We Fight Dragons (Volume 2, Chapter 1) "Cold beginnings"
It was winter in Blacken Green, but tonight in particular was a very dark and bitter night, even by winter’s harsh standards. Icicles clung tightly to branches, not even dripping meltwater under the porch lights of houses. Barely an animal stirred, and only the hungriest of the wild beasts was about.
The air was so crisp that it cut unprotected lips, burned exposed cheeks, and started noses running at the first whiff of cold air.
In the small hours of the night, the only thing that stirred was a black car as it left the by-pass, swung into town from the north, and motored slowly and deliberately through the quiet streets. Anyone who saw it would have read the words ‘Urbridge West Real Estate’ which were discretely adorning the sides of the vehicle. The car slowed to a stop near a strip of common land next to a creek, and two figures emerged.
The taller figure was a man with short crewcut hair that was greying at the sides. He had the look of a hardened leader. He scanned the area carefully as he tied up a stylish grey overcoat against the cold.
The second figure was a woman with freshly blonded and styled hair, and a business-like attitude as she checked every step she trod in her high heeled boots in order to avoid the ice. ‘Marshal,’ she asked. ‘Are you sure this is the place? It looks… quiet.’
‘This is the place the beast named, Captain, and it makes sense. There are legends concerning this whole area, and I would bet you anything that there is one of their Dragonstones on that hill to the south. I have to say, it is a bold move for them to live in the shadow of the nearby city, using it for ‘statistical cover’ if you will, while remaining detached from it.’
The faintest sound in the rushes along the creek alerted both of the strangers and they spun towards it, automatically moving to optimal positions of cover and observation, as their training had taught them.
The noise was a young fox, on the hunt, which stuck its head out of the bushes and froze when it saw them looking at it.
‘Vermin,’ said the Marshal. ‘But there should be fox baits laid out around here somewhere.’ The Marshal narrowed his gaze and focused intently on the fox, and whispered numbers and formulae.
The fox suddenly noticed something in the rushes, crept over and sniffed. It was a fox-bait that the local town council had laid. The fox swiftly ate the bait, keen for any scrap of food in such a lean winter, and slunk back into the rushes.
The Captain joked, ‘What were the odds of that.'
‘Whatever I will them to be,' the Marshal said dispassionately.
‘Yes, sir. Of course, sir.’
‘Let’s return in the morning. We will base ourselves in the city while we acquire and verify who in this place is a fallen-knight. We also need to check the other towns around the city, in case this is not the only ‘nest’ that we need to deal with.
The next day the black ‘Urbridge West Real Estate’ vehicle was back, and it pulled up outside one is the less-well maintained homes in the town.
The Marshal and his Captain got out, dressed as real estate agents clutching clipboards and with coffees in disposable cups, and made a show of inspecting the building from the outside. The best maintained feature of the whole place was the newly restored letterbox on the front fence.
They entered the small front garden and the Captain knocked on the front door. After a while the door was opened by a middle aged woman, just enough for them to see that she was carrying a mangy ginger tabby while she peered at them, trying to discern their intent.
The Captain began, ‘Good morning. How are you today? We’re from Urbidge West Real Estate, and we’re looking for properties in the area that people might be interesting in moving on. Do have time for a chat?’
‘Sell! Why would I want to sell?’ the woman snarled from behind the door.
‘Yes, of course not. But something tells use that you might know someone who does? I bet that you know everyone and everything that’s going on in town. I’d love to hear all about it.’
‘Oh!’ the woman with the old cat relented, ‘Why didn’t you say so! Of course I have time to chat… I can tell you all about the town, but in exchange I want to hear everything that’s going on in the city!’
‘Of course,’ said the Marshal. ‘We really appreciate your time. Can I put the kettle on?’
Whenever a Dragon is captured or killed, wherever it is, the god of the darkness knows about it.
When the last Dragon of Blacken Green was banished, and later captured by the Torquar, the god of darkness saw everything that it saw, in the same way that a Dragon can see through the eyes of its possessed minions.
When it learned that the Torquar had commenced an operation against Blacken Green, and left their Fortress less-well defended, it sent one of its most powerful Dragons to take a terrible revenge.
Nambodius was that Dragon. Even amongst other Dragons, its name invoked fear.
It always employed subtlety before violence, and with its invisibility and power of flight, as well as its power to confuse minds, it wormed its way slowly into the Fortress. By following the remaining Torquar as they passed through each doorway no matter how well secured, it inevitably arrived in the torture chamber where the lesser Dragon was being held.
The Fortress was protected by probability-barriers that could have caused it untold misadventures, but with so many of the Torquar away the barriers had grown weak, and Nambodius was a powerful Dragon.
In the torture chamber where lesser Dragon was chained with electrified shackles, it found a lone Torquar who was so engrossed in his grisly work of interrogation that he failed to notice that he had been followed, until a single claw from Nambodius sliced him from neck to belly.
Nambodius lied when it told the lesser Dragon that it was being rescued, as it asked questions about what had happened.
‘Knights and Maidens. The Knights of Logos have gone to Blacken Green to destroy them. They will not suspect my release. Together we will ambush them and retake the city.’
Nambodius glared at the Dragon. ‘Your release? The god of darkness does not suffer failures. The only thing I came to release you from is your existence!’
It did not take long for Nambodius to devour the essence of the captive Dragon, making itself more powerful by doing so.
It did not plan to destroy the Torquar just yet. First, it planned to use them to destroy Blacken Green.
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