The Lizard Men

The smell was the first thing Adrion sensed when he woke up. If anything, it was the smell that woke him up to begin with, and it was not a pleasant smell either; a smell of plants that had just started to rot in the sun. The good news was that it quickly brought him to his senses, and he then proceeded to look at his surroundings.

He seemed to be laying down on a bed in some kind of hut made of wood and covered by an animal skin. A fire pit crackled in the center with the smoke going out of a hole in the roof and a pot hanging over the fire. Then, he noticed his staff, sword, and coat stacked in a corner of the hut.

Wait…his coat?

Adrion looked down to see he was bare chested, his torso covered in dark green bandages that were clearly the source of the smell. He tried to sit up in the bed he was on.

"You're awake, I see," said a girl's voice, startling the young wizard. Looking to the source of the voice, he realized that he wasn't alone in the hut; a girl with neon blue hair sat on the other side of the fire pit. She looked like a normal human, but when she looked up at him, he realized she had a scales on her cheeks, like freckles. Other scales also dotted her arms. When she stood up, it was revealed the more human skin on her arms and legs gave way to scaly, clawed, three-digit hands and feet. To top it off, a scaly, lizard tail waved around behind her.

She also wore a brown skirt that stopped just above her knees along with a sleeveless shirt that stopped above her stomach, exposing her back and stomach.

"Who are you?" Adrion asked.

"My name is Ureka," the lizard girl replied, gently smiling (which was still a bit unsettling considering she had fang like canine teeth), "I'm one of the healers in our village."

"Village?" Adrion spoke to himself, slowly putting the pieces together, "The Lizard Men?"

Ureka nodded, "One of our warriors found you and brought you and your companions here after your two dragons explained everything to him. Once you got here, the first thing we did was try to heal you."

"My friends?"

"They're fine. Your elf friend took a lot more time to heal, but she is alright now."

Adrion sighed in relief, grateful they had survived. He also made a mental note to thank Rhogar for saving them. The relief ended when he got another whiff of the bandages, causing him to almost gag.

"What IS this stuff?" he asked, trying not to throw up.

"Those are healing bandages." Ureka explained, "They use a special moss we find in the marshes that can heal all kinds of wounds. We used similar bandages on your friends."

"Where are they now?"

"In the village as well. We had to send them away from this hut as they wouldn't leave your side. Especially the dragon girl."

Adrion blushed at the thought; River was worried about him?

"Can I go see them?" he inquired.

"I'll see what I can do." Ureka replied, "I'm sure they will be happy to see you. But first, let's get those bandages off of you; you seem to be healed enough."

Walking up, Ureka used her claws to cut the bandages and peel them away. They left a few green streaks on his body, but at least he didn't smell that bad anymore. Plus, he actually felt rejuvenated.

"Wow," Adrion marveled as he flexed his arms, "That moss actually does help."

"See? I told you," Ureka said, "Now just wait here. I'll go see if I can find your friends."

With that, the girl walked out of the hut, leaving Adrion alone with his thoughts. The young wizard took this opportunity to go over the events of his dream in his head; who was that man and the girl, and how did they know so much about both him and Negramor? And on the topic of the Necromancer; why does Negramor want him so badly? He figured he might be able to find someone here who could help, but before he could think it over further, River burst into the room, tackling Adrion in a massive bear hug.

"Adrion! You're okay!" she joyously exclaimed. Kai'sair and Hope followed in a few moments behind.

Seeing the fact Adrion was bare chested, Hope stifled a laugh, while Kai'sair simply joked: "Are we interrupting something?"

River looked at the knight in confusion, then looked back at Adrion's chest, now noticing he was shirtless, causing her to jump back and turn redder than a tomato.

"Ah!" she yelped, "I'm sorry, Adrion! I didn't see that…uh…"

Adrion was a bit embarrassed himself, but quickly broke out laughing when he saw her reaction. Hope and Kai'sair had a good laugh too.

"It's okay," Adrion comforted, "I'm just glad to see you guys are all okay."

"Well," Hope interjected, gesturing to her shoulder and torso which was still wrapped in bandages, "Almost okay."

"Hey, at least you're alive." Kai'sair said, "That's all that matters."

Hope smiled at the knight's comment, but then quickly hung her head in shame.

"I'm sorry guys," she said, "I was too excited when we started, and I didn't realize how serious this all was until we got chased."

Kai'sair patted her on the shoulder, comforting her: "Hey, it's okay. When I started training to be a knight, I got excited too. It's when you're actually in the thick of the fight though when you realize how serious things are."

