The Dragon Eaters

by Duke Kittle

  Chapter 4

  Tina stood in front of a two-story building which looked all the larger from her diminutive height. As early as it was in the morning, she could detect the lingering smell of eggs, meat, and freshly baked bread coming from the building with a canvas stretched across the front of the second floor. The Stumble Drum looked in better repair than Tina had expected since Lazur had told her it was meant to house sailors. Having been able to observe Captain Morgan’s crew and the crews of other ships in her travels, she knew them to be a spirited bunch. Tina thought spirited was a kind word. They were usually rowdy in port, at best.

  The Stumble Drum had seen a little wear, but the shutters on the front windows were still intact and, at the moment, closed. Tina would have expected for the Stumble Drum to leave its window shutters open to spread the smell of breakfast to beckon hungry patrons. But the presence of long striders and thunder lizards all over the town made her think the owners of the Stumble Drum probably didn’t want their establishment trampled by hungry lizards. Even the front doors were shut tightly. Fortunately for Tina, that wouldn’t prevent her entry.

  Slipping under the doorway, Tina dusted off her robes and looked over them. Her clothes were already getting soiled from walking around the town and crawling through windows and doorways and on rooftops. She made a mental note to put on a change of clothes as soon as she had space to place her room.

  The interior of the Stumble Drum had within it a much stronger version of the scent she had detected outside. The smell was coming from a small collection of sailors and dock workers. Tina recognized many of them as Captain Morgan’s crew. It looked as though they’d already finished unloading the ship and were making use of the opportune arrival time. Tina wondered if she might see the captain in the inn, but as she scanned the room, she detected no sign of the grey-furred Kylathian. Tina put the thought out of her mind. While she enjoyed the captain’s company, she didn’t have time to waste searching for her.

  At the far end of the dining room, Tina saw a counter behind which stood a male mink who was wiping down the countertop. He had just picked up a plate and, once he had wiped down the counter, turned to carry it through an open doorway to an adjoining room behind the counter. Tina thought to approach him when a large foot plopped down in front of her. The mouse wizard staggered back a step to catch herself. She looked up at the woman to whom the foot was attached and was mildly surprised to see that she wasn’t a native Levansian.

  The woman had a narrow, pointed muzzle with a teardrop shaped tail, grey fur, and long ears poking up through the black hair on her head. Tina recognized her as one of the Fenorian people from the southeastern region of the Velrathan continent, the same continent the Levansians and her own Mateesh people called home. The Fenorian Triumvirate was simply on the other side of the continent.

  The Fenorian rabbit was wearing an apron over a simple, cloth dress. From the conversation Tina could hear between the rabbit woman and a group of sailors from the Thorn’s Side at a nearby table, Tina realized she was a server.

  Tina waited until the woman had finished her exchange with the sailors to put her fingers into the sides of her muzzle. She gave a sharp whistle. The Fenorian woman’s ear visibly twitched at the sound and swiveled down toward Tina. The woman’s head was soon to follow as she looked down at the mouse woman and blinked. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forearm across them, then looked down at Tina again. The woman turned her head back to the sailors at the table. “D’you see her?”

  The sailor, whom Tina recognized, nodded at the rabbit. “She came with us. Better be careful how you talk to her. She’s a wizard.” The sailor set his hands level and shook them, imitating the casting of a spell.

  “Oh! Well, that explains a little, I guess.” The rabbit woman settled down onto her knees on the floor and rested her hands on her thighs. “Hello, ma’am. Welcome to the Stumble Drum. What can I do for you?”

  “My name is Tina van Schtoffen, and I’d like to rent a room here.” Tina adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “To whom do I need speak?”

  The rabbit woman put one hand on the ground and pointed toward the counter with the other. “You’ll need to talk to Mr. Kilba, ma’am.” She looked down at Tina again. “But I think all of our rooms are rented out right now, Ms. van Schtoffen.”

  Tina smiled at the rabbit. “I think I’ll be able to arrange something. Thank you for your help.” She bowed and then walked past the rabbit woman, heading for the bar.

  Upon reaching it, she used her short claws to climb one side and seated herself on top to wait for the mink to return. He was back behind the counter in short order, and Tina considered briefly how she could most easily get his attention. She pulled off the rucksack tied to her shoulders. After untying the cords on it, she reached inside to remove a small pouch which jingled when she lifted it. Closing the rucksack and setting it down beside her, Tina pulled out two coins. She kept them between her fingers until the mink had moved within earshot. She then tossed the two coins into the air.

