Trader Dellia turned to him, soft concern in her eyes. “The vision had that feeling, yes. But it could just mean that some night in the future you are chasing a nahual for some reason.”
There was a look of extreme doubt on Aeron’s face. He shook his head. No, he thought, I just got her! There was no way he would risk her. And those teeth. He shivered just thinking about them.
“The nahual was after the people in the building, after whatever it is they need from us. Maybe you are just helping the people?” She had a rueful smile on her face. “Visions aren’t always easy to interpret.”
Aeron sat on the ground next to Anaya and said, “You two should go. All this . . . talking, is going to wake her up.” He leaned back against the sleeping dragon’s shoulders, arms crossed, feet straight out in front of him and stared at his shoes with a dark expression on his face.
“Aeron!” Sharrah gasped.
“No offense has been taken,” Trader Methon said, softly. “Many times Dellia’s visions take time to understand and be believed.”
“There is a great deal think about,” Trader Dellia agreed, staring at Sharrah. “Visions can sometimes show us things we do not want to see,” and she turned to Aeron, “things we do not want to know.”
“We shall return to our tent,” Trader Methon said. “Thank you for letting us see the dragon.” He smiled as he glanced at Anaya. “Good day to you all.” He and his wife bowed before taking their leave.
As soon as they disappeared around the far corner of the building, Sharrah spun on Aeron. “That was extremely rude, Aeron!”
“I don’t care. I am not going to risk Anaya’s life hunting nahual! That is not true. Nothing they said makes sense!”
“She didn’t say when it was going to happen,” Willem remarked, calmly. “For all we know it could be years and years from now. And her description of the place? Well, there are hundreds if not thousands of farms and homesteads that match it. Her vision was not very clear.”
“It’s not true,” Aeron repeated quietly but fiercely. He still had his arms crossed and was shaking his head. “Just because she had some stupid dream does—” Aeron stopped, a thoughtful look on his face.
“You mentioned a dream too,” Willem said, seeing his expression. “What was it about?”
Aeron licked his lips. “I had not remembered much about the dream, a nightmare really, until she mentioned the smell.” He shivered involuntarily, despite his warm coat. “That brought everything back.”
Willem sat on the ground, near Aeron. Sharrah, a frown still on her face, sat with them.
“I was running after something,” Aeron began slowly, “and somehow, it was chasing me too. There was a horrible smell, like decaying, rotting flesh and worse. And then I saw it, glimpsed it in the mist. I remember that it had teeth. The mouth on the creature was enormous and disgusting. When it opened its mouth, stretched its lips back, the teeth were like wide blades of glass and they were covered with spit and slime.”
Aeron rubbed his arms.
“Go on.” Sharrah was staring at him.
Aeron glanced at Sharrah and then at the ground. “I could hardly move my feet, as if I was stuck in some kind of thick mud. But it had no problems. It kept getting closer. And then, once it was nearly on me, it began to make a sound, a weird, deep buzzing, like an insect, but . . . bigger. Then I felt a wrenching in my chest.” Aeron suddenly gasped.
“What is it?” Willem asked.
Aeron stared at Willem and said, “I have to apologize to the traders.”
“Yes, you do,” Sharrah agreed, nodding.
Willem glanced momentarily at Sharrah, irritated, and then looked back at Aeron and asked, “Why?”
Aeron turned and stared at the workers on their errands around the stable. “I think I know what nahual need from people.”
Chapter 18
Minday, Nony 1, 1873
Late Afternoon
He didn’t tell them. They asked, repeatedly, before and during lunch. He told them he would let them and the masters know after dinner. And they eventually relented, allowing him to finish his lunch in peace. In reality, he wanted more time to let the idea float around in his thoughts.
Many times, instead of thinking directly about something, he would just set it aside. After a while, a solution to the problem would occur to him, or he would see that his thoughts had been sure and true. Whatever he had been thinking about would clarify itself. And though he was pretty sure about this idea, he would give it the afternoon.
