by Travis Kerr
The dragon let out a burst of dragonfire, but the man, seeing the danger, dived to the side, narrowly avoiding the jetting flame. The man renewed his charge with vigor. The dragon understood at once. At a distance the man stood no chance at all of even wounding it. Up close it would be much harder for the dragon to use its flames, and would have to fight the man hand to claw.
That was just fine to the dragon. The man did not carry a spear, or even a sword. The only thing he had was a short knife, not even long enough to do any significant damage. Should the man somehow get close enough to use the knife, it would be a useless gesture.
As the man closed in the massive beast swung a hard claw in his direction. With a speed that astounded the dragon, the man danced back, swinging his knife at the claw as it passed by. The knife landed as the man had expected, but not with the results he had hoped for. With a loud crack the knife snapped just above the base, the blade of the weapon flying uselessly across the top of the shallow swamp. It skipped across the water like a stone before losing its momentum and coming to a halt, sinking at once.
The dragon snorted its amusement, swinging the claw back a second time, almost absently, at least to the dragon. To the man it came with the speed of a crossbow bolt, almost invisible, impossible to dodge. The strike caught the unarmed man right underneath the his raised arm, sending him skidding across the water as his knife blade had only moments before.
The dragon heard the audible, satisfying crunch of one or more of the man’s bones snapping. Whether it was a rib or an arm, or both, it hardly mattered. In another moment there wouldn’t be enough left of him to make any difference anyway, the dragon knew. It lazily stepped over to the body, which had been cast into waist deep water by its devastating blow. It raised its claw to deliver the killing stroke.
A streak of sapphire flew directly into its face, seemingly from nowhere. The little dragonling flew directly at its eyes, clawing, scratching, and biting. The dragon roared, swatting at the creature as one would a fly. Several times the creature assaulted its larger cousin. The attacks were nothing more than an annoyance to the dragon, but the small creature kept up the attack, as if it believed that, against all hope, it could somehow prevail. Finally, unable to inflict so much as a tickle on the massive dragon, the dragonling gave up its attack, disappearing quickly into the swamp.
The dragon looked down at the place in the water where the man it had been sent to kill had been thrown, and roared anew, its mighty voice causing the trees around it to shudder. The man, Raiste Goldstone, was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter Twenty
“I haven’t been able to find a thing!” Drom announced in exasperation, putting down the book on the history of the races he had been pouring through. This was the fifth book he had read, cover to cover, and yet he had not found one reference to the ever elusive bree.
“Maybe the little man was telling the truth,” Raine suggested for perhaps the seventh or eighth time. “He had told us that even the mages didn’t know about them; that no one did. I didn’t think that it was possible either, but I know I’ve never heard of them before. If the books don’t know anything about them, maybe the mages really don’t either.”
“How could the bree have stayed hidden for over four thousand years?” he asked again, for perhaps the seventh or eighth time. As before she didn’t really have an answer. It seemed, however, that, against all odds, such was truly the case.
Raine knew that his preoccupation with the bree had nothing to do with the small beings themselves. Drom had been like this ever since he learned that she was pregnant. It wasn’t that he was unhappy, she was quite certain of that. After the initial shock of the news wore off, he was overcome with joy. It was simply that he felt the need to do something to further their cause, and could think of nothing else he could do.
Like before, they spent every day in the same routine they had been following. Drom would start the day with practice, while Raine looked on, then they would clean at least a small portion of the Hut. Afterward, they would spend some time out at the dock fishing together, then dinner and relaxation for the rest of the night. Now Drom understood the reason why she was so interested in all the cleaning she had been insisting upon. It was not likely that they would be staying in the Hut throughout her pregnancy, they both knew, but her subconscious mind still told her to prepare for the coming of her children.
Not child, but children, plural.
It took her nearly a week before she had gotten up the nerve to tell Drom that little tidbit of information. It was rare that feral woman had only one child result from a pregnancy. Usually they would give birth to two or three, sometimes even as many as five or six. Rarely was there only one. It was likely that, in only a matter of a few more brief months, they would have several children underfoot.
Of course, it was always possible that there would only be one child. Drom had a sorvinian father and a human mother. Both were races that commonly only had one child result from the pregnancy, so it was next to impossible to know what to expect.
They also wondered which of the two parents the children would favor. Their father was, like all of his father’s race, a strict vegetarian, while she, like all ferals, had a diet almost entirely consisting of meat. It was impossible to predict what the children would be like. To the best of her knowledge, there had never been a child born of a sorvinian and a feral before. They were, under most circumstances, a rather unlikely pair. They had no way of knowing what their children would look like, what they would eat, or for that matter anything at all about them until they were born.
Drom understood that those were questions that couldn’t be answered, so each evening he spent his time deep in Raiste's books, trying to gather as much information as he could about their strange new ally, the bree. Much to his dismay, however, any questions about the miniature race seemed as unanswerable as those about the children growing inside Raine.
