Both men rose from their chairs, and Rita walked to Delno and held her hands up with her palms facing him, and her fingers splayed. He reached up and placed his palms against hers. They intertwined their fingers and smiled at each other. Nat suddenly remembered some work that needed to be done in the pharmacy and quickly excused himself.
Once they were alone, Rita said, “I really would like to explain about today.”
“Rita,” he said, “if you feel the need to talk to me, then I will listen, but you don’t owe me any explanations.”
“Then know this,” She responded, “Years ago, when I was younger, something happened to me: something bad. I blame Simcha, and I’ve never forgiven him. I keep trying to stay away from him, but the other Riders keep finding ways of throwing us together. I believe that they do this so that I will learn to forgive him.”
She paused, unable to speak and tears began to fill her eyes. He pulled her to him, and she leaned against his chest and cried for a moment. He didn’t interrupt her; he just held her and gave her support.
Brock came in quietly and looked at them. He raised an eyebrow in inquiry, and Delno just shook his head slightly to let Brock know that he hadn’t told her what he knew. The older Rider nodded and slipped past the sitting room and went upstairs.
Rita stopped crying and said, “I might be able to put all of this behind me if the others weren’t so dead set that I have to spend time with Simcha to get over it. It’s like picking at a wound: if they’d just let me leave it alone for a while, it might heal.”
Then she shook her head and continued, “The worst part of all is that since I’ve become a woman, I think that Simcha has decided that he has some feelings for me. I think that’s why he reacted to us the way he did.” She paused and then said as if she were spitting venom, “He’s obviously jealous.”
She took several deep breaths to get her emotions under control. “Now I’ve brought all of this to your doorstep: for that I am deeply sorry. I will be leaving sooner than expected, today most likely. I had hoped to travel with Brock, but I can’t put you in this position.”
Delno grabbed her by the shoulders and, holding her so that she was looking him in the eyes, he said, “You listen to me. You did not bring this on me. I have as much to do with what is going on as you do. We are both adults with all of our mental faculties. It’s not like either of us has taken advantage of the other. As for Simcha, you are not responsible for his behavior, he is. As for you leaving early because of all of this, if you do, I’ll follow you. I won’t have you going off alone with the possibility that Simcha will go after you looking for revenge.”
She stared at him for a moment then said, “I can handle Simcha. . . .”
“Like you did earlier?” he retorted.
Her eyes flashed angrily, but before she could start an argument, he spoke again. “Look, Rita, I have no idea how I feel about you. You excite me in ways that no other woman has ever done, and I don’t mean just physically. I won’t say something stupid like ‘I love you’, because I don’t think a human being is capable of falling in love in such a short time, but I am thoroughly infatuated with you, and I won’t allow you to take such an unnecessary risk. Wait until Brock leaves and travel with him. Not only will that keep you safer, but it will give us another day or two together.”
“You know, Handsome,” she replied, “You make a pretty strong argument. I’ll stick around long enough to think about it.”
He bent down and kissed her passionately. She was surprised but not unresponsive. They lingered in the kiss for a long while. When they finally separated, he asked, “So how long do you think it will take for you to think about this?”
She shrugged, “No more than a day or two, I suppose.”
He laughed and said, “How about I wash your back while you’re thinking?”
“Are you trying to sway my decision?”
He replied, “Of course I am,” as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her toward the stairs.
“You are incorrigible,” she said, as she willingly allowed herself to be led.
“You encourage me,” he drawled, and they both laughed.
Later, as they were climbing out of the tub, they suddenly heard the sound of someone shouting. They moved to the door and opened it slightly to hear what was going on. The open door left them still unable to make out specific words, but it was obvious that the voice belonged to Simcha, and that he was angry. Delno decided to forgo drying himself and slipped his trousers on; Rita threw on his clean tunic, which came down nearly to her knees. Delno purposefully blocked her progress at the door with his arm and preceded her into the hall and down the stairs.
