by Brian Beam
The small, doorless room contained just the wooden bucket he mentioned, a wicker basket with dirty laundry in it, and a shelf with a large ewer, towels, and bars of herbal scented soap on it. I forewent the bars of soap—the wash water was sudsy enough. I took off my cloak and proceeded to wash my hair, face, and upper body with the soapy water. After rinsing and drying, I changed into my other pair of pants, transferring my belt, coin purse, and sword to the new pair. I attempted to scrub the blood from my prior back wound from the cloak and was able to get most of it out. Slinging my cloak and dirty pants over my shoulder, I stepped back into the hallway at the same time James, now wearing a black vest over a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, exited his bedroom.
“This should fit you well. It’s actually a little small on me. My cousin gave it to me last year for…” I zoned out from his long winded explanation to take the bright purple pullover shirt from him. Between the green pants and the purple shirt, I felt like a flower once I had pulled the shirt on. Well, who needs manly pride anyway? At least it fit.
James continued on a tangent about his cousin’s husband’s brother’s something as we walked back to the kitchen. Undula was still jabbering on and on with no one else having entered the room before us. James automatically silenced when he entered and gestured to one of the four chairs around the table. I draped my cloak and pants over the chair and sat just as Undula started rounding the table, putting pork chops and eggs on the plates while continuing on about the gods knew what. She made a second round holding the gravy pot by the handle and ladling generous portions of gravy over the pork chops and eggs. I knew I was wasting valuable time, but the food smelled so delicious. Telis could handle some extra speed to make up for the lost time.
While James took his seat across the table from me, Kipp came back into the house followed surprisingly by Max as Undula poured water into everyone’s cups. I should have known Max would not miss out on a second breakfast. I think part of his magical ability is being able to sense a free cooked meal.
Max walked around the table and sat next to my chair. I expected him to give me a “we are wasting time, lunkhead” look, but instead he was smiling felinely and licking his lips as he stared at my plate.
Kipp didn’t even try to say anything about the cat as Undula droned on. I think she had moved on to the topic of why goat’s milk makes better cheese than cow’s milk. Given that no milk or cheese was on the table, I had no idea how she had arrived at that subject.
Before she sat down, she noticed Max next to my chair. “Looks like we have five to feed. That shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve made plenty. Here you go, kitty. Aren’t you just the cutest little thing? Is he yours?” She set her own plate down next to Max and again gave me no opening to answer her question as she continued to talk and load up another plate for herself.
I dug into the food with fervor. For all I knew, it could be the last decent meal I’d ever have at the rate I’d been going the last couple days. Max was wolfing his down too. I wasn’t even sure that he was chewing.
Undula had covered at least three more subjects in less than a minute before she said, “I hear war’s brewing in the east. My good friend Betton says Gualain’s raising up an army to try and expand their kingdom. Pointless if you ask me. They haven’t had any real power since the Power Wars a thousand years ago.” Undula then moved on to something about mice in her barn and a good for nothing cat that was nowhere near as good a mouser as Rocko, her old cat. Apparently they had been forced to use mouse traps to make up for the present cat’s lack. You know, real exciting conversation.
While Undula prattled on about mice and cats, I thought about what she had said about war brewing in Gualain. Gualain had been King Lyrak’s kingdom that had been taken down during the Power Wars. Being such a small kingdom now, it was hard to believe that they would have the resources to create an army, let alone be able to have one strong enough to take over any land. I didn’t know who Betton was or where they heard the rumor from, but the whole situation seemed unlikely. Either way, it was no concern of mine, so I just continued attacking my food with gusto.
At one point, when Undula mentioned they had good reason to celebrate on this particular morning, I risked interrupting the conversation, practically shouting, “What’s the cause for such a delicious meal?” Throwing in the compliment made me feel a little better about getting the meal and the shirt for free.
