Chapter Seven
~
I used a fraction of the gold offered for my remedies for dry goods I couldn’t scrape from nature—flour, beans, oil, salt, sugar, and ground corn, along with enough canned goods to hold me for two seasons. But, I looked forward to spoilin’ Delia most. Perhaps that way she wouldn’t be in a hurry to be back on her own.
My new friend helped me pick out certain items it wasn’t proper for a male to ask for, or pick out for a female—frilly things and such I didn’t know the names of. I thanked Gladys and allowed her to slide the articles into a tow sack for me. All the while I grasped my staff for emotional support, wishin’ the heat would dissipate from my face. Doubted my mama ever wore some of the thin’s Miss Gladys hid in the bag.
I did manage to select a few less-personal thin’s I thought Delia could use, includin’ a quarter bolt of a soft cotton material that looked as though it stole its color from the sky, and a fully stocked sewin’ basket containin’ what must have been a million doodads I hadn’t a clue what they served.
My stomach panged as I paid for an item I thought might be overly presumptuous to give Delia—a leather-bound collection of poems the artist’s ogre friend helped me pick out. The young bull turned out to be one of Ike’s elder bull siblings, which I struggled to believe. They hardly looked to be of the same clan, much less the same blood, Ike lookin’ all brawn, his older sibling—less so.
When I walked down the lawn to meet Ike, I couldn’t believe the pile of bags sittin’ about waitin’ for me. The kind folk who made up the Hamlet, the community of Black Lake, had been more than generous to a human woman they had never met. I held my staff tightly against my chest. Swallowed hard, not believin’ what lay before me, bag after bag of gifts for a woman left homeless.
“Don’t worry,” a human man said. “It won’t weigh Taiz’lin down much. Ya’ll be as safe as can be.”
I flinched. Hadn’t even noticed the man leanin’ against the golden dragon, half-hidden by one folded wing. The human stepped forward and extended a delicate-lookin’, though strong hand, one well-known to an axe handle and plow. His long, yellow hair billowed down his crown. Blue eyes pierced the distance between. A handful of freckles danced across his cheeks. Across his shoulder he held a beautiful bow similar to the one Ike carried.
“My name’s Lucas,” he said. “I ride Iza.” He lovin’ly patted the golden dragon’s shoulder.
The dragon lazily arched a long neck around so she could take me in with a faceted eye half-covered with an inner eyelid. She turned away, as though disinterested in one more ogre visitor.
I caught the glint of a joke in ogre-Ike’s expression, but he didn’t say anythin’, though I gave him the chin nudge to encourage him.
“And this is Taiz’lin,” Ike said.
The gray dragon the ogre motioned to blinked two enormous eyes, before makin’ a snufflin’ sound as though he got a scent he didn’t like. The beast had to be much older than the queen. His chin whiskers full of silver, and hide containin’ a plethora of old scars. He lifted an upper lip that must have attempted a human-styled smile, but the exposed teeth, many of which were two hands long and yellowed, didn’t portray a friendly disposition.
“Glad to make yar acquaintance,” the gray said.
“Likewise.”
The dragon’s face neared and moved side to side, nostrils flared.
“Don’t be rude,” Ike said without lookin’ up from his task, tyin’ together the well-filled tow sacks.
The dragon snuffled once more and turned away.
“I won’t be able to land near yar stake,” Lucas said, “the way ya described it to Ike. I’m just goin’ along for the ride to keep him out of trouble.”
“More likely to nudge me into it,” Ike mumbled.
“What’d ya say?” Lucas asked.
“Said, yar very good at keepin’ me out of trouble.”
“Someone has to do it,” Lucas said.
The human smiled broadly. He no doubt heard his friend the first time. He leaned back against the queen as though he enjoyed watchin’ the ogre work. He offered a suggestion on what kind of knot his friend should use. The young ogre’s chest vibrated with irritation in that manner unique to ogres.
“Ya wouldn’t want to lose any of this valuable load,” Lucas said. His lips pressed together hidin’ a grin, not very well.
Ike changed the knot he was beginnin’ to tie, no doubt from the style Lucas suggested. He mumbled under his breath.
“Pull it nice and tight.”
“Doncha ya have a doily to perl or somethin’?” Ike snarled. “A babe to suckle, a diaper to change?”
“We’ll have several more hours of sun,” Lucas said. “Despite this delay.”
The gray dragon leaned forward and extended a limb. The tinge of energy through my staff indicated the use of majic nearby. I realized the rider communicated mentally with his dragon friend—not sure how I did. Stared at the younger ogre for a moment, as though watchin’ the thoughts travel between him and the dragon.
Ike settled between two deep ridges on Taiz’lin’s back and reached a hand down. Eye contact clued me he waited for me. I hurried forward and stepped up on the dragon’s proffered forelimb to take the ogre’s hand.
Actually gonna ride a dragon.
I felt every bite of the excellent food I had in the Inn’s dinin’ room minutes earlier. I nestled behind Ike. A quiver danced across my backside as the dragon adjusted to his two riders. Ike pulled the attached sacks up around us. With a final jerk from Ike to ensure they were secure, the dragon launched without a bit of warnin’.
