Chapter 10

Redfield

            Ralem woke to someone shaking him. He moaned and turned over, trying to go back to sleep. “Wake up!” someone said, their voice urgent. Ralem opened one sleepy eye to be blinded glowing green eyes staring at him in the pitch darkness. He jumped away before realizing it was Jaydon.

            “Hey,” Jaydon said, “Can you get Arianna to the town? I’ll meet you in the morning.”

            “Why aren’t you coming with us?” Ralem asked, shielding his eyes from the glare.

            Jaydon looked down, “I would, but like you said, my eyes will scare people. I would wait for morning but Arianna has gotten worse.”

            Ralem jumped up like he’d been zapped and looked around for her. Illuminated by Jaydon’s eyes she was lying beside him in the grass. She looked as good as dead. She was deathly pale, lying like a frail glass ornament, broken on the ground. Ralem reached over and touched her face and realized the glasslike look was caused by a sheen of cold sweat that plastered her dark hair to her forehead and gave her a ghostly look. Her breaths were short and shallow, her chest hardly moving. Ralem withdrew in shock.  “Please don’t die,” he whispered, picking her up carefully. Turning around, he surveyed the dark countryside, watched over by the vigilant stars. To his right, the twinkling lights in the distance were a sight for sore eyes. Town. He trudged in the direction as fast as he could, occasionally tripping over a stray branch in his haste. Arianna did not wake.

 Jaydon stayed behind, his glowing eyes following them. Then he turned and walked back into the forest.

Stumbling into town, he searched the dark buildings for the medicine woman’s house. Early risers had small candles in their windows, leading his way. He was glad that his eyesight had improved, for an ordinary man would not have been able to navigate the streets in the darkness. Arianna lay limply in his hands.

Finally he found her cottage. It was small, candles lining the windows. It was rumored that this woman never slept.  She was always ready to help, but could be a little cantankerous at times. This was the reason why Ralem tried to get his sleepy head together before he knocked on the door. Taking a deep breath, he softly lowered Arianna to the floor and rapped the door smartly.

“Who’s there?” A scratchy voice called.

“Someone that needs help,” he said.

“I’ll get it,” another voice said.

Ralem heard someone shuffle to the door and open it up. The light spilled out of the door, illuminating an old man, his face lined with wrinkles. His weary eyes groped through the darkness until he found Ralem, who once again was holding Arianna in his arms. His eyes widened in surprise, “Come in,” he said, gesturing for them to come past him.

The aromas of the house hit him first. It smelled like thousands of different herbs and fire and something else… Ralem would dub it old people. It was not an overly unpleasant smell, but it was a lot for his nose to take in, especially since the sense was amplified by being a Rider. He walked into a room that was spacious for a small house. A small kitchen littered with medicine and remedies was in the corner, a furnace going even though it was in the spring (so that’s where the fire smell came from). In other words, it was hot. A few cots lay on the ground beside the kitchen table, where the medicine woman was glaring them with beady eyes.

Seeing Arianna she jumped up like a spry bird. “Put her down on the cot right there,” she said pointing, her tone making it sound like she was telling a dog to sit. Ralem set her down carefully. Her head lolled to the side. The lady walked up to him and jabbed a gnarly finger into his chest, “What did you do to her?” she rasped.

Ralem held his hands up, “I didn’t do anything. It was an accident!”

“Yeah sure,” she snorted as she crouched beside the unconscious Arianna. Fingering through her hair her face belied shock. She quickly hid the emotion, flying to her kitchen on her little stick legs, where she jumbled some supplies together. Ralem watched her in fascination (although he was in fact half asleep) while the old man just sat down and started shuffling some cards, not looking at the newcomers.

While she rattled around the kitchen she muttered, “Ohhh, what my old ma would say if she say this… lady abuse, lady abuse, people should be hanged for the crime..” she clicked her tongue. Turning around with her arms full of supplies, she brushed past Ralem and busied herself cleaning the wound. Not looking up she repeated, “What did you do to her?”

