The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  "I'm not planning on it, no," Torm agreed mildly. "That's quite a trick, though. I'll bet that's how it hunts. It shocks birds out of the sky and lets the fall kill them."

  "That would be an effective tactic," Tarrin agreed, looking down at the drake. "Alright now, little one," he told it. "You're better now. You should be going home now." The drake made no move to turn and fly away. Instead, it reared up on its hind legs and put its front paws on his knee, begging for attention. "You're welcome," he chuckled to it, petting it on the head gently. When he stood up, the drake did turn around and jump into the air, flapping its wings, but it did little more than gain altitude, turn around, and land on his shoulder.

  Tarrin was a bit surprised. It seemed to be in no hurry to go home, but it had to leave soon, or the island would be too far away for it to get back. He reached up and took hold of the drake, holding it gently, then set it on the rail. "You need to start back, little one, or you'll be too far away to reach the island," he warned it. "Now go on. Before we get too far away."

  It looked at him quizzically.

  "Go on now," he ordered. "Back home. Go home!" He made a shooing motion with his paws, and the drake reacted to that, vaulting up into the air and flapping its leathery wings, back towards the island. Tarrin watched it go with a slight smile, happy that he'd had a chance to help someone for a change. "Phandebrass is going to kill me," he chuckled.

  "Why?"

  "A drake that can shoot lightning? He would have loved to have studied it. If he would have survived," he added with a laugh. "Did it burn you?"

  "Not really," he replied, getting up and putting a furry hand to his chest. "It would have if it would have hit my fur. The coat took the burn for me. I've never been shocked like that before. It didn't burn, but it certainly wasn't pleasant."

  "I can imagine it wasn't," Tarrin agreed mildly. "I'd better be going, Torm. I have an appointment to keep."

  "I need to change coats," the admiral noted, looking down.

  The rest of the day went by as all the days did, but the next morning was anything if not ordinary. Tarrin had woken up to some shouting bleeding down from the deck above, but hadn't paid much attention to it. He dressed and went out on deck to find Camara Tal, but found all the sailors on the deck, looking up into the rigging. Some of them were rubbing arms or shoulders, and there were little burn marks on a few of them. Keritanima was standing by the foremast with Miranda, watching Phandebrass crawling through the rigging as Chopstick and Turnkey fluttered about the mainmast, circling the crow's nest.

  "What's going on?" he asked Dar, who was standing not far from the sterncastle.

  "There's a little animal up there in the rigging," Dar replied. "It attacked a few of the sailors, and now Phandebrass is trying to catch it."

  Tarrin looked up, seeing that the thin Wizard was on the rope ladder leading to the crow's nest, a rope in his teeth and his ridiculous conical hat gripped in one hand. His hair had gone all white again, Tarrin noticed, and the Wizard had trouble with getting his feet tangled in his robes as he tried to climb up the rigging.

  He stopped as a little streak suddenly shot out of the crow's nest, towards the bow, then dove down through the rigging with Chopstick and Turnkey in hot pursuit. Tarrin didn't get a good look at it, since it was behind the sails on the foremast, but when it dropped under the lowest sail and pulled out of its dive, he realized that the flying thing was a little blue blur.

  It was the drake!

  It flew right at him then pulled up and landed on his shoulder, its claws tearing his shirt and drawing blood from the speed of the landing. It chirped in his ear and licked him on the side of the face with that reptillian tongue, then suddenly hissed threateningly as Chopstick and Turnkey flew towards him.

  "Land!" Tarrin called, holding his paws out. That was a command that both the drakes knew, and they obediently flapped down to the deck and stayed where they were. He reached up and took hold of the blue drake, bringing it down to his chest and looked down at it. It looked up at him with eyes as blue as its scales, vertically slitted, reminding him irrationally of Kimmie's eyes. "I told you to go home, little one," he chided the drake in a stern voice.

  It looked up at him unashamedly, then it gave that chirping sound and rubbed the side of its head against his chest.

  Tarrin blew out his breath in a snort as Dar looked at the drake in surprise. "How does it know you, Tarrin?" he asked.

  "I met it last night, when we passed by that island. I guess it decided to follow the ship," he replied.

