by Lisa Daniels
“It was only when we encountered Naya and Nyle that she learned I was always a girl. I never cared about my gender, so when it came time to wash, I went with Nyle. He was quite shy, so despite being older than Naya, he usually let her do all of the talking. I was trying to get him to talk to me as we got ready to clean up. We stripped down, I got into the little pond, and started splashing around. When I turned to talk to him, Nyle was just standing there, half-dressed, staring at me like I was crazy. ‘You’re a girl!’ were the first words he ever said to me.” She laughed. “I think he was about 13 years old at the time. Maybe older. I’m not good with that sort of thing.” Her hands were in front of her, and she was peeling at the piece of wood that had held her meat.
“It was the first time it ever occurred to me that it could be an issue, but I didn’t want to show how embarrassed I felt because of it. ‘So is Naya. Now get in here and clean up or I will tell her that you are neglecting yourself.’ Well, it was obvious that he was torn. The poor boy didn’t want to be naked in front of a girl, but he also didn’t want to get in trouble with his sister. She could be so fierce when it came to properly taking care of themselves. Finally, he removed everything except his inner pants, and that boy ran like he was on fire into the water. When I tried to approach him to wash up, Nyle quickly swam away, saying he could take care of himself just fine. He also asked me to leave. ‘But you have no undergarments now because you wore them into the water. What is wrong with you?’ He glared at me like I was making fun of him. ‘You’re a girl. You shouldn’t be here.’ At no point did he blame me for his actions; Nyle was never one to accuse others for the decisions he made. I got out and found him a new pair of inner pants. Since he clearly didn’t want me in the area while he washed, I ran into the clearing, threw them down, and ran back out.
“I was chatting with Bree and Naya when he finally emerged, his eyes looking from me to them. Naya saw his expression. ‘What is wrong with you, Nyle? Are you hungry?’ He shook his head. She pestered him for a bit, but he didn’t say anything. Nyle’s eyes kept shifting to me as if asking why.
“When it was bed time, Naya put her arm through Bree’s and said the girls were going to head off to bed in a little space I had secured just inside the wall of one of the towns. Can’t remember where now. Nyle looked at me, then at them, then without warning, he shoved me toward them. Immediately his sister started to tell him he shouldn’t be so rough, that she and Bree would be fine, and on and on. When she finally stopped talking, his gentle voice spoke up, ‘You said the girls will go to bed. Are you really going to leave her behind?’ The look on their faces was priceless. Bree burst out laughing as Naya began to lay into him about how rude he was being. As she menaced in front of him, I put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Why are you so offended? He’s right.’ I think that Bree nearly died of a heart attack at that moment, because she had been under the wrong impression for so long. Naya’s face turned to look at her. ‘But you said…’ I walked off, hoping they would follow. ‘I don’t see what the big deal is. I would rather be mistaken for a boy than be treated like a girl. Come on. We will all sleep in the same place.’ And that took care of it. Saskia joined us later that year, and she was quite the handful. So full of questions about why a girl would dress as a boy. I suppose by then my figure made it easier to tell that I wasn’t a boy because the first thing she ever said to me was, ‘Why do you dress like a boy? You would be so pretty in a dress like mine!’
“It wasn’t long after that when I learned about Nyle’s prophetic dreams. It happened several times a year, and they were always terrifying. Saskia still had her father, so she stayed with him most of the time. Naya and Bree always slept through his panic because he was quiet, but I was a light sleeper. Whenever he would wake up shaking, I knew why and I would immediately hold him until he stopped.
“He got better at hiding it as he got older, and Nyle stopped telling me about what happened because one time I nearly got killed trying to keep one of them from happening. I was successful, but I was on death’s door for several days. He was already making a life for himself as a merchant, but he put all of that on hold to take care of me. At that time, I had already killed two dragons, and he wanted me to quit. Nyle proposed to me, saying that he would rather keep me safe than see me get killed in such a dangerous profession. I thought his proposal was out of pity, so as soon as I could walk, I left the town. It took more than a year for them to track me down. The three of them were living comfortably in a place above his shop. Bree was already working in her current profession by then, and Naya was helping her brother. Saskia was Saskia, doing whatever ideas came to her mind, unable to do anything for too long. It was Naya who finally tracked me down. The only way to get her to leave me alone was to go back with her to see everyone again. That’s when Nyle said he was going to become a dragon hunter, too. He was terrible at it; his weapon skills were pretty bad.” She smiled faintly at the memory.
“It was only the following year that I learned why he had suddenly made that decision. He had never asked Naya to bring me back, and been willing to leave me to my travels, but as soon as he saw me, Nyle didn’t hesitate. Naya was furious and said that she would shut down the business if he did that to her. Of course she didn’t do it, and by then she and Saskia had plans for expansion (Saskia’s idea, but Naya saw that it was a market that would attract a lot of attention and potential buyers). I tried to refuse Nyle at first, but when it became obvious that he was doing it with or without my help, I started to train him. While he was never great, I found him to be very skilled at learning. His executions were always a little… forced, but his ability to remember a lot was pretty staggering.
