It was not even noon when they reached Welmire. Kanin sighted the village first with his keen eyes and immediately began gliding towards the ground. He landed with a soggy squelch about a mile from the outer reaches, and instantly looked down at his claws in surprise.
The ground should not do this, he observed. It refuses to hold me. He picked up his massive feet and put them down again in different spots, trying to find a firmer place to stand. His constant shifting made it difficult to dismount, and Khollo nearly fell face first into the swamp. Once he was safely on the ground he moved quickly from Kanin, dodging the mud and decaying plant matter the dragon was kicking up with every step.
Wait here, Kanin, Khollo told him, ignoring the dragon’s mistrust of the squishy ground. I should be back in an hour or so.
Good, then I hunt. Somewhere where the ground is more ground-like. The dragon took another cautious step and promptly sank several inches. Growling with frustration, Kanin opened his mouth and flamed a nearby section of the swamp. A billowing cloud of steam erupted from the spot, obscuring it for a moment. Then, the cloud cleared, revealing a slightly dryer patch of black earth.
Better, Kanin said grudgingly. He paced over to the charred spot and began expanding his territory with small arcs of flame. Shouldn’t you be going? He asked Khollo.
The young Keeper grinned and gestured for Sven to join him. “Come on. Let’s find you passage to the coast.” Behind them, Kanin continued his efforts to dry the swamp.
When they were out of earshot of the growling, flaming dragon, Sven turned to Khollo. “So, this place we’re going. Where exactly is it?”
“South,” Khollo said vaguely, stepping over a cluster of exposed roots. “We’ll gather in Narne initially, then move on to the stronghold of the Keepers.”
“Is it in the Fells?”
Khollo eyed his newest apprentice steadily. “It’s in the South,” he repeated slowly. Sven’s face tightened and a flash of irritation ran through his gaze.
“Do you not trust me?” he asked, biting off each word.
“I don’t trust anyone with that information,” Khollo said truthfully. “Not even the Sthan king knows precisely where the Keepers are located. Understand, Sven, I am not trying to keep you in the dark. I am trying to protect this fledgling order. You will understand more when we arrive at our destination.”
“Fine,” Sven said, “Then how about dragons? Where did Kanin come from? Do you have eggs stashed away somewhere? Or more full-grown dragons?”
“Kanin is the only living dragon in the world,” Khollo said. “More than that I will not say, though I suspect you could guess much more with the information you have. Do not ask me if your guesses are accurate, I will not tell you.”
Sven scowled, foiled again. “It would be nice to know more,” he muttered. “I’m risking an awful lot here, Keeper.”
“My name is Khollo,” Khollo replied. “And I know this is difficult. You’re leaving everything you know behind, traveling halfway around the world, seeing places you’ve never even heard of. All on the faint idea you have of what it takes to be a Keeper, a member of the Order of men and dragons that preserves and protects the peace. My own induction to the Order was just as terrifying.”
“Oh?” Sven asked.
“Yes,” Khollo replied, remembering. “Kanin literally plucked me from the life I knew and flew off with me. My friends thought me dead for months afterward.”
“What about your family?”
“It’s only my uncle now,” Khollo told him, his chest constricting a little. “Janis practically raised me. My mother died when I was young and my father . . . well, his story is complicated. He was lost just before my mother died.”
“Lost?”
“Like I said, complicated,” Khollo muttered. “And painful,” he added quietly, remembering the last few days he had spent with Ezraan.
Sven grunted, then pointed through the trees ahead of them. “There’s a fence or a wall ahead,” he observed, changing the subject. “What’s the plan when we get in the village?”
“Find the docks, find a boat,” Khollo replied. “Simple plans are the best, yes?”
When they reached the village wall, there was no gate in sight. Khollo looked left and right, then headed south along the perimeter, towards the place where the Lanis River exited the village. After a few more minutes of walking, they came to a small but sturdy gate a few meters from the bank of the sluggish river. Two village watchmen clad in leather armor and carrying spears flanked the entrance. Neither one looked particularly fit or vigilant, but their spears were well-maintained and they carried small clubs and daggers at their belts.
