Chapter Nine - A Notice of Further Problems
“No, your luggage is safe, sir, don't worry,” Irvine said, though the man didn’t look as if he believed it. “Whatever incident it is you’re talking about, I wasn’t here.”
The man rolled his eyes. “I know that. Your boy was here. And those three kids that the Imperial guards were after.”
Irvine nodded. “I heard about that, yeah. Riley?” He looked over at me.
I set down the book I was trying to read (and mildly succeeding) and walked up to the counter. “Yeah?”
“This man says he left some luggage here the other day, do you know anything about it?”
I scratched at my chin. “Um… Kenny was here that day, not me. I was at the pharmacy.”
“See, sir? My daughter doesn’t know where your luggage is. If you’ll just tell me what room you stayed in, we can go look for your luggage. Is that alright with you?”
“Fine,” the man said, an angered tone to his voice, “but I know that bag has been damaged, I’m sure.”
Irvine looked at me. “Riley, you stay here, Mr. Kaleo and I will be right back.”
I nodded, then walked back over to the chair I was sitting in before. I was getting somewhat better at reading now, which was comforting. Out of ten words on the page, I could actually recognize eight of them. With any luck, I’d be out of children’s books in a few days.
I went to pick up the book, but Mithra had suddenly appeared on top of it, taking a nap. I sighed and just sat there, waiting for Irvine to get back. The inn had been pretty quiet the entire night, with only that one man coming in. It had mostly just been Irvine and I talking. I could see why Kenny was so close to him. For once, I actually felt like I had a father.
I reached over and scratched Mithra behind the ears. He started purring, almost leading me to think he was an actual cat, and not the whatever he had taken the form of. I was lucky nobody had asked me about him. I wouldn’t have any answer for them. I could only hope that the issue would continue to not come up.
I stood and walked over to the desk and found some papers. Based on the massive amount of rectangles and numbers, I figured it was the guest log. I tried spelling out Kaleo’s name in my mind, but I didn’t get far. I wasn’t even sure if it started with a ‘C’ or a ‘K’, so I wasn’t going to find it on the paper. I set the guest log back down.
“I’m sorry you had such a problem here the other day, sir, but as you can see, your luggage is fine,” Irvine said as they came back down the stairs. Mr. Kaleo was holding the luggage he said he’d lost, which didn't look like the other bags he’d left. “I hope this settles things.”
“I’m sure this is good service around here, but if this were the capital, you’d be lucky if we called you a third rate establishment.”
Irvine smiled. “I’ve been in worse places than this in the capital, don’t throw my livelihood to the Wolrens just yet. Should you ever find yourself in Endawa again, your next stay is on the house.”
Kaleo nodded. “Thank you, sir. Have a good evening.”
“Thank you.” When Kaleo had left, Irvine walked over to me and pointed at Mithra. “Does he always do that?”
I shook my head. “Just when I wanna read.”
“How's that goin’?”
“Okay.”
“Good.” He grabbed the guest log and handed it to me. “K-a-l-e-o. What room is he listed in?”
Now that I knew how it was spelled, I found his name easily. “Room 2B?”
He nodded. “And yet he took me to 3C. The room someone named Jaide was listed in.”
I didn’t recognize the name. “What’s that mean?”
“It means Mr. Kaleo works for the Imperial Guard.”
I counted the keys for the fourth time. Irvine was whistling something he’d told me the name of that I’d already forgotten. It had gotten relatively boring after Mr. Kaleo left, and it didn't seem as though either of us had much left to talk about.
I set about counting the keys a fifth time. I came up with thirty-six the first time, and thirty-five all the others, which just meant I counted a key twice the first time. Either that, or I counted the master key in my pocket the first time. I wasn’t sure if it would work on the basement door. Sounded like something I could do to pass some time. I would read, but Mithra was still sleeping on my book.
Irvine looked like he was about to fall asleep. I couldn’t blame him. He was still whistling, but the song was slowing down. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t have anything too say.
Thankfully, he broke the silence for me. “How much do ya know about your family?”
I looked over at him. “Nothing. My earliest memories are of another dragon hiding me in the forest, then I never saw them again.”
“So, did you ever live with anyone before?”
