The Twilight Dragon

I could feel the hairs on the back of my arms raise, and I shivered. It felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees. Something large had carved this valley out, most likely a large glacier, the sides were smooth and the bottom had been pulverized into sand and small flat rocks.

I was holding Donya's hand and leading her to the areas with the least amount of rocks so as to make less noise. Above us, I heard the faint cries of large birds above us, but down in the valley it was eerily quiet, the stone walls of the valley insulating us from the noises of outside. Thankfully, I had not heard any voices anymore, so I took that as a good sign. Ahead, I could see in the distance the exit to the valley, beyond that greenery beckoned enticingly to us.

I picked up my pace, until I heard Donya whisper, "Lianne, my hand." I had not realized I had been squeezing it so tightly. I let go and watched Donya shake her hand out guiltily. "Sorry."

We moved out into the bright sunlight, and immediately felt warmed by it.

"You know," a feminine voice with an accent said in a lazy drawl. I snapped my head around as I searched for the owner of the voice. The owner was a dark-haired woman with light brown skin, dressed in tan pants and a red, flowing shirt.

"Some might think that you ladies are looking for trouble, wandering around in dark shadowy areas. My eyes were drawn to the large sword that she held in her hand. I had never seen anyone with a sword before. Knives, sure, but not...a sword. I remember when the bandits had ambushed me and all of a sudden I couldn't breathe, my knees started shaking and then and I had to hunch over and put my hands on my thighs. I felt Donya's hand on my shoulders, steadying me.

"Aye, I was just kidding!" The woman said, holding her hand out as if to reassure me. "Just not a lotta ladies out here, tha's all."

She seemed to recoil as I looked to see Donya giving her a scathing glare. "She's been through a lot." Donya said angrily.

"It's ok, Donya." I said as I pushed on my thighs and straightened up.

"Now are you going to let us pass or not?" Donya said.

"Of course." She said awkwardly. Donya was still holding onto my shoulders but I shrugged them aside.

"Alright, let's go, Donya." I said as we walked past the woman.

"So, where are you two headed?" The woman asked casually as she followed us.

"To Scarsdale." Donya stated as she started walking ahead of us, which I thought might be her trying to keep distance between her and the stranger.

"Ah! I'm headed there myself. I'm Marija by the way." She said cheerfully.

"And what are you doing there?" I asked.

"Well I'm a bounty hunter, so I go to the towns to check the boards." She said.

A bounty hunter, hm... I had never met one before and so I regarded the woman with newfound interest. Donya strode ahead purposefully but I lingered in the back to talk to her.

"And what about you?"

I thought for a moment before I decided to tell her. I couldn't think of the harm it could do.

"We're going to rescue my dragon boyfriend from dark cultists." That summed it up pretty well.

"Ooh?" She didn't look as surprised as I thought she would be, which was a little disappointing.

"A dragon, I haven't seen on in ages!" She commented.

At this Donya had to pause and I walked into her. "You've seen others?"

"Oh sure, sure." She looked pleased that Donya was talking to her. "I've seen many in my travels." Her sexy accent was nice to listen to, and what she said after was even better. "Rock dragons are they worst, they like to live high in the mountains, and it is hell to get up there."

"And what did you do with the dragons?" I asked suddenly, suspicious given her nature of work.

"Hm jus' usually something to do with an item they want. They don't like to be seen by humans. They will leave notes in places if you know where to look." She smiled at her own cleverness.

"How many dragons have you seen?" I asked.

She shrugged. "About four or five, but not so much anymore." She grinned at her recollections. "But it was always worth it hey, they paid big coin." She said, lightly pushing my arm as if we were friends.

"Sounds great." I said.

"And what do you do, Lianne, Donya?" She asked us.

"Well I work at the brothel kitchen as an assistant, and Donya works...there too." I finished lamely.

I wasn't sure if she liked disclosing her profession to strangers, especially given her current demeanor towards Marija.

"I work as one of the hostesses of the brothel." Donya said simply. "Ah, so we can ask you for the best seduction tips." Marjia said jokingly. Donya cracked a small smile, I knew she took a lot of pride in her work.

" Of course."

"Yeah, Donya is really great." I said, "Tell her about that time we had the really angry man that felt scammed from our alcohol."

Donya chuckled good naturedly. "Well, when a man is frustrated like that, usually from a day's work, he needs to be calmed first." She demonstrated on me, making eye contact and touching my hair.

Even though I knew she was just acting, I felt a little flustered from her attention. "Men may try to hide their emotional reactions, but they also have emotional tensions that must be released." She continued talking about the story and what she did until both of us were squirming uncomfortably.

