The First Dragon of Marble

Chapter 16

 

We read beside each other, her on the bed and me at the desk, as the afternoon went by. When Helen came with dinner, I gave her more coin for the mink’s meal of soup and bread. After we eat, I clean her wounds and reapply the ointment and give her another dose of medicine. As nightfall came, she was sound asleep in the bed as I silently exited the room and the inn. I made my way to the guild and came to the door. There was no instruction for any secret knock or any other way into the guild, so I just turned the knob and entered the building. There was Jon in the middle of the guild sitting at one of the many tables.

“Good you came. Follow me.” Suspicious about the whole thing I kept my hand on my axe. I follow the dwarf to his office, and he quickly shuts the door and pulls out the same magic item to keep sound from escaping a certain range of the item. I look at him with narrowed eyes and say, “What is with all of the precautions and suspicious behavior Jon?” He doesn’t look away from my glare and says, “Well for one Sherry told me what happened between you two in the hallway leading towards the training grounds this morning and that when she mentioned something to do with the gods you transformed.” I jump back and release my aura and transform into my half dragon form. Spreading my wings and whipping my tail I say in a low growling voice, “Choose your next words carefully Jon or both you and your wife will not live to see the sun come up.” Jon never flinches and only stares at me with determined eyes. “Are you a god?” He asks which makes me look at him as if he were joking. I see that he is certainly not, so I answer, “No, I am no god.” He thinks for a moment and says, “Ladon, Sherry and I were in the same team when we were both adventurers. Just like her I have seen many things and though I do not have the same mana senses as my magi wife I can still tell that your transformation has something to do with the gods.”

“Why are they so perceptive? I do not want to hurt them, but they seem to have deduced too much.” I put more power into my aura and ready a spell and bring out my shield. Jon’s eyes went wide at my preparations and see that I am ready to fight. “Wait Ladon! We are not going to harm you or say anything about you. Sherry has already told me what you said, and I fully believe that you would destroy us.” I pull my axe from its loop and say, “What is your point, Jon? I told Sherry not to divulge any information about me to anyone. I intend to act on what I said.” I move closer to Jon who pulls out a shield and a one-handed hammer. “Ladon please just listen to me. We will not say anything about you. We want to help you. I called you here to do just that. Please calm down I do not want to hurt you!” My anger rises as I hear his words, “YOU WON’T HURT ME! YOUR WON’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ME TO MY ENIMIES?! HOW DO I KNOW YOU WON’T?! YOU WANT TO HELP ME?! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME OR WHAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH WHEN I HAVE TRUSTED PEOPLE! EACH AND EVERY TIME I AM BETRAYED AND FOR WHAT?! FOR LOVING SOMEONE, FOR CARING, FOR WANTING TO BETTER MYSELF!!! WHAT GARENTUESS CAN YOU AND SHERRY MAKE THAT YOU WON’T DO THE SAME?!” My anger rose with every word and the wood of the walls and pictures started to crack from the power of my aura that grew with each word. Jon struggled to keep on his feet from the pressure but with his sturdy body and high level from being from an adventurer stood his ground. Then I hear a familiar voice that I had grown to love said in my mind “Peace my little dragon. Remember to control your instincts. Control your emotions. Dragons have to tame themselves and be the paragons of honor.” Suddenly I realize what I was doing and saying. I immediately rein in my anger and preconceptions that I am labeling Jon as. I recede my aura and release my half dragon form, putting my weapons away and look at Jon who was sweating. “Thank you, mother.”

I sigh and say, “Haa…is it so easy to tell that I…have something to with the gods?” Jon takes a deep breathe but does not move or put away his weapons. “Are you in control of yourself now?” I narrow my eyes at him and say, “I was always in control of myself. Someone just reminded me of some teachings that they taught me.” He nods and relaxes a little putting his weapons away. “I’ll have to thank whoever that is sometime. As far as your question, like I said, you are the not the first…anomaly that we have come across that has been in contact or touched by the gods.” He says this as he moves to a chair and sits down, and I do the same. “Like?” I ask intrigued. “You know about the dungeons made by the gods, yes?” I nod. “People who conquer them usually come out with a boon from the gods. Sometimes its knowledge of magic that we have not discovered yet, a unique power, or equipment touched by the gods. My team along with Sherry traveled far and wide and met a few such people. Though you are beyond unique compared to them. Not many can conquer a gods’ dungeon because they gather as much mana into a single point making them dangerous past a certain level.”

“So, I guess I overreacted a little. Still, I seem to be a special case, after all I am a new race.”

