The small common room was filled to the brim with the smelling, loud bandits. The three long tables were covered with leftovers, empty bottles and even a goblin or two passed out on top of them. The air was filled with the smell of booze, food and unwashed bodies. Aldric and Martin were sitting in the corner, watching the increasingly violent feast building.

  The bar had been emptied early on and now a couple of half-fiends were walking back and forth from the caravan outside, bringing different types of alcohol with them on every trip. Next to Aldric lay the barkeep and their two young boys. Martin had tried to start a conversation with the barkeep a couple of times throughout the night, but had only received single words in reply, until the barkeep said he would prefer to be left alone.

  Aldric was watching Ashborn sit and talking to some girl he hadn’t noticed before. She didn’t seem to enjoy the conversation, but looked like she was forcing herself to stay polite. She was sort of pretty, only a couple of years older than Aldric, with mud brown hair and suntanned skin, she was wearing a linen dress made up of a single piece of cloth. She was a bit chubby, but it flattered her more than anything else.

  “Poor girl.” sighed Martin. “What an unfortunate faith the gods had in store for her.”

  “What?” Aldric replied, only half listening, captivated by this girl. “What do you mean?” He forced himself to look away from her and turn his focus on Martin.

  “She will most likely be sold tomorrow as well. But while yours and mine faiths might be cruel, it will be nothing compared to what she will have to go through every day.” Martin said in a somber tone. “Thankfully, we shall soon be freed from this predicament.”

  “How can you be so sure, your Spellbane is on its way?” Aldric asked, chancing another look at her, it seemed she was stealing glances at him too. “Should we try to free ourselves?”

  “It all comes down to faith.” Martin said with a smile, like he knew something, he wasn’t going to say. “I believe in the mission of the Spellbane and its members.”

  Aldric shook his head in disbelief while tightening his grip on the dagger, Clyde had given him. At least he’s consistent. I need to find a way to escape.

  A thunderous boom cut through the rising racket of the partying bandits, followed by a harsh shout in a foul language Aldric didn’t understand.

  One of the half-fiends who were on the wagon behind Aldric and Martin, had been thrown against the bar by a giant hairy looking ogre, while the other one was shouting at the ogre.

  “Everybody get out!” The voice turned the blood in Aldric’s veins to ice, Ashborn was standing over the fighters. “If we are going to have a fight, let’s do it properly!”

  All of the bandits cheered and they all left for outside. Where they continued to shout, laugh and sing. The common room turned from a loud raucous to a silent mess. Aldric looked around the room, saw only leftover food, empty and half drunk bottles of all different kinds of alcohol, ale and wine. Some passed out bandits lay on the ground, across tables and under them, softly snoring. In the far corner stood a familiar cage. A soft growling whimper could be heard from it. Unsure of what to do, Aldric decided to stay put, leaning back against the wall and closed his eyes. He was asleep before his head fully touched the wall behind him.

  “Aldric my boy, wake up.” Aldric felt a soft knock on his shoulder, he looked up at the culprit. No surprise there, it was Martin. It felt like he only just closed his eyes, but his head was filled with sleepness.

  “I’m sorry, my boy.” He continued in a whisper. “I was going to investigate the whimpering cage and I was wondering, if you would like to join me?”

  “What? You want me to join you?” Aldric asked in sleepy confusion.

  “Yes, my boy. Let’s investigate what poor creature have been forced into captivity.” Martin exclaimed, a bit too enthusiastic. “The feast seems to be over outside or has died down at least. Now would be the perfect time to have a look around.”

  “Alright.” Aldric replied, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, then checked where he had put the dagger. It was tucked into his belt on his left side. I don’t remember putting it there.

  The duo moved around the empty common room, trying to make as little noise as possible. Martin went first, with Aldric a couple of steps behind. Martin quickly found a speedy route through the mess of the common room. Soon they were at the small cage, where the whimpering continued. The cage had a brown potato sack pulled over it. With both of them having their hands tied, it was quite the effort to get the sack removed.

  When they managed to get the sack of the cage. Aldric was taken back by the silver wyrmling dragon inside. His mind was sleepy from his interrupted sleep, completely forgotten his encounter with the wyrmling the night before.

  “Oh no, poor little you.” Martin whispered with a deep sorrow in his voice. “You barely cracked from your egg. Only a few days ago.”

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  The wyrmling started to whimper loudly, and thrashing around as trying to make itself fit in the far corner, all though it was too big for the cage. Martin pulled out some dried meat from his pocket and slowly lowered it from the top of the cage.

  “Do not worry, poor one. I will not harm you.” Martin whispered in a soothing tone. “Where are your parents? Hmm, the only silver dragons I know of live on the top of mount Eldath.”

  “So, this is a dragon?” Aldric whispered, his mind finally waking up. “How do you know so much about dragons?”

  “Firstly, yes this little one is a dragon and maybe the child of a trusted friend of mine.” Martin replied, a bit of anger in his voice. “Much of my youth was spent learning about dragons and the different kinds.”

  “Really? You know dragons? How did you get to know a dragon?” Aldric spoke up in surprise, a bit too loud for the otherwise quiet common room.

