The still morning air echoed with the sound of a deep rhythmic chanting. Lilly sat at a small round table under the shade of a great tree listening to the tones. A silver tray piled with food provided by Thayle rested before her.

Lilly poked at the food, not feeling very hungry. It consisted mostly of something Thayle called fruits and cream. She decided to try one of the fruits only because Thayle had insisted. It was a plump heart-shaped fruit with a vivid red color. It had a crown of thin green leaves and tiny seeds scattered about its surface. It was no more than a mouthful and easily held with her fingertips. Carefully she dipped it into the cream and held it before her face to smell. Noting the pleasing aroma, she took a small bite and enjoyed the sweet flavor while listening to the chanting on the wind.

“He chants every morning, doesn't he?” Thayle asked as she walked out of the temple. She wore the same green robe decorated with gold vines and the hood thrown back. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders this morning, giving her a less intense look.

“He sings to his God every morning,” Lilly replied as she considered eating another red fruit.

“There is much power in that chant. I wonder if he is even aware of how powerful he is.”

“Gersius seems to know everything,” Lilly said as she studied the other fruits, wondering if they were as delicious.

“Gersius is a brave man. He does things purely because they are expected, and he always does them with his whole heart.” She smiled at Lilly as she spoke. “At least the stories say so.”

Thayle walked past the table folding her arms. “I have never met him before yesterday, and yet I could almost swear I had known him before. Perhaps I know men like him, dedicated men of purpose. You frequently run into that sort of thing with priests.” She glanced back at Lilly, who was trying to pick up a slice of soft orange fruit. It was moist and slick, slipping through her fingers as she tried to grab it.

Thayle looked away and smiled. The girl pretended not to listen, playing with the fruit for distraction. Perhaps it was time to be blunt again. “Yes, he is brave. It takes a brave man to tame a dragon.” This time she got a response.

“He didn't tame me!” Lilly shouted as she crushed the fruit in a fist.

“He didn't tame you?” Thayle asked, surprised.

“No, he didn't!” Lilly shouted, getting up to face her. “He,” Lilly paused, unsure of what to say now that this human had angered her. She wanted to tell this rodent that she was free and did what she wanted. She wanted to make sure Thayle knew Gersius had no power over her, but that wasn't true. When her pause had gone on too long, she looked around, searching for the right words, but they eluded her. “He helped me,” she finally said when nothing else would come.

“Must have been a large favor. You dragons are not exactly known for gratitude,” Thayle replied, studying the strange behavior.

“How do you know I am a dragon? Did Gersius tell you?” Lilly demanded.

Thayle glared at her with those oddly narrow eyes as a smile spread slowly on her face. She looked intimidating again as if her gaze was somehow a danger. “Lilly, I can see it in your aura. Yours isn't like a human aura at all. I can see your dragon form as a shadow over your head. You are almost as clear to me as I am to you now.”

Lilly hated this feeling of uncertainty and wasn't sure what to do. She was alone and unsure far too often in this charade. She wished he was here to squeeze her hand and face this strange woman down. Gersius would know what to say to her to make her go away.

“Gersius says nobody should know I am a dragon. He wants me to keep it a secret.”

“It is a secret. I have already sworn on my faith not to reveal it.”

“He will be angry that you know.”

“I told you, he already knows that I know, and you are right; he was quite angry.”

“He wants me to go with him to Calathen,” Lilly said, turning away. “He says he needs me.”

“I know the prophecy. If he intends to bring it about, he needs you more than you know.” Thayle approached and stood beside the table as Lilly watched her with suspicious eyes. “You are very brave too, to go with him,” she said.

Lilly wanted to scream at the woman that she was bound and had no choice in the matter. She wanted to rage about how badly she wished to go home and lay on her hoard. She hadn't thought about any of it for the last couple of days and had almost forgotten she was here against her will. Now her memories flooded back and with them the pain of knowing she had no home to go back to. Even if she did, her wings were broken, and her life as a dragon would be a torment. She bit back her anger with a sigh and reminded herself that Gersius said they would heal her wings in Calathen. Until then, she would keep the secret of her binding.

“I agreed to help him if he would help me,” Lilly replied, speaking the truth yet revealing nothing.

“So Gersius managed to make a bargain with a dragon. He is braver than I thought.”

“Do you know much of dragons?” Lilly asked sarcastically as she turned to look at her.

Thayle shook her hair out and walked over to a stone post to lean against it.

“I know what the books say, and I know what the legends tell. I have never met a dragon before you, Lilly. You were not at all what I expected.”

