Newly Broke Heroine! [Book One Complete, Cozy Fantasy Adventure]

Doug clutched anxiously at the seat in the automaton and likely dug some claw marks into the upholstery as he held on for dear life. "I...don't care for being in automatons much."

"Doug, relax. Take a deep breath. This is like flying, except we're two feet above the ground." Fiona had a beat-up Toyota in her prior life that practically jumped over every bump and pothole across Massachusetts, so she was fairly accustomed to it.

Lani, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck as Fiona drove them along the snow road, outside the city limits. She prayed to at least three gods in the process. Fiona was pretty sure Feo'thari would roll her eyes at the request that Lani be protected from her possible prodigy.

Wait. Am I her prodigy? Or is Wingding? The thought had been bugging her for a while now. Was Wingding the source of her power? Or, was Wingding powered by her, even? Where do gods end, and people begin? Wingding, dearie, if that's a hint on some profound, reality-altering revelation, I'm still not getting it.

Wingding remained suspiciously silent.

"Where did you learn how to drive one of these?" Doug asked a short while later, breaking the silence. He had to lean forward since the seats weren't exactly designed for winged Folk. Though at least they had a recess for his tail.

Fiona shrugged. "Driving school. Winters where I grew up were kinda harsh. And we didn't get just snow. No, we got the worst of the worst. Sleet and freezing rain." The memory of that one time she almost skidded off the road still stuck with her. Maybe a goddess had been trying to take her to Cepalune years before the monsters sent her on a one-way trip.

She frowned as she tried to engage the clutch and got a grinding of gears before she remembered how to coordinate it. "Damn, I was so spoiled on automatic," she sighed softly.

"Remember, it's a rental. It's not Fiona-proof," Doug chuckled.

"Hey, not cool! I'm usually adding value to things, not making a wreck of the place!" she protested. Lani sat behind them in the rear seat, her beak chattering from anxiety. "Also, Lani, you can relax. I know what I'm doing."

"Sometimes I worry about that," she said, pulling the safety harness a little tighter. After a little while, she calmed down, and Fiona saw her glancing out the window at the scratchy trees, pines dotted with snow, and the bright white landscape. "You know…Fiefdala is quite pretty, isn't it?"

Fiona glanced across the landscape, noting the few automatons. Most of the vehicles were still carriages and carts, driven by horses, or other magically enhanced beasts. She took care to go slowly, as was the case, and listened to the thrum of energy and the hiss of steam in the magically based engine at the back.

"Yes, it is. It's not dissimilar to home," she murmured, gripping her fingers tightly against the steering wheel. And in a few days, a piece of home and heart will be coming back into a life of freedom.

Doug must have noticed her tension, because he coughed softly. "You okay?"

After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head. "What if I've been screwing everything up the whole time, Doug? What if I've completely ruined whatever contingency Feo'thari had? Me, being here, running around like a maniac. And now I'm taking the mantle of being a therapist to a woman who needs several to get through the day."

"I think you're overthinking it. Gods rarely convey their intent. That's a matter of historical fact. Free will to decide their actions is important. Every god and goddess honors that." He pulled out his notebook and thumbed a page open. "I wanted to thank you for coming along, by the way. Whatever we find…well, you're here. And you, Lani. Maybe there's something there that'll give meaning to what you're looking for, too."

"I…sometimes I wonder if what I'm looking for is too far out of reach. Even with wings." She chuckled softly after saying that. "Is it too much to ask for a roof over your head, not owing someone your entire soul, and always having to be at the beck and call of someone else whenever it's convenient for them?"

"In too many places? The answer is unfortunately 'yes.'" Fiona took a turn at an intersection and noted a small farm town to the right, with people gathering at a large building to the wayside that looked like a tavern. Puffy white smoke wafted up from the chimneys, and children ran around the commons area, throwing snowballs and shouting excitedly as they prepared a ramp of snow to slide down on wooden boards. "But I know at least one place has something good going for it. Fiefdala, and its neighbors."

The scenery slowly shifted as the level ground and scattering of trees gave way to hilly terrain, then large rocky cliffs, towering far above the vehicle. "Doug, I hope this place is…you know, accessible. I don't feel like doing any cliff-hanging," she added as she pointed to the ice draped over the cliffs, giving it a mesmerizing beauty.

"Nah, it's not that difficult to get inside. There's a level area near the cavern. It's an old mine entrance, but Mom also did some work to expand it, made it a home," Doug explained. "Guess it was a source of silver before she renovated it. We called it home for a time before she had us go on the move. I didn't know that she held onto the place. Not until after her passing, when the will was discussed."

