Dimwater's Demons

by Sam Ferguson

  “And make sure you stay away forever. If you should come looking for her, or if you should ever miss a payment…” Feberik stabbed the blade through the chair just an inch away from the left side of Lord Caspen’s face. The nobleman’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body went limp.

  Feberik turned and replaced his sword. With a sniff he wondered what the headmaster and the local magistrate would say when and if they received word from Lord Caspen about the manner in which this visit had been conducted. What he had just done was far more than what he should have. He had come only to have a discussion after all. Still, he couldn’t help but hope that perhaps somewhere in the plane of the dead, Kyra’s mother was smiling, appreciative of his actions. As he left the parlor he caught sight of the servants he had encountered when he first arrived. He offered them a limp salute and a tight-lipped smile that likely betrayed too much amusement for the potential consequences of this visit.

  Climbing atop his horse, Feberik made a decision. Though the young girl didn’t yet care for him, he would watch over her in any way he could. Perhaps one day she would see that his efforts on her behalf were worthy of her affection. For now, though, it was enough to know that Lord Caspen had been chastened.

  Chapter 2

  Kyra walked through the tall pines, taking in a breath of warm, summer air. The first full week of summer term had finally come, and she couldn’t help but feel utterly relieved that most of the other students who attended Kuldiga Academy had gone home until regular classes would reconvene in the fall. She could finally move through the corridors, eat in the dining hall, and wander the school grounds without hearing whispered conversations that featured her name, or catching stray glances from unfriendly faces everywhere she went.

  Since her encounter with a shade, a dark creature not unlike a vampire that drained a person’s life force and magical essence instead of blood, the hostility toward her had become different from what she had faced shortly after initially arriving at the academy for the first year of sorcery training. At first she had been teased because of the rumors that had cropped up as a result of too frequent visits from her overly attentive fiancé, a man twenty years Kyra’s senior to whom Kyra had been betrothed by her father just before her 14th birthday. A man who, to Kyra’s chagrin, had taken up a teaching post at the academy. However, the treatment she had received as a result of her relationship with Feberik had melted away once word had spread that she had needed to be interviewed by a tribunal of priests from Valtuu Temple after surviving a battle with a shade. The news of Kyra’s true identity as the daughter of a vampire had somehow been leaked as well.

  As a result of these two bits of supposedly confidential information becoming widespread knowledge, a general fear and awe for Kyra had overtaken the disdain and teasing she had previously thought to be the most unbearable of treatment from her peers. Instead of openly bothering her, they whispered quietly whenever she entered a room, and were quick to look away if she glanced at them. Now she found herself fantasizing about how much easier it would have been to complete the next three years of schooling if the only peer difficulties she had to deal with were a few pranks and some childish teasing about her fiancé.

  Even Lady Gerrigan, who had comforted Kyra after her mother’s murder, now scrutinized the young apprentice with narrow eyes whenever she passed by. Kyra knew better than to hope for any amount of comfort from Lady Gerrigan now. That woman had even once muttered the words ‘half-blood’ while staring at Kyra and talking to another one of the instructors.

  Given these developments, Kyra might have left the school if not for Cyrus. He was the one shining beacon of hope in an otherwise dreary school. He was always the optimist.

  “We must train to find the shade once more,” the old wizard had said whenever Kyra would get discouraged.

  True to his word, that is exactly what they had begun focusing on once she was healed up enough from her battle to return to her classes with him. Despite having gone into battle with a dragon on her side, Kyra had been grossly outmatched by the Shade, and had been lucky to come away with scarcely more than a broken ankle. Her dragon friend, Leatherback, and she had been pinned down by a host of illusionary shades, each able to cast its own spell, and would surely have been done for had Cyrus not arrived just when he did, banishing the shade, and returning Kyra, unconscious, to her room at the academy.

  Now that summer had come, she was looking forward to enjoying her time at the school, reading, pursuing her own studies, and working with Cyrus to prepare to defeat her mother’s murderer. She especially was looking forward to spending more time with Leatherback in his secret aspenwood grove where the taint of Nagar’s Blight, a terrible curse that promised to overtake the mind of any dragon still found in the middle kingdom, so far had been unable to find him. It was strange to think that, except for the daily lesson with Cyrus, she would be entirely self-directing her use of time this summer.

  There would be no summer festivals to attend, no travels to other parts of the middle kingdom to occupy weeks of time, and no stuffy dinners to attend with other noble families. She didn’t mind the lack of structure, but she did desperately miss her mother, and was almost happy not to be returning to the home she had grown up in, where she would certainly be confronted with hundreds of things that would remind her that her mother was gone forever.

  As Kyra had been disowned by the man she had grown up thinking of as her father, she had been given permission to stay on at Kuldiga Academy for the term of her enrollment. Though she wasn’t sure who was paying for it all, it seemed her room and board were being handled through the school. She had been allowed to stay in the same room on the top floor of the school to which she had been assigned after first arriving at the academy, and had still not been re-assigned roommates since having them transferred away after the death of her mother.

