Touched by a Dragon

by Sarah J. Stone

  “Oh, breakfast! Aren’t you perfect?” she quipped.

  Thomas smiled awkwardly, not sure how he was supposed to respond to her after last night. It wasn’t as if they had sex. In some ways, to him, it had seemed far more intimate, far more meaningful. Still, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act now. He sat the food down on a nearby table and retrieved clean clothes from his bag for after a shower. When he turned around, he was surprised to find her standing right behind him.

  “Okay, let’s just get it over with,” she said flatly.

  “Excuse me? Get what over with?” he replied.

  “You want to kiss me. I want you to kiss me, but you haven’t. Kiss me, Tom.”

  He looked at her, considered denying it, then changed his mind. Instead, he found himself leaning down toward her, his fingers tangling in her hair as he parted her lips with his own. It felt as if every nerve ending was alive and singing with pure joy as he tasted the sweetness of her lips and explored her mouth with his tongue. Pulling her close to him, he continued to kiss her passionately, drinking her in as if she were the most delicious nectar he’d ever found.

  “Wow,” she uttered as they finally pulled apart and stood there, just looking at one another in some sort of passion-fueled daze. “I’ll give you this, Tom Higgins. You might be a little staunch and perhaps even a bit shy, but you are one hell of a kisser.”

  “Thanks, I think,” he said.

  “Oh, it’s a compliment. Trust me,” she told him.

  “I will. I do,” he said, a smile growing wider across his face.

  “Alright, let’s get this show on the road before we end up in this room all day not doing what we were sent here to do,” she told him.

  “Yes ma’am,” he replied, making his way to the shower.

  He felt shaken to the core as he stood under the hot water and let his mind drift back to the kiss. It had only been moments ago, and he just wanted to kiss her some more. What he wouldn’t give right now to call her into the shower with him and finish what he started. In his mind, he could see her face as his mouth trailed across her body, a low moan escaping her lips as he kissed her soft skin.

  “Get a grip, Tom,” he said aloud to himself, forcing his way out of the thought to finish his shower and get dressed.

  “Your coffee is cold, and I ate your croissant. Um, and most of the fruit,” she said as he stepped out into the room.

  “What? Where did you put it? You’re so tiny!” he marveled.

  “I’m a hungry little dragon,” she laughed.

  “Ah, well. I’ll grab some more to go on our way out. You ready?”

  “I am!”

  “Alright, let me throw my stuff back in my bag, and we’ll get out of here then. It’s going to be a long day.”

  “Where are we headed first?”

  “Back to the farm to look around and hopefully find some neighbors.”

  Making their way back to the abandoned cottage, they found themselves transported to a different time and place. There was no doubt that it had stood like this for years, empty and falling apart. Any signs of life there were mostly removed, with vines and wild creatures having taken over what had been left behind. Like so many other reminders of a time past, it was slowly being reclaimed by the land on which it was built.

  “No neighbors within sight,” she observed.

  “Not that I can see. I did note a house about a quarter mile up the road. We will start there.”

  “As good a place as any, I suppose,” she replied.

  Climbing back into the SUV, they headed toward it. Ordinarily, they would have just walked, but there was a rift in the way, and they would save time if they weren’t coming back this way. Much to his surprise, Kara reached for his hand once they were on their way, holding it quietly between them as they drove. It was too soon to try to assess what all of this might mean, but Thomas was content just to let it play out its natural course. It could just be a case of being in close confines, but he had a feeling it was much more than that, at least for him.

  “No one home,” he told her after ringing the bell of the large estate home repeatedly without answer.

  “That figures.”

  “Let’s look around anyway. Perhaps this place is abandoned, too, just more well-kept. It could be a vacation home or holiday rental.”

  “I suppose that is possible. What are we looking for, though?”

  “I have no idea. We’ll know if we find it.”

  “How incredible! This garden is absolutely fantastic!” Kara remarked as they walked around the edge of the large house.

  “It damn well should be. I spend enough time out here,” snarled an old woman standing to straighten the large, floppy straw hat that shielded her delicate, porcelain skin from the overbearing sun.

  Both Thomas and Kara jumped at the unexpected encounter. Neither had considered that someone might be on the grounds outside the house. She had caught them completely by surprise.

  “I’m sorry. We didn’t realize that anyone was home,” Thomas replied.

  “Yeah? So, you were trespassing then? What are you up to?” she asked, holding a pair of pruning shears tightly in one hand.

  “Oh, no. We weren’t here to cause any trouble. We rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Is this your house?”

  “Last time I checked,” she said sarcastically.

  “We won’t take up much of your time. We were just wondering if you could tell us anything about the abandoned cottage and farm on the other side of that rift,” Thomas asked, pointing in the direction of Khalil’s old house.

  “You mean the Kandahar place? What about it? No one has lived there for years.”

  Kara and Thomas both looked at one another at the mention of Khalil’s surname. If it was known by his name, he must have lived there for a considerable time. It was at least promising.

  “Yes. That one. Do you know who currently owns it?”

  “Sure, I do. Why do you want to know?”

