The Last Dragon: Book Three

CHAPTER FIVE

Damon

Kendra and the Slave-Master had come to an uneasy and unspoken understanding about which of them was the toughest of them. I stayed out of it and decided I liked the image of Damon in the Kaon language. A demon. Of course, I needed to find out more about minor and deceptive demons, but overall, it suited me. My entire life had been a deception hiding my skills of controlling minor acts of magic.

Their debate revolved around which of them was the nastiest, the hardest fighter, and the strongest. Personally, since I had known her my entire life, I gave the edge to my sister, although the Slave-Master seemed to have more practical experience at being crude and mean. It was like watching a pair of warriors after each had finished two full bottles of wine and were trying to convince the other of their prowess with the opposite sex. Some of their tales undoubtedly held kernels of truth, but the trick was in knowing which kernels and how many.

Anna had grown bored with their talking and wandered off with her sister and threw a stick across the open meadow where the slave camp had been set up. Emma chased the stick and tried to match the throws of her older sister, and the stick always fell short. I watched both in fear and anticipation of either of them using magic. Neither did. Not yet.

Kendra settled next to the Slave-Master on the desert floor and asked, “You are from Kaon?”

He snorted with derision, “No, I was born in Frampton, a land to the south of Kondor. Far to the south.”

“How did a nice man like you become a Slave-Master?” she asked. “I’m sure you didn’t wake up one morning as a child and say to yourself, I think I’ll grow up to one-day wreck homes and destroy innocent lives.”

He paused, a slight smile twitching the corners of his lips. Then he spoke, “There was once another Slave-Master. I was his slave. He captured me while I was drunk and in bed with two evil women. They had taken pay to exhaust me and pour wine down my throat until near sunup. He took me prisoner without a fight, and I was destined for the auctions where I anticipated my sale would set new records.” He flexed his biceps.

“You escaped?” she asked, not laughing or even acting like she heard his attempt at humor any more than he’d paid attention to hers.

“No, not escaped. Running away does not suit me. Instead, I killed him during the second night of my captivity. Then I killed each of his three guards without waking the others. I placed my chains around the neck of the metal worker who tended the chains and told him that if he freed me, I would let him live and keep his job. He struck the pins, and I kept my word until forced to kill him a few days later over an incident with an ugly woman and a few tankards of sour ale.”

“The metal worker went with you when you escaped?” Kendra asked.

“Went? Escaped? Hell, we didn’t go anywhere. I had a string of slaves to get to the auction houses of Kaon to sell and profits to be made for my purse. We became partners until he became unreasonable with that woman. I killed her, too, but that’s another story. I don’t wish to make myself sound like a crude man.”

I needed to change the subject or vomit. “Tell me about the government of Kaon.”

He scowled at me for interrupting his stories, then shrugged before answering, “It’s fine. I mean, it’s not like I ever met the king or anything. Just saw him a couple of times.”

“The king?” I asked.

“Yes. I forget his name, but a big guy. Eats like a pig, they say.”

Kendra said, “Ever hear of the Council of Nine?”

“Kondor,” he said instantly and with distaste. He spat to one side. “The men from there are weak, and the slaves sell for minimal. But, there are plenty of them, and they are easy to take. Some even volunteer. It’s better than starving, so it’s easy for me to gather them up.”

“They agree?” Kendra asked before I could.

He said, “Now that you know all that, am I such a bad person?”

“You are,” she said and ignored his crude laughter. “Tell me about Kaon.”

He looked ready to refuse, then abruptly changed his mind. “What do you want to know?”

“I’ve barely heard of it. Where does it lie? To the north is Dire, yet you hint it is up there when I know differently.”

He nodded as he used a stick to draw in the sand. “Maps would help. However, I know of Dire. Not directly, but from maps. Your kingdom backs up to mountains that cannot be crossed.” He drew a rough U-shape in the sand.

“That is Dire, but what of Kaon?” Her voice had grown sharper.

