Chapter 6 – First Night and Day
Alinson had not long been in the study after meeting with Kendor and her mysterious hunter now known to her as Nicolas, but it didn’t stop her from being cautious or weary about her surroundings, now and again the noise of a hammer striking metal or the whirl of something strange could be heard from down the hall, with each strike it made her jump just ever so slightly that it caused her heart to skip a beat, she viewed her surroundings noticing the book stacks all around her and the room, Kendor had not long brought in a tea tray full of steaming tea for her to try, he said it was called Midnight Oasis tea, apparently it comes from a plant not far from here and mixed with tea leaves give it a nice fruity but subtle flavour.
Alinson never had tea before and when she picked up the cup it was light in her hand, the cup was white with a gold band with a green leafy patter around, the tea pot and saucers matched in pattern, inside the cup was the tea but she knew it as a dark brown look but as she gazed into the cup it was a dark clear blue and it smelled sweet, Kendor was already sipping his tea with his pinky extended out, Alinson thought it was funny, she sniffed the tea letting fill her senses as she looked at Kendor and said “I never had tea before”
Kendor looked up from his cup his eyes wide open and gaze fixed on her as he watched her sip her tea with little sips at a time, a slight smile slowly beamed across his face, he took another sip and placed the cup on the saucer “well my dear there is always a first for everything and don’t worry”
Alinson was slightly alerted by his don’t worry words as she took looked up at Kendor and over her cup with wide eyes but her eyes showed worry and a hint of fear “he won’t do anything my dear, plus you have me”
Alinson smiled as she took another sip and placed the cup down “thanks, this tea is nice did you make it yourself?”
Kendor felt delighted by her comment as his smile broadened just that bit more “why yes, I bought the leave from a market that imports tea directly, so considering that you will be staying with us for a few days why don’t you tell me about yourself”
Alinson paused for a moment before she picked up a small silver spoon and started to stir her tea, there was no need for her to do it but she felt uncomfortable with the question, it didn’t take long for Kendor to notice her hesitation as he said “if you’re not ready to answer then we can talk about something else”
Alinson nodded “please, it is too soon to talk about or to open up about it, but I have a question if I may ask?”
Kendor nodded and held out his hand gesturing her to continue “Please ask away”
“Well, was you ever near a tower in a metal forest helping a young child?”
Kendor looked perplexed by her question but his answer was short and to the point “no I am afraid not, why do you ask?”
Alinson took another sip of her tea trying to think of a answer “I read it in my of my stories, just wanted to know what it was like”
Kendor had picked up his own cup of tea raising a questionable eyebrow, he thought about the fairy tale book that was in her back pack and probably still there “ah, you mean Rapunzel, sigh I knew a Rapunzel once, charming lass but put up quiet a fight for a Scottish woman”
Alinson smiled “so you and she were friends?”
Kendor laughed slightly “you could say that”
Alinson smiled “ok, so what is Nicolas doing in his room?”
Kendor paused and placed his saucer and cup on his lap and sighed with a weary smile “he does what he loves the most, he likes to invent and create and draw up plans for new inventions”
Alinson looked confused “so he is a blacksmith?”
“You could say that, do you know what an Engineer is or a inventor is?”
Alinson shook her head as Kendor continued “a Engineer is somebody who builds things that come from plans known as blue prints to the point that it works without fail, so it could be anything from a bicycle to a motorcar or on rare occasion something utterly new”
Alinson nodded with slight excitement and a on the edge of her seat smile, Kendor picked up on this but also noticed that she was learning like a eager child who is in on their first day of school “a inventor is somebody who designs these blue prints from either memory of a previous design or they come up with something new out of their own minds, some created wonders while others it was only a dream”
Alinson nodded understanding what each one was before she sat back and placed a finger on her chin thinking “so one is a doer while the other is a wonderer”
Kendor nodded, Alinson thought about her next question as she asked “so which is Nicolas?”
Kendor smiled “funny you should ask...”
Nicolas stopped his wielding of two pipes together and lifted his goggles up and removing the sweat from his brow with his dirty sleeve, it was a simple pip fitting with two taps and two pipes that melded into one, with a smile he said “right that should held the water flow a bit more now all i have to do is...”
He paused and looked down at his blue prints and sighed before making a change and then groaned out loud “ah of course why didn’t I think of this sooner, instead of two taps and valves I could just use one to regulate the flow...”
