Dragon Hunters

Lian Chu is seriously wounded by a dragon. He is contaminated by a deadly poison for which the only antidote is the gland of a Mimikar, a species of dragon of which there is only one last surviving specimen on the island of Unimak. There's no two ways about it. Gwizdo is going to have to go hunting himself if he's to save his lifelong buddy. To say that Gwizdo is delighted by such a prospect is perhaps exaggerating a little.

The Zimbrenelle dwarves have set a price on the heads of Gwizdo and Lian Chu. Rather than letting bounty hunters grow fat on their misfortune, Gwizdo decides they will pretend to be bounty hunters and hunt themselves. The whole endeavor is easier in word than in deed but this has never deterred our heroes.

Returning from a hunt, Gwizdo and Lian Chu decide to go via the Orphan Farm, the home where they were fostered by Mother Hubbard. When they arrive they are surprised to find that the farm is in ruins. Tracks and footprints suggest that the farm has been ravaged by a dragon. Only one single orphan boy survived the attack. He helps our heroes find his buddies, held prisoner in a goldmine. Gwizdo will have to prove to everyone that he is not a scaredy-cat, despite the many tales that Mother Hubbard is fond of telling the orphans about him.

A client at the tavern talks about the island where he lives and the dragon terrorizing it. The information doesn't fall on deaf ears and Zaza decides to take advantage of our heroes' absence to offer her services as dragon hunter on the island in question. She is eager to prove to everyone that she too is dragon-hunter material. When it comes to her first kill though, she's out of luck. The beast turns out to be the island itself and it must be said that hunting islands is a tricky business.

Gwizdo discovers the existence of an island where the inhabitants are extremely rich. Unfortunately, the place has never been infested by any dragon and our heroes' services are useless there. Unless, maybe, they themselves supply the dragon to be hunted. To play the role of nasty, bite-y dragon, they look to their very own Hector. And to make him even more convincing in his role, they ask Master Kao, the crazed local healer, to provide them with a potion to bring out their little dragon's wild side. Things don't go according to planned, however.

Gwizdo and Lian Chu bring a magnificent trophy back from their hunt -- the head of a Sizzler dragon. Jeanneline has no intention of hanging it on the walls of her tavern because it is particularly hideous, but Gwizdo insists. After all, it's great publicity. What he doesn't realize is that Sizzler dragons are afflicted by the Salamander Complex. This means that the body of the dragon in question is likely to return to the tavern in search of its head. Our heroes are in for the fright of their lives.

A pretty young redhead turns up at the tavern with a baby dragon and Gwizdo is instantly love-struck. He falls hopelessly head-over-heels with the ditsy carrot-top. He is so far gone that he fails to notice that the girl and her weird pet are both pretty suspicious. For instance, why are the Forestal brothers interested in the girl and her pet? But no one can get through to him. The girl has Gwizdo wrapped around her little finger. Gwizdo even offers her his services for free, which just goes to show...

After a successful hunt, Gwizdo tries to claim his dues from the client, brandishing the contract they had previously signed. The client, a pernickety provost, disputes the agreement, arguing that the service providers, namely Gwizdo and Lian Chu, are not registered at the Chamber of Commerce as legal dragon hunters. Gwizdo is indignant but the feudal agent replies that the world is full of rogues and rogue-ettes each as dumb as the other, but this does not mean there aren't rules to be respected. To hunt dragons, you have to be registered at the Chamber of Commerce, as stipulated in article n° 55 J 812 of the treaty governing inter-county trade. Gwizdo rails against the administration but consents to sign up. But to do so, they have to reach a certain quota of dragons killed in the last six months. Eight in all. However, Gwizdo and Lian Chu only have one item marked in their hunting ledger. There are seven more to kill before the end of the current period, that is to say, the next day at sundown. Seven dragons in one day! And all for free!

Our heroes return home empty handed once more from their hunt to discover that the Prince Charming has taken their room at the Snoring Dragon Tavern. Obviously, he actually pays for bed and board, and there's the matter of charisma, of which the Prince Charming has so much more than our heroes: He works free of charge, labors for the good of the people, and also has his own personal minstrel, Gontran, who constantly sings his praises. Gwizdo discovers that the minstrel is in fact a villain out to make a quick buck from the Prince's reputation by hawking souvenir merchandise and keeping the profits for himself. Gwizdo intends to speak out about the outrage, but Gontran doesn't give him the chance. Gwizdo is knocked out and locked in a cupboard. Gontran, by subterfuge, manages to persuade Lian Chu to join forces with the Prince Charming to form a hunting team. Gwizdo has a job in store if he's going to get his faithful friend back and put a stop to the evil minstrel's wrongdoings.

A mega-rich family is looking for their son whom they gave up when he was born and they were poverty-stricken. Seeing that the family lives not far from the Orphan Farm and that the baby was abandoned at about the time when Gwizdo was fostered by Mother Hubbard, our hero draws the quick conclusion that maybe he himself is the family's long-lost son. There is indeed enough cash at stake to justify pretending to be the aforesaid offspring. His plan initially works, to Lian Chu's great surprise. But things soon become more complicated.