He had also asked Sharrah to speak with Trader Dellia and ask if she and her husband could join them as well after dinner. Sharrah agreed to without too much chastising of him, for which he was grateful. When lunch was over, his friends had gone off to their craft halls for their craft responsibilities.
He felt bad about how rude he had been to the traders. It was just that so much had changed so quickly, and then they drop that vision in his lap. He wasn’t sure he believed it. But . . . he had always thought nahual were creepy, and he had been chasing a nahual in his own dream. Still, whether he believed the vision or not, Trader Dellia’s suspicions about nahual had lead him to his own realization. He shook his head, shoving the thoughts away. Right now he just wanted to keep studying his spells. That, at least, was somewhat normal. He returned to his primer and the second of the spells he had been given to study this week.
The sun was low and it was much cooler by the time he felt he had a good start on the spell. He would read over it again before bed that night. Well, as much a bed as clay could be. Not that he minded. He loved sleeping in the stable with Anaya. She was warm, soft and smelled nice. What wasn’t to like? He turned and looked at the young dragon, asleep behind him on the ground. He wasn’t sure when he would get used to the idea that he had a dragon, that a dragon had him.
“Aeron!”
He turned and saw Cheddar standing at the corner of the building, near the first fence post. He waved Cheddar over, “Come on in.”
Cheddar made his way to Aeron, eyes never leaving Anaya. “I didn’t want to bother you yesterday, figured you would be busy. But I just couldn’t keep away. I had to see her again.” He stopped near Aeron, staring down at the tawny dragon. “I saw the official announcement about the visitation times starting Hemday evening.” He looked at Aeron. “You know you’ll be swarmed the first few nights.”
Aeron nodded. “Yeah, that’s why they’re building a fence.” He pointed to the line of posts around the yard. Surprisingly, there wasn’t even one person out there watching Anaya.
“Good idea. That will at least keep them back, somewhat.”
“And the masters will be here too, to help.” Aeron looked at Cheddar questioningly. “Don’t you have chores or craft duties right now?”
“Yes, but I worked a little faster today so I could finish early and have time to visit before dinner.” He grinned at Aeron.
“And I should have known you’d know where to find me, too.” Aeron smiled slyly back at Cheddar. The apprentice archivist always seemed to know the latest news from, well, everywhere.
“Ha! Are you kidding? Anaya and you are all anyone has been talking about for the last two days. It’s good that there is an official announcement about when to come see her and ask questions about her. People would be all over this place every night otherwise.” He looked back at the dragon. “Not that I could blame them. Gods, but she’s beautiful.”
“You want to touch her?”
“You’re not kidding, are you?” Cheddar looked at Aeron with thinly veiled excitement.
“No,” Aeron chuckled. “Come on, stroke her neck here.”
Cheddar quickly kneeled next to Aeron and did so. “She’s so soft. I would have thought she’d be rough.” He looked at her head, with her large eyes closed in sleep, then his gaze continued along her neck and to her wings and then past them on to her tail. She took a little huffing breath as she dozed.
“Sleeps a lot, does she?”
&n
bsp; “Yeah. She’ll do that until she gets most of her growth, I think. Or at least that’s what they tell me.”
The sound of terse orders and grunting drew their attention to the stable where three men were removing a large wardrobe from a wagon that Aeron hadn’t even heard pull up. They carefully carried it inside.
“Looks like they are starting to move some furniture into the place,” Cheddar remarked.
“Hmm, yeah.” Aeron checked the link. Anaya was in a lighter sleep and would be waking soon, but for now, he could check on what progress there had been while he was studying. “Let’s go see what they are up to.”
