Scales and Honor: The Dragon's Paladin

Chapter 9: Town of Trost

Arcturus had never been as grateful aswhen the dragon placed him softly on the grass hill overlooking thevillage of Trost.

"Thanks...for the gloooaaaaak," heimmediately fell to his knees and vomited all over the ground as thedragon chuckled deeply in his throat.

"I really hope you can avoid doingthat while I am carrying you."

"Didn't it wonder to you that thishappens exactly because of you? Stop picking me up without warning!"Arcturus coughed, spat a few more times, then ripped a fistful ofgrass to wipe himself off of the disgusting sledge. He stood up witha groan and joined the dragon looking down on the village. It lookedjust like it had when he was just a boy. In a way, it seemed thepassage of time hardly had an effect on the place. There were aboutthree dozen wooden cottages huddled together on the rolling hills,bathed in the light of the afternoon sun. Arcturus could make out thetiny specks of people from the distance, hurrying to deliver allsorts of goods back to their homes.

"Are you sure these people will bemore accepting of a dragon? This village looks pretty much like everyhuman settlement I've seen."

"And how far does that number reach,wise, centered dragon?"

"One?" Veledar tilted his head,scrunching up his snout. "Or is it...two?"

"Yeah," the human chuckled. "Twoout of hundreds. You see, Trost is amiable to dragons beca-"

Arcturus was interrupted with a loudscreech and a sudden blur of feathers. Three gold and white gryphonslanded in a triangle pattern around them. They wore speciallycrafted, brown leather armor to cover their vulnerable joints, andeach had a small tabard hanging around their necks by golden chains.Crimson Sky immediately bared his teeth and flared his wings, as thedragon moved closer to no doubt protect him, even if the dragon wouldmost likely not admit such a thing.

Arcturus calmly stood his ground asthe gryphons stared at them with un-moving brown eyes.

"A scaly? I've never had thepleasure to gaze upon a dragon around these parts." said thegryphon closest to Arcturus. He could see the gryphon's chestgetting bigger, obviously in an attempt to appear more threatening.

Arcturus sighed, closed his eyes, thenspoke calmly. "Because they have the most gryphons than any othervillage in Lumara" Arcturus finished saying to Crimson Sky.

The gryphons gave a collection ofconfused looks to this. "That wasn't an answer to my..." one ofthe other gryphons started to say.

"Sorry 'bout that." Arcturusintervened. "Please allow me to explain myself. I was just tellingCrimson Sky here that Trost is defended by more gryphons than anyother town in Lumara." Arcturus gestured to Crimson Sky, who stillwas showing his teeth.

"Oh, of course you were." thegryphon said, Arcturus noticed he started to strut. He noticedCrimson Sky closed his maw and rolled his eyes.