"How did she…you know…" Fiona felt awful for asking the question. "You said hunters got her, and broke every international kingdom law in doing so."

Doug set his notebook back in his pocket and sighed. "I'm surprised you haven't asked."

"It didn't...feel like a question I should ask. Not at first." Gravel and mud from slowly melting snow scattered under the vehicle, making a rough pinging noise intermittently.

But, she felt the urge to say something else. "I hate Karlin. That spiteful lizard has got some serious issues. He never said why he's holding a grudge against you, both times I saw him."

"She died because of me."

She slammed the brakes out of reaction, and Doug winced as the harness dug into his wings. "Ow, what the hell, Fiona?! Is this how they drive on Earth?!"

"Not usually." She peered over at him, unsure how to feel about this. "What do you mean, she died because of you? Don't tell me you've been hiding a secret here, Doug. Not now."

"No. There's no secret." He rubbed at his shoulder where the harness had pushed up against his body, and Lani also let out an irritated hoot in the back seat. "It's not that complicated, really."

Fiona saw the saddened look in his eyes, and resumed driving. She motioned to him with her right hand. "Okay. So, what exactly happened?"

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"The hunters nabbed me first. The bastards used me as bait. Somehow, they found out I was her son. I doubt Karlin would have been that careless. He might have taken after Dad more, but he still loved her and what she did for the citizens of Vale." Doug's snout clenched lightly as he spoke, fingers digging into his leggings.

"It is a common practice," Lani spoke with thinly veiled anger. "They do not catch escaped slaves by chasing them, usually. They bring the slaves to them by threatening their friends and family. A practice I was happy to see Varith abolish, flawed as his implementation was. But how did they get you?"

"They nabbed me when I was running a routine business trip. Grabbed me when I was in my human form, and brought me to the general area where they suspected she had one of her secondary lairs. They chained me to the ground and waited." Doug rubbed at one wing shoulder gently, as if he could still remember the pain. "It's pretty damn hard to lock a dragon out of their true form for long, but they managed it. And my mother came running, like a demon possessed. She…made them regret their decision to attack family."

"How many were there?" Fiona glanced at him while she continued up the road, the barren seasonal trees giving way to hardier conifers and spruce, or whatever passed for them in Fiefdala. She could see small rockslides here and there, luckily leaving the road untouched.

Doug let out a soft huff. "A lot. I think half the slaver houses wanted her head, and they pooled a lot of money to make it happen. If there's any silver lining, they paid for their arrogance. She even roasted one of the heads of the bigger households. De'vir. There is one thing you never, ever do, Fiona, and it's to threaten a dragon's family. Folks or not, we will come down like an apocalypse against anyone who dares to go down that route."

"Man, when I fought you, you were on easy mode?" she sighed exasperatedly. "Not saying you didn't put up a fight, but…yeah."

"The hunters chased her after she got me loose, but I was too weak to aid much in the fight. We were near the border of Fiefdala, when they got lucky. They hit her with a heavy balista shot. Coated in every nasty toxin known to mankind." He glanced her way, a simmering anger roused in his expression. "Fiefdala's military had picked off the border crossers before they got to us, and…she didn't make it. It's tough to kill a dragon with poisons and toxins. But they pulled it off."

"I'm sorry."

His posture relaxed slightly, and his expression didn't look so severe. "This was twenty years ago, Fi. Right at the tail end of the last skirmish between Vale and Fiefdala. You weren't there."

"Counselor Harrier was there." Lani's clawed fingers dug into her arms, tightly folded. "I've heard him boast about one of his 'slave hunts' he used to do. It was like a game to him. He didn't get a trophy of her…but he lamented about a red dragon he'd wished he'd been able to retrieve and bring back her skull to mount in his collection."

Doug turned to face her, bewildered. "You're sure?"

"I know how to read people well enough. There's a line between embellishing…and boasting. Harrier has other trophies on his wall. Privately displayed now, of course. Well, until Vale changes hands again, then it's back to putting them on display to terrorize the masses." Fiona took a glance in the rearview mirror, and saw the simmering fury in Lani's eyes. Like a bird of prey looking for its next meal.

"I wish I could just walk in there and turn his head into an exploding tomato," Fiona growled. "I'd do it in a heartbeat for you, Doug, for justice. That creep…I wonder who else has a macabre collection sitting in their little golden palaces."

"A lot of them," Doug said in a resigned way. "When Karlin got word, he saw me recovering…he blamed me. He said I was too weak, that she was dead because I'd chased books and mysteries of the past, and not sharpened my claws for my foes. Dad said nothing, but I could tell...even with their disagreements? The way he wept at the funeral? He loved her deeply. He was the one to light her pyre--an old tradition from dragons of Earth.

