Remy knocks her backpack from her hand. “Why not tell me the real reason you are against me coming with you? With an extra person, you can’t truly be alone with your Marksman. I see the way he looks at you. You may not want to show that you desire him, but I am a man, Talen, and I know when a woman likes a man.”
“Doubtful. I liked being around you for a few minutes, but knowing how spoiled you are, I stopped myself from actually liking you enough to be your friend.”
Gavin gathers the few things he brought and mounts his horse. He pulls the stallion around and takes off, leaving a large dirt trail behind him. The harpy queen flies off back to her den.
“Oh well, you lost out on riding with my father. You can ride with Bessy. You might get lost if you don’t ride with someone.”
“I am not leaving.” Remy goes to grab her arm to make her look at him, but the Marksman gets between them.
“He stays. You best stop this hatred between you two. The upcoming nuptials and all. I do not want to deal with your bickering, so find a way to co-exist. I am only riding with you until you get to my friend’s city. I will not hear your objection on the matter.”
“Good. You will only have to deal with our bickering for a little longer.”
“Are we walking there or riding?” Remy asks.
“My horse. Share it. Single ride it. I don’t care. I have amazing stamina.” He winks at Talen. She blushes.
“See, he is giving you the signal. You’re responding.”
Talen throws her hands up in the air.
“Remy, I swear, if you don’t stop, I’ll turn into a jungle cat and eat you,” Bessy says.
“Yeww, you’d eat me? That’s like cannibalism.”
“Not from an animal’s point of view.”
The Marksman and Remy make sure they have everything packed away. Kip gets his fill of water from the river. Talen fills up the wineskin bags with water.
Bessy rides to the main road. Talen joins her. “Talen, you have to accept that Remy likes you. And he’s never liked a girl before. He’s always been closed off, by his own choice, but now he’s out here with you.”
“He was sent to kill me.”
“He likes you too much. He never would have went through with it.”
“Why does he like me?”
“Has your heart already been captured?” She nonchalantly tilts her head towards the Marksman.
Talen looks at the Marksman. His strong body coming through his tight clothes. She is ready to fan herself.
“You don’t know Desmond’s past.”
“Are you women done talking about us behind our backs?” the Marksman asks.
Talen gulps. Bessy hands her the bags of bear meat. She rides off.
“Talen, if you want to know my past, I’ll tell you. On my own time.”
Remy insisted that Talen ride the horse first. Remy hates the idea of walking alongside the Marksman. He tries to stay in front of him. He thought he was rid of him. He just keeps coming back.
They have been travelling for a few hours when they come upon the sign post that reads No Name. The Marksman is the first to go down the dark road. Talen follows next with Kip fluttering beside her. He is eager to fly like an adult dragon.
Remy looks back at the main road. It’s the farthest he’s been from home. He laughs at himself. A grown man feeling like a helpless child. Hasn’t he always been a child deep down? Pining for respect from a father that would see his own son dead before allowing him to be weak. He looks down at the sword. He showed true bravery. Not a sign of weakness.
“Many people who live here would like it that no one visits. Hence the dark feeling the road gives off.”
“Are we in danger?” Talen asks.
“You ask that now?” Remy says.
The road gets narrower as they approach the end. A hill overlooks the city below. It’s dimly lit by rusted lanterns scattered around the city.
The scent of exotic food makes Remy gag. “I am not going in there.” Remy sticks his face under his shirt.
“You get used to it. Follow me.”
The Marksman leads them down a small path that opens up into the city.
“What sort of people live here?” Talen asks.
“Mostly banished people. Mostly druids and mages. You won’t find any animals here to talk to. Animals are strictly forbidden.”
Talen suspects that the Marksman spent a lot of time here. “What about Kip?”
“He’s a dragon. He won’t be classified as an animal. He’ll be seen as a god.”
Remy pays close attention to every nook and cranny. “There are no guards.”
“No Name doesn’t need any. If anyone gets into trouble, they are immediately killed. Usually. Don’t show that you are looking for trouble and trouble will pass you by.”
The Marksman leads them down the first row of homes made of wood and shaped like spheres. The entire city is surrounded by these types of homes with a few variations in size and shape. The interior of the city is filled with food and merchandise stands.
“When travelers stop by, anything they have can be bought. It does bring in true wonders from all over the world.”
He stops them at the tenth house. He walks up the small staircase and knocks on the door. It opens to a man with a long black beard and a dirty grey robe. “Who is that?”
“Deegus, it’s me. Desmond.”
“Dez, you son of a bitch.” He punches him but Talen and Remy observe that his fist never connects with the Marksman’s face.
“Is that how you greet each other?” Remy asks.
“You’re still angry with me about Glory? I swear that I did not steal her from you.”
“Why are they here? And a… dragon?” Deegus looks lustfully at Talen. “And who is this young woman?”
The Marksman shakes his head at the idea. “Talen Dragniss. Gavin’s daughter. Keep your thoughts pure.”
“You don’t say? Now I see why you like serving in Dragmoore.”
“Hey, that’s my future wife and queen, so keep your impure thoughts to yourself or I shall cut you down,” Remy says, flexing his muscles.