So far the bree had not returned. The messenger had said that if they had need of him, all they had to do was call out for him, and he might hear them. Drom had no idea if there was any truth to that statement, but so far he didn’t have any reason to test it either. Once Raiste arrived, then they would call the bree back, and meet with their leader again. Until then, it was only a matter of waiting.
The continued absence of their friend worried them more than anything else did, though neither of them was willing to voice their fears out loud. The bree ruler had said that he had been watching the assassin, or at least that one of his bree had been, and that the man was fine. Still, it had been over a month since then. In the time since then, anything could have happened.
They couldn’t even consider going anywhere else until he came back to them, and Drom didn’t want their children to be born in the Hut. He knew nothing at all of childbirth, aside from the basic information that everyone knew anyway. He wanted to have an experienced midwife with her when their children were born.
Drom had no ideas as to where they should go once Raiste returned. He wasn’t even certain that the assassin would want to go anywhere right away, but Drom planned on insisting. While he hadn’t expected to have a family to worry about so soon, he intended on doing whatever he could to protect that family. That started with taking Raine someplace that would be safe to give birth to their children.
He wasn’t fooling himself into thinking that any place would be safe enough for very long. He didn’t know if Bloodheart would be after Raine or not; hopefully the mage didn’t know about her existence at all. He knew, however, that the mage would most certainly be after him. After what he had done to Sloan and his men, there wasn’t any way to avoid that now.
He did have one hope going for him, which he clung to like a rope over a deep pit. Everyone in Port Tam believed he had been a human man. They wouldn’t be looking for someone who looked like a sorvinian. He now suspected that he didn’t really look like a sorvinian either, but he certainly didn’t look human when his fur wasn’t trimmed ba
ck. This thought had already occurred to him during the last month, since Raine had agreed to be his wife and he discovered that he was soon to be a father.
So he chose to allow the thick fur that had once covered his face to grow out once more. He once again appeared as he had been when he had first met his companions, little more than half a year before. His best disguise now, he believed, would simply be to be himself. When he had asked Raine about it, she was inclined to agree. She thought he looked better in his fur anyway, she confided in him. For now he would save the hair removing lotion for when he wished to look human again.
Raine had only just started to show a small swell in her belly. It was hardly at all noticeable during the day, when she was fully clothed, but he had begun noticing the slight change at night. His chosen wife, he discovered, preferred to sleep in her fur, and nothing else.
Her clothing choices during the day had changed as well. When they were traveling she had always worn breeches and tunic in the style of a man, though no one could ever have mistaken her for one. Her slim, womanly figure left little question, regardless of what she wore. Now, however, she had taken to wearing light, loose dresses. On this night the dress she wore, which was barely long enough to cover the upper part of her thigh, was a cheerful, mint green color.
Her choice in clothing was entirely her own. For his part, he found her beautiful in any style of dress, or in nothing at all for that matter. He had long since gotten over the awkward shyness that he once felt when he saw her in the nude. She slept next to him in that manner every night, and it would be hard for anyone to continue feeling that way in such a situation. He would worry about modesty again when they were no longer alone.
“You’ve done enough studying for tonight,” Raine announced lightly, sliding closer on the couch to snuggle up against him. “You can read more tomorrow. These books will still be here. I was thinking we should get up early tomorrow, and see if maybe we can try to remove that tree that fell through the ceiling in the back room upstairs. If we can get it out, we might be able to repair the roof. Then I’ll be able to clean that room too.”
“I was hoping I might be able to learn something about the bree,” he grumbled, but put down the book as she requested. “I don’t like not knowing anything about our new allies.”
“You’re the one who convinced me that they weren’t likely to be enemies, remember?” she reminded him. “Your arguments were convincing enough for me. Like you told me, if they were enemies we would have been attacked by now. They didn’t get any information from us, but instead provided us with information about what was going on outside these walls. As you also said, they wouldn’t gain anything by lying to us either.”
“I know. If what they said was true though, we’re going to need an army, and I want to know as much as I can about those we get to aid us. I don’t know much about warfare, but it seems that the bree think I’m going to be some kind of commander or something. It makes sense that someone who is going to lead men into battle should know as much about those men as he can, so he knows ahead of time what they are capable of. I’ve learned plenty about the other races, but I don’t know a thing about these bree.”
“You’re not going to be able to solve everything in one night,” she pointed out. “Besides, from what little we do know about the bree, I don’t think they are a race that are actually going to be doing any of the fighting. What would they really do, bite at the mage's ankles? As for the other races, we don’t know who yet will be willing to join us. It’s good that you’re thinking about it, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t want you to worry yourself more than you need to.”
“It doesn’t matter if the races I am studying are going to be allies or enemies,” he replied. “I need to know the strengths and weaknesses of friends and enemies alike. That’s the only way I can think of for us to have a chance at winning a war like the one everyone seems to think is now inevitable. I...”
Raine put a finger to his lips, silencing him mid-sentence. They had already had this same discussion several times during the past month, and she didn’t see any change in the outcome coming from the conversation this time around. She emphasized her point by kissing him soundly on the lips, not pulling away until she felt his stiff muscles relax.