  Released from Tina’s fingers, the coins suddenly expanded a hundred times in mass and landed on the countertop with a distinctive clatter. As Tina had expected, the sound caught the mink’s attention. When he saw Tina at the end of the counter, he looked startled. Walking to her, the mink leaned down. “Can I, uh… help you, miss?”

  “You are Mr. Kilba, are you not?”

  The mink nodded his head. “He, I be. What can I do for you?”

  “I’d like to rent a room here for the next few days.”

  The mink straightened up and interlaced his fingers while tapping his thumbs together. “Well, I’d like to rent you a room, miss, but a ship just came in today. I won’t have a room proper until tomorrow at the earliest. I do apologize, ma’am.”

  “Oh, I don’t need an ordinary room. Just a small space in a lightly traveled area.” Tina pointed to the other side of the counter which stood next to a set of stairs leading to the second story. The counter extended under the stairway all the way to the wall, but there wasn’t enough room for a seat in front of it. “In fact, that space would be ideal.”

  The mink looked to where Tina had pointed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m… not sure, miss. It’d be awful noisy, and you wouldn’t have much privacy.”

  “Privacy, I can manage. What do you charge for a room per day?”

  The mink looked down at the coins sitting on the table and tapped the edge of one. “These are yours, miss?”

  Tina nodded.

  “Not to be impolite, but... how on Cerra did you carry them?”

  “Well, I am a wizard, so you may infer what you like from that.”

  The mink’s ears stood up, and he looked surprised. “Oh, uh, I can’t charge you for a room, miss.” He looked suddenly quite frightened of the mouse woman. “Y-you use whatever space you think you need!”

  Tina wiggled her whiskers and considered the mink’s reaction. She rose to her feet and walked in the direction of the area she had previously pointed out. “While I appreciate the offer, keep the coins I have left as payment for the space. I am still using your building, after all.”

  Tina stepped into the space where the counter crossed under the stairway. She took a few moments to briefly examine the wall. There were spaces between the boards which would do for her purposes. Tina pinched the small, golden knob in the center of her socketed necklace and twisted it to pull it free. The knob grew in size until it fit her palm. She then placed it between the spaces of the boards.

  The doorknob shimmered, and the wood around it warped outward to form a perfect circle. A stone doorway formed in the new space. Long marks depicting sun flashes pushed outward until they reached the edges. Tina turned the golden handle, and it clicked. She opened the door and disappeared inside, letting it swing shut behind her.

  Once inside the familiar space of her pocket quarters, Tina picked
the torch up from the stand on the wall. It ignited of its own accord, illuminating the grey, cobblestone hallway. She walked the short hallway and saw the flickering lights of the room ahead still dancing about. When she reached the end of the hallway, Tina placed the torch into its rack on the wall, and the flame from the torch winked out.

  Crossing to her bed, Tina seated herself and opened a drawer under it. Inside the drawer were a single pan and a small bottle which contained a fluid with a soft, pale blue glow to it. Picking up both implements, she closed the drawer.

  Tina rose from the bed and walked to the window which still depicted a starry sky with a crescent moon filling it. She set the pan down on the window ledge and rested the bottle next to it. The starry sky was a beautiful sight, but it wouldn't serve her purposes for the time being. Her eyes closed. She could practically feel the starlight on her skin.

  Tina slipped into a place where the rest of the world knew nothing of her, and she needed not think of anything else. After the encounters with various characters in the town, she wanted a few moments to let her head clear. It was peaceful. It was serene. And she wished for it not to end.

  After the brief pause, Tina looked at the stones lining the edge of the window. There were symbols carved into each of them with runes representing particular structures with which Tina was familiar. She touched specific runes until she had made contact with a combination of three. Then she rested her hands on an imperceptible barrier between herself and the scene beyond the window. The three runes appeared as the scene disappeared. She manipulated them, adjusting for geometric synchronization. The three runes slid into each other and formed a new rune with characteristics of all of its originating symbols. The barrier glowed briefly, and Tina blinked.

  In the moment of blinking, the scene beyond the window had turned to that of a large city as seen from a bird’s eye view. The city stretched out for miles with stone pathways crossing it at symmetrical intersections. They exactly divided the parts of the city into eight sections spread out over an inner and an outer circle with each possessing four divisions. Every structure looked finely crafted and made from various materials ranging from wood to stone to thatched huts. Around the entirety of the city stood a monolithic wall, the edge of it only a few yards away from any of the interior buildings. The wall looked as if made from a single piece for its entire length with no cracks or grooves to suggest it had been physically constructed.

