The hood didn’t do much to conceal his identity. Anyone with functioning eyes could see the crooked horns jutting out from the back, and the scaly tail swishing around his feet. Even a blind man would know from the smell. Sulfur and rot, badly hidden by spices and fresh flowers. If one stood face to face with him, they could feel the hot sparks on his breath, hear his rugged airflow attempting to fill larger than usual lungs. And even if you somehow managed to miss any of these painfully obvious details, you could tell by his huge hulking frame that he was no ordinary man.

Jared wondered why he even bothered with the hood.

He watched the hooded figure stumble through the tavern, trying and failing to walk daintily. Jared sighed and leaned back in his chair, unconsciously fiddling with the hidden dagger at his waist. Finally, the figure finished the long trek to his table and awkwardly dropped into a chair not built for tails.

The figure lifted his face just enough that Jared could see under the hood. Jared’s breath hitched. This wasn’t the dragon he was expecting.

His snout was long and elegant, like the other dragon. His eyes were set into the sides of his face and surrounded by small delicate scales. But where the other had been covered in blue and black, this one was red and brown.

Jared frowned. The dragon curved back his lips and furrowed his brow-ridges in a look that Jared recognized as offense. And maybe hurt. “Yeah, okay, I’m not the guy who hired you. My brother’s off terrorizing some village.” He waved his talon in a dismissive gesture. “Anyways, he asked me to come pick up a delivery? Didn’t sound so important at the time, but…” He looked at Jared’s scarred face and battered armor. “It’s looking a little more serious than I thought.”

Jared wasn’t quite sure what to say to him. This didn’t line up with his knowledge of the draconian kind. They weren’t usually straightforward, preferring to slither around the point and frustrate humans with their vast knowledge. This one was missing the high and mighty oh so important air of other dragons. He wasn’t trying to trick or mislead. He just seemed… bored. Annoyed. In a way, he seemed very human.

The dragon blinked quizzically. Jared jumped out of his thoughts. “Do you have the code?” he asked.

The dragon paused for a moment and furrowed his brow-ridge. “Right! Code! This black market stuff is so confusing sometimes. Where did I drop it…?” He rummaged around in his satchel. “Yeah, here we go.”

He slid a note across the tavern’s rough wooden table. Jared picked it up in two fingers and examined it, then tucked it in his pocket, satisfied. He hoisted a heavy bag on top of the table and with some hesitation, passed it to the dragon.

The dragon grabbed it, surprised at the weight for its small size. He hooked a claw around the drawstring-

“Wait!” Jared’s hand slammed over the bag. His eyes were wide and his breath was shaky.

“What’s the mat-“

“Do not open that bag. Whatever you do. Tell your brother the same. I don’t know why the hell he would have wanted this in the first place, but I can’t hand it over in good conscience unless you and he swear to never open it.” Jared’s hands started to shake. “Tell him… tell him he’ll lose it if he opens the bag. It was hard to capture and it’ll escape at the first opportunity. Appeal to his greed. Greed always works.”

The dragon lifted his talon, wondering what the bag could contain, and terrified at the thought of something that could scare the warrior in front of him. What was his brother planning?

He huffed and clenched his talons in resolve. “Mr bounty hunter sir, I need you to tell me what exactly you have in here and how you got it. Then we can decide if my brother really needs it, or if we should take care of it ourselves.”

He held his talon out to Jared. “Call me Sycker.”