A Dragon’s Tale

Kendra had tried to simply leave, but Anthiel and Taloni wouldn't hear of it. The little Fey girl especially had virtually begged her to stay and the dragon huntress suspected that she had an adoring fan. She'd finally consented to one drink after much imploring on the Fey's part, and the promise of an aged mead on the high elf's part.

"Shouldn't we clean that up?" Kendra nodded toward the dead bodies on the main weather deck as Anthiel handed her a glass of mead. They were both leaning up against the railing on the quarterdeck facing the camp, mostly so Kendra could keep an eye out for the two men to return.

They would recognize her.

They would tell the dragon.

She suppressed a shudder as she remembered what her last encounter with him had been like. She was anxious to avoid meeting him again.

The high elf shook her head as she glanced at the bodies. "Raklan and Serif will clean it up when they come back. I'm not sure the three of us could move them anyway. They are rather large men."

Kendra nodded as she took a sip. It was quite good. There were traces of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, elderberry, and something else she couldn't place.

"So, why were you in the area again?" Anthiel asked in a perfectly calm and conversational tone. Almost too calm; almost too conversational.

"I'm mostly just passing through." Kendra lied.

"On the way to...?"

"Arcanum." Kendra replied and left it at that. If the high elf was polite -- and she seemed to be -- she would leave it alone.

"We were just there; didn't have much luck." The high elf said.

Kendra made a non-committal noise and took another sip of the mead.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Taloni asked wide-eyed. The Fey teen had steered clear of the bodies and was clearly uncomfortable with violence, but also was clearly impressed with the dragon huntress' skills.

"Oh, here and there." She took another sip. "You learn things if you travel the Ten Kingdoms; there are many dangerous places."

Taloni cocked her youthful head to one side and said with incredible kindness. "You don't need to deflect like that you know. You just saved our lives, so we won't pry. Just say the word and we'll stop asking."

Kendra smiled.

She liked this girl.

Direct, to the point, but also incredibly sweet and nearly without guile.

"I'm a very private person." She said honestly after taking another sip. "Feel free to ask whatever you like, just realize I might choose not to answer."

"Anything?"

"Sure."

"Okay." Taloni said. "Is your name really Amara, or is it actually Kendra?"

Kendra coughed and nearly let the honey-wine go down the wrong pipe. "What makes you ask?"

"You look like his description of Kendra, you certainly fight as well as he described her, and I can't imagine anyone seeing what was happening and being quick enough to respond... unless she was already watching us."

"Interesting." Kendra replied, then took another sip.

"You didn't answer the question." Anthiel pointed out.

"No, I didn't." Kendra downed the last of the mead. It was quite good. "I'm afraid I must be going; thank you for the drink."

"Why?" Taloni asked, looking at her and then towards the main weather deck where three men lay dead. "Why did you help us if you're hunting him?"

"I wish I knew." Kendra replied.

As she looked up, she saw two crewmen returning from the camp in the dim moonlight, the fire now extinguished. "If it's all the same to you, I'll go down the anchor rope; it'll save me a lot of walking."

The high elf eyed her warily. "If you like."

She nodded and headed towards the bow of the ship where the anchor rope was. She walked to it and got ready to climb over the side and down.

"He's a good man." Taloni's voice came from behind her. "Really, he is."

She turned to look at the Fey girl. She was absolutely without guile; innocent and unspoiled by the world almost to the point of being naïve... almost. Kendra felt a little jealous of her.

"I wish I could believe that." Kendra finally replied.

"Please stop hunting him." The Fey pleaded. "I don't think I could take it if something happened to him. He's such a good person."

Kendra cocked her head to one side. "You really believe that, don't you?"

The Fey teen nodded.

She glanced at the rest of the airship, remembering its crew. "They think so too, don't they?"

Taloni nodded again. "Could we all be wrong?"

"You could all be deceived."

The Fey gave her a piercing stare. "I think you're a good person too."

She scoffed. "You don't even know me."

"I know you just risked your life to save two complete strangers. That's something you and Ethan have in common."