“You should put it away for tonight,” she said in a nonchalant tone. Drom wasn’t fooled. He knew an order when he heard one. “I think I’m ready for bed. Like I said, I think it would be a good idea for us to get up early tomorrow. The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish up, so you should join me.” She kissed him once again, quickly this time, her lips barely brushing his.
“Don’t keep me waiting too long,” she whispered suggestively, bouncing to her feet and disappearing through the doorway before he could answer.
Once again he knew an order when he heard one.
If I don’t join her quickly, I’m really going to pay for it.
He glanced once at the book sitting on the arm of the couch next to him, then with a small sigh headed for the living room doorway.
He had just reached the bottom of the stairway when the sound of breaking glass upstairs caused him to jolt. He heard Raine cry out, the sound cut off suddenly as if someone had stopped it mid-scream. He bolted up the stairs to the rooms they now shared, passing by his own room, which was still dark, and flew headlong through the door where she kept her belongings.
This room was bright with the light of a roaring blaze in the fireplace, the fresh logs flaring as the lamp oil that coated them burned greedily. Raine stood in the middle of the room, still as stone. The bright firelight created heavy shadows behind the objects in the room, and out of the corner of his eye, Drom caught a blue flicker of movement as something darted behind one of these shadows, disappearing from his vision before he could see it.
Drom didn’t know what it was that had come into their home, but he wasn’t about to take any chances. This thing had come into his home, had perhaps threatened Raine. It wanted to hide in shadows, but he could do something about that.
With a thought, that came to him now as naturally as breathing, he called on his magic. He didn’t have Ocean’s Hand, but the magic was a part of him. He did not need a weapon to call on its power. The bright blue glow of his power ignited the room, piercing the depths of the shadows that kept the intruder hidden.
Sapphire scales reflected the light from his magical aura back at him, revealing the shaking, frightened dragonling huddling in what had been the shadow of a night stand, now plainly revealed.
“Trick!” Raine exclaimed, running over to the terrified animal. For a brief moment it appeared that their small friend didn’t recognize them. He stared at them with wide, wild eyes. With a blink he snapped out of whatever had held him fast, and he flew directly into Raine's arms. He tried to bury his head under her arm, but she held him back.
“Trick, where’s Raiste?” she asked urgently. Drom immediately realized her concern. If Trick was here, than surely Raiste couldn’t have been far away. If the dragonling left his side to come here, especially in such a state of obvious distress, something must have happened. He let his magic fade, the bright blue light subsiding, though the firelight still kept most of the room bright.
Trick immediately flew to the window, staring out into the darkness. Raine went to the window and looked out, but couldn’t see anything. Trick flew out of the window, circling just beyond the light shining through it.
“We’ll meet you out front,” Raine called out to him. The small dragonling promptly flew off, presumably toward the front of the building to meet them. Raine sprinted to the door in a flash, flying passed him to bolt down the stairs. Drom followed only a short distance behind, pausing by his room for only a moment to grab Ocean’s Hand by its sheath before following her to the front door.
As Raine opened the door, Drom saw Trick fly by from over her shoulder, but he didn’t fly west toward the only path in or out as he had expected him to. Instead, the dragonling flew toward the
south. Drom and Raine followed him as far as the edge of the water, where they stopped. The dragonling flew only a short distance out over the water before he circled twice, then returned to them. He landed on Raine's shoulder and gave one short chirp.
“We need to go out there,” Raine announced. Drom knew she was right. From the way their small sapphire friend acted, Drom suspected that Raiste was, for whatever reason, out there on the water. Drom listened intently, but he could not hear any sounds to indicate that something was out there. He instantly feared the worst.
If Raiste is out there on the water and isn’t moving, it doesn’t bode well at all.
His eyes sensed something move in the darkness at the edge of his vision, ever so slightly, though not a single sound betrayed its presence. He pulled Ocean’s Hand out of its sheath and called forth his magic, allowing the magic to form slowly so that only the slightest of breezes accompanied its coming.
In the bright blue glow of his magic he saw something move under the water’s surface, and he brought Ocean’s Hand between that movement and himself. The water surged in front of him as something bulky and dark pushed up out of the water toward him. He almost struck with Ocean’s Hand before he recognized the creature as Raiste, covered in mud, muck, and underwater debris. The assassin flopped on the ground at his feet, panting for breath.
“Raiste!” Raine shouted, falling to the ground at the assassin's side.
“I’ll be alright,” the assassin managed to say, though it seemed to Drom that it had been hard for the man to speak. Now that Drom could see him a little better, he realized that his friend’s clothing was not just covered in muck as he had originally believed. The man’s clothing hung from him in tatters, no longer recognizable, and appeared to be scorched in some places.
“Good,” Raine replied. “I can see you’ll need a bath. Why did you come in this way instead of using the path like you should have? These clothes are probably going to have to be thrown out. I hope this wasn’t one of your better suits.”