  Standing at the center of the city was a compound made from grey stone. Even though the compound stood in the middle of the city, it appeared self-contained; a second wall surrounded it with only one door cut out on the southern face.

  Tina knew the compound well with its almost monastic design. It was the home of the Council of Stars. The structure, though surrounded by a circular wall, was an octagon with a tower standing taller than the wall at each of the eight corners. At the center of the octagon were five separate towers arranged into a square with a single tower in the middle. These towers were considerably larger than those at the eight points of the octagon.

  Tina recalled that each tower represented one of the schools of magic taught by the Council of Stars; the southern tower contained the House of Observant Ritual, the northern tower contained the House of Prodigious Means, the eastern tower contained the House of The Vexing Eye, the western tower contained the House of Contemplative Stars, and the center tower contained the House of Demonstrative Theory.

  Tina turned her eyes toward the sky, wanting to assess the time of day by the sun, but clouds covered it. There was even a little rain falling on the city. She pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her muzzle and picked up the bottle of glowing fluid. She loosened the cords on her rucksack and placed it onto the bed.

  After taking a small, wooden box from the rucksack, Tina withdrew a piece of parchment and rested it on the window sill next to the pan. She then removed a painter’s brush and a short knife from the box and set the box on the bed next to her rucksack.

  Tina put the piece of parchment into the pan and used the short knife to cut out a paper doll with a torso, head, arms, and legs, all of which were squared off at the edges. Setting the rest of the parchment aside, Tina pulled the cork out of the bottle and dipped her brush in it. After wiping off excess fluid in the mouth of the bottle, Tina used the brush to paint two symbols on the paper doll. The two symbols represented the senses she required for the paper doll – light and sound.

  Satisfied with the work, Tina removed the paper doll from the pan. She held it forward and let the paper doll touch the barrier between the scene which lay before her and herself. The paper doll sank into the barrier and drifted freely on the other side, unaffected by the rain.

  Tina closed her eyes and let the image of the drifting parchment be all she could see in her mind. As it floated through the air, she focused on the organic variable of her personal equation and modified it. Once again calling her gift forth, Tina imagined one of the legs of the paper doll curling in to form a small spiral. It shaped itself into a humanoid leg. Tina thought about its toes wiggling, and they did so. Her thoughts shifted to the head of the doll, and it curled inward as well to form a sphere.

  After repeating the process for the limbs and body of the doll, the image in her mind became a feminine figure, but featureless aside from being curled strips of parchment. Tina then imagined the paper being sheathed by the rune she had drawn onto it representing light. The rune expanded and warped light around the doll. Within a few moments, she could see herself formed from the paper doll. The piece of parchment on the other side of the barrier landed in one of the windows of the central tower of the compound beyond the window.

  Tina opened her eyes and blinked several times as they adjusted to the light. She paused to observe her surroundings. She realized she was standing on the ledge of a window of the large room which served as an antechamber to the High Theorist’s study. A Kylathian and a Khanifran stood on each side of a large, wooden door at the far end of the room. A long, narrow carpet made from grey cloth extended from the door and stopped just shy of the window where it diverted to one side and ran down a set of stairs. Tina realized the room seemed to be to scale for someone standing at a height of five feet. She had manifested herself through the doll at a size relative to her surroundings since the last frame of mind she’d been in was that of her own pocket quarters.

  Windows lined the long, rectangular room, but Tina had appeared through the paper doll at the far end. She reached up to adjust the glasses sitting on her muzzle, but her hand swept through them, and Tina remembered she hadn’t drawn a rune onto the paper doll for touch. It was just as well. If she had given the doll the ability to touch, the rain would have driven it straight to the ground.

  Tina slipped away from the window sill, and her feet touched the floor and carried her toward the doorway. Though she could not feel the ground beneath her feet and knew that it did not actually support her, she was also aware the paper doll’s illusion moved by a manifestation of her will. So it mimicked the common movement of walking as she crossed the room.

