Chapter 2

A blast of fire struck the ground with explosive force. Three soldiers ducked for cover, cursing and coughing their way back to their feet before resuming their mad dash. All three were wide eyed, exhausted, and splattered with mud. One bore a cut on his shoulder, from which he was bleeding profusely. There was no time to treat it with so much as a bandage. A rumbling breath haunted the area.

“We’re still being followed…!”

“Justitia damn this dragon of a bitch! Guys, we’ve got to, keep going…”

“There’s no end to this, it’s just more forest!

“INCOMING!!!”

The ground beside them was swallowed up in a fiery blast, scorching the grass down to the roots. The four were once again knocked to their feet; once again they had to get up, extra scratches be damned. Behind them, a monstrous reptilian head poked out between the trees, its teeth sticking out between the lips guarding its maw. Smoke poured from the corners of its mouth, as it angrily eyed the men for a split second, before breaking into a charge.

“Here it comes!!”

“Just keep running!”

“How the hell are we going to get out of this?!”

One of the men fished a musket ball out of his pocket, and attempted to slot it into the large rifle he was holding. A thunderous roar then sounded; A column of flame razed past the man, and he screamed out, dropping his gun as his hand was incinerated. The beast hastily stepped forward; one of the other men threw a firecracker just as the red behemoth’s claw hovered over their injured comrade.

“Back off, BACK OFF!!”

The beast quickly pulled back. It was just enough time for the burnt man to make his escape. Having been reduced to one healthy man, and two unloaded musket rifles, they were at their wits end. But they couldn’t give up. It wasn’t going to end like this. Their commander had told them exactly what was awaiting the three of them if they gave up: A snug spot between those same jaws chasing them down.

“Come on…! WHERE’S THE LINE?!”

“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

“Guys, I can’t go on anymore, I swear…”

“Bastard, do you want to get eaten?”

“No-”

“DO YOU WANT TO GET EATEN?!”

“N-no!”

Fate had its own plans for the three, however. A sudden drop from a short cliff took the three of them by surprise. They slid down, feet audibly cracking, only stopping once they hit the root of a tree. None of the three could move a step. The burnt man clutched his hand, the scarred man clutched his shoulder, and the thus far healthy one clasped his hands together, as all three watched the behemoth step over the hill. No guns, no weapons capable of getting through those scales. All they could do is stare in abject horror as the sun shone on their red and white doom.

“So then, lads, are we done putting up needless resistance? You are only making this harder on yourselves.”’

The three soldiers stared back at him as if their souls had been sucked out. Nothing but wide eyed terror. Minutes earlier, they were all bravado. Now, nothing but whines, whimpers and ragged breaths. They reeked of mud, blood and sweat. That deadly mixture that taints the nostrils, which he’d gotten all too familiar with. The red dragon shook his head. It’s been three years, and yet it never gets any easier to give the speech.

“I know what you are all thinking. You fear the absolute worst from someone of my blood, do you not? Deep down, you’re praying for mercy, desperately begging that you won’t become the victim in the stories your leaders have been telling you.”

“B-beast, w-w-we, we know it’s, it’s…!”

“A trick? I assure you, it’s the real deal. No need to beg for mercy. I always show mercy when I can.” The red dragon tilted its head and took a step down the slope. “Because that is who I am.”

“m-Monster…” muttered one of the three men.

“Monster?” The dragon gave a throaty chuckle. “Funny. That’s how I saw myself for the longest time after I was first turned. I couldn’t accept myself. Even less so when I got bigger, and the dragon in me began to out itself more. You know, bigger horns, sharper face. But do you want to know what I realized?” A smile appeared on his snout. “In the end, I’m still Victor Miller, no matter what.”

Unfurling his wings out for a stretch, Victor eyed his latest catch with a serene gaze. Calm as can be, he took their weapons between his talons and flicked them off into the nearby brush. He wanted to make sure they didn’t try anything funny, of course, but there was another side to his actions that always was lost on whoever he captured. Sure enough, the fresh air soured. Human beings were a predictable bunch, he learned.

Victor took a long, hard look at the imperial troops laying before him. “Not the nicest injuries, you lot.” he said, pointing with a talon at the cut across one man’s shoulder. “No worries, my men will be here shortly. Now, as long as you keep those eyes of yours peeled for any predators that think you’re a free meal, you’ll still be with us tomorrow. Understood?”

No answer came back. Victor sighed, then rested on his hindquarters. ‘Always one abyss full of brainwashing we have to break through. What have those Divine forsaken Bailiffs been stuffing in their heads?’

With none of the three daring to move, and with the air in Victor’s nostrils reeking of three men believing they will be torn to shreds at any second, the red dragon waited. He wasn’t on his own, after all, and there was only so much he could do with his scaled body. Life without proper hands wasn’t very fun. Nor was not being able to talk to your fellow human being like any ordinary person, thanks to the scales and stature. Victor had been growing over the last two years. Every other dragon which had been turned around the same time as him had long stopped. But not him, though.

“Right over there. Told you that big red bastard’s impossible to miss.”

