Elam (11 page)

“Sort of like supply and demand that we talked about the other day.” She told him something like that. “Izic, he’s been with you for a long time then?”

“Yes. Since before I met with your parents.” He nodded, and she wondered if he thought about them like she did. Then she remembered that he’d never met them. “Your mother, she was a goddess in beauty. Her hair was the color of her dragon, a deep hue of blue that would darken to black when she needed it to. A protection of sorts when she was skyward in the evenings. Her eyes, the same color as yours, as a matter of fact, were always full of cheer. And when she was pissed, which wasn’t that often, they could strike a man down with only a look. Your father was a good man. Funny too.”

“Funny? I don’t think I ever heard someone say that about him before.” He leaned back and so did she. “Caroline said he was fair and stern and helpful. He and my mom would go to homes and help with the sick, and had been known to be in a field when there weren’t enough hands around to bring in a crop.”

“I saw your mother once, standing by the lake beyond, fishing. I thought it the oddest thing when I knew all she had to do was to shift and eat as much of the fish as she wanted. The lake would have gladly depleted itself for her.” Ariannona smiled at the memory. “But just as I was turning to leave her at her silliness, I saw the small child standing by the bushes. I knew that his father had died not long before that. Your mother was trying to talk to him, using what his father had done for their food as a way to break the ice. His father was one of her men, one that had died protecting the queen from a robber while out.”

“I wish I had known them. Even for a little while.” Ariannona nodded. “I went to the buildings that you showed Asher this morning. I cannot believe how well they have stood up to time. And to think, all this time, they were right there where we could have found them.”

“The castle would have still been standing today had it not been damaged in the fires. It burned for nearly a month before the smoke stopped curling from it. Some say it was the dragon king laying there, telling them that he lived still, but I knew that he lived no longer. The magic he shared with me, it gave me a connection like none other.” She thought of the body they’d found, still preserved almost as if he’d only just died. “Do you know yet what you are going to do with him?”

The crown hadn’t been on the king’s head, but he’d been near it. The little dragons had not only unearthed the crown for them, but a large part of the dragon beside it. He looked so much like Kiaran that it was as if he was there with them instead of fallen. The dragons who had unearthed him had been bringing all manner of things to the sight, paying homage to their king as if he still lived. Ariannona thought it the saddest sight she’d ever seen, yet beautiful at the same time.

The king’s body had been lying on his belly. His dragon form had kept him shielded from whatever elements might have deteriorated him; the scales, they thought, had acted as a barrier between him and the elements. The wings of the beast were close to his body, and when they had unearthed all of him, digging around him so that nothing was disturbed, it was discovered that his body had crushed a man beneath him. Each of them had surmised that it had been the final blow from the man’s sword that had felled the great king. No one had said a word for a long while, just looking down at the dead king.

“Asher wants us all to put our thoughts into what we would like to do now that we know where both of them are. He said it was up to us, their children. But Kiaran said that it was up to all of us, because without them, none of us would have been born. I think that Asher was touched by that.” Ariannona said that she’d heard he was. “I think I’d like to take him to our mother. Build a tomb for them both to be together after all this time, put it where Mom is now, with the eggs of their children close to them. And a bench too, so that we might go and visit them should we like. I’d also like to use some of the castle stone to make it.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Zak. Leaving them in the cave where you were born, it would be fitting for them, don’t you think?” He nodded but looked away. Tears were there, even now, for the loss of his parents.

She heard Izic when he spoke, telling her that they were nearly there. She stood up when everyone else did, to welcome the human to their party.

The slayer looked befuddled. An old word, of course, but she could think of nothing more fitting than that. The slayer was coming to dinner. And she wondered what he’d think if he found out that nearly half of the people he was breaking bread with were the very thing he hunted. Asher moved to welcome him.

“I don’t think we caught your name the other day.” He told them. “All right, Ralph, I’d like for you to meet my family. I wanted you to see who they were so that you’d have no trouble when it came to mistaking them for a dragon.”