As Khollo and Sven approached, the guards crossed their spears over the entrance and stood up a little straighter. “You’re not from around here,” one observed, taking in their heavy furs and weapons. “What’s yore business in Welmire?”
Khollo took another step forward, pushing back his hood. “I’m Khollo, High Keeper, and this is Sven, one of my apprentices. We’re looking for a ship to take Sven down to Jalakash and then on to Narne.”
“What in blazes is a Keeper?” the other guard asked.
“What in blazes indeed,” Sven snorted, shaking his head.
“The Keepers are an Order of dragons and men sworn to protect and preserve,” Khollo replied automatically. “I was at the battle of Dun Carryl, perhaps you’ve heard of it?”
“Are you talking about the war down south?” the first guard asked curiously.
The other guard spat on the ground. “All kinds of tales came out of that action,” he said dubiously, squinting at Khollo. “None of them mentioned a kid being a Keeper though.”
“I’m sure they mentioned a dragon though,” Khollo said, looking from one to the other.
The guards exchanged a glance. “Yeah, some of them mentioned dragons,” one agreed. “But how do we know you’re him? I mean, you could be anyone.”
“Would you like to meet the dragon?” Khollo asked innocently. “Would that settle your doubts?”
“No!” one guard yelped, “That’s quite all right, just go on in – ”
“Yes,” the other guard interrupted, a challenge gleaming in his eyes. “I think that would work. Prove to us you’re this . . . Keeper from the stories. Then we’ll let you in.”
Kanin? Khollo called, hoping he could reach the dragon.
Hmm? Kanin replied immediately.
Could you join us please? Just don’t scare the villagers.
What’s the fun in that?
Kanin.
Oh, all right, the dragon huffed. Khollo sensed him taking off and making his way over the swamp. I had just finished making a dry place to sit too. Did you find a boat?
Not yet, Khollo replied patiently, we’re trying to negotiate passage into the village.
Still? Kanin demanded. I will never get to hunt at this rate.
You could hunt around here.
I have not seen anything worth hunting, or I already would have. I’m landing now.
Remember, don’t scare –
With a rush of wind and the crack of several branches, Kanin practically fell out of the sky, landing on all fours, his wings spread wide. Mud splashed up around his feet again, but not so bad as before. He turned his scaly head towards the guards, who stood petrified by the gate.
“Right,” the guard who had challenged Khollo said, swallowing nervously. “It . . . it’s a dragon. You can go on in. Just don’t cause any trouble while you’re here.”
Khollo nodded, then stepped through the small gate. “Thank you,” he said pleasantly. “Kanin, find someplace to wait will you? This village was not built to accommodate a dragon.”
Kanin snorted, then turned and leapt into the air again. Behind Khollo, the second guard let out a very impressive whimper. Sven stepped up beside Khollo, jerking a thumb back in the guards’ direction.
“Was that really necessary? We could have just made up some kind of story.”
“Good point,” Sven agreed, nodding.
Khollo led the way through Welmire. To their right, the river crawled by, an indistinct, swirling mass of gray-brown water. Khollo wrinkled his nose at the smell emanating from it. Sven peered at it curiously, then shook his head dubiously.
“I’m not sure a boat could move through that,” he said. “Looks pretty thick.”
“I’m sure they manage,” Khollo replied, “But any boat we find is bound to have a pretty shallow bottom.”
As it turned out, they did not find any boats. When Khollo and Sven reached the small stretch of docks, they found a large number of rafts and skiffs, all crewed by men with long poles for punting the craft up and down the slow-moving river. Khollo looked around, studying the options before him, then approached the nearest raft.
Three men were working on the vessel. Two of them had the look of hired hands and were shifting cargo about on the wide, flat deck at the direction of the third man. This man stood close by the thick rudder, a sheet of paper clutched in his gnarled hands.