“Pfft. Could say that again. ‘S like looking for a chameleon, ‘cept giant. You’d be surprised at how easy dragons can sneak up on you sometimes.”

“Maybe you need to get your eyes checked, then. How else can you miss a dragon, if not for your eyesight sucking something big? Giant lizard, big stomping feet, looks like it could gobble you up like a snack-”

“All I’m saying is that I’m glad to be on this side, not that sorry Imperial bunch, you hear?”

Victor grumbled, and rolled his eyes. ‘How old are these sorry fools now?’ “William, Jim. My ears work just fine. Get your fat arses over here already.”

The two men and their entourage of fellow Homefront troops walked into Victor’s eyesight a few seconds later: William was marching along with steady steps and his crossbow in hand, albeit with his cheeks slightly inflamed from what Victor could only assume was a ‘special conversation’, while Jim sauntered along with his hands behind his head. His musket was slung over his back, the sword remained firm on his hip gathering dust. Jim took the initiative, walking past the red dragon’s legs until he was looking down at the imperial troops Victor was keeping watch over.

“So, what do we have here? Another sorry bunch by the looks of it.” Jim spat at the Imperials. “What a waste of time.”

Victor eyes the back of Jim’s head with a dull, yet grim glare. ‘The least you could’ve done was not spit. Disgraceful’, he thought to himself. With how precarious Jim was standing on the little hill, one little flick of a talon would’ve been enough to send him tumbling.

“Right, you troops over there. Do you have any spare bandages? These lads need some medical help, urgently.”

“Yes, Commander Vykroz! We’re on it!”

The four troops ran down the hill with bandages in hand. Jim simply scoffed and walked off to kick some rocks. A grunt rolled out of Victor’s throat as he watched him walk away with a smug, yet resentful grin. Jim was never one who cared too much what happened to the enemy, but over the years, indifference had evolved into malice. If there were wolves to throw them to, Jim would’ve stuck those Imperial sods straight into their salivating maws, heads first preferably.

“Hey.” A hand grabbed onto Victor’s leg. “It’s been a while since we’ve talked, hasn’t it?”

The red dragon glanced to his feet, where a familiar crossbowman stood smiling like a baby goose. The corners of his huge lips ticked upwards; was it really surprising anymore?

“We talked before the mission, didn’t we, William?”

“It was only a briefing.”

“Fair enough. Come here, you!”

Man and dragon embraced each other in a large hug. Three years ago, they had met for the first time in a dusty quarter, all the way back in Ravens Hill. One was once shy, the other was once a bold human. Three years of going to the abyss and back had done a number on them both, but deep down, they were still like birds of a feather.

“You know, I haven’t had the opportunity to tell this to you, but I never fancied you as the kind of guy who’d grow a beard.”

William shrugged. “Times change. I was due for something new.”

Victor snorted. “Admit it. You got jealous of some of the other guys out there.”

“Hey!” William’s face grew a deep frown. “The beard looks good on me, scaleface!”

The red dragon nodded once. “That it does,” he said, then grunted. “What kind of a nickname is scaleface, though?”

“Fits you like a glove, doesn’t it?”

Another snort spilled from the dragon’s jaws. “I’m far from the only one. You could say that about any other dragon as well.” Victor raised one of his talons from the ground and held it before the crossbowman’s face. “You’d need a large glove to fit me, though.”

William rolled his eyes. “That’s the tenth time you’ve made that joke.”

“Tenth time you’ve used that same glove analogy, so it checks out in my book.”

“Guess so. You’re a pretty charming fellow, you know that.”

“Am I now?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, for a dragon anyway, I must admit.”

William put his hands behind his head and paced around with his back turned. He shot a glance towards the men under his command, who were busy tying up the Justitian troops for the trip back to base. The wind howled in between the trees; Victor stretched his wings and laid himself down on the grass.

“Quiet around here, isn’t it?”

“You could say that.”

Letting his wings flutter, Victor perked his ears up to try and catch wind of what the troops were saying to the captured. All he got was a wave of disappointment. No one was saying a word. No one ahead seemed interested in sharing as much as a word, either. Concerned, the dragon titled his head, one horn scraping through the bark of a tree.

“Alright. This is a war, I understand that better than anyone. Why is no one talking, though?”

“What are you rambling about?” William asked.

“That over there.” Victor directed William towards the troops with a claw, much like a kindergarten teacher would lecture a child. “No one is saying anything, even though there’s injuries. Shouldn’t you be talking to the injured, get them to open up a bit about where they’re hurt? And how? Novekk told me that’s how it usually goes.”

The captain shook his head. “Vic, look here. This whole war’s been going on for years. Everyone’s lost someone, and they’d be lucky if one’s all they’ve lost. After years of waking up at first light to have musket balls whizzing over your head, and never knowing whether you or the brothers standing next you will live to see tomorrow’s going to take its toll on you. You haven’t felt it since Eric left us.”

The corners of Victor’s mouth curled downwards. “That does not mean we should abandon our human side, does it? We’re all people at the end of the day. If we can get our enemies to see the light, wouldn’t that be an honourable way to end this fighting? Isn’t that a dream? And please, don’t bring up Eric anymore. I don’t want that wound to open up again. Ever,” he said, shaking his head.