It was a joke, or was meant to be, but when Ralph took Asher’s hand in his, it looked as if Ralph thought it a lifeline and held it tightly in his own two hands. Ariannona watched him, fearful of what he might be about, but she saw the tears then and the fear.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” He looked around the semicircle of people and then stared at her. “You said to me, that first day, you were a witch. Asher told me that he smelled of faerie, and I would assume it was you. I’m being terrorized by a vampire too. I can’t forget that.”

He laughed, sounding maniacal and very stressed. When Asher asked him if he was all right, the man nodded and shook his head at the same time, looking like he wasn’t sure what he was. Which she supposed was about right.

“Come on now. Nothing will harm you here unless you get stupid. You’re not going to do that, are you?” Ralph said that he wasn’t sure he knew anything but how to be stupid. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Ralph. We’re going to help you if you want.”

“Yes. Yes, I think I want that very much. If you could just get me to the main road, I’ll leave you alone. I was dumb for thinking that I could catch me a dragon.” He was nodding and no one said a word as he continued. “I’m so broke now that I couldn’t afford the gas to get far, and in a few weeks, less I guess, the bank is going to come for my house on wheels. I’m not sleeping well, nor eating either. I’m afraid of my own shadow, and I have.... Why did you invite me here again? I thought it was to have me for dinner, but I know that is probably my mind working overtime again. I’ll shut up now.”

They had expected to have to talk to him for hours, to try and convince him to leave them alone. There were plans in the works to get him gone. More scares with the “vampire” that Lindsay and Essie had created for him. But he wanted to leave, was willing to do so now, it seemed.

“How much money would it take for you to go?” Ralph asked Elam what he meant. “Just that. What kind of money do you need? To get you going in the right direction. On a better path than you’re on right now.”

“I don’t know.” He named a price. “I know that sounds like a lot. It is. But I’ve sort of been out of work for a while. You know, pursuing this stupidity. My wife left me. It wasn’t her fault, and I think I knew for some time that it just wasn’t in the cards for her and me. I just need...I think it’s really important that I get out of here. Before the vampire woman comes back and kills me. Or has that guy do it for her.”

Ralph was invited to have a seat. When they were all seated, Ariannona asked Izic to have the other creatures of the land stay back. She had no thought that Ralph would harm them now, but the man was close to losing it and she didn’t want to push him that far. Ariannona felt sorry for the man.

“I’d like to help you if you’ll allow me to. I know this woman friend of mine that is looking for someone to come into her offices and help out. She’s an attorney.” Ralph nodded, his body perking up a little at the mention of some kind of job. “A couple of times over the last few weeks she’s been cornered when she comes from her job. In the parking garage, wherever she goes. This person is trying to get her to give him more than what’s ethical. She has a little girl that…well frankly, she’s afraid that this man will take her and demand that Jamie do as he wants.”

“You mean sex.” Elam said that was some of it, but he wanted her to give him Elam’s address too. “Oh. She works for you. Okay. You want me to sort of go with her, keep her out of trouble.”

“Yes. Do you think you can do that?” Ralph told him that he’d been slightly out of shape of late, but he’d give it a shot. “There will be perks if you take care of her. Her new law firm has a gym you can use. There is an apartment that is up for grabs right now. I can make a few calls and get you something to tide you over until you get paid.”

“I have a lot of unpaid bills. I’m not asking you to pay those, but unless this place is free or pretty close to it, I’m not going to be able to afford it.” Elam said he’d make a few calls. And when he walked away, Ralph looked at Ariannona. “You’re really a witch?”

“I am. Would you like for me to turn you into a frog?” She’d been joking, but he took her at her word and nearly leapt away from her. “I can’t do that, Ralph. I was trying to make you laugh.”

“Yeah, okay, but don’t. I mean, even if you can, please don’t. I’ve had a really stressful few weeks, and I don’t think I can take much in the way of jokes. Sorry.”

