Theron Decides to be responsible

Theron decided it would be best that the mercenaries knew where he was going, so they could find him if they wanted to.

When Theron left the tavern it was late afternoon. It took a few hours before he was ready to leave, even with help from the other mercenaries and by the time he set out on his horse the sun had begun to set. When Theron reached his destination it was already dusk and quite dark out, save for the full moon that was shining brightly above, eerily lighting up the landscape with the moonlight. As he neared the farm where the sighting had been, he saw a large shadowy figure made visible only by the light of the moon. Looking up quickly, he saw that it had what appeared to be a fairly long neck, large bat like wings, pitch black scales and a pare of large glowing gold eyes that seemed to stare down at him intently.
The figure roared suddenly at him, before taking flight.
Theron’s mount nearly threw him, but he was able to calm it.
The figure, which Theron was now sure was the dragon he’d been searching for, was spiraling up into the air, flying towards the forest which surrounded the mountains to the east.

Theron and his mount pursued the dragon for many hours. He was surprised that he’d been able to keep up with it for so long, let alone at all, but he was beginning to get tired.
Theron steeled himself. He wasn’t about to let this chance slip away. He urged his mount to go faster, and was able to gain on the dragon, close enough that Theron could now do something about. He was going pull the dragon in with the grappling hook, which he kept in the horse’s saddle bag.
Theron readied the grappling hook, swinging above his head as he urged his horse just a little bit closer, then let it fly into the air towards the dragon, where it wrapped itself around one of the dragon’s hind legs before hooking on to its ebony like scales.

Theron quickly stopped his horse, which he was sure it was thankfull for, and dismounted, then tied the other end of the rope to a thick tree which would hold the dragon down. The rope tightened up as the dragon tried to exceed its length, but it was futile, and the drag of the rope caused the dragon to fall from the sky, landing in a clearing a distance away. Theron mounted his horse again quickly, and rode it towards the clearing where the dragon had fallen.
The sun was now rising, but Theron didn’t care how much time he’d spend chasing the dragon.
When he stepped inside the clearing, he saw no dragon. He could see the place it had landed, crushing even large foliage beneath its body, but there was no dragon there.
He slowed his horse, and dismounted to examine the area. Suddenly, he realized he could see a small spattering of blood among the grass.
It was a trail of blood, and upon following it, he found a set of foot prints leading out of the clearing.
A set of human foot prints.