Surrounded





The little Yunni were all around the trader, some barely visible in the dense undergrowth, but all were armed with bows and wicked looking weapons. Some of the weapons looked too much like butchering tools.

“Why are you in our hunting lands?” a larger Yunni, maybe as tall as his waist, demanded.

The trader slowly sat on his wooden trunk and showed empty hands as a gesture of friendship. “I am a lost traveler, my friend. I did not know I was trespassing.”

He heard movement behind him as well, and he was sure an arrow was pointed square at his back.

“One does not just stumble into our lands while carrying such a heavy...” The larger Yunni rattled off a string of foreign words, and another Yunni answered. “Crate.”

“Yes, well, my boat sank on the river near here. The rains swelled the river, sending us on a wild ride, and we broke on some rocks.”

The Yunni chattered rapidly among themselves.

“What is in this...crate?” the spokesman said.

“Just a gift for my son.” It was not entirely a lie. After a handsome profit, the trader intended to give at least one of the dragon eggs to his son. All he had to do was continue to elude the furious mother dragon for a few more days.



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