Talen wants to laugh but is seriously impressed by Remy’s mettle.
“Wife and queen? Ah, yes.”
“This is Prince Remy,” the Marksman says.
“Tully’s son.”
“He never allows his name to be mentioned. None of the people except the advisors and me know it.”
“I’ve known it for a long time,” the Marksman says.
“Let’s get inside. Keep that dragon quiet.”
They find the house to be cleaner than they expected. Deegus brings them over a pitcher of wine and goblets. They sit on the giant cushion in the center. From what Talen can see there is only one room with a door. Kip heads for it. She gets up and grabs him.
“You have to stay with me and be quiet. No dragon stuff.”
Yes. I am sorry. I do not feel quite myself. Have they changed me?
“No. You are still my Kip.”
Your Kip?
“I am never giving you up to anyone. I love you, Kip. You are my best friend.”
I love you, Talen. But I must return to my kin someday to show them how we can return to Dragmoore and live alongside humans again. That may take time to convince them. But I’ll return and live alongside you.
“I’d like that very much.” She giggles as Kip licks her face. Kip lays down next to her. She wipes her face with her sleeve and sees everyone staring at her. “What?”
“You were talking to the dragon?” Deegus asks.
“I can talk to any animal.”
“Ah, so it is true. Gavin said that you could talk to animals but I didn’t want to believe it. That’ll be the way to getting the Masters’ attention.”
Remy straightens himself. “My soon-to-be wife is very talented. I see us becoming strong rulers, the strongest yet to sit on the thrones of Dragmoore.”
“Is this kid serious?” Deegus asks.<
br />
“I’m afraid so. One minute he hates her, the next he loves her.”
“I never said I loved her.”
“You’re going to marry her and never love her? I see that is another predictable unhappy marriage for Dragmoore.”
“Can we please get off the topic of marriage and love? The Marksman, Desmond, wanted us to seek you out. Here we all are. Tell us what is so special about you?”
“Allow me, Talen.” The Marksman smiles and takes out the map he made for her. He shows it to Deegus.
“When did you get that?” Talen asks.
“We are in need of your guidance. I have provided Talen with a map to the Veiled Haven. See here. It is the fastest, but also the trickiest route. I’m afraid that I can’t navigate through it without the dark temptations nipping at my better judgment. It requires your strength and wisdom.”
“You want me to take them to the Veiled Haven? For what price?”
“I can pay you when we return to Dragmoore,” Remy says.
“I need payment now.” He looks at Talen.
The Marksman blocks his sight. “You aren’t getting that.”
“I wasn’t suggesting that.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Miss Dragniss is going to have to do exactly as I say in order for this to work.”
She eyes him with suspicion. As she should. He is quite the shifty fellow. He is a druid. Not like the Marksman or Bessy. In all the books she has read she has never found their true origin story. How they came to be so powerful and gifted. She figures it’s something they don’t want to ever share. It might compromise their existence.
“I swear it’s not going to be anything that pleases me. The dark temptations that wait along this route demand someone to bend to their will. It has to be Talen.”
“I can do it. Use me,” Remy says.
“That’s brave of you, prince, but you wouldn’t survive it. Only Talen has the ability to survive the temptation to get everything she wants.”
A coldness runs over Talen’s body. It’s a different kind of cold too. Not like being exposed to an arctic zone. This is a coldness that stems from a dark place. The fact that it can reach her before she draws near it, ignites a fear in her unlike any she’s known.
“I’ll be right back.” Talen steps outside to get some fresh air.
She believes she can trust the prince enough to keep her dragon safe for a few minutes. She keeps shuffling the trust around with the Marksman. She plans to remain vigilant but she is opening her heart to the idea of being friendly with him. Maybe long enough to get information out of him, then drop him. She walks in between the homes to the marketplace.
She passes the numerous vendors. The food smells a bit hideous but she’s hungry. She soon finds that the amount of gold and silver for a piece of food does not ensure the quality will be better. After a very spicy vegetable gone bad, she buys a piece of meat on a wooden stick. One bite and she can tell that it is rabbit. Her father would often sneak in a whole rabbit for her uncle to cook. There isn’t much meat to a rabbit. This stick of meat tastes like rubber.
She misses her uncle. He wasn’t nice to her when she left, still he was around more than her father was. She wonders what is happening at Dragmoore.
She comes across a table full of trinkets and other little treasures. The vendor is a woman whose face is covered in filth. “See anything you like, dearie?”
This woman has to be either a druid or a mage. The Marksman said everyone here is banished and it’s mostly druids and mages. The only mage she ever knew of was the elder mage that died after ingesting a poison meant for the king. Some say it was intended for Remy.
Her face grows pale. A memory invaded her. A memory that she didn’t have before. The elder mage was the advisor to the king, but that king wasn’t Remy’s father.
Talen spots a small shell necklace attached to a glass bottle. There is sand at the bottom of the bottle with a broken shell sticking out. “What can you tell me about this?”
“Oh, that’s got a nice tale attached to it. It belongs to a sea druid.”
“Ooh, how tantalizing.”
“It’s also 100 gold pieces.”
