Dragon Boy (Hilda's Inn Book 2)

by Cyn Bagley

  “So what is she?” Michael felt a little fear, which he beat back. She was just a child and needed his help.

  “She is a blacksmith—and she needs the Elders of the Dwarfs to teach her. Since she is in your care, you have to be the one to convince her mother to take her there.”

  “How soon?”

  “You opened her channels… it needs to be very soon. I’ll send a message, and you have your duties.”

  Yes, he would have to convince Elita, who was even more stubborn than Jo, that her daughter needed to go to the Mountain. He didn’t know the story of why she had been a mercenary or why she didn’t go to the Mountain when she was in danger. He would have to find out.

  Besides, the Dwarfs didn’t allow their Blacksmiths to travel. Blacksmiths held the entire magic of their race. They guarded them and they revered them. So how did a potential Blacksmith slip through their fingers?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Delhaven

  Michael Ordson

  Michael’s cheeks were still red from the healer’s scolding. Healer Varia suggested that he leave Kayla with her. Michael didn’t like the quick glint of avarice in her eyes. He wouldn’t be able to convince her not to call the Dwarfs, so he didn’t try.

  When the healer turned them in, she would gain money or power. Dwarf children were few, and those that were blacksmiths were probably fewer. Kayla was more precious than gold.

  “No,” he told her. “I need to bring Kayla home to her mother. I wouldn’t want her mother mad at me.” He told the truth. Elita would be mad at him but, even worse, Hilda was the one who had sent the girl to him.

  The glint dimmed a little in the healer’s eyes. Maybe the reward would have been even more if the child was in her custody. But the healer wasn’t too far gone, because she let Michael and Kayla leave her house.

  “They will know by this evening that Kayla is with you,” was her parting shot.

  Kayla chattered on the way home about the healer, the city, the cat, the birds, and then the flowers. The Inn was filled when they got back. Grandpa Stevens was in the corner playing cards with his friends. His back was to the wall and he was watching the door. He relaxed and went back to his card playing when he saw the two of them enter.

  Kayla and Michael slipped into the kitchen. He left Kayla with the cook, telling her it would only be a moment, and found a quiet spot to talk to Elita. Elita had a smudge of flour on her nose. For the first time since she had come to the Inn, she seemed approachable. There must be some magic to inn-keeping because the two women he feared the most were happy mucking about in the business.

  Elita wiped her hair away from her face and asked, “What’s the matter?”

  As soon as he tried to explain about the dwarfs and the healer, her hand was around his throat. “What did you do?” Her voice was cold. She had lifted him up a little so that he couldn’t move. He batted her hands and then banged against the wall. His lungs tried to pull in a breath.

  Before he passed out she dropped him on the floor. He folded over and took several breaths. When he looked up, he could see that she waited for him to get up so, he assumed, she could hurt him again. Very wisely, he stayed on the ground.

  “Let me get this straight.” Her voice was as cold as icicles. “You took my child to the healer, because?”

  “I wanted to make sure she was okay after conjuring a fireball.” He gasped between the words.

  “And the healer said she was a blacksmith?”

  He nodded. “At least you worthless piece of shite didn’t leave my child with her.”

  “I brought her back,” he answered. His breath was weak.

  It was obvious by her voice and how she loomed over him that she was ready to hit him. It wasn’t that he was a coward. In his heart of hearts he knew he had screwed up. So he wasn’t putting up a fight.

  She pulled him to his feet. He offered no resistance. Her voice sounded tired when she said, “So they are coming this evening?”

  Michael nodded. “The healer said that there was a way to contact them. Have you been running long?”

  “None of your business.” Her voice went cold.

  “You can face them,” he said, “with me.”

  “I’ve been watching you. You worthless shite. You don’t have any magic now. I’m not sure you ever had any.”

  He wanted to protest as she turned away and marched up the stairs. She had two choices… to go, or to stay and fight for her child. She had made her decision. He went into the kitchen. Kayla was gone, presumably packing. Josephine was in the kitchen.