"He's right, Hope," River continued, having regained her composure, "It's okay to be excited; you just have to know that it's not all fun and games when it comes to things like this."

Adrion chuckled: "Yeah, no kidding."

Hope shyly smiled at the others, "You guys are the best."

Kai'sair, however, noticed the distant expression on Adrion's face and was curious: "Adrion, what's up?"

"I had a really weird dream last night. Not a lot makes sense, but it kinda shook me up a lot."

"Tell us, then," said a voice as Ureka appeared behind them, walking into the hut, "Maybe we can help."

Ureka sat down next to the fire pit, gesturing for the other three standing to do the same. Once they had sat down, Adrion began to recount everything in his dream. River began to pale at his description of the shadowy half dragons, but it was when the wizard first mentioned Negramor that there was a collective of both gasps and yelps (the latter from the three girls). Amazingly, they were able to be silent through the rest of the retelling, though River got a more worried yet curious expression when the wizard mentioned her being tortured to further persuade Adrion to take the deal.

"That's so awful," she said when Adrion had finished, "I had no idea…"

"It doesn't surprise me one bit," Kai'sair casually said, "If there's one thing Negramor is known for, it's control through fear."

"What's more is who he was with," River grimly explained, "I recognized them by their description."

"You did?" Hope inquired.

River nodded: "They're called the Shadow Drakes; power hungry half dragons that became tempted by Negramor's offer of power and became completely corrupted. Now, they act as his personal bodyguards and attack dogs. The only good news is that there's only three of them."

"That doesn't make them any less dangerous," Kai'sair pointed out, "We should keep a sharp eye."

"I'm making that your catchphrase now." River said, earning a pointed glare form the knight while Hope giggled a bit at the half dragon's joke. Even Ureka smiled in amusement, but she quickly returned to the conversation at hand.

"So, who were the two that helped you?"

"I don't know," Adrion replied, "All I know is that they are siblings and the girl's name is Harmony."

Kai'sair's eyes widened: "Wait, you said her name's Harmony?"

"Yeah," Adroin replied, leaning back a bit, "You know her?"

"I should," he said, "She's the princess."

"The WHAT?!" River, Adrion and Hope all shouted in unison.

"Princess Harmony," Kai'sair explained, "The daughter of the White King. One of the most powerful magical beings in all of Pandreia,"

"You're saying the princess helped me!?" Adrion asked, still in shock. The knight casually nodded: "And if she called the other guy her brother, I'd say you were also in the presence of the Prince of Light as well."

"What's his name?"

"No one knows. He's actually pretty mysterious compared to his sister."

Hope got a puzzled look on her face: "That's weird, don't you think?"

Kai'sair shrugged: "I've learned not to question it."

"So," River asked the group, "What do we do now?"

"Simple," Adrion replied, "We go for the second piece."

Hope looked at the wizard with a skeptical look, "Are you sure about that? We BARELY survived the last attack, and you can be sure there's something evil waiting to kill us when we get to the second piece."

"We've come too far to turn back now," Adrion replied, "Besides, we're still alive, and we have a duty to the White King. We can't disappoint him now."

"I'm with the wizard." Kai'sar said, "I say we go for it. Problem is…where is it?"

"Let me check," Adrion answered, walking over to his stuff in the corner of the hut, and, grabbing the scroll, unrolled it and brought it back over for the others to see. As they watched, the golden path cut through the Marshes and stopped at a little spot near the center of the map.

"The path ends there," Adrion concluded, "So that's where the piece must be."

Ureka looked over as well, cringing when she saw where the path ended.

"That's a rough spot," she explained, "I don't know much, but I do know that there's something in there that's been giving us a hard time lately. You should go speak with the village chief."

"Can you take us to him?" Adrion asked.

Ureka nodded: "I think he just got back from a hunting trip. Follow me."

As they all stood up. Kai'sair looked back over at Adrion, reminding him: "You might want to put a shirt on first."

…

A few minutes later, Adrion, now fully dressed and equipped, along with the rest of the group followed Ureka through the Lizard Men village and to the chief's hut. As they walked, Adrion looked around at the people there and realized that, despite being a bit more warlike, they were actually not that different from everyone else. Adrion could see market stalls, a stable for the different Saurians, even a sparring arena, where the sounds of two combatants locked in a fierce duel could be heard.

The huts were all different shapes, but they mainly consisted of bone and wood structures covered in dark brown or green animal skins: some furry, while others seemed scaly. All of them were on raised wooden platforms, so as to prevent them from sinking into the soft ground of the Marshes.

