Hounds Rising

Mr. Muffins cleaned Jimbo with a small set of tools on his belt and patiently waited. Over the next hour, Leaf talked to several guards and managed to set up a tent to hide the dragon from prying eyes. He commanded a few guards to keep watch whenever the party wasn’t going to be there.

Watching Leaf take on this role as an authority figure was interesting, especially since it was new to him. There were moments where it was clear that he was fumbling to command others, but when it came time for plans to take action, he seemed to go into a trance, making minute details and adamantly pushing for specific things to be done.

When everything was set up, he watched Myla and Lyla sit down inside the tent and watch. Myla opened her sketchbook and started drawing and taking notes while her sister casually looked over her shoulder and gave information about dragon anatomy.

They worked for hours, the sun setting just before they decided to stop for their first break. Ana, Leaf, Mr. Muffins, and Rhokhishi took shifts, resting when able and spending as much time going through the various bones, organs, and meat. By the morning, they had completed their work and harvested everything they felt was wanted or needed from the sapphire dragon. Mr. Muffins finished the last shift with Rhokhishi, placed his tools in his pack, and then smacked his hands together to knock off any extra debris on them. When they returned to the Archmage’s Tower, he looked forward to a bath.

“I think that’s more than enough,” He stated aloud.

“I have enough room for about four hundred pounds of items in my magic bag. It will preserve it and won’t weigh much less than carrying it alone,” Leaf said as he pulled out the unique bag he bought from Nes recently.

“I have a bag similar to yours, but it only works for food—meat, plants, things that could be turned into meals. I also have about the same amount of space in mine,” Ana replied.

“I don’t even know how much we have in weight. I thought we were taking only what made sense?” Rhokhishi pondered.

Myla walked over, holding out her sketchbook. Inside were various drawings of the dragon’s anatomy, along with names of the bones, muscles, and some of the organs Lyla had given her to add. Myla wrote everyone’s name on the following pages and put information under each.

“I wrote out everything taken out for harvest and separated it into the various things you all stated you wanted. I think it will suffice for now in being an inventory list of the dragon parts.”

Mr. Muffins looked and saw it to be true. Ana’s portion had mostly food-related items: meat, blood, tendons, the gizzard, and even bones for broths. Leaf also had bones but wanted the heart and fundamentum. Rhokhishi wanted some teeth, Myla had asked for some of the wing, and Mr. Muffins wanted as much skin, wing, and scales as could be carried. The only one who didn’t have anything written down was Lyla. He wasn’t sure if this was out of respect for the monastery she had come from or if Myla had just not written anything down yet, but he thought it better not to focus on it for now.

“I’m fine with sharing some more wing, considering there’s so much of it. Any reason you wanted some, too?” He asked Myla.

“I think having a leatherworker look at it could be useful. Maybe they could fashion some armor that we could use. Of course, the amount I’m asking for is just for one person to try it, but if it works, I can let you know, and you have options,” Myla answered back.

“That’s a great idea! Our armor isn’t bad, but dragon armor and scales tend to have some innate abilities, so it might be worth trying out,” Mr. Muffins replied, excited at the idea of the many things they could create or have created.

Leaf walked over to the dragon’s heart. It was three feet long at its longest points and weighed close to four hundred pounds.

“We’re not going to be able to transport this in the bags, but we could hire a cart and bring it to the Tower. From there, we can decide how we’ll handle it.”

“If you want, you can use my cart,” Ana gestured to her cart next to the town’s wall. Her horse grazed lazily while hitched up to the side of the cart. Next to it, their newly acquired horses stood, relaxed and feeding as well.

“I think that would work great,” Leaf said back.

They moved their way back into the town. Leaf stopped for a brief moment to talk to the guards. Afterward, Mr. Muffins watched as he walked away to see the guards getting carts and horses to take the rest of the dragon to Haron’s Castle. They dropped the heart off inside the Archmage Tower and returned to take their horses to the stables.

Ana walked over to the castle gate, stopped, and looked at the party.

“Is there anywhere I can go to bathe and rest? Money really isn’t an issue at the moment, and finding somewhere nice to sleep would be great.”

“There’s the Pleasant Lord Inn,” Leaf replied. “It’s mostly nobles and higher class that stay there if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“That would do just fine,” She stated, looking around to see if she could see the inn nearby or at least a direction to go towards.

“You’re more than welcome to stay with us, though. Money may not be an issue, but you did just help us slay a dragon,” Leaf offered.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I merely helped keep some of you alive, but I didn’t really fight the dragon. That was you all. Dragon slayers! Who knew I’d be lucky enough to see that happen?”

“If the Archmage offers, then there is enough room for you,” Myla stated.

“It would at least give us the time to separate our things in that bag of yours and save you some money.”

Ana looked around at them, and Mr. Muffins tried to gauge her reaction. She seemed excited but sheepish at the same time.

How long has she been on her own? He wondered.

From her bushy red hair, the squirrel moved out of hiding and onto her shoulder. She looked at it momentarily before smiling and returning to the party.

“Does the Archmage Tower have a kitchen?”