The Bard, page 9
“Bugger.”
Tor looked around them. Everyone was bedraggled and looking sorry for themselves, including the horses, but at least they were all alive.
“What is that noise?” Dallen asked nervously, hearing movement from outside the cave.
“It sounds like something big is approaching,” Seth answered, taking her hand in his and gripping it comfortingly.
Suddenly the entire cave was filled with hot air. A large scaly head appeared at the entrance and peered inside. When its eyes fell on the occupants, it opened its mouth wide, exposing two rows of long pointed fangs.
“How nice,” the dragon said. “Someone has provided me with lunch.”
Chapter 8
“I think I will start with the humans and save the horses for dinner.” The dragon’s large black eyes roamed around the cave, stopping when they fell upon River and Oak. “Oh good, dessert. Sprites seem to taste sweeter than most other races.” Then he shifted his gaze to Modo. “Yuck, a vexen. I hate vexens. They always leave a horrible aftertaste in my mouth.”
“Then don’t eat him,” Sam suggested, slowly moving forward. She sensed Brin tense behind her and was relieved when he made no move to stop her. The dragon’s head swung towards her in surprise. Nobody had ever spoken to him before.
“Who are you to talk to a dragon? Are you not scared?” he enquired.
“A little,” she admitted, “but personal experience has shown me that dragons are not the vicious monsters they are often portrayed to be.”
The dragon was intrigued. Holding a conversation with a different species was a new experience for him. It also disconcerted him a little; would he be able to eat something after talking with it? He moved forward into the cave, causing the horses to move backwards in order to put as much space between him and themselves as they could. His body was big, bigger even than Salabine’s, and glowed purple in the light from the torches. Once he had managed to manoeuvre into the cave without stepping on anyone, he shook his body, covering everyone in the vicinity with water.
“Sorry,” he said, looking around. “It is raining out there.”
“We noticed,” Patrick muttered dryly under his breath, hoping the dragon’s hearing was not too acute. The look he received from the overgrown lizard strongly suggested that this was not the case.
“What experience?” the dragon enquired of Sam, turning his back on Patrick as though he was not worth his attention.
“Do you know a dragon called Salabine? She is a friend of ours.”
The dragon’s reaction took them all by surprise. He started laughing, deep and loud, terrifying the already nervous horses. Hot air emitted from his mouth, quickly drying everyone’s damp clothes and warming their chilled bones. Sam rushed to the back of the cave and calmly spoke to Thresnine, explaining that there was no threat and requesting that she do her best to calm the other horses.
When the laughter finally died down, the dragon quickly scanned the cave, looking for Sam. “I am Gladrel and you must be Sam.”
Smiling, Sam walked forward. “I take it you know Salabine then.”
Gladrel nodded. “She and I are... how should I put it? Friends?”
“Friends?” Sam asked. “Is that all?” She had noticed the slight hesitation and wanted to know more.
Gladrel laughed again. “Not exactly. We meet up occasionally.”
It was Sam’s turn to laugh. “Friends with benefits,” she suggested, remembering why Salabine was delayed the last time they had met.
Gladrel cocked his head to one side as though thinking. “That sounds alright.” He then licked his lips, his long forked tongue appearing deep red in the dim light. “I am hungry. Which creature can I eat first?”
Reaction was instantaneous. Grimmel stepped in front of River, the three Princes and Torrick drew their swords and Patrick attempted to push Ellen behind him, receiving an elbow to his ribs for his effort. Ban, realising that his club had been left on the wagon, looked around frantically, his eyes rapidly darting from left to right, failing to see anything he could use as a weapon. Brin had his bow in his hands and an arrow pointing at the dragon’s heart before Sam even had time to exhale.
“We are all friends of Salabine,” Sam said loudly, attempting to calm the situation. “Let me introduce you. Drop your weapons everyone.”