  She had been happy to be rid of those first roommates – girls with whom she had nothing in common, and who had never taken up her defense when the rumors had begun about her and Feberik, even though they had been there each time he had come to call. The private room had also afforded her the necessary privacy to magically open a portal whenever she had needed to last term, and travel through it to visit Leatherback. Now that the summer was setting in, she wondered how much longer she would be so lucky in her housing situation. Perhaps by next year they would require her to take on a roommate. It would be strange to share her little place with someone. She smirked at herself for a moment, realizing that she had come to look upon her dorm room as her own private little apartment, as though she would be able to remain there for the rest of her life.

  While most other students and half of the faculty went home for the summer, Kyra was already at home. Though she despised the news that she would be expected to attend weekly dinners with her fiancé Feberik and his brother Janik, she did enjoy knowing that it seemed this would be the most she would have to see Feberik, as he had been assigned a summer cohort of third and fourth year apprentices of the sword who would be staying on for extended training during the summer. With the reduced faculty during the summer, as many of them were sent away on assignments for the king, Feberik would be with his students almost constantly, supervising their training and helping them grow accustomed to the regimented life of a soldier.

  There had been some discussion of putting her with a similar summer cohort of sorcery students to keep her out of trouble. But when word of her potentially being re-integrated with the other students had gotten out, the few sorcery candidates there had been had mysteriously all chosen to spend their summer months at home. As a result, all of the sorcery faculty had also been sent out on assignment for the summer, and there was now no worry in her mind of being paired with a hostile instructor.

  Her ankle had healed nicely, thanks to the priests from Valtuu Temple. Still, she had hated having them around so close in the weeks and months since the fight with the shade. And now, despite the marvelous ways in which her dragon
, Leatherback, had been developing, the older priests were still always trying to convince her that Leatherback was not to be trusted. Their rhetoric was much like Njar’s when she had first met the Satyr, but there was something about the way the priests said it that made it more insulting somehow.

  Worse than this, though, was the fact that they could see her aura from a great distance. It had never been overly difficult to sneak out of the academy before, but now, having these priests tasked with watching over her, it was much more complicated than she would have liked.

  Then there were the semi-weekly visits with the priests. They would examine her aura and then go to see Leatherback. She hated those days. Kyra knew they meant well, but it felt like they were judging her value as a person each and every time they stared at her with those dull, gray eyes. She could only imagine what Leatherback must feel like. She wondered whether the dragon knew that the priests would condemn him to death if they saw the slightest hint of what they called “the taint” in his aura.

  Kyra shook her head and sighed. This was not how she had imagined spending the next few years of her life. Fortunately, she had completed the first year of four that she would spend as an apprentice at Kuldiga Academy. Well, four years was the normal course of study for the average apprentice at any rate. She wondered whether she would be expected to complete the terms as normal from here on out. Ever since the winter festival last year, she had only had one-on-one instruction with Cyrus following an incident with a teacher against whom Kyra had defended herself. Unbeknownst to Kyra, Lady Priscilla had been with child, and when Kyra’s wind spell had caused the teacher to fly back into a wall, it had put both mother and child in serious danger.

  Kyra sighed, remembering the incident. If only Feberik could have let her be that first term! His incessant visits had spoiled any chances she might have had to make friends, or at least quietly complete her terms while teaching herself spells from the book her mother had snuck into her bag the day she had left home. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth for a moment before blasting an old stump with a fireball as the memory of that little spell book brought a flood of memories and emotions rushing into her mind. Kyra picked up the pace, knowing that the sooner she could get to Leatherback, the sooner she would have something positive to focus her energy on.

  Just the thought of her friend put a smile on Kyra’s lips. Perhaps she would learn enough from Cyrus to leave with Leatherback in the next year or so, if he grew enough to make the flight across the sea to the north. It all depended on him. Then he would be safe from Nagar’s Blight, and she would be free of the rumors of her half blood, the priests, and most of all, she would be free from the engagement which loomed over her.

  Continuing to tromp along, Kyra began her ascent up the second hill from the academy. She needed to put enough distance between herself and the priests and faculty members who may be curious about her adventures before she could conjure the portal that would ultimately take her to the aspen wood. Not wanting the priests to suspect that she had the ability to magically travel away from her dorm room, she began most of her visits to Leatherback these days with a long hike across the hilly terrain. She always made sure to wait until she was safely over the third ridge from the school before travelling the rest of the distance in a single leap.

  She was nearly to the place where she normally conjured the portal when she heard something. She stopped and glanced to the right. She didn’t see anything there.

  “Heading off to see your pet dragon again?” a familiar voice called from behind her.

  “Kathair!” Kyra shouted disapprovingly.

  Kathair Lepkin stepped out from behind a large oak and gave a flourish of his right arm and a mock bow. His blue eyes seemed to sparkle as he stepped toward her. “You know, I have mentioned before that I don’t really care for my first name. You really should call me Lepkin.”

  Kyra shook her head. “And I have told you that I disapprove of being followed.”

