Jason started into the village.
He remained close to one of the nearby houses. The roof was made of bundles of branches similar to the tree that he’d climbed. The needles had dried and they were stacked together, giving protection. Piles of those needles littered the ground, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like to burn them. Would they burn well?
As he glanced behind him, looking at the trees, he couldn’t help but think that these people didn’t have to worry about finding firewood. They would have plenty to burn. They would be able to stay warm.
The smoke drifting up from chimneys within each of the homes told him that much.
More than that, it was the fact that he was warm. It wasn’t nearly as cold as it had been farther up the mountain. It was almost as if the sun warmed things, melting the snow, and he unbuttoned his coat. He continued to creep into the village, looking around. He had no idea where he was going, and when he encountered his first local, he froze.
He’d been worried about looking like an outsider, and yet, he needn’t have been concerned. The first man he encountered was dressed in a thick brown fur. It was different than the white bearskin Jason wore, but only in the color. It was patched together, the stitching keeping it intact, and the man tromped past him, turning up one of the streets.
Jason decided to follow. If nothing else, he would at least look as if he were with that man rather than on his own.
As he trailed the man, he encountered others wandering through the streets. Many of the men were dressed in jackets that were far lighter than what he’d ever worn before, but many others were dressed in furs like the man in front of him. The man meandered through the street before turning a corner. Jason had looked to see where he’d gone when someone grabbed his arm.
He spun around and came face-to-face with the dark-furred man.
“Are you following me?”
Jason shook his head. The man’s breath stunk, and there was a dark gleam in his brown eyes. Maybe it was more than his breath that stunk. His furs, too. “I’m not following you.”
“You look like you have been. Why?”
Jason tried to pull away but the man was strong, holding on to his arm in a tight grip. Every time he tried to jerk his arm free, he found that the man was there, keeping him from moving it away.
“I don’t know where I’m going.”
“What?”
Jason shook his head. “I don’t really know where I’m going. I’m trying to—”
The man shoved him free and Jason staggered back, tripping over his feet and landing on his backside as he looked up at the man. He was tall, though not as tall as most from Jason’s village. Other than the furs, there was nothing else unusual about him, and thankfully there was no silver in his eyes as there had been with the Dragon Souls.
Jason started to get up and the man spun, heading away.
Getting to his feet, Jason dusted himself off.
“Don’t mind him,” a voice said from nearby.
Jason jerked his head around.
“What was that?”
“I said don’t mind him. He comes in here about once a month, and he’s usually angry about something.” A figure stepped out of the darkness, and Jason realized it was a boy about his age. He was slightly shorter, stick thin, and had spiky black hair. His eyes were crystal blue and seemed to match the sky overhead.
“You aren’t from here, are you?” the boy asked.
“No.”
“Are you from Atriul?”
Jason hadn’t heard of that place, and he shook his head.
“Hovarth?”
Jason shook his head again.
“Where are you from?”
He pointed up the side of the mountain.
The boy’s eyes widened. “Where?”
“All the way up.”
His breath caught. “There’s nothing up there. We’ve tried to climb, but…”
Jason let out a sigh. What was he doing here?
The answer was easy. It might have taken him only two days to get down, but heading up was going to be harder. He’d seen that in the times when he’d gone with his father to Varmin. The return climb required more effort than it took getting down.
“I’m looking for someplace I can trade. I need supplies.”
“What sort of supplies?”
“Supplies to get back.”
“You came down to get supplies to get back?”
“I got caught out in the storm. I was sort of forced down.”
The boy watched him, and then he nodded. “Come with me.”
He started heading through the streets, waving Jason to follow.
He hesitated at first but then decided, what better way to find what he needed than to go along with someone who was local? The boy seemed friendly enough, and certainly not at all like the dark-coated man who’d almost attacked him.
Maybe he should be asking about Therin. If he could find out what happened to him, he might be able to figure out how he could get back.
“What sort of things are you looking for?” the boy asked.
“Food. Maybe some rope,” Jason said, thinking about what would be beneficial. A length of rope would be helpful, and even more than that, he would need some snowshoes. Considering the way he’d sunk into the snow while walking with Therin, he’d need something to let him stay above it and move more quickly. He thought that he could make them with the branches he had seen, but if he could buy them, then it would be easy enough to just start back. Making snowshoes would take time, and he had no idea how much time he wanted to risk.
Then again, he’d already been gone for a few days, long enough that his mother and sister probably thought he was gone for good. No one survived very long outside of the village. It was possible they’d sent search parties for him, but they could only search so far and so long, and eventually they would have to turn back. If the storms had been as bad as it had seemed, they wouldn’t have been able to spend much time outside looking for him.
And a part of Jason had this nagging suspicion there was something else that was taking place. With the ballistae fired, as he thought they had been, the possibility existed that there had been a dragon sighting.
