Even from a great distance, I can still see the telltale glow on the horizon. The Fairest City -my city- has become the scar on the face of the Earth.
***
The gate of Three Pines Village was rather large and imposing. Laidu hacked through the dense brambles with the sword. The thorns wouldn't pierce the scales on his bare chest. Kyra, however, struggled as she moved forward, the cloth now stained with mud and sap.
"Halt!" a voice shouted from the top of the gate. Laidu and Kyra stopped. "Who are you?" the voice asked.
"A King's Ranger and a traveler," Laidu shouted back.
"I didn't know the King's Ranger Service employed halfs!" the voice shouted back. Laidu frowned. 'Half' was a derogatory term for the Changed, implying that they were half a person. Of course, in this backwoods area it was a common term.
"I'd like to see you come down here and tell me that to my face," Laidu said. He heard a laugh.
"What about your friend?" the guard asked. "Let me hear her speak!"
Kyra sighed. "Why?" she asked.
"To prove yourself you're not a revenant!" the man said. "But you can reason. And talk. That's good enough." He said something to his friend, and the two colossal wood doors opened a crack. "Get in!" he said. Laidu and Kyra slipped in, and they closed behind them.
The village was built around a large field, full of grain. Laidu and Kyra looked around at the tall wooden buildings. Hopefully, one of them had a room available, and a bed for Kyra. He just wanted to be under a roof.
"Hey!" they heard the guard say. "Hold up!" He ran down the stairs. "My name's Kerras."
"Laidu," Laidu said, offering a claw, and making sure it wasn't hot. He had done that once or twice. It hadn't been fun for him or the person who got their hand burned. Kerras took it gingerly, and then when he realized it wouldn't hurt him, shook it more vigorously.
"I'm Kyra," Kyra said. She shook Kerras' hand as well, though with less vigor
Kerras thought for a moment. "In all honesty, you two look like you just got spit out of that forest."
"More or less," Kyra said. Laidu just nodded.
"Well, Miss Anna's making a mighty fine pie for us all at the inn, Stop by, why don't you?" Kerras said. "Now, I have to go watch out for any revenants."
Kyra nodded silently. "Where's the inn?" Laidu asked.
Kerras pointed to a large building on the other side of the field. "Three Pines' pride and joy," he said proudly and joyfully. "Now, I have to go watch the wall, and keep the boys from pissing over the edge."
Laidu nodded. "Stay safe."
Kerras nodded, then paused. "Tell me, are you actually the Fever Blood Ranger?" he asked.
Laidu picked up a fallen twig, held it in his palm, and heated it up until the twig crackled and popped with fire. Kerras stared at it, eyes wide. "I guess so," he said. Then, he returned to the wall, bellowing curses at two boys who looked like the image of boredom.
"I hope they have food," Kyra said. She idly rubbed her stomach
"It's an inn," Laidu reasoned. "They have to have food."
As they walked. Laidu studied the girl he had rescued. She was tall enough, and pretty enough that he could guess why she had been abducted. The Ajandi nation valued youth, and foreign wives were a commodity they would pay good money for. Even illegally.
She had a purpose to her walking, and was tall. She almost came up to Laidu's chin. That woudn't seem like much, but the dragon blood inside Laidu, the blood that gave him strength, gave him height. She was a young woman who was used to being seen, who was used to being heard.
She was beautiful, too. Her eyes, her high cheekbones, they gave her an air of grace that was rare to find in people. Even with dirt smudged on her face, clutching rags to her thin frame, she had the aura of a queen.
Laidu strode onward, to the large wooden building. His short nose, closer to a flat snout, sniffed. "Smell's good," Laidu said. The last piece of food he had eaten was some salted meat. Hardly appetizing.
Kyra nodded. "I can't remember the last time I had a meal," she said. "Or a bath. I'd kill for a bath." Laidu smiled. He wouldn't mind a good hot bath.
They opened the door, and entered the scene which Laidu had too much experience. The room wasn't dim, per se, but it wasn't well lit. A cheerful-looking woman was wiping the bar, and a few men sat in silence around the tables.
Two groups stood out to Laidu. One was a bunch of gray-haired men, with the hard, cold eyes one gets from facing blood and war. The veterans, who either remained aloof and mysterious, or inspired the boys of the villages with tales of glory and valor.
The other group sat in the back, and was one of the oddest couple of people he had seen. Two woman and one man sat, silent. One of them, with dark hair wrapped in braided coils, sat sharpening her knives. She wore light leather armor, and her eyes scanned the room. A mercenary. Their eyes met, and he saw the hardness in them. The fight, the fire. She was by no means a novice. She was deadly. Most mercenaries could handle a bow or a sword, and were mere sellswords. Few were like this woman. Few had that coldness in their eyes. Her dark eyes were cold, alright. Cold as the barren rocks of winter.