The dragon huntress raised an eyebrow.

"He did." She said fervently. "If you just let me explain, I'm sure I could convince you that he's a good man."

"He's not a man."

"He's better than most men."

"When you've seen as much as I have, you'll realize that's not saying much."

Taloni opened her mouth to reply, but apparently thought better of it.

"Take care." Kendra said, then swung her leg over the side of the airship as she activated her strength-enhancing vambraces. She climbed down the thick anchor rope hand-over-hand, down almost eighty feet to the ground. Her enchanted vambraces made it easy.

When she hit the ground, she took a deep breath and shook her head; there was no sense dwelling on their kindness. She turned and started walking toward the forest.

She hadn't gotten a dozen paces before she heard a voice from above and turned.

"Wait!"

It was Taloni.

The little Fey had clearly jumped over the side of the ship and was using her wings to slow her fall to a safe speed. Her wings were beating so fast they were a blur.

"What?" Kendra asked when the Fey landed next to her.

The girl looked extremely nervous, almost like a child who was worried about getting in trouble with a parent.

"Um..." Taloni took a deep breath. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She was rather curious ask to what was troubling the young Fey so much.

"I know this might sound weird, given how you're hunting Ethan and all, but..." She trailed off.

"But?"

The Fey looked at the ground, and only glanced Kendra while she spoke. "Can... can I give you a hug?"

Kendra stared.

Then she blinked.

Then she stared again.

"Why?" She finally managed to get out.

"You look like you could use a hug." The Fey girl replied without the slightest hint of guile. "I mean, you did save us, so that doesn't make it weird... right?"

"I... I don't even know."

"Then, can I?"

Kendra nodded before she realized she was doing it.

The tiny Fey girl walked right up to her, wrapped her arms around her waist, and gave her a hug. Not just any hug either. It was a great hug. A wonderful hug. Kendra literally couldn't remember the last time she had received a real hug. It had been years at least, maybe longer. Almost on instinct, the dragon huntress hugged the shorter girl back.

It felt strange.

Here she was, being hugged by the wife -- or one of the wives -- of the dragon she'd tried to kill many times.

It didn't make sense.

No one was that nice.

No one was that kind.

Well, no one apparently except this little Fey girl. Kendra felt her eyes get watery and she blinked a few times to get control of herself. It was silly to react this way. It was just a hug, and yet...

And yet...

Eventually, after a rather long hug, Taloni let go and stepped back. Her eyes looked like they were watery too.

"I should go, I need to walk back." Taloni said.

"Not fly?"

The Fey shook her head. "I can't fly fully, not yet. The slave collar wouldn't let me use my wings so they're not strong enough yet."

"I'm sorry you were a slave." Kendra said, and meant it. It seemed a crime that anyone this nice would be forced into servitude.

"It's okay, it meant I got to meet Ethan." She smiled. "He fought that other dragon just to free me; did you know that?"

Kendra rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and I'm sure the other dragon's hoard had nothing to do with it."

"It didn't." Taloni replied. "He didn't take a single coin. Not one. Instead, he rushed back to the mining camp to free me and marry me."

Kendra stared.

"I love him dearly." Taloni said. "And not just because he fought a dragon to free me. He's the best man I've ever known. If you knew him, you wouldn't hunt him."

"He left the gold behind? Truly?" The dragon huntress couldn't get anything else out.

"He did, because he's a good man and because he was worried about Alana." The Fey nodded. "I should be going. May Illuminar guide you in the path of light as you travel."

"Yeah... yeah... you too." Was all she could get out in response as the Fey girl gave her a little smile, then turned and stared walking towards the base of the earthen ramp which led up to the airship.

Kendra just stood there stunned.

It seemed like nothing connected to this dragon made sense. If the Fey girl was telling the truth -- and Kendra had seen no indication that she wasn't -- then this dragon was truly one-of-a-kind. Maybe, just maybe, this dragon wasn't like all of the others...

Maybe.

She took a deep breath, then turned and resumed walking towards the forest.

