As Arran and Crassus made their way through the mountains, the terrain grew increasingly inhospitable. Before, the rocky mountainsides had featured at least some trees and shrubs, but the farther and higher they traveled, the sparser the vegetation became, until eventually only grass and moss were left.
Yet to Arran's surprise, an ample amount of wildlife could still be seen in the mountains, with plenty of animals somehow managing to thrive despite the hostile surroundings. Most conspicuous among these were the mountain goats, which climbed even the steepest mountainsides with apparent ease, but there were sheep, hares, and various small rodents as well.
This answered one of the biggest questions Arran had about the dragons: just how they could find sufficient food for their vast bulk in so inhospitable an area. But it seemed that without human hunters around, there was no lack of wildlife for the dragons to feast on.
As they advanced, Crassus constantly kept a wary eye on the skies above them, grasping his blankets tightly in case a dragon appeared.
Arran had initially been slightly derisive of the man's trust in his blankets, but by now, he understood that the simple disguise was nothing to laugh at. Dragons hunted by sight, he had learned, and their lack of intelligence made the humble gray blankets a surprisingly effective tool.
Of course, Arran didn't need a blanket — he had his Duskcloak, which would be even more effective in hiding from any dragons they encountered.
Still, while their travels were smooth, Arran was having considerable difficulty in coming up with a way to actually kill an adult dragon.
For several days, he pondered the matter, but no matter how much he thought, no solutions came to him. While he was sure that there should be some way to kill a nigh-invulnerable monster,
Finally, he turned to Crassus for advice.
"The other mage," he began, "you said she killed a dragon by bringing down half a mountain on it. How exactly did she do that?"
"No idea," the fat man replied. "There was a dragon after us — not an adult, but near enough — and instead of hiding, she just waved her hand. A moment later, a bunch of big rocks came loose from the mountainside. Caused the biggest rockslide I ever saw, but how she did it…" Crassus shrugged. "Some sort of magic, probably."
Hearing the man's words, Arran stopped in his tracks, and he cursed himself for having missed so obvious a solution.
Neither he nor Snowcloud had the power to take on an adult dragon using their own abilities, but causing a rockslide was a different matter. That was something they could do, and easily at that.
Of course, Arran knew it would not be as easy as just dropping some rocks on the dragon. To kill it, they would need to find a way to get it in the right position, and killing an adult dragon would require rocks the size of houses, if not bigger.
But even so, knowing that there was a solution to his problem filled Arran with relief.
For a while, he had thought the task might be impossible for him and Snowcloud — something they had no possible way of achieving with their current powers. But now, he knew there was at least a chance of success.
In the days that followed, they made good distance, but Arran saw no sign of any other dragons.
When he asked Crassus about this, the man nodded in response. "This close to the lair of one of the big monsters, you won't find any of the smaller ones," he explained. "Any that come too close just get eaten."
Arran felt some apprehension as Crassus spoke. The juvenile dragon he had faced had already been a terrifyingly powerful creature, and if the bigger ones saw a creature like that as nothing but a meal, he could barely even imagine how powerful they would be.
Finally, nearly two weeks after they'd left Relgard, they reached a wide, empty valley. It was covered in rocks, with just a few patches of green moss and yellow grass to be seen at its edges. To Arran's eyes, there wasn't anything special about it, yet Crassus looked at it with excitement in his eyes.
"This is it," Crassus said, gesturing at the empty space. "The dragon's lair."
"There's no dragon," Arran pointed out.
"Dragons spend most of their time hunting," Crassus explained. "Only return to their lair to sleep. It'll show up by sundown." He cast a wary look at the sky, then added, "'Course, I wanna be far gone by then."
"How do you know there is a dragon?" Arran asked, frowning. From what he could see, it was just a normal, empty valley.
"There's dragon shit," Crassus replied, pointing at the edge of the valley, where several vast piles of what looked to be massive boulders lay. "And see how there's not a scrap of grass to be seen at the center? That's where the dragon sleeps."
Arran peered at the valley, and after Crassus's words, he could now see that the piles of boulders looked unusual — more like balls of dried-out earth than actual boulders — and that the center of the valley was indeed unusually bare.
Nevertheless, he gave Crassus a skeptical look. "How do I know you're not planning on taking the gold, then leaving me in some random valley that's never even seen a dragon's shadow?"
Crassus guffawed. "I might not be the most honest man alive, but I ain't dumb enough to try and cheat a mage. I saw what you did to that dragon way back, and I'd rather not see what you can do to a man. The dragon will be here — I'd bet my life on it."
After a moment's thought, Arran nodded. "Alright," he said as he handed Crassus a handful of gold. "There's something else I need you to do, though."
"Something else?" Crassus looked at him suspiciously.
"My companion had some business to finish in Relgard," Arran said, "but she should be done by the time you return. If you can bring her here, I'll pay you double what I just gave you."
Crassus hesitated, but only briefly. Then, he shook his head. "No deal."
The answer took Arran by surprise. He had already given Crassus a small fortune in gold, and with double that, the man would be able to buy half of Relgard — he'd have enough to spend every single one of his remaining days bathing in brandy if he so wished.
However, a sly look appeared in Crassus's eyes as he looked at Arran. "I don't want your gold," he said. "I want you to teach me some of that magic of yours."
Arran blinked in surprise. "You want me to teach you magic?"
Crassus nodded fervently. "I've seen some of what you can do, and I bet there's a whole lot more. I'll bring your companion, but only if you promise to teach me magic when we get back."
For a moment, Arran was speechless. Whatever he'd previously thought of Crassus, he definitely hadn't taken the man for an aspiring mage.
Finally, he sighed. "All right," he said. "I can teach you the basics, but after that, whether you succeed depends on your own luck and talent."
"Good enough," Crassus replied, sticking out his chubby hand for Arran to shake. "Now that that's settled, I'll go get your friend from Relgard."
"Before you go…"
Arran quickly told Crassus where to find Snowcloud, then instructed the man to tell her everything he knew about the female mage he'd met a decade earlier. If it was indeed Snowcloud's mother, Arran figured she should know about it as soon as possible.
When Crassus finally left, Arran hid between some rocks, then covered himself in his Duskcloak. If his guide was right, the dragon would appear within a few hours. Arran could already feel excitement rising within him at the thought of finally seeing a real adult dragon.