I thought as I grabbed the bridge of my nose and digested the new information that I had not read in the books so far. “Is this common knowledge?” I ask Jon. He shakes his head, “Not many know though probably the nobility and royals of countries may know. Only high ranked adventurers or high-level people who have braved the depths of the gods’ dungeons know from the common folk.” I furrow my brow and ask, “Is there a reason they keep it to themselves?” Jon just shrugs his shoulders and says, “Maybe to keep people from challenging the dungeons so as not to have to many deaths caused by the unprepared or they just want it to keep for themselves. There could be many different reasons. I’m just a common born so I do not know how the nobles think.” My eyes twitch with annoyance of being from the States where the idea of nobility and commoners is repulsed. “We still had classes of people, but we still had the freedom to advance in life if we worked hard enough.” He raises his eyebrow and asks, “What?” I shake my head and say, “Where I come from the idea of a king and nobles was looked down upon. Hell, we fought to free ourselves from the foot of a monarchy.” His eyes go wide, “What!? You have no king?” I grin a little and say, “Don’t get me wrong. We had leaders selected by the people, but my country was far from perfect, but everyone was considered equal despite creed, religion, or race. If you worked hard and wanted better, you could rise up in society and form a comfortable lifestyle from your own merit and not just because of some birthright.”

He listened intrigued and was lost in thought. Then he asked, “Will you return?” I look at him and say, “No…I can’t. It is long gone and there was nothing left there for me. That is all you will get from me, Jon.” I made my stance clear about where I am from, and he just nodded. “I understand. A lot of adventurers have complicated pasts. I have just one more question before we get to the topic, I initially called you here for…What race are you Ladon?” I look down thinking if I should truly reveal what I am now. If I should trust him and Sherry. “The only one who knows is the rabbit mink. I told her to gain her trust. Should I do the same now?” I look up at Jon and say, “I don’t know if I should tell you to be honest. I do not want my race to be known yet until I am sure that I can protect myself and my friends.” He looks at me with a complicated face and says, “Ladon, are you not going to trust anyone with your secrets? That seems like a lonely life.” I look and say, “There are three…beings who know of my race and they are very dear to me. You and Sherry however, I do not know if I trust you yet.” “Why should your race be such a secret?” He asks confused. I smile and say with pride in my voice, “Because I am the first of my kind and the newest of my race, Mr. Guild Head.” His eyes widen so much that they almost pop out of his head. “So, you have been touched by the gods.” I think for a moment and say, “Hmm…in a way I guess you could say that. Before I divulge any more about myself you and Sherry will need to prove that there will be no harm brought upon me from the information that I have trusted with you two. I have not even told my friends at the inn and that is for their own good because the information could be used against me and put them in danger. So, if anything comes back to them about what I have told you then I know that it could been only two people in the whole of Marble.” I smile evilly at the dwarf and pressure him with my aura to which he nods matter of fact.

“I guess that is reasonable, Ladon. Hopefully you will come to trust my wife and I.” I just grunt in acknowledgement and say, “We shall see, Guild Head. Now let’s talk about the information you have on the Stray Dogs.” He nods and tells the information he has on the Stray Dogs. Summarized they are based in the slums and run various underground casinos, drugs, and illegal magic item smuggling. I asked what types of magic items are considered illegal and he gave me examples such as items and potions that control the mind and nonapproved enchantment weapons. He also gave me some known locations where some of their operations are in the slum. I thank him and leave the guild, back to the inn to sleep.

I walk into the room to see the rabbit mink awake with a panicked face. I go over to her and turn on the lamp. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She grabbed my arm and tried to speak but nothing came out but garbled words. “Okay. Okay. Calm down I am here now. Shh.” Her breathing started to calm down and eventually she relaxed. “Did you have a nightmare?” I ask her once she was calm. She slowly nodded and gripped my arm tighter. I nod and say, “The chair is rather hard on my back do you mind if lay on the bed too.” She looked away shyly and nodded. I then transformed in my dragon form which was still the size of a medium sized dog. Her eyes went wide with shock and then with a little disappointment. “This way the bed can fit both of us.” I say in a low growling voice. She nods and get comfortable while I lay at the end of the bed curled up like any animal. After a few minutes I see her hand hovering over my fur hesitating to touch me. “Do you want me to move closer so you can feel my fur?” I ask and she nods energetically. I chuckle and move to where she can comfortably feel my fur. I soon fall asleep as she pets me.

