Realms of the Dragons II/The Hunting Game

"The Hunting Game" is a short story by Erik Scott de Bie published in the 2005 anthology Realms of the Dragons II.

“

Hunting dragons is no game. Being hunted by dragons is even less so.

”

Summary[]

A bard, Alin Cateln, is heading for Hill's Edge as part of a caravan that gets attacked by a dragon. He wakes up days later, with no memory of the attack; he soon discovers that he was saved by the adventurers who were part of the caravan, the Moor Runners: a priest named Delkin Snowdawn, a barbarian named Thard, and a sorceress named Inri. He joins up with those adventurers, after learning that their own bard, Tannin, perished in the dragon attack. However, as discussion of the dragon picks up, a woman, Ryla Dragonclaw, enters the tavern, looking for adventurers to help her slay the dragon Tharas'kalagram, which she claims has attacked the caravan. Alin volunteers the party.

In the morning, Ryla rides with him, having no horse of her own. Along the way to the dragon's lair, whose location she claims to know, the party attempts to go around an orcish encampment; Ryla rejects the idea, going off on her own to slay the orcs. After the battle, Alin questions why he has heard of Ryla's exploits in songs from his father's and grandfather's time; Ryla tells him she will keep some secrets. She insults Thard's cooking next and leaves on her own; Alin follows her. He claims to be composing a ballad about her, and they spend the night together.

The next day they are attacked by a green dragon; it knocks all of them out, but Ryla slays it; they bury Delkin, slain by its breath. They finally discover the lair of Tharas'kalagram. Preparing to strike in its sleep, Thard suddenly, close by, recognizes it as a different dragon; just then, it wakes up and incinerates Thard with its breath; before Inri can escape, Ryla turns on them and decapitates her. Alin alone is left alive, and he witnesses as Ryla sheds her human guise, revealing herself to be another red dragon named Rylatar'ralah'tyma. She suggests giving Alin a five-year headstart so that he can finish the ballad about her before finishing him off.