The days of trudging through the hills wore on and proximity to the swamps meant biting insects still found the young hero, which left him fed up. He realised that he was nearing where he had met the Rakshasa and had a relatively relaxing night in the hills, but to see if they were there would be a detour now, so he carried on. As he did so, he ruminated on how the heroic tales he had grown up with never mentioned biting insects, dirt or the smells. Speaking of smells, it had been a long time since Broneslav had bathed properly. He must be particularly ripe now, he mused. Then he thought of the hot baths back in Specularum and became a little homesick.
It was in this frame of mind on the third day since encountering the last lot of rock baboons that he stumbled over the crest of a hill and slap bang into a large black dragon. Well, not quite slap bang into it, but it was only thirty yards away, a distance that could be covered in seconds. His jaw dropped. Fortunately for Broneslav, the dragon's jaw dropped. Not in the bitey, swallowing young Broneslavs kind of way, but more in the total surprise kind of way.
"Um, hello," Broneslav said wittily. He knew that black dragons were creatures of Chaos, but it seemed that it might be wise to try to avoid a fight here. "So, you look like a very fine dragon and I don't really want to disturb you, so would it be alright if I just carry on along my way."
The dragon replied in Common, "Hello to you, puny human. I think I would like to keep you. I have not seen such as you all clad in shining metal before."
A slight desire to obey the dragon washed over the young hero, but the Charm spell had no effect. He shook it off, realising that the dragon was going to play with him and/or eat him rather than let him go without a fight.
Leaping forward, he drew his sword and swung hard. Acidic blood spouted as his sword carved a gash in the monster's side. It burned his face where it landed, and then he was dodging for all he was worth as the dragon spat a torrent of acid over him. He was lucky and avoided the worst of it, coming out of the dodge roll right under the dragon's neck. His next blow took its head off! And then he was dodging again to avoid the spouting acidic blood spraying from its neck.
Broneslav was lucky. The dragon had barely touched him, and his blows had landed hard and fast on it. He was also lucky that it was a relatively young and inexperienced dragon. He skinned it as he had the other dragon and went off to find a safe place to sleep. He was struggling under his burden now despite his great strength, and he knew that it would make travelling slower. On the other hand, he was close to his destination, so he should be ok.
Incautious howling woke the young man that night. He quickly prepared himself and was ready only just in time as a small pack of wolves the size of small horses charged into his camp. He cut the first down with a single stroke of his sword and wounded the second into his camp. Dodging or blocking the blows of the rest, he suddenly felt a pain in his shoulder as a dire wolf he had not seen attacked him from behind. The wolves were wary now. They darted in to strike as Broneslav sought to circle around and prevent them getting him from behind again. He leapt forward and struck one of them a glancing blow. They took turns in darting in and nipping at him, but none of their bites landed.
Snake-fast Broneslav lashed out. Once... twice... and a third time. Two wolves died and a third was wounded. Three remained and undaunted at that. Snapping and snarling at him, he dodged and blocked and struck out once more. Both sides were careful now and their blows failed to land because of that. Suddenly, the heroic adventurer saw an opportunity. He was like lightning as his sword wove a pattern of death that cut two more wolves down. This was too much for the last wolf which fled yapping in fear.
Broneslav only had minor cuts after this encounter, but he decided to shoulder his burden and move his camp for the rest of the night. It was the wisest course in case more wolves came sniffing around.
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