The first thing that Shon heard as he began to wake up was the gentle sound of a stream flowing by. The sound was familiar and comforting, and Shon wanted nothing but to stay exactly where he was and listen to the flow of the water. That would not be possible however, as other sounds started to invade his mind and drown out the peaceful babbling.

Shon heard sobbing, murmuring, and accusations. He also felt an intense pain pounding against the sides of his head, almost like the pain was trapped and trying to break its way out of his mind. The pain made him dizzy, and Shon tried to focus on the sound of the water again until the sharp pain was muffled to a dull throbbing.

Once the dizziness and disorientation left Shon, he realized that his eyes were closed, and he slowly began to open them. His vision was blurry as his eyelids parted, but he was soon able focus on an enormous black shape in front of him. In a flash of terror and panic, Shon realized that he was lying next to the deadly black and purple dragon.

Shon immediately got to his feet to get some distance between himself and the creature. As soon as he stood up, he heard several people gasp and shuffle away, and Shon realized that there was a crowd gathered around him. Shon heard someone in the crowd shout, “I told you we should have killed him before he woke up!”

Nothing was making sense to Shon. Why would these people be standing around when there was a huge deadly dragon in their midst? Did none of them see the dragon lying there?

The last thought caught in Shon’s mind. Why is the dragon lying there, instead of attacking the town? Was she dead? A flood of memory rushed over Shon as he recalled the last moments of the dragon rushing at him before he passed out. Had someone managed to kill her right before she had descended on Shon?

Shon gathered the courage to walk up to the dragon and see if she was alive. He saw that her eyes were wide open, and she was breathing, but she made no other movement at all. She lay on the ground as still as stone.

Shon saw Stick lying next to the dragon, and stooped down to pick up the staff. As soon as Shon held Stick the pain in his head grew, but was also strangely easier to endure. “What happened?” Shon asked, turning to face the crowd.

There was a chaotic and overwhelming response from the crowd. Voices both verbal and mental assaulted Shon, and he couldn’t distinguish any one message. The pain in his head sharpened and intensified, and he thought he could hear a low growl among the noise. Shon began to stagger back. “Stop,” he said. “Silence.”

All at once the crowd ceased speaking, and looked at Shon with renewed looks of fear and shock on their faces. Many in the crowd backed away, but one man stepped forward with a club and pointed it at Shon. “Why’d you send your dragon to attack our town?” the man asked. “What did we ever do to you? My home was destroyed and my entire flock is dead because of that monster!”

“My dragon?” said Shon in disbelief. “I don’t control this dragon. I’m one of the dragon hunters who came to your town to get rid of it!” Shon made the statement before he realized that it was the first time he had ever referred to himself as a dragon hunter.

“That’s a lie!” the man shouted back. “I saw you standing in the middle of town summoning that thing to you. How dumb do you think we are?” At the man’s question, many in the crowd began to murmur agreement.

“No, it’s true!” said a voice behind Shon. A woman stepped forward, followed by her three young children. “My children and I were hiding nearby when the dragon attacked. I heard the wizard speak with a strange little man that I thought was a child at first. The horrible little creature had brought the dragon here on purpose, and the wizard came here to save us. He’s a hero!”

“You’re making no sense, woman,” the man shouted. “If he’s not the dragon’s master, then why didn’t it kill him?”

The young mother whipped her head around at the man with a stern look on her face. It was clear she was not accustomed to tolerating such a disrespectful tone. Shon wondered to himself if she was a distant relative of Empress. “He’s wizard, you rude little man!” the woman snapped. “Obviously he’s got powerful magic to protect him. Plus, he came here with a magic plant that dragons hate. I heard him say so himself.”

The man backed away a little, obviously not wanting a second dose of the woman’s glare. “Well, where’s the magical plant then?” the man asked in a quieter tone.

“The plant is called Dragon’s Bane,” said Shon, “and it was stolen from me by Mutt. That’s the name of the little man she mentioned who lured the dragon here. As for why it didn’t kill me, I couldn’t say. I’m trying to figure that out as well. But I promise you the dragon isn’t mine. I came here to help you get rid of it.”

“Somebody fetch the town headman,” the man with the club said. “He’ll know for sure whether the wizard was one of the dragon hunters. I think they finally managed to get him out of his house after the wall collapsed.”

Shon breathed a sigh of relief that sanity was beginning to prevail. The headman would surely recognize him, and then he could start getting to the bottom of what really happened and how he was still alive. He turned to the young mother who had come to his defense and said, “Thank you, ma’am. I’m lucky you were around to stand up for me.”

The woman looked at him strangely. “I’d say the whole town’s very lucky you were here to stand up for us,” she said. “I thank you for saving our lives.” The woman gave a small bow to Shon, and then stared at her three small children until they did the same. The four of them then walked away from the crowd.

As the woman and her children walked away, Shon began to feel elated. Was he really a hero like the woman had said? He had no idea if he had been responsible for the dragon’s defeat, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation. None of the other dragon hunters were anywhere to be seen.

