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The rest of the dragons rushed into ballroom, Derrick and Darren were the last ones in the Dining hall
“Must we really do this? I meant no offense, and no one else probably even heard us.”
“You started this Derrick, I wont risk being seen as weak. Now choose the contest, traditional twin blades? Axes? Maces?”
“I had something else in mind” the projection suddenly cut to the ballroom
“Um Burtrum?” Miranda asked as she tried in vain to get the projection to go back “Why can’t I see into the Dinning hall?”
“The master and Darren are changing into their combat attire, I thought it would be best to block that channel before you saw something that would offend your sensibilities”
“Um, thanks, Do things like this happen often?”
“Yes unfortunately, there’s usually one or two challenges of honor at every gathering.”
“I guess that explains why Derrick was so intent on training over the last few weeks”
“Indeed, and had it not been for you Master Derrick would be in no condition for this battle.”
Miranda thought back to the argument she and Derrick had “I’m still having a hard time believing that he actually took my advice.” She looked over the rest of the crowd, they had formed a large circle in the middle of the ballroom, some of them were climbing on top of each other to get a better view of the circle; Miranda noticed the two female dragons that had accompanied Darren in the middle of the crowd, they looked confused and judging by the way they were clinging to each other a little scared by the other dragons
“I guess they must have been commoners, or whatever the dragon equivalent of a commoner is before Darren invited them here as his, guests” Miranda thought, reflecting on her own possible future “being shoved into such a different situation must be terrifying enough on its own, and now they don’t have Darren to protect them, I’m not going to let that happen to me”
The two nearly jumped out of their scales when another dragon put its hand on one of their shoulders, luckily it was just Serena, she and Charles guided the two towards the front of the ring, just as they reached it the doors to the kitchen flung open, the room fell silent, Derrick and Darren both walked out without shirts on and wearing the same black baggy pants Derrick was when he was training, this was the first time Miranda had seen Derrick without a shirt, her eyes traced the lighter belly scales from his lower jaw to the hem of his pants without thinking about it before abruptly looking away as though she had just committed an offense. As they walked down the staircases the crowd parted to let them through, some of the dragons rushed back up the stairs to get a better view of the ring, Darren was practically beaming with excitement while Derrick maintained his usual calm demeanor.
The two were standing back to back in the center of the ring Darren winked at his guests that were watching intently from the edge of the crowd “I’ve got two lovely ladies, the passion of the crowd and my honor to fight for” Darren said smugly “What have you got?”
Miranda watched as Derrick looked down and then seemed to look right at her through the crystal for a second before he quickly looked away “I have my honor to fight for” he and Darren began walking away from each other, they stopped at the edge of the ring a turned to face one another
“Sir Darren has challenged Master Derrick on the grounds of insulted honor” Burtrum boomed loudly from the crystal at the top of the room “Master Derrick has accepted and his chosen battle is claw to claw”
“I have to admit” Dearen boasted after getting a kiss from both of his guests “when you chose an unarmed battle I was quite surprised”
“I would rather not run the chance of being impaled over such a trivial matter” Derrick responded. A scaly hand rested its self on Derrick’s shoulder, it was Drustin
“Don’t be too hard on him”
“If I hold back he’ll only be insulted further”
“And if you end it to quickly he'll be even more insulted”
“Good point” Derrick said “I’ll make it look good, give him a taste at first but if he doesn’t back off after that I’ll have to bring him down, ”
“Are the challengers ready?” Burtrum asked, both Derrick and Darren nodded “Then Begin!”
The two rushed at each other, Darren opened his left hand and brought it around to slash at Derricks face, Derrick ducked and planted his left fist and wing in Darren’s stomach pushing him back, Derrick charged forward and tried to land a left hook but Darren recovered in time to bring up his guard and catch the incoming fist, Darren used this opportunity to deliver two quick jabs to Derricks face, as he was throwing the third Derrick delivered a quick blow to Darren’s shoulder and side with his right fist and wing, this stunned Darren long enough for Derrick to grab his head and yank it down into his knee, Darren stumbled back and glared at Derrick who was keeping his guard tight
The two stared at each other, both daring the other to make a move.