Ralem brushed aside the question, “Is she going to be ok?”

“I don’t know, she might not, no thanks to you,” the lady harrumphed, placing something on the wound. It looked even worse now that he could actually see it, a large bloody spot at the back of her head. Arianna whimpered in her sleep.

“I told you, I had nothing to do with it.”

The old woman seemed to not hear him. She put some more medicine on the wound then wrapped it up in cloth. “You hit her pretty hard. Did you push her? Hit her with a stick? Throw her? Put her…”

“I tell you I….”

She got up amazingly fast for an old lady. Looking Ralem in the eye, she looked him over like someone would examine a horse. “I know you!” she exclaimed, “You are one of the little boys who would pull my poor Whisker’s tail! Despicable boy, you should be ashamed of yourself! And now your unfortunate wife!” She pointed at him accusingly, her eyes narrowing, “Get out! Get out!”

Ralem was baffled, “She’s not my wife! I didn’t…. I wouldn’t…”

The lady started pushing him out, yelling “Even worse! Get out of my house you rascal!” Ralem tried to get around her, but she blocked him. From the table, the old man looked at him sadly and mouthed “Sorry.” The lady kept on pushing him until he relented and walked out the door. “And never come back!” she hollered as she slammed the door, waking the hound on the steps, which jumped up and glared at Ralem with sleepy eyes.

Ralem sighed and, not knowing where else to go, made his way to his home. The sun was just starting to wake up, its tendrils of light slowly embracing the sky.

His house was on the outskirts of town and he hadn’t seen it in a while. So he was surprised and wary when he saw it had been kept tidy. Suspiciously he opened the door, which creaked slowly open. He walked in with baited breath. Tip-toeing in as quiet as a mouse, he crossed the hall and little by little opened his bedroom door.

He quickly closed it again.

Three children were fast asleep in there. He backed away and walked toward the door to get out of there as fast as he could. But before he could reach it he felt something prod his back. He spun around to find a young woman, her long black hair spread out around her head like a lion’s mane, covering most of her face. Her face was stern as she held a shaking pan in front of her as if she was ready to strike. Behind her a tall man stood, clutching a long wooden spoon.

“Why are you here? Who are you?” the woman demanded, her voice shrilly. She tried to blow a dark strand of hair out of her face and failed. The man said nothing, but tried to look as menacing as possible with a spoon, his face hidden by a dark shadow.

“My name is Ralem. I didn’t mean to…” he was cut off as she lunged at him, tackling him to the ground.

“Ralem!” she exclaimed happily, “We all thought you were dead!”

Ralem smiled, recognizing her true voice at once, “Sarah, it’s nice to see you! I didn’t expect to find you here.”

She got off him and brushed her skirt nervously, “I’m sorry, it’s just the duke. He kicked us out of our house. Our children were out on the streets. We thought you wouldn’t mind. And when we found out you were gone…” her voice started to tremble.

“Say no more, it’s alright. I’m glad someone was living in it while I was gone.”

“You could live here with us!” she bubbled over with excitement at the possibility of having her brother live with them at his own house, “This is going to be so great! Hey I’ve got some scones I made last night! Would you like some?”

Ralem never could say no to his sister. He smiled and she grabbed his hand and led him back to the kitchen.

Taylor shook his hand warmly, “Nice to have you back,” he said.

They all sat in the kitchen. The sun was starting to stretch across the dark sky, chasing away the shadows. It fell softly on their shoulders as they ate. Sarah insisted that Ralem tell his story. Ralem did, careful to leave Jaydon out, which was hard because he was a huge chunk of the past week. He knew his sister would find out something eventually. She always knew when he wasn’t telling the whole truth.