“Traveling across the land on this side of the sea will reach the southern end of the land that borders the sea. That is Kaon. It follows the western coast north, on the other side of those mountains that protect Dire from the likes of us, and our Kaon warriors.”

I pictured it in my mind as well as his drawing. “Do the mountains go all the way to the sea?”

“They do.”

Kendra said, “So, my home is protected from invasion from Kaon, and from slavers like you, even though it is the nearest kingdom to ours. The sea is the only way to reach us. I suppose we should thank the mountains for our security.”

Her smile was almost a snarl, but his was equal. He said, “Yes, you are well protected in your land, cut off from the rest of the world except by a sliver of a seaport.” His smile grew to an evil grin before he continued, “Unless, of course, there is a Waystone or two nearby.”

The mention of a Waystone stilled her as much as if she’d been frozen by a winter storm and spring hadn’t yet thawed her. Then her eye moved to catch mine. I heard Anna complaining that Emma was now throwing the stick farther than her but used magic to do it. I was torn as to who should get my attention.

“What if there is a Waystone?” I asked.

He turned to me. “Then, even if you close off that little port on the river the mages can reach you. They can wink into existence, do their dirty deeds, and wink out again before you know they’ve arrived. Although to be honest, there is usually only one of them at a time. I think Waystones have limitations.”

The Slave Master had accidentally passed us information while being just a little too cute while trying to be clever with my sister. His mention of the Waystones, and his foreknowledge of how that information would strike us was intentional. In his eyes, it was obvious he wished he could reach out into the warm air and snatch the words back.

That’s what happens when you try too hard to impress a pretty girl.

Kendra recovered first. “Waystones? I haven’t heard of them. Explain them.”

“They’re nothing. Just rumors and lies.”

She leaned closer and said, “Tell me.”

He was uncomfortable, and his voice came stilted and awkward as if they scared him. “Big rocks. Mages like them and some people think mages live in them. I know that sounds silly, but I’m just telling you what I hear.”

“Live in rocks?” Kendra asked. “Why would someone do that, even if it is possible? Why not in a beautiful little cabin on a mountain lake instead? That’s what I’d want.”

She had deflected his words back upon themselves and added her personal opinion. I’d watched Elizabeth and her practice that skill for endless sessions. First, they questioned, then added a second question before finishing with a personal anecdote. It assured the flow of more information.

“There are stories where nobody is around, and suddenly a mage is there. It always happens around Waystones.”

“There’s more,” she said simply, while leaning closer in a confidential and personal manner as friends sharing secrets might do. “Please tell me.”

For a large man with a wicked past, bad disposition, and nasty occupation, he wilted before the interrogation skills of my sister. “There’s some who say mages fly like birds. They use their magic for it. They know where they are because the can see the Waystones from way up high.”

I’d heard enough. The Slave-Master was hard as iron, killed ruthlessly and without hesitation, and he was superstitious when it came to mages. He didn’t like talking about them—and he didn’t know the information we wanted. Emma was still throwing the same stick and running after it. Anna sat under the shade of a stunted tree and watched, a scowl on her tiny face. I sat beside her. “What’s wrong?”

“Emma is a cheat.”

“How do you cheat when throwing a stick?”

“She’s doing something to it. When she throws, if you look carefully, you can see it speed up, so it goes farther.”

I fought to remain impassive. Her simple sibling jealousy had revealed three things. First, she had no idea that Emma was using magic to increase the distance. She didn’t understand magic in the least. And it seemed Emma was doing something Anna was incapable of doing. However, the most incredible thing was that Anna now spoke the Common language as well as me, and even a few of the inflections in her words were mine.

Using just my mind and not my lips, I said, *There are things you can do that she cannot.*

*I know. But she says she is a Dragon Tamer like Kendra, and that makes me angry. I want to be one too.*

I gave her a moment to fume, then continued, *Do you realize we are talking without words?*

She flashed me a know-it-all look she must have learned from my sister. “Of course.”

Emma returned, but Anna was pouting and wouldn’t talk to her. Emma looked at me and said, “No?”

“No, what?”