Talen checks her money purse. “Sadly, I do not have that. I mean I do but then I won’t be able to afford other things.”
“Then no tale for you.”
“I’ll pay you 1 gold piece for the tale.”
“No. What I have to tell is worth 100 gold pieces.”
“Then she shall have her tale,” Remy says.
“Who is watching Kip?”
“The Marksman.” Remy goes into his money purse which is considerably larger than Talen’s and counts out 100 gold pieces. “Tell the tale and give her the necklace after.”
Talen hates to admit this. Remy certainly does take control like a royal should. She is grateful but she thinks she could have talked the woman into giving her what she wanted for cheaper.
The woman scoops up the gold. “For you, handsome man, anything.”
Remy is lucky that the bruises from his training session healed nicely. Then again, Talen didn’t mind how he ended up looking.
“The sea druid admiral Ishtan had a son and a daughter that looked identical but they weren’t blood related. He had found the girl abandoned on a ship. His son, who was of his blood, had taken a liking to the girl so the admiral decided to adopt her. They grew up together as brother and sister but the boy knew he loved her as more than a sister. When the day came to wed someone, the boy asked for his sister’s hand in marriage. The admiral would not allow that kind of pollution in his bloodline.”
“You said they weren’t blood related,” Talen says.
“In the admiral’s eyes they were. The boy and the girl had made necklaces for each other when they were children. As they grew up, they never took them off. Until the day that the boy and the girl were given two choices. Either live as brother and sister or one must suffer a terrible fate.”
Remy plays with his hair and Talen grips his free hand.
“The girl said she would take the first choice. But the boy had his mind made up. He wanted to marry her. He took his necklace and broke the shell in half, symbolizing the breaking of his heart.”
“Inside the bottle is the boy’s broken necklace,” Talen says.
“It’s more than that.”
“And the girl’s necklace is wrapped around the bottle,” Remy says.
“It’s curious that you would find the bottle.”
“Why is that?”
“Because only certain kinds of people can see it.”
Talen releases her grip on Remy’s hand.
“She can talk to animals. Maybe that’s why she sees it.”
“But you can see it as well. Do you talk to animals too?”
Remy grabs his hair and tugs at it. “No.”
The woman returns the 100 gold pieces to Remy. Hands the bottle and necklace to Talen. “Take it.”
“Is that all of the tale?” Talen asks.
“You suspect me of keeping secrets?”
“The sea druid I know is definitely keeping secrets. I suspect that it is a common trait amongst your kind.”
The woman chuckles. “What makes you think I am a druid?”
“First, you know the tale about this necklace.”
“I could be lying.”
“Second, you can see the necklace and bottle. You must be gifted in something. What is it? Elemental magic or mage magic?”
“I could be an elf. Like the girl in the story was. For that, the boy and girl’s fate was bound to end in despair” The woman looks Talen over. She snatches 1 gold piece from Remy before he puts all of the coins back into the purse. “I’m keeping this for the trouble of telling you the tale.”
Talen and Remy walk around the marketplace. “You didn’t have to help me out there. But thank you.”
“Was it just me that felt a bit strange listening to that woman talk about the brother and sister?”
<
br /> “No. I felt a bit strange as well.”
He looks at his hand, the one she was holding during the woman’s tale. He moves his thumb over his fingers.
“You okay?”
“You held my hand.”
“Oh, boy, I am never going to hear the end of this one.”
As she walks away he grins. “You like me.”
She blushes but tries to keep it hidden by moving her hair to the front of her. He is persistent with teasing her. She tries to dodge him. It becomes like a game. Then she stops at a spot where a lot of men are gathered. Two men in the center of the crowd are fighting. Remy stops pestering her to take in the exhilarating spectacle.
Talen taps on the shoulder of one of the spectators. “What is going on here?”
“They were given the choice of fight it out or both die. They chose this.”
The crowd is cheering on their favorite.
Talen turns away. Remy moves in front of her. “Does that kind of stuff bother you?”
“Men like to fight.”
He takes her hand into his. “I will only fight to protect my kingdom… and you.”
She catches that romantic glimmer in his eyes. They both start to lean in… and then Deegus finds them.
“I want to get moving along soon.”
They turn away from each other and follow him back to the house. Going inside Talen tries to pretend that her and Remy didn’t just have a moment. When her and the Marksman look at each other, it’s like he can see it on her face. She checks on Kip. The baby dragon sleeps a lot. He has grown a few inches. She feels like time is slipping away from her. She fears missing his growth. He’ll be an adult and she’ll regret not playing with him as he is now.
Gavin and Bessy visit the king. Jexxer warns them about upsetting the king. They agree not to upset him.
They sit beside his bed. His face is thin with a sickly yellow hue. His hair is brittle. The slightest touch will have it disintegrate. “I want to tell you about the heartfruit,” he says. His voice is surprisingly still strong.
“We know,” Gavin says.
“Oh, Elsa. The effects won’t hinder her yet. She can last longer than I can.” He grabs Gavin’s hand. It’s a weak grip. Gavin puts his other hand over the king’s. “Remy must be the one to sit on the throne.”
Heir of Dragmoore- The Veiled Haven Page 14