Vivian's Escort (7)
To hunt a dragon, preparation comes first.
Where it lives. What color it is. How large it grows. All of it must be known.
Next comes the weaponry. Bows, javelins, and barbed hooks on rope above all else — those must be stocked in abundance.
We had none of that.
Ten days of expedition had drained every resource we possessed, and beyond the empty stores, our bodies were worn to the bone.
…Even so, we could not refuse the fight.
"Bows up!"
At my command, the boy soldiers who had frozen in place fumbled for the remaining bows and javelins from the carts. I took a bow and a single grappling hook from them in turn and strapped both across my body.
From far off, Burgor came galloping hard toward us.
"Lady Vivian! This way!!"
Behind him rode the Watch Unit — Burgor's own knights.
I pressed the reins into Vivian's hands and shouted.
"Go that way."
"B-but—"
"Now!"
I was trying to send her to Burgor's side when a dragon's roar split the air and someone screamed.
"Get down!!"
Before anyone could react, the dragon swept in and unleashed a torrent of flame between Burgor and us. The Watch Unit vanished behind the wall of fire that erupted in an instant.
The blast cut the Disciplinary Unit cleanly in half.
Aaaagh!!
From the screams that followed, it was clear some of our number had been caught in the blaze. The boy soldiers went white with terror. Vivian's hands began to tremble at the same moment.
And as fear claimed the air, I felt every gaze turn toward me. Not only Vivian — my own unit looked to me for an answer. They were searching for someone to lean on. I swallowed and spoke.
"Ignore the dragon. That thing isn't our fight."
Martin stared at me. "…Kailo?"
"We only need to protect Vivian."
One by one they steadied themselves and nodded. The order seemed to press their fear down, if only for a moment. I drove the reality home.
"If you fail to keep Vivian safe here, none of you will be safe either. So… protecting her comes first. Above everything."
Whether it was the goodwill she had built over the past few days or something else, the unit showed no real resistance. If anything, the charge to guard her only hardened their resolve. Vivian blinked at the determination around her, as if she could scarcely believe it, then looked at me.
The days of sparring and wariness between us were gone. We met each other's eyes the way we once had.
I took the reins and swung up onto her horse. With nowhere left for her to run, it was better that I drive the mount myself. I settled in behind her.
"K-Kailo?"
She started to question me, but there was no time for talk. The dragon's eyes flashed as it swung its head toward us.
I called to the boy soldiers of the Disciplinary Unit.
"Scatter…! Spread as wide as you can and fire from every direction…! One clean hit to the eye and we've got a chance! You've been taught that from the start — the eyes are the weak point!"
The blue dragon wheeled once and came diving back. It felt as though it was hunting Vivian specifically. No more words.
"Disperse!!"
At my shout the boy soldiers abandoned the carts and scattered.
"Hyaah!"
I cracked the reins hard. Vivian's fine steed surged forward and tore free of the spot.
A breath of fire seared the ground where we had stood an instant before. Ten days of blood and toil — every trophy we had gathered — went up in a single roar of flame and crumbled to ash.
"Ah…!"
Vivian cried out, knowing full well what those spoils had cost us, but there was no room for regret. Even at a distance the heat of the breath rolled over us. I felt in my bones just how lethal that fire truly was.
Pressed against her, feeling that heat, a memory from months ago rose unbidden.
"…Feels like walking back into Rondore Castle," I said.
"You can say something like that — now?"
Vivian answered in pure disbelief. I hauled harder on the reins and drove the horse faster, then braced her chin to keep her mouth shut.
"Keep your mouth closed. You'll bite your tongue."
This was almost certainly the first time she had ever ridden at such a speed. The way she kept jarring awkwardly against the saddle told me as much. Her legs had no strength left; she swayed dangerously, and I had to lock an arm around her waist to hold her steady.
"…!!!"
She flinched, then yielded. The more she did, the tighter I held her. Thinking on it, it seemed almost absurd — holding her when she was cold had been forbidden, yet this was fine.
I twisted to look back, scanning for the dragon.
"…What the hell…"
And then the strangeness hit me full force. The dragon was coming straight for Vivian again, as if she alone were its quarry. We had all scattered — and still it followed only us. At the speed it flew, I could feel it closing the gap with every beat of its wings.
I kept glancing back, watching, waiting for the moment its jaws began to open.
A wet, splitting sound.
"Hup—!"
The instant the mouth yawned wide, I wrenched the reins hard to the right.
