[Trade] Hunt (Dragon) - The Dragon under the Moonlight

THE DRAGON UNDER THE MOONLIGHT

---

Kajas was reading an interesting notice affixed to one of the outsiders' posts. It was a bounty for the head of a dragon, a mighty and dangerous beast.
The lavander-colored haedian nearly had his eye drop on the ground when he read the bounty: it was a very generous compensation for a hunt, he thought.
Well, he had never seen a dragon of the surface, but it shouldn't be that different... Right?

With the notice grasped in his talons, Kajas glided happily to the outsiders' camp, ready to get some money. After all, money meant food. More money, better food.
When he arrived he found that the outsiders were all busy with something: some were cooking, others were drawing maps and some more were studying the crystals.
There was only one reosean that was apparently doing nothing: a big, shadow coloured, blind Empyrian, with a rusty dagger tied to her neck with a rope.

She was grumbling something while whipping her tail back and forth, so Kajas decided to pass on bothering her.
He walked towards the one who were cooking, and sneakily grabbed a piece of dried meat for later. The old habits were hard to forget, to the point that he didn't even realize he had stolen again.

“I am here for the hunt! Where should I go?”

He asked, smiling. The two Vayrons that were chopping onions and crying at the same time just pointed at the angry looking Empyrian.

“...I have to work with her?”

“Yep. Good luck sonny, you will need it.”

The cook chuckled, and Kajas felt a bit worried: he wanted to work like a normal reosean, but if he was going to be stuck with a hissing snake there were going to be some problems.
He sighed and shrugged: problem for later him. The haedian then approached the grumbling Empyrian.

“Soooo... Are you the one who prepares the hunts?” He asked, and the other snorted.

“Do you see anyone else here?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, there is a guy cleaning his carpet near your tail, so...”

The Empyrian whipped her head toward the 'offending' guy, who was just a Vayron cleaning his carpet from the dust. She hissed, and the poor reosean ran away.

“Anyway... Yes, I prepare the hunts. Here for the dragon?”

“Yep.”

“First time hunting a dragon?”

“Yep again. Is the pay going to be all mine or do I have to split it?”

The shadow coloured Empyrian huffed.

“You will split it with me. Are you ready to go?”

“If I hadn't, I wouldn't be here.”

Answered the haedian, keeping the same sarcastic tone that the empyrian had been using. The other grinned, showing her white fangs.

“Higatami.”

“Kajas.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Kajas.”


---


They departed from the cave just a few minutes later, with Higatami leading the way. She ducked a bit excessively under the stalactites, and Kajas wondered if it was because she had hit the rocky structures too many times.

Once outside the Beneath, Kajas stopped to look at the sky.
It was night time, and the stars looked bright as crystals. The moon made it easy to see where he walked, with a strong but 'gentle' white light.
Higatami, being blind, didn't seem interested in the surrounding nature, and just pointed at where they had to go. Apparently the dragon had been spotted in a forest near the Salt City, and since it was close to a path well used by merchant, the beast had to be killed before it could harm someone.

“Here. We should be close.”

“Do surface's dragons only live in forests?” Kajas questioned, walking on the side of the Empyrian.

“Eh. Sometimes. Most of them prefer caves.”

“Huh. Do they hoard crystals?”

Kajas was quite interested in what the dragons of the surface did. Informations in the beneath were difficult to gather, especially if it was about something of the surface.
Higatami shook her body, removing a couple of leaves that had fallen on her back.

“Well, probably? I have seen a dragon hoard shiny armours. Probably depends on their tastes.”

Kajas hummed, popping the piece of dry meat in his mouth. They had been walking and gliding for nearly three hours, he was starting to get a bit tired and hungry. He wondered if the lake he was seeing in the distance had some nice fishes in it, as it was big and deep. Some fishes roasted on a fire would make a nice meal, maybe for breakfast.
But right as he thought so, Kajas and Higatami heard a loud noise, followed by a roar.

Higatami couldn't see what was going on, but Kajas could. Perching on a rock, the haedian looked West, and saw some trees being knocked off, breaking and creaking loudly.

“I think we found our dragon.”

“Lead the way then, Beneath guy.”

Snorting, Kajas begun to run, toward their prey, or well... Their still-walking money.
There, in the middle of a broken forest, there was a bright white beast. It was bigger than them two together, with hard scales on its back and deep blue eyes.
The beast looked at them as if surprised, then roared again.

“Time to get serious here, fluffy guy.”

“Oh, I am ready.”

The two smirked, then launched themselves on the dragon, biting and clawing at the beast.
Kajas sneaked under its legs, biting and scratching the hard scales, while Higatami tried to claw at its wings, flying around to avoid all its hits.
The dragon hissed frustrated with its limited reach, and under it, Kajas felt a weird warm feeling on his back.
He looked up, and saw the whole chest of the beast glowing.

“Fire!”

He screamed, and Higatami cursed, beating her wings quicker, going fast enough to barely avoid the flame burst.
The dragon let out a high temperature flame, accompanied by some burning hot droll.
Kajas hissed in disgust when one of those boiling drops hit the ground near him, and then dodged a foot that nearly crushed him in the dirt.

The dragon was dangerous, more than the ones he had seen in the Beneath: those, while big, at least did not spit fire and boiling saliva.

