"Left... farther left... a little right... good! Right there!"
Annan's shout carried over the Low Hill to Eli Gravel, who stood on the other side. With the hammer every Dwarf seemed to have been born clutching, he drove a marker into the frozen ground.
The marker stood where the Blue Dragon's Dragon's Nest would one day be.
Nearly five months of persistence had finally paid off: the Blue Dragon had agreed to move from the Haunted Gold Mine to Star-Moon Bay. Annan didn't know whether it was because of something he'd blurted out or the arrival of the Dragon-Hunting Squad.
So Annan had hurried back to Breeze City, then rushed straight on to Star-Moon Bay to choose the site for the Blue Dragon's Lair himself.
The Dragon-Hunting Squad had fallen apart because of Annan, leaving not one member behind. They had been formidable, but greed had clouded their judgment. The Bearskin Chief had suspected the Ranger after the Horned Warrior's death. The Ranger had tried to claim the Blue Dragon Lair for himself by poisoning the Bearskin Chief, the strongest among them, and the two had died together. Then the White-Haired Mage had ambushed the Female Warrior and driven her away.
Annan had dealt with only the first and the last. Suspicion and greed had led the rest to kill one another.
If the Bearskin Chief had been a spellcaster, things might have ended differently. He would have seen through Annan's identity, forcing Annan to summon Mr. Swaro to deal with them.
Eli Gravel returned to the Low Hill and showed a suitable degree of concern for his lord. Wouldn't this be dangerous? If the Blue Dragon was ever in a foul mood, a single breath of Dragon Breath could destroy the Lord’s Manor.
"You have no idea how much