Searching The Mountains

Bryson and Florence walked along the road, surveying the damage caused by the dragons that had recently attacked. Coni still sitting inside Bryson’s hood as he watched workers began to melt the ice that covered some of the crates.

One of the crew members approached Bryson, “Lord Bryson, all damage is superficial, and we have no casualties. What are your orders?”

“The dragon won’t be coming back anytime soon so continue unloading everything. I’ll give further instructions from there.” Bryson said dismissing him with a wave.

“Yes sir.” He said with a salute before heading off to help his compatriots.

That’s interesting. Bryson said as he turned to Florence, “How many villages are around this area?”

“Around ten.”

“Any deaths from the dragon attacks?”

“None, only injuries if I recall.” Florence said before pausing. A flicker of recognition passed her eyes as she said, “That’s not right.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” Bryson said noticing Florence had also realized the strange occurrence.

“What?” Coni asked curiously.

“A dragon attacked and no one was hurt.” Bryson said glancing backwards at his hood.

“I mean the only thing the dragon did was shoot its dragon’s breath and that didn’t hit anyone.” Coni said, “Oh. Oh yeah, that is weird.” Coni said realizing what they were inferring.

“A dragon attacks several villages and the worst it gets is what? Some frostbite?” Bryson pointed out.

“Frostbite can kill.” Florence said seriously.

“Yes. But it could be worse.” Bryson said tiredly.

“Yes a lot worse.” Florence said with a nod.

“So a dragon comes to attack several villages. Each with hundreds of people and no one dies, are there even any serious injuries?” Bryson asked.

“A few broken bones at worst.”

“Has this dragon done anything else?”

“It’s made of with a lot of food. Destroyed livestock cages and storehouses.” Florence said pointing at the destroyed buildings.

“Hold on.” Coni interrupted pulling herself up not quite believing what she was hearing, “Are you saying that this thing has just been trying to feed itself? We’re just dealing with an overly sized and overly equipped hungry thief?”

“Evidence points that way.” Bryson said.

“But why? I would get it if the attacks were due to it trying to expand or protect its territory. But it’s a dragon, it shouldn’t need to steal to get itself a meal.” Coni asked.

“Can you think of any reason why it might?” Bryson asked.

“Uh.” Coni pondered for a moment, “Well, it could be hurt or lost its territory or something.”

“To what? It’s a massive dragon.”

“Well actually it’s a relatively young one.” Coni said, “I’d guess only recently reached maturity, a bigger dragon or some other powerful creature could drive it away and cause it to have to scavenge.”

“So there’s something worse than the dragon around here?” Bryson asked.

“Potentially.”

“Great.” Bryson grumbled.

“Do you have any recommendations of what we should do?” Florence asked the knowledgeable pixie.

“Finding the ice dragon that ran away would probably be best.” Coni said though, she wasn’t too sure herself, “Find it, then you can fight it or even talk to it.”

“Talk to a dragon?” Florence said.

“Well, they are more than capable of communicating with others. They just tend not to. Especially the wild ones.” Coni said with a helpless shrug.

“So it’s either talk to the dragon that probably would want to eat me, or chase it off or kill it.” Bryson said bitterly, “Considering killing it would only lead to whatever chased it here in the first place to still be roaming around...” Bryson trailed off for a moment as he couldn’t quite believe the next words coming out of his mouth, “I will have to talk to it.”

***

“Lord Bryson, I do not recommend this course of action.” One of the royal guards said as a group of people including Bryson were trekking up a mountain via snowmobile.

After some information gathering around the village, Bryson gathered a team and made their way up the mountain in search of the dragon. Several of the guards were armed with high-powered magic cannons. Strong enough to bring even a dragon to its knees, let alone one only recently past adolescence. In addition to that armament several specialized pieces of equipment were also provided.

Here's to hoping it won’t happen. Bryson thought internally. Those specialized equipment, as he had been informed, were extraordinarily dangerous. He was not in the mood to test that claim.

