Chapter 13

Arianna’s Entrance

      The next day Ralem was finishing up gathering supplies for the journey. Jaydon was completely oblivious, happily exploring the town, especially the stores with things that glitter. He already had a hoard building up in one of Ralem’s boots, and it was already overflowing. With an almost unlimited amount of money, he was getting a little carried away. The jewels and trinkets in the windows were almost irresistible to him. A couple times the store keeper had to keep him from walking out of the store without paying; he was still unused to that human custom.

      But today a new scent was carried to him by the wind from the market as he eyed a particularly large ring with a diamond emblazoned on it. The smell was zesty and demanded Jaydon’s attention, enough to even distract a dragon from jewelry. Following the scent like a dog on a trail he soon found a new stand in the market. A light man with a black moustache and hair was calling, “Guindilla! Fresh from Spain! Hot Chile peppers! Padrón! Spices!”  Jaydon walked up to the stand in question and fingered one of the peppers. It was long and bright red. The man noticed his interest, “Guindilla, it’s really hot. You want to try a little?” Jaydon nodded, entranced by the smell. The man cut off a small sliver and handed it to him. As soon as the pepper touched his tongue sparks danced in his mouth. It was delicious! The man was impressed, “Most people can’t take that much heat,” he said.  “I’ll buy it,” Jaydon said, stuffing a gold royal into the vender’s hands, whose eyes lit up. “Take as many peppers as you want!”

       Jaydon grabbed a long one and bit into it. Mmmm. It was a big bite, and the sparks in his mouth ignited and fire came up his throat. There was no stopping it. He doubled over in a vain attempt to impede the flames but they exploded out, setting his clothes on fire in a flash. The vender was too busy admiring the gold to notice, but the crowd had seen the smoke coming off Jaydon. They started screaming, trying to get away from the man on fire. Soon there was a wide circle around the dragon. The fire didn’t harm Jaydon, but his clothes were starting to burn off. The thing about dragon fire was that it was extremely hot, and burned things quicker than a pig can eat a carrot. He knew Ralem would go nuts if he found out his dragon was running naked around town. Especially for the fact both Ralem and Jaydon looked exactly alike.

       Jaydon made a quick exit, which wasn’t hard because people made sure to get out of his way as he barreled down the street to look for a hiding place. The fire was eating up his clothes fast, fiery wisps of burnt cloth broke free and floated away as he ran.

      Then he found a narrow opening between a store and a house and he disappeared into it. Hiding behind a sack of flour, he waited for the fire to die out.

      “You know you’re on fire,” came a scratchy voice from nearby. He turned his head to find an old man, dirtier than a pig and clothed in even dirtier rags. His bright blue eyes peered out from a wrinkled face. He was pointing a gnarled finger at Jaydon.

      “Yes,” Jaydon replied breathily, focusing on the wall in front of him.

      “Boy, you’re as naked as a plucked chicken,” he added, his voice wavering as he pointed with his finger more furiously than before.

      Jaydon patted the last of the fire of his shoulder. “Not anymore,” he told the old man as the air shimmered around him and fresh clothes appeared on his body. He stepped out from behind the sack, leaving the old man with an astonished look on his face.

      Ralem was across town, checking out some daggers. None of them suited him. He was wishing that he could produce claws like Jaydon. He browsed for a bit more before choosing a small one with a leather sheath. It was made so that you could hide it under a cloak or belt. 

       He window shopped most of the stores. Ralem could see Jaydon’s path of devastation. Several stores had signs that read, “EMERALDS: OUT OF STOCK” or “DIAMONDS: OUT OF STOCK”.

      As he was walking through the crowd he was nearly bowled over as a boy rocketed down the street. “Sorry,” the boy said quickly before scrambling to his feet to take off again.

     Before he could run off though, Ralem put a hand on his shoulder. “What are you running from? Is there someone chasing you?”

      “No,” he answered, breathing hard, “There’s a man on fire on the other side of town. I just wanted to… Hey, you look just like him,” the boy looked at him closer. 

      “Where is he?” Ralem asked, preparing to sprint.

      “Over there on the other side of town,” the boy reported pointing to the west, excited that something was brewing.

      “Thanks,” he patted the kid on the shoulder before running off. He tried to navigate the streets as best as he could, which was hard because this was no ghost town. In his haste he sometimes jumped over small children or things strewn about the road. He squeezed between people, darting through the crowd, scared of what he might find. He imagined Jaydon getting angry and becoming a dragon in front of everyone, roasting a couple people on the spot. Or setting the town on fire. These thoughts spurred him on and gave him more speed.

      Then he came to the crime scene. But there was no one on fire here. Not to say that no one was talking about it. Someone saw him and exclaimed, “There he is! The man that was on fire!”

      “No!” Ralem tried to explain, “That wasn’t me! That was just my twin!” But the crowd pressed in on him asking him questions. His cheeks turning an embarrassing red, he ran off, trying to escape the prying crowd. Luckily for him, it was harder for a group of people to run through the streets than a single man. As soon as he looked behind him to find he had lost them, he darted into the nearest door to get the pack off his scent.

