The Tale of Five Heirs

Chapter Fourteen, in which we see if our dragon tamer can really tame dragons

Kelvin snuck from his tent to the edge of the clearing where they had planned to meet. He was the first of his friends to arrive. He stood in the snow and hopped from one foot to the other back and forth to keep warm. The cold night air stung his face.

Suddenly something grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the forest. Before he knew what was happening, he was pinned to the other side of a tree with a hand pressed over his mouth. As he came to his senses, he realized that the hand belonged to Olwyn.

"Kelvin, I'm going back to Everwinter."

"Mmmh," said Kelvin.

"Shh, there are people around. No one can know I'm here," Olwyn continued, "Now that the princess is dead I can tell the Ironfist that her time has come."

"Mmh!" said Kelvin. This was a disaster. He had to tell her that the princess was from the Weedle region, not Aranthopolis.

"I only hope that when war comes to the Aranthian Queendom, you pick your mother's side," Olwyn said, and with that she spun Kelvin around and shoved him out into the clearing again.

"Oh hello Kelvin," said Yago, who was standing next to Skeena in the clearing.

Kelvin looked back over his shoulder, but Olwyn was already gone. "We have a slight problem," he said.

"We have plenty of problems," said Skenna, "and right now the problem you should be focusing on is finding some saltbush."

Just then Ronnith arrived.

"Ronnith, good. Your duty will be to attack the camp guards and cause a distraction, so I can steal the key and use it to unlock the cage," said Skeena. "Tamara will come and help you once she is released."

"Once we've rescued Tamara, how are we going to escape?" Kelvin asked. "The dragon camp is surrounded by mountains on all sides. The dragon riders will catch us, since we can't outpace them in the mountains."

"That's where your saltbush comes in," replied Skeena. "You will deliver it to Yago, who will use it to tame a dragon. The dragon will carry all of us back to safety in Noremont."

"Alright everyone," said Yago, "Don't just stand there, get to it!"

Ronnith drew his sword and ran back towards the camp. Kelvin jogged over to the nearest shrub he could find and inspected its leaves. Not saltbush. He tried the next one.

Skeena peeked around the tent. Ronnith was barreling towards the guards, who were sitting around a campfire and drinking out of some rather dainty looking wine glasses. When Ronnith uttered a loud battle cry, one of them stood up and gave him a confused look. The expression didn't linger on his face for long, as Ronnith swatted the tribesman's head into a snowbank with the flat of his sword.

"How rude," said the other guard, a woman, who drew her sword, and threw her wine glass at Ronnith with all her might. Ronnith swung his sword like a baseball bat and shattered the glass before it was even within six units of him.

Skeena snuck from behind the tent towards the guard who had fallen in the snow. She grabbed him by the armpits and dragged him behind a nearby building. She dug through his furs for a key, but all she found were numerous hidden daggers. She looked back over to Ronnith. He had not been very stealthy, as was Skeena's intent, and now a dozen or so tribe members were attacking him. Good old Ronnith, Skeena thought. He wasn't very bright but he sure could take a lot of hits before he went down. Still, she had better act fast.

"Imp," Skeena snapped, "which one of them has the key?"

"Well," squeaked the Imp, "the lock and the key both were stolen from a store in Noremont. There is only one key, and Ruralach keeps it tied to the right foreclaw of his favorite dragon."