Tears For The Dragon Ch. 02

Gard nodded.

"Excellent! I gather you received a certain letter?"

The ogre gave another nod.

"Splendid! That building most likely source of needed information." Miklos pointed his chin towards what looked like the town's only store. They both set off towards it. The road of this little hamlet was rutted, but thankfully not muddy; the rain had held off for the last few days. Gard was glad for that, because he followed ogrish custom and went barefoot everywhere. That was partly due to the fact that he'd yet to find a cobbler who could make him shoes or boots big enough for his feet. He was fortunate in that he had found several sympathetic tailors who'd made the linen shirt and trousers he now wore.

The store was a half-timbered construction of dark wood and lighter stucco. Gard paused a moment to figure out if he really wanted to go in or not. This place was far north of anything he would call civilization, and the locals might regard him as a demon or worse. Gard looked over at Miklos, who was standing next to him with a curious expression. The ogre decided that it was ridiculous to be nervous and went inside. He had to stoop his head a considerable amount to get in the door.

As Gard straightened up inside the shop, he saw two pairs of wide eyes looking at him. The only people in the store were a woman behind the counter and a little girl seated against the store's far wall. The goods for sale were a small collection of dried spices, a few types of foodstuffs, and a smattering of tools.

Gard's head brushed the ceiling as he walked carefully over to the counter. He had to keep his knees bent or his head would go right through the ceiling. Many years of living in human lands had taught him to move with caution lest he break something.

Surprisingly, Miklos looked a little abashed once he had crossed the threshold. The man stopped just inside the door and seemed content to let Gard take the initiative.

The woman behind the counter had pale blonde hair and a face that was less lined that the coach driver's. He was glad to see that she didn't look scared of him. Maybe this place wasn't as backward as he'd feared. He gave her a smile that didn't show any teeth.

"Hello, madam," he said in a deep bass voice. "My name is Gard, and this gentleman is Miklos. I hope you can help us. We were supposed to meet someone by the name of Gaspar."

At the name she smiled. "Oh, he's my husband. He should be back shortly. We weren't expecting you quite so soon."

Gard relaxed. He had wondered if this whole affair had been some sort of strange hoax. "Excellent. Thank you, madam."

"Call me Dalma, please."

The ogre felt a tug at his trousers and looked down. The little black-haired girl stared up at him with wide eyes. "Are you here to eat somebody?" she asked.

He resisted the urge to give the child a wider smile. Seeing his teeth tended to disturb humans; that was another hard-won lesson from his years of exile. "I'm definitely not going to eat anybody, little one."

The girl smiled. "Good. Then you're like Miss Emsari. She's big and scary too, but she's nice."

Gard couldn't resist teasing the child. "I doubt that she's scarier than me!" He slapped his muscled chest in mock pride.

The girl nodded with a serious look on her face. "Yeah, she is. She's bigger than you too."

The ogre gave a deep laugh that seemed to shake the little store. "Now I know you're fooling with me!"

"No really!" She spread her little arms. "She's got big wings an' lotsa rilly sharp teeth, an' a big long tail, and she flies around like this! Wooooooo..." The child began running through the store with her arms outstretched. In her stampede she nearly knocked over a pile of apples.

"Kira!" Dalma rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I'm sorry she bothered you, sir."

"It's no problem. She really has an active imagination."

He didn't miss the little falter in her smile. "Er, yes. Very active."

Gard was about to inquire more closely but was interrupted by Gaspar's arrival. Before he could blink the farmer had both of the travelers' belongings on his cart and was taking them out into the middle of nowhere.

The ogre was beginning to wonder again if this was some sort of elaborate trap by the King's agents. And then, when Gaspar had dropped them off in a clearing next to a cave entrance, that suspicion became stronger. Gard set down his pack as the farmer's cart rattled off. He looked around at the surrounding trees and then up at the mountain that towered above the cave.

"Well, this seems very...rustic!" said Miklos. Now that it was just him and Gard again, the man had passed through his brief moment of shyness. He once more seemed to treat everything as just the best thing ever.

Gard gave the cave entrance a detailed inspection without moving closer. The hole into the earth had recently been groomed. He could see the marks where some of the overhanging sod had been cut away. Several of the encroaching bushes had also been trimmed back. So somebody was living here...the question was who?

