WIZARD 18

John stared down at the stinking corpse of the dragonman. Jennaca stood nearly, anxiously watching the sides of the valley. The tavern’s door shutting drew both their attention away from their thoughts. Sadie walked down the path toward them.

“How is she?” John asked as he turned to face the priestess.

“She’ll be fine,” Sadie said. “She’s resting now even though she doesn’t want to. She wasn’t wounded so much as she’s wrenched her back and a few things had slipped out of place and then the muscles tried to compensate and only made it worse.”

John winced. He had fleeting memories of back pain from his prior life. “Thank you, Sadie, and thank you Eile.”

Sadie smiled. “I’m glad I could help her. Once a person suffers a back injury they are often plagued with them until they pass. She won’t be… not unless she does it again and I’m not around.”

“Sounds like you’ll just have to stick around then,” Jennaca said. “Just in case.”

Sadie smiled at the young woman. “We’ll see.”

“When we’re done here I’ll go and check on her,” John said. “I want to be sure she knows how much I appreciate her.”

Jennaca chuckled. “I didn’t think you two had a relationship like that?”

Sadie’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No!”

John and Sadie both turned and looked at her.

Sadie blushed. “I’m sorry, milord, Artesia asked me to make sure she wasn’t disturbed. She needs rest and hasn’t had a proper amount in days now. She, um, she’s feeling rather vulnerable right now.”

John bowed his head. “Of course, I understand,” he said and turned to Jennaca. “And no, Artesia is in my employ. Nothing else.”

Jennaca pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. She snorted when she couldn’t hold it in.

John gave her a good natured scowl.

Sadie smiled and moved closer. Her smile faded as she got close enough smell the dead bodies.

John saw her nose wrinkle. “Yes, it’s foul. Better now that it’s not breathing.”

“Why does that matter?” the priestess asked.

“It’s not their bodies that stink, it’s their breath.”

Sadie grimaced and asked, “What do they eat? Rotting meat?”

“Possibly, I’m not sure,” John said. “Jennaca and I were talking though. We’re about to try something and, to be honest, I’m glad you’re here. You might want to back up though.”

“Why?”

John smiled. “Just trust me.”

Sadie raised an eyebrow and then backed away. John motioned for her to keep going so she continued walking backwards until she was a dozen paces away.

“Okay, are you ready for this?” John asked.

Jennaca moved to stand beside the fallen dragonman. She scowled.

“Is the smell worse there?” John wondered.

“No. I keep thinking of them as dragonmen, but I don’t like it.”

“The villagers call them draconian,” Sadie called.

Jennaca turned and grinned. “Now that I like!”

John chuckled. “All right, are you ready now? Is Sasha safe.”

“Sasha’s patrolling,” Jennaca said. “Or maybe taking a nap on top of a rock. I never know for sure. Either way, she’s safe.”

John nodded and began to trace his spell. He summoned a tiny bit of magic and created a puff of flame in his hand. He knelt down and picked up Artesia’s broken sword by the grip and transferred the magical flame to the sheared off blade that was only three inches beyond the hilt. The flame danced there, sustained by John’s magic and concentration.

John moved back to the draconian and knelt down. He reached the hand with the sword out and placed the flame in front of its face. He nodded to Jennaca and waited.

Jennaca bent her legs and then jumped. She landed on the draconian’s back as hard as she could. What air was still in the creature’s lungs puffed out its reptilian mouth and nose. It blew across the flame, but instead of extinguishing the flicker of dancing light it ignited and jetted out over three feet before fading away.

John swore and dropped the sword while jumping back. He grabbed his hand with his other and rubbed it even though the flames hadn’t touched him. Jennaca giggled and stepped off the draconian.

“I was right,” she sang. “Told you so!”

John chuckled. “I didn’t doubt you.”

Sadie walked back over. “They breathe fire?”

“Not exactly,” John said.

“Their breath reminded me of swamp gas,” Jennaca said. “Not exactly the same, but it’s close. More like a pile of bodies rotting in the sunny spot of a swamp, I suppose.”

“Lovely,” the healer said.

Jennaca shrugged.

“These are clearly related to the dragonkin. Similar hides but they use tools and can speak, so they’re more intelligent. And, with the right spark, they can spit fire,” John said. “I expect they have a similar bone structure and I can already tell their rotting just as fast as the others.”

Sadie’s eyes widened. “You mean… you could have just caught them all on fire like back in Highpass?”

John nodded. “I expected them too. Wasn’t much air left in the draconian though. Lungs probably collapsed when he died.”

“They do that,” Sadie said with a disapproving frown. “Weren’t you worried?”

John smiled at her. “I can handle a little heat.”

She sniffed. “Well, I’m going back inside, it’s cold out here.”

John nodded. “Yes, we need to speak to the villagers. I expect they’ll be more helpful now.”

Sadie raised an eyebrow. “You’re an intelligent man, John.”

John tilted his head and said, “Thank you… I think?”

“We’ll need to work on guiding you with the wisdom to use that intelligence,” Sadie said.