“What did you expect?” Lilly asked, sounding irritated.

“According to the books, dragons are vain, greedy, and solitary. They rarely if ever deal with humans, and dealings with dragons often end with the human eaten, and his wealth being carted away to some hidden lair.”

Lilly had to admit that part sounded right.

“Humans, in turn, hunt dragons, hoping to find a vast collection of wealth the dragon has been secreting away for hundreds of years. There are many stories of dragon slayers, who marched out and brought down a great beast.”

Lilly felt slightly agitated at this part of her explanation.

“There are many more stories of failed hero's who ended up adding their gold to the dragon's horde. To hunt a dragon is to roll the dice, and the dragon gets to roll twice.” Thayle stopped to look Lilly directly, her eyes locking on her and studying her. “And nowhere does it say anything about dragons being in human form.”

Gersius had said he didn't know as well. It seemed to Lilly that humans were utterly unaware dragons could change forms. They had no practical knowledge outside of these old stories.

“So you have no actual experience with dragons then?” Lilly asked.

“None, my dear.”

“So I could say that you too are brave because you have come alone to talk to a dragon.”

“I would love to say you are right, but remember, I can see your aura. You got angry there for a minute, but you were never threatening me.” She looked down at Lilly’s hand as fruit dripped from her fingers. “Though you did threaten that fruit.”

Lilly remembered the fruit and opened her hand, waving it to shake the mush off.

“And what are you two talking about?” Gersius asked as he approached. He was shirtless, wearing only his tan pants belted at his waist, his stomach a wall of stone and scars.

“Just some girl talk,” Thayle said, her smile indicating she was rather pleased by the sight.

“Girl talk, is it?” Gersius said. He glanced at Lilly with a smile as he walked past and sat down at the table.

“Did you find anything you liked?” he asked while picked through the fruit.

“A little, but I'm still not hungry,” she said, shaking her hand.

Thayle reached over and plucked a cloth from the table and handed it to Lilly.

“For your hand, dear.”

Lilly took it cautiously and used it to wipe her hand clean.

“Is something wrong with your hand?” Gersius asked with a mouth full of grapes.

“I just got that orange fruit on it,” Lilly responded with a quick gesture to the tray.

Gersius looked at the table to see the fruit she was referring to and plucked a slice of his own. “Ahh, a rose pear, they are very sweet when they are ripe.” He tasted the fruit with a gentle sigh and looked up to Lilly, who smiled slightly.

“So north to the west road and on to Calathen then?” Thayle asked from her perch beside the table, amused by the exchange of smiles and glances.

“We are going to Whiteford first,” Lilly said, causing Gersius to give her a look of disapproval. She hadn't realized that this too was one of his secrets, and now she regretted speaking.

“Whiteford?” Thayle said with raised brows. “Why would you be going there? You need to be in Calathen?”

Gersius took a deep breath before replying. “I have been ordered to meet the Father Abbot in Whiteford, so we go there first.”

“But that takes you an additional week away from Calathen,” Thayle replied.

“I know,” Gersius said, wiping his hands with a towel. “I have my orders. I go where duty demands I go.”

“Your duty is to get Lilly to Calathen.”

“My duty is to obey my chain of command. The Father Abbot is the voice of Astikar. He communes with him directly and hands down his edicts. If he says I am to go to Whiteford, I go to Whiteford,” Gersius said in irritation.

“Your aura betrays you, Gersius of Astikar. You don't want to go to Whiteford.”

“Of course I do not, but I must, I have my orders.”

“So the mighty Gersius manages to find and somehow befriend a dragon. He then manages to convince her to accompany him to Calathen. He should be marching straight there to the cheers and praise of the people. Instead, he has been ordered far away from it, almost as if.” She paused, considering her words.

“As if what?” Gersius said an angry tone to his voice.

“I help people with love, and relationships, Gersius. I have quite an education in motives. What is the motive behind you being sent away from your people’s salvation?”

Gersius considered the question with a stone expression on his face. “I have my orders,” he said, getting up.

Thayle could see he was annoyed in his aura. He had strong misgivings about going to Whiteford, but she knew that to press him on it would only make him angry.

“Come, Lilly, we have to get going,” he said as he walked into the yard where their packs sat.