Brin was the first to obey, returning the arrow to its quiver and placing the bow over his shoulder. He was quickly followed by Tor. Eventually the others resheathed their swords and Sam began the introductions. The dragon had heard of most of them from Salabine; only those who had joined since they had last seen her were unknown. Dal caused a lot of confusion as Salabine had known her as a young man, not the young lady she was now introduced as. She explained the situation, but Gladrel still remained confused. He did not understand the concept of marriage or why a human would pretend to be someone else just to avoid it. Eventually he decided to put it down to the strangeness of the species and let the matter drop.
Once the dragon finally had a name for each face, Sam brought up the subject of Hawk. “I have come across vampires before and have always found them very pleasant,” he informed her. “Exceedingly tasty in fact.”
Sam blanched. “He is a member of our team,” she pointed out. “And as such, you cannot eat him. It is not polite to eat friends, relations or colleagues.”
“Does this mean that I cannot eat anything in my cave? Not even the horses?” he asked, sulkily.
“I am afraid not.”
“Not even him?” Gladrel pointed at Patrick as he spoke. “Call it payment for using my cave as shelter from the storm.”
Sam considered the request for a moment, then shook her head.
“Now that we are all acquainted, can we discuss our reason for being here?” Tor interjected.
Between them, Sam and Tor narrated their meeting with the skelk and Tor’s subsequent promise to speak with Gladrel on their behalf. The dragon listened intently, fascinated by everything that was being said.
“Are you telling me those black things that I enjoyed eating before they all disappeared are intelligent beings not just mindless animals? Now I feel guilty.” The poor beast looked genuinely crestfallen. Everyone in the cave had grown used to being close to the large dragon and no longer felt nervous in his presence. They all did their best to assure him that he wasn’t to know and that it had not been his fault. He readily agreed to allow the skelk to return to their homeland without the risk of ending up on the menu again, though how a message was to be sent to them nobody knew.
The rest of the afternoon passed uncomfortably. Although the cave was large, it did not feel it with everyone inside, sheltering from the storm that showed no signs of abating. Gladrel’s huge body took up most of the available space and was blocking the exit, creating an extremely claustrophobic atmosphere. Eventually Sam could take it no longer and squeezed her body past the dragon’s and into the fresh air. There was just enough space behind him to allow her to remain in the cave, but the wind kept blowing the rain in and she was soon soaked through once more. Brin had suggested he join her, but she declined his offer; there was no point in both of them getting wet. At one point, Gladrel attempted to turn around so he could blow hot air over her in order to keep her warm, but when it became apparent that he would not manage it without crushing a fair number of the cave’s occupants, he regretfully abandoned his manoeuvring.
It was very late in the evening by the time the storm eventually blew itself out and they managed to venture out of the cave. A quick inspection of the wagon showed that it was undamaged and all of its contents, including Hawk and his coffin, were still in place. Gladrel suggested that they spend the night in his cave and head out in the morning and even volunteered to dry any firewood they could find, should they wish to build a fire inside. The grateful travellers took the dragon up on his offer and hunting parties headed out. Hawk arose before they were back and, after a brief introduction to Gladrel, flew into the air to see what game he could find.
Dallen had accompanied Seth. Despite the fact that he and Tor had only been teaching her tracking and hunting skills because they thought she was her brother, she had proved to be a quick learner and wished her lessons to continue.
“Stop,” Seth suddenly commanded as he rounded a large boulder. He had seen movement out of the corner of his eye, but looking towards it revealed nothing in plain sight. Dal was still hidden from view behind the large rock, so he described what lay ahead of him, instructing her to carefully ease her way to the other side of the place he was staring at, enabling them to move in from two sides at once. Once he had heard her move away, he started slowly forward, never taking his eyes off his target. He could feel something watching him, but whatever it was it was very good at keeping itself hidden.
His progress was painfully slow as he placed one foot delicately in front of the other, keeping his movements small so as not to startle whatever was watching him, but moving just quickly enough to keep its attention. Once he caught a faint trace of movement off to his left and hoped it was Dal getting herself in position, but he did not risk moving his head to make sure. He was approaching a large outcrop of bare rock and was fairly certain that something was hiding behind it. He fervently hoped that whatever it was was not only edible, but not so large that he and Dal were at risk of attack.
