Dragon Boy (Hilda's Inn Book 2)

by Cyn Bagley

  He dipped his candle into the flame, then walked back to his room. He could feel someone watching him, but he passed that off to nerves. He found his shirt and pants folded on a chair near the bed. His boots were under the chair. He dressed and laced his boots. Before leaving the room to find sustenance, he looked out the window again. A cloud slid across the face of the moon. He felt a little shiver go from the middle of his chest to his throat.

  He heard the door quietly open. “Not now, Josephine. I don’t want to talk.”

  The voice that answered him was not Josephine. “Brother, are you over your sulks?”

  “As if it is any of your business,” he said as he turned around to face her. When he saw how her face fell, he said more gently, “I will walk properly again.”

  Madame Mary Rose, a power in the underworld and one who owned most of the brothels in the city, was his sister. Just knowing that his family were not quite respectable warred with his ambitions to be a royal mage. He was not ashamed of her. She had pulled herself from the slums to this position using beauty and intelligence. He was not ashamed of Hilda who pulled herself from the slums to being a mercenary. Still Hilda was more respectable. He didn’t quite trust Mary Rose, even though he loved her. She was a businesswoman, first and foremost.

  Still when she threw herself at him and hugged him, Michael hugged her back. He kissed her cheeks. “I just need to do the exercises the healer gave me. The magic… well, the magic is not coming back yet. He wants me to see a mind-mage.”

  Michael knew that she had already heard this news. She wasn’t surprised. But then most things didn’t seem to surprise her. It had been a surprise to him when he realized that both of his sisters had elementals. It meant that they were untrained mages. As long as they didn’t practice magic, they would be safe. But the two of them needed training badly. Maybe he should train them. He let that thought go. He couldn’t train anyone until he knew how much of the magic was his and how much he had lost. For now his body needed to heal.

  Mary Rose pulled away from him. “I want…” She stopped when she saw his face, then said it more diplomatically. “I need you to run an Inn for Hilda’s retired mercenaries.” She rushed forward with the rest of her thought, “Since Hilda’s left many of them, including Grandpa Stevens, have approached me. They have nowhere to go.”

  Michael grinned ruefully. Grandpa Stevens was a handful. Only Hilda had known how to get that old man to toe her rules.

  “Well, how do I put this? Grandpa Stevens is on the streets because he wouldn’t go to the home provided by the mercenary guild. He says he’ll die in there.”

  Since Grandpa Stevens was old and decrepit, he was going to die soon anyway. Then Mary Rose surprised him, “I feel responsible. If I set you up with an inn close to the docks, Lord Barton won’t notice you there and you can provide a home to the old mercenaries who refused to leave Delhaven.”

  “Are you sure? What will I do for staff and money?”

  When the words burst from his mouth, Mary Rose smiled at him like the cat that got the cream. Dang. She had hooked him. He smiled back. Having something to do while he was trying to heal his magic would keep him from thinking of his losses.

  “Well, you’ll sign a contract with me and I will own fifty-one percent of the business. It will be a low profit business. But I will expect you to cover most of the expenses.”

  “Mary Rose,” Michael butted in to the conversation that sounded like she was thinking and not really talking to him. “Just one problem, I have never run a business before. It is not exactly part of my training. I’m very broke as well.”

  Michael knew he was in trouble when Mary Rose’s smile got bigger. “Which is why I have asked Josephine to work with you.”

  A bombshell went off in his head and heart. He sputtered. He had thought this business would take him away from Josephine’s influence. He gasped for air and sat down.

  “Are you okay?” Mary Rose asked “You just went white as a sheet.”

  Michael gasped again, and then started to laugh. “Why would you do that, sis?”

  Her facial expression went from concern to amusement in a second. She answered him, “Because, brother, I believe in happy endings.”

  ***

  Madame Mary Rose bustled out the door and left Michael alone. He felt energy pricking along his nerves. It was the same way he felt when he hit puberty and felt the magic create channels in his body.

