“Yeah … we have three. Tell yah what … I’ll give yah a discount. Five silver dragons for the three rooms.”
Devarius scratched his chin. “Five silver dragons for three rooms and one more refill of ale.”
The barkeep raised his eyebrows. “Deal.”
Devarius shook his hand before taking five silver dragons from his coin purse. He had a little money, and hoped it would be enough to reach the Resistance. The barkeep took the coins, snatched his glass, and filled it to the top.
Devarius grabbed the glass, turned around, and noticed several people staring at him. He turned back to the barkeep.
“Don’t mind them. They don’t often see your kind here.”
“My kind?”
“Yeah. Dark complexion … brown skin. They just aren’t used to it.”
“It’s not going to be a problem, is it?”
“Shouldn’t … but keep your eyes peeled.” The barkeep slid over three keys.
Devarius clutched the keys and put them in his sash before draining the rest of his ale. “Thanks for the tip.”
He stood, then strode out the door. Outside, the sky was darker, and a crimson glow illuminated the torch-lit streets. At first he couldn’t find his party, but then he saw Aquila off to the side, signaling him by an alley. He rushed over.
“What are you doing over here?”
“A few men on the streets were casting strange glances toward some of us. We felt safer if we kept out of sight.”
“Who were they looking at when they made these faces?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter.”
He grabbed her arm. “Yes … it does.”
Aquila bit her lip. “Me … Jaonos … Kaia … the children, Marlyn and Faelyn.”
He nodded. “Everyone with a dark complexion. This is primarily a pale community. We may need to keep an eye out. It may be nothing … but keep your eyes open.”
She nodded. Aquila opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it.
“What is it?”
“I overheard a few calling us dark devils.”
Devarius frowned. “Anything else?”
Aquila bit her lip. “I’ve noticed a few people step out of my way when I walk, like my touch might be harmful to them.”
Devarius glanced to the main road and saw a small group of burly men talking amongst themselves. They weren’t pointing, but it was obvious they were talking about Devarius and Aquila.
“Let’s bring everyone inside. I found us a few rooms.”
She nodded again.
Devarius led the way inside; his twenty-nine companions followed him. The pub grew silent when all thirty of them walked to the side of the bar. People pointed and whispered to each other as they walked up the stairs. Devarius helped everyone into the three rooms. He stopped at Aquila and gave her a hug.
“I need you to stay here. Protect everyone.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to do some exploring … make a few inquiries. I’ll try and see if anyone here knows anything about the Resistance. Right now … I have no idea which way to travel. We’re only heading south because it’s the easiest path to find more villages not directly linked with the Dragonia Empire.”
“You don’t need to go alone. Let me go with you,” she pleaded.
He shook his head. “No. It is too dangerous out there. Especially when these people are suspicious of us.”
“That’s why you need someone with you. It’s not safe for you out there.”
He shook his head again. “You’re not coming.”
“You need to take someone with you.”
“Fine … I’ll take Paedyn.”
“Be safe.” She kissed his cheek.
He nodded, then turned around. He motioned to Paedyn, who joined him as he headed to the stairs.
“What’s the plan?” Paedyn asked.
“We need to socialize.”
“We need to drink.” Paedyn smiled.
“We need to fit in,” Devarius said.
Paedyn waggled his eyebrows. “We need to drink.”
“We need to see if anyone has any information about the Resistance … without actually asking them if they know anything about the Resistance.”
“So … we need to drink.” Paedyn grinned.
Devarius sighed. “Let me buy you a drink.”
Paedyn followed Devarius down the stairs. They made their way to the bar and ordered their ale. After a toast, they began talking about the dice games they used to play in Svetrum in the distant past. The barkeep refilled their glasses.
“If you’re looking to gamble, I have none of that in my pub.”
“Where do they have that?” Paedyn asked.
The barkeep sighed. “There’s a pub down the street that runs a lot of dice and card games.”
Devarius raised his eyebrows. “What’s it called?”
“The Silent Monkey.”
Devarius pushed out his bottom lip. “What do you say, Paedyn?”
“Are you feeling lucky?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“I think I just might be.”
Devarius left a few coins on the counter and exited the bar with Paedyn at his heels. They wandered down the street until they saw a sign with a monkey holding dice and a deck of cards.
Paedyn beamed.
“Delicately,” Devarius reminded him.
Paedyn nodded.
They entered. The pub was crowded. Every table but one was taken, and each table held one game or another. Paedyn rubbed his hands together. Devarius patted Paedyn’s back. They made their way over to the empty table to sit.
A young woman served them two flagons of ale. Paedyn removed a pair octagonal dice from his sash. He shook them in his hand, then tossed them on the table. Both dice landed on seven. Paedyn grinned.
“Lucky roll,” Devarius said.
Devarius picked up the dice and rolled them. Two threes. Devarius grinned. It couldn’t beat two sevens, but it was close.
