Dracopical Isles: Rise of the Underground

Chapter 17

Determined and unaltered, Allister returns to the Sorcerant's former tower. Honz and Sash follow quietly, careful not to disturb anything that may give their group's presence away. Planning to sneak a look at the nest (perhaps even pull off an ambush) under the cover of nightfall, Allister and crew cautiously pick their way over to where the hunter had last located the rare dragon's sleeping quarters.
The tower seems silent, it must be fast asleep.
Taking one look at how high up the gaping window entrance is, Honz mumbles a slight sense of unease.
"You sure we can get up there, Sir?" He whispers, pointing with a thumb. "Looks as high as a pine's top."
"Undoubtedly," Allister replies just as quietly, taking out a long roll of hooked, climbing rope. "Not a first for me to scale a dragon's roost." His only concern is that the Sorcerant's nest hopefully isn't too close to the entrance. Then it would almost be guaranteed for them to be noticed.
Allister flings the hooked end of the rope upward after a brief moment of swinging a few circles. It just manages to catch a crevice of withering brick below the window. Tugging it a few times to test its strength, Allister frowns. "It is good for only one man to climb, but not I." He turns to one of his men in particular. "Sash, my good man. You carry the least weight. Will you be daring to climb?"
Sash glances upward to size up the task. Just as it isn't Allister's first time reaching a dragon's nest high up, it isn't his first time trying something a little risky. "We shall see," He says approaching the dangling rope.
Luckily it holds, bearing Sash's weight as he climbs higher and higher up. It isn't until he's just below the window that the hook finally shifts a bit. Using all the upper body strength he has, Sash lunges upwards to attempt to grab the bottom edge of the window. The grasp is decent enough, but he still has to move fast before he has the chance to slip and fall. With some kicking, grunting, and using some free ledges to hoist himself upward, Sash eventually manages to get up to his elbows within the window, but something stops him.
"Eh..?"
Finally able to look inside, Sash is rather shocked at what he sees.
Noticing his man's hesitance, Allister raises a brow. "Something the matter?"
After one more sweep of the gaze inside the tower, Sash turns his head to reply, "It's empty, Sir Allister. The dragon ain't here." To which the hunter blinks with his own sense of shock.
"Pardon?"
Although doors are set within the said room, they do not look like they've been significantly tampered with to suit a fully grown, male Sorcerant. Chances are this is the main nesting area, or at least was the main area.
"The dragon ain't here!" Sash repeats with a louder voice. "Either this ain't the nest or he fled!"
"Get in there and pull me up!" Allister snaps, eager to climb on in to have a look for himself.
As soon as he's able to, Sash helps secure the rope's hook onto something a little more firm before helping to pull Allister up to the window entrance. Once inside, the hunter has no words. He sweeps his gaze left and right, up and down, all over the place to see that Sash was right - there's no Sorcerant here. Allister peeks inside some of the doors, stopping once noticing something behind the door to Slim's former room. Small, glimmering scales lie like pepper flakes on the ground. Upon crouching down to get a better look, Allister snorts with disapproval. "They were here.." Before standing up to leave the smaller room. "You are right Sash, my good man. They fled."
Although with a chip of obvious frustration, Allister's tone remains firm.
"So what's the plan, Sir Allister?" Sash begins afterwards. "We let him go?"
"For the time being," Allister nods as he begins to pace. "But yet I still refuse to let such a prize slip from my grasp for long. I'll be spending my following hours on the new search for this dragon."
Although supportive of his leader, after Honz is let in on the plans, he begins to feel a slight sense of unease.
"Begging your pardon Sir, but don't you suppose you're taking this too seriously? That dragon's not the only rare specimen out there, y'know."
Allister turns to him. "You are right, Honz, but no expert dragon slayer gets this far into his hunt just to forfeit. We had the Sorcerant once; therefore, we shall have him again."
"Right Sir, but if we can't find him?" Honze continues.
"Then it shall be a bitter loss," Allister replies. "Though I have my doubts on that."
Although a disappointing ending to what could've been an eventful hunt, according to Allister, it's still not over. He'll continue to pursue a rare dragon prize until there's nothing more to do. That is the heart of a true dragon hunter. If he fails to bag this rare, green Sorcerant, then it would've been with an honorable fight, no matter how painful the loss may be. As for the dragon's eggs.. well there are many uses for them too. Egg shells can be turned into jewelry, and sometimes even armor. The gems embedded on the eggs could sell for a decent price, as well as make a good magic conductor. Also depending on the stage of development in the offspring, they can be used to make things too, such as ornaments. Nothing about the eggs will be left unused either, just like their father's corpse. As terrifying as it is to imagine, it is reality in this dark relationship between man and dragon, but only time will tell if that's ever going to change.