She grinned and held out her stick for me to take. I realized she still couldn’t speak Common, except for the few words we’d managed to teach her, a thousand at best. However, as of now, Anna spoke as well as me.

I threw the stick, and Emma chased after it, giggling and laughing as I raced to get there first. She beat me by a step, but as she reared back to throw it again, I saw the playful gleam in her eyes. As expected, her throw went farther than mine—with a little help of her magic.

I could have slowed her throw but didn’t. We ran to the stick again, but this time I got there first because I wanted to see her reaction when I used my magic. I comically wound up to throw, bringing both girls to tears with my wild arm waving antics, then I threw it into the air. As it sailed high, I touched the stick with my magic and pushed it along until it passed over the tops of the trees at the far end of the clearing and it disappeared into the forest.

While the girls watched the stick, I watched Emma from the corner of my eye. She finally turned to me and tilted her head as if she had learned something but was not sure what it was. I touched Anna’s mind. *How was that?*

*Good.* She smiled with smug satisfaction.

*You can never tell anybody but Kendra of your powers. You also have to make Emma understand that, too. Nobody must know what either of you can do. It could be dangerous if people find out.*

*The Slave-Master?*

*Especially him. Nobody. Ever. It’s very important.*

*Yes, sir.*

I walked back to Kendra and the Slave-Master and heard them deep into another discussion. However, I also heard the rustle of the approach of Kendra’s dragon. It flew lazily, circling back as I watched as if waiting impatiently. I suspected and hoped the Kaon guard and Flier would emerge from the scattering of trees we called a forest.

Kendra stood and caught my attention. She waited until Flier stumbled into the clearing, hesitantly, as if he didn’t believe what was happening. When his eyes found us, he ran in a shuffling gait. Even from a distance, I could see his raw ankles, and the blood seeping down them.

“Are you okay?” I asked, helping him to sit on a boulder.

His reply was in a defeated voice, tinged with hope. “Those ankle shackles are hard on a man.”

The guard came into view, and I walked to where he stood. “You are free to go. With the Slave-Master or without, we don’t care. You kept your word, and we’ll keep ours.”

He turned and walked away without ever looking at the Slave-Master.

I returned to Kendra and said, “Will you let him go now?”

She shook her head, drawing a look of astonishment from the Slave-Master. “Hey, I thought you were honorable.”

“I am,” she said. “But if I allow you to leave now, that guard will die before nightfall.”

The Slave-Master spat in the sand beside himself and snarled, “What difference does it matter to you if he dies by nightfall today or tomorrow. Either day he will not live to see another.”

“Maybe,” Kendra said. “But I gave him my word. Besides, you might step on a sharp rock or twist an ankle or meet with desert savages who will capture and enslave you. I can always hope.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Will we meet again?”

“Let’s hope not,” she said.

“You would make me a wonderful wife.” He winked at her.

“I’d bury you in a week,” she said with a sharp smile.

“It might be worth it.” His sneer told his innermost thoughts, but Kendra ignored him. He shrugged and said, “Well, if I’m going to be chasing that damn guard all night, I’d better catch a nap. Tomorrow, I’ll find my slaves and continue on my way—unless you have other plans.”

I said, “Take your nap. We may not be here when you wake, so feel free to leave.”

He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them and glared at me. “We’re about equal in our game. I thought I’d beat you.”

It didn’t seem to matter if he knew how I did it. I said, “When you have a good hand, you can’t control yourself. Your left eye twitches.”

At first, he looked ready to leap to his feet and crush me, then he slowly relaxed. He said, “Thank you. That information is worth more than I’d have sold you for.” His eyes slowly closed and soon he snored. We watched to see if he was faking. When a little drool ran down his chin, we believed him asleep. At least, I did.

Kendra whispered, “Is he out?”

“I think so,” I said. “Nothing but losing at blocks seems to bother him. Take our things and let’s go.”

“What about Flier’s legs? Can he walk that distance?”

Flier said, “I’ll crawl if it takes me away from him,” Flier jutted his chin at the Slave-Master as if he were spitting out a spoiled fruit.