Darren rushed forward again with both claws open, he swiped both of his hands at derricks stomach this time but instead of crouching down to avoid it Derrick took a step back letting the claws pass in front of his face and using the opening to throw a strong right into Darren’s snout and stomach, he recovered quicker this time and brought his right fist into an uppercut that caught the end of Derricks jaw fallowed by a kick to the stomach that sent Derrick back about half a step
“I wonder why Darren isn’t using his wings to attack like Derrick does” Miranda thought as Darren ran forward to deliver another slash.
Derrick managed to catch himself and duck it just in time, this time Derrick hit Darren’s stomach with both sets of fists and wings, more pushing him then punching, sending Darren flying to the edge of the circle, Derrick ran forward and spread his wings out, Flapping them down as he jumped, giving him a small boost on top of his already impressive leap, Darren recovered just in time to see Derricks foot coming down right into face, pushing Darren’s face to the ground, hard.
Derrick quickly backed up from his downed opponent but Darren didn’t get back up, Derrick waited for a couple of seconds before Burtrum chimed in “The challenger Darren is unconscious. Master Derrick is the winner”
The crowd was silent for a second before they burst into cheers and rushed him, shaking his hand, slapping him on the back and congratulating him on his victory, Derrick tolerated this for a few seconds before he pushed the crowds aside and made his way over to where Darren was laying, Darren’s guests were kneeling next to him trying to pick him up as Derrick approached, they both flinched as Derrick drew near until he put his hand up “Don’t worry, I think my Dear Cousin has had enough for this evening, would you mind if I helped?”
The two moved to the side as Derrick slid Darren’s arm over his shoulder and picked him up
“Please, enjoy the rest of the food and festivities” Derrick said as he and the twins began to walk towards the lift room door “I’ll be back as soon as he’s taken care of.”
After Derrick returned from their room the Ball proceeded as it had been with Derrick moving from group to group and talking, the only difference was that now many of the young female Dragons, and some of the older ones, were fallowing him around and hanging off his every word
“Fight’s must be a big turn on for dragons” Miranda thought “I guess it was sort of impressive”
When the crystals began getting close to purple dragons began leaving, one after another they would bid farewell to Derrick and proceed to the lift, soon enough the cave was empty except for Derrick, Serena and Charles.
“So?” Serena and Charles asked in unison as the three of them entered the lift room.
“So what?” Derrick responded
“Did you ask any of the young ladies to, stay the night?” Serena asked
“No”
“Why not!?!” they both shouted
“As a Happily married Dragon let me give you this advice” Charles said “You’re never going to find your mate if you don’t fly the skies a bit, and a gathering where dozens of young women are throwing themselves at you is the perfect place to do so.”
“Maybe, but I would like to, fly the skies, with someone who’s interested in me and not my horde or the fact that I can knock Darren's fire out.”
“That’s true” Serena said “But you’ll never get to know any of them if you don’t, get to know them, you don't even have to ask them to stay you could just ask to exchange letters with them.”
Derrick put his hand over his eyes and sighed “Oh look there’s the door” he said happily as the lift slowed down “I guess we’ll have to continue this conversation later”
The trio walked out to the platform as Charles reached under his shirt and pulled out a small stone cylinder with a large hole in the side and a few smaller ones on top, he blew in the large hole but no noise came out, a few seconds later she heard a roar and their wyvren landed on the platform
“So were the accommodations better this time?” Charles asked
The wyvren shook its head up and down and lowered its self for the two to get on
They both hugged Derrick “Don’t feel like we’re pressuring you to do something you don’t want to” Serena said as Charles helped her into the saddle “but a horde is even better if you have someone to share it with”
“Thank you” Derrick said sincerely “I’ll see you soon” and with that the two were off.
