Drachenara

by T. G. Neal

  As they ventured further into town, they stopped at the stable and dismounted. Vaelen paid the young stablehand a few coins, made sure the boy would be there for a decent amount of time, and then they would be on their way. Once Vaelen was sure of that, he and Aurelia put their packs on and made their way into the city.

  “I’ve been here on two separate occasions,” Vaelen said as they walked toward the open market. “Once as a small boy, my father took time away from his duties at the castle and he and my mother came down here for a holiday. We stayed in an inn, ate exotic Dwarven delicacies, and bought neat things. I got my first dagger here, Dwarven made. I lost it in a battle a few years back. But then I came back with my own company of guards – soldiers in this case – and dealt with an out of control mayor. We deposed the man and sent him packing. He crossed your father.” He said smirking, then gesturing to a store built around the outside of the market stalls. It was marked with a hanging sign that showed an anvil.

  Aurelia nodded, understanding his gesture, but spoke as she walked. “I remember only a few people who crossed my father. I remember the specific time you’re referencing, actually. The man’s name was Dornan, right?” Vaelen nodded and Aurelia continued. “Dornan sent him correspondence, saying he would take Iskirana and form a small individual state out of it. Drachenara had just instituted trade reform, and it affected Iskirana. So my father sent a Jackdaw to the Bren of Midland and informed him that he was about to have Dornan killed for standing against him. The Bren of Midland agreed. So I suppose that’s why you went.”

  “Aye,” Vaelen said. “We took him out in the street and executed him. I obeyed my orders, no matter what, but I questioned the act of execution for just defiance. It was later that we found out that the Mayor had been stealing the tax money that he would pay to your father and pocketing it. His mansion is over the hill. Your father turned it into an orphanage.” Vaelen laughed and opened the door to the shop they had been heading to all along.

  As they stepped inside a cough came from the back and the charcoal dusted face of a Dwarf appeared from the back. “What can I do ye for?”

  Vaelen leaned on the counter. “Ib? Ib Granilk?” Vaelen queried.

  “Vaelen Wraithson!” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Vaelen Wraithson? Stone beneath my feet, boy, you look like your father.” He rubbed his chin. “You didn’t do it, did ye? I knew ye didn’t.”

  “Do what, Ib?” Vaelen asked.

  “The new Bren and Brenness sent me a letter that you planned an attack that killed your dad and Bren and Brenness Drache. You didn’t do it, did you?” Ibrahim Granilk said, wiping his hands off.

  Aurelia chimed in, “No, he didn’t do it!”

  Ib looked at her and tilted his head with a hint of curiosity. “And you’re Aurelia Drache, aren’t you?”

  Aurelia looked nervously to Vaelen, afraid to confirm. Vaelen nodded. “I am.”

  Vaelen chimed in, “Jorvig came back home with the Brenness of Stormvale on his arm. Said he met her at the tournament, fell in love, and so on and so forth. They killed Bren Saden and Brenness Seera,” Vaelen said, gauging Aurelia’s reaction of their names, “and my father.” He trailed a moment. “They did it in well-executed, well-planned, colder-than-ice blood, Ib.”

  Ib looked to Vaelen. “I see. Why don’t you come in the back with me?” He then looked to Aurelia and back to him and whispered with a wink, “Pretty lass.”

  Aurelia smiled as she followed them into the back.

  Ib sat down on a crate and lit his pipe and gestured for Vaelen and Aurelia to sit down. He looked up to them. “They sent me a letter because I’m the border operative for the Brendom. I guess old Seneg let them know how to contact me. Listen, you’re fine around here. Only Drachenara is on the constant lookout for you two, from what I hear. The world is a big place, just run.”

  “That’s the plan, Ib. I’m here to get some things and then go.” Vaelen said, sitting down and leaning forward, propping his elbows on his knees.

  “What you got in mind, lad?” Ib said, beaming. “Been a long time since ye bought any wares here. Few years ago, when you and those other soldier lads stopped through. The old discount applies.”