  Lepkin held a finger in the air and his boyish grin stretched as he seemed to wrestle with himself over letting the next words out of his mouth. He settled on saying, “Fair enough. But what else am I supposed to do with my free time? Though the dragon slayers are excellent company,” he began sarcastically, “and I need something else to occupy my free time when I am not in classes.”

  “It’s summer, there aren’t any classes,” Kyra replied evenly.

  “Exactly!” Kathair said, pointing at her emphatically. “Classes aren’t even going on. As boring as they might be, at least it would be something. When I recovered and learned that the other students that… caused the problem,” Kathair seemed unwilling to fully recall just how badly he had been beaten by the gang of students who had attacked him in his dorm room last term, “had been expelled from the academy, I thought it would be good to come back. But arriving the last week of the term was so strange. Everyone was finishing exams and packing up to go home.”

  Kathair’s eyes dulled a bit and his smile faded. “And I, well, I guess I don’t really have a place to go home to for the summer. I’m welcome in Tualdern, of course, but I’m not an elf. I guess I thought I might spend the summer better up here, with you.” The words hung in the air as they both shared a brief glance. Then, his boyish grin came back, flashing those dazzling white teeth of his as he swept his arm out to the side. “Besides, the dragon slayers are staying around too. I figure they might let me go on a few of their hunting trips if I play my cards right.”

  “Hunting trips?” Kyra echoed. “They’re looking for Leatherback?”

  Kathair shook his head. “No, something else. They are being awfully secretive about it, but I think it has something to do with that creature you fought.”

  “You mean the shade,” Kyra said. “They’ll have to find him before I do,” she said through gritted teeth. Then after a moment she realized that Kathair might actually be angling to accompany her to see Leatherback. “You know I can’t take you there,” Kyra said quickly. “I know you wouldn’t hurt him, but if the other dragon slayers found out you knew where he was, they might pressure you into talking.”

  Kathair waved off the notion. “My field training is a bit sporadic now, anyway,” he said. “They have bigger issues to deal with than me. I don’t think it would even cross their minds.”

  “Kath—” Kyra began, but abruptly changed what she was saying when Kathair began to take in a deep breath, “Lepkin, what you need is a project. You know, something that can really capture your interest.”

  “Yeah, but not everyone can just wander out into the woods and find a dragon egg to raise up.” The two of them stood for a moment in silence. “Well, I won’t keep you,” Kathair said suddenly. “If you ever want to study together in the library sometime, maybe I can help you out. I have learned a lot with the dragon slayers, you know. I’m decent with a sword too.”

  Kyra nodded and smiled. If it were any other boy in Kuldiga Academy, she would think he was boasting to be impressive, but she knew better in this case. She remembered clearly the trouncing he had dished out to the group of students –not to mention their instructor— that had caught him in the courtyard last year.

  “Maybe I’ll see you there soon. Cyrus gives me a lot of materials to read.”

  “Excellent,” Kathair said with a widened smile and bright eyes. “Try to stay out of trouble, will you?” With that, Kathair Lepkin disappeared behind the tree again and was gone.

  Kyra tried to see which way he went, but there was no sign of the boy anywhere. It was as if he vanished into the air. The young sorcery apprentice moved around the tree and scanned the area for him, but she never saw so much as a wiggling branch. Kyra thought it must have been a trick he learned from the elves who raised him, for she had never seen a human so easily disappear into a forest before.

  She waited for a few moments, just to ensure that Lepkin had actually gone and was not hiding somewhere just to follow her to Leatherback. She knew better than that though. Katha
ir wouldn’t want to risk Leatherback being discovered by the dragon slayers any more than she did.

  Taking one last look around to ensure that there were no prying eyes, Kyra opened the magical portal that Njar had taught her to use as the surest way to the aspen wood and smiled when she finally saw the green and golden leaves flittering about in the summer breeze. After quickly closing the portal behind her, the young woman turned sideways as she slithered through the tangled mess of white trunks and grinned wide when Leatherback noticed her coming into the secret glade.

  His tail flicked up and thumped the soft grass as what could only be described as a joyful grin stretched his lips over his fangs. His sky-blue eyes twinkled and his nostrils flared as he lifted his head.

  “Hello Kyra,” Leatherback greeted.

  “Hello, dear friend,” Kyra replied. “Is Njar around today?” she asked.

  Leatherback shook his massive head slowly. “Already gone.” A wisp of smoke slithered out from his nostrils as he spoke. The dragon stretched his neck forward and rested his head down upon the ground in front of his forelegs. “Story?”

  Kyra shook her head and crossed the grassy ground to pet the top of his scaly snout. “I’m afraid not today. I just came to see you, and ask how you were feeling.”

  “Priests today?” Leatherback asked, his grin diminishing somewhat.

  “Not today,” Kyra answered. “Just me.”

  “Good.” Leatherback closed his eyes and let Kyra scratch the area of his neck just behind his jaw.

  He emitted a sound akin to a cat’s purr, only it was much louder and vibrated throughout the glade.

  “I know it’s been hard having those priests around all the time,” Kyra said as she ceased stroking the dragon and curled up next to his head, leaning back into the sturdy neck. “I think I might have a great idea of how we can just forget about them for a day.”