Elbert called them to dinner, and they made their way to the large picnic tables under the big oak.

There were pitchers of tea and water, big bowls of all the food the men had grown up on, and even a few that were favorites of Elbert’s. Plates filled when things were passed around, drinks were served, and even a few cookies made their way onto the plates. Ariannona watched poor Ralph as he took what was offered to him but ate little. And when Elam returned, Ralph was told that it was set up and he’d talk to him later.

Chapter 10

Ralph watched the men helping him turn his camper around. He didn’t want to hurt any of the trees around him, but he also felt an urgency to leave like he’d never felt before. Now, his head kept telling him; leave right fucking now.

Last night, after leaving the family, he’d made his way to his home. He had a job, money in his pocket to get back to the real life, and a place to stay once he got there. Taking the money out of the thick envelope, he’d laid it out on his table and counted it three times before he stuffed it back in its home. Then he began thinking of the things he could buy with the money.

A better scope for his rifle. A few more shells for his gun. Things that he was running low on…his food, as well as all the other things a hunter like him needed. The longer he sat there, the more things he thought of getting to hunt for the dragons. Because he needed to kill one, he thought. Money like he had now would be nothing compared to what he’d have. Fame and riches were what he wanted most out of life.

Almost as soon as he thought of the dragon he was going to kill, the camper rocked.

“Darling, are you home?”

The vampire. Then the thug shouted that he wanted to come in and suck him off. The woman screamed that she needed to have him fuck her. On and on they went, each of them telling him what they were going to do for him and to him.

They pounded on the doors, the windows. He even thought at one point that they were under his camper, lifting it from the ground with only their hands and feet. Thug had jumped on the roof, caving it in a few times, but luckily it bounced back when he got down off it. Ralph hadn’t even gone for his gun, he’d been so afraid that they’d come in and use it on him while he sat there.

Crawling under his table, he put his fingers in his ears so deep he felt the pain of it. But still he heard them, every noise they made, all the things that they did to his camper. His cock hurt, his balls felt like someone had put them in a vise. He wanted to cry. He even did at one point, begging them to go away and to leave him alone.

All night. All through the night they terrorized him. Screaming at him to let them in, begging him to come out and play with them. He knew that they had sex too, right there under the window where he was hiding. Their screams of pleasure only made him sick to his belly, so much that he wanted to puke his guts up and just roll over and die.

And when morning came, their sounds cut off abruptly like someone had turned off a switch and they were silenced. As he stayed where he was, not even venturing out to get a cup of coffee or to go to the bathroom, he knew that as soon as he could, he was leaving there, never to return. Things had gone from scary to really fucked up, and he wanted out.

By the time that Asher and Elam had shown up, he had the camper travel-ready. The sides were in; the canopy was rolled up. He’d even dumped the last of his lake water on the fire pit that he’d not used in several days to make sure that there was nothing to harm where he was. And when Asher asked him if he was all right, he told him what he’d heard this morning.

“They were moaning. The trees were. And I heard the grass...I know you have no reason to believe me, but I swear to you, I heard the grass begging me to leave the place better than I found it, to make sure that I cleaned up every scrap of paper when I got ready to leave.” He saw the look pass between the two men and found he really didn’t care if they thought him nuts. He knew what he’d heard, and it was the forest telling him it was time to get the fuck out of there. “I’m not telling you a lie. I swear it.”

“I believe you.”

He didn’t, but that was okay. It was his plan not to see any of these men ever again. Not that he had any sort of grudge against them, he just wanted away. Gone forever. And not below the ground as in dead, but away as far as he could go.

When he had the camper turned around, he got out, feeling a little better now that he was on his way. Shaking both the men’s hands and then taking the address from Elam where he was going to work for a while, he nodded to them again. He felt there had to be something said, tell them how sorry he’d been about whatever it was he’d shot.