They listened patiently through the whole story, which took over an hour, but Ralem could see a smile playing on his sister’s lips. When he was done she laughed like she had been holding it in the whole time. She doubled over, tears coming out of her eyes, “I have never thought you a liar, Ralem. But this is the tallest tale I’ve ever heard! I doubt this Arianna is even real. And the sea monster, giant bird, and all those creatures, now that I’d love to see! And the way you say it, like you really saw it. I have to get the kids to listen to your story. They will love it!”

Taylor looked at him strangely, “Honey,” he said gently, “He could be hurt. He could’ve been hallucinating.”

Sarah suddenly turned serious, her “mother look” came on and she got out of her chair, “Ralem are you hurt?”

“No,” he said brushing it aside with a sweep of his hand, “and that was truth.” he added, “or part of it,” under his breath.

Sarah sighed, “I’ll never get you to say otherwise. You can be so stubborn.” Then she giggled again, “Next you’re going to say you fought a dragon.”

“Dragon?” a sleepy voice said.

The three adults turned to find a little child wearing a nightdress, rubbing her eyes. “Like the dragon I saw a couple days ago?”

“Oh don’t be silly sweety,” Sarah said, extending her arms so the child could sit on her lap, “You just saw a big bird. Look who has come to visit us!”

“Uncle Ralem!” she exclaimed, her angelic face lighting up, “Mommy said you went to see Jesus! Did you like it there?”

Ralem smiled, sweeping her off his sister’s lap, “I almost went to Jesus. But I didn’t make it there. So I came back!”

She laughed as he swooped her in the air, her arms outstretched as if she were flying. He set her down, back on her mom’s lap. “Been a good girl while I was gone?” he asked, mock-sternly.  She nodded, her curls bouncing around her head. “Well then, I’ve got something special for you!” He reached into his pack and brought out some jerky. “It’s a little wet, but it’s tasty!” he said. She grabbed it and gnawed on it appreciatively.

Two more heads peeked around the corner. “Jerky?” one of them said in a small voice. Then they spied Ralem. “Uncle Ralem!” they called, gathering in a circle around him. “Jake, Liam!” he said, putting his arms around the boys. Jake, who was old enough to understand, started sniffling, “We thought you had…” he glanced at his sister and spelled out, “D –I-D”. Ralem laughed, “No, I didn’t. You want some jerky?” Both boys nodded. Ralem passed out the jerky to the children, who immediately started chewing on it contentedly.

For those minutes it felt like it was his old life once more. It was life without dragons, monsters always on your tail, and your thoughts being invaded; a quiet life without all the surprises. But then he thought about Jaydon, who said he would meet them in town he froze. How could he have been so stupid? Everyone in town would know he didn’t really have a twin, they wouldn’t fall for that. Sarah noticed his expression. “Are you ok?” she said, concerned.

“I’m fine, just..”

His sentence was cut off when there was a knock on the door. Taylor looked at Ralem, and then started for the door. “No, I’ve got it,” Ralem said quickly. He about tripped out of his chair in his haste to the door.  He opened it a crack and peeked through. Jaydon was standing there, smiling, “Missed me?” Ralem opened the door enough to let him poke his head through. “Hey, you can’t come in here. My sister is in here, she’ll freak out if she sees you.”

Jaydon frowned, “But…”

“Sees what?”  

Ralem shut the door in Jaydon’s face, turning around to face his sister. “ It’s just umm…” She reached for the handle, Ralem blocked her with his body. Frustrated, she tried to get past him.  Go away NOW, he told Jaydon, a little harsher than he wanted. He felt Jaydon’s feelings of hurt, but he knew that the dragon had listened. He let Sarah through, where she burst the door open to find… no one. “Just a dog,” Ralem said, “So, what’s for breakfast?”

Sarah looked at him suspiciously, “I may not believe your story, but I know something is going on here and I’m going to find out.” Ralem knew that when Sarah said she was going to do something, she did no matter what. He shrugged inwardly. I guess stubbornness runs in the family.

