by Alice Brown
He turned to Natasha. “I hope your visit here will be enjoyable. Make sure Blain shows you around the kingdom while everything is quiet.” He gave her a smile, and then started walking back the way he came from.
“Wow!” Natasha whispered in awe. To be greeted by the king himself! How special was that?
Blain cleared his throat to gain her attention. “If you are finished ogling over my king, maybe I can show you where we will be staying.” His words had no bite whatsoever, and Natasha glanced up at him to see him grinning.
“Lead the way, O Mighty One!” she teased back.
“Miss Natasha, I’d be happy to carry your suitcase for you,” Adorellan eagerly offered from behind her.
Natasha caught Blain’s raised eyebrow, and quickly interceded to head off any more problems. Turning with a sweet smile on her face, she answered, “Oh, thank you so much for the offer, but really, we don’t have much. Blain can handle it.” Truth be told, she didn’t trust Adorellan not to go through everything she owned.
The elf’s shoulder’s sagged, and he seemed to have the wind knocked out of his sails. “Oh, okay then. I guess I will just see you around, perhaps.”
“Oh, I am sure we will see each other. Maybe we can have lunch together one day.” Even though the man had pick-pocketed her favorite knife, she still couldn’t stand to make him sad. She tried putting herself in his place and realized if she were in a strange land, she would hope someone would be kind enough to offer friendship to her.
The little man perked up instantly. “Really? You mean it? Oh, we will have such a wonderful time. And I know just where to take you!” He rubbed his hands together in glee.
Blain watched the interaction between this elf and his mate for a moment. “Hey, Adorellan, I have an idea. I am going to be busy part of the time, and I hate the idea of leaving Natasha by herself when she doesn’t know this region yet. Do you think you could help show her around?”
The little man became so excited both Blain and Natasha thought he was going to start dancing a jig. “Really? You trust me with your woman?” he questioned Blain.
Blain narrowed his eyes at him, schooling his facial features. “Do I have a reason not to trust you?”
“Oh, no, I would never…” Shaking his head furiously, he took the olive branch that had been handed to him. He stopped and bowed before Blain. “I am honored you place your mate’s safety in my hands. I won’t let you down, sir.”
Natasha rolled her eyes at the speech. As if she needed anyone to protect her! Especially a tiny little man standing all of three feet tall! She just barely got her facial features schooled before he straightened back up.
Blain reached over and put his hand on Adorellan’s shoulder. “I know you will take care of her. I wouldn’t have asked you otherwise.”
'Aww, a bit of male bonding going on, I see.' This time when Natasha heard the voice, she didn’t panic. She now knew this was her dragon speaking to her.
'Umm, hi?' she said silently. She searched her mind, trying to see what her dragon would look like.
'Hi, Natasha. You can’t see me yet because I am not quite ready to be seen, but soon, my dear. I am almost completely developed and very soon you will be letting me out for my mate to see.'
'Mate?'
'Sapphamire, of course. You are Blain’s mate, as I am mate to Sapphamire,' her dragon explained.
'Oh, I guess that makes sense.'
Blain’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. “Natasha, you with me?” She blinked twice and found Blain to be directly in front of her when she glanced up. “You kind of spaced out for a moment. You okay?”
She offered him a smile. “I’m fine. Umm, where are we staying at?” Quite frankly, she’d had enough excitement for one day. She just hoped wherever they were staying had a tub, and hot water.
Chapter Nine
Natasha could not get over how beautiful everything was here in this foreign land. The trees, grass, and flowers all seemed much brighter in color than anything she had ever seen on Earth. After a good night’s sleep, Blain offered to show her around his homeland. They had gone on horseback and had been riding all morning.
One of their first stops was at the base of a mountain. Looking up, Natasha knew she had never seen anything like it in her life. The mountain itself seemed to change colors, depending on which way you looked at it. Then she looked closer. There were numerous ledges of different sizes and depths cut out of the mountainside. And dragons perched on many of the ledges. The large beasts looked down at her and Blain, but other than give them a quick glance, didn’t budge an inch. It made for a beautiful sight though, to see dragons of every color and size all perched high on this mountain at different intervals.