I wake up to a knock on the door. I realize that I am still in my dragon form and release it to answer the door. It was Cliff with breakfast and soup and bread. “Good morning.” He greets me and continues, “I brought it since you hadn’t come down yet.” I look out the window and see that the sun was higher than I thought. “Thanks Cliff I guess I overslept.” He smiles as he hands me the tray. “No worries by the way you’ll need to pay more for the room if you are staying longer.” I nod and give him one silver and ask how many days that would give me. “Hmm…around six days with meals. I’ll bring back your change.” “Don’t worry about it, Cliff keep it.” He nods and heads back downstairs. I turn around to see her sitting up in bed. “Good morning. Feeling any better today?” I ask the rabbit mink, and she moves better than before and nods. I smile and say, “Good, could you try to speak? It seems you are feeling a lot better. What is your name?” She nods and says in broken speech. “My…name…is…Lucy.” I smile brightly.

“Lucy is such a beautiful name for such a beautiful woman. It is nice to finally hear your voice. I’m sure in the next few days your voice will be back to normal.” She smiles shyly and nods. Afterwards we eat and I help her change her bandages and apply the ointment and another dose of medicine. Then it is rinse and repeat for the next few days between her and I as we talk little to get know each other better though still sparse due to her unable to talk well.  

The days go by as I get into a routine of taking care of Lucy and investigating the Stray Dogs. She still couldn’t speak very well, and I am afraid that her throat has been damaged by the infection. By the end of the second week of nursing Lucy, she has started to gain back weight and her wounds on her back had healed. She no longer showed any signs of infection, but she was still weak and could only walk for a few minutes before having to rest. The investigation of the Stray Dogs was going slowly because of how recognizable I am. I had to disguise myself with a cloak and hood and only watch the movements of the locations that Jon gave me. Once Lucy’s wounds healed, I determined it was time to strike a location and get more information on where their boss is located.

At the present around mid-morning, I am with Lucy in the room and say to her as I check her wounds, “There is no sign of infection anymore and the wounds have scared over. I think it is time to move on to the next step.” She looks over her shoulder and asks, “What…do…you…mean…Master?” I sigh and say, “Lucy, I have told you over and over already. I am not your master, and you are not my slave. We are partners. For the love of the gods please stop calling me master.” She looks forward and says, “If…that…is…what…you…wish…Ladon.” I shake my head and think, “I have already studied the magic that binds her as a slave. I plan on breaking it soon, but I am afraid that she may abandon me or stay and still act formal towards me. I don’t want a servant and after spending time with her I really enjoy speaking to her and being around her.” I finish my complaints in my head and say, “The next part may hurt very badly Lucy. Afterwards though I am sure you feel better than before you received these scars.” She looks at me over her shoulder and nods. I give the belt that she used to bite on last time when I first cleaned her wounds and bite into it. “Bite down and ready yourself.” She takes a deep breath, and I start my spell.

The spell is something that Odin taught me to heal wounds from battle called Healing Light, a spell of multiple elements. It is meant for fresh wounds to be healed soon after receiving them. I have gone to local healers and apothecary’s throughout Melcox and gathered information on the body structure and anatomy of mink particularly rabbit minks. That knowledge combined with what I know from training in the Army being the designated Combat Lifesaver, I have come up with a spell to heal even old injuries. The process can be painful though as I have cut away the scar tissue and use the spell to heal the damaged muscles, blood vessels, and skin. I plan to heal her throat as well and that will be even more difficult but not impossible.

I get to work using the spell all the while Lucy is screaming muffled screams from the belt. She is panting and crying but I could not stop. If I do her back could become more damaged. After two hours I was finally done and as I looked at her back, there was no sign of any scars, and I had regrown her fur as well. I lean back exhausted not from mana overheat but the sheer mental concentration and fatigue it caused. Lucy falls back onto the bed and breaths hard. I reach for two cups and the water pitcher. I hands shake as I pour water for her and I. Once we had both drank our fill I say, “I still need to work on your throat and then we will be done Lucy just hang on for me a little longer." With determination in her eyes, she nods and lifts her head up revealing her neck and some of her cleavage. “Concentrate Ladon.” I then start healing her neck having to use my Dragon Eyes to guide my mana to repair her throat and vocal cords. After an hour I was done and kneeled on the floor now suffering from mana overheat. “Ah fuck I should have rested more before doing that again. I did not know it would be that taxing.” I say to myself.

