#about the calm as the crew must've known they were going to die

[lasagnabomb-blog]

Belargo the Coin Dragon

"Hey, shopkeep, what can I get for this? Found it on a recent venture in southern Duskain".

Kit faced a small roadside wagon set outside of Lupren in central Duskain. Drawing the short straw, he was sent out to run errands while the rest of the crew set up camp. Usually, they would stay at an inn when this close to town, but after being robbed of your gold and some of your supplies you learn to make do.

“Looks beat up, but the knife is still sharp. I'll give you six gold for it.”

The shopkeep was a stout man, short too. You could almost mistake him for a dwarf if he grew a beard. He stepped back from the counter and put away the knife. Kit looked around at the pines and straightened his coat. Winter was coming and it was coming fast, frost had been on the ground that morning.

“Aye, here you go. Six gold, as promised.”

In the shopkeep's hand. There were six coins, but there was also a tiny silver dragon clutching one of the coins. Kit tried to softly tug the coin away from the dragon, but to no avail as it growled and hissed at his hand.

“The dragon comes with the coin, sir.” The shopkeep gruffly spoke “Little guy never lets go of his coin, so he always goes with. He's traveled to about every shop in the town, and who knows where he was before that. Try and spend ‘im somewhere else so he gets to travel.”

“I… uhh…” Kit held out his hand. The dragon perked up and scampered onto his hand, up his arm, and perched on his shoulder.

“By the way, the lil guy responds to Belargo. Have a nice evening now.”

The shopkeep didn't give time for Kit to respond and closed the window to the cart. Dumbfounded, Kit decided it was best to spend some of the gold and get food for the crew.

After shopping for a while, Kit finally returned to camp with dried goat, dried fruits, and one gold. The camp had been set while he was gone, and his two companions were already sitting by the fire. On the left sat a black kobold named Arua, on the right sat a dwarf named Gurk. Both seemed to be laughing at some joke Arua had just finished, her jokes were known to be a bit raunchy and a favorite of Gurk's.

“Hey, Kit, we found a log for ya to sit on. Find anything good out there?” Gurk's voice rumbled deeply. “I can smell the meat, toss it ‘ere!”

“Fine, calm down Gurk, there's plenty for us tonight.” Kit, pulled out a piece before slinging the sack over to Gurk. “Got some fruits for the road as well.”

There was a moment of silence.

“We have one gold piece left” Kit said “though it uh… it comes with this little guy” Kit proceeded to reach into his jacket, and show off Belargo in the palm of his hand. “Merchant said the dragon comes with the coin, never leaves it either. Figured we can keep the little fella for now at least. His name is Belargo.”

Arua had already approached and convinced the dragon to her hand by the time Kit was done talking. “So, he's sorta like our little mascot now, huh?” Arua chirped. “ Who's a good wittle fella, huh?” as she pet the dragon with her finger.

“We should get to sleep soon. We have to catch up to Silvereye if we're going to claim that bounty.” Kit stated. “We've come close to losing the trail a few times, so we can't let him slip out of Lupren without us knowing.”

Belargo trilled happily as Arua rubbed his belly.

“Well, silver dragons are a sign of good luck.” Gurk said. “Maybe we'll catch Silvereye at the gate tomorrow before he gets the chance to slip!”

“Well, if we are gonna do that, it's best to turn in soon. Goodnight guys.” Kit yawned through the sentence.

The group had a peaceful night and rose early the next morning. After tearing down camp, the went into Lupren to try and spot Silvereye, the infamous murderer. She would leave a silver piece in the left eye of her victims, and was more than rich enough to pay off the law. The bounty was big, it would definitely make up for the money the group lost a while ago.

Kit was leaning in the gate of the town, watching over the street. The sun had barely risen, and the streets were near empty. Kit was having a hard time staying awake before his head flashed with pain and his vision went black.

When Kit came to, his hands were tied behind his back and his mouth was gagged. In a chair across the room sat a very large man with two other brutes standing beside him. One of them had a bloody bandage wrapped around his nose and cotton in his mouth.

“Ah, boys, our guests are finally awake.”

Kit looked around and saw Arua and Gurk both tied up. It looked like Gurk was hurt the most, he must've spotted the thugs before they got him.  

“Now, I have a question fellas.” The chair creaked as the man stood up “Why are you following miss Silvereye, eh? You couldn't be bounty hunters, could ya? I hear plenty in that profession die gruesome deaths.” The man towered over Kit now, blackjack in hand. “Some of ya even go through torture. So why are you followin’ the miss?

Kit spat at the man's boots. Before he had time to make a snide comment his head exploded in pain and his vision went blurry. Blood started dripping down his temple. Before he knew it, he was hauled up by his hair and pinned against the wall.

“Now, I asked you a question. I think it's best for you to answer.” His breath smelled like beer and onions.

Kit remained silent

“Fine, I see you won't talk If I hurt you. How about the little miss there? Skellen, grab her. Tie her up to the chair.”

Arua was hauled over to the chair. Her fighting back was pointless, she was much smaller than any of the thugs. After she was tied up, the leader let go of Kit and walked over to the chair.

Kit started struggling against the rope, trying to get free to save his friends.

“So, what's a little miss like you doing out here? It's easy to get hurt y'know.” The leader slammed his blackjack into her stomach. “I think it's best to admit to what you did, we might kill ya faster then.”The leader put a hand on Arua's shoulder and cocked his other hand back.”It's a shame sweetheart, you're pretty for a fucking lizard.” A small flash of fire hit the hand on Arua's shoulder. The leader roared in pain and reeled back, clutching the burn on his hand.

