I decided to ask, but he shut it down immediately, shaking his head and walking off to were Tobias and Landon were waiting for us. His cheeks were flushed, so I didn’t know how to interpret his reaction.
When we got to the house, we were invited inside and given a short tour. Now that the magicite was installed, the building was lit up brightly, with every room having at least one light. The entire floor was made of a dark polished wood, while the walls were covered in a dark red paint with intricate gold patterns that resembled leaves. The contrasting gold and red made the entire house beautiful and bright.
Despite the size from the outside, the one-story house had a limited number of rooms. There was a large dining room immediately to the right, which led to a kitchen towards the back of the house. On the left side was a spacious living room with several padded chairs, including a bench-like seat that was completely covered in cushions. Eli called it a couch when I looked at it with a confused expression. That one piece of furniture could easily sit three or four people, and it had a dark brown rug underneath that matched the floorboards.
The wide hallway that stretched from the front door to the back of the house revealed that there were two more rooms on the left side, behind the living room. I imagined it must be where they slept since there was only one level. Those rooms were also the only ones that had doors, although they weren’t shut, making it possible to peek inside if walking by. Overall, the wide entryways to each room made it feel very open.
I sat my pack down by the door, and decided I trusted them enough to take off my sword too. Eli followed my lead.
Landon’s sister, Mira, had already set the table with more than enough food for the five of us. It looked like she had planned to feed a small army. She was just walking out with a large dish of sliced meat when we all walked in. Her hair was just as blonde as her brothers, but her irises were a pure green, lacking the specks of brown. Her eyes were more vibrant because of it. She was a good few inches taller than me, although still short compared to the guys. But she was just as thin, and her skin was just as fair as mine. She had light freckles that ran across her nose and cheeks.
I liked her immediately, even before she spoke, wishing she would be my friend. Though I doubted that would happen since most humans in this town didn’t like pantherians. Yet, there was something about her that I picked up instinctively – a sort of gentleness that I had rarely seen before. Everything about her radiated it.
I realized I already envied her for having everything I wanted, but not in a way that made me angry or jealous. There was something about her that was too kind to be able to hate. Instead, I just knew I wanted to know her right away. I wanted to know if she would be kind to me.
Tobias introduce us to his eldest daughter, who was twenty-one years old, and she greeted us warmly before quickly excusing herself. Her voice was angelic and hospitable. “Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable. I just need to grab a few more dishes and then lunch will be ready.”
“Can I help?” I blurted out, eager to do something for her as if I owed her a favor. My entire tail was flicking behind me in excitement. If the huge grin on my face didn’t give it away, then my twitching ears and tail may have, at least to those who paid attention well enough.
She looked at me in surprise, and then looked down shyly. “If your master is fine with it, then I’d be happy to have your help, although you are the guest here.”
“He’s fine with it,” I announced, not even wanting to take the chance of Eli saying no, nor caring what anyone thought about my sudden autonomy. Of course, everyone looked at me in shock, before glancing at Eli like they were afraid he was going to hit me.
He just shrugged and agreed with me. “Yes, that’s fine.” He then carefully took a seat when Landon pulled a chair out for him. I noticed that Eli thanked him, before politely indicating he didn’t need further assistance, trying to avoid an accidental encounter with his wings. Eli sat down on the edge of the chair as if he was making an effort to sit properly – I wasn’t exactly sure how he had his wings situated, but I knew that was the reason why.
Mira’s kind smile warmed my heart as she turned to lead me to the kitchen. I introduced myself again, even though she had already been told my name. I wanted to talk more as I started to help her carry out the last four dishes of food…
But then I quickly fell silent.
Because I sensed what I had been taught to sense by my godmother.
Mira was a mage.
She noticed my change in demeanor immediately and looked concerned. “Ms. Riella, are you alright?” She asked with apprehension.
I nodded slowly, trying to at least put on a fake smile. “Umm, yeah I’m okay. And Riella is fine. No need for formalities.”