“Ladon!” I hear a sweet voice that seemed to resonate in me. I slowly look up to see where the voice came from, and I see Lucy reaching for me as she seemed to have fallen off the bed. “Lucy?” She then noticed how she shouted and cried tears of joy. “Yes, this is my voice. Oh, my gods. Sobs* Thank you Ladon. Thank you. Sob.” I crawl towards her and pull her light body into my lap and hug her close. I brush her pink silk hair with my hand and say as I rock her back and forth, “You are very welcome, Lucy. Let it out I am here for you.” We stayed like this for a few hours as she let out all the pain and joy in crying fits. Soon she was asleep in my lap, and I lifted her up back in the bed and I stayed by her side until she woke up close to dinner time.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared into mine as I brushed her hair out of her face. “How are you feeling?” She smiled and leaned up and stretched. Surprised with no pain from the movement she stutters and said, “Just…Just…Just like you said I feel better than ever where you healed me. I still feel…feel weak though.” I smile and say, “I’m glad. It was hard watching you suffer.” She blinked. “Why?” Confused I say, “Why what?” “Why do this for me? Why heal me? Why buy me a slave on the verge of dying and do all that you have done for me? I am not worth it Ladon. You don’t know what I am! What I have done! I am just a cursed mink not wanted by anyone! So why!?” I stand up and look her in the eyes and decide right then to break the binds. I lift my finger to her lips and shush her before I put my hand in the middle of her chest above her breasts. I close my eyes and surge mana into her from my hand. “What?” I hear her yelp as I grip the bindings of the blood magic of the slavery magic. I unravel it and surge it with my mana dissolving it from existent.

I fall to a knee again because of the amount of mana I have expended today, and the mental exhaustion is starting to take its toll on my body. I breathe hard and move to the chair and plop down regaining my composure. I hear Lucy say, “What did you just do?” “Ha…Haa…I released…the blood magic…that makes up the…slavery magic…releasing you from slavery’s bonds.” With a high pitch in her voice as her ears stand on end Lucy says, “What?! Why would you do that? How could you even do that?” I take a deep breath and look her in her eyes and say, “I have already told you why I was taking care of you and why I bought you that day. I do not want a slave, and I will not force you to stay with me. I will continue to nurse you back to health until you have the strength to move on if you wish.” I take a drink of water to soak my throat. “As for how I broke your bonds, I have studied the magic that bound you and saw that it was just a form of blood magic. My teacher taught me that blood magic is used to form bonds and that they are hard to break, but I was able to unravel the bonds and disintegrate with my mana. That is how I did it, Lucy.” I stand up and go to the door. “You do not have to decide anything right now. I would like for you to stay by my side, but I will not force you…I am going to go get our dinner do you think you eat solids now?” She just sat on the bed dumbfounded. “I’ll take that as a maybe.” I exist the room to go downstairs to grab our dinner.

[Lucy’s POV]

“What just happened?” I mutter to myself. I stand up and slowly walk to the bathroom to where the mirror is. I open the door and take off my shirt that Ladon bought me. It is a simple t-shirt dyed in a simple black dye. I turn around and look over my shoulder and see to my astonishment that my wounds had not only healed but no scars nor my old scars are anywhere in sight. My vision blurs from the tears that well up in my eyes. I turn back around and wipe my eyes. My cursed eyes that have driven everyone away. Even my parents called me cursed before being killed in a bandit raid. The bandit’s captured me and sold me as a criminal slave in my country where the slavery laws are flexible on the idea of makes a criminal slave.

Now I am with a mysterious and kind man who looks at me with such kindness and sympathy. “I must tell him before it is too late. Since he has released me from slavery then I plan to go on my own, so the same fate does not befall him as my parents and village.” I think to myself as I tear up at the thought of being apart from him. We have grown close with our talks about books and the world at large. I hear the door open and close, so I put on my shirt and come out of the bathroom to tell him what I have decided.

[Ladon’s POV]

I come into the room and the bed empty and hear shuffling in the bathroom. “Seems the healing helped her gain more strength to move around more. I should start with her physical therapy tomorrow then.” I go to the desk and set our food down. She comes out with red eyes and a sad look on her face but filled with determination. “Ladon, we need to talk about something that I have not been able to talk about until now.” She says from the doorway of the bathroom. I know this is serious from the tone of her voice, so I say, “Very well.” I come and help her to the bed. She sits down and I sit in front of her in the desk’s chair. “Whenever you are ready Lucy.”