  “I heard., Josephine said. The cook was busy with pounding the bread.

  “I have to go with them,” Michael said. “Can you take care of the Inn?”

  “Oh, honey,” Josephine laughed. “This is much easier than dealing with ladies of the night. The cook is a great help.”

  Michael heard the cook snort. “Go on,” Josephine said. “We’ll be here when you return.”

  So, minutes later, Michael was packing. This time he didn’t have a horse, but Elita and Kayla were horseless too. He made sure he packed flint, a warm blanket, and a bow. Jo gave him some string so he could trap or fish in the deep woods. He couldn’t carry enough provisions and if Elita didn’t want him to come, he would have to follow.

  That would mean he would have to hunt his own food. It didn’t look good since he still dragged his leg slightly. At least his leg would get the exercise ordered by the healer.

  It took maybe an hour or so, when all three of them were in the kitchen, eating a last meal. Elita saw his pack and told him, hell no, he couldn’t go with them. He had expected her response.

  He didn’t tell her that he would follow. She would figure it out soon enough. His woodcraft was rusty. She insulted his woodcraft, then grudgingly said that he would lead the Dwarfs right to them. It was better if she kept an eye on him.

  It went without saying that Elita would try to strand him out in the woods where he couldn’t lead the Dwarfs to them. It meant he would have to stay vigilant. The prospect made his stomach squirm and he smiled. It would be quite fun. His life had been too quiet for too long.

  In the back of his mind, he heard the undine listen in… Damn it, he hadn’t realized that she had hitched a ride in his back brain. “I’ll come too,” she said in his mind. She sounded happy.

  “No, you don’t,” he said to her. He realized that he had said it out loud when Josephine gave him a strange and worried look. He unfocused his eyes and ate his soup.

  “I’ll follow you. You need to stay near streams so there is always water.” The undine laughed merrily. “I haven’t been in fresh water in so long.” Only he could hear her.

  Michael knew when he was beaten. He finished eating his stew as Elita finished hers. Kayla whined, “Do we have to go again?” Her voice went up and down. Elita gave her that look that mothers give to their children when they whine. Kayla closed her mouth and picked up her backpack.

  Josephine gave Michael a kiss on the forehead. “We will be here.” He looked back at her as they walked out the door. She blew him a kiss. Dang, if she had been friendly earlier, things might have been different. He sighed, pasted a smile on his face and straighted the backpack on his shoulders.

  As he left Delhaven, trailing Elita and Kayla, he took a deep breath. His smile widened.

  The White Road

  Hilda Brant

  Hilda followed Davi as he walked beside the White Road. His eyes darted side to side as if scanning the magic. Hilda could feel the magic come off in waves. It bounced against her and she struggled against it. The she-dragon, Varia, walked beside Hilda. Hilda could feel the she-dragon’s body heat. It was higher than that of a normal human. Her mind gibbered at her that if adult dragons could change shape into humans, then they could also spy in war councils. The humans hadn’t had a chance against the dragons.

  Adult dragons were not the wild creatures that she had assumed from the battlefield. They were more than fire an
d claw, more than death being rained down on troops from the skies. They were intelligent and studied the human world from the inside. Oh, she knew this with Davi. But he was just a boy in her eyes. Her heart had forgotten he was a dragon.

  Davi’s eyes turned blank and then the world shifted. The road that had reached the horizon shrank to a path that was only a few feet long. Suddenly the forest came alive; she could hear the rustling of animals and bird calls.

  A machine-like sound echoed through the clearing. Davi’s eyes brightened as his mind came back to them, “Found it,” he said triumphantly.

  Hilda slapped the back of his head. “Tell us what you are going to do next time.”

  Davi looked up at her with widened eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Well?” she drawled it out. The she-dragon put her hand over her mouth to hide a smile.

  A small mechanical toy, shaped like a beetle, was clacking at the end of the dirt path. There was a monotonous sound to it. Hilda had reached over to grab it when Davi stopped her.