  “We are looking for its original owner, Khalil Kandahar.”

  “Good luck with that. He’s been dead for years, I would assume.”

  “What do you know about him?” Thomas asked.

  “Just what I’ve been told. My family has owned this property for damn near five centuries. Before them, it was owned by the O’Malley’s. I was told that Mr. O’Malley bought it from the Reinhardt clan who had also lived there for centuries. There used to be a larger house that sat up the hill on the other side of what you seen there now. They were Scottish highlanders that had migrated here and taken up camp on that land, claiming it for their own. No one liked them much, and when the elder Reinhardt became ill and died, the land was abandoned for a long time.”

  “And Kandahar? How did it come to bear his name?”

  “My understanding is that he just moved in there while it was abandoned. With no nearby relatives, it was unknown that it belonged to the Reinhardts until some of their kin came to reclaim it. They got in a fight with Kandahar. That is where the tale gets strange and why people still tell it.”

  “Why is that?” Thomas asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

  “They say there were at least a dozen of them, but only him and a young boy. He killed all of them, except one that got away. That one told tales of how he turned into a great beast – a tiger bigger than he had ever seen.”

  “Of course, no one would believe such a ridiculous idea,” Thomas replied.

  “They wouldn’t have, but there was one thing. The man who made the claim had a wound to back up his story. He had claw marks that ran down the entire side of his body, and he had bite marks on his shoulder. He was so torn up that they couldn’t save him. After a few days, he gave up the fight and joined his clansmen.”

  “Sounds like an old wives’ tale,” Kara remarked.

  “Yes, it does. I’m just telling you what I heard.”

  “So, if he ran them off the property, how did it come back to them? You said it
was purchased from them.”

  “They were too scared to go near it after that. No one would go near it, they say. He lived there until he died, and the boy that was there with him left. After that, they came back and took ownership of their land again, but everyone still called it by the Kandahar name because he is still there.”

  “Still there? What do you mean?”

  “The boy… he built a funeral pyre on the edge of the property where it meets the sea. They said he burned his father’s body and spread the ashes over the property.”

  “I see,” Thomas replied.

  “Is there anyone that might know where the boy went?” Kara asked hopefully.

  “You mean anyone that is still alive? I wouldn’t think so. You’re talking several thousand years ago. This tale has been handed down over the years, but who knows how much of it is correct at this point? You know how things get twisted up.”

  “You’ve been very helpful. Thank you so much for talking to us,” Kara told her.

  “My pleasure, honey. I don’t get many visitors out this way. Always nice to see a fresh face, even one that is snooping around my garden.”

  “Yes, um, sorry again about that,” Kara replied, already backing away.

  Thomas could tell that there was something about the woman that made her uneasy, and he couldn’t say that he blamed her. She certainly had a way about her that was somewhat off-putting, pleasant but with something akin to a mean streak, perhaps just below the surface. He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there was more than one missing husband buried in her lovely garden.

  “Wasn’t she just a ray of sunshine?” Kara whispered as they got out of earshot and closer to the vehicle.

  “That’s an understatement,” he replied, taking his seat behind the wheel.

  “So, what now?”

  “Well, we’re here. We might as well take a look at the local records. Perhaps there is a chance that his son stayed in the area. Let’s look for him in whatever public records we can lay our hands on.”

  “Lead the way, Sherlock,” she laughed.

  This time, Thomas reached for her hand first, holding it and stroking it softly with his fingers as they drove. She smiled over at him happily, then turned her attention toward the window again as they made their way toward the city center to find the town’s archives.

  Chapter 8

  “I’m afraid our records only go back one hundred years here in the office, and beyond that, well there are some stored records in a secure vault, but they only go back a few hundred more years. There was a fire where the older records were stored prior to that, and much was lost,” the clerk told him.

  Thomas felt his heart sink in his chest. Nothing was panning out for them. It seemed they were meeting nothing but dead ends.

  “The records, are they computerized or on microfiche, anything like that?” Kara asked, still optimistic, apparently.

  “The more recent ones – last twenty years or so – are computerized. Another eighty or so are on microfiche, but the rest are just in boxes in the vault.”

  “Okay, well we’d like to start with the computer, if we may,” she told him.

  He nodded and led them to a bank of public computers. Thomas was surprised that such a small place was even this far up to speed with technology, but they were grateful for it. Perhaps they would get lucky and find something. Both of them were far less enthusiastic toward the end of the day, when, after searching for hours both above and below ground, they walked away without so much as a mention in a local flyer.

  “Well, if Advik was here, he apparently expired or left long before these records came about,” Kara remarked with a groan.

  They were both dusty and tired, plus starving after not having eaten anything beyond the nibble they had for breakfast. Sitting on the floor of the archive, they said nothing for a few moments. A voice broke the silence, the clerk coming down to tell them that he would be locking up soon.

  “We’re done,” Thomas told him, standing up and dusting himself off as he reached for Kara’s hand to help her up from where she had sat on the floor to go through an old crate of files.

