Strena The Youngest Slayer Arc Part One

 The Wyvern

"I have a job for you as your first job as a fully licensed slayer." Zaryb said as he passed it over to her. He sipped his beer.

"At least let me settle for a little here!" Strena snapped.

"Didn't in the assassins guild and I won't be here."

She nodded sullenly.

"But,  you will have plenty of time to write and clean your clothes…and sword."

She looked at her strange blade and beamed as her attention moved back to the poster.

Dragon 

Help Needed

I frowned.

"Another dragon?" 

She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Read on."

She signed passively.

One day he will tell me things straight.

There is a dragon terrorising

the small village Dragnior.

It has been for the past year

and we can not reason or talk

to it at all!

One survivor described the 

beat having two wings and

 two legs and dark black green

Vylla Cort

She then looked up and then thought about what she had just read. Then she realised what she had just read. She then remembered the young dragon and the wyvern that she had killed.

"It's a wyvern."

"Good work! Now go and get ready."

She nodded and ran to her room and packed her things. Yet she soon noticed that she was growing out of her clothes. She would have to buy more and sell the old ones. Apart from the dress that still connected her to her homeland. She wanted to keep hold of that as long as she could. She then spotted that she looked at the clothes that she was wearing and noticed just how small they were. She put on her coat. She then realised that she would soon have to sell that too! Yet she would do that only if she had to. She finished packing the rest of her things and put her sword on her hip. She soon joined Zaryb at the door.

"Ready?"

She nodded as she left the tavern. They caught the public carriage.

"Where to?"

"The village Dragnior."

"Sure?"

"Sure. And they do not have a dragon problem!"

"Oh? And what is it Zarry?" Asked Gorpy.

"A wyvern." Strana sighed.

"Still with him? Are you alright? Has he hurt you?"

"Not recently."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. You have your own job."

"And you don't have to worry about me. I have a sword!" She said as she showed him.

He looked at it and his face immediately became pale. His eyes widened as he looked at the girl terrorfied. 

"C-can you unsheathe it?"

"Yeah why?"

He looked at her both afraid and in awe.

"D-do you even know that sword this is?"

"No. But I took it from a tyrant king after I killed him."

"You k-killed him?"

"Yeah why?"

"D-did he make you?"

"No."

"You-you know I-I will be off. I'll take the one after." He said and he got off.

They then set off.

"What was that all about?"

Zaryb looked at the sword and went back to her.

"May I see it?"

I unsheathed it and handed it to him. He took it and looked at the blade. He stroked it and then looked at the hilt. He then checked the balance which was perfect. He then passed it back to her.

"I guess that we ought to look into it some time."

"Yeah…I'd like that."

She then looked at it and put it back in it's scabbard. She then looked at the hills. She enjoyed the silence and arrived before they knew it. They both climbed off the public carriage. Strena sniffed the cold damp air. They walked on for a while before they arrived at a stone bench.

"Now sit."

She sat down on the bench and looked at him.

"Get out your quil and journal."

She did this without question.

"Tell me, have you put down the attributes of a wyvern?" 

"No."

"Put them down."

She then turned to her journal and wrote it down as fast as she could, using her magic to dry the ink before she turned another page.

"Right. Done."

"Good put a title on it. Label it Dragon Family Tree."

She did and nodded once she was done.

"Now, I will teach you all about the dragon family tree. Let me begin by saying that the closest to the dragon in inelegance is the Hydra. They have many heads. When you cut one off two more grow in their place. Now even though there are those who believe that you can kill a Hydra by cutting off the center head, I will two you that this is nothing but a fanciful lie. I would know. So how you can kill this creature is by somehow getting to the body and slugging it's stomach. Yet there is another weakness that you can use, is the fact that all heads have their own personality."

"So a Hydra has as many as personalities as heads?"

"That is what I said."

She put this down.

"Now, there is another type of dragon called a long. They have long bodies and they have been known to have fur and four legs. They are the wisest of them all, however the closest repertoire to them are the sea serpents and the drake. The way to differentiate the sea serpent and the long is the one can speak and the other cannot, one has webbed feet and the other has fins with talons. The drake, however had a shorter body,  just imagine a dragon without wings. Yet it has a mind like a wyvern however some are capable of speech yet they do not possess dragon like inelegance. Almost like a parrot."

She looked up at him to show that she was done.

"There have been known members of the fashion family such as the lindwrun which looms and acts a drake with only two legs, then there is the amphiptere, spelt A M P H I P T E R E, this creator looked more like a wyvern but without legs and a wyrm which looks like a giant snake with a dragon head."

