First of Tomes (The Tomes of Kaleria Book 2)

by Honor Raconteur

  Mei Li stared at him, absolutely gobsmacked. “I knew you had a strong will but great deities, man! Your will is indomitable. Anyone else in that position would have been seduced.”

  This amused him. But pleased him, too, she could see it in the smug tilt of his mouth. “Really, for most of that time, it was easy to ignore the sword. I only want two things in life. For the dragons and humanity to be friends, and you. It couldn’t give me either.”

  Still…Mei Li was reeling from the idea that he could face that sort of temptation head on and not bow to it. “But when I reached you, you said it was very hard to ignore it?”

  “Toward the end, it was. It wasn’t so much that I believed its lies. I was just tired. My will was reaching the point that I wanted to pick up the sword and end matters. I didn’t for the simple reason that I wasn’t going to let a thrice-cursed sword get the better of me.”

  “Ahh, stubbornness,” she acknowledged with a soft laugh. “Now that I believe.”

  “Of course. Stubbornness has worked out well for me so far.”

  “I suppose it has.” Mei Li was starving, and thirsty, but she still didn’t want to get out of bed just yet. She was comfortable where she was, for one thing. And this was a peaceful moment. Those were hard to come by.

  She snuggled in closer, wrapping an arm around his waist, and settled again with a happy sigh. Shunlei pulled her in closer still, hand idly stroking her back.

  “I worried you, didn’t I?” he murmured apologetically against the top of her head.

  “I was frantic to get to you. I didn’t know what had happened, only that my seeking spell insisted the trap had been used. But it’s alright. We’ll never do this again. I’m going with you from now on.”

  “So, you’re saying we’ll really need to design a harness for you.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “I’ll get to fly with you more often. I’m alright with this plan.”

  “I didn’t think I’d get an argument.” Feeling a little mischievous, she tacked on, “I have another plan you’ll like.”

  “Oh?”

  “I vote we go to Summer Winds Temple after this and rest for a while.”

  “Why there, specifically?”

  “They have natural hot springs on the grounds.” She waited for that to click. Three, two, one…

  “In other words,” Shunlei said with rising excitement, “they have open-air baths?”

  “They do,” Mei Li purred.

  “Big enough for my natural form?”

  “Maybe not on the temple grounds themselves, but there’s plenty of springs in the area. I’m sure we can find one.” Or make one. Mei Li would throw magic at the problem if that was Shunlei’s wish. He’d certainly earned the privilege. And she liked making him happy.

  Shunlei vibrated as if he were tempted to spring up right this second and dash out the door. “Let’s go.”

  Snickering, she reminded him, “We need to convince everyone else, too.”

  “Bah,” he dismissed. “We’ll tell them we’re eloping. They can come or not as they please.”

  That sounded half teasing, but also half serious. “Eloping?”

  “Well, it’s a temple, after all.” Shunlei’s tone indicated this was obvious, and she should have already realized what he meant without him having to spell it out. “Hawes explained that humans have to be married in a ceremony with a person of power officiating. A priest at a temple would be able to do it, right?”

  Mei Li felt a cultural gap coming on. “Shun, dearest, tell me something. How long do dragons normally court before they marry?”

  He went still again, and his tone was cautious. “Normally a week or two? I’m afraid to ask. How long do humans court?”

  “A year is pretty standard.”

  He made a noise like a duck choking on a cracker. “Why would you wait so long?!”

  “The thought is, it gives the couple time to really know how well they’re going to work together. And most wedding ceremonies are pretty elaborate and take a while to plan out. But dragons normally do a mating flight, right?”

  “Right. No ceremony with us. And really, we should know in the first two weeks if we’ll be a good match or not. We go hunting together many times during a courtship, and work through challenges, so it’s obvious quickly.” Shunlei hummed, one of those deep-chested thrums that indicated thought on his part. It vibrated Mei Li’s body in a pleasant way. “Do we…need to court a year?”