A few minutes later the lift doors opened again and Darren, Sheila and Kayla walked out
“Awake at last” Derrick said with the faintest hint of satisfaction in his voice
“Yeah yeah, You’re just lucky I let you win”
“I’m sure I am, and I truly am sorry for offending you”
“It’s cool, it’s in the past now”
“That it is, there’s actually something I’d like to talk to you about before you leave, in private”
“O.k. Ladies, if you could go wait by the door for a second” the twins walked over to the door as Derrick and Darren moved to the end of the platform
“It’s about your wyvren”
“I already told you that the breeder lied to me about his speed”
“It’s not that, judging from its build that wyvren could be every bit as fast as the breeder said”
“Really? So why isn’t it”
“Call him down and I’ll show you”
Darren pulled out a piece of stone that was similar to the one Charles had and blew in it and just like last time she heard a roar a few seconds later fallowed by the wyvren landing on the platform, now looking much happier than before.
“He looks like he’s in much better shape than when we got here, what kind of spell did you use on him?” Darren asked
“I didn’t use a spell, I just gave him a proper meal, some water and a soft place to rest, something I believe you neglected to do before you left”
“Oh” Darren responded quietly “I thought the old man”
“You can’t think” Derrick said cutting Darren off “you have to know, this wyvren isn’t some trophy or some toy, It’s a living, breathing, feeling creature, just like you and me, it depends on you Darren and neglecting him will lead to more than a coat of dust he could die, or at very least get a disease that will keep him from being able to fly; if he hasn't already”
“Wha….What do you mean” Darren said, sounding very worried
“See these patches of missing scales?” Derrick asked gesturing toward the wyvren “They are the beginning signs of a serious scale rash. Some combination of malnutrition and the stress of being pushed too hard have caused a rash to develop under the scales. The wyvren usually chews at these spots to alleviate the itch but when they do they chew of the scales too, normally this would get rid of the problem but if a wyvren is ridden before these scales grow back the wind will cause an even worse rash”
“I, I didn’t know”
“It’s o.k. luckily I stocked up on a salve that keeps the rash from getting any worse; I rubbed it into the problem areas and loaded a few barrels of it into his saddle bags. You, not one of your servants, will have to wash off the areas without scales and then rub the salve over the areas about once a day.”
“For how long?”
“He should be fully healed by the time you run out of the salve” Derrick answered “And to keep it from coming back you’ll just have to make sure he’s properly fed, rested and not pushed too hard.”
Darren looked at the wyvren for a couple seconds “Thank you Derrick”
“You’re welcome Darren. On another note, treat those two well” Derrick motioned towards the twins “they stayed right by your side even after you let me win, they really care about you, the least you could do is return the favor”
Darren looked over at the twins for a moment before motioning them over. He helped the two of them up into the saddle with a final wave goodbye were gone.
“Burtrum” Derrick called
“Yes master” he answered
“Are all of the guests gone?” Derrick asked
“Yes” Burtrum replied.
Derricks shoulders slumped heavily as he headed for the lift “thank the gods, were there any problems?”
“No, Master Derrick, asides from a single golem missing, probably an error on my part, everything went perfectly.”
“Good”
“Will you be turning in for the night?” Burtrum asked as the doors to the lift closed
“Not quiet yet, I'm guessing Darren made a mess of my room so I think I’ll head to the Dining hall, could you send out a bottle of wine?”
“Of course master”
“He must be exhausted” Miranda thought turning the crystal off, laying back on the bed“Maybe I should go talk to him” as she was getting up to go towards the door she stopped for a second “Wait, why am I going to talk to him” she though as she opened her door slowly just to make sure she was alone “to......try and gain his trust, right? Right.” she walked cautiously down the hallway, she could hear a faint conversation coming from the dining hall as she walked into the ballroom, Miranda slowly crept up the stairs and stopped at the door
“Sir are you sure everything is alright” she heard Burtrum ask “you seem more drained than you usually do after one of these events.”
“Who knows, maybe I am, normally I just have to keep my composure when I have a ball or a banquet, but with out guest here I have to keep it up whenever she’s around”
“Do you really have to?”
“We’ve been over this, if I show any emotion in front of her asides from strength I run the risk of appearing weak, my little outburst when Richard almost found her was proof of that; I was something other than cold in front of her for a moment and a couple days later she yells at me, does that sound like something someone does to someone they perceive as strong”
“Wow, I guess I was right about him not trusting me” Miranda thought “Now, while he’s tiered, is probably the best time to try and gain his trust, but how. Mother always said there was only one way to gain someone’s trust, and that’s to trust them, here goes nothing.”
