“Would you mind, like, not poking me? Please?”

“I need you to get up though!” Nisseos continued her attempts to wake her companion up. She was careful not to break Travis’ bones. As she was well aware, her strength, combined with pointy claws of her talons doesn’t exactly feel like a feather brushing the skin. She’d gotten impatient though. “Travis, if you don’t open your eyes right now I’m going to grab you, fly to the nearest hill and roll you down off it.”

“You’re not my mother. In fact, you’re younger than me by a year,” the human stated.

“Yes, but I’m a dragon,” Nisseos said as she caught Travis in her talons and took off. Neither high, nor in any particular direction – she flew in a circle around their campsite, and nowhere further.

“Oh, come on. That’s just unfair. Fine, I’m getting up. I should do it anyway, we have a job to do.”

“And food to hunt!”

“Yes, that too. And could you not say that while holding me in your talons please?”

“Oh, come on! You know I wouldn’t eat you! You’re too bony.”

“Very funny. Now get me down, so I can grab my gear.”

She honoured his request by dropping him at some really tall grass from about a metre.

“Thanks. And what if I landed on dog droppings?”

“You said it yourself, very few people walk down this path. I wouldn’t expect dogs to frequent the route either. Besides, I’d crush you if I tried to land with you in my talons!” Nisseos said, as she circled around the campfire once more and landed on the ground.

“If I didn’t know that’s true, I’d think you just wanted an opportunity to drop me on the ground,” Travis replied. “Don’t do that again though. I’m all fine with flying, but not like that!”

“You’re no fun!” she pouted jokingly.

“No, I’m Travis! You need to tell me about this No Fun bloke, quite an interesting name he-”

“This is so overdone that I’m not even going to bother thinking off a response.”

“You love my jokes, don’t you?”

“Excuse me, when did you ever joke?”

“Oh, shush. Let’s get hunting,” Travis said, grabbing his bow.

The spot they were camping at was located on a trail, that lead along the edge of a forest. The duo decided to split and hunt in separate parts of the wooded area. The human went to the north-east, whilst the drake took off to the south-east. After an hour or so, they met up where they parted.

“What did you find?” Travis asked.

“This forest is a joke. I’ve got nothing!”

“You want that rabbit?” he showed her a bloody hare carcass of an unimpressive size. “That’s all I got.”

“Are you kidding? Of course I do want that rabbit. It’s better than nothing!”

“Well, just bread it is for me then. At least I still have that!” Travis threw the rabbit to the dragoness, who caught it in her teeth and proceeded to devour it whole.

“I wish we could pre-prepare meat for the journey without it going bad. Sometimes, I wonder how great it would be to have something, that’d make it stay fresh for a little longer,” the dragoness stated. “Too bad we don’t have magic like that!”

“Right?” Travis said, taking a loaf of bread from a bag, tearing a sizeable chunk out of it and taking a bite. “Anyway, it’s time to get going, or we’ll never find that hoard! I can eat as we walk.”

There it was. The town of Malton started to appear in the distance.

“I think they’ve seen us,” Nisseos said.

“They’ve definitely seen you. I won’t be surprised if we meet them halfway through and get told we’re not welcome.”

“Yup. I still hope I can make it up to them. The whole coughing on a roof and setting it on fire thing, that is.”

“Maybe some day, but what about getting your money back?”

“Yeah. That’s what bothers me. Am I being too selfish by chasing that thief instead of… doing anything else, for someone else?”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Nisseos. Of course you’re not. That person took all your belongings – unless I don’t know about something – and he needs to be brought to justice. And I’m sure the townsfolk understand that,” Travis said. “Let’s go, and not worry about that.”

The duo continued to march along the trail. And sure enough, after an hour or so, they encountered a group of two knights.

“Surrender, ye damned foul beast! Unhand this man!” the taller one shouted from a distance they deemed as safe.

“Whoa, I can’t say I didn’t expect that, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Travis retorted, not excessively loud, but enough for them to hear. “I am free to go.”

“Then why accompany the beast then?” the shorter knight asked.

“Because I want to?” you could almost hear the eye roll.

“What kind of an answer is that?”

“Good sirs, we bear no ill will. We’re chasing after a thief. You don’t like thieves either, do you?” Nisseos decided, that it’s a good time for her to chime in. “Could you please let us through? We believe they had fled to your town.”

“You must be joking! Under no circumstance will we let a drake through unscathed, no matter how well-spoken it is. Turn back, or prepare to die by the swords of the mighty Sir Edward and his brother Sir Charles!”

As amusing the exchange was, it was costing Nisseos and Travis valuable time. They quickly exchanged glances, already knowing the plan – they have done it many times before.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the dragoness took off, taking a big leap and flapping her wings. She started gaining altitude in swift movements. She circled the knights and started diving at them from the direction from which they came from. They pointed their swords at her and probably shat their shiny metal pants.

Meanwhile, Travis, whom they didn’t pay attention to, calmly took out a crossbow. He loaded it with a bolt, pointed it at the taller knight’s left leg and, without hurry, sent it flying.

The projectile tore through the metal armour easily. The target yelped in pain, before falling on his face before the diving dragon. The shorter knight jumped to the side, throwing his weapon away to avoid injuring himself. Nisseos’ wings fumbled, grinding her descent to a halt. She landed just in front of the defeated knights.

“Aargh, he shot my knee!” the taller knight kept yelling in pain. His previously impeccable armour was now stained with blood and dirt. His sword lied a few feet ahead.

“I surrender! I surrender!” the other man repeated. He stood up, his hands raised to the sky. “Don’t eat me please!”

“Worked like a charm!” Travis said, looking at Nisseos. Indeed, the routine always worked. It was very simple, but the knights who wanted to take them on clearly weren’t very bright at all. He took out a rope from his bag. He walked over to the shorter knight. “Hands down, behind your back.”

The knight complied, trembling in fear. Travis quickly tied him. He then proceeded to do the same to the other one, before binding them together.

“So, do we fly to the town now? I don’t think I can survive another hour listening to that bloke wail, and I doubt he can walk anyway,” Nisseos asked.

“Sure, why not. We didn’t fly properly in quite a while now!” Travis put the knights on the ground, hopped on Nisseos’ back and held onto her neck. “Be gentle though, I don’t want to fall off!”

Nisseos took off for the third time this day, grabbed the two knights and calmly made her way towards Malton.

“And for your info,” she looked at the knights in her talons, “I’m only speaking like a pretentious arsehole around idiot knights. And you’re idiots, you should’ve known not to engage with me unless you don’t value your well-being. Well-spoken. What a fucking joke.”

“Wow, you’re swearing! You must be really hungry,” said Travis.

“Hungry and pissed off”

“Understandably. Let’s get this over with”