The Wyvern Hunt

[Kalamere]

"Listen, lad, I'm sure we can come to an understanding here where you don't try to kill me and I don't have to be stabbing you, aye?" I said, in an attempt to make peace. Silent, he stared back at me with auburn color eyes that held nothing but malice.

"Boss," spoke Jerry, "just give him an apple and let's get going."

"If you think I'm to be putting my hands anywhere near those teeth, you're more daft than I'd originally thought." I grumbled. The horse looked disappointed that I'd not taken the bait. I think he and Jerry might have been conspiring against me. Being careful to avoid any position where I could be bitten or kicked, I moved to the demon creature's side and took to the saddle.

"Tell me again, Jer, why it is you've got me riding a horse on some hunt South of town?" I'd been back in RhyDin for less than a day, on what was supposed to be a casual visit, when I somehow got roped into a wyvern hunt.

"Because you're not a good enough wizard to be able to just open us a portal there?" I swear I could hear the horse snicker.

"I am willing to let you go out there alone, you know."

"Fine, fine. The Hunter's Guild is awarding a Golden Mark for the deed. I thought it would look good on the wall behind the bar. Also, there might have been some betting that said I couldn't get in done." He admitted. "When I opened the pool I figured I'd just send Rath out there and cover it easy, but B refused and said I'd have to cover any losses personally! Look, I'll give you half the winnings."

"I'd get half the winnings anyway, Jer. That's how business partnerships work. Still... I suppose I ought to go, since I already gathered supplies an I know you can’t be trusted in a hunt." Not that I knew much about hunting wyverns. My typical prey didn't have wings, or live outside of a city.

--

An hour later we'd passed out a Southern gate and were well on our way. The horse had only tried to throw me twice and hadn't managed to bite me yet, so I was chalking that up as a win.

"You sure we're going the right way, Boss?" asked Jerry. "I thought this path lead into the forests?"

"Don't leave town much, do you Jer? Not that you're wrong. The roads don't alway take you to the same place."

"They... what?"

"It's RhyDin, lad. Just go with it." I nodded towards a shape out in the distance, maybe another half an hour's ride, though Jerry's eyes likely couldn't make it out. "C'mon, I see what we've been looking for up that way."

We continued riding, the road gradually disappearing bellow windswept sands. The sun was starting to dip below the great cliffs, turning the sky orange and purple even as it cast the desert before us into shadow. I directed the horse off of what little road we could still make out and dismounted, motioning for Jerry to do the same.

After fishing around in the saddle bags, I pulled out a mason jar of a crimson liquid and handed it to Jerry.

"Alright," I began, "I'm going to open a portal and you pour that through, aye? Do not get any on yourself. Or me!" I added, because it was Jerry. I could tell he had questions, but I began the incantation without letting him get any out.

The object I had been directing us towards was still about half a mile away, though it was moving in our direction. Two camels were tugging a sled through the sands, loaded down with a small wyvern and flanked by three men armed with pikes. I opened the other side of the portal along the back of the sledded wyvern and nodded to Jerry to empty the jar. Once he had, I quickly dismissed the spell.

"What was that?" asked Jerry.

"Wyvern pheromones." I answered, then held up a hand before he could continue asking questions. I watched the skies in the distance and before too long a very large, dark shape could be seen taking to the air and heading towards the hunting party. I handed Jerry a second jar and started on another portal. "Quick. This is a much smaller target".

The new portal opened up over one of the camels and Jerry upended the second jar to spill gold and silver shavings along it's back.

"What was that one?"

"Dragonsbane."

Jerry blinked and tilted his head curiously, "Will that work on a wyvern?"

"I guess we'll find out." I shrugged. I actually had no idea.

The vast wings of the airborne wyvern had caught it up to the party more quickly than I had thought it would. I watched as it gave a cry of anger when it spotted the huntsmen surrounding its prospective mate, then folded back its wings and dove. "Best if you don't watch this part, Jer." I suggested, though in the dark and at this distance, I knew he still wouldn't be able to see it. The sounds of the ensuing fight though... there was no missing those.

--

The portal opened outside of the hunter’s guild and, through it, a pair of horses drug a sled loaded down with two wyverns. The bottom one had obviously been vanquished by pikemen, but the large male ontop was anyone's guess. The foam on its dead lips and flakes of dragonsbane and camel hair spread across its snout was one option, though it equally might have been the pikeman lodged in its throat. That was unfortunate. I really thought they’d be better at their jobs than they turned out to be. Worse, we still didn’t know if dragonsbane really worked on wyverns.

“I’m headed back to The Line, Jer. Go ahead in and get your mark.”

“What about the little one?”

“Don’t be greedy. Besides, one of the lads escaped off into the desert. Might be he’ll show up to claim it. We left the waterskin out there for him” Of course, Jerry had splattered some of the pheromone solution onto that one too. Eh, he’d probably be fine.