Dragon dreams

After being woken herself, Ghost goes to wake Dwight for their watch with a hand on his shoulder.

"Ach! No! Not so hard!... oh, is it our watch?"

Shallan nods silently and jerks a thumb at the two climbing under their respective blankets for the night. "Sleep is for the innocent and the dead. Time to get up and watch for beasties." She softens the odd comment with an amused expression on her face.

"Understood. Give me a moment."

Dwight slides himself into his suit of chain. He then grabs a small
pouch and fastens it to his belt. "Can't forget this."

Shallan nods again and begins fastening the rest of her own armor. After belting on her scabbard, she glances up and watches.

"What dry weather we hae been having. How very comfortable." He looks over. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting Woodland's climate to be so dry. I spent some time in the west and was hoping for a change... but this is still nice. Cooler."

As she settles down for their watch, she puts her back to the fire for the night.

Dwight stokes the fire a bit. "The trees at least keep the heat off during the day. That desert sun can be brutal."

"Desert?" she asks curiously, only just becoming aqainted with certain parts of the country. She knew of the desert, but had avoided it in her travels. She was surprised to hear he had been there.

Dwight looks up. "Yes. Before I came to Woodland, I spent two winters in the Great Desert."

"I...don't think I would have enjoyed that. No trees." She softened the obvious disagreement with a smile, and thought back. "What was it like?"

Dwight pondered it for a second. "Well, bartering for water was definitely exciting. I must say, it's certainly a commodity that we take for granted in the east. Travel was also a bit... different."

"Different? You mean getting sand everywhere?"

"Well, that was part of it. What I meant was that travel in the hot sun was more strenuous than anything I've ever experienced. Even seated on a bactrian, the sun takes its toll."

"What's a bactrian?" She had seen sand before, but never in such quantity as a desert before. The only sand she had ever known had ended in forest on one end and crashing waves on the other.

"Bactrian camel. It's... like a horse. A desert horse. It doesn't have to drink as often." He chuckles. "They also smell much worse."

She wrinkles her nose. "I thought horses were bad enough..." The image she places in her mind makes her give a small chuckle. "What brought you to the desert?"

"Happenstance, mostly. It was in the direction I was heading. Since I didn't have anywhere else to go, I figured I would find my fate
there."

She glanced up at him, meeting his eyes, "And did you...?"

Dwight let a smile grow. "You could say that. At the very least, what I found kept me occupied."

His mood was a little infectious. "And what did you find that occupied you?"

Dwight clenched his fists. "A challenge. I found work as a prizefighter."

She tried to contain her laughter, but was only slightly successful, as her words stuttered with coughs that only barely covered her mirth. "I...simply
couldn't imagine... How on earth did you get into that?"

Dwight thought for a moment. "Well, I had just used most of my money to purchase a camel. As I was loading it up, somebody tried to snatch my pouch." He patted the pouch fastened to his belt. "I was pretty angry. I keep some important keepsakes in here. Fortunately, the thief was not very adept. Unfortunately, he was armed with a khopesh, and I had nothing."

"You astound me, Sir Dwight." She grinned at him to take the mocking tone from her comment. "An armed man? What would need such protecting that you would thrash a man who held a weapon
against you?"

"A gift from my mother. Something that I used once or twice to get the best of my brothers in training."

"Since I doubt you would cheat, what treasure would a younger brother use to best his older brothers?" Her insatiable curiousity was peaked, and it seemed he was purposely drawing it out just to tempt her along.

Dwight paused again and squinted at Shallan tentatively. "Well... I suppose you can have a look."

She grinned, but added seriously, "If you wish it to remain your secret, I promise it will remain so unless you wish it otherwise."

Dwight reached for his pouch. "I think I trust you." He opened it and withdrew a shiny, silvery set of metal knuckles. The knuckles had jewels inlaid along their face--six of them, each about a centimeter and a half in diameter, alternating between rubies and sapphires. Along one of its edges were Elvish letters...

Reading 'La Pugilista.'


"'La Pu-gil-ista'? That is no elven word..." She studies his face. "I didn't know things like those were legal in prizefighting..."

"It's not. I never used it for prizefighting."

"What does it mean? It doesn't seem elven-made, but someone did take care with it, and the words are written in Elvish script."

"I don't know. I received it on my tenth birthday from my mother. She said that it was a treasure given to some great fighter by the elves, but she did not know the story behind it."

"Well, I've never seen the like, nor do I recognize the word put upon it. I'm sorry, but the mystery of its origins will have to remain so." She shifted and listened to the sounds of the forest around them, checked the fire once more, then turned back to him. "Did you do well in your prizefighting? I'm assuming so, as it seems your nose is where it should be..." She winked, "though one never can tell with you humans."

Dwight sighed. "I certainly won more than I lost. I must say, I think I gained some small degree of notoriety. ... Forgive me. I sound like a braggart."

She replied quite happily, "Not at all! I should like to hear of it."

Dwight straightened up a bit. "Well! I shall tell what I remember. As I was saying, a man tried to rob me, then brandished a weapon. I was unarmed; the only weapon that I had bcarried with me I was required to sell when my money ran out."

"Out of necessity, I avoided his attack, and knocked him out, bare-handed."

She sized him up. "Impressive. So you went from a street brawler to a prizefighter?"

"Something to that effect. After the thief was dragged away to be locked up, a man came up to me, told me he was impressed with the way I handled myself, and asked me if I would like to use my skills to make some money. I won't say that I jumped on the opportunity, but in my state of affairs, it took little convincing."

Ghost agreed, "I can't imagine, though. How did you take to it?"