Miklos began to walk forward, only to be stopped by Gard's huge arm thumping softly across his chest.

"Not yet." The ogre took another look around the little clearing, then pointed towards the brush at the far side. "Wait back there for a bit, please."

The human looked a little puzzled, but did as he was asked. Once Miklos was out of the way, Gard took a deep breath and brought up his Second Sight. Through the almost monochromatic view, he took in once again what he could see of the cave entrance. There were no wards or trap magic...no magic of any kind, actually. He dropped his Sight and took out a dagger. The weapon was sized for an ogre, so a human would have considered it more of a sword. His other hand flared brightly and then became wreathed with fire as he cautiously approached the cave.

At the very mouth of the cave, he suddenly pivoted and pointed his dagger at the bush nearest the cave. "Out," he said. His deep voice was now not at all light or humorous.

"Bloody 'ell," said the bush. "How'd you make me?"

"Your scent. Come out. Now. Or I find out how well that bush burns."

The ogre stepped back and watched with deep black eyes as a gangly human woman unfolded herself from behind the bush. She wore a gray shirt as well as trousers of the same color. She had a dark gray slouch hat pulled low on one side of her head. The woman grinned at him, and the expression made him aware of several deep scars that stretched along the left side of her face. That was also the side of her face most covered by the hat.

"Guess I gotta work on my smell as well, eh?" she said. "Though I gather you ogre types have better noses than us." Her friendly brown eyes twinkled at him.

Gard kept his dagger at the ready, but he did call off the flame on his other hand. "Who are you?"

She made a sweeping bow, pulling the hat off of her head with a flourish as she did so. "Celia Darrington at your service, my formidable chap." He saw that she had jet-black hair which was cut much shorter than was fashionable for human women.

Celia replaced her hat with another little flourish as she straightened up. "I would say something bloody stupid like 'my word, you're big'. Buuut I'm guessing you've heard that line before."

In spite of himself Gard smiled. "All the time," he replied. Well, she sure didn't seem like an agent for King Bognar. Gard slipped his dagger back in its belt sheath and extended a hand. "I'm Gard Hansen."

Celia put back on her hat and shook the proffered hand. Her slim hand all but vanished in his huge mitt. "It's a pleasure, mate."

By now Miklos had come strolling up. "That was very well done!" said the little man. "I must say, I had no idea you were there, yes-yes! I'm Miklos Katona, milady." He gave her a formal bow.

Something about that family name sounded familiar to Gard, but it escaped him for the moment. He was, however, finally able to place Celia's accent. "May I ask what an Easterner is doing in such a remote area?" he asked her.

"She's probably here for the same reason that we are," said Miklos.

"Let's find out," said Celia. Then she put a finger to her temple and furrowed her brow. "I shall now call upon me mighty and entirely fictional mind-reading powers...oh, yes. You both received an odd unsigned letter with an interesting offer?"

Gard nodded. "The letter said it was big job and not at all legal. You received one as well?"

"Yep, I got here a day ago. Been staking out the entrance ever since I got here, but nobody's come in or out. Until you two chaps showed up, of course. Are you thinking this is a trap of some kind?"

"A trap?" exclaimed Miklos. "My word, this is quite exciting!"

Celia gave Gard a quizzical look that said is this guy for real?

Gard just shrugged to say beats me. Aloud, he said "If it is some kind of scheme it seems like a needlessly elaborate one. Any worthwhile trap would have some magic wards set up. I can't see anything."

"How do you want to play this?" asked Celia. "Since you're the battle-mage and all. And since you could break both of us in two with your pinky."

Gard considered it. "We'll leave our packs out here for now, at least until we know what we're walking into. I'll take point, and you watch our back. Miklos, you stick in between us. If I say run, we run. No questions asked. Got it?"

Miklos nodded with enthusiasm. They all made ready, then the two humans followed Gard's hulking form down into the earth. The packed earth near the mouth quickly turned to rough-hewn stone further in. After making a turn a ways along the the tunnel, the walls became smoother and then turned into worked stone tiles. The tiles had an odd, six-sided appearance that Gard found familiar.

Miklos looked at the stone-work with delight. "Wonderful! This is from the First Empire, no doubt!"

