Yoran and the innkeeper dragon

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley of the Rain. But since they came back, people had to deal with their presence. Dragons were fine craft-mans and merchants. Their ability to fly allowed them to reach the heights of the mountains, so they could bring rare rocks and plants and even weird animals with shiny skins. Despite everything they had to offer, most of the time, commoners considered them like stupid beasts. Everything a bit different was a monster in the eyes of men anyway. Although dragon mostly lived in caves, some had cozy houses, pretty like ours, but they were made of rocks. As I said, they were beasts. Intelligent, peaceful ones, but they had… emotions. Negotiations could be harsh for furniture. At least, dragons were not bellicose, which allowed our weird way of life.

I even have a friend who is a dragon, his name is Galibert. He was a green dragon with purple eyes, an uncommon look, and he lived with me in the city. He was young, no more than a hundred years, but he was quite resourceful. We had an arrangement, and we ran a tiny tavern with a… special service. You know… sometimes people, or dragons, don’t like each other to the point some prefer to never see each other again, ever. It might be one of our attributions to realise those kinds of wishes. And it happened that we were good at it.

I must say, it was a juicy field of work. Galibert was specialized in weird plants and minerals. I was quite found of alchemy and cooking. It was a really happy alliance…

Until Jobara.

Jobara was a well-known merchant in the Valley of Rain. Pretty much everyone had to meet him at least one time, and it was rarely a pleasant time. Jobara used to roam the city with his creepy bodyguards: two mountains of muscle, half human, half dragon. They had the strength of a dragon and the brain of the stupidest human, but at least, they recognized their master.

Jobara was not an official administrator of the city, but he had an undeniable influence. With money comes power, and he was a very wealthy man. He lived in a huge house and had a lot of people at his service. He was everywhere, he knew everyone, but he was more feared than liked. He could be a subtle man, but his words were full of threat. For all we knew, he could even be our competitor.

We happened to be in mildly good terms: we had some arrangements, but he suspected that we rans an illegal business. He used to imply that our inn should not generate that much money. Knowing him, we had to keep it a secret. People and dragons who came at us were approached directly, but nobody knew who we were. We had our ways to keep it secret.

But as I said, one day Jobara came at us, with his bodyguards. He entered our place and ask not so politely to meet us. As we entered the tiny office Galibert and I shared, he started to speak.

_”You two. Both of you. I can’t imagine how you hid this from me.”

He looked at us, made himself comfortable in the only armchair in the room and lit a cigar before continuing.

_”It’s funny. I did not suspect you at all. But I have been looking for you for a while. Some of my… associates disappeared in the past year. I was wondering why.”

He stopped to speak and looked at us with a large smile.

_” Yoran and Galibert, the innkeepers. I need your talents. I need you to make someone we both know leaving the city, with no way back, if you know what I mean. And before you try to refuse, I need you to know that I have something you have been looking for."

As he said so, he pulled something out of his coat. It was wrapped in a kind of paper and looked heavy.

My heart missed a beat. I knew what it was.