Merin

Across Centuries: Forever Flame


PART ONE


Chapter One:

On more than one occasion Merin had been plagued by terrible dreams of losing Ees. The small slender man had become his closest dearest friend and one of the few people he had left in his life. With his Mate gone, whisked away to another world and forever beyond his reach, and with his adopted Brother, Fer long since departed to live out a life far different from what Merin chose, there was now only Ees. The smaller less flashy Bard had been there for him when he’d broken down, weighted by all the loss he’d endured. He’d been a confidant, morale support, and even in some cases a voice of wisdom. He provided a different perspective and yet had a span of years behind him that was close to Merin’s own. Merin tended to think of himself as the one who took care of his friends, and yet at times it was really Ees taking care of him.

He’d more than once dreamed that a massive and ancient Chromatic Blue had come for his friend. Ees was terrified of dragons, and Merin still deep down feared the ‘monster’ of his childhood. In the dream, he had been unable to reach Ees in time. Sometimes the Blue snapped him up like a dog snapping at a fly. Sometimes he burned him away to nothing with a blast of electrical breath weapon. The dream was always one of terror and desperation, and Merin not getting there in time. Again and again, he had relieved losing Ees, and failing him.

For a few terrible seconds, he had almost expected the dragon in the trees to be a Blue, even though the scent was wrong. He was stricken was raw fear down to his marrow, horror gripping him tightly. He hurled himself forward, wings pumping as hard and fast as he was capable, legs pulled in close, neck outstretched.

His senses had sharpened, he could smell pine needles and oak leaves. He could smell earth and old stone, and the scent of their campfire. His body temperature had elevated, to where water droplets would have instantly sizzled and turned to steam, but he was aware of the slight cool dampness to the air.


He gathered every ounce of magic he could draw in, building both his wind manipulation and illusion. He was wrapped in illusionary fire, and a gale of wind flew with him, embracing him, propelling him forward faster than he could have flown unaided. Pain prickled along his flesh, under the scales, pressure build up in his head and his chest felt tight.

The Dragoness burst out from the treeline, as Ees cried out again.

He could tell even from the distance she was larger than him, but not vastly so, perhaps half again his size and mass. Green, with a reddish mane and tail. Not a Chromatic Green, and not a species he had encountered before. Her tail was thin, and it lashed wildly, like a whip. Ees had some distance on her, he’d been running hard, at a full sprint. Ees was closer to him, running blinding in the direction he would have known Merin to have gone. There were a two hundred or so paces between them, but the Dragoness was gathering herself to charge. Her wings flared open and she roared again. She bound forward, as Merin dropped from the sky like a falcon, pulling his wings in tight now as well, flying toward the lessening space between his friend and what presented a threat to him.

The magic he gathered shifted, he appeared larger than he was, closer to her own size. The air pressure manifested more strongly beneath him. She was almost one hundred paces from Ees, who stumbled and fell, pitching forward into the ground, and then scrambling on all fours, slipping several times, unable to get traction.

Merin used the force of wind and gathered air to keep himself from crashing into the ground like a falling star.. still he hit hard enough that he felt the impact jolt through his bones, jarring him to the core. He had landed directly in-between them and skidded, throwing up clods of dirt and leaf litter. The force of wind gathered around him pushed outward to either side, and ripped around them, flattening a dozen or so small trees nearby. Flames roared and danced, and for a moment he seemed to be almost forged from them. He planted his feet, and drew up to his full height. Debris continued to swirl around them in a large slow circle, dirt and leaves, pine needles, pine cones and small stones, all caught in a slow-motion maelstrom. Fire pooled at his feet, and golden energy mingled with the flames that danced over his body.

She snarled, but his display had given her pause.

“This is of no concern to you, and you are trespassing. You have no right to threaten me in my home!” her voice was deep, but still feminine, sonorous and rich. It was also currently outright dripping with venom and seething with barely held in check rage.

“Let the human go.” He said, his tone even and calm. He did not raise it, but he used a small thread of magic to project it.

“Why should I?” Her eyes were blue, an absolutely brilliant shade of blue, like a cloudless summer sky at midday.. Her teeth were large and sharp. She had horns, dark brown horns that curved in a ram-like fashion, and a row of spines following her jawline.

“Because if you let him go you will not have to fight me. Neither of us want that.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you care about a stupid little human?” Merin did not waver, and did not bother answering the question.

“Let him go and I will stop using magic. I will stop all of this and I will not fight back, even to defend myself.” She seemed perplexed at that. Still angry, and clearly still braced for a fight, but she hesitated.

“Spare him, let him leave. He will not bother you again. If you like.. I can shift to a human form. I will do so once he is far enough away.” He kept his voice steady, but his raw courage from before, his willingness to clash with her her head on, that determination and adrenaline was rapidly leaving him.

“Fine. He goes. You stay.” She said, sneering slightly. He bowed his head. “One moment. I would simply like a word with him.”

She did not protest, and Ees was where he had fallen, paralyzed with fear. He let the flames recede as he turned and approached his friend.

“Merin..” Ees managed to croak out. Eyes wide he simply shook his head in protest.

“It’s all right my friend.” Merin said quietly. “I have a plan.” He flashed a smile, even if it meant flashing teeth. “Go. I’ll catch up. Head to the nearest town. It’s quite a walk. Stop if you must but get at least a few miles away.” Ees nodded. He was terrified but he seemed to accept Merin’s lie as truth. He believed him when he said he had a plan.

“Besides, I think she fancies me a bit.” he said, cheekily. “Now, get going.” He almost said something else, something that might have sounded too much like a goodbye. He was glad that Ees was not able to read him as well in this form, as he could read his human face.

Merin had never really been the sort to see lying as a wicked or wrong thing, not when it was used properly and not abused for one’s own gain. The nature of what he was meant that he had little choice but to live a lie, live a double life. He pretended to be a mere young human Bard, because the average person would not accept him as a dragon. He lied sometimes, to protect someone from a terrible truth, not always the best decision in the long run, but this time he found it an absolute necessity. He had no plan. He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do to get out of this, other than hope this Dragoness had some kindness, honor or mercy in her heart. He could maybe fight her well enough to be able to hold her off briefly and then flee. He could use magic, illusions to confuse her and escape. But, he’d just given his word. While he was not against lying for a greater good, breaking one’s word once given, was rather different.

Ees ran away, shambling for a short distance until his legs seemed to start cooperating again. Merin was relieved that he’d not protested further, that he’d simply run away, just as he needed him to.

He turned and walked back toward the Dragoness. The ‘cyclone’ around them stopped, and his illusion winked out. Without magic wrapped around him it was clear he was quite a bit smaller than her. She probably was close to twice his weight. He stopped a short distance away, and sank lower to the ground, presenting now, a non threatening posture. It was both a natural instinct to do so, and part intentional. Being willing to show submissive behavior in the preserve of a much larger dragon, had saved his life on more than one occasion. He was a proud creature in many cases, but this did not harm his ego. Within his own species, the Dragoness typically held more power and authority over the male.

“You see? I am no threat to you. I apologize, both for myself and for my friend. We did not mean to intrude.” He said, lowering his head and his gaze. Her anger seemed to have cooled somewhat, which was a good sign, but she was now staring at him as though he’d sprouted flowers instead of scales, and three heads.

“Why would you surrender yourself for a human?” Her voice, was a mix of disdain, disbelief and curiosity. Her head came in closer and she sniffed at him. “You are smaller than a first thought you were… Some sort of.. trickery?”

“Yes. Illusion. I did not want to harm you. I just wanted to protect my friend, and he is my dearest friend.” She sneered again. “You said you could turn into one of them, I have heard of dragons doing so. Can you really or were you just saying that?”

“I can, and will. Do you intend to kill me?” He was surprised he got the words out so calmly. His pulse was hammering so hard he was certain she could hear it. No doubt she could smell the fear on him as well.

“I have not decided yet.” She said, although the heat was gone from her words.

“Consider this then.” He began. “You have spared the life of my dearest friend, and I am now greatly in your debt. Anything you ask of me, be it riches or favors, errands, or tasks, if it is within my power to give, then it is yours.” He took a few steps back. “I am merely suggesting that killing me would be a wasted potential.” He added. “The glow and energy you will see is the spell for the shift, and nothing more.”

He was afraid still, but no longer quite so terrified. If she’d wanted to kill him still, he felt she would have struck when he lowered his head and directed his gaze to the ground. She’d made no move to lash out, even though she could have gotten a firm bite hold on his neck just then, without much trouble. The golden arcane energy enveloped him, and down he shifted, from the lean and svelte undersized Brass Dragon, to his chosen human form. For a moment he was engulfed in fiery energy, shrinking down from a roughly eight foot at the shoulder four legged dragon, to a two legged humanoid shape. The excess energy spiraled around him, and pooled at the center of his chest. It took less than half a moment for the entire thing to complete, and the last pulse of energy to fade.

He was taller than average when he took the guise of a human. That had been intentional. He’d chosen a height that made him at least a few inches taller than most people around him, but not so tall that his height stood out as unnatural in any way. He was slender and toned, a bit long limbed with gently bronzed skin and hair that was a lovely golden brass shade, quite close to that of his scales. It was perhaps a little too bright to be a normal human color, but most probably just assumed he dyed it that way. His eyes too were a little odd for a human; a golden-orange color, bright like flames, with a sharply contrasting green ring around the iris. Still, he’d rarely had anyone comment on them beyond saying his eyes were lovely. His facial features gave him an almost uncanny level of beauty. That had been intentional as well.

In retrospect, he’d perhaps been unwise to let his vanity rule. Had he chosen a less spectacular appearance he could have more easily blended in. But, it was suitable perhaps for his profession as a Bard, even if it caused him, at times no end of trouble.

He was garbed in attire that was quite typical of his preferences, and it just so happened, the coat was one of his favorites. It was an intense emerald green velvet and fell to mid calf length, split down the back into two tails, a bit longer there than it was in the front. Dark golden brocade was found at the sleeves, the collar and hemline, and the entire garment was worked with a delicate pattern of spirals and filigree. Under this, he wore a waistcoat of golden brocade, and a flowing shirt of pure white silk. Dark brown breeches hugged his lower half, snug but not too tight. The breeches were tucked into perfectly polished boots that cuffed just below the knee, that had bright brass buckles. His amulet hung around his neck, laying against the detailed brocade. When he was around people, he tended to tuck it into his shirt, simply to avoid too many people asking questions about it.

It was about the length of his hand, a thick fat key seemingly made of Brass, marked with strange sigils and sporting a large orange faceted gem at the top. It was worn on a strong brass chain, thicker than what one normally saw on heavy pendants.

It only existed when he was in human form, as it was the spell that allowed him to shift. His draconic essence, or rather most of it, contained and locked down, concentrated.

He gazed up at her, somewhat afraid still, but he’d had a moment to collect himself. She was staring at him intently, and he gazed up at her. She seemed so much larger this way. Her scales, he realized were a shade of green that reminded him of dense foliage and underbrush. It was not the vibrant intense greens such as what he normally favored, but a softer more muted and earthy shade, although she was a deeper darker green on her underside. There was a faint luster to her scales in the fading light. Her mane was a rusty burnt orange sort of shade. Her more muted palette made her eyes stand out all the more. Her neck was shorter than some species of dragons, but thick and strong. Her head was more rectangular than a lot of species he’d seen, only tapering down slightly from where it jutted from a slight brow ridge. He realized he’d been staring at her, and that he must have started smiling because her lips curled into a slight snarl, and she lowered her head closer to him.

“What is all that ridiculous nonsense on you, and why are you smiling?” she huffed.

He knew he was in danger still, she could kill him effortlessly. She could reach down and simply bite him in two. He was, more or less staring death in the face.

“I am a Bard, a musician by trade. This is how I normally dress.” He told her. “And I am smiling because you are beautiful.”

She snorted and jerked her head back. “What..?”

He had put his hands out slightly to the side, palms out, in a gesture of peace and to show he had no weapons. “Which part..? Also.. Do you have a boon to request of me? Would you like me to wait here while you think of something?”

He could tell she was thinking now and she cut her gaze to the side a few times, and then began to pace a slow circle around him. He remained rooted to the spot. When she moved behind him, she paused and he could feel her hot breath on him. She was so close that her nose brushed against his hair and the back of his coat. Still, he remained rooted to the spot, although he gave a slight involuntary shiver.

She began moving again, her tail nearly brushing him this time as she circled back around. He realized that the tip ended in a spade shape, something he’d not ever seen on a dragon before.

“You offer up your life in trade for a human’s. I cannot even begin to understand why, but.” She paused. “It is.. noble in a way. I will not kill you, but I will hold you to your word, and I do have a request.” She seemed to be smirking a little, as she stopped in front of him again. He remained silent, letting her continue without comment or interruption.

“My lair and hoard has been stolen by another dragon. A male. I have failed three times now in being able to take it back from him. I have only just recovered from wounds I received the last time. I want you to win back my lair for me. Get rid of the thief, then I will consider your debt paid in full, and you may leave.”

Merin had been in more dire situations before, certainly, but he thought just perhaps he was in a bit over his head. Still, this was better than her just trying to kill him outright.

He bowed, low and graceful. “Very well, I will do as you have requested. The lair is nearby..?” he asked.

“Yes. A few miles.”

“Then you will have your lair back tomorrow.” He told her, smiling again. It was a foolish boast, but he’d begun to feel a twinge of something. A rush of excitement, and a sense that he was somehow on the ‘correct’ path. He had learned to recognize that feeling when it came. It was not always completely infallible, but typically when it came, he knew luck, and as much as he did not care for the word, perhaps even something like ‘fate’ was on his side.

“You are are either insane, or an idiot.” she told him, scoffing softly, and shaking her head.

“I admit I am sometimes one of those things, or both. Right now however I’d say I’m just highly confident and capable.” He grinned broadly. She glowered.

“Well, I suppose it will at least be a little entertaining watching you try... whatever it is you have planned.” She seemed to be rolling her eyes a bit at him.

“Oh I don’t have a plan, not yet anyways. But I will.” He answered simply. He’d have to ask her some questions, and sneak in closer to get an idea of what the surroundings looked like, before he could even begin to form a plan.

“There is a difference between being confident and being foolishly cocky.” she said, tapping a claw on a smooth flat stone, as she stared down at him.

“I like to think I walk a delicate line between the two, occasionally straying to the latter side.” His expression was dead serious, but then his mouth twitched slightly at the corners.

Her flat stare was a fairly clear sign she was not even remotely impressed.

“First of all.. Might I have a name? Something that you wish for me to call you.”

There was a pause of several heartbeats, Merin assumed she was debating giving him a real name, or just some made up one, a full name or just a shortened one.

Dragons tended to collect many names over time. Their true name was a deeply personal thing, only given out to close long term friends, or their mate. While it was not as some legends suggested, a way to control or have power over them, it was something to be known by immediate family, and most only bestowed it upon their most trusted, later in life.

Most dragons would have some short ‘childhood’ name that was often, but not always taken from some small part or chosen letters of their true name. This name was personal as well, but usually dropped later in life. Often only an adult siblings or a parent would still refer to their grown offspring by this name.

Many a Dragon would take on various titles and names through their life. Ones that used a human form, might take on human sounding names. The Brass had used many names over centuries, and ‘Merin’ just happened to be his favorite, and it had been for a long time.

“Mezhkuela.” She uttered, somewhat sternly and flatly. “Mez if you must.”

“That is a lovely name. I am called Merin.” he offered in turn.

“Might know even your name would sound like something a human would have.” She curled a lip slightly, as though that idea put a bad taste in her mouth.

“Well that’s sort of the whole idea, considering I spent a lot of time pretending to be one.” That only soured her expression more. He was not bothered. Many dragons disliked humans, or thought of them as vermin, or at the very least, inferior beings. Merin was actually a bit strange, with his general fondness for them.

“Where is this lair?” He asked, as that was the most important thing. He could find it with a bit of searching, but he wanted to know where it was without having to creep about looking for it, and risk giving himself away. The sun was low in the sky now, and a red haze was cast across the both of them. The light was quickly fading.

“Past that line of trees, to the southwest, it is just over three miles. The cave is underground, but there is a great overhang of grey rock, jagged on top, and a small gnarled and stunted tree growing from the top.”

Merin looked off that way. He was already starting to ponder some ideas, most of which involved having the other dragon chase him, then try to crash him into trees, or some rocks. He had defeated a creature far larger than any other dragon once in a similar manner, and he’d shaken off a pursuit from another dragon by simply flying down into tall trees. He was smaller and more agile, and worked that to his advantage.

“He is bigger than you isn’t he?” She gave a slight nod. “How much bigger?” She hesitated there, and pondered how to answer. “He is larger than me, by about as much as I am larger than you.” She watched him, and seemed almost.. smug for a moment, as though she expected him to have second thoughts with that bit of knowledge.

“Perfect.” he said. “The bigger, the better.” At least if there was the right sort of features to the environment for him to work a trick like he’d pulled in Glassbridge.

“And one more thing.. How long has he been in this area? Do you know? Has he been here long or did he show up recently?”

She snorted. “What does it matter?”

“Because I need to know how familiar with the area he is.”

“He’s been in this area.. more than half a year. He stole my lair from me over a month ago.” She said in a tense restrained voice. “I… know he’s moved some of it elsewhere. I can never catch him leaving. I’ve not been able to get to it in time before he comes back, but I know he’s been transferring some of it else where.. It’s probably mostly gone. I have no idea where he’d been taking it, but I still need my lair back.

Merin inwardly winced at that notion. No, there would be no telling where he’d hidden it away at this point. As for the time he’d spent in the area, not ideal, but not as bad as it would have been if he’d lived around the area for decades.

“I am going to shift back to my natural form now.” He told her. “And I am going to sneak over there to have a look.” She eyed him skeptically, and said nothing else while he shifted, and started toward where she’d said the lair was.

He took to the air, but stayed low, flying slowly, mostly gliding. Soon, he spotted a rocky outcropping jutting up from the ground, with a single small tree at the top. It had been almost a straight line to the southwest from where they had been, but he’d veered off to the right of it by a little ways. He landed and eased a little closer, until he was able to make out where the mouth of the lair was. He used a small amount of magic to direct a breeze toward him. Most likely the male was in the lair right now, and it would not do to have him catching the scent of another male in the area, not yet anyways.

It was almost full dark by now, the sun a faint glow on the horizon, the stars and moon out. The darkness of the sky was marred with weak half formed clouds.

Speaking of scent, he could smell this other dragon. He did not think he was the same species as Mez, although perhaps somewhat similar at least. He also seemed to be something Merin had not encountered before.

There was quite a bit of open ground near the lair, and it was flanked on one side by forest. There was a creek perhaps a quarter mile away to the other side. Off in the distance, was the vague outline of cliffs. The cliffs, were far more steep and sheer in this part of the mountain range, and they were positioned directly behind the lair, some four or five miles off.

He gave the lair a wide berth, and walked for a few hundred paces past it, being careful to shift the light breeze he was controlling so that it continued to blow his scent away from the mouth of the cave. Once he felt he was far enough away, he bounded forward several strides and took to the air.

He ached a bit, muscles and joints sore from his earlier dramatic entrance, when he dove in to save Ees, but he knew it was just soreness and would pass. He wondered how Ees was doing, if he was making good progress toward the town. He hoped his friend was not worrying to terribly for him.

He stayed low until he was much closer to the cliffs, then flew up, flying along and searching for something. It was less than a half mile down the length that he found it.

Here there was a gap, a narrow ravine that made a gradual v-shape in the face of the cliff, over a third of the way down. He flew in close and saw that it was wide enough for him to pass through, if he pulled his wings in more than halfway. A larger dragon would not be able to pass through that gap. A jolt of elation went through him. If he was judging right by the dragon’s size, or even if he wasn’t as big as Mez had said he was... (after all, it had occurred to him that she could have been exaggerating so that her defeat did not sound so bad) He would catch his wings on either side of solid rock, either close to the base or perhaps around the halfway point. It would at the very least be enough to damage his wings, even break them. He would surely go down, and probably have a tumble down the cliffs.

Large dragons were notoriously sturdy and hard to kill. This would hurt him, but Merin did not think it would be fatal. It would hopefully be enough to take any fight out of him. He preferred not to kill, and he had not stated he would kill this dragon, just that he would get rid of him. Merin was thankful for that bit of vagueness.

He had killed before, when he absolutely had to, and he had been responsible for the death of a mother dragon and her eggs, because of his foolish decisions. That had haunted him all throughout the rest of his life, and he had never truly forgiven himself for it.

It was for that, and a dozen other reasons that he avoided violence as much as possible. It was simply not his way. If he could drive off a danger with trickery, or bribery or reasoning he would chose that path nearly every time, with only rare exception. He knew the price of letting anger rule decisions, or letting blind passion or hate color his actions.

He began to work his illusion magic on the rocks. By the time he was done, the rocks were all a deep black, and looked like the darkness of night. He even illusioned them to have a speckling of stars. He flew around them several times, and made small adjustments. When at last he was finished, the ravine seemed like it was several times wider than it was. Only because he had worked the magics himself was he able to see a faint glint, a slight outline of where the rocks truly were. Still, he would need to aim for the dead center, and pull his wings tight to his body when he passed through.

When he was sure the magics would hold on their own for hours at least, he took to the air again, flying back toward the lair. Now, it was not such a concern if he was seen approaching. In fact, he would soon need to make sure this other dragon knew he was there. He landed, brazenly in front of it, only about four of his body lengths back. He found a rock, a bit bigger than a human head, and carefully illusioned it to look like a small fancy gilded chest.

Another rock, a bit smaller but not by much, he sent hurling down the entrance.

“I’m not sure which is worse, your ugliness, or how slow and stupid you clearly are.” he said, projecting his voice down the opening. He did not have to wait long.

There was a low rumble, and a few pebbles fell from the lip of the cave. Claws scraped on stone. Merin realized this dragon was large enough he had to crawl out of the lair. Of course that made sense, she would have dug the tunnel portion to be the right size for her to walk down, with the opening just a bit smaller so it was less conspicuous. Most dragons hid their lair to some degree, Merin’s was hidden with far more care simply because he would sometimes leave it for years at a time. It was another trait that made him unusual, as your average dragon spent more time near their lair than away from it.

The dragon that squeezed his way out of the opening was indeed at least as large as Mez had suggested. He was a mottled teal-green, heavier of build than she was, with ram-like horns but without a mane. He was quite similar to her otherwise, with roughly the same head shape, a strong thick neck and darker underside, but as Merin had suspected he did not seem to be quite the same species, but were clearly closely related.

Fangs flashed, and the dragon’s eyes were an intense lantern yellow. Merin took a few steps back, and put a foot on the ‘chest’

“How did you manage to overlook me? I could have stolen half your damn hoard?”

The voice was a low rumbling growl. “You pathetic runt! You’ve taken nothing from me. But I will still kill you just the same.. I’ve killed dragons twice your size because I was bored, what do you think I will do to you?

“Then what is this?” Merin drummed his claws on the stone, which now sounded like it was made of wood.

“How did you get that? Is that mine?” The male snarled, pulling himself out the rest of the way. Merin’s heart was drumming in his chest. This other dragon would have normally terrified him had he encountered him suddenly in the open. The beast’s eyes were brimming with malice. His jaws could have crushed Merin’s skull or bitten his head clean off without much effort.

“Yes it’s yours. Well no. It’s not because you stole it first, remember?. Also I’ll come get the rest, once I get rid of you.” He breathed out, and blew a stream of sleep gas into the dragon’s face.

Now, he knew the gas would do next to nothing to a dragon of that size, especially when it wasn’t even a full blast. However, it was not meant to do much beyond antagonize him further. To a small degree Merin knew it would likely irritate his eyes a bit. Briefly it might blur the dragon’s vision and mildly cloud his thoughts, that too, would work to his advantage right now. Merin leaned down, grabbed the ‘chest’ in his jaws and bolted to the side, just as the dragon lunged at him, mouth open wide, some sort of bizarre acrid fire that was a bright green, spilling from his maw. Merin suspected it was really some sort of corrosive acidic gas, that caught fire in contact with air.

Merin got into the air faster, being much smaller and lighter and having more room for a running start. He dared a glance back and saw that the male was indeed giving chase, he’d had to take about six or seven bounds with wings flapping, and was starting to rise up from the ground.

Merin could have flown much faster, he could have outdistanced the dragon and forced him to give up chase within moments, but he paced himself. He let the other keep up, and as they reached a greater height and shot for the cliffs, he let him start to gain just a little. He dropped the rock once he was sure the dragon was determined to run him down and catch him. He hadn’t even been sure it would be needed but every little bit helped when he needed another dragon in a blind rage.

This dragon was not fast in the air. He was too heavy, and meant for using brute strength and raw power when faced with another. He was likely accustomed to being able to just physically overpower or intimidate most. He was clearly not accustomed to dealing with someone like Merin.

The cliff loomed up ahead, Merin could see it, the broad fake gap in the ravine, and the faint shimmer that only he could see, that reminded him where the space really was and just how small it was.

The other male was close, close enough Merin risked a blast from his acidic flames. He flailed his wings wildly, and pretended to be struggling in mid air. He let the other gain just a little more, as he made his way toward the gap.

Had he not tried to go through the narrowest part where it tapered, but instead went up higher near the top, the male chasing him might try and go over, instead. But, with Merin almost within reach, he would not want to lose the bit of ground he’d gained and risk letting the ‘thief’ escape. When they were mere seconds from reaching the gap, Merin suddenly ‘recovered’ from his exhaustion and shot forward, two pumps of his wings giving him a sudden burst of speed, and then he pulled his wings and legs in tight to his body. He passed through the gap, although he had slightly misjudged his angle. His tail, scraped roughly, striking one side of the ‘invisible’ wall of jagged rock.

Only two heartbeats later came the horrible and sickening sound of a great weight smashing into rock. A bellowing roar, and a snapping sound like trees being broken in two echoed through the air. Merin banked around wide, and came up over the top of the cliff. The impact had been enough to dispell the illusion completely, and several sections of rock were breaking away and sliding down the cliff side.

He could hear more crashing, more rumbling and scraping as a small rock slide began.
He was there in time to catch the very end of the dragon’s fall, as he rolled and slid, finally coming to a stop and laying mostly on his side. He did not move.

Merin flew down and landed on a large jutting section of stone, that put him looming over the other by about fifteen paces. He still did not want to be within reach of him, just in case he was capable of lashing out still. Blood oozed from more than a dozen places on the massive body, and both wings were snapped and bent at terrible angles. There was a moment when he thought he might have killed him. What if he’d broken his neck in the fall? But then, with a shuddering breath the dragon tried to heave himself to his feet, head down.

“I could have killed you, if that was what I wanted.” Merin said, standing tall, and gazing down at the larger male he’d just brought down. The dragon lifted his head, one side of it a mass of torn scales and blood.

“.. What.. did.. How...” He seemed disoriented, even a bit frightened and was clearly in a great deal of pain.

“But you are going to leave here. You will not be able to fly for some time, perhaps not ever, but you will live. The lesson you will take from this is to never again take what belongs to another. If you do, I will know. I will find you.” That last part was a lie, but at this point he felt the other dragon would believe most anything. He could not make sense of how he’d been struck down, only that it seemed to be the smaller dragon’s doing.

“You brought this on yourself with your greed. If you had not been--”

The rock that struck the other dragon was about the size of a sheep perhaps. It was not massive, but it had fallen from a great height. It smashed into his back, splitting flesh and scale wide open and surely damaging his spine.

Merin’s first thought was that it had fallen from the cliffs above, and he cringed backwards, ready to retreat, least he risk being struck as well. A shadow passed over him and he looked up, stricken with a sudden jolt of panic.

Mez landed before the male, who was now struggling in a feeble manner, front legs scrabbling, his back end limp and motionless. The bellows coming from him were purely fear and agony now. Merin opened his mouth, about to protest, when an enraged roar burst from the Dragoness, and she snapped like a rabid dog at the downed male.

Green even more vivid than the Male’s breath weapon burst from her, this, more like a thick liquid flame. He struggled, the substance sticking to him, his open maw meaning it got into his mouth and throat. He made a strangled pathetic whistling wheeze, his eyes burned away to sockets and the scales melting away from his skull. Merin, horrified was rooted to the spot as she vomited the liquid fire over him again, and then lunged, clawing and biting as him as he twitched and shuddered his last.. He was dead, there was no way he could still be alive, but still she tore at him, roaring again so hard that Merin nearly bolted from the sight and the sound of it all.

She was speaking, half in common and half in a dialect of draconic he was less familiar with, screaming and bellowing the words in between roars and.. what was a near mournful keening. He caught only a word here and there. ‘Took everything’ ‘Loved you’ ‘betrayed me’ ‘killed her’

She did not stop until the corpse was barely recognizable. Merin slipped down off the rocks, and was prepared to just quietly slip away. She had stopped at last, head down, sides heaving.

He did not make it far.

“YOU.” Her voice boomed, brimming with rage and hurt.

He froze in his tracks, and then crouched low, pressing himself to the ground.

He had already begun to feel a vague stab of guilt over the condition he’d put the other male in. He’d meant to injure him enough to keep him from flying, and make it where a retreat and time spent healing was the only logical tactic to follow. Even if this other dragon was clearly in the wrong, it did not make it acceptable for Merin to sentence him to death. Merin did not see it as his place to make a decision like that. It was that line of thinking, considering himself above others, fit to judge them and dole out punishment for wrongdoing, that had lead to the most tragic mistake he’d ever made. He did not kill unless there was no other choice. It was a personal code that kept him from becoming something he did not want to be. Sometimes, his reluctance to take more aggressive action lead to more trouble, but he often found that in the long run, he had indeed made the right choice. All he could ever do was what he felt was best, what was the closest to ‘good’ and caused the least harm, weighed against what benefited others the most.

He was under the impression the dragon had just driven her off from her hoard. He was a bullying brute, but that was far too typical a thing to find in dragons, especially large ones. He always had to keep in mind that Fer had once been that way. Fer had been aggressive and brutal, and would have thought nothing of killing a lesser dragon once to take what was theirs. It only took being shown a better way to change that.

But, he realized he’d made a mistake. She was far too upset. She was enraged and he then realized heartbroken. This dragon had done far more, and from what he gathered, killed someone dear to her. Had they been.. close once as well?

“Why did you do that?” She said, low and seething. Why were you going to let him live?”

He spoke slowly and carefully. “I was asked to get rid of him, not kill him. I did not think it my place to end a life.”

She snapped at him, still more than a head-length away from actually making contact with his scales, but it got the point across.

“You have no idea! You have no idea what he did, yet you think yourself so damn noble! You were going to let that.. monster walk away!” a snarl followed, and she reached out with talons, as though she’d almost wanted to strike him, but had checked herself.

“Instead, you got to end his life yourself.” He said, calmly, still not raising up from the ground. “I merely injured him for you. The right to his life was yours, not mine. I misjudged the situation, and for that I am sorry, but he did not walk away. You were able to see to that.”

She fell silent for a moment, and Merin could tell the mood that had already started to shift in her was building to a peak. She’d been more angry than grief stricken, and now it was the sorrow that was welling up in her.

She whirled suddenly and bound away, breaking into a low gliding flight.

Merin stood on aching and tired legs, and took a slow deep breath, and released it.



Chapter Two:

For a moment he almost just flew away. He nearly left her, taking off to go find Ees, and leaving her alone to grieve whoever she had lost. Guilt tugged at him however. He took to the air, but not to go back to his friend, rather he began gliding over the foothills and a bit up into the mountains once he was some distance away.

It took a while to locate anything worth hunting. There were some big horned sheep, or at least something quite similar to such. Most had taken cover under rocky outcroppings or in denser tree cover, but a few were out grazing in more open areas even at this hour. He managed to strike a glancing blow to a good sized ram, and send it tumbling down the slope. He followed to where it had landed, battered and stunned, and quickly ended it’s life, with a crushing bite to it’s throat. The creature was large, nearly the size of a small horse, which suited his purpose quite well. He could tide himself over on a single deer or sheep, but she was larger than him and needed more food. Not to mention he had to assume she had not been eating well lately, as she’d recently been forced out of her lair and injured.

The creature was heavy, but not too heavy for him to carry that distance. He flew with it, to where he had assumed she would go. Sure enough, he could tell by scent she had gone down into the lair.

He left the ram at the entrance, dropping it into the mouth of the cave, but did not enter. He backed away, and took to the air again. Still, he did not head toward where he’d known Ees to be headed.

He flew a bit further out however, and at this point he knew it would be getting light soon, perhaps within an hour or two. He hunted until he managed to scare up a small deer for himself. He’d been a bit hungry before Ees had come across Mez, and he was famished now. It had taken the adrenaline wearing off and the taste of blood in his mouth for him to realize just how hungry he was.

The deer was not enough for him to get full on, but it at least quieted his stomach for the time being. He took a moment to rest and assess himself. The scrape on his tail was not bad. It had ripped away a few scales, torn a split a few others, and was scabbed over and tender. The soreness in his muscles and joints would pass in a day or two. He was otherwise, remarkably unscathed considering the danger all of this had presented to him.

Again he considered just leaving. She was grieving, and he was still a stranger and was intruding on her territory. Still, he remembered all the times he’d been utterly alone with his own grief. He remembered all the times he’d wished he’d had someone, anyone to just be there and talk to. He remembered how grateful he’d been for Ees being at his side when he was overwhelmed by crushing loss.

He watched the sun come up, and when it was full light he flew back to where he and Ees had been camped. He found his pack, still waiting there for him. Good. He’d been worried that Ees might have picked it up for him. He gently took the strap in his teeth, and flew back to her lair, landing a short distance away. The saddle was there as well, the one he’d modified so that Ees was able to ride more safely. He left it where it was for now.

He shifted down human again. He would have preferred to remain as a dragon for now, but he felt it was needed. It was certainly necessary for what he had planned. He cautiously approached the mouth of the lair once more. He saw that the ram was gone. He listened, and from inside, heard a sound that started out as a low thrum, and rose to a keening high note, a sound that he recognized as the draconic equivalent to wrenching sobs. He frowned, and was deeply relieved he had not simply left her. He barely knew her but the hurt in her resonated with him. His brow furrowed. He knew better than to cross the threshold into her home however. He stepped forward, footfalls light and nearly silent. He seated himself just outside the entrance, on the right side of the opening, back against stone.

He opened his pack and took out two objects. The first, was his lute. He set the instrument down, and dug around, shoulder deep in the bag. Soon, he found what he was looking for, pulling out a box, and from that, a pouch. The box went back into the pack, the pouch he opened, taking out an emerald roughly twice the size of a goose egg. It was not completely translucent and had only been shaped into a slightly faceted oval. It was however, a lovely rich shade of dark green, that was close to the color found on her underside.

He placed it as well at the entrance of the cave. She must have heard or smelled him at that moment, because she went quiet.

“I have left another gift. I know it does not make up for what you have lost, but I wanted to give it to you anyways. A gem that nearly captures the loveliness of your scales.” There was no comment from here.

“I said before that I was a Bard. I would like to play for you, if that is all right?” No answer.

He flexed his fingers and checked his tuning. The melody that drifted down to her was light and sweet. He did not try to play something upbeat and cheerful, most people did not want to hear happy music when they were deeply sad, and even he was one of them. Music that jarred so intensely with one’s mood felt like an offense, an insult. He also did not want to play something too terribly sad, as it would only help her sink deeper. He chose something that was gentle, and perhaps a bit sad, but lovely and flowing. It was a song that he hoped she would find soothing.

He played through that song, another similar one and finally a third more intricate piece, before he realized she had slowly been easing her way toward the mouth of the lair to listen. He played through the third song’s final verse a second time, just a bit slower, before he stopped, lowering the instrument.

“Why are you doing all of this?” she asked quietly, after a lingering silence.

“It’s just who I am, I suppose. The same dragon who foolishly misjudged another and was going to let such a monster walk free, is the same dragon who cannot bare to leave someone alone when they are feeling sad and lost.” He smiled sadly. “It’s a bit of a trade off I suppose. I’m an idiot about some things but I swear to you I mean well, and want to help you.”

Slowly she came out into the open, and laid down in front of him. She had gently picked up the emerald in her mouth, and set it on the ground, half cradling it with one talon. “It.. is a beautiful stone. Thank you.”

“It was the most beautiful stone I had, and therefore the only one suitable to give to you.” he said simply. It was not even an attempt to win her over with flattery, just simple honesty. If he’d had a stone four times the value of that one, that would have been the one he gave her.

She was staring at him openly now, but did not speak again. He picked up the lute and began to play another soothing melody, fingers moving over the strings with a practiced effortless grace. He paused when he reached the end of it, giving her a chance to speak if she wished, without interrupting his music.

“He killed my sister. Only, I did not know it was him back then.” Her tone had gone flat and was barely above a whisper. For the most part she just sounded weary, down to her bones.

“I found her dead, and he came to me, injured. He told me a story of how he had battled this Red, and he was certain the Red was who had killed her. He had driven it off. He had not realized it had already killed her and he was sorry. He seemed… Sincere.”

Merin remained silent, just letting her tell him as much as she wished to.

“I was alone and filled with grief. I didn’t want to be alone.. He took me as his mate and it helped for a time. He was kind at first, but he slowly grew more harsh and cold toward me.” She made a sound that was almost a laugh, a bitter bark of one.

“I actually believed it was something I was doing wrong at first. Somehow I was responsible for him not showering me with affection and love.” Her expression hardened. But I grew suspicious. It was too sudden of a change, and he’d been spending more and more time away. He said he just wanted to hunt, or needed to stretch his wings, but he rarely brought anything back, and one time I swore he smelt like another Dragoness. I tried to confront him about it and he attacked me.”

Merin almost reached out, or scooted closer to her. He felt an urge to place a hand on her in a comforting manner, but refrained.

“It was so unexpected, the attack. I knew he was angry, but I had never thought he would strike me. He was my mate, after all, or I thought he was. He hit me hard over the head and it stunned me somewhat. He moved over the top of me and pinned me down. Said he could kill me just as easily as he had killed my sister.”

Merin pulled his lute closer, feeling horrified at this point.

“I snapped, and I fought back with everything I had, but he was stronger and heavier. I managed to burn him with my breath, but he got me as well. I had to flee or I would have died there. I tried several other times...” She trailed off.

“He’s gone now.” Merin managed, quietly.

“But so is my sister, and most of our hoard we had together. And I’ve seen another dragon, a female, that looked like him nearby. I think that’s his real mate. I think this is what they.. do.. or did, anyways.”

“Where is she? Do you know?” Merin sat up a bit straighter.