Gard stopped at that, and the humans following him nearly collided with his broad back. "Are you sure?" he asked Miklos.

"Quite certain, my good man. This is very unusual! There aren't any known First Empire ruins this far north."

For the first time in a long while, Gard felt a thrill of fear run up his back. He gripped his dagger more tightly. "That means this isn't a ruin. It's a lair."

"A lair for what?" asked Celia. Gard turned to look at her over his shoulder but didn't say anything. He saw her eyes widen as the penny dropped. "Oh, bugger me," she whispered.

Miklos completely missed her whispered fear. His cheerful voice echoed in the tunnel as he talked. "Well, my dear Celia, Gard has correctly inferred that this is the lair of a dragon!" The man seemed oblivious to Gard's frantic gestures for him to keep silent. "Now, given its age, I would speculate that this place probably belongs to a Great Wyrmmmmph...."

His chattering was muffled as Gard placed one huge hand over the man's mouth. The ogre spoke very softly. "Now listen. Both of you. Stay quiet. We head out carefully. And don't panic."

The group shuffled around so that Gard was once again taking the lead. Miklos, to his credit, now kept quiet. And Celia moved like flowing smoke as they made their way back up the tunnel.

Gard half expected to find a huge stone or something similar blocking the entrance, but he was happy beyond measure to see daylight as they came back around the corner. He flattened himself against the wall just inside the tunnel mouth and scanned the clearing. He saw absolutely nothing on the ground outside. He ducked and checked the sky outside.

Still nothing.

He took a few steps out of the tunnel and felt the others staying close behind him.

"Where are our packs?" murmured Miklos.

Gard's off-hand burst into flame.

"Back up!" the ogre yelled, and the trio edged back towards the tunnel mouth just before a huge form clad in green and yellow scales slammed down into the center of the clearing with a huge thump. There was a deafening crackle from smashing timber as small sticks and branches flew about the clearing.

A large head the size of a horse whipped towards them on a snakelike neck. Two ruby-red eyes blazed with fury as the dragon's fanged maw snapped towards Gard. Before he could react, he felt a huge blow into his ribs that knocked him clear of the creature's strike. As Gard fell to the side, he saw Celia tumbling away from him in the opposite direction. She must have done a jump-kick into him, and he felt some admiration that the human was actually able to move him. She was stronger than she looked.

He hit the ground and kept rolling to regain his feet. Time seemed to slow as he picked himself up and took in the situation. He was off to one side of the dragon while Celia was on the other. In the middle was Miklos, who stared up at the huge creature with something between fascination and horror.

A spiny red crest on top of the dragon's head flared out in anger. It hissed down at the little human in front of it and drew back one clawed hand, clearly getting ready to strike. Miklos seemed rooted to the spot; he didn't budge an inch.

Then the dragon's head jerked back in surprise as a slim throwing dagger bounced off of its snout with a faint ping.

"Bugger! Scales are too thick!" shouted Celia. She made ready to throw another dagger as the dragon swung its head towards her and growled.

"Next one goes in yer eye, ye great bloody lizard!" yelled Celia. In response, the dragon's clawed forearm now began to swing towards the gray-clad woman as Celia drew back for her throw.

Gard roared a wordless challenge and held up his hand. The fire that engulfed his hand became a larger ball of white-hot plasma that lit the clearing like a second sun. The dragon now whipped its head around towards him, and Gard saw its eyes narrow into slits as the light from his plasma hit its eyes.

"Leave her be, beast!" Gard bellowed. "You shall contend with ME, if you DARE!"

The ogre's echoing bellow died away into silence. There was a long moment as the three combatants held themselves ready and waited for someone to make the first move.

Then, to his astonishment, Gard saw Miklos draw himself up. "It's all right everyone," he said quietly. "There's no real danger here. Wouldn't you agree, Madame Dragon?"

They all looked at the little potbellied man in disbelief, even the dragon. And Gard now realized that the dragon had definite mammaries. He'd somehow missed that detail in all the excitement.

Miklos, for his part, clasped his hands behind his back as he calmly returned the beast's furious stare.

"Exsssplain yourssssself," hissed the dragon.

Miklos held up his right hand with a single raised finger. "Item one. There were no auditory wards or doors in your entrance tunnel. Draconic custom states that this is to be taken as an invitation for anyone to enter and request an audience with the lair's occupant."

