“More pretty?” she asked, sounding intrigued by this idea.
Uh-oh, this might start a bad trend. My sisters had taught me how to read the warning signs. “Garth, are you teaching my dragon to accessorize?”
He just winked at me. “Dragons are supposed to like treasure.”
“This is only funny to you because you don’t have to pay for it,” I shot back.
He laughed and didn’t deny it. “Well, I can’t stay long. Chatta wants me home in time for dinner. Are you fine on supplies?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I assured him, still irritated that he’d put the notion of more jewelry into Kaya’s head. I knew better than to hope that she’d forget about it. She hadn’t forgotten anything yet. “I’d planned to be up here for about three weeks anyway, I should have enough food to get home.”
“Then I’ll see you later.” Garth gave Kaya’s neck a friendly pat. “See you at home, Kaya.”
She cocked her head, thinking about his words. I’d explained the idea of home to her, so she had to know roughly what he meant. “Home have pretty?”
There was an outrageous twinkle in Garth’s eyes when he answered. “That’s right.”
“Like home,” she purred.
It was official. I was in trouble. “Thanks a lot, Garth,” I grumbled.
Choking back a laugh, he gave me a sloppy salute and disappeared onto the earth path.
~*~
We developed a routine over the next two days. At night, I slept cuddled up next to her. I didn’t get much choice about that. If I tried to sleep with any distance between us, she’d sulk, wait until I was asleep, and then wrap herself around me anyway. During the day, we walked and I taught her words. She knew enough now to where I could use words to teach other words.
When we stopped for the evening, I tried to get her used to the idea of me sitting on her. I did this cautiously at first, because let’s face it, I’m not really a small man. I’m not particularly tall (Chahirans tend to be short compared to the rest of the world) but after years of smithing, I’d gained quite a bit of bulk. I didn’t for one minute believe that I’d break her with my body weight, but I could put strain on her without intending to. So I took this in easy steps. I’d lounge against her side, or straddle her leg, or perch on the base of her neck. Not once did she make any sign of pain or discomfort. So my puny human weight didn’t daunt her, eh? No surprise, she liked it when I did this. Maybe the transition to riding her would be easy.
Inevitably, we reached a town. Border towns were normally a rough sort of place. Every border town I’d ever seen was made with native stone, roughly hewn and packed to form small buildings. It wasn’t a place where you found much decoration as everything focused on utility. This one obviously thrived on capturing and taming dragoos. I saw several holding yards that held dragoos.
It was also inevitable that as soon as the occupants of that town saw Kaya, they started grabbing the first weapon at hand.
In a minute flat, before we were even near the edge of town, I had a full platoon of militia lined up in front of me with swords, spears, and a few axes at the ready.
Kaya had never seen weapons before. She didn’t know what they were and so stared at the militia in bewilderment. I was the one having panic attacks.
“Wait, wait, calm down!” I called to them, waving both hands in a stand down gesture. “She’s my dragon.”
“No one tames a dragon, boy,” one of the men, a gruff older sort with scraggly hair, said to me derisively.
Oh for the love of—I threw up a long, sinuous line of fire that coiled around my body. In the late afternoon light, with the shade of a scraggly forest throwing shadows around me, the red-gold fire stood out in sharp contrast. It made my spectators jump. However, they finally paused and really looked at me. Good, now that I had their attention…
“I am Haikrysen, a Fire Mage. Gentlemen, she is my familiar. There is nothing you need to worry about.”
A middle-aged man with twin swords gave me a slow look from head to toe. Aside from the fire curling around me, I looked like a mage. I had the long blond hair that most mages did, the blue eyes and fair skin of a Chahiran, and the seal of a Fire Mage was on the left breast pocket of my shirt. He started uncertainly, “Well, if you’re a mage…”
From behind me, there was a slight snapping sound. I jerked around and looked up. Kaya had her mouth open, snapping at my fire trail. “Kaya, stop eating the fire.”
She paused mid-snap. “Can’t eat?”
“You’re ruining my scary impression, sweetheart,” I told her.