Without ever having to actually stop talking, Undula continued on. “We just had a big windfall. We’re set for at least the next five seasons even if, Nansunic forbid, our crops failed or we lost our livestock to sickness. Those Kolarin coins fetched us quite a sum from that merchant that came by yesterday evening. Blessed be Nansunic.”
I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth as Undula talked around mouthfuls of gravy-soaked eggs. Kolarin coins are wooden monetary coins carved by—you guessed it—the Kolari. I’m sure that just like any woodcraft made by the Kolari, they can fetch a good price from the right people. It was surprising that a merchant that would be interested in such a thing just happened to be at this out-of-the-way farm in the evening. It was even more surprising that the family had just happened to come across Kolarin coins. Thankfully, none of the McAlwains looked down at the cat on their floor that was as agape as I was.
Undula veered her one-sided conversation to how the barn needed to be repainted, though I failed to see the connection between that and what she had been talking about. “Excuse me,” I cut in unsuccessfully. “Excuse me.” Speaking up did not help. “Excuse me.” I was practically screaming at this point. At times like these, I say propriety be damned to Rizear’s deepest domain. I slammed the palm of my hand down on the table, rattling cups of water and sloshing gravy out of the pot that Undula had placed in the table’s center.
Undula stared at me in disbelief with her mouth still open in the middle of a sentence. I heard Max suppressing a snicker. James and Kipp almost looked relieved at her sudden silence. I decided then and there that James was way too nice for the talkative woman, but who am I to judge?
“Excuse me,” I said in a whisper that was easily heard in the pure silence. “If you would be ever so kind to tell me where you got the Kolarin coins, I would much appreciate it.” See, I didn’t abandon propriety all together.
After an indignant exhale of air through her button nose, Undula, in a more unpleasant tone, explained. “Just yesterday, a little Kolarin named Til’ came by here and gave us some of his people’s money to stay the night. We tried to turn down the coins, but he insisted. Most pleasant little fellow I ever met.” She shot me a meaningful glare after her last sentence, but continued her explanation. “Said he was taking something back home that could redeem him for some reason or other. Told the funniest stories, that little guy.” I had trouble believing that this Til’ would have been able to tell any stories around this woman. “What a rare occasion, meeting one of the Kolari. They hardly ever step outside their own kingdom, you know. Once, I had an uncle who…” My rudeness already forgotten, Undula started off on another tangent.
“I’m sorry,” I began, thankfully quieting Undula without having to make another mess on their table, “but was he wearing a black cloak?”
Undula pursed her lips in thought. “Come to think of it, yes he was. Black is really not a good color on anyone. Let me tell you about—”
“Which way did he go from here?” I loudly interrupted.
“I’m not sure. He went off past the cornfield not a half-hour before you and your cat showed up. Wouldn’t even stay for breakfast. Our old cat Rocko, bless his soul, was the greatest mouser I ever did see. Problem was he was so fat that…”
I didn’t even wait for her to finish. Propriety was completely thrown out the window as I jumped up from the table, grabbed Max and my clothes, and ran out of the house with only a “Thanks for everything!” shouted at the family behind me as I ran. Maybe one day Nansunic truly will bless James by stilling Undula’s ton
gue. I mean, she was nice enough, but…
Now I’m the one rambling. I grabbed the black fence in front of the barn with my free hand and propelled myself over it. Max let out a growl to let his displeasure at the rough handling be known. I’d get an earful as soon as we were further from the farmhouse.
Telis was tied in a stall in the back of the barn eating hay. After mounting him with Max behind the pommel in front of me, Telis put up some resistance to be ridden out of the barn. The hay must have been pretty damn good. Well, I had already irritated one animal by stealing it away from a good meal; why not go for two?
Once I got the stubborn horse to quit trying to turn back to the barn, I kicked him into a flat out charge. With my ticket out of my current Contract obligation just a half-hour ahead of me—less by charging horse—I wasn’t going to waste a single second. Therefore, instead of leading Telis to a gate, I pushed him towards the fence which he jumped with ease.