  The reluctance in him was obvious even though she wasn’t looking at his face. Mei Li, perhaps, should have said yes. Convention urged her to do that. In truth, it wasn’t necessary. She’d worked and fought alongside this man for many months. She’d shared sorrows and triumphs with him. She knew him now better than she knew herself, in some ways.

  And she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she loved him.

  With complete confidence, she tilted her head back to look him in the eye. “No. As far as I’m concerned, we can elope today.”

  The joy that came over him was practically incandescent. Shunlei kissed her fiercely, vibrating with joy, and then pulled back to demand, “Can we really go today?”

  Mei Li almost said yes, then belatedly remembered a certain sword. Not to mention a half-completed wedding outfit. “Well—”

  “I hear them talking,” Hawes said from the hallway, voice a little muted. “I think they’re up.”

  “Uh-oh, we’re caught.” Mei Li lifted up enough to swing her legs off the mattress, sitting up. Shunlei followed her example, although he seemed grumpier about the interruption.

  Seconds later, Hawes rapped lightly on the door before sticking his head in. “Ah, good, you are up. How are you feeling, Shunlei?”

  “Hungry, but victorious,” he answered brightly. “Hawes, Mei and I are going to elope, alright?”

  Their illustrious leader blinked, taking a second to turn that over. Then he gave Shunlei the same look any parent would an overexuberant child. “No, you may not elope. You have people who want to celebrate with you. And a cursed sword that has to be safely dealt with first.”

  Shunlei actually pouted. Openly pouted.

  Mei Li had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from snickering. She kissed him lightly to erase the pout. “We have half-completed wedding outfits, remember?”

  Growling, Shunlei slouched a little. “I knew I was forgetting something.”

  Shaking his head, Hawes focused on her. “I’m glad you’re up. We’ve been discussing what to do with the sword.”

  “Ah. I think I have the answer to that. Is everyone gathered?”

  “More or less. Nord’s still sleeping, but everyone else is in the dining room. Our hostess, as it turns out, is a very good cook.”

  “Then let’s go down and talk this over.” Mei Li would like to steal a minute to wash her face and change clothes, but it could wait until after she’d filled her belly. Her stomach threatened mayhem if she didn’t feed it soon.

  They followed Hawes downstairs, Shunlei still pouting a little, which amused Mei Li to no end. She’d like to be married sooner rather than later, but it also felt inevitable to her. That it would definitely happen. It took some of the urgency off. Shunlei clearly didn’t share that opinion.

  The dining room was rather plain for a mayor’s house, with white walls and polished dark floors and barely any furniture other than the table and chairs. A single china cabinet lurked in one corner, a landscape of the sea on the wall, and that was about it. Mei Li barely noticed the decoration; in truth, her eyes and appetite solely focused on the spread of food along the table.

  Melchior grunted a greeting, halfway through his own plate. Hawes apparently had eaten before getting up to check on them, as he resumed a seat but didn’t reach for any of the dishes. Kiyo, fixing herself another cup of tea, greeted them.

  “Well, good afternoon, you two.”

  Was it really? Actually, the sun was rather high in the sky. Oops. Understan
dable they’d slept so late, though. Mei Li wasn’t bothered. “Yes, good afternoon. Pass me the tea, please.”

  Kiyo spoke as she passed the white porcelain pot over. “The sword is safely sealed and under tight lock in a room right now. The mayor’s son is standing guard over it. We’re not sure what to do with it at the moment. I don’t think it’s possible to break it.”

  Mei Li shook her head in agreement but didn’t speak around the roll in her mouth.

  “Everything else we’ve tackled, we’ve been able to either destroy or seal in place. But the sword shouldn’t be left here. For one thing, no one in the town wants it here. For another, they hardly have the defenses to keep it protected if someone decides to come after it. And I really feel that someone with magical abilities should be nearby, in case our seal comes undone for whatever reason.”

  Mei Li nodded in support of this.

  “Swallow so you can tell us where to go,” Hawes ordered her in exasperation. “You said you have an idea of what to do with it?”