Being careful not to hamper the work, the two boys made their way over and looked around inside the stable. The wide stone walkway that ran most of the length of the building was complete and looked very nice. The doors to his bedroom and study, as Sharrah had mentioned earlier, were finished. And there was a new wall dividing the two rooms of his space! Aeron hadn’t even noticed it at first, it blended so well with the existing walls. There was a completed door on that wall as well. His study and bedroom were swept clean and had several nice rugs upon their wood floors. The cramped but usable water closet at the back of his bedroom was perfect for him and was almost complete. All in all a very cozy and comfortable space. It would be even more so once all the furnishings were in place.
Cheddar whistled. “This is very nice. And all of this is for you?”
“Well, these rooms are. The middle area out there is for Anaya. And at the other end of the building, they’re building an office for dragon studies.”
“Still, very nice. You’re moving up in the world, eh?”
Aeron sighed. “Yeah, a bit too fast for my liking, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“My life has been turned upside down this last week. It’s a bit much to take all at once.” Aeron walked back outside, Cheddar trailing behind, and stood staring at Anaya for a few minutes. “I almost miss the days before I found her.”
Cheddar’s head turned sharply to Aeron.
“Almost!” Aeron said, laughing. “Don’t get any ideas. Once a dragon is linked by the Bond, it is forever.”
Cheddar grinned. “No, no. I wasn’t getting any ideas. Honest. At least not for very long.”
They both laughed and then stood staring at Anaya.
“Besides,” Aeron began quietly, “I don’t think I could live without her.”
Cheddar glanced at the young sleeping dragon then back at her companion and let out an envious sigh.
“Hey, Cheddar!” Willem was making his way over from the Leather Craft Hall, smiling as he passed the fence posts and crossed the open yard of the stable.
Aeron smiled and waved.
“Hey,” Cheddar replied, grinning, as Willem stopped next to Anaya.
“Come to see the dragon, huh?” Willem had a twinkle in his eyes.
Cheddar chuckled. “Of course. I couldn’t stay away.”
“Can’t say I blame you,” Willem said, staring down at Anaya. “I surely can’t.” He looked at Aeron then, a wicked grin on his face. “Not a hint even?”
Aeron harrumphed and said, “No! After dinner when the masters and traders are here. I told you.”
Willem laughed. “I know, I know. I was just kidding.”
“I should probably be getting off to dinner myself,” Cheddar said. “But thanks for letting me see her again.”
“Sure, “ Aeron said. “Hey, if you want, show up here a little early Hemday night, and you can be with us back here for the show and tell event.”
“Golden! I’ll do that. Thanks again!” Cheddar said, heading off to the dorms to get ready for dinner.
“I need to stop off at the dorms real quick, then I’ll be back to see what has been done with the stable.” Willem looked eagerly around the outside of the building and at the workers.
“Good idea. Once you’re back, I’ll need to make a trip too.”
“Sounds good.” Willem nodded and hurried off to the dorms.
Aeron watched Anaya sleeping for a while, a small loving smile on his face. A loud crash brought his attention to the smiths, who were busy at work on the weighing scale. He wasn’t sure what had made the loud sound, but there was a lot of activity around the large device.
Aeron stretched where he stood as he watched them and heard a few snaps and crackles. The stretching felt very good. He had been sitting in the same position studying for most of the afternoon.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been asleep this whole time?” Sharrah was smiling at him as she walked over.
“Hmm? No, just a nice stretch.” Aeron flexed his shoulders. “I’d been sitting in one position a long time, studying. Luckily, Cheddar dropped by and I had a chance to stretch my legs by giving him a tour.”
“Cheddar is here?” Sharrah looked around for the apprentice archivist.
“He was, but he headed off to dinner. Willem stopped by too before heading to the dorms. He said he’d be right back.”
“Ah, me too, I need to head over there. But I thought I’d drop by to say hello first, and check whether Anaya was awake before I went.”
Aeron smiled and looked down at Anaya. “No, not yet. But soon. She’s only lightly asleep now.”
“Alright. Then I’ll be right back.”