  Vaelen smiled. “I appreciate that more than you know. I just need the best. I have a couple hundred coin on me.” Vaelen said. Aurelia cut him a side look of surprise. “I need something appropriate for a lady archer. And I need something appropriate for me; I’ve taken to using this claymore.” Vaelen said, drawing the blade and showing it to him.

  Ib took the sword from him. “Looks human made. Grey made, am I right?” He sucked through the pipe and breathed it back out. The sweet smell of the various herbs mixed with tobacco was pleasant, almost soothing to the duo.

  Vaelen nodded.

  “Hold ye arses right here a min’t.” He said, grunting as he stood, and walking away.

  Aurelia looked at Vaelen and whispered as soon as Ibrahim left. “So, who is this guy? And where did you get so many sovereigns?”

  Vaelen whispered back, “Ibrahim is a border operative. He feeds up information and makes weapons and armor. Used to sell the stuff in Drachenara on the big trade days. He’d bring his cart up loaded down with weapons, armor and information. He’d sell all three. But he had been bought off by your father a long time ago. Your father paid Ibrahim a hefty sum of gold to keep his trade secrets within Drachenara, and to feed certain information back to him and my father. He knew us well. Old Ib had everyone in his pocket around here and kept pretty close ties with some of the criminal organizations around the realm.”

  Aurelia just nodded her head. Some of that was over her head, some of it she absorbed. “Is he trustworthy?”

  “For us, yes? For your brother and Brenness Miliria? Not a chance in the six hells. And I got the coin off the merchant in Valley Veil. I didn’t kill him, don’t worry.”

  Something about that made Aurelia feel okay about it, and she started to talk, but bit her tongue when the Dwarf came walking back in with four canvas bound packs, one of which was evidently a sword. “Alright.” He sat down on the crate he had been on before. He weighed out two of them in his hands and judged them accordingly. The one that was smaller, he tossed at the feet of Aurelia. The other he tossed at the feet of Vaelen. Then he unwrapped the sword, a large claymore and held it out. “I’ll keep the other one and trade this one for it.” He handed it to Vaelen. “Forged it myself.” He then handed the other small pack to Aurelia. “This is a bundle of my special arrows. Made all one hundred of them myself. Forged all out of Dwarvium from the Underlands.” He smiled as he looked at the two of them, then paused, then remembered. “Oh, and all that will only be a hundred sovereigns.”

  Vaelen looked suspicious all of a sudden. “Now, wait a minute.” He peeked into the bigger wrapped canvas packages. “This is a full suit of hard leather and chainmail, a claymore and frog, and—“he peeked into Aurelia’s pack “a soft leather ranger’s suit and hood, and armor bufferings.” He looked up at Ibrahim. “There’s no way that accounts right, even with a discount.”

  Ibrahim stood and walked over to him. “You and your Da treated me right,” he looked to Aurelia. “Yours too.” He looked into the fires of his forge that burned nearby. “You cannae get your Da, back. But I can give you the gear to get you far away. And I know you’d never take it for free. You’re ta good a man to do it.” Ibrahim’s voice cracked. “You just be safe. When you’re out of the country, don’t look back. Don’t think about us again. Don’t think about what you’re leaving behind. You have each other and your skills. Put them to use. Find a new place to call home.” The Dwarf tightened the muscles along his jaw and looked at them both. “Hardest and best thing I ever did.”

  “Thank you.” Vaelen said, reaching out and grasping the Dwarf’s forearm in a standard appreciative greeting.

  Aurelia leaned and embraced the Dwarf. “I appreciate this more than you could ever know.”

  Ibrahim followed them to the door and wa
tched them walk off. “I wish I had had someone to give me the help I needed when I left Stonebirth.” He smiled and leaned against the door facing to his house. “Time for me to stop spying for the new Bren. Ain’t giving him nothing.”

  Vaelen and Aurelia didn’t leave immediately. They stopped by a cooking stand before they left the market and the two of them spent some of their leftover sovereigns on a hot roasted chicken and roasted potatoes and corn. The nice hot meal would be welcome, compared to their breakfast of dried meat, bread and water. And to go with it, Vaelen bought a nice honeyed wine. Nothing meant to lessen any pain, just a delightful flavor.