“No, there should be three barrels!” he shouted as Khollo stepped to the edge of the raft. “Look again.”
“Unless one’s mislabeled there’s only two of oil,” one of the deck hands called back, shrugging.
“Then check inside!” the man at the helm told him irritably. “And quickly. If that swindler Anselm didn’t deliver again we need to – ” He broke off as he noticed Khollo. “What do you want, boy?” he called, crossing the raft in a few long strides.
Khollo put aside his resentment at being addressed as ‘boy’ and forced a smile. “My friend here is looking for passage,” he said. “Down to Jalakash, then on to Narne.”
The raft captain snorted. “You aren’t getting to either one of those places on a raft. Don’t you know anything about boats?”
“I’m fully aware a raft wouldn’t fare well on the open sea,” Khollo agreed. “How far south do you go?”
“Not to Jalakash.”
The young Keeper sighed heavily. “Does it sail someplace south of here where my friend could find a ship bound for Jalakash?”
“It might,” the captain said evasively. “How much are you willing to pay for passage?”
“A fair price.”
“A fair price!” one of the deck hands laughed aloud. “Boy, would you have any idea of what a fair price was?”
“He wouldn’t know it if it stood in front of him,” the other agreed, chuckling.
Khollo scowled at them and turned back to the captain. “Look, where are you bound and when?” he asked.
The captain folded his arms across his chest. “I had been planning to leave this afternoon, but I’m wasting time arguing with a couple of striplings when I should be off finding my supplier and beating his skull in.”
“And where were you going?”
“Ruqvale,” the captain said, spitting over the side and into the river. “Do you know it?”
“I know of it,” Khollo replied. “Just a moment.” He pulled out his map and studied it. Ruqvale was barely halfway to Jalakash, but it would be better than nothing.
“Could I find a ship there?” Sven asked suddenly, speaking up for the first time.
The captain nodded. “If that’s what you’re after. It’s a larger town than Welmire, and they’ll have river-going craft. You still wouldn’t want to take anything there all the way to Narne.”
“Then I’ll find someone else in Jalakash,” Sven decided.
“Assuming you can pay to get to Ruqvale.”
“Hard to know since I haven’t heard a price,” Sven shot back.
“Two hundred royals,” the captain said promptly.
Khollo weighed the figure in his mind. Two hundred royals was not a large sum, but it was more than he was willing to part with for such a short trip. “I’ll give you a hundred,” he said sternly. “Half now, half on arrival.”
The captain scowled. “Fine,” he grunted.
Khollo turned away from him and leaned in towards Sven. “Here,” he murmured, passing him a large purse. “There’s at least a thousand in there. Keep a good eye on it, should be enough to get you to Narne.”
Sven glanced over his shoulder. “Do you trust them?”
Khollo grinned mirthlessly. “As far as I trust any sailor. How are you with that axe?”
“Better than them,” Sven grunted confidently. “Still, if they see this they’ll be tempted.”
“Then I’ll give them a little bit of a warning as we’re leaving,” Khollo said. “Sound good?”
The northman took a deep breath. “Yeah. Let’s get this over with. When should I expect you in Narne?”
“A week or two,” Khollo replied, reaching out to Kanin again. “I should be able to find two more recruits by then. When you arrive at Narne, find your way to the city lord and let him know I sent you. He’ll know what to do from there.”
“You’ve taken care of everything?”
“Except for that warning,” Khollo said. “But . . . that will be remedied any second now.”
As he finished speaking, Kanin appeared outside the village, landing by the side of the river and folding his wings. The emerald dragon was clearly visible from the small harbor, and Khollo quickly stepped past Sven and caught the captain’s attention.
“What do you see over there, captain?” he asked, pointing at Kanin.
The raft captain followed his outstretched arm and balked.
“That,” Khollo said, “Is my dragon. If anything happens to my friend Sven here, we’ll come and find you. There’s nowhere you can run or sail where you will be able to escape us. Have I made myself clear?”