On the other side, the man shifted. Now, in the light, Laidu could see he wasn't a man. He was Kai'Draen. With a square, brutish jaw and a flat face,he looked kind of human, if you got past the reddish brown skin. His hair was shaved at the sides, and the top of it fell back in a black braid that swung down to his knees. He didn't wear any armor, just a shirt. His large muscles bulged in the dim light, and Laidu caught something odd, marring the smoothness of the skin. Scars. Lots of them, and they weren't from battle. A battle wound didn't make a perfect circle on one's skin. They were self-inflicted. He matched the female warrior, complimented her, the brute strength to her hardness.
The third had an altogether different appearance. Her hair wasn't braided, like the woman, or shaved, like the Kai'Draen, but it was kept back in a headscarf, tied in a fashion Laidu had only seen in the cities. They were designed to keep hair back, out of the face, but a lock of it hung by her eye. She was a scholar. With her shapely dress and her large pack, it must be her first time out of her little university. She scribbled in the book.
"Hello," the woman behind the bar said. "You're new," she said.
Laidu nodded. "Can we get two rooms, ma'am?" he asked, pulling out his coinpouch.
"Sure," she said, leaning down to grab two keys. "For a ranger like you, and your charge," she said, indicating Kyra, "Ten gold."
Laidu dropped the coins on the table. "Is that alright?" he asked.
She gave him a nice smile. "First two doors on your right," she said, handing him the keys. "And, they have new bathtubs. Magic ones," She said proudly. Thaumaturgy. She probably meant thaumaturgic baths. Which, fortunately, were much more common.
Laidu really liked the sound of that.
***
Laidu soaked in the bath, relaxing his sore muscles. It had been a while, but he missed a long, gentle soak. The fire within him heated the water, and it soaked into his body. It felt good. Really good.
On the other side of the tub, between his taloned feet., water poured out of nowhere, coalescing and falling from a space two inches in front of the thaumaturgic plate. It was warmed and purified by the plate, and it felt nice. Really nice.
"Um, excuse me?" someone asked from the other room. Laidu looked up at a beautiful woman staring at him. While he wasn't wearing anything, bathing. How did she get in here?
"Hey!" Laidu shouted. "Get out!" The woman dashed out of the room. "Let a man get dressed, at least!" he complained. He hopped out of the bath, grabbed a towel, and dried himself off. Now dry and more than a bit angry, he slipped on his fireproof trousers, grumbling while he did so, and opened the door. "Yes?"
"Oh, sorry!" the woman said. "My name is Indra." She smiled. "I'm a student at Saefel Caeld's finest University." She brushed some of her black hair out of the way. With her heart-shaped face and inquisitive eyes, she stared him down. It was.... actually kind of intimidating. Her headscarf was off, now, around her shoulder. So he was right about her.
"And?" Laidu asked. He sat on his bed, slipping his boots on his scaled, clawed feet.
"I've been looking for the girl." Indra lifted a journal. "I'm convinced she's a thaumaturgic savant," she said. "I had to team up with two beastly mercenaries to get here, and I really need to meet her. To do some tests."
"No." Laidu glared. "You are not doing tests on her," he said, his voice as unyielding as iron. "Do you have any idea what she's been through?" he asked.
"Science can't wait," Indra insisted. "She's a marvel, if I'm correct. She needs to be studied, for the good of humanity."
"No," Laidu said, resolute. "Not happening." He glared at Indra. "Now get out." He pointed a finger at her. "Or else I'm—OW!" he shouted. Indra had grabbed his forearm and yanked, pulling out a scale.
"Fascinating," she said. She ignored the blood on the top. "Do you know it's chemical composition?" she asked.
"Chemical compo -what?" Laidu asked. "Are you insane?"
"I highly doubt it. But I've too much respect for myself and the scientific method to rule out that possibility," Indra said. Laidu sighed. It was official. She was crazy.
Kill her! something in his head said. Laidu frowned. Where did that come from? "Anyway, get out!" Laidu said.
Indra stopped and studied him. "I've heard of you." She smiled. "The Fever Blood Ranger is a favorite of the storytellers, with his quick wit and dragon blood."
"Good. You know what I do." The fact that Laidu had stories about it wasn't surprising. Rangers were the mythical forces of Alberion's army. They were said to become invisible with the help of dark magics in the forest, to be light as the wind, to be invincible. Then again, the stories did have truth. their training involved both nighttime excursions in the forest and training at being undetected. They were trained to be able to climb anything, and had been disciplined to fight off multiple attackers.
"Yes, but I don't know your age." Indra studied him. "I'll have to do a few tests, but I'm fairly certain I could figure it out."
"Really?" Laidu always wanted to know his age.
"It would only be approximate, but within a year or two." Indra looked at him. "Take off your boots."
Laidu frowned, but he did as she said. "Sit on the bed," she ordered. Laidu sunk down. Indra grasped his foot, and then jabbed her finger into one of the few scale-less sections on his inner thigh.