She knocked on the door, there was a small clatter
“Yes?” Derrick asked
“It’s me, may I come in?”
“Oh, Ms. Lummi” he responded, trying his best to regain calm “Of course please come in” she pushed open the door, the table had already been cleared except for Derrick who was sitting at the far end of the table, s few glasses and a bottle of wine
“That was quiet the evening” she said as she walked to the seat a couple chairs down from his “Your family seems….”
“Crazy” he said before she could think of the right word
“No, not at all” she said “maybe a little eccentric but not crazy”
“Thanks” he said taking a sip of wine from his glass “Would......would you like any?”
“Um, what is it?” she asked nervously looking at the deep red liquid
“Just some wine” Derrick answered “It’s not really strong, but it’s enough to calm the nerves”
“Sure I’ll have a glass......why do you have more than one glass out here anyways?”
He poured the liquid into a glass and slid it over to her “I'm not sure, Burtrum brought them out, sometimes he can get a little odd after dealing with big events.”
She sniffed at it a bit, finding it pleasant, she took a quick sip, it tasted deep and warm, “strange” she thought “I was sure this was gonna hit me like a sack of bricks but compared to some of the other ales I’ve had this isn’t that strong”
“Um, Derrick”
“Yes”
“About the other day, I’m sorry, you were right, I was being a hypocrite”
“Please don’t worry about it, if anyone should be apologizing it should be me, you were only trying to help and I snapped at you, thank you for the help by the way, if you hadn’t come talk to me I probably would have run myself into the ground.”
“It’s no problem but you were right, I do have something I want to protect”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to”
“I know but I want to, in my village I work at a mountain temple that has been owned by my family for generations, about thirteen years ago when I was eight my parents were climbing up the mountain to retrieve a supposedly, brave adventurer, who could barley make it past the third gate” she paused “there was........an avalanche, neither of them made it out. Since then I’ve been taking care of the temple in their memory, until about a month ago; this sleazy little noble came into town and, proclaimed, that I was to be his wife. I told him no but then he threatened to tear down the temple if I didn’t agree by the time he comes back, about five months from now. I thought that if I came up here I could find the corpse of a dragon and steal its head, once I did that I could present it before the king and get one request, I had no idea you were still alive up here.”
The room was silent “Did” Derrick said slowly “Did you say thirteen years ago?”
“Yes” she answered cautiously
He looked back down at his glass before taking another drink “It would seem that fate was doubly cruel that day thirteen years three months and two days ago”
“What do you mean!” she demanded, standing up quickly “How do you know the exact date of my parents death!?!”
“Because on that day both of my parents were crushed by a cave in”
Miranda was shocked, she could only sit down slowly
“Richard, the delivery dragon, had just come and gone and the aviary was destroyed by the cave in so for an entire month I, a 10 year old, was alone in this cave with no one but Burtrum. When Richard finally returned he contacted Serena and Charles, my aunt and uncle, I stayed with them for about five years before I started living here again.”
They were both silent “So to him” Miranda thought “His horde is like my temple, oh gods, I was thinking about taking some of it, that would make me no better than Roderick”
“Ms. Lummi?”
“Yes”
“There’s something else I think I should apologize for”
“What’s that”
“When we first met I made a certain comment, I told you that unicorns emit a fowl odor when killed, that’s a lie.”
“I knew it” she thought “O.k. So then why did you save me?” she asked as Derrick finished off his glass
“About a week after the cave in an adventurer made his way to the old manor, No one had actually lived there for a long time so we managed to fool him into thinking that the place was deserted but while he was there I watched him, he kept yelling about how his fathered had died trying to reach the mountain top and he wanted retribution” Derrick paused “ He died on the way down the mountain, It was then that I realized no matter how different we seem the pain he and I were feeling was the same, on that day I decided not to kill any of the adventurers who came to my cave if I could help it, not for their sake but for the sake of those who would miss them, so no one would feel that pain because of me.”
The room was silent again
“Thank you” Miranda finally managed to say “for telling me that”
“You’re welcome, and I thank you for the same” he paused “now I don’t know about you but I could use another glass”
“Sounds good to me”
“Must we really do this? I meant no offense, and no one else probably even heard us.”