  He felt restless enough that he couldn’t sit up or stand. He grabbed his cane, and leaned on it as he carefully, step-by-step, walked down the back stairs. The cook wasn’t in the kitchen, but there was a half-loaf of bread cooling on the counter. Butter was next to it. He cut off a slice, buttered it and limped out the back door.

  He stood outside the back door, looking up at the moon, while polishing off the bread. He licked the butter off his hands. He felt a warmth in his chest and realized that he had a purpose, a very small purpose. He could help Hilda, who felt responsible for Grandpa Stevens and the others, while helping himself. For the first time in months he wanted to smile.

  He thought of his sister’s proposal with the eye of a businessman. He couldn’t see how she would benefit from giving him an inn, especially with no experience. It would keep him away from Lord Barton. The lord didn’t care about his merchants as long as they filled his coffers.

  Of course, Mary Rose could have her fingers in smuggling. He wouldn’t be surprised and he wasn’t averse to stealing a coin out of the lord’s coffers. Still this work would be easier than being a sailor or a dock worker. He would have a chance.

  Watching Hilda work gave him a greater appreciation of the labor involved. When he was a child, his parents had had an inn. He had kept the fire burning, but was too young to do much else. In the last few years as a mage, he hadn’t needed to work or even wash his own clothes. As a soon-to-be royal mage, he had the status of minor aristocracy.

  It was all gone. That world was forever closed to him. He sighed, and then limped down the alley to the marketplace. Sharp eyes followed his every move. He was so interested in his thoughts that he didn’t notice.

  He limped to a bench and sat down. It was his favorite place near the well, where he would watch the women drop their buckets into the well and pull up the precious water.

  A few lamps were lit in the empty marketplace. He rested his leg on the bench and relaxed into the quiet. There was a slight chill in the air. He could still smell the freshness of the rain that had washed away the sewage and horse manure from the streets. In the distance he could hear the faint noise of men talking and drinking. He shivered at the wet cold chill. The moon was bright and he looked up at it and felt his thoughts quiet.

  The prickling across his nerves eased. His future didn’t look so grim.

  He was alone with his thoughts, when he felt her sit down on the bench beside him. “Josephine,” he said without turning his head.

  There was silence and then a voice, full of harmonics, answered him, “I am not Josephine.” It was a woman’s voice. At least it sounded like a woman’s voice to his ears. He turned his head.

  A woman in a peasant dress with fluffy sleeves and ties up her front smiled at him. His eyes saw a shiver around her form, which told him that the woman was magical. A moment later she dropped her glamor and he saw an undine, a water elemental. The glamor dropped for only a second, and then he saw the woman again.

  “Who are you?” he asked. There was no reason to be afraid yet. The undine could have drowned him instead of talking to him since he had no magical defenses. His heart thumped loudly in his ears. He waited for her answer.

  “I have a proposition for you,” she said. She straightened her skirts and leaned forward, showing her bosom. His body reacted even though he knew it was only an illusion. He did look down her dress. The illusion was quite good, still not as good as Josephine’s real bosom. He felt a longing, which he squashed quickly.

  The undine frowned at him. She hadn’t gotten the r
eaction she wanted.

  Her frustration was so strong that he could feel it. In a few moments she would not be able to keep up this illusion and she would revert to her true shape. He just needed to wait.

  “I am not in the market for a mistress,” he said to her.

  There was a huge pop, and the undine sat next to him in all her watery glory. Some water sprayed over him. “You stupid, stupid man,” she yelled at him. “I was going to offer you your magic back.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if I did something for you, then you would owe me a favor.”

  Most elementals Michael had met so far were less developed and more child-like. He was surprised. “Undine,” he said. “I don’t give favors to just anyone.”

  She glared at him, backed up, and jumped into the well. He could hear her yell, “You will. You will. You can’t live without your magic.” He listened for her, but she was gone. Once again he was by himself on a bench in the marketplace. The lamps flickered and one after another went out. He was sitting in the dark.