The crowd parted as they made way for the town headman to come through. One of his pant legs was torn and he was being helped along by some men who were supporting his weight. Shon read the man’s thoughts and could tell that he was not really in as much pain as he was letting on, but he was quite angry, and Shon wanted to keep things as calm as he could.

The headman squinted at Shon from a few feet away and nodded. “Yes, that’s one of the dragon hunters,” he said curtly. “You were with the second party, correct? The one with the orc? I must say, I was under the impression that you men were professionals and would deal with the dragon before it started destroying our town. I will have to speak with the leaders of the other two towns about whether this will affect the terms of your reward.”

Shon found himself wishing he could conjure up one of those fantastic expressions that the young mother had just demonstrated. He did not care for the man’s ingratitude at all. “You’ll have to take that up with Krall,” said Shon with a hint of annoyance. “He’s in charge of negotiating terms and payment. I’m only in charge of bringing full-grown dragons crashing to the ground.”

The headman began to flush a bit in the face. “Yes, well that may be,” said the headman. “But crashing to the ground is not what we hired you do to. We hired your party to kill the dragon, and if I’m not mistaken, the one behind you is still breathing.”

Shon spun around and realized with embarrassment that the man was right. What was worse, he realized that even in an apparently catatonic state, Shon still had no idea how to kill an adult dragon, or any dragon, for that matter. Shon began to feel a sense of panic as the thought occurred to him that the dragon could still wake up at any moment.

Suddenly Shon sensed a familiar mind coming nearer, and when he looked up he saw Tarun walking into town. Shon was thrilled and relieved to see his friend, but it was also immediately obvious that something was wrong. Tarun’s mind was filled with more anger than Shon had ever sensed from him before, and he looked utterly exhausted. As Tarun came nearer, Shon could see that he was filthy, and his left forearm was crudely bandaged.

Tarun walked into the area, looking at the unconscious dragon on the ground in disbelief. “How did this happen?” he asked.

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” said Shon. “I am really glad to see you Tarun. We’ve got a big problem here, obviously. Where are Krall and the others?”

“They’re dead,” said Tarun with a catch in his throat. “The eggs we were after had already hatched before we arrived. We managed to kill all three young dragons, but I’m the only who survived.”

“Did I hear you say the dragon had babies?” interrupted the headman, stepping forward. “Because those were not included in the contract, and we will not be bullied into paying you more for them.”

Tarun suddenly spun around and grabbed the headman by his shirt. “I wasn’t asking you for more money, you pathetic little coward,” Tarun said, breathing into his face. “I was telling Shon that our friends just died heroic deaths to save this town and everyone else from poisonous monsters. So show some respect!”

Tarun released his grip on the headman’s shirt, and the man stumbled back toward the crowd. “Are you alright?” Shon asked with concern on his face. “That wasn’t like you.”

“No,” replied Tarun, trying to keep his voice calm to Shon, “I am definitely not alright. We need to get out of here. As soon as these people have paid us what they owe us, we’re packing up the wagon and heading further east.”

“Excuse me,” said the headman. His voice quavered a little now, but his tone was still angry. “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your partners, but as I already told your friend here, we’re not paying anything until this dragon is actually dead. And if you try to rough me up again, I’ll have you both escorted out of town.”

Tarun abandoned any last attempt at controlling his temper, and he let out a great shout. He raised his Vedionite sword high in one hand, and everyone in the crowd backed away quickly. But instead of charging at the crowd, Tarun rushed to where the dragon lay, and thrust his sword below her chin and into her head with all his might. There was a sharp cracking sound, Shon felt an intense rush of pain, and a moment later the dragon exhaled her last breath.

When Tarun drew back his sword from the dragon, he found that the blade had snapped in half with the tip and large portion of the shaft still lodged in the dragon. Tarun looked at what was left of the stone attached to the wooden handle with vexation, and pointed it at the headman. “She’s dead!” bellowed Tarun. “Now pay what you owe.”

The crowd quickly dispersed after that, and the headman went back to his office to retrieve their reward. Meanwhile Shon looked at his friend with fear and worry building in his mind. After the exertion of the blow to the dragon, Tarun’s injury on his arm began to bleed again, and Shon was not sure if he saw a tint of purple in the bandage.

“What is going on Tarun?” Shon asked with trepidation. “What happened back at that cave? Are you going to be alright?”

“I’m not sure,” said Tarun, trying to calm down again. “You remember how you said that Empress told you that anger can come from anywhere? Well right now I feel like mine is coming from everywhere at once.”

Tarun put a hand on his bandaged arm and winced in pain. “I think I may have been poisoned, but for some reason it’s not affecting me quite like the others. It hurts like crazy, but I don’t think it’s going to kill me.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Shon asked.

“Yes,” said Tarun. “As soon as we get out of here, you can help me take down camp, load up the wagon, and get out the hunting gear.”

“The hunting gear?” Shon asked. “What for? Aren’t all the dragons we were after dead now?”

“We’re not hunting a dragon this time,” Tarun said darkly. “We’re hunting a necromancer.”