I was reminded of how much I had become used to Duke's visits, my body ached with longing from contact, to be appreciated in that way. My cheeks were flushed and after that I found it hard to follow the conversation for quite some time.

*****

We approached Scarsdale after a while and for once, the town was unaffected. "So what is the plan here?" Marija asked as we filled our canteens at the well, an action that had quickly become our "lets-plan" moment.

"Well, I rescue Duke." I said vehemently.

"Hopefully kill a cultist or two while I'm at it."

"Didn't you say they had dark magic?" Donya asked curiously.

"Well...yes." I said, less confident now. Damn it, all the times I thought of rescuing Duke and I hadn't even thought of how I could do that!

"I think they will have some strange artifacts that can be bartered with." Marija said with a smirk, patting her sword hilt. "I would be glad to relieve them of these."

"We would have to use stealth." Donya said thoughtfully. "And wait until night time..."

As we waited for the cultists to arrive, Marija sharped her sword while I paced nervously. Donya had gone off to some of the stores, promising to return later. I was both elated and nervous about seeing Duke again, and also about the confrontation that would follow. I had to hope and pray that our plan would work. Donya returned with her bag full of items that she passed to us, and we started to formulate a plan...

It was dark out when we heard the cart roll in, as we hid around the corner of a building. Six dark cloaked figures rode into the town. I had never seen horses like this before, they were jet black and extremely muscular, larger than any horses I had seen before. They snorted and pawed at the ground impatiently as the cloaked figures got off his horse and headed towards the tavern. To my surprise, they had not laid waste like they had in the previous towns. I waited until they were all inside before I ran to the cart behind. A large canvas sheet covered a form underneath, and I lifted it with some effort and shoved it aside.

There he was, lying on the bottom of the cart, tied up with thick, heavy chains. His eyes were closed.

"Duke!" I said in a loud whisper.

He groaned and shut his eyes tighter, shaking his head.

"Duke!" I climbed into the cart, which was difficult due to Duke and some large urns taking up most of the space. I squeezed between him and the side of the cart and shook him. His eyes shot open.

"Lianne!" He gasped. "You're here!"

"Yes, I came to rescue you!" I held his face in my hands and kissed him profusely on his muzzle.

I could hear Donya and Marija come up behind me.

Marija checked the locks on the chains.

"Aye this needs a key...a big one too from the looks of it."

"Donya? You came too?" Duke looked at the both of us and then shook his head vehemently. "No, you two have to leave right now. You too, lady." He said to Marija. "It's too dangerous, their magic, it's so strong." It was only then that I saw dark scorch marks on his body.

"I'm not leaving without you." I said as I straightened up. "Come on ladies, we're going inside." I gave Duke one more kiss and followed the other women into the tavern. The area was loud and raucous, the people unaware of the threat of the cultists. The scent of strong alcohol and meaty food filled the air. They were sitting in one table, each with a mug of what looked like ale. They had their hoods off and I was surprised at how mundane they looked. It looked like just a group of weary old men taking a break from a long journey.

I felt Donya's hand on my arm. "I'll distract them, watch." Donya said with a wink, slipping behind the counter before I could stop her. She put on an apron and grabbed four mugs, filling them with ale. She sauntered over to the men.

I moved past the bodies with more difficulty, and hid behind a pillar nearby as I watched her.

I could see their eyes light up when they saw her, their weariness did not hold them back from appreciating her appearance. She started talking to them, laughing and smiling, pretending she found their replies fascinating. She encouraged them to drink more of the ale, and one of them finished the entire mug at her prompt.

When she leaned over to give the leader a good view of her necklace, she leaned forward and so did he. I ran forward to snatch the large key hanging from his waist. But it was stuck tight!

"Hey!" He whirled around and shoved me, and I felt my hair rise as his eyes glowed bright, unnaturally blue. Donya saw and splashed the tankard of beer onto him.

"Wench!" He turned and struck her in the face. I grabbed at the keys again, this time with my knife out, cutting the belt that held it there.

"Help!" Donya called out to the tavern staff, who rushed over to help her. The cultists moved sluggishly, intoxicated by the ale. One of the cultists held up his hand but a guard hit him one in the face. Smack!

I ran out the door with key in hand, to the cart where Duke was waiting.

"I'm here, Duke!" I called putting the key into the lock and wrenching it open. I did so for the next three chains until Duke was free. He stood up abruptly, spreading his wings wide, I fell onto the floor of the cart, startled. He seemed unsteady on his feet, sinking back down and placing one large clawed hand on the side of the cart.

