"Kasmar!" cried Eudoric, sighting the innkeeper in the crowd. "Wilt have the goodness to interpret for me and this fellow?"
"He says," said Kasmar, "that he started out with a wainload of these devices and hath sold all but one. He hoped to dispose of his last one in Liptai, but our gallant Captain Boriswaf will have nought to do therewith."
"Why?" said Eudoric. "Meseems 'twere a fell weapon in practiced hands."
"That is the trouble, quoth Vlek. Boriswaf says that, should so fiendish a weapon come into use, 'twill utterly extinguish the noble art of war, for all men will cast away their weapons and refuse to fight, in lieu of facing this devilish device. Then what should he, a lifelong soldier, do for his bread? Beg?"
"Ask Goodman Vlek where he thinks to pass the night."
"I have already persuaded him to lodge with us, Squire Eudoric."
"Good, for I would fain have further converse with him."
Over dinner, Eudoric sounded out the Pantorozian on the price he asked for his weapon. Acting as translator, Kasmar said: "If ye strike a bargain on this, I should get ten per centum as a broker's commission, for ye were helpless without me."
Eudoric got the gun, with thirty pounds of powder and a bag of leaden balls and wadding, for less than half of what Vlek had asked of Captain Boriswaf. As Vlek explained, he had not done badly on this peddling trip and was eager to get home to his wives and children.
"Only remember," he said through Kasmar, "overcharge it not, lest it blow apart and take your head off. Press the stock firmly against your shoulder, lest it knock you on your arse like the kick of a mule. And let not fire come near the spare powder, lest it explode all at once and blast you into gobbets."
Later, Eudoric told Jilclass="underline" "That deal all but wiped out our funds."
"Even after the tradesmanlike way ye chaffered that barbarian down?"
"Aye. The scheme had better work, or we shall find ourselves choosing betwixt starving and seeking employment as collectors of offal or diggers of ditches. Assuming, that is, that in this reeky place they even bother to collect offal."
"Master Eudoric!" said Jillo. "Ye would not really lower yourself to undertake menial labor?"
"Sooner than starve, aye. As Helvolius the philosopher saith, no rider wears sharper spurs than necessity."
"But if 'twere known at home, they'd hack off your gilded spurs, break your sword over your head, and degrade you to base varlet!"
"Well, till now I've had no knightly spurs to hack off, but only the plain silvered ones of an esquire. For the rest, I count on you to see that they don't find out. Now go to sleep and cease your grumbling!"
The next day found Eudoric and Jillo deep in the Motolian Forest. At the noonday halt, Jillo kindled a fire. Eudoric made a small torch of a stick whose end was wound with a rag soaked in bacon fat. Then he loaded the device as he had been shown and fired three balls at a mark on a tree. The third time, he hit the mark squarely, although the noise caused the palfreys frantically to tug, rear, and roll their eyes.
Leading their mounts, the hunters proceeded to the place where they had met the dragon before. Jillo rekindled the torch, and they cast up and down the beast's trail. For two hours they saw no wild life save a fleeing sow with a farrow of piglets and several huge snails with boulder-sized shells.
Then the horses began to plunge and whinny. "Methinks they scent our quarry," said Eudoric, trying to quiet them.
When Eudoric himself could detect the musky odor of dragon, he said: "Tie the nags securely. 'Twould never do to slay our beast and then find our horses had fled, leaving us to drag this terrestrial cockadrill home afoot."
As if answering a challenge, a deep grunt rumbled down the trail. While Jillo secured the horses, Eudoric laid out his new equipment and methodically loaded his weapon.
"Here it comes," said Eudoric as he detected the vibrations of a heavy tread through his boot soles. "Stand by with that torch. Apply it not ere I give the word!"
The dragon came into view, plodding along the trail and swinging its head from side to side. Having newly shed its skin, the creature gleamed like fresh paint, its hide bearing a reticular pattern of green and black. Its great, golden, slit-pupiled eyes focused keenly on the hunters.
The horses screamed; the dragon speeded its approach.
"Ready?" said Eudoric, settling the weapon in its rest.
"Aye, sir. Here goeth!" Without awaiting further command, Jillo applied the torch to the touchhole.
With a great boom and a cloud of smoke, the device discharged, rocking Eudoric back a pace. Through the dissipating smoke, the dragon appeared still rushing towards them.
"Idiot!" screamed Eudoric. "You were not to give fire until I commanded! You've made me miss it clean!"
"I'm s-sorry, sir. I was palsied with fear. What shall we do now?"
"Run, fool!" Dropping the bronzen device, Eudoric turned and fled, with Jillo close behind him.
Then Eudoric tripped over a root and fell sprawling. Stopping to guard his fallen master, Jillo turned to face the dragon. As Eudoric scrambled up, Jillo hurled the torch at the onrushing monster's open maw.
The throw fell short of its target. It happened, however, that the charging dragon was at that instant lumbering over the bag of black powder. The whirling torch, passing beneath the creature's gaping jaws, struck this sack.
BOOM!
When the dragon hunters returned, they found the monster writhing in its death throes with its underbelly blown open and blood and guts spilling out.
"Well!" said Eudoric, drawing a long breath. "That's enough knightly adventure to last me for many a year. Fall to; we must flay the creature. Belike we can sell that part of the hide we take not home ourselves."
"How propose ye to get the hide back to Liptai? It must weigh in the hundreds."
"We shall hitch the dragon's tail to our two nags and lead them, dragging it behind. 'Twill be a weary swink; but we must needs recover as much as we can, to recoup our losses."
An hour later, blood-spattered from head to foot, they were struggling with the ponderous hide when a man in forester's garb, with a large gilt medallion upon his breast, rode up and dismounted. He was a big, rugged-looking man with a rat-trap mouth.
"Who slew this beast, good my sirs?" he inquired.
Jillo spoke: "My noble master, the squire Eudoric Dambertson here. He is the hero who hath brought this accursed beast to book."
"Be that sooth?" said the man to Eudoric.
"Well, ah," said Eudoric. "I cannot claim much credit for the deed—"
"But ye were the slayer, yea? Then, sir, ye are under arrest."
"What? But wherefore?"
"Ye shall see." From his garments, the stranger produced a length of cord with knots at intervals. With this device he measured the dragon from nose to tail. Then he stood up.
"To answer your questions, on three grounds: imprimis, for slaying a dragon out of its lawful season; secundus, for slaying a dragon below the minimum size permitted; and tertius, for slaying a female dragon, a beast protected the year round."
"You say that this be a female?"
"Aye; 'tis as plain as the nose on your face."
"How does one tell, with dragons?"
"Know, knave, that the male hath small horns behind the eyes, the which this specimen patently lacks."
"Who are you, anyway?" demanded Eudoric.
"Senior Game Warden Voytsik of Prath, at your service. My credentials." The man fingered his medallion. "Now, pray, show me your licenses."
"Licenses?" said Eudoric blankly.
"Hunting licenses! Understand ye not plain Pathenian?"
"None told us that such were required, sir," said Jillo.
"Ignorance of the law is no pretext; ye should have asked. That makes four counts of illegality."