Rise of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 012 - The ones responsible (Patreon)

It was harder than Kaen had imagined as he tried slowly eating the porridge and sipping the bone broth soup they brought him.  Over and over, they reminded him to slow down, but he had not realized how hungry he was until the smell of the food hit his nostrils.

“I’m starving!” he exclaimed as he finished the porridge and glanced around the table.

“And you will throw it all up if you gorge yourself,” Herb informed him as they sat around a table, watching him fidget and scrape his bowl with a spoon for every last speck of food.  “Give it thirty minutes, and we can give you more, but you must wait.  Your body will recover fast, but trust the process.”

Kaen saw Hess was nodding as he sat in his chair, his arms folded across his chest.  It was weird how it looked, seeing him with one arm holding a stump at his elbow.  He could see that Hess’s left arm had gotten smaller.  His right arm looked just as strong as always, but the difference was now very noticeable.

“Herb is right, son.  Just relax.  We aren’t going anywhere; you will have plenty of time to eat.  If you overdo it, that day you recovered from goblins piss will seem like a walk through a field.”

Groaning, Kaen set the bowl down and pushed it away.

He saw Herb glancing at the both of them.

“That’s another story for another day,” Hess declared with a snort.  “Let’s talk about the specifics we need to deal with.”

Herb produced a stack of papers from nowhere as Hess said those words and slid a few toward each of them.

“If you look at the top sheet, you will see what I have learned from the one who attempted to assassinate you,” he said as he looked at the sheet they had. “Unfortunately, you broke his neck, which prevented us from interrogating him, but based on what we found in the apartment he rented, there was no way we would have gotten anything from him.  Two of our best rogues scoured that room and found a few traps.  Each missed a trap, but the other managed to discover it before it was set off.  It seems he was prepared for this attack and did not expect to return.”

As Kaen scanned the sheet, he was amazed to hear there were a few needle traps and an igniting trap inside that man's apartment.  Neither would spread among other buildings due to the bricks, yet it looked like they would have killed others.

“Where was he from?”

“There is no record, but we can make assumptions,” Hess stated before Herb cut him off.

“We know what assume spells…”

“Yes, we do,” Hess grunted as his voice became gruff.  “However, he had a lifestone and was very skilled in the art of deception.  He lived a lie for a year as he planned and waited.  Everything he did was meticulous, leaving no room for anyone to notice anything was off.”

Both men watched Kaen as he read the few details they had collected.  It was a sheet with nothing to go off of.  A ghost of a man that had only one purpose, it seemed, to kill him.

“Bren says in this report that the man had mentioned he was from Pensworth, trying to escape the turmoil there and was hoping to get good enough to become an adventurer here.”

“Kaen,” Herb said as he tapped the table with his fingers.  “The man pretended to be just good enough to use Bren’s place and slowly increase his ability so as not to raise suspicion.  This means he knew the art of combat well enough to deceive even someone of Bren’s skill level.”

Leaning over, Herb pulled a pouch from the floor next to him and opened it up.  There was a cloth wrapping that he set on the table, and he slowly unrolled it.  Inside was the dagger Kaen had deflected and felt it cut him.

Two holes were at the base below the blade, where it appeared the man's fingers had been in.  The blade was simple: a punch blade. Two sharp sides with a small three-inch blade.  Perfect for close work.

“This thing is sharper than most blades one will ever find used by an adventurer.  It is a testament to your stats that you managed to actually stop him from piercing your chest,” Herb declared as he slid the dagger toward Kaen.  “It is perfectly balanced and the only details we have about this individual is that he was part of a very secluded assassin guild.  They almost never fail.  The fact that they did will give them some pause.”

His fingers tugged on the two holes and slid the blade over to him.  Lifting it up to his face, he saw that the blade's edge almost seemed to disappear and yet was still there.

“This is an amazing edge.  Worthless in combat but perfect for what you just told me.  How do they get it this sharp?”

“That is a guild secret,” Hess butted in as he pointed at the dagger.  “Hold it out, blade up, and drop the paper on  it.”

Scrunching his eyebrows, Kaen smirked and shook his head.  Picking up the paper, he did as Hess instructed him, and his hand almost trembled as the paper cut cleanly without any force but its own weight pulling it down.

“Wow…”

Herb’s head was bobbing, and Hess was biting his lip.

“I still don’t know how you survived that poison, even with Pammon’s help.  That poison could take down a dragon his size if its tail pierced him.”