In the front entryway they found Pearce, Nat and Simcha. Pearce was trying to hush the Rider, but he would have none of it. He grabbed the physician by the front of his smock and said, “I don’t give a damn about your patients. When a Dragon Rider asks you a question, you answer.” He was punctuating every word with a shake of his hands and poor Pearce’s head was whipping back and forth. “Now where is that alley cat of a woman and that young pup she’s taken up with?”
“I’m right here, Simcha,” Delno said quietly, “and if you don’t let go of my friend, I’m going to break both of your arms.”
Simcha glared at Delno and Rita. “You insignificant young pup. . . .” he began.
“I may be a young pup, and I have never claimed any have any real significance in this world, but you are still abusing someone I care about, and I am more than capable of carrying through on my threat.” Saying this, Delno took a step toward Simcha just as Brock reached the bottom of the steps behind him and Rita.
“Simcha!” Brock said, “Have you lost your mind? You are guest in this man’s home!”
“Guest?” Simcha sneered. He let go of Pearce and took a step toward the other riders. “Guest?” he repeated. “To be given shelter is the right of a Rider, and the duty of the lesser people of the land.”
Even Brock was too appalled by the man’s statement to try and rationalize Simcha’s behavior this time. “Lesser people?” he asked. “Since when do Riders put themselves above those they are sworn to serve and protect?”
“Serve and protect?” Simcha responded. “They are no better than the herd beasts we feed to our dragons. We are superior to them in every way, and they are lucky we take the time to bother with them at all.”
Brock shook his head sadly and said, “Simcha, I do believe that you have taken leave of your senses. Just where do you think the Dragon Riders would be without the people who support them?”
“No,” he replied as he stepped even closer to the other Riders, “I have not taken leave of my senses, and I do believe that people such as these,” he spoke with contempt and indicated Nat and Pearce, “are necessary. I also believe that the Dragon Riders could best serve these people by ruling them, not flying to their rescue every time they find themselves in trouble, and then begging for food and shelter that should be freely given.”
Brock looked at Simcha as if seeing the man for the first time. “None of us has had to beg for food and shelter here. These good men have opened their home to us, fed us, and even given you medical treatment, and no one has even entertained the thought of recompense. Even at the garrison they give freely of their food, their time and even goods that are paid for out of their budget. And when offered payment, they refuse as if insulted, saying that no Rider who is a guest with them should have to pay for such things. I simply don’t understand why you would rave on like you are doing.”
“Oh, yes,” he snarled, edging even closer, “they give freely to their pet Rider,” he inclined his head toward Delno, “but then have him tell you to keep me out of the garrison. They don’t even have the courage to come to me themselves.”
Delno was suddenly aware of the man’s proximity to them in the cramped entryway and put himself more in front of Rita while putting his hand on her stomach and gently pushing her back toward the stairs. He was quite
pleased that she didn’t resist and backed up at his silent request. He looked at Nat and motioned with his eyes for him and Pearce to withdraw from the entryway as well. Nat nodded and began moving surreptitiously toward the sitting room, pushing Pearce ahead of him.
“Can’t you see it, Brock? Or have you been blinded by years of servitude to the masses?” He took another small step towards them; this placed him just at arm’s length away from Delno.
“There is nothing wrong with my sight, Simcha,” Brock replied. “I see things quite clearly, including the blade you have hidden in your sleeve and the fact that you are almost within range to use it.” Simcha’s eyes widened when Brock mentioned the blade he was hiding. “Not another step, Simcha,” Brock warned.
Delno was grateful that Brock had pointed out the blade; he hadn’t noticed it until then. Now that he knew to look, he could make out the outline of it in the man’s sleeve and just see the point under the cuff. He motioned behind his back for Rita to continue retreating. He couldn’t chance taking his eyes off of Simcha to check; he hoped she had complied.
Not only did he want her safe, he might need the room to move.