It didn’t take long for her to brighten though, “We’ve got to show the neighbors you are alive!” She pushed him out the door, “They will be so happy to see you! They all thought you got eaten by the dragon. But I don’t believe that.”

Ralem didn’t exactly want to be made a spectacle but his sister towed him through the morning traffic to the market. It was just as Ralem remembered, people on every corner selling fruits and vegetables of every color, chickens, woven baskets, and the occasional goat were on sale. The folk were not quiet advertisers. They would yell out what wares they had that day to whoever would listen.

The thing that was different though was the soldiers milling about haggling over armor and food. As they passed one group he heard on of them say, “I’m going to be the one to kill that dragon! With my mighty spear I will cut his hide open like a pastry! All dragons will run in fear of me!” The other knights laughed. One retorted, “That’s all you can cut, pastries!”

 Taking her brother by the hand, Sarah led him to the chicken lady. Screaming to be heard over the racket, she hollered “GUESS WHAT? RALEM IS BACK. HE’S NOT DEAD!” The old woman cupped her ear, “ Rail ‘em is begack?” “NO, RALEM IS BACK,” Sarah said, pointing furiously at Ralem. The old woman peered at him before jumping up, the chicken that was sitting on her lap flapping off. “Oh Ralem dearie! We thought you were dead!” then she spoke in her famous bullhorn voice, “HEY! RALEM IS HERE! HE IS ALIVE!” Immediately everyone stopped talking and gathered around him, congratulating him on not dying. Even though they seemed truly happy to see him, he could see in their eyes there was deep sadness. He knew that many of the men that had protected the ambassador had lived in Redfield and had families and friends. It was a sobering thought.

Ralem just smiled when they wanted to know his story. They wouldn’t believe him even if he told the whole truth.

Then one of his old friends came up, “You’ve got to tell me the story how you got past the dragon sometime. Earlier though, I called you while you were walking to your house and you didn’t answer.”

Ralem cringed, hoping no one else saw Jaydon, “Sorry about that. I guess I was so excited to see my family that I didn’t hear you.”

A little boy grabbed his arm, his grubby face shining with excitement, “Are you going to kill the dragon for killing all those people?”

“The dragon killed people?”

“Yes,” the boy had a troubled look on his face, ”Didn’t it kill all your friends? Weren’t you the only one who escaped? Didn’t it kill your br…” he didn’t finish the sentence because his sister, who was standing next to him, nudged him.

“No,” Ralem replied, “It was a giant bird who tried to kill me. And it almost did too.”

The boy’s face lit up in wonder, then both he and his sister darted back to tell his mother the news.

Then he heard barking, and turning to the noise, he found a soldier with three bloodhounds. Ralem stiffened. These dogs were specially trained to track dragon scent. He didn’t want those hounds chasing him in case he had some of the dragon’s scent rubbed onto him.

He pushed away from the crowd, this time towing Sarah. He didn’t want to answer any more questions about dragons, and he wanted to get away from those dogs as soon as possible. “I need your help. The medicine woman is trying to heal Arianna, but she thinks I did it. Besides, you’ve always been her pet”

Sarah laughed, “The medicine woman thinks all males are abusers. She’s kind of crazy. Ok, I’ll help. What do you need?”

“Well I want to see how she’s doing. You see, a couple of hours ago, like I said earlier, she was at death’s door. I want to make sure she is doing better.”

She smiled cheekily at him, “So this Arianna is real? Oooh, Rayy-leeemm! I see the look on your face! You’ve got yourself in luuurrvv!” He sputtered out something but she brushed it off, “About time, too. It’s sad that you’re the oldest and last to get yourself a family. I thought you’d never get married.”

“What?” Ralem spat, offended.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” she said, starting toward the old woman’s house.

 When they were around the corner they heard the medicine woman holler, “Get out! GET OUT!”

