Jaime climbed up on the head table and turned to the men, “Alright, you lazy dogs, everyone listen up!” Jaime waited for the crowd of men to turn and look at him. “Camdyn has informed me that there have been rumors of dragon sightings on other Isles.” This drew a few murmurs from among the men. “Well, for those of you who’d heard those rumors, and for those of you who had no idea, I’m here to tell you that they are true. In fact, not only have dragons returned, but a Dragonblood has bonded with one.” Jaime’s voice grew louder as he spoke with excitement. Everyone in the room hung on every word. The men drummed the tables with excitement.
One of the men at the table directly in front of Jaime rose his hand.
“Yes, Theodore?” When Jaime spoke again, the room went almost silent.
“Have we made contact with the Dragonblood?” asked Theodore.
“Yes,” confirmed Jaime. “One of our own, Kai Woods is with her now. The Dragonblood is Princess Isabella of Prozia.” Before the men could react to the news, Jaime continued. “So we’re all understand the situation, as of right now, myself and Benson most likely have warrants out for our arrest for deserting Prince Eric. Now before any of you jokers go thinking you can turn us in for a reward, I’ll have you know by morning every man in this room will have a warrant on his head. When you’ve finished your dinner, every man will gather his weapons and gear. The captains will assign you a section to pack and organize. We’re taking everything we can with us in the morning. As of five minutes ago, the Dragon’s Tail no longer serves King Ramsey. Princess Isabella is now our rightful ruler, whom we are sworn to protect. As you can imagine, that will not make us popular with King Ramsey, so we’ll be leaving in a hurry.” Jaime stopped his speech, he wanted to gauge the reaction of the men before he said anything else.
The room was surprisingly quiet. The men were looking around at each other in silence as they digested the news. Finally, Eric, one of the oldest Dragon’s Tail members rose and lifted his cup. “Dragonblood, above kings and queens!” he said loudly, reciting the vital part of their oath of loyalty. Slowly all the men rose and joined him in raising their cups. “Dragonblood, above kings and queens!” the entire group cheered together.
The sound of the cheer gave Jaime goosebumps, to protect a Dragonblood was a dream they all shared and had waited on for their entire lives. Now the moment was finally upon them, and no matter the political fallout, or danger from King Ramsey, the men were ready to embrace their duty. Jaime raised his cup, “Dragonblood, above kings and queens!”
25
THE RUINS OF MARA WERE A STRANGE and eerie place. Sections of castle walls still stood among the trees and vegetation that had grown up and around the buildings. Isabella thought the place was beautiful. Nature had taken the destruction of Mara and turned it into a veritable garden of wildflowers and beautiful oak trees that grew through the rubble. In some places trees had grown on top of sections of wall and the roots expanded down the moss-covered stones until they found the fertile ground below.
They had spent the day riding down into the valley and then up onto the plateau where the castle ruins were. The sun was starting to dip over the eastern hills filling the sky with a soft sanguine glow. Isabella was helping Kai prepare their food while Raven was gathering firewood. They’d decided to camp there among the ruins for the night, and on the morrow continue exploring as they made their way south through the valley to the dark forest where they hoped to find the witch Adina Aviel.
Isabella was cutting vegetables when Raven returned with a large armful of dry branches. She watched as Raven took a handful of moss and twigs and organized them in a small pile to get the fire started.
Raven turned and glanced at Isabella. “I don’t suppose you figured out how to use your magic while I was gone? A quick flame to start this fire would be nice.”
Isabella smiled, she knew Raven was teasing her. “No, but I could call Sisera. I’m sure she’d love to give you a display of her talents.”
Raven shook her head and pulled out her fire-rod, a small piece of northern steel, and a chunk of flint. “No, I will do it the non-magical way, thank you.” She then struck the flint against the fire-rod and before long the small pile of tinder was ablaze. Raven then piled rocks around the small fire building a rock platform that would hold the heat in, while providing a surface to place their iron skillet on. Once the flames died down and they had a base of hot coals, they would have a good cook fire.