That had to be why the Dragon Souls were there, wasn’t it?
Therin hadn’t believed that, though Jason was no longer sure what to make of Therin. The other man had abandoned him, leaving him on the side of the mountain. What kind of person did that?
“A shelter. Even some snowshoes.”
“You didn’t wear snowshoes?” The boy glanced down at Jason’s feet before looking back up to his face. “How did you make it down the side of the mountain? I hear the snow is a hundred feet deep.”
“Not quite that,” Jason said.
“It sounds like it is impossibly deep. The hunters outside the village talk about snowstorms that leave impossible amounts of snow.”
“There is a lot of snow, and it’s cold, but it’s not quite that bad.”
“I still can’t believe you’re from there.”
An idea came to him. “Have you seen another man? Thick beard. Dressed in furs.”
“Other than Old Henry?”
“Who’s Old Henry?”
“He’s the man you met when you first came to town.”
Jason nodded. “That’s not him. He’s dressed similar, though.” It was strange. He hadn’t made the connection before, but it did seem that Old Henry had been dressed similarly to Therin. Maybe they knew each other. And if they knew each other, then Jason might need to follow Old Henry to see if there was anything the other man might reveal to him.
“I haven’t seen anything like that. Then again, most traders head to the south side of the town.”
“Why the south side?”
“Because it’s better connected. Well, at least better connected than any place other than to the north.” The boy grinned. “I’m William, by the way.”
The boy stuffed out his hand and
Jason took it, shaking it. “I’m Jason.”
“It’s good to meet you, Jason. Maybe when we find the supplies you need, you can tell me about your town.”
Jason shrugged. “It’s not that exciting.”
“Maybe not to you, but it is to me. I still can’t imagine what it must be like living up there. Anywhere but here,” he said wistfully.
Jason looked up the side of the mountain. From here, it was impossibly steep and impossibly high. Had he not come down it, he would have wondered how he was going to survive making it back up.
They continued to weave through the town, and as they went, Jason looked at the buildings. Most of them were homes, similar to what he’d seen on the outside of the town, but as they started to cross through the center, they encountered other buildings. Some of them were structured a bit differently, and many of them looked to have signs hanging out front.
They were no different than the kind of shops they had in his village. Then again, the entire town was similar, though different than what he encountered in his home. It was strange, and he couldn’t shake that strangeness, but there was also something relaxing about being here, away from the whipping wind, the fear of cold, and the simple challenge of trying to keep warm.
“Don’t you have to worry about dragons?”
“About what?” William asked.
“Dragons. Don’t you have to worry about them?”
William cocked a brow at him. “What are you talking about?”
Jason frowned. “Creatures that fly and shoot fire from their mouths?”
William started to laugh. “You can’t tell me your people believe in such stories.”
“We believe in them because they’re true.”
William paused, turning and facing Jason. He crossed his arms over his chest and locked eyes with Jason. “I can’t tell if you are trying to make fun of me or not.”
“Not. Definitely not. My entire village is defended against dragon attacks. We haven’t had one in several decades, but they’re real enough.”
William stared at him for a moment. “We don’t have anything like that. And as far as I know, we’ve never had anything like that. The worst we have to deal with are wolves. Occasionally garols.”
“What’s a garol?”
William grinned again. “You come here asking about dragons, and you don’t know anything about a garol?”
Jason shrugged this time. “I guess so.”
“They’re cats, and almost as large as wolves. They hunt in packs, and we have to keep on the lookout for them. They haven’t bothered us in a while, but when they do, it’s usually because they are hungry. Then again, when that happens, hunters typically are aware of it because the deer populations around us start to change.” The other man shook his head, laughing softly. “I still can’t believe you believe in dragons.”
Jason fell silent and followed William. They stopped in front of a shop with a sign hanging out front.
“This is a general store. You should be able to find anything you need inside.”
Jason nodded. “Thanks for your help, William.”
“Oh, you’re not getting off that easy. I still want to know more about your home.”
“When I finish,” he said.
He stared at the door, debating, and then a realization struck him.
If they didn’t believe in dragons here, there was no value to the dragon pearl.
Jason didn’t have anything worth trading.
12
Jason stood frozen, staring at the sign, and William watched him.
“What is it?”
He glanced at the other boy, taking in his fine features, his narrow jawline, his spiky black hair. This was a person who didn’t believe in dragons, who didn’t know they existed.
Then again, Jason had never seen a dragon, himself.
He had seen dragonskin. He had seen dragon bone weapons. And he had seen the dragon pearls along with the magic that was used by those who possessed those items.
All of that told him that dragons were real.
More than that, his father had died because of a dragon.
He didn’t know how, though.