He stuck up another finger beside the first. "Item two. I am certain that you are the source of the letters that summoned the three of us here. Again, I refer to draconic custom which states that such an invitation automatically designates us as your honored guests for at least three days, starting from the day of our arrival."

"Ssssso you assssume, missserable human," hissed the dragon.

Miklos sighed and added yet another finger. "And that brings us to item three. Our bags are missing. Either a gang of very lucky thieves came by in the last few minutes, or you were the one who removed them. The latter is far more likely, yes-yes? But simple theft could not be your motive. As a Great Wyrm, your hoard would make any emperor jealous. So you must have taken our packs away so as to avoid damaging them during any potential scuffle."

Celia stared at the man in disbelief. "Ya call this a scuffle, mate?"

Miklos ignored her as he dropped his hand down and stuck it once more behind his back. He looked like a teacher getting ready to chide a under-performing student. "When taking into account all three items, Madame, logic dictates that you never intended harm to either us or our property. This is clearly a test of some sort on your part. Now. Will you please stop using that silly accent?"

The dragon blinked, then her crest flattened back against her head as she threw her head back and gave a roar...this time, one of laughter. When she spoke again, it was in a much more normal and less hissing tone. "Well done, sir! I guess we can count this as a successful audition." She backed up to the far edge of the clearing and gave them all a little bow.

Gard's plasma winked out, but as he turned to face the dragon he still held his dagger low and ready in his hand. Celia retrieved her throwing dagger with a look that also said she was not trusting the beast one bit. Miklos, however, just smiled and looked a little smug.

"You have my sincere apologies," said the dragon. "I am Emsari, and I bid you all welcome."

"You have strange notion of 'welcome'," said Gard. He now realized this must be the 'Miss Emsari' that the child Kira had mentioned.

"You said it, mate," added Celia. "Why did you attack us?" She still had a dagger in each hand and was crouched and at the ready.

Emsari lifted her head from the bow. "I had to test what you were made of. Those letters you received did not lie. I have a job for you all. It is lucrative, very illegal, and quite dangerous. If you fail, you face death. Most likely death by torture."

She gave them each a grave nod in turn. "But here, when suddenly faced with a ravening beast, you did not panic. In fact, you made ready to attack. You also acted to protect each other in spite of just meeting." She peered more closely at Miklos. "And you showed an ability to think very well under pressure."

Celia's daggers vanished as if by magic, but she still looked ready to roll out of the way of any attack. "What's the job?" she demanded. "It better have a damn good payoff for all this bother."

The dragon smiled widely, and Gard realized that Kira had not lied. Emsari had a lot of very sharp teeth.

"The payoff, my dear Miss Darrington, is saving a kingdom."

__________________________________________________________

Metternich's office was large, which he hated. There were times when he felt like an oyster trapped inside of a shell much too big for him. But he had appearances to keep up, not to mention a truly staggering amount of paperwork to keep secure. His expansive desk alone held large stacks of paper that he never seemed to be able to reduce, no matter how much he worked at it.

He was seated at that desk and in the middle of scrawling out his latest orders to the agents he had placed in and around Estressau. His writing was interrupted by a discreet cough from the door. Metternich looked up with mild irritation and saw a guard standing uncertainly in the doorway. The man was probably twice Metternich's size, but from his manner the guard acted as if he was interrupting a tiger at his meal.

"My lord? The High Matron requests an audience."

"Ah. Can you send her my compliments and tell her I'll be by the Temple in an hour?"

"Er, I'm sorry sir. I meant that she's downstairs and asking to see you."

"She came here?" Metternich asked with some surpise. At the man's nod, Metternich sighed. "Very well. Please bring her up. And close the door behind us afterwards." He stood and moved around to the front of his desk.

The guard bowed and left with evident relief. He soon returned, trailing a woman of advanced middle age with dark, iron-hard eyes. Her hair was tied up tight and concealed under a square-shaped hat made of blue cloth and silver thread; that hat was the primary badge of her exalted office. She swept into Metternich's office as her plain and dark-blue robes swished around her. The color of her clothing was another indication of her affiliation with the Cult of the Goddess. The guard closed the door behind her, leaving the woman alone in the office with Metternich.