Placing her cut vegetables into the skillet, Isabella took the chucks of bacon that Kai had cut and added them to the pile. Isabella enjoyed cooking. It was not something she got to do often as a child growing up in a castle, but she’d often spent time in the castle kitchens watching the cooks work. Isabella knew the secret to a tasty meal was the spices used, cooking things slowly to let the food absorb the spices. They only had garlic and some katya root, but the combination was pleasant and went well with the bacon. Isabella carefully placed the large skillet on the edge of the rocks surrounding the fire. When the iron heated up, the bacon started to cook, the fat started to melt. Isabella used a fork to move the food around. The delicious smell of the meal had her salivating.
“Should we let them finish cooking before we send them on their way?” came a voice from behind them.
Isabella turned, from behind one of the large sections of intact sections of castle wall walked three men. Isabella looked around and saw two other men coming up the hill. All of the men were roughly dressed and carrying weapons. Isabella worried that these were not friendly men.
“Isabella, whatever happens, don’t burn my supper,” said Kai.
She looked at him. What did he mean by that? Both Kai and Raven seemed calm as they stayed seated on the ground, but from the tension in Kia’s voice and the alert look in both Kai and Raven’s eyes, Isabella knew something was about to happen. Isabella nervously bit her lip as she watched the men approach.
Kai calmly stood up and somehow had his sword already unsheathed. “Good day, gentlemen, what can we help you with?”
“Oh, a polite one, most excellent,” said the first man, a large burly fellow with a spiked club casually sitting on his shoulder. “Well, good sir, you and your friends can drop everything on your person, coins especially, and walk away. You’re trespassing on our lands and we don’t receive trespassers well.”
Isabella watched Kai frown and stroked his chin as he seemed to consider the bandits order. “Trespassing? I hadn’t realized these lands were claimed.”
“Now you know,” said the bandit.
“True, I do know your position, and if it were just me, I might be tempted to do as you say. Unfortunately, my travel companion seems to like these lands. She seems to think we should stay here. Isn’t that what you said, Raven?”
“I love the wild flowers here, I think a garden would grow wonderfully, and there seems to be no shortage of entertainment,” said Raven.
The bandit’s face started to turn red and he stepped forward addressing Kai. “Do you think this is some sort of joke? And what does she mean by entertainment?”
“No, I don’t think this is a joke, I think this is a very serious situation. Gardening is hard work, I’m not sure I want to stay. Although she does have a point. This area does have beautiful wildflowers,” said Kai.
Isabella watched the bandits nervously looking at each other. They obviously were confused by the conversation between their leader and Kai. Isabella could see that the bandits expected them to be afraid and or to try and fight them. That Kai and Raven were calm and seemed more interested in discussing flowers and gardens then the fact that they were being robbed, made the bandits nervous. Isabella kept watching the exchange, but she also kept an eye on their supper. If Kai and Raven could remain this calm, so would she. Supper would not be burnt tonight.
“As for what my beautiful friend said about entertainment, she is a rather competitive woman. She thinks that she can kill three men to my one. I think she’s exaggerating, so we�
��ve a running bet. If she kills twice as many men as me in any given day, I do the evening’s dishes. If I kill more men that she does, well … let’s just say I get justly rewarded,” said Kai.
The bandit looked at Kai and then at Raven.
Raven responded to his questioning look by smiling and reaching behind her back to grab her war axe. The large double-bladed weapon gleamed in her hands. “We’ll have to have a discussion about the terms of our bet later, Kai, but I’m not sure there are enough of them to make this a fair contest. I only see five.”
“That is good point, Raven,” said Kai. He looked the bandit leader in the eyes, “Do you have more men somewhere that you could bring? That would make things more fair.”
The bandit leader looked like he’d heard enough, he scowled and roared, “Kill them!”
Isabella couldn’t believe what happened next. The bandit to the right of the leader started to raise his bow to fire an arrow at Kai. Kai stepped forward and sent his sword flying. The weapon twirled through the air until it struck the bandit in the chest before the bandit could finish nocking his arrow. Kai took two more steps forward, reached down and grabbed his own bow and quiver of arrows.