  "I say, you got it!" Phandebrass' voice called from overhead. The thin Wizard shimmied down a rope and got back on the deck, putting his hat back on as he ambled over quickly. "I say, it's a rare blue!" he gasped. "A Blue!"

  "Rare?" Tarrin asked. "There was a whole pack of them flying around out here last night."

  "I missed it?" he asked in a crestfallen voice. "I say, we need to turn the ship around, we do! I really must see this!"

  "Dream on, Wizard," Camara Tal scoffed as she appraoched, with all his other friends converging on him. "It certainly seems to like you, Tarrin," she noted.

  Tarrin told them what happened the night before, about the attack and his saving it. "I let it go, but I guess it just flew far enough away to convince me it left, then turned around."

  "Drakes are like that, lad," Phandebrass said. "When they find someone they like, they stay with them. This drake is attached to you, and there's nothing you can do short of attacking it to make it leave, there isn't. You're stuck with it."

  "I wouldn't attack it!" Tarrin said in a sudden voice.

  "Then you should give her a name," Phandebrass grinned. "I say, what luck! I can study a blue!"

  "Her?" Dar asked.

  "I say, certainly!" Phandebrass said confidently. "See the smaller horns, and the different proportions of the ridge-spine pattern? Those are the markings of a female."

  "Why would the other drakes attack this one?" Allia asked Phandebrass curiously.

  "Any number of reasons, my dear," he replied. "I say, she may have been an intruder in the territory of another pack, she might. Drakes are social animals, they are, and live in packs in the wild. Or she may have tried to win leadership of her pack, and lost. Losers are chased out of the territory. Sometimes they're killed."

  "They certainly tried to kill her," Tarrin mused. "Even chased her halfway out to sea."

  "Then she must have nearly won," Phandebrass said. "The pack leader certainly didn't want her coming back to challenge again, so he was making sure of her, he was."

  "Well, brother, it looks like you have a new pet," Keritanima grinned at him. "Care to introduce us?"

  "I say, that's a bad idea," Phandebrass warned. "She's a wild drake, Tarrin. You'll need to domesticate her and train her. She may like you, but she'll be aggressive towards everyone else, she will."

  "We noticed," Camara Tal said.

  "I say, take her below decks, to your cabin, and I'll come by in a few minutes and tell you what to do," Phandebrass said. "Raising a drake isn't easy, my boy. You'll need some help, you will."

  Tarrin wasn't entirely sure about this. He'd never had a pet before, not even a dog, because his father was allergic to dogs. The Kael farm was one of the rare few that didn't have dogs on the farm, and the few cats there were were restricted to the barn to control the rodents, because the small flock of sheep they'd kept on the farm didn't like them. He took the little blue drake down to his cabin and sat down on the bed, stroking it absently, considering the situation. If it was true, and he couldn't make the drake go away, he was more or less stuck with her. He did like drakes, though, and if he was going to have a pet, then a drake seemed a sensible choice. He wasn't sure how much the drake was going to affect his life, because Chopstick and Turnkey seemed to more or less take care of themselves. So long as they were fed regularly and someone paid attention to them every so often, they didn't seem to need anything special. On those terms, Tarrin wouldn't mind at all to take
care of the drake.

  Phandebrass knocked on the door, then entered immediately afterward. To his surprise, Kimmie filed in behind him. That made him inwardly groan; now he'd have to scour her scent out of his room or he'd get no peace at night. But he put on a brave face and greeted her as amicably as he could. She smiled at him and sat down on the stool in front of the desk, and the Wizard stood before him. "I say, very good. The first thing you need to do is domesticate her, you do. She's a wild drake, and she'll need to learn that everyone isn't going to attack her."

  "How do we do that?"

  "Carefully," Phandebrass grinned. "She's a blue, and they have magical powers, so we have to be cautious. I trained my drakes to behave by slowly introducing them to people, being nice to the people and such to show that the person was my friend. Drakes are clever creatures, my boy, she'll understand that your friends are her friends. Once you have her acclimated, she'll start relaxing around strangers. While you're taming her, you'll have to teach her what you want her to know, you will."