“FUCKING WITCH! SKELLEN, KILL HER!”

Kit had worked his bonds to the point he could slip a hand out. Skellen was standing over Arua, confused by the small dragon on her shoulder. Belargo had clambered his way up to Arua's shoulder from one of her jacket pockets. That gave Kit just enough time to tackle Skellen while he was confused. The third thug stumbled back, surprised by what was happening.

Kit took the knife from Skellen's sheath and cut his throat, then sprung back up to assess the situation.

Gurk was still tightly bound and Arua's chair had been knocked over, she was struggling with the rope. Stefan had cast aside his blackjack in favor of a shortsword. The third goon had drawn his sword as well and was getting ready to charge.

“So, you really do want to be tortured to death, huh?” The leader growled “I'm gonna put your head on a fucking pike in the middle of town!”

The leader rushed forward and thrusted his blade at Kit's chest. Kit turned aside and kicked at the ankles, causing the man to tumble. Before he could do anything else, Kit was pommeled by the other goon. Luckily, he missed Kit's head and bashed his shoulder instead, causing Kit to fall over in pain. The thug but his boot on Kit's back, pinning him to the floor.

The thug raised his blade, and readied to stab Kit through the neck.

Kit heard a loud thud and a crash, followed by a string of dwarven swears and a fist meeting flesh repeatedly. The foot was no longer on his back and Gurk was free of his bonds,  beating down the goon. Arua had also escaped hers, but hadn't gotten up yet.

“You think… that I'm just gonna go down that fucking easy?” The leader stood back up, and whirled his blade.

“I mean, I was sort've hoping so. I've had a rough week, and your fat ass made it worse. Sorry I have to take it out on you.” Kit threw the knife at the leader's head. It would've hit if the leader's reaction was any slower, he deflected the knife with his sword.

The leader charged, whirling his blade around and making it difficult to get much closer to him. Kit saw an opening, but the leader read his movements and slashed as his side while sidestepping away. The blade caught Kit on his upper arm, leaving a deep wound. Kit cried out in pain and clutched his arm, making a feeble attempt to staunch the flow. Having lost his balance from the blow, Kit crashed into the wall and fell back over.

“My name is Sellus Drihart, and I’ve never lost a fucking fight. I’m not gonna lose to some cut-rate bounty hunter.”

Sellus swung his sword at Kit’s head. Arua cried out, her lifelong friend was about to meet his demise and there was nothing she could to. She couldn’t make it in time. The sound of a blade cutting flesh and cracking bone echoed through the room. Arua screamed, and found the knife on the floor. Kit wasn’t dying in vain.

“... your blade isn’t as sharp as you think, Sellus… don’t you know it’s important to keep it sharpened after every fight?”

Kit sat there, blood pouring out of his right arm and his left hand, sword embedded in his palm. He seemed to barely be conscious. Sellus stood there, shocked. He then yanked the blade and readied for another swing.

Sellus had no time to swing though, Arua had already closed the distance and slashed his achilles tendon with the dropped knife. Sellus crumpled to the ground, unable to stand back up. Arua made quick work of Sellus, repeatedly stabbing him anywhere she could. After it was all said and done, Arua fell to her knees out of pure exhaustion. Kit had fallen unconscious, and Gurk had just finished off the last thug, with a few less teeth than before.

Silence rang through the room.

Gurk finally spoke. “ I guess silver dragons aren’t much luck after all…”

Both of them stared at Kit, he was basically their leader and what brought them together. Neither of them knew how to patch wounds like he had; especially his hand which was almost dangling off from the rest.

Belargo skittered over to Kit, and started lapping up the blood. Before Arua or Gurk could stop the dragon, the blood began turning silver in color, running up into his wounds. The wounds started shimmering, and then began closing. Scar tissue grew rapidly and stopped Kit’s bleeding. Belargo’s horns rapidly shrank in size until they were little nubs on his head, and then the dragon fell asleep.

Hours later, Kit woke up in an unfamiliar room. Arua and Gurk sat by his bedside. After a flurry of questions which were mainly answered with “I’m alive”, “I feel like shit”, and “I need water.”; Arua screamed something about Kit’s eyes. Kit didn’t really understand, his head started ringing. Stumbling over to the mirror, Kit noticed a few things immediately. His wounds were covered in a very rough scar tissue, it almost looked scaled. Each of those scars burned like fire when touched. Lastly, his eyes had taken a sterling silver color and resembled those of a dragon.

“Guys, What the fuck happened to me? Where are we?”

Gurk calmly explained that they were still in Lupren, in the Blitzed Imp Tavern. Then told Kit about Belargo and what happened after Kit had passed out.

“Little fella still hasn’t woken up.” Gurk explained “Fixed ya up and hasn’t moved a muscle since.”

Kit stumbled over to where Gurk and Arua had made a makeshift bed out of rags and a spare pillow. Belargo was nestled beneath the rags, with only his head sticking out.

Slowly, the dragon’s eyes opened. Kit’s eyes almost exactly matched Belargo’s. The two had been bonded by dragon magic in the attempt to save Kit. Nobody knew what this meant for them, but they were soon to find out. This was only the beginning of an adventure, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in centuries.

-END OF PART 1-

This was inspired by a writing prompt that was thrown my way! It had reached Tumblr fame before, but I figured I'd give it a shot too. Thank you of you've taken the time to read this, I'd love to know what you think! Have a good one!

#writing #writing prompt #dragon #fantasy