“Of course,” William replied as he watched the dragon squeeze one foreclaw with the other. “Just understand that we’re all demoralised and tired of this. The bloodshed, the losses, the lack of any sort of comfort or anything else that’s desirable besides vague songs of ‘honour’. You name it. Why we haven’t tried to finish this once and for all any time in the last three years, I’d really like to know.”

Victor shook his head. In his mind, he was back in Riverside on that one fateful day where everything burned. When his kind mother and beloved sister were taken from him. When he had to run for his life. When he felt the tip of a sword pressing against his then soft neck. When he watched a man be devoured right in front of his eyes. And that was only the beginning. In spite of everything, he had to be strong. His father demanded it of him. Lokahn as a whole demanded it of him. One day, he’d have to succeed his father and rise to the throne. And kings can’t afford to be weak. Not ever. The previous king of Lokahn would speak of this piece of wisdom unlike any other, were the dead able to speak. Alas, he was but a fading memory now.

“I’d like to know too.” He let a hoarse growl run through his throat. “We… we should get back to business, though.”

William folded his arms. “You don’t sound very convinced of yourself.”

The red dragon sighed and gazed off to the others, who were still busy tending to the injured. Given his restraint earlier, Victor figured they were slacking on purpose.

“I know. But it is pointless to dwell on it. I’ve dwelled on it for too long already.” Victor said, thinking of farmer’s houses burning in the distance, their straw roofs turning black and then to ash, the stone smeared with soot as burning figures ran from their homes like rats from a sinking ship, collapsing into the grass. A rumble came from his chest. A trail of smoke poured out of his nostrils shortly after. “Far too long…”

“Me too.” William’s fingernails scratched over his crossbow. The sweat coming off him reeked of bitterness. “Me too.”

Victor breathed in deep, then growled it back out. “My father expects me to attend another war council tomorrow. Another day of sleeping out in the open, just wonderful,” he said, followed by a snap of his tongue.

“Do you think they will finally discuss how to end this damned conflict? Or is that still a dream?” William asked.

“Probably still a dream,” Victor said.

“Yeah. A dream. Kind of like you growing that baby face of yours back.”

Victor snorted. “I wasn’t that babyfaced.”

“Sure you weren’t.”

“You never mentioned it. Eric never mentioned it, either.”

“We were being kind on you back then, that’s why. After what… three odd years, maybe four years even, it’s open season.”

William leaned against a tree. Victor raised an eye at him, tilting his head slightly skyward to prevent any odd motion from his jaws.

“It’s open season? Really now? That is quite golden, coming from the bastard that was afraid of his own shadow when I first met him.”

William cracked a small smirk from under his beard. “You’re exaggerating.” Victor shook his head right back at him, a few teeth sticking out of his jaw in a draconically smug manner as he put his snout right next to the captain’s ear.

“I can still hear your voice back then. ‘Ooooh, uuhh, h-hello… m-my, my name, i-i-is W-w-w-w-w-illiaaam…’”

“Oh, come on now…”

Snickering, William punched Victor below the jaw, causing the red dragon to emit a large snort which turned into a hearty, growly laughter.

“Hahaha, let’s face it, Will. Not even the beard hides the way your cheeks flush red. Four years on, still the same. And it never gets old, haha!”

William sank down to his rear. “One of these days, I’ll get right back at ya, scaleface.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Victor’s tail swayed over a large patch of grass. The sun beamed through a crack in the trees, right onto his scales. It was so tranquil out here in the woods. Birds chirped in the distance, winds softly stirred the leaves from their slumber. An urge inside him to stay and take it all in for hours caressed his soul. Were it not for a yell coming from down the slope, he likely would have answered the call. But alas. A sigh rolled off his tongue.

“Well, not today. Got to get back on patrol.”

“Why, have they-”

William’s throat snapped shut as a shadow was cast over his eyes. “Yes, we’re done tying that sorry bunch up. Some help would be appreciated, Captain William.”

The fun and games were over, just like that. Jim’s all too familiar smell came crawling back up into his nose. The last time he’d been grouped up with the red dragon was three years ago. At least then, the snow was around to cover up his musk. No dice this time.

“Well, my apologies. Can you blame a man for wanting a little joy in his life?”

“Can I blame a man for being overly distracted trying to impress his dragon bestie to the point that it jeopardizes the mission? Why yers, I very much can,” Jim grumbled. “With how long you’ve been at it, I’m surprised you two haven’t kissed-”

“Quiet!” Victor roared. And Jim said no word more. “Step out of line again, I’ll add you to the list of Imperial casualties myself. Understood?”

Jim scoffed. “Understood.”

Victor growled behind his back as Jim sauntered off to the other troops. ‘He ought to fall on his knees in prayer everyday no one’s bitten his head off yet. Disgraceful piece of filth.’

Resigning themselves back to their duties, the men of the Homefront made their way to base, having tied the injured Imperials against Victor’s legs. Their eyes were as dull as a ten year old butter knife. Another exciting day on patrol.