The Magic Mirror

To the Rescue

Niarosa had heard of Scalafangers before. The Evodos Library was abundant in books about beasts and the Scalafanger was quite an infamous one. At one point long ago when the world was not so crowded the Scalafanger had roamed the large forests to eat enormous beetles. However forests started getting smaller as farms and cities got bigger and when the beetle supply ran low... it had turned to less favorable means of nourishment. In short the Scalafanger had been banished to the underlands for unlawful consumption of human beings.

Niarosa could tell that the lesson hadn't held as she pulled Sweet Vengeance to a halt and took in the scene before her. They were between two lines of forest with a mile of grassy hillside between them and a dip into a small lake. Torn branches littered the ground and there were mounds in the dirt where it had been gouged and trees uprooted. The Scalafanger towered over the area, its glossy orange scales flexed across the entire beast as it took in deep, growling breaths.

A man was currently on his back being crushed by one of the large lizard's feet, he was jabbing at the beast's toes with his sword but the assault seemed to be doing little more than irritating it. The lizard's head cocked to the side in sporadic, alert movements and an enormous blue tongue kept flicking out of its mouth to lick its eyes.

To say that Niarosa was having seconds thoughts about her journey in this moment would be an understatement. Especially when she caught sight of the teeth. They were not in its mouth, rather... they all resided on its tail. Yellow and monstrous, slick with a venom that she had once read could paralyze an entire cow instantly.

Fritz slid off of the horse.

"Are you insane," Niarosa demanded. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know," Fritz's voice was high and quick in a way that made Niarosa uncertain about whether he was frightened or excited. He walked towards the Scalafanger and the pinned man with a hand outstretched. Niarosa felt the color leave her own face when she saw this. In Fritz's hand was the stone!

"That thief!" she scowled as she patted her pockets. Suddenly all fear washed into anger. She got off of her horse and let Sweet Vengeance trot away while she ran after Fritz. "You have NO right to take my things-"

The Scalafanger's head jerked to look at them now, sizing them up with an enormous coal eye.

"You're absolutely MAD," Niarosa caught up to Fritz and tried to grab the stone from him. He moved it out of reach, and it wasn't very hard for him to do. He was near to a foot taller than her.

Niarosa was well versed in the ways of getting what she wanted, and was just about to aim a kick at Fritz's shin when a white light suddenly burst from the stone. Rays of light shot out of the stone and struck the Scalanger full in the face. The beast stepped back and began to writhe as rivulets of white climbed its skin. The beast began to shimmer and smoke... then there was a sharp POP and- it was gone! The light faded back into a dull ember glow. Fritz lowered his hand and Niarosa grabbed the stone and whacked him across the face.

"You really are stupid!"

"It worked," he pointed out.

"Yes, but you had no idea that it would."

There was a groan from the man on the ground. Niarosa frowned. She could already see the small golden emblem on the hilt of the man's sword. An eagle. He was from Knight's Haven. Being a young woman who was - if barely clinging to it- in high society she had met many such knights. They littered Evodos when they weren't being summoned for important quests and scurrying back to their castle for practice. She knew, with almost absolute certainty, that the stone would be more than just a curiosity for any knight... and chances were high that he wouldn't approve of her intentions with it.