It took Snowcloud and Crassus only a moment to spot Arran when he approached them. The fat man greeted Arran with an enthusiastic wave, but Snowcloud's expression was serious.
When Arran reached the two, he briefly greeted them, then immediately turned to Snowcloud.
"Did Crassus tell you…" he began.
She nodded. "It was my mother," she said simply. "And if she succeeded in finding the cure…" For a moment, she remained silent. Then, she shook her head. "We'll talk about that another time. Right now, there are other matters for us to discuss. Did you see the dragon?"
"I did," Arran said. "And our original plan…" He briefly hesitated, then continued, "It isn't going to work. If we wait for the dragon to recover, there's no possible way we can kill it."
Snowcloud looked doubtful. "I think you're underestimating the poison," she said, though there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
"You're underestimating the dragon," Arran replied. "It's beyond anything I expected, like a force of nature made flesh. Even with only a tenth of its full strength, we have no hope of defeating it."
At his words, a ponderous expression came over Snowcloud's face. "How can you be so sure?" she asked, clearly not convinced.
"You'll understand when you see it," Arran said simply. "It'll return in a few hours."
There was no way to convey the sheer power of the creature using mere words. Whatever Snowcloud had heard or read about dragons, he knew that she would only be able to truly recognize the creature's staggering power once she saw it with her own eyes.
It had been the same for Arran himself, after all. Between the stories from his childhood and what Snowcloud had told him, he'd believed he was prepared for a truly monstrous creature — yet that ended the moment he actually saw it himself.
The dragon was something that simply stretched the limits of human comprehension. Even now, Arran felt like it was almost too large and strong to exist. Despite having met many powerful mages since leaving Riverbend, none of them had come even close to causing him the kind of awe he'd felt when first seeing the dragon.
Snowcloud agreed with a reluctant nod, and they settled between the rocks, hidden beneath their blankets as the day slowly passed.
The dragon finally made its appearance when evening approached, and on seeing it, Snowcloud instantly gasped in astonishment — then quickly closed her mouth for fear of drawing the creature's attention.
As Arran had come to expect, the dragon fell asleep only moments after it landed, but nevertheless, they waited in silence for nearly half an hour after that.
Finally, when it was clear the dragon was well and truly asleep, Snowcloud whispered, "It's terrifying." Even now, her eyes still wide with shock.
"It is," Arran agreed.
A few more seconds passed before Snowcloud finally managed to pull her eyes away from the creature and turned to Arran. "I hope you have a good plan…" She didn't finish the sentence, instead glancing once more at the sleeping dragon in the valley.
"I have a plan," Arran replied. "Whether it's any good remains to be seen." He shrugged, then continued, "But we'll discuss it in the morning, once the beast has left to hunt."
Although it was unlikely that the dragon could hear their whispers, neither of them had any interest in putting that to the test. Instead, they waited silently through the night, Arran staying awake with Snowcloud as she observed the dragon's figure in the dim moonlight.
Crassus, on the other hand, seemed entirely comfortable with the situation. Seemingly unconcerned about the monster a few hundred paces away from them, the man fell asleep only minutes after the dragon did, one of his trusty blankets wrapped around him.
When morning had come and the dragon had left for its daily hunt, Snowcloud turned to Arran, her expression troubled. "So how do we defeat it?" she asked, glancing at the sky even as she spoke, like she expected the dragon to return at any moment.
"We can't," Arran replied. "Even if we attack it when it's at its weakest, we simply aren't strong enough to do more than wound it. As for killing it?" He let out a cheerless laugh. "We can forget about that. With our power, even if there were a hundred of us, I'd still put my money on the dragon."
Snowcloud gave him a puzzled look. "I thought you said you had a plan?" she asked, her brow furrowed.
"I do," Arran said, reaching for his void bag. "Take a look at this. I took it from the juvenile dragon I killed on the way here."
He handed a big chunk of dragon meat from his void bag to Snowcloud.
A look of surprise appeared in her eyes almost immediately. "Is that Natural Essence?" Her eyes were wide with astonishment as she studied the piece of dragon flesh. "It's so strong…"
Arran nodded. "And it'll be even stronger in the big one, so even if we injure it, it will heal quickly." He smiled slightly, then continued, "But take a closer look. Notice anything unusual?"
Snowcloud inspected the piece of flesh carefully, but after several minutes, she looked up and shook her head. "What should I be seeing?"
"There's almost no fat," Arran replied, a triumphant look on his face. "When I ate it, I noticed how tough and tasteless it was — far too lean to be any good as food."
"How does that help us?" Snowcloud asked, a nonplussed frown on her face. But even before Arran could answer, understanding dawned in her eyes. "It doesn't have any energy reserves!"
"Exactly," Arran confirmed. "The big one we're after spends its every waking moment hunting. It took me a while to realize it, but the creature probably needs to spend much of its time eating just to stay alive. And if it can't eat…" He smiled broadly.
Snowcloud nodded thoughtfully. "So by the time it recovers from the poison, it will be on the brink of starvation. But will that be enough for us to defeat it?"
Arran shook his head. "It won't be. Even if it were unconscious, I doubt we could do enough damage to kill it. Judging from the small one I killed, this one should have skin like steel."
"Then what do we do?" Snowcloud asked, giving Arran an expectant look.
"First, we'll use the poison you made," Arran began. "After that, we will have to wait, and attack when it's too weak to defend itself. We won't be able to kill it, but with luck, we can injure it enough that it won't be able to hunt. And if it can't hunt, it will grow weaker by the day, even as it recovers from the poison."
He paused for a moment as Snowcloud took in his words, then added, "We're going to let the dragon's body defeat itself."
"It'll heal in a day or two," Crassus interjected. So far, the man had merely listened as Arran and Snowcloud spoke, appearing quite amused with Arran's plan. But now, it seemed he finally could no longer resist the urge to weigh in. "Even if you injure the thing, it'll recover enough to hunt in just a few days."
"I know," Arran replied with a short nod. "That's why we'll have to keep attacking and injuring it every day, without giving it the chance to fully recover."
"Then you're planning to defeat it not just once, but every day for several weeks?" Crassus chuckled joyfully. "You're ambitious, lad, I'll give you that."
Arran shrugged. "If you have any better ideas, I'll gladly hear them."
A thoughtful look appeared in the man's eyes, but he remained silent.
"So when do we start?" Snowcloud asked when it became clear that Crassus didn't have a better plan.
"There's no point in delaying," Arran said. "If you've finished the poison, we should probably try to poison it tonight."
"Do you have any ideas on how to do that?" she asked.
Arran nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard. But… do you have any herbs or potions that can keep a goat asleep for a few hours?"