Well, the ship had stopped rocking so much. So we had landed. I itched, my blood boiled. I needed to get out, I needed to Hunt. I needed to get out of the ship. This was infuriating, there was a beast that needed to be slain, and yet that hateful, stupid woman was prolonging it, furthering the risk to her daughter. At some point Radford had left me - we'd landed, and he shot off. I couldn't blame him - I wanted to too.
The sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hall made me blink, tensing up. This was a different set of footsteps, a boot tread that I did not know. Which meant - what. I saw a figure moving very swiftly, flashing past the bars before I could make out who or what it was - and then there was the sound of rattling at the cell door, and it was thrown open, the force making the door bounce off the wall. It was a man. The first I had seen since Philomel and I left the tavern before.
“You.” His voice was rough, thick. “You can track? Track her? And kill that thing?” I blinked, and slowly nodded. Light blue eyes pierced at mine as the man's lips formed a line. “Hmm,” he grunted and then wildly gestured at the manacles at my hands.
“Lift them.”
I slowly lifted my hands up into the air. What on earth - who was this, and what was going on? Was I about to be freed? Was I about to be put on the Hunt?
“The deal is you track, find and possibly help us kill it. In all honesty the Princess could do the killing by herself but,” he shrugged, and looked right at me. “Two thousand gold. Do you accept?”
“You wish me to Hunt. Of course I accept.” I could pretty much care less about the money, they wished me to hunt. I surged to my feet, lifting my hands as much as I could. My body hummed in anticipation. I just hoped this was in time to save the girl.
The other man leant forwards and produced a small key that looked ridiculous in his massive hands. He worked it into the manacles and they fell free.
“Context, I am Vaeron. The kid is my idiot daughter as well, biologically speaking. That is the last time you mention fatherhood to me.” He threw the manacles to the ground. “Ready to go now?” he said without another pause. I rubbed my wrist and started walking.
“I'm just missing my weapon now.” I could, theoretically, fight with just my spikes, but it would be far better if I had the Saw-Spear.
“Up,” Vaeron pointed. “It’s on the jetty.” I nodded and headed up the stairs, back along the route that I had come down, what, was it weeks ago? Up we went, the - father? - behind me. Huh. Well, the girl had to have one. Why not this man?
I blinked as I emerged into the sunlight, and pushed my glasses back up my nose, cutting the light down. There, my weapon. I ignored the other things for a moment moving swiftly. My hand closed around the handle, and I felt more complete. This was better. I swept my weapon, now returned to me, back, and tucked it onto my holster.
Now I looked around. And paused. Philomel looked upset - and was not looking at me directly. The fox was next to her, on her shoulder actually, and the damn thing was smiling. But -
That. Was. A. Dragon. I froze. Staring. I felt my brain stutter, trying to comprehend this. There was a thirty foot dragon staring back at me, watching me intently. No one else seemed to care but -
That. Was. A. Damn. Dragon.
