"Anything more that might tell us where to find your father, Lady Carthing? Or at least, how to identify him should we come across him on our travels?" I had to admit, anyone who might be in distress set me off. I guess I just have a thing for being the hero.

"And as for you, Lady Dragonslayer. I was thinking of having a scout around the mountain. See if there any good ambush positions, locate the dragon dens, that sort of business. I'd like to have someone to watch my back. Interested?"

The carriage driver did not speak, instead sinking off the side of his carriage to quietly check his horses, who seemed fine, if quite shaken. He seemed to want to do as much as possible to distract himself from the carnage he was quite unused to. At the same time, he seemed quite relieved. After all, his life had just been saved. Relief was a fitting emotion. Lily turned away from him to regard the other Dragonslayer, the one wielding two swords. He had made a proposal, and an introduction. For several moments Lily found herself utterly silent, before realizing that she, too, she obviously make an introduction of her own. Indeed, it seemed as if the man who had fallen from the sky had done the same... He even knew her name already."

"I am Lily of Maison," she stated, plainly, before performing a stiffly formal bow. It was how her Master had told her to greet others, at least when there was time to do so. "... As for your proposal, further numbers are always of use against dragons..."

She trailed off of a moment. to be truthful, she did little work with others... she tended not to even speak to more then one person at a time. Lily, truly, had little experience with others. And yet she could certainly recognize the advantage of multiple Dragonslayers against multiple dragons. Before she could gather her thoughts and continue, however, the other man shouted into the woods.

"... Ah... er..." Lily fumbled for the correct way to proceed, "... Yes, I too wish to see who has aided us against the bandits."

---

"Well..." Alexandria paused for a moment, "... As I said, he will be wearing armor similar to mine... I know not if there are any other Knights of Maison in Irontown now, but his helmet bears the same ornament as my own."

The armored girl gestured to the curving metal crest atop her helmet, then gave another pause. "He's... very loud, my father. You may hear him before you see him. He wields a longsword... his name is Alexandrios, if he introduces himself to you. Just tell him his daughter is looking for him, I'm certain he will leave this ill-advised quest behind if he knows I am worried."

The girl paused again. "... Ah, I apologize, I must look awfully the suspicious sort retaining my helmet among allies."

Alexandria raised her hands and took her helmet in both hands, and raised it off her head, moving to hold it in the crook of her right arm. She appeared to be quite a young girl, her blonde hair styled into curls often seen among female nobility. Really, it was a shock to see her in full plate, she looked like she was no older then sixteen, or perhaps younger.

The girl gave an awkward smile.

"I wear the helmet in order to be taken seriously," Alexandria began, "My youthful looks sometimes get in the way of that."

"'d be more than happy to. Have yet to venture out that far, myself. I'd suggest waiting until we have one or two more people to join us, though. From my impression of the place, there's a lot of dragons out there. Don't want to get jumped by a group of them and not have the fire-power to get out of there alive, after all."

Hypatia nodded at the other Dragonslayer, returning her focus to the now-helmetless Alexandria. There was an instant of doubt that a girl this young was a knight, but that doubt was quelled. She was barely a teenager when she started trying to kill dragons, after all. She'd take this girl as seriously as she would any other knight.

"No need to worry about not being taken seriously, Alex - can I call you that? I know the feeling of being underestimated because of youth all too well.. Not so much these days, of course, but at least I still look the part."

It was either a joke or Hypatia simply failed to notice the only increasing signs of maturity on her features, most notably the stress lines under her eyes, giving her a permanently 'didn't-have-enough-sleep' look.

"I'll definitely keep an ear out for your father when I'm out and about. Have you asked anyone else around town? Guards maybe?"

Doing rounds around the town quickly grew dull for Feron. The residents didn’t approach him as they did to some of the other Slayers, and he himself didn’t mind. At most, he offered them a curt reply or sharp nod as acknowledgement and that brief interaction was enough to drive many off. The distance was only so long and, even carrying his weapon, Feron didn’t tire easily. His mind grew bored and wandered far before, and soon enough he paused his patrol.