“I guess when I thought about coming here, it was sort of on a lark. I mean in general, not to this place here. I had been chasing these clues, or what I thought were clues, for so long I think I convinced myself that there really were dragons about, and that I was really going to be able to kill one.” He laughed a little. “One of them...one that I thought I shot at, he was a big sucker, almost twice the size of my camper when it’s all spread out. Now that I think on it, I’m pretty sure that someone would have noticed something that big flying around, don’t you? And why on earth did I even imagine that my little guns could bring something like that down? Even thinking that putting iron in the shells was going to make some sort of difference. I was a fool.”

Neither man spoke, for which he found himself grateful. If they made fun of him now, he didn’t know what he’d do. Getting into the big camper, he waved at them and made his way out the way they’d told him to go. Ralph considered himself lucky that he’d gotten more out of this game than he should have. And he was going to make a good start over too.

~~~

“Mistress? I need a word please?” Elam heard the little man but knew that Ariannona was sleeping, and since he knew for a fact that he and Casdon had worn her out last night, he pulled himself from her arms and went to the door as he fabricated clothing for himself. By the time he was opening the door, he was fully dressed and ready to help out. If Izic was surprised to see him, he didn’t say anything.

“What can I help you with? I mean, I can help you, right?” He looked at the stairs and then back at him as he stood on the little table in the hall. “I can go and get her if you’d like to talk to her. But she didn’t get much sleep last night, and I’d like to let her rest a little longer.”

Elam moved down the hall to the stairs and kept his questions to himself. He really liked the little man. Even respected him a great deal. And he knew that Ariannona depended on him too. As soon as Izic was seated on the table, Elam waited for him to speak.

“Yes. I understand that she needs her rest. Mistress has not been sleeping well since before coming here.” Elam said nothing but asked the brownie if he’d like a cookie. “Oh yes, I would love the kind that have the pretty fruits in them. Master Elbert, he has a fine hand at baking.”

“He does at that.” After getting the cookie out of the jar, he broke it up into smaller pieces and put it on a plate. He thought about getting Izic his own service set, and decided to talk to Gobi the next time he was in town to see about ordering one for him. He also noticed that the man kept pulling at his collar, as if he weren’t used to a tie. “What is it that has you up and about so early?”

“My mistress asked me to find some of the other workers to help with the empty buildings that served as the staff work houses. Many have volunteered, sir. It was a great pleasure for them to help with his project. Why, even the littlest ones were—” Elam cleared his throat. One thing he’d learned about the little brownie was that he could get down more streets than there were in a big city to get to the point sometimes. “Yes, the buildings. They’re being used, sir.”

“Used? I don’t know what you mean. Someone lives in them?” He nodded, then shook his head. “You’ll have to be more clear on that, Izic. Are there beings living in the buildings or not?”

“The herb room, or drying room as some call it, has an abundance of dried things in it that I think will be a nice addition to the gardens. The bakery, it’s going to need some care, but some of it has been started. That’s what is living in the building.” Elam sipped his tea and tried to decipher what he was saying. “There is a dragon, sir, living in one of the outer buildings, and he is doing some repairs to them. Not all, just the ones with the most damage.”

“Have you talked to this dragon?” Izic explained that he was only a lowly brownie and had no way of speaking to dragons. “You’re not lowly anything, and I would hope you know how valuable you are to this family.”

“Thank you, my lord. You have no idea what that means to me.” Elam asked him about the dragon again. “He is old. Nearly as old as myself and the mistress. But he is unwell. Not healthy like the rest of them.”

“Them?” Izic nodded and said he was getting to that. “I need for you to get to the
them
part a little sooner please. How many besides the old dragon are living in the outbuildings?”

“Ten. If you count the smaller ones.” Elam said that a dragon was a dragon no matter the size. “Yes, I suppose they are. One time when the mistress and I were going along our own way, we came upon a group of dragons that had been tossed from their homes. The smallest ones, we discovered, had such a chip on their shoulders. You would have thought that the mistress or I had kicked them to the curb.”