"Come on!" Marija helped me pull Duke off the cart. He was weak but helped as much as we could.

We walk-shuffled to the trees where the forest met the town. It wasn't long before I could hear angry shouting, I ran over to hide behind a rock to see the guards shoving the cultists out of the tavern. The cultists hurried to their cart and I heard their shouts of fury at seeing the empty cart. I saw them scanning the skies, but it was too dark to see anything.

One of the cultists pushed up his sleeves as he started to head back into the tavern, but the leader stopped him.

"We have enough blood for the ritual, forget about the dragon." He said in a hoarse voice. I had not given a second thought to the urns, but now with a chill, I realized what they contained.

"We don't have much time." They leapt upon their horses, which seemed to know automatically where to go. They took off towards the north, kicking up dust behind them. Marija and I breathed a small sigh of relief. Duke groaned. I turned my attention back to him. "Can you check on Donya?" I asked as I touched Duke gently on his cheek. He felt cold, which I found very concerning.

I looked up when I heard footsteps running, looking up I saw Marija had returned, with Donya and two large men in tow. I raised my knife defensively, but Donya held up her hand. "I have friends here at the brothel, they offered to provide a room for us at a cheap rate."

I nodded cautiously.

"May we?" The muscular men were surprisingly gentle with Duke as they helped him to the building through the back entrance. The brothel was smaller than the tavern, and Duke had to duck his head to step through the entrance. We headed into the basement, which had lush carpet ontop of stone floors.

Torches lit the hallway, casting a strong glow. They led us into a room where there was a large bed. I settled Duke in with some pillows and blankets, and the four later returned with large platters of food. Duke had his eyes closed again but I woke him and made him drink the vegetable broth. He grimaced and refused after a few spoonfuls, but grabbed at a turkey drumstick, cleaning the meat off the bone in one swift motion. An entire loaf of bread disappeared into his mouth, and then an entire apple. He drank from the pitcher of water furiously until that was empty too. The men had left but Marija, Donya and I watched him, amazed. "What?" He grumbled. Color was quickly returning to his skin. "They didn't feed me much."

"Here, they brought a balm for you." Donya brought out container of some sort of balm. From the strong minty scent I recognize it as the balm Duke had once used on me. Donya started putting the ointment on Duke's injuries and I helped. Duke yawned widely before closing his eyes.

"Tired." He muttered.

"Rest now, you're safe." I told him. I held his hand until his breathing steadied and deepened.

"Come." Donya said, pulling me towards the door. I resisted, wanting to stay with Duke. "I'll watch over him." Marija said, "Go get washed up."

Reluctantly I nodded. My body felt heavy, the adrenaline was starting to leave me and I felt tired.

A dark skinned woman dressed in very provocative black and red dress greeted us outside the room. "Ah this must be Lianne!" She gave me cheek smooches. "This is my long-time friend, Isabel." Donya introduced the woman with a wide smile.

"Yes, Donya used to work with us before she moved away." Isabel sighed. "We had such fun times together." She led us further down the hall to a brightly lit room. It was a spacious area with a large pool filled with warm, scented water and to the side, several stations where one could clean themselves first. "I'll let you ladies get relaxed." Isabel, smacking me in the butt before she left.

I opened my mouth to protest, but she had already gone. Donya laughed at my expression, and soon I was laughing too, our laughter echoing off the walls so it sounded like many people laughing.

Donya stripped off her clothes immediately, having done so in front of me many times in the past when I came to collet laundry.

"I can turn my back until you get into the bath." She told me kindly, but I shook my head as I started to take off my clothes too. We picked two bathing stations and sat down on stone stools to scrub the dirt from our bodies.

"Can you soap my back, Lianne?" Donya asked.

"Sure." I stood up and rubbed her furiously with the soap and she moaned.

"That feels great on my sore muscles. Here, you try it." I sat back down on my stool and she rubbed my back too.

"I can't argue with that." I said as my aching muscles reminded me how hard we had worked to find Duke. I turned around to speak with Donya as she sat back down. I saw the dark bruise forming on her cheek and I felt a rush of guilt.

"Thank you for helping me save Duke." I said shyly. "You're hurt."

"Hm? Oh, this is nothing." Donya waved the issue aside with a hand, but that didn't reassure me. I went over to the side where there were a variety of balms and lotions, including the healing balm that we had used earlier. I brought it over to the bathing area and applied it gently over Donya's bruised cheek.

She lifted her head up to let me apply it, wincing delicately.

"Thank you. Now, shall we?" She asked as she stood up and headed to the bathing pool. I followed behind her.