While the first three had started rushing forward towards Kai, the two bandits who’d come up the hill were running towards Raven. She stood ready with her axe above her shoulder waiting. When the two got within striking distance, Raven did the unexpected, she feinted a swing and then ducked under the incoming swing of the left bandit’s sword. As she rose, her battle axe found the belly of the bandit on the right. He groaned as the heavy blade penetrated his midsection and drained the life from him. Raven then reversed the grip on her axe and pulling it out of the bandit and into a swinging attack on the other bandit. The bandit raised his sword to block the heavy axe, but Raven was much stronger than the bandit and her blow knocked him back. Raven’s second swing caught the man in the neck, the heavy weapon severed the man’s head from his body, sending it rolling down the gentle slope of the hill behind him.
While Raven was dispatching the bandits who attacked her, Kai had raised his bow and calmly fired an arrow into the eye of the third bandit running towards him. He then used his bow to block the bandit leader’s club. The bandit leader attacked again and again, but each time, Kai used his bow to block the attacks. Suddenly Kai spun around, striking the bandit leader in the head with his bow. The bandit leader stumbled a step back. Kai pivoted around so he was facing the bandit again. Drawing his bow, he nocked and fired an arrow into the man as fast as he could. The arrow caught the bandit in the left shoulder. Shit, thought Kai, how rusty am I? His thoughts were quickly interrupted. The bandit leader roared, swinging his sword down, snapping the arrow. He rushed Kai, slamming his good shoulder into Kai, knocking Kai to the ground. The bandit brought his sword up and swung it down, aiming for Kai’s head. Kai rolled on the ground to avoid the blade, but before it could land, it struck metal. Raven’s axe blocked the blow. Raven then leapt over the fallen Kai and struck the bandit down with a mighty blow of her war axe.
Isabella watched in awe. Raven and Kai had dispatched five bandits in mere seconds! The battle was so one-sided, Isabella now wondered if Kai had been serious about wanting more men to come! The quick fight showed a side of Kai Isabela had never seen before. Despite his polite and calm manner, and despite the fact he’d spent years in the village of Shelby drinking and hunting for drink money, he was a first-class warrior. He’d downed two warriors and might have gotten the third, but Raven’s intervention saved Kai from finding out if he’d moved fast enough. If the rest of the Dragon’s Tail were as talented and skilled as Kai, she’d have a formidable force at her side. Raven had dispatched three warriors without breaking a sweat. Her protector was definitely Kai’s equal, if not better. Isabella stared at Kai.
Suddenly, Isabella felt a rush of fear and anger. A large thud broke Isabella’s attention to the unexplained feeling she had just experienced. A man fell from the sky a few feet to her left. Startled, Isabella spun to see what had happened.
Sisera dropped down from the sky on top of the body of the man. “I found this one in a tree, he was preparing to take a shot at Raven.” Sisera clawed the body, “Should I see if there are more in the tower? I can finish them.”
Isabella frowned. She knew Sisera just wanted to defend her, but if Sisera attacked the tower, it might set a dangerous precedent. Dragons had just returned to the land of man. Dragon attacks against camps of men, even bandits, may strike fear of dragons into other people, thought Isabella. Isabella needed the nearby villagers to support the return of dragons, respect dragons, not fear them. She walked over to Sisera and stroked the dragon’s cheek to calm it down. “No, Sisera, unless I, or one of my people are in immediate danger, I want you to avoid any confrontations with humans. Raven and the Dragon’s Tail will deal with bandits and the like. The people of Seron need to know that you are not dangerous unless attacked. Those people that don’t try to harm you, need to know they are completely safe in your presence. The less people you have to hurt, the easier that it will be for them to accept the return of dragons.”
“Good point, Isabella, but I do thank you for getting that one, Sisera,” said Raven as she reached down and offered Kai a hand up.
Kai accepted her hand and stood up, dusting himself off. “I agree. It would be wise to limit Sisera’s involvement in any battles, unless necessary. There’s going to be a lot of fear. The less we do to encourage fear of dragons the better. Although a small amount of fear would keep hooligans such as these from attacking.”