He’d assumed that his father had come down the side of the mountain, arriving at a village like this, and had been attacked by a dragon, but if that weren’t the case, then what had happened to his father?
“Aren’t you going to go in?”
“I don’t have any money,” he said.
“How did you expect to trade for anything?”
Jason sighed and then reached into his pocket, pulling out the dragon pearl. He held it out to William.
The other boy took it, holding it in his hand. “It’s warm. Is it some sort of special rock from your homeland?”
“It’s a dragon pearl.”
“Is it?” William grinned again. “Did you take this off of a dragon?”
“A Dragon Soul gave it to me.”
“What’s a Dragon Soul?”
“It’s a…” Jason no longer knew what to say. He had come down here, thinking he would find help, but more than that, he’d come thinking everything he knew would be known by the people in this village. And yet, if they weren’t aware of any of that, then there was no point in trying to argue what he had known.
What he needed was to find Therin. The other man would have money, Jason was certain of it, and more than that, he would have experienced trading.
It still surprised him that Therin would have abandoned him, and yet, maybe he hadn’t. Maybe Therin had gone off hunting and Jason had been the one to have left him. When the avalanche came, he had no other choice but to hurry down the side of the mountain. It was lucky he had survived.
Maybe Therin was still coming. If that were the case, he needed to wait, preferably on the outside of the village, watching to see if the other man was going to approach.
“This is a mistake,” he said.
“It’s not a mistake. I can help you.”
“I don’t have any money,” he said again.
“Like I said, I can help you,” William said.
“Do you have money?”
“No… but there’s something else I can do.” William motioned for him to follow, and Jason sighed before doing so.
They wandered along the side of the street and took a few smaller turns, and the buildings began to press closer together.
William glanced over at him. “Have you ever played caral?”
Jason shook his head.
“That’s what I figured. Anyway, when we get in there, I want you to tell them the same things you told me.”
“About the dragon?”
William grinned. “Exactly. Tell them about the dragon. And then pull your special stone out at the last minute.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
They paused in front of a small building. It looked a little more dilapidated than some of the others. While many of the others had been painted, this one appeared to be faded and less well cared for.
The door hung askew, and William nodded to himself before pushing it open. Jason followed him inside.
It was dim, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. Even while they were adjusting, his silver eye allowed him to make out the forms inside. There were about a dozen people, and they all sat around tables. Many of them had drinks resting on the tables in front of them, and some of them had food.
Jason’s stomach rumbled. It had been a while since he’d eaten. The meat Therin had given him had satiated him some, but he was still hungry.
William cocked his eye at him. “You can’t go doing that now.”
“What?”
He jabbed Jason in the belly. “That. Keep that to yourself. Here.” William reached into his pocket and pulled out a hunk of bread and passed it over to him. “If this is going to work for you, you’re going to need all of your money. You can’t have the Stag’s Horn getting any of it for their food. Besides, I can tell you that you
don’t really want their food.”
William weaved through the tables before taking a seat near the back.
“Gary. This is my new friend Jason. He’s from the mountain.”
Gary looked up. He was probably ten years older than Jason and had a neatly trimmed beard. He had a dangerous gleam in his eyes that reminded Jason of men like Reltash. There was something about him that Jason didn’t like right away.
“Is that right?” Gary drawled.
“It is. And he’s in the mood for a little gaming. I thought you might be interested.”
“I’ve told you that you aren’t allowed here anymore.”
“You don’t get to tell me where I get to go, Gary. Besides, I thought you’d be interested in learning about what my new friend Jason knows. As I said, he comes from a village high in the mountains.”
“A lot of people claim that.”
William took a chair and pulled it out, throwing himself down into it. “A lot of people claim they know about dragons?”
Gary frowned, and there was movement in the shadows that stepped forward.
Jason looked around, worried that this was a mistake. There was something about this place that left him unsettled, making him think it was not exactly safe. Why would William bring him here?
“Go on,” William urged. “Tell him.”
“Tell him what?” Jason asked.
“Tell him what you told me.”
“What do you want me to tell him?” Jason asked.
William glanced over his shoulder. His eyes seemed to urge Jason to speak, giving him a wild expression. His hair sticking straight up did nothing to change that. “About the dragons.”
Jason licked his lips, his mouth suddenly dry. He felt uncomfortable here, but perhaps that was the point. Maybe that was what William wanted. If that were the case, then it was working.
“I think this is a mistake,” he said.
“It’s not a mistake,” Gary said.
Two men appeared on either side of him, and they had their arms crossed over their chests. Jason noticed the long swords strapped at their waists.
He had a belt knife he’d used to escape the Dragon Souls, but he didn’t have any sort of training with hand-to-hand combat. The only thing he had was a bow, and in this place, a bow was not likely to help him all that much.
Ice Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 1) Page 11