From there, Blain showed her some of the homes that had been built. Almost everyone had a castle here. Blain explained the houses would need to be very large anyway, to accommodate their dragons, so it was deemed a long time ago that homes would be built in the form of castles. They were currently staying in Blain’s family’s castle, which had a full staff working even when he wasn’t there.
Natasha was really surprised at the modern conveniences inside the castles. From the outside, they looked like something out of the medieval era, but on the inside, most boasted dishwasher, stove, and a large refrigerator in the kitchen with running hot water, and modern electricity!
And she found it really sweet when she had mentioned a hot bath to Blain upon entering their bedroom. He sat the suitcases down, walked into the bathroom, and started a bath, using nothing but cold water. She cocked an eyebrow up at him at first, and then he said, “Just trust me,” so she sat down to wait and see what he had up his sleeve. He finished running the water, threw in a handful of bath salts, and then did a partial shift to allow Sapphamire to come through enough to blow fire into the ice cold bath water. Sapphamire’s face was on Blain’s body as he turned around and grinned at her. It was Sapphamire’s voice that stated, “At your service, My Lady!”
After going through part of the village, which had several castles, they went into the heart of the village, where an open market was set up. Locals were selling everything from fruits and vegetables to clothes and jewelry. Blain stopped after he noticed her interest in a shop selling beautiful silk scarves.
Natasha was having an amazing time. It was hard to believe this country was currently under threat of attack. Blain had told her that morning that his homeland came under attack much too often, and it was to the point that everyone just continued on with their daily lives until the threat became reality. But in the meantime, it didn’t look as if anyone else was worried, so she decided to let her hair down and have fun for once.
And the colorful clothes. She reached over and fingered the silk scarves, as light as butterfly wings, thinking she had never seen such beauty before. Then she looked to her right and spotted silk shirts, blouses, and pants. Blain walked up behind her. “You would look good in this.” He held out a blue sapphire pants outfit. “Will you let me buy it for you?”
Before Natasha could respond, the store owner walked over. A middle-aged man, he embraced Blain. “Blain Barrymire, I haven’t seen you in ages! What brings you back home, son?” Then, when he spotted Natasha, he quickly added, “Oh, no, has the rogue Barrymire finally met his match?”
The big man snatched Natasha up and before she knew what was going on, the man was giving her the biggest bear hug she had ever received. “If he doesn’t treat you right, lass, you come see me. My boys and I will straighten him up, and fast.”
Blain chuckled from beside her. “All right, Scavenger, don’t make me have to hurt you for stealing my girl.” A playful growl followed up his threat.
Scavenger let go of Natasha and turned to address Blain. “Please, get her whatever she wants. It is on the house. Consider it a mating present.”
Blain looked down at the outfit still in his hands. “My mate will look beautiful in this, but please, I insist on paying.”
“Nonse
nse, my boy! Go! Go you two! Enjoy!” Turning toward the front of his shop, he shouted across the way. “Blackmore, look who is back! It’s Blain Barrymire, and he has found his mate!” The man who was being shouted to stopped what he was doing and waved them over. “Go, go see Blackmore, Blain! You two young ones have fun!”
Blain grabbed Natasha’s hand and pulled her across the courtyard. “Blain, my boy, so good to see you again! What’s it been, about a year now?” the elderly man asked.
Blain nodded. “Yes, about that long. How have you been? Is business good?”
“Oh, yes, my boy, I am doing fine. Now, why doesn’t your mate have a piece of our jewelry on?” the elderly shopkeeper inquired.
Blain chuckled. “Uh, that would be because we just arrived yesterday, and I haven’t had the chance to get her anything yet.”
The shopkeeper waved his hand toward the back of the store. “Well, go pick something out!”
