Dragon Hunting [complete]

As much as Ahne wanted to ignore Flinn everytime he called her Ahney, now was not the time to debate semantics. She'd go back to ignoring him as he continued about calling her the wrong name after the dragon was dead. And again, he assumed to know better than her.

"In there, she cannot fly, out here, she can. If she made it this far wounded, then having her grounded will do us better." Ahne pointed out. "If she has drakes, then we can draw them out, but I want her inside for the kill."

Drauv'vin came up to her and licked her face. "Hey, 'Vin." She said, loving rubbing the dogs face. "Ready to kill some dragons?"

Drauv'vin barked happily at her, and licked her face some more. Ahne rubbed his head and stood back up.

"As for the plan on dealing with the dragon, I will confront her directly, while you try and get to her from behind. If you can get a heart kill, take it, butu do not risk yourself, their hearts are located deep in their chest and you will need to get under her to do so. Hence, the risk. Do not take it needlessly, but if you can get in, strike her and get out safely, its worth it to end her.

"Otherwise, we just slowly take her down piece by piece, and you will not try and draw her attention from me. Last time I checked, you didn't have a full suit of plate on, so no heroics other than the heart kill." Ahne stated, raising her hand to emphasize her point. "ONLY if it can be done safely."

Ahne stepped inside the cave just far enough that her eyes could adjust to the darkness and was relieved that there was a light source coming from inside. That would make it much easier. Once her eyes had become adjusted, she looked down at Drauv'vin. She waved her hand forward and the dog took the lead, his head down and searching for the dragon.

Ahne sniffed the air, and it smelled wet, which meant there was an inside lagoon or some sort of water source, which was a good thing, seeing as they barely had any supplies left from their hunt of the dragon. Ahne had not expected that she would make it all the way back to her cave, but she had and it was time to end it.

Ahne was not expecting to see so many eggs when she entered the main chamber. She had been hoping to see none, but alas, there were more than a dozen. The piles of gold that nested teh eggs did not brighten Ahne's eyes, but instead wanted to make her cry. This dragon had been here for far too long. She had amassed wealth it would take ages to gather, and these eggs must be the first of her brood.

Ahne was so focused on the eggs she failed to see the dragon move, or strike until it was too late. She snapped at Flinn, still upset about him blinding her in one eye, but that had also been her weakness. Without both eyes, her aim was not true and missed the two of them.

As the dragons' head recoiled, Ahne quickly drew her baldes and managed a glancing blow to the dragon's neck. Seeing the woman in all black, the dragon lowered her head to Ahne's level and roared in defiance.

Ahne didn't need to verbally taunt the dragon as she came into the opening, calmly and serenly. She could see the beast thinking over the damage AHne had caused last time, the would still agape and reeking of infection. In time, she would have recovered, but that was exactly why Ahne was here, so that she wouldn't.

The dragon snaked her head out at Ahne, who was more than prepared for the sudden lunge. Ahne spun out of the way and drove one her swords into the dragon's maw and the other one into her snout (Riposte). Her sense overloaded for a moment, the dragon lay still for a moment, enough time for Ahne to move into her next move (momentum) which was a rapid set of attacks (flurry).

That woke up the dragon and she pulled back her head, and took a deep breath. . .

The dragon lowered her head back down and unleashed her blistering cone of fire, blanketing the area Ahne would have been in had she not expected the attack. After the flame burst was over, the drake that was now engaging Flinn sped past her from behind intent on its own victim. Ahne did not pursue, leaving Flinn in his own capable hands, she'd only step in if he asked.

The dragon shook her scalely head and snaked it back towards Ahne, snapping at her viciously, hoping to snag the metal nuisance and finish it off. Ahne, however was too nimble and when the dragon snapped at her, she jumped back, striking out with her blades, causing teh dragon to hiss and rear back.

Not willing to risk her snout to the womans sharp swords anymore, the dragon resorted to using her claws, raking themat the blond haired Knight. The knight defended the blows, and the more the dragon swiped, the faster Ahne seemed to block them, and the better her attacks became.

Ahne seemed to be. . .enjoying. . herself.

The fight between Ahne and the dragon wasn't going so well. . .for the dragon. Ahne had reached a peak, a physical height and was a rapid blur of blades as she assaulted the dragon. The dragon didn't have much room to manuver, so she couldn't back up and circle around Ahne. And that was why Ahne wanted her in here. Unable to fly, or jump around. The biggest threat were the drakes, and Flinn seemed to have a handle on them, so all she had to do was take care of the dragon.