  With that in their packs, they made their way back to their horses. As they walked, Vaelen adjusted the new frog on his back and the claymore that rested within it. This new blade was slightly wider than his previous, slightly longer, ample room for two hands to move about the blade and weighed less than its predecessor. That alone made it better for Vaelen. Such was the benefit of Dwarven blacksmiths; they were truly the masters of the forge.

  Once they returned to the stables, Vaelen tipped the stablehand a couple of sovereigns and loaded up the horses who had been fed and watered. The two beasts had to be exhausted. Vaelen wouldn’t push them much further, they just had to find a good place outside of town to rest for the night.

  Aurelia climbed up on her horse, as did Vaelen, and the two rode out of town.

  Only a short while later, Vaelen spotted a small creek that ran under a bridge on the road. With the silence of the night he could hear the distant sound of the rushing of water. It was nothing fierce, but was indeed stirring with force, which to him meant a small waterfall. The serenity of such a location would be welcome, though the extra sound could compromise their safety because it would dull his senses to anything that might come at them.

  He chose to try to find the source of the sound and rode upstream. As he rode, Aurelia followed behind him. “There isn’t much day left. Do you think we’ll find a good spot for the night?”

  Vaelen looked back at her. “I believe so.”

  Aurelia nodded, she had been following, but as the space between the trees widened, she rode beside Vaelen, pacing the horse enough to catch up. “I look forward to wearing something with utility.” She said, looking down at her filthy dress. She was eager to wear the leather patchwork pants and canvas shirt, with the hard and soft leather vest. She saw a leather vambrace, and she looked forward to that too.

  “I look forward to wearing armor.” He said, looking at the dirty, blood spattered canvas shirt he wore. “I feel like I’m wearing nothing at all.”

  Riding forward only a few more feet, a small clearing around a crystal-clear opening appeared. The land rose up and angled back uphill a ways. Here, where they were, was the base of the hill, and the water fell off a ten or twelve-foot rock into the pool below. The pool looked to be three or four feet deep in the center and was clear enough to see to the very bottom, which was paved with water-smoothed river pebbles. Such a place could only exist in fiction, Aurelia thought.

  She smiled as she rode up past Vaelen. Surrounding the water was even a small beach, formed when rainwater made the levels higher. “My word,” she said. “This is beautiful.”

  With the sun setting, it cast a beautiful orange glow back on the small grotto they’d found. Vaelen smiled too, both at the beauty and the happiness Aurelia exhibited over the place he’d managed to stumble across. “Indeed, it is. I think it’d be a wonderful place to build a fire, scald our meal for the night, and then settle in for a bit of rest. What do you think?”

  “That sounds wonderful.” Aurelia said, smiling.

  Vaelen dismounted his horse and led him to the water’s edge, where he tied the horses reigns a good distance away to a tree’s stump. Aurelia, too, tied her horse off to the same tree and ventured away.

  While Vaelen unpacked the goods, Aurelia began planning for the perfect spot to build a small fire and set up camp. Maybe twenty feet from the water, she found a bare spot on the ground and began collecting wood.

  By the time Vaelen brought their packs over and placed them on the ground, Aurelia practically had the fire ready to light. Vaelen was impressed. Every night they had been on the road, her fervor had grown.

  Aurelia stood close and watched Vaelen light the fire. He made a short trip to a nearby tree to collect dry fungus and pulled up some dry grass that had settled on the forest floor. Then he used a sharp rock to carve out the inside. From their previous camp, he had collected some chert, and clanged it against the edge of his blade to spark a flame below the fire. As he started it, he talked Aurelia through it, so she would know the process for the future.

  He then unrolled the chicken, potatoes and corn and sat it on their paper wrappings right next to the fire to warm it back up. As he unwrapped it, Aurelia sought out more wood.

  Before long, the two were sitting down next to the fire, eating what both of them felt was the best meals they’d had in a while. While they ate, they talked over the plan for the future. Vaelen told her where they were going and what route they were taking. He told her the names of the mercenary group and the specific man they were looking for that had been his father’s friend.