“We were in a small village when the dragon attacked. He died saving me. Nyle knew it was coming and that was why he changed his profession. I could have saved him several times. He loved me, but I turned him down because I didn’t realize…” Her voice faltered.
Suddenly an arm went around her shoulders. She lay her head on Elian’s shoulder and cried. He stroked her hair saying nothing as she tried to pull herself together.
Annora wiped the tears from her face as she sat up. “I’m so sorry. This has nothing to do with anything.”
Elian’s hand gently turned her to face him. “No, it explains a lot. Don’t apologize.” He ran his hand along her face. “I’m sorry for everything you have been through.”
He sighed and looked away. “Most shifters prefer to just stay in the mountains because life is so much simpler, easier. But there are always those who want to destroy and prove that we are better than humans. Others go insane. It’s pretty common for shifters. We try to monitor for the cruel and the insane, but we can’t always catch them before they do something destructive.”
Annora looked up at him. “Are all dragons shifters?”
Elian shook his head. “No. Most dragons are just dragons. They keep to themselves and humans will almost never see a pure-blooded dragon. It’s always a shifter who attacks, though. As the head of my clan, I am responsible for keeping everyone in line. Lilou was the first to attack from our clan since I took over.”
Annora patted his hand, not sure what to say.
“Humans don’t usually bother us, but when they do, they really make a mess of things. Our young are more likely to become violent and vicious towards them. I am one of the few who spends more time in human form because I spend much of my time monitoring people who are likely to cause us problems. Leonides spends nearly as much time as a human because he refuses to leave the full burden up to me. He’s a good man. I think he was originally afraid that I was going to lose it after Lilou disappeared and Phelan was exiled. I wasn’t the leader back them. Leonides has kept an eye on me ever since. It’s funny since I am considerably older than him, but it does help me stay grounded.”
Annora looked up at him. With so many questions going through her head, she wasn’t sure what she could ask.
Elian looked down at her. A hand went to her face and he c
aressed her cheek with his thumb. “I suppose he was trying to keep me away from you as well. Leonides has me figured out so well, he knows what I am feeling before I realize it. Well, he was right, and now I’m not quite sure what to do.”
Annora looked away. “You have responsibilities. You have to take care of them first.”
The man laughed. “Yes, that is a nearly perfect imitation of something he would say.”
“He’s not wrong.” She looked up at him.
“No, that certainly isn’t wrong, but my responsibility goes well beyond just my clan now. He knew by the way I treated you that I had made my choice, and he will also tell you that can’t be ignored either.”
Annora frowned. “I don’t know what you mean. Responsibility is always first.”
“Yes, and I took responsibility for you that night. Nothing you say or do now is going to change that. It will just change how I act to fulfill that responsibility.”
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
Elian leaned in, his mouth close to her ear. “Say that you will allow me to fulfill the responsibility by your side. It will make things so much easier.”
Annora pushed him away. “Easier for who? Certainly not easier for me. I do not want to be locked up and guarded for the rest of my life.”
“Nor do I want to lock you up. Often,” he grinned down at her. “If The Fiend were to join my clan, do you have any idea just what that will do?”
“Make a lot of your people hate you?”
He laughed, “No. You have a reputation as being ruthless, but never without cause. Your name is invoked to keep our young in line.”
“So I’m a boogey man to your people?” Annora wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or insulted with this revelation.
He smiled at her. “Not to me.” His hand stroked the back of her head. “If you were to join me, we would rest better knowing that we had our own protector.”
“That makes no sense,” she tried to find his lie in his eyes, but they were sincere.
“No one was even sure if you were human, they certainly have no idea that you are a female human. Your species does not have a great… track record for the way women are treated. A sword-wielding woman is pretty much unheard of, which kind of baffles shifters. Most of our best warriors are women, especially the mothers. I feel humans are really missing something to sideline women.” His hand gestured toward Annora. “Case in point right here.”
Annora ran a hand through her hair at the compliment. “I never saw what gender had to do with anything. I wanted revenge. I wanted to never lose anyone I loved ever again. There was only one choice for me to make.”
“Yes. And now you can change the course of your life.”
She looked up at him, her mind trying to take in what he was saying. “But I don’t even know how that would work.”
“Simple. You stay with me, help me deal with humans, and when something happens to one of our own, you help me hunt to bring them back. It’s really not that much different than what you do now. Except you will always have a guaranteed home, no need to find someone willing to pay you.”
Annora’s eyebrows went up. That would make her life considerably easier. It was so difficult to get people to take her seriously, which meant getting hired was particularly annoying. She looked into his reddish eyes and a smile spread across her face. “Of course, I will still have a high price for clothing. Modified clothing is not cheap.”
Elian laughed and ran a hand down her arm. “It is very well done. Where did you get it so quickly?”
“I can introduce you to him later. I should probably thank you for choosing Kildeer; it would have been impossible to find something better than those hideous clothes anywhere else.”