Another breath scorched past the path we had been racing down. The dragon overshot us, unable to match the turn, then banked far ahead and fixed its gaze on us once more.
It was hunting Vivian. There was no point debating whether that made sense. Reality was what it was — we could only answer it.
In that brief window, Burgor's knights rounded the wall of fire and closed on us. Burgor himself spurred ahead, lifted his visor, and called out.
"Lady Vivian — are you unhurt!"
Only once the horses slowed did Vivian find her voice.
"…Y-yes… thanks to Kailo…"
I never took my eyes off the dragon. It was closing the distance second by second. I threw my conclusion at Burgor without preamble.
"That thing is after Vivian."
"What?"
"It's targeting Vivian — hyaah!"
I cracked the reins again. Burgor's knights did the same. The dragon was so near there was no room left for speech.
Its jaws split open once more, and a breath of fire carved the space between us. In the moment we were forced apart, Burgor hurled a javelin skyward. It struck the scales of the belly rather than the wing and bounced off uselessly. I clicked my tongue and kept thinking.
I had made survival by flight the priority — but was that even possible now? If it kept hunting Vivian and nothing else, could she truly get out alive?
"Kailo, is it true…? That it's after me…"
"I told you to be quiet — you'll bite your tongue…!"
Vivian clutched the arm I had locked around her waist, fear plain in the grip. Even so, she no longer sank into despair the way she once had. She kept her head up, working through some thought of her own.
Before we knew it, we had become the bait drawing the dragon after us. Whichever of us rode at the front, the dragon followed; Burgor's knights kept pace alongside. They loosed arrows into its wings and scored wounds, but even with shafts buried in its hide the dragon did not so much as blink.
This is insane. Truly.
The frustration of a problem with no answer tore out of me as a shout aimed at Vivian.
"Is it not enough that people hate you — now even Loktana's dragons have to hate you too?"
"Ugh…!"
She twisted slightly in protest. We thundered across the plain until we hit a long, steady descent. The horses picked up speed, and the gap to the dragon widened. Still it pursued with stubborn low flight, its enormous face level with ours.
I seized the opening, shoved the reins into Vivian's hands, and said,
"You drive."
"What?"
I yanked the bow free from my belt. I was no archer, but there was no other way. Five arrows. That was all. If even one of them found the dragon's eye, the tide could turn. And of everyone here, I — staring the beast full in the face from the front — had the best chance of changing that tide.
I nocked an arrow, drew the string slowly, and aimed.
A creaking pull — then the release. The shaft cut the air, grazed the dragon's jaw, and shattered into splinters. My heart was hammering and the horse was pitching; a clean aim was nearly impossible. The dragon only seemed more irritated by the attempt.
"Ride straighter!"
"I—! It's hard…!"
Those blazing eyes locked on me as if they meant to kill. I had been taught that any living thing that meets a dragon's gaze feels dragonfear. Facing it myself, I understood. Cold sweat ran down my hands. It felt like staring death given form. Knights proved themselves by bringing these things down, did they? Now I finally grasped why dragon-slayers were held in such awe.
Twang. Twang. Twang.
The second shot. The third. The fourth — all much the same. A galloping horse, trembling hands… putting an arrow into the eye of a diving dragon was absurdly difficult.
One shaft left. My hands would not stop shaking. Vivian glanced back at me with worry in her eyes. We had come out onto open plain again. Burgor and his knights did everything they could to draw the dragon's attention, but it never looked away from Vivian and me.
"Hah… hah…"
I nocked the final arrow. One eye closed, I sighted on the dragon's. My hands still shook.
What happens if I miss?
I did not want to know.
Then Vivian's hand settled on my thigh. In that same instant, the frantic hammering of my heart quieted to an unnatural calm. The tremor in my hands stilled. The wavering of my aim settled. For reasons I could not name, composure returned all at once, and the target stood clear.
The arrow left the string, cut the air, and drove straight through the dragon's eye.
Its jaws wrenched open and it loosed a roar that deafened the world. The startled horse stumbled, its stride collapsing. In that lag the thrashing dragon closed on us. A talon sharp as a blade and vast as a greatsword swept past our heads. Blinded, the beast still groped for us, claws opening and shutting. One talon seized a massive boulder and crushed it to bursting in a heartbeat.
Stone shards exploded outward and rained over us.
"Kyaa!"
I threw my body over Vivian on instinct, but a jagged fragment still carved a deep gash into her arm.
"Vivian!!"