“I have to solve this somehow.” Bryson said calmly through the roar of the engine.

“What was that my lord?” The guard shouted through the roar of the vehicles.

“I said- ah wait.” Bryson said about to raise his voice and decided that there was a smarter option. With a little bit of magic, his voice was suddenly amplified, “I have to solve this somehow.”

“But we’ve already delivered and protected the supplies.” The guard said.

“Yes and I’m sure the dragon won’t come back again.” Bryson said sarcastically.

“This course of action is still not recommended!” The guard said.

“I don’t see what the concern was, with all that equipment you lot are carrying.” Bryson said calmly back.

“Lord Bryson, dangers aside, how are you going to find the dragon? All we know is that it flew in the direction we’re going to.” Coni asked from his hood.

“Because of the information we gathered from the villagers.” Florence answered for Bryson.

Florence was currently driving the snowmobile that Bryson and Coni were riding on. Bryson in hindsight wasn’t sure why he decided to ride with the thirteen-year-old girl as he clung tightly around her waist praying that he wouldn’t fall off.

Florence drove fast and ahead of everyone else. It didn’t help that due to both of their diminutive sizes that they didn’t properly fit on the vehicle. Where did she even learn how to drive one of these things? Bryson thought.

“What information?” Coni asked, “I don’t remember anything but a vague idea of where they thought the dragon was. Up beyond the mountains.”

“It was the detail about the giagantahorn sheep.” Florence explained.

“The sheep?” Coni asked confused. She had remembered them talking about giagantahorn sheep being sparse here as of recently. The massive horse-sized creatures offered ample food for those who could hunt it.

“It’s their main source of protein.” Bryson explained, “And yes that is the key in figuring out where the dragon is located, or at least where it used to live. Clever of you to notice.”

“Of course.” Florence said with a nod, “It was the only logical conclusion.”

“What do you mean?” Coni asked not quite understanding yet.

“Those mountain sheep travel in herds around the mountains. Their usual grazing routes have apparently changed. Occurred the same time the dragon began attacking.” Bryson explained as he stopped amplifying his voice.

“So something drove the sheep herds to change their normal routes? The sheep didn’t move even when the dragon was around.” Coni said getting alarmed.

“We don’t know that for sure.” Bryson said, “It could be something that is blocking the usual route.”

“Something that also caused the dragon to move.”

“You really are a pessimist aren’t you.” Bryson muttered.

“Only when it involves things like dragons.”

“Let’s just see what happens.” Bryson said.

***

“Huh. So that explains a lot.” Bryson said as he peered down the mountain ledge that he was hiding on. They had trekked up the mountain for a bit before discovering something rather interesting.

“Well… I can see why the dragon may have been driven away.” Coni whispered as she watched what was occurring down in the land basin below.

Below them was a camp. A massive one. Though not due to the population of the camp but of the sheer size of the campers. They were giants. Ice giants to be precise. Massive, enlarged creatures that were built for the cold.

There were six of them in total they all lumbered around with giant primitive tools. Each one was several times the size of a human man. They all gathered over a fire where a massive clay pot was bubbling with some sort of stew, next to the pot was a giagantahorn being slowly roasted.

“Six ice giants. That seems like enough to force a young dragon out.” Florence commented.

“Yes. Indeed. They set up camp right where the dragon seemed to have made their den.” Coni said nodding her head.

“That covers everything.” Bryson mumbled.

“My Lord, this is dangerous. I recommend that you move back to safety.” One of the guards said crawling over to them.

“I’ll stay safely back when the action begins. Get into position” Bryson assured him.

“Yes my lord.” The guard said with a curt nod before backing off.

“You sure about your plan Lord Bryson?” Florence asked neutrally.

“Doubting me now? Seriously?”

“It’s always good to double-check.”

“We have the jump on them with equipment that can kill these creatures. I think we’re good. Now stand ready.” Bryson commanded.

“As you wish Lord Bryson.” Florence said with a nod.

As Bryson looked downwards at the camp, only one thought entered his mind. I hope this works.