Despite everything the Fey girl had said about the dragon, that wasn't what was sticking in her mind. No, what was sticking in her mind was the feeling of the hug. It was such a simple thing. So small really in the grand scheme of things.

One hug.

Something so small that most people would take it for granted.

Kendra wasn't most people.

She didn't have any real friends, even Falkaan was more of a mentor and he kept himself at arm's distance. Luminar Kossel was similar, though she was the one who kept her distance there. She had no one to give her a hug, and that made this one all the more precious.

She felt her eyes watering again and tried to wipe the liquid away before it started rolling down her cheek. There was no need to get emotional. It was just a hug, right? It shouldn't affect her this much... right?

Apparently, her tear ducts didn't get the memo.

* * *

~~EPILOGUE for Chapter 18

Prayla sat on her bed bored out of her skull. Usually, she would have gone down to the clinic to see Taloni, but her friend wasn't there anymore. She sometimes had needed to wait until the day shift was over so the Fey would be free to roam topside. That wouldn't happened either.

It was a depressing thought.

Several of the mothers in camp had expressed regret that Tee was gone too because she was very popular with the children. Prayla looked around the shack and it seemed so empty. Especially the corner where Tee's bed had been. It was a really depressing--

"DRAGON!!!" Someone shouted outside.

"DRAGON INCOMING!!!" Someone else shouted.

Prayla jumped up and ran to the door of the shack. One thing living at a gold mine taught you was that it isn't wise to be inside of a wooden building with a dragon nearby.

She ran outside to see a dragon making a low, lazy circle around the camp. Fortunately, the guard towers were made of steel and equipped with ballistae.

The dragon seemed unconcerned.

It wasn't a large dragon, certainly not as large as Havorleth. It was a little larger than Ethan and its scales had a slightly copper or bronze tint to them. She had once heard that ancient dragons who had spent hundreds of years around gold sometimes got to be that color. But for a dragon that old to be here...

The dragon dived.

Faster than the guards could aim the ballistae, it swooped in and fired a single fireball at each guard tower. The dragon's aim was incredible. It destroyed the ballistae without even singing the guard's hair. It pulled up, made another lazy circle, and then landed in the middle of the camp square, where Taloni's wedding had taken place only days earlier.

The guards raised their massive shields and charged with their long pikes.

The copper dragon ignored them.

The pikes struck dead center from multiple directions at once, with large, strong men putting all their weight behind the thrusts.

The copper dragon barely flinched.

It swept its claws around, grabbing several of the pike shafts and casually breaking them like they were twigs. The dragon looked at the shocked guards disdainfully; rather like a human might view a cockroach.

"The next piece of meat that attacks me won't see dusk." It exhaled a tiny puff of smoke as if to emphasize the point.

The guards turned and fled.

"Whoever manages these human cattle, reveal yourself." It bellowed in a tone that brooked no possibility of disobedience. Its voice was magically augmented so it reverberated throughout the entire camp. Prayla wouldn't have been surprised if everyone in the deepest levels of the mine heard the dragon.

A rattled-looking Thaltien stepped cautiously from the mine headquarters. "What do you want dragon?"

The dragon clicked its tongue. "No bow and such a tone." It shook its head. "One might think you actually wanted to anger me."

Thaltien looked livid, but gave the dragon a slight bow. Then he said in a forcedly polite voice: "What do you want dragon?"

"What do you want, Drago?" The dragon corrected with a sneer.

Thaltien went white.

Prayla felt her knees grow weak. Her throat suddenly felt tight and she could feel a cold sweat starting all across her body. A Drago? This dragon was a Drago?

What was a Drago doing here?

"A young, steel gray dragon passed through here recently." The copper dragon said with much the same tone you might use when explaining something complicated to someone incredibly slow and stupid.

Thaltien nodded, but didn't speak.

"He and I have some... business." The dragon said with a scowl; his displeasure at the other dragon was obvious. "Where can I find him?"

(End of chapter 18)

Note: This chapter began and ended on day 54 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms.