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Scarlet Ruse

Chapter Four: Traitors and Dragons

Everything hurt, my whole left side felt numb, save for the bite wound which in contrast throbbed rather strongly with pain. The cold frozen night time air didn't serve to lessen any of it either, making my movements stiff and slow as I trudged along the stone foreyard toward the lone figure who had saved me and Kaiber. I looked off to the side, giving said lizard a once over with my eyes, he looked to be faring well enough.

“Who are you…"? I asked with a sharply drawn breath of pain, coming to a stop a few feet from the man, he was a good six, nearly seven feet tall, clad in the plate of a highly decorated Paladin, though the sigil of Dragonholme and the healing hand were suspiciously absent.

“Sva'll get the boy, we need to leave quickly…" the man said, looking off away from me, toward the Grand Hall where a carpet of thrall corpses now lay, crushed or skewered by splinters and chunks of the former doors. My ears however perked up immediately upon hearing that name, I suddenly became very uneasy about the Dragon I stood under.

“Hey i'm talking to you old man"! I barked, irritated, again the man ignored me whilst the huge wyvern lowered himself, coiling about the four of us till he lay upon the foreyard like some enormous lounging serpent. Sva'll the Devourer, I shuddered as his huge golden eyes narrowed in on me.

“I have no time for you Assassin, Boy, get on, now" the Paladin said, his voice thick with a tone of urgency and power. But Kaiber made no move to do as instructed, nor did Digger who stood at his side eyeing the man.

“He's not going anywhere, especially not with a traitor…" I stated, my breathing becoming shallow for a moment as I felt the hot breath of the Dragon along my back. The man however finally turned to face me, confirming my suspicions.

“I am not a traitor"! He barked, the man in question was Emet Theodore, former lieutenant to the Dragonholme army, now renounced and titled traitor by his own King. at one time not to long ago he had been one of the most renowned Paladins in the world, now he was a shunned outcast that had not been seen for years.

“Last I heard you were…" I muttered shallowly, my chest tightening as blood pooled in my mouth, something wasn't right on the inside, hurriedly I fished through my pouches for a healing elixir, thankfully not all of them had been shattered in the prior fight. I downed one quickly, wincing as it worked quickly to knit whatever wounds I had shut.

“The King would not listen to me, I told him conflict was coming, I told him his life was targeted"! Emet bellowed in rage, his braided white beard shaking violently, his expression held for a moment before it slumped from his face, he eyed over my shoulder at the Dragon for a moment before sneering and striding off toward Kaiber.

“The boy comes with me, he isn't safe here" Emet muttered, yet as he approached both Kaiber and Digger began to snarl and growl, it made me smirk, he'd come a long way from the confused boy in siricuse last I saw him.

“I wouldn't try forcing him, he bites…" I said, my voice hissing a little as I remembered the wound he'd given me not to long ago. Emet simply stood there, one fist gripped tight around the neck of his warmace.

“I have no time for this, he isn't safe here, you clearly have no interest in protecting him" The Paladin said, frustration rising in his tone, I simply shrugged, the pain in my body finally dying off to a dull ache.

“He isn't going with you, I was tasked to keep an eye on him by a Knight from the Black Church." I replied, trying to put the effort into it but falling short due to the beating I had just taken. Emet spun around with an impatient look on his face, making to say something, nay bellow something, but was swiftly interrupted.

“I shan't travel with either of you"! Kaiber said sharply, the feminine flare of his voice piecing the space with a clear and decisive tone. The both of us gave him a raised brow look as he stood there.

“You've no comprehension of the events present boy, this is for your best…" Emet began to speak but again Kaiber cut him off, his deep and brilliant scarlet eyes burned with a clear message.

“I said no, I trust none of you, I will wait till Roderic returns, till then I do nothing the either of you say." he said, swiftly shutting Emet down, the Paladin slowly turning, pausing then bringing his gaze to me.

“Roderic...Roderic Hardgrave? He's here"? Emet asked, I nodded in response, surely he'd be on his way back from the tombs up north on the tundra by now. But from the look on Emets face I began to doubt that notion.

“He's not here here, he went up to the tundra, to the Laymans tomb, to hunt the Shade you killed." I answered, his gaze snapped upward to the Dragon for a moment before falling once more, he was muttering away to himself, to faintly to hear.

“The tomb, it was a trap you idiot… the Shade has Fanatics stationed there, Roderic...he's most likely dead" Emet replied flatly, his voice void of life in that one sentence. Kaiber certainly didn't want to hear it, his ears folding back, and face falling. Me however, I furrowed my brow forward in disbelief.

“Bullshit, Roderic won't fall to a Fanatic, he has companions, adept ones at that, until I see proof I don't believe you." I growled in return, brining some life back into the lizard that stood off behind him. Again did Emet make to bellow something at me, and again was he cut off, this time by the Dragon.

“Neither of us know for certain Theodore, your cynicism is out of check again." Sva'll spoke, his voice loud enough to be head from peak to peak of the mountain range and he had yet to raise his voice or yell. It still sent a shudder up my spine, Sva'll the Devourer, the infamous man eating wyvern of Thray.

“So what? He'll not make it back for a half week, I am outcast from this country, I cannot wait a half week."! He bellowed out in frustration at the huge shadowy dragon, according to the stories Sva'll was said to be clad in a brilliant gold hue from head to tail a sight that often entranced greedy merchant vessels to vere to close to Thrays treacherous coastline.

“Are you forgetting that little trinket of yours Theodore? You do seem to like flaunting it in Gillian." Sva'll commented, swiftly shutting the man up. Though I cocked a brow in curiosity at that, but I paid my attention more so to Kaiber and his half witted friend, who now both stood shivering in the cold; I jerked a thumb back toward the keep.

“Inside, the two of you, we can continue this conversation in the stables...lest we freeze out here or worse…" I stated, Kaiber's eyes held defiance in them, but he said nothing, hurrying to slip inside with Digger and me in tow, followed reluctantly by Emet who dawned a thick hood and walked quickly.

The inside of the Grand Hall was a mess, the doors were destroyed, though thankfully by the looks of things only two men had lost their lives to the horde, three including Belmont, I felt sorrow as I remembered, my mind playing the moment over and over as I walked swiftly down the maze like hallways toward the stables, Digger leading Kaiber on ahead of me.

Eventually we all stood in the stable hall, cold wind blew in from the man open walled alcoves ment for Dragons, the rear walls of such didn't exist, they were just holes in the mountain side, a quick peek out of one afforded me a glimpse of Sva'll flying circles about the Keep.

“So, let's talk shall we." I said, turning to face the others.