“I will take the first watch. You can sleep for a few hours.”
“What is there to eat?”
She tosses him an apple. “Start with that.”
“I definitely would never marry you. You clearly can’t cook.”
“I’m sorry that I didn’t bring a feast for your highness. Remember, you were the one that tried to run away and didn’t take anything to help yourself. At least I provide a bit of food and we have a horse. I say together we are doing better than you would have alone.”
He bites into the apple. “I’m sorry. We are fighting like a married couple.” He lets out a long sigh. “Married or not, anyone from Dragmoore just can’t get along.”
“We are doomed, no matter who we marry.”
She rips a bit of her shirt. She rubs two sticks together and a spark pops. She quickly lights the piece of material on fire and throws it onto the pile of branches intended for the bonfire.”
“Do you think you’ll ever marry?”
“I don’t see it being a priority. I will be a Master.”
“Masters don’t have to live inside the Veiled Haven. I’ve heard that some take up residence in the South Isles, near the sea druid city. There’s no law against them getting married.”
“The sea.” She daydreams about the sea. The beauty it must hold. “Yes, I’d like to live there.”
“Maybe I’ll come visit you.”
“With your bride? For a honeymoon maybe?”
“No,” he giggles. “Just me.”
A strange kind of tension builds between them.
It doesn’t take long for Remy to fall asleep. All Talen has is a fur-lined cloak that is too short for the prince. He packed a sweater. He put that on before he put his backpack under his head. The fire is keeping her warm enough. She puts the cloak over him for the extra warmth. Kip is cuddled next to her.
The trees to the left shake. Talen jumps up. Kip’s sleep is interrupted. He snarls, flaps his wings. Her arms tighten. Can she fight off someone? What animals could she call to her aid? Kip is still small and helpless against someone who carries a weapon, or an animal bigger than him that can kill them all with one swipe. Dragons are these amazing creatures, but they are not immortal or invulnerable, especially as a baby.
Remy wakes up just as Talen is running into the Wilderness. “Talen?”
Kip runs after her.
“The dragon leaves too. Great.”
Talen finds a bundle of feathers. She walks a little ways and finds a brown cloak. She walks a little further and finds a deserted camp. Spears, daggers, and torn clothing litter the area. Tents have been shredded into hundreds of pieces. She goes to collect the weapons and… springing from the ground is a woman with fire-red hair.
“Who are you?” the wild woman asks.
Talen looks her up and down. She is wearing a thin piece of deer skin across her breasts and an even thinner piece across her private area. Her body is decorated with pieces of evergreen and dirt from head to toe. “Who are you?”
“I’m Dahila. Now answer my question.”
“Talen Dragniss.”
“Dragniss?” She bows.
“Why are you bowing?”
She looks down at Kip who is hiding behind Talen. “A dragon. That makes sense.”
“You should know that I have someone else with me.”
“Your father?”
“No. A prince. Prince Remy of Dragmoore.”
She laughs. “Why are you so far from Dragmoore?”
“We have somewhere we need to be. What happened at your camp?”
“Tinzies came in the night.”
“They are number three on the list of sacred beasts.”
“Yeah, so killing them wasn’t an option. I tried scaring them off but they took my two brothers and my friend. Since tinzies have a poor sense of smell I dug as fast as I could and hid under the dirt.”
“I don’t meant to sound crude, but we really need something to sleep on.”
“I guess you didn’t plan this adventure properly.”
“Kind of spur of the moment.”
Dahila gathers up the weapons and the torn clothing. Then she goes behind a fallen tree limb and brings out four wool blankets. “This is all I have. You’re welcome to it. Just leave me with a spear and a dagger and one of the blankets.”
“Would you like to join us?”
“Nah. I know one of my brothers is alive. I’m going to wait for the tinzies to come back and then I’m following them.”
Remy crashes through the Wilderness and comes falling into the camp.
“This is Prince Remy?”
Remy gets to his feet. His eyes immediately find Dahila’s breasts. “Hi. I’m Prince Remy.”
“Your friend just told me that.”
“Did she?”
Talen turns him around and grabs a spear, a dagger, and three blankets and walks the prince out. “Farewell, Dahila.”
“Hey, that’s being rude.”
They get back to their camp. She almost pushes him away from her. She lays one of the blankets down and points to it. “Go on.”
Remy puts his hands on his hips and smiles. “Are you jealous?”
“My prince, you wanted something to sleep on and I have provided it for you. That woman has a quest of her own and she is not interested in pleasing you.”
“You told her my name.”
“And? You announced yourself as well.”
“You just said “my prince” now, but you can freely say my name to strangers? After I told you that we should not use my name.”
“Sorry.”
“Of course if it’s just you and me alone, you can call me Remy.” He sits down and wraps himself up in the blanket. It’s large enough for two people. He rests his head on the inside of it. “I still say jealous.”
“Maybe you want to fail your task but my father’s life is not a play thing. I need to get to the Veiled Haven and convince an ancient magic user to help me save his life. If you want to have pleasure along the way, please stop travelling with me then.”
Remy sits up. “I’m sorry. You better sleep close to me. In case anything comes near us. We can share the blanket.”