Somebody was protesting, and the voice sounded very familiar. Sarah was curious. She started walking toward the source of the noise. Ralem grabbed her quickly. She looked at him, suddenly furious, “Don’t grab me!” Jaydon stomped past, his green eyes bright with anger. Ralem jumped in front of Sarah, desperately hoping she hadn’t seen.

“What are you trying to hide from me?” she squeezed past and searched the crowd. Luckily the market was crowded and she didn’t know what she was looking for, so she didn’t find him. But Ralem knew better. Somebody was going to notice something.  And someone did: the dogs. They started barking from far away as they caught the scent of a dragon.

You’ve got to get out of town, he told Jaydon, Everyone here knows me. There’s soldiers everywhere and dogs that are trained for your scent. I’ll meet you at the tree, with hopefully a ride. And could you bring the bird’s head?

Ralem felt the dragon’s grumpy assent. 

“We need to go see Arianna,” he told his sister, trying to get her mind off what just happened.

Sarah looked at him with her eyebrow raised. She could look very demanding at times, “Not until you tell me what’s going on. Ever since you’ve come back you’ve been all jumpy and strange.”  She folded her arms like she wasn’t going to budge until he fessed up.

“I’m sorry, ”Ralem said, “I promise to tell you sometime. But it’s too dangerous to tell you right now.”

“Are there people out there trying to kill you?” Her face turned serious.

“Something like that,” he said, thinking of the Dragon Hunt. “Now can we go to check on Arianna? I have to leave as quickly as I can.”

She nodded.  They turned the corner. Sarah marched up the lady’s steps and knocked on her door. “Who is it?” a scratchy voice called, “Not that rascal again, I hope!” Ralem slunk into the crowd.

“No, It’s me, Sarah,” she said in her brightest voice, “I’ve just come to see how my, er, cousin is doing?”

“Sarah!” the old lady exclaimed, opening the door, “come on in. I have some delicious figs.” She ushered Sarah into her house.

Ralem knew that this would be no short talk so he decided to go to the stables to see if he could find a suitable mount. The stable was on the outskirts of town, so that the smell wouldn’t smother the city. It wasn’t a long walk, but it took a while because of all the people that knew him had to run up to him to tell him how happy they were to see him alive. He got more than a few hugs, and one child even gave him a pear pastry. He thanked the grubby little girl, and her face lit up as he tasted it and declared it was delicious. She ran to her house to relay the news to her mother.

Ralem smiled as he continued on his way. Sure enough, the stable loomed overhead. It was owned by a wealthy man, who was greedier than a pig at feeding time. But his weakness is he always wanted business, so he could be bargained with.

At the moment he was hollering at one of the stable boys, who was desperately trying to hang on to the reins as the horse he was trying to control was rearing, its hooves flying through the air, just barely missing the boy’s head.  Ralem rushed in to intercept. Right before the horse’s hooves touched the ground, Ralem grabbed the reins, pulling on it so that the horse had to twist its head. He kept on tugging until the horse did a hard circle, making it impossible to rear again.

“That horse is worthless!” the owner screamed, “He’s going to be food for the dogs!”

“Almost any horse would have done the same. Look what’s in the middle of the path.”

The stable boy and owner turned to look. A giant black snake was glaring at them, its head raised in an aggressive stance. “One bite from that snake and you’d be dead.”

The stable boy gulped and stepped away.

Ralem looked the horse over while he patted its side to convey security. It was a beautiful dark bay, probably almost 16 hands.  It looked wll-muscled; its coat gleamed in the sun. He patted it on the blaze on its forehead, leading it away from the snake to settle it down. “I’ll take it. How much?”

“That horse?” the owner laughed, “That one is worth twice as much as your house is!”

“But I thought you just said you’d feed it to the dogs?!”

The owner waved his hand dismissively. The stable boy took the reins gently from Ralem and took the horse inside the stable. “Welcome back,” he said, then cutting to the chase, “You here for business?”