Peering into the sea of trees that surrounded the road to Irontown, he shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. The bandits were many, but he guessed they would be in hiding now. It just wouldn’t be profitable for them to try their luck with so many Dragonslayers arriving at the settlement, but then again... there were always idiots.

Turning away from the main road, he wandered around seemingly without much direction until he had found himself back at the inn. The atmosphere of the town did little but sour his mood. There was a sense of despair and defeat in the air, even with the arrival of Dragonslayers. Hope found nowhere to take root, not without a demonstration that life would get better for these folks.

Grumbling to himself, he set the warhammer and his trio of stakes down against the inn’s walls as he entered the building again. Aside from patrolling the town’s perimeter there wasn’t much Feron could do and that rankled him a bit. So it was good that the first thing he caught when he stepped into the inn was, “I'd suggest waiting until we have one or two more people to join us, though. From my impression of the place, there's a lot of dragons out there. Don't want to get jumped by a group of them and not have the fire-power to get out of there alive, after all.”

He walked over to the gathering around the Dragonslayers and surprised the ring of villagers with a light tap on the shoulder. Unsurprising, given how he had made no sound with his approach, a rather impressive feat with how wooden floorboards liked to creak at the most inopportune of moments. With a fair number of the residents staring at the hulking man that had made his presence known, Feron stated, “I will join this expedition.”

"Agreed on the plans. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those dragons made dens from scratch, though. The larger ones can move a lot of earth in a very short time."

I wasn't familiar with the area, so I decided to ask the locals again, despite how unhelpful they had been the last time I made inquiries. "Anyone know where the schematics are? We could definitely use them to cut down on our search time."

Alexandria's entire body, though it was difficult to tell when most of it was covered in plate armor, seemed to relax when she realized that she would indeed be taken seriously, at least by the female Dragonslayer. Thinking about it, the woman didn't look very old either, aside from looking like she never slept. Did she never sleep? Alexandria knew Dragonslayers had a lot of energy, did some of them have enough to forgo sleep entirely?

"Ah, er-... yes, yes, you can call me Alex," Alexandria's cheeks colored slightly as she tried to figure out exactly how to respond. "And... thank you. Some people still don't understand that my looks hardly mean I can't be skilled with the blade."

Indeed, within an ornate sheath on her hip there sat a longsword. It wasn't exactly easy to tell if she was skilled with it from here, but she had made it past all the bandits. That must have counted for something, correct? "And, er, I also have to thank you for keeping an ear out for my father. I've asked the town guards, but everyone here seems so jittery. I can't blame them, they're living in fear all the time. Oh, I wish there was something I could give you in return..."

She was rather surprised when another man appeared, so quietly. How had he managed to get here without making a sound?

---

"Ah-hah, as I suspected!" boomed Alexandrios, "A Dragonslayer! Of course, it is no surprise in these parts. Those blasted wyrms roosting over Irontown have made themselves quite known!"

As if it would make a difference, the armored knight shook one fist at the nearby mountain. Even from here, smoke could be seen rising from the caves in the giant. There were many places a dragon could roost within the huge mountain. It had, after all, been excavated by an unknown hand. There was a vast city within the mountain, suspended walkways, homes, mines, a massive forge... but not a single living soul within. Some believed this meant there was a race of small, bearded folk who had once dwelled in Ahlunda, just as some old legends say. But where could such people have gone if they were not here?

"While I am certain we are both quite capable," Alexandrios continued, "I shall never decline an offer of jolly cooperation from a Dragonslayer! We shall carve our way through the ill-intentioned thugs filling these woods and head straight to the fire-belching beasts themselves!"

"Well, if nobody seems to wish to help me, then I guess I will have to go on my own." I took up Scaleslayer and started off towards the mountain. The south face of the mountain would be the place to start. It was heavily forested, which would make it hard for the dragons to spot me. Granted, it would make it hard to spot them as well, but what's life without risk?