  Shunlei actually answered for her. “She said the Summer Winds Temple would be the best place to go next.”

  With a thankful smile at him, she paused in eating long enough to give a brief explanation. “There’s a few reasons for my rationale. First, there’s magic users in training there and likely always will be. Second, the hot springs in the area means there’s a constant and steady source of fire element—if we use a fire-based seal around the sword, then it should be able to maintain itself for many generations.” She didn’t tell them how she knew this. “Third, I want to be up there.”

  “So we can get married,” Shunlei filled in, excited all over again and practically bouncing in his chair. “And then have a honeymoon afterward in the hot springs.”

  Pointing to him, Mei Li agreed, “What he said.”

  Kiyo and Melchior looked at both of them as if they had lost their minds.

  “You haven’t been courting that long!” Kiyo objected.

  Shunlei shrugged this off. “We’ve spent plenty of time together by dragon standards.”

  When their eyes went to her, Mei Li also shrugged. “We haven’t been officially courting that long, true. But we’ve spent months together at this point. I’m sure of my decision. We’ll spend maybe a day or two here, rest up? Order the rest of our wedding clothes. Then we can go to Summer Winds Temple. Hawes, I think it best to send a message ahead and explain what we’re bringing to them.”

  “It’s only polite.” Hawes stroked at his half-grown beard. “Assuming they’ll agree to host it at all.”

  “I’m quite confident they will.” Mei Li knew it for a fact. The sword had always been guarded by that temple since the day it was brought to them. It was a point of pride now.

  Kiyo did not look ready to move past the argument of them marrying already. She had that bullish expression of someone who was going to argue this point to death.

  Mei Li decided to ignore her for now. No doubt Kiyo would corner her about this later.

  If Hawes saw their silent exchange, he chose to ignore it as well. “Alright. I’ll craft up a letter to send ahead. Lady Kiyo, if you’ll help me write up the magical particulars of the sword and what will be required of the temple to host it, I feel that would smooth matters ahead of us. Even if they’re not willing to host it long-term, they might be willing to hold it for now until we have a better idea of what to do with it. You’re quite sure we can’t destroy it?”

  Kiyo grimaced, side-tracked from the marriage topic, and faced Hawes as she explained, “It’s incredibly powerful. Normally, I’d say we could counter its magical force by drawing upon Shunlei’s dragon fire. But in this case, it won’t work. It was forged in fire and earth, so using dragon fire against it will only fuel it. I assume Mei suggests the hot springs not only because a fire-based seal will last longer, but because submerging it in water will help keep the sword in check.”

  Mei Li gave her a salute with her tea cup for a well-educated guess.

  Kiyo gave her a nod in return. “I thought as much. So, the answer is no, we have no chance of destroying it now. Our best option is to seal it and wait for it to weaken. A future generation will have to attempt it.”

  The future generation being Mei Li herself. Now there was a glum thought.

  “I see. Pity, that. I’d rather have that nuisance destroyed. Alright, we’ll explain that in the letter as well. Lady Mei, Shunlei, I assume you’ll clean up and then go do some shopping? I’ll give you some funds before you go. Take an hour or so and see if you can commission that flying harness to be made.” Hawes shot Shunlei an enigmatic look. “I, for one, don’t want to repeat what we just did with you. And I know you’d rather fly with her.”

  “That I do,” Shunlei agreed calmly. “We’ll look for someone. But I doubt it can be finished before we leave for the mountains.”

  “No, we’ll likely need to come back this direction and pick it up. We’re sitting on the main road going up into the mountains, so we’ll come back this way regardless.” Hawes gave a weary sigh, showing his own exhaustion for a moment. “I hope they agree. I could use a bit of relaxing in hot springs myself.”

  Mei Li gave a mental cheer. She knew they’d get their way. All she had to worry about today was shopping.

  Today was looking up already.