“Yes, I need a horse to take me to Vulnaire. I just need to borrow it. I’ll bring it back. I promise.”

The owner guffawed, clutching his pudgy belly, which wiggled from the effort, “Me? Let you just walk off with this horse? No siree! I need payment. And up front.”

Ralem sighed, and took off his pack. Fumbling through it, he found the emerald. Showing it to the owner he asked, “Is this enough for three fine horses?”

The man was practically drooling, “Is that one of the famed emeralds of Mountview jewelry?” he asked, his hands outstretched to grab the precious gem.

Ralem pulled the gem a little farther back, away from the man’s grasp, “What do you mean ‘Mountview’?”

The portly man kept his eyes on the gem, “You ever heard of the Mountview jewelry? It’s in Verniis. They sell gems like these. I have never seen one so big before,” he licked his lips.

Ralem was reluctant to give up the gem, but he knew he needed some horses. He didn’t want to spend his time walking everywhere, and transportation by dragon was not going to work. Not to mention the fact that he had always dreamed of having a destrier of his very own. “I’ll take two destriers and a jennet. That dark bay will serve me well. Could you show me your other horses?”

“Of course,” the pudgy man said, waving his arm for Ralem to follow him. The man led him through a gate and into the thatched roofed stable that loomed over the pasture. Rows of horses of all different colors poked their heads out of their stalls, some of them nickering. Ralem had always been attracted to the sweet brown eyes that horses possessed, and the strength in the beautiful creature. They had always seemed to dance over the ground. For someone with no extraordinary wealth a horse was a dream.

The owner led him to a stall in the middle. A horse reached out and sifted through his curly brown hair affectionately. He smiled and reached up to push his head away, “He’s mouthy but easygoing as anything. He’s calm as it comes.” Ralem looked the horse over. It was on the small side, with splotches of white that looked like someone had thrown paint on it. It had a full mane and tail and looked strong. “I’ll take him. What’s his name?”

The owner chuckled, “Miles. That’s Latin for soldier. And this horse is definitely a trooper.”

The horse, as if sensing it had been complimented, nickered. Ralem felt Mile’s velvety nose. “And the other destrier?”

“Destriers are rare. You’re lucky that you have so valuable a gem.” He led Ralem to another stable. This one was noticeably grander. Stable boys were everywhere, training the horses, giving them hay, or cleaning out the stalls.  The horses here just glowed with potential and health. They looked as if they were ready to go into battle at any moment. Through the myriad of colors and shapes, he found one that caught his eye.

“That one,” he pointed to a sturdy palomino. Its eyes were a soft brown, but looked like it had hidden power and strength. It had a well-muscled neck that led to powerful forelegs and haunches. It pranced in its stall as if ready to run at any moment.

The owner whistled, “That is quite a horse. You’re going to do some serious running?”

“Yes.”

“Then this is the one. We call him Firetail. Because he runs like his tail is on fire.” He called to one of the stable boys, “Hey, you! Yeah you, Dervin! You go and saddle up Meghan, Miles, and Firetail here. Come on, stir your stumps!”

The boy hurried out, stumbling on a pitchfork, then jumping back to his feet in his haste as he rushed out of the barn.

Ralem handed the huge emerald to the owner. “Thank you,” he said.

The man grabbed the emerald from his hands and caressed it, “Finally I can retire!” he laughed to himself and ambled away, whistling a tuneless song.

He met the stable boy in the front, who had already tacked the horses. Ralem thanked him and started to walk down the road, the three well trained horses followed amiably.

Before he left he had one more thing to take care of. He asked a little boy on the side of the road, who was poking a toad with a stick, “Have you seen Aren?”

The boy looked up, “No, didn’t you hear? Aren has been leading the Hunt! He’s been in the forest for a couple days now, looking for the dragon.”