She holds up two more blankets. “I’m all set.”
She sets down a blanket for Kip and then one for herself. She keeps a few feet between her and Remy. Sure, she’s kind of hoping that something grabs him in the middle of the night, but she is also aware of a group of people being close together does provide more protection. Either way, it’s a win-win for her.
She puts the weapons between her and the dragon. She hopes that she doesn’t fall asleep. Just a small nap and she’ll be good to go.
Not long after she closed her eyes, Talen feels nudging against her cheek. She opens her eyes and sees Kip nose to nose with her. “Good morning.”
He bops his head.
“What?”
He jumps over her and stomps on the blanket Remy slept in.
“Where is that damn fool?” She searches under the blanket. “I swear, if he went off in search of Dahila, I am not going to look for him. Good riddance. Oh, no, I fell asleep.”
She rolls up his blanket and sees blood. A few puddles splashed around that lead towards the forest. Kip sniffs at the blood and turns away in disgust.
“What do you think happened?”
An animal took him.
“Damn. I should have stayed awake.” She rolls up her blanket and stacks everything in a neat pile. “You stay here. Hide under the blankets. If anything or anyone comes near our camp, roar.”
Kip nods and goes under the blankets.
She grabs one of the spears and heads into the forest. “Stupid prince.” She looks down at the dagger attached to her belt. She doesn’t feel comfortable using either weapon.
She heads for the camp of Dahila. The woman did say that she would be hanging around until she could follow the beasts that took her brothers. When she gets to Dahila’s camp, she finds blood covering the en
tire ground. “He might actually be dead.” She’s worried, but she’s not worried.
She is pushed to the ground. A heavy weight falls on top of her. She manages to roll over and sees that it is Remy. “Hey. Remy, Prince Remy, you alive?”
There is blood all over his face, his clothes, and his hands. “I’m okay,” he croaks out.
“Help!”
Talen turns and sees Dahila crawling towards them. She runs to the woman and drags her over to Remy. “What happened?”
“Gildyroots. They sprang up and grabbed the prince. I heard him yelling and I tried to break him free. Those damn roots are strong. They cut him up badly. And I got stabbed.”
She shows Talen the wound. A deep stab on the side of her abdomen.
“Dahila, we need to get you to a healer right away.” She throws Dahila’s arm around her and pulls her along with her feet dragging across the ground.
“What about me?”
“I left the spear. Defend yourself until I come back.”
Talen brings Dahila over to her camp. “Kip?” She sets Dahila down on the ground. Searches through the blankets. “Kip!” She goes around in mad circles.
Wings chatter above them. Kip screeches from one of a bird-beast’s claws.
Dahila looks up. “Brandies? Thought they flew more north this time of year.”
“Number five on the sacred beast list. Well, there’s going to be a few that won’t be seeing tomorrow. They have my dragon.”
“You can’t track them. They can fly.”
Talen kicks at the ground then heads back for Remy.
The Marksman gathers the Hunters for a meeting down in one of the caves in the valley. “We can’t let the king get away with this treachery. He ordered me to kill that dragon.”
“Killing the number one sacred beast. Why?” Dotty asks.
“He’s afraid. If that dragon somehow spoke the truth about him, he’d be ruined.”
“What is it that you aren’t telling us?” one of the male Hunters asks.
He is lucky that Bessy hasn’t turned on him. He thought since he can’t return her love, she’d be one of those scorned women who seek revenge. Her attraction and infatuation for him is keeping her loyal to him. But for how long? Can someone really burn with desire that never goes away? She gives his hand a squeeze. It’s enough reassurance to continue.
“He isn’t the king of Dragmoore.”
“We’ve been protecting this wannabe king the whole time?” Dotty asks.
“How do you know this? And how long have you known this?” the same male Hunter asks.
“Since the beginning. He was never meant to be king. The real king had to go away. Sure, he went mad, but we would all go mad to save our family.”
The Hunters talk amongst themselves.
“If he isn’t our king, why is it that none of us remember this?” Dotty asks.
“Tell them everything,” Bessy says.
“Not right now. They’d never understand why it was done.”
Bessy shakes her head.
“We have bigger problems. I just know that Talen ran into trouble. We have to go to her.”
“You can trust me, my fellow Hunters, and I believe the Marksman,” Bessy says.
“You have to give us a minute,” Dotty says.
Bessy drags the Marksman away from the others. Outside the cave. “You listen here. This obsession with Gavin’s daughter has to stop.” He is about to protest but she stops him with her hand up in his face. “You have to give up these feelings. They are making you weak. You never would have got caught by the king’s guards if you were thinking clearly.”
“We owe it to Gavin to find his daughter. And the king set me up. He’s mad. Just like my father.”
“No one is crazy like your father.”
“I can’t let her stay out there with Remy.”
“I don’t know what game the king and you are playing, but whatever role you have taken on, make sure that it’s worth it.”
“Can we please go and find her?”
“Fine. I will go.”
“No. You don’t know the Wilderness as well as I do.”
“Really? Who can track vibrations?”