“Sure,” she said with a sweet smile. I quickly helped her set the rest of the table, trying not to reveal my uneasiness, but unfortunately everyone noticed. Eli raised his eyebrows as I sat down, so I took a deep breath and looked at Tobias. He was sitting at the head of the table to my right, whereas Mira and Landon were sitting across from us.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” I began tentatively. “Why did you need a mage when you already have one right here?”
Eli looked at me seriously, and then looked at everyone else, his eyes falling on Mira since she was the newest person we had been introduced to. I wondered if he had been taught to sense other mages. It was a useful skill that any mage could develop and hone, but it was especially valuable for finding those who didn’t know they could use magic. That’s how my godmother had known I was capable of it. And it was the same reason why I had sensed where the magicite crystal was in Landon’s gun without seeing it.
Mira was different though. I suspected she knew she could use magic, because her magical reserves felt…depleted slightly. Like she had used her magic recently.
When no one responded, I then added. “Mages can usually sense other mages, at least if they have been trained to do so.”
Tobias sighed heavily before replying, seeming to change the subject. “Are you familiar with the new disease that’s been spreading across the land in the last few years?”
“Yes,” Eli answered immediately, suddenly more interested.
“Well, they’ve developed an antidote, but it acts very slowly. Too slowly. A lot of people who get the cure in time end up dying anyway. Thus, to put a stop to that, Mira began experimenting with the antidote to try to enhance it with her healing magic. It worked, so now we regularly purchase the original formula in order to enhance it and resell it.”
I crossed my arms, surprised by their greed. “And you’ve gotten rich from it, is that right?”
Mira looked at me in shock, and Tobias held up his hands. “No, you’ve got it all wrong. We do make a lot of money, but we use most of it to help others. We use a lot of the profit from the antidote we sell to ship some of the potion for free to poorer regions. The more money we make, the more free antidote we can give away. Without us, it wouldn’t even exist outside of the wealthier cities. We also give a lot back to the community, both ours and others.”
“Oh,” I said lowering my gaze, feeling ashamed. I bit my lip. “I’m sorry. I assumed.”
Mira reached over towards me across the table with a warm smile. I hesitated, and then took her hand as she spoke. “It’s alright Riella. I’m glad the idea of earning money from another’s suffering is offensive to you. It’s offensive to us as well. We wouldn’t do it just for the money.”
I blushed at the compliment, deciding I liked her all the more…and feeling slightly worse about my accusation.
“Anyway,” Tobias continued. “To answer your question, while I know that it is theoretically safe for a mage to touch magicite, I’m not going to risk all we’re doing by testing it out.”
Eli nodded in response. “I can understand that. While I’m sure she would be fine, by the sound of it she’s also the only person who’s responsible for this new cure. Losing her could lead to th
e death of thousands.”
“More like tens of thousands,” Tobias corrected. “But yes, that’s exactly right. It’s not about the money. It’s about saving lives, and we’re proud to do it.” He then laughed. “If we were rolling in coin then I would have offered you a lot more than four gold for the job! A magicite gauntlet is twenty gold easily! I would be saving money even if you demanded ten, but I don’t have ten to give you.”
Eli shook his head. “Four is fine.”
As my embarrassment began to dissipate, with the help of Mira’s reassuring smile, I slowly transitioned into a better mood now that I understood what was going on. I could sense that Mira was a good person, but now I realized the full extent of her kindness. No doubt using her magic on vials of medicine was labor-intensive work. Using magic was similar to using muscles. Just like you could pass out from physical exertion and fatigue, you could pass out from overusing your magic too. Granted, magic use usually didn’t affect physical endurance – they were separate forms of stamina.
Everyone had begun eating, so I followed suit. I was looking down at my plate when someone sneezed, prompting me to announce, “Bless you,” cheerfully without knowing who I was speaking to.
However, everyone immediately fell silent, including Eli. I looked up at them staring at me, and then glanced up at him in confusion. “What?” I asked hesitantly.