       He caught his breath before turning around. And he saw there, in the middle of the bakery was Jaydon, half finished a huge pear pie! A group of people was gathered around him, chanting him on. The baker was peering over the counter to watch. Then, halfway through stuffing another piece in his mouth, Jaydon caught Ralem’s eye. He stopped, and so did everyone else. There was awkward silence. Jaydon grinned sheepishly, displaying his meal grotesquely.

      “What do you think you’re doing?” Ralem asked, his cheeks just burning up.

      “Trying new foods…” Jaydon said, hoping that was the right answer.

      “That’s it! We are leaving NOW,” Ralem said sternly, as if scolding a puppy.

      “But…” Jaydon gestured to his unfinished pie.

      “NOW,” Ralem repeated, his eyes sending a warning.

      Jaydon sat there a moment, staring forlornly at his pie. Then he grabbed a huge piece of the pie, got up, and followed him out the door. The crowd sighed.

             “I still don’t understand why we have to leave right now. I like this place.”

      Ralem was furiously shoving his things into sacks. “You want to have it? Well here it is. I need to go make sure my brother is ok and maybe even save his sorry behind and two: in this town you’ve made a fool of yourself and in doing so made a fool out of me.”  Then he reached for his boots. When he tugged, he found that the boots didn’t budge. “What on earth…”

        Jaydon jumped up, “Be careful. That’s my hoard.”

      “Hoard?” Ralem looked at Jaydon incredulously, “You have a hoard?”

      “A dragon’s hoard is his pride,” Jaydon said, offended.                              

      Ralem held up the shoe with some difficulty, He pointed to it, “Let me get this straight; You put your hoard in here.” Jaydon nodded like it was the most understandable place to put a hoard of jewels.

      “In my boot,” Ralem continued in amazement. Jaydon nodded again, wondering why this was so hard to believe. Ralem fingered through some of the treasures before Jaydon grabbed it from him possessively.

      They finished packing quickly (Ralem doing most the work, Jaydon was brooding in the corner over his prizes). A boy was sent to help him pack up. He paid the rent and got ready for the long horseback ride. Jaydon had already left so that he would not scare the horses.

      Ralem set out, slowly making his way through the crowd. Like Jaydon, he would have been hesitant to leave if it wasn’t for his brother. Also Jaydon had made it worse by attracting attention to himself. The dragon could be so… scatterbrained at times. Not noticing or caring about how other people could react to his actions. To Ralem, it felt like he had to take care of a little brother again, but this time an immensely powerful little brother that was always on the brink of turning into a monster and destroying everything that annoyed him. Not to mention the fact that he looked exactly like Ralem, which complicated things.

      As he led his horses down the street, he watched the children play on the side of the road. The boys were chasing the girls, who were screaming in delight. He remembered when he was a child, happily oblivious to the hardships of life. These children, like he was just a little over a week ago, are ignorant of the dangers. They don’t know of the monsters that reside not too far from them, including the bartender. Almost all the people in the town weren’t aware of much beyond their little circle of perception. Ralem’s eyes had only just recently been opened to the fact that their big world was shared by a variety of different creatures, not all of them as stupid as domestic animals. Humans weren’t the center of the universe.

      Lost in his thoughts, he tripped over a large rock in the middle of the road. He was still holding the reins when he fell, and the poor horse was jerked with him. He quickly got back up and reassured the horse, mentally kicking himself for being so careless. He was on the outskirts of town by now and the streets were more cleared because most people were inside eating lunch.

      With his improved hearing, he could hear a scuffle to his right, a scream trying to get through strong hands. He quickly tied his horses up to a hitching post and ran toward the noise, which was coming from a narrow alleyway. He turned the corner to find a group of men clad in strange icy blue armor, grabbing a woman off her horse, their bows, arrows, and javelins at ready. The woman was putting up a good fight, but the men were too strong.

       Enraged, Ralem jumped out of his hiding place, his sword in hand. In a flurry of motion, two men were gone. Before the others could react, Ralem had killed another one. The red haze of battle had risen inside of him like a hungry monster. A peasant woman screamed and dropped her basket of eggs, running from the scene.   

       When the surprise had passed, the rest of the men returned the attack. They came at him like angry bees, their javelins aimed at their enemy.

       Time seemed to slow down.

       A javelin whistled toward his head. He ducked it easily, his sword impaling a knight rushing toward him like a bull. The knight crumpled to the ground. Ralem heard movement behind him. Without even looking back he backhanded with his sword, hitting the man in the head with the blunt side of the blade. He knew he had succeeded when he heard a grunt and metal clatter to the ground. The rest went by in a blur of metal. He was catlike, jumping impossibly high to evade the hungry blades. The soldiers had no chance against Ralem, who was energized by the adrenaline of battle.

      Before he knew it he was trying to catch his breath from on top of someone’s roof. He had no clue how he’d gotten there. He searched the area for more opponents.