Paedyn pressed his lips together and nodded his head. They continued throwing dice for half an hour, listening to the conversations around them. Devarius’s shoulders tensed as he heard a conversation at the table to his right. He glanced at Paedyn, then tilted his head to the right to direct his attention. Paedyn nodded before rolling the dice.
“From what I hear, the empire is seeking the Resistance.”
“They’ve always been trying to find the Resistance, old man.”
“Yes, but now they’re really desperate for them … killing anyone who gets in their way. I’ve heard an entire village to the north was destroyed. It was full of the Resistance … right under their nose!”
“Good riddance. They should know by now that no one can fight the empire. No one should. We are safer now with them in control. There aren’t wars between men anymore.”
“Yes … I suppose that is true. However, their rule is tyrannical.”
“Sometimes, you have to rule by force. Men are like cattle—if you let them do what they want, they’ll wander all over the place. You’re not a Resistance sympathizer, are you?”
“Oh, no … I’m too old to get involved. I just want to live out my years in peace.”
Devarius rolled the dice. Their conversation came to a dead end. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to learn whom to talk to. Perhaps the old man did know a few more things than he let on, but they had to be careful about whom they approached. He glanced to his left and froze. A guard stood in the corner of the room, watching them. Devarius recognized the guard from the last pub. He looked away and back to the table, trying not to let the guard know he had seen him.
Paedyn rolled the dice. Seven and nine.
Devarius reached for the dice and whispered, “Don’t look. There’s a guard standing by the wall watching us.”
Paedyn nodded. “There’s another on the wall behind you. He seems to be watching us as well.”
Devarius tightened his face. He knew they couldn’t talk much
about it. Just like they sat and listened to the table next to them, others would pay attention to their conversation.
“The Resistance is growing stronger. I wonder if they really can fight against the empire.”
Devarius stiffened. The voice came from the same old man at the table next to them.
“And how would you know that?”
“By the fact that the empire is getting antsy trying to destroy them. We’ve heard about the Resistance for a few years now, but only recently have we heard about the Dragonia Empire going after them. The skies have been busier than ever with dragonriders. It seems they’re searching for something … or someone.”
Devarius turned to his right and noticed the old man staring directly at him. He shivered. Devarius snatched the dice and looked at Paedyn. They stood. The two guards stepped by their side. They grabbed Paedyn and Devarius.
“Come with us, please.”
Devarius raised a brow. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”
“We just have a few questions.”
The guards led them out of the bar. Devarius wasn’t sure what to do. He hoped there wasn’t a dragonrider in the village. The guards led them through a dark alley. After a few more steps, shadows appeared out of the darkness. The guards tensed, unsheathing their weapons. Shadows pounced on them, using blunt weapons to knock out the guards.
Devarius shivered. He stood still. Three shadows stood in front of them. Devarius couldn’t make out their faces.
“The guards seem to think you are part of the Resistance. Is this true?”
Devarius tensed. “No. It’s not.”
“Do you seek them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I travel with a company of twenty-nine. Their village has been destroyed by the Dragonia Empire for no better reason than they suspected a few of them to be part of the Resistance,” Devarius said.
“You say they … what about you?”
“My family was killed by them for not paying taxes a few years ago when we had a drought and couldn’t afford to pay. I was staying at the village when it was attacked. I helped several escape. They wanted no survivors.”
“Do they know you escaped?”
“Yes. They saw.”
“So … they’re after you?”
“Yes,” Devarius said.
The man stepped out of the shadows so Devarius could see his face. It was the same old man from the pub who had sat at the table next to him. His voice sounded stronger than it had inside, more solid, and younger. The other two stepped out of the shadows as well. One of the others was the younger man from the same table.
“You best find a place to hide then.”
“Wait … are you with the Resistance?”
“You know we cannot answer that.”
“We need to know which way to go. We want to join … but we don’t know how.”
The old man stepped close and leaned to Devarius’s ear. “Vaereal. The Galloping Horse.”
Devarius nodded.
“Now … you must hide for the night before you leave in the morning. After tonight, I assure you that a dragonrider will come soon.”
“Thank you,” Devarius whispered.
He turned to go, but the old man blocked him. “You need to hide. Don’t go back there.”
“I will not abandon the others in my party. They are at the Shaved Sheep.”
The old man nodded. “Follow me … I know a back way.”
They followed the old man through winding alleys. The other two men with him disappeared. After several long minutes, the old man stopped at a back door in a dark alley. He unsheathed a dagger and pried open the door.
“Bring your party out this way. I have a barn you can stay in for tonight. Hurry, before someone sees.”
Devarius nodded as he pushed the door open, then he found his way up the stairs. He hoped the stairs were a back way to the rooms. When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed three guards standing in the hall in front of their rooms. The guards were forcing his companions out of the room under threat of injury. They had been discovered.