  "Like what?"

  "Like housebreaking her, but that will actually be an easy task, it will," he replied. "Drakes prefer to bury their waste, or expel it while flying, but they'll never soil what they consider their den. You have to convince her that this is her den, then leave the window open for her so she can leave to relieve herself. I say, you'll also have to teach her not to chew," he continued. "Drakes chew on things to keep their teeth sharp. I have chew toys for my drakes in my cabin. Leather works best, it does. Get yourself a piece of ragged leather and reprimand her whenever she chews on anything other than that chew toy."

  "How do you reprimand a drake?"

  "An angry tone," he replied. "Drakes are smart, my boy. She'll learn what your voice sounds like when you're in certain moods, and she'll respond to it. But don't ever hit a drake as punishment. She'll think you're attacking her, she will, and she'll either run away or attack in kind, or both."

  "Alright. What else should I know?"

  "That's basicly it, my boy," he replied. "As far as basics go. But drakes are smart little devils, and they're easy to train. Training her in certain things and to do some tasks would be a very good idea, it would. As you've seen, Chopstick and Turnkey have been trained how to attack enemies. I've also trained them to fetch certain things, and they also know how to find certain things that I need. They also know a good variety of commands for their own good, to keep them out of trouble and out of harm's way. Such as the land command I saw you use. It's a good idea to have a well trained drake if she's going to go out in public with you, it is." He looked at the drake longingly. "I can't wait until she's tame," he said in an excited tone. "I'll teach you how to teach her commands, and I can study her abilities."

  "One thing at a time, Phandebrass," Tarrin said, scratching the drake between the horns, right where Turnkey and Chopstick liked to be scratched. She too seemed to like being scratched there, leaning into his claw.

  "I say, you need to give her a name," the Wizard told him. "You should always call her by her name."

  "I think Sapphire would be a good name," Kimmie offered. "She has the same color as a sapphire."

  "It's as good a name as any," Tarrin shrugged. "So her name is Sapphire."

  "Very good then. Stay with her in the cabin for the rest of the day, and make sure to open the window. She'll learn that this is her den, and she'll also get used to you. Just keep visitors on this side of the room until tomorrow."

  "What should I feed her?"

  "Drakes eat anything, but they can be finicky, they can," he replied. "Table scraps work best. She'll tell you what she does and doesn't like. Oh, and make sure she always has fresh water in a bowl somewhere. Drakes drink alot of water, they do."

  "Alright," he nodded. "Anything else?"

  "Not that I can think of at the moment, no," he replied. "As soon as I remember something else, I'll run down here and tell you, I will."

  "So, just sit in here with her all day?"

  "Just so," Phandebrass nodded. "I say, you may want to get a book or something."

  "I can have visitors, so could you go find Camara Tal and ask her to come to my room?" he asked.

  "I say, I'd be happy to, my boy," he replied with a smile.

  Phandebrass turned around and took of his cap, then replaced it on his head for some strange reason. "I'll send Camara down here for you, my boy," he promised. "I say, coming, Kimmie?"

  "In a bit," she replied.

  "See you in a bit, then," he replied, nodding to her. Then he let himself out.

  "What do you want, Kimmie?" he asked her.

  "To know why you've been avoiding me," she replied bluntly, putting her elbows on her knees and leaning towards him.

  "I didn't realize I was avoiding you on purpose, Kimmie," he said blandly. "You've been busy, and I've been busy. That's all."

  "That's not all, and don't deny it," she countered. "Am I upsetting you, Tarrin? If so, tell me so, and I'll fix whatever it is I'm doing that annoys you."

  He snorted. "There's nothing you can do, Kimmie," he told her directly.

  She looked at him, then she blinked. Then she laughed. "Is that all that's bothering you?" she asked with a sudden grin. "Why didn't you say so!"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Do you really think Jesmind is going to care if we go to bed together?" she asked easily. "I thought you knew females better than that!"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Tarrin," she chided. "Love is love, but sex is just that. Sex. Jesmind isn't going to give a flip of her hair if we go to bed, so long as your love for her doesn't change."

  "Maybe, but I wouldn't feel right if I did," he told her. "It would be like cheating on her."

