The Dragon's Prize (9 page)

“Right.  Adventure.”  Sandra combed a hand through her hair and tried not to feel useless watching Mira’s expert meal preparation.  “Those are always grand and exciting.  I don’t remember much about stews or camping in the epics.”

“They cut those parts out.”  Mira shrugged.  “I imagine most great adventures consist of a whole lot of nothing followed by the very small exciting part that they actually tell you.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyway, there will be excitement enough when we get to the mountains.”  Mira’s knife skills were impressive, and soon the skillet was bubbling and smelling far better than anything Sandra could have prepared.  “Speaking of which, do you have a plan?”

“Kill the dragon.  Save the prince.  Profit.”

“Oh.  Well, that’s good then.”  Mira sent her a wicked grin.  “No worries.”

“None.”

“You’ve got it all in hand.”

“I do.”

They stared at each other, smiling.

“We’re going to die.”

“No, come on.  We’ll think of something.  We have weeks!”  Sandra gestured at the forest all around them.  “And basically nothing to do but plan.”

“Or brood on our imminent deaths.”

“You can go, you know?”  Sandra suddenly got serious.  “There’s nothing stopping you from leaving.”

“Loyalty?”

“To the prince?”

“To you.”

“You know, I’m not that great a person.”  Sandra laughed bitterly.  “I got us into this mess in the first place, didn’t I?”

“And now you’re risking your life for no other reason than to save your kingdom!”

“I’m a guard.  It’s sort of what we train for.”

“I don’t see any of them out here.”  Mira stopped for a moment to stir the stew and keep it from burning.  “Just someone they were ready to execute and a maid who got herself stuck in the middle of it.”

“Well.”  Sandra couldn’t think of a good response to that.  “I guess they trained me better than the others?”

“I guess.”  Mira took a quick taste of the stew, then added a few pinches of salt from a small bag in her pack.  “You’re not a dog, you know?”

“What?”

“You make yourself sound like… a tool.  A dog.”

“Mira…”

“No, listen.  You’re the best of them, and they can’t even see it!  They treat you like a bad taste in their mouths.”

“Mira… thank-you.”  Sandra couldn’t help but feel proud and happy hearing Mira say those  things.  She stood up, which was much easier this time, and hugged her friend.

“I just hope I can help.”

“Well that stew smells great.”

“It’s trail rations and scavenged plants.”  Mira shrugged, then pulled the skillet off the fire.  “Not exactly fancy fair.”

“Better than just trail rations.”  Sandra considered the fire she’d made.  “Or burnt trail rations.”

“I don’t think you can burn them.”  Mira smiled.  “They’re basically leather and rock.”

“Oh, I can burn anything I set my mind to.”

“I’m sure.”

“Let’s eat!”

Rather than dirtying a plate, they put an oilskin across their knees to keep from burning themselves and balanced the skillet between them.  They set about the stew hungrily, famished from the trials of the morning and the travel of the afternoon.

Sandra intended to say something about how good it was, but instead couldn’t stop eating.  Mira was right, it was simple, but it still tasted good!  Woodsy herbs cut through the dry flavor of the meat, and the bread added the right amount of chew to the dish.  She blew on the first few bites to keep from burning her mouth, then threw caution to the wind and just ate.

Afterward, they both used a heel of the travel bread to mop up stray sauce.

“Good.”

“Mmm.”

The meal should have lasted for a few days, but neither regretted finishing it.

“Was this another of those things that you learned when you weren't always a maid?”

“Ha!  No.  I worked in the kitchens before I was promoted to maid.”

“Promoted?”  Unbidden, Sandra used some of the water from her skin to clean the remains of their meal off of the skillet.

“What would you rather be?  A scullery assistant or a maid?”

“Neither?”

Mira stuck out her tongue.

“Right.  You have a point.  It’s probably much better to toss linens and dust furniture than slave away in the kitchens all day.”

“Damn right.”  Mira was taking her turn to rest.  She arched her back and pressed a fist into the middle of it, trying to knead out some of the tension.

“Here, let me.”  Sandra wiped the skillet off with a rag, balanced it on top of Mira’s pack, then came over and sat beside Mira.  She reached out tentatively and started to massage some of the tension out of Mira’s back.

“Mmm.”

Sandra scooted closer so she could get a better position, then dug her thumbs into Mira’s skin and rubbed them in circles around tense muscles.  She was surprised by the strength she felt in Mira, but realized that spending all day doing hard manual labor was bound to help condition a body.  Briefly Sandra wondered if Mira would be good at swinging a sword too, but discarded that thought.  She was already putting her friend in so much danger, asking her to fight as well seemed too much.

“You’re pretty good at that.  You know, for a soldier.”

“And you’re pretty good at relaxing.  You know, for a servant.”  Sandra winked.  Mira laughed.

“Is it always going to be like this?”

“Like what?”

“Sore muscles and exhaustion?”

“Later I’m sure there will be plenty of terror and running for our lives.”

“And burning?”

“Yes.  I think there will be a great deal of burning too.”

“You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”  Mira leaned back against Sandra, relaxing into the massage.  Her voice was starting to drift off and her words were slurring more with each moment.

“You cook, I put people in mortal danger.”

“Mmm.”  Mira sounded like she wanted to try and find a pithy reply to that, instead her eyes drifted shut and she snored softly.

Sandra gently maneuvered Mira to the ground, with her back against the log, to put her in a more comfortable position with the least amount of movement.  Then Sandra grabbed a blanket out of Mira’s pack and lay it over her.  Briefly, she thought of joining her friend in sleep, but practicality won out.  She went over to her pack to grab a blanket, and a small black pouch fell out of it.