“Why did you say that?” He wondered seriously.
I gawked at him. Did they not say ‘bless you’ in the human world? Did they have a different phrase? Or maybe was it rude to acknowledge a sneeze? I suddenly felt self-conscious as I responded tentatively. “Umm, because someone sneezed…”
He stared at me for a moment, before responding. “No one sneezed Riel.”
My eyes narrowed, suspicious that he was contradicting me. I looked over at everyone else only for my gaze to focus on Mira. She was staring down at her plate now, her smile gone, and her expression was failing to conceal an emotion I dreaded – fear.
My ear twitched when I heard another sneeze, this one significantly muffled, but a sneeze nonetheless. I bolted out of my chair so fast that it flew to the ground as I turned towards where I heard the sound. Normally, I might have asked if there was someone else in the house, but I heard exactly where the sneeze came from this time.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
Everyone else stood too, startled by my abrupt reaction. Tobias yelled something, but I wasn’t listening, not that I would obey him anyway.
I dashed into the living room, revealing a hint of how fast I really was, and took a quick whiff of the air before tossing the couch with a swift inhumanly strong kick. It crashed on the floor a few feet away.
I reached down and grabbed the brown rug, throwing it to the side to reveal a door in the floor. One of the men yelled ‘stop,’ but it was too late. I already had it open, revealing a stone hole about five feet deep filled with more pantherians than I could count. Most of them had wolf-like ears with a few that were scaly like a lizard.
Almost all of them looked to be under the age of ten.
Even as I looked at them, none of them made a noise. They all shivered violently as if afraid that any sound would make them visible. All of them had their eyes closed…all of them, except one. She was the only one who wasn’t young, and she stared at me intensely with golden eyes, evaluating me. I couldn’t see most of her body, because she was in the center of them all, their bodies curled around her in fear.
I tore my gaze from the wolf-girl and looked up to see that Eli was at my side. Landon was at the table holding up his magitek gun, and Tobias was in between his son and us.
But I wasn’t focused on them. I was focused on Mira, still at the table, but standing now.
“What in the hell?!” I demanded of her.
She looked down, as if ashamed.
Eli had his hands up, electricity sparking all along one hand and a ball of fire in his other – a show of power. Even among mages, being able to use two types of magic was rare. He was the first one to speak after me. His voice was loud and intense. “I suggest you lower your weapon. And explain this.”
“Now everyone just calm down,” Tobias said holding his hands up. He then looked back at his son. “And put that damn gun down!”
Landon hesitated before slowly listening. Eli responded by first discontinuing the fire, allowing the electricity to briefly continue sparking along his fingers before stopping that too. He then lowered his hands and crossed his arms. I mimicked his posture, crossing my arms over my chest too, the end of my tail twitching violently in agitation.
“Well?” I demanded when no one offered an explanation right away. I looked at Tobias now, but really I wanted it come from Mira. I couldn’t believe her kindness was fake. How could she put up with this?
Tobias crossed his arms too, glaring at me. “Well, Ms. Riella you certainly seem a little independent right now.”
“What’s your point?” I demanded.
“My point,” he replied slowly, “is that we need to know if we can trust you, or not, with our secret.”
“Depends on the secret,” I sneered.
Mira finally spoke up in a whisper. “We bought them.”
“Well that much is obvious!” I yelled at her, infuriated. It was either that or they stole them – neither option I liked. Being kind and slave-owning didn’t go together in my mind, and even though I knew this might seem normal to humans, I couldn’t handle the hypocrisy.
“No, you’re not understanding,” Tobias said with a raised voice. “We bought them, in order to free them.”
I hesitated suddenly, my anger coming to a halt. I wanted to believe him, but I was uncertain if I really could. I glanced down at the wolf-girl, her gold eyes still trained on me, and she nodded once – telling me silently that they were telling the truth.
I looked away from her, feeling ashamed of myself all over again for jumping to conclusions.
