Sir Skrain Dukat, Protector of the Realm. Knight of the Old Code and of the Cardassian lands pulled his warhorse to a halt. The beautiful mare obeyed her master, as did his retainer and best friend Sir Corat Damar, looking at his fellow with a confused expression, reaching for his bow at his side.
“My lord, we are stopping?” Corat asked, seeing no reason for the halt.
“We are close…” Skrain replied, his free hand gripping the charm of St. Michael around his neck, the comfort of the familiar object filling him with courage, his heart calming away from it’s pained excited tempo. “I will have to go forward on foot.”
Corat looked… uneasy at this declaration.
“My lord, should we not ride on? If what we are hunting is not the idle chatter of old women… I should like to have my seed at my side.”
“Then it is a good thing that you will be with our steeds, Damar.” Skrain said, giving his fellow a smile as he starts down the path unseen to the other man.
“Sir! You will go on alone?”
“You are my marksman, Damar.” He waves back at him. “Alert me if our foul beast flees first.”
Damar knew better than to argue with his friend and took the reigns of the other horse, starting to scout a perimeter as to do as he was commanded. He doubted very much that there was anything more wicked than a bear in these strange woods… but Skrain took all reports very seriously. He was one of the only knights from the capitol that were trained to combat the magic and the weird. A witch hunter. And a very skilled one.
And while dragons did not fall under witchcraft, it was well known in the capitol that these creatures were wicked wyrms and devils. It is fitting that a witch hunter should investigate reports of the beast.
Sir Skrain Dukat found the path into the mountain cave without much strife. It was simple enough to his eyes that by the time he had to strike a light to see his way, any hope he had to finding a dragon was dwindling to nothing. Perhaps it was simply a great bear that the hunters had seen after all. For the simple people, a crashing in the trees and a shadow of an eagle crossing over the sun is enough to make them flee in fear and make demands of the crown and the protectors of the realm.
He was not walking with stealth. If it was a bear, he would like to hear it moving in response to his trespass then happen upon one sleep and suddenly startled.
And if it really was a dragon…
His heart squeezed painfully for a moment in his chest, making him halt and grip his charm until it passed… chaos take his weak heart! The last thing he needed was the old witch curse to slow his progress.
He kept on through the darkness, all his senses alert and ready… but for what, he did not yet know.