Ralem thanked the boy, but inside he was agitated. He would have liked to get his brother in on this quest. Even though his brother had never been the brightest knight he had brawn. And, luckily for him, brawn was all that was required to be a knight. Not only that, but he was dependable. Maybe a little cocky, but he was someone you could trust. And he definitely wasn’t available, because he was out to kill Jaydon in the first place.

Ralem appeared just in time. Sarah had just walked out of the door, her arms full of jars of honey and fruit preserves. She was laughing until she saw Ralem leading three horses.

“Where’d you borrow them from? You’re leaving already?”

“I bought them,” he said proudly, “With all their tack. And yes, we are leaving as soon as we can.”

“You….” For once in her life Sarah was speechless, “How could you afford to get these horses? Are you rich? Did you find treasure?”

“Something like that. How is Arianna doing?”

“She was awake when I went in. She’s doing much better. But if its riding you wanted to do with her, then she won’t be fit to do anything for two weeks.”

“Two weeks! You sure?”

“I’m just saying what the medicine woman told me.”

Ralem moaned. This would take forever. They needed to get out of town and quick. Jaydon had been spotted too many times. Sometime he might slip up and get them both killed. They needed to keep moving.

He thrust Mile’s reins into her hands “Could you take care of this jennet for me until she gets better. Tell her I’ll be in Vulnaire waiting for her. Look after her. Here, this should pay for the cost,” he held the other horse’s reigns in one hand while reaching into his pack to pull out a golden royal.

“Wha….” She stared dumbly at the coin that was thrust into her hands, “Is this”-

“I need to go,” Ralem hopped on Firetail and spurred him on, still holding on to Megan’s reigns.

As he sped away, Sarah stared at his retreating form, shocked. Shaking her head, she walked back to her home.

Ralem raced through the forest to where he knew Jaydon was waiting. But before he made it to the woodland the horses went wild. They stopped and wouldn’t go any farther. Their eyes rolled in fear and their nostrils flared as they pranced in place. Ralem had almost lost Megan as she jerked away from the woods. Now he hung on the edge of his saddle, barely keeping control of the horses. Then Jaydon jumped down from a nearby tree, the bird head in his arms, and the horses screamed in fright. They turned tail and bolted away, their hooves eating the ground as they fled in terror. Ralem, who had been at the edge of his saddle in the first place, was thrown off and landed hard on the ground.  

Jaydon laughed at the sight of Ralem sprawled in the grass. Ralem sputtered out some dirt and said, “This is NOT funny! I paid a lot of money for those horses and you can’t even ride one! They are scared of your scent….” He paused, thinking.

“What?”

“I just hope your scent won’t give you away any more than it has already,” Ralem brushed himself off and walked toward Jaydon. “Now we need a different plan.” He blew out a deep breath hard between his lips, his brain working almost visibly. Jaydon smiled cheekily, leaning back against a tree, watching his Rider desperately try to think up something that didn’t involve turning into a dragon. After a minute he spoke up, “Well the easy way would be if I just became who I am…” He shook the bird’s head to make it look like it were nodding in agreement. “See?” he said, “Even the bird says it’s a good idea.” A squelch from inside the bird’s skull seemed to reply to his statement.

Ralem made a face, “That was… disturbing.” He kicked a rock, frustrated, “I wish it were that easy. But I know that if we just fly to Vulnaire, or anywhere we probably won’t be accepted with meat offerings and hugs for everyone. I know you’re not very happy at having to stay human for a while-”

“That’s an understatement,” Jaydon said quietly, the bird’s head drooping on his shoulder.

“But, just wait this one out. Let’s get this little ‘quest’ of yours figured out, then I promise you that we’ll travel the world over to find a place where they will accept us for who we are. I will travel to the corners of the earth so that you can fly every day if you want to.”

Jaydon looked up, his green eyes searching Ralem’s mind for the truth, “Promise?” he asked hopefully.