“She flew off toward the south, probably to wherever their actual lair is. I assume it’s quite far. But I know I have to move, with what little hoard I have left. It’s not just her, after all. The Red.. He did not make that up. We had smelled one, and even saw it a few times. It’s not a very old one, but still old enough to be trouble. I felt safe from it with him here.” She sighed and laid her head down.

“If you wish, I will remain a bit longer and help you however you like.” Merin said. He knew that not even this had won her trust. After all, she’d been betrayed recently by someone she’d trusted dearly.

“No. I can do this on my own, and.. I am glad you came back, Merin.. But I need to spend some time alone.” She did not raise her voice to him, but her tone was firm. She’d already made up her mind.

“I understand.” He inclined his head. “I would like to see you again someday, if that would be allowed?” He wanted to be able to check in with her, to make sure she was all right, was eating enough and had gotten somewhere safe.

“How will you find me, if I am moving elsewhere?”

“Do you know where, roughly you’ll be going?” He asked.

“Over the mountains, and about six days flight from here, there is another crest of mountains. Some high cliffs, similar to the ones you made use of, but paler stone, and it makes lots of shallow shelves, the way the rock has cleaved. I am going to find a place there, on a western face, so that the late day sun will warm the entrance and I can see the sunset. Fly there, and give some sort of signal and I will see you and come to you. But not soon. I need enough time to make two trips. I can carry it all there with that. And I need some time, at least that long to just be alone, I think.” She thought for a moment, while Merin studied the all too familiar pattern in silver etched across his lute.

“A month then?” He offered. She nodded, and the two just sat there in silence for several moments.

At last, she spoke, as though she had taken the time to put her thoughts in order, as to what she wanted to say to him.

“Thank you. I am sorry I shouted at you and threatened you. Even sorry that I frightened your friend.”

He smiled, and only then did he ease forward, and gently touch her muzzle.

“It is all right. If you had not done so, it might not have lead to me being able to help you.” He brushed fingertips over a few of her scales, just a brief light touch, before withdrawing his hand again.

She was not finished however, with what she had to say to him. “When you return to me, I expect a story, Bard, and not just fanciful tales that your kind are known for. I want to know about you, I want to know why you seem to prefer that tiny scaleless squishy form, and the company of humans, and I want to know why you were so eager to help me, even when I was terrible to you and threatened your life.”

He smiled. “I will, and gladly.” he put his lute away in it’s case, and pushed it down into the bag of holding. She gave it a curious look, but stopped him when he started to explain.

“I have a feeling you would sit here and talk until we were both old if I let you. Go. Get back to your friend, or I might decide to see if you taste as nice as you smell.” She seemed to be teasing.. mostly. He stood, and bowed to her.

“Take care of yourself, Mezhkuela.” He stepped back and turned to walk away.

“And you as well.” She called after him.

He walked for a short distance before he shifted, returning to his normal form. He tried to estimate how far Ees would have made it, and it occurred to him that even at a good traveling pace on the road, Merin could catch up in the air, within the hour, especially considering he’d likely stopped at some point during the night, once he’d put at least a few miles between them. He stopped by the campsite to pick up the saddle, and then took to the air. He maintained a swift pace, but not overly rushed. Miles flew by beneath him, and soon enough as the sun had just started to reach it’s zenith, he spotted a lone figure on the worn dirt road that wound through the hills.

The road was just big enough for a single good sized peddler’s cart, and it was littered with patches of scraggly grass, particularly down the middle where the wheels tended to not touch.

He could not help but pick up speed when he saw the loan figure had an instrument case and a worn out old pack across his back, and wore a poncho over his shoulders, in a dark blue color, with white trim. Merin had bought that for him a couple months back, when he saw how worn out his old one was getting.

He dove toward his friend, dipping low, landing and skidding in the hard packed dirt, leaving furrows that would probably raise some questions if someone came along behind them. Ees turned, startled and staggered backwards, nearly falling over before he realized who it was. A hand was pressed over his chest, and his eyes had gone wide. Merin, still a good hundred and fifty paces back, loped up to him, dropping the pack and saddle. Ees took a breath and then grinned, startled but the relief washing over him was clear as well.

Merin slowed once he reached him, and lowered his head down, bumping it against friend’s chest.

“Merin! I was.. worried. I know you said you had it under control, but..” He trailed off and just hugged the dragon around the neck. “You.. were gone longer than I expected.”

“I know. Longer than I expected. And it’s all right. She even says she’s sorry she scared you. She was just.. Upset about something else… If you want to go ahead and get to town first, I can tell you once we are settled, as well as what took me so long.”

It was the sensible solution, rather than standing in the middle of the road, or Merin shifting down to walk with him when they could be in a warm dry tavern with wine and hot food in less than two hours, rather than spending another night out and on foot. Ees put the saddle on, and crawled onto his back.

It was a simple thing really. Merin had taken a large high saddle meant for a large draft horse and had some additional support and padding added under it, and long straps. It went under his chest and around in the front, securing in several places. It had another set of straps where Ees could tie himself on, more or less, so that he was not at risk of falling, and a thick leather loop with knots as a handhold.

Merin was tired and sore, but there would be plenty of time for rest once he was in town. He was relieved to see Ees again, but thoughtful and pensive under that, as well as weary. All of it, everything that had happened recently had been taking a toll on him.

He flew them up high enough that he’d see anyone out on the road long before they saw him. There was a merchant cart leaving the town and only a few miles out. He veered off in the sky and went up higher until he had some low hanging cloud cover. The air was thinner here however, and likely not good for Ees to be in for too long, thus soon as it was all clear, he descended back down to a lower height.

He landed in a cluster of trees some ways off from town. In a bigger city he would land further off, as those were likely to have at least one guard tower keeping watch. Here, he was far less likely to be seen.

Once he was out of the saddle, he shifted down, and they stashed it in some underbrush. He put his pack over his shoulders and they made the short walk, the rest of the way to the town.

Ees was quiet for a moment and Merin for once did not talk his ear off. They were about halfway to their destination when his friend finally spoke up, adjusting the straps of his pack to a more comfortable placement.

“You.. risked your life over me.” he said quietly.

“Maybe just a bit.” Merin said, glancing over and raising one eyebrow.

“No, my friend. Quite a bit. You were willing to trade yourself for me.”

“I could take being chewed on by an angry Dragoness a bit better than you could have. Besides. She was more mad at you. And I was a somewhat more difficult target. Also by surrendering as I did showed her I was no threat. She was angry, not malicious. I’ve met enough of the later to generally be able to judge which is which. It was.. less a sacrifice and more a.. calculated risk?” He smiled a bit tiredly. “Besides. Looking out for you is sort of what I do.” he took a slow breath in, then let it out. “And.. I could not stand the thought of losing you. I drug you along on this trip, after all.” Again, for a moment nothing was said, then Ees sidestepped a little, bringing himself closer to Merin, and slipped an arm around him. Merin did the same. It made walking a bit awkward, but they stayed like that for a few dozen strides.

Chapter Three:


They entered town and found the tavern. It was a small, rustic and cozy thing with only a few patrons in the common room. Merin ordered them wine, and enough food that the tender blinked and raised his eyebrows.

“Is someone else joining you, Master Bard?” He asked.

“No, just us. You’d be surprised how much my friend can eat.”

The food was brought over, two large bowls of mutton stew, and two roasted chickens, as well as a plate of boiled eggs and some semi dry links of sausage, and half a loaf of dark bread, with butter. The jug of wine was a little sweeter than what Merin preferred but the tavern didn’t stock anything closer to his preference.

He waited until he’d put away most of a bowl of stew, and part of one of the roast hens before he was ready to talk. He started from the beginning, explaining how he’d offered her a favor she could call upon, and how she’d requested he rid her of the dragon who’d taken over her lair.

Ees listened intently to the tale, leaning forward and even forgetting about the chicken leg he held in one hand, half raised to his mouth, for several moments. Hearing how Merin had stopped this other male dragon had him wincing ever so slightly.

“It was really clever of you though. How did you think that up?” Ees asked.

“Remember the Glassbridge story?” Merin asked him, and Ees nodded.

“Well it was like that, sort of. I had no chance of being able to face off against him, but he had to be stopped, and the bigger they are, the harder they fall, or harder they smash into an immovable object.”

He was too big for me to fight, not that I am much of a fighter to begin with.. I couldn’t hope to intimidate him like I did with the Harpies in Yveridia. I couldn’t trick him him into leaving, or bribe him. Dragons, or even men like him do not listen to reason, they only can be swayed through force, or having their ‘power’ taken from them. I had to make it where he was unable to fight, and that meant injuring him. Best was to do that was to make him technically do it to himself.”

He picked up his wine cup and took a drink. “So, then it was just a matter of figuring out how best to do that. Trees wouldn’t be enough, but there were mountains close by. Just had to find a spot that would work. Not to mention, I’ve survived for a long time by turning my greatest disadvantage as a dragon into an advantage. Had I been closer to him in size that plan would have never worked, just like I never would have brought down the beast in Glassbridge, if I hadn’t been small enough to fly between the bridge’s supports.”

Ees grinned. “You are too clever for me, my friend.. And too brave. I can’t think straight when I’m in danger. I end up panicking and just wanting to run, or freezing.”

“Well you don’t need to be brave and clever when you’ve got me around. Besides, I’m actually glad to be traveling with someone who doesn’t seem to feel like they have to keep up, and be just as brazen as I am. That puts them in more danger.”

He continued the story, pausing now and then to cram down a few more bites of chicken. Ees had gone back to eating, sopping up the rest of the juice from his stew bowl with a hunk of bread. He stopped again, looking almost a touch ill, when Merin told of Mez violently ending the dragon’s life. He chose to not go into detail, but implied she’d been brutal and overcome with emotion. His friend’s face fell, saddened when Merin told him why she’d reacted in such a way.

“So when you wandered up to her, from what I gather, she was still hiding out after having been injured yet again by him, angry, and deeply sad, but lost on what to do next.” Merin explained. “She’s not too keen on humans but normally she might have just growled and send one running rather than roared and given chase.

Ees rubbed at the back of his head a bit. “You are going to see her again?” Merin had not told him that bit yet, and he blinked.

“In a month. Yes, I said I’d go visit her at the new lair, when she’s had some time alone to grieve and to settle in.”

Ees looked a little uncomfortable and grinned nervously before his expression went serious, although still heavily reluctant, Merin realized. “When you do, could you tell her I am sorry as well..? Both for what happened to her and...” He paused and ducked his head slightly.

Merin blinked. “What..?”

“I.. almost peed on her.” He said in low rushed mutter.

“You.. what..?” He’d just been about to reach for his wine cup again, and froze.

“Not on purpose!” His friend protested. “I had to go, and decided I’d do it into this dry riverbed that was all overgrown and had some dead trees overhanging. I didn’t realize she was sleeping down there.”

Merin tapped his finger on the side of the cup. He pressed his lips together, and his mouth twitched.

“You.. nearly peed on her.” He finally managed, struggling to keep a straight face.

“Well, a little bit might have hit her, it was dark down there.”

Merin tried to hide his expression by taking a drink, but the mental image was getting funnier by the second, he stopped, before he ended up spraying wine, and just ducked his head down, snorting helplessly for a few moments.

Ees let him catch his breath, then added. “I was half a mile away before I stopped to even do up my pants proper.”

Merin buried his face into the crook of his arm and wheezed til his eyes watered, soon Ees had joined him, tried to muffle desperate snorts.

Finally he managed to get himself under control, and rubbed at his eyes. “All right friend. I’ll let her know.”

The weeks passed by quickly.. They played their music in the tavern in that town, and then the next one over. They had some down time for once, Merin realizing Ees probably needed it even more than he needed to take it easy for a little bit. Ees did not thrive of danger and excitement the way Merin did.

They began working on some new material to play together, some of the songs he presented to Ees required two voices to sing them to give the song it’s proper effect and impact. Ees seemed uncomfortable with the idea.

“Ees, I’ve heard you sing, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your voice.” Merin told him, over a hearty dinner one evening. “I don’t know why you won’t sing during a performance.”

“It’s just always been a weaker point of mine, my friend.” He said, fussing over a minor scratch he’d somehow gotten on his instrument. He gently buffed it out and began cleaning the body of the odd long stringed instrument with a bit of oil on a cloth.
“You sing when it’s just us.” Merin pointed out.

“That’s different.” Ees sighed.

“Actually get about four cups of wine in you and you’ll sing quite a bit. Remember when I taught you Deep in the Maiden’s Chamber and you sang three verses before you realized you had half a dozen people standing behind you, staring in absolute horror?”

“Merin this doesn’t make me feel any more encouraged to sing in public.” Ees said, inwardly cringing at the memory.

“Well the horror wasn’t over your voice, that part was perfectly fine, it was because you were way too jovial over the girl being ...fulfilled by two carthorses at once.”

“Would you two gentleman like anything... else..” The barmaid, who had just sauntered up to their table, trailed off as Merin’s words sank in. With wide brown eyes, and a pitcher in the crook of her arm, she simply took three quick steps, backwards away from the table, turned and walked back to the kitchens.

Ees turned his head, watching her walk off, when he turned back to look at his friend, his face had gone red.

“Hmm, looks like you won’t be getting a roast duck out of that one, she’s clearly intimated by virile stallions.” Merin’s voice developed a twinge of mock sadness at his friend’s sudden ‘misfortune.’

“Merin I really wish you’d stop telling women I’m known as “The Stallion of the East.”

“It’s still funny, why would I stop now?” Merin grinned.

It had become a sort of running joke with Merin, for some time now, who so often attracted a great deal of ‘romantic interest’ when he performed as a bard, to try to instead shift the brunt of it to Ees. This meant telling wild stories about his friend’s feats and prowess, both behind closed doors, and just in general.


Merin in the end managed to talk Ees into practicing some singing with him. He even worked with him a bit for several nights on strengthening his voice.

“Your voice is like any other instrument. If you don’t use it you don’t get better with it. And your throat, your vocal chords, think of them like the strings on a lute..” He paused. “All right well it’s not really the same thing but you still manipulate them to get the sound you want.”

Ees agreed to work on those techniques Merin had given him, and the time flew by. Soon, it was time for Merin to head off to find Mez again.

The flight to her new lair was quite a few days even for him. It would take her six days to make that flight, but she was larger than him, heavier and he was certain not as accustomed to flying long distances. The town he’d left Ees in actually bought him about a day’s flight if he flew in a straight line, therefore he was confident he could make it in four, or a bit less.

He had thought it over and had decided he would try to talk her into letting him teach her how to shift. She lived alone now, and being able to travel to civilized areas without causing a panic would help with that. Hiding away in her remote lair, certainly would not. He knew if he could just tell her about Ees and others he’d met and grown to care about, she’d perhaps change her perspective on human-folk at least a little.

He had to admit to himself that he found her attractive, and intriguing. She’d already tugged at some heartstrings when he learned of what she’d endured. Had it not been so soon since the loss of Koal, he thought he might have at least let himself have a passing fancy over courting her, or attempting to. She too, had recently suffered a great loss, and a betrayal of someone she’d felt love for. Even if he had been able to move on at this point, it wouldn’t have been fair to her.

Still, he almost wished things would have been different. She was lovely, fierce and strong, and he already felt some admiration for her, but friendship, was the best he could hope for there.

It was important enough, that on that nearly four day flight, he reviewed that decision and reminded himself of why he made it at least nine times.

It was mid-day when he found the mountain range she had spoken of. He came up over the crest of a hill and spooked about seven or eight adult wild hogs, a few with piglets, out of some dense underbrush. Not wanting to pass up such a wonderful change, he targeted one of the sows that did not have a litter, what he suspected was an older one. The wild pigs here were larger and hardier than much of the ones he’d seen in the past, but they were no match for a dragon. Seizing the body in his jaws, he began to fly big lazy circles around the area she said she was going to be settling in.

He flew for almost half an hour that way, before he saw a plume of green fire coming up from some trees, and she took to the air. She was a bit more graceful in flight that he’d expected. She flew past him, and landed on a rocky outcropping. He followed, landing there as well. He dropped his kill.

“I brought you a little something. All yours, I ate earlier today.” It was actually true, he’d stopped to hunt for himself that morning, so he was hardly hungry.

“How did you know boar is my favorite?” She asked him.

“Well I know now.” He said, certainly filing that but of information away for later, for no particular reason of course.

While she ate, he talked. He told her about being a bard, he told her about Ees and how they met, a few funny stories about them, and he made sure he told her that Ees apologized for what had happened.

“He had no idea you were down there.”

She snorted a bit, but shrugged it off. “We’re even. I think I nearly scared him out of his skin.”

She seemed, more intrigued by his stories than he had expected. He found himself telling her about his earlier adventures in centuries past, and even a little about his early life, how he’d been undersized and for the most part rejected, and how apart from one sister, who was now gone, the only real kindness he’d known early in life was humans.

He did not try to convince her they were all good, as that would be a lie. He compared it to how dragons were. Some were good, some were not, some petty, some kindly and wise.

As she chewed on the pigs bones, crunching them up and eating them as well, he told her about Ees saving his life, first from the crossbow bolt, and then from himself when he almost gave in to his own grief.

“He was there for me when I had no one else. When I felt I’d lost everything. He refused to leave my side, even taking care of me when I wasn’t doing anything for myself.”

He could tell Mez was tempted to ask questions about that, but she refrained. He summed it up, rather than going into detail.

“I lost two. who were dear to me, close together. I could have made myself keep going if it had just only been one of them, but both? Ees was all I had left. He means the world to me and that’s why I put my life on the line for him without a second thought.”

“I was.. too harsh the last time I think.” Mez said thoughtfully.

“No, you were hurting, it’s quite all right.” he noticed she’d finished with the boar, there wasn’t much left but some hunks of skull, and a jawbone, and a few bits of coarse hide and fur.

“Do you want to learn.. How to change your form like I do?” He asked, suddenly.

“I.. you .. could teach me that?” she asked, looking a little puzzled.

“Of course. It takes a bit of time to get the shifting down, but I can at least get you started on that. I could show you human cities, taverns, libraries, all sorts of marvelous things.

“I like how you lump taverns and libraries in together as though they are both equally wonderful.” Her tone had gained a touch of dry amusement.

“Are you trying to say they aren’t?” He flashed a bit of teeth with his grin, tilting his head.

She stretched, and spread her wings wide.

“Well I suppose we might as well head back now.” She said.

“Back.. where?” He asked, puzzled.

“My lair, of course. I’ve decided you are allowed to come inside. Not that there is much left to take anymore. She sighed a little at that.

“If you trust me enough to invite me inside, then I would be honored to accompany you.” He straightened, and gave his own wings a slight stretch, and inclined his head to her.

“Now don’t start that again, I liked you better now that you weren’t being all uptight, formal and near groveling.”

He grinned. “Lead the way, My Lady.” and he did his best to mimic a bow, even curling one front foot up to his chest.

“You think I won’t bite you, but keep that up and I will.” She teased.

“Is that suppose to ..persuade me to stop?” He shot back, almost as a reflex before he realized what he’d just said. He blinked, going still. She stared at him, expression unreadable for a moment.

“Right. Lair. This way..” She turned and took a few bounds, leaped, several flaps of her wings carrying her toward one of the steep walls of a cliff.

He followed, mentally kicking himself for not being able to resist a flirty quip.















Chapter Four:

Her lair was well hidden, it was a good four hundred or so paces up a sheer wall of rock that was heavily chalky. What looked like just a shallow natural recess in the rock, where a section had broken away, actually had a sharply veering and downward slanting passageway in it, that was just big enough for her to duck down and squeeze through. It curved back in a c-shape, heading more toward the center of the great mass of rock. From the ground bellow, or flying above it would be nearly impossible to spot.

“Consider me mildly jealous of your spot. Another dragon could almost fly right into it before they saw it, if they didn’t know what to look for, yet you can see for miles.” He told her.

“That was more or less the idea.” She called over her shoulder, as the passageway flared out and she was able to stand properly. “There was already a shallow cave here, but I was able to chisel it out and enlarge it.. Got lucky, as I was digging I broke through into a larger passageway that was completely closed off otherwise.”

He soon saw what she meant, the cave she led him into had a ceiling that was a good twenty five foot high. The floor was smooth and flat over much of it, although with several concave areas. She’d dug out a little alcove, where her hoard was being displayed, now painfully small. He paused and looked, sniffed a couple times at the sprinkling of gold, some gems, jewelry and various odds and ends that were typical for a dragon to hoard. He frowned inwardly. She really had lost most of everything. He kept moving

Had he ignored her treasure on display completely, he felt that might have seemed suspicious, as much or perhaps even more than if he’d seemed far too interested in it. He found himself wondering where the gem he’d given her was. He hadn’t seen it with the rest.

There was not much else. She’d clearly spent a lot of time cleaning it out, there was no debris, and no dampness. She showed him where she’d made a side tunnel for air flow, that could be blocked with a heavy rock when needed.

“It looks wonderful.” He told her.

“It looks empty.” she answered, a touch sadly.

“That’s easy enough to fix.” He began. “I usually put a large sand pile in all of mine, it’s nicer for laying on than plain stone.”

“All of yours?” She asked, head swiveling around to him.

“Well, I have my main one.. My real lair, but it’s out in the middle of the desert, and hard to reach. So, I tend to have a few smaller lairs in different parts of the world I can retreat to. I don’t keep much in them though, pile of sand to sleep in, pouch of gold hidden somewhere in case of emergency, a pack with a few changes of clothes. Things like that, so if I ever end up in a fix, I don’t have to make a several week trip into the middle of nowhere.

“I see.” She said, nodding. He’d thought for a moment she’d be annoyed at the idea of him having many lairs, when she barely had one, thankfully that did not seem to be the case.

“All right. Sand. I can see where that would be better than just cool stone, which tends to get damp too. What else?”

“Some tapestries for the walls. Don’t have to cover all of them just some spots. It will help break up all the pale grey-ish stone. Some rugs too. Since you’ve got some circulation, maybe a few large braziers. Even just having a few little fires going will make a big difference in the temperature. The rest of what I’d do only really works for if you want to shift to your human form while here. I love having a pile of pillows to lay on, some books, and of course my instruments with me, if I’m going to be holed up in a lair for a while.

“All right, now about this shifting..” She began. He sat down on his haunches, and tried to best think of where to begin.

You’ll need to decide how you will want to look. The way I was first taught, you more or less had to create your own face, mentally in your head. It was quite complex, making a full map of sorts of what you wanted to look like. I’ve sense learned a variation of the spellforms that will grant you a human or humanoid form, and your own thoughts and preferences will influence the creation, but it more or less happens on it’s own.” He had occasionally wondered how he might have looked if he’d done it more that way. If the dragon was more familiar with being around humans, he might still teach that method, but she’d had only the occasional bit of contact with any sort of human-like folk.

“So you need to think about how you’d like to look.” He told her.

“I don’t want to look completely human.” She said, right off. “I.. don’t want human flesh color. I want to keep my horns and my tail.”

“Well you could be dark skinned, rather than fair, that’s easy enough.” He began. He thought she’d look quite striking with her pale eyes, and reddish hair, but a rich mocha or brown flesh. “The horns.. well it should just be a bit of trouble in some parts of the world.” He thought. “Some humans can be a bit .. easily upset, by things that are different.”

“I want to be green.” She said sharply. “Like I am now. And I do not wish to look soft and weak. And I do not care if someone else doesn’t like my horns. I like them and I am keeping them.” Merin thought if she got anymore direct in her demands, she’d start stamping a foot with each one.

“I like them too.” He said quietly, and suddenly realized he’d said that out loud. He quickly continued.

“All right.. Anything else?”

“Taller than you.” She said, and now seemed to be smirking.

“Also can be done. However, I will tell you that I’m considered quite tall for a human. If you go much taller than me, you’ll be even more out of place and might catch your horns on door frames and such.”

“Just a little taller than you, then.”

Merin sighed a little but inwardly, he smiled. “Anything else?”

“That should do it. What do I have to do..?” she asked him.

“Just picture all those things in your mind as strongly as you can, when it’s time, it will help. You also will need to decide what your amulet will look like.” At her puzzled expression, he continued, explaining how the amulet contained the excess energy, her draconic essence, and how it would only manifest while she was shifted down.
She opted for it to take on the appearance of a large emerald, bordered in gold. Merin told her that he would focus on that part, she just needed to keep the physical traits she wanted in mind. He would also help guide that, while working the magics.

He shifted down first, as it would be easier for him to guide her shift, although only mildly. He thought perhaps it might be more of a mental thing. Not to mention it seemed rude to remain in his larger form when she was shifting down for the first time.

It was more difficult than it had been in the past, perhaps because she was not very experienced with magics, but had so many specific requests. It did not help that much of his Arcane magic had been weakening slowly over time, while illusion and a few other things kept getting stronger. It was mostly illusion, it had taken some time for it to really sink in, but he’d eventually become aware of how effortless it was now, for him to cast complex illusion magics. Things he’d never thought he’d be able to do in the past were now second nature.

A few hard fast rules were still in place that he’d not been able to overcome. It was difficult to make any major changes to his own appearance. He could briefly make his hair seem different, or his clothing but it required that he remain aware at all times of the change he wanted to manifest. He could easily make an illusionary version of himself, but it was difficult to do with another person, at least until he knew them exceptionally well, and even then the illusion remained most real for him alone. He had after all, in that time spent trapped in another world, more or less lived with a version of Koal created by his own mind and illusion magics. That had perhaps been the clearest sign of how far he’d slipped toward madness.

Still, he was able to manage. He poured all his focus into guiding the shift, it was mostly his magic, mingled with some of hers, but it had to be him doing most of the spellwork, as it would have taken a week or more at the very least to teach it to her.

The first time shifting was always the hardest. There were spellforms that had to be woven only during that first shift, from then on, the humanoid form would somewhat ‘lock’ in place inside the dragon. It was like being able to remember something more clearly and in exact detail because you’d written it down. This, was the ‘writing’ portion of the magic.

Golden-orange and green magics swirled around her, as the form of the dragoness was enveloped in an intense glow. Holding onto so many different strands of complex and potent magical energy at once was starting to wear on him. He had clenched his jaw in determination, brow furrowed with his concentration as her form shrank down and the shape changed, two legs instead of four, a human-like outline rather than a draconic one.

For a few seconds she was made of molten gold and deep green energy, in the vague shape of a human-like woman, and about eight foot tall, and then she snapped down into a proper size, and the glow faded from her. She swayed and started to fall, but without thinking he rushed forward several steps and caught her. Eyes wide, clearly disoriented, she scrabbled and grabbed onto him, trying to dig in with talons that were now merely short blunt nails. For a moment she hung onto him as though he was the only piece of driftwood in a raging river or, as though he was the edge of a precipice and below her lay a vast chasm.

He had complimented her visually, admitting to how beautiful he’d found her, but that had been nothing compared to her scent. Dragons were far more guided by scent than appearance, and hers was nearly intoxicating to him. That had not changed with her shift in form.

“… what… is.. why won’t my legs work..?” she breathed out.

“It’s fine, they do, they just work differently now. I’m going to help you sit down.” He said gently. Her eyes were wide, and she was inches from his face. Her fingertips were leaving indentations and possibly, bruises on his shoulders. She was as tense and rigid as a board, well save for the part of her body that was not, her chest was squished against his, firmly.

“Relax. I cant help you down with your legs locked, we’re going to fall if we try.”

It took a moment longer before she managed to relax enough and he lowered her to the ground slowly.

He eased back a bit, even crab-crawling a couple paces away, then sitting with his legs folded in front of him. She sat, a bit sprawled, hands splayed out against the stone.

Her flesh was the same color as her scales had been, well over half of it had a slight texturing that took on a pattern highly similar to scales. For a moment he was fascinated by that aspect alone, as thought her skin was halfway between scales and flesh. He found himself wondering for a moment what it felt like, and then quickly forced those thoughts out of his head.

He was not attracted to a human shape, for being what it was, breasts and curves and bared legs did nothing for him. He could appreciate a finally shaped body from an aesthetic, or perhaps artistic standpoint, but human skin and form was not sexual to him. He had been attracted to Koal’s human body because it was her, rather than because of any particular feature of her form.

Her shape, was however close to perfect in so many ways, from the ratio of her chest, waist and hips, to the clear muscle definition of her arms, legs and the slight lines of muscle tone on her stomach. Her legs were long and shapely, every part of her in a near divine proportion without being exaggerated in any way. Her facial features were lovely as well, and her ears were elongated and elf like. Her hair was the same color as her mane, and while it was fairly short, it was thick and wild. Even though it might present a problem at some point, he realized he was glad she’d chosen to have horns. It complimented her appearance perfectly. A slender spade tail, lashed behind her, reminding him of a cat who’d been recently spooked but was trying to play it off.

It took a few moments before she had collected herself, and he helped her to her feet, coaxing her through walking. Soon, she was able to do so without looking like a toddler who could barely stay upright, or a drunk. She moved a bit stiffly however, with her hands out to either side.

“It takes a while.” He said, smiling. “I walked a bit funny I believe, for a while. I used to just watch people walk and then try to imitate it. That got me some strange looks.”

It was one of the many little details he’d left out of his narrative when he told Fer, because it really wasn’t that relevant, and he knew the Iron would have just teased him over it. Back then, he’d been a little more reluctant to give his friend additional things to mock. Strange how that had changed, a slow shift where he’d eventually intentionally tell Fer something he could use to make fun of him over. Of course, it was also when they’d been closer, and mocking had become more a running joke between the two of them, firing off insults they didn’t really mean.

The amulet that hung against her chest had a stone brighter than any emerald, it was that same shade of vivid green as her breath weapon, and it was set in a bright, shiny gold medallion.

Once she had walking down, and could even stand up without help, she reminded him that he owed her some stories.

He pulled out pillows from his bag of holding, he almost always kept a dozen or more with him. Most were velvet or silk, some had tassels on the corner, and most were large enough to provide a comfortable seat on the floor simply on their own. The majority were square, but some were round, and some were a cylinder, meant to be back support when piled up with others. He kept going until he had nearly two dozen, and arranged them. She grinned, a toothy wide sort of grin that other people probably would have found a bit unnerving, and crawled into the pillow pile he’d created, wiggling until she’d made herself comfortable. He joined her, pulling out one of his cloaks.

“I thought you might be feeling a little cold, try this, it’s enchanted.” He draped the cloak around her. The intent was both to keep her warmer, as he worried she would be getting a slight chill, and because his eyes kept getting drawn to the scale like patterns on her body, and worse, down between her thighs. Not having much experience being in a human shaped body, she naturally took to a comfortable seated position that was what many would have called highly ‘un-lady-like’ She lay back against the cushions, slightly sprawled, and facing toward him, ignorant of the suggestiveness of her pose. It made him uncomfortable in ways he was not about to explain to her.

The cloak was enchanted to give off a small amount of warmth, small stone and copper disks, the size of a man’s thumb nail were sewn between the cloak’s two layers, and there were perhaps twenty spaced through the entire garment. They would go almost unnoticed, but when the cloak was being worn, it would put off a tiny bit of heat, just enough that the whole cloak would start to feel like it had been left out in the sun for a bit.

He poured wine for the both of them and had her try it, not even minding when she ended up sloshing a bit on his cloak.

“It’s strange, this drink.” she said, after sipping it and making a bit of a face. “You.. like this? It smells a bit like berries that have gone bad.”

“It takes a bit of getting used to. I suppose it grew on me. I didn’t like it so much myself, not at first. It helps my throat a bit when I sing though, so long as it’s not the sweet kind.”

For hours they simply sat there, sharing stories. She talked a bit about her old life, her family, her sister. They’d been close since they were hatchlings, and had stuck together when they were old enough to leave her home lair. She’d lost track of the rest of her family since then.

He told her more about his early life, he told her the story of defeating the two Blues, when he was young. Stories about Adan, and Taliesin, the places he’d been, more stories about adventures he and Ees had. He even told her about Fer, but he never once uttered Koal’s name or made mention of her. It.. seemed not the right time to bring it up, and speaking of her still conjured up a great deal of pain. While he missed Fer dearly, the Iron did not feel quite as ‘gone’ as he was still in this world, living the life he’d chosen for himself. He did not know what had become of Koal, if she was happy, or even still alive, and that haunted him. He wondered if it always would or if he would ever make peace with her memory and the somewhat strange and often rocky relationship they’d had.

She soon he ended up playing music for her, and even singing this time. She was enthralled by the sound of it, having never heard such a thing before. He fought with his compulsion to not show off, before giving in and performing ‘Lord of the Wind for her. By the end of it she’d moved closer to him, staring, transfixed, before she seemed to catch herself and hastily sit back, slouching against the pillows.

He found her far too easy to talk to, and he began telling her more about human towns and cities, and just general things about how pretending to be one of them worked.

“This has all been wonderful, Merin and thank you for being so generous, but.. I’m not ready. I don’t think I could go walk around among all those humans, on their streets and pretend I’m not a dragon. Just.. not yet. Maybe some day. I am glad you showed me this, shifting business thought.”

He felt a twinge of sadness over this but it occurred to him that it was for the best. Guilt was plaguing him. In his front, inner coat pocket was the locket he carried in memory of his Mate. He could feel it when he moved a certain way, the shape of it pressing against the right side of his chest. It felt heavier than it normally did, as though it was trying to remind him of it’s presence.

He desired Mez, and that made him feel terrible about himself, and frightened him a bit too. It was too soon after the loss of Koal, he’d not so long ago thought that he could never hold feelings for another ever again. Was he just that lonely and desperate deep down that the first dragoness he spent any amount of time with since, had him barely able to focus on anything else but laying with her?

He told her he understood, and he would gladly come back and visit her from time to time, and she was welcome to change her mind at any point, or never. He would never pressure her over coming with him, only welcome her gladly if she chose to. That hurt him as well, because already the thoughts were forming in his mind.

He needed to leave. Run away from her and not look back. But, how could he? He battled with himself on this, and to keep her from suspecting, began playing more music, first a lively jig, that had her swaying slightly with the tempo, and him promising that one day, he could teach her to dance if she wished. (and mentally kicking himself for another lie) Afterwards, he moved on to slower pieces, and finally soothing music that had her relaxing back, staring up into the darkness above, and her eyes starting to droop.

She drifted off to sleep, and he played for a little while longer.

He put his lute away, and corked what was left of the wine bottle, but left it there, along with the lovely brass cup he’d filled for her. He put about half the pillows away back into his pack, but left any of the ones that would disturb her even slightly if he moved them. He was losing a few favorites in his pillow collection, and that cloak as well, was a favorite, but it seemed a fitting ‘punishment’ for his behavior, his amorous thoughts and the fact that he was running away, more or less abandoning her.

He figured she would probably shift back in her sleep. She’d wake up, be back in her normal form, and she’d go about her life. He was actually surprised that she hadn’t started to shift back already, once she’d relaxed and drifted off. Shifts never lasted long the first few times one tried, the slightest thing made you loose it and revert back to your natural form.

He knew he should come back and see her at some point, perhaps after another month, but he was not sure if he’d be able to bring himself to do such, if only because he so badly wanted to turn right back around and walk back in there to be near her.

He ran from his guilt, but it only got worse as he shifted, hung his pack around his neck, and took to the sky. It would be sunrise in a couple hours, and although he did not need to hurry, once he was more than about a mile away, he found himself flying as hard as he could, as though something was giving chase. He flew, pressing as hard as he could, until the sun had come up, and the sky was fully light again. His wings were starting to ache and burn. Still, he kept on for a couple more miles, and finally slowed, then landed in the first clump of trees he came to, so he would have some cover while he rested.

He needed rest, as he’d not slept hardly at all for almost a week now. He lay for hours, tormented by his own thoughts and his memories. At last, close to mid afternoon, he finally drifted off.

When he awoke it was dark again. He thought it was some time after midnight perhaps. His dreams had been plagued, by both Mez, and for the first time in some time, Koal. His own guilty conscience perhaps, had conjured her back up, and she’d seemed angry, sad and disappointed with him all at once.

He flew for perhaps fifty miles or so, at a less hurried pace before his hunger began to gnaw at him. He found a good remote and wild area to hunt, well away from the main road he’d been using as a guide, and once he’d brought down a good sized deer and eaten it, he was back in the air once more.

Although he’d started out at a faster pace, the trip back had taken him two extra days, because he’d stopped a second time to rest after a full day’s flight, and had snagged another meal, although this deer was quite a bit smaller than the first, just a little something to tide him over until he was back with Ees.

When he finally arrived at the town he’d left Ees in, it was full dark yet again. He shifted, and started down the road to the town’s entrance, just over the rise of a hill. For a moment, he frozen in place, eyes going wide. Was he imagining it, or had he just caught Mez’s scent? He’d been trying not to think of her too much, which meant he kept thinking about her almost constantly. He looked around wildly, half expecting her to come sailing down out of the sky, or storm out from behind some trees.

It dawned on him, seconds later. He lifted up the finely embroidered tunic he wore and breathed in. He’d been in her lair, he’d held her when she first shifted, and they’d lay near each other for hours. His clothing smelt of her. Shifting from the mouth of her cave, and departing, spending the whole journey back as a dragon, it had trapped the scent in his clothes as it had been while he was still there.

Chapter Five:


Ees was still up when he found the Tavern, he was seated at a back table, instrument laying nearby, nursing a mug of ale, with an empty pie tin in front of him.

“A whole pie?” Merin said, stepping up beside the table. “You know those are suppose to serve five or six people, right?”

Ees looked up and grinned. “This coming from someone who once ate three entire roast chickens in one night.” he stood, and the two embraced, Merin careful to not squeeze him as much as his hugs normally tended to, as clearly he was full of ale and pie.

“How did the trip go, my friend?” Ees asked, as they both took a seat at the table.

He was just about to start telling the story when the barmaid arrived at the table. She was pale as milk with wild red curls, kept tied back with a cloth. She was somewhat short, full figured and wearing a dress that was dangerously low cut, with a leather waist cincher to accent her shape. She was all smiles as she spoke to Merin, leaning in and touching his arm. Ees was trying to keep a straight face, as Merin smiled back politely, complementing the string and glass bead bracelet she wore, and asking for food and wine to be brought, as though oblivious to cleavage that nearly bumped into his nose. He tipped her generously, and her eyes widened, and she quickly turned away, muttering a thanks and rushing back toward the kitchens.

“Did you notice?” Merin asked.

“Notice what?” Ees said, muffling a yawn and rubbing his eyes a bit.

“She wasn’t after me, she noticed I was rich.” Merin said. “She was after a generous tip.” He glanced back toward the kitchen, but it would be several moments before she came out.

“Her eyes looked really tired, her clothes have been patched a dozen times or more, and she smells like talc powder and slightly soured milk.. She’s got a small child, possibly an infant, probably some older ones too. Being a barmaid doesn’t pay much.”

Ees frowned. “No, my friend I suppose I wasn’t paying much attention.”

