Chapters 1 through 4 Summary

The story opens with five friends hanging out at a tavern, The Quill and Tankard. They are out on the terrace drinking fearsomely strong cider, for which the tavern is famous. The friends discuss dragons and a few of them would like to see a dragon. Armen, who is an acolyte of the Citadel, informs them that dragons are extinct and that they were born a few generations too late to see them.

Lazy Leo, the son of the city guard captain, interrupts the group and asks for a drink. The five friends do not like Leo and refuse to buy him a drink. Leo tells them that there are indeed dragons and that dark times are coming. The sailors are all talking about it down on the wharfs. Armen assures the other four that Leo is wrong, and that the...