I nodded. “A girl named Blodwyn and her family. They offered to keep me safe, but I left.”
“They sound like good people.”
“They were, yeah.”
“And what do you know about him?”
I knew he meant the white dragon. It was the only thing he could mean. “Just that he hates humans and he’s caused more harm to the dragon species than can ever be repaired.” I hugged my legs to my chest. “I saw him once. That’s it.”
“And you survived?”
“He tried, but I managed to get away. I saved a little boy in the process.”
“How long ago was that?”
I shook my head. “I dunno. The boy was about the same age as me.” I brushed my hair behind my ear. “After I got the boy to safety, I found a secluded forest and promptly fell unconscious. I don’t know what happened to the boy, but I was found the next day by some hunters.”
Irvine nodded, like he’d either been there or seen the same scene a thousand times. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had, thanks to all the damage the white dragon had caused. It was more surprising that I was the first dragon he and Sharena had taken in.
“Sharena told me how you came to meet Kenny. Where did you come from originally?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. West, I know. I don’t really know any town names.”
He nodded again. “Okay, kiddo, I don’t think we’re gonna have anymore business today. What’s say we head home?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
He patted me on the shoulder. “But first, we’re gonna head out to the forest for a little bit.”
I didn’t know what he was getting at, but I accepted it. “Okay.”
Irvine had drawn a bow from somewhere that I hadn’t noticed. I imagined it had to be that pack he always had with him, probably had some sort of magic enchantment on it from Sharena. If she could make the house both in the woods and town at the same time, she could probably make a bag that could hold anything. Now that I thought of it, I was kinda hoping that’d be the first spell she’d teach me. It actually sounded like a fun idea.
He put a hand out in front of me, to stop me. Then he drew back the bow and loosed the arrow. I couldn’t even see what he was aiming at, thanks to the thick trees all around us. I heard a yelp, though, then heard something fall to the ground. Irvine lowered his bow and motioned for me to follow him.
The creature on the ground with the arrow stuck in its neck looked awful, and not just because Irvine hadn’t outright killed it, but because it just looked… Ugly. It wasn’t graceful or beautiful like a deer, but very, very disgusting, like a human mixed with a lizard creature. A disturbing thought that I could look like that if my human and dragon forms merged in some way crossed my mind. I knelt down beside the creature and reached out to touch it, but Irvine grabbed my hand.
“Don’t,” he said as he let go of my hand.
I looked back at the creature, then at Irvine. “What is it?”
“A bradt. It’s not something you’re likely to see more than once, so take a good look. Kenny’s never even seen one. Hell, this is only my third.”
“But… What is it?”
He gave me an amused look. “Well, basically, a lizard man. Rumor from up the magical circles is that they were created by some… Odd… Wizard who wanted to create mantis people at first, but couldn’t find any mantises in his castle, so he used iguanas.”
If the look on my face wasn’t confusion, I’d be amazed. “That sounds ridiculous.”
“No kiddin’. According to Sharena, very few of the magic users she knows actually believe that. Some sort of evolutionary mistake, or something like that.”
I stood up. “Okay. Is this what we came out here for?”
He shook his head. “Not exactly.” He knelt down by the bradt and made me kneel back down again. “Smell that?”
Now that he mentioned it, I did smell something now. I smelled… To be honest, I couldn’t actually describe it. It smelled like meat and potatoes? That wasn’t really what a dead body smelled like, was it? I took another whiff and that only made me smell fruit and veggies. There was no way dead bodies smelled like that.
“Um, what is that?” I asked.
“Good question. Tell me.”
I leaned closer and sniffed again. “Apples.”
“Ooh, that’s a new one. What else?”
He sounded like he was trying to teach me something. “Um… Watermelon.”
“You’re making that one up.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s what I smell. Or, well, smelled anyway. I smell… Um… I don’t know what they’re called. Those little birds that people have on farms that just make noise, then they’re killed or lay eggs?”
“That’d be chicken. Everything tastes like chicken.” He stood up. “Anything else?”
“The smell keeps changing. Why?”
“Is the smell ever anything that you wouldn’t eat?”
I shook my head.
“I thought so.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “You wanted to taste it, didn’t ya?”