  He sighed, pushed himself up, and limped back to the lights and music of the brothel. For a moment he could see Josephine standing by the window and talking to an older man. The man had his arm around her waist. She was laughing and holding a glass of wine.

  Michael put his head down, slipped through the back door, and into the kitchen. The bread and butter had been put away. Tomorrow he would give his sister the answer. To his everlasting regret he would take Josephine as a co-partner, since she was forever a brothel madam. They would work together and he would learn to live near her, but not with her.

  He squashed his awe of her beauty. He wished Hilda were here. He wanted to talk to her about the undine. More wishful thinking. At least the healer had not told him his magic would come back after his mind was healed. He was grateful for the honesty.

  Maybe it was time to put away childish things. Maybe it was time to do a man’s work and forget about magic. Forget about Josephine.

  Chapter Five

  In the Village

  Hilda Brant

  Hilda opened the door to Elita’s insistent knock. Behind Elita stood three short men. They had their right hands on the pommels of the small swords hanging on their waists. Although they looked young, Hilda didn’t smile. They had been trained by Elita.

  Davi was on his feet and stood behind Hilda. Elita looked the two of them up and down, then moving her hand imperiously in a gesture that meant follow, she turned and walked toward the path that ended in the time loop.

  Hilda strode behind Elita and her warriors. Around them the night sounds quieted. In the distance they heard a hoot of an owl hunting for prey.

  It was a half-hour until midnight, so the time loop would still be in force. Hilda had hoped that Elita’s child would have broken the spell by now.

  It was a slim chance. Her other choice was to call for her brother. She didn’t think they had enough time to travel to Delhaven and back. From what Michael had said, the time loop would solidify soon and the children would die in that loop.

  Elita didn’t lead them to the time loop though. The group reached the end of the path and then one of the warriors pulled two bushes apart. Hilda saw the footprints of something that had been standing in the bushes a long time, watching the village.

  Hilda bent down to smell the area. It was a distinctly sweet and bitter smell, which reminded her of the Draugr. But they had left him in Delhaven. Mary Rose and Rooso were hunting the Draugr. No one knew if they could kill this thing. The magic that created such an abomination should have ceased on the death of its creator. They needed more information.

  After they had sealed the well, Davi had found the place where the Draugr had killed its maker. Davi then said that under the offal, the smell was sweet and bitter.

  Since the Draugr had killed its maker and was still walking around, he was now one of the dangerous undead, virtually impossible to kill. It wouldn’t be logical to have two undead with the same properties, she would have to assume that the Draugr had followed them to this remote village.

  “Explain,” Elita said. Her voice showed the tension she was feeling. If Hilda had been in her shoes, Hilda would have killed both of the intruders for bringing such an abomination with them.

  “It’s the Draugr,” Hilda whispered. “He must be here.”

  As Elita’s mouth tightened, Hilda hurriedly said, “A black mage created him. I thought the Draugr died at the death of the mage.”

  “You brought it here. Here.” Elita’s voice was controlled. Hilda could tell she wanted to yell. At that moment, they heard a sharp crack.

  The five of them ran toward the time loop. Hilda could see cracks in the the surface. The cracking became louder and louder. The time loop would break soon. It sound like glass.

  Elita said, “I haven’t forgotten that you brought that abomination with you.”

  Hilda ignored her and concentrated on the cracks. “Sassy” she whispered “Can you help?”

  But Sassy didn’t say anything. It must be like an egg. The little ones had to break through by themselves. Or Sassy felt something about Elita. She didn’t want to show herself.

  “Watch our backs,” Hilda said to Davi, who had been gazing in wonder at the loop. He shook his head and turned toward their back trail. If the Draugr was going to make its move, it would be now.

  A hand came out of the crack. Elita reached down and pulled a child out. Then there was a loud crack, and shrapnel flew toward the rescuers. Hilda leaped and pulled Elita and the child under her. She felt a slice along her back, but kept her head down. The others sprang away, but still when it was all over, one of the warriors was down with a slice across his chest.