"Ow!" Laidu said. "What was that for?"
"Male dragons have an odd muscle twitch when their superior major leg nerve is pressed. It causes their feet to spasm. But, it goes away after they've sexually matured. You're older then seventeen, at least." Indra looked at his face. Studying it. "Your facial structure lacks plate horn, besides the crest between your eyes. You're no older than twenty five." She looked at him. "Hold still.
Then, she began to... massage his chest. "What are you doing?" Laidu asked. It felt...nice. Creepy, but nice. She was working on his pectorals, but stopped and began to probe each individual abdominal muscle.
"You're strong. In your prime," Indra noticed, not a single hint of lust in her voice. She was just focused on the facts. Then, she sat next to him and began to jab his back. Much less erotic, much more painful. "I'd say you're no older than twenty three, due to the lack of anterior chest nervous twitching like we see in dragons. But you're older than nineteen. You have the posterior nerves for that."
"Am I interrupting something?" Kyra asked from his doorway. Her hair was wet, and she was wearing borrowed clothes that the innkeeper had charitably given her. They fit well on her. "Sorry. Just finished my bath."
"Ah!" Indra exclaimed. "You're just the person I wanted to see!" she said, rushing to Kyra.
"Um...why?" Kyra asked.
"I heard about your gift!" Indra said. "Now, I'd like to have you answer a few questions, maybe a few tests or experiments."
"I don't like the sound of that," Kyra said.
Laidu stood up. "That's enough," he said. "Get out!" he ordered Indra. "Or I will make you get out."
Indra moved to leave. "And by the way, the gatekeeper...Kerras, I think his name was, well, he asked for you. Said there was some issue. He's downstairs." With that, she vanished.
Laidu sighed. The work of a ranger was never finished. "Stay here," Laidu told Kyra. "If he wants me, something bad is about to happen," he said.
Kyra nodded. "Alright." She nodded. "I'll ask around about getting something better than these rags," she said, gesturing at her grimy, torn dress.
Laidu thought for a moment, then nodded, eyes distant. "Just stay clear," he warned. "If I'm needed, it will probably get messy."
He grabbed his cloak, and headed downstairs. Immediately, he felt it. The air was taut with fear. Indra sat, next to the two mercenaries, scribbling in her book. Laidu saw Kerras sitting at a table.
He sat down across from Kerras. "You asked for me?" Laidu asked. "Though the messenger was a bit...intrusive."
Kerras nodded. "Sorry to trouble you," he said, "but well, we've been having bandit trouble. They've overrun the guards before, and had threatened to slaughter us if we don't agree to them." He thought for a moment. "I figured, if we had a ranger on our side," he reasoned, "we could scare 'em. And even if that didn't work, I've heard the stories about you. We could take 'em." Laidu gulped. He was a minor celebrity, yes, and he did have some fighting prowess. But stories were often exaggerated.
The other two mercenaries, meanwhile, had made their way over to the table. "Bandit trouble?" the woman asked. "We could help." The Kai'Draen shifted his brutish muscles, silent. His legs bulged from under a set of trousers seemingly too small for him. The woman was slender, but no less deadly. He was like a club. She was like a fine blade.
"Much obliged," Kerras said, but Laidu stopped him.
"Not the Kai'Draen," Laidu said.
The brutish figure paused, and looked at him. "You deny me battle?" he asked in a deep, threatening voice, and Laidu could see him uncoiling, preparing for battle. Kai'Draen didn't wear armor; they believed it was cowardly. They also rejected shirts, for that same reason, which was why it was surprising he was wearing one. He wore a large loincloth over his trousers, and some sturdy boots, but, besides that and the pants, wore no armor.
"I want to avoid battle," Laidu said. "If I show up with the guard, or even with the lady, they'll be much more willing to negotiate." He gestured to the Kai'Draen. "Your presence would almost certainly cause them to attack. It would be better you wait on the inside and keep the village itself safe."
The Kai'Draen paused. "Fair enough," he said in his baritone gravelly voice. "Skaria, you can handle yourself?" he asked.
The woman -Skaria- nodded. "Of course, Karik'ar," she said. They were friendly to each other, which was good. "Just, don't attack anything. We wouldn't like to frighten the people, would we?"
"I'll only smash bandit heads in if they get past you," Karik'ar said. He laughed. "Very well, I'll follow you to the gate, but not past. I'll make sure no one gets hurt."
Laidu somehow doubted that. He saw Kyra walk down the stairs. "Excuse me, Kyra," he said. "Can you hold this?" he asked, giving her his cloak. "And this?" handing her his sword, and finally, his boots. "It's good leather, so be careful." He only wore his pants. He also, more importantly, wore nothing flammable. He didn't want to destroy the sword or the leather.
He was about to get really hot.