The Tome of Agrimar

Chapter Two

A strong rush of wind sent her hair whipping behind her, as Kendra leaned forward, arms outstretched like a birds wings, letting the blast hit her full force. The next thing she knew she was in the air, the ground falling away beneath her. The sudden upward momentum of the take-off pinned Kendra flat onto the back of her mount, and it was that moment that she realized she was riding a dragon! Her heart soared with excitement as another wing-beat of the massive creature just under her pinned her down once again. She was flying! Everything grew smaller and the world fell further and further away.

She couldn’t believe it. It was the most amazing feeling in the world. She was high in the sky, looking down on all the inhabitants beneath her from the back of one of the worlds’ most magnificent creatures, a dragon. If only this feeling could last forever. Flying through the clouds—and then something bit her in the rear.

“What the—“ Kendra jumped up from where she’d been laying on the ground with a start, finding that her pack had been pressed up against her backside. It took her about two seconds to realize she’d only been dreaming, and then another two seconds to get over her disappointment. After all, a traveling adventurer like herself was bound to achieve her dreams someday.

That settled, Kendra rolled over and seized her bag, fishing inside to retrieve whatever object had been the culprit in interrupting her dream. “Aha!” she exclaimed, pulling out the beautiful statue she’d happened upon the day before. “You’ve got some sharp claws there, haven’t you?” She found herself admiring the statue again, examining all the little artistic details that made it look so lifelike and wondering what secret word might summon the dragon to her side.

She put a finger to her lip in thought, then held the glass dragon in front of her face, her nose nearly touching it. “Abracadabra!” Nothing happened. Another thoughtful pause. “Awaken!” Nothing. “Arise! Come forth! I summon thee! …. Hmm.. Maybe you have to know its name…” A glint of sunlight caught in the sapphire eyes causing them to sparkle and Kendra shrugged. “Oh well. If we’re going to be questing with Talon, I’m going to have to make sure you don’t get jostled too much.”

The young woman dived back into her sack and reemerged with a thick cloth which she used to wrap the dragon in a loose protective bundle. “There,” she said with a smile, giving the small figurine a pat as she slid it safely back into her pack. “It would work better if I actually had a case for you, but this’ll do for now. Maybe I can have a leatherworker make me one in the next town.”

The grass around her was wet, moistening her pants and tunic as Kendra moved around, and she could see the individual droplets of dew forming on the green blades reflecting the rays of the rising sun. The small, slender woman rolled up her sleeping mat and tied it back in place on her bag, situating it on her back and rising to her feet with a luxurious stretch, taking in her surroundings.

A light mist settled low over the ground making the air thick and moist, a slight breeze mixing with the moisture to send a waking chill deep into Kendra’s bones, and the morning light dawning with a dull haze over the foggy landscape. It was a morning full of mystery, a morning made for adventure. Kendra took in a deep breath of the fresh, grass scented air, and let out a satisfied sigh, as she lowered her hand back down to her side. What a wonderful mystery. A wide smile spread across her lips as she determined she must certainly be in for a fantastic escapade.

“Good morning world, and good morning Ta… hmm…” There was a matted mark on the ground where Talon had lain when she’d found him, empty pressed flat grass. “Talon?” Kendra spun around, checking the ground around her for any sign of the injured man and his bird. Nothing.

“Humph.”

The few lingering chirps of the night’s crickets faded out as the louder more active chirping of the waking birds echoed through the skies in a slowly building crescendo. A sleeping forest was waking, and the still grass by the roadside shifted and scratched as some early rising foragers dared to leave the shelter of the trees and test the open skies. One of those venturing creatures hopped into view, a little rabbit, nose twitching tentatively, testing the air with each slow little hop forward. It was just settling in to enjoy a patch of clover when Kendra scuffed the ground with her foot and heaved a discontented sigh, sending the poor critter scurrying back to the woods.

"On my own, once again," her head hung sadly as she looked off into the distance, the view shrouded in the deepening fog. Though the atmosphere would be depressing to some, seeing such weather slowly worked to brighten Kendra's dampened spirits. Talon may have left her behind to go questing on his own, but there was a whole world out there, hidden from view, possible adventures hiding around every bend. "Well, I can find some exciting adventures just fine on my own. Besides, I've got my own mystery to unravel." She patted the figurine in her pack, slipped her thumbs into the straps and put one determined foot in front of the other.

Reacquainted once again with the dusty path, her feet picked up the pace, kicking up a little dirt as she moved into a skip. Her head moved from side to side, eyes straining to see as far as she could in every direction. It wasn't long though before she started getting bored with her surroundings and her mind started to wander. Just as dragons had entered her sleep, dragons entered her daydreams.

The sky went dark and the leaves of the trees shuddered in the wake of the great beast flying above them. Kendra could see the winged-shadow dwarfing her form on the road as it flew right over her head, and she looked upward to see the giant green creature diving downward. It swooped in and did an immediate about-face ahead of her, just inches above the tree tops, its powerful wing beats sending her reeling backward. The creature’s leathery head alone was as big as a house, and its golden eyes bored into her as it alighted with a thundering shake on the road, blocking her path.

Kendra could do nothing but stand there in awe, her mouth gaping wide open as the dragon folded its wings up by its sides and huffed a smoky breath out its nostrils. It tilted its head down, cocking it to the side to take her in with the gaze of a single great eye. The two faced off in silence on the roadway, neither saying a word.

