A few weeks later, Kyvril came to Rhunal and Bron about a situation in one of the southern villages. An over-sized fire drake had burned down a farmer’s house in one of the southern villages. It was Bron and Rhun’s first opportunity to visit the most isolated of Greihold’s lands. The highlands had good soil and grew a lot of crops of their own. But because of the elevation, they had to be hardy stock, with less bountiful harvests.

Arriving in spring, the hills of these lands were verdant green. The village was nestled between two of these large hills, along what was usually a stream. But with the spring thaw, was roaring along the edge of town.

They found the burned farmhouse and spoke to the farmer. “My family was lucky,” he said, glancing at the burned wreck of his house. “Escaped the blaze with our skin intact, but not much else. This creature eats most anything. All my livestock and most of my crops ended up in its belly. It burned down the house while searching for food. Merely by its presence, and the heat pulsing off its skin, everything was set ablaze.”

Bron looked across the field, seeing some of the trampled crops still ablaze. “It’s still here. Surely the village tried to at least drive it off?”

“It’s an arrogant bastard,” agreed the farmer. “Normally we’d rely on dogs to drive away any kind of beast. Of course, the heat is too great for them to get close. The rest of us tried pelting it with arrows, but its blazing hide is too thick. It’s made itself at home in my field. Eating the crops every morning and resting throughout the day.”

Rhunal peered across the field. “It must have a weakness. And you’re in luck, because I have many ways to hurt it. Come with me Bron. Let’s see how tough it really is.”

“All right, but let’s not try anything too reckless right away,” Bron said. 

Rhun’s first attempt was to blast it with a bolt of lightning. But trying to burn an already super-heated creature wasn’t very effective. It scarcely treated the bolt of lightning as a hostile act. The she-orc glared at the beast from afar. “It really is arrogant.”

“We should study it,” Bron said. “Observe its actions for a while.”

She shrugged. “Guess it can’t hurt. At least until the beast gets the urge to move on. Then we’ll have to act more … recklessly.”

“Well, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Bron found a good vantage point and observed it laying in the field for the rest of the day. It lacked any caution, draped across the path in the field. The surrounding plants sizzled from the heat. But nothing around it burned until it woke. Its skin put out much less heat when it was resting. And it rested more after a large feast and was slower to wake. By evening, he had his plan.

They asked some of the other farmers to donate some of their livestock to set up a trap. Many were mistrusting. Rhun told them either they donated livestock carcasses or she’d bait the monster into finding an additional source of cattle. The other farmers expressed outrage, but folded to her demands.

“Damn it Rhun, these are not rich people,” Bron scolded her. “Your strong-arm tactics might have worked, but you’re winning no friends here.”

“We don’t have time to haggle. The fire drake will soon move to a new farmstead with more food, especially meat. And not just that, but another family. The people might not be as lucky as those in the first farmstead. They can be a little angry. I’ll take it, if it spares their lives.”

Bron sighed. “I see you thought it through. Well, let’s make it worth it.”

Once they had a sizable number of freshly killed livestock, they dragged them into a part of the field with a lot of mounds of dirt. It would provide cover while they snuck up on the fire drake as it slept. The creature was asleep when they began dragging carcasses, but the smell woke it before long. 

The pair made themselves scarce at the sight of the creature. It lumbered over the hills, torching everything around it, mouth agape in anticipation of the feast. The creature gorged itself on the bodies. Afterward, it draped itself over the top of one mound of dirt, rumbling happily, smoke puffing out its nostrils. 

Bron took his two-handed falchion in his hand and crept close as Rhunal followed, empowering his second hand, the one made of stone. “I’m resistant to heat, but not the amount the salamander can put out once it wakes up.” 

“Well, you have a sorceress with you. What do you suggest?” she asked. “Blast it with chunks of ice?”

“No. Instead, can you use your magic to do the opposite of the creature? Waves of cold to resist the waves of heat its skin puts off?”

“Never tried that. But I’m sure I can do it,” she said. 

They stepped into the zone of heat around the creature. Even at rest, it still put off smoldering heatwaves. Rhun cast a cooling mist of ice crystals from her left hand. The flakes of ice didn’t travel far before being melted. 

However, it gave them a narrow area to push forward. Bron raised his sword over the sleeping beast and cut down into its neck. His strike was a little too successful. Severing its head from its body unleased a blast furnace level of heat from the wound. Bron yelled out, covering his face with his arms. The hair on his forearms singed off in a moment. Rhun stepped in front of him, raising a wall of ice to block the boiling heat of the creatures internals.

The wall of hers melted away, as the pair backed away quickly. She battled the blazing heat with waves of ice crystals. It was enough to keep them from being roasted. Finally, they reached a safe distance, both dripping with sweat. Anything flammable in the mounds of dirt blazed brightly in the evening light. Several of the farmers had been watching from afar. Realizing the creature was dead, they got as close as the fire of its death would allow.

Bron breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Rhun. She glanced at him, her expression one of mirth as she stared at his face.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is something that funny?”

 She grinned gleefully, the full length of her tusks visible with the rest of her teeth. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were Kyvril’s kin. You should see yourself. That creature scared that pale skin of yours away! And your forehead is looking more prominent.”

He felt the top of his head, feeling his missing hair. His eyebrows were also missing. His hand came back covered in soot. “This plan could have gone better.”

She slapped him on the back. “Could have gone a lot worse, too. It was a good idea to make the creature sleep. If it had been up and moving, it would have been an impossible fight. Either way, it was your plan. Don’t blame me for losing a little hair.” She raised her hand and emitted a cooling mist over his face. “Feel better?”

He felt the top of his forehead, where his bangs used to be. “This reward better be worth it.”

“Kyvril offered enough copper to make the house really shine. It isn’t the same as Alfar bronze, but it’ll look close enough.”

“The reward is metal for your house?”

“Our house, Bron. I’ll get you something good in your half. We got paid a little coin as well.”

“I’d like a place to work on armors. Especially of the monstrous variety. Not sure if this blazing creature will be much use, though. Dead, it’s burning itself up.”

The creature had become a bright pyre in the middle of the field. Whatever process kept the fire inside, didn’t work while it was dead. Soon, nothing but ash remained.

Both of them stared at the inferno. “I’d also like a hat, for the time being at least,” Bron said at last.

She grinned. “I’ll get you a fine hat for that bald head of yours.”

“I’m not bald, just missing a little.”

“That’s what they all say, Bron.”

 The townsfolk were grateful for their work. They promised to pay the Adventurer’s Guild’s fee, at some point in the future. They had forgotten about the she-orc’s threat to move the creature to one of their farms. Even gifting them a couple freshly plucked chickens and several dozen eggs.

Rhun was happy to see such a feast. They enjoyed it over an open fire, on the road back to Refuge. 

“You know Bron, this is the life,” she said, chomping down on the last chicken.

He grinned. “Minus a bit of hair, it worked out. Going to be back to construction work when we return, though.”

“Ah, it’s fine. This little monster hunt was a good break.”

After returning home, Rhun applied herself to raising steel frames for the other houses in the expanded section of Refuge.

Using her magic, the metal skeleton attached to every board of the outer wooden shell. It was an unorthodox building technique, but Rhun was confident in its strength. So confident that she called down a tornado next to one of her new buildings.

The building proved resilient. Not a single board ripped free, even as Rhun’s cyclone circled, twisting it around.

Bron shook his head at her. “Why do your tests always have to be so bombastic?”

“I guess I just like a show. Besides, what could be more destructive than a tornado?”

He stared at her for a long moment. “I think I’m looking at it.”