She takes a breath and says, “I…I…I am cursed Ladon.” I raise an eyebrow and think to myself, “Is she talking about something like what Lauren has?” I wait for her to continue as she takes a deep breath and continues, “I have been cursed since I was born.” She points to her eyes. “These eyes have driven people away from me and has caused people to get hurt. My parents told me that since my eyes were cursed the gods wouldn’t bless the village with good harvests since I was born. In the end they were right, all the years I was in the village the farms couldn’t grow very much and we barely were able to pay the taxes and survive in the winters.” She takes another deep shuddering breath, “Before I was turned into a slave, bandits raided our village, killed almost everyone in the village including my parents, and captured me and sold me into slavery.” I could feel a tear roll down my cheek as I imagined her life. “She is just like me. Though hers seems to be more violent and tragic.” “This happened around two years ago, and I have been sold and resold countless times because of my eyes. I do not want to bring my curse upon you Ladon. Even after all your kindness I cannot drag you down and possibly get you killed.” She starts crying and looks at me finally.

Without saying anything I bring the chair closer to in front of her as she leans back from me being too close. “Lucy let me see your eyes.” She hesitates and leans forward as I put my hands on her furred adorable cheeks. I stare intently at her eyes that are like my own only with cyan and dark pink. I stare into them as I say, “You know Lucy, I have only seen two people with eyes like yours.” Her eyes widen and ask, “What?” I nod my head and say, “I’m guessing you haven’t noticed yet but look at my eyes carefully.” I stay silent as she looks at my eyes and becomes confused. “What do you see?” She speaks up after a second and says, “Your irises are crimson red and midnight purple, and they seem to swirl together but mix slightly at two points.” Then she pauses and adds in a sweet low voice, “They are beautiful.” I smile and say, “Well thank you for the compliment. I inherited the red from my mother and the purple from being mixed with my father’s. I take pride in them.” She looks away from my teasing and says, “Why make me look at your eyes Ladon?” “Have you still not noticed? Have you never looked at your own cute and stunning eyes before?” She timidly shakes her head. “I have always been ashamed since they are cursed.” I hum for moment and then pick her up and take her to the bathroom. She yelped when I picked her up but said nothing and hugged my neck.

Inside the bathroom in front of the mirror I say, “Look closely at your eyes and I mean really look at them, Lucy.” She looks at me pleadingly, but I do not budge, and she shakily looks at her eyes. After minutes of staring into her own eyes, they suddenly go wide, and I smile and pick her up again and set her on the bed. “So, what did you see?” I ask. In a whisper as she stares at my eyes, “They are like yours.” I nod and say, “Yes, they are. Like I said, I have only seen two other people with eyes like yours.” I point to me and continue, “One of them is myself and the other is my mother.” She starts to breathe a little hard and asks, “Are we related, Ladon?” I shake my head and say, “No I do not think so. My mother and father said that I am their only child, and they mentioned nothing of extended family.” I grab the mug on the tray and drink some ale. “I wanted you to understand that our eyes are alike because they are not cursed Lucy.” “But my par-“ “Your parents were too superstitious for the own good. They only called you cursed because you were a convenient target for their and other misgivings and failures.” I interrupt her from continuing to berate herself. “I am not trying to be disrespectful, but your parents made a child believe that they were cursed and deserved to be ostracized for simply having different eye color from those around you.”

            She opens her mouth and then shuts and repeats this several times before she just sighs. “What do I do now?” She finally says. “First let us eat. I am sure you are in the mood for more than just soup and bread. I know that can get boring after a while plus you need to gain more weight to be in tip top shape again. Tomorrow we are going to start your physical therapy.” I pass her the tray with her food, and she eats slowly but is able to sallow everything and drink the ale. Eventually she asks, “What is physical therapy?” I wipe my face with a cloth for any food stuck to my face and say, “Its simply exercise to build up your muscles again. If you continue eating well and exercising you should regain your strength within a few weeks.” I take another drink of ale and continue, “Though I am not familiar with mink anatomy, so you may take longer or shorter.” She smiles and says, “You know I noticed when we would have our small chats when I was not able to talk very well, but you use words from research books a lot, Ladon.” I blush at her beautiful smile and her teasing and say, “Well where I am from such words are used on a daily basis, so it is just the way I talk.” She giggles and says, “Its cute.” “God woman. You are the one that is cute.” We continue eating and having small talk until the sun sets behind the city’s walls.

            “I will be out tonight again. I will be back as soon I can.” Her expression changes to a lonely one as she nods. I leave the room and inn and dip into an alley to don my cloak and hood and a cloth mask that hides up to over my nose. I head towards my target that is an underground casino. “Your reckoning has come Stray Dogs. You should have kept your noses away from me.” I mutter as I walk towards the slums.