Tobias continued. “We can get them at a significant discount when they’re sick. Originally, owners would just kill them, because it costs a lot more to cure them than it does to just buy a new pantherian. But we made deals with several of the slave-owners to purchase them at less than a tenth of their original price. They are willing because they at least get some money out of it. We then heal them and ship them off to a town that borders the Worgron territory where pantherians are able to live freely. We also have an orphanage there for the younger ones, and that’s where most of our profit actually goes.”
I glanced down at the pantherians again, realizing that’s what most of them were. They were half-human, half-worgron just like Eli had mentioned to me earlier in the forest. However, I wasn’t sure about the ones with lizard features.
Mira chimed back in, trying to provide more evidence that they were being honest. Her tone was gentle but firm. “I didn’t prepare this much food because I knew you were coming. I made it to feed them.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her, dropping my head again. I felt Eli’s heated palm rest gently on my neck, but I couldn’t look up at him. I was grateful that he left his hand there as he spoke up.
“Clearly there has been a misunderstanding. I apologize for interrupting your originally planned lunch. If what you say is true, then we will leave and speak nothing of it.”
Tobias held up his hands again. “No, that’s not necessary. If you are willing to keep our secret, then we would be happy for you to continue to have lunch with us.”
I shook my head, tears threatening to escape my eyes. “I’m not about to eat knowing they’re stuck in a hole and hungry.”
Suddenly Mira was grasping my hands in hers, causing me to gasp and look up in surprise. I had been so focused on my shame that I hadn’t even noticed her approach. Her expression was more gentle than I deserved. “Riella, we’re inviting you to our originally planned meal, if you’ll stay.”
I freed one of my hands and wiped my eyes, before silently nodding.
Lando
n broke the silence then. “So, let me just make sure I’m understanding this correctly. This pantherian is not a slave?”
I scoffed at him. “I’ve never been a slave a single day of my life!” But then I immediately glanced down apologetically at the worgron girl, afraid she might perceive me as rubbing it in her face. However, she didn’t look at me with anger. Instead, her expression was one of awe, reminding me of how I felt about Mira – envious, but not to the point of hatred or jealousy.
Either way, she was free now, which meant she had finally obtained the thing she probably most desired.
And I slowly realized as I gazed into this girl’s golden eyes, that I may have finally found what I desperately desired too, both in her and maybe Mira as well – a friend.
Chapter 7: Risa
Once the tension had subsided and we got all the pantherians out of the safehouse below the floor, I learned more about the pantherian slave-trade in the human world.
I discovered that the lizard pantherians were half golydin, which was an anthropoid lizard race that I hadn’t known about. The groups who bred the slaves paid both male worgrons and golydin a measly twenty-five bronze, which was half a silver, to sleep with human women to impregnate them. The women themselves were often slaves, which was ironically illegal but rarely enforced since the pantherians had become an important part of the human economy.
The slaves were then sold at an average of ten silver, or half a gold, for a sickening profit. Pantherians who were purchased at an older age were sold for a full gold, since they were both more valuable to the buyers and more expensive to keep around for the sellers.
It was rare for there to be an elderfel pantherian like myself, because the elderfel kept to themselves and didn’t mingle with the other races. Tobias had surmised the truth based on my tail, since worgron pantherians had a fluffier wolf-like tail. Otherwise, the trademark ears were too similar to distinguish easily.
I also quickly discovered it was rare for pantherians to come out so humanoid. Most of the wolf-like children were covered in fur, with their human-like faces being the primary distinction that they were pantherians. Interestingly, the nineteen-year-old worgron girl was much more humanoid, like Eli and myself. Although, I quickly found out that had worked out to her disadvantage, since she had been forced to live most of her life in a brothel. Her name was Risa, and Mira hadn’t just cured her of the disease that was killing her – she had also cured her of numerous sexually transmitted diseases as well.
Soulbound to a Dragon Page 8