"Nngh…!"
The horse slowed, then stopped. The dragon, one eye gone, thrashed in agony before surging back into the sky.
After that brief, ferocious stretch we stood still and felt the cold wind and a moment of silence. I took Vivian's arm and examined the wound. Blood the color of her hair welled slowly from the cut. This was no shallow kitchen-knife nick. A long, clean line — the kind only a true blade leaves — marred the porcelain of her skin.
"…"
At the sight of that blood, the heart that had just found calm began to race again. I could manage nothing but the most obvious question.
"…Does it hurt?"
"…K-Kailo…"
My hands clenched tight. I looked up at the dragon. Burgor's knights, still trailing us, had riddled its wings with holes; its speed had fallen off. I do not know what Vivian saw in my face. She caught hold of me instead and asked,
"…Are you… all right?"
"…"
I gave no answer. I unstrapped the grappling hook from across my chest. Somehow my purpose had ordered itself again.
"Vivian. Ride."
I said it while watching the dragon — already losing reason, already diving for us again with that same obsessive hunger. Vivian saw it too and cracked the reins without argument.
Burgor, now riding at our flank, called out.
"Kailo — well done!! You put an arrow in its eye. Keep the pressure on a little longer and the dragon will surely flee—"
"—No."
I cut him off.
"No."
It would not be allowed to run. I had already decided that one day I would need to kill a dragon if I meant to stand against Baelor. There was no reason to put that day off. With an arrow buried in its eye, now was the time to finish it.
The dragon charged us head-on. We charged it head-on in turn. From the galloping horse I spun the hooked rope in widening circles and said,
"Vivian. One last dodge. That's all. Understood?"
"Y-yes."
Burgor stared at me.
"Kailo…! One hook won't pin a dragon down! We have nothing prepared either!"
"Doesn't matter! Just shoot!"
Burgor could spare me no further thought. He loosed arrow after arrow at the beast rushing straight at us. His knights did the same. Dozens of shafts flew for the remaining eye. The dragon shook its head left and right, irritated by the arrows peppering its face — and in that same motion, its jaws began to open.
"Now!"
Vivian hauled the horse sideways one final time.
I hurled the hook into the dragon's open mouth.
A solid, catching impact — and I clamped both hands on the rope. In the next instant my body was yanked skyward. The ground fell away at once. Vivian, shrinking into the distance, screamed my name. Wind filled my ears.
The hook was lodged in the dragon's maw, and I was flying with it.
"Ugh…!"
I had no attention to spare for that. Hanging from the beast, I began to haul myself up the rope hand over hand. The hook could tear free at any moment. I had to focus now. Alternating grips, I poured every scrap of strength I had into the climb.
I had never risen this high before. The earth below looked impossibly far. From here, the whole of Loktana's domain seemed to fit in a single glance. At the edge of my vision, I thought I could even make out Rondore Castle in the distance.
"Hah… hah…"
The higher I climbed, the closer the dragon's sounds became, and blood from its ruined eye spattered thick across my face. With one eye sealed shut, the beast seemed not to realize I was scaling its side at all. There could not have been a better position.
Far below, hundreds of Disciplinary Unit soldiers stared up. Every one of them was shouting my name in shock.
Kailo!!
Hey!! What are you doing!!
Stop shooting!! Kailo's up there!!
I reached the edge of the mouth, still gripping the hook, and looked the dragon in the face. The sight of that living thing — growling, breathing in harsh gusts — made me swallow hard. I seized the arrow still buried in its eye and hauled myself the rest of the way up. Only then did the dragon understand something was clinging to it and thrash in earnest.
Too late.
I already had my thighs locked around its neck, and I had already drawn my two-handed sword. Feeling the situation settle into place brought a strange relief. I let out a breath and said,
"Got you, you bastard."
I set the blade against the dragon's throat, both hands locked on the crossguard.
"Hup—!"
And like an executioner, I dragged the sword down with everything I had.
The steel met tough resistance and sank deep into the neck. The roar became a wet, blood-choked thrashing, and the dragon began to fall. The sheer speed of the plunge made the world blur. If we struck the ground like this, I would not walk away either.
Plain. Forest. Lake. From this height, all of it lay open to the eye. I finished the calculation in a heartbeat, gripped the buried sword like a tiller, and wrenched it to steer. Twisting the blade toward the lake sent the writhing dragon veering that way.
The surface rushed up. I drew a deep breath and braced for the impact.
A shattering crash.