I slayed an Ice dragon and now I'm King of the dragon slayers
Chapter 47: One man down

Chapter 47: One man down

After a long distance, the journey created a tiredness that felt insurmountable to them. They passed quite memorable places. A short, dwarf mountain which Morcel said harboured demons. Rhett seriously doubted that, and as they passed by it, he just gazed at its jagged edges in disbelief.

The sky was dark, gloomy and colourless. Not a single dot of cloud was on it and Rhett shrugged, to him it wasn’t really anything, this was how the slayer’s domain had looked like since he came into it and it had seemed to master him.

The wind whistled and perched into their ears, sometimes it felt like a mosquito buzzing while at times like a house fly.

Pebbles decorated the ground, a parched surface, deprived of every moistness it would ever get. It wasn’t really a chat filled ride. Rhett was silent, studying the map. Ash just stared forward while Haicor read the history book about shaiiyeru silently. At times she would peer sideways quickly to see if anyone was staring at her and seeing nothing, she would bend her head very low and immerse her brain in the pages.

"A few horse gallops and we’ll be at the shadow mare tower", Rhett said out loud. "I mean, is it a must we fight the soul eaters or just simply pass around it".

Morcel said with a tiny voice; "The monsters won’t let us pass so yeah, we must face them".

Rhett stroked his beardless chin, squinting his eyes as he glared at the map in his hands.

’Awfully bad’, he thought.

He hadn’t really been serious when he had boasted that he would slay the soul eaters and anything in his way. Would he say bravery had made him drunk?, he didn’t know. But reminiscing on it now made him seriously baffled, how would he face soul eaters, he wasn’t a shadow slayer.

’Damnit", he cursed in his mind.

He didn’t want to say anything or make any expression that would make the people he was leading now to think he was afraid, hell no!.

So he concluded he was going to fight the beasts, blindly by the way. He didn’t have a plan on how, but he hoped luck would be on his side this time.

Ravens flew in the cloudless sky, making noises to show that they were present. Rhett squinted his eyes as he looked upwards, then he turned to the guard who had lit the matchstick that set shaiiyeru ablaze.

"What’s your name?", Rhett asked the guard.

"Daxer", came the reply.

Rhett nodded his head in the affirmative. His face evinced he was quite fascinated by the name. He seemed to notice that people in this world carried unique names. Ash was normal, he decided, he knew some people back on earth who answered the name. But Dhamsel?, Haicor, Vongarth, Morcel and now Daxer?.

’Such a bizarre world’, he thought.

Dhamsel was even quite manageable to him. It felt like a derivation or another alternative spelling or pronunciation of the word ’damsel’ which is used, back on earth, as a compliment.

Rhett quickly blurted to Daxer. "You are assistant head knight after Morcel, but keep doing well, cos’ your position could change any time soon".

"It’s an honor", Daxer said, his face expressionless.

"How many days would the water supply we have sustain us if we drink it reasonably?"Rhett asked, he was feeling thirsty as hell!.

"I’m afraid just a day and some few hours m’lord, that’s why I pray we get to a place where we can see water. At least a river or even a pond", said Daxer.

Rhett shrugged. "Well, then I guess we have to quicken our pace", he said. "Pass me a bottle of water will you".

Daxer nodded in the affirmative and bent down, reaching for a bag he tied by the leg of the horse. Of course it wasn’t a reasonable place to put one but it seemed reasonable for him. He took out a bottle, tossed it (in a respectable manner) over to Rhett and returned the bag to its previous position.

Rhett catched the bottle of water with ease and gulped it down his throat, breathing hard after he had done so to catch his breath.

’Soothing’, he exclaimed in his mind.

Dhamsel, who had been silent the whole journey and looking almost lifeless, stared at Rhett, disdain in her eyes. Rhett returned the stare and laughed, saying:

"You’re angry I killed your father?C’mon, I had too, it could have been vice versa".

Dhamsel forced an unconvincing smile and said to Rhett:

"I was mad at you, but now I’m no longer, it wasn’t your fault, I blame my father who was just too ignorant and daft to reason he was killing himself".

Rhett wanted to reply when he heard Ash shout:

"The tower, it’s up ahead".

Rhett looked forward and at moment, swallowed a large lump of saliva he hadn’t known he was holding in his throat. He almost puked.

Morcel slightly shivered. "Sweet gods, save our souls. He turned to Rhett; "King Rhett, save our damn souls!".

Rhett sighed and said in his mind:

’A bunch of assholes, help, sweet gods of the slayer’s domain’.

Rhett hit his horse by the side of its neck and sent it forward, zooming towards the tower. The others did the same, including Haicor who had now raised her head up from the book she was reading and had tucked inside her jacket, terror and excitement on her face as she zoomed forward on her horse.

Getting closer to the tower, they realized it was long and gigantic. Something like foggy, ominous looking clouds surrounding it. It looked immemorial, like something that existed for ages. Something that was more of a landmark than a building.

Rhett was shouting now:

"We don’t need to face any soul eaters!, we can run away, we can dodge the slaying part, for your lives".

’And also my life’, he added in a whisper.

They all ran, the way, according to the map, was to go around the tower. They were doing that alright and it seemed easy, well, not until they heard a loud, suppressed scream for help.

Throwing a glance backwards, Rhett saw, to his shock, Morcel, a sharp shadow looking claw, in his neck, slumping off his horse into the ground, his neck bloody.

"Holy shit!", Rhett exclaimed.