I almost dropped my staff as I reached around the ogre in front of me. I felt the air escapin’ from my lungs and realized it drove the screamin’ sound floodin’ my mind. I sucked in a quick breath, which immediately re-fed a new scream. Taiz’lin’s wings lifted, blockin’ out the sun, and I felt the sensation of fallin’, before the wings thrust down. They folded together, moved forward again, causin’ a repeat performance of the fallin’ sensation in my stomach, and I maybe repeated my screamin’.
Oh, I wished I’d used the outhouse before we left, as alternatin’ terror and ecstasy rippled across my chest.
“Don’t worry.” The words entered my mind subtly. “Everyone screams their first time.”
I assumed the thought was my own—at first. Worked to take in a slow breath, realizin’ the dragon spoke to me. Had spoken to me, directly—mind to mind. A dragon. In ten minutes my cheeks cramped from the grin they were locked in.
By the time it occurred to me the view below might be somethin’ special, the Lake was already out of view. I wasn’t about to twist around and try to look behind us. I watched forward, around Ike’s shoulder, between Taiz’lin’s broad neck and wings. The forest and hills below looked like a painted canvas representin’ an artist’s whimsical concept of the world. But the truth was there. Morgan, the Black Lake warlock, sat atop a dragon, watchin’ the forest slip past, far below.
Between lifted wings, I craned my neck to see the outline of the enormous golden dragon to our left and a little behind. Barely the tips of her wings dipped, though the much smaller bull maintained a rhythmic and full extension of his wings to propel us forward.
“Don’t worry,” the dragon’s thoughts reentered my mind. “Ya and yar thin’s aren’t placin’ me under any kind of stress. I could do this for days.”
“How are ya doin’ back there?” Ike asked.
“It’s beautiful, though a bit cold.”
The young ogre laughed. “I guess I forgot to warn ya about that.”
He asked if I recognized my landmarks. The thought struck my chest with a jolt. I hadn’t paid the least attention, forgettin’ the task we were off on. I searched the ground below.
“I have to hike due east for two hours once I get sight of the Lake, three hours to get there,” I explained again.
I watched the terrain below, feelin’ befuddled. It all looked alike, one tree-covered valley like another, one ridge like the last. My stomach lurched as Taiz’lin dove. I cut a scream short, realizin’ the dragon maneuvered so the view made more sense.
They’re not very good at warnin’ a soul.
Taiz’lin dipped his wings and veered westerly. I gripped my staff tighter, diggin’ my nails into the dragon rider’s vest with my other fist. In less than a ten-count we dropped, now flyin’ no more than thirty feet above the tops of the trees, though it helped me little to collect my bearin’s. The movement streamin’ past made me sick to my stomach. A wisp of smoke explained the dragon’s change of direction.
“Could that be yar cabin?” Ike asked, pointin’.
I leaned forward, studyin’ the lay of the land. It was useless. What I saw every day below the canopy looked nothin’ like the continuous contour of dark green.
“Pay attention to the peaks, the landmarks ya use when ya top a ridge.”
I looked off in the distance. The older, worn crags that made up the spine of the peaks overlookin’ Black Lake were too near.
“Farther south,” I said.
Taiz’lin overflew the smoke. The dragon dipped his head to investigate, changin’ the dynamics of the wind curvin’ over us. The rush of air and noise was disconcertin’ for a moment. I overheard the dragon tell his rider it was a clan huntin’ party dryin’ venison. The aroma fillin’ the air didn’t have to be explained to either of us ogres. Smell is a sense our kind is well blessed with.
I smiled as the dragon arced smoothly toward the south. I was happy the movement didn’t further kick up the nausea. I studied the ridges to the west and south, and directed Ike to edge easterly. Two minutes later I was certain we were on the correct latitude. I leaned closer to Ike.
“If Delia has stoked the fire, ya would see its smoke about here.”
As I spoke the words, we overflew the tiniest clearin’ with a hint of smoke on the air.
“That has to be my cabin,” I shouted, excitement jumpin’ into my staff and makin’ it shimmer. “Delia’s place is due east, where I crossed the thin’s path.”
Taiz’lin turned more abruptly than I imagined possible, and the sense of fallin’ ripped through me. I screamed, and reached out and pulled Ike toward me, nearly draggin’ him over the ridge he nestled in.
“Calm down,” Ike screamed back at me. “Ya’re secure. Ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
The sensations argued otherwise. I scrambled to get control over my staff again. Energy poured from it, through my body, calmin’ me. I leaned forward closin’ my eyes. If I worked really hard to imagine it, I could have believed I was just sittin’ on a hill, facin’ a pleasant breeze, not racin’ above the forest. But that’s exactly what I was doin’. It wasn’t natural. No ogre should sail hundreds of feet above the forest.
“If ya can judge an hour hike,” I said to Ike, “ya’ll be flyin’ over the debris of Delia’s shack. The clearin’ is even smaller than the one around my place.”
A few minutes later Taiz’lin turned and re-searched an area we had already flown over. We crisscrossed a number of times.
“I was afraid the woods would be too thick to find anythin’ from the air,” Ike said. “And Lucas won’t be able to land anywhere near. He’ll have quite the hike just meetin’ up with me.”
I didn’t miss the sound of a smile on the young ogre’s turned face. Ike looked up at the western sky.
“A couple of hours of light yet,” Ike said. “Depends on how close Iza can land, though. Ya mind puttin’ up with Lucas and me for the night?”
Ike and Lucas were gonna hike out, just the two of them, after who knew how many goblins? That’s insane.
~
No comments:
Post a Comment