Raising his head slightly, he noticed that Dal had positioned herself on the outcrop and was preparing to jump down onto their unsuspecting prey. She was looking towards him, so he nodded his head and watched in admiration as she nimbly jumped. He heard her land heavily on the ground, causing whatever was in hiding to squeal loudly. Suddenly something large and black was running towards him. The evening was too dark and it was moving too fast for him to make out any of its features, so all he could do was pounce on it as it came close and hope that it did not have claws.
The body he brought to the ground with the weight of his own was unnervingly human like. It had long thin appendages which thankfully he managed to pin down before the sharp claws could reach his face. Dal soon arrived and held down the creature’s arms, allowing Seth to move off it and pin its legs to the ground with his arms.
At close range, they were both able to recognise what they were holding captive. The weapons on the end of its fingers were not claws, but nails, extremely long and sharp ones. “It is a skelk,” Dal cried out in surprise, releasing her grip on its arms.
“Dal,” Seth commanded, taking charge. “Slowly move out of the way. I am going to release it.” He stood up and looked down at the body. It was definitely a skelk, but an exceedingly malnourished one. Its arms and legs were so thin that the bones could easily be discerned below the skin and its ribs were sticking out in an unsightly way. As it was exposing its bare chest, and the only female skelk Seth had seen had been covered on her top half, Seth assumed it was male, though he would not have bet money on it; just because human females had breasts did not mean female skelk also did. He was still conscious, but the erratic way his eyes kept darting about indicated that he was too terrified to move.
“Go and get some help, and something for him to eat,” Seth said softly to Dal. “I am going to stay here and try to explain to this creature who we are.”
Dal threw a look of concern at her husband. She did not want to leave him alone in case the skelk decided to q attack before he had chance to reason with it, but she knew he was right to send her off to find the others. Before he needed to tell her again, she turned away from him and ran back towards the cave. Seth eased himself onto the ground next to the still body of the skelk and crossed his legs. He then began to speak, doing his best to keep his voice soft and friendly. He rapidly explained what he and his companions were doing there and that they were not a threat. The skelk’s breathing began to slow as his panic diminished, but his eyes continued to move around wildly, as though he was looking for an escape route. Not until Seth mentioned Yafen by name did they fall upon him. Sure now that he had the skelk’s undivided attention, Seth continued talking, telling him all about meeting the tribal leaders and the promise that had been made to hunt out the dragon and try to persuade it that the skelk were not food.
“You know Yafen?” he managed to stutter. His voice broke as he spoke. He was obviously very weak. Seth removed the stopper from his water bottle and took a drink. He then held it out towards the skelk, who nervously took it from his outstretched hand.
“Water,” Seth confirmed, noticing the creature’s hesitation. He watched as he moved the bottle to his thin black lips and drank deeply. “I am Seth,” he said, pointing to himself.
“Ukel,” the skelk replied.
“Why are you here?” Seth enquired. “I thought all of your people left the mountain.”
“Sick. Too weak to travel. Better now, but cannot find much food.” Seth nodded. The skelk had faced a hard journey when they had left their homeland; all of the elderly and sick had to be left behind. “Last,” Ukel continued, pointing at his own chest.
“I am sorry to hear that,” Seth said sympathetically. “The dragon has agreed to no longer hunt and eat your people, so they are safe to return.” The faintest trace of a smile appeared on Ukel’s face and a tear trickled down his face.
Seth looked up when he heard the faint footsteps of someone approaching. Dal returned, with Ellen and Patrick. They hesitated when they were within eyesight of the skelk, not wishing to frighten him.
“These are friends,” Seth assured the nervous creature. “They have food and are here to help. May they approach?”
