Dragonborn

Prologue

Dense pine-wood smoke drifted from the one-tent campsite, secluded by a ring of close-packed trees. Their long, thick branches hid it from the view of any casual passer-by. Or at least they would have, had it not been for the smoke emitted from the red-hot charcoals, steadily cooling within the make-shift campfire.

The rich aroma of roasted meat, possibly a hare or a rabbit, wafted across the clearing, propelled by a light current of air. It had started to rain and the fire had gone out, sizzling silently like a snake.

The man dressed in black, obscured by the thick undergrowth he was lying within, squirmed in his place. He had been observing the campsite for several hours and the aroma in the air, combined with the darkening sky and the pummeling of rain had now left him hungry and impatient.

The tent was occupied by a young woman and presumably her baby child. He had heard the wailing from inside, quickly silenced by the mother. He hadn't seen the father, though he doubted the woman was alone.

His instinct told him to wait. The father of the child couldn't be far, probably hunting within a kilometre radius. But his ever-growing impatience overweighed his instincts and he decided the time had come to act. He could always track down the man later, he knew.

The man turned his head to look behind his back, picking out the glowing yellow eyes of his 'hired' assassin, though not at an instant. The ease with which it could blend into the background made him shudder.

"The man's been asking questions. No good for anyone." He shook his head, his face expressionless. He was talking to himself, for the thing behind him was no man.

Turning back to face the tent, he spoke, voice not much louder than a whisper.

"Shraika ín. Shraika ín muhallas."

After a moment's notice, the creature behind him started to move, guided by its given orders. The leaves and bushes gave way to its treading and as it entered the clearing, its dark black, scaly form finally became visible.

Even on all fours, the beast's stature was much larger than a man's, its body built like a bear. Capable of smashing rocks with its bare fists and chomping through oak logs with its bulky jaws. Fangs the size of daggers drooped down from its upper lip, their glossy surface reflecting what was left of the firelight. Its skin was obsidian black, patterned with irregularly shaped scales, each the size of a tennis ball. Along its back ran a row of spikes, largest near the neck, then slowly decreasing in size as they neared the tail. But perhaps the most frightening feature was the bat-like wings, now tucked close to its side to prevent them from catching on the low hanging branches. 

The man, satisfied with the beast's compliance stood up and lightly shook his feet, easing his cramped muscles and sighing contentedly. Then, with a hint of a smile, repeated the foreign words, though now in his mother tongue:

"Kill them. Kill them all."

The woman, accustomed to the sounds of the forest as she was, recognized something was amiss. The regular hoots and chirps of the forest birds had ceased, replaced by a looming silence. And then she heard it.

Thud! 

An extraordinarily quiet sound, considering the heaviness of the source behind it. At first, she thought it might be her husband, though she wasn't sure. She hadn't heard the signal they had decided on, three quick raps of a sword against a tree trunk in the case he came back. But she was clever enough not to call out his name, deciding instead to tuck her baby boy to bed, then grabbing her own weapon from beside the foam mattress and slowly crawling out of the tent into the rain.

THUD!

Closer this time and to her right. At first glance, she saw nothing, though when her eyes accustomed to the dark, she spotted the ominous form of the large predator no more than five meters away, and she cursed silently.