“You started this Derrick, I wont risk being seen as weak. Now choose the contest, traditional twin blades? Axes? Maces?”
“I had something else in mind” the projection suddenly cut to the ballroom
“Um Burtrum?” Miranda asked as she tried in vain to get the projection to go back “Why can’t I see into the Dinning hall?”
“The master and Darren are changing into their combat attire, I thought it would be best to block that channel before you saw something that would offend your sensibilities”
“Um, thanks, Do things like this happen often?”
“Yes unfortunately, there’s usually one or two challenges of honor at every gathering.”
“I guess that explains why Derrick was so intent on training over the last few weeks”
“Indeed, and had it not been for you Master Derrick would be in no condition for this battle.”
Miranda thought back to the argument she and Derrick had “I’m still having a hard time believing that he actually took my advice.” She looked over the rest of the crowd, they had formed a large circle in the middle of the ballroom, some of them were climbing on top of each other to get a better view of the circle; Miranda noticed the two female dragons that had accompanied Darren in the middle of the crowd, they looked confused and judging by the way they were clinging to each other a little scared by the other dragons
“I guess they must have been commoners, or whatever the dragon equivalent of a commoner is before Darren invited them here as his, guests” Miranda thought, reflecting on her own possible future “being shoved into such a different situation must be terrifying enough on its own, and now they don’t have Darren to protect them, I’m not going to let that happen to me”
The two nearly jumped out of their scales when another dragon put its hand on one of their shoulders, luckily it was just Serena, she and Charles guided the two towards the front of the ring, just as they reached it the doors to the kitchen flung open, the room fell silent, Derrick and Darren both walked out without shirts on and wearing the same black baggy pants Derrick was when he was training, this was the first time Miranda had seen Derrick without a shirt, her eyes traced the lighter belly scales from his lower jaw to the hem of his pants without thinking about it before abruptly looking away as though she had just committed an offense. As they walked down the staircases the crowd parted to let them through, some of the dragons rushed back up the stairs to get a better view of the ring, Darren was practically beaming with excitement while Derrick maintained his usual calm demeanor.
The two were standing back to back in the center of the ring Darren winked at his guests that were watching intently from the edge of the crowd “I’ve got two lovely ladies, the passion of the crowd and my honor to fight for” Darren said smugly “What have you got?”
Miranda watched as Derrick looked down and then seemed to look right at her through the crystal for a second before he quickly looked away “I have my honor to fight for” he and Darren began walking away from each other, they stopped at the edge of the ring a turned to face one another
“Sir Darren has challenged Master Derrick on the grounds of insulted honor” Burtrum boomed loudly from the crystal at the top of the room “Master Derrick has accepted and his chosen battle is claw to claw”
“I have to admit” Dearen boasted after getting a kiss from both of his guests “when you chose an unarmed battle I was quite surprised”
“I would rather not run the chance of being impaled over such a trivial matter” Derrick responded. A scaly hand rested its self on Derrick’s shoulder, it was Drustin
“Don’t be too hard on him”
“If I hold back he’ll only be insulted further”
“And if you end it to quickly he'll be even more insulted”
“Good point” Derrick said “I’ll make it look good, give him a taste at first but if he doesn’t back off after that I’ll have to bring him down, ”
“Are the challengers ready?” Burtrum asked, both Derrick and Darren nodded “Then Begin!”
The two rushed at each other, Darren opened his left hand and brought it around to slash at Derricks face, Derrick ducked and planted his left fist and wing in Darren’s stomach pushing him back, Derrick charged forward and tried to land a left hook but Darren recovered in time to bring up his guard and catch the incoming fist, Darren used this opportunity to deliver two quick jabs to Derricks face, as he was throwing the third Derrick delivered a quick blow to Darren’s shoulder and side with his right fist and wing, this stunned Darren long enough for Derrick to grab his head and yank it down into his knee, Darren stumbled back and glared at Derrick who was keeping his guard tight
The two stared at each other, both daring the other to make a move.
