GURK HAD JUST ARRIVED in the first small town in the Kingdom of Kalinera. He went into the general store and talked to the shop keeper, who had a couple of the items he needed. As for the other, he informed him to talk with Christina, who was their healer. He believed she might have what he needed. With high hopes, he headed in the direction the shop keeper had given him.
Arriving at a house on the outer rim of town, he knocked on the door. A mid-age lady answered the door. “Good day, ma’am, I was wondering if you have some herbs I am looking for?” as he handed her the list.
She looked at him before she looked at the list. “What you need them for?”
“It’s for a healing potion I am making to help a friend,” he was praying she would accept what he had told her, and she didn’t ask any more questions.
“Very well, I have what you need,” come in, wait by the door. Gurk watched her walk off she was going through her shelves within a couple of minutes she hands him a bag. Inside was everything on his list, “How much do I owe you?”
“What do you have?” she inquired.
“Well, I have a few coins, fruit, vegetables, dried meat, and some bread.”
“I’ll take some of the dried meat if you please.”
He handed her the other flank of deer meat he had, “This enough?”
Nodding her head, “Yes, this is plenty.”
“Thank you.”
“Pleasure doing business with you. Feel free to come back again.”
Heading back toward the Kingdom of Valorin. It started to rain. He stopped collected enough would be able to build a fire. Wrapping it in his extra cloak to ensure the wood stayed dry. As he continued to walk, it continued to rain. It had rained for the past hour; he’s now soaked to the bond.
It was getting dark, finding a cluster of trees. He got to work cutting down a few of the smaller ones to make himself a shelter with three sides and a floor under the larger trees to help keep the rain off of him. With the shelter done, he rolled out his bedroll on top of the pallet, which was the floor. Sitting down, he pulled out the extra cloak from his pack to remove the wood. Setting it aside, he shook out the cloak setting it behind him. He took the soaked cloak he was wearing and tied it up to make a door leaving a small hole at the top to let the smoke out. He quickly used the dry wood to build a fire. It didn’t take long for the fire to warm the air within the small shelter. Grabbing his extra clothes out of his pack, he changed out of the soaked garments hanging them from the roof by the fire so they could dry. Chilled from being wet, he took the dry cloak wrapped it around himself, pulling it tight to help warm his body. As he added another log to the fire. He hoped he had picked up enough wood to last the night. Climbing into his bedroll covering up, he was still shivering from being wet so long. He hoped the rain would stop soon.
The next morning, he awoke. It was still raining; this was going to put a damper on him traveling. With his clothes still wet, he decided to stay put until the rain stops. He had wood left over from the night. He added more wood to the fire to reheat the inside of the shelter so his clothes would dry. Broke out his pot made him a bit of stew to eat on for the day, it would also help to warm his insides. He needed to keep his immune system up, so he wouldn’t get sick. That would be the last thing he needed right now. He had time since her Grace hadn’t given him a time limit as to when he had to be back with the young woman. Grateful, it made his job a lot harder when he had time restrictions. He sliced the bread using it to soak up juices from the pot; this has been the best he has eaten since he had left the Kingdom of Barvicia Forest. He took a nap as well since there was little else to do. He thanked the stars above for this day.
IT WAS TIME FOR THE mid-day meal. Everyone had gathered around the table when a noise came from above. Looking to the sky, El saw a large black creature flying around. “Oh, my” she sucked in a large amount of air at the awe of such a beast. The dragon had arrived; she stood following everyone down the stairs, which led into the garden. Taking the path that ran by the riverside, which led to the back gate of the training area.
Vigdis unlocked the gate as El looked at Ivoka, was that fear she saw on her face? Vigdis had opened the door wide to allow everyone to enter the training area. It was the only place large enough for the dragon to land. Once everyone was inside, Vigdis pushed the door closed and relocked the gate.
There, in the middle of the training area, stood the dragon. He was far more significant in size than El had imagined. He was a Metallic Black Dragon with breathtaking coloring; however, he was fierce-looking with a strong jaw, small horns on its head, his long tail contained spikes, and a massive wingspan. It reminded her of the fire breathing kind turning everything in its path into brimstone. She couldn’t pry her eyes from the dragon. Just then, he shifted, “Oh!” Escaped her mouth, the dragon transformed into a man.
Vigdis seeing the man was with no apparel, quickly covered El’s eyes.
“Hey, what did you do that for?” El protested, her face was a bright crimson red.
Lazeen ran over to the man as he placed his cloak around the man’s shoulders to cover his body. He spoke to the man briefly before he returned with their guest.
Now that the young man was decent, Vigdis removed her hand from El’s eyes.
Blinking to allow her eyes to adjust to the sunlight again, she looked about to see what she had missed. The dragon-man was now wearing a cloak.
As they approached Lazeen, “Your Majesties, this is my friend Zamian.”
Ivoka smiled, “Welcome, please feel free to make yourself at home. We hope you will enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you, your Majesties.”
What a strong name, Zamian, had spiked short black hair, a long straight nose plus he was muscular. He reminded her of a linebacker from a football team. El looked into his dreamy golden eyes, lost in a sea of calmness she felt her blood began the boil as if being electrified. Her heartbeat started to race so fast she thought it would come out of her chest. Butterflies had invaded her doing somersaults within the pit of her stomach. More nervous at that moment than the day she saw her magic fly from her hands for the first time. What is going on with her? She couldn’t look away no matter how hard she tried; it was like she was in a trance. She has begun to fear she was losing control over her body.
Zamian had a tough time breaking eye contact with this young Elven. Lazeen’s assumptions had been correct; she’s part dragon. “How was this even possible he wanted to know? Now that he has seen her face to face, he knew there is more to her than meets the eye. It isn’t his blood that runs through her veins; the puzzle is whose blood is it
Dragon Fusion Page 9
