Hounds Rising

Rhokhishi watched as the troupe left, along with her party. Though she was used to traveling alone on more than one occasion, being away from the carnival was like leaving family behind. They walked back to Moonbright, a twinge of sadness in her heart. A smell reached her nose as they approached the gate, immediately making her look around.

Rhokhishi saw guards lined up about forty feet away, putting gold and silver into a small bucket. An autumn eladrin was bent over near a small fire, where a cauldron hung. The smell of it piqued her interest.

“I’m starving. Wanna see what they’re eating?” Lyla asked.

Rhokhishi nodded, and they all moved over to the line. The eladrin was younger looking, maybe twenty in human’s years at most. She had auburn hair and reddish, tanned skin. Her clothes were at once nice, Rhokhishi had imagined, but they were worn from travel. The only thing that looked new was her cloak, which had no dirt or grime. A squirrel moved back and forth from her shoulders, chittering excitedly.

The woman took a ladle and poured some stew into a bowl, then handed it to another guard. With a large smile, the guard placed several silver pieces in the bucket and then moved back to the gate. Rhokhishi and the party waited in the line, taking step by step towards the front. Once there, Rhokhishi threw a gold piece in the bucket and waited as the eladrin made another bowl of stew and handed it to her.

“Hi everyone! Seems like there’s a lot of hungry folks out here today. Nice to meet you all! I’m Ana.”

“Hello, Ana. I’m Rhokhishi. These are my friends,” She gestured.

Lyla already had a bowl in hand and was hastily eating it, her eyes wide in excitement.

“This is good!” Lyla said between spoonfuls.

“Thank you. I made it with a variety of vegetables and peppered venison,” Ana answered, smiling back at Lyla.

They stood near the cart, eating as Ana handed more bowls to people as they came by. Rhokhishi could see a small pile of coins already filling up the bottom of the bucket. If her cooking today was any indication, she probably made a good amount of coin doing this.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the guards moved frantically, yelling out. She set her bowl down and looked over. The guards pulled out their weapons and stared at something on the ground. Something blue, moving like a snake, seemed to come out from the stone wall. A guard took his sword out and moved closer to it. Step by step, Rhokhishi looked over at her friends, seeing them all stare at it.

The guard took a slight poke with his sword against the blue thing, which shook and flung itself away from the weapon, moving into the stone. The guard looked confused. There was no hole in the wall. Rhokhishi blinked, then watched the guard move closer to investigate.

Suddenly, everyone yelled out in surprise as a large snout, at least six feet long, pushed out from the wall and surrounded the guard. It snapped its jaw up, and large teeth punctured the guard’s body in multiple places. Then, the creature’s enormous, taloned arm emerged from the wall with a booming sound, followed by the next. Its serpentine eyes looked around, gnashing on the guard’s body as it moved further from the wall. Its sapphire scales shone as its leathery wings unfurled from its body. Rhokhishi grabbed her warhammer and readied herself as the guards screamed out.

“DRAGON!”