle and hurled it into the fireplace. It smashed into a million pieces making Dawn yell out and Markus jump back out of the room.