“It’s difficult helping people sometimes. It wouldn’t be acceptable to just hand over a bunch of gold to her. But no one should ever be so in need of coin they are willing to..” He gestured, but fell silent. “I think I can manage to help her though. I just have to be careful about it, step lightly.” He remembered how he’d tried to just throw gold at problems in the past, most often it just made situations worse.

Subconsciously he expected he was extra aware right now of problems that needed fixing, because his own guilt was eating at him, over a decision he had made that was morally the wrong choice. He liked to think himself some sort of hero, and as a brave sort, but running from Mez like that had been cowardly. Because he knew he’d failed elsewhere, do to his own shortcomings, he felt the need to make something else right to make up for it.

When the woman came back with his food, she’d given him a larger than standard portion of mutton, and her eyes were slightly red rimmed.

As he ate he told Ees about Mez, about helping her learn how to shift, but her decision to not come back with him. He summed up the trip, how he’d played music for her and they’d had a nice time. He’d told her some stories and now that she wasn’t hurting and grieving quite as intensely, she was actually quite pleasant company. Ees gave him a searching look a few times, as though expecting him to say more, but did not press the matter. The entire rest of his time at the table, the red haired woman was at his side any time his wine cup dropped below half, and, she brought him some fresh sweet rolls, which he gave to Ees, who stashed them in his pack. Merin also bought a round of drinks for the handful of people still at the bar.

As he had anticipated, she was expecting him to find her later, after things had wound down for the night. She smiled shyly and looked nervous. Clearly, she thought he’d be interested it taking her behind closed doors.

“Look I know.. Why you are doing this, and I just want you to know you don’t have to..” He told her, and she blinked, a bit caught off guard.

“How many children do you have?” He asked.

“Just two.. But what.. does..” She began, brow furrowing.

“And you want what’s best for them, but you are struggling.” She looked ashamed but nodded.

Soon, the truth came out. Her husband had left on a trip, he was suppose to be selling goods in one of the bigger cities. He never returned, and there was no word as to what had happened to him. He’d taken their meager savings, the cart, their horse, and left her with nothing. She’d been pregnant with their second child, that was almost a year ago.

“There is something I want you to do for me then.” He began. “And I don’t want you to question why, or feel guilty or obligated or any of that. I just want you to be able to do right for yourself and your children.” He pressed a leather pouch, heavy with coin into her hand, mostly silver. Too much gold, would arouse suspicion, if she started spending it. That was a lesson he’d learned in the past. He’d given out gold to the poor, only to find they’d been arrested when no one believed it had just been given to them.

She began crying again, and hugged him, through tears saying she didn’t understand. He told her she didn’t need to.

“I didn’t even get your name..” She called after him as he headed off down the hall to his room. He caught what she’d said, but he pretended he’d been out of hearing range.

He felt better, back in the room, tossed his pack down next to the chair and ditched his coat.

Ees was seated on the bed, he’d been repairing a pair of his pants with a needle and thread. Merin always offered to buy him new, but he insisted on wearing the old until they absolutely had to be replaced. He smiled a bit, stuck the needle in a small leather covered ball, and set the pants aside.

“All right friend.” Ees said, dark eyes on him.

“Hm? What is it?” Merin turned and looked at him.

“What really happened, when you left to go see that Dtagoness?” Merin suddenly felt.. strangely uncomfortable under his friend’s gaze.

“What do you mean?”

“What are you feeling so guilty over?”

Merin was perhaps not even fully aware that he’d been doing it again, or at least not admitting it to himself.

He sighed. He could have denied it, or even said he didn’t want to talk about it, but Ees was his friend, and his dearest friend. Merin had just not been expecting Ees to read him so well.

He flopped down onto the other side of the bed, and sighed.

Once he started talking, the words came easier than he expected, he told Ees the full story this time, he spoke of how he was beginning to feel toward her, and his guilt over the fact that both of them had recently lost a Mate, and how it was not fair to her for him to make any advances even if he could justify it from his own perspective. He admitted how he feared his feelings toward her were more loneliness than anything else, that he thought it spoke poorly of him that he felt that way about the very first Dragoness he encountered, after Koal, and that even though she is gone, it still feels like a betrayal. In addition to all the rest of it, he felt guilt over fleeing while she was asleep, a clearly cowardly way of handling things.

Ees was quiet for several moments after Merin finished speaking. He knew his friend was less impulsive than him. Ees was not reactionary, unless he was bolting out of fear for his life. He was a quieter and gentler sort. While Merin was the older of the two by a couple centuries at least, Ees in some ways was the wiser. He’d lived a different life, and treated his immortality differently from how Merin himself did. In so many ways they were opposites. Merin; flashy, bold and ambitious, seeking out adventure and danger at every turn, meanwhile Ees chose to live as simply as possible, trying not to make waves or even cause ripples when he could manage it.

They were both rather wonderful influences on each other. Merin had helped Ees come out of his shell a bit. He’d become more confident, less afraid. He laughed and joked more, and seemed overall in better health. He also kept Merin in check to some degree. He was a balance to Merin’s chaos and sometimes reckless behavior. He was the first to notice when Merin started to take things too far, let his ego expand a little too much, or get a bit too forceful with his determination to change the world for the better. Merin needed someone to catch his coat-tails now and then, and not just go along for the ride, but get him to slow down.

“No one who knew you then would ever doubt you loved Koal.” His friend said gently. “And I know you miss her. I know that some part of you always will, and you will keep her memory for centuries, even longer.” Ees reached over and lightly set a hand on Merin’s arm.

“But she is gone now, and refusing to take a chance to find happiness, or even a fleeting connection with someone else. You aren’t doing yourself any good that way.”

Merin started to open his mouth to protest, but Ees gently interrupted. “No, not this time, my friend, you will let me finish saying what I want to say.” Merin blinked, and then sagged against the pillows a little. There were probably very few people in this world that could more or less tell Merin to shut up and listen, and he would.

“You refer to that male has having been her ‘mate’ but he wasn’t. Even if she believed it for a while. She had someone betray her trust, and she’s lonely and vulnerable right now. She might even be reaching out for some sort of comfort, even physically.. and that is all right. It’s a way of coping. People do it. I suppose dragons can to. There is nothing wrong with finding something to fill a void.”

“I didn’t say there w..” Ees simply reached over and put a hand over his mouth.

“It is not up to you to decide when it’s right for her to move on. You do not have that right. I know you did not mean it that way, Merin but that’s more or less what you are doing. You are closing yourself off because you feel it’s too soon for the both of you.”

Merin, did not try to interrupt again. The hand had left his mouth only a couple seconds after it had been covered, and his shoulders sagged, as he listened.

“You worry that much of your interest in her is loneliness? Is that such a bad thing? If you both fulfill the same thing for each other, and realize that is what it is, what is wrong with that?” Merin hoped he was done, but of course, he was not. He’d once heard a story about a man who could pass through solid objects. Merin found himself wishing he could sink down through the bed, and perhaps into the floor.

“When we became friends, close friends.. Merin, tell me honestly. Did that make the friendships you’d had in the past not matter?” Merin shook his head. “Did you stop loving Taliesin and remembering him fondly when you found Fer?”

“Of.. course not..” Merin would have been insulted, almost if he didn’t realize where Ees was going with it.

“Love, affection and connections with someone else.. You don’t diminish one when you find another. It’s not a pie you give out and use up.. It just means you are fortunate to be able to have yet another come into your life who will mean something. If, you and ..Mez develop more lasting feelings, it will never make you love Koal less.” Ees sighed. “My friend. You are kind, and generous, and clever, but you are being an absolute ass over this, and you should not have run away.”

Merin sank a little lower still. “Ees, do me a favor?”

“What is it?” Ees said, cutting his eyes over.

He slumped over sideways, resting his head on his friend’s lap.

“Next time I’m being this much of an ass, just punch me in the face. I’d much prefer that.”

Ees smiled, a bit sadly, and smoothed over Merin’s hair with a light fingered touch.

“I suppose this means I need to go back to her.” Merin’s tone was reluctant.

“Yes, my friend it does.”

“But not right now. Not yet.” After all, the short gap between his last two visits was just shy of a month.

“No. I know, you need a bit of time. She probably will too.

“I was thinking, maybe about eight months.”

“Merin….” Ees warned gently.

“Two months…?” Merin said, hopefully.

“A month at the most, considering it takes you.. you said about five days to get there?”

Merin nodded slightly.

“Since you wanted to hit a string of towns to play in, I think we should head that direction. What’s the closest town to her lair?”

Merin rolled to his back, head still resting on Ees’ thigh. He closed his eyes. His mental map of surrounding areas was better than most, being able to travel by air and many times faster than someone could even on horseback. He had an advantage when it came to visualizing regions of the world. He could picture the mountain range, and knew it ran for another thirty miles to the East before it met with the main road going through it’s foothills, off that main road, were more than a dozen towns, and one city. Another smaller road ran alongside that range, and it was spotted with smaller villages and farmlands mostly.

“There is a village with a population of about sixty or so, if I had to guess, about twenty five miles south east from there. I don’t recall the name. Closest actual town is about a day’s easy flight from that. If we took our time and stopped in more or less every town, city or village along the way, we could be to that village in less than a month, easily. Then I can make the short flight over to her lair.”

It would take them the long way around, rather than a straight shot there, which he could make in four days if he really pressed hard.

“Of course, the city we are going to pass through. It’s Tereindar.” Merin mused, opening his eyes and looking up at Ees.

“What’s that? I don’t think I recall that one from your stories.” Ees said, leaning back a little against the headboard of the bed.

Merin reached for his friend’s hand and pulled it back over to his hair again. Ees smiled, and went back to playing with the brassy silken strands, and lightly scritching over his scalp with his fingertips. The remaining bit of tension drained out of Merin, and his eyes slipped closed again for a moment, before he began his story.

“I’m famous there, but it’s been about...” He paused, mentally counting. “Seventeen.. Eighteen years.” He noted. “Awkward amount of time. People will still recognize me, but I clearly should have aged.” Merin frowned a little. “Not sure it would work if I just pretended to be my own son, or something. Makes things awkward, too many people ask questions, or want to know where the old me is. Then I have to spin some story, and before I know it I’m dead in at least twenty different places, all for different reasons.” He grinned. “I’m speaking from experience, it gets weird.”

“Do you want to go around it then?” Ees asked.

“Of course not, I’ll just disguise myself. Done it plenty of times before.” He grinned. “It’s been a while since I’ve pretended to be someone else. Not since our little dinner party where you were a lady.” Ees yawned again and he remembered that his friend had been quite sleepy earlier, and was likely just staying awake for his sake. He supposed they could both do with a nice long rest tonight.

“I even have the hair paste in my bag still. I keep it just in case. And some clothes that don’t quite look like my usual style. And, most importantly, my fiddle.”

“So you are going to keep from being recognized as a famous Bard by dressing as a Bard?”

“What better way to hide than to be a different Bard?” Merin thought it a fantastic plan, it had after all worked in the past just fine.

Sleep didn’t come easy for him, and he was awake a couple hours longer after Ees fell asleep.

He did not bother with his disguise until they were a few more towns away closer to their destination. His fame might have spread a town or two over, but he figured he wouldn’t be well known enough to be recognized outside of that.

Merin brushed a thick black paste through his hair, after carefully putting a clear sweet scented oil around his hairline, to keep it from staining his skin or making a mess. The paste would last for a while, the downside being he’d have to reapply it after shifting. While shifting from dragon back to human didn’t always fully restore things like changes to his hair, it would usually make a noticeable difference. If he cut all his hair off cropped short, within a few shifts it was always right back the way it was suppose to be. If he dyed his hair and shifted, even a permanent dye would start to wear off and be faded out to nothing within three or four shifts.

“Ralos sometimes wears his hair longer than this, but it’s always black.” Merin said, as he used an old bone handed comb, well stained from being used for this exact same thing in the past, to make sure the dye was evenly worked through his hair.

“Ralos?” Ees said. “So this is like.. an alias, character of yours?”

“In a way. It’s an easy way for me to remember than my alter ego isn’t me, and I have to not be me when I’m dressed as him.” He explained. “Which, it’s sort of funny because when I’m in my human form I can’t really be the real me anyways. I’m already taking on a different persona, so this is like a persona within a persona.”

“So what else is there to being Ralos?” Ees asked.

“He wears dark blue and black, and sometimes a bit of silver. He doesn’t sing that often, but if he does it’s simpler stuff and a bit lower range. Damn good at the fiddle though. Honestly sometimes I feel like he’s better at it than I am.” Merin mused, thoughtfully. “He also likes collecting and telling stories.” He carefully wiped away a single spatter of ink from his bare shoulder, before the ink stained it.

“I’ve used the name Ralos before in the past, it wasn’t until some time later that I decided to give that name a different look and instrument.”

Once the dye had set for a few hours, he washed his hair with some water from a nearby creek, he’d warmed with a small bit of magic. Brushed and dried, his hair was a glossy black, nearly blue-black.

The tunic he doned was a midnight blue and black, with just a touch of silvery embroidery at the sleeves and collar. It was fine wool, rather than velvet. Ralos was not near as fancy as Merin. His pants were simple, slightly loose fitting in the legs, and black, and tucked into a plain pair of black boots that came to mid calf. He also wore it in a half pulled back style, with the sides tied back and held with a small silver knot-work clip, and the rest down.

A tiny bit of a thin coppery brown creamy paste was worked into Merin’s skin, his hands, neck and face, darkening his light bronze a few shades darker. Even his eyebrows had been dyed and stood out even more strongly against his face.
The fiddle he used was a rich dark brown that almost seemed black, it was lovely and well kept but almost completely unadorned. It was kept in a hard black leather case.

“So, my friend are you going to tell me what made you so famous there?” Ees asked, as they approached their first town where ‘Ralos’ would be performing.

“I was just passing through, traveling as a Bard as usual, and right away when I made it through the city gates, I noticed something was amiss.” he began, as they continued their leisurely pace down the road.

“People there all seemed subdued and nervous, and some were frantically packing their belongings. I managed to get in during the commotion, but right after that, the guards closed the gates and said no one was to leave yet. It was a small place, really more of a large town than an actual city, but compared to how small most places are around here, it was probably the closest to a real city any of them would ever see. So, it didn’t take long to find some folks in charge. The council, and the Lord and Lady, were all in a meeting, with their Guard Captain.

One thing I’d noticed was that the guards here seemed few and far between, and they all carried wooden rods, rather than swords or maces or anything like that, just a simple stick, with a rounded end basically, and fairly lightweight too. They were unarmored as well, just wearing a uniform.

Tereindar was under leadership that had tried to do away completely with violence of any sort. Oddly enough, it had seemed to be working. There was very little crime, beyond the occasional outsider. Little by little over the years, the Lord and Lady had been sort of weaning people off needing any sort of weapons. Various arts, and trades were heavily promoted, and the place prospered. But, there was a fatal flaw in the plans of Tereindar’s nobility and their council.

Their City Guard had slowly dropped to what was effectively a ‘Watch.’ There was barely any crime after all. Because almost everyone in the place had some valuable trade by the time they were fifteen, the place prospered. Artists, musicians, jewelers, there was a great garden in the center of town rather than a town square. Honestly I wished I’d known about the place sooner, I would have spent a lot of time there.”

Ees had stayed quiet, he tended to when Merin was telling a story. His brow had furrowed however. Merin figured Ees was already suspecting what would happen to a place such as this, when the outside world got involved.

“A Lord from a much larger city from the North, was marching on Tereindar. Knowing the place had next to know defense, they would surround it, ransack it, kill most of the civilians, take the others as slaves to sell to illegal slaving ships, and the invading Lord, planned on taking the daughter of Tereindar’s Lord. While the towns out this way were technically under the rule of Queen Nersana, it was a territory so far out of the way on the outskirts that she only bothered to send tax collectors every four or five years perhaps. Only when she really wanted to pad her kingdom’s coffers a little more. Tereindar had somewhat slipped notice for the most part, back in the capitol, despite being known for all their lovely crafts. Sending word, even on the fastest horses, they would never be able to get an army there in time.”

Ees began to look mildly uncomfortable, as though perhaps the seemingly hopeless situation was conjuring up some memory.

“Even fleeing into the hillsides, they would end up in the middle of nowhere, trying to survive in the wilderness, or many would be run down on the road to the next town. The gates weren’t made to withstand an invasion, even by five hundred men on horseback and maybe a thousand or so troops on foot. They had about two dozen guards with sticks, and a bunch of civilians who had never wielded anything more dangerous than a
paring knife or a chisel. They had nowhere to go, no defense, nothing to look forward to but death, terror or slavery.” A slight sly smile began to play at the corner of his lips.




Chapter Six:


It had taken several hours to convince them, and get them all hidden. The lanterns had all been doused, and the streets were dark. Even most of the animals had been taken indoors, save for the occasional stray chicken or goat. Some people seemed to have just dropped their belongings right there in the middle of the street. The smooth well cared for flagstones were bare, save for the occasional overturned cart, or dropped article of clothing.

The gates stood wide open. Right at their threshold, was an abandoned child’s shoe.

The wall around the city was only about nine foot high. It was just wide enough for someone to comfortably sit on, or walk on if they were a bit daring. As Lord Bavaros and his men approached, there was not a single soul in sight, save for one.

Merin, dressed in a simple white poet’s shirt, and his breeches and boots, sat on the wall, right beside the open gate, waiting on their arrival. He was smiling, and playing his lute, a soft inviting melody. Feet dangling, he drummed his heels lightly against the weathered stone.

A man in heavy armor, armed with a lance and sword, rode up, two men flanking him. The front row of bowmen nocked arrows, at a signal and command from the commander. Four aimed directly at Merin, the rest, focused along the walls, or down the empty street.

“There is no need for any of that, gentlemen.” Merin called down, lowering the lute. “You have already won. I was asked to stay behind, to spread the word, and invite you all within our walls.” He bowed and gestured to the open gate. “Those who did not flee into the hills, desperate to survive, have taken their own lives. Not a soul remains alive inside this place, and it’s riches are all ripe for the taking.”

Another man, heavily armed and armored rode up on a stout warhorse.. He pulled his helmet off, said something to the one beside him. Merin simply continued smiling, and plucked a few notes on his lute. He could hear bits and pieces of the debate, as the higher ranking officers seemed unable to agree on what to do next. One was certain it was a trap, and they should retreat at once, another was angrily suggesting it was clearly all true, and argued that a city full of cowardly weakling artists, musicians and crafts-folk could hardly be suspected to set a trap that would stop an army. The other two, seemed unsure, and pointed out some possible theories. One of which was perhaps word had gotten to the Northern Capitol after all, and far more swiftly than they had expected. Someone could have betrayed them, and sent word before their armies were even ready to depart. A few names were even suggested. The one who’d been for invading anyways, called for Merin to get down from the wall at once, and surrender.

“I am most sorry, gentleman, but that is simply not possible. I gave my word I would remain upon this wall, you see. However I can hear you just fine, if there is something else you wish to speak with me about?”

The army behind the four men were getting restless. The archers were clearly uneasy. There was something about Merin’s far too calm and casual manner that made the whole situation that much more unnerving.

The man in the center, one of the ones who had been uncertain, scowled darkly.

“Shoot him.” he snapped sharply.

There was a few seconds of hesitation.

“There had better be at least five arrows in him, before I can turn around and see who’s not following orders, you worthless ingrates!”

Arrows fired, at least fifteen of them. More than half found their target, however, they passed uselessly through the Bard, who continued sitting there as though nothing had happened, other than the fact the random plinking, had become an eerie and well recognized funeral dirge. He was still smiling.

“What in the...” The man trailed off. Several arches swore, three others shot again as though they couldn’t believe what had just happened, and thought their eyes must have deceived them.

“You weren’t listening earlier. I said.. not a soul who remained, survived.” He grinned widely and the lute vanished. The man on the wall, tore open his white shirt. There was a clear stab wound in his chest, and now his eyes appeared to be simply blank black holes.

“No one is left alive and now you must all join us!” His voice echoed and carried.. a gust of wind picked up. Inside the walls were strange flickers of light. Standing in the gateway, was a girl with one shoe, pale as a sheet, with dead blue eyes and a doll-like face.

“Join us!..” she began shambling toward the men. “Join us forever!” Her mouth opened so wide it took up half her face, her teeth were sharp as daggers. Howls and screeches began sounding from the other side of the walks, cries of ‘Join us’ and terrible clangs and discordant warbles.

Chaos erupted, shouts of ‘Retreat!’ Some of the men further back thought they were charging and started their horses forward, only to be ran into by men who’d turned theirs around to flee. The soldiers on foot threw themselves aside as panicked horses screamed and ran the opposite direction. Some bolted off the road, and headed for the trees, or the foothills to the other side. The ones who weren’t fleeing fast enough found themselves being chased by several wispy spirits flying overhead and diving at them like hawks after rabbits.

It was a disorganized, terror filled retreat, but soon, there was only dust settling. Not a single solider remained. A few had dropped weapons. There was an abandoned horse running around nervously, trailing his reins.

“...Mister.. Merin..?” Came a voice.

Merin looked down from the tree where he’d been hidden the whole time. It grew right alongside the wall, on the inside, making it the perfect position for what he needed to do. Below him, was a man, half hidden under a blanket, still currently illusioned to look like a wood pile on the outside. He was holding an armload of chains of various sizes.

From the wall on the other side of the gate, crawled two lanky boys around fifteen or sixteen. They’d been crouched down behind some crates. Each held a simple horn with a large bell, and sheets of thin copper.

There were a few others as well, each hidden away with hastily grabbed props for sound effects. Merin had cast a minor cantrip on each one that had amplified and distorted the various sounds that could be made from them.

He could have possibly managed all the sounds by himself, but by having more than half of them done by others, he could focus more on the visuals.

Some of the voices calling out had been his doing, some had been the helpers he’d snagged.

While he’d had some minor assistance, it had been him who’d set the plan in motion, worked the minor magics and played the largest role. He’d done it all with mere hours to plan, and prepare.

“.. Is it over?” The man was wild eyed and frightened, he’d gone pale. Merin had told him there would be illusions, but actually seeing them had been a completely different thing compared to just hearing about them.

“It’s over. They are gone.” He grinned, climbing down from the tree.

“Tell everyone they can come out now, but keep the city dark for a couple hours longer at least, just in case..”

“What are you going to do?” Asked one of his younger helpers.

“I’m going to see that the Queen gets word her faithful subjects need her armies, and I’m going to get word to her, within the next three days.”

And that was exactly what he did.

In the end, Lord Bavaros was overthrown and arrested. The Queen sent an army to maintain the peace in the southern tip of her kingdom. She discovered just how much of an asset the half forgotten city was, and how productive their trades were. Of course this meant they now got regular visits from tax collectors, but it was made a crime against the Crown, to threaten residents of Tereindar.

It became popular in the city to paint depictions of spirits and ghouls, some more ‘realistic’ others more comical and whimsical. There was a festival held at the end of summer every year, where such things were celebrated, as was the city’s legendary folk hero, who had vanished that night, never to return.

Of course stories spread, and the tale got wilder and wilder. Some said the Bard himself was a ghost, and that he’d raised long dead spirits up to defend Tereindar in it’s our of need. Retellings of the story usually included a great deal of embellishment. In some, the Bard had called on hundreds of spirits, that had struck down the officers rather than just chased them off. In one version the music he’d played had been what brought the spirits, and he’d turned into a ghost himself and flew at them, or into a bird and simply flew away once his deed was done. In every version of the tale however, they remembered his name, and his face. That was the problem with it being a city of artists. Once they were safe, over a dozen of them had decided to paint, carve or otherwise capture his likeness. If he set foot into that place again, as himself, he would be recognized instantly, or someone would just think him a really good impostor.

Chapter Seven:

Ees shook his head, amazed and perplexed when Merin at last got to the end of the story.

“How did you know it would work?”

“Well, I didn’t know for sure. It was the best I could come up with on short notice. What they had was no chance, and I did what I could to give them a fairly good chance. I thought it was likely to work, that was all. I had a few more desperate tricks to try and save them apart from that, ones I would have preferred not to use. Still, it worked out. A whole army turned away from the gates of a city and not a single life lost.

“And you came up with all of that, right on the spot? My friend, I know you are clever, far more quick thinking that I could ever be, but I find that hard to imagine.”

“The oldest tricks are sometimes the best.” He grinned. “Adan told me a story once, about a General who’s armies were going to be overrun. He had his men all hide inside the Fort, and he came out to surrender and give the Fort over to the enemies. They suspected a trap, and withdrew, which gave enough time for reinforcements to arrive. I’d always liked that story because it was clever. I’d forgotten about it for a while. Never thought I’d have the chance to put it to use.”

“What about the.. ghosts part?” Ees asked.

“That was just me drawing on some other stories I heard. I had a feeling the bluff might not be enough by itself. There would need to be more to it than that. Men, giants, dragons, monsters. All those things can be fought, especially when you have an army behind you. Just about any other sort of frightening illusion I would have sent at them, might have just caused them to fight back. You can’t stab a ghost with a sword or shoot it with arrows. It was the two different tricks working together. I had to unnerve them a little, make them unsure first. While they were still uncertain and suspicious, present them with something worst than they could imagine.”

“Are there really statues and paintings of you in Tereindar?” They had followed the road up a slight rise, and before them lay a small cozy looking town with thatched roofs, and some scattered farmlands to either side.

“Last I heard.” I snuck a peek once about a year later because of the rumors. I’d taken on a much more humble disguise, Brown hair, fake beard, broad brimmed hat. Just so I could have a quick peek. They’d just unveiled my statue.. It actually isn’t even that bad of a likeness.”

Ees laughed. He shook his head again, finally he’d run out of questions, and it seemed had no words for that.

“You laugh, but some day I’ll drag you into some mess and then we’ll both have statues somewhere.” Merin teased.

“Please no, anything but that.” Ees grinned, but also cringed slightly.


Merin, in his guise as Ralos proceeded to play the next two towns, with Ees joining him for most of those performances. ‘Ralos’ was a talented Bard as well, although not quite as versatile as Merin. He was a bit less upbeat, high energy and not bordering on flamboyant as Merin tended to be. While confident and charismatic, he was those things in a slightly darker and more subdued way, keenly focused and just a hair more sharp tongued. Ees admitted he was impressed by how well Merin was able to keep to the character, and at times he was almost fooled. Ralos felt like a different person even to him.

At last they arrived at the gates of Tereindar. Ees stopped for a moment, eyeing the wall, which looked just as Merin had described it. Merin grinned, and pointed at a tree, now more than twice the height of the wall, growing so close it almost touched it.

“There’s the tree I hid in.” He said. “It’s really grown.” He couldn’t help but feel a touch of pride, and nostalgia. The place was familiar, and yet so much had changed, and from what he could tell offhand, it had all changed for the better.

Two men clearly dressed as Bards, with instruments, entering a city where Bards were greatly honored, meant that they had quite a few people greeting them warmly. They were told right off where they would be given lodgings and food for free should they choose to stay there. A woman selling meat and vegetable pies from a cart gave them each one for free.

The city was even more lovely than Merin had remembered it. The streets were still just as well maintained, flowers and flowering shrubs were planted alongside the main road, and flower beds surrounded every tree. Glass and copper wind chimes hung here and there, there was hardly a flat surface of any building that didn’t have large metal or wooden cut outs of suns, stars or animals. If they were missing those, they had large murals painted on them instead.

They found Merin’s statue in the center of the garden. The orchard and  the thick climbing vines, flowering trees and broad leafed plants, all of it was bigger and better than Merin had recalled from his last visit.

The statue was a full fifteen foot tall. It was crafted exceptionally well, finely detailed. It showed the Bard standing with a lute in hand, coat lifted by the wind, grinning and gesturing outwards as though he was casting some sort of spell. The base of the statue was clearly meant to be a section of the city’s outer wall.  

While it was not a perfect likeness, if someone knew Merin fairly well they would be able to tell right away who it was intended to be, even though it was all done from a pale golden tinged marble. Someone had used some sort of staining on the stone to tint his hair, and a few other accents a slightly richer shade so that it stood out more.

There was a small plaque at the base, that was just a simple dedication to the Bard that had saved them all.

“So what do you think?” He asked Ees.

“Your head looks sorta of big.” His friend said thoughtfully, staring up at the statue’s grinning face.

“Taller statues usually do have slightly over-sized proportions on top, so that the head doesn’t look too small when you are standing under it.” He couldn’t help but grin a little however at the subtle jab Ees had made at him.

“Well they’ve certainly accomplished that.” His gaze cut over to Merin. “I am teasing you, friend. It is quite impressive. To think someone carved such a massive hunk of marble to look like you because you meant that much to them.”

They did not linger long. Merin admitted that the fun and excitement of being honored as some sort of legendary, almost deified figure started to wear off rather quickly. This was of course, after he’d asked at least five or six people to tell him the story behind that statue in the gardens.

No two people told it the exact same way, but all seem to have greatly exaggerated the details. They stopped in the general store, and there was a vase at the front counter with a depiction of Merin on the wall painted on it, seeming to be calling up wispy spirits and magic down upon the vague outlines of armored warriors below.

They quickly bought a few supplies for the trip and Merin turned to leave, and that was when Ees asked about the vase. Merin inwardly cringed, and they ended up standing there for yet another retelling of the story, while Ees grinned.

“All right, all right.” Merin said when they were back outside. “It was really fun at first, now it’s just starting to make me feel uncomfortable.” He glanced back over his shoulder, before they turned back onto the main road.

“It was nice to be remembered for something. So often I just blow into a place like a leaf in a gale, do something to help or save them, and then I’m gone and no one ever remembers. So it’s nice to have a place where I wasn’t forgotten.”

Ees nodded thoughtfully. “You live differently than I do, and handle your lifespan in a different way.” Ees had always tried to keep his head down and remain unnoticed.

They continued on the road toward the smaller cluster of villages, once Merin felt it was ‘safe’ to do so he washed the black out of his hair as best he could, and shifted. He flew them past a couple towns and a bit out into the wilderness so Merin could stick to his dragon form for a couple days, and hunt for them both.

They had made a fire and Merin curled up near it, with Ees nestled under one wing, a few blankets and pillows giving him a sort of ‘nest’ Ees had finished eating and reached out to absently trace some scales along Merin’s side, where they where still uneven from scarring.

“My friend I do not think you ever told me how you got this.” Ees said, following the length of the once horrible gash as far as he could reach. “You do not have to tell me if you don’t want to, of course.”

Merin moved his head a bit closer to his friend, whom he’d somewhat protectively curled around. “Remember how I said I like being remembered for the good I’ve done now and then? That was a time when.. I was remembered for the wrong thing.” He sighed a bit. It no longer bothered him so much, but he could not make himself remember that place fondly.

“I’d rather not go into detail with this one, but I will sum it up. There were some people, they were on a desperate quest to find what they needed to save their home. I had shown up, found them on the edge of a famine. I paid for some food to be brought in by merchants to help with shortages. I was met with suspicion as to why I would be helping them. The trip to obtain what they needed to save everyone went horribly wrong. People were getting hurt and sick. One of the Lords was making poor knee-jerk decisions that would just get people killed. I directly disagreed with him. By the end of it, hasty choices by others had them ambushed by a massive bird, even taller than I was. It was sick, dying and driven half mad, but determined to kill everything in sight. It had charged for the group of them. I shifted and got in the way.”

He fell silent for a moment. “I killed the bird, by not before it got a taloned foot hooked into my side. They got what they needed. Once we were back, was approached by the other Lord, and told I was no longer welcome there, because I could not be trusted to follow orders. So I left. I wasn’t even healed up from saving them. That place remembers me as some defiant creature who thought the rules didn’t apply to him. The Lord who nearly got everyone killed with his panicked and terrible snap decisions was honored for his bravery.” He gazed into the fire, falling quiet again.

“I am sorry, Merin. Ees had stopped tracing the curved arc of the scar.

“No one ever saw that my decisions were all made simply off of what was the best chance and outcome for everyone else. There were innocent people there, who were going to die if something wasn’t done. I just wanted to help. I didn’t even mind if they weren’t thankful but just.. The way they acted like I was somehow detrimental to them by just being there. It reminded me too much of.. Some other things in my past.” he gave a slight shake of his head, as though to dismiss the lurking thoughts. “But, it’s behind me now. I have this scar, but it should fade within a couple molts.” He frowned. “I’m actually due for a molt. Hopefully in the next few years.”

His growth had almost come to a full stop, and thus his molts tended to happen less often. So much so that he used rolling and burrowing in coarse sand now and then to keep his scales more polished, otherwise they started looking dull.

The rest of the month was passed with them moving from one town to the next, and then, towns slowly became more remote villages. They played in half a dozen taverns or more, and Merin ended up hunting a large bear that had been plaguing a village and stealing it’s livestock. It had killed two people since that previous year.

He was able to bring it down without much trouble. It was an old bear, scarred and missing one eye, and had a twisted foot. Merin supposed that was why it had been hunting people and penned goats. Merin could not think of an excuse for the bear’s injuries, in the end he decided to not bring the body back to the villagers, despite thinking that would both be fitting, and probably feed them all for the remainder of the month. He ate most of it, saving back a large hunk that he roasted with his fire for Ees. He slept, curled up under some overhanging rocks for a full day.

Feeling better rested than he had in a long time, he and Ees flew, skipping another village or two, landed, and approached the next one on foot, still probably about four stops away from the final one.

It was a small and rustic place, most of the homes were pinewood slats, or made from felled logs. Many had simply dirt floors. The inn was simply a house that had two extra rooms and a small common area. The innkeeper was also the mayor. The common room also served other purposes, most of the village’s residents came there for playing games of stones, or cards. Sometimes one of them got out a hand made flute and another a drum, and they’d play music and sing songs. In bad weather, they all spent it gathered there together, with the fire roaring. It seemed like a close knit group of people.

They hadn’t seen a Bard out this way in years, and having two of them at once was exciting. Merin, of course was more than willing to make extra effort and give a grander performance than he would have for a big city gathering of hundreds. He stayed there four nights in a row, playing music and telling stories for hours at a time. Ees joined him, but as always let Merin take the lead.
Ees was finished for the night once most of the residents had left, heading off for bed. He was seated in the corner of the room, picking at some leftover roasted chicken. They did not have wine here, so Merin stuck to what he’d brought. They did however have an ale one of the residents brewed himself, and one of the old men made his own moonshine. Merin had tried it the first night and discovered it was like drinking lantern fuel. He’d still had several cups of it anyways.

Other than the two of them, there was the Moonshine maker, his friend who was close to his age, the woodcutter, who was middle aged and unmarried, and the mayor/innkeeper who was currently wiping down and washing dishes and surfaces in the open kitchen.

The mayor’s two daughters were in and out from time to time. Both grown, he’d told them to head upstairs to bed, but thrice now they’d come back down to watch Merin play, or try their hand at flirting with him. He cut his eyes over to Ees, who met his gaze, shook his head and mouthed ‘no.’

Merin was tempted, to start his usual spiel where he tried to get whoever was interested in him, instead focused on Ees, but he thought that might be a bad idea. Already the Mayor had given Merin a few sharp looks. He’d overheard someone muttering about how the girls would probably both run away with that Bard in a heartbeat’ He didn’t want to get Ees in trouble with the Mayor, who seemed a bit protective of his two daughters. Not because it would matter in the great scheme of things, and it was the decision of the two ladies and not their father, but because Ees did not like to cause trouble.

He was just thinking of calling it a night himself, putting his lute away, maybe having a bit more to eat, then going to bed, when he heard something. There was a startled shout outside, and scuffling, and the sound of feet running on stones. Most of the village was packed dirt, but the square out in front of the inn, had been carefully laid with cobbles, mostly broad flat river stones.

The door burst open as though it had been hit with a battering ram. The mayor’s two daughters both shrieked, their father dropped the plate he’d been washing, and whirled around. Everyone in the common room was on their feet in a flash. Merin, too although he’d stood from where he was playing, near the hearth, and had set his lute down, ready to possibly spring into action and stop whatever it was from.. whatever it was doing.

“YOU!” A voice bellowed. It was a familiar voice, slightly deep but clearly feminine, and clearly, enraged.

Mez stood in the doorway, clad in some tattered shreds of blanket around her waist, and what looked like torn sections of flour or grain sacks. Around her shoulders, was his cloak. Merin stared, stunned.

Her hair was a wild mess, she was smeared with soot and road dust. She was in her .. humanoid form? How?

She stalked towards him, expression twisting into a snarl. Realizing who it was, and that she was here for him and it was -only- him under threat, he backed away. He tried to find Ees and saw the table where he’d been seated was empty. No sign of him, but the nearby window’s shudders were wide open. Had he not been a little afraid for his life just then, he might have started laughing over that.

“Mez.. How..? Why are you in this form.. How did you find..” She tried to roar, but of course her more human vocal chords were not suited for such. It came out like a cross between a growl and a scream. She lunged forward, taking a few slightly awkward running steps.

The wind was briefly knocked out of him as she grabbed the front of his tunic and slammed him back against the wall. The back of his head connected as well, hard enough it was probably able to be heard outside.

“How.. dare.. you.. ! I was trying to find..you were gone and you just LEFT ME LIKE THIS!” She shook him, and his head bounced against the wall a second time.

Eyes wide he opened his mouth, trying to protest just how mad this all seemed. How could she have been stuck? But before he could get any words out her mouth was suddenly pressed hard against his as she half kisses, half bit him, then bit him again on the side of his face, enough that he muffled a slight yelp of pain.

“Ooow.. Mez.. I’m sorry.. I didn’t know..” She bit him again, less roughly this time and then just pressed against him, chest hitching, hanging on again in a near suffocating embrace.

“You.. did not know. But I was trapped.. I had to leave my lair like this.” she said in a low voice.

Merin’s senses were overwhelmed. Her scent seemed to have seeped into his brain. He could smell the woods and wind, campfires and dirt as well as dried blood, but over the top of it all was her. She was furious with him, and she was beautiful and smelled absolutely divine. But, guilt flooded into him. Mild horror, at the thought of what all she must have gone through. She would have had to climb down a nearly sheer wall of rock, and walk naked through close to thirty miles of wilderness, perhaps a bit more since she wouldn’t have been able to head to civilization in a straight line, as she would when flying.

Once there, around people she likely would have been treated as a complete outsider, people would have either feared her or threatened violence. How had she managed to eat? What if someone had hurt her?

“Do you have any idea.. How long I have been trying to find you? Not knowing if I ever would?” She stared into his eyes, face close to his, one hand had seized his hair, as though she couldn’t decide if she wanted to bite him again or not. His head tilted back, exposing his throat to her in an instinctive submissive gesture.

