The Dragon Eaters

by Duke Kittle

  * * *

  The Thorn’s Side slowed as it drifted next to the pier. The sailors threw ropes over the side into the hands of waiting dock workers who helped pull the ship in. The dock workers pulled the arm of a large, wooden crane attached to the pier over the side of the ship so it hung above the deck. Calls were sent out, and the heavy ropes of the crane started moving. They turned wooden sprockets which lowered the thick rope down into the hold.

  Captain Morgan called out for the gangplank to be lowered, and her sailors pushed the plank over the side of the ship to drop the end of it down onto the pier.

  The pier foreman, a stocky badger with an open book in hand, called up to the deck. “You’re early, Captain. We weren’t expecting you until later this morning.”

  “We made good time,” the captain called back down. “Helps when you have a wizard on board to give you the good wind.”

  The badger nodded and turned to walk back to a lectern attached to the pier. In the meantime, his workers started boarding the ship.

  Tina turned to face the captain. “I marked the crate my things are in.”

  Captain Morgan nodded. “I’ll see if we can get it unloaded first.”

  Tina shook her head. “There’s no need to bother with that. I don’t mind waiting a little while. I did want to ask how long you will be in port, though.”

  Captain Morgan curled her tail, and the thin appendage drifted back and forth behind her. “A few days, at least. We’ll get unloaded and let the merchants do the trading. Probably take them a few days to haggle over prices, maybe a week at the most. Then we’ll load up our cargo and head back.”

  Tina nodded. “I hope I’ll be finished with my business here before you depart. I don’t care for the idea of having to wait for another ship. Besides,” she smiled, “good company makes for a swifter voyage, and I’d be happy to listen to your violin again on the way back.”

  Captain Morgan lifted the hat from her head and bowed regally to the wizard. “Always enjoy having a captive audience.”

  Tina giggled. “Until we meet again, Captain.”

  “Take care of yourself, Tina.”

  Tina leapt down from the railing on the side of the ship and landed on the deck. When the path was clear of dock workers and sailors carrying off smaller goods, Tina stepped onto the gangplank and scampered down it to the pier.

  Once on the pier, Tina adjusted her glasses as she looked toward the city of Likonia beyond the port. She wasn’t surprised to see it surrounded by a wall of logs driven into the ground with their tops carved sharp. It did seem a little odd for there to be two walls on the port side of the city, though. A single building stood tall enough to be visible over the wall, though the structure itself looked no taller than any of the other buildings. Tina guessed from the shape of the land where the city stood that it was on a hill. A tall hill stood on each side of the town with the wooden walls climbing the hills and rising over the crests.

  Tina turned her attention to the dock workers and noted that most of them were badgers, weasels, or wolverines, all of which were native in Levansia. One or two of them had thinner frames with bright red fur and more sharply sloping muzzles. When Tina looked at the crane, she noticed one dock worker who stood out from the rest and was surprised when she recalled his species. “An Akoan…?”

  Standing at the unloading area for the crane was a black-furred male Akoan who was seven-and-a-half feet tall and wore a load-bearing harness around his chest. The leather hide pants he wore matched the harness in color and ended at a pair of broad hooves. He looked to be the epitome of strength with muscles which flexed visibly as he reached for the crate being lowered by the crane. His muzzle was thick and rounded at the end. While most races of the world had some minor discolorations in their fur, he had none with fur as black as tar. The horns on his head sloped forward over his muzzle.

  Tina was surprised to see an Akoan living in Likonia. He looked to her to be built for more than manual labor. In fact, he looked like a warrior, but he carried no weapons.

  Realizing the Akoan was lowering the crate on which she had placed a minor arcane equation brought her out of her observation. The bull pulled the ropes from the crate and set it down onto the pier. He tugged ropes through the rings on his harness to wrap them around the box.

  Tina made her way up to the pier where the Akoan was fixing the crate to his harness. Just as he was about to pick it up, she put her pinkies between her lips and blew a sharp whistle.

  The Akoan stopped and lifted his head to look around for the source of the sound. When he spotted Tina standing on the pier, he stared at her for a long moment as if mystified by her presence. The Akoan shook his head with his large ears flopping. “I didn’t drink that much last night.”

  Tina was perplexed for a moment until she realized the Akoan’s meaning and smiled. She walked to the crate and climbed the side nimbly until she was standing on top. “I assure you, I am quite real.” Tina adjusted the glasses on the bridge of her muzzle. “I have a few personal effects in this crate which I need to retrieve. I’ll only be a moment.”

  The Akoan was momentarily stunned as the tiny mouse woman spoke to him, and he watched, dumbfounded, as she climbed into the crate through a small hole in the wood. He was unsure if he should lift the crate with a tiny person inside. He considered that if he moved the box, the contents might shift and squash the little mouse. So he relaxed his posture and waited.

