Chapter 34

Cody worriedly watched as the heavily armored men, likely 200 of them, continued to surround him and Inferno. At least five dozen of them were archers, and every single one had an arrow aimed straight at either him or the dragon beneath him. Many more had swords, axes, maces, and weapons Cody had never even seen or heard of before, held tightly in their hands. Throwing spears and other terrifying throwing weapons all had their aim on him and his dragon alone.

“Remain calm, or they will feel more threatened,” Inferno warned as he maintained a nonchalant appearance with ease.

Heading the words, Cody sucked in a deep breath and cleared his face of all fear that had once been there. He closed his eyes and attempted to erase the images of all of the potential enemies around them. He succeeded, and where terror had once been, eagerness, excitement, and thrill thrived. When he felt thoroughly calmed down, he opened his eyes to the world again and gazed, surprisingly calmly, at all of the warriors. They were human beings, every single one, with emotions, thoughts, and feelings, which made him feel even better.

The rider continued to let his eyes wander over the armed crowd, until he saw them part a little ways to his right. Inferno’s head turned ever so slightly to look more closely at the break in the crowd. Through the gap came a man clad in a dark green robe, that seemed somewhat elegant to Cody since he grew up in a town where fancy and elegant was all but unknown to the native people. But still, he assumed that it wouldn’t seem like such fine clothing to many of the richer people in Morgran alone, and this man was only wearing “shabby” clothing into such a dirty place as a farm.

He must have been a noble of sorts. Cody wanted to believe that he was a very brave man who was born into a very rich family, but it was difficult to decide anything about the man when there were so many warriors around to be brave for him. The rider’s thoughts were whirling around his head faster than he could even think them, and he just decided to forget his observations until he was able to later on, with slightly fewer things to deal with. That is, if there would be fewer things to deal with.

The man continued to approach Cody and Inferno until he was about eight feet from the armed men behind him, and still a little over 20 feet from the dragon and rider. Behind him the crowd closed the gap that had once been there. Surprisingly, the man seemed both terrified and eager for whatever was going to happen next. While they were almost the exact same feelings Cody and Inferno had, seeing it on his face worried them.

Suddenly the man cleared his throat, and said, “Rider, dismount your dragon.”

The man’s voice was quavering very slightly with worry, though he seemed to be doing his best to disguise it. Cody hesitated, remaining perfectly still in his saddle as he, too, worried. With an encouraging thought from Inferno, he sighed too quietly for anyone else to hear and slid from Inferno’s back, even though he was still standing. The rider straightened himself and placed his left hand on the pommel of his sword cautiously, before he silently faced the man that had asked for him to dismount. At least, he hoped the command was meant lightly enough to be considered asking.

“Who are you, and what is your business here in Morgran?” the man asked Cody with a growingly worried tone of voice.

Cody cleared his throat and said, unusually formally, “I would also like to know who you are, and I wonder what significance you are in this city. However, if you must know, I am Cody Ashheart, and this is my dragon, Inferno. I wish to keep my business a secret until I know exactly who you are.”

The nobleman shot him a glare, but quickly withdrew it again to respond, “I am Indivar, the mayor of this city. I rule over all of Morgran with my brother, Daren, and my sister, Laurel. There is no higher authority in the city than myself.”

“I assumed as much,” Inferno said. “Although, I’m not overly impressed with a leader as unwise, unsure, and unknowledgeable as him. Either he is lying, though I seriously doubt it, or this city is unused to threats of any kind. They seem prepared, but unused to a situation like this.”

“Well, we are a dragon and rider, something humans haven’t dealt with or even seen in many generations,” Cody replied.

Inferno turned slightly to look at his rider before saying, “Nevertheless, I get the feeling that this, leader, isn’t as intelligent when it comes to battle and negotiations. Maybe because they are such a large city they aren’t attacked much, if ever. This man is not very capable of dealing with wars, so he probably won’t turn to any hostile action unless there is dire need. My point is, we have something to bargain with.”

“What do you mean?” Cody asked curiously.

Inferno gave a sly, dragon-like smile before answering, “They need more military strength if they are to withstand any attacks, which will eventually come. You and I have more military tactic than them from what we’ve seen, and after our training with Argos and Heyrick we will have even more. We can offer to help them with any defensive actions, in return for what we hoped to gain on this visit. We can have a friendship with an immense city, which couldn’t hurt in the future, the near future in fact.”

“We will be too busy trying to rescue our friends from Dongoithu, then training to bother with these people. If you are suggesting that they could help us fight to get our friends back, it would probably take too long for these warriors to travel there,” Cody said, not seeing how this leverage Inferno suggested could work.

“I’m sure after we save your friends and get to the mountain pass we will have some free time to possibly check up on this city every now and then. Just explain to Indivar that we may be able to help out every month or so, give or take some time. Let him know that we can provide some help, in exchange for a few gifts,” Inferno explained eagerly.

Cody thought about what Inferno said for a long time, trying to decide if it was worth it. Then again, there was no reason not to try it. They had originally come to the town to get friendship and gifts while giving nothing in return, which was the one thing that caused their danger. If they had something to bargain with, even a few days of military service every month they could spare, it was worth a shot.

Cody looked carefully at Indivar before he said, “What if we traded favors? We, I mean, I, need a little help, and clearly you do too.”

He hated treating Inferno like a pet by changing “we” to “I”, but the people expected him to be the one in command. Perhaps by saying and doing what they expected, Cody and Inferno could earn more trust and support from the city. Cody also had another tactic in his head that could possibly sway all or most of the people to his side; confidence, and bravery. Maybe a little foolishness as well.