  Hilda stayed on top of Elita and the child, and then groaned as she tried to get up. She rolled to her side. Elita was stunned. Except for the one warrior with a long deep slice in his chest, the rest were on their feet. Elita held the child, a girl with long blonde hair, against her body. She ran her hands up and down the girl, looking for any kind of injury. The child looked fine if a little thin.

  The rest of the village women ran into the clearing and pulled the other children from the wreckage. Some of them were sliced and others were completely unharmed. Most of them were in shock. They were gathered up by the adults and taken to the village.

  “Who is she?” Hilda asked Elita. Elita pulled the girl behind her.

  Elita frowned and Hilda thought she would attack. Then Elita relaxed. “She’s my daughter, Kayla.”

  Elita left Hilda and Davi in the middle of the warriors, who escorted Hilda and Davi back to the cabin.

  Outside the Village

  Draugr

  In the tree above their heads the Draugr watched. He could have taken out Elita and the three warriors, but it was Hilda that he carefully considered. With the elemental in her possession, she could burn him until he truly died. Before he had eaten magic, he wouldn’t have had the cunning to hide from her. He would have attacked and damn the consequences.

  Now, though, he had the part of his brain that had made him such a devastating spymaster to Lord Barton. He had options now. Most of them involved Hilda. He felt his teeth sharpen as he considered how good her blood would taste as he tore into her flesh. How her magic would increase his body and mind. For a moment he wanted to leap from the tree and savage her right there.

  It was a near thing, but he pulled his thoughts from the blood lust. It would be better to take one or two from the village. They had a low-grade magic that would sustain him as he followed Hilda.

  After he ate his creator, the magic had kept him sane for awhile. Before he devolved he needed to eat another.

  The Draugr could smell the children in the time loop. They smelled fresh and juicy. One of them had enough potential to keep him going for a few weeks. It might be the potential of her life that would make her even more delicious.

  He didn’t breathe and was still as a statue. Even if someone looked up into the tree, they
would be unable to see him. He felt a small leap in the place that used to hold his heart when he heard the first crack.

  Hilda and the group with her turned toward the time loop. Then they moved away. The Draugr carefully lowered his bulk down. The slight crackle of the branches as he climbed and slid to the ground were camouflaged by the sounds of the time loop cracking.

  He couldn’t see past Hilda or the others. He slid into the open, but slid back when Hilda told Davi to watch their backs. When the hand came out of the loop, her smell was so delicious that even though there was no liquid in his body, he almost drooled.

  The explosion and the shrapnel pulled him into the air and he was thrown far, farther than he expected. He landed on his back in the middle of a desert. A scorpion scuttled past him. He grabbed for it and ate it. He felt his consciousness fade as the vicious Draugr reappeared. In the middle of his chest was a piece of glass from the time loop.

  Tug, tug. He dug into the dirt and pulled out a small mammal, ripped it apart, then ate it. He walked a few more steps and felt hunger again. His mind descended further. His only thought was food and survival.

  In the back of his head in one brain cell, a thought — I almost had her. If he had any humanity left, he might have cried. What was driving him was the magic. Even his survival instincts were weak.

  His skin became papery under the onslaught of the dry air. The sky was black with pinpoints of stars. In the distance he could feel the pinpricks of small mammals in a shelter. He shuffled on, sliding his feet one after another.

  There was no will but this—the tug in the center of his chest. Magic.

  Chapter Six

  In the Village

  Hilda Brant

  The next morning, Elita met Hilda and Davi in the center of town. A young girl with one hand fisted in Elita’s skirt leaned against Elita. Hilda wanted to warn Elita about her daughter’s power, but Elita raised her eyebrow. It wouldn’t be good to talk about the girl while she was standing right there. Instead, Hilda stuck her hand out to the girl and said, “Hello, my name is Hilda and your mother and I fought during the dragon wars.”