“Mez.. Please believe me. I had no idea that would happen.” He stole a glance and saw she was still glaring at him, but she seemed to for the most part have spent her anger.

“Give me a chance to make it up to you.. Are you hungry? I could get you something to eat?” He asked, aware at this point that two more people were standing in the doorway, trying to figure out what was going on, the Inn’s two guests were standing at the far side of the wall, staring openly, as was the innkeeper and his two daughters. Ees, was peeking cautiously through the open window, just his head from about nose level, up was visible.

She released him and stepped back. “Fine. But it’s going to take a lot more than some food to make this up to me.”

He brought her over to a chair and she sat down, straddling the chair somewhat rather than sitting normally. He moved over to the innkeeper, and pulled out a handful of silver from his coin purse, sliding it across the counter.

“Look, I know this all sounds strange.” He began in a low voice. “But, I know her, and I owe her a lot. I know she looks different from the rest of us, but she won’t hurt anyone. She’ll be staying with me, and in a couple days we can be on our way.”

He could tell the Innkeeper was torn. He wanted the strange colored woman gone. She probably called to mind stories of demons, goblins, all sorts of monsters from folk tales.

“Think of her as some sort of...usually benevolent.. forest spirit?” Merin asked, hopefully. “I’ve insulted her by mistake, wronged her, and I’m trying to fix that. It’s me she’s upset with, not any of your people.”

The man still seemed reluctant and for once the two girls had not come back down after being sent upstairs by their father.

“Whatever you have on hand that is.. meat. I need a lot of it.” Merin told him. “I think that should all cover it?” And then some. He’d just paid enough to buy more or less a feast for a dozen people.

He went to the kitchens and came back with a whole chicken, some thick cuts of ham, some neck and leg portions from several other chickens, and a section of roast venison that was probably suppose to be divided up into several rounds of stew. He’d crammed some dry sausages halfway under the chicken, about ten of them.

Merin thanked him, and took the platter over to Mez, and set it before her.

“Eat as much of it as you like.” He told her.

For a while she said little to him, she tore into the venison first before trying any of the rest of it, eating most of the chicken, and finally trying the ham and sausages.

He told her again that he was sorry, that he’d never known someone to get stuck in their human form like that before, not after having just recently learned to shift. He told her that tomorrow he’d take her out away from town and they could shift back, and he’d make sure she’d never be stuck like that again.

She told him about waking up and finding him gone. For a full day she’d waited, wondering, hoping more or less than he’d gone hunting and he’d come back. Merin’s shoulders slumped.

She had realized eventually he would not be coming back. Hungry, she’d climbed down the wall of rock, managing to find a place where it was easier, although she’d still scraped herself up a bit. She’d eaten whatever she could find. She’d dug out some mice, found a nesting bird and ate her eggs. She’d managed to get someone to give her food when she arrived at the first village, and they’d offered her some material so she could properly cover herself.

Between that village and the next however, some mercenaries had attacked her. She’d run them off, but it had made her more cautious and she’d stayed off the main road. She stayed in the other three villages just long enough to ask about Merin, and had gotten more and more discouraged as no one had seen a sign of a Bard wearing green, not alone or with another male.

She’d entered this place, and had asked if there was a Bard here, almost ready to give up, and the man she’d found had told her where Merin was. When she had heard he was here, she had almost not wanted to believe it, thinking that surely it was some other man in green.

Finally she asked him what he’d been dreading her asking.

“Why did you leave?” Her gaze fixed on him. She was no longer angry, but the set of her expression made it clear she was expecting a full explanation and the truth. He supposed he owed it to her. He did however, excuse himself for a moment, go over to the old man who sold moonshine, and asked if he had a bottle with him. He shoved several silver into his hand, and returned to the table with his purchase, a small ceramic jug that held a slightly chalky semi clear liquid inside. He poured himself a full mug of it, braced himself and just downed it all. It actually made him cough a bit, and Mez gave him a rather quizzical expression, an eyebrow rising.

“I.. this will probably sound half mad and stupid and foolish and cowardly but.. I’m going to tell you everything.”

And it simply all came pouring out, about Koal, losing her, how he felt he was suppose to be alone forever afterwards because that’s how he’d believed his kind was suppose to be, how because of his small stature as a dragon he never thought he would find anyone anyways. How meeting her, he’d been captivated by nearly everything about her, and that had made him feel guilty, both because of the pain and betrayal she’d recently gone through, and how it should have been far too soon for him too. He’d ran because he was afraid of the things he was feeling, and being around her was near torture when he felt there could not and should not ever be anything between them. He was afraid and ashamed of his own feelings and worried that it would be unfair to her as well, even if he did so much as vocalize such things.

What followed was perhaps the most terrible lingering silence he’d known in quite a long time. She stared at him impassively, for what felt like an hour.

“How can anyone who is supposedly so clever be such an idiot?” She said, glowering at him a little, but the heat had not returned to her voice.

“Ees told me more or less the same thing. We were actually.. On or way back, toward the lair. I was going to come find you again, because he talked some sense into me.”

“He did? I thought he was terrified of me?” Her brow furrowed a little in puzzlement.

“Oh, he is. I’m surprised he’s actually nearby and not seven miles away by now. But he knew what the right thing to do was, no matter how afraid of you he is.”

She seemed pensive then, and contemplative. She looked out toward the window, where she’d likely seen him steal a peek now and then. Merin thought that she was probably starting to see him in a different light than before.

He helped her get cleaned up, and into one of his silk shirts. It clung on her more than it did him, fitting snug across the chest. For a bottom, he cut up two blankets and managed to quickly rig together a skirt for her. A quick word with the Innkeeper had the other room quickly made available for Ees, as he still hadn’t come back inside yet.

He offered her the room to herself, but she’d said she did not want him out of her sight right now. He asked if she wished to have the bed to herself, and she insisted he join her, but for sleeping. Nothing else.

The next morning he let Ees know where he would be, and he and Mez walked until they were well away from town. He helped her shift back and they simply spent the day like that. Mid afternoon he went hunting for her, and brought back a large boar he’d finally managed to spot, remembering what she’d said her favorite was.

It was dark by the time they came back, and returned to the inn, finally shifted back down again.

He’d been planning on finding her some clothing, but Ees had beat him to it, having found someone who had a spare dress in close to her size, they were willing to part with. It was a bit short for her, but otherwise fit all right. He also had gotten her a simple pair of moccasin style ankle boots, that were meant to fit a slender smaller man. The size was just about right.

He was pleasantly surprised by how her demeanor toward Ees had changed, so much that even Ees started to relax around her a little, although he figured it might be a good week or so before he stopped being at least a little scared of her.

He spent hours simply telling her stories about humans, and his travels. He tried to explain everything he could about how to better interact with them. She had to be taught how to dress herself, use a knife and fork, basically everything.

He sat with her on the outskirts of the village on the third day after she’d arrived. They’d been discussing leaving soon, but had decided to stay through one more night and then leave that morning.

Summer was not far away at this point, and the day was warm and pleasant. The sky was clear, and a gentle breeze played through the trees. He’d been playing the lute for her for about a half hour, and she’d been listening and watching him.

She had sort of halfway apologized for calling him an idiot, not over what he’d done, she was still a bit angry about that, but she’d said she was sorry for the losses he’d experienced.

“You know, just because we might get closer. And might feel the urge to be physical about it...” She began. “That doesn’t mean we have to be mates. I don’t want another mate yet, perhaps not ever. I know how you feel about it. But it’s not some cosmic law. Nothing says we can’t just.. enjoy being close and that’s all there is to it.” She studied him, and then smiled.

Merin actually missed a note, a sudden, discordant plunk. He looked up suddenly, eyes widening a little.

“That is.. if you still want to..” The smile grew to a grin and she leaned closer. “Judging by how your body reacts below the waist when I touch you, I think I already know the answer to that.”

“I.. uh..” His skin felt hot suddenly.

“What happened to always having something witty to say. Aren’t you suppose to be a Master Bard?”

He still needed a few seconds to collect himself, before he set the lute down and scooted closer to her.

“I suppose when you think about it that way, it is a bit silly.” he said, still weighing the notion in his mind.

It clashed with what he’d been taught about his species, that being intimate was only for mates and most dragons would never take another mate if they lost theirs. Had a person told him that they were not allowed to love or be close to someone just because their husband, wife or lover had died years ago, he would have told them something much like what both Ees and now Mez were telling him. Why should he condemn himself to being lonely and cast aside someone who felt something for him as well, just because of archaic and seemingly arbitrary rules?

It was not just about the intimacy. While he missed that greatly, it was more about a connection and just the physical closeness. He had never been more at peace than he had been while making bare flesh contact, or scale to scale contact with another dragon whom he trusted and cared for.

He took a breath, and began.

“I cannot imagine a time when I will ever stop loving or missing Koal. I know that whatever we might be to each other, now or in the future has no baring on that. I want to get to know you, Mez.” He put a hand over hers. He traced along the top of her hand, and over her forearm, finding the slight scale texturing over her flesh to be utterly fascinating.

“I want to teach you the things I know, show you places I’ve been, the wonders I’ve experienced. I want us to fly together for hundreds of miles just to look at a three thousand year old tower and see how the sunset plays off the spires.” He had started leaning in closer, and almost by reflex, she did as well.

“Well I am certainly open to learning the things you want to teach me, and seeing the things you want to show me, even if they are.. human things.” She wrinkled her nose a little.

“There is one human thing I’d like to show you, right now.” He said. “It’s a bit like how you greeted me before, but without the biting.” He grinned.

“I saw a man and a woman doing that, I thought they were biting each other’s mouths.” Mez said.

“No, not quite.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.

Chapter Eight:


She stayed with them for several weeks. Merin did not mind putting of Morakye a bit longer, even another year if that was what needed to be done. Summer had come and it was now the ideal time to be there, in his opinion, but they were more than a thousand miles away, and Mez was nowhere near ready for a large city.

She got mixed reactions in the towns they visited. Some people just gave her curious glances, in others they ended up leaving early because of people’s suspicions.

When they arrived at a larger town with a good tailor, he insisted on having proper clothes for her made. She pointed out some things she had liked the look of, both from garments she’d seen other women wearing, and the faded and worn pattern book inside the shop. The tailor was a woman with mildly greying hair, and a stern face lined face, but she was quite skilled at her craft and was able to suggest a few additional things that would flatter Mez’s figure, and what colors would best suit her skin and hair. She was only mildly uneasy at the green skinned woman’s unusual appearance. A flash of gold from Merin had her smiling thinly however and more than glad to take a large order, with a heft tip for getting it done sooner than normal.

Soon, Mez had a fine wardrobe, several dresses, some skirts and tops, and even a few pairs of breeches. From the leatherworker he’d gotten her some more suitable boots, and a few corset tops or waist cinchers as she’d liked how they looked. She ended up with her own traveling pack, also made of fine leather.

They had been traveling for almost two weeks before they were ever fully intimate. She had interrupted his performance in a common room, as he’d been once again playing rather late. She had climbed into his lap, facing him, leaned in close and told him quite bluntly that if he didn’t put that lute away and get upstairs she was going to get them thrown out. Ees had not been in the tavern at the time, and had not suspected a thing until the next morning, over breakfast. The three of them sitting at a table, were making light conversation over three equally large mountains of eggs, sausage and bacon. Mez had gotten up from the table because she’d wanted something to drink.

Ees cut his eyes over to Merin.

“You seem to be in a good mood, my friend. Better than usual even.” There was a glint in his eyes.

“Why wouldn’t I be, it’s a nice day?” Merin said, the corner of his mouth giving a slight twitch.
Ees took a drink from his mug, hiding a bit of a grin.

“You might want to put something on that mark on your neck friend, if you don’t want people calling attention to it.”

Merin looked unconcerned. “I don’t think it will be a problem.”

“So, would you say you earned a goat? I certainly don’t see one.” Ees asked in a low voice.

Merin was hardly bothered by the joke or the implications, but he hadn’t expected Ees to make it. He laughed a sudden short and sharp laugh, a bit louder than he meant to.

“Goat..? What does he mean by that?” Mez was back at the table, with a cup of hot spiced cider in hand. Ees paled slightly. Merin grinned widely, an almost devilish gleam showing. He pulled Mez’s chair out for her.

“Oh, there is a wonderful story about that. Have a seat and I will tell you about it, in detail.” Ees had gone from looking pale, to flushed. He shook his head rapidly, and then rubbed at his face, shoulders sinking in defeat. He must have known it was already a lost cause.

“So, we used to live together in this little town, in a small home.. for a little over half a year.” Merin began, after sticking another slice of bacon in his mouth, chewing and swallowing.

“There were some strange noises outside, some scratching and rustling. Ees goes to the door, and there is a roughly five foot at the shoulder green Wyvern, with a goat in her mouth. She doesn’t really speak but she’s thrilled to death to see Ees, gives him the goat, seems to think I’m his ‘pet’ and then flies off. The goat, was apparently just stunned, because it wakes up and panics, both bleating and bleeding, kicks Ees at least a dozen times, before I manage to get a hold of it and we put the damned thing out of it’s misery. Of course, I’m curious as to why a Wyvern is delivering extremely fresh meat to my door.”

Merin stopped just long enough to take a small sip from his wine cup, before he continued. Mez sat with both hands around her mug of cider, leaned forward, already fighting a grin.

“So I asked him to explain, why he’s been gifted a goat, and why a half mauled goat has just stained a really expensive rug.. He claims that she can shift human and while she was human, he helped her..” Merin paused for dramatic effect.

“Helped her because she had come into season and was feeling quite in need. That’s why she brought him a goat.. So.. I like to regularly ask him if he enjoys a bit of company behind doors if he’s won us a goat this time, or some roast beef, or a turkey.”

Mez began laughing, Ees had his face buried in an arm. She patted his back, still trying to get her laughter under control. She leaned over to Merin, voice low, but pitched where anyone at the table could hear.

“I suppose that means you need -two- goats.”

It was about a week after that, she expressed a desire to return to her lair, at least for a while.

“I’ve loved this, loved traveling with you, but I can’t do it all the time.” She explained.

He slipped his arms around her, and kissed her gently on the lips. “I understand completely. Would you like me to come find you at your lair, or shall we just meet up somewhere?” He asked.

“Probably best if you come to me. I can change on my own now, I’m not worried about getting stuck again.” They’d worked on her shifting regularly ever since he’d helped her resolve her initial issue. “I’ll wait for you, but if you take longer than two months I’ll be highly upset.” She twined fingers though his hair. “I’d prefer no more than a month.”

“I really need to find someone who can make that book enchantment for me again.” he mused. “I need one for you, and one for Ees.”

He’d explained the enchanted books to her before, where what was written on one would show up in the other. It was a wonderful way to keep contact over long distances. She’d been taught to read by her mother, long ago. Her writing still wasn’t too great, but she was perfectly capable of scrawling out a message.

From there he headed North again with Ees. It felt strange parting ways with Mez, but he knew it was for the best. He did not want to push her too fast on getting accustomed to being in a humanoid form, or traveling, or dealing with humans. She was quite different from him, and would probably be more at home in the wilds and as a dragon for a long time to come. But, they had talked about it for some time before she’d actually left, and it seemed they could make it work. Spend some time together, then apart for a while. Merin got to keep traveling as he loved to do, Mez would travel with him and Ees, but not all the time. Merin as well, agreed to go back to her lair to spend time with her now and then, and so they could have some actual alone time.

He and Ees landed in a moderately sized city that was only a short distance outside of Arandil, the smaller of the two main Mage’s Keeps. Merin had flown close enough that night so that Ees could see the towers, spanning up toward the sky, the span of the building larger than some of the towns they’d been in recently.

He’d rented them the largest room, and they’d taken food and wine up there to eat. Sprawled across his remaining pillow collection on the floor, with a near-banquet between them, they ate, drank wine and talked for around an hour, before Ees lay back on his portion of the cushion nest.

“Merin, tell me a story.” He said, stretching a bit.

“What sort of story?” He leaned over, and refilled his wine goblet.

“One of you, something you haven’t told me about before. Maybe even one that happened right after you left off last time?”

Merin leaned back as well, and thought for a bit. The earlier talk of the enchanted books had gotten him thinking and reflecting back on those days.

“Taliesin and I had traveled together almost non stop for years. We’d spent time across the Areth Ocean, both of us ending up as Court Bards to the High Empress of Deshaari. I could almost write a book based off our adventures there, but any of those stories would take the whole night to tell properly. We met a god of Prosperity there, as well as a Goddess of the Harvest, and their Goddess of Death.” He saw his friend’s eyebrows go up. “Just briefly though. She really wasn’t so terrible. Just looked a bit frightening.

He made a slight dismissive hand gesture. “After we were back on this side of the ocean, we split up for a while. He had some places he wanted to visit, old friends he wanted to reconnect with, and I was overdue for a trip back to my lair.” Merin pulled an extra cushion over, re-fluffed his pile and got more comfortable.

“The plan was, I would spent a few weeks out in the desert, then hit a few of my old favorite places in various parts of the mainland, including a far too long overdue trip to Pomona. Then, I’d make the flight all the way back to Morakye, and meet up with Tal in one of the smaller and lesser known taverns. We’d play together for a bit, drink a lot, and then he’d be off to snag himself another Court Bard position. He was far more fond of those than I was.” He picked up his wine, took a drink then returned the goblet to it’s spot on the floor.

“We had the talking books, this was the second version of them at this point, they worked exceptionally well. So even when we were apart we’d usually talk at least every other day, even if it was just to share something funny that happened, or bid each other goodnight. It also served well for coordinating when and where we’d meet up, or if plans needed to change.

It was about time for me to head toward Morakye, but I got caught up with one thing or another, and before I knew it I had over six hundred and fifty miles I needed to cover, and I was expected to be there in two days. Normally I could do it in three without straining myself, so I thought I’d just push a bit harder and everything would be fine. I ended up pushing a bit too hard, and I pulled a wing muscle pretty bad. It was completely my own fault. I’d gotten over confident about how far and how fast I could fly. I’d been on the move constantly for weeks and had made a few too many long distance flights while I pushed for time. I knew I’d be grounded for at least a week, and would need to take it easy after that.”

Ees frowned a little. “I hope Taliesin wasn’t too upset, or worried.”

Merin smiled. “I was all the more thankful for the book I had in my pack. I knew I could just let him know what was going on, so he wouldn’t worry, or think I’d forgotten.”





His wings had started to ache about three miles back, he’d felt a twinge of irritation. He was out in the middle of nowhere. He could at least push on to a town, and have a nice tavern to stay in rather than patchy woodlands with lots of dull grey rock. He was not feeling much like sleeping rough on the ground. He should not have ignored the first twinge of pain. He muttered under his breath, and ascended, aiming for a higher altitude, wanting to see if he could spot perhaps some small village tucked away that he’d overlooked the last time he was through this area.

The twinge, became sharp white hot jolt of agony. He spiraled down, barely using his right wing and mostly just trying to break his fall. Still, the resistance against his injured wing was horrible, and it only made the strain and damage worse.

Dragons flew with the aid of magic. Dragon bones and muscles were far denser than that of normal creatures. Due to their massive size and weight, no full sized adult dragon would have been capable of more than a slow glide, without some innate and inborn magical abilities aiding them.

The magic created a sort of upward lift on the dragon’s body. Magic alone could not make them fly, the rest of the work had to be done by their wings, therefore a dragon with an injured wing was still going to have trouble.

He managed to land, just a bit heavily in a clearing. With his injured wing throbbing, and finding himself barely able to move it, he started into the thicker tree-cover, exploring his surroundings. It took around an hour and a half of walking about before he found a shallow cave.

It was just deep enough that if he climbed down inside he could fit himself in with a few feet to spare. It was dry and empty, and would keep him out of sight, just in case there happened to be people around, and right about then it was all he cared about.

He sulked there, feeling miserable for around an hour before he thought it might be best to shift down at least long enough to be able to write to Tal. Shifting, he knew, was likely to make his discomfort worse, but it needed to be done.

Getting injured in one form, meant that the injury had to transfer over to the other form. This could sometimes be dangerous, especially in the case of a deep stab-wound or a cut, as sometimes something would go wrong in the shift, and the wound would be worse as it translated over. Sometimes, it might not be as bad either, but it was always a gamble.

In the case of a wing injury, Merin did not have wings when he shifted over, so the injury and pain deferred to his shoulder blade and back, as well as a strange phantom pain in the now ‘missing’ appendage.

He dug the book out of his pack, and using the special pen that had been crafted for it, wrote a message to his friend.

Tal, I’m sorry, but I have hurt my wing. I don’t think it’s too bad off, but I’ll need to not fly for about a week. I’m out in the middle of some woods, still about three hundred miles from you. You should probably just head off without me. We’ll catch up some other time.

He only had to wait about twenty minutes for a response.

Are you sure you are all right? Do you need me to try and get to you?

Merin couldn’t help but smile just a bit.

I’ll be fine, it’s just a pulled muscle. It was my own damn fault for being late and trying to make up for lost time. Have an extra cup or two of wine for me in Morakye, will you?

I’m going to miss you, but don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. Get some rest. If you change your mind about company, Merin, I will come out there. I’ll stop what I’m doing and get out there with the fastest horse in the city.

Sounds like a waste of a horse, what would you do with it once you got all the way out here?

It would be rude to come all that way and not bring dinner.

I really could go for a horse right now. Or about four goats. I hate being stuck in one spot like this.

Get some rest. I’ll write down some jokes for you to read tomorrow. Lots of bad puns.

I may not be able to read for a few days. It’s worse when I’m in human form. I need to shift back for a bit. If I don’t respond for a while, don’t be worried all right? I’m just going to shift back and try to sleep the worst of this off.

Take care. I’ll drink your share of wine and play Lord of the Wind for the crowd.

I’ll make it up to you next time. I’ll buy all your drinks for the next month.

He shifted back, and instantly felt a little better. His wing still hurt, but at least his body was able to figure out where the injured part of him was. It still took him several hours to get to sleep, he’d start to dose, then a sharp twinge in his wing would jolt him back awake again. Eventually he turned so that he could rest his wing against part of the wall, where there was a sloped section of rock. It gave it a bit of support and it stopped throbbing and sending waves of pain every time he so much as breathed or flinched wrong.

He thought for a moment he smelled something, something that was reptilian but not really dragon. He wondered if it could be some sort of small wyvern-like creatures, or possibly lizard-folk. It was a strange part of the world to be finding the latter however. He thought as well it could even be just really large lizards or lizard like creatures of some kind. He was glad he was nestled into the cave, and out of sight, however even as a small dragon not much was a threat unless they surprised him in great number, and surrounded him.

At last he finally drifted off. His dreams were somewhat troubled, dreams of being stuck on the ground, unable to fly while he badly needed to get somewhere. He blinked heavily, and his head jerked up. His wing had gone from a sharp pain to a constant throbbing. He could smell both fresh meat, and that reptilian scent.

At the entrance of the cave were six rabbits, skinned, but otherwise whole.

Puzzled, he carefully crept forward, wincing a bit as his wing, stiff from having left it in that same position for hours, no longer had support. He sniffed at what had clearly been left for him. He could not smell anything wrong with them, and it would have taken massive amounts of poison to bother him.

He ate the rabbits, even though it was more of a light snack than any sort of meal. He peeked carefully out of his cave, hoping to not startle whatever it was that had brought them. There were no tracks and no sign of anything at all nearby.

He laid back down in the same spot as before. It was his intention to stay awake, and just pretend to be sleeping, in hopes he could catch whoever or whatever had brought him food, returning. Eventually, he must have drifted off, because he awoke later, to it being full dark, and the strong scent of blood and meat filling the cave.

This time, there was the body of a small deer. It too had been skinned, and this time beheaded as well. Beside it was a rough copper disk a bit bigger than a man’s hand, with the fingers splayed. It had been hammered out smooth, and in the center, a dragon’s head had been etched there, crudely, as though a child had done it. He noted that they had at least tried to capture the shape of his crest. The dragon was suppose to be him.

As before, there seemed to be absolutely nothing wrong with the offering. He realized that must be what it was. He felt mildly guilty, as he did not need to be appeased, and whoever this was, seemed to be going through a lot of trouble to do just that.

This time he remained awake, through the night and on until dawn. When the sun was up he crept out of the cave, and found some jutting rocks a short distance away where he could climb up and sun himself.

He wove a minor illusion so that anyone approaching would only see rock from there side and not him. It was simply a matter of disillusioning some rocks in front of where he lay, but where he could see through them from the inside. If someone had been actively looking for something hiding up on the rocks, it likely would not have worked. He knew it was far from perfect and seamless, but it would make him quite easy to overlook.

Positioned where he could watch the mouth of the cave and the area leading up to it, he waited. He did not have to wait long, perhaps an hour or so.

The creatures that carefully made their way toward the cave were about half the height of a human. They were thin, and almost scrawny looking, with dainty long limbs. Reptilian in nature, with long snouts. Some had small horns. They were a neutral brownish or grey-ish in color.

They wore very little, roughly sewn together skins, and lots of bone and feather jewelry. Some had attempted to make crude armor out of sections of bone, or even animal skulls. There were about a dozen of them, and they carried poles between them strung with what looked to mostly be grouse, although there were also two rabbits and what he guessed might have been muskrat, or perhaps some really large actual rats. It was difficult to tell.

“Hello there.” He said gently, dropping the illusion and peeking over the edge of the rocks. There were some startled yips and cries and several of them bolted, others froze.

“It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt any of you. I wanted to thank you for your help and generous gifts.”

They stared up at him as though in awe.

“You are kobolds, right?” He asked. A few nodded cautiously.

“We is Kobolds. Kobolds here to serve Great Dragon.” One finally managed.

He had read about them a few times, a species of tiny lizard-folk type beings who revered dragons, sometimes to the extent of treating them as gods. Old tomes he’d read were not always clear as to their origins. Some said they were distinct relatives of dragons, others said they were created by dragons to be their slaves or servants. All sources had one thing in common, and that was Kobolds had an overwhelming urge to serve dragons, and would try to attach themselves to any dragon they encountered.

They were still wary of him when he carefully and slowly picked his way down to the ground again, but they all seemed pleased when he ate their offering. Even if birds and small mammals were hardly his favorite thing, they’d worked hard to hunt these things for him, and were trying to hunt enough to feed something his size.

He laid down on the ground, so that he did not loom over them quite so badly. Eventually they worked up the nerve to come closer, milling around and touching his scales with something close to reverence. Several commented on how big he was. Used to hearing the opposite, he couldn’t help but feel a bit pleased. Dragons were vain creatures by nature after all, and even though Merin was a bit of an oddity for his kind, he was still very much a dragon. There was a part of him that fed off praise and compliments like they were a drug. Had he been a cat, he would have been purring, as they continued to touch his scales and clamor on him, gushing in their limited vocabulary about how wonderful and beautiful he was.

When he explained that he had injured his wing, one of them ran off back the way it had come. A short while later, the Kobold came back, clutching several earthenware jars to it’s chest.

Three of them climbed up onto his back and side. There was a thick dark colored balm inside. It was sticky and smelled like a cross between pine tar, dead animal and decaying mushrooms and plant material. He did not protest however, even though it smelled unpleasant, their tiny scaled hands were gentle and he did not see how it could hurt. They carefully smeared one handful after another over the base of his wing where he’d injured it, slathering it on thickly. He had not, however expected it to help. After a few moments the pain began to ease and the muscle felt less stiff, the tension draining out of it.

He collected his pack, after asking someone to drop his copper disk into it for him. He followed them back after they had sent a couple messengers up ahead.

It was about a two mile hike, deeper into the nearby forested area. In some spaces the trees were so dense it was hard for him to find a way through. The Kobolds, small and agile as they were, ducked under and wove through the thick underbrush with ease.

Ahead was the opening of a cave, that lead down deep underground. It was large enough to serve as a dragon’s lair, and Merin suspected it might have been at one time.

There was a great deal of excitement as Merin was lead down into the cave, which opened up into a chamber with a high ceiling, and enough room for all two hundred or so Kobolds.

Merin did not do well alone, without any sort of outlet or entertainment. While some dragons could laze around in their lairs for days, weeks or even months at a time, never leaving unless they needed to hunt, Merin was not like that. He could not be idle. Being ground-bound and alone was torment, and maddening.

Had he not been found by the Kobolds, he would have been trapped for probably close to two weeks, unable to hunt properly for himself, unable to talk to anyone.

He was overwhelmed with gratitude for them, and knew he was going to have to give back.

It started with just teaching them and telling them stories. He worked on expanding their vocabulary, teaching poetry and songs. He told stories about himself and his friends, as well as typical bardic tales.

He had already explained to them he was able to shift to a human form, so over a week and a half later, with his wing feeling far better, he shifted in front of them for the first time. They were amazed by this magic, and a few of them needed convincing it really was still him.

One of the first things he did was write to Tal, and let him know what had happened, and apologized for taking so long as he had to get his new friends trusting him, and he was injured worse than he’d thought.

A flood of writing spilled across the book, within moments, and Merin thought Tal must have been keeping it at his side at all times. Tal asked at least thirty questions about the Kobolds, and Merin spent a couple hours just writing back and forth. The Kobolds, could not read but were fascinated with the idea of Merin communicating with someone further away than they had ever dreamed of traveling, by tracing patterns onto a surface.

He explained what he was saying to his friend, and that Tal was another Bard, like him.

“When I am able to fly again, I will bring Taliesin here to meet all of you.” He told them. He also made sure to explain that he could not live with them forever, but he considered them all his friends now. He would not abandon them either.

For the next week he worked on getting full use of his wing back, in between that he stayed in human form, playing the Lute for them and sang songs. Kobolds did not have much in the way of their own music. They had simple horns, made from animal horn that could trumpet a single or perhaps two or three distinct notes, and they had primitive drums, and rattles. He had a plan already, and began teaching them as best they could how stringed instruments, flutes and other things worked.

When he was able to make short flights again he went hunting for them, and brought back an entire boar, the largest he could find. They were impressed, as they’d never been able to hunt for boar themselves, it was simply too large and powerful of a creature, and too risky. Bringing down a small deer required a ton of teamwork.

They had a huge feast and he insisted on just going and hunting something else for himself, but he came back to play music for them while they danced, and some of them got out their own handmade instruments to play along.

It was closer to a month before he actually left to venture back into civilization, and the Kobolds were sad to see him go, but he promised them he would return. Tal was currently busy, but Merin managed to drop by and visit for a couple days before heading off to do what he’d been intending to do for some time.

He stopped in at least four large cities that had music stores, crafts-people who made instruments, or merchants known to sell them. He bought every single smaller instrument he could get his hands on. He bought small child sized lutes and harps, lap harps, mandolins, lyres. He bought some additional drums. He almost bought more horns and some flutes as well but realized those would need specialized mouth pieces if a more reptilian mouth were to be able to use them.

With around forty instruments and another dozen or so drums he made the trek back out to the underground home of his new friends.

There, he stayed much of the time, although he often made outside trips. He taught any of them who showed the slightest inclination toward music, how to play. He taught them additional songs and stories, he taught many of them how to read and write.

With additional trips to cities he brought them rugs, cushions, furniture, anything he could think of to make their lives a bit better. He brought pots and utensils, tools that were improvements over what they had. He bought them dozens of books. He even began teaching ones with magical aptitude how to do some basic cantrips, mostly illusion.

It was close to a year after he first met them that he brought Tal out to meet them as well, his dear friend was charmed by them and they took to him well, despite him being an ‘outsider’ and not a Dragon. Merin was as proud as a father showing off a child’s talents when he had them show off the songs they had learned, performing in front of Tal in a group.

Over the next couple years he continued to visit them regularly, learning almost all of their names and how to recognize them on sight and tell them apart from one another. Over time, he noticed something he had not been expecting. All of ‘his’ Kobolds began to show slow changes in appearance. Their scales took on a more golden or brassy color, and many of the new ones born were born without horns, some even sporting a slight crest ridge around their skull. More and more of them were being born with some magical ability. They were adapting and changing, to be more like him. They even began learning how to joke and prank one another, and began using tricks and illusions during their hunting trips.

He had driven off large predators, big cats, and the occasional bear from their territory. He’d taken on an ogre who’d been causing them some issues, stealing from them, and had killed a few of them in the past.

Another time he arrived after a few months away only to find that they had banded together to drive off some goblins who had been threatening to invade.

They had rigged up the most awful looking contraption. In proper lighting and with someone getting a closer look, it never would have worked.

It was a wooden frame, covered in fur pelts, all smeared with soot and pitch to color them black. The eye sockets each had a glow stone in it, that gave off a deep red light. It took more than ten of them to carry the thing, supported on poles. More of them hid under the body, and bellowed and growled into buckets and horns, making the most awful racket imaginable.

The goblins turned tail and fled, possibly believing that the great Black Beast of the Forest had devoured all the Kobolds, and surely was now coming for them. Merin did not think he could be any more proud of them.

His visits were further apart over the years but he tried to keep up with them. Their numbers had begun growing due to a much higher survival rate, some of them started out in small groups, both to start a new ‘tribe’ of sorts, and some were rumored to have become adventurers. Now and then Merin heard a story about some Kobolds causing a bit of mischief and trouble. Once there where a group of them pretending to be humans, first by walking on stilts while covered in cloaks and wearing masks, or sometimes having one standing on the other’s shoulders.

There was a city festival that included children dressing up in masks. Reports of ‘small lizard monsters’ showing up pretending to be children, to crash the festivities, sing strange and mildly inappropriate songs, and steal food spread far and wide. They were never ever caught however.

Merin did on occasion go back to that cave, he kept returning even when all the original Kobolds had long since died off, and now he was known by their children, and even grandchildren. Eventually, they all moved on. He went back years later to find the cave long since abandoned.

Merin always assumed they were still out there somewhere, the descendants of ‘his’ Kobolds. Perhaps one day he’d even find them again.


As he reached the end of his tale, Ees stretched, and reached over to drag his water skin closer and take a long drink from it. He wiped his mouth.

“And you think they are still out there somewhere? Well, later generations anyways. I would love to see that my friend, especially if they are still as they were then.”

Over the next few days his friend had seemed somewhat pensive, and lost in his own thoughts. He finally brought it up with Merin that he needed to make a long trip to go visit the grave of his long dead wife. It was a pilgrimage he’d made before since Merin had known him, the Brass had just lost track of time.

“How far is it? It’s quite a long ways off? It would take you a month to get there on your own. I know the journey part is some of it, but at least let me take you part of the way there.” Merin offered. “I can fly you a few hundred miles in a single day, and I certainly don’t mind setting aside a few days for this.”

Ees seemed to think that was a good compromise, and let Merin take him two days flight to the North-East. Merin fussed over his friend, and paid for him to buy a horse, at least for this trip. He could always resell it later if need be, and it would save for having to arrange for carriage rides or be stuck on foot for half the journey.

The horse he bought would never win any prizes for beauty or speed. It was sturdy and a bit short legged, with a thick neck. While not overly large, it looked like it might have had some draft lineage a few generations back. What it was however was strong and sure footed, and mellow enough that catching Merin’s scent only made the animal mildly uneasy. The spotted gelding would not be winning any races, ever, but he could keep a steady slow loping canter for many a mile.

Merin pulled his friend into an embrace.

“See you in a few months?” he said once he’d squeezed the breath out of him, or damn near it.

Ees nodded, hugging back, but grunting and flailing a little by the end. “We’ll meet up here, at that first tavern when you come through the gates. If one of us gets here first and the other hasn’t shown after a while, we can leave a note saying where to go next.”

Hardly a perfect system, but until Merin found someone who could enchant ‘talking books’ again, it was probably the best they could manage.

Merin had gone through stretches of being alone, and traveling alone for years at a time. It felt strange now however, as it had been some time since he’d not had either a traveling companion, or been stuck living somewhere with someone else for a while. He felt odd, like he was missing something, but also strangely ‘free’ too. He almost felt a little guilty that he was glad to have time to himself. After all, it had been so long since it was just himself and the open sky. It had been years since he’d had nowhere he needed to be, and no one waiting for him to get there. As tempting as it was to fly all the way back to pay Mez a visit, even though she wouldn’t be expecting him for some time, he knew where he needed to go.

It had been far too long since he’d spent more than a day in his lair, and his visits had been far apart for ages. The last time he’d gone it had been to drop off Adan’s Harp, as he hadn’t wanted to drag it around with him when he and Ees were traveling. And so, after a hearty meal at the tavern, and one last cup of wine ‘for the road’ he left town, and walked until he was out of line of sight. He shifted, and rose high into the sky, until the air thinned and everything below seemed impossibly small. He gained speed, enough to feel the wind rushing past, but at a pace he could maintain for hours, heading East, toward a land where the sun blazed hot and scorched the sand below, sand that stretched for hundreds of miles. In a way, this would always be his home.

The miles vanished beneath powerful beats of his wings. Little by little the land beneath him went from lush and green, to dry and arid. The air warmed, and the first sight of dry brush and sandy soil was a welcome one.

He spent a night in a city build less than a hundred miles outside of where the terrain truly became desert. There, he played in the common room of an inn, that had a great window in the ceiling. On clear nights they opened it up so that the room was exposed to the night sky. He drank a strange wine with a peppery hard bite, that he supposed probably should have been called a brandy, and played a dozen or more songs on his lute, then a few on the fiddle. The dry air made him feel invigorated the way some felt energized by the beginning of spring after a long winter.

The next day, after eating a breakfast of smoked goat meat, he departed, much to the disappointment of the establishment’s owner, who’d hoped he’d stay at least another night. He’d bought two more bottles of the drink however, one of which he intended to give to Ees.

He walked for a bit longer this time, as the flat ground with far less cover meant that someone could see for several times further off. He shifted, once he’d gone the better part of a mile, and took to the skies again, hundreds of miles away, in a stretch of seemingly endless sand, marked only by a few sandstone boulders lay a place only he knew about, and a place where only he had ever set foot. The sun blazed on the horizon, as did the prospect that one day, just perhaps someone else might share that place and the wonders that lay inside, with him.

PART TWO

Chapter Nine:


The trip to his lair, and spending some time with his hoard did wonders for him. He stayed for about a week, just enjoying being in that space again. He traded out some of the clothing in his bag of holding, for some other things, that he hadn’t worn in a while. Some of them would need some minor alterations to make them look like they were not from hundreds of years before, but he tended to favor a lot of things that were fairly ‘timeless’ and tended to come back into fashion.

He gathered up a few handfuls of gold and platinum from one of his piles, and added it to his coin pouches. He was not at risk of running out of money any time soon, from what he carried already, but he liked to be prepared, just in case.

The most important thing he’d come for was his harp, or as he still thought of it at times, Adan’s harp.

It had been the first instrument he’d ever heard, so long ago when he was still a young dragon, not much bigger than a large dog. Before, he’d been more focused on the sounds it made, and was fascinated with that. He had seen ornate and beautiful things made of precious metals before.