Grumbling, Higatami dived and smacked a clawed limb on the side of the beast's face, missing the eye by a few talons. The dragon blinked and grumbled angrily, then with a quick movement, snapped its fangs on the tail of the Empyrian.
Higatami let out a strangled scream, and the haedian watched as she was thrown like a ragdoll in some nearby trees, crashing in their branches.
Kajas flattened his ears on his skull, but luckily his hunting companion was still alive and well, considering all her loud sailor-like cursing.

But the dragon was obviously not done. With a snarl, the beast turned to face the haedian, who was using its own legs as shields.
The beast grumbled, smacking its tail on the ground and opening its maw again.
This time Kajas was ready, and when he felt the surrounding air get hot, he ducked under the beast wing, then he jumped and clawed at the hard scales, using them as a ladder to climb the dragon's limb.

The reptile looked confused for a moment, and started spinning and looking around, not noticing the Haedian crawling on its scales. It was odd, but Kajas didn't really have the time to question the weird behaviour.
The haedian started to climb on the dragon's side, surprised with how the beast still had to find him: it was sniffing the air and flicking its tongue, perplexed, like a dog that couldn't figure out where the ball went (it was still in its owner's hand).

Higatami choose that moment to slowly crawl down the trees, cursing again when her bloodied tail smacked the ground.
The noise distracted the dragon, that turned to look at the still moving Empyrian.

The beast hissed, and again, warmed up its chest to shoot another flame blast.

“Higatami! Duck!”

The haedian shouted, and Higatami ducked out of the way of the blast, singing her feathery flap tail. The empyrian hissed, and felt the fire grabbing on the fallen trees, crackling and burning.

“We have to put that thing down before it burns the whole forest!”

“Yeah, I noticed!”

Answered Kajas, remembering only a bit too late that he was supposed to be quiet while climbing the monster's back.
The dragon turned its head, looking straight at the haedian with a snarl on its lips. The haedian shivered and dove off the dragon, just in time to avoid a sharp fangs, that snapped dangerously near to his neck.
The haedian regrouped with the empyrian, who looked quite tired and pained.

“Think we can get it to the ground?” he asked, looking at the beast who was starting to move toward them, hissing lowly.

“Uff... I'm not sure. I doubt I can fly like this.”

Grumbled Higatami, moving her tail and hissing in pain, and Kajas grimaced.

“Alright. Run in the forest, I will think of something.”

“Are you sure you'll manage?”

Kajas smirked, showing her his sharp fangs.

“Come on... I didn't live with the Forgotten without learning some tricks!”

“Tsk... Fine. Take my dagger, at least.”

Whispered Higatami, lending a rusty dagger to the haedian. Kajas felt tied the weapon to his side and then, he bolted. He laughed as he ran, and the noise served its purpose of luring the dragon attention to himself, so that Higatami could escape safely.

“Hey big lizard! Watch!”

Kajas snarled and dove under the beast's belly, biting its talons like a slippery rat.
The dragon didn't seem to feel pain, but it was trying to reach the haedian with all its might, roaring and snarling. The beast chased the haedian, who was running ahead of the dragon with his fluffy tail all up and whipping like a cat toy.
The haedian grinned when he felt the air move as the dragon jumped and ducked to the left, making the dragon stumble with its target gone from under its talons.
The beast roared, and gave chase again. This time, the haedian didn't stick to the ground: he led the dragon to a nearby lake, that he had seen while they were walking to find that same beast.

He dove in the freezing water, followed soon by the dragon, who seemed to think that their prey was cornered now.
But unfortunately for the big white dragon, the large pool of water was already occupied.
The haedian swam away to the surface, quick as a snake, just in time to see the dragon battling a large basilisk, who apparently had made its lair in the lake.

The two beast fought each other, but in the end the sharp fangs of the serpent broke the skin and scale of the dragon, poisoning it.
The white beast didn't seem fazed at first, but soon it started to droll, poisoned. Noticing itself becoming weaker, the dragon quickly tried to flee, smacking the basilisk with its tail and wings.
The serpent, injured by the fight, let the dragon exit the pool and retreated in the depth of the lake.

Now, it was the perfect moment to end the fight. The dragon was weakened and poisoned, and the Haedian smiled, thinking about the bounty and all the money he was going to get.
With a mighty cry, Kajas glided toward the dragon, who was half laying on the lake's shore, and readied the dagger. The weapon sunk in the dragon's eye, and the beast crumpled to the ground, unmoving, without even a single groan.

---

“You can keep the whole bounty.”

Kajas turned toward Higatami, who was crawling toward him with a new dressing on her wounded tail. The two had slayed the dragon, and some merchants passing on the nearby path helped with the fire spreading in the forest and contacted the guards of the Salt City.
Once the dragon had been confirmed dead, a guard gave the two tyrian a heavy pouch of coins before turning and leaving the site.

“Sure, if you don't mind.”

“Well, you did most of the work in the end.”

Kajas nodded and tied the pouch to his neck, feeling the weight of the thing.

“Have a good day Higatami. It is time for me to return home, and grab something nice to eat on the way.”

“Hm. Good luck with your breakfast.”

Kajas laughed while he begun to walk: he wanted to take a peak at the Salt City: he was sure that with all that money, he could get a breakfast worth of a king.