She thought about that for a moment. “Eat fire later?”
“What is it with you and eating fire?” I asked her in exasperation, trying to ignore the laughter behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and found that some were laughing, and others were scratching their heads, as if they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. Well, not the impression I was trying to give, but I guessed this worked too. “Gentlemen, I’m sure you can now agree that she’s not a man-eating, mindless beast.”
“Well, I’ll grant I ain’t seen that before,” the twin swords guy agreed with a slow smile. “Magus, where’d you catch her?”
If he thought he could make better money catching and taming dragons, he was in for a rude surprise.
“Other way around, Goodman. Other way around. She caught me.”
“Why don’t I buy you a drink,” he offered, smile widening, “and you tell me the whooole story.”
“After the week I’ve had,” I sighed, “I can use one. But make it some place with outside seating? She doesn’t let me out of her sight.”
“Drink?” Kaya asked, sounding interested.
“And some water for you too, dragoness,” the man promised her. “I’m Beck.”
I gave him a polite bow. “Thank you for the gift of your name, Beck.”
Kaya stretched out, coming just close enough to touch the tip of her nose to his chest. “Beck-friend.”
As I watched him bemusedly scratch her chin—which she loved, judging by the tail thumping—I realized that maybe her name was more accurate than I thought. She was certainly charming, if she could convince a hardened border man to buy her a drink.
~*~
Beck turned out to be a godsend. As it happened, he was the head of the town militia and the only policeman in the area. Once convinced that Kaya was harmless—which she did by drinking an entire trough of water and then rubbing up against him in thanks—he spread the word. All at once I was surrounded by people who wanted to meet my dragon. The novelty of petting a tame dragon was apparently too much to resist. Kaya lapped up the attention.
What was really helpful was that Beck introduced us to the right people to help. Hortin was the leather craftsman of the town and the one that everyone went to for dragoo harnesses and the like. I actually mistook him as the town drunk the first moment I laid eyes on him, just because of his ruddy complexion and stooped posture. It wasn’t until we were introduced that I saw the strength in his arms, the tough quality of his skin and the shrewdness in his dark eyes.
He took on making a harness and saddle for Kaya as an interesting challenge. In exchange for the gear, I worked a bit for him, burning names and designs into finished saddles that he had. It was much faster for me to do it than him, after all, and more accurate besides.
I didn’t have him do the typical bridle that dragoos wore. Instead, I sketched out the bridle that Night wore, something that went across the chest. Once I’d explained that the bar was made so that she could feel the pressure, indicating where I wanted to go, Hortin was intrigued. He started making that first, designing the rest of the gear to match it.
Kaya would come watch us, off and on, but what really captivated her attention was the holding pen of dragoos nearby. I kept telling her to leave them alone, as they were obviously terrified of her, but she couldn’t seem to ignore them. She kept inching closer and closer to the fence, making whining noises in the back of
her throat. “Friend, no hurt, friend,” she told them over and over.
I finally left her to it. If she wanted to make friends with the dragoos, fine.
We did have a rough start to our stay there, though. Kaya filched sheep from two different farmer’s pens before I finally got it through her head that if it was surrounded by a fence, she could not eat it without someone’s permission. I had to recompense both farmers for their lost sheep, although fortunately they weren’t too upset. No doubt they’d use this story for a good laugh for many years to come.
Beyond frustrated with her, I finally took her out hunting into the wild area to the east of the town and showed her what was a good place to hunt. After that, the concept caught on, and I didn’t have anymore outraged farmers tracking me down at Hortin’s workshop. Satisfied that Kaya could be left more or less to her own devices, I went back to work.
Late on the third day of our stay in the town, Hortin and I were at work on our separate projects, when he said out of the blue, “Legend has it, many generations ago, that there were dragon riders.”
I nearly dropped the saddle I was working on. “I’ve never heard that.”
“Probably because the only dragon riders were either Fire Mages or Life Mages,” he answered, eyes still on the leather in his hands. “As I hear it, anything to do with magic was purged from Chahiran history.”