Darren rushed forward again with both claws open, he swiped both of his hands at derricks stomach this time but instead of crouching down to avoid it Derrick took a step back letting the claws pass in front of his face and using the opening to throw a strong right into Darren’s snout and stomach, he recovered quicker this time and brought his right fist into an uppercut that caught the end of Derricks jaw fallowed by a kick to the stomach that sent Derrick back about half a step
“I wonder why Darren isn’t using his wings to attack like Derrick does” Miranda thought as Darren ran forward to deliver another slash.
Derrick managed to catch himself and duck it just in time, this time Derrick hit Darren’s stomach with both sets of fists and wings, more pushing him then punching, sending Darren flying to the edge of the circle, Derrick ran forward and spread his wings out, Flapping them down as he jumped, giving him a small boost on top of his already impressive leap, Darren recovered just in time to see Derricks foot coming down right into face, pushing Darren’s face to the ground, hard.
Derrick quickly backed up from his downed opponent but Darren didn’t get back up, Derrick waited for a couple of seconds before Burtrum chimed in “The challenger Darren is unconscious. Master Derrick is the winner”
The crowd was silent for a second before they burst into cheers and rushed him, shaking his hand, slapping him on the back and congratulating him on his victory, Derrick tolerated this for a few seconds before he pushed the crowds aside and made his way over to where Darren was laying, Darren’s guests were kneeling next to him trying to pick him up as Derrick approached, they both flinched as Derrick drew near until he put his hand up “Don’t worry, I think my Dear Cousin has had enough for this evening, would you mind if I helped?”
The two moved to the side as Derrick slid Darren’s arm over his shoulder and picked him up
“Please, enjoy the rest of the food and festivities” Derrick said as he and the twins began to walk towards the lift room door “I’ll be back as soon as he’s taken care of.”
After Derrick returned from their room the Ball proceeded as it had been with Derrick moving from group to group and talking, the only difference was that now many of the young female Dragons, and some of the older ones, were fallowing him around and hanging off his every word
“Fight’s must be a big turn on for dragons” Miranda thought “I guess it was sort of impressive”
When the crystals began getting close to purple dragons began leaving, one after another they would bid farewell to Derrick and proceed to the lift, soon enough the cave was empty except for Derrick, Serena and Charles.
“So?” Serena and Charles asked in unison as the three of them entered the lift room.
“So what?” Derrick responded
“Did you ask any of the young ladies to, stay the night?” Serena asked
“No”
“Why not!?!” they both shouted
“As a Happily married Dragon let me give you this advice” Charles said “You’re never going to find your mate if you don’t fly the skies a bit, and a gathering where dozens of young women are throwing themselves at you is the perfect place to do so.”
“Maybe, but I would like to, fly the skies, with someone who’s interested in me and not my horde or the fact that I can knock Darren's fire out.”
“That’s true” Serena said “But you’ll never get to know any of them if you don’t, get to know them, you don't even have to ask them to stay you could just ask to exchange letters with them.”
Derrick put his hand over his eyes and sighed “Oh look there’s the door” he said happily as the lift slowed down “I guess we’ll have to continue this conversation later”
The trio walked out to the platform as Charles reached under his shirt and pulled out a small stone cylinder with a large hole in the side and a few smaller ones on top, he blew in the large hole but no noise came out, a few seconds later she heard a roar and their wyvren landed on the platform
“So were the accommodations better this time?” Charles asked
The wyvren shook its head up and down and lowered its self for the two to get on
They both hugged Derrick “Don’t feel like we’re pressuring you to do something you don’t want to” Serena said as Charles helped her into the saddle “but a horde is even better if you have someone to share it with”
“Thank you” Derrick said sincerely “I’ll see you soon” and with that the two were off.
A few minutes later the lift doors opened again and Darren, Sheila and Kayla walked out
“Awake at last” Derrick said with the faintest hint of satisfaction in his voice
“Yeah yeah, You’re just lucky I let you win”
“I’m sure I am, and I truly am sorry for offending you”
“It’s cool, it’s in the past now”
“That it is, there’s actually something I’d like to talk to you about before you leave, in private”
“O.k. Ladies, if you could go wait by the door for a second” the twins walked over to the door as Derrick and Darren moved to the end of the platform
“It’s about your wyvren”
“I already told you that the breeder lied to me about his speed”
“It’s not that, judging from its build that wyvren could be every bit as fast as the breeder said”
“Really? So why isn’t it”
“Call him down and I’ll show you”
Darren pulled out a piece of stone that was similar to the one Charles had and blew in it and just like last time she heard a roar a few seconds later fallowed by the wyvren landing on the platform, now looking much happier than before.
