Marak was a wealthy kingdom. It may be small, but good luck and hard work had seen the people and the land prosper and grow. It had had its fair share of hardships as well, but the people had always pulled together. Baen wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and that made the people of Marak respect him all the more.
It was this wealth and good fortune that had brought attention to the neighboring kingdom’s leaders. But instead of an alliance that would see the kingdoms helping each other, the other leaders tried to conquer and take what wasn’t theirs.
King Balfour from Barak was their latest threat, but they had managed to keep it contained so far. Barak was to Marak’s east border. It was a slave-holding land that thrived on fear and terrorized its people. It had long since run out of natural resources and its people were hungry, malnourished, and poor.
In Baen’s grandfather’s time, Barak had discovered a precious metal, which they had mined and used for currency. It had led to some of their people being insanely rich, whilst others went poor. Marak still worked on a barter system. They traded goods and services amongst each other. That meant that everyone had food, clothes and shelter. The men looked after the women and children. Everyone was taken care off. It didn’t matter whether you were old, young, married or widowed.
Hopefully the princess hadn’t fallen into Barak’s evil hands. That would cause King Baen to take drastic measures. Measures that he wasn’t sure any of them were ready for.
Chapter Three
Jessica had been walking for hours. Her feet were sore and she was hungry. She hadn’t passed a single person, not even an animal. Maybe she should stop for the night and have a break, but it was getting cold and she didn’t have anything to make a fire with. Her magic didn’t extend to producing fire or laser beams.
She chuckled to herself and looked round. She could be walking in circles for all she knew. Everything looked the same. Grassy knoll after grassy knoll, littered with small shrubs and the odd boulder. What the heck was she going to do? She couldn’t even make her way back to the gateway if she wanted to. She didn’t know where it was. She should have left a marker. Too late now!
What was magical about this realm anyway? It seemed deserted. She could be the only person in the entire realm. That would lead to a rather lonely remainder of her life, which wouldn’t be all that long if she didn’t find some food. Jessica shrugged and kept walking. Hopefully she would come across someone or something soon.
Just when Jessica thought she could take no more, a strange sound rippled through the air. She couldn’t place the noise. It wasn’t something she had ever heard before and it didn’t sound mechanical. But something was making it and that something was getting closer.
She quickly looked around for something to hide behind. There wasn’t much, so she dashed behind a small shrub and squatted down. Louder and louder the strange noise became until Jessica thought that whatever it was should be right above her. She looked into the sky and fell to her butt in shock at what she saw there.
Never in her wildest dreams could she have pictured the majestic beast that hovered above her. How had she missed its approach? The thing was huge. Massive in size and the most beautiful green color she had ever seen, the dragon stretched its wings wide and flapped them twice, before landing and folding them against its body.
Jessica peeked at the dragon over the top of the shrub. It was like something out of a storybook. It towered over her in size and its green scales shimmered in the light. It had two long brown horns on either side of its massive head and matching horns on the end of its tail. Two large black eyes stared back at her and she got the feeling that it was an intelligent animal. When it opened its mouth and made a chuffing sound, Jessica covered her ears and shrunk back behind the shrub.
Gosh, she hoped it wasn’t a fire-breathing dragon or she was about to be barbecued. When nothing happened, Jessica mustered up the courage to take another look. The dragon lowered its great form toward the ground and then ducked its head until that, too, touched the ground. It reminded Jessica of a puppy that had lain down before pouncing on a toy.
Jessica looked over at the dragon and noticed that it had something on its back. It looked like a person, slumped over in a saddle at the base of its neck. The dragon must be fairly tame, then.
When the person didn’t move, Jessica decided to take a closer look. As she slowly approached the dragon, she kept her head down and her hands at her side, taking one step at a time so she didn’t spook it and end up getting eaten. Once she was close enough to see the person properly, she saw that it was a woman. She was unconscious, but still alive. Jessica could just make out the shallow breaths she was taking.
How the hell was she supposed to get her down?
“Hello, can you hear me?” She called up to the woman, but got no response. How did she even get herself up there? There was no ladder or anything that she could see. Jessica slowly moved around to the front of the dragon. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was starting to sweat. The giant beast scared her and she really didn’t want to be its next meal, but she knew she had to help the woman.
“Nice dragon, lovely dragon.” She spoke in soft tones, trying not to spook it. “I need to help your friend, but I can’t get her down. I need your help.”
The dragon stared back at her. Its eyes bespoke intelligence and she knew that it understood what she was telling it. It gave a small chuff, nearly knocking her on her ass with the strength of its breath. Shaking its back, much like a dog shaking off water, the woman slumped from the saddle and fell to the ground.
Geez, that was a bit rough. “Thank you, dragon.”
It chuffed again, almost a chuckle this time, as Jessica ran to the woman on the ground. As she checked the unconscious form for injury, the dragon swung around to face her, watching her every movement. The woman was young, maybe early twenties, and had long, straight, brown hair. She was wearing a long purple dress that looked medieval in style. It had long sleeves and would fall to her ankles if she were standing, with a rope belt and ribbon tying up the front. She was covered in dirt from head to toe.