He wasn’t wrong. Everything the body had smelled like was delicious to me, and I did want to take a bite and find out if it actually tasted like that. “How’d you know?”
“It’s called Dragon’s Lust.”
“It’s called what now?”
“Dragon’s Lust. You know that some species get a kind of bloodlust where the very scent of blood attracts them, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s mostly only the semi-intelligent species.” I brushed my hair behind my ear. “We learned that in class today.”
He patted me on the shoulder. “Good. Dragons get a very unique kind of bloodlust. The scent of blood triggers a response in your brain that makes you believe that what you’re smelling is something you’ve enjoyed eating before. And it’s not restricted to meat, I’ve met vegetarian dragons who smell lettuce scented blood. That one’s a little weird, but there are stranger things out there.”
I looked down at the bradt’s body and realized that the blood was starting to smell stronger. “So… Is this gonna happen every time I smell blood?”
He shook his head. “It’s a dragon puberty thing. Once you’ve reached adulthood, it fades. It’s your body’s natural way of making sure you get enough nutrients during puberty.”
“Why didn’t I know about this until now?”
He shrugged. “Could have been because you stayed away from things. You probably only ate creatures you came across already dead, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought so. We’ll have to keep you away from hunting for a little while.”
With a high-pitched squeal of noise, the bradt finally died. I looked back down at the corpse and the scent was weaker. “There’s nothing you can do to… I dunno... Stop me from smelling tasty, delicious stuff when I smell blood? And does this only happen with living blood?”
He shook his head. “Nothing we can do, no. Sharena could maybe give you a potion that gives you a cold all the time, stuff up your nose, but some of the smell would still get through. As for whether or not the blood has to be living, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about paper cuts sending you into a blood frenzy.”
“You’re sure?” I had to admit, I was worried now. Especially now that I thought about the fact that human females have menstrual cycles. The idea that I’d be smelling… Anything from my own bodily functions (well, aside from the things I should be smelling from certain bodily functions) disturbed me to no end. “I’m not gonna be… Um…”
Irvine’s face turned slightly red. “That’s a discussion I’ll have to leave to Sharena. No offense, or anything, just… Y’know…” He rubbed at the back of his head. “Really a conversation a girl should have with her mom.”
Riley…
The sound was coming from everywhere all at once. I looked around at the featureless void around me and tried to pinpoint the source of the sound. I couldn’t see anything distinct anywhere, save a solitary speck that looked like it was miles away from. As it was the only thing that looked different from the featureless void, I made my way toward the speck.
Riley…
That sound again. It wasn’t coming from the speck at all. Was it trying to lead me away from the speck? Or was it the proof that I needed to go tothe speck? I didn’t know, and it was annoying me. I kept on my singular path toward the speck because I had nothing better to do.
I walked for hours, for days, for what was likely only about five minutes, but it felt significantly longer. Huh. Apparently reading books was starting to make me develop a flair for the dramatic. Hopefully that wouldn’t become too much of a problem in the future.
The speck finally came close, and I could see that it was a small wooden table and a pair of chairs. There was nothing on the table, and no one sitting in the chairs. I pulled the chair closest to me away from the table, but I didn’t sit down. How had I gotten here? What was I doing here? The last thing I remembered was -
“Going to sleep,” a voice said. I looked up from the chair and saw that boy who was being chased by the Imperial Escorts the other day. “You went to sleep.”
“What the hell is going on here?” I asked, backing away from him.
He shook his head. “Your dream, not mine.” He chuckled. “Not that you’re not pretty, or anything.”
That was a little annoying. “So, why am I dreaming about you?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. Something about me really stuck with you.”
“You jumped through my mom’s storefront window, what about you would have stuck?”
“You’re askin’ yourself, cutie pie.”
He was starting to piss me off. “Whatever. I’m dreaming. Just go away and let me wake up.”
He grabbed me by the arm. “Hold on there, we’re here for a reason. Don’t you wanna know what the reason is?”
I pulled away from him. “Yeah, but seeing as this is a dream, I doubt the reason’s gonna be here.” I put the chair back where I’d found it. “Don’t you know anything about dreams?”