He felt his ears burn just slightly as he temporary lost of track of what he was doing as he looked around the room “is somebody talking about me?... oh well back to work”
He placed his goggles back onto his eyes and continued on with his work, Kendor and Alinson was laughing at a joke that Kendor had made as he finished it off “then I said listen if you think that works on anybody then it should work on you”
Alinson giggled and laughed almost spilling her tea “so is he always inventing and getting people to try them?”
Kendor sighs “yeah, mostly it’s me that ends up with the short straw, some of the time it ends up badly for me”
Alinson looked on with intent as she asked “so what was the last invention he asked you to try out?”
Kendor’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he hand slowly moved to his hair checking to see if it was still in place, he smiled and said “well never mind, it was a long time ago”
Alinson nodded “ok, sorry i seem to be talking about Nicolas a bit but I know nothing about you”
Kendor smiled “well there is not much to talk about there; I am roughly six hundred years old...”
Before Alinson could take another sip of her tea her own eyes went wide with shock “wow, your ancient”
Kendor spat out his tea almost chocking and laughing at the same time, at first Alinson thought she said something wrong until Kendor composed himself and whipped away a tear from his eyes “oh my dear I haven’t had a laugh like that in years, I tell you who is ancient, my great grandfather, he should be about one thousand and seventy seven years by now”
Alinson was surprised as she asked a blunt question “so how long do Dragons live for?”
Kendor kept his friendly smile “well the oldest living one is past the two thousand mark, an average age is two thousand years old”
Alinson gawked in amazement as she watched Kendor stand up and walk beside her, he bent down on one knee, with a cheeky grin and an extended hand he closed her mouth with the tip of his finger, her cheeks blushed as he said “now, it’s not lady like for a woman such as you to gawk like so”
Alinson found herself staring into his eyes almost mesmerized by them, his fingers never lifted from her chin and their gazes never wavered but she could Kendor getting closer as his warm breath could be felt on her cheek but Alinson withdrew away and said “well I need to get some sleep”
Kendor was left like a statue in motion as she stood up and stretched herself while yawning, Kendor felt a slight lack in presence as his eyes were closed only to be kissing thing air, as he eyes opened he sighed and lowered his hand and stood up, he smiled at her with the feeling of a minor setback to his plans to get her, he knew she must have been tired and it was getting late only to be reinforced by the chiming of the wall clock that chimed eleven times, he sighed as he said “well I guess tomorrow is another day”
Alinson looked over her shoulder “Pardon?”
“Oh nothing my dear, just talking out aloud, well as a hospitable host I should show you to the ready guest room for you to stay in”
Alinson laughed as Kendor bowed and smiled, he then stood up and walked to where she was sitting and picked her bag up, eventually they walked out of the room and down the hall past were Nicolas was working, she glanced in quickly as they passed only seeing him sat down writing something, she sighed as Kendor looked down at her and said “I didn’t ask, what is your interest in the likes of me and Nickyboy?”
Alinson thought about it and said “well, he still scares me but I guess if I’m going to be staying here then I should get to know everybody”
Kendor smiled “oh you will in time my dear, tell you what why don’t I get the fire going you”
Alinson nodded as they came to a stop outside a large wooden door, as Kendor opened it he flicked something on a nearby wall and the room fill lit up with light, Alinson had to shield her eyes as the light was bright in her eyes, Kendor smile as he stepped in and placed her bag on the bed, he turned a knob that hissed but Alinson saw something that surprised her, Kendor blew into the fire place as fire flew from his mouth and lit the fire up warm and toasty, with a smile he placed some logs on the fire to keep it going, he looked back at Alinson with a smile and noticed her amazed face as he said “you ok my dear?”
Alinson nodded in amazement as she asked “how did you do that?”
Kendor smiled “I am a dragon after all”
Alinson blushed feeling embarrassed tilting her head away “oh, yeah of course, I’m sorry”
Kendor kept his smile as he stood up walking towards her he hugged her tight and said “no need to apologise my dear, if you want I can make you a hot chocolate if you like”
Alinson was confused by his hug but it felt warm and friendly and comforting, he soon let go and left the room, it wasn’t long after he left that she looked around the room, it was big, bigger then her tower room at that, it had everything, a large bed with pillows and blankets, the wardrobes were large and a set of draws and with a large mirror attached, next to the bed was a set of bed side draws and a book shelve filled with different books, attached to the room was another and as she opened it inside was a on suite toilet with a sink, she noticed there may have been a bath once but it was replaced by a series of strange pipes, at this moment she yawned feeling tired and realised she needs to get out of her clothes.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and took of her stockings followed by her dress till she was in her undergarments; her top was a white sleeveless chemise made of silk with frills around her neck line, it was short as it stopped around her thighs, underneath that was a pair of white bloomers that stopped short of her thighs, the room was cool but the fore was warm as she walked over to warm herself up, she could hear the noise of footsteps as Kendor walked in with a steaming cup “here you go my...”