It appeared to be made of silver, although it was far too light, and didn’t smell quite like silver, either. Still a rather heavy and cumbersome thing, it was a good bit larger than the typical bardic harp, but not as large as a floor harp. The strings were made of a material he’d never encountered before, it was not metal or gut, but seemed to be woven of a super dense material that felt almost like metal under the fingertips. It gave the harp a unique sound, subtle but one a trained ear would certainly pick up.


The designs were all done in something that looked like gold, but wasn’t.

A unicorn, more deer-like and dainty than the equine sort, faced a slender long necked dragon on one face, on another, were several mermaids swimming with a sea serpent with a long plumed tail. Elsewhere, there were lovely birds worked into the design, with long tail feathers that merged into twisting and swirling patterns and traced around the body of the harp itself.

When Adan had died, he’d left the harp to him. It had been the only thing of real value the man had owned. Merin had been deeply honored by being entrusted with the instrument. He’d always thought of it however, as not being truly his. For centuries after, he’d felt like a bit of an impostor when he played it. Later, it felt like a crime not to at least play it once in a while, as it was unfair to simply let it go to waste, hidden away in his lair.

It was too flashy, in his opinion, to be carried by a traveling bard, and it did not fit into his bag of holding. The limitations of the bag, were what could fit through the opening. His lute case, would just barely fit if he opened the bag up to it’s widest, and worked the case in.

He made sure the harp case was secured, slipping a large canvas bag over it, and tying straps to it so he could carry it while flying. He slipped a rope through the handles of the case as well, securing that around his neck, just in case something went wrong and he lost is grip or the straps, or bag gave out.

He had taken some time just to spend out in the desert, burrowing down into sand. It did wonders for his scales, giving them a nice polishing. He thought, after a few days of doing that, his scales looked brighter and smoother. With that out of the way, he was ready to return.

He made fewer stops on the way back, flying west until he passed back into greener lands. From there he veered off North a bit, wanting to hit a few mid sized cities. He went by whim, as he so often did while traveling alone, just wherever felt ‘right’ for him to be. He knew, this sometimes meant leading him into something bigger than just playing music. It often meant getting drug into some sort of adventure. That had never deterred him from just following where he felt he was being pulled.

Sometimes it turned out to be nothing. He never knew if it was just because he’d missed a chance, wasn’t in the ‘right place at the right time’ or if there was nothing to it this time, and whim was just whim.


Aelvaria was a city built between the banks of two rivers, and right near where those two rivers merged together to become one. Surrounded on three sides by water, much of it’s trade came from the water, fishing, freshwater pearls being the primary things. The river also provided them with silt rich soil, fantastic for growing crops. It was a prosperous place, and one could get there either by ferry boat, or over one of the two large bridges that spanned the rivers.

He landed some distance away, about a half mile, finding a cluster of dense trees well away from the main road. It was just before dawn, and the sun was just starting to brighten the horizon. After shifting, and putting the canvas, rope and straps into his bag, he headed to the main road and down it toward the arching bridge that spanned the river.

He carried his pack across his shoulders, and the harp case, was held by one handle, at his right side. It made walking just a bit awkward, but he could manage. He was stronger than he looked, and it was less a matter of be being heavy, and more a matter of the bulk meaning he had to walk a bit leaned to the side.

The city had walls around parts of it’s borders, with high open archways leading to the two different ferry docks, a fishing dock, and out behind the city where the farmlands were. The walls were all done in a yellow-ish cream pale stone, large blocks of it shipped in from further east. Much of the streets were laid out in even paler ivory flagstone. The major roads through the city had wide stones about a pace across, while side streets tended to be cobbled in broken pieces that were all fitted together in a pleasing but random seeming pattern.

He picked a tavern, or well, simply picked the first one he spotted. He’d been to so many inns and taverns, sometimes he barely even noted the name of the place he was in. Many of them just started to blur together. The same food, the same wine, the same sort of faces. He’d play whatever music he thought they’d like. While he loved performing for others, sometimes it did get a bit repetitive.

The sign was fairly recently repainted, and it stood out against a dark blue backdrop. It was the name that made him stop in his tracks.

The Singing Dragon. In large gold letters, beside it, a crude and somewhat child-like painting of a slender golden dragon, with it’s mouth open, and one foot curled up to it’s chest, as though it were performing a ballad.

He stared for a moment, and then laughed. He stepped inside, confident that something important was probably about to happen. Unfortunately he was perhaps even a little bit cocky.

The Tavern looked much like any other. The floors and walls were all smooth sanded wood, dark oak floors, while wood a few shades lighter made up most of the walls. There was dark trim along at just above waist height that helped break up the monotony of the panels.

The bar was curved, stretching along much of a back wall, stools lined the length of it on the patron side. Shelves full of bottles lined the walls, and a wider than normal doorway lead to the kitchens.

There were two longer tables in the center of the room, with connected benches, and a half dozen or so smaller square tables that could seat four to six people. One back wall had some semi private booths, and tucked into spaces where they would fit were small tables meant for one or two people. The tables were a bit mis-matched but that was common. A lot of taverns would have their furniture made, then add more as needed.

There was a small stage on the right side of the room, more or less just a raised platform with a single wooden chair. The place was probably accustomed to having Bards perform, and expected it enough to make the common room more appealing for a performance.

His bright clothing and instrument case were noticed right away by the tender, who was a short and balding man nearing fifty. He smiled widely and offered Merin a drink of his choice, on the house.

“Red wine, your finest dry vintage.” He noticed the man did not go for the wooden cups or even the semi nice glassware, but went right for one of the finer crystal wineglasses with a silver rim, in a small cabinet. This was hardly unusual, a well dressed Bard tended to mean one who was able to afford to dress well because of their skill. A wise tavern owner treated traveling Bards with some respect, especially if they seemed to be a skilled one. Word would spread fast when a talented Bard was staying somewhere, and he could double his evening crowd with ease, and people who were enjoying themselves tended to spend more money. Bards often got free or discounted meals and drinks, and sometimes even reduced prices on rooms.

His wine was still being poured when the door opened, and a second Bard, entered the Singing Dragon.

She was an elf, slender and somewhat small of stature. Black hair hung in a single thick braid down to her backside, with a few loose strands framing narrow and angular features. If Merin had to guess, she was an older elf, or at least well over four hundred or so. She’d lost the youthful eternally eighteen to twenty look that so many younger elves tended to have, although her face had not a single line of aging. Elves, just tended to get sharper and more angular features the older they got.

She was dressed in a dark grey, nearly black fitted tunic of fine wool, it was nearly knee length and worked with colorful flower embroidery. Under it, clinging black pants and glossy well polished boots. She carried a small harp case from a strap over one shoulder, and a pack across her back.

Her skin was a dark coppery tone, and she had a bold scar that ran just under her left cheekbone, only serving to accent how sharp her cheekbones were. She gave the room a quick scan, and headed for the bar. She made it about halfway before she saw Merin, and hesitated, eyebrows raising. He grinned and waved, hoping she did not reconsider and choose another tavern.

There was a sort of unspoken rule that the first Bard to arrive at a Tavern was who got to play that night, unless they were willing to play half the evening, then turn over to the other. Merin would often decline playing if someone else showed up, and just go ahead and pay for his drinks and meal anyways. Other Bards, even ones fairly well off usually were in more need of money that he was. He did not want someone who was actually counting on that performance, to put food in their stomach and a roof over their head, to go without just because he was through the door first.

Bards could be a bit strange about other Bards. Some saw another as competition, a threat to their livelihood. Sometimes he was fortunate enough to meet another Bard who was willing to talk, and to share music with him.

She approached, but seemed a little cautious, eyeing his clothing and harp case. She smiled, just a bit thinly. Merin was a decent judge of people, and thought she seemed almost hopeful, but wary. After all he was wearing an outfit that probably cost about four or five times what hers did.

“If you’d rather go first I can wait until later, or perhaps take tomorrow?” He offered as she drew within earshot. He noted, that her eyes, which he’d mistaken for being a dark brown-ish were actually a deep dark violet, almost a plum color.

“You were here first.” She said, as she took a seat beside him. “I do not need your charity, good sir.” Her voice was accented, although not thickly, bringing to mind some of the lands to the far east, beyond the ocean.

“It is not charity.” He was worried she might think that. In a way it was, however. “I am fine with just relaxing and letting someone else do all the work.” He flashed his best charming grin, and held out a hand. “Merin.”

She offered her own. “I’ve heard that name before. You.. usually play a lute?” she asked. “I should have recognized you from all the green clothing and the pretty lady face.” She smiled a bit, giving his hand a surprisingly firm shake for a fairly petite woman. Her fingers were long and slender, but strong and well calloused. “Raelyn.”

He laughed. “Yes, usually. I actually brought it with me and have no trouble swapping out for lute, since you have a harp yourself. Also, you are still playing first.”

She gave him a searching look. “You have rather smooth hands for a Master Bard.” He thought she might have looked a bit skeptical. He swore to himself, silently. He was used to people having less attention to minor details like that. As his true form was a dragon, and his flesh even as a human was far more resistant to damage, he did not develop callouses the way normal people did.

“It’s a special hand cream I use. I like to keep my hands soft and lady-like to match my face.” He picked up his wine and took a sip.

“Oh, I’m sure you do.” Her eyes danced with mirth.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” He tried to look clueless and innocent.

“Do you keep your mouth soft and lady-like for the men as well?” She teased. She seemed to be trying to get a rise out of him.

“How else do you think I afford these lovely clothes? Certainly not with my musical talent.” Although now, he really did want to show off a bit for her, since she seemed to be thinking he was just some pretty boy who got by on his looks.

“Okay, Pretty, but you are still going first. It’s only fair that I come along after you, and show them how a real Bard does it.” She was still mostly teasing, but he was fairly sure she was not expecting him to be any good.

A younger Merin would have actually been offended at the jokes and subtle insults. An older and wiser Merin, just saw it as a bit of harmless fun. She had no baring on his reputation.

“How about we flip a coin for it?” He offered. He reached into one of several pockets on the inside of his coat, left side this time. Out came a gold coin, a little larger and heavier than a standard one.

“Heads, I’ll go first, but tails and you have to.” He offered. She gave a nod, and watched him, hawkishly.

He flipped the coin, high into the air, caught it, and in a viperishly quick motion had flipped it onto the back of his other hand without looking. He also did not need to look, to know he’d won the toss.

“How about one more toss, this time with my own coin?” She offered.

She removed a silver coin, slightly larger than a normal coin for currency. She flipped it into the air and caught it in much the same way.

“Heads.” She announced, and he noticed even before she really looked at it.

“Did you make yours yourself or have it made?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” Her brow furrowed.

“Your weighted coin.” He said. “I made mine.”

“I made mine as well.” She couldn’t help but smile at that.

“All right, Raelyn.. Since it is clearly what you want, I’ll play first. Then, after a few songs, you’ll have a chance. If I manage to impress you, I want you to perform at least one song with me. I’m sure we can find some we both know.” He briefly considered holding back a bit, but remembered just how skeptically she’d looked at him, and how smug her smile had become. He might not be as full of himself as some dragons, and he did not mind some jokes at his expense, but he was still a dragon.

“Sounds fair.” She gave a slight nod, and gestured toward the raised platform. “The stage is all yours.”

He took another drink of his wine. He brought the harp over closer to the stage, so he could keep it nearby, but he took out his lute, from the bag of holding. None of the patrons seemed to notice, but Raelyn saw, and her eyebrows rose. Such magic bags were rare things, and far more valuable than a sack of gold to people who traveled constantly.

He played a lovely piece of a medium pace as a warm up. It was not exceptionally difficult, but still nothing a novice would attempt. It was enough to get the room’s attention however. His second piece was a ballad, with vocals, typical tavern fare but he sang it well enough quite a few of the patrons had turned their chairs to face the stage, and were now paying more attention to him than their food and drinks, or earlier conversation. His next piece was a lively jig, infectious and more complex than the previous two. At least half the room ended up tapping along with the music, and a few got up to dance.

For the final piece of his performance he choice a highly intricate mid paced song with vocals that showed off his more than impressive range and tonal control.

Merin, for the longest time in the beginning of his career as a Bard, did not have a strong voice. His first teacher had considered him a mediocre singer and told him to focus on strings, as he seemed to at least have a knack for the lute or mandolin. He had not been discouraged however, and he’d continued practicing. He’d sought out the advice and teachings of dozens of other Bards and vocal instructors over the years. He’d spent months locked away in his lair or somewhere else out of the way, just strengthening his voice, pushing his range and practicing the techniques and exercises he’d been shown.

Eventually, he’d developed from a passable singing voice, to an exceptional one, and he’d never stopped there. Now, many centuries into living as a Bard, his voice had an almost otherworldly quality. It had gone from once being his weak point to in many ways being more impressive and captivating than his skill with playing music.

The song was haunting and could not have been performed properly by anything but a highly skilled singer. At the end, there were a few heartbeats of dead silence. A few patrons quickly scrubbed at their eyes, and a round of furious clapping followed.

A small shower of coins hit the stage, mostly copper but a few silver mingled in with it, and three ifferent cups of wine were bought for him.

He worried that Raelyn would be upset, or perhaps feel driven off, but she was gazing at him, in a fixed way as though seeing him with new eyes. He drained one of the cups, and came back over to the bar, a cup in each hand, offering one out to her. She declined, but was smiling.

“I’m impressed. Well, more than impressed.” She admitted. “My turn.”

He got a look at her harp finally. He had at first thought it to be silver, and for a moment, he remembered Taliesin, and his harp. It was a similar classic bardic harp like his had been, but he realized, when the light caught it just so, hers was actually made of Ghostwood.

Ghostwood came from an exceptionally rare tree that was said to only be grown by elves or fae. The bark and inner wood had a pale silvery luster, and as the tree aged, the leaves even took on a faint shimmer, as though coated with a light dusting of silver dust.

The wood was exceptionally light, but stronger than most hardwoods. The rings were a deeper silver and tended to make a beautiful pattern when carved right, making the surface have swirls of various shades of silvery and near white.

She got herself situated on the stage and began to play. Right away, within the first few bars of the song, he could tell she was not just a skilled harpist, but likely a Master Bard herself. By the second song, he was transfixed by the way her fingers danced over the strings with such ease.

The third song she sang while she played, her voice bell like and clear, sweet enough to make every heart in the room ache. Had Merin been capable of feeling romantic things for those outside of his own kind, he would have right then been in love. She got a response just as strong as he did, applause and calls for more, coins littering the stage, and several people trying to buy her a drink at once.

He joined her on the stage, unable to stop grinning, and after a brief exchange of words, and a few back and forth suggestions, they began to play together.

He loved playing with Ees. He’d loved playing with his dear friend from the very first time they had ever played music together. But, there was occasionally something missing from performances, as Ees almost never sang. Not to mention, so many duets were written for a male and female voice.

They performed three songs together, all duets that were geared toward a couple performing. Their voices were well suited for singing together, and both knew how to not try and dominate the other singer, so that they complimented each other rather than one overpowering the other.

His pulse raced by the end of it, and he almost rushed forward to kiss her. There was nothing remotely sexual about it of course, he was just that thrilled to have a female voice, and another musician to perform those sort of songs with, for the first time in ages. He was thrilled as well, to meet yet another Bard of such exceptional talent. Inwardly, he hoped he could convince her to travel with him, for at least a little bit.

They both took a short break, laughing and talking, having a cup of wine together, then played a few more songs, before she asked if he’d take a few by himself, while she ate, and then she’d take over at the end so he could as well.

He was perfectly fine with that, and returned to the stage, to play a few pieces, now more as background music since the night was just starting to wind down.

The innkeeper seemed overjoyed. He’d gotten not one, but two highly skilled Bards in his establishment, and they had actually chosen to work with each other rather than against. He had told them both they drank and ate for free tonight, whatever they wished, and could have his finest rooms, or room, if they preferred, (giving a sly smile while he said this) for a fraction of the price. They had both spoken up right away, stating that two rooms was perfectly fine.

He had asked her earlier before she left to eat, how long she planned on staying and where she planned on heading next. She had said she wasn’t sure yet, but wouldn’t mind performing with him again. As for traveling with him, she’d need to think about it.

The hour was growing late and patrons began to head home or to their rooms for the night. Raelyn was finishing up some bread and stew, along with another cup of white wine. Merin had teased her about her choice in drink, and she told him one of these days he’d change his mind when his ability to taste things matured. Already he loved how easily they could poke a little fun at each other without one of them getting upset.

There were only about ten patrons left, and six of them were some folk that had been sitting in the back of the room the entire time, in blue and green cloaks. He could not quite make out their faces, but he thought they looked elvish. He wondered, if Raelyn knew them. He glanced over to her and saw she had just finished her bowl, and was washing the meal down with a bit more wine, flexing her free hand. He assumed she’d probably only play another song or two, considering the hour.

He had just finished a song, and leaned down to pick up his lute case, he placed his lute down into it, and snapped the lid shut.

Something heavy and wooden connected with the back of his head, hard, and something else slammed into him.

He was briefly dazed, and thought he heard shouting as he spilled onto the floor. He had just been about to shove himself upright when he was struck again, across the temple, harder than the first strike. He’d seen a blur of green and blue material in the commotion, but his vision faded. He could feel hands grabbing at him, and he was yanked forward by his tunic. Something pulled roughly at his neck and his hair as he tried to twist away, and tried as well to draw in on his magic.

Darkness swallowed him.

He awoke to several people looming around, one of which was Raelyn. Her eyes were large and frightened, and she had been holding a cold wet cloth to his temple. He groaned and pulled away from it.

“You must have a really hard head. He hit you hard enough to crack your skull, but you’ve barely even got a lump.” She said, frowning. “Bled quite a bit though.” He could smell blood now. He sat up, and the room spun.

“What… Happened?” He was trying to clear his vision. Something felt.. wrong, highly wrong but he could not pinpoint what it was.

“Master Bard I sent for the guard right as soon as it happened, they are looking for the thieves, but they had horses and a head start.”

“Thieves?” He blinked again.

“Your harp. Those men in the cloaks took it.. And they took.. a necklace, the big one you had tucked away.” Raelyn said. “Do you need me to get you some water? I have some herbs for pain in my bag.”

Fear jolted through Merin, down to his core. The Harp. Adan’s Harp. Losing that was terrible enough, but his amulet? Why would they steal it? It seemed a strange choice. He felt at his side and saw his coin pouch was still there, and still held the same weight and feel. How would they have known to take the amulet? Why would they take it and not his gold?

He lurched to his feet, fending off those who tried to stop him.

“No. I have to go after them.” He grabbed for his bag, and shoved his lute case in, and slung the pack across his shoulders. He swayed slightly as he headed for the door.

“Did anyone see which way they went..?” He asked.

“It happened really fast.” a voice behind him said. “No one was really watching you when they attacked.”

“I think they went toward the western side bridge.” Someone said. I caught a glimpse of riders heading that way.” another offered.

Raelyn tried to grab his sleeve, but he stumbled outside anyways, shrugging her off. The night air was mildly cool, but a strong breeze was blowing. It cleared his head somewhat. He looked toward the West. He closed his eyes.

He could feel it, just barely, but he knew whoever it was, had been right. His amulet, and therefore, most likely the Harp, was heading West, likely already out beyond the city gates.

“You are going after them? Let’s get a carriage, it’ll be a lot faster than going on foot.” Raelyn was beside him. She put a hand on his arm. “This way.”

She lead him down a street, then turned down another. It wasn’t far away, but panic was rising as he realized they were getting further and further away by the second, and he could not shift to fly after them.

She banged on the door of a house with a large stable beside it, a man came to the door, still in a dressing gown, bald head gleaming.

“Do you know what hour it is?” He growled

“We’ll pay, three times your normal fare, this is an emergency.” She had started to reach toward her own coin purse. He scoffed and started to turn away.

“Ten gold.” Merin said out loud. “To take me as far as I need down the West Road, or as far as you can manage without wearing out the horses. Something worth far more than that was stolen from me.” The man blinked. Merin placed a hand on his wrist.

“Half now. Half when we are done. Don’t bother to get dressed, get the horses ready now, fast as you can.” The man, eyes wide, pulled away and rushed off to do just that.

“Why are you coming with me? You don’t have to.” Merin asked.

“I knew those men seemed sketchy. I didn’t like how they kept watching you. I thought it was just me being over cautious. I decided not to say anything. I had planned on watching them, but I got distracted talking to one of the serving girls.” She said, guiltily.

“Not your fault.” Merin told her, as he dug in his pack. He pulled out a small dark brown bottle.

“I know, but it sure feels like it. This might not have happened if I hadn’t been too busy flirting.” She said, eyes shifting to the side.

“You said you were talking to...” He paused. “Ooh.” he said, as it dawned on him.

“Yes, ‘oh’ Sorry to break the bad news, but I won’t be interested in seeing if your are good with your hands and your mouth in other ways.” She grinned a bit however at that, and gave him a small nudge.

“Oh no, believe me, I’m relieved. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to tell someone I wasn’t .. interested in that way.” He grinned, and dabbed the contents of the bottle on himself. It was a mixture of several perfume oils.

“I should have known you preferred a ladle and not the honey pot.”

“I….. what?” Merin turned toward her. He almost corrected her, but just let it go. “Guilty.” He grinned.

“What are you.. doing?” She asked. “Now is hardly the time to be primping. I doubt the carriage driver is your type.”

“Close quarters, was worried I might offend, you know.” He said, quickly excusing his actions. The truth was, he worried the horses would catch the hint of ‘not human’ that clung to his scent. She rolled her eyes at him a little, but accepted his excuse.

Within fifteen minutes they were climbing into the back of a small carriage, with two dark chocolate brown horses stamping and snorting. The man was in slippers, his night gown, and a long light brown robe, hastily belted over the thing gown. He’d pulled a wool cap over his bald head.

Already five gold richer, he clicked to the horses and urged them into a quick trot. He did not speed them up until they were across the bridge leaving the city, and about a third of a mile beyond, then he urged them into a steady gallop, once the road straightened out, and they’d had time to warm up a bit.

Merin wanted to urge the man to go faster, but it seemed the thieves were taking the same road, and it would do no good to wear out the horses. They would only be able to push their own horses so far before they’d need to rest. With any luck, that would mean Merin would be gaining, whenever they stopped to rest.

His thoughts were racing now that his mind had cleared. Raelyn handed him a damn cloth so he could clean up a bit better, there was still some dried blood in his hair and on his face. His head hurt terribly, but he took a few long swallows of a stout high end whiskey that he fished out of his bag, and that seemed to help a bit.

If they had known to take the amulet, he realized they must have known what it was for. He did not know how they could have known, but no other explanation made sense. He kept it tucked away so that it did not draw attention. It was almost never visible as he tended to wear high necked garments and he kept it under his clothing.

He found himself wondering if he should try telling Raelyn what he was. It would explain a lot, and drive home the point of just how important it was he get back the amulet as well as the harp.

He was not sure how she would take it however. Elves, on average tended to do a little better with some aspects of his nature. They at least did not have so much trouble grasping the centuries long lifespan bit. He really did not have any proof of what he was though, since he would not be able to shift until he had the amulet back.

He considered two possibilities, one was that she wouldn’t believe him, and the other was that she would no longer wish to help him. Yet, at the same time she should really know what she was getting into, if these were people who knew what he was and were willing to risk a dragon’s ire.

He wove a subtle arcane cantrip. It would do little other than keep the carriage driver up in front of them from overhearing the conversation. Raelyn glanced over at him. “Why are you doing that? I can use magic too you know. I’m hardly on par with a mage, but I know a few things.” She eyed him.

“Because I am going to tell you some things I do not want him overhearing.” He said, and drew in a breath. “This is going to sound crazy, but I swear Raelyn, I am telling the truth.”

She fiddled with the sleeve of her tunic a little, and tucked a strand of hair behind one long pointed ear. “All right, tell me.”

“I am not human.” He said, plainly.”

“What are you then?” She was curious now, although she hardly seemed worried or bothered.

“A Dragon.” He’d spoken quietly, and watched her face for a reaction. Dark eyebrows rose, but then she laughed. “I thought you were being serious.”

“I am. That amulet they took, that’s what allows me to change back. I put on scented oils so the horses wouldn’t smell a dragon and panic.” Her smile faded.

“I’m not interested in women, or men either, because I’m only possibly interested in another dragon. I’m better than probably any other Bard you’ve ever met because I’ve had centuries. Didn’t you wonder how a twenty something human was that skilled?”

“You.. aren’t joking.” She said, now seeming a little uneasy. “So either you are a giant fire breathing lizard, or you are crazy, because you certainly believe you are. I’m not sure what’s worse.”

“You noticed some other strange things about me. My blood doesn’t smell normal. I’ve got a lot more body heat than I should. You didn’t smell anything at all when close to me, even though I’ve been wearing multiple layers in summer. The tavern was warm. Elves don’t sweat much but even you did a bit. I haven’t sweated at all. Also you were surprised that the knocks over the head didn’t kill me, because they should have killed a mere human.”

She sighed. “So.. you are a dragon..”

“I am.” He glanced over. “Still want to help me?”

“What sort of Bard would I be if I passed on the chance to be part of such a story?”

He grinned, even though his nerves were still on edge. He was worried, more than he had been for himself in ages.

“You know you are lucky I had some perfume with me. One time I had to slather myself up with horse liniment so I could ride behind someone else on a horse. It’s been centuries but I can still smell it.”

“So what’s it like being a dragon?” She said after a bit. “You don’t eat people do you?” She arched one brow ever so slightly. Merin thought she was mostly teasing, but also slightly worried he would say that he had.

“Never have, never will. And I don’t even steal livestock. I did do that once, but it was by accident. I hadn’t really been around humans long and just thought those strange fluffy white things were really slow stupid wild animals.”

She laughed, and it seemed mostly genuine.

“I left coins on the farmer’s doorstep when I realized what I’d actually done.” He added. That time her laugh was a little more genuine.

“As for what it’s like being a dragon..? Well what’s it like being an elf?” He said, grinning a bit. “I spend a lot of time like this. Usually if there is a long distance between where I am and the next place I am headed, I sneak off and shift, and fly there in a fraction of the time. If I want to spend time in my dragon form, I usually stay pretty far off from humans so I don’t get seen.”

She asked him a few more questions, what it was like to fly, what he looked like as a dragon. She asked if he had a hoard. She asked how long he’d been a Bard. Her mouth fell open when he told her he had been one for over a thousand years.

Apart from the small talk, there was little else to do but wait. The thieves were still heading West down the main road. Merin knew they were still miles ahead, but he did not seem to be getting any closer, nor any further away. He leaned against the side of the carriage, and stared out the window.

“Do you want some music?” Raelyn asked after a moment.

He smiled slightly. “That would be lovely.” He let the minor ward drop for now, just in case the carriage driver found it odd he couldn’t hear music even though someone was clearly playing. He’d slowed the horses to a trot again, and Merin assumed he would be trotting them for a few miles, then picking up the pace again.

Raelyn pulled her harp case up between them, and took out the Ghostwood harp.

“Usually it’s me offering that. Nice to have someone else play for a change. Thank you.” He told her. “I don’t think I could string five notes together right now.”

“Gives me something to do and you look like you just need some time to think.” she said. “Or rest, if you can.”

Merin did not think he’d be sleeping anytime soon, but he nodded.

She began to play a soft soothing melody, just loud enough that it carried over the noise of the wheels on the dirt road, and the sound of the horses hooves. Merin felt a bit of the tension drain out of him.

He found himself thinking of Taliesin, and how much he would have uselessly tried to win this woman’s affections, had he ever met her. He had always talked about how badly he wanted to find another Bard to court. His elvish friend had taken many lovers, but few ever lasted because of how much he traveled.

Taliesin had been gone for a long time, but remembering him still brought forth sorrow, regret and guilt. Elves lived a long time, and if Merin had been less careless, and had stayed with him more during that time in his life, he would very likely still be alive today, rather than over two hundred years dead.

They had traveled together for a long time, centuries spent together, although sometimes on and off. Taliesin did not thirst for adventure quite as hard as Merin did. Tal, preferred spending more time as a Court Bard, as well.

Eventually Tal’s time as a wandering Bard and adventurer came to an end. He was fairly old by now, even for an elf, he’d started to gain the harder more angular features, and his golden hair had gained a hint of grey. Still, as an elf he could live on for another three, or four hundred years easily, he was just past his prime.

He retired, and expressed a want to open a music school. Merin was sad that the days of flying off into the sunset with his dearest friend were coming to a close, but he was more than willing to support Tal in this next chapter in his life. The school, would have been a smaller one, but with Merin’s help it wound up being much larger, and in a bigger city than the one Tal had originally been planning on retiring in. Tal, would have been happy living in a small town, and just teaching music to a handful of people, mostly children.

Merin had told him that a gift such as his should be shared with a larger audience. He funded the purchase of a large manor house and paid quite a bit of gold to have it renovated, with a living area for Tal and a few guest rooms set aside for live in students, as well as several rooms for study and practice. Tal kept insisting that Merin was taking this too far, and spending far too much coin, but he refused to listen to his friend. He bought a bunch of simple beginner instruments, for people to learn on. He paid for a few other musicians, and a vocal instructor to come work in the school part time.

Merin even showed up from time to time to teach a class, or bring in students from other cities. He had his own room there, and Tal welcomed him to live there full time, even though he knew the skies still called to his dearest friend, even stronger than their friendship.

Merin continued with his life as he always had, flying off seeking new sights, trying to find himself some trouble and adventure. He always came back however, generally at least once a month. After a while however those visits were every other month, sometimes a bit longer.

They still kept in contact through the talking books, although the messages now were often delayed, at first it seemed just by a few days, but soon it was clear they would sometimes not show for a week or more.

But, it was the curse of being so long lived, and having a best friend with such a long lifespan, that he felt like Taliesin would be there forever. Besides, he was retired, and Merin considered that far safer than traveling with him.

He was hundreds, close to a thousand miles away when realized a message had showed up in the old book. He opened it and read

I miss you. It’s been months. It’s been quieter here lately now that several of my best students have moved on. I could use some company.

A bit below that, as though it had been added as a later afterthought, was another message.

Mostly I just miss you, Merin. We used to be closer friends. Just, come back, even just for a few days. We can have a drink and play some songs together.

He felt a twinge of guilt. He wrote back, even though he knew he would probably be there before Tal ever got the message.

Tal, I am so sorry. Time just got away from me. I’m on my way soon as I finish writing this, although I’ll probably get there before the message even shows. Really wish we’d found someone who could fix the enchantment on these damn books.

He was true to his word, taking to the sky and flying back as hard as he could. He made one stop to rest briefly, and in a town where he could buy a few bottles of expensive high quality wine, ones he knew were Tal’s favorites. Tal had always favored wines that were a little sweeter and more fruity than he did.

It took him just over two days to make the trip. He landed just outside of the city and walked to the school. He thought it a bit odd, that the closed sign was up on the door. He went inside, as the door was not locked.

He recognized the young woman as one of the ones he’d hired, for general upkeep and the kitchens, rather than music related. Despite Taliesin being ancient compared to her, she’d taken on almost a motherly role toward him. His blood went cold when he saw she’d been crying, and likely for a long time.

“Oh Merin..” She said, and burst into tears. It was several moments before she could get anything coherent out through sobs, but he already knew even before she spoke the words. He felt it. The place felt far too still, and empty. Dread was filling him. Besides, what else could have reduced her to such a state?


Taliesin was dead.

He’d died a mere two days before. He’d been walking home from the tavern, where he’d gone to watch one of his students play, and to have a few cups of wine. Apparently on the way back, someone had stabbed him with a knife in the abdomen. Someone had heard the commotion and they’d brought him home, as he was only perhaps three hundred paces from the school. They’d rushed off to get a healer, but he’d died shortly after, from the severity of his injuries, and blood loss.

Merin felt numb. The tears would come later, but for a while he simply could not believe it. How could Taliesin be dead? How could he be just gone, and from something so senseless?

There was more however. He’d learned, that Tal had tried to trick and bluff his way out of being mugged. He’d been joking about how Merin would have been able to pull it off if he’d been here. Telling jokes, in good humor even as his life ebbed away. Merin realized, Tal had been trying to be ‘him’ He’d tried to handle things the way Merin himself would have.

They had been hoping that Merin would be there for the funeral. The muggers, had never been caught. They probably were not even in the city anymore. There was nothing to do but bury Tal.

The funeral hadn’t seemed real either. Merin had spoken of his friend at length, numbly recounting stories and even smiling faintly at a few of them. But, none of it had seemed real. He’d stared down at a headstone, with Tal’s name on it. He still felt like he was going to wake up, or go back to the school, and there would be his old friend, complaining about how long it took him to come back just for a damned drink.

Tal had left everything to Merin, other than what he’d given his employees. He’d wanted Merin to handle the arrangements for the school, but Merin was not ready to deal with any of that. He’d sat in Tal’s room, a couple days after the funeral, sat where they should have been sitting together, getting drunk and laughing about old times. He had opened the book and read those last messages a dozen or more times. It was so much clearer to him in hindsight how many times it had been Taliesin sending the first message, asking him to come visit, offering ideas for things they could do together, inviting him to come teach a special one time class, telling him how he missed him.

He was staring at the inside of the book, when the page lit up with a soft glow, and another message appeared.

For a moment, it startled him, before he remembered how much of a delay tended to be on them. He gazed at the lines written in Taliesin’s graceful hand.

Merin, I know how much you love stretches of open sky and chasing one adventure after the next. I can remember what that used to feel like. Sometimes, I even miss it. I miss what we used to have together. A few times I’d even wished the two of us were into men, because honestly I never thought Soul Mates existed before meeting you. There has never been anyone in my life that I have ever loved as much as I have loved you. You changed my life in a thousand ways. I know you still love me, but that my life stifles and suffocates you. It’s all right. I’ve gotten old, while you have stayed young. I know I’ve said I have retired, and I was done with running all over known creation, but I think I’ve changed my mind. It gets dull here you see? I can’t completely give up my school, but when you get here I want us to go somewhere. Anywhere really. Surprise me. Lets fly off into a sunset until we are somewhere I’ve never seen before. I trust you to keep me out of any real trouble. You always have in the past. P.S. You are buying the drinks.



At last the tears came, first streaming down his cheeks as he read, and finally in full choking sobs as he held the book to his chest. He cried until his chest ached, and his head pounded, and then he lay there, on his side still clutching the book the way a child might cling to a doll for comfort. Tal was gone. Tal, who meant more to him than anyone, whom he’d taken for granted. He was dead, and it was his fault.

He remembered the message word for word because, he’d copied it down. He’d written everything down from that book that he could. As it only kept the last few pages of messages, before they faded, he’d actually been writing down many of them for centuries. He’d gotten lax over time with that, but now, he wrote them. Even though it hurt terribly. He wrote them all down, then he made several copies. He read them again and again, until they were committed to memory. He supposed he was punishing himself with it, but he wanted to remember the words that his dearest friend had written to him in his last days, for the rest of his own life.

He was at a loss as to what to do with Taliesin’s harp or some of his favorite and more personal things. In the end he gave away a lot of the clothes and things that didn’t matter as much. The harp, a few of the tunics and coats he remembered being his favorites, his comb and some other odds and ends, all were carried back to his lair. He thought perhaps it would have been fitting to give the harp to another Bard, one worthy of it, but he couldn’t bare for it to be gone, where he couldn’t go and see it, and touch it. He did not think he could ever bring himself to play it however, not even a single note.

And still to this day, he had not. He would sometimes sit with the harp, even so many decades later, and the preserved messages, and the old no longer wording book. He’d touch the fabric of Taliesin’s favorite cloak. He’d play his own harp, playing songs he knew the elf had loved, and sometimes he’d even talk to him. He’d over time somewhat made peace with Tal’s death, but deep down he would always blame himself.

It was one of the reasons he clung so hard to Ees, and was so protective of him. He did not deserve to have another friend like that, one with a life that would span centuries, one that loved music like he did, and one who was good and kind and caring. He felt he did not deserve to have another chance, but he was not going to fail another friend again, not ever. He had occasionally daydreamed of what it would have been like to be able to introduce Ees and Tal to each other. He thought that Tal would have been as fond of Ees as he was. Ees certainly would have grown to adore Taliesin.

“Merin are you all right?” Raelyn’s voice drug him out of his memories and back into the present.

“I’m all right. I was just thinking.. Remembering some things from a long time ago.” He said, hastily looking away.

She moved the harp case out of the way and scooted closer to him. A hand rose and she touched his cheek, where a single tear had rolled.

“You’re older than me, more than twice my age. You must have a lot of memories like that.” She said sadly. Her hand fell to his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

They road in relative silence for a while, other than Raelyn starting up playing the harp again. She later admired she was actually somewhat glad he turned out to be a dragon, and far older than her. She had been trying not to be upset with him before for being so young and yet so talented. He managed a slight laugh.

“I should wonder if that is why I meet so many ‘rude’ Bards.” He raised a brow. In hindsight I probably should have made myself an Elf. But at the time, when I learned to change my form I’d never met an elf, only read about them.” he glanced over to her. “It is a bit difficult, the whole shifting business as you need to have seen people to get an idea of what you are changing into, but when you are a dragon it can be a bit difficult to do that.”

She smiled slightly. “I can imagine. I wonder if any just change into what they think a human looks like.” She mused. “If they were too isolated to encounter them in person, I mean.”

“I know the scroll, and the books I was able to read on the subject warned against shifting without a lot of prior knowledge of what you were changing into.” Merin said. “Although later I learned of another method that seems to just pick the human or human-like form for the dragon, as though the shape is written into the spell itself. With some work they can still influence it, but they do not have to be so familiar with people.”

“So did you choose to be that pretty, or were you just lucky?” She asked, her dark violet eyes glinting with a touch of mirth.

He’d lied about it on more than one occasion. He had claimed it was just how he naturally looked. Even when he told the story to Fer, he’d told it that way. What he’d left out was not long after first leaning to shift, he’d gone back to his lair to rework the spell, and how it made him look. He’d waited until he had learned what counted for ‘ideal male beauty’ before doing so. His original face was not all that different from his current one, but was far more plain in comparison. But, when he’d lied to Fer he had been far more focused on impressing him. The story he’d told had been more or less correct. He’d not outright lied about anything important. He’d bent a few details, made a few things sound more glorious than they were. He’d left out some of his more awkward and unfortunate failures.

“Chose to look this way.” He said, grinning a little. “We dragons are notorious for our
vanity. What else would I choose to be?” he admitted. “I made myself into what was considered ideal beauty in that part of the world, and in that era.” He sighed. “Alas, now I am trapped, cursed with this face.” He said, gesturing to himself. “Once you’ve chosen a form, you really only have a narrow window to make alterations before it sticks that way.”

