Soulbound to a Dragon

by Kurtis Eckstein

  Tobias scoffed. “Mira, you’re twenty-one years old. As long as you aren’t doing something outrageously stupid, then I’m fine with it. The city is a fairly safe place. Just make sure you keep out of the alleyways and stick with each other. There’s always the risk of someone trying to kidnap you inside the city, but you should be fine in the populated areas.”

  “Love you dad,” Mira replied cheerfully. She then began talking about a few of the places she wanted to visit.

  I suddenly felt that sense of envy again hearing her tell her father she loved him. It made me wish I had that, but I quickly pushed it aside knowing I had already been blessed with friends and love. And it wasn’t like my father had intentionally abandoned me. He didn’t have a choice.

  I didn’t want to live my life always wishing I had what everyone else did. I wanted to be content with what I did have, especially considering my life was finally full of friends. Otherwise, I’d never be happy.

  Once we got closer to the city, we saw a lot more people and traffic. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t for there to be a bunch of smaller towns leading to it. The core of the city was surrounded by massive stone walls that controlled the areas where people could enter, while the outskirts had massive clusters of buildings that were each almost the size of Boshra. A lot of them even had paved roads going through them, and I was able to see what a car looked like for the first time.

  Each of the strange vehicles were different, yet all the same. In some ways, they were like wagons made out of metal, except there was no outward indication of how the black wheels moved on their own.

  But wow were they fast.

  A few of them passed us on the road, whizzing by at speeds I didn’t think possible. I was shocked that the horses didn’t seem to react to them, because I certainly did. Every time one flew past, I felt my muscles lock up, feeling a little overwhelmed by the noise and speed.

  Once we actually arrived at one of the entrances to the city of Vanardis, I was stunned to see that it was so big. The sun had set, but all the bright lights allowed me to see clearly. The massive wall surrounding the place seemed to go on forever in either direction, with no end in sight. I couldn’t even see where the wall curved to begin its way around the city. And just from what I could see, there were at least ten entrances allowing people in, never mind the other sides out of sight.

  Humans in mechanical bodysuits were stationed at each massive entrance, although they rarely stopped anyone from entering. I had no idea what they were looking for, or if maybe they were just there as a show of force. Mira explained they had a weird technology that allowed them to scan people. It was a method to capture known criminals, but otherwise I was correct in that they were primarily a show of force. While crime did happen in the city, impossible to stop due to the population size, laws were still heavily enforced.

  The entrance we took was for slower forms of transportation. However, they also had entrances for their faster vehicles that allowed drivers to go almost anywhere in the city on roads raised high above most of the buildings. On the ground level there were additional paved roads that went almost anywhere imaginable.

  I couldn’t believe the severe disconnect between Boshra and Vanardis. They were like two completely different worlds – one I was familiar with and another that seemed impossible. Supposedly the capital Xenith was even more advanced.

  Risa was astonished too.

  She had initially been sold in Vanardis when she was young, but had spent most of her life in the eastern town called Calish. It was a place where their technology was somewhere in between the two extremes of Boshra and Vanardis. Apparently, this city had come a long way since she was last here. All the paved roads were certainly new to her, as well as all the advanced magitek.

  The wide road we took just inside the city walls was lined with shops and full of activity. Most of the traffic was other wagons like ours, although a few motorized vehicles with only two wheels occasionally sped through. Landon called them motorcycles, and all of the men were enthralled whenever one passed – even Eli.

  There were even more lamps inside the city, illuminating the area almost as brightly as the daytime. Needless to say, I just gawked the whole time, feeling like my senses were being overloaded. The sounds, the sights, and the smells…

  I didn’t realize I was hungry, until I began catching whiffs of mouthwatering aromas here and there. I was glad we would be eating soon. I still had plenty of food in my pack, but I didn’t want to eat in front of everyone else. Not to mention I would need it once us pantherians and the humans went our separate ways.

  If they could wait, then I could too. Although, I considered offering something to Eli, because I suspected he was the hungriest out of all of us.

  The four humans had been to Vanardis a lot, so they weren’t overly impressed like the rest of us. Mira seemed to enjoy watching our expressions, smiling to herself most of the time.

  It wasn’t until almost half an hour later that we finally arrived at the inn where we would be staying the night. We had to make a few turns off the main road, and then park the wagon in a fenced area with a guarded gate behind the building. The inn specifically pandered to those who had normal means of transportation – at least, normal to me – so they had an entire stable for patron use. One horse was included with a room, and an extra fee could be paid for additional horses. Since we would be renting two rooms, both horses were included.

  I helped the men bring our supplies into the back of the inn, hauling a wooden crate up a set of stairs to the second floor like it barely weighed anything. I enjoyed the look on Theo’s shocked face, since it was heavy to him even despite his large muscles.

  Being a frequent customer, Tobias knew the innkeeper, so it had only taken him a few minutes to secure us two rooms side-by-side.