  "If I'm bothering you this much after only a couple of rides, what do you think it's going to be like in a month, Tarrin?" she asked bluntly. "And I wasn't even trying for you. But now that you've made your interest clear, I will be trying for you. It'll only get worse."

  "That's a cheap shot, Kimmie!"

  "That's one way of putting it," she teased with a wink. "I told you a long time ago that I'm interested in you, Tarrin. Now that I have you all to myself and I know that you're interested in me too, do you really think I'm going to pass up the chance?"

  "But what about Jesmind?"

  "What about her?" Kimmie mirrored. "I don't really care what your feelings are for Jesmind, Tarrin. What matters is now. And right now, you're a male, I'm a female, and we're attracted to one another. Just let instinct run its course."

  "You're an evil woman, Kimmie," he accused.

  "I know," she replied with a wicked little smile. "If you feel all that worried about what Jesmind thinks, tell her," she offered. "Tell her everything. Even tell her that I'm going to try to lure you now, I don't mind. Because she knows that you can't ignore instinct. She knows it's in my instincts to lure a male I find attractive, especially when I know he's interested. Tell her anything you want to tell her. I think you'll be surprised what she tells you."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Odds are, after shouting at you a while to make herself feel better, she'll tell you to take me for mate," she said calmly, leaning against the desk. "Just make sure that you stress how it would feel like cheating if you did," she added with a chuckle. "That'll remind her that you're still in her thoughts."

  "So, you're telling me to ask my mate if I can dump her and take another," he said in a dangerous tone.

  "Not at all. There's no rule that says you can only have one mate at a time, Tarrin," she replied calmly. "I don't want you to give up Jesmind. I'm just asking to take up with you, and I'll gladly step aside when we get back to Suld. Jesmind can't be here to attend to your physical needs," she said with a surprising leer. Tarrin never expected that kind of behavior out of Kimmie. "I'll be happy to take care of it for you," she finished with a wink.

  Tarrin was taken aback. In just a short moment, Kimmie had gone from her usual demure, conservati
ve self to the epitomy of a hot and bothered Were-cat female. Kimmie really was just like all the other females, just as she had told him a while ago. Tarrin had never seen this side of Kimmie before, and he was startled by it. But in reality, he shouldn't have been too surprised. Despite being turned, her instincts and her blood were just as hot as any other female's.

  "I, I don't know, Kimmie," he told her.

  "Just talk to Jesmind, Tarrin," she told him. "Because if you don't, I'm going to make your life a living hell," she finished with a seductive smile.

  "You are a witch," he said, but in a teasing tone.

  "No, I just have you where I want you," she replied. "It's a buyer's market, Tarrin. And you're the merchandise."

  "I really hate females sometimes," he grunted, patting Sapphire on the head gently.

  "Then we're doing things right," Kimmie retorted with a grin. "Oh, Tarrin, by the way."

  "What?"

  "I can smell it all over you," she said bluntly.

  To Tarrin's intense pique, he blushed.

  "Talk to Jesmind. I'm sure Triana told you that it's highly offensive to a female when she can smell a male's interest, but the male won't have anything to do with her. You don't want to insult me, do you?"

  "Do you know that you are a witch?"

  "I think you just said that," she said with a teasing grin. "I'll see you later."

  She sauntered out of the room, her gait and stance proclaiming her victory, and Tarrin had to suppress the urge to throw something at the door behind her. Tarrin felt a little foolish and not a little uncomfortable with the situation now, since Kimmie knew he was interested in her. What made it worse was that she was right on most counts. He was interested, she was interested, and they both knew it. The instincts were going to drive him to mate with her. And since she knew, she would come after him shamelessly. The only surprising part of it was Kimmie's change in personality, becoming bold and forward. That was pattern female behavior concerning males, but it was unusual when it came from Kimmie, because of her mild disposition and her human-like outward personality. He realized that he'd been judging her by past conversations, when she carefully chose her words to foster his interest in her without being obvious about it. It just showed that Kimmie knew when to be discreet, and she knew when to be direct. That was unusual in a female. Most wouldn't be able to be discreet if their lives depended on it.