Thayle watched him gather his pack and help Lilly with hers. She could see their auras, but there was something strange that only happened when they were close together. A red twisting line linked them as if a chain ran from Lilly to Gersius. There was something else too. It happened to Lilly over and over again; her aura would brighten then suddenly go black right over her head, right where the dragon form hung. Thayle had seen it before on humans, it meant a choice needed to be made, and the wrong choice spelled disaster. What terrible decision weighed on Lilly's shoulders that it affected her aura? She tried to ponder what it all meant and how the two were linked when a sudden sensation came over her. It was a calling of the heart she was more than familiar with and quickly moved to act.

“Lilly,” she called out as they started to leave. “I have something for you.”

Lilly looked at Gersius, who nodded it was safe. She took a few cautious steps toward Thayle as the woman approached.

“Here, take this,” Thayle said, holding out her hand.

In her hand was a small gold coin with a red heart at its center. Written around the edges were words she couldn't read.

“It is called a lovers mark,” Thayle said. “You give it to somebody you love, and no matter where they go, if they keep the mark on them, you can find them.”

“Why are you giving this to me?” Lilly asked as she took the tiny coin.

“Because someday you may need to find the one you love.”

Lilly was unsure what Thayle meant by finding love. She wasn't even sure what love was or why she would want to find it. Turning around, she looked up to see Gersius beckon her to follow and quickly moved to join his side.

“Safe travels, fellow priest,” Thayle called from behind. “May faith find you safely to your destination.”

They spent the rest of the morning walking in silence as they passed through the green fields of the south. Gersius was grateful the road was still a little damp from the rain the previous day, or it would be thick with dust. The sky above was blue in places and cloudy in others, causing the sun to roll across the ground in bright patches followed by cooling shade. The wind was gentle but carried on it the scent of livestock grazing in the fields around them. Wooden fences lined many miles of the road and the occasional stone marker to denote a boundary between farms.

Lilly spent the time studying the lover’s mark. She wondered why Thayle had given it to her and why she would need to find love? The markings were tiny words written in a language that seemed familiar. She got Gersius to look at it, but he would only glance at it for a brief moment. He seemed displeased to see the coin and even more so that she had it. In the end, she decided it could live with the rest of her coins and threw it into her pack.

As the hours grew long, she became bored and decided to draw the sword Gersius had given her. She swung it around a little, pretending to be hacking some human for annoying her. It was smaller than his with a thinner blade and shorter length. She found the weight felt awkward in her hand and almost lost her balance in a swing.

“You will need to practice with that if you intend to swing it around,” Gersius said with a chuckle.

“I doubt I will ever use this. I only drew it out because I am bored.”

“There are many dangers in the world, Lilly. Knowing how to use a sword is a useful skill if you want to be able to face them.”

Lilly laughed and held the sword out as if it was a ridiculous thing. “I am a dragon whose claws can tear through armor. We don’t have any need for a sword.”

“I know a dragon that used a sword.”

“So you mentioned before,” she said. “What dragon do you know that used a sword?”

“It was a long time ago, long before I was born. There was a dragon much like you in many ways.”

“How so?”

“The dragon was an ice dragon, and it was a woman. She traveled with a priest of my order.”

“You are talking about this ancient legend of yours, your stories.”

“Much of what happened in the past are stories to the people now, but they happened.” His voice carried the weight of conviction as he recounted the tale. “This dragon was a fearsome one, and she carried with her a curved sword of silver. It was larger than I am and etched with runes no man today can read.”

“Why did she carry a sword?”

“She helped my order win the first great war by fighting at the dragon knight's side. She is the one who the dragon empire is named after. She was his strength in battle, and if the stories are correct, the two were as deeply connected as any man bound by oaths of brotherhood could be.”

“So that's why you call it the Dragon Empire, but you didn't answer my question. Why did she carry a sword?”

“The legends say it was given to her,” he replied.

“Oh, like the one you gave me. Did your order give it to her?”

“No,” Gersius chuckled. “None in my order could have made such a weapon. The sword was a gift from the God of the dragons.”

“God of the dragons?” Lilly repeated with a laugh. “There is no God of dragons.”

“There is not? Gersius asked.

“I have never heard of there being a God of dragons,” she stated. “My mother would have told me.”

“Perhaps your mother did not know.”

“I doubt that. My mother knew a lot of things about you humans and the lands you inhabit. She even had human books that she would read to me.”

“So this is how you know where some of our cities are?”

“Well, that and she had maps, scrolls, even some paintings.”

“Did your mother raid a merchant’s home?” he laughed.

“No, she said they were all gifts.”

“Gifts?” Gersius asked as he contained his humor. “Gifts from who?”

“She never said.”

“If there is no god of the dragons, then how do you dragons do magic? There are stories of dragons working great weaves.”