  “We don’t know what kind of magic this is,” he warned her. The she-dragon took a closer look as well.

  “The thing looks to be fire-proof and made of steel. What a curious thing,” said Varia.

  Hilda knew that blacksmiths could make toys and other objects, but this looked powerful. Only a dwarf blacksmith could have made something so intricate and mechanical. Hilda had never seen its like before.

  “If we get rid of that,” said Davi, “then the wraiths would be free and they can go home.”

  It showed that Davi was so young and innocent that he didn’t know that wraiths faded away to nothing. That was Hilda’s experience of them on the battlefield. They fed on anger, fear and lust. Still the final death would be better than being tied to a road.

  “What is it?” she gestured to the road and to the mechanical beetle.

  Varia finally answered. “It looks like it gathers power for a mage. Not just any mage, a dragon. He must have a dwarf colony, which means he is one of the Old Ones.”

  Both Hilda and Varia shuddered. The Old Ones were the grandchildren of the first dragons. They were powerful, so powerful that they could be gods. Instead, when the humans were created and put in this world, the Old Ones declared war on the humans.

  Hilda shrugged off the fears that came with the thoughts. “Can you do something?” she asked Varia.

  “Please get back,” said Varia. “I have to change back to my dragon form.”

  Hilda and Davi backed up several feet so she could have room to change. “She’ll be hungry after the change,” Davi told Hilda in a quiet voice, “we don’t want to be in her line of sight.”

  The change this time was more disturbing because Varia was going from human to dragon. It took longer as well. When she was finished she roared. She was huge and fierce. This was the reason humans feared the dragons. Then she took in a full breath and roared again. Fire curled out of her mouth and smoked the road. The fire seemed to go on and on until it finally stopped. The dragon took another deep breath.

  Then she leaped into the air and flew away.

  “What happened?” Hilda asked.

  “She needs to eat,” Davi said simply as he walked back to the road. The cobblestones were blackened and some of the wraiths had gotten free and were sailing away. But the mechanical beetle was still clicking away even though it was blackened by the dragon’s fire.

  Hilda looked at the beetle. Fire cleansed everything. She felt a niggle of worry. What was this thing made of? “Could you look closer at its structure?” she asked Davi.

  She watched Davi unfocus his eyes to look at the structure of the beetle. While he was engaged, she looked around for the horses. Because they were messing with this power road, someone would probably be here to find out why the road was losing power. If she had the horses, they could make a quick getaway.

  “Well, well,” said a male voice behind her. “So you found my toy. Do you like it?”

  Of course he was behind her. She turned around, keeping herself between this newer player and Davi.

  He was a slim man dressed in leather. His face was pale and his eyes were a dark brown. His hair was long, tied with cords behind his back. He was handsome in the way of the world and didn’t look very old.

  On the other hand she could feel his age. It was endless. It beat against her mind, trying to worm its way into it. Her shields came down and she could feel Sassy whimper just a little.

  Then his mouth twisted, “I see, you brought the protector with you.” She saw a tendril of power disconnect from her and reach for Davi. With her power and with Sassy’s help she slapped the tendril away from him. However, her concentration on her mind shields failed.

  The tendril touched her and she could feel him burn through her memories. “Ummm, umm.” He said. “And how did he kill the Grimoire?” Then a thoughtful “Oh.” and “you don’t know.”

  “This will be fun,” he said. Then he began to change. This time, she saw a dragon change when she was in its line of sight. She couldn’t move, but stood between it at Davi.

  “Davi,” she tried to scream. But he was locked in his trance with the beetle. She couldn’t move her arms or legs. She couldn’t move her lips. Then Sassy leaped to her head.

  “Hildy, Hildy,” Sassy poured power into her head. “Hildy… MOVE.”

  Hilda refused to move. Then Sassy said the important words. “Move. Davi is fireproof.”

  Hilda leaped as the dragon breathed fire. It was so close that she could feel the hair on her face and arms incinerate. The fire hit Davi. It sparked and curled around him, looking for a way to burn him.