      Then he saw one more knight, dragging the woman down the street. As she screamed and tried to get away desperately, her hair was flung away from her face and he instantly recognized her.

       Arianna!

        Ralem was too far away to come to her aid, no matter how fast he went. The knight put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming and she bit his hand. He recoiled and slapped her on the face. She immediately stopped screaming in shock of what he had done to her, her hand creeping up her face to the blotchy red mark.

      Something inside Ralem snapped. Anger swelled in him like a tidal wave. Somehow he gathered this boiling hatred until it felt like it was something solid in his hands. Pushing outward, he directed this newfound power at the knight.  As if shoved by some unseen force the knight crashed against the wall, his armor making a tremendous noise as it impacted, and slumped against the wall, rendered unconscious.

      Ralem jumped down from the wall and ran to Arianna. She stood there, her blue eyes wide with fear as they darted from Ralem to the knight who lay beside her, sprawled on the cobblestones. She tottered a little, but when he got closer, a bow sprung from mid-air into her hands and she reached back and grabbed an arrow. Stringing it, she pointed it at Ralem’s heart. “You! You left me!” she said, her bow and her voice wavering with emotion.

      Ralem held his hands up and stepped slowly closer, “I’m sorry I just…”

      Arianna leaned the arrow farther back on the string. “Come no farther,” she said, deadly even.

       “I’m not going to…” he stopped, as if the words had been killed in his throat. He looked down at his stomach to find an arrow point protruding from his bloody shirt. He sat down hard on his knees, his eyes questioning, “You… killed me…”

      “No,” a voice said, “I did.” A knight jumped down from a roof behind Arianna, glaring at him, his bow in hand. He sauntered over to Ralem and kicked him cruelly in the side with his boot. Ralem grunted then slid to his side, trying to get a hold on the slippery arrow, but all that it cause him was a lightning bolt of pain. His hands slipped off the shaft and into the pool of blood.

      “Come on, Lady Arianna, it is long overdue for your retur…”

      He never did finish the sentence. An arrow sprouted between his ribs. He fell to the ground as Arianna raced to Ralem’s side.

      Arianna felt his pulse. Nothing. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m so sorry…” her voice broke as her emotions spilled over, her anguish leaking out in the form of hot tears that fell on Ralem’s still form. She was so shocked she just sat there, crying for what she thought to be forever, her back hunched in sorrow in the middle of a recently made battle ground.

      She was so engrossed in her sadness that she did not notice Ralem take out the arrow with a gasp. His stomach healed quickly until there was nothing left of the wound. He opened his eyes to find Arianna crying over him and men laying all around him, many still in death, others just knocked out cold. I did this? He thought.  

       Jaydon interrupted him. Who hurt you? Where are you? I will come and finish them off!  The dragon had practically roared the latter part in his fear. Ralem covered his ears even though he knew full well that wouldn’t have an effect in evading the thunderous call of an upset dragon. He knew without a doubt Jaydon would skyrocket from the sky at any moment if he didn’t reply fast.

     Its ok, they are gone. I’m fine, he replied, trying to convey security to the agitated dragon, which complied grumpily but said that he would meet them at the Drakinn for an explanation.

       He marveled at how fast the injury had healed. Slowly he sat up, testing to see if it was as healed as it looked. Sure enough he felt just fine. Arianna noticed the movement and looked up. When she saw Ralem, alive and well, she jumped backward, scrambling to her feet. Her hand moved to her ring in a flash. In a second she was standing over him, her bow and arrow ready and aimed at him once more. “If you try to hurt me I will kill you and make sure you stay dead,” she said from between clenched teeth, the hiccupping residue of crying still in her voice. Her eyes were unfocused as she fought dizziness, but the arrow didn’t stray from her target.

      “Why would I want to hurt you?”

      “You’re not normal. I saw what you did to that knight back there. And how you’ve healed. You’re not even human!” She took a step back, “You’re a vampire! You and that Jaydon, you’re both vampires! I knew something was different about you two from the start!”

      “I’m not a vampire. Neither Jaydon nor I are vampires. I’m as human as you are!” When he thought about it though, was he human? Or had Jaydon changed him somehow? Was he something mothers told their children to frighten them at night? He looked at his own hands, wondering how he had killed many of the men. Was he a monster? “I don’t know how I did that myself,” he murmured.

     “You’re a wizard,” she lowered her bow a little.

      “No,” he said, deciding to tell her the truth “I’m a Rider.”

      “A Rider?” she repeated, but didn’t lower her bow, “What is a Rider?”

      “Now THAT is a really long story,” Ralem muttered.

      “Well then, I’m up to listening to long stories,” Arianna sat down heavily. Ralem just noticed how white her face was, “You’re still not well! You were not supposed to be riding for two weeks! It’s only been a couple days!”

      “I….needed to tell you something,” she said, breathing hard. Then she collapsed. Ralem picked her up gently and carried her back to the inn