Lineage

I sat down at a table, dropping the entire stack of books I'd gathered from the library on the Narrowscale, getting myself ready for a detailed read on every single way I was fucked when it came to facing this thing. So, I figured I'd start out with its basic abilities to see how dangerous it could be.

The first thing I had to be wary of was the teeth. The females had less deadly toosie-pegs, thankfully, and lacked the male’s serration on the inner curve of the tooth. The serrated curve allowed them to sink their teeth into something and get a greater grip on it, useful when flying prey back to their cave or during mating bouts to lock into place with their opponent and use their sharp claws on their hind legs to slash at their opponent’s belly, the males having evolved to have weaker chest and stomach scales, while females had scales nearly as hard as their back side to protect the child in their womb, if necessary.

That was another strange trait for the Narrowscale: they were mammals, unlike every other dragon species on the planet, as they didn't reproduce through laying eggs. So, attacking the female’s stomach was out of the question, leaving the other three places that could cause damage: gullet, toe tendons, and eyes. They were the only places on a dragon’s body that were relatively unguarded, the eyes being a lesser option due to the eyelids being as strong as the rest of their body.

Slashing the tendons in its fingers would render its toes useless, as well as making it agonising for the dragon to stand, forcing it to stay in place on its stomach, but it could then use its wings as a shield and resort to breath attacks. The element of the breath attack depends on the sub-species of the dragon itself, ranging from basic fire breath, to ice, to lightning, to a particularly nasty type known as rot. Rot was an extremely toxic substance that would cause anything it came into contact with, be it armour, weapon, or flesh, to decay into mulch, making them extremely dangerous, due to their ability to rot away any covering spot that would prove beneficial against other subspecies of dragons.

Then came the throat, the fleshy gullet inside its mouth would be protected against its own element, a fire dragon being immune to any type of fire, but an ice, a lightning, or a rot dragon would have no protection against fire. The universal dragon-slaying tools often included various types of concoctions brewed beforehand to help deal damage to its throat, making its breath attacks impossible, as well as breathing hard and painful. However, cutting out its eyes, slashing its toes, and burning its throat would only serve to make it angrier, and thus deadlier. Especially a dragon as large, old, and wise as the Narrowscale would be.

Right, next up: mating habits. Luna hadn't told me if it was a singular dragon or a mated couple. If it was the former, it would be extremely dangerous. If it was the latter, I was fucked. A dragon mates for life, usually with a dragon of another subspecies, or its opposite element in order to gain a standing with that opposite element or a benefitting dragon that could use its abilities to strengthen its mate. An ice dragon would mate with a fire dragon to secure protection and respect with other fire dragons  and vice versa, while an ice dragon might mate with a water-breather dragon (not to be confused with a water dragon, as they're a different, eastern species that run off an established matriarchy instead of a pecking order) to help the water-breather develop a new ice attack power when used in tandem. The same e principle applies to a fire and lightning duo combining their breaths to create a plasma beam, something that was extremely deadly and very difficult to block.

So, my chips were placed on it being single and not ready to mingle. Though I held faith that Luna would tell me if there was more than one of them. For some reason, I decided to trust her word on this.

Then came the second problem: mother or not?

If the dragoness was a mother of a young dragon, or pregnant, she'd be extremely territorial and even more dangerous, as dragonesses are some of the strongest maternal protectors in existence, their child being the only thing they valued more than their treasure hoard. So, I once again had to hope it was a very lonely, old dragoness who spent all day playing tiddly-winks on her own with her coins.

I sighed loudly, leaning back in my chair with an exasperated groan. I could look up as many different facts I wanted to about the beast I had to slay, but the information was useless when I didn't know anything about the dragon itself. I didn't know it’s exact size, age, species, colour, or even location. I'd be going in completely blind with nothing more than my selection of equipment I picked from the armoury before heading out. This made it even more dangerous, as I could end up picking a metal sword and shield to face off against a fire dragon, only to find out the dragon is a lightning dragon, making me one enormous conductor rod to be fried.

I couldn't specialise for one subspecies of Narrowscale because that would put me at risk of having the wrong equipment for another subspecies and end up getting killed in a matter of seconds. Another problem was weapon choice: swords, knives, bolas, bows, throwing knives, bombs, or any other type of weapon could be the perfect choice or the worst mistake going up against the dragoness.

I closed my eyes and thought back to a piece of advice Luna had told me long ago, when first deciding what weapon to train with… Also one I had ignored.

“If a man masters a trade, say he trains his entire life to be a farmer, he can do naught else. Give him a quill or a smithing forge and he will be unable to produce anything. But for a man who masters no trade, but dabbles in them all is an adaptable one. The man who is masterful with a forge can harvest no crops, but the man who can forge his own sword and then use it proficiently, is often the man you want to be.”

And as a nine year old who'd watched his dad train with a sword, I'd thrown myself into sword training and had done nothing else. I could nock an arrow, yes, but I couldn't fletch one. I could wield a sword, but couldn't smith one. I'd spent my entire life focussing on one field of expertise, constantly limiting my horizons, and now my choice could mean the difference between life and death. A sword was reliable, yes, but against a dragon that could melt, rot, or electrify it, it was useless, so a ranged weapon would be the best.

I groaned loudly, mentally punishing myself for not taking her advice all those years ago. I took a deep breath, clearing my thoughts before deciding I was hungry, in the mood for a beef sandwich.