He had not thought he’d be in the mood to talk, but it was a welcome distraction. How he wished he could make the horses charge at a full gallop, the whole rest of the way to town. Or, that he had some other way of traveling. Had this happened in Morakye he would have stolen one of their gryphons that they used for messages and scouting patrols, amongst other things.

“So is it how mothers tell children to not pull faces?” She pitched her voice slightly differently and it took on a nagging tone. “If you keep making that face it’s going to stick like that!”

Merin cut his gaze back over to her. “Mothers really tell their children that?”
The small talk, mingled with stretches of silence went on for perhaps another hour or so. Finally, after there had been several long moments of silence, with both staring out the window into the still full dark night, he spoke up.

“So why is it I’ve never heard of you? You seem like someone I would have run across before, both because of how long you’ve been a Bard, and just how amazing you are.”

She smiled at that. “I spent the first hundred or so years of my life in Aravelle. After things became.. difficult and dangerous there for my people I fled to another land where I stayed for the better part of two centuries. Until the last hundred years my trips over into this lands were sparse. I focused on the Zither and Sitar, up until that point. This harp, I brought the ghostwood over from my homeland, the grove that my people had once maintained. I had it crafted into the traditional elvish harp of this land, as a way to bridge the music of my past, with the new.”

He had noticed elements to her music when she performed that had reminded him of his trips across the Areth Ocean, as well as some of the music Ees had shared with him.

“My reception as a foreigner has been varied in these lands. Some welcome me, and are curious of my lands and customs. Others seem to find it more important that I am an ‘exotic woman’ and put that before the fact that I am a talented and well educated musician and performer.” She rolled her eyes. “Some are suspicious of me because they only see my darker skin and hair, and my accent, and to them different is something to either be feared, or disliked.” She grinned then.

“That’s what I liked about you. The first thing you were interested in was how well I played. What I looked like or how I talked had no baring on that. Sorry I was a little rude to you at first. I suppose I was just used to putting up barriers. And, I thought that you offering to let me perform in your stead was you trying to be charitable to the foreign woman, and seeing me as lesser and in need of such charity.” She strummed a few soft chords on the harp. “But now I see that is just you. You would have offered the same to any other performer there that night.”

He nodded. “I usually do. I remain a Bard because that’s what I prefer to be. I don’t need the coin. I try not to let myself get too famous anywhere, since I don’t age. Generally, any other Bard I’ve run across could always use the money and recognition more than I could, so I put them first. It’s more.. me understanding how much of an advantage I have, and making sure I give other’s a chance.”

Another hour, then a second hour crawled by. The talking had died down and now Merin could only stare out the window, or straight ahead. He noticed the sky was just starting to lighten behind them, gaining a faint grey-ing and a slight aura at the horizon. The sun would be coming up soon.

The horses were slowing, the man had kept alternating them between a canter and a trot for many miles now, and they were showing signs of tiring out, sweating, blowing and carrying their heads lower. Merin fretted. He needed to hurry, but it was unfair to make the man run his horses, his livelyhood into the ground. Torn between asking the man to pick up the pace a bit, and relenting and telling him to rest his animals, he’d leaned forward twice, only to sink back into the seat. The third time, as the sun peeked out over the horizon at their backs, he saw a most welcome sight. City gates, loomed up ahead, less than half a mile away, faintly outlined in the dim barely-dawn lighting.

CHAPTER TEN:

He all but dove out of the carriage, and shoved the five gold at the carriage driver once they were inside the city gates. He could tell that the thieves were not here, but still seemed to be heading westward. He was not certain, but he thought they might be a bit closer than when he started. He could not afford to lose any time.

Raelyn followed after him. “What now?” she said.

“There is a carriage rental over there.” he said, pointing to a place halfway down the street they stood on. “Meet me there in half an hour.”

“Oh thank the spirits.” He heard her say, as she quickly hurried in the opposite direction he was turning toward.

He all but bolted off. He figured she as well would need a moment to take off pressure from her bladder, considering they’d both been drinking a good bit before all of this happened.

He rid himself of his excess of drinking the night before, made a slight face as he washed his hands in cold water, and then jogged toward the marketplace, spotting just what he had hoped to find.

A man stood there, with a cart pulled by a large donkey. He had greying, thinning hair, and a bit of a gut. He had just started to set up his booth, which was basically just his cart with the sides lowered.

Stacks of fresh baked pies, still warm from being cooked in the wee hours before dawn, were being laid out. Merin, fished coins out of his pouch.

He inhaled. “Which ones are mutton..?” He asked.

“These here good sir, mostly all meat with some gravy and a bit of potato. The others over here are a mix of vegetable and chicken. And I have some fresh baked bread as well.”

“I’ll take eight of the mutton, four of the others and two bread.” he was told the total, paid a bit extra as he didn’t feel like digging for exact change, and his purchase was placed in an old, but clean flour sack, rather than just handed over or wrapped in a scrap of butcher’s paper.

The man smiled widely, showing a mouth that was missing a front tooth. He thanked Merin for about the third time, and waved as the Bard took off at a fast walk.

Raelyn was waiting on him when he arrived, although she expressed she’d only been standing there a few moments. She too, had apparently taken a brief side trip for food.

“I wasn’t sure if you would have time to grab something. Here this is yours.” She handed him a whole roast game hen, wrapped in paper.

“Oh thank you. I have some meat pies for the both of us, and some extra bread. I saw you go through half a loaf when you were eating your stew last night.”

She laughed. “Guilty.” She patted her stomach. “I have my elvish blood and body to be grateful for I suppose. I’ve heard too much bread tends to make humans fat.”

The second carriage driver was not quite middle aged, a tall thin man who moved with a slight limp, but was quite spry to ready the horses for a longer trip. There were actually six carriages for hire from this particular business, and he was the first one who agreed to the distance and pace. As it was more normal business hours, Merin paid extra for the trip, but not many times more, as he had with the first.

He handed one of his meat pies to the driver, who accepted and thanked him. His carriage horses were two bright chestnuts with long legs and graceful necks. They picked their feet up higher than the previous horses, but their trot was easily as fast as the mid range canter of the previous team of horses.

The carriage was lightweight, just enough room for maybe four people to sit in if they didn’t mind getting really cozy and having pretty much no personal space. It was a frame, on large wheels, with walls and a top made of canvas. The man charged per person and extra for how much they were carrying. Thankfully, neither Merin nor Raelyn had much on them, not that it mattered, coin wise for the two Bards, but because the lighter weight meant he was more willing to press the horses and keep them at a higher speed. It was a much longer distance between there and the next city, than it had been between the last one. The horses would probably need to be rested at least twice. The man had brought some oats for them, and a few apples, and said there were some places to stop and let them drink along the way as well, and graze briefly.

He was a little more talkative than the last fellow had been. Merin supposed it was most likely because he’d not been woken up in the middle of the night and forced to race his horses down an empty country road in full darkness, while dressed in a nightgown and slippers.

While Merin and Raelyn ate, the man chattered away. “You can’t be feeding them too much when they are working hard. Causes them stomach troubles. And I never give them cold water if they are warmed up. Light meals, and slightly warmed water only.. I use a bit of rose water and a soft for bathing them, unless they get muddy. Soap strips out the oils from their coat and ..” Merin started to tune him out, nodding now and then, catching only bits here and there like, checking and picking the hooves daily, before and after a run. He glanced over, grinning a little toward Raelyn. He assumed she was tuning him out as well. He blinked.

Raelyn, was sound asleep, with half of her second chicken and vegetable pie in hand, some crumbs down the front of her tunic, and an open water flask tilting at an angle that would spill it if they hit another good sized bump in the road. He reached over, corked the bottle, and put it with her pack. Rummaging in his bag, he pulled out one of his smaller pillows, and worked it under her head. She grumbled, half woke up, and then fell back asleep, pressing her slightly food smeared face into it.

He wanted to bring out his lute, but worried he would disturb Raelyn. It was understandable she was asleep now, she’d been up all night, and could not stay up for days at a time the way he could.

He did lean forward to talk to the carriage driver, for lack of anything better to do, when the first hour became nearly unbearable. He made up a version of story for why he was in such a rush, saying his harp had been stolen, and he was certain the thieves were still headed West, and he planned on finding them, somehow. He wound up telling him a fanciful story about a man with a flying horse who stole the moon from the sky, many thousands of years ago. It was nonsense, the sort of silly fairy tales one told a child, but Merin told it well, and the man was entertained.

When he stopped to rest the horses, some hours later, Raelyn finally stirred and awoke. She rubbed at her eyes, and grumbled she wished she’d brought along some strong tea, or even, filled her flask with coffee rather than water.

“All I’ve got is wine.” Merin said. “And, I think I have some brandy in there somewhere too.. And what little is left of the whiskey.”

She shook her head. “I do love a drink but now is not the time.”

“Did you say you had some brandy?” The driver called back, having just approached the carriage again, after letting the horses have a bit of oats, some water, and a few moments to snatch up some grass. Merin grinned, and rummaged around, finding both the bottle and a shiny brass cup from his pack, he filled it about a third of the way, as it was intended to hold wine, and he certainly did not want their carriage driver intoxicated. The man thanked him and sipped at the drink, saying his leg troubled him on long rides, and a bit of drink helped.

Both he and Raelyn got out and stretched for a bit, Merin trying not to feel as though the thieves were getting further away by the moment. Surely they had to stop at some point?

The man did not waste time however, and soon they were back on the road, the horses refreshed after a short rest.

“That harp they stole.” He began, pitching his voice low, and using a minor ward to further muffle their voices. “It was given to me long, long ago by one of my first teachers. Over a thousand years ago. He got it from his own mentor, when he had been young, inherited it. His mentor claimed it was already thousands of years old, and supposedly from another world.” Merin dug out the game hen that Raelyn had gotten for him, and offered another meat pie up to the carriage driver, who’d only brought a bit of dry stiff bread, a couple dried apricots, and a waterskin for himself.

“Adan wasn’t the sort to make up wild stories, but I don’t think he really knew more than he told me. The harp supposedly has some sort of power, but he could never figure out what it was. I couldn’t either. It always felt like there was more to it. It stands out too much to be played regularly. I only bring it out if I’m going to be performing for nobility, or on the occasional whim while passing through a place.” He frowned. “My random whim, got it stolen. What I’m having trouble understanding, is why? Why would they take the harp, that was in a plain leather covered case, and take my amulet, which looks like a large brass key with a carnelian on the top.. But, they left a fat purse of gold and platinum, and my bag of holding alone. They must have seen me pulling out my lute from it.” He ran a hand through his hair.

“That is strange.” Raelyn said, frowning. “I mean, even a plain harp is valuable but if they just wanted to rob you it does seem odd they’d not try for your pack and your coin as well.”

“And to specifically target the amulet. Which means they might know I’m a dragon. Which means..” He frowned. “They could know about the harp?”

“Do you think they took the amulet so they could stop you from being able to shift and come after them?” She asked, brow furrowed, as she began eating on some fried flatbread she’d bought when she bought him the game hen.

“Joke is on them.” Merin said. “It keeps me from being able to shift, but I would have never been able to follow them if they hadn’t stolen it.”

She smiled. “I suppose it’s a good thing then, that they know what you are. They could have just taken it and ran for the hills.”

Merin shrugged. But, I would have shifted then soon as I was out of line of sight from people, and possible been able to spot them from the air. You can see a long ways when you are up halfway to cloud height, or higher.”

“Good point.” She took a pull from her water flask, corked it and set it back down.

“There was something I was meaning to ask you.” He said thoughtfully.

“I’m terribly sorry, but I still only desire ladies, and I will not wed you, no matter how pretty you are.” She said, trying to look utterly serious.

Merin grinned, before forcing a forlorn expression. “You wound me deeply with your rejection.” He made a slight hand gesture, dismissing the joking for what he’d really been meaning to ask her.

“Do you know.. or did you ever know a man by the name of Thaniel Talveshi..?” He asked.

She blinked. “Why yes.. He was one of Aravelle’s High Lord’s. He died a long time ago, or rather, was thought to have died when Aravelle fell. All the Highborn were executed by our enemies from the South.” she frowned. “Why do you ask? How do you know that name?” She did not sound wary or suspicious of him, merely curious.

“Because he is the current Archwizard of Mithras, the Mage’s Keep that governs all the others in this half of the world.”

“… He’s.. What..? How.?” She had sat up straight, and reached out to grab Merin’s sleeve. “You are serious? He is alive?”

“Old, strange.. a bit eccentric.. A firm handed ruler but from what I can tell, a just one. I’ve only met him briefly on a couple occasions. He.. has the same hair, tone of flesh and eyes as you.”

She swallowed, and nodded. “All of the Taronue, had black hair, coppery or dark skin and violet, or lavender eyes… and..” She paused there. She’d been about to say something else. “.. Most of us are gone now.”

“If you think he’d be glad to see another of his kind after all this time, I’ll gladly take you to meet him, if you wish. Once this is all over anyways.”

She nodded. “I.. Think.. he would. There were a lot of rumors about him, even amongst his own people. He was a hard and ruthless Lord, but it was a tough time to be Taronue. Perhaps he was only as ruthless and cunning as he had to be.”

“He has a thousand rumors and stories about him that paint him in one light or another. But I know no one in known history, has done so much to unite the Keeps, as he has. The mages I have met respect him a great deal.”

She needed a few moments to simply process what Merin had told her. After a while, Merin asked if she wanted a story, something to pass the time for an hour or two.

“Yes. But one about you. Some grant adventure you’ve had. One you think I’d like hearing about.”

He leaned back, staring up at the flimsy canvas ceiling for a moment, lost in thought. She did not interrupt, or rush him.

“All right. I think I have it.” He said, fishing out a bottle of wine, and pouring himself a bit. He swirled the cup and took a small sip, wetting his throat.

The story he had in mind was one he’d yet to tell to Ees, or Fer either one. He’d started at the beginning with the two of them, and since he’d stalled in ever getting past some of the more terrible events of his past, and he’d stopped well before Tal’s death both times, he’d not told many stories from a time after that. A couple decades after his friend’s death, he’d thrown himself so headlong into whatever mad adventure he could, as a distraction, and oh how he’d found them. The more dangerous they were, the more of a blessing he considered them.
“How about the time I once disguised myself as a Princess, in order to get kidnapped in her stead?” He said, glancing over toward her.

“That sounds absolutely perfect.” Despite her early wish to avoid alcohol, she plucked the bottle from him, and took a drink directly from the uncorked mouth, making a slight face, as of course it was a dry red, the opposite of her preference.


“This was about a hundred and seventy years ago. I’d been serving the royal family in the Kingdom of Dharval for about six, almost seven years. Thankfully they were one of those sorts who protested me leaving the palace grounds. I’ve dealt with those a few times, and it gets awkward rather quickly.” Merin scooted around in the chair a bit, and leaned back slightly, setting in a bit more comfortably.

“Dharval was.. and still is a small kingdom, to the Southwest. I liked it because the weather rarely got all that cold, winters were mild and there was perhaps a cold snap for a few weeks a year that might actually put a little frost on the ground in early mornings. There was also a lot of rolling hills and dense tree coverage that made it ideal if I wanted to shift and not be seen. I could slip off to the forest, shift, and make sure I didn’t fly higher than the treeline until I was over the rise of a few hills. I think they suspected something was .. different about me, but they never questioned it too deeply. I was too useful to have around. I’d foiled an assassination plot on the queen, I’d found out their Court Wizard was a fraud and was selling information about them to potential enemies. I’d gotten back the King’s prized hounds when several had been stolen and held for ransom.”

“His.. dogs.? Were held for ransom?” Raelyn asked, looking skeptical.

“He was really attached to them. Great big hounds, some sort of special breed from distant lands. He often brought them right into the palace. Used to let them sleep in the room with him until the Queen made him start keeping them out in the kennel.”

Raelyn laughed a bit at that.

“So he had this special kennel made, that was a better than the houses most people lived in. Had the dogs all sleeping on silk lined beds. They ate raw meat and he hired servants just to attend to his dogs.” Merin made a slight dismissive gesture. “Enough about them however. The point was, the royal family really enjoyed having me around. I knew eventually I’d be leaving, and I think they knew it too, but they made a point to give me anything I wanted or anything they even thought I might want. In return I played music for them, tutored the Princess in several things, including languages, and the harp. She had a knack for music, even had a fine singing voice. She could paint, and sew and knit, but she was about six inches taller than what people considered ‘proper’ for a woman to be, all long gangly limbs, flat chested, narrow hipped. It hardly made a difference to me how she looked but she was not known for her beauty. Too strong of a jawline, sort of a long face, and a mass of black frizzy hair than four handmaidens couldn’t keep under control. But she was a delightful young woman, witty, thoughtful and kind hearted, quite unlike what was normal for young royalty.”


The palace was an open airy place, with high ceilings and grand chambers. It had a marvelous flow to it, and had been well designed. It was not the largest palace Merin had ever seen, by any means, although it was far larger than one might expect for such a small kingdom, but Dharval, around five hundred years ago had once been about three times the size it was now, before it had split into a second Kingdom, Jarevel, and several smaller territories ruled over by Lords, that did not quite fall under Dharval’s rule.

Princess Sorrell had been for a few years, a bit taken with Merin, who at the time had been calling himself Lothni, during his stay as their Court Bard. He had not bothered changing his appearance, as he thought it might be too much of a hassle to keep up with, and he had not really spent much time in this part of the world for a while. People forgot faces and general appearance however, more quickly than they did names, when someone did something noteworthy. Lothni the Bard, might be remembered in writings for some time, but in a generation or two no one would know what he’d looked like, at least not clearly enough for it to matter.

She’d expressed this to him once, her feelings for him, which he’d found quite awkward as she was still not even old enough to be wed. Thankfully, she never made the situation any more uncomfortable, and eventually confessed she later saw him more as an older brother. She often teased that she was going to have him married to a cousin or other family member of hers so they could become family.

He was not sure how any of them had gotten their information, but it was brought to his attention by one of the King and Queen’s advisers, that there was a supposed plot to kidnap the Princess, the day after her eighteenth birthday, which was mere days away.

There were many suspects, as quite a few men of noble lineage had expressed desires to marry her, but she’d declined them all. There were most certainly some anger and wounded pride being generated over it all.

The King and Queen had pushed for her to choose someone, but also did not wish to force her hand. They had several ‘favorites’ they had picked out, but wanted to find a happy medium between someone good for the Kingdom, and someone their beloved daughter would not despise.

Word was spreading fast, and Lothni was called on to help, to see if he had any ideas for how to foil such a plot. With almost no time to plan anything too elaborate, he did the best he could.

The King and Queen were skeptical at first, but they admitted it was the best they had.

Merin performed at the birthday celebration, all the while the rumor spreading through the castle, on everyone’s lips was to keep close watch, and the Princess was suppose to be kidnapped ‘that night’ Several folk were intentionally loud about it, some openly stating in mixed company, that at least she only needed extra guard for tonight. It was assumed, there were spies within the castle walls.

After the party, Princess Sorrell was taken away under heavy guard, back to her chambers, only instead she was snuck away to a different part of the palace, where she would remain until this was all over. In her place, Lothni was brought in.

Her four handmaidens set to work, dying his hair black, and adding in long extensions that had been made from some cut up wigs that were mostly horse hair. Some of which, were also dyed black.

The locks were woven into his own hair, until it looked like he had thick waist length black hair, that was more than a little frizzy and unkempt. The rest, would need to wait for the morning, until then he was merely placed in her nightgown, and a robe just in case someone saw him, or for whatever reason the would be kidnappers made a move early.

The next morning they set to work once more. He was put into one of her dresses, a floor length one that was many layers of silk, all soft pastel blue and lavender. He even had them put some jewelry on him, some pieces that, if worst came to worst they wouldn’t be too missed, but he needed as many details as possible in place to help him look the part.

They painted his face, lining his eyes with dark kohl, giving his face some contours and painting his lips. A touch of color was even added to his cheeks and eyelids. He put on some of her perfume, a sweet floral and vanilla scent. The handmaidens, who’d been having a wonderful time, noted that he seemed to be enjoying this a bit too much.

Thankfully the Princess was not too shapely, as it made it all the easier for him to dress as her. He was still slightly taller than her, but not by much. Not enough for it to be all that noticeable.

One last small detail was one of her circlets, added to his brow. From a bit of a distance, he thought he looked enough like her that even her parents might be fooled. It was certainly good enough for someone who was not well acquainted with her. With this being most likely a foreign Lord or Royal behind all of it, they might have never even laid eyes on her themselves, only heard descriptions of her appearance from another.

From there it was simply a matter of waiting. He made a point of dismissing the guards, claiming there was no need, and no way that Princess Sorrell was going to live in fear inside her own Palace.

Without so much as a handmaiden in sight, he went out to the gardens to paint, which was widely known to be her favorite hobby.

The Princess was a skilled painter, ‘Lothni’ not so much. Mostly he made a mess on the canvas, looking highly focused on the mildly deformed birds he was trying to depict.

He was there for at least two hours, and had gone through several canvases at that point. He was just about to get discouraged, worried that perhaps they’d backed out, or caught on, and were going to try a different day after all.

He heard the footsteps behind him, rustling, the clink of armor. He pretended not to, singing in a high falsetto as he dabbed at his terrible painting with a bit more cheery bright yellow.

There were three of them, large men with their faces partly covered by helmets. Guards. Palace Guards. Of course, it made sense these would either be traitors, or men who’d somehow obtained armor and tabards that would let them slip through unnoticed.

He did his best to look confused, and then frightened, when they said she would be coming with them, and to not scream.

He struggled just a little, trying to pull away from their grasp, and one clamped a hand over his mouth. His arms were tied behind him, and then a sack was forced over his head. He was thrown over the shoulder of one of the largest of the three.

“She’s a lot heavier than she looks.” He grumbled.

He was carried out of the gardens quickly, where he was thrown over the back of a horse, after being wrapped up in a blanket. He was thankful then for the perfume to cover his scent.

The ride was uncomfortable. He could tell by scent and sound they were cutting through the forest, heading East. For what he guessed was close to two miles, he was carried that way, until he could tell they were now on a side road, rather than one of the major roads. He was unwrapped from the blanket, and shoved into a carriage. Inside were two grim faced men, armed to the teeth. To either side rode no fewer than eight men on horseback.

“You don’t look very afraid, Princess.” One of the men sneered.

“Well, I am rather confident I’ll be rescued any moment.” ‘The Princess’ lifted her chin, and smiled smugly at the man.

“What I wouldn’t give to be able to take the smile off that face of yours.” His lips curled in something between a snarl and a leer. “I’m sure his Lordship wouldn’t mind too much if I loosened up his new bride for him.” He companion smacked him on the shoulder.

“He’d feed you yer own balls and ye know it. None of us are impressed with ye, let’s just get the job done. We’re getting paid to hand her over, not try and scare the lass” The second man, who’s face was mostly comprised of a reddish brown beard, had a hard set to his face, but Lothni thought that he seemed almost guilty. He decided if it came down to it, and he had to deal with some of these men more directly, he’d go a bit easier on that one. The other, however…

“Fine. She’s too ugly for me anyways, princess or not. I’d have to put the sack back on her head just to keep it up long enough to finish. No tits either.”

Merin, almost broke character right then and there. He was highly tempted to give the man a set of tits of his own, with illusion, and then throw him out of the carriage. Maybe illusion what was in his pants to look diseased, or like a large slug or something. He did his best to look upset and offended, but too timid and cowed to say anything else.

He was not too surprised when he found he was being taken to Lord Elyon’s manor. He had been one of the Lord’s who had been rejected by the Princess. He was known to be an ambitious and power hungry man, and several of his enemies had found themselves meeting an untimely end.

He was taken from the carriage, drug through the manor to a room, untied, and shoved inside, the door bolted from the outside, behind him.

The room was typical of a lady’s guest bedroom in a manor. There was a fine large plush bed with extra pillows, an armoire, a desk, a bookshelf with a few volumes of poetry on it. There were rugs, a few decorative things on the walls.

The only window had iron bars over it, and considering this was three floors up, the Lord must have assumed there was no way she would be getting out that way.

He could have escaped at any time, but the longer he stayed captured, the more he learned, and the more chances he had to put a stop to this Lord and his plans once and for all.

He was only there in the room for perhaps half an hour, when Lord Elyon showed up.

The man was of medium height and stature. He had brown hair, that was just starting to show a bit of grey at the temples, and a short well kept beard. He had small deep set eyes that were dark brown, and a cruel twist to his mouth that never really left if, even if he laughed or smiled. He was dressed in black and purple, a short fitted tunic, breeches and mid calf boots. A long sword was at his side, and an ornate dagger at his other hip.
He wore three gold chains, slender and long, connected to the shoulders of the garment, and dangling to mid chest.

He leered at ‘The Princess’ eyeing his prize like she was simply a piece of meat, or livestock bought at a market.

“You aren’t as ugly as they said you were. Don’t suppose it matters, I don’t have to look at your face or much of anything to just bend you over until I put a child in you.”

Merin had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes and looking disgusted. What was with these men. Did all of them always talk to women like this? It was getting harder and harder to stay in character, but he needed to wait a bit longer.

“What are you talking about..? Where … why am I here when can I see my mother and father? I just want to go home!” He whined, pitching his voice higher and more feminine.

And then, the exposition he’d been hoping for came. The Lord seemed quite proud of his plans, and he explained how he’d seen to it that several of his men took the place of castle guards, so that they could spy and gather information. His plan was simple. She would marry him, whether she liked it or not. If she did not agree to marry him willingly and claim that she had eloped, and not been kidnapped, her mother, father and anyone she cared about would be killed.

Merin couldn’t help but remember the ‘talking books’ and wished he’d had one now, especially the version that had been made to record spoken word. Now would be the perfect time for such a thing. He got the impression the Lord was exaggerating over how many men he had in the Palace, and how easily he could have the King and Queen murdered.

Merin did his best to look like he was frightened and near tears. “I’ll right.. I’ll marry you, just please don’t hurt anyone.” He sniffled in an exaggerated fashion and ducked his head down, although it was more because he was trying to hide a smirk. A most wonderful idea had popped into his head.

Looking shy, eyes lowered, he spoke quietly in a meek voice.

“Would my future husband please at least kiss me, so that I can at least pretend this is romantic?”

The Lord smirked and strolled forward. “I was thinking about a bit more than just a kiss.”

He strolled forward boldly, reaching out, fully intending to just snag her by the hair and hip, and shove her toward the bed. He yanked what he thought was the face of a frightened young woman’s close to his. Merin had drawn in a deep breath, and his mouth did meet the Lord’s, but half over his nose. He breathed out his sleep gas, in a powerful rush, snagging the man’s hair on either side of his head so he couldn’t pull away, with a strength a human woman could not have possessed.

Merin got the satisfaction of seeing confusion, and then fear on the man’s face, before his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped to the ground.

He took the man’s weapons, and then stripped him down to his underwear, but not before removing the gold chains. Those he shoved down the front of his dress.

He yanked back the blankets on the bed, and took the sheets and cut them intro strips with the dagger. He tied the man well, hands behind his back, feet tied at the ankles, and then a strip ran between the two. He would not be getting loose on his own. He made sure he gagged him as well, just for good measure. He shoved him into the closet, barred the door with the armoire, as it was slightly easier than using a spell to do so. He could have warded against sound too, but it seemed excessive.

The door had not been locked again once the Lord had entered. He had been that confident that he’d be able to subdue the Princess.

Merin, opened the door, he glanced down the hall. A short distance away were two guards, keeping watch on the only way out from the hallway. Perhaps the Lord was less confident than he’d let on.
Merin called out, doing a fair imitation of the man’s voice.

“Get in here you idiots, the bitch is putting up a fight!” He yelled, and knocked over the copper basin, that set on a table by the door. It clanged against the stone floor.

Both guards, puzzled, came running. He took in another deep breath.

As soon as the first guard rounded the corner, Merin grabbed the front of his breastplate and breathed a blast of sleep gas into his face. The second one, he hit with the plant pot he’d picked up on the table. The man staggered, dazed, but not quite unconscious. He tried to draw his sword, but Merin slammed into him, sending him staggering, falling over his downed companion, head first into the wall.

Merin did not have a lot of leftover sheet, but he did the best he could, stripping the men of armor and clothing, and then tying them, using one of their sets of clothing, and some cut up shreds of blanket as well, which did not work quite as well, but would serve to keep them from getting free on their own.

He could not easily get the hair extensions out without wasting a lot of time, so he simply sawed his hair off at a bit above the shoulders, cutting some of his own hair in the process, but he was unconcerned, it would grow back to normal length quickly. He scrubbed the makeup off his face as best he could, using some tepid water from a pitcher left near the bedside.

He took off the dress, setting the gold chains he’d claimed aside briefly, and then donned the other guard’s clothes, feeling slightly disgusted as he could smell sweaty human on the fabric. He put on the armor as well. He needed a helmet, if he wanted to avoid being caught, but thankfully, he’d seen a decorative armor set just around the next corner.

He barred the door and headed down the hall, feeling strange in the heavy suit with a sword at his side. His gold chains he’d claimed, had been tucked down into the hemline of his stolen pants, for now.

With a helmet on, he walked past several guards, simply walking as though he had a destination in mind, and was suppose to be there. It was not too hard to find the Lord’s study. He first pocketed any letters that seemed incriminating, and then, took a moment to write a few more.

With his letters he disbanded the Lord’s hired mercenaries, fired his guard captain, and sent word to several other Lords, and the King of Jarevel as well, foolishly boasting of his plan and how none would dare oppose him. The letters were handed to various servants, as Merin told them the Lord was ‘busy’ with his new fiance, but wanted these sealed letters delivered right away.

He moved down to the guardhouse portion of the manor, and addressed a group of two dozen guards. He explained the Lord wanted them all down there to deal with some prisoners. He laughed.

“Supposedly we can do what we like with the lot of them so long as they stay breathin’”

The men chuckled to themselves, all bragging about what they were going to do, as they headed down into an empty dungeon.

“Right down there.” He said, pointing to a large, wide open holding cell, that was empty.

“What.. is..” one of them started to say, and that was when the ‘dragon’ appeared.

A large head made of golden fire burst out from the wall, roaring, breathing illusionary fire at the men, who panicked, falling over each other, all trying to get away from the mouth and the flames.

Like sheep being herded into a pen, they all ran right for the cell, and a dead end. The illusion vanished, and the cell door slammed shut, glowing briefly.

“There are a couple days water and rations, just hardtack in the cell. Just in case it takes a bit longer than expected for the King’s men to get here. Hopefully they’ll just arrest or banish the lot of you.”

A few more passed messages had most of the servants sent home for the next couple days. They were confused, but saw the messages had the Lord’s signature and seal. He stopped by the Lord’s chambers one last time to snag some clean clothing, which he shoved into a bag, adding in his chains on top of it, along with the letters he’s gathered as further proof. He tied the bag off securely, and carried it with him.

At last, Merin’s work in the manor itself was more or less done. Most of the guards were dealt with, trapped, unconscious or sent away. There were hardly any servants left in the manor, and far less chance of them getting in the way or finding anything amiss. He ditched the armor, and returned to the Princess’ room. He forced the iron bars off the window, with a mix of strength and magic.

He opened the closet and drug the Lord out, who was just starting to wake up, still groggy and confused. He pushed him out the window, onto a somewhat rough drop to a lower roof level, hard enough to jar him painfully, but no more. Merin climbed out the window himself, and stripped down nude. He tied some ropes to Lord Elyon, and tied the bag in place as well. It was dark by then, and he was a lot less worried about being seen.

He shifted, grabbed hold of the terrified man, and took flight, carrying him, bound helplessly and nearly naked, over the miles back to the Palace.

He landed as near as he dared. Lord Elyon had wet himself at some point, and was shivering uncontrollably, sobbing and begging for his life. Had the man been any less horrible, Merin could have felt sorry for him. Still, the Lord had yet to get a clear look at him out of ‘costume’ and Merin wanted to keep it that way.

“If you ever tell anyone, that I, the Princess is really a dragon, I’ll eat you piece by piece.” He said, baring his teeth close to the man’s face. The Lord shrieked, and broke into louder sobs. Merin made a face, and sleep gassed him. He had just enough left to make sure the man would stay unconscious for a while.

He shifted back down, and dressed himself. It was a bit awkward to drag the man back through half a mile of woodlands. Admittedly, Merin took less care than he would have had he been transporting someone who didn’t absolutely disgust him. The Lord, would be waking up with some bumps and scrapes and scratches. It wasn’t in his nature however, to dish out further abuse on an unconscious man, even a terrible one.

He was barefoot, since the Lord’s boots had fit him poorly, and he’d decided to go without. It only slowed him a bit however. His flesh was more resistant to damage than that of a normal person’s. Still, it was a bit uncomfortable walking over sticks and roots, and stepping on the occasional pine cone.

He approached the Palace, two guards were posted at the main entrance. There would be more inside, but it was mostly the job of the two out front to decide who was permitted to enter.

The first, peered at him, then removed his helmet to get a closer look. “…. Master Lothni is that you? Who is that you’ve got there?” He recognized this guard, Jarvis, who’d been serving the royal family for over a decade, before Merin had first arrived. He was a burly fellow, short but barrel chested, with salt and pepper hair, that had been quite a bit less grey when Merin had first met him.

Jarvis had always been pleasant enough to deal with. He was a bit stern and serious, but he was well aware of what a valuable asset the Court Bard was, and familiar with what he’d already done in the past for the Royal Family. He looked perplexed, but stepped back to let ‘Lothni’ pass. “I almost didn’t recognize you with your hair like that.” He said. “You must have caught whoever it was trying to kidnap our Princess. Do you need an escort? Do you need help carrying that man?”

“I did and thank you, but no I’ve got it under control.” Lothni told him. The other guard, had been staring in horror this entire time. The helmet somewhat obscured his features, but Merin could see that his eyes were wide, and his mouth open, in an expression that was first, horror, and then slowly becoming a snarl.

“Stop right there.” He told Merin, leaning his halberd to block the way. “You can not enter. Jarvis what is wrong with you? This man has attacked a Lord and is a threat to the Crown! We must arrest him at once!”

“Let me guess.” Lothni said, dropping the Lord a bit roughly onto the flagstones, from the short distance he dangled off the ground. “This is who you really work for.” The man snarled and pointed the spear tipped weapon at the Bard’s chest. “You shut your mouth, criminal! Untie that man at once!” Jarvis looked between Lothni, and his fellow guard.

“Which is why you recognized Lord Elyon right away, even though he’s been to the Palace maybe twice, ever and only for a formal dinner. Recognized him when he was undressed and you couldn’t even get a clear look at his face.”

The Guard clenched his jaw. “Shut up! Enough of your foolish accusations!” He stepped forward, and drew back the weapon, preparing to make a hard jab at the Bard’s midsection.

The bottom end of Jarvis’ halberd came around, clipping the other guard’s legs out from under him. He came down hard on his back, and instantly, had a spear point aimed directly under his chin.

“I’ve got this under control, Master Lothni, you head on in.” Merin opened the door, dragging the Lord by a dangling rope attached to his hogtied body. He might get a bit chaffed and scraped by the smooth stone floors, but at least Merin hadn’t full on drug him over rougher terrain. When several guards looked their way, Jarvis called to them. They rushed over. Jarvis had rank over them, they’d listen to him more than anyone but their Captain, or their King.

He was in luck, as the King and Queen were both in the throne room, they were usually only there while taking audiences. A few advisers and guards were present, as was a representative from a craftsmen’s guild, a large and round bear of a bearded man with a dull yellow-grey beard.

All eyes turned to Lothni as he entered, dragging a filthy battered and nearly nude man in bondage. The Bard’s hair was a mess, about half black and half brassy-gold, and still looking a bit wild and uneven. He was barefoot and smudged with dirt himself, bits of leaf litter and a few burs clinging to his stolen tunic and caught in his hair.

“Your Majesty, I can return another time!” The guild master said, bowing low and backing away.

“This shouldn’t take long at all.” Lothni smiled in an apologetic way. He bowed low, as he approached the throne.

It did take a bit, for Lothni to recount the story, explain what he’d done once he had access to the Lord’s private quarters, and how he’d mostly secured the Manor. He turned over the letters to the King and Queen. Lord Elyon was taken away, only just starting to awaken again.

With nothing left to lose the Guard who’d been a spy turned over the names of the others in return for a mere banishment rather than execution for treason. Elyon, once he was fully awake, began demanding to be released, claiming some wild story about the Princess being a Dragon, and how he’d been seduced by her, and had not kidnapped her. Lothni, the Bard, he claimed was a liar and the Lord had never laid eyes on him before.

Of course, with so much proof incriminating him, no one believed a word he said. Lothni, who generally preferred to keep anyone from dying, did not protest the man being given a quick clean execution. After all, he was found guilty of multiple murders, conspiracies, treason, had planned on kidnapping the Princess, forcing her to his bed against her will, and had admitted out loud that he planned on killing the King and Queen.

The Lord’s manor, had been searched, the captive guards, and any other captured men who’d worked directly for the Lord, sentenced to a long stretch of hard labor. The manor, and his lands were given to another Noble family, who were loyal to the Crown.

Princess Sorrel insisted that Lothni be greatly rewarded, even beyond what her parents had already intended to reward him with. Lothni insisted that he did not do these things for the reward, but she would have none of it.

He hoped that he would just be given some nice gifts perhaps, and those did show up at his room over the next few days. There were six bottles of an exotic spiced wine, some bolts of the finest quality silk and velvet, enough to have several coats and a dozen or more shirts made, most in lovely shades of green, although one of the bolts of silk was gold, and another was cream. He had a feeling that was not the end of it however, and he was right, for less than a week later he had an audience with the King and Queen.

The past few days had been rather lovely. He’d enjoyed hearing all the wild stories circulating, about what all he had supposedly done. He had requested that Jarvis be given a promotion, or some sort of reward or pay increase for his quick action, and heard that he had in fact been given both. He still stopped by to bring the man a bottle of expensive brandy and a pie from the best baker in the city. He told the man a version of the story, and the way the old guard eyed him, made Lothni suspect he knew the Bard was withholding some information.

“You are a clever man, Master Bard.” The guard said, digging into his pie after Lothni had politely declined sharing it. “And as fast as the wind, to have made it all the way back in so short of a time frame.”

He knew that was where he had made an error. He just hoped no one would ever press the matter. He should have waited, laid low for a day perhaps, but he’d wanted to get word back as soon as possible.

“I understand Master Bard, and I have not said anything to anyone else on the matter.” He said, between bites of pie. “After the disaster with the last Court Mage, I’m sure Sorcery, even from someone as well liked as you, might be frowned upon.”