The Lizard Men themselves were just as diverse, all different colors of green and having different spikes and frills. What was most interesting about them was that the females were more human-like in appearance, like Ureka, but the men were more like humanoid lizard, with the snouts, claws, tails, everything.

"It's incredible," Kai'sair marveled, "I had no idea the Lizard Men were this advanced."

"You can thank the Iron Knights for that," Ureka explained, "The Lizard Men are very good friends with them."

"Makes sense," Adrion said in understanding; the Iron Knights were famous for creating some of the most powerful war engines and machinery Pandreia had seen. It would make sense they would teach some of these advancements to their allies.

Finally, Ureka announced: "Here we are," as they approached the chief's hut. The hut was bigger than the others, with bone spikes, probably made from ribs, ringing around the top of the hut as if the hut itself wore a spiked crown. The covering of the hut was a scaly skin colored deep orange and outlined with red.

Ureka turned back to the others: "He should be waiting for you inside. Just go on in."

"Just like that?" River asked in surprise. Ureka nodded and explained: "He's not one of those 'make you wait' types. If you have a problem that needs his attention, just go see him."

"Sounds like a nice guy," Hope concluded, becoming a bit more optimistic.

"Well, let's go see him then," Adrion said, and the four walked in, Ureka following behind. Inside, they saw a large circular table in the middle of the room, and sitting in a throne made of bones at the far end of the table, sat the Lizard Chief: Skarr.

He was at least seven feet tall, and wore a set of bone armor painted black and with streaks of red and green on it. A scimitar hung at his side while a giant battle axe was propped on the throne next to him. He grinned as the company walked in.

"Hello there, adventutrers," he declared, "I welcome you to my village. I must say, you four cause quite the commotion when Gorsak brought you here."

"Sorry if we did anything wrong, sir." Adrion politely apologized. Skarr simply laughed.

"You did nothing of the kind," he replied, "If anything, you made things a bit more exciting around here, and I do so enjoy it when things get exciting."

"Speaking of," Kai'sair began to explain, "We're here on a quest from the White King."

Skarr nodded in interest: "The King himself? Do tell."

"We seek the Light of Lunare," Adrion continued, "and while we found one of the pieces already, we need to get the second piece, which just so happens to be in these Marshes."

"And what's worse," Hope interjected, "Is that we're now being chased by monsters sent by some snake guy called Aktrius."

"A Snake Man?" Skarr asked, then laughed again, "HA! Anyone who gets on their bad side gets respect in my book. So, you need help finding the next piece?"

"Pretty much," Hope replied, "We know where it is, we just need help getting there. Apparently, according to Ureka here, it's a bit of a hotspot."

"Show me," the chief requested. Adrion promptly brought out the scroll, unrolled it, and showed the map to Skarr, who studied it, looking at where the gold path ended and stroking his snout in interest.

"Ureka is right," he finally explained, "That place has gotten some more Snake Man activity there."

Kai'sair groaned in frustration: "That means they know the piece is there!"

River groaned as well: "Can we please get one piece WITHOUT having to deal with something that wants to kill us?"

"I was thinking the same thing." Hope agreed.

"Relax," Skarr assured, "I am willing to give you my help. Our High Chief has wanted to drive the snakes out of the Marshes for a while now, so this is a good opportunity to do just that. When do you wish to leave?"

"As soon as possible. If that's alright with you, sir." Kai'sair replied.

Skarr nodded: "Good enough for me. Ureka!"

The Lizard girl stood to attention as Skarr continued: "Send word out to the other warriors. Tell them to mount up; we leave on the trail of a possible Snake Men camp."

Ureka smiled and saluted: "Yes sir!" before leaving the hut, and the company brightened; they would get help yet again.

"Your dragons are in the stables. I suggest you prepare as well," Skarr advised, "We move quickly when it comes to raids on the Snakes."

"Thank you so much, sir!" Adrion said, "We won't let you down!"

"You are the ones on this quest. We will need to be the ones to not let you down."

Hope whooped in delight as she jumped for joy, River fist pumped, and Kai'sair drew his sword, holding it high in the air and crying out: "Hoo-ah!"

…

In a deeper part of the Marshes, the wyrm from before continued on, coming to a small group of Snake Men, hidden in the fog and trees. One of them noticed the creature's approach and stood up to address it.

"What isss it?" the Snake Man asked.

"Be on your guard," the wyrm replied, "We're going to have company."