Jennaca snickered as John’s eyebrows rose.

Sadie smiled and offered a short curtsy. “Milord, I’ll see you in the tavern.”

“I like her, can we keep her too?”

John chuckled. “I’m starting to think I may be spoiling you.”

Jennaca grinned and hugged him from the side.

John slipped his arm around her to hold her close as they started walking back to the inn. “How’s your leg? I barely saw it, but it looked bad.”

“Oh, it was,” Jennaca said. “Better now though.”

“You could wear more armor you know.”

Jennaca screwed up her nose like the idea smelled worse than the draconian. “Why? We’ve got Sadie now.”

“Jen! That could have killed you.”

“Naw, it wasn’t that bad. I’d have been laid up a while, sure, but I would have healed.”

“What if there had been one more dragonkin?”

“Then I’d have fought it.”

“With one leg?”

“Both legs still worked. This one just didn’t work as well.”

John leveled a stern gaze at her and stopped. He turned and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’re very special, Jennaca. Not just to me, but to this world. You will do great things, I think, whether I’m in your life or not. You have to be alive to do them though. Please, be careful.”

Jennaca’s smile faded as he talked. She looked up at him and her eyes began to glisten. When he finished she stepped in to him and hugged him so tight John struggled to breathe. He hugged her back without trying to break her ribs until she sniffed and stepped back. She wiped her cheeks and smiled at him.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded and then blurted out, “I just love you so much!”

John chuckled and kissed her.

“I know, it’s dumb. My mom worries about me even though she doesn’t show it. She’s very practical, my mom. Knows I have to learn things on my own and I have to get hurt sometimes too. Then there’s Carson… he’s kind of the same way but he’s got a soft spot for me. Thinks of me like his daughter, even though he’s really not the stay-at-home fatherly type.”

“You’re comparing me to parental figures in your life?”

Jennaca giggled. “Sorry. That’s not what I meant. I don’t have a lot of people in my life that really, truly care about me.”

“We all do,” John said.

She nodded. “I know. You most especially. It’s… well, it feels good knowing I matter to someone. To you.”

“You do,” John assured her.

She smiled. “You matter to me too, silly. And I will be careful, but I’ve only trained with heavier armors a few times and I really don’t like them.”

John frowned and then nodded a moment later. “When this is over I’ll see what I can do.”

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I was once the world’s premier enchanter,” John said. “I may not remember all my old tricks, but I’m sure I can come up with something that will help you out.”

She grinned and hugged him again.

John chuckled. “There I go, spoiling you again.”

“Keep it up and there’s no telling what I’ll spoil you with in return,” Jennaca said with a wink.

“Hmm,” John moaned as he tried not to let his imagination carry him away. He turned and, arm in arm, they made their way back to the tavern. “Sadie said healing exhausts you. I believe her but I wondered if you noticed it?”

“Oh, definitely,” Jennaca agreed. “It’s a lot like when we fuck, except I’m floating on a cloud after that. When she healed my leg I just felt like I’d hiked up a mountain. I wanted to find a comfy rock and curl up on it.”

“A comfy rock?”

She shrugged. “Not much else around her. When I’m that tired, just about anything can be comfy.”

John chuckled.

“You know what, I did feel good though. Totally different kind of good than what you do to me, but it was a wholesome and fresh feeling… even if I struggled to put one foot in front of the other.”

John nodded. “I don’t remember after she healed me… but you might be right. I slept well.”

John reached for the door at the tavern and opened it wide for Jennaca to head in. She smiled and walked in ahead of him and gave her hips a twitch as she passed, causing her free flowing strip of cloth that covered her bottom to jerk from side to side teasingly. John fought to keep the smile off his face as he entered the tavern behind her.

The muffled conversations in the tavern fell silent when he stepped in. John straightened a little and found himself looking at Holden. The mayor of Hawk Hollow glanced at Becket and then squared his shoulders and rose from his table.

“Lord John,” he called.

John was already heading toward him. “Mayor Holden,” he said. “In the morning we’ll leave Hawk Hollow. You’ll be free of outside influence then and, fates willing, that won’t change any time soon. All the same, I encourage you find yourself some protection.”

“We had protection!” Holden reminded him. “You just killed them.”

“You had slavery,” John said.

Holden hesitated and shook his head. “As long as we provided payment, we were free to do as we wished.”

“Including leaving the town?”

His lips moved without words.

John pointed to where Aisley sat. “You had runners that had to sneak about to bring word or supplies to and from the other villages. That is not freedom.”

“We were–”

“You were scared,” Sadie said as she stood from a table she shared with Jennaca and Zynga. “Rightfully so, they were monstrous aberrations. Any sane man would be, and you offered these people a way to endure the unendurable.”

Holden and John turned to look at the priestess. They weren’t alone.

Sadie continued, aware that she had everyone watching and listening to her. “Your actions were compassionate. You gave your people hope when they needed it most. You filled the void left by missing family and friends with a solution. You gave them answers to the most troubling questions. What will