Isabella kept stroking Sisera’s cheek and neck, she could sense the dragon was starting to calm down. That her scales were shifting color was another indicator of her change in mood. When she’d landed on the bandit, her scales had been bright and slightly luminescent. Now they were slowly returning to normal. Isabella felt calmer herself. Suddenly, she realized the strange rush of fear and anger she felt were the feelings of Sisera when she saw the man in the tree. Isabella calmed herself and looked into Sisera’s eyes. She smiled. Sisera was reacting to her own sense of calm.
Kai walked up to the fire and checked on the skillet. He gave it a stir. “At least they didn’t manage to screw up dinner.”
Isabella shook her head. How could he be thinking of food now? They had just survived an attack!
Raven added to Kai’s sentiment, “That bacon does smell good. Grab the plates.”
Isabella sighed, she’d just have to adjust to living with warriors.
…
Kai sat at the fire. Before they ate, Raven and he had moved the bodies away from the camp. Raven, using her war axe, cut down a few small trees to create a small pyre. That evening, they would give the bandits a warrior’s send off. They may have been bandits, but the men had died fighting.
Kai thought back to the short battle. He’d been lucky to survive. His arrow missing the bandit’s heart, hitting him in the shoulder had almost cost him his life. Had Raven not intervened, he would’ve been in a perilous position. Throwing his sword might not have been the wisest move either, but he’d had little choice. The bandits knew the lay of the land better than he and Raven, enabling the bandits to sneak rather close without being seen. Rather, at least not seen by human eyes. Sisera had seen the men coming but hadn’t known enough of human nature to suspect the men were intent on foul play. In the future, Sisera promised to notify Isabella of any humans approaching. It was a small thing, but one that could mean life or death in the days to come.
“I suppose you’ll be claiming you needn’t do the dishes tonight,” said Raven as she sat down beside Kai.
Kai chuckled, “Since you saved my life, I think I can manage to wash a few dishes. I’m sorry for that whole bet thing. I was just trying to confuse them.”
“No need to apologize. Your bet served its purpose. Quick thinking, Kai. Although I had no intentions of letting you win that bet, at least not until I knew what you meant by being ‘well taken care of.’�
��
Kai raised an eyebrow. Was Raven flirting with him? She was taking his comments in stride and seemed in good humor about the whole situation. Perhaps his interest in the female warrior wasn’t as one-sided as he’d thought. “That will have to be a conversation for another night. Besides, I need more training, more practice. I’m a step slow and my aim was off. Mistakes like that are costly.”
“I believe you’ll have plenty of practice in the next few days, I doubt these are the extent of the bandits in the area. From the way Britt Wistol and his companions spoke, this area is home to a larger group, certainly more than this small group we thwarted.”
More bandits presented a problem. “Yes, it seems likely that I’ll get another chance to win that bet.”
Raven laughed, it was the first time Kai had ever heard more than a small chuckle from the intense female warrior.
“If we make a bet, it won’t be for dishes. I’m not some farmer’s daughter that will fall on your sword the first time you make eyes with me. Nor does a man doing dishes impress me. If you can eat, you can clean,” said Raven.
Okay, thought Kai. I wasn’t imagining it after all. Definitely a mutual spark of interest. “I’d be amicable to changing the terms of the bet to make it more interesting. However, before we think about collecting on any such wager, we should make sure we’ve sorted out our immediate issues with the bandits.”
“Agreed,” said Raven. “Have you an idea on how to accomplish that?”
“I think it’s time we put having a dragon to our advantage,” said Kai.
“Isabella just said Sisera isn’t to join us in combat.”
“True, but she can fill other roles for us. I can’t think of a better scout than one that can fly. Tomorrow while we work our way towards the dark forest, Sisera can scout around the tower. I believe that is the main stronghold of bandits in the valley. Knowing where our enemies are will prevent us from being surprised again like we were today.”
Sisera's Gift (Dragonblood Sagas Book 2) Page 12