  The shopping, not to mention the harness making, ended up taking three days. No one in the town was very happy at the delay in getting the sword out of their domain. They pitched in and helped with the harness, rushing the job and making it in a fraction of the time. Even with their unease, they did seem to understand that negotiations were in progress with their local temple and were willing to wait. Uneasy, but willing.

  To offset their unease, Mei Li offered to fly the sword up with Shunlei, going ahead of the group. They needed to do a proper flight to test the harness, anyway, and the temple was only a day and a half trip up by horse. A half a day’s flight, more or less. It seemed the most sensible suggestion.

  The only downside to it was that Mei Li had to be in very close proximity to the sword for several hours. Which frankly, no.

  Shunlei picked up on this, of course, and as she gingerly slid into the harness strapped to his chest, he asked in concern, “Are you alright?”

  “You ever have those moments where you say something, and then you have instant regret? That’s me right now.” Mei Li sucked in a breath, psyching herself up. The sword was already in place, lightly strapped to the inside, and faintly glowing. Like it was laughing at her.

  Hawes offered a shoulder to steady her as she slid in. “We can go back to the original plan?”

  “Even if you ride it up, it will still mean someone has to be in close proximity to it,” she grunted, getting her legs properly in and sliding the rest of the way. “And it’s better for that to happen for only a few hours instead of two days.”

  “Which is why I agreed to it, but you look very uneasy right now.” Hawes stared at her with outright concern on his tanned face.

  “It feels like I’m next to lightning trapped in a bottle.”

  Shunlei’s head turned so that he could look at her. “A charged, electrifying sort of feeling?”

  “That, and stupidity. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to try and catch lightning in a glass bottle.”

  “I can carry it in my claw?” he offered.

  “You absolute mung bean.” Early stages, inventing curses. “No. Not after yesterday, you’re not getting in direct contact with it. It’s fine, let’s go and get this over with.”

  Shunlei did not look convinced. Neither did Hawes.

  Mei Li growled mentally and pointedly said the one thing she knew would get Shunlei immediately into the air. “If we go now, we’ll have time to make arrangements with the temple for a marriage ceremony.”

  Shunlei immediately snapped back around. “Safe journey up, Hawes. See you in a few days.”

  Shaking his head in exasperation, Hawes backed up. They were on the h
ighway, as it was the only place with enough open space for Shunlei to stretch his wings out. With a flap of his wings, Shunlei started running, getting enough lift to leave the ground. Jostled, Mei Li gritted her teeth until she could feel his body leave the ground. Her stomach dropped out as he gained altitude, then the flight steadied.

  After several minutes, she dared to open the top and stick her head out enough to talk to him. Switching to Long-go, she asked, “After we get things settled, should we do a preening session?”

  “It’s like you read minds,” he sighed, tone dreamy with anticipation.

  “No, I just find you very predictable.”

  He let out a rolling laugh, like muted thunder. “I suppose I am in that sense. Mei, there is something that bothers me.”

  “Oh? What’s that?”

  “It feels very odd that we’ll be mated but have no home of our own. Normally, we’d be building something together. But it’s not something we can really do right now, either.”

  “We’ll need to settle on a place to stay during the winter, though. I, for one, am not about to tramp about in the ice and snow. Even the worst of the troublemakers tend to hunker down and wait for winter to pass.”

  “That’s a good point. Somewhere with hot springs?” he asked hopefully.

  “Ooh, that’s a lovely idea. Horvath has a natural hot spring in it, too. I wonder if we could stay there?”

  “If we ask very nicely, I’m sure they will let us.”

  She lay on her stomach, speaking of the future with him, letting the wind rustle past her face. It was easy to ignore the sword lying at her side. Mei Li idly played with the two rings on a necklace around her neck. She’d crafted them herself yesterday, fitting the simple gold bands to both of their fingers. Shunlei had found the tradition of wearing wedding bands to be charming and had cooperated perfectly. Mei Li hoped to have them properly engraved at some point. There just wasn’t a goldsmith in town, so she’d had to whip up something with a gold ingot, magic, and some determination.