I galloped through the cornfield instead of going around. In normal circumstances, I would never trample a path through someone’s crops unless I promptly paid them for the damage, but in this case, my free life was on the line. The McAlwains had the money now to not worry about a few ruined cornstalks anyway.
Once we exited the far side of the cornfield, Max, his claws dug into the saddle, shot an annoyed glare at me. He had to shout to be heard over the wind rushing past us. “First of all, do not think you will be easily forgiven for taking me from the best meal I’ve had in weeks before I was even halfway done. Secondly, you are an idiot. Even though we know the Kolarin’s general direction, we could miss him by miles if we don’t find his exact trail. We need to stop and make sure we are on the right track. It should not be hard to find his tracks now.”
“First of all, you didn’t find his tracks when they were basically right by us. Secondly, I just have a gut feeling he went exactly in this direction. That, and if you would just look ahead, you would see the path he made through the taller grass up ahead.” Take that smarty-pants, I thought.
Max turned to see where there was a clearly visible path through the taller grass we were entering as we raced towards the mountains ahead of us. “Well, he must have arrived at the house from a different direction than I had searched.” Just like a cat, making excuses to try and hold on to pride. Actually, I guess that’s not really different from a human.
We hadn’t been travelling more than twenty minutes before I could see a black shape moving in the distance. “There’s our guy, Max. Time to finish this job for good.” Sure what I said was cheesy, but it’s fun saying heroic lines like that.
Max only huffed as I leaned forward and put Telis to the fastest run he could manage. Telis handled the gently rising and falling hills with equine grace. I would definitely owe Telis some more apples or some sugar cubes after what I was putting him through.
The distance between us and our quarry rapidly closed. The Kolarin was not making any attempt at speed. Once we were close enough to be heard, though, the shape turned towards us and then started running. There was no way anyone that small could be any match for a man on horseback, though.
I smiled from the exhilaration of the chase and the fact that I was finally going to put this nightmare behind me so I could focus on resuming the search for my birth parents and what to do about Menar. I almost found myself laughing until up ahead, the cloaked Kolarin thief abruptly disappeared. Thinking that he just had run down a hill that was steeper than it looked from a distance, I pressed on. Only luck kept me from driving Telis over a sudden vertical drop.
With Telis halted, I peered over the small cliff. At the bottom, thirty or forty feet down, the Kolarin was on his feet resuming his escape. There was no way anyone could just get up so easily after a fortyish foot fall onto chunks of rock fallen from the cliff face, let alone run away. I looked down at Max. “How in Vesteir’s blood did he do that?”
“No idea,” Max replied, looking thoroughly bewildered. It was a funny expression on a cat.
“Can you take us down?” I asked, hoping Max had some spell to help us get down the cliff quickly.
“I can get you and me down there, but not Telis.” Max looked off to the side where in the distance, a sloping hill curved around to the bottom of the cliff. “I will send you down to make sure he doesn’t get away and meet back up with you with Telis.”
I raised an eyebrow in mock skepticism. “You’re going to ride Telis by yourself? Can you even hold the reins to lead a horse?”
Max’s huff expressed his dislike for my humor. “Just jump down there, lunkhead.” All of a sudden, I felt a chill like ice water running through my veins.
“Jump off a cliff?” I asked incredulously.
“Or lose your chance at freedom. Either’s fine with me.”
I hopped out of the saddle into the knee-high grass, feeling much lighter and taking a couple seconds to actually make contact with the ground. It seemed Max really did have a spell that would let me float down. That chill I felt must have been Max casting the spell on me. It was a much different feeling than the warmth I typically felt when he cast healing spells on me.
With a trial hop to make sure I hadn’t just been imagining what I had felt upon dismount, I put my trust into my magic talking wizard cat yet again and leapt off the cliff. I drifted towards the ground like a falling leaf, landing softly upon the grass below. I set off at a dead sprint to catch the fleeing Kolarin who was still in my sights.