  Unfortunately, I discovered that the city was a place where most weapons couldn’t be carried in public without special permission, which meant I had to leave my sword at the inn. I wasn’t too worried though, since both Risa and Eli had offensive magic, not to mention I was stronger than humans, as well as trained in hand-to-hand combat.

  Granted, Tobias didn’t seem concerned at all now that we were within the city walls. Once all the supplies were in the girl’s room – a decision made because the three girls had more space, with one less person than the guys – we all headed out to eat dinner at a nearby restaurant that Mira loved.

  Chapter 16: Harassed

  I knew four gold was a lot of money for the job Eli had done, but I didn’t realize just how much. At dinner, I discovered that for seven bronze, each person could eat as much as they wanted from a buffet. Since fifty bronze was equivalent to a silver, and twenty silver equaled a gold, we could feed over a hundred people with just one gold.

  Eli had been paid in one day what the average person earned in half a year – six hundred bronze was common for a month, and Tobias had paid him the equivalent of four-thousand bronze. Plus, Tobias was paying us each a silver and ten bronze a day for our time spent with them, since technically we were hired help.

  It didn’t feel like work though. It felt more like I was just spending time with a bunch of friends.

  As we ate at the restaurant, I ended up feeling like we were stealing from the place by only paying seven bronze for Eli. I was certain he was going to make them go broke with the one meal, considering how much he could eat.

  My conscience felt a little better when I found out we could leave extra money at the end for a tip, but I didn’t mention it to Eli since technically I didn’t own a single bronze to my name. The four gold were his after all, even though he acted like we both owned it. I supposed we were truly a unit now, in more ways than one.

  And that made me really happy.

  But I still didn’t feel like his money was mine too.

  Much to my surprise, Theo hadn’t complimented me at all since I had been kidnapped. It made me wonder if Mira had said something to him at some po
int. Granted, Eli and I were much more obvious about our interest in each other now, so that may have played a role too. I was glad Risa didn’t seem jealous about that fact. I was afraid she would perceive me as stealing Eli away from her, but she didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

  Although, once I had considered it, I realized he really had never given her any reason to believe he was interested. He always had his attention on me whenever I was around. I just hadn’t realized that was the truth previously.

  Not to mention, I may have assumed too much in regards to her own feelings towards him, mistakenly imposing my own desires onto her. She obviously had a horrible history with men, so for all I knew she wasn’t even interested in seeking out a romantic relationship with anyone. If anything, that was probably the furthest thing from her mind. All she likely cared about was having friends for once.

  I knew personally from living with my godmother that not everyone had the desire to be in a romantic relationship. There were plenty of reasons why someone might not consider that a goal in life. And there were plenty of people who found fulfillment in life without having a romantic partner. My godmother certainly didn’t seem dissatisfied with her life, and I suspected Risa wouldn’t be dissatisfied either so long as she had friends.

  While eating, Risa and I both found ourselves receiving some stares from both men and women because we were pantherians, but no one seemed overly bothered by that fact. As long as a pantherian was with a human, no one paid too much attention. It was whenever someone saw a pantherian by themselves that people became suspicious, since a freed one was rare in this city.

  At least, I assumed the staring was because we were pantherians. Supposedly we were also both very pretty – far above average. And while I could agree about Risa, I was having a difficult time believing that’s how others might perceive me too.

  After dinner, Tobias went back to the inn to visit with the owner – she was an old friend named Sonya, though she wasn’t old by any means. She was younger than he was at least. And she was single, having been widowed at a young age.

  The rest of us headed to one of the side roads where we could find all types of different shops. Landon and Theo quickly took off with Eli to visit a bar where they could play a game called pool. It was open to anyone over the age of seventeen, which meant Landon could go for the first time since he was recently eighteen like me.

  Eli surprised me when he left me a gold coin just before leaving.

  “Are you sure?” I asked hesitantly.

  He smirked at me. “Yeah, of course.”

  “I don’t know what I would buy though,” I admitted. “I don’t have room in my pack for a lot of extra stuff.”

  He shrugged. “It’s fine if you don’t use it, but at least you have it in case you see something you want.” He then lowered his head, speaking quieter. “Just don’t flash it around or anything – that tiny coin is worth a lot of money.”

  I nodded, feeling a smile tug on my lips. Since he was so close, I leaned up on my tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed, although he didn’t pull away – at least, not until it was clear that was all he was going to get for right now. “I love you,” I whispered, suddenly not wanting him to leave.

  Eli ran his fingertips along my jawline before smiling mischievously. “I love you too, kitten.” And with that he turned around and headed off down the road after the other two, leaving me blushing intensely in the middle of the sidewalk.

  Mira helped me recover, grabbing my arm and hauling me along towards a shop across the street in the other direction.

  “You two are going to scandalize the crowd,” she whispered cheerfully. I looked at her in shock, before noticing that a lot of people were staring at me. I glanced back at Mira questioningly and she snickered. “Eli looks human silly, and you just kissed him in public. They don’t see that kind of thing around here. Like, ever. I’m sure it happens in private, but certainly not out in the open.”

  “Should I not have?” I wondered seriously, not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble.