Suddenly, the dragon's tail came whipping around like a whip. As fast as Ahne was, there was no way to avoid the incoming strike, so she prepared her body for teh blow as best as she could, but when the muscled tail struck her, it felt like having been kicked by a mule. The blow sent the Knight careening against a pile of rocks ten feet away, and the force of the impact set every nerve in Ahne's body ablaze. She was oddly still concious and, even against the pain, she willed her body to get up. She got as far as lifting her head before the dragon triumphantly stood above her.

Finally having gotten the best of the black suited Knight, the dragon lowered her head to grab the woman in its both, intent on finishing her off with one bite. Being blind in one eye, she never saw the brown dog that came flying at her, jumping onto her face and biting her eye. Enraged and in pain, her head shot up, the dog jumping off after having successfully rescued his master. The dragon's head hit the roof of the cave, a sickening crunch ensuing. A few bits of debris fell from the ceiling and an ominous rumble could be felt within the cavern.

Seeing a way to end this, Ahne rose shakily to her knees, her body wracking with so much pain she could not afford to move faster. "Flinn! Forget the heart. Aim for her eye!"

If the dragon forgot herself, then she would hit the roof again, and cause a cave in. Ahne would most likely be buried in the rubble, but the dragon would be dead and the safety of Lothering would be guarenteed.

The ceiling began to collapse, and Ahne protected herself as best as she could from the falling debris. There was surprisingly little of it compared to the cascade that was taking the main portion of the cavern. Boulder sized pieces of rock were falling, smashing an egg here, or crushing a drake there. Some of the drakes tried to escape, but this enraged the dragon and she snatched up the fleeing drakes and killed them on the spot. Soon, the rumbling turned more violent and the entire roof of the cave shifted for a moment, then came crashing down as if the rock had turned into a liquid for one brief moment.

A few melon sized pieces had struck Ahne on her armor, but the plate protected her body and she was rather surprised to find out she was still alive once things had settled. The dragon and her brood and treasure were completely enveloped by the stone deluge. Fortunately, or unfortunately, not all of the eggs and treasure had been covered by the rock slide.

Ahne tested herself, and found that although her body was sore from head to foot, she was able to rise. Getting to her feet was a struggle, but something she managed to accomplish very, very slowly. Once on her feet, she walked over to one of the many eggs remaining.

"Maker keep your soul" she lightly prayed to the egg before running her sword the shell. She plunged the sword in a few more times, ensuring that she killed the developing embryo inside. It was a hard thing to do, to kill these poor creatures when they could not even defend themselves, but Ahne could not afford to allow them to hatch and develop into another dragon.

"Destroy all the eggs," Ahne commanded after finishing the first, not bothering to clean off her hand as she purposefully strode to the next egg. "Except one. I have plans for that one."

Once the task was done and one egg remained, Ahne set about cleaning herself up. She was in no condition to walk back to Lothering, and after the blow Flinn had suffered, she rather doubted her was up for a four day hike day to town. She looked down to her mabari.

"Vin. . .go back to Lothering and get Ducky and lead the mule here. The mule should still be at the Chantry, or wherever it is, bring it back here." Drauv'vin protested with a high pitched whine. "It's ok, we'll be fine here. But the sooner you go, the faster you get back."

Using that as his motivation, the mabari turned and fled from the cavern.

"So how do you want to split the spoils?" asked Flinn. "Half yours half mine? I think that is fair, don't you think?"

"Only when you're the one making out ahead." Ahne replied, begining to move more slowly now that all the eggs were destroyed, except the one. Her right leg began lagging behind, as if dragging and her breath was coming a little laborously. The weight of her armor began to press down on her, and she found the need to suddenly get out.

She began undoing teh bucles holding her armor together by rote, the pieces falling off of her like a snake shedding its skin. Once everything was off, she lifted up her shirt and saw the cause of her discomfort. Her entore left side was bruised, which meant she either had broken a few ribs or collapsed a lung. Either could be fatal if left untreated. Thankfully, she kept health poultices, and they would save against the wounds, but they would serve no purpose against internal injuries.

Ahne slumped down, feeling nautious and unstable. "Two Hundred." Ahne began, panting, trying to keep her wits about her. "You can keep two hundred for yourself, whatever you like to do with it, it's yours."

Ahne closed her eyes as her vision began to swim. She needed to stay focused, stop herself from passing out. She took a few shallow but filling breaths, wincing against the pain, but deciding the pain was what was preventing her form passing out, and aimed for just enough pain but keeping too much from over-whelming her.

"The rest. . ." Ahne weakly lifted her hand, sending jolts of agony through her side. She welcomed it like a snakes vanomous bite. ". . .The King. . ." She was panting now. ". . Chantry. . ."

"Sod it all. . ." Ahne cursed.