“I do. Hell, I was on a beach that caused dreams.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I once again pulled the chair out and sat down in it this time. I needed to make up my mind about this. “Okay, assuming we could find out the reason, how would we go about it?”
“I dunno. This is your dream, not mine.”
I rolled my eyes. “What? Why the hell would you even suggest trying?”
He sat down in the chair across from me. “I’m not suggesting it. You are. This is your dream, Riley, you are the one creating this. I’m here because you thought of me.” He propped his feet up on the table and leaned the chair back. “The only thing you know about me was that night, so you’re creating this personality to fill in. I’m probably not even like this in real life.” He was suddenly chewing bubble gum, which sounded like a pretty damn good idea right now. “I’m probably not even wearing these clothes anymore. Assuming I’m even still alive.”
“So, none of this means anything?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Well, you’re thinking of me for some reason, but I dunno what it is.”
I got up from the chair. “Great. I’m in a whacked out dream for nothing.”
“Not nothing, but very little.”
A new sound exploded around us, something like a bell ringing but a thousand times louder than even the largest bell I’d seen. It rang six times, like a clock chime. When it finally stopped, the boy stood up.
“Time for me to go. See ya later, Riley.”
I bolted from my chair. “Where are you going?”
He didn't stop. Was he taller than before? “I’m goin’ home. You should probably wake up now.”
“How?”
He smiled. “You wait. Haven't ya ever had a dream before, dragon girl?”
I opened my eyes to see sunlight coming through the break in the curtains. I sat up and reached back to untie my hair. I couldn't remember what Sharena had called the loopy thing, a band, or something. I just knew that it kept my hair taken care of when I was asleep.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and wiggled my toes on the floor. Mithra was sleeping at the edge of the bed, though he’d covered himself up with the blanket. I still wasn’t used to having a blanket, so except for that corner, the bed looked slept on, instead of slept in.
I stood up and walked over to my dresser. I was semi-grateful for having to wear a uniform to school. I had all of three shirts, two pairs of trousers and four sets of underwear. The uniform at least gave me a few extra pieces of clothing, even though I was still uncomfortable wearing a skirt. Hopefully that would change.
Kenny was already dressed and at the kitchen table eating breakfast when I came out of my room. Sharena and Irvine were nowhere to be found, likely in their bedroom doing what married adults do when they're together after a long absence.
I sat down across from Kenny and noticed that Mithra had somehow gotten out here before me and was sitting around waiting for cereal milk like a domesticated cat. How he worked was still a complete mystery to me. I didn’t pour myself cereal, however. I wasn't hungry.
“What’sa matter?” Kenny asked with a full mouth.
“Weird dream, that's all.”
He finished his cereal and set the bowl on the floor for Mithra, who took to it as if he’d never had a meal in his life. Then again, he was only a couple days old.
I stood and walked over to the front windows. The streets were relatively quiet, it seemed. Only one or two Imperial Escorts out there. No, three. No again, four. Now five. The number was growing with every passing second. They weren’t looking at the house, in particular, but they weren’t really looking anywhere else, either.
“What’s going on out there?” I asked.
Kenny was beside me in a second, glancing out the window. He looked worried, almost afraid. He left after a moment and returned almost immediately with Irvine and Sharena. Irvine looked angered, Sharena looked concerned.
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Irvine said.
“Why?” Kenny and I both asked.
“Kaleo. He must have reported back to his superiors and they have the town on watch.”
“But those people the Escorts were going after the other day are gone,” Kenny said.
“There’s only one other reason they’re here, dear,” Sharena said to Irvine, her voice quiet.
Irvine and Sharena both looked straight at me.
There was a knock on the door about twenty minutes after the Escorts started collecting in the streets. The Imperial Captain was taller than Irvine, clad entirely in armor save for his head, but he carried his helmet under his arm. He was dark skinned, much more than I was (Sharena said I was more tan than dark). His face was covered in scars, and his hair cropped close to his scalp. He had the beginnings of a beard, but I could tell he never let it get any further than that. He carried a broadsword on his back.
He walked into the house and set his helmet on the kitchen table, sending Mithra running. Despite being a magical creature, he sure did act more cat-like than he probably thought he did.