“We both have our ideas on how it happened, but that means you are far beyond what we had hoped,” Herb stated as he pointed to the second paper.  “This is a list of the antidotes given to you and the healing you received.  On the record, there are less than a handful of documented cases of someone surviving wyvern poison.  That goes back for a long time, and all of those were hunts aimed at them with the proper potions and ointments to help treat it.  The ones who survived were not the same after that encounter.”

Tsking his teeth with his tongue, Kaen read the list, amazed that they had invested so many different potions on him.

“When did they figure it out? What it was?”

“That was Lord Hurem’s doing.  He is a master of poisons and potions.  They personally took note of what you were suffering from, and it took them some time to prepare what you needed.  In the meantime, they made sure to help you as much as they could.”

“Herb won’t ask, but I will,” Hess cut off his counterpart.  “You have to have a forty or higher in constitution to survive something like this and still look how you do.  The only thing you have lost is your body's fat.  Even with Pammon doing whatever he did, you should have wasted away, and yet, if I’m right, that isn’t the case.  You are probably stronger because of all this.”

Chuckling, Kaen flashed his boyish grin and shrugged.

“What you’re asking me is what I had planned on telling you later, but I figure it is better to get it over with.  I have gained the poison resist skill, which is now a sixteen.”

Both men let out a whistle, and each glanced at the other, their eyes wide and eyebrows almost touching the top of their heads.

“Poison resist skill,” Hess muttered.  “Impossible.”

“He has no idea, Hess.  None at all…”

“What is it I don’t know?” Kaen asked, confused at how both men were reacting to his news.

“Kaen,” Herb started to say as he leaned across the table.  “Men who deal in the art of assassination will slowly poison themselves with weak poisons, trying to gain that skill.  There is no guarantee it will work; some die before they ever do.  Getting it above a ten is unheard of for most but the sect leaders.  It isn’t like most normal skills.  Just getting the skill is a major hurdle.   How to best compare it…”

“It’s like the dragon riding skill,” Kaen interrupted him.  “Even though Hess has flown with Pammon before, he doesn’t have it.  I do.”

Snickering, Hess smiled as he bobbed his head.

“That is a good example,” admitted Herb.  “Some things may never come for someone, no matter how many times they try.  For you, it seems Fiola was right.”

A scowl flashed across Hess’s face before he realized it and relaxed.

“My family genealogy…”

“Exactly.  Everything you seem to experience comes faster and stronger compared to the rest.  Added with a dragon…” Herb trailed off.

“So what is our next step?”

“Nothing.  There is nothing you or Hess or anyone else can do right now.  You will go and make yourself known in a few days.  You will show yourself to the people in the city, and word will travel that you are alive and well.  That will send a message far and wide to those who intended to harm you that you are tougher than they expected.”

Herb’s chest shook as he suddenly laughed, surprising the both of them.

“Imagine Kaen, what this will do to the resolve of someone thinking just because you are young and your dragon is only a few years old.  You were attacked by the best with the strongest weapon they could think of, and you came out unscathed.  It will make them consider their movements against you.  They know eventually it will lead you to move against them, and I doubt anyone wants that after this failed so horribly.”

Hess began to chuckle and nodded in agreement.

A knock on the door came, and when it opened, Kaen smelled the scent of more soup.

“Food! Finally!”

Both men laughed as the servant brought in the porridge and soup, setting it before Kaen as he attacked it like a wild animal.

Sitting on Pammon in the courtyard, the sun felt warm and amazing on his skin.

Pammon was anxiously moving as Kaen strapped the harness around him.

Are you sure you are ready for this?  We don’t have to do this today.

I’m fine, and it needs to be done.  We must send a clear message that we are both fine and that their attack against us failed.  I have no doubt there is probably another person or two in this kingdom waiting for news of how I am doing.  Today is the first day we send fear to those who thought we would be easy prey.

Pammon began to thrum, the courtyard echoing as it reverberated off the walls.

Spoken like a true dragon rider.  You are making me proud to be your dragon.  Many might rest and relax, saying they were not ready, but a true rider does not hide behind excuses.

Pride washed over Kaen, strengthening his resolve and belief this was the right decision.

Well, let's get it over with.  I’m ready to feel the wind in my face and fly with you again.

A trill escaped Pammon as Kaen climbed into his saddle and clipped himself in.

Let’s go!

Kaen thumped Pammon on the neck as he leaped into the air, sending plumes of dust around the courtyard.

A cheer broke out from one of the training grounds they flew over as Kaen waved at the adventurers training below.

Elies was right, you know.  Strength is not just measured by how strong you are.  It is also measured by how you encourage others around you.