Aeron grabbed his primer off the ground and tucked it into his satchel. He noticed more furniture was being taken inside the stable. And as he watched, another wagon pulled up, this one had the two enormous doors that were part of Anaya’s doorway. It took the two teams of men about twenty minutes to carry and then mount the two sliding doors to the opening. After much leveling and testing, the doors soon slid very smoothly open and closed. Aeron clapped for the men, who then smiled and bowed.
“Oh those are great!” Willem had just walked around the corner as the men were bowing for Aeron’s applause.
“Aren’t they? Those are perfect. Tonight will be much warmer than last night.”
“Was it very cold?” Willem asked.
“The blankets and furs helped, but I was thinking about Anaya. Now she won’t be cold.”
Willem nodded. “Oh, yeah. I wonder what else they’ve finished? Have you looked yet?”
“A little. Let’s see what else they have done.”
Sharrah arrived back just then and the three toured the stable to see what had been accomplished. From everything they saw, it looked like Aeron’s rooms would be complete either that evening or the next day. Even the weight scale looked pretty much finished, and when they asked, the smiths working on it said that all that was left was the calibration, which the workers were sure would be done soon.
Aeron stared at the enormous apparatus. The large hole from earlier in the day was not visible. In its place was a low metal platform made up of several small, perhaps two foot square, metal plates. It sat a few inches above the ground and, from what he could remember, appeared to overlap the hollow beneath it on all sides by perhaps a foot. He had no idea what was below the platform, what machinery it hid, but at the left end of the metal floor, nearest Anaya’s large sliding doors, was a raised device. On it, the smiths carefully slid metal cylinders of differing sizes along several bars after placing various items on the large metal platform. Aeron hoped there would be some kind of instruction on using the device. Though, now he thought about it, Sharrah probably already knew how to use it.
As far as Aeron could tell, the only things left to complete were the fence and the office. Both of which were waiting for concrete to cure enough for the next stages of construction.
“I have to say,” Willem began, looking at the work that had been done around the building, “I’m impressed with the progress made and with the number of men the masters were able to get to work on this stable project.”
“It has been moving along very quickly,” Aeron said with only a hint of nervousness. After checking with his friends to be sure they’d keep an eye on Anaya, he took his leave and jogged to the Ma
gic Craft Hall.
After a quick stop at the toilets, Aeron went to his soon-to-not-be-his room. He grabbed a few things off the desk and stuffed them in his satchel: some more pens and pencils, a couple of ink bottles, some parchments scraps and about a walnut’s thickness of paper. He looked fondly at the maps, but decided they were much too nice for him to just take without asking. His eyes were drawn to his bed, and he sighed. It was such a comfortable thing and he would dearly miss it.
“Goodbye, old room of mine. I hope your next owner appreciates you as much as I did.”
With one last look around to be sure he hadn’t missed anything, he turned, walked out the door and closed it behind him.
“Are you Aeron?”
A tall girl, well, young lady he realized when he got a better look, had just stepped out of a room, the one across from Master Doronal’s. As he walked over to her, he tried to remember the name of the adept whose room that was. She was helping Master Doronal with the nahual investigation, if he remembered right. Her chin-length sandy-blonde hair, somewhat tousled, framed her oval face and provided an interesting contrast to the dark color of her eyes.
“Millinith?” he asked.
“You know my name. And I still do not know yours.” She had a half-smile on her face, and there was a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, I’m Aeron.” He blushed a little at his manners, or lack thereof.
“Ah, so you are Aeron. A pleasure to meet you, finally.” She glanced at the door to his room and said, “Normally, I would have introduced myself to you sooner, I like to meet my neighbors, but I have been,” and her mouth crooked in a smile, “out and about a lot lately.”
“Well, I won’t be your neighbor for long,” Aeron said. “I’m going to be living at the dragon stable.”
“So I hear. I’ll have to stop by one day and see your dragon.”
Aeron still wasn’t comfortable talking about Anaya to people he didn’t know well, so he tried to change the subject. “Investigating nahual must be exciting,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed and she looked sharply at him. “Nahual?”
Dragonlinked Page 40