Elam nodded, thinking about the ten dragons living so close. He wondered how they had missed that. Or for that matter, why they’d not come out of the buildings before now.

“How long do you suppose they’ve been there? I mean, you said little. Do you mean young or just small?”

Izic seemed to think on it and shook his head. “I know not, sir. I do know that there are no young ones, hatchlings as it were. They have been without their mates for a good long time, I think. But I think the bigger of them, the one doing the repairs, he is the oldest of them, as I said.” Elam got up and cleaned up the crumbs and put his cup in the sink. “We are going now?”

“Yes. I’m going to contact Casdon and tell him—” He looked at the stairs when Casdon said they were there. “Good. We’re going on an adventure. One that I hope will end well.”

“End well? Oh my, that sounds like...Izic, what’s happened to you?” The brownie said nothing but moved back when Ariannona moved to him. “Yes, there is.... Oh my goodness. You found her? You found her at long last?”

Elam started to ask who, but got it just as Casdon did. Izic had a mate, if the smile on his face was any indication. And Izic was cleaned up and pressed, as Elam’s dad called being presentable. The man nearly glowed with his love, and Elam knew just how he felt. After telling him congratulations and telling his brother what they were going to do, the four of them met Asher and Kiaran in the yard.

“You think we’ll be enough? There might be trouble. You never know.” Elam wanted to point out that Asher was the king of dragons, but Ariannona beat him to it. And she was a good deal less nice about it than he might have been. Maybe.

“You mean the big bad Asher thinks he can’t handle this? By all means, go back to bed and let your underlings take care of it.” He growled at her and Ariannona laughed. “They’re dragons…I’m pretty sure that they’ll be all right. And if not, you can order them to bow before you, and then you can remove their heads. You’re a dork.”

Elam wasn’t so sure about them being all right with this. The dragons could have at any time come from where they were to see them working on the castle. He’d not been down in the other area when they were working, but he thought that they might be able to hear the rocks and such being carried and moved.

As they made their way to the place Izic had told him about, Elam spoke to Casdon, just to be on the safe side.

If something happens, take her away.
He said that he would.
No matter what happens to me, you take her away. All right?

She’ll be pissed. Not that I don’t like making her pissy for make-up sex, but I don’t think this will get her in a good mood.
Elam said he didn’t care so long as she was safe.
I agree.

The buildings looked just as they had left them, one of them crumbled and in need of repair or replacement. A great deal of the brush had been cleaned away…the other creatures helping them had done a good job. But in noticing the clean-up job, he noticed the building that Ariannona had pointed out to be the drying room. A lot of repair had been done to it.

Rocks had been moved, and the roof no longer sagged as badly as it had seemed to before. The front door and the shutters along two of the windows had been removed and were in a neat pile, along with some of the things that had more than likely been in the building; a table, some pottery, as well as a couple of things Elam had no idea what they might have been used for.

“Someone has been busy.” Elam agreed with Asher. “Look around at the rest, too. Most of the stones are moved from those buildings. And it looks like one of the other buildings has been started on as well.”

They moved down the hillside, careful of where they stepped. They could see glass and sharp stones here now that the forest was being cleared out, more than likely falling from the trees from when they’d moved the stones from the castle.

Asher called out to the house and they all waited for someone to call back to them. Elam looked around. It was like he was seeing things for the first time here. He’d been back, once to learn the code to the castle wall and another time just to make sure that he had the code right in his head. But he’d not been here since the clean-up had begun, not on this scale anyway. The buildings, nine in all, were in neat rows, all of them facing the woods beyond. But when he saw a glimmer of something, he tried to think where they were and realized it was a finger of the lake.

“My lord, Anthony?”

Everyone looked at the dragon that came from the building in front of them. He was dressed in armor, his face covered by a heavy hood, and he wore a chest plate, decorated in the crest that they’d found on some of the items in the castle. Golds were tarnished, the silver of it also faded from no one cleaning it, but it wasn’t hard to see it was the crest that had been the king’s. The dragon came fully out of the building and stared at Kiaran.