Dragon Scales

Chapter 43

“I know what is going to happen!” Grenin jumped up from the ground. “The king is going to get power from the dragons, and then he is going to leave everybody to get eaten! He never cares about anything but power! He doesn't care if the whole land gets destroyed!”

“Are you sure?” Migor asked hesitantly. “He wouldn't do that...
would he?”

“What about the Dragon Hunters?” Regorn had a frown on his face. “What will they do?”

“We can't depend on them to save anyone.” Werlek's voice was hard.

“You are right.” Grenin agreed. “Our only option is stopping the king before the Festival of Youth. Let's eat the meat and get moving immediately.” Everyone agreed, and within five minutes they were already on the move.

This time they were even more aware that they needed to go as fast as possible. Even Migor did not complain, even through he felt tired.

The clouds and rain were gone as if they had never been there, and the
sun shone with incredible heat. They had to stop to drink some water from the river, but otherwise they kept on going. The weather was obviously getting hotter, and the rainy season was ending.

They kept on going and going. The river started bending up, and when it was late afternoon, they saw a big rock across the river. Aresa and Regorn recognized it as where they slept the one night.

“We are coming closer.” Regorn muttered. They were all tired, but pushed their fatigue aside kept on moving.

“When are we going to stop?” Migor asked at last. “There should be a
river going into Ror somewhere around here,” Regorn spoke, “when we have passed it, I think we should rest.”

“Good. But I hope it is not to far away.” Migor muttered grumpily.

About a halve hour later they spotted a river flowing into Tarbor.

Grenin increased his speed, and the others followed him without complaining. When they reached the river flowing into Ror, Grenin came to a abrupt stop. “This river is called Cret. We Dragon Hunters count it as the border of the Desolated Lands.
Some old stories say that it is bitter, and you should never drink of it. Other stories claim that if you touch the water you will get sick and die.”

“Are any of those stories true?” Mevin asked, uncomfortable at the idea of a poisonous river.

“I do not know.” Grenin had a serious expression on his face.

“What are we going to do?” Aresa asked. “Are we going to go through it?” There was a uncomfortable
silence.

“I think it would not be wise to touch the water.” Grenin's eyes were narrowed. “Cret means the spring of death.”

“This is just some stupid Dragon Hunter superstition!” Migor was
impatient. “Let's just get across the thing.”

“I don't know anything about the river, but I agree with Grenin.”
Regorn spoke. Aresa as a bit surprised, because she knew Regorn was afraid of deep water.

She quickly decided, and spoke, “I agree with Grenin, too.” Migor stared at them and shook his head. “What are you? Superstitious fools! Mevin what do you think?”

“I agree with you.” Mevin mumbled staring at the ground.

“What about you, Werlek?” Migor asked. “Surly you don't think
that the water is really poisonous.”

Werlek was silent and stared
at the river. After a while he spoke in a calm voice, “I have learned that taking risks will sometimes save time, but if something should happen, you will loose immense time or your
life. If I were alone I would probably go across the river, however, I will not put the risk on other people. If it puts everyone at ease, we will cross Ror, and not touch the water from the river Cret.”

“What?!” Migor was unhappy. “We will just waist time, and make
ourselves more tired!”

While Migor was arguing hotly with Grenin, Aresa neared the light blue water of Cret. As she stared at the
water, she had an uneasy feeling. She crouched, took out the small water pouch she had with her, and carefully filled some of the water into it without letting the water touch her skin. She stood up again, and looked at the clear water.

“Aresa! What are you doing so close to the river? Come, we are crossing Ror!” Regorn called.

Aresa quickly obeyed. “It is getting late. We should cross Ror as quickly as possible.” Grenin spoke.

Ymron couldn't help but glance across the river now and then, but he didn't see anybody. “Maybe I was wrong, maybe they all did drown.” Ymron couldn't help but think. If they were alive then surly Ymron would have caught up with them.

“Maybe they did not follow the river at all, and went through the desolated lands?” Ymron heard one in his team say.

“No.” Ymron snapped. “No one is foolish enough to do that. That
land is cursed.”

“Really?” The same guy asked. His name was Rainik, and he hadn't been long in Ymron's group.

“Yes.” Ymron answered coldly. “Not only do ghosts live there, but it is said that any who stay there to long turn into monsters. They also say that some ancient monster are sleeping there, and are just waiting to be
awoken.”

Rainik's eyes widened, and he shuddered. “Why are they walking on that side then?” Rainik wondered.

“Because they are fools!” Ymron snapped. “The only reason I can
come up with is that they are trying to avoid us. The idiots don't know the danger they are in.”

“Are we... are we going to cross over?” Rainik wondered.

“If we see them.” Ymron voice was calm. “When we have finished
killing them we will get back to this side. It shouldn't be a problem to us if we don't stay that side to long.” The sun was getting lower, and they passed by a big rock, where big old trees grew.

“Maybe we can sleep here?” Rainik asked brightly. The old trees let him think about home.

“No.” Ymron's answer was simply. “We will move on until we see them. We won't rest until we have found them.” Rainik sighed silently.

“What river is that?” Rainik asked a while later.

“Cret.” Ymron's face was unusually pale. “The spring of death.” The sun was just setting, and a chilly wind brushed against the leaves of the trees and the five hunters.

Rainik wondered, “Wow. Like in the story I once heard from my mother?”

Ymron turned to look at Rainik with a disapproving expression. “Those who know me longer know I don't like talking, and I don't like it if someone
talks. My only objective if hunting down my prey, and that should be yours, too. We are not friends, and I don't want to hear you talking except if necessary.”

Rainik looked away, he could feel
the disapproval coming from his comrades.

“Look!” Biegor whisper called. They all turned to look across to see two shapes.

“It is them!” Ymron smiled. “At last! We will kill them before the night is over!”