“Hey, what’s this?”  It was made of fine cloth she didn’t recognize, and embroidered in silver thread on the front was the mark of the royal house.  Curious, she opened the catch on the top and emptied the contents into her palm.

“Oh!”  Inside there were several expensive-looking gems, twenty gold coins, a small silver ring with elaborate wings on it, two vials of sparkling green liquid and a note.

She carefully replaced everything into the pouch except the ring and the note and then shook Mira awake.

“Hey, Mira?”

“Gwuh?”

“Hey!  Wake up!”

“How long have I been…?”

“Like, a minute.  Can you read?”

“Umm…”  Mira scrubbed her hand over the back of her eyes to clear some sleep from it and then blinked up at Sandra.  “You woke me back up to read something?”

“I think it’s from the queen.”

“Oh… oh!  Okay!  Yeah, that’s a good idea.  Here, give it to me.”

Sandra nodded and handed over the note.  She also showed Mira the ring, but held onto that.  She had a feeling it was for her.

“Okay… umm… D… Dear Sandra and Mira.  Thank-you for res… rescuing my son and saving the kingdom.  Please take these toke… tokens?  Tokens of my app… appreciation.”  Mira looked up at Sandra.  “Tokens?”

“Gems, money, what looks like healing potions and the ring.”

“It’s pretty.  Not really… royal, though.”

“Does the note explain?”

“No, it just says ‘Warm regards, the Queen.’”  Mira shrugged.

“Hmm.  What should I do?”

“I say put it on.”

“Alright.”  Sandra turned the ring over a few times in front of her eyes, wondering what it was.  It must be important if the queen sent it with them, but she’d offered no explanation either.  Not having any other bright ideas, Sandra slipped it onto her ring finger.

Immediately there was a tingling sensation that spread out from the ring, into her hand, and traveled up her arm.  As it went it diffused until it reached her shoulder and stopped.  She could swear she saw the wings flutter before settling back into their original position.

“Weird.”

“What?”

“Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“The wings!  They flapped!”

“I didn’t see anything.”  Mira shrugged, then stifled a yawn.  “Anyway, it was nice of her to do that.  How much gold?”

“Twenty.”

“Twenty!?”

“I just said that.”

“That’s… that’s a Hell of a lot.”

“I know, right?”  Sandra jingled the purse a couple of times to emphasize the clinking inside.  “I wonder if she knows the value?”

“What?”

“Well.  Her doctor poured an 800 gold potion down my throat without even blinking.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yup.  I don’t think she quite understands the value of things.”  Sandra shook her head.  She hadn’t thought about it until now, but the potion that saved her life was worth more than she’d make in ten years.

“Wow.”  Mira was considering it, too.  “How about the gems?”

“I have no idea.”  Sandra opened the purse to show Mira.  “I don’t know anything about gems.”

“Me either.  We’d better not try and sell those until we can find someone to help appraise them.”

“Definitely.”  Sandra cinched the purse back up one more time, then replaced it in her saddle bag.  She felt a little uncomfortable not having it on her person, but she didn’t want to break the potions if she had to do any fighting.  “Anyway, sorry to wake you.”

“No.  No, it’s okay, that was important.”  Mira stretched her arms out, then settled back against the log.  “Can I sleep now?”

“Sure.  Yes.”

Mira smiled in thanks and was snoring almost immediately.

Sandra went back and grabbed the blanket from her saddlebag, then sat on top of the log.  The blanket would keep her warm for her watch, but without anything to support her back she wouldn’t fall asleep.  Hopefully.

*

The first week of travel went quickly for Sandra and Mira.  The forest was dense and dark, but the trail remained visible the entire time.  They passed through a couple of small towns, but rarely at the right time to stop for the night.  Once, they considered it, but the pressing deadline they were on kept them moving until night.

Mira became just as good at setting up and breaking down camp as Sandra was, and Sandra was appreciative of the company.  It turned out that Mira was a fair hand at hunting as well as cooking, and after the first meal of trail rations she caught several rabbits to supplement their protein source, which went miles to improving the quality of their meals.  They spent the days in amicable conversation, or sometimes friendly silence, and Sandra found herself enjoying the entire experience.  She certainly hadn’t expected that going into the endeavor.

They were coming up on Velmar: the last city in the kingdom before the wilds took over.  While there was technically a city at the base of the Riprock mountains, it was under the protection of the dragons and owed allegiance to no king.  This was their last stop in friendly territory.  Although it was only midday, they’d already discussed plans to stop for the night and resupply so they would be fresh and ready for the road in the morning.

As they rounded the last turn before the city, they both cried out in horror.  Sandra put a hand to her mouth, and Mira leaned over the side of Annie and made a retching sound.

The last stretch of road before Velmar was dotted on either side with pikes, and on each one a corpse was impaled.  They were all in various states of decay, and when Sandra looked closely, they had all been killed gruesomely.  Some were missing the entire lower half of their body, with their entrails spilling down to the ground, while others were missing a head or a limb.  Some looked chewed on!

There were twenty in all, spread out in the small clearing between the edge of the woods and the wall of the town.

“Oh, hon, I’m sorry.”  Sandra reached over and put a comforting hand on Mira’s shoulder.

“No… no… urp… it’s okay.”  Mira waved the hand away.  “You didn’t know.”

Sandra nodded.  How could she have known?

Velmar was a smallish city, little more than a town really, but it had a high wall.  Sandra was surprised, even the capital didn’t have such an extensive wall.  Each side had two towers in the middle, surrounding a gate, and the corners each had towers as well.  Sandra could see two guards stationed in each tower, both with bows.  At least four of them trained aim on Sandra and Mire as they approached.