  She shook her head, glancing back to make sure Risa was still right behind us. “No, it’s fine. You shouldn’t have to worry about them. They might stare but they aren’t going to do anything about it.” She grinned again. “It was sure funny though.”

  “Glad I could amuse you,” I sneered sarcastically. She just smiled wider. I glanced back at Risa to see that she was right up next to me, her expression slightly tense. I quickly grabbed her hand, wondering what was wrong. As soon as we got into the first clothing store, I finally asked.

  “Are you alright?”

  She sighed and then nodded. “Just so many men,” she admitted. “It makes me nervous.” She then held up my hand in hers with a weak smile. “But this helps. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied happily. I then squeezed her hand tightly and tugged her forward. “Now, time for me to have some fun with you.”

  She smiled warily, but didn’t object.

  Picking out clothing for Risa to try on was just as fun as I expected, although it was a little challenging since her tail was so fluffy. It limited our options to an extent, but Mira and I were creative with it. After the fifth or sixth outfit, Risa finally got Mira on her side to focus their attention on me.

  My height and lacking chest size ended up being their struggle. Much to my disappointment, some of the best clothing choices for me ended up coming from the section for older children. Still, I had to admit I looked pretty cute in some of them. Risa and Mira thought I looked great in everything they picked out, but I suspected they were biased.

  My favorite outfit was picked out by Risa, involving a pair of black leather pants that actually fit. They were fairly snug, especially around my thighs and butt, but at least they weren’t too long. They fit like a glove all the way down my legs, even at the ankles. Once they discovered I actually really liked them, they picked out different shirts and tops to go along. However, in the end I didn’t find anything I was too set on. I decided I should buy the pants though, since Eli and I might not always be in a warmer climate. I was pretty sure I had enough room in my pack for them.

  After a while, Risa and I finally turned on Mira, quickly discovering we had nothing holding us back with her figure. She could wear practically everything, so we had a lot of fun experimenting. I ended up holding onto her small bag, which she called a purse, while she changed.

  While in the shop, we received a few looks from some of the other shoppers, again likely because we were pantherians, but no one said anything.

  Once we had spent over an hour trying on clothing, the cashier announced they were closing soon, so we decided to finish up and then head back to the inn. Mira mentioned that the crowd could become a little ‘sketchy’ after midnight, which is why a lot of the shops closed before then. I didn’t want to find out what she meant by that, so I was happy to oblige.

  Not to mention, I missed Eli.

  When I bought the leather pants, the female cashier seemed shocked that I was paying for my own clothing – slaves didn’t pay for themselves, nor did they usually buy anything to begin with. However, the woman didn’t comment on it, accepting my gold coin and giving me nineteen silver and twenty-three bronze in return.

  That’s when I discovered I had a problem – I didn’t have any way to store all the coins. My tight leather shorts had barely fit the one gold coin.

  Mira prompted me to buy a bag like hers, so I quickly picked out a small leather purse to match the pants and gave up another fifteen bronze for it. The thin leather strap seemed sturdy enough, but I would have preferred a thicker strap in case a thief tried grabbing it away from me. Mira didn’t think it would be a problem in this part of the city though. I just hoped the purse would fit in my pack when I wasn’t using it. It was too small to even have fit the summoning crystal I no longer had, so I suspected it might fit alright.

  “Well, that was fun!” Mira announced as we walked outside. The summer breeze
smelt great, although there was a slightly repugnant scent that also hung in the air inside the city. Apparently, it was a smell created by the gasoline vehicles, but it was too faint for the humans to pick up on it most of the time. Risa noticed it too.

  “It was,” I agreed. “What about you?” I wondered, looking at Risa. “Did you have fun?”

  She sighed with a small smile. “I did enjoy myself, but I don’t like wearing stuff that makes me stand out. I don’t really want the attention.”

  I smirked at her. “Well, I can understand that, but you’re so attractive you stand out no matter what you wear.” She smiled again, but didn’t comment. I quickly changed the subject, turning my attention to Mira. “So, did you have a favorite outfit Mira?”

  She placed her finger on her chin as she thought about it. “I liked all of them honestly. But if I had to choose…”

  An unexpected voice spoke up, loud enough to be heard over the murmurs of the noisy crowd.

  “Serene?”

  Risa abruptly froze in response to someone calling out a woman’s name from the other side of the street, causing us both to misstep in surprise. We both turned to look at her, seeing panic in her gold eyes. She quickly started walking again, grabbing my arm in the process to drag me along. The man immediately began walking towards us, calling out again.

  “Serene!”

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered, unsure why she was reacting so strongly to the stranger, or why he seemed to be trying to catch up to us.

  “That was one of the names they used for me at the brothel,” she whispered back urgently.

  Suddenly it clicked. Even though we were in a different city from where she came from, someone had just recognized her. Someone who had taken advantage of her at one point. Someone who she had legitimate reasons to be afraid of, and who she rightfully didn’t want to speak to.

  But the guy was persistent. “Serene! Wait!” He was catching up fast, so I decided our best course of action was to be direct.