Two months later…
The all too familiar ring of steel on steel bounced off the thicket of trees.
“What the hell were you thinking you damn dragon?!” yelled a blonde-haired man that barely dodged the sword swung in his direction. The crimson-headed dragonborn hiding behind him huffed in irritation.
“What do you mean,’ What was I thinking?”
The dragonborn dashed out of harm's way, keeping his armful of assorted gilded jewelry and precious stones close to him.
“Nikki, leave Raz alone it’s not his fault!” another man, muscular with a raven locks in one long braid that whipped behind him, yelled as he parried an attack. He swung his broadsword in the direction of his attacker, catching the thief in his leg. The thief’s screams of agony were cut short as a well-worn boot swiftly kicked him in the abdomen; sending the man flying back.
“Oh really?? Not his fault?! Oh, that’s right Oren I forgot we had a six against three fight scheduled on our way home, How could I forget-!.” One of the men punched Nikki square in the jaw while he wasn’t looking.
The blonde spat a good amount of blood onto the forest floor and glared up at him from where he doubled over from the blow.
“You motherfucker…”
Like a mad man Nikki brandished his two-handed broadsword effectively cutting the man down and one of his partners that were close by. Before he could go for a finishing blow, Oren came between the wild blonde and the two thieves on the ground; stopping Nikki with a firm hand to his chest. He gave him a look Nikki had known all too well and he reluctantly backed off with a ‘tsk’ coming from the back of his throat.
“You know it’s in his nature and he can’t help it.”
Oren gestured to the dragonborn who was now knelt on the ground in front of them. Greedily he searched through the pockets of the unconscious men, pulling out whatever he deemed pretty and shiny enough to keep. Nikki rolled his eyes.
After seeing the carnage Nikkii left in his wake, the other three thieves still left standing began to flee back to their abandoned caravan that was partially hidden by the dense trees.
“Not so fast!” yelled Oren as he pulled back his sword and swung it forward releasing a powerful gust of wind that sent the men flying into a group of tree trunks.
Oren and Nikki approached the prone men. Oren's braid swayed as he knelt down and pulled one of the men by his hair, hard enough to get the man to wince in pain.
“Do you think we could let you go after what you did? Especially after seeing what you have in that caravan of yours?”
Oren didn’t allow him to respond before he smashed his head against the tree trunk, knocking the man unconscious.
Srazzaziu Sthildriaxuth or ‘Raz’, as he was called by his two companions, playfully admired his bag of spoils atop the perch of the caravan as it moseyed along the lush countryside. The crimson dragonborn’s heart fluttered whenever the midday sun would catch the beautiful new additions to his collection. They sparkled an array of colors as he shimmied them above his head; enjoying the way they clinked together repeatedly.
“Are you seriously going to do that the entire way there?”
Raz looked at Nikki upside down from where he lay. The blonde guided his grey horse as it walked beside the caravan. Cuts and bruises littered his sandy chest, the only tell of the fight from earlier, aside from bits of dried blood here and there.
“Do what?” he jiggled the necklaces he held in his hand and smirked.
“Look, your little obsession is becoming a real pain in my ass!” Nikki yelled.
“Yeah well look what my ‘little obsession’ did!” Raz exclaimed, sitting up to gesture inside the caravan. Inside held the six thieves that had attacked them, each restrained with rope, and a couple bags full of stolen goods. One of the men yelled obscenities from behind his mouth gag at the redhead.
“Shut up! You were going to get caught sooner or later.”
“Oh, yea because I’m sure the first thing you thought of when you saw that caravan was ‘Oh man it looks like they’re up to no good, better intervene’ and not ‘Holy shit is that a fucking SHINY lemme just go steal it. Yea I fucking believe that.”
“W-Well it's not stealing if they had stolen it first!” Raz protested, “And besides they had kidnapped a girl too-”
“And I’m sure you didn’t just notice her because of the jewelry she has on.”
Raz opened his mouth to make a comeback but then closed it quickly after realizing he didn’t know what to say. Embarrassed, he turned away from Nikki to lay facing the other way and continued to rummage through his shinies.
Soft giggling came from the aforementioned kidnapped girl, who sat behind Oren on his chestnut horse; which pulled the caravan.
“Do they always bicker like that?”
“Unfortunately.” Oren chuckled back.
“I have never seen a dragonborn before,” she mused looking at Raz’s red-tinted complexion, horns, and the jagged jewel-like scales that protruded from his clothes here and there, “What’s his name?”
“His name is kinda hard to say. Dragon Tongue is only spoken by dragons. But we call him ‘Raz’.It was the only sound that made any sense when he said it. Or at least the only sound that was remotely close to the human language. Remarkably he can understand our language perfectly even though he has only just met us a little over a month ago. He had no contact with humans prior so the fact that he could pick it up so fast is-” Oren stopped talking when he felt the girl giggling behind him again.
“I-I’m sorry I didn’t realize I was rambling on…” Oren blushed, embarrassed that he wouldn’t shut up, and not for the fact there was a pretty girl with her hands around his waist.
“No, it’s quite alright.” She gave him a reassuring smile; her chocolate hair fluttered in the crisp, spring breeze.
“Not to be rude, but how did you end up getting kidnapped? Looking at how you're dressed, are you a noble?”