In the back of the shop, the man had jewelry cases filled with beautiful stones. Natasha recognized emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, rubies, and many others that she didn’t recognize. A large pail full of uncut stones sat next to the jewelry cases. Natasha couldn’t help sticking her hand in to scoop up a few of the precious stones. Looking up at Blain, she stated, “Beautiful! I have never seen anything like it!”
By the time they walked out of the little shop, Blain had not only bought her a sapphire and diamond ring and necklace, but also a pair of aquamarine earrings and matching necklace at Sapphamire’s insistence.
They were just getting ready to leave the market area when Adorellan came running up to them. “Mr. Barrymire, King Thoran has asked for you to join the other Council members in a training session this afternoon.”
Blain looked over to Natasha. “I am sorry, it looks like we are going to have to cut our tour short.”
“Um, Mr. Barrymire, I’d be happy to spend the afternoon with your mate and show her around.” The little man immediately put his hands out in front of him. “I know, you will rip my throat out and feed it to your buddies if something happens to her. I got it. She will be safe, I promise!”
Blain sighed heavily. “Okay, but no funny business. And don’t go wandering off! We are under threat of attack, and it will be important that everyone get to safety should we be attacked.”
“Oh, I promise.” A shudder passed over the little man at the mentioning of being attacked. He would be the first that would need to find safety.
“Okay, give me five minutes, and then I’ll go,” Blain replied. He hated that he had to cut his day out with Natasha short. It seemed like they had had so little time to themselves since he’d met her.
The little elf was smart enough to walk away, leaving Blain and Natasha alone. “I am sorry, baby,” he said softly as he ran his fingers through her hair. He loved it when she left her hair down. “I promise, I’ll make it up to you.”
Natasha rolled her eyes at him. “Will you stop apologizing? Your king has called upon you. That is the whole reason we are here in the first place. Now give me a kiss and go!” she ordered.
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” He gave her a mock salute before leaning in to give her a kiss. Within a minute the kiss had turned to scorching, each eating at each other’s mouths, both giving as well as they were receiving.
A commotion off to the side of them broke them apart. Turning, they saw Adorellan barreling toward them, with one of the shopkeepers chasing after him while yelling, “Get back here, you little pain in the arse!”
“I knew his good behavior wouldn’t last too long,” Blain mumbled as Adorellan tried to run behind them. Blain caught the man by the back of the shirt and placed him in front of him. “Care to explain?”
The store owner came barreling up, red—faced, looking ready to kill one little elf. “Mr. Barrymire, this little thief stole from me, and I demand my merchandise returned!” the man yelled as he shook his fist at Adorellan.
Natasha turned her attention to Adorellan. “What did you grab this time?” she asked, exasperated. Would he ever learn his lesson?
Adorellan wore a guilty expression upon his face. “I only wanted it because it was pretty, and shiny, and…”
“Seems to me I’ve heard that one before,” Natasha interrupted. “Surely you know you can’t just have something because you deem it pretty or shiny.”
Adorellan’s attention immediately went to her necklace. “Oh my, what a pretty necklace you have. Did Mr. Barrymire buy that for you?”
Natasha threw her hands up in the air. “Yes, Adorellan, he bought it for me. Key word here is bought. As in paid for. As in not just take because he thought it was pretty.”
The little man hung his head in shame. “I know, I am sorry.” He dug around in his pocket until he pulled out what looked to be a woman’s shiny hair comb. “I was going to give it to you as a present. It would look so good in your hair.” He reached out to hand it back to the shopkeeper.
Blain stayed his hand. “Adorellan, I am only going to do this once. Pull a stunt like this again, and you are on your own next time.” Blain handed some coins to the shopkeeper. “Here, this should be more than sufficient for covering the cost of the item?” He posed it as a question, giving the shop owner a chance to rebut if he wished.
The shop owner scowled down at Adorellan as he took Blain’s money. “You are more than generous, Mr. Barrymire. I don’t know why King Thoran allows him to run free.” He turned and walked away, slowly shaking his head.