Kendor was standing and staring at Alinson in her underwear, his own cheeks went slightly red as he said “ah well I see that your still getting changed into your night dress do you want me to leave?”
Alinson looked at him and shook her head “no its ok, I am already in my night dress”
Kendor smiled “oh are you now, don’t you find it cold?”
Alinson nodded “yes just a little”
Kendor smiled as he placed the cup on the side draws and walked up to her and hugged her again; Kendor looked down at her “does this help warm you up?”
Alinson could feel his warm body slowly warm her up where as Kendor could feel her chest press softly against his own, his tail was wagging like a dogs would if it was happy but without a word of warning there was a voice at the door and the sound of a cleared throat “do you mind putting the guest down Kendor?”
Alinson jumped and pressed harder against Kendor, he smiled with glee at Nicolas “she was cold so I figured the warmth of a dragon’s body would help keep her warm”
Nicolas couldn’t see Alinson as Kendor was blocking his view “sure but that is why the fire is there and she has blankets”
Kendor sighed as he stepped back, but she didn’t want to let go being scared of Nicolas, but eventually Kendor smiled “don’t worry my dear he won’t touch you as long as I am here”
Alinson looked at Nicolas with some of the light shining on his face but it still made her uneasy until he stepped into the light, she could relax slightly, Nicolas noticed the fear on her face but his stern look was almost gone when he noticed her in her underwear, he felt something strange a feeling that had been long lost and forgotten about, but her beauty stunned him for a mere moment as Alinson looked at him with some worry, he shook his head as he said “will you put a robe on or something your revealing a lot of skin”
Alinson looked at herself over and said “am I, sorry”
Nicolas sighed “yeah well, I still need to finish my invention in here so if you will excuse me”
Kendor smiled “aww I understand but you see our guest needs her sleep and with you banging away in there she won’t get any”
Nicolas looked at Kendor and sighed “ok fine, I’ll wait till she wakes up, you on the other hand are coming with me, and if you think you can leave that study in that mess then you have another thing coming”
Kendor opened his arms with flat palms “what could ever you mean, here I thought you wanted to see out guest, but ok if you say so”
Nicolas seemed surprised by his comment that he didn’t say about staying with our guest for the night, he waited till Kendor walked out of the room and turned around with a smile and said to Alinson “I shall see you tomorrow morning my dear then I can show you around the place properly, good night”
Alinson smiled “good night”
Nicolas remand silent until the door closed and no light was leaking in the hall way, Kendor turned to Nicolas noticing that he had his arms were crossed in a defensive position as he said “so, I leave you two alone and she is in her underwear and you two are hugging by the fire”
Kendor smiled “like I said she was cold and that is what she sleeps in”
Nicolas sighed “look you said about showing her around, just make sure you go no further then the second floor and while you’re up there see if you can’t get Alinson a night dress”
Kendor smiled “ok I will”
“Make sure it’s appropriate I know what your taste is like”
Kendor smiled grew to a grin “oh Nicky boy you know me too well”
Nicolas groaned and tensed “Its Nicolas!”
Alinson was soon warm as she looked around the room in different draws and cupboards, some of them had clothes while others were empty, she sighed as she walked over to the light switch and flicked it off, the only light was coming from the fire, but she thought she saw something in the shadows made by the book case, eventually she sat of the edge of the bed and then inside the covers and covered herself up now feeling all warm and cosy.
But the sight of another moving shadow made her jump and her heartbeat began to race, she found it hard to sleep, but unbeknownst to her that she was being watched by those very shadows, they watched her sleep and now and again would come out of there shadowed home with glowing orange eyes, they came close to her to the point where she could feel them but every time she woke up, they were gone, back to their safe area of being undetected.
She couldn’t sleep a night that and along with Nicolas’s hammering tools didn’t help, she wanted Kendor to be within the room to keep her safe and in company but her eyes dozed off again and once again the shadows would come, what they were or who they were was a mystery and what didn’t help was that she woke up every time.