The captain licked his lips nervously. “We’ll treat him like the king himself, my lord.”
Khollo smiled grimly and nodded once. “Glad to hear it.” He turned away from the raft, clapped Sven on the shoulder, then made his way along the harbor to the edge of the village. Outside the gate, he released a pent-up breath, shoving his shaking hands into his pockets. He still wasn’t very comfortable intimidating people.
Now we can hunt? Kanin asked as Khollo climbed onto his back.
Khollo nodded. Yes, now we can hunt. I wouldn’t mind something to eat myself if you’re willing to share.
Of course, Kanin agreed. If I share with you, I may have an excuse to go after a third deer.
Shaking his head at such gluttony, Khollo wordlessly tightened the flying straps, then signaled Kanin to take off. The emerald dragon lurched skyward, circled the village once, then swooped off to the east, over the heart of the Aswul Marshlands.
They flew in silence, Kanin gliding silently on the cool air, rarely flapping his wings to maintain altitude. He kept his eyes cast downward, watching for the first hint of fresh meat. Khollo watched as well, as his own stomach was rumbling in time to the dragon’s.
An hour after they had left Welmire, Kanin suddenly went into a steep dive, nearly leaving Khollo behind. The young Keeper yelled in surprise, then immediately clamped his mouth shut. But even his brief, instinctual cry had been enough to alert the two bucks and the doe grazing in the clearing below.
The doe reacted first, springing into action and attempting to escape. Kanin landed right behind her, barely missing with a swipe of his front claws. He continued the motion, spinning around and lashing out with his much longer tail. The end of it caught the doe in her hindquarters, dropping her instantly. Even as he made his first kill, Kanin lashed out with his foreclaws again and slew one of the bucks. The final member of the small herd tried to bound away, but Kanin caught its graceful neck between his jaws and shook his scaly head violently. The buck’s neck broke with an audible crack!
Khollo looked
around in awe at the carnage, then shakily undid the flying straps and slid down to the ground. Impressive, he remarked. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hunt quite like that.
I was hungry, Kanin replied, piling the three carcasses in the center of the clearing. Which do you want?
I only need a haunch and a fire, Khollo said, shrugging. The rest are yours. Besides, you did all the work.
Kanin bared his fangs in the dragon equivalent of a smile, then tore a haunch from one of the bucks, dragging it to the side for Khollo. As Kanin began devouring the rest of the carcass, Khollo set about gathering wood for a fire. Initially, he was stymied by the lack of suitable dry timber, but then he remembered Kanin could light a fire from anything in an instant, wet or dry.
A few minutes later, Khollo was sitting beside a roaring fire, the haunch spitted above the flames. There were some situations, he reflected, where a fire-breathing dragon was a highly useful traveling companion.
By the time the haunch was ready to eat, Kanin had finished one deer and started on a second. With his initial hunger sated, he was pacing himself more, eating almost delicately for a dragon. Khollo meanwhile continued to lounge by the fire, slicing choice pieces from his part of the kill every now and then. The meat was wonderfully hot and greasy, although it didn’t have as much flavor as he would have preferred.
As he reached out to cut another slice from the haunch, a tortured shout echoed through the clearing. Khollo jumped, looking around quickly, and drew the two pieces of the Sen-teel. As he was connecting them, an arrow came hissing out of the trees and struck one of the logs in the fire, toppling it and sending up a shower of sparks. Khollo swung around, weapon at the ready, looking for the intruder.
He didn’t have to wait long. Close on the heels of the arrow was a lithe, dark-haired figure. The intruder stalked across the clearing gracefully, looking around in horror.
“Really? You killed all of them? You utter and complete jerks! Three days I followed those tracks and for nothing! Aargh!”
Khollo blinked in surprise as he realized the newcomer was a girl. An athletic and capable looking individual, certainly, but still a girl. For a moment he was stupefied and had no response. The girl took this as an opportunity to continue her rant.
The Captive Page 9