  Once she was on her feet, he returned it to its position on the shelf. Removing the gloves they had been given to use so as not to harm some of the old papers, they discarded them in a nearby receptacle and headed up the stairs to depart.

  “Where are we going?” Kara asked.

  “Back to the inn for tonight. It’s getting late, we still need to eat, and I don’t know about you, but I could use a hot shower. I feel like I inhaled enough dust to collapse a lung.”

  “Completely wasted day,” she groaned.

  “Not completely,” he replied with a smile.

  “How so?” she asked, a single eyebrow cocked in his direction.

  “I spent it with you,” he told her boldly, reaching for her hand and squeezing it lightly.

  “I am glad you feel that way,” she told him, returning his smile.

  “We’ll get checked in to make sure we can get a room and then find somewhere with a little more than sandwiches for dinner. I’ve already seen how much food you can put away.”

  “Hey, now!” she teased, punching him playfully with her other hand, but not moving the one intertwined on the seat with his own.

  “Spunky,” he retorted, causing her to laugh.

  “Back for another night?” the same clerk asked as they stepped back into the inn.

  “Yes,” Thomas replied.

  “You’re in luck. I had one come available earlier, so I can get you into two so you won’t have to share tonight,” he replied.

  Thomas felt disappointed, but he could hardly say no. He was about to agree when Kara piped up instead.

  “Just one will do fine,” she told him.

  Thomas glanced at her and smiled, then back at the clerk, who was smiling just as broadly. Now, it was a bit awkward. He hurriedly did the paperwork and found himself with a key to the same room as the night before. They made their way up to room number twelve and dropped their things.

  “I’ll let you shower first,” he told her.

  “Why? Do I stink?”

  “Well, frankly, yes,” he said evenly.

  She looked surprised for a moment, then lifted an arm and sniffed herself, causing Thomas to laugh loudly.

  “I do not! You troll!” she said, joining him in his amusement.

  “Get a shower, and we’ll go find something to eat,” he told her.

  “Yes, master!” she said seriously as she headed off to the bathroom.

  Thomas pulled open his bag and retrieved his laptop, opening the browser to do a search. Results for the name Khalil Kandahar turned up nothing, as did Advik Kandahar. He tried without the first names and without the last names, only getting results for Khalil’s first name, but none that was remotely related from what he could see. He turned and looked as the bathroom door opened behind him.

  “I forgot to take in my clothes,” she said, standing there wrapped in only a towel.

  Thomas was frozen for a moment, staring at her skin, glistening against the light in the room. He wanted her. It was just that simple, but it was too soon. He didn’t want this to end up as some sort of fling on a trip and nothing more. Instead, he averted his eyes, turning back to the computer long enough to regroup.

  “I’ll let you have the room and get my shower,” he told her, hurriedly making his way into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

  He leaned against it and took a few deep breaths. What sort of effect was this woman having on him? What if the chemistry wasn’t what he thought it was and he was just making a mistake in making too much of it? Plus, they had work to do, although he wasn’t sure how they were going to do it with no leads turning up anywhere. He made up his mind to keep his distance as best he could in their close confines.

  “Seems you forgot your clothes, too,” she said as he stepped back out in his towel a short time later.

  She had gotten dressed and
dried her hair, looking just as perfect as always as she tapped away at the keys on his laptop. He didn’t even bother to ask what she was doing.

  “Yes. I’ll get dressed, and we can go,” he said, grabbing some things from his bag and retreating back into the bathroom.

  When he returned, she was still at the keyboard, looking perplexed. He walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder at the page she had pulled up. It was dated back fifteen years ago, a newspaper article regarding a man who had been attacked on the sidewalk while attempting to rob a young woman at knife point. She had claimed that she was saved by a tiger.

  “Oh, my God,” Thomas said, leaning in closer. “How did you find that?”

  “I saw that you were looking for names. You left the last search pulled up. I was trying to think of what we could search for that would lead us to someone like Khalil or perhaps, Advik, and it dawned on me. Sometimes, people have tales about seeing dragons and no one believes them, but it gets reported. So, maybe I could find the same for random tiger encounters.”

  “Were there more than this?” he asked, fascinated by her brilliance.

  “Yes, tons more, but this one stood out,” she replied.

  “I would imagine so,” he told her.

  “How do we find out who he is?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ll find a way. Let’s go have some dinner, and maybe something will come to us,” he told her.

  They made their way downstairs and headed back toward the city center. Thomas had seen a large restaurant sitting on the edge of the sea earlier. It was bound to have a better menu selection than the local pubs and diners he had seen along the way.

  “Oh, this looks really nice,” she said as they pulled in.

  “Let’s hope so. I don’t know about you, but I could eat the side of a barn right now,” he replied.

  “Well, perhaps just a door, but not the whole side for me,” she laughed.

  Thomas chuckled as he parked the SUV, and they got out. He hadn’t attempted to hold her hand or be flirtatious during the drive here. He wanted to, and that was precisely why he decided he should resist the urge. He could tell she had noticed. She had remained quiet as they drove and kept her gaze averted toward the window. It was obvious that she sensed the distance, but it was for the best.