Chapter 2

The days fairly flew by after that. Serali experimented with her new-found powers, discovering their limits. Fire was amazing, and flight a true joy, and soon she was an expert at both. She often bemoaned the fact that she had to waste so much of her time doing chores and helping around the inn when all she wanted to do was fly, but in reality, her life was fairly uncluttered and she spent many a happy hour winging her way across the high plateau upon which the village rested. And that, perhaps was not wise of her, for she was seen, never clearly or up close, but often and from a distance the villagers caught glimpses of her reptilian form in the sky.

She heard a few rumors of the dragon's presence around the town, and was dismayed by the alarm that some of the villagers showed at the thought of it. But she wasn't going to give up flying. She did, after that, try to keep a little further from the village itself, but the damage was already done. They knew a dragon was lairing nearby.

So it happened that one day when Serali was helping serve drinks in the inn, a stranger entered. This was cause for comment, and he was quickly surrounded by a small crowd of the curious. Serali, quite curious herself, slipped closer, hoping to overhear something of interest. Her curiosity increased greatly when she caught the word "dragon" in the stranger's conversation. Trying to be unobtrusive, she half-hid behind a rather wide man and listened closely.

"That's what I heard," the stranger was saying, "The rumors have reached Cartos, where I happened to be staying in between jobs."

"Aye," said one of the village men, "It's truth, far as I know. I've never seen the beast up close, but I've caught sight of it in the distance often enough to know the truth of it."

"I've seen the thing too," spoke up another of the men, "We can all agree that it's there. The question I want answered is this; can you do somethin' about it?"

The was a chorus of agreement from the men, swiftly silenced by the stranger's raised hand. "I don't know what needs doing, but this I can say, If the dragon proves to need slaying than I'm the one to slay it for you." He paused dramatically, while Serali, unnoticed, sagged weakly against a table, shocked almost to fainting. Then he concluded in a ringing, dramatic voice: "For I'm Donovan, the dragon slayer!"