That was unfortunately true. We’d had a devil of a time getting information about magic. If not for the hidden libraries, we’d still be floundering around in the dark.
“I find it strange, Magus, that she would happen to be near this area when we haven’t so much as heard a peep from dragons in over fifty years.”
“You’re not the only one,” I admitted, looking to where Kaya crouched near the dragoo pen once again. “One of these days, when her vocabulary has expanded enough to where she can understand, I’m going to ask her what she was doing there.”
He nodded, as if he hadn’t expected anything different. “So what will you do, once you’ve trained her to be ridden?”
“Probably find a job somewhere in Sol or Hain where they need firefighters,” I answered, going back to work.
“If it’ll be in Sol, get Beck to write you a recommendation letter.” Hortin looked up long enough to give me a quick smile. “Beck’s a retired captain, y’know. He still has a lot of friends all over Sol. We all know that Kaya is a sweetheart, but they won’t know that. You might need a good word put in for you.”
An excellent point. “I’ll ask him.”
He nodded in satisfaction, focusing again on the saddle.
I was putting the saddle I just finished back on the rack when Beck hailed me from the open shop doorway. “Krys, got a minute?”
“Sure, Beck.”
“Friend of mine just sent word ahead.” Beck had this glint in his eye I didn’t quite trust. I’d seen a similar look from Garth when he was about to volunteer me for work. “He’s coming through here for a caravan run, but he’s having a lot of trouble getting through. There’s apparently so much bramble and undergrowth on the trail he has to hack through it to get wagons through. He asked me to send down a few men to help out, but…”
“But I’m handy and far more effective,” I finished dryly.
“Faster besides,” Beck pointed out, unrepentant. “They’re on the east road. Why don’t you and Kaya take a jot down there and help them out?”
“Might I remind you that Kaya’s gear isn’t done yet?” I drawled sarcastically.
“She’ll carry you, won’t she?” Beck asked as if that was obvious.
“We can’t assume that,” I cautioned. “Even the harness is a bit of a gamble.”
“Is not,” Hortin said from behind me, sounding unconcerned.
“Hortin,” I admitted wryly, “thinks otherwise. All I can do is ask, Beck. If she agrees, fine. If not, I’ll go there on foot.”
He nodded in agreement, seeming unconcerned either way. I followed him out the door, calling to my preoccupied dragon. “Kaya, we need to go somewhere.”
“Go?” she repeated, finally taking her attention away from the quivering dragoos. I should probably get her out of here anyway, before she gave them all heart failure.
“Yes, go,” I explained patiently. “Beck has friends that need help. They’re on the road coming here. Will you fly me to them?”
I wasn’t sure what reaction I’d expected to this request. Whatever it was, I didn’t think she would light up, tail thumping at a happy rate. “Fly!”
All right, this obviously wasn’t an issue as I’d thought… “Your saddle isn’t ready yet, so can you hold me in your arms? I’m afraid I might slip if I try to sit on your back.”
She thought about that for a moment. “I can.”
Whenever I’d seen her land, she normally landed on all four legs. I wasn’t sure how she would manage if she were holding me, but apparently she’d thought of a way to do it. I decided to trust her judgment. After all, she was the flyer, not me.
It took a minute to get adjusted. Kaya wrapped one paw firmly around my waist. For balance, I grabbed onto her chain. When I felt pretty secure, I nodded.
“All right, let’s go.”
She settled onto her back haunches for a moment before launching herself into the air with a powerful up-thrust. I swear my stomach dropped out from the force of it. Still, even as startling as the sensation was, it was rather fun to be in the air like that. I did have one minor problem. A hair problem. Apparently a simple ponytail would not be enough to contain all of my hair while in flight like this. I kept having to drag wayward strands out of my eyes and mouth.