  “Oh my boy, that is a long story.” Martin replied, turned and smiled to Aldric. “I will be happy to tell you, once we are free men again.”

  Martin yanked his hand back, when a small column of frosty smoke shot up from the small creature. “I had forgotten they could do that. Haha.”

  The small piece of dried meat fell to the bottom of the cage and cracked into three pieces. Both Aldric and Martin looked as the wyrmling slowly moved over and garbled up the three pieces of now frozen meat in quick succession. The small dragon looked up at the two men standing over the cage, and stared for a moment, before it started whimpering again.

  “Oh, someone is still hungry, are we not?” Martin laughed. “Here you go.”

  He fished another three pieces of dried meat out of his pocket and let them fall into the cage. Right after another column of frosty smoke filled the cage and the surrounding area. The temperature in the common room fell quickly, so quickly Aldric could see his breath as he exhaled. Martin didn’t seem to have noticed and was in the process of finding fresher meat on the nearby tables. After a couple of minutes, the young dragon seemed to be tired and crawled up in a ball and was sleeping in seconds.

  “It is freezing in here.” a sleepy drunk voice sounded from somewhere under a table.

  “Ssh, we better get back to our spot.” Martin whispered. “We will come back for you, poor little one. I promise.”

  Aldric and Martin sneaked back to the corner where the barkeeper and the young boys were slightly shivering. They sat down next to one another.

  “This is the power of a wyrmling, Aldric and one who is only a couple of days old.” Martin whispered, when they were sitting against the wall. “Now try to imagine what a full growth dragon is capable of. Especially when angry.”

  Aldric looked over at the cage and thought in horror, what this small creature would be capable of in a couple of years.

  “Martin, why don’t we try to escape?” Aldric asked after what felt like several minutes. “Everyone is drunk and sleeping, we can easily sneak out of here.”

  “The truth is we can, Aldric.” Martin replied with a sigh. “But what about the poor little one and the girl from earlier? Or all the other people who are being terrorized by Ashborn’s army of bandits?”

  “But what can I do? I’m not a hero or a fighter. I’m just a farmer.” Aldric replied, sounding frustrated.

  “Let me ask you something, my dear Aldric.” Martin asked, in the same serious tone as earlier. “Would you feel, if you woke up in the morning and I was gone?”

  “I… I would be disappointed that you had left me here.” Aldric replied, realizing what Martin’s point was.

  “Good, my boy. We will help everyone terrorized by this dog and his misfits.” Martin smiled knowingly. “Besides, I can not say no to a challenge like this. After all, I am a gentleman.”

  Shortly after Aldric found himself, feeling the comfort of Martin’s present. Like a grandfather taking care of their grandchild. Aldric closed his eyes, and thought of what it would have been like to have Martin as his grandfather. The first image that came to mind was of them out on the sea sailing a small boat with one main mast. Martin showed him how to sail and how to navigate using the wind and stars. They were laughing, and enjoying their time together.

  But suddenly, the wind picked up and a storm was visible on the horizon coming in fast. Martin was still laughing. Aldric looked around, and found himself falling into a deep hole, when he hit the bottom, the hole slowly filled with seawater, with only a small bit of light coming from the top, silhouetting a small girl.

  “Why didn’t you save me?” a familiar girly voice sounded from nowhere. “Why did you leave me?”

  Aldric knew the voice, so familiar. The water was at his knees. The voice was distraught and angry, filled with hate.

  “Who are you?” he asked in confusion, hurt by the statements. Martin’s laughter could still be heard somewhere in the distance, slowly dying out.

  “You don’t even remember me!” The girly voice filled with anger and hurt. “How could you just leave me like this?”

  The water had risen to Aldric’s chest. “What do you mean?” Aldric tried to scream.

  He felt something grab around his ankles, holding him in place. The water was starting to cover his face. He started to panic, looking around for something to free himself with. As he looked up again, he saw a tall slender man clad in black, holding the hand of a familiar young girl, wavy blonde hair blowing the wind, walking away from him. He was no longer in a hole drowning in water. He was standing on a beach holding a blue bladed rapier in one hand and looking upon an island, with two mountains. No one of them was shaped differently like it was a built mountain.

  “What is taking you so long?” the deep female voice sounded, this one Aldric didn’t recognize. But somehow it was familiar. “You are so far away.”

  The voice was somber and sad, it sounded like it was longing for something or someone.

  “Hi you! wake up!” a deep rusted voice shouted, Aldric jolted awake.

  “Wh… what is going on?” Aldric replied in a haze of sleepness.

  “Get up!” the Orc shouted at him, before lifting him to his legs and dragging him out of the common room.

  The sun was high in the sky, showing the time was close to noon. The whole camp was busy packing wagons, and feeding the horses. Aldric was dragged all the way to the familiar caged wagon, where he was surprised to see Martin sitting already with a sack over his head, and bound on hands and feet. Shortly after, so was Aldric. The familiar sweet scent of rotten fruit carried its way into his senses.

  “Today is the day, my boy.” The charming knowing tone of Martin came out of the darkness. “Yes, today is the day I defeat Ashborn!”