At the mention of her clothes the girl straightened out her intricately embroidered peach dress from where it creased sitting atop the horse; as if forgetting she had worn such an expensive article of clothing up until now.
“Not a noble. My father oversees the bank in Aramore. So my family is quite wealthy but nothing compared to the nobles of that city. I would imagine there are quite a few people who feel like they’ve been wronged by my father, there is quite a lot of hate for someone in his position. But my father is an honest and kind man, always trying to give back whenever he can. Somehow those men found out where he lived and kidnapping me and asking for a ransom would be settling their score with him, or at least that's what they kept saying.”
Nervously she glanced behind her at the caravan.
“If you three hadn’t done something I'm sure my father would’ve given them what they wanted…and from the way those men were talking it would’ve ended badly for both my father and me.”
She began to choke up as she talked, the words coming out harder as she heard them out loud. Hiding her face against Oren’s shirt she whispered a faint ‘thank you'.
There was silence between them for a moment. Oren didn’t know what to say in response so he opted to change the subject, in an attempt to get her to think of something else.
“We will reach Aramore soon and we’ll notify the authorities when we arrive of what had happened. Niki and I are from Aramore as well. We were actually headed that way when we stumbled across this caravan. What part do you live in?”
The brunette cleared her throat before she answered.
“We actually live in the small village on the outskirts. My father isn’t much for city life.”
“I can definitely relate. As much as I love Aramore I’m always itching to leave again whenever I return.”
“May I ask why you are returning then? You both seem like hardened adventurers if you don't mind me saying.”
“Do you know of Sylfir Blacksmithery in Central Aramore? My family owns it, and well my father has fallen ill as of late. My mother has to take care of him so there is no one left to run the shop. I guess I'm just doing what any son would do and help out.” Oren shrugged.
“I’m sorry to hear that and I wish him the best of health. Isn't Sylfir’s the best blacksmithery in town or even this side of the country? My father has quite a few weapons forged by your father.”
Oren chuckled at her amazement.
“I wouldn’t say we are the best, but my father certainly does pride himself with everything he forges.”
“I am especially fond of rapier he had made. My fathers, not one to duel much anymore but when he does that’s his preferred weapon. He always claims it's as light as a feather, and that he can strike so fast it's like he’s wielding nothing. How could one even forge something like that?”
Oren chewed at his lip as he searched for a way to answer her question. Then he looked back at her with a smile.
“It’s a family secret.”
They had reached the village in which she lived just before midday. As soon as they had returned her home they were on the road once more, much to the protests of the girl's father who wanted to reward the three brave heroes who saved his daughter. Oren graciously declined and Nikki was ready to leave, while Raz complained that he wanted a reward. Nikki dragged him by his horns back to his horse while Oren said his final farewell to the girl.
Now they were journeying to Aramore once more. Leaving the stolen caravan back in the village with the authorities, it was just the three of them riding along the countryside on their horses. Raz held onto Nikki’s waist as the two rode atop his steel grey horse. The dragonborn took in the quickly changing scenery as it shifted from vast grasslands and dense forests to bodies of water being speckled across the land, like puddles after a rainstorm.
He gasped as he saw more water rain from above. Waterfalls appeared here and there from behind low drifting clouds, but he was more amazed about where they were coming from. Smaller, floating masses of land flowed water down below. The water glistened in the afternoon sun, casting rainbows here and there and the green of the grass took an even more vibrant hue. Raz couldn’t believe his eyes, he’d never seen anything like this before!
“Bet you don't have anything like this back where you’re from huh?” Nikki said, a smirk evident in his voice.
“No way! Is all of Aramore like this?”
The blonde just snorted in response and kicked his boot heels on his horse causing it to speed past Oren.
“Race ya, loser!”
“Hey, no fair!”
The three raced until they had come to the bridge leading to Aramore. It truly was a sight to behold. The city was bright and glimmering, it flickered silver, azure, and veridian. The buildings were tall and plentiful, you could tell it was a bustling city just from where they were. Its entirety was set atop a monstrous piece of floating land. From the land flowed more crystal clear water down below into an even larger body of water that, if Raz hadn’t known any better, he would’ve asked if it was an ocean.
Excitedly Raz lifted himself higher, bracing his clawed hands on Nikki’s shoulders, so he could get an even better look.
“Holy shit!!”
“Hey! Watch it dumb ass! You’ll have plenty of time to gawk when we get there.”
Oren laughed as Nikki shrugged the other off of him and began to yell at him. His eyes then drifted to the glistening city before him. He worried his lip thinking about what was to come when he came home. Nikki and Raz’s bickering faded into the background as he got lost in his thoughts, thoughts that up till now he had pushed into the back of his mind.
He had left Aramore for that very reason, to run away from those thoughts, or rather run away from what he knew awaited him there. Oren had dreaded coming back but he knew it was necessary, at least for the time being. He had already resolved he was leaving again as soon as possible, always eager to leave the city behind him. A loud voice shook him from his thoughts.
“Oren c’mon or we’re leavin’ ya!” Raz called from the back of Nikki’s horse as it was already traversing the bridge to Aramore. Oren nodded his head and kicked his horse to proceed onward.
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