Actually, I tried to sprint, but Max hadn’t really thought his spell through. My new lightness made me feel like I was trying to run underwater with the resistance the wind was giving me. All I could do was fight the resistance as I watched the black-cloaked Kolarin increase his lead. If the chase took us to the wooded mountains, finding him was going to be much more difficult.
As sudden as the spell’s effects had hit me, they left me, sending me into a frontwards face plant onto the soft ground ahead of the fallen rocks. I mentally noted that I would need to remember to give Max a talking to about being a little more forward about the effects and duration of his spells.
Jumping to my feet and spitting out a mouthful of clover and grass, I readjusted my sword and set off at a non-magic-hindered sprint. I was glad I had left my cloak draped over Telis’ saddle. It would have slowed me down. Facing the morning chill was worth a little extra speed.
Step by step I closed the gap between me and the thief. I was close enough to partially make out his face as he constantly glanced over his shoulder at me while he ran. He looked no older than a human youth of the same height. He seemed fully grown for one of the Kolari, though. Judging by the terrified look in his eyes on his last turn, he must have recognized me.
I was only a few dozen breathless paces away from having him in my hands when I started hearing a strange, deep rumble from behind me. I ignored it as I came closer and closer to the Kolarin. The noise behind me started to sound like thunder. Only a few more steps and I would have him. I started to feel rhythmic gusts of wind behind me.
The Kolarin glanced back again with that same look of terror, angled not at me, but over my head. He let out a high-pitched shriek and dropped limply to the ground.
Confused, I turned to see something that I never thought I’d even see in my lifetime. Soaring towards me was a creature bigger than a house. A creature of legend. A creature said only to exist, if they still existed, in the Snowy Waste north of the Glacial Mountains. Behind me was a dragon.
Shiny scales of forest-green covered its body except for the golden scales lining its underbelly. The scales almost seemed to glow in the bright light of the late-morning sun. Its serpentine neck arched from a huge, muscular body and into an elongated, horned face with large radiating eyes the color of garnet. Reptilian lips were pulled back in a mock smile over razor-sharp teeth. A red mane matching the color of its eyes stretched from the top of its head to the base of its neck like a trail of flame. Four legs ended in clawed, webbed feet. Thin, ivory spikes trailed acr
oss the arch of its back and down a tail as long as a tree with a bulbous tip also covered in spikes. Great wings, webbed with red membrane, were stretched out to its sides as it descended towards me.
As any brave yet reasonable man would do, I dropped to the ground. I may have also let out a high-pitched scream like the Kolarin, but things like that can’t be proven unless there is a conscious non-dragon around to hear it.
Now, I don’t know much about dragons except for the stories I had heard as a kid of how dragons used to scour the land, abducting livestock and children for their meals and killing those “brave” enough to hunt them until the wizards of old banished them to the Snowy Waste. What I do know is that even though this one looked just like the ones from the stories, it was much damn scarier in person and I, for one, was not going to attempt to fight it. I had no desire to find out if they could truly breathe fire like in the stories. Not without my magic talking wizard cat at least.
As I cowered—I mean, as I bravely held my ground—on my stomach in the grass with my hands over my head, the dragon swooped past me and, with a back foot, plucked the insentient Kolarin and started flapping its wings again with the sound of booming thunder. The dragon roared in a ground-shaking bass. As I peeked out from under my hands, I watched the dragon fly off with Til’—as Undula had identified him—over the forested mountains in the near distance.
Several minutes after the shock had finally worn off, I slowly rose to my feet. I was struggling to catch my breath and to comprehend what had just happened. All my troubles that were about to be resolved were instead flying over the Sanderon Mountains before me. Being flown away by a dragon, no less. A Malki-blooded dragon. A Malki-blooded creature out of a story. What were the odds that a random dragon would be after the one person who I needed to retain my freedom and continue my travels?