Paedyn touched Devarius’s shoulder and nodded at him. Devarius nodded back. Both men ran straight ahead. The guards turned abruptly to see Devarius and Paedyn charging them. They tossed their prisoners aside as they reached for their swords. Devarius and Paedyn were quicker, crashing into the three guards before they could unsheathe their weapons. Without weapons, Devarius and Paedyn relied on their fists. Once everyone saw what they were doing, many joined. After the three guards lay unconscious, Devarius finally took a breath. They moved the men inside one of the rooms and tied them up with the bedsheets.
“What are we going to do now?” Aquila asked.
“We have a place to stay … but we must hurry before more guards are sent after us,” Devarius replied.
“Is it safe?” she asked.
Devarius raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “I hope.”
4
Keiran ambled through the room. All eyes followed him as he came to rest at the head of the table. Everyone but the emperor was in attendance. He dared not concern the emperor with the small matter of the Resistance. Keiran planned to squash the threat before it grew. He called the meeting. Ideas were needed.
“Thank you for coming, everyone,” Keiran began. “As all of you know, we have a problem brewing in the land of Kaeldroga.”
“The Resistance?” the earl of Dragonia, Ceydyn, asked.
“Yes … the Resistance. They are a burr in our butt. We need to exterminate them.”
“They can do little to the likes of us. I do not see why you worry. It is not like they have dragons of their own,” Duke Edonous said.
“Because …” Keiran growled through clenched teeth. “One thorn in our side may barely hurt, but when it grows …. It doesn’t matter that they cannot fight us now. I’m looking toward the future. This Resistance is like a bunch of gnats. One or two can be swatted away, but thousands become a swarm. You can’t swat away a thousand gnats. We’ve kept them from swarming into an overwhelming cloud of gnats for now … but for how long?” He paused. “We have people joining them in staggering numbers. People are leaving the empire to be with them … and that is what should concern us.”
“What would you have us do? We’ve been searching from the skies for them for decades,” Ceydyn said.
“If we’ve been searching for them for decades, why are we all of a sudden concerned about them now?” Edonous asked.
Keiran sighed. “In the past two years, we believe their number has increased tenfold. For the last few decades, they’ve only been a few hundred strong. We’ve searched for them, but what would a mere few hundred do against our thousand dragonriders? Now … we believe they have numbers in the thousands. While I can foresee no weapon that can harm our dragons, they’ve done nothing for decades but try to find a way to defeat us. That’s a lot of planning. We need to tread carefully.”
“What do you suggest?” Ceydyn asked.
“A small party of refugees survived a village we razed. We need to find them before they find the Resistance.”
“You plan to capture them?” Edonous asked.
“We have failed to find the Resistance with our spies. However, people who actually despise the empire, who want to join the Resistance, may have an easier time.”
“You plan to follow them?”
Keiran grinned. “Yes, I plan to have them followed.”
“How exactly will you have them followed without their knowledge?” Ceydyn asked.
“That will be the hard part. We will use our best dragonriders to herd them toward an ambush.”
“It seems risky.”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Keiran asked.
“I do. We need a single dragonrider who is good at tracking. It will be easy for that man to maneuver and follow from a distance,” Edonous said.
“We have soldiers as dragonriders. I do not know if we have anyone with all
the necessary skills except me, and I can’t be spending my time tracking a small party. I have to coordinate our men.”
“There is one,” Edonous said.
“Who?”
“Derkas.”
“The mercenary?”
Edonous nodded.
“He is not loyal to the empire.”
“He is loyal to coin. Offer him enough to pique his interest. In my opinion, it is well worth the resources, and cheaper than sending as many men as you’re suggesting. Besides, he has a dragon—he’ll be able to keep up.”
“Don’t remind me …” Keiran said through clenched teeth.
Derkas had conned the general out of a dragon egg over a decade ago as payment instead of gold. The quest had been impossible, and Keiran had been sure at the time that they’d find the traitor without the help of mercenaries … especially since the mercenaries were slow and without dragons. However, Derkas had proved resourceful, and since then, he’d secured many jobs, including more for the empire, with his fully grown dragon, earning him the reputation of the best mercenary in Kaeldroga. Keiran despised him, but he had to admit, Derkas was good.
“You know I’m right,” Edonous said. “If anyone can find the Resistance, he can.”
“Yes. These are desperate times. Perhaps it is time to bring in the mercenary.”
“It is settled then. We’ll continue to fill the skies with scouts, and we’ll relay all findings back to you. You can then decide whether to send it to your mercenary.”
“I have tasked the captain with finding the party of refugees, but I have little faith he will succeed. I’ll send the mercenary to him to learn what he knows.”
“I doubt Captain Vesryn will appreciate that. He hates mercenaries more than you do, General,” Ceydyn said.
Keiran dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand. “I am not worried about the captain. He will not be around much longer. The emperor wishes to see him, if he should fail to bring in these traitors.”
Edonous’s eyes widened. “Who will replace him?”
“I have a little time before I have to decide that.”
“Have you told the emperor of your plans to follow the traitors rather than capture them?”
“You let me worry about the emperor,” Keiran said with a glint in his eye.
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