Blain turned his attention to the little man standing in front of him. “Well, don’t you have a gift you would like to give to my mate?”
Adorellan looked down at the ground sheepishly before extending his hand out to Natasha with the hair comb between his fingers. “I thought you might like this,” he mumbled.
Natasha glanced over to Blain for a quick second to see his nod. Then she reached over to take the hair comb from Adorellan. “Thank you, Adorellan. It is very pretty, and I believe it will go very nicely with the new outfit Blain just purchased for me.”
Their next stop after they had sent Blain on his way was lunch. Natasha allowed Adorellan to lead her through the market place, to a quaint little place boasting a sign with a large ale mug hanging above the door.
“Do you wish to eat inside or outside?” Adorellan inquired.
The day was just too pretty not to sit outside. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, warm, pleasant temperatures, and she wanted to remain outside as long as she could. “Let’s eat outside. It’s beautiful out, and I am enjoying the warm temperatures.”
“Where did you come from?” Adorellan asked as they sat down at a picnic table.
“Iceland.”
“Brr, it’s cold there!” Adorellan exclaimed.
“Yep, that it is,” Natasha answered with a chuckle.
A young man walked out to take their order. Adorellan glanced over to Natasha. “Since you are unfamiliar with things, would you like me to order for the two of us?”
Natasha graced him with a smile. “Yes, please. Thank you.”
She had never heard of the foods he was ordering, and wondered if letting him order for her had been a smart idea. As soon as their waiter had walked away, she leaned forward a bit in her seat. “Um, Adorellan, what did you just order?”
“Oh, it’s a local dish, you’ll like it. The meat is their version of our chicken and tastes something in between chicken and turkey. Then I ordered side dishes of their version of potatoes and carrots.”
Natasha sighed in relief. As long as he was telling her the truth, she would be fine.
Their waiter returned a moment later with a large loaf of bread on a platter, a butter knife sticking up in the middle of the bread.
Adorellan wasted little time in digging in. “You have to try their bread, Natasha. I’ve never had anything like it in my life.”
Natasha pulled off a piece to try. The minute it hit her tongue, she moaned. “Mmm, this is delicious!” she exclaimed. Light
and fluffy, it reminded her of a big loaf of croissants, but it had a sweetness to it.
Adorellan nodded as he helped himself to another piece. “I know, this place has some of the most amazing food I have ever eaten. I only wish I could bag some of it up when they do finally decide to let me leave. I’d open my own restaurant.”
Their waiter came out at that moment with a tray laden down with food. The smell coming from it made Natasha’s mouth water. “Goodness, that smells wonderful!” she exclaimed as he dropped off two huge plates overflowing with food. Natasha looked at both plates and bit her bottom lip. “I think we should have ordered one plate and split it. It smells fantastic, but there is no way I can even begin to put a dent in all this food!”
As their waiter walked away, Adorellan said, “Well, you have to remember where you are at. They are accustomed to only feeding dragons, which tend to eat a lot. They have always been willing to give me something to take home what I can’t finish.”
“Oh, good.” She was hungry, very hungry. She had not eaten last night, so tired from the hectic day, once she was out of the tub she climbed into bed and fell asleep immediately. But even as hungry as she was, she knew she would be unable to eat everything on her plate. She’d be lucky if she could eat one-fourth! The scent of the food made her stomach protest loudly, and she picked up her fork to take a bite.
Adorellan had been correct. If this type of food ever hit Earth, humans would be standing in lines waiting for it. It was that good. The meat had a taste very close to turkey, but was as moist as a nicely done up chicken. With it was some type of delicious spiced grain dish, and a yellow and green vegetable that was similar to peppers that she had eaten before, but when she placed one in her mouth, her taste buds exploded with joy. Crisp, fresh flavor burst across her tongue, and she now knew why dragons ate so much. With food like this, who wouldn’t?