“He looks like he’s in much better shape than when we got here, what kind of spell did you use on him?” Darren asked
“I didn’t use a spell, I just gave him a proper meal, some water and a soft place to rest, something I believe you neglected to do before you left”
“Oh” Darren responded quietly “I thought the old man”
“You can’t think” Derrick said cutting Darren off “you have to know, this wyvren isn’t some trophy or some toy, It’s a living, breathing, feeling creature, just like you and me, it depends on you Darren and neglecting him will lead to more than a coat of dust he could die, or at very least get a disease that will keep him from being able to fly; if he hasn't already”
“Wha….What do you mean” Darren said, sounding very worried
“See these patches of missing scales?” Derrick asked gesturing toward the wyvren “They are the beginning signs of a serious scale rash. Some combination of malnutrition and the stress of being pushed too hard have caused a rash to develop under the scales. The wyvren usually chews at these spots to alleviate the itch but when they do they chew of the scales too, normally this would get rid of the problem but if a wyvren is ridden before these scales grow back the wind will cause an even worse rash”
“I, I didn’t know”
“It’s o.k. luckily I stocked up on a salve that keeps the rash from getting any worse; I rubbed it into the problem areas and loaded a few barrels of it into his saddle bags. You, not one of your servants, will have to wash off the areas without scales and then rub the salve over the areas about once a day.”
“For how long?”
“He should be fully healed by the time you run out of the salve” Derrick answered “And to keep it from coming back you’ll just have to make sure he’s properly fed, rested and not pushed too hard.”
Darren looked at the wyvren for a couple seconds “Thank you Derrick”
“You’re welcome Darren. On another note, treat those two well” Derrick motioned towards the twins “they stayed right by your side even after you let me win, they really care about you, the least you could do is return the favor”
Darren looked over at the twins for a moment before motioning them over. He helped the two of them up into the saddle with a final wave goodbye were gone.
“Burtrum” Derrick called
“Yes master” he answered
“Are all of the guests gone?” Derrick asked
“Yes” Burtrum replied.
Derricks shoulders slumped heavily as he headed for the lift “thank the gods, were there any problems?”
“No, Master Derrick, asides from a single golem missing, probably an error on my part, everything went perfectly.”
“Good”
“Will you be turning in for the night?” Burtrum asked as the doors to the lift closed
“Not quiet yet, I'm guessing Darren made a mess of my room so I think I’ll head to the Dining hall, could you send out a bottle of wine?”
“Of course master”
“He must be exhausted” Miranda thought turning the crystal off, laying back on the bed“Maybe I should go talk to him” as she was getting up to go towards the door she stopped for a second “Wait, why am I going to talk to him” she though as she opened her door slowly just to make sure she was alone “to......try and gain his trust, right? Right.” she walked cautiously down the hallway, she could hear a faint conversation coming from the dining hall as she walked into the ballroom, Miranda slowly crept up the stairs and stopped at the door
“Sir are you sure everything is alright” she heard Burtrum ask “you seem more drained than you usually do after one of these events.”
“Who knows, maybe I am, normally I just have to keep my composure when I have a ball or a banquet, but with out guest here I have to keep it up whenever she’s around”
“Do you really have to?”
“We’ve been over this, if I show any emotion in front of her asides from strength I run the risk of appearing weak, my little outburst when Richard almost found her was proof of that; I was something other than cold in front of her for a moment and a couple days later she yells at me, does that sound like something someone does to someone they perceive as strong”
“Wow, I guess I was right about him not trusting me” Miranda thought “Now, while he’s tiered, is probably the best time to try and gain his trust, but how. Mother always said there was only one way to gain someone’s trust, and that’s to trust them, here goes nothing.”