  “Kravek!” The badger foreman stomped over to the black bull and whacked him on the back of his head. “You can pray to the pier on your own time! Get that crate up to the warehouse!”

  Kravek grunted when he was struck, but more out of surprise rather than pain. “But Chief, there’s someone in there.”

  “No ‘butts’ unless it’s yours getting moved off my pier with that crate in tow, Kravek!” The badger grabbed one of Kravek’s horns, tugging his head to the side. “Look, I don’t care if you want to drink yourself into a stupor every night. But as long as you work this dock, you keep anything to do with beer off my pier! Now, get going!”

  Tina climbed out of a hole in the side of the crate and quietly dropped to the ground with a small, lizard-hide rucksack over her shoulder. She looked up at Kravek and noted the presence of the foreman.

  Kravek pulled the ropes on his harness tight again and muttered to the crate. “I’ve got to move you now. I’ll be as careful as I can.” He slowly rose, picking the hefty crate up and turning to carry it up the pier.

  The badger foreman scratched the side of his head, then sighed. The sound of a loud thud came from the Thorn’s Side, and the foreman stalked off, yelling at the dock workers to be more careful.

  Tina smiled at the Akoan’s consideration for her safety. She pulled the cords on her rucksack and tied them around her shoulders, securing them tightly. Kravek, as she’d heard the Akoan’s name yelled, deserved at least an explanation.

  Halfway up the pier, Tina caught sight of an unpleasant-looking wolverine, wearing a scowl and a suit of armor, walking toward the Thorn’s Side. She noted the two guards following him were armed, and the gauntlets the wolverine wore had sharpened claws on their fingertips. The wolverine wasn’t carrying any other kind of weapon, from which Tina could only infer that he preferred to use his hands in a fight rather than a blade or axe.

  Once he had passed, taking no notice of Tina, she hurried up the pier to the warehouse. She reached the edge just in time to see where the Akoan was taking the crate.

  Kravek loosened the straps on his harness so he could straighten up and stretch his back. Immediately afterward, he leaned down again and put his large ear to the top of the crate. “Are you all right in there?” He lightly rapped on the wood. “Say something if you can hear me.”

  When no answer came, the Akoan panicked. He grabbed a pry bar resting against the wall of the warehouse and raised it, ready to tear the lid off the crate. But he stopped wh
en he heard a sharp whistle and turned his head.

  Tina pulled her pinkies out of the sides of her muzzle and folded her arms across her stomach, smiling at the Akoan. “I was going to tell you I climbed out, but your foreman didn’t look all that pleasant.”

  Kravek sighed in relief and put the pry bar down. “He’s not bad. Just strict.” The Akoan walked away from the crate and crouched down onto his haunches. He rested his arms on his thighs and leaned forward. His large hooves provided him with a stable base. “I was afraid you would get hurt while I was carrying you.”

  “You’re very considerate, Kravek.” Tina held her hand up toward the Akoan. “I heard the foreman yelling your name. I am Tina van Schtoffen of the Council of Stars.”

  Kravek looked at her hand and then at his own. It looked to him as though she was offering him a handshake, but how he could shake her hand vexed him. He decided to hold his hand out in the same posture regardless so she could at least shake a finger. “Kravek Rivakian.”

  Tina turned her hand from the posture of a handshake to being open with her palm up. Kravek watched her for a moment and mimicked the gesture. With Kravek’s hand open in front of her, Tina climbed onto it and stood up, pointing up. Kravek rose to a standing position with the mouse woman standing on his palm.

  “You’re very helpful, Kravek. Do you think you could show me the way to the home of Harkon Keldo?”

  Kravek looked to the pier and pointed with his other hand toward the Thorn’s Side. “They need me to help finish unloading the ship.”

  Tina smiled. “I’m sure that they would miss your muscle, but I’m also certain it’s equally important to the governor that the emissary of the Council of Stars make herself known. Besides, that crate is the largest thing in the ship’s cargo. I’m sure they will manage.”

  Kravek considered briefly before he settled back down onto his haunches. “All due respect, ma’am, I got a job to do. But if you want the governor, he won’t be at his house right now.” Kravek gently placed Tina back onto her feet on the ground and pointed toward the city. “Bunch of farmers came in from the homesteads last night. He’ll probably be with them in the town hall. Middle of town, straight up the road from the pier.”

  Tina was growing to like the Akoan all the more for his commitment to his duties. “Thank you for all your help, Kravek Rivakian.” She gave him one more smile, and then the wizard turned away and headed to the open gate facing the pier.