  The Kylathian male met Tina’s eyes and nodded his head in recognition of her for both who she was and her status as a wizard. He then nodded at the Khanifran woman. The Khanifran woman was covered by a layer of golden fur and had a squared, blunt muzzle and a long, thin tail with a tuft of fur on the end of it. She stood at just over six feet in height. She wasn’t terribly tall for a Khanifran female. Her armor was that of a desert wanderer with toughened leather covering her chest and hips, but little else. She wore simple cloth garments to cover the rest of her body, but Tina knew that to be a courtesy for others around Kerovnia. The Khanifrans never wore very much because their fur was more than sufficient for the southern desert in which they usually dwelt. She pushed the door to the High Theorist’s study open for Tina. Tina nodded thankfully at the Khanifran woman and passed through.

  The study on the other
side of the door looked like a library with book shelves standing on each side of the entrance. Three layers of long shelves lined sides of the room and faced in toward the grey carpet leading to a heavy wooden desk at the center. With several hundred books standing on the shelves, Tina recalled their value. She had her own, small library back in her room, but outside of the Council of Stars, books were a true rarity. The only reason the Council of Stars had as many as it did was a result of the writing of students, teachers, and visiting spell-casters. Outside of the Council of Stars, one was lucky to find more than one book in any of the smaller cities. Even in larger cities, most writing was done on scrolls and individual parchments.

  Beyond the bookshelves, Tina could see a few personal items of the High Theorist which decorated the room. A large, glass sphere stood in a polished wooden stand. The sphere was filled by several glimmering lights which circled inside it. They swirled around slowly and changed colors in slow patterns. It was the sort of thing into which, Tina imagined, someone wanting to contemplate on deeper thoughts might stare.

  Across from the sphere hung a tapestry depicting the landscape around a volcano. In spite of the volcano’s presence and the black rock that covered it, trees grew in patches low at the foot of the mountain. Below them grew a veritable forest of vegetation with thunder lizards and striders roaming across it. Tina observed as the threads of the tapestry shifted of their own accord as if weaving the movements of the animals.

  Behind the wooden desk was another level of floor with paths leading up to it. On the raised level stood the High Theorist, Sythus Mythran.

  A pair of large, feathery wings protruded through holes in the back of the High Theorist’s robes. While the wings had a base golden color, the primary feathers were white. The royal blue robes he wore had golden trim lining the edges. A thin, leonine tail protruded from the bottom of his robes and swayed back and forth while Sythus looked out through the window. While he did not hold his staff, it stood next to him like a lamp stand. The staff slowly rotated which turned the crystal at the tip which was surrounded by four carved, feathery wings. The wood of the staff was cut into a spiral which ran all the way from the base of the staff until it spanned outward right before it met the wings.

  Tina walked up in front of the High Theorist’s desk and folded her arms. “Let the stars guide you.”

  The High Theorist responded immediately as if he’d been waiting for the phrase. “Though the soil defy you. Welcome, Lady van Schtoffen.”

  “Thank you, master.”

  The High Theorist turned from the window and gave Tina a welcoming smile. “The last time you visited my study, you were only this tall.” He leaned down and put his hand six inches off the ground. “My, how you’ve grown.”

  Tina giggled. When the High Theorist straightened again, he rested one hand on his staff. A Khanifran male, the High Theorist had a leonine face with a blunt, slightly squared muzzle and a degree of muscle inborn to the Khanifran race. In spite of being just under seven feet tall, he was actually thin for his kind.

  “I hope your trip across the Selian Sea was an uneventful one.”

  “It was, master. As you requested, I have come to report my arrival and give an initial assessment of the situation.”

  The High Theorist nodded. “Proceed.”

  Tina crossed her arms at the small of her back. “I feel the first thing I should report is that I am not the first wizard to come to Likonia.”

  One of the High Theorist’s eyebrows ticked upward. “Intriguing. Have you met this other wizard?”

  “No, master. If a wizard is here, he is staying out of sight. But I listened to a town meeting shortly after my arrival, and there was talk of another wizard who had tried to solve the problem in Likonia before the Council of Stars was ever notified.”

  “Do you know what problem in particular this other wizard was trying to solve?”

  Tina shook her head. “No, but from the context of the exchange and the impression made upon me by one of the farmers, it was not to solve the problem of the Dragon Eaters. I admit to some surprise they trusted a wizard in the first place. Many of them don’t have a very good impression of us.”

  Sythus sighed. “I’m afraid that cannot be helped.”

  Tina knew that statement for the truth in it. “I have seen, but not yet introduced myself to, the governor and the captain of the guard in Likonia. Neither of them leaves a good impression on me.”

  “The captain of the guard stands out in your mind?” The High Theorist walked to one side and descended the ramp leading to the lower level.

  “He does. One of his guards called him Captain Cephalin.”

  The High Theorist stopped and looked directly at Tina. “Idori Cephalin?”

  Tina shook her head. “I did not hear his first name, master.”

  The High Theorist rubbed the sides of his chin with his thumb and forefinger as he thought. “A Levansian with a nasty temperament, even for the Capathian breed. He carries no weapon but a pair of metal gloves sharpened into claws. And from the way he looks at you, it’s as if he’s biting you.”

  “He has not seen me yet, but he was ill-tempered and the gauntlets you described, he was wearing.” Tina recognized the term Capathian in reference to the wolverine breed of native Levansians.

  “I recommend you be careful of that man, Tina. He was a terror while among the king’s soldiers. The Massacre of Empusa is laid upon his shoulders, and it is the reason he was discharged from the king’s service.” The High Theorist reached the bottom of the ramp and approached Tina. “If he is the captain of the guard in Likonia, Harkon Keldo is either more reckless than I had feared or has chosen to ride a wicked wind.”

  “My lord, if this Capathian is responsible for the Massacre of Empusa, why was he not executed?”

  Sythus shook his head. “No living witnesses, even among his own men who had accompanied him into Empusa.”

  “My lord, if there were no witnesses, how could he be responsible?”

  “That is why he could not be executed. One of our prophets was allowed to view his memories of the event. She was nearly killed by blind rage and, when she awoke a week later, could not remember anything of what she had seen.”

  Tina shuddered. She did not like the implication of such a thing. A prophet being blinded by pure rage from a single person was akin to saying a mountain fell because a rock was thrown at it. “I will be very wary of him, master.”

  The High Theorist nodded. “Back to the matter of the wizard. What have you heard of him?”

  “Nothing aside from the fact that he was in Likonia some time before my arrival and appears to be there no longer.” Tina reached up to adjust her glasses, but her finger passed through them again. She had to remind herself again that she had not painted the rune for touch onto the paper doll. “According to the captain of the Thorn’s Side, there was a wizard aboard another ship, the Water Walker, who traveled to Likonia a few months ago. Whether it was the same one, I don't yet know.”

  “And you trust the source of this information?” The High Theorist questioned off-handedly.

  “I do. The captain of the Thorn’s Side is an old friend. I do not believe she would have any reason to deceive me.”

  The High Theorist spread his wings as he seated himself behind his desk. “Is there anything else you wish to tell me of your initial impression?”

  “Just one more thing, my lord. Aside from the Likonians’ distrust of wizards, they aren’t fond of the Maldavians either.” Tina stepped in front of the desk. “There is a wounded Maldavian near one of the farms, and the guard captain and the farmers don’t seem to be very concerned about it.”

  The High Theorist’s eyebrow ticked upward. “Do not take this the wrong way, Lady van Schtoffen, but you do not seem all that alarmed yourself. A wounded Maldavian should take priority over your report to me.”

  “I am waiting on the farmer who owns
the farm near where the wounded Maldavian was last sighted. Without his help navigating the countryside, it might take days trying to track down a wounded dragon who might not want to be found.”

  The High Theorist nodded. “I see. Your report thus far will suffice, then. See to the Maldavian and then continue your investigation. May the stars guide you.”

  Tina curtsied with practiced grace and rested her hand on her chest. “Though the soil defy you.” She then closed her eyes.

  When the Mateesh wizard’s eyes opened again, she blinked several times at the scene in front of her. The window displayed a starry sky centered around a crescent moon. She looked down at the pan in front of the window and saw the remnants of the small paper doll sitting in the circular pan she’d laid in front of the open window. Tina picked up the pan and emptied the torn pieces of paper into her hand.

  When she turned to walk past the bed, Tina felt a moment of vertigo and quickly sat down. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Having only been connected with two of her senses for the duration of her visit with the High Theorist, it was disorienting to have all five of them kick back so suddenly. But it was not a feeling with which she was unfamiliar. Tina waited a few moments to get her bearings and then rose from the bed. She walked over to the bottle in the fireplace where the dancing flames that illuminated the room resided.

  After Tina let the dancing flames devour the remains of the paper doll, she walked back to the window to put her tools away. Once her rucksack was repacked, and the pan and bottle stowed under the bed, Tina pulled her rucksack onto her back and tied the cords around her shoulders. It was time to meet back up with Lazur Thulfa.