"That was the last time I saw him, at the funeral. Karlin, of course, decided he'd keep tearing me down repeatedly, like it wasn't bad enough that Mom was killed by the unofficial 'enforcement' arm of Vale." He rubbed his clawed fingers against his denim leggings, gripping them tightly. "He can't let it go. He can't let her go."

"Doug…is there a chance she could be resurrected?" Fiona asked hesitantly. After a moment, he slowly shook his head. "I asked before if you would want it to happen. Your answer was no, after we talked. but on the subject of if it could be done..."

"No. The number of confirmed resurrections is very low. We're talking about maybe a few dozen, over almost seven thousand years of history. Only the gods themselves are capable of it, so far as I know." He glanced her way, and rested one clawed hand on her shoulder. "Fiona, there are some doors you just don't open. When death doesn't carry consequences…what do you think happens?"

She considered her own situation and came away with an unsettling conclusion. "Honestly, Doug? I feel like I have a weird perspective on this one. I don't know if I'd want to be brought back from death again. Could you imagine a cycle of life and death, death and life, where you're nothing but a tool for a god or goddess? And you never get that ending all living things must face eventually? What does that do to someone, given enough time?"

"Oh, listen to you waxing poetic. Maybe there isn't so much empty space in between those pointy ears," he said in a more lighthearted moment. Lani laughed softly, and even Fiona joined in a few seconds later. "But, you agree with me?"

"That life should have a finality to it, at the end of days? Yeah. Strangely, I do. I think the prospect of living eternally scares the crap out of me. Or worse, getting yanked up out of the ground when I'm needed to save the world. I'm glad my old guildmate Regis got closure. He got a good ending." The fact that she got a second chance when so few others did made her realize what a gift it was.

And it was precious, because it was finite.

She slowed the automaton as the road levelled off. She saw a rocky bluff where she could make out a few signs indicating an abandoned mine. "Is this it?"

Doug peered out the window, pointing toward a copse of evergreens at the base. "Yeah, the entry is over there. Shall we?"

Once they disembarked from the vehicle, Fiona grabbed her hammer and put it on her sling, while Doug took special care with a few dimensional bags. "So you lived here, huh?" She put her hand on her hips and took in the beautiful vista of the valley below. She could make out Fiefdala's outer limits from here–barely. "Build me a log cabin with this view, and I'll be the newly retired heroine. I love that fresh pine smell," she added as she breathed in the sharp scent and the chilly mountain air.

"What, did our shopaholic have simple tastes this whole time?" Doug teased. Lani also geared up in an extra coat and grabbed a few items from the storage on the automaton, including a mining lantern.

"I…don't always need the most fancy gadget," she confessed. "I mean, they're nice to have, and my relay is…probably last decade's model. Now, let's put that key to work, yeah?"

A short walk later, they were at the entryway, where a large stone door marked the entry to the mountainside. A sticklike dragon had been etched into the door, and Fiona pointed to it. "This is your handiwork?" she asked, smirking softly.

"Well, Mom carved that. She thought it was funny. Her artistic flair wasn't her strongest skill." Doug cleared off the cordon tape that seemed to have been sitting there for a while, faded yellow and orange coloring marking where it had been shut. A single keyhole did not match the special key in his hand.

Doug jiggled the key in the lock and muttered softly. "I could have sworn this was the right key. Maybe this opens another lock?"

"So, how do we get in?" Fiona asked, leaning on the haft of her hammer. "Lani, got any lockpicking expertise?"

"Not for this kind of lock." She peered at the lock and pushed on the door. "You know, maybe we can just–"

The door swung inwards so swiftly she stumbled forward before catching herself, with Doug pulling her back to keep from toppling. Inside, there was a smooth stone hallway, and arcane torches were already coming to life–or they had already been on before they got here.

"Hey, Doug?" Fiona grabbed her hammer and activated her goldshine. "I think we should proceed with caution. Because I'm getting the feeling that the door was supposed to be locked."

Lani peered in and pointed at the floor. "You might be right. See the dust? Something disturbed it."

Several large claw marks tracked through the dust. And one of the tracks looked like someone had taken a broom and swept large arcs of dust away. Fiona noted Doug's anxiousness increase, his tail wagging forth at a faster rate–

Wait.

"Those are tail marks through the dust. There was a dragon through here not that long ago." Fiona stepped in, hammer held tight. "Karlin and I still have an unfinished nine rounds of beatings left."