"At first, it was quite the rough life. I must say, I was quite nervous in my first fight. My opponent was quite the brute. I am fairly certain he had never bathed. I was fortunate enough to win the bout. The ringmaster spoke with a heavy dialect and cound not quite understand my name, so he mistakenly called me "The White." Paired with the fact that I was the palest face among those many sun-bronzed men, the name stuck after the fight. After that, my promoter, Sorj, and I traveled between towns, and I would fight one or several others for a purse of various amounts. I think my notoriety really came after I lost a few fights, though... nobody wanted to watch me fight after that. An easterner who could not hold his own! How unexciting to them."

"How would you become famous for losing?" Ghost dug into her pack and handed a ration bar to him, then took one for herself.

"Thank you." Dwight took it. "Actually, I arrived in one village where the turnout for the fight was very large. The reason for that is that, during the fight, the locals found great pleasure in hurling vegetables at me. Despite the distractions, I managed to win. After that night, my luck picked up a bit. My opponent was another foreigner who called himself Takash. He claimed to be from the continent to the north, but wouldn't say from where exactly. After our bout we discussed much about combat. I actually stayed several days in that town; Sorj's camel became rather ill, and he was forced to trade for a new one. I fought a few bouts for money and performed some odd jobs for the villagers, and would always join Takash for a drink in the evenings."

"He sounds like an honorable man, despite losing a fight to you."

"That he is. I was quite disheartened to have to leave his town, but there was no more money to be made. From the north to the south, for a few months, I had a long string of knockout wins... It was to the point where people would be waiting for The White to come into town, just to size me up so they could bet on the matches."

"So if things were going well, why leave and come to Woodland?"

Dwight sighed again. "Because the money always ran out fast, thanks to Sorj. He was not particularly good with our finances. He frequented disgusting places when he wasn't in my company, and I often saw him with some rather unsavory women."

She sighed, "I can only imagine. There were places like that to the south, not so much in my homeland...but they were there, just in a slightly different form."

"I believe it to be universal, alas. The worst came at the end, though, when I realized that Sorj was no true friend."

"What had he done?"

"He set up a fight so that I would surely lose, then bet against me. After the fight, he left the town with the warrior who had defeated me, probably to swindle him down the road as well. He also took my camel and most of the salable things I had when he left, and once again I was reduced to nothing."

She shook her head, "I was lucky for running into Jacob once leaving Navarene." Ghost glanced at him, "Is that how you came to Woodland?"

Dwight looked around himself briefly, then rubbed his face with his hands. "By and by. I actually became lost in the desert briefly, due to some bad directions and a camel that I bought on a very tight budget. However, fortune smiled on me once again, as I had an opportunity that few have, and that I am recreating only now."

"What would that be?"

"I came face to face with a dragon."

"Hopefully an honorable dragon?" She grinned, fully entranced in his tale.

"Indeed, it was none other than Thanacc, the brass wyrm of the Great desert. I am most fortunate that it was not another desert dragon!" He laughed a bit at this.

"Agreed." Her imagination ran rampant. "What is it like meeting a dragon? No one I've ever met before has seen one, let alone met with
one."

"Quite frightening at first. I believe he thought me to be a food item at a
glance."

"I would feel to be nothing more than a snack, I think..."

"Verily! However, he proved to be very kind. He revealed to me that he probably would not have eaten me anyway, and rather preferred the dews and moisture provided by the scant desert flora. I was near death when he found me, but the days I spent with the dragon helped me regain my strength, though I was nearly bored to tears listening to him drone on about himself."

"But the stories he could tell! There are few creatures that can rival the lifespan of one of my people..." She glanced off to the west. "It would be almost like being home."

"Well! Perhaps one day I shall take you to meet Thanacc."

"I think I would like that...and perhaps some day, I would take you to my homeland. To see the ocean, and the elven forests, the city among the trees." She smiled slightly, sadly, knowing that his lifetime would end far faster than hers. "Perhaps we should take one adventure at a time."

Dwight smiled at the sentiment. "Well, I can make no promises... but should our travels take us to that place, it would be worthwhile."


"So tell me of your dragon friend. Besides telling boring stories, what was he like?"

"Well, he mostly complained about two things. One was the fact that the females of his kind are elusive, at best. The other was Rel."

"Rel?"

"Another desert dragon. From what I understand, his influence is more potent in the northern parts of the desert. They do not get along."

"Ah. Well, then I'd expect that. I thought I heard mention of a female dragon elsewhere, but the conversation seems to be eluding me for the moment."

"He made it sound as though there are more dragons than we think, maybe many more. I suppose they do not want to be found."

"Alot like the elves. Great pains are taken to disguise the cities, so that even if you were to pass through the heart of one, you would not even know."

"So secretive! I often wonder just how much I cannot see."

Shallan shakes her head. "I wonder sometimes that I see too much..."

"I beg your pardon?"

She shifts her position a bit to glance back at the fire then away into the darkness. "There is so much evil in the world... I have seen probably far more seasons than any man could hope to, and wether it be elves or men, the sins really don't change." She glances down at her hands, clasped together, feeling the calouses gained by her weapons training.

Dwight falls silent.

"I can only hope that things will change for the better, and even more so within your lifetime rather than mine." She glances up and chuckles a little, making light of the conversation.

Dwight smiles a bit also. "At least there's hope. Goodness."

"Instead, tell me more of dragons..." She nudges him gently with her elbow. "What can you tell me of the dragons in this area?"

"In this area? I only really know what Thanacc has told me about himself and Rel."

"Of course, he told me a great deal, so it's at least substantial."

"Tell me, we've got a few more hours of our watch..." She grins, more than happy to listen to another tale.

Dwight sits back and takes a swig of water. "All right." He cleared his head for a second, recalling the words of the great dragon. "He told me of one ferocious battle with this dragon Rel, one that I have also heard about in stories told by the other denizens of the desert. It was territorial, and it is the reason that Rel is confined to the northern part of the desert..."