  After they finished their meals, they still sat around and talked, and enjoyed the fire. Vaelen leaned on his elbow on his side and watched the flames. “You know, Aurelia, once we get to them we could work with them.”

  Aurelia was sitting cross-legged and looked intently at the flames. “Well, I thought that was the plan. I’ve been mentally preparing myself for killing for money.”

  “Well, it’s not that simple. We aren’t bounty hunters. We’re paid by Brens and Brennesses who don’t have standing armies to hunt down barbarians, highwaymen and the like. The Silver Sort will put us up somewhere, while we work. We can travel; see the nine Brendoms the way you’ve always wanted to.” Vaelen said, rolling a pebble around in his hand.

  “I think I can do that.” Aurelia smiled, though inside she was nervous.

  Vaelen rolled over on his back and looked up. He could barely see through the treetop at the sky. Only in certain breaks, the trees were parted enough to see the first few stars showing in the dusk sky. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep in the comfortable warmth of the fire.

  Vaelen sat bolt upright. His heart raced. He realized he had fallen asleep and he noticed that the fire had died down. He didn’t realize that there had been more wood added, only that the flames weren’t as high as they were before. He looked past the fire and didn’t see Aurelia. He jumped to his feet and looked around, seeing nothing. He knelt and reached for his sword and sniffed the air, picking up faint scents of lavender and rosemary. When he heard nothing, he shouted “Aurelia!”

  Aurelia turned her head back “I’m here!”

  Vaelen followed the sound of her voice in a jog and stopped as he realized what he saw. Before his eyes, Aurelia had undressed and was in the water, facing away from him. She had placed all her former clothes in a pile on the ground except for her small clothes, which she washed and hung on a tree. Her new armor was situated in a neat pile near her small clothes, and the canvas that had wrapped the armor was on a large stone near the water’s edge. She stood where the shallow water was up only to the small of her back, and she used a small soaked piece of the canvas to drip water over her back in small streams. Vaelen quickly diverted his eyes. “I’m sorry. I woke and was concerned.”

  Aurelia looked over her shoulder at him. “No apology necessary. You fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake you, and I needed to bathe.” She said, smiling.

  “I’ll see you when you’re done.” He said, lifting his eyes once more to see her. Her pale skin was glowing white in the light of the moon and the stars, and only just barely picked up the faint light of the orange fire that glowed almost thirty feet away.

  “Mhm.” Aurelia said, and went back to her bath.

  Vaelen walked away and stoked the fire a bit to warm up the cooler night air for wh
en she returned.

  Aurelia had gone and collected lavender, rosemary and calendula from the forests wild herbs and flowers in a nearby grove, and the scents and the cool water were so therapeutic for her. It helped her clear her mind and renewed her body. She casually strode to the edge of the water and picked up the dagger that Jorvig had given her. She wouldn’t get rid of the blade, even as much as she hated the man who gave it to her. She walked back out to the center of the pool of water, leaving her naked body uncovered. I need to be someone else, she thought, I need a new persona. I need to become a warrior.

  She held up the dagger and looked at the moonlight reflecting on her naked body, then she began cutting.

  Vaelen sat next to the fire for several more minutes. He thought about what he saw, about Aurelia in the pool, and he couldn’t shake the feelings he had – the feelings he discovered since they had been on the road. He resolved himself to bathe as well, the concept was novel, and even though he knew the water would be cool, he would be satisfied to be clean. It had been quite a while now and having gone from drawn baths in the capital to none at all was too reminiscent of times on the battlefield. But that’s what this is, isn’t it? Just a battle to live at all.

  As he finished his thought, Aurelia became visible by the light. He first noticed the new clothes that adorned her body. From the boots on her feet, where the hilt of the dagger Jorvig had given her was tucked, to the patchwork leather pants and sleeves, and the hardleather vest that protected her and obscured her gender. What Vaelen hadn’t noticed until now was the design in the hard leather – a dragon.

  His eyes continued up her form until they met her eyes, and he realized then the major change and it caught him off guard; Aurelia had cut her hair down to almost two inches in length all over. Her once long, ebony hair was gone and now her delicate features were framed by more than a foot less hair. Vaelen loved it.