The wind whipped around me, strong enough to fill my ears, making it hard to hear anything. Kaya didn’t gain much altitude or seem to be flying at full speed—the leisurely pump of her wings made me think she could go much faster. But that made me wonder, if even this speed gave me trouble with my hair and hearing, what would a faster speed be like? I’d have to devise ways around these problems. The air also had more of a chill up here than it had on the ground. I hadn’t done anything more than put on a flannel shirt this morning, and the only thing keeping me warm was Kaya’s bulk pressed against me. I would definitely have to consider getting a thick jacket as well, if we were to fly any higher.
“Where?” she asked, turning her head slightly to look at me. Even then I could barely hear her.
Raising my voice, I answered, “Go away from the sun.” I pointed east, just in case she had trouble hearing me. “See that winding path? They should be there.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she peered ahead. “Humans.”
I had to drag another lock of hair out of my mouth to ask, “Do they have lots of stuff with them?” I couldn’t ask if it was a caravan, she wouldn’t know what I meant and I didn’t have anything handy I could burn a picture into.
“Lots,” she confirmed.
“That’s probably them.” I was amazed at how fast she was. Feeling the air whirling around me like this was distracting, so I probably wasn’t paying enough attention to how long it took, but it felt like I’d barely been up in the air at all when we reached the caravan.
“Down,” Kaya told me.
“All right.” I let go of the chain, not quite sure what she had planned, but certain that she wouldn’t just drop me. Her claws around me loosened a bit, which made my heart jump in my chest. Um. Why was she…
She shifted me a bit, grabbing my shoulders with both paws, and then swooped low. I eyed the ground in growing panic. Should we be approaching solid earth quite this fast…? My feet didn’t dangle even a foot away from it when she let go. Fortunately I didn’t stumble and do a spectacular face-plant, catching my balance at the last second.
Kaya, above my head, did a tight loop, her back nearly bending in half at the motion. She landed almost directly behind me with soft thumps as she touched down. The landing was so graceful that it looked deceptively easy.
I knew better. If I had tried t
hat, they’d have had to hospitalize me for a month.
The caravan men in front of us all had weapons in hand, eyeing us suspiciously. I think the only reason they didn’t attack outright was because of the care Kaya had shown in putting me on the ground. I smiled at them and exchanged a greeting as if being flown around by a dragon was perfectly normal.
“Gentlemen, I’m Haikrysen, a Fire Mage. This is my familiar, Kaya. Beck sent us to you to help clear the trail.”
A wiry, sun-tough man in front lowered the boar spear in his hands when I mentioned Beck’s name. He pushed the rim of his wide-brimmed hat back a bit, revealing scraggly dark hair and a nose that had been broken at least twice.
“Beck sent you, eh? I’m Renard, boss of this caravan. We’re pleased to see you, Magus. This brush is thicker than a den of thieves.”
It certainly looked like it. The brush under my feet came up to almost my knees and was the wiry, tanglevine sort of brush that farmers hate to clear more than anything. I gave him a calm, professional smile. “Well, if you’ll stay about twenty feet back, we’ll do a cool burn. It will be a bit warm under your feet that way, instead of scorching.”
He nodded in understanding. “Will do.”
Behind me, Kaya’s tail thumped a happy rhythm and then she let out a burst of intense flame. In sheer panic, I caught it and threw it up, letting it disperse harmlessly into the air. “Whoa, Kaya, don’t burn the forest down! We need a small fire, just to clear the road.”
Her head twisted about and I could see the mulish expression on her face. She didn’t like this idea one bit.
I folded my arms over my chest and matched her look for look. “Oh, so doing a small fire for a long time is too hard for you?” I challenged.
Affronted, she drew her head back, chest puffing out. “Can too!”
Oh-ho, looked like I’d hit a sore point. “I bet you can’t,” I teased.
“Can too!” she insisted, eyes narrowing in anger.
I gestured grandly toward the trail. “Let’s see it, then.”
She wheeled around on her hind feet, lowering her head to just above the ground level. With a deep breath, she let out a long, steady stream of fire. I watched it carefully, but it was exactly the right intensity for our purposes. In fact, she controlled it so well that there would be practically no residual heat in the ground at all.
Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor Page 5