Dragon Hunting, Part 2
- -by Bleunienn
((Part 1 was a one-off which I posted here months ago, and stupidly did not keep a copy -- let this be a lesson to you all -- keep copies! At the time, I was amazed a Drakefire Amulet was even within reach. Last night, I got another little taste of amazement. It was suggested I write the whole thing up as an IC story, hence what follows. Once I am able to begin the quest, I'll work on expanding))
Dragon Hunting, Part 2
The broodmother had fallen. The great black dragon Onyxia sprawled across the floor of her lair, pierced by innumerable arrows, oozing blood from uncountable wounds. She would trouble Stormwind no more.
Among those assembled to fight her, there had been a few casualties, but very few, and the priests tended them. The rest of those present wandered around, staring curiously at the corpse, talking. Some cheered. Some wept quietly.
Bleunienn chose neither to speak nor to gawk. She knelt on the rocky floor of the cave, allowing the hubbub to flow around her. She was grateful that the dragon was ended, grateful she had been no more than scorched. That was enough.
She almost did not notice when one of the swordsmen walked up to her. He dropped a coiled length of sinew, hacked from Onyxias body, into her hands. The huntress looked up at him in surprise; he met her eyes and nodded, then turned away without speaking.
Bleunienn stared down at the sinew, still smoking with the dragon's blood. This was something more precious than gold, at once honour and obligation, rightly given in silence. No words could do it justice.
Later, in Darnassus, she entrusted the sinew to the vault and sought the Pools of Arlithrien to wash away the soot and blood, and to think.
Honour and obligation.
I must find a way to speak with the Keepers.
((So ... yeah. I have this stringy black dragon part sitting in my bank now. Big cheers to the fine folk of ERGA, with whom I was raiding last night. I guess I need to get serious about going to the Core more often now, so I can get a leaf at some point too. ))