The helmet would have covered the Captain’s head, but not his face, with only a single piece down the center that would stop at his nose. That was a likely explanation for all the scars on his face. His sword had some sort of writing scrawled across the sheath, writing that looked far more ancient than anything I’d been learning.
“What’s it say on his sword?” I whispered to Sharena.
“It’s the ancient tongue. The language of the True Mage’s people, those that helped create civilization. Very few examples of it remain.” She put her arm around me. “It’s the language the first magic was created with.”
The Captain sat down at the kitchen table, across from Irvine, who was leaning against the counter. Sharena, Kenny and I just stayed in the living room, all of us sitting on the couch.
“It has been far too long, Lord Endawa,” the Captain said. “You’ve gotten older.”
Irvine shrugged. “No more so than yourself, Captain Bertrand. When did the promotion happen?”
The Captain smiled. It looked weird, considering all the scars. Made me look at the one on my hand. Hopefully none of this talk turned into We heard of a dragon, got stabbed in the hand. Your daughter looks to have a similar scar on her hand… That would just be disheartening. I liked having a family again.
“Not two weeks ago,” the Captain said, “a group of vagrants murdered my predecessor in Kepton. I killed most of them, but a few got away. A changer, a Tribesgirl and at least one other. The changer was caught here just the other day, the Tribesgirl injured when we lured them out of hiding and the last is in the wind.”
“Is that what brings you here? Looking for the last of the vagrants?”
The Captain shook his head. “No. Reports of a dragon a few days ago, before the attack that got us the changer and injured the Tribesgirl. I came to see if we could find this dragon and I thought no one better than Lord Irvine Endawa himself could lead our search.” He picked up his helmet and stared into it. “I heard you dealt with a dragon not long ago, near the border to Seles.”
Irvine nodded. “I did. She put up a fight, but no one will ever fear her again.”
The Captain glanced at me. “And is that where you picked up your adopted child?”
Irvine nodded again. “On the trip there, yes. I sent her under protection of Sharena’s spells. She lost her family to the white dragon.”
The Captain stood. “Far too long has that monster slaughtered our families and destroyed our homes. It’s time you got back into the fight, Irvine. We could use your sword and your skill.”
Irvine shook his head. “I can’t, Bertrand. I dealt with the dragon near the border because she was close, but the white dragon is a hunt that would claim our lives, and I have a family to protect.”
“And if the white dragon were to come here, to Endawa, what would you do?”
Without hesitation, Irvine said, “I’d kill him.”
I gulped, hopefully not loudly. The white dragon was the reason dragons were hunted, were hated. If he were gone, would humankind attempt to welcome us back again? Or would their victory over that terror lead them to a swifter attempt to kill all of us?
And then I asked myself if I really counted as a dragon anymore. Mithra only came when I became human, so my magical capabilities were tied to my human form, but I hadn’t been born this way. I was still a dragon, even if I looked like a human. Then I asked myself if I really wanted to be a dragon again.
The question had no easy answer.
The Captain walked over to me and knelt down. “I am sorry for your loss, young Lady. May you find a new life among your new family.”
Lady? Then again, he’d called Irvine Lord and the town was named after his family. Maybe we were the equivalent to royalty in this part of the world. “Thank you, Captain,” I said.
He walked back over to the table and retrieved his helmet. “I must take my leave now. By now, my men will have conducted a thorough search and since they haven’t come to retrieve me, the dragon must be long since left. We’ll be gone from your town within the day, you needn’t worry about an occupation of any sort.” He looked over at Kenny, Sharena and I again. “It appears I’ve kept your children from their schooling. My apologies. I’ll have them escorted to the school and my men will explain what has happened.”
Irvine walked over to the Captain and shook his armored hand. “Thank you, Bertrand. If you find this dragon you’re looking for, please take it easy on them. From what I heard, Kenny and the dragon became somewhat friendly. Not all of them are monsters.”
The Captain nodded. “I remember my own childhood experiences, my friend. Near as I can remember, you took quite the shine to a female dragon when we were in school.”
Irvine laughed. “That was a different time.”
“Indeed. May good fortune find you, Irvine Endawa.”
“And may it travel with you, Bertrand Sanstone.”