Lothni gave a slight smile that he thought looked a touch guilty. “That is it, exactly. I had to use a bit of magic to win the day, but I’d prefer if that part was left out of retellings of the tale.”

Princess Sorrel too, had gotten a version of the story. He’d softened how terrible the words were to the men who’d thought he was the Princess. He’d implied they had been dangerous men with crude things to say, at least.

He arrived at the audience, and this time it was only the King, Queen, and one of their record keepers, and one servant. He had not been sent to the throne room, but rather their private study.

King Orryn Kalvar was a tall man. He’d been quite the warrior in his youth, but more time spent on a throne, than on the battlefield, or even out hunting had made him a man of impressive girth as well as stature. His black hair could no longer really be called black anymore, although he tended to dye his beard, a black so intense it looked almost blue in some light. The beard only served to accent a jaw that could have doubled as a secondary shield on the field of combat. His eyes, a soft blue, stood out from his ruddy face and thick black eyebrows. Merin wondered if he dyed those as well, and if so why not just do the rest of his hair. Now was hardly the time to ask, however.


Queen Rania Kalvar was a bit on the tall size for a woman, and fairly sturdy in frame as well, although not as overweight as her husband. She was a plain faced woman who accented her features with a great deal of makeup. Her hair was a rich dark chocolate brown, and always pinned up in elaborate twists and braids. She was a stern and firm woman, shrewd, with a clear head on her shoulders. While they were far from perfect rulers, they were just, and did not neglect the poor. He’d known them to be hard and even harsh when they had to be, but never cruel. Lothni held a great deal of respect, and even a touch of fondness for the both of them, although he cared for Princess Sorrell far more.

They invited him to sit down, and the servant stepped over to pour him some wine. The man pouring over a few hundred pages of parchment, looked up, squinting through a glass lens on a long brass chain. The old man’s eyes were starting to fail him, but his mind was still quite sharp, and his hand steady, able to write in a small graceful script with a quill. He waited patiently for the Queen to call on him, and he began reading the list of Lothni’s services to the Crown. Both, what he had been paid for as a Court Bard, and what he’d done in addition to that.

“So you see, Master Bard.” The Queen began. “We have paid handsomely for the services of a skilled Court Bard, but not that of a Tutor in language and the arts, a protector of our Daughter, a twice over savior of our Kingdom.. who has revealed and defeated enemies of the Crown in one fell swoop..”

“And you saved my dogs.” Added the King. The Queen’s smile thinned slightly.

“You have been severely underpaid.” she held up a finger to silence him, as though she could sense the protest welling up. “No. I will hear none of it. My husband and I have discussed this at length. To not reward you properly would be a disgrace to our good name.”

He knew he was stuck there. She was not about to listen to reason, or excuses. If he refused to accept the gifts, he would insult her greatly, and worse, make both her and the King look bad to others. He hoped, these were only some riches, or privileges of some sort, and not things he could not accept.

“First and foremost you will be named Lord Lothni of Dharval.” She stated firmly, as though daring him to protest. “With that title will come some lands to the North, that will be under your ownership and rule. You are a clever and just man, I think you will manage that just fine.”

He found himself wondering, if he just bolted now, if they would be able to stop him. For, he thought he knew what was coming after,

“Your noble title makes you eligible for being wed to nobility. We will be arranging your engagement to the Duchess Datrina, who has been recently widowed and has expressed a desire to find herself a new husband.”

Lothni’s eyes went wide. Surely she couldn’t be trying to force a marriage on him, when he’d just rescued her daughter from being forced into a marriage. When she finished speaking, he bowed to her again.

“Your Majesty, I am honored, and grateful for your generosity, but I have no desire to wed or hold land and titles. Such would be more a punishment to one such as myself, rather than reward.”

“Nonsense!” The King said suddenly. “I thought that when I found out I was marrying her! All I cared about was my dogs, hunting and swinging a sword. Then came my wedding night..” He grinned, Lothni cringed, and the Queen shot her husband such a withering stare that he clamped his mouth shut, and the grin vanished.

“I mean… being married is a fine thing lad. Best thing that ever happened to me along with...” The Queen’s eyes narrowed.

“One word about dogs and you will be sleeping with them.” she said curtly.

“… Becoming a father.” He added, quietly, gaze fixed forward, as though that had been what he was going to say the entire time.

Lothni returned to his room. For a moment he simply sat on the bed, and thought.

The room was quite nice. They had certainly never skimped there. The bed was large enough that he could have invited three others to sleep in it with him and everyone would have had room, and not felt crowded.

His room was on the fourth floor of the Palace, and a large plated glass window overlooked the gardens, and beyond, the city, down in a slight valley. The floors were smooth marble, much of their surface taken up by plush rugs. There was a large heavy desk, a bookshelf with a number of volumes, some exotic leafy plants, several candelabras in bright brass and silver. There was a pile of round plush pillows next to a hookah, and a nook in the corner with a large overstuffed wing-back chair, big enough to curl up in. In another corner was a velvet lined chaise lounge. The armoire was large enough to hide four people in, and it was packed to the brim with clothing. Some was his when he arrived, others were outfits that had been made for him while he was here.

The room smelled faintly of sweet resin and amber, from a small burner that was lit while the servants were cleaning. They came once a day, usually midday to dust, tidy, pick up anything that needed laundered, and take away wine cups or dishes. Once a week they hauled off his sheets for washing.

It was a good life here, and he enjoyed it, but he’d known his time here was drawing to a close even before all this had happened. He rarely stayed long enough for anyone to comment on how he had not aged. Sometimes it took a while for someone to notice, but eventually, people would start to notice, how others around him aged and changed, and he seemed frozen in time.

He felt some guilt over his decision to run, but he knew that was exactly what he had to do. He was not suited to life as a Lord. Soon enough it would become clear how very much not human he was, and it was hardly fair to the Duchess to give her an un-aging husband who had zero interest in her, and never would be able to develop such, as well as one who would not ever wish to stay in one place, and she surely could not travel with him.

He began by writing several letters. First, a long winded apology to the King and Queen, saying that he meant them no offense but he could never accept such an offer. He was sorry for any inconvenience his disappearance was going to call. He wrote another letter to the Princess, apologizing to her for leaving, and wishing her well in her future. He left a few paragraphs of advice and encouragement. She would make a fine Queen someday, and he hoped she found someone worthy to sit at her side.

Another apology was written to the Duchess, as he assumed she was already informed of the arrangement, he wished her happiness, and a more suitable husband.

Finally, a note to Jarvis, wishing him well, and leaving him a few coins since he wouldn’t be around long enough buy him any more drinks or pie.

Those letters were signed, sealed and left on his desk. A servant would surely find them whenever they came to clean. He waited until the sun went down, and he opened the window and looked down. He couldn’t help but think of another time he and a dear friend had escaped out a window as well.

Thankfully, that experience had taught him something, and now he always carried several long lengths of well made rope. Of course, he’d be losing some of it, as once he was down he would not be able to untie it, but it was better than trying to tie together sheets, or trying to cling to the side of the wall and then shift.

He tied off the length of rope to the heaviest thing in the room, the foot of the large bed. Slowly, he repelled down the palace wall, dropping to the ground once it was only about two body lengths up. He’d taken his own clothes he’d brought with him, but left the majority of things bought for him.

The garden was mostly empty, and he slipped across it to the wall, there it was simply a matter of finding a spot where he could climb up. Thankfully, the thick vines allowed to grow up this side, provided some good hand and foot holds. Once over the wall, it was just a matter of getting to a wooded area well away from the Palace. He shifted, took to the skies, and never looked back.



Merin took a swallow of his wine, draining what was left in the cup. They’d long since finished off the meat pies, between the three of them, and he was looking forward to getting to town, as all he had in his pack were some strips of dried meat, probably more than a bit stale and old. Such things lasted a long time, but not forever. He was sure they were close to three years old at this point.

Raelyn had been listening the entire time, fascinated by the tale. She’d shared in his disdain for the way Lord Elyon and some of his men had been toward women, and she’d taken great delight in hearing about Merin in costume.

“Did you ever go back? I would enjoy hearing what became of Princess Sorrell. She sounded quite wonderful.” Raelyn pulled out some bread from her pack and nibbled at it.

“About fifteen years later, yes. I combed a bit of color into my hair to dull it, make it more brownish-red. I made sure I wore more earth tone clothing. It had been a while, but I wanted to make sure no one recognized me or thought I looked familiar.

The King had died seven years prior, his health had finally failed him. The Queen, had chosen to step down. Sorrell had married a foreign Prince from the far North. He was about a foot shorter than her, but they seemed quite happy together. She was known as a good and just ruler, and they had a son, with rumor of another child on the way. She’d opened a music, and an art school in the city and offered funding for any who showed promise and wished to pursue such as a career. Jarvis spent close to a decade as Captain of the Guard, but had recently retired. And the Duchess, was happily married to a Lord who was a good decade younger than herself.”

Merin grinned. Raelyn arched a brow. “I think there is more.” He laughed. “Just one more thing. Queen Sorrell’s rule brought a time of unprecedented peace. No one dared challenge her, or make trouble for her kingdom, as it was rumored that she was secretly a Dragon, and had devoured all who opposed her.”

Raelyn laughed. “Do you think any of them ever suspected the truth?”

“Perhaps. I think it was easier for them to just ignore it and move on, than believe that a dragon had come to their rescue, and that a dragon had been living under their noses all this time.” He shrugged.

“Well a short time ago I would not have believed I had met a dragon.” she said, before stuffing what was left of the hunk of bread into her mouth.

Chapter 11:


They stopped again to rest the horses, the driver, giving them each an apple and a quick rub down. Although Merin had never really felt a deep connection to horses, and on a few occasions had eaten them, he found the man’s care for his animals quite touching.

So much time sitting had made both himself and his newfound friend restless, for Merin however, it had been almost maddening the past few hours. They were clearly getting closer, but not at a swift pace. The thieves were clearly only taking brief stops now and then. He thought for sure they must have been switching out horses, and somehow managing to avoid sleeping.

He stretched, and paced around the carriage, walking in a wide loop, once he’d dealt with needed business of course. While he certainly needed the break, he also could not help but feel impatient to be off again.

They’d stopped by a patch of trees, where a narrow creek ran with clear water flowing over rocks, just deep enough that the horses could drink. The driver, whom he’d finally learned was named Harven, had checked the temperature before he’d allowed them to drink from it directly, making sure it was not too cold.

The horses were being given a little time to crop grass and rest, and that left Merin trying to ignore the compulsion to bolt down the road. After all, the next city couldn’t have been more than four hours away. Still, he understood the horses could not run forever. It was going to be dark soon, the sun creeping low in the sky. They would be arriving in the next town well after dark. Merin frowned. It meant that it might be difficult to find their next ride until morning had come. It would be crushing to lose the distance they were starting to make up for, because they had to stop for the night.

He was relieved when at last they were back in the carriage once more, and the horses seemed to even be eager to be off. Their pace was quicker than it had been before, and the carriage bounced down the hard packed dirt road.

The countryside was fairly lush and green here. There was an occasional side road that veered off, leading to small farming villages. The grass over most of the open land nearby was close to knee high, and a pleasant shade of soft green.

He breathed in, and could smell typical scents of the open road in this region. Dirt, plant-life, trees, rocks and moss. More distantly he could smell corn and rye, and some other grains, and farm animals.

Clouds had begun to roll in, and he frowned, hoping that it would not start raining before he reached the city. It looked like there might be a bit of a storm coming, and he hoped that meant the thieves would be delayed as well. He hoped they would stop in the same city, and just perhaps, he could catch up with them there. That seemed like a bit too much to hope for however.

“You’ve been quiet for a while.” Raelyn noted. “Are you all right?” There was a slight furrow to her brow. She muffled a yawn, which reminded him of how long it had been since he’d actually slept.

“Just thinking, about a lot of things, getting the harp and amulet back mostly.” He told her, and she nodded.

“When this is all over..” He began. “I want to take you flying. Not just to see Mithras and Thaniel but just take you somewhere. Let you experience what it’s like to fly.” he said suddenly. He’d mentioned it before, and she’d seemed almost a little dismissive of the offer, now she smiled, softly and he thought perhaps, a bit sadly.

“I would be honored if you would let me ride the winds with you.”

“And of course, I want you to meet Ees, and Mez.” he added.

“You mentioned them earlier, briefly.” She said, thoughtfully. “Friends of yours? That would be lovely. I have.. not made many lasting friends.”

“Ees is another Bard. He’s a bit quieter than me, kind and far more wise than most people take him for. We’ve been through a lot together. He means the world to me.” He admitted openly,. Without hesitation. He did pause however before continuing. “Mez, I have not known for very long, but I am.. fond of her. She’s also a dragon but a different kind.” He glanced over, just in time to see the soft smile turn into a grin.

“Is she now? Are the two of you together..? Lovers or .. Do dragons call their spouses Mates instead?.. Is she going to be your Mate? Or is she already?”

Merin laughed, a bit nervously. “Well.. Not quite. It’s a bit more.. complex I suppose.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We’ve both.. Experienced some loss and tragedy that feels a bit too near and close still. For now we.. Are just getting to know each other. We’ve found each other to be a comfort, but there has been no talk of becoming Mates. I know I’m not ready for something like that ag..” He stopped, as he had just been about to say again. “And she isn’t either.”

Raelyn’s smile faded. “I see.” she reached out and gave his arm a little squeeze. “What’s she like? How did the two of you meet?”

Merin was glad for the slight shift in subject. “Well..” His mouth twitched a little, but he tried to keep his tone serious and matter of fact. “We met when Ees decided to pee into a dried out old riverbed, that was all overgrown and full of dead-fall. He didn’t realize she was sleeping inside of it, hidden by fallen trees.”

Raelyn’s eyes widened. “Oh no. Did he.. pee on her?” There was some horror to her expression, but already she was probably trying to visualize it, and really close to finding it funny.

“Maybe a little. I never asked if it actually hit her or came close, but she was highly upset, and came after him. I only knew he was being chased by a dragon, and came between them, to protect him. I was afraid but...” He trailed off.

“But what?” she had leaned forward a little.

“She was larger than me, fearsome and a bit terrifying but one of the most beautiful things I’d ever laid eyes on.” He admitted. “She needed some time, back at her lair, and Ees had somewhere he needed to be. We are all suppose to meet up again in about a month or so.”

Raelyn grinned. “I bet the two of you are lovely together. I’m glad you have someone. You seem like the sort any lady would be lucky to have. If.. Well if they were into men anyways.” She laughed a bit again.”

“Thank you. It means even more coming from you.. Was there ever anyone with you..?” He asked.

“A few times. Nothing lasting. I don’t even think it’s my preference for my own gender so much as it’s the fact that I am a Bard, and not suited to stay in one place for too long. I think I might for the right lady, but so far.. There hasn’t been anyone who seemed right.”

“I didn’t think I would find anyone either. I’m small for my species, and spent more time around people than most dragons. I.. did find someone. I had a mate..” It was difficult to get those words out. “But she’s gone now. I almost lost a chance with Mez because I felt ashamed, guilty that I had found someone else, that I could feel attracted to them, when it had only been a few short years since I lost someone I’d loved with every fiber of my being.” He found Raelyn, strangely easy to talk to about these things, the words had just sort of come out.

She leaned over and gave him a brief hug. “You should not feel guilty for having a heart big enough that it was capable of loving again.” She told him, quietly.

“I know. It was actually Ees who talked some sense into me.” I owe him so much, for being there then, and all the other times he’s been there for me.”

Eventually the talk died down. Raelyn told him he should probably try to get some sleep, but despite being tired, he only managed to dose a little. The air temperature was dropping, and as the sun went down, the wind picked up. He thought he might have drifted off for a little while, when the first drops of rain began to fall.

He sat upright, nose wrinkling as he scrubbed at his face with his sleeve. The droplets of cold rain had been jarring, and now he was wide awake with no hopes of getting rest. He glanced over to Raelyn, who was peeking up at the sky.

“I had been hoping it wouldn’t start until we reached the city.” he said.

“Me too.” She answered, before she began rummaging in her pack, pulling out a light grey cloak. It was a fairly thin material, but it had a hood, and was enough to keep a light rain at bay, considering the carriage at least partly shielded them. Merin dug in his own pack, pulling out a dark green cloak of felted wool, treated so that rain would roll right off of it. He looked up at the driver who was turning up the collar of his coat.

“I should have another cloak in here.” He said, and dug down, shoulder deep in the bag.

“If you do, Master Bard I would be most grateful.” The man called over his shoulder.

“I usually keep a spare or two, or at least a few blankets.” he said, before he froze, and looked toward the front of the carriage.

“Wait, how long have you been able to overhear?” He asked.

“Oh I haven’t been listening the whole time, good sir. Your love life didn’t really seem my business. The story about the Princess was wonderful though. I hope you didn’t mind me listening in.” He sounded far too calm for someone who had a dragon in the back of his carriage.

“Harven.. Are you..” Merin trailed off, not sure how to ask.

“Master Bard, it doesn’t matter to me what you are, what matters is you are a paying customer and you never once tried to get me to hurry the horses more than I am, even though you are in a rush to get where you are going. Not to mention you’ve made nothing but nice talk and if your story is even half true you are more like a hero out of some storybook than what most folks are thinking dragons are.”

“Harven you’ve just earned yourself another tip.” He said, grinning.

“I admit I was a bit worried at first.. I was afraid if I upset you that you might try to eat me or the horses. Had some wild thoughts racing in my mind. But I just thought, well if I start shouting and panicking that’s only going to make it worse. So I just kept my head down, and all you did was keep sharing you food and drink.”

Raelyn was looking between the two of them with a lop-sided half grin on her face.

Merin pulled out a cloak, another heavy wool number. This one was dark blue, and deep grey, nearly black on the inside, with a deep hood. He frowned, and touched the slight bit of silvery embroidery at the front, just a little braided border, and the knot-work clasp. This one, had been Fer’s. He passed it up to the man. “Keep it. I think it suits you.”

Harven thanked him profusely, wrapping the cloak around himself, and pulling the hood up.

“Are the horses going to be all right in this?” Merin asked.

“They’ll be fine so long as we get them somewhere dry once we get to the city. Should not be much longer now.”

He was right, and as the rain started to get a bit harder, he clicked to the horses, giving the reins a shake, they picked up the pace, trotting even faster, legs almost a blur, heads held high.

Up ahead in the distance, was the faint outline of city walls, and a soft glow of lantern light and torches.

They stopped outside of an inn, where Harven would be staying, one that had a stable for his horses. Merin pressed several more gold into his hand.

“Don’t wait up. I don’t know where we will be going from here. We may be rushing off in the middle of the night, and you need to rest your horses.”

“I hope you find what you are after, Master Bard.” Harven reached out and gave his hand a hearty shake. “Take care of yourself.”

Merin and Raelyn both slipped into the tavern long enough to change clothes and get something to eat.

“We’ll just borrow a room for a moment.” Merin said, leading the way into the hallway. “If I was going to stay in it for more than a few moments, I would bother paying, but I figured you’d rather not stand around in a hallway in your undergarments when just anyone could walk by at any moment.” Merin, personally didn’t care as far as he was concerned.

“Don’t they keep the unused rooms locked?” She asked.

“Yes, but I don’t think there is a mundane lock made that can keep me out.” He grinned.

He stopped in front of a door. “Maybe this one?” He listened, but he did not hear anything on the other side. He placed a hand over the door’s keyhole, there was a faint, brief glow from his palm, a pause of about three or four seconds while Merin seemed to be focusing, and then a click. He opened the door, and froze mid step.

“Oh by the gods, lock your door!” he said, in an intentionally over-dramatic voice, backing away and shutting it, right about the time a woman shrieked, and a man swore loudly.

“Not that one.” He said thoughtfully.

“She was really.. flexible.” Raelyn raised an eyebrow, trying to look nonchalant but a smirk peeked onto her lips, just barely.

This time he knocked at the next door, and heard nothing, so he quickly forced the lock open. It was a small single room, he gestured for her to enter.

“You know my bare skin isn’t going to leap out and bite you, it’s all right.” Raelyn told him, grinning as she slipped inside.

“How do you know that?” He called after her. “It might.”

“I don’t mind if you see, I know you aren’t going to be leering.”

He stepped inside. His clothing had gotten a little damp, the cloak had kept most of it off, but mostly they’d just been in the same clothes too long. He found a cloth in his pack, she had one in hers, and she poured some water in a basin so they could wash up a little.

With little care for if he was looking or not, she stripped down, he ditched his clothing, shoved it into his bag, and wiped down, before slipping into a clean pair of breeches.

“That’s quite the scar you have there, Mister Bard.” She said, he glanced up.

She had several as well, she was slender, but not waifish, with several crisscrossing scars on her chest and abdomen. “My worst ones are on my back.. I don’t like anyone to see them.” she said as she wiped off her torso, uncaring that he saw her bare-chested.

“But, I trust you.” she added, and turned around.

Two jagged massive scars started at her upper back, followed under her shoulder-blades, ending a bit below them.

“You… had wings..” He said, quietly. “What.. happened?”

“It’s a long story.” She pulled on a snug fitted undershirt, and then a fresh tunic on over it. A clean pair of breeches were pulled on, before she sat down on the bed to put on socks and boots. He joined her, once he’d put on a fresh linen shirt, and a waistcoat over it.

“It is a long story, perhaps too long to tell in full here, but my kind, the Taronue were hunted almost to extinction, for mistakes made by earlier generations. The feature that made us stand out the most, was our wings. Without them, we were just elves with dark skin and hair.” She tugged one boot on, and then the other. “Thaniel fought against them, those who sought to destroy us. Fought down until the very end. The rest of us where certain he was dead, along with his dear friend Talar. Tales of their final stand against our enemy.. those remained. The few of us that remained, had our wings removed, and scattered like leaves carried by the wind.”

Merin, with his boots both on, straightened and slipped an arm around her gently. She leaned into him briefly.

“I have not seen another of my kind in a long time. You, telling me that Lord Talveshi himself still lives, it gave me hope, no matter his darker past. Hope, that more of the Taronue are out there somewhere. The people of the Raven, just might endure.”

Merin dug out a different coat, and used a touch of magic to dry their cloaks. They moved back into the common room, and ordered something to eat. Merin was happy to find they served roasted goat, and Raelyn ordered some chicken and half a loaf of bread. They each got one cup of wine, and ate quickly at the bar.

“I am having trouble sensing exactly, but I feel like we are close, closer than ever. The weather is throwing off my ability to pinpoint the amulet. Once we eat, I want to walk around the city a bit, rain or no and see if I can’t get a better idea of location, and direction.”

“Do you think they’ve stopped in the city as well?” She asked.

“It’s possible. I feel like the amulet is nearer than ever, but I can’t tell which direction. Like, when you hear a sound and it carries oddly and makes it hard to tell where it’s coming from.”

“I suppose that sort of makes sense..” She said, shoveling a bit more chicken in her mouth.

“You don’t have to come with me, I’m just going to be wandering around outside.” He told her, before taking a swallow of wine.

“You will waste time if you have to come back and get me.” she told him.

Once they’d eaten, they pulled their hoods up, and slipped outside into a steady rainfall. It wasn’t too heavy, thankfully, but thunder rumbled on the horizon and Merin was sure it would get worse before it would get any better.

He walked quickly, heading for what seemed to be more or less the center of the city. He stopped in the middle of the road. Making a slight face, he pushed his hood back, and focused, as best he could, reaching out for the familiar energy.

“It’s.. Here. In the city. I’m sure of that now..” He turned slowly in a circle, once, twice.. and halfway through a third turn, stopped. “That way.” he broke into a run, heading toward the west end of the city. Raelyn followed after him.

He ran down one street, and turned down another. Up ahead, was a small single story tavern, smaller and more rustic than the one they’d briefly stopped in.

There was a loud clatter, as six horses races off toward the west gate, their riders in long hooded cloaks. Merin stopped. “No...” His heart sank, a surge of despair, and frustration filling him. The urge to yell, or to throw something rose up in him rather unexpectedly. He clenched his fists, hard and then slowly relaxed them.

“Was that..” She trailed off, as she caught up beside him.

“Yes.” he stared uselessly at the empty street, feeling the amulet slowly getting further away again.

“All right,..” He began. “We just need one horse, a big enough one for us both to ride. We can follow, even if we aren’t as fast at them we can tail them to the next place.” he took a deep breath. “If you are with me.. I’m willing to steal one.” He hated the idea of stealing something from someone else, someone he didn’t know. For all he knew the animal might be a beloved pet, or vital to someone’s livelyhood. He could leave gold, or even platinum out, but there was no way of knowing if someone else was going to find it first before the owner did.

“Merin..” Raelyn said, scooting closer to him. “I.. know.. No, that’s not right. I have no way of understanding how important this is to you, only that it is.. but before we become horse thieves, lets at least try to buy a horse or two? Maybe someone at one of the taverns has one they’ll let themselves be bribed out of? At least try, then I’ll help you steal one if we don’t find anything.”

“… We’ll lose time, they’ll get further away, but you are right.” He sighed.

The tavern the thieves had been in, had only a few patrons up and about. No one knew about the men who’d just been in there, only that they’d ordered bowls of gruel, eaten them like they’d not eaten in days, and then rushed back out the door. They’d not even pushed their hoods back. No one knew where one could buy a horse at this hour either.

Merin headed back outside, with Raelyn following. “Back where we originally were?” she asked. There had been a few more people there.

“No.” He said, frowning. “There will be a third, maybe even a fourth inn here, and they are bound to be larger. This place is certainly big enough.”

They found someone walking quickly down the street, likely headed home, their cloak pulled close around them, and asked the man for directions. Three Oaks, was the largest Tavern, and it was just a few streets over.

Merin seized Raelyn’s hand and broke into a run, and they burst into the common room. There were around three dozen people huddled in this one. A few looked up from their drinks, but no one seemed bothered by the sudden entrance, likely assuming the two just really wanted out of the wet and rain.

Raelyn told Merin to take the lead, as he was better dressed and more likely to get a positive response from the mostly male patronage. He was about halfway through the lot of them, getting a few dismissive or downright rude answers, when gravely male voice spoke up.

“I got a horse or two I can part with, good ones too, if you can pay.” The man was well dressed, small and lean with dark hair and quick eyes. Merin nodded. “Can you take us to them now? We need to leave as soon as possible.” The man gave them a suspicious look, but quickly drained his cup and stood.

“Aye, I can. And I don’t care what you are running from so long as I get my coin. Business has been a bit thin lately. If I don’t sell a few horses soon I’ll not be able to keep feeding all of them proper.”

Merin thought there was a chance this was a trap of some sort, but the man was small and non magical. He was clearly well dressed, in a nice, but not overly ornate doublet. It was the best shot they had.

“Stay close to me.” Merin whispered. “Just in case he’s leading us into a trap.”

They walked to the south end of the city, Merin was tempted to tell the man to hurry up, at several points.

At the far end of the city where some of the nicer homes were, was a stable. The horses had all mostly been sleeping, and he walked past a small side room with it’s own door, that had been built onto a house. He knocked heavily on the door, and waited.

A man opened the door, rubbing his eyes. He was taller and stouter than the man who’d led them there.

“Get dressed, we have customers.” the fellow in the doublet said simply.

Moments later the other was joining them. Merin realized that the man did not want to be outnumbered while alone in the stable. Made sense, he was probably just as worried about this being some sort of trick, as himself and Raelyn were.

When the man wasn’t looking at him, he’d dug down into his pack and pulled out the bottle of scented oil, quickly dabbing some onto his neck, wrists and a few spots on his clothes. In the excitement of finding someone to buy horses from, he’d almost forgotten.

He did however glance over at Raelyn. “Should we just get one? I’ve never really ridden before.”

“It’s not that difficult. We’ll be faster if we each have our own.” she assured him.

He sighed and told the man he’d need his two fastest, or ones that could run for the longest without tiring, plus their tack.

The man lead out two, one was a pale dapple grey gelding, and the other a blood bay mare. Both were tall with long legs and deep chests.

Merin sucked in a breath when he heard the cost of the two combined, their tack, and some supplies, including feed bags and some sacks of feed, but he began counting out gold and platinum. Raelyn insisted on chipping in some coins, but then claimed the grey for herself.

Merin was thankful, that the feed, and everything, save for the saddles of course, could all be fit down into his bag of holding. The last thing they needed was something else weighing them down.

They were soon saddled up and ready to go. Merin’s horse seemed a little uneasy with him, but it seemed more that he was uncomfortable than her being able to smell anything, if what he could read from her was any indication.

He was able to somewhat ‘speak’ to some animals, but was far more adept with birds, and then perhaps cats.

Raelyn gave him some tips as they rode down the street as a fast walk, toward the western gate, showing him how to sit, how to hold the reins.
“Put your elbows in a bit more. Keep your feet in the stirrups. How can you be over a thousand years old and yet you don’t know how to ride?” She added with a sigh.

“Because most horses generally think I’m trying to eat them.” He told her.

Far from the smoothest ride ever, he was at least able to manage a canter by the time they were a short distance outside the gate.

The rode at that pace for about a mile. The rain had finally let up, and now it was simply damp rather than raining.

“They are no longer pulling away, but I think they are at least a few miles ahead of us.” he told Raelyn.

They spoke very little over the next few hours, simply riding at a pace that was as fast as they dared, without rising tiring out the horses. They were fleet beasts, and ran with grace and ease, which made it easier for Merin to adapt and catch on to riding.

After a long stretch of a slow gallop, they slowed to a fast walk as the road bent and meandered around some boulders and uneven ground.

“I’ve owned a horse a few times.” Raelyn told him. “Over the years. Not one as nice as this though, and never for very long. I could never justify the cost, if I needed to get somewhere far away it was just easier to pay someone a few copper or bribe them with some music along the way, to let me ride on the back of their cart.”

Merin nodded. “I am used to being able to fly. When I was on the ground I generally did the same. There was little sense in buying a horse when I had to go through the extra trouble to keep it from being terrified of me, and then I would just have to sell or get rid of it the next time I went flying across hundreds of miles.”

They kept the horses walking for a while until they felt it was safe to gallop them again, running them until they were clearly tired and in need of a break. For about a mile they let them walk.

The sky was just starting to grey again, when they dismounted, Merin could see a creek off some distance away, they walked the horses over, and remembering what he’d been told, he made sure the water wasn’t too cold before he let them drink. Just to be on the safe side, he dug out a bucket from his pack, and used a minor thread of magic to make the water tepid, almost a bit warm.

“I think you are being over cautious.” Raelyn grinned. “So long as the water isn’t freezing it should be all right.”

“If feels really cold to me though.” He said, frowning. “What I wouldn’t give for a nice scorching hot dry summer day, rather than this.” He gestured at his surroundings, indicating the muggy, not quite warm dampness.

Raelyn filled their feed bags and placed them on.

“The horses will be fine. So long as we aren’t stuffing them full of food then galloping them right after they’ll be all right. Our carriage driver friend I think is.. a little obsessive.”

So we don’t have to check their feet at every stop?” Merin asked.

“Would you even know what to look for? Don’t worry about it unless one starts favoring a leg.” she laughed. “You aren’t getting fond of them are you?” She asked.

“No. I try not to develop fondness toward the types of animals I’ve eaten before.” He said, grinning back. “I just want to make sure they don’t suffer because I got robbed of something important. I try to keep it in mind that just because they are a prey animal it doesn’t mean they are devoid of feeling.”

“When I was younger, I daydreamed about seeing or meeting dragons. I never would have expected them to be like you.” She told him.

“You aren’t the first one to say that to me.” he muffled a bit of a yawn. “How long should we rest them?”

“At least a good hour I’d say. Or half an hour but then we should walk them for a while and keep it nice and slow. Are you going to be all right? When was the last time you slept?” She frowned a little, studying him.

“The day before I met you.” He raised a brow. “I can usually go for days, sometimes even a week, but being without my amulet is starting to wear on me.. Not to mention I feel so..” He frowned. “I can feel it missing.. It’s part of me, so it’s like a large portion of myself is absent.”

The half hour passed with a near painful slowness. Merin knew the horses needed a break but it felt like an eternity. Not to mention they had no hourglass, and no real way of telling time. He guessed it had been about that long, and right before he asked, Raelyn got up and began saddling the two horses, who had finished eating and were contently cropping grass, after having been wiped down with a damp cloth.

“I’m glad you are handling most of the horse stuff. I still worry one of them is going to catch on I’m not human, and I actually smell like something that can eat them.” he stood and stretched, his back popping twice.

“Well you’ve been paying for more or less everything. The least I can do is lend a hand.”

They kept the horses to a walk for a while. Merin was a bit more confident in the saddle now, and the pace was making him a bit antsy.

“It looks like the road bends to go around that section of woodlands up ahead.” She said, pointing ahead of them. I think the horses can get through just fine, it just wouldn’t be suitable for a cart.”

“That could save us quite a bit of distance.” He nodded. They turned the horses off the road, into the grass, closer to the edge of the treeline there were some worn down areas where others seemed to have gotten the same idea at some point.

“We should catch up so long as they didn’t get the same idea.” Merin said, shifting his position in the saddle a bit, and ducking under some slightly lower hanging branches.

The woods were quiet, the rain no doubt having a lot of the animals hunkering down. By the time they’d made the near mile trek through it, however the birds had started to pick up again, and a rabbit bolted across the vague trail they had been following. Both horses startled a bit, but shook their heads and continued without further protest.

Merin raised up in the saddle slightly, when at last they had left the cover of the trees and rejoined the main road. He’d spotted hoof-prints in the rain softened dirt, and they were quite fresh.

Raelyn had noticed as well. “Back before when we saw their tracks, they were usually moving at a faster pace. They seem to be walking the horses now. Two of them are on foot, see? There are boot prints as well. Might be because they’ve been pushing them too hard.”

“We’ve caught up. I feel like they can’t be more than a mile or so ahead.. but it’s well I keep feeling like if we just crest a hill at the right time, or catch them where trees aren’t blocking the view we’ll be able to see them.”

“Not much hope of that, the trees just get heavier up that ways.” Raelyn said. “All that grey-green off in the distance. Seems like a fairly dense forest.”

They eased the horses into a light canter. They were close, and possibly gaining, but it seemed foolish to just go barreling up on them, and have the horses worn out again by the time they did catch up.

“You know they’ll be able to hear us coming. Sound carries on the open road.. But I’m sure you are aware of that.”

“Yes, but they might not realize it’s us. I think they might have just been leaving anyways when we saw them fleeing the city. They’ve been keeping a hard pace this entire time but I don’t think it’s because of us.”

“You have no idea how glad I will be when this is all over.” Merin said, with a heavy and weary sigh.

“The thing I’ll be glad for the most is you not smelling like the fancy whorehouse in Balaria. I swear you’ve been bathing in that perfume of yours.” Raelyn wrinkled her nose slightly, as they drew up briefly on the peak of another rise.

“You .. are well acquainted with what Balaria’s whorehouses smell like?” He asked, teasingly, and was met with a fixed, smug stare.

“All right, dumb question then I suppose.”

Merin kept a sharp watch out ahead. His eyes were better than that of a human’s, and he knew Raelyn’s would be as well. At the next hill he saw nothing, and the second. At the third, he thought he saw a blur of motion, small on a distant rise of ground, but it vanished over the peak, and he was not sure if he had really seen it, or wanted to see something so badly his mind had put it there.

They’d only been riding for about ten more minutes after that, when he saw them more clearly.

He called to Raelyn and gestured, pointing out at the hilltop that was probably about two thirds of a mile away.

“I see them.” She said, and urged her horse back into a gallop.

But, it seemed that the thieves knew they were being chased at last. They were all back in the saddle now, and distant hoof-beats were echoing back to the two of them.

He was not sure what his plan was. If he could get closer he could just spook the horses and them as well with a barrage of illusions. It would be obvious when they were closer which one had the harp, but no way of telling until he was much closer, who carried his amulet. He thought, that he could even force the amulet to release, and shift just by being within a few paces, or perhaps arm’s length of it. That might be useful if they were keeping it wrapped up and shoved in a pocket, or in a lockbox, or a backpack.

Apart from that he was not certain. They had attacked and stolen from him, but it was not in his nature to fight others, to the point of causing any real damage. He did not want them dead, he just wanted back the two things they had taken, and he wanted to know why they’d done so. He did want them frightened into never doing something like that again perhaps, but no more than that.

Over the next couple miles it was clear the distance was still lessening between them. He spotted them again, closer now, and he could make out all six riders, their cloaks flapping behind them as they urged their horses on desperately.

Raelyn was still the better rider than him, and her horse was carrying less weight. The grey, moved up alongside of him, and then began to pull away.

Her braid was flying out behind her, and she was leaned close to the horse’s neck as she urged it, and the animal lengthened it’s already long and leggy stride. Her lips were drawn back in what he thought was a grimace, until he realized that she was in fact, grinning, and madly. They were rushing headlong into potential danger, where they were outnumbered, and unarmed and she was loving it.

Merin would have normally been, had the stress of being apart from his amulet not taken away from that. It was as much feeling like a part of him was missing, as it was the fear that he might not ever be able to return to his natural form again. The thought of never flying again, was a horrifying and crushing thing.

The distance between themselves and the other riders continued to lessen, but their horses too were tiring out. Both were winded, glistening with sweat.

But, they were now less than half a mile behind.

One of the men had fallen back behind, as his horse stumbled hard. One of the others slowed and looked back. There was a steeper hill up ahead. The far more tired horses struggled on it, the surface slick.

In a panic, two of them turned their horses off the road and into the grass, the others followed. One of the horses was limping, and now Merin could tell it was the one carrying the harp case, strapped to it’s back, behind the saddle. It was not that great of a weight difference for an animal of that size, but perhaps it had thrown the creature’s balance off just enough to cause a misstep.

They had been slowed by the falter at the hill, and he and Raelyn directed their horses off into the grass well before the ground started to rise. They had halved the distance again. The thieves, made for the treeline, still less than a quarter mile ahead.

The distance was lessening rapidly and the man with the injured horse leaped off, dragging it by the reins, into the trees.

Here Merin and Raelyn slowed, easing their horses to a canter, and then a trot as they reached the treeline. Raelyn began rummaging in her pack, and pulled out a sling, and a small round smooth stone.

Merin could catch glimpses of horses through the trees, and they came upon one, frightened and heaving from exhaustion, abandoned with the saddle still on it. Raelyn sighed, and hesitated. “We’ll come back for it.” She said before continuing forward, deeper into the tree cover.

They found another riderless horse shortly after, and Merin realized they were also no longer fleeing, they seem to have stopped up ahead. He and Raelyn dismounted, and tied off the horses in a small clearing. They had enough room to walk around a bit, but hopefully wouldn’t get themselves wrapped around a tree.