There was no sign of external injury, so Jessica knew that whatever was wrong with the woman was on the inside. She loosed the woman’s dress and placed her palms flat against her abdomen. Jessica felt the magic pour through her. She opened her senses and tried to read the signals. Shit. This woman wasn’t sick, she was dying.
Jessica could feel the poison running through the woman’s veins. She didn’t have much time. She closed her eyes and concentrated on pulling all the poison from the woman’s body and into hers. She didn’t stop until she had every last drop. The woman opened her eyes and looked at her. The most violet eyes she had ever seen stared up at her.
“Hi,” Jessica squeaked out.
But then she slumped to her side and was out cold.
* * * *
Baen was starting to get worried. They had checked all of his sister’s usual haunts and she hadn’t been seen at any of them. Where the fuck was she? He was going to lock her in her room when he caught up with her. Marrying her off sounded better and better.
The horses thundered across the ground, the hooves kicking up dirt as they went. They were approaching the border between Marak and the neighboring Barak. Baen had to decide whether or not to cross in search for his sister. If they crossed the border, King Balfour might perceive it as an act of war and use it as an excuse to attack. However, if his sister were over the border, then Baen would be the one attacking.
They rode over a rise and Baen lifted his fist to halt Carr and the men. In the distance Baen could see Knucker, Elvinia’s dragon. He could just make out his sister kneeling next to something in front of the dragon. She hadn’t crossed the border yet, but she wasn’t far from it. That was one less problem he had to deal with.
Knucker let out a chuff and Elvinia stood up. She started to wave her arms frantically, so Baen nudged his horse forward and his men followed. They raced down the slo
pe toward his sister and Knucker stood to his full height. Baen didn’t even wait for his horse to come to a complete stop before he was dismounting and rushing to his sister’s side.
The dragon had taken a protective stance over his sister and the huddled form of a woman. His men hovered in the distance, too scared to get to close to the huge dragon. Knucker knew him well and so he had no issue when he walked under the dragon’s great body. Carr followed closely behind. The dragon also knew him as a friend.
“Oh, brother, thank goodness you came. You have to help this lady. She saved my life. I can’t explain how, but one minute I thought I was going to die and the next, I was fine and she was lying on the ground.” Elvinia rushed her words. Baen could barely understand her.
“What is wrong with her?” Carr asked from his side. Baen bent down and looked the woman over. He had never seen her before, so she wasn’t from court. She was beautiful. Her eyes were closed and her long lashes fanned her delicate checks. She had wild curly blonde hair that exploded in ringlets from her head. She wasn’t tall, from what he could tell. She was small, petite even. She was wearing strange clothes. Men’s clothes. Her blue breeches were made of a ruff material and hugged her legs. She had on a thick jacket and a matching pair of gray boots.
“I think she has been poisoned. It was the weirdest thing. I went to the markets in Arodi and meet up with Aileanna. After a while I was hungry, so I purchased a pastry from one of the stalls. Anyway, that made me thirsty and—”
“What has any of this got to do with the woman?” Baen snapped. His sister could be long-winded sometimes.
“I’m getting to that! So I was thirsty, right, and so Aileanna went and purchased us ale. Which we drank and then went our separate ways. I was on my way home on Knucker when I started to feel sick and—”
“I still do not understand what this has to do with the woman?”
“Enough, Baen, let your sister tell her tale,” Carr told him.
“The woman will be dead before she makes her point,” Baen replied. He was exasperated with his sister and worried for the lovely lady. He didn’t know her, but he didn’t want her to die either.
“Anyway, I got sicker and sicker. My stomach was cramping and I was sweating. It was horrible. Then I must have passed out because next thing I know, I was fine and this woman was standing over me with her hands on my stomach. It was like she had pulled the sickness from my body and into hers. Then she said hello and slumped over.”
“Who is she? And how could she have done something like that?” Carr asked.
“I have never seen her before, but she is sweating something bad and she was moaning before,” Elvinia said. Baen didn’t have any idea how to help the woman that had saved his sister’s life. He stood up from his crouching position and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“We need to get her back to the castle. Hopefully the healer, Elsbeth, will know what to do.” Baen leant down and scooped the small woman into his arms. She was light as a feather and curled into him as he walked toward his mount. Where had she come from? How had she helped his sister that way? Why would she put her life in danger to help a stranger? And who the hell had tried to poison his sister?
Baen had more questions than answers, and the more he thought about it the angrier he became. Someone had tried to kill his baby sister, his only sister. That was an act of war, and when he discovered the culprit they wouldn’t be in this world for long.
Baen passed the woman over to Carr as he mounted his stallion and then took her back into his arms. He didn’t miss the look of longing on his lover’s face when he looked down at the gorgeous woman. He knew just what Carr was thinking. He was thinking it himself. She was a beautiful woman and if her previous actions were anything to go by, she was a brave one too.
He didn’t want to explore the emotions he was feeling toward her. She was probably going to die. He needed to concentrate on getting her to the healer and discovering who the enemy was. He couldn’t think of how perfect she felt in his arms or how she snuggled into him like a contented kitten. Or how much he wanted her to open her eyes, just so he could see what color they were.