The silence was broken by a rustling in the bushes to the side of the road, and the dragon gave another smoky snort, rearing back on its hind feet, away from the sound. It was a band of evil warriors that had been waiting in hiding and were now planning to ambush the dragon! Kendra spun quickly to face the would be attackers, swinging her bag from her shoulders with a “hya!”, intending to strike the first daring soul to come out of the bushes with the weight of her belongings.

A burly highway man leapt backward, sucking in his gut to avoid getting hit by the bludgeon, and Kendra’s eyes focused back on reality. Her daydream dragon disappeared off the road, and before her stood a pair of brigands. They would have taken her completely by surprise had it not been for the seconds clumsiness. She could see his foot caught in the branches of a small shrub, and he hopped precariously on one leg, shaking his trapped limb in an attempt to free it.

“Whoa there, little missy,” the first said, an amused grin on his face. “No need to be fightin. Didn’t mean to startle ye. Ain’t that right, Bart?”

“Wha?” the man known as Bart looked up at his companion, and immediately fell over onto the dusty path, having been distracted from his attempts to free himself of the foliage. “Oh, yeah, yeah. We’re harmless.” He snickered.

Kendra narrowed her eyes, unconvinced, her legs spread wide in a stance ready to fight, bag at the ready for another swing. “Then, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Collectin,” the first, apparently the leader, replied to her question. Bart just nodded in abject agreement. “You see, I recon ye’ve got a quite a bit ’o finery in that heavy lookin bag’o yourn. Ye jus be handin it over, and there won’t be any need to dirty up yous pretty lil face.”

“Oh I don’t carry finery,” Kendra said innocently, loosening her grip on her bag and lightening her defensive stance, as Bart got clumsily to his feet and stood beside his leader. “I do have a statue I found on the road though. Do you know who it belongs to?”

The man chuckled and looked over at his stumbling companion with a wink. “Sure. Sure. I know who it ‘longs to. Why don’t ye give it ‘ere, and I’ll be takin’ it off yer hands there.” He pulled a large broadsword from behind his back and held it before her, running his finger along the edge of the blade in an attempt to threaten her.

The threat was lost on Kendra, and she merely tilted her head to the side curiously. “I’d really like to return it to its owner myself,” she replied, a bounce gathering in her feet as she remembered her musings about the little figurine’s origins. “I want to ask him about it, because I think it might have some kind of special magical qualities! See, I think a wizard may have enchanted it, and that it can summon the dragon it was carved after if you know the right word to do it. I’ve tried everything I can think of, but nothing seems to work. If I can find who it belongs to though, he should know and he could tell me, and I could help him with his quest to return it to the lost heir! If you could just point me in the right direction, that’d be wonderful! See, I’m on an adventure.” Kendra smiled, not in the least bit frightened.

The man looked dumbfounded for a moment, before he blinked and let out a growl, reaching forward, hand grasping air where Kendra’s hair had been as she ducked deftly aside. “Hey!” Kendra shouted, eyes going wide in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“What are ye? Daft, girly? I’m gonna have me that there statue whether you want to give it to me or not!” The man glared at her, spreading his feet wide and bringing his broadsword down to his side, readying for a swing.

Kendra just looked between the two men in shock. “That… that’s stealing!”

“It ain’t stealin, it’s collectin,” the man replied, steadying himself as he inched closer to the young woman before him. “See, you walk around heftin a big ‘ole bag like that, and yer bound to be tractin the wrong types. There be bad sorts out there who’d kill ye for not more ‘n a pair ‘o boots. By collectin, we’re workin as a protection’o sorts. Ain’t that right, Bart?”

He elbowed his companion, who by now Kendra figured to be really stupid, and he gave a rather startled reply. “Huh? Wha—oh, yeah, yeah. Right, Marv.” He snickered.

“Well, don’t you men worry. I can take care of myself just fine,” Kendra said with a definitive nod. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” She shouldered past Marv, swinging her arms with a skip in her step.

“That so?” Marv asked, tilting his head to look over at Bart. “Why don’t you teach this lil girly a thing or two, Bart? Show her how dangerous it can be out here.”

“Right, righ—“

Before Bart could even take a step forward, Kendra flattened herself to the ground, swinging her bag out once again in a low sweep that took the distracted Marv right behind the knees. He fell backward, sword swinging out wide, sending Bart stumbling back to avoid getting hit. The young woman left the clumsier man to his own devices, standing back up and bringing her pack around behind her back and over her head in a forceful downward swing over Marv’s prostrate form, hitting him full on the chest and sending a blasting gasp of air out of his lungs. She then stepped up onto his stomach and stomped purposefully on his groin, jumping over his now curled body.

Kendra kicked the broadsword across the dirt road, away from Marv, moving in on Bart, who had just now managed to regain his balance. He stupidly charged forward in an attempt to tackle her, but Kendra just curled up and shoved her own body against his knee, sending him wheeling through the air to land on top of his fallen companion.

“I don’t take kindly to thieves,” she said, turning to face them and swinging her roughsack back around to settle comfortably against her back, “Or liars. You two aren’t ‘collecting’, you’re stealing. Go find yourselves an honest job and quit thieving off of others. Have a nice day.”