  Davi breathed in and the fire went into his lungs. Hilda was waiting for him to burst, when he turned around and looked at the Old dragon. Hilda thought she saw the dragon tremble just a little. When she told this story later, she wasn’t sure if it trembled or took in another breath.

  “Give me your name,” commanded Davi.

  The dragon started to back away. Davi commanded him again. “GIVE ME YOUR NAME.”

  The word that Hilda heard was full of the consonants and vowels of cracking fire. She couldn’t contain the word because it was older than the forest around them—older than human existence.

  The beetle screamed and died. The path blackened. The dragon screamed and tried to fly away. Davi said another word and stripped all the power from the dragon, leaving him only enough to fly home and hide on his bed of gold.

  When Hilda looked into his eyes, she saw gold staring back at her. “Davi, Davi,” she said soothingly. “It’s me.”

  For a moment she saw a vibration that meant Davi was changing to the dragon form. But then it stopped. She heard a voice in her mind. It was Varia. “He is too young to change. I stopped it in time.”

  Hilda grabbed Davi as he fell to the ground. He was heavy and she almost fell underneath him. She rolled him in a blanket and dragged him to the horses. She checked his breathing. He was still alive and would be asleep for several hours.

  Davi was a dragonling, but one of the most powerful dragons already. A sliver of fear stabbed her heart. She started a small fire and boiled some water for tea. She really liked Davi. He was a good boy. But now she would have to remember he was a dragon and he would make a powerful ally.

  Chapter Fifteen

  On the North Road

  Michael Ordson

  The cold air froze his cheekbones and slithered down his neck. He walked down the road, following Elita and Kayla. Elita had insisted that they leave immediately before the representatives of the Dwarfs arrived at the Inn. Michael wasn’t worried about what the representatives would do when they found Kayla gone. Unlike Lord Barton, they weren’t about to burn down the inn.

  When beings had power, they learned to be civil to each other. An accusation or force could cause magic to explode and burn down an entire city. No one wanted wide-scale destruction when claiming an errant citizen.

  In this case the errant citizen was Elita, wh
o had hidden her child’s power and escaped. Michael would have liked to hear the story, but Elita was tight-lipped and refused to talk.

  The three of them walked down the road, silently. When Michael tried to talk to her, she told him that he had already caused enough damage and that he should keep his mouth shut and think.

  He settled into a walk and kept pace with the woman and girl. They walked for hours until the sun dipped and it was time to look for a camp. When he suggested a camp site, Elita ignored him and kept walking.

  About midnight, Kayla began to stumble. He picked her up in his arms. The backpack was heavy and with her weight added, he could feel his energy ebb. Besides, it had been months since he had walked this far. When he suggested stopping again, Elita finally spoke. “How far do you think we have walked?”

  Michael felt his face flush. “Twenty miles or farther.” It had felt like more than that.

  “No, “ Elita said. “We haven’t reached ten miles yet. A man on a horse could find us in two to three hours.”

  “Since we have no magic,” she looked him in the eye, “we can’t ward the camp. We have no safeguards. Thanks to you.”

  She pulled Kayla from his arms, turned sharply and walked down the road. He sighed and continued behind her. With the extra weight out of his cramped arms, he was able to keep up with her steady walk. As his legs grew tired, he began to limp. Elita started to pull away from him. It was slowly at first. Then it seemed to him that she began to speed up. She stopped and waited for him on a small hill.

  He dragged his leg behind him and tried not to think of the continuous ache radiating from his leg. When the dawn began its appearance, she pointed to a trail that led off the main road. He followed her through the branches in that direction. The trail was used by small rodents so the branches were eye-level. They whipped him in the face as he walked by.

  After a few feet into the brush, Michael could hear the birds cheeping and the squirrels running up the branches. They crept down the trail, trying not to break any branches, so that a tracker wouldn’t find their trail too soon. It was not far until they found a small stream. It gurgled at them. Elita didn’t even glance at the stream. Kayla was back on her feet and looked like she had slept an entire night.