He flinched. “Hideous? I thought they looked charming on you.”
“It is impossible to fight with that much fabric flying everywhere. The only benefit was the fact that men are so easily distracted that mobility is only a minor problem.”
Elian laughed again. “Well, I can’t say that I blame them. You are a very beautiful woman, despite how you try to hide it.”
Annora tilted her head to the side. “Hide it? I simply don’t care.”
Elian pulled her toward him, his hand smoothing down her hair as he looked at her face. “I wish I could say I don’t care either, but right now that would be a lie.”
Slowly he leaned down toward her. Annora closed her eyes as his eyes asked. She sighed as his lips pressed against hers. His hands were skillfully working her shirt off as hers clumsily slipped under his shirt and began pulling up.
He began to push against her, lowering her to the ground. Annora placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away. Elian’s face was shocked as he looked at her. Annora swung her leg over his. Placing both of her hands on his shoulders, she roughly pushed him to the ground. He laughed before grabbing her hips and rolling over on top of her. Before she could protest, his mouth covered hers while his hands unfastened her belt.
As the sun rose the next morning, Elian and Annora pulled closer together.
“Too bright,” she muttered as the light shone on their faces.
He pulled her head into his chest. “I’ll protect you.”
She gave him a gentle push. “I don’t need protection, I just want more sleep.”
“But you seem so awake.” He looked down at her tired face. “I can help with that.”
Her laugh was stifled as his mouth began kissing her neck and his hand explored her body.
Once they were finished, the pair dressed and looked around the empty cavern. Hand in hand, they stepped out into the late morning light.
The End
Ailey’s Dragon
By: Lisa Daniels
Chapter 1
A Strange Series of Introductions
As she stepped out of the inn, Ailey placed a hand over her eyes. The sun was bright, causing her a moment of discomfort after a restless night in the tiny inn. The couple who ran it were very friendly, even making fun of the state of their offering, and this endeared them to the rare traveler who stopped for the night. Ailey’s difficulty in sleeping was more a result of her inability to stop thinking than it was about the accommodations. The inn was at a small cross-roads about halfway between Yuezhi’s capital, Antakya, and the prosperous but deeply troubled city of Melzi. Melzi was the largest city in the neighboring country of Bagrada. Until two years ago, Melzi was one of the most populous cities on the continent. Then it was struck by a plague for which no cure had been found. Over one third of the population of the city had already died, and it as said nearly another third had contracted the illness, not that Ailey believed much of the gossip. They also said that the disease would kill anyone who contracted it within a day. If that were the case, the entire city would have already been wiped out. Regardless of how much exaggeration had come out of the city, one thing was certain – the illness was claiming more lives than any other plague had in over a millennium. And it was certainly true that no cure had been found. The number of people who had contacted her over the last two years was ample indication that healers were completely baffled by the ailment. Their frustration was usually punctuated by silence as the illness eventually claimed them. New medics would make their way to the city, but the results had been the same. Not everyone had died; there were still a few healers and medics in the city, one of whom had been there since the early days, but over three-quarters of those who had gone to help had died of the ailment. Over the last few months, the Medics Association had found it harder to send people to the city because so many of their people’s lives had already been claimed. They could not send everyone to one city, not when there was an entire continent that had other medical troubles, including war, a bizarre illness in another major city that only affected children, and increasing monster attacks. They could not afford to continue to send so many medics into the city with such high risks.
It was strange, but the illness did not appear to occu
r anywhere else. Those who had fled the city with the disease had died, but no one they encountered had contracted the ailment. Of course, they had tried to keep people from leaving, but it was difficult as the governmental infrastructure had faltered under so much uncertainty. It had given them a strange data point that no one knew how to interpret. Apart from living in the city, there was no commonality among those who had contracted the plague. Just as many nobles and wealthy inhabitants had died as people in the slums who had succumbed to the illness. Three of the queen’s eight children had died, and one had recently started to show symptoms.
At 33 years old, Ailey was old enough to have a wealth of knowledge, but still young enough to have the energy to make long treks without any assistance. Medics worked alone for as long as they could because the more ground they covered, the more assistance they could provide. Once their energy levels, or personal circumstances, required the use of a helper or companion, medics tended to settle into a region that they loved, offering their expertise to the lucky people who lived around them. There were some older medics who still chose to travel, like Ailey’s mentor, and there were young medics who settled down as soon as they had earned their medical clearance. It wasn’t exactly a safe profession, of which Ailey was well aware. Of the 25 people who had graduated at the same time as her, only 11 of them were still alive, nine of whom had settled down before they turned 30. Medics tended to be women, but that did not mean they were spared. Those who joined the profession usually did so knowing that there was a very good chance that they would not make it to 30. Medics were well-respected nearly everywhere they went because everyone knew what the Medic patch meant about a person. However, ailments and circumstance did not care, and it was the fact that medics actively went into dangerous places that meant they were less likely to reach middle age.