Now on foot, they crept through the trees, moving as quickly as they were able, as the foliage became more dense.

“Do you see that?” Raelyn pointed up ahead, where there was the outline of a thatched roof, like what one might find on a simple rustic cottage.

“I think that’s where they went.” Merin rolled his shoulders slightly, steeling himself. He worked through dozens of possibilities.

“Once we get a little closer.. I want you to wait … while.. Well actually I’ll wait with you.. You’ll see what I mean in just a moment.”

He crouched behind a larger tree. Up ahead, he could see all six of them, and four of the horses. He realized one of the abandoned horses had likely been the lame one, as the harp was now being carried in an awkward unbalanced manner by one of the men.

The cottage was made of mismatched stones of various shapes, and the roof looked old and in dire need of being replaced. The whole thing had overgrown shrubs around it, concealing almost half of the front. There were a few tiny uneven windows. It looked like a strong storm would bring the entire thing down. The door, was ill fitted and there was a gap of a few inches at the bottom.

All six of the cloaked men stood outside of it, talking hurriedly amongst themselves, they glanced back toward the trees behind them. Merin could not quite make out their words, even with his keener hearing.

“Now watch.” He told Raelyn. Ahead of them, about halfway between where they were and where the thieves where, a second Merin was strolling leisurely up toward the group of them.

Merin, now unable to see through his own eyes, saw through the eyes of the illusionary version of himself.

“Why isn’t she coming out? She has to be in there!” One of the men said.

“I can hear her, she’s singing to herself.” Another said, and then called out “Lady Rowan, we have the Harp, let us in, please!”

Merin strolled up to the group, standing right behind them. “Who is Lady Rowan?” He asked, in a curious conversational tone.

They all spun around at once, back peddling, and reaching for weapons. Two had crossbows, the rest had daggers or short swords. He recognized right away the signs of one of them preparing a spell, brow furrowed, his hands raising.

The men all had a similar look to them. Their hair was a strange color that seemed more silver or more gold depending on how the light hit it. They all had it cut right about at jawline length. All were moon pale and had vivid blue-green eyes. While their was some variation in their features, all had a youthful but almost ageless look about them, slender, long pointed ears, like an elf’s but thinner, and they were marked with several piercings each.

There was something just a bit odd about the general shape of their face. They had chins that were just a bit too sharp, and a high arch to their brows. Their noses were a bit too long and narrow as well, and their eyes seemed just a trifle too large.

“Oh, I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” He said to the one preparing a spell. “It’s not going to work.”

The man threw a fist sized ball of blue-ish fire, and it went through Merin and struck the ground. One of them flinched, and fired their crossbow, which of course went through Merin as well.

“What a waste, you see, I’m actually over here..” A second Merin, stepped out from the other side of the cottage. This one, appeared to be wearing the amulet they had stolen.

“While you were busy with him, I got my key back. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll just be taking back the harp too...”

Back behind the tree, he’d taken Raelyn’s arm. “Lead me in closer, I can’t see right now.” She guided him carefully, bringing them to the edge of the clearing, while keeping down close to the ground in a crouch.

The horses were not tied, and seemed nervous.

“Can you hit one of them in the hip with your sling?” Merin whispered, right about the time the second illusion had drawn their attention.

“.. Yes.” She did not sound happy about it, but she let loose a stone. The horse squealed and set off the other four, all of them bolted off into the woods, one of them nearly trampling the other crossbow holder.

“How did you...” One of them said, and his eyes cut over to a traveler’s pack that was stashed almost out of sight in the bushes right by the door. He’d know it was near, but there was some sort of magical aura around the cottage, and it was interfering with his ability to sense it.

“It was simple really...” the second fake Merin said dismissively. The first, called out cheerily. “Ah, there’s my dog!”

A wolf, easily half again the size of even a large northern wolf, bounded around from the other side of the cottage, it snarled and charged for the middle of the group. The second crossbowman fired in a panic, the bolt went through the wolf of course, but struck one of his companions in the leg, who dropped to the ground gasping in pain. The real Merin winced, and both of his illusions did as well, one of them winking out. He recovered, and made the wolf turn into an explosion of bright sparks.

A second one of the men was dropped, by a rock suddenly connecting with the side of his head. He hit the ground and lay still.

“Was that really necessary? Merin asked.

“I’m helping! At least I’m not just playing with them.” She said, indignantly. Merin heard a slight rustle, she was reading a third stone. “I’d rather hit them than have to hit a horse again.”

With two of them down, and the other four in a near panic, and ready to flee, already the tide seemed to be turning to their favor. The illusion of Merin that was wearing the necklace, had charged toward one of the men, as though he meant to make a grab for him. The man stabbed and slashed wildly with a short sword, one of the others was trying to load his crossbow again.

Merin had come out of hiding at last, as his illusion vanished. Raelyn let loose another stone but hit the one loading a crossbow hard on the back of the shoulder, causing the man to yelp in pain, but it did not disable him.

“And now. You are going to tell me, why you stole my things.” Magic amplified his voice, and it filled the air like thunder. He raised a hand and snapped. Both crossbows burst into flames.. and the men dropped them. The two with blades, brandished them and advanced on Merin.

“They were bringing the amulet to me.” A voice, powerful and projected as Merin’s had been, filled the air. This one belonged to a woman. The cottage door at last swung open, as Lady Rowan, decided to make an appearance.

She was a tall woman, close to six foot in height. Clad in a velvet gown of burnt orange and deep indigo, with a matching cloak around her shoulders, the hood drawn up, shadowing her face. Hair white as snow spilled down to her waist, some of it pulled forward over her shoulders.

“Lady Rowan!” One of the men called out to her, and reached a hand out in desperation. “Help us, please!” She held a hand out to him, as though to bid him to come closer.

One of the other men called out to her as well, but with disdain. “You told us that if we brought you his amulet, you would return the other instruments! Time to keep up your end of the bargain, witch!.. Raldamor, do not touch her!” He barked to his companion, but in vain.

Lady Rowan grasped his hand, and yanked him close to her. Merin could not see what happened, but the man slumped to the ground, limp and as though boneless.

The man who’d been shot in the leg moaned in agony. He’d tried to pull the bolt from his own leg, but had been unable to. He paled, and nearly fainted. “Please.. help..”

“None of you move, that includes you, over there.” Rowan commanded simply. Merin glanced back and saw that Raelyn had readied another stone in her sling. Merin, found himself wondering if he could make a break for the pack that held his amulet.

“What do you want with the amulet?” Merin demanded. He could see little of Rowan’s face, but she smiled in a coy manner.

A Brass Dragon, about half the size Merin was when he was in his natural form, was perched upon the thatched roof. It breathed a stream of fire down onto the three remaining men, who panicked once more, bolting in opposite directions. Raelyn caught one in the back of the head with a rock, as he fled, dropping him to the ground.

The dragon, another of the Bard’s illusions, promptly vanished. Rowan had remained unmoved, and unphased by the display.

“We will need to catch them later.” She said calmly. “So we can send them all back where they belong, at once. For now, help me tie them, and take them inside.”

“Who are you? You never answered my question!” Merin eyed her. She smelled strongly of some sort of sweet floral perfume, with an undertone of cinnamon. She had a presence to her, and a clear magical prowess.

“I am someone who has been on your side this whole time. Had they not taken your amulet, you never would have been able to track the harp to this location. Without allowing them to steal it, we would not have gotten all five instruments in one place, and a way to return them to their world and seal the gate forever.”

Raelyn came up beside Merin, and touched his arm, but she remained silent, unsure of what to do in the face of this woman who was perhaps, not their enemy.

“As a show of good faith, please take your amulet back now, but do refrain from shifting for the time being..” She gestured to the bag, still half hidden by overgrown bushes.

Eying her a bit warily, he did just that, easing over to the back, opening it and digging out a cloth wrapped bundle. He hung the amulet around his neck. For a moment he was so filled with relief, he simply crouched there, clutching it, feeling the familiar weight and energy. He closed his eyes a few seconds, opened them, and then tucked it under his clothing so that it lay against his bare chest beneath.

“And do assist me. If you’ll look in the barrel over beside that tree, I have collected a great deal of rope. A few of these men know a little magic. It was weakened by coming to this world, but inside my cottage they will not be able to cast at all.”

“All right. We’ll help with that, but then you have some explaining to do.” Raelyn said, and Merin smiled. “It’s all right. I’m sure The Lady Rowan will tell us everything. Including why she brought me here.” He was suspicious, but now deeply curious.

They tied the four men on the ground, tied them up well. The fourth, Lady Rowan made a few swift hand gestures, and muttered something that sounded like a chant under her breath. She leaned over him and went limp and unconscious. While he was out, she quickly removed the bolt and wrapped his leg.

“The others will try and return for their brothers. They will not leave without them, they cannot leave without them.” Rowan explained.

The inside of the cottage was far cleaner and in better shape than the outside. There were some shelves lined with a few books and jars of herbs, various odds and ends. Merin realized almost right away, it seemed far larger on the inside somehow, nearly double what it appeared. There was a simple study oak table with four chairs around it, and cushions in the seats. A curtained off area had a small narrow bed. Plush rugs covered about half the smooth wooden floor. A pot bellied cast iron stove sat between another smaller table and a slightly higher than waist high cabinet with a smooth stone slab top.

“Just put them on the floor there, along the wall.” She announced, as though they were bringing in packages and not people. “We’ll carry them down below shortly. I have prepared for this, after all.”

“What do you mean, down below..?” Merin said, as he laid an unconscious man down on the wooden floor.

“You will see, soon enough.” Rowan said, as she removed her cloak and hung it on the wall. He could tell she was fairly young, perhaps mid twenties. Her eyes were a pale soft green, almost like peridots.

“Merin.. are you sure we can trust her?” Raelyn asked.

“No. But if she’d wanted us harmed or captured, she would have done something already, or let her men deal with us instead of helping take them out.”

“Good point.”

When all the men were secured inside the cottage, Lady Rowan shut the door. She turned to him.

“My name is not Lady Rowan.” She said simply. “I have called myself many things over the years. Ashara, Willow.. I suppose I have fondness for names that have something to do with trees.” She mused. Reaching up a hand, she took hold of her own hair and, pulled. It was a wig. Beneath it, her hair was a mess of short golden curls, currently plastered down to her head.


“I prefer to be addressed as Yuela. I believe you understand all to well the purpose using other names serves.” She smiled at him. “You have long preferred the name, Merin.

She unfastened her dress, and let it drop, stepping out of it. Under it, she wore a simple white under-tunic, and tan breeches that clung to her legs. Her boots laced up the front to mid calf. A long gold chain lead down to a lovely large square pendant, set with three pale green gems surrounding a cheery pale yellow one that was even bigger. She wore a few simple wide bangle bracelets on each wrist, that had been covered by the bell sleeves of her dress.

She looked like a completely different person with the disguise gone. Her ears, held points to them, but were not as long as an elf’s. Merin thought she looked like a half elf perhaps.

“I however, always preferred the name Aovi, for you.” That soft smile never faded. Something, tugged at old memories, a faint whisper, but he did not know what it was, only that there was something familiar about her, from so very long ago.

Raelyn had gone silent, but remained watchful, as though she understood at this moment, this concerned only Merin and the strange woman. Merin’s mind raced. No one should know that name. He told so few. Fer had known it, Koal, Ees knew it. Anyone else who knew it was over a thousand years dead.. or…

“I have waited so very long to see you again, Little Brother.” She had been so cool and collected for this entire encounter, but he saw the tightness in her mouth, and a glistening in her eyes. One of his sisters..? The only one he had left that might even want to see him at some point would have been Winal. His brow furrowed, he almost spoke the name but .. no it did not seem right. Winal’s eyes had been a deep golden yellow, with an orange outer ring. He only remembered one sibling with eyes of the palest soft green. But, it could not be.

“You are starting to realize I see.” She said. “It’s all right. I expected you to not believe. After all, I am suppose to be dead. But.. it is me.” She stepped toward him, finally the tears welling up.

“Savta.” He breathed out. “How..” He was rooted to the floor, unable to move, but she rushed forward several steps and embraced him.

For a moment he could only cling to her, unable to fully accept it just yet. But, there was clearly the scent of Brass Dragon under the perfume she wore. Excess body heat radiated from her. He remembered how she had persuaded one of the men, as though she had captivated and manipulated with her will. How she’d somehow made two of them fall asleep. Sleep gas. She was a Brass Dragon, and she knew his childhood name, and those eyes. Her eyes were what was solidifying it for him.

“I’ll explain everything soon, Aovi.” She said softly, finally letting go to step back. But for now, we have work to do.” She scrubbed at her eyes. “Pesky human forms. Spend too much time in them and they start leaking.” Merin laughed, still somewhat in shock, but did the same, finding his eyes were wet as well.

She pulled back one of the rugs and revealed there was a door, like the sort that lead to a cellar. She pulled it back, and a stairwell lead down, lit by half a dozen torches.

“Your sister...” Raelyn said at last. “How long...” She trailed off, a bit awed by how they had reacted to one another.

“Too long..” Said Merin. “Not since we were barely more than hatchlings. I.. thought she died.”

“I found Winal some years ago.” Savta said. “Took her ages to believe it was me. She thought it was some sort of trick. She told me.. some things.” Savta looked over at him, smiling sadly. “Like how you never gave up, even long after the others did. You kept looking for me.” She swallowed and looked away. “All right, all of them down below. If you could do that.. Well that would be wonderful. I’m going to step outside and set a trap for the other two.”


With that she was gone, slipping outside of the cottage, and out of view, light steps carrying her into the trees beyond, to carry out whatever it was she had planned.

Chapter 12:


Merin did not want to let Savta out of his sight, but he knew she had clearly planned and prepared a long time for this. Some of their captives were stirring, groggy and clearly in pain, but all were alive and breathing.

The stairs were shallow and had a gradual downward decent. It was a tunnel leading down, so there was no place to misstep and fall down. Raelyn gave a groan of dismay.

“I don’t exactly like enclosed spaces.” She said quietly.

“Don’t worry, It opens up down below, I can feel it.” He reassured her. “Just stay close to me.” He carried the man he’d picked up over one shoulder. She had to drag hers, walking backwards awkwardly. Merin moved slow, so that she was right behind him.

“I wonder what she’s planning? She says she’s prepared for all of this..” Merin frowned, as they reached the end of the stairs. Raelyn was winded by the time she got the man to the bottom, as he was heavier than she was.

The room below was larger than the actual home above. It had been dug out carefully, with several pillars made of smooth pale stone for holding it up. There was a circle and some runic writing he did not recognize, painted onto the ground in white.

There were more books down there, and some crates and barrels lining one wall. There was a slightly elongated half moon door over on one mostly bare wall, made of sturdy oak.

Merin wanted to find her right then and ask a thousand questions. Everything that had happened was far too overwhelming. He left the man laying on the floor, out of the way, and helped Raelyn move hers over beside him. The men were still not fully conscious, but even if they woke up completely, they were tied securely enough that they wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“Merin..” Raelyn began. He turned and looked back at her.

“Would you mind bringing the others down yourself? I’m going to go see to the horses. Ours and the others. One of them was injured and it’s not fair to leave ours tied to a tree.”

“Oh.. Yes. Of course.” He’d almost forgotten about them. “Let me get the feed out of my pack, and the bucket I was using for water. I smelled fresh water nearby, I think it’s just a bit behind the cottage..” He frowned a bit then.

“Be careful though? There are still two of them out there, although I don’t think they are really in a fighting mood they still might try to cause trouble if they see you alone.”

She nodded. “I’ll be all right. I’ll keep an eye out. I just want to try and catch the ones I can.” She headed up the stairs with him, he pulled out the feed, it was just enough to probably feed all of them twice. Then he set out the bucket, and, handed her some spare lengths of rope so she could halter or tether them once they were caught.

Raelyn headed out to fetch horses and tend to them, and Merin, took two trips to move the other two men down below. He came back up, just as Savta was returning, leading one of the men, with his arms tied behind his back, and his eyes wide and wild.

“What have you done with my brothers?” He demanded. “Release us! Give us the harp, it is our right! It does not belong in your world!” Merin blinked. “…..All right how about we leave this one conscious so he can tell us everything.” His gaze moved to Savta. “.. And I want more of an explanation from you as well..”

“I know.. And it will come, soon. There is.. a lot to explain. We have.. so much to talk about, we could fill days with it.”

Raelyn caught all but two of the horses after a short while, including the injured one. Most had not gone far. She was able to get them secured, with food and water. Merin assured her that she’d done the best she could, and there was no sense roaming the forest all day and night when the other two could be miles away by now.

She nodded. “They might turn up eventually, once they smell the others.” She’d made them as comfortable as possible, but they would either need a trip elsewhere for more supplies, or a way to transport them back to civilization soon enough.

The remaining ‘brother’ was snared by one of Savta’s traps, which she explained were like snares of an arcane nature, rooting the man to an object once he touched it. She made sure she’d trapped several specific spots he was likely to pass when he came back. She’d been a little flustered that Raelyn had left to go find the horses, since she could have just as easily gotten stuck herself. It was a wonder, none of the horses had either, but a large animal looking for safety was not likely to choose the same path through woodlands a person, trying to snoop there way back to a spot would.

The sun was going down by the time ‘Yuela’ was ready. She apologized for not explaining more just yet, but they needed to act fast to get the six thieves back to their own world. She had told them to sit down briefly, and even offered to make tea. Merin declined, and instead poured a cup of wine for the three of them. Raelyn complained that he needed to start carrying white wine, or she’d ‘find herself another bard friend.’ the glint of mirth in her eyes, and her tone made it clear she was teasing, but Merin all the same said he’d start carrying a ‘lesser’ wine just for her.

“I don’t even know all the details myself, only that there are six instruments total, which was why they sent six people to collect them. Each one has a special ability all it’s own, but when played together, can let one travel between worlds, or open up portals. I came across them because I’d been studying how to create spaces between worlds, such as how your bag of holding worlds, but large and stable enough for someone to live in.

“Like.. the cottage..” Merin said, realizing.

“Yes. I intentionally made it look so worn down on the outside in hopes that it would keep it from attracting attention should someone come across it. The most important parts however, are down below.. The upper floor of the cottage is still in this world, while the cellar exists in it’s own space..” She waves a hand “But I am getting off topic. She smiled. Merin realized she had to be a highly accomplished magic user, in some ways, beyond that of the Mages of the major Keeps, even.

“I knew about the instruments for some time, and had even collected two of them to study, when those men found me. She laughed a bit. “It’s funny, I had been keeping the Lute in case I finally caught up with you.. I’ve had it for about twenty years… I knew about the harp about another thirty years before I ever made the connection and figured out that you had it.. or found out you were under the name Merin and you had chosen the profession of Bard… It .. just seemed like fate.” She said, before getting back on track with the story.

They underestimated me a great deal. I managed to take from them the instruments they had, and I told them they could have all of them back, if they also got me something I wanted when they took the harp from you.” The smile faded.

“I told them they absolutely could not do you any lasting harm, I needed you alive and well, but I wanted your amulet for myself. A lie, but I knew that would bring you to me.. and it would bring all the instruments together so we could open the portal, send them back and seal them in.. Keeping the instruments here in this world.”

“… I want to see these instruments.” Merin said, already facinated.

“Yes.. Soon.” she said, smiling a little. “We need to set up the circle.. We can’t just keep six men tied up in my basement for the whole night. Even if they were rather… Well, not particularly nice men..”

Merin nodded. “Yes.. That’s probably the best choice.. Although.” He frowned. “They said the instruments belong in their world?” He felt a bit bad, if they weren’t the thieves after all, but trying to take back what was theirs.

“According to my research, what I was able to dig up, the instruments did not come from their world in the first place. They stole them from another, where their tyrant ruler used the power to rule in absolute and oppress others… When someone knows how to tap into them, and especially when they are all together, their power is said to be absolute.”

“Using music to.. control and oppress others…?” His expression darkened.

Merin’s mind reeled with this new information. His harp, Adan’s Harp, as he called it, was an object of legendary power? He had always felt like there was more to it, and Adan himself had implied it was ancient and not of this world, but Merin had not been sure if he believed him or not.

The three of them headed downstairs, and Savta prepared the ritual space. Merin still felt somewhat in shock over having her back, it did not quite feel real. There was much to be done still as well, and thus, he was focused on that for now.

The instruments were brought out from their hiding place, to join the harp, all around the outside of the circle.

“That….” Merin began after he’d started looking over each one. “That is Ameyrgin’s Golden Lyre.”

Merin had seen it before, even held and played it. There were legends about the Lyre dating back nearly two thousand years. It had supposedly been owned by a female Bard, who’d died even before Merin was born. Last he’d heard it had been in some museum collection.

Along with the harp, and the lyre was a lute that looked to be made of silver, although it was not, anymore than the lyre was actually made of gold. It had spirals and wave like patterns over the surface.

There was a horn that was somewhat fascinating, as it seemed to be made from what looked like an antelope horn, but with a rainbow sheen over a deep black. It was thicker as well, and close to two foot long.

There was a flute, made of a purple-ish dense wood, with swirling gold and silver colored metal inlays, and finally a rebec, which was a stringed instrument with a bow, somewhat like a more primitive violin. It was white, with coppery and greenish accents.

The problem they ran into was being able to play all six at once. Savta had a book, that she’d also taken from the six men, and it had diagrams and a list of notes one played to open the gateway to another world. One had to know the proper song for that world, or get lucky and play a song that send them to somewhere pleasant, and not some world that was a desolate wasteland, or deadly to them the moment they stepped through.

There was a moment, just a moment when Merin wondered what it might have been like if he’d known the right song to travel to a certain world, where someone he’d once known now dwelled. However, even if he could, it would hardly make any difference now.

The men were all awake now, and were watching warily. They’d fallen into a grim silence. However when it sank in what was to become of them, they began protesting.

“You can’t send us back!” one said, desperately.

“If we go back empty handed, it’s a death sentence.”

“..Not there.. No.. Please!”

Raelyn frowned. “Well we can’t just leave them here in this world. Can’t trust they won’t just go after the instruments again.”

“And they could be lying about just how in danger they would be..” Savta mused.

“What if we sent them to another world…” Merin asked. “Just.. play notes until we open up something else.. Shove them in. Might still be awful but, they might end up somewhere nice.” He looked thoughtful. “Hopefully not just a black abyss, or an endless ice cold sea..” He looked over at them. “It’s a shame.. they don’t know of any other worlds they could safely go live in..” He shrugged and started over toward the circle. “Well, I wish them luck. Lets start making some noise..”

“Wait!” One called out.
Merin looked back, expectantly.

“We do know of … somewhere else.” He sounded reluctant, but they exchanged some looks between themselves and then he continued.

“Page.. thirty-seven of the book she stole, will have the notes needed to open a portal to one of the Fae Realms. We went there first to collect the horn..”

And so they set up the circle and brought the men nearer to the center, after a few moments were spent making some final preperations for the slight change of plans. With some debate and consideration, three were untied at the arms, so they could play the needed notes. They swore to cooperate, and considering they were in-between two magic wielding dragons, and the other three of them were still tied, it would have been stupid to try anything.

Merin took the Harp, Raelyn, the Lyre. Savta took the lute. She could only play simply. She knew which notes were which, and could pluck out a basic melody, but that was all that was needed. The three that were untied took the Horn, Flute and Rebec.

Each person had to play five notes, on their own, one at a time in a clockwise circle. Then, they played three notes together, before all playing the same note. It took only a little bit of practice to be ready.

A discordant warble filled the air as they played the three together notes, and when the last note sounded, a circular hole opened in the center of the circle. It was.. strange and jarring how it opened out into a wide stretch of pale silver-green grass that looked soft as silk. A seemless tear in reality, into another world. It would hold, for just a few moments. They three men were allowed their feet untied, and they stepped through, their still tied brothers being passed to them. Merin, tossed a sack and a water skin after them, the sack had some basic rations. Raelyn, after a brief moment of consideration, let them have a couple of their weapons back, two of the long bladed knifes landing on the grass.

From Savta, came a bundle that was herbs, and some first aid materials, a balm and bandages, and a tonic for pain.

The men seemed to have mixed feelings about this.. they gave a curt nod, one of them muttered a thanks.

“Well.. I suppose this is ..” Merin began, about to tell them goodbye. The portal winked out, as though it had never been. He found himself wondering what might have happened had someone been half in and half out, and repressed a shudder.

There was little else to do, but head back up the stairs.

Raelyn checked the horses one last time. One of the lost ones, had come back, and was standing nervously a short distance from the others. She caught it and saw that it was tended to.

Merin sat with Savta, and he sipped from a cup of wine, waiting for her to begin. The story came, piece by piece. She said she would try to tell him a more condensed version for now, saving a longer one for later.

“I do not remember much about what happened after I wandered off that night. I think.. I must have walked for miles and I’m not even sure how I got that far. I can.. half remember that I was looking for something, but what I was looking for was some construct of my dreams brought on by the fever. Something to do with being able to find the pieces of something I had lost. I remember another time I was also looking for Jkar.. and I think sometimes those things got confused in my mind. I was seeing so many things I did not understand, some that seemed to be glimpses of the past, or possible futures. These were about myself.. or some of our family members. At some point I collapsed.”

She reached for her own cup of wine and took a sip. She had told him she normally drank tea, but she thought she might enjoy sharing some wine with him, tonight.

“I was found by some nomadic tribal elves. They lived in the desert for parts of the year, traveling between different oasis and spent the rest of the time on it’s outskirts. They feared dragons greatly, but also somewhat revered them. They considered finding me some sort of sign from their gods, a blessing. They carried me back with them, a long ways while I was unconscious, along the journey they gave me herbs and worked magics that eased my condition.

When I awoke, I did not remember who I was. I did not remember you or any of my siblings.. our parents.. None of it. It was strange, feeling like I’d come from nothing. The elves believed I more or less had, like I’d come from the sky, a gift from the gods .. or a child of the gods.

They taught me their language and their customs. In return I helped in any way I could. At first, it was mostly just me telling them about ‘dreams’ I had. I would know where we would find animal herds, when something dangerous was coming. When one of their own was being false. Eventually when I was a bit larger I helped them on the hunt rather than letting them simply bring me food. I protected them from dangers. They became my family. I was there for around three hundred years. In time, I began having dreams of another kind. Sometimes they were of my former life.. but so scattered and fragmented I could not make sense of it fully. I began dreaming of you.. Although I did not realize it was you at first. There was young human man in a green coat, who played beautiful music, and did many fantastic things. Like some sort of fairy tale hero. I dreamed about him so often, that he became almost like an imaginary friend. He felt .. familiar to me.”

“You.. had visions about me?” Merin asked.

“Many. But I did not realize that’s what they were at first.” She told him. “I also realized at some point you were a dragon, but I thought I’d just made that up because I wanted you to also be like me.” She smiled. “I had already been taught that dragons could change their form, and they were looking to contact one who could teach me.”

Raelyn came in from outside, and without a word moved over to try and start a fire in the stove for tea. Merin got up and started it for her with a tiny bit of magic.

“I have some dried boar meat stored in that box on the shelf there if either of you are hungry.” Savta mentioned, before she continued with her story.

“Eventually they did find a dragon, one of them had traveled many miles, nearly to the ocean in order to find her. She was a Copper dragon, old enough to be considered old even for our kind. It was eventually decided I would stay with her instead. She taught me things about being a dragon I’d missed out on, and how to shift. I chose a form with more elf like features because it was what I was familiar with.”

The story continued on for quite some time, Savta spoke of slowly getting her memories back, realizing her imaginary friend was actually Aovi, and visions of his life, sometimes past, present and perhaps even future. She remembered who she was, and went back to their home lair only to find it abandoned. She eventually left her old family of elves behind for good, so she could devote more time to searching, alternating between trying to find any of her remaining family, and just exclusively hunting for Aovi. It wasn’t until centuries later she knew the name, Merin.

“So many times I must have just arrived a week or two after you’d been somewhere. It was highly frustrating. Sometimes I’d consider staying in a major city and waiting but I always feared I’d wait two hundred years or more and you’d never come back… I actually found the Lute while with some adventuring party. We retook a bunch of riches that some warlord was hoarding away. He wasn’t a dragon but he certainly had that aspect down. We all got a cut of the treasure we brought back, some went to the towns and cities that had been plagued by him, and we were paid well also. I instantly claimed the Lute because I thought it would be marvelous, if I ever found you to surprise you with it.”

“I eventually, did find Winal again. She.. filled me in on a lot.” She looked a bit sad then. “She says she’s told you before, but.. she wanted to tell you again that she’s sorry.”

Raelyn, after a time brought a cup of tea over for Savta, and for herself.

“In the morning I’d like to set off for the nearest town or city.. Take the horses there. Do you want me to sell your’s, Merin..?” She asked. “I’m considering keeping mine.”

Merin smiled. “Sell mine, and use that coin toward the upkeep of yours, and stabling him when you stay somewhere. You said before that was a problem in the past.

“Do you need us to come with you.?” Savta asked. “It will be hard to keep up with that many horses, otherwise.”

“How is the injured one?” Merin asked.

“I was thinking of leaving him here a few days at least, and bringing back some extra supplies. It doesn’t seem too bad but he’s got a tender foot that will need some time to heal up.. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, we could ride out together..? Then come back here.” She said.

“Tomorrow is good. I need to get some rest at some point..” Merin admitted. “I lost track of the last time I actually slept.”

He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage to sleep, considering everything that had happened, but he’d only been laying down on some pillows he’d laid out on the floor, for maybe twenty minutes or so, before he fell asleep, and did not wake until late morning.

“Raelyn is getting the horses ready now..” Savta said, as he sat up.

The wood burning stove had been kept going all night, keeping the cottage pleasantly warm. He rubbed at his face.

“Once we get the horses out of here.. and get back.. I need to spend a few days in my natural form..” He wanted to now, but there were things to take care of first.

“I’ll join you then? Raelyn won’t mind will she?” She glanced toward the door.

“No I think she’d actually enjoy getting to see me like that. Although I’m not sure me being a dragon feels real to her just yet.”

Raelyn left the injured horse behind, after they rigged up a bit of a shelter for it. The horse had a long lead and was able to reach grass and water. Savta had said there was a town not too far off, if they made good time they’d be back by sunset.

They did take a good bit of a loss on selling the horses. The town did not have a great deal of money, and no one was interested in trying to leech what they had out of them. Merin knew most of the horses would probably get sold in a bigger city for a profit. But, at least they were not being left to fend for themselves. The trip gave Savta and Merin more time to catch up, Merin ended up telling both Savta and Raelyn stories about his adventures. He told her about Ees, and Mez as well. She insisted she had to be taken to meet them, and Merin told her he would not have it any other way.

Raelyn got to see Merin as a dragon, a short distance outside of town where he and Savta shifted. Raelyn, had her horse at the stables briefly, she was going to buy more supplies and ride back. Merin and Savta planned on flying back, going for a hunt, and having something cooking for Raelyn by the time she returned.

Savta was larger than Merin in their natural forms, but not by a great deal. Her long illness seemed to have somewhat stunted her growth, making her just a bit on the smaller side of average for a Brass. Merin, realized with a bit of glee, that he was still a great deal faster and more agile than her in the air, which she marveled at and later teased him for.

Soon they were all back at the cottage, laughing and telling stories, after having stuffed themselves on deer meat. He and Savta made plans to go find Winal and see if perhaps even she wanted to join them sometime. They discussed the future, and while Savta could not always be at Merin’s side every day, she would be there as much as possible, and she would figure out some sort of way for them to find each other again when they needed to. She even thought she might have some ideas on how to recreate the ‘talking books’ Merin had told her about.

There was still weeks before he would need to find Mez again. It felt like longer, but he wanted to give her that bit of space and time she’d asked for.

He was determined to keep his promise to Raelyn as well, so they agreed to meet in one of the larger cities not so far away, somewhere her horse could be boarded for a while, and the lame one, which had healed up just fine could be sold.

She took to flying well enough, and by well enough, she only screamed for the first few minutes. It did not take her long to realize that she loved being high in the sky, and she later teased that she perhaps should not have kept that horse after all, as flying was far superior.

He took her as close to Mithras as he dared, and said he would come back by in two weeks. From there, he and Savta had somewhere to be.

She lead him to the southern border of the desert that had once been their one and only home. There was a city there, with tall sandstone buildings, and a rather massive library, although one could have fit five of them into Morakye’s.

Merin was a bit nervous as they walked down one hallway, and then took a flight of stairs to one of the sections with the rarer and more ancient tomes.

There was a desk in the back, where the clerk sat, she was currently working on repairing a binding, her long reddish-blond hair pulled back from her face. She wore a high necked dress of fine make, that was otherwise fairly plain, only a bit of embroidery here and there.

“I’ve brought someone to see you.. Just like I said I would, someday.”

A heart shaped face with somewhat aristocratic features stared back, first at Savta, in surprise and recognition, and then her gaze slid to Merin. She was a lovely, but utterly human in appearance in every way, save for eyes of rich deep gold, with a bright orange outer ring.

“Hello Winal.” He smiled. Her brow furrowed, and she stood, walking around the desk, to stand before him. Conflicted emotions passed over her features, sadness, guilt, relief.. She opened her mouth to try and say something and nothing came out.

Merin had long since forgiven her. True, she’d been terrible to him when they had been small, she’d teamed up on him along with her other siblings, but she’d been far from the worst, and she had clearly expressed remorse for her actions.

“Aovi..?” She finally managed, barely above a whisper. He simply stepped forward and embraced her.

The three later ended up taking a walk in the city’s gardens, mostly palms and fountains, with little walk paths winding through.

“Have either of you ever been to Morakye?” He asked.

Savta stated she had, once and Winal claimed she never had, but always wanted to. She had heard about the library and that was probably the biggest draw for her.

“Do you think you’d like working there better than here..?” He asked. Since you said you like working in a library despite really not needing to.”

“What do you mean..?” she asked.

“I know several high ranking officials, Nobles and such. The library isn’t just owned by one person or family, but more or less by the city itself. I have a few favors owed and I can get you a job there. Probably your choice of floor too.” She stared at him.

“All those stories about you… How many of them are true?”

Merin grinned. “Probably most. Save for the ones that aren’t. I did break the Great Bridge, back before it was even known as Morakye.. I really did defeat that Blue Dragon who killed our father, and several of our siblings. I’ve met gods, single handedly made an army turn on it’s heels with clever words and a few well placed little illusions.. I have nobles, kings and queens who owe me favors, and I cannot go back to the Palace of Fallen Stars, without wearing a disguise, because the Empress had mural of me painted across one of it’s walls. “I’ve bested giants, dragons many times my size, saved entire cities… I just have a knack for finding adventures and situations, and I really honestly hope I never lose that.. And I most certainly can say a few words to a few folk in power at the largest library in the world and have you employed there. On one condition..”

She blinked “What...what’s that?”

“Go flying with me sometime.. Savta and I both. Meet my other friends. Take a break from library work now and then and go do something amazing worthy of being written into song… You can think about it for a while if you like, I know I drive a hard bargain.”

She stepped over to him and hugged him again.

Two weeks went by faster than expected, and he showed up in the city outside of Mithras to find Raelyn. She had met with Thaniel, and he had indeed been glad, in his own reserved and composed sort of way, to find another Taronue alive. They’d spent so much time together, walking the halls, or the gardens or having tea together than people had begun to talk. He’d ended up telling them that she was his long lost niece, whom he’d thought was dead, just to quell some of the rumor mill.

Ees handled meeting two new dragons better than he had expected, although clearly the other Bard found it a bit overwhelming. Knowing they were both Merin’s siblings, however he was making a clear effort to be friendly and warm, and not terrified. Raelyn took to him instantly, claiming she was ‘adopting’ him alongside Merin.

Only a few days after catching up with Ees again, it was time to go fly and meet up with Mez. He felt he probably made the flight over those hundreds of miles in record time, and they were able to spend several days together in her lair, and during that time, he told her everything that had happened while he’d been away.

He lead the way back, after that to where they had all agreed to meet each other. Once introductions had been made, Merin found Raelyn and took her aside for a moment. “I was meaning to give this to you earlier, but I suppose everything got a little rushed there for a while.” He said, handing her a bundle, wrapped in cloth. She uwrapped it, and her eyes went wide when she saw it was the Golden Lyre.

“Merin.. I … I can’t...” she stammered. “This is a priceless relic, how can you just give it to me..?”

“It suits you, and it belongs with a Bard who will love and appreciate it, and not abuse it’s power.”

She hugged him, one armed, clutching the Lyre to her chest. Her own words of thanks were a bit muffled against his shoulder.

Mez was a bit aloof at first, toward Merin’s two sisters and his new Bard friend, but more so toward the sisters. Merin thought it was probably a lot for her to process, and she might struggle with it harder because she’d so recently lost her own sister. She later blamed it on needing to ‘share’ him with so many people that wanted his attention, so he made sure they got extra time alone together, which of course, got him a good bit of teasing from his two sisters, Raelyn and even Ees.

Raelyn, Ees and Merin performed together in the Tavern several times during their stay there. It was a little late for a trip to Morakye, but the grand city still had a month, almost two before the weather would start to get a little chilly. Raelyn left her horse stabled in another city, laughing about how the poor thing was going to barely remember who she was by the time things settled down.

Well away from searching eyes, out past the tall pines and aging oaks, four dragons shifted to their natural forms, three Brass, and one Green. Raelyn climbed onto Savta’s back, and Ees, on Merin. As the sun sank low in the sky, they took to the air, flying up high enough that the world below seemed both small, and oh so vast.

Merin had spent most of his life without a family. He’d traveled alone for the better part of centuries, and he’d considered the possibility that he would always be alone. Had someone told him just over five years ago, that he’d soon have several close and dear friends, and two family members at his side, he never would have believed them. He would not have been able to imagine this scene that exceeded even his most far fetched seeming day dreams. To one side of him, flew Mez, who instinctively seemed to be trying to fly just a little higher and faster than Merin’s two siblings, to his other side, Savta, long thought dead, now alive and well, and carrying another new friend near and dear to his heart. Just a short ways behind him, Winal followed, so much more reserved and quiet than she’d been when they were children, gentle and mild, rather than fierce and overbearing.

And there was Ees, perched on the saddle strapped to Merin’s back, his closest and dearest friend save for perhaps Taliesin. A man he hoped to have in his life for centuries, and even thousands of years to come. A man who once was so terrified of dragons, he could not even bare to be in the presence of one a fraction of Merin’s size.

They had picked a route well away from main roads, after all, four dragons in the sky were far easier to spot than just one small one. They flew through the night, keeping a swift, but not hurried pace, and as the sky began to lighten, the first grand spires of Morakye, came into view, far in the distance.