"So a cross between a dragon and a snake?"

"Yes."

She then finished.

"Note as a slayer you should know these things after all one mistake could cost you not just some coins but also your life. When a mistake is made, how much you have made depends on that mistake." He said.

She rolled her eyes as she realised what he was implying.

"And where did they come from?"

"There are many myths and legends about dragonkind coming from another land in another sky, although I do not put much stock in them."

Once she had done she jumped to her feet. They then followed him.

"Anything else? Or can we get this job done?"

He chuckled.

"And why are you so keen on finishing the job?"

"Because I need to memorise these pages."

He patted her on the head.

"Good girl."

They soon arrived at the voyage area. They were approached by a skinny man with his clothes barely clinging to his body.

"You must be the slayer that I have sent for?"

He shook his head.

"Even though I am a slayer, I am not the slayer that has taken your job." He explained as he pointed to Strena.

He looked at her with a deep crown in his forehead. Then he burst out laughing. He parted the man on his shoulder.

"My deer boy! You must be joking! How old is that child, nine, ten?"

"Ten and no, he is not. Now the dragon, where is it?"

"Oh? Ohhh!"

"Just tell her all she needs to know. And if you pat me like that again you will lose that hand! Do you understand?" He shaped as he clutched the man's wrist.

"Y-yes. Yes!" He said as he gave her a map. "Could you let go of my wrist?"

He let go.

"You will find the dragon in this cave. That's where we found it." He said with a talk-down tone to his voice.

I don't like him.

"Thank you. Now I think we ought to be heading off!"

He smiled.

"Yes" he said as they followed the map.

"By the way, why did you not correct him?"

"I don't like him. So why should I?"

He laughed.

"Good girl!"

Together they reached the cave. It was smaller than she expected. She looked down at the map and then up at the cave.

"What is it girl?"

"The mouth of the cave is too small."

He looked at it and nodded.

"I think you're right. But I think we need to get in nevertheless."

She nodded and they soon entered the cave. She looked around and she saw a few claw marks in the walls of the cave with burn marks blackening them. Some of these marks were closer and others were stretched out across large distances. Some were longer and others were shorter. She also noticed that there were charred skeletal remains of the soldiers that tried to take the wyvern down.

Then she was the wyvern in the center of the cave. It was in the middle of it's meal. She took out her sword and then looked around and spotted a rock on the ground. She then closed her eyes and willed the rock to rise. She concentrated hard on it,  yet she felt her energy drain and though she was able to throw the rock at the wyvern it only scraped it.

With a roar it looked up at her. It had range in it's amber eyes. It then dived to her and let out a blast at her. She dodged out of the way. She then rolled forward and she slashed under the jaw, but this did nothing. She then slashed again but this did nothing again. She did this again but this did nothing again. 

Yet she knew that age had to change her tactics. So she waited for the wyvern to open its mouth again. There she was ankle to see a spark in the centre of the mouth. Yet she was able to see a flashy pallet in the back of the wyverns throat. Then she ducked as the fire was released from the mouth. She ducked and tapped the jaw as a way to detract the creature from her plan. She then stood erect and then waited for it to open its mouth again and then named the blade into the back of it's throat slicing off the pallet and then she spotted the spark and when the fire came she ducked out of the way and she willed the fire to go back into the mouth of the wyvern. It then stopped and stayed to cough and cough. It moved back and washed his head side to side like a tail. Then it looked at her and opened its mouth again. The moment that she saw the spark she willed the wine to spread fire into its throat. It coughed and coughed even more. She then willed for the fire and alone to flood the lungs. She then raced to it as it backed away from her she then drew the blade up and with all her might and will she was able to cut into the windpipe and then dig deeper with the next slash. She was able to drive it into it's back and the head rolled off.

"Now let's see if that starved pig pays up." She sighed as she picked the head up and lobbed it on her shoulder.

He chuckled.

"Now, I have finally influenced you."

She closed her eyes, masking her shock and forced a smile on her face.

"Who else do I have in my life?"

"Good point."

They walked back to the village by sun down. The moment that Vylla saw head over her shoulder his eyes widened. He looked at the duo and his eye darted firm Zaryb to Strena. He did not mask his bafflement upon the sight.

"So, was it really the girl that took the dragon down?"

"Yes"

With a shaky hand he took out the coins and gave it to the girl. Yet he noticed that she was counting each and every coin. So he knew that he could not cheat her and gave her all he had put on the flyer. Once she had all the coins she dropped the head and followed Zaryb and late at night they arrived at the Slayers Guild.