Ralem, who was uncomfortably aware that his thoughts were being read, stubbornly held on to the thought that he was going to do that very thing, for in reality that was the only plan he had planned for the future. The realization that that was the only vague goal he had for the future troubled him, but he pushed that to the back of his mind.

Jaydon held the stare for almost a full minute, then dropped his gaze, satisfied that his Rider was telling the truth. Ralem let out a mental breath and his tensed muscles relaxed.  “So,” he scratched the back of his neck nervously, “How to get you to the city without raising suspicion…” An idea popped into his head, “Jaydon, I don’t suppose you could possibly-”

“-go as fast as those horses?” he said, with some distaste, nodding in their direction.

“Well- yeah. I mean, if you-”

Jaydon laughed drily, although he felt a little peeved that his Rider didn’t believe in his abilities, “Of course I can! Hold this-” he shoved the bird’s head into Ralem’s arms.

Ralem backpedaled, bending over almost backward under the weight. The thing was incredibly heavy, and incredibly disgusting. A subtle movement under the bird’s hide revealed the presence of many little creatures that now called the disembodied thing home. Flies paraded around it and a most bilious smell was radiating around it so heavy they could almost see it.  The skin had been ripped as if something had tried to tear it apart and several scratches marred the white coat. Ralem fought to keep his breakfast down and scrabbled for a good hold on the smooth beak.

Jaydon brushed his hands off on his pants (either ignoring or not noticing his Rider’s discomfort) and huffed, “Watch this!” In a blur of motion, he took off running, clods of mud flying as his feet pounded the earth. Swoosh, swoosh, he circled Ralem like a crazed planet. “See?” called the blur, “I’m fast, fast, fast!”

Ralem suddenly felt nauseated AND dizzy. “Okay, okay,” he managed, jamming his hand into the bird’s eye socket to keep it from slipping down his side, “I surrender! You win! You are quite fast- you can stop now.”

Jaydon skidded to a stop, sending mud flying. He gave a very dragonish, very obnoxious smile, his hair dotted with flecks and appearing as if he had crawled out of a pig pen. “You should never doubt my abilities! For I am the great-”

Judging by the nasty bird head in his arms and the horses retreating into the horizon that he had bought with most of his money, Ralem wasn’t enthusiastic to say the least about hearing a speech about how  great the dragon was. “Yes, yes, I know. Great Schmentus Mix, That’s awesome”- Jaydon ‘s mouth opened to intercept that his species was actually the Ventus Rex and that head had forgotten the magnus but Ralem plowed through his statement, “But listen Jaydon,”- the bird’s head started to ooze and slip out of his grip and he jammed his hand further into the sticky eye socket, "I need you to go to Vulnaire alone.” He looked straight into the dragon’s eyes, “Don’t turn into a dragon, Jaydon.” He saw the arguments build in his green eyes. “Just don’t. This is for your own good.

“What do you mean alone? Where is Arianna? We can all go together!”

“Actually, the thing is, I don’t feel like getting thrown again. And Arianna is going to meet us there,” he lied blatantly, “Are you going to be fine?”

“Okay,” he looked crestfallen before giving a sly smile, “In fact, I’ll beat you there!”

“Wait! Before you go, I need to warn you. Stay away from people, and if you do happen to see them, act as human as you can. Stay along the forest trail to Vulnaire. What you would do is follow- well I guess you know that already. But don’t turn into a dragon and…. Be good,” he said lamely, “I’ll meet you in front of the gates.”

  Jaydon nodded slowly, then spun around. “I’ll beat you there!” he called, racing off, his crazy pace creating a dust cloud that billowed behind him.

I’d like to see him trip at that breakneck speed. But when he thought about it, he probably wouldn’t. He turned around to catch his horses.

After an hour of trying to catch the scared creatures, he tied the bird’s head onto Megan’s back. Jumping back on Firetail, he spurred them on and they rode down the dirt road to Vulnaire