He watched as Carr and the rest of his men mounted their horses and his sister walked back and climbed up Knucker’s great height to her saddle. He kicked his horse into a gallop and they were racing toward the castle. Knucker flew over their heads. His great wings flapped as he went higher and higher into the sky.
The dragon would watch after his sister, of that he was sure. They had each been given a dragon egg at birth from the mage Diarmad that resided in their castle. He was a grumpy old man who rarely left his rooms. Baen often sought out his company for either advice or just to talk. The man had been his father’s closest friend and had many a tale about their adventures together.
Dragons weren’t rare in Marak, but it was uncommon for people to have them as pets. Baen and his sister had been raised with their dragons and each had a special bond because of it. His was a black fire dragon named Nughogg. He lived in a cave, a fair distance from the castle, but all Baen had to do was signal on a horn and he would come.
He had gotten too big to live at the castle by the time Baen was eight, but they had always been friends and he could always rely on his dragon. It was more than the average relationship between owner and pet. Dragons were an intelligent species and they needed to be treated as such. They were big and dangerous and so very stubborn, not unlike him really.
It wasn’t long before they were riding over the drawbridge and into the lower bailey. Baen rode all the way to the keep’s large wooden doors before dismounting. He rushed the woman through the maze of corridors and into one of the guest chambers, barking orders as he went.
He gently placed her down on the coverlet and then went about making her more comfortable. He removed her knee-length boots and the strange stockings she wore under them. Then he tried to figure out how to remove the tight breeches she wore. They didn’t have ties like normal breeches, but a button and a wired metal track that came apart as he pulled on the device holding it together.
He peeled the breeches down her slim legs and tried not to look at the skin he uncovered. His cock sprang to life despite his attempt to keep his desire at bay. She had stunning legs. Slim and slightly muscled with smooth pale skin. Shit, he was supposed to be making her comfortable. He felt like a pervert.
Baen moved up her body and removed her thick jacket, leaving her in her blouse and strange underclothes that covered her womanhood. The little scrap of material was the sexiest thing he had ever seen and his mouth watered at the thought of what lay beneath.
He lifted her gently and tucked her under the blankets. She still hadn’t awoken. Baen wasn’t sure what poison was given to his sister. If this woman had the power to remove that poison, would it affect her the same way?
Carr burst into the chamber with the healer, Elsbeth, hot on his tail. The woman could sure move for her age. Not that he knew how old she was. She had looked the same for as long as he could remember.
“Move aside, young man, and let me see her,” Elsbeth said. Her voice crackled like she had something stuck in her throat. It always gave Baen the urge to cough.
“Has she woken yet?” Carr spoke from his side. Elvinia entered the room and moved to stand on his other side.
“Not as yet. Where are those servants with the water and clothes?” Baen felt useless as he watched her lying in the bed. She looked so small under the covers, the big bed swallowing her up.
“There isn’t much I can do for her, unless I know what poison was used. There are a few remedies I will try, but it will come down to her in the end. She needs to be strong to fight it.” As Elsbeth spoke, she mixed a purple powder with a few drops of a green liquid in a small bowl. Baen had no idea what the stuff was, but he trusted the healer.
“She is strong. She must be to have the magic to pull poison from a body and into another,” his sister put in.
“Has she vomi
ted?” the healer asked. She wrapped her arm around the woman’s neck and lifted her head before forcing the mushy paste into her mouth. Baen scrunched up his nose at the foul smell that the paste was producing. It must taste even worse, if it smelt that bad.
“No, she hasn’t. She passed out almost immediately.”
As Elsbeth forced more of the disgusting potion down the woman’s throat, she began to cough and sputter. Opening her eyes, the woman looked around as she spat the paste from her mouth. Rolling to her side, she hung her head from the side of bed before heaving her insides all over the floor.
Carr rushed forward with a cloth and helped wipe her mouth. She took the cloth from Carr and pushed him away. It wasn’t long before she was back, spewing and retching the contents of her stomach, making an almighty mess. Baen stood back, his sister covering her mouth and trying not to dry retch at the smell. Once she was finished, again she sat up in the bed and cleaned herself once more.
“God, what was that crap? It tasted worse than eating my mother’s Tuna Mornay, and that shit is foul.” The woman sat in the big bed and looked at their surprised faces.
“She speaks funny,” his sister added. That she did. Baen had no clue what she was talking about. Something to do with dung and her mother’s cooking. At least she was alive and talking. She sunk back onto the pillows and moaned. It wasn’t a delicate moan, but a great pain-filled moan that belied how serious the woman’s situation was.
“Can I have some water, please? My mouth feels like something up and died in it.” She stared up at them when no one moved. Baen called for a servant and had them bring a pitcher of water. He couldn’t stop staring at the stunning woman. Even covered in sweat, her hair sticking to her forehead and covered in her own vomit, she was lovely. Her large blue eyes looked back at them and he felt himself getting hard again.
The Magic of You [Mystical Realms 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3