She knocked on the door, there was a small clatter
“Yes?” Derrick asked
“It’s me, may I come in?”
“Oh, Ms. Lummi” he responded, trying his best to regain calm “Of course please come in” she pushed open the door, the table had already been cleared except for Derrick who was sitting at the far end of the table, s few glasses and a bottle of wine
“That was quiet the evening” she said as she walked to the seat a couple chairs down from his “Your family seems….”
“Crazy” he said before she could think of the right word
“No, not at all” she said “maybe a little eccentric but not crazy”
“Thanks” he said taking a sip of wine from his glass “Would......would you like any?”
“Um, what is it?” she asked nervously looking at the deep red liquid
“Just some wine” Derrick answered “It’s not really strong, but it’s enough to calm the nerves”
“Sure I’ll have a glass......why do you have more than one glass out here anyways?”
He poured the liquid into a glass and slid it over to her “I'm not sure, Burtrum brought them out, sometimes he can get a little odd after dealing with big events.”
She sniffed at it a bit, finding it pleasant, she took a quick sip, it tasted deep and warm, “strange” she thought “I was sure this was gonna hit me like a sack of bricks but compared to some of the other ales I’ve had this isn’t that strong”
“Um, Derrick”
“Yes”
“About the other day, I’m sorry, you were right, I was being a hypocrite”
“Please don’t worry about it, if anyone should be apologizing it should be me, you were only trying to help and I snapped at you, thank you for the help by the way, if you hadn’t come talk to me I probably would have run myself into the ground.”
“It’s no problem but you were right, I do have something I want to protect”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to”
“I know but I want to, in my village I work at a mountain temple that has been owned by my family for generations, about thirteen years ago when I was eight my parents were climbing up the mountain to retrieve a supposedly, brave adventurer, who could barley make it past the third gate” she paused “there was........an avalanche, neither of them made it out. Since then I’ve been taking care of the temple in their memory, until about a month ago; this sleazy little noble came into town and, proclaimed, that I was to be his wife. I told him no but then he threatened to tear down the temple if I didn’t agree by the time he comes back, about five months from now. I thought that if I came up here I could find the corpse of a dragon and steal its head, once I did that I could present it before the king and get one request, I had no idea you were still alive up here.”
The room was silent “Did” Derrick said slowly “Did you say thirteen years ago?”
“Yes” she answered cautiously
He looked back down at his glass before taking another drink “It would seem that fate was doubly cruel that day thirteen years three months and two days ago”
“What do you mean!” she demanded, standing up quickly “How do you know the exact date of my parents death!?!”
“Because on that day both of my parents were crushed by a cave in”
Miranda was shocked, she could only sit down slowly
“Richard, the delivery dragon, had just come and gone and the aviary was destroyed by the cave in so for an entire month I, a 10 year old, was alone in this cave with no one but Burtrum. When Richard finally returned he contacted Serena and Charles, my aunt and uncle, I stayed with them for about five years before I started living here again.”
They were both silent “So to him” Miranda thought “His horde is like my temple, oh gods, I was thinking about taking some of it, that would make me no better than Roderick”
“Ms. Lummi?”
“Yes”
“There’s something else I think I should apologize for”
“What’s that”
“When we first met I made a certain comment, I told you that unicorns emit a fowl odor when killed, that’s a lie.”
“I knew it” she thought “O.k. So then why did you save me?” she asked as Derrick finished off his glass
“About a week after the cave in an adventurer made his way to the old manor, No one had actually lived there for a long time so we managed to fool him into thinking that the place was deserted but while he was there I watched him, he kept yelling about how his fathered had died trying to reach the mountain top and he wanted retribution” Derrick paused “ He died on the way down the mountain, It was then that I realized no matter how different we seem the pain he and I were feeling was the same, on that day I decided not to kill any of the adventurers who came to my cave if I could help it, not for their sake but for the sake of those who would miss them, so no one would feel that pain because of me.”
The room was silent again
“Thank you” Miranda finally managed to say “for telling me that”
“You’re welcome, and I thank you for the same” he paused “now I don’t know about you but I could use another glass”
“Sounds good to me”
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unicorn
Size 96 x 120px
File Size 123.5 kB
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