“That is a bit more complicated to explain,” Lilly said.

“How so? Are you like the weavers? can you bend magic to your will?”

Lilly shook her head no as she glanced away to think about her answer.

“Sometimes I wonder if I should be telling you all these things. You keep secrets from me. I wonder if I should keep some from you.”

“So it is a secret then?”

“It isn't, it's just, well, I suppose it's just not known to humans because we dragons don't talk to you much.”

“I would say that is probably true.”

“I told you how we could absorb magic energy from certain metals.”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“I also told you that this is the secret of how we grow past a certain point.”

“I remember that too.”

“Well, we can use that energy. A dragon can tap into the power we have consumed for little things, but we use our hoard for larger things. We can sort of pull on that energy and do the things you call magic.”

“So your hoard is the source of your power?”

“Exactly, the more metal we have, and the longer we have spent attuning to and absorbing it, the more magic we can work. We can also use the horde directly, pulling on the magic in the metal to work a weave, but there is a price.”

“A price? What kind of price?”

“We lose the metal. If we draw on the power directly, the metal begins to break down. It will crumble to dust if we pull too much. Rarely will a dragon work magic, and rarely will they do anything significant because they are trading their horde for power.”

“This truly is fascinating. I had no idea. No wonder your kind gathers so much. How do you learn magic, then? Does your mother teach you that?”

“We all learn something of magic from our mothers. There are weaves we place around our hoards that will alert us if an intruder enters our caves, but we sometimes experiment with weaves. Sometimes we read them in your books, and sometimes we trade knowledge of it for –” She stopped and blushed.

“What?” Gersius asked, “You trade it for what?”

“Breeding,” she said, looking away from him as her face flushed red.

“Breeding?” he questioned.

“I told you that females would seek out a male when they want to breed. Sometimes a male will want to breed when a female isn't ready or doesn't feel like it, so they offer her something.”

“Offer her something?” he asked.

“Males tend to be more aggressive collectors of things. They will often gather books, scrolls, or other things and learn the magic you humans know. Females love magic, and we love knowledge, so they will often barter the information in exchange for –” She stopped again.

“Breeding,” Gersius finished for her.

Lilly blushed again.

“Would it not be better to trade them some gold for the knowledge?”

“No male is worth giving up gold for!” Lilly said loudly. “I would never waste a single gold coin on a male. Just the thought makes me feel sick.”

“So gold is more important than your honor?”

“My honor?” Lilly asked in confusion.

“Yes, your honor. The part of you that says the gift of your body is more valuable than any gold or treasure. It is only given to the one you love.” His words were sincere, but she had no understanding of why.

“We dragons don’t see it that way. To us, it is something to barter. I suppose most females see breeding as a means to get what they want.”

Gersius studied her as they walked. Lilly looked like she was lost in deep thought.

“Do not trouble your mind with it, Lilly. Many humans will trade the same thing for gold, power, or information. Some will trade it for little more than a thrill,” he said, sounding sad. “In time, many do find one they love, and turn away from their previous ways, and devote themselves to this person.”

“I keep hearing this word, love. I have no concept of it. It is distinctly a human thing that dragons do not share.”

“Dragons can love,” Gersius said with a chuckle. “You love your gold, or you would not be so hesitant to part with any of it.”

Lilly took a moment to consider how she felt about her gold, then looked up at Gersius.

“Do you love anyone?” Lilly asked.

Gersius stumbled at the sudden question but quickly regained his composure.

“I have my faith. I love my God, and I am devoted to his service.”

“But is there a woman?” Lilly pressed curious about his sudden behaivo

“No, there is not,” Gersius said after a long pause.

“Has there ever been one?” Lilly continued.

“When I was younger, I knew a woman who I thought I loved,” he admitted and ran fingers through his hair in regret.

“What happened?” Lilly asked as she noticed the nervous gesture.

“I had to go away for a long time,” Gersius said and looked ahead as if seeing a memory. “When I came back, she did not love me anymore.”

“And you never loved again?” Lilly said as he seemed to grow distant.

Gersius didn't answer the question as she looked on confused. He steadied himself and hoped she wouldn't pursue this line of questioning. After all, there was somebody he loved, and he knew it. Somebody he would trade his life for if required. The thought was pointless because he couldn't love her, and she would certainly never love him. Instead, he focused on the truth and hardened his heart against such foolish thoughts. He had an enormous task ahead of him, and there was no room for love beyond the love of his faith and his people. He had to get Lilly to Calathen and unite the empire before it was too late.