Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Dragoon II ❯ Conference ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Chapter 8) Conference

As the cart began to move, there was silence, except for the pounding of hooves in snow. Al and Orrin were still exhausted from their sprint, Rashe'm seemed to have slipped out of conscience again, and the knight didn't want to rush his pasangers for information. During the silence, snow began to fall. There was little or no wind, so it wasn't all that bothersome. What broke the silence was Orrin, asking, "You're taking us to Deningrad, right?" The knight didn't respond quickly, he took his time. "Yes, your friend's pretty banged up there, he won't last much longer out in the cold." Orrin felt a bit more relieved to hear that. Once again, silence pervaded, but it was broken this time by the knight. "I was there in the forest when the snake came up. I hadn't seen the lot of you, per say, but when I left, I had gone to get my horses. I didn't want the thing getting them." Orrin looked at the knight's face more closely, and he immediatly recognized the knight as the one at the guard post back in the forest. The knight continued, "If I had seen you guys, I would have stopped and tried to help. I see my cowardice led to the basilisk getting a chance to hurt your friend." Al shouted at the knight, "Cowardice? Yeah right! Ya practically turned to chicken sh...!" but Orrin cut him off, "Basilisk?"

The knight explained what a basilisk was to Orrin. "It's like a snake, only more vicious and about a hundred times bigger. It decided to take up residence about four months ago. We tried to get many a warrior from Deningrad to vanquish it, but none of them ever turned up again. When I retrieved my horses and found the basilisk dead, I also saw drag marks. I decided to follow it, and eventually, I found you." Orrin looked back at the knight, after looking forward while listening, and asked, "Are basilisks really that hard to kill?" The knight took his time to answer again, apparently drawling over words in his head to say. "Yeah, and that's why when we get to Deningrad, you're all going to get to enter the castle and meet the Queen, at least, you two will, and then your friend when he gets better. Slaying the beast puts you three at the top of any VIP list, pretty much."

There was another thing bugging Orrin. "When you unloaded your cart, how come you were so sure you're getting your things back?" This made the knight laugh a little. He said, "I'm sorry, I guess I forgot to mention. I was standing guard at the entrance path to the Mountain of Mortal Dragon. A knight stands guard there in case travelers, such as yourselves, can't read the sign, and take the path anyway." Al stated out loud, "I can read fine, thank ya very much!" The knight laughed again, saying, "I never said you couldn't, but back to being serious, I was a few hours away from my duty ending, and I was supposed to wait for the knight that we passed to come and relieve me of duty. But, with the attack and all, I couldn't just wait around." Orrin looked ahead, and he noticed that they were coming on the city fast.

When just outside the entrance to the city, the knight spoke up again, "By the way, we haven't really been introduced. I'm Shel, order of the seventh knighthood of Deningrad. I like to be on a first name basis with people I meet." Orrin said to Shel, "I'm Orrin, from the city of Dranc out in the Death Frontier." The fact that Orrin had traveled so far surprised Shel. "I guess there must be something really important you have to do here." When he saw a sudden worried look from Orrin, he added, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask." Then, Orrin continued, pointing to Al, "This is Aljandro. You can call him Al if you want." Al nodded with affirmation, and then Orrin pointed to Rashe'm. "Our friend is Rashe'm. He's running a fever, I believe, and he was talking nonsense earlier."

Shel pulled up to the hospital, which was located just south of the entrance. He went in the hospital and retrieved two doctors, along the way saying, "He's pretty smashed up. They also said he had a fever and spoke gibberish." The doctors hurried and took Rashe'm off of the cart, onto a stretcher they brought with them, and then into the hospital. As soon as that had been taken care of, Al spoke to Shel, "Could ya take me to the weaponry? We lost all of our weapons during the fight." Orrin had heard the conversation, and he doubted he would get a weapon to replace the stick he lost. "Sure, and I'll even pay for them. It's the least I can do for you guys getting rid of the basilisk." Shel replied, hushing when he got towards the part of the basilisk. Al then turned to face Orrin. He told him, "Stay here with Rashe'm. If he wakes up, it'll be best if he sees someone he knows instead of being surrounded by strangers." Then in a hushed voice, he said, "And guard yer pockets. Cities are sure to have thieves around, especially in dark corners." Orrin kept that in mind. Al turned to Shel again and said, "Okay, let's go." Orrin watched as the cart drove off. When it was out of sight, he realized how cold it had become, since night was approaching. He went into the hospital, waiting for either Al to come back or for Rashe'm to wake up.