Geneva and Janna had taken to the sky the moment they sensed the trouble. They had then circled wearily waiting to see what happened. Geneva was hoping that Delno and Brock would resolve the issue without bloodshed.
“If you are determined to settle this with steel, Simcha,” Delno said, “then let us do this like men and move to a more appropriate location.”
Janna called out, “This time, Whelp, Simcha will kill that upstart rider of yours.”
“He couldn’t handle Rita in the practice yard,” Geneva taunted the other dragon, “what makes you think the clumsy oaf is capable of defeating a real warrior?”
Simcha lowered his hand and said, “I like this location just fine.” As the dagger slid down his arm and into his hand, he swung it up and forward while stepping into the attack. At the same time, he swung his left hand over and down towards Delno’s face.
Simcha’s attack would have been effective against a man who wasn’t a seasoned fighter. Delno caught the older man’s right hand with his left and left hand with his right, blocking both strikes. Simcha might be clumsy and underhanded, but he was certainly strong; it took all of Delno’s strength to keep the blade out of his belly. It was only due to Simcha’s weakness from having his shoulder dislocated earlier that Delno had been able to hold back the initial lunge. The sound of the dragons screaming in rage outside was muffled by the roof and walls but was still unmistakable.
As Simcha made his move inside the house, both dragons realized instantly that their riders were locked in mortal combat. Each knew that if she could kill, or at least severely wound the other, the distraction would give her partner an advantage.
Janna lunged without warning and caught Geneva with her talons on the right shoulder. She tried to get her teeth into her as well, but Geneva, screaming in pain and rage, swung her own head around, butting the older dragon hard right in the ear opening, forcing Janna away.
Leera and Fahwn were frantically trying to get in between the combatants.
Delno wanted to let his attacker push him against the wall, which would then make room at the foot of the narrow stairs for Brock to get into the game. Simcha, however, was not as out of control as he appeared: he was simply holding Delno where he stood, not allowing the younger Rider to make room for Brock to pass. Simcha then began pushing down on him, trying to drive him to the floor by brute force. A dragon screamed in pain, and Delno realized that it was Geneva!
Simcha sneered at him and said, “Janna has scored a hit, boy; looks like we’ll have two for the price of one today.”
Geneva had tumbled getting clear of her attacker and had to take time to right herself. Janna had used that time well; she was above and slightly ahead of the younger dragon now. She lowered her head and aimed a blast of fire at Geneva, hitting her. Her right side and wing were engulfed in the cone of flame. She screamed in agony and instinctively folded both wings and dropped like a stone. The maneuver saved her life. She was burned, but she was able to then extend her wings and arrest the fall. Her side and wing membrane were blistered, and moving was agony, but she could still fly.
Delno nearly panicked. He pushed with all of his strength, but was only able to hold his position not gain any advantage. There was another scream of pain from outside; again, it was Geneva.
“When I finish you, pup, I’m going to enjoy teaching your little slut a lesson.” Simcha taunted.
Behind him Rita said, “There’ll be a lesson taught here today, Simcha, as soon as I can get around at you.”
Simcha raised just his eyes to glance at her and said, “You had your chance to join me, but laughed at my offer. Well, you’re not laughing now, are you, little alley cat?” Then to Delno he said, “What’s the matter, Pup, no fancy northern moves for this?”
The other two dragons had momentarily distracted Janna. Despite the almost crippling agony, Geneva pumped her wings as hard as she could to gain altitude. Janna got away from Leera and Fahwn by flaming at them; they avoided getting burned, and she singed her own wingtip in the process, but she had room to fly now. She chased Geneva as fast as she could fly. Geneva was ahead of and above Janna, but the older dragon wasn’t worried because she knew that her opponent was too young to breathe fire. Janna stroked her wings as hard as she could but couldn’t get any closer.