His powers, such as they are, have not returned to their full potency. He is an excellent shot with an arrow, can fight off almost anything, but he knows she’s right. Talen is a weakness. Not one that he can get rid of. He looks up at the sky. The stars shine brightly. The moon is big and bright. The moonlight shines down on his face and for a second reveals a part of his face that is not visible under normal circumstances. Part of his face becomes a ghostly skeleton.
The moon has moved over the farmland and a fog rolls in. Two figures move through the fog, sweeping it apart like a broom ran across it. The Marksman and Bessy with their bows and quivers strapped to their backs, are about to leave everything behind. They cross onto the main road.
“Thank you for convincing the Hunters that we need to do this to free Gavin.”
“You’re lucky that they love him. I’ll find some way to make you repay me.”
“It won’t be the way you want it to be.”
She sighs and checks the strap over her large bag attached to the back of the saddle. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay?”
“I am going with you.”
The Marksman keeps his eyes on the road in front of them while Bessy keeps her eyes on the rear. Bessy has to keep one hand against her chest to keep her breasts from smacking her in the face. She wishes she had worn a tighter tunic.
A commotion inside the Wilderness gets their attention. They ride up to find Dahila screaming in pain and Talen is trying to calm down Remy.
“This didn’t take long,” Bessy says.
“The Marksman?” Talen says in complete shock. There’s a hint of a golden light in her eyes. Is she happy to see him?
He drops down off the horse and runs over to her. He instantly hugs her. “I’m glad to see that you are safe. I was so worried.”
“Where is the dragon?” Bessy asks.
“Horrible beasts took him,” Remy says.
“Brandies,” Talen says.
Bessy sees to Dahila’s wound. “I can heal it, if you don’t speak about what you see or hear.” She rubs her hands together and then blows onto them. “Suka. Nareema.”
Dahila experiences a kind of stabbing pain but then a soothing breath of wind seeps in and over the wound. The healing process starts. “I recognize that language. It’s what the sea druids speak.”
“Yes.”
“I see that your powers are returning fast,” the Marksman says.
“Can I talk to you privately, Marksman?” Talen says. She waits over by the horses.
He rubs Bessy’s head. “Good job.” He walks over to Talen with his hands behind his back.
“Explain. I am not accepting more lies.”
“Explain about what?”
She points over at Bessy.
“Bessy is the daughter of the admiral of the sea druids. He’s the one that overlooks all of the Dranir fleet. He lives in Welsa, the sea druid city. She stopped using druid magic a long time ago. As you know, druid magic is different from mage magic. We… she operates under the elemental laws, whereas mages conjure up things through dark and light forces. There’s a book about it.”
“That’s not all, is it?”
“Yes. I…”
“Forget it.” She walks back over to the camp.
“What about me?” Remy asks. He moves his hands up and down his clothes.
The Marksman looks him over. “Go clean yourself.”
Dahila is sound asleep after her ordeal. Bessy is taking first watch so she has parked herself in front of the fire. The three horses are tied together and couldn’t be happier that they are reunited. Talen observes their happy whinnies and snuggling.
“Glad someone is happy,” Talen says, warming her hands.
The Marksman puts her fur-lined cloak around her.
Remy watches on. The sweet gestures that the Marksman performs for Talen. Giving her water, food, and smiling. He gives the Marksman a hateful glare. He hates knowing that he’s stuck with the Marksman’s horse because his father killed his mare. The Marksman is taking over. The smiling is making Remy’s stomach turn with vile thoughts polluting his mind. All of this is something he feels he should be doing for her.
“I wish I had been smart with my packing. I didn’t think about proper camping equipment,” Talen says.
“You get used to it when you’re a Hunter. It’s not much but it works,” Bessy says.
“You brought better food. I have fruit, vegetables, and bread.”
“My tent is big enough for at least two people. By all means, my prince, you can take the tent,” the Marksman says.
“A thousand thanks.” Remy waste no time. He gets right inside with fresh blankets waiting to be laid out. He gives the Marksman another hateful glare. Now the Marksman is seen as clever for providing proper shelter from the elements. Another notch for him on the competition pole.
“How did you fit all of this into your sack?” Talen asks.
“I know how to fold into tiny pieces,” Bessy says.
Talen is exhausted. Her dragon is gone. She doesn’t want to disturb the friendly ambiance but questions need answers. “Why are you two here? We don’t really need more people.”
“Things have changed,” Bessy says.
“And my father and uncle?”
“They are safe,” the Marksman says.
“What happened to you when you returned?”
“I was thrown into the dungeon. Bessy rescued me.”
Talen looks at Bessy for more on the subject.
“I think you two better get some rest. The other tent is set up. Desmond can share the tent with the prince.”
“I can’t sleep when my dragon is out there somewhere. I know I have to though.”
The Marksman puts his arm around Talen.
Remy peeks out from the tent.
“You have a connection with the dragon. He’ll come back.”
“I think I will get some sleep.” Talen removes the Marksman’s arm from around her.
“You can share the tent with me, Talen.”
The Marksman raises his eyebrows at the prince.
“Isn’t that a sweet gesture?” Bessy says.
Heir of Dragmoore- The Veiled Haven Page 10