“What do you mean?” Indivar asked with his eyes narrowed at them.

“You honestly think your ‘warriors’ can beat me and my dragon? By the time you figure out how to pierce his scaly hide, if that’s even possible, you will be nothing more than a pile of ash!” Cody said, proud of the unwavering confidence in his voice.

Unfortunately, Indivar and his men only seemed scared, or even terrified of what he said, but nowhere near trusting.

“Try changing your tactic again,” Inferno suggested. “Be confident, but reassuring and comforting. Let Indivar know that he is the leader here and you wouldn’t want to hurt him, even if you could. Need I remind you that I am nowhere near breathing fire? And we still don’t know if my scales are strong enough to withstand such an attack.”

As much as they needed to appear confident, they also didn’t want to make themselves appear to be too unrealistically powerful. Too much exaggeration couldn’t be good. Cody silently agreed, and slid off Inferno’s back until he was at about the same level as Indivar and his warriors. The rider bowed low to the leader, surprising even himself.

“I did not mean to frighten you, I just need a place for me and my dragon to rest for the night, and if you can help prepare us for our future travels, we will do what we can to offer our services as defenders of the city.”

Finally it seemed to be working, as Indivar looked a little less fearful. There was also the unmistakable sound of weapons moving, but not firing. The warriors were relaxing, and letting their possibly tired limbs rest at such news. Indivar, however, didn’t seem to like their sudden faith, and he glared at them and Cody with a new level of distrust.

The leader eagerly, but very warily, approached Cody, as if at any moment he could explode into a million pieces if he got too close, but then he asked, “Can we test you?”

“Test me?” Cody said, suddenly very confused.

Indivar’s face lit up for whatever reason, and he instantly began to explain, “There is a psychic, Myra, who could help us to discover your intentions if you are lying. If you aren’t lying, then she will help us confirm it and we can start out with good relations!”

Inferno seemed just as interested in the idea as Cody. Cody had only ever even heard of psychics from old stories that Faltanar would tell, and he didn’t even know for sure if they ever did exist. If the psychic Indivar was telling them about was real, they both felt that there was a danger or risk involved, but the idea was quite fascinating.

Without much consideration, Cody said, “If you need your evidence, we would be more than happy to oblige.”

Actually, Cody was beginning to think that whether it was necessary or not, he might have gone anyway. He was beyond curious in a matter of seconds, and Inferno’s emotions were like an exact replica. Several men in heavy armor came forward when Indivar signaled for them to come forward.

“They will escort you to Myra,” Indivar said plainly.

Cody skillfully climbed back onto Inferno and settled into the saddle. By the time he looked up to refocus on his surroundings, Inferno had already stepped forward to follow the men Indivar had summoned. All of the others that were in the area, even the leader, remained in their current spots and watched the dragon and rider pass. On some of their faces Cody could plainly see awe and amazement, now that they knew they were allies and not threats of any kind.

After a short time, the fields began to dwindle in the distance and even with his enhanced eyesight Cody couldn’t see the warriors any more. The men leading the way to seemingly nowhere, however, remained ahead of Cody and Inferno. Cody quickly became anxious when he still couldn’t spot their target, but Inferno was silent. Whether he was too excited to talk, enjoying the peace, or beginning to become a little more reluctant, Cody didn’t know. But, judging by his almost eerie silence, Cody guessed the latter.

“What if something bad happens, like she hurts you or something?” Inferno asked.

“You are so right,” Cody said sarcastically, “They would drag us away from hundreds of armed warriors to take us to a single woman who can hurt me. I’m sure that’s what they were doing.”

Inferno let out a deep-throated sigh of disgust that sounded much like a growl. The warriors leading the way fumbled slightly and turned to look at Inferno, but soon regained their posture and continued. Then, seemingly out of thin air, a house appeared. It was on a slight hill, surrounded by nothing for a few hundred yards except a single, lonely, blackish tree right outside one of the windows, the lack of leaves made it look frightening.

As they drew nearer, Cody could see that the hill was a bit higher than he first saw, with a very steep incline. It was too steep to climb, but all around the hill there seemed to be a narrow pathway lined with dark leaves. Instead of the mystical feeling Cody thought he would have, he felt worried and even fearful of the place.

Sooner than he would have liked, they arrived at the base of the hill and the men stopped walking. Cody looked up at the house, probably twice as high as Inferno was, to see nothing but dark windows and a terrible chill ran down his back, and not because of the cold.

One of the men approached the rider and said, “Your dragon will not fit up there, nor would Myra allow such a beast in her home.”

It was clear that this man was not very fond of Cody and Inferno, but they let him add another sentence, “Rider, you will have to go up there and see her yourself. We would accompany you, but she does not allow just anyone in her home.”

The warrior said “just anyone” as if the words were a poison he was trying to rid himself of, hinting that he considered very highly of himself. Even though Cody was beginning to grow scared too, he knew that he couldn’t show weakness in front of warriors that were supposedly lesser than him.

“Be careful,” Inferno hissed worriedly through their bond.

Cody just nodded and tried to hide the visible shake in his hands as he slid from the dragon’s back. He cautiously made his way up the spiraling path, but forced himself to keep his chin high as he stepped.

Too quickly, it seemed, he took his last step onto the top of the hill. Before him was the dark house, not mystical-looking at all. He was beginning to think that there was no psychic, only ghosts and witches and all other manners of things that walk in people’s nightmares. Regardless of how he felt, he knew he had to go inside and meet the “psychic” if he could get anything from Morgran. With carefully-placed steps, he approached the door of the house. He knocked on the door, splintery though it was, and began to dread what would happen next.