Geneva knew she couldn’t keep this up; the pain was so bad she was afraid she might actually lose consciousness if she didn’t end this soon. She knew that Janna was flying as fast as she could and was less than fifty yards behind and only about forty feet below her. She suddenly swept her wings in a back stroke; the force of doing that at such a high speed nearly ripped her wing pinions out of their sockets, and the pain it elicited from the burns made her dizzy. The effect, however, was like applying brakes on a wagon. Then, before Janna could react, Geneva folded her wings and literally dropped onto her antagonist’s back. As they collided, Geneva sunk all four sets of talons into the older dragon’s flesh. Her rear claws ripped horrible gashes in Janna’s flanks, while her front claws sunk down into the flight muscles all the way to the bone.
Geneva then pushed off of Janna and opened her wings to catch herself. It was all Janna could do to glide in for a rough landing because of the severe damaged to her flight muscles. She hit the ground hard and just lay there on her belly. Geneva landed far enough away that she was out of range of the older dragon’s breath. The other two dragons landed between them and watched them warily.
There was another scream from a dragon outside, but it was unclear which dragon it was, and Delno could not spare any of his attention to reach out to Geneva.
“Just this one move,” Delno responded to Simcha’s taunt.
He had used the slight distraction that Rita had provided to stabilize his footing. It wasn’t much, but it was just enough to allow him to raise his knee sharply into Simcha’s groin. The man grunted in pain, but didn’t abate the force he was using to push his arms against Delno’s hands. Delno was about to kick the man again when there was the sound of breaking pottery, and Simcha fell to the floor as shards of clay rained down around him.
Delno was surprised to see Pearce standing behind the man holding the base of what was left of a baked clay bust that had resided on a table in the sitting room.
“I guess he forgot about the ‘lesser people’ who were still behind him,” Pearce said with a smile.
The older rider was only stunned, but Brock moved quickly and disarmed him and bound Simcha’s hands with the man’s own belt before he could recover and start fighting again.
Delno nodded to Pearce, and then turned to Brock and said, “Geneva!” before running from the house with Rita hot on his heels.
While he was concerned for Geneva, he couldn’t help but think that they must look quite the pair, still wet from the tub, both bare footed, him wearing only trousers, and her
wearing only his tunic. When he got to the city gates, all such thoughts fled his mind as he found Geneva wounded by Janna’s fire.
Her whole right side, including her wing, was red and blistered, but fortunately there was no flesh burned away. She also had a gash about two feet long on her left front shoulder. He reached out to soothe her mind and was almost overwhelmed by the pain. He quickly began examining the wounds. This was more damage then he had tried to heal before, and he wasn’t sure he was up to it.
Geneva caught his worried thoughts and said weakly, “I know you can do this, Love; if doing it all at once is too much, do it in steps. The shoulder looks bad, but is not life threatening. If you work on the burns on my wing first, that will ease a great deal of the pain. Then it will be easier to help you work on the rest.”
Rita stepped beside him and took his hand. He looked at her; she was crying. She reached up to his face and wiped the moisture from it, and he realized that he was crying, too.
Rita smiled and said, “No one is as good as you, Handsome, You can do this.” She squeezed his hand a little tighter.
Delno examined Geneva’s wing; the membrane was blistered with second degree burns, but the underlying structures were intact. He decided how much energy he needed to use and began trying to gather it; it was harder this time because the burn was so extensive. He was having trouble connecting to the energy of the world because he was so distracted by his concern for Geneva. He was frustrated because his concern was preventing him from doing the thing that would alleviate that concern.
A crowd had gathered nearby, including many of the men from the garrison who vocalized their encouragement to him. They began whispering, “Heal, heal, heal,” over and over. Soon the whole crowd had taken it up as a chant. Even the two boys, Tom and Jim, from the garrison were there, tears streaming down their faces, chanting.
Delno realized that as the crowd chanted they released a tremendous amount of energy; he smiled and reached out toward the energy source and was rewarded with a surge in the power available to him. He concentrated on Geneva’s wing, visualizing it as it should be, whole and healthy; he focused on it and said, “HEAL.”
Dragon Fate Page 31