Ukel nodded, though whether this was because he trusted them or was just too weak to argue, Seth didn’t know. Ellen rushed forward, knelt down beside Ukel and began examining him. “It is alright,” she said in her sing-song voice when she felt him stiffen. “I am a witch and am just making sure you are not seriously ill.”
“He is just suffering from severe lack of food,” she informed Patrick when her initial examination was complete. “Pass me the bread.” Patrick handed her part of a loaf of bread, from which she broke a small piece and placed in Ukel’s mouth. He chewed it hungrily and swallowed quickly. It was not the sort of food he was used to and it had a strange taste, but he needed to eat in order to regain his strength so he was not going to complain. Pleased with his response, Ellen indicated to the two men that they should help the skelk sit up and handed him the rest of the bread, which he soon devoured.
“Will you come back to the cave with us?” Dal asked, handing him a couple of apples. “Our companions are preparing a meal for us all and you are more than welcome to share it.”
Ukel nodded his head and tried to stand, but his weak legs would not hold his weight. “Terror must have infused him with the strength to run when you jumped behind him,” Seth said, seeing the look of confusion on Dal’s face. “He would probably be dead by this time tomorrow if we had not found him.”
Patrick bent down and placed one hand under the skelk’s legs and the other behind his back. He grunted slightly as he straightened his bent legs, but that was due to the awkwardness of his position rather than the skelk’s weight. Ukel was unconscious by the time they all made it back to the cave. A cooking fire was burning in one corner, with Sam adding more wood regularly. Grimmel and Modo had managed to find a large amount of big sticks and small branches and Gladrel made light work of drying them with his hot breath. He also set fire to some of them once they had been stacked correctly, accidentally singeing Grimmel’s beard in the process. Wildlife had been found and a number of rabbits were being slowly roasted over the flames, filling the cave with a delicious smell.
Ellen immediately took charge, giving orders to anyone who was not already occupied. Within a short space of time, a second, smaller, fire had been lit and a large pot of water was boiling over it. Oak and River had found a selection of edible leaves, some of which went into the pot along with a slice of rabbit, finely chopped so as to almost disintegrate in the water as it finished cooking.
When the broth was ready, Ellen had Patrick move Ukel into a sitting position and gently woke him. She began to feed him and he tentatively accepted the spoonfuls of hot liquid. He appeared to gain strength with each mouthful and before the broth was half finished he was able to feed himself. Once the rabbits were fully cooked, the group quickly devoured them, along with slices of bread which, though stale, was still edible. Gladrel had departed from the cave as soon as he saw the skelk, not wishing to frighten him until he had eaten his fill.
Once the meal was over, Ukel was introduced to everyone he had not already met. He was alarmed when he was informed that he was in the dragon’s lair, but eventually accepted the reassurances that he was safe. He was beginning to drift off to sleep once more when a loud roar sounded from outside the cave, causing him to sit up in terror.
“It’s okay,” Sam said gently. “It’s just Gladrel letting us know he has returned and warning us he is about to enter the cave.”
As she spoke, Ukel’s eyes darted forward and he saw a huge scaly head appear in the entrance. He involuntarily moved backwards and it took all of his self-control to stop himself from screaming. Large bright eyes fell on him, pinning him to the spot.
“You are awake I see,” the dragon addressed him.
“It actually speaks,” the skelk replied, stunned.
“Of course I speak,” Gladrel said irritably. “I am not some dumb animal you know.”
“Stop it,” Ellen admonished him. “You thought the skelk were just dumb animals remember, so it is no surprise they thought the same of you.” She may have been imagining things, but she was sure the purple skin on the dragon’s face turned a shade redder.
“Sorry,” Gladrel apologised. “And I am sorry to you as well skelk. If I had known you and your people were more than just beasts I would never have eaten you.” He sighed dramatically. “It is very lonely being a dragon sometimes.”
Dal walked up to him and started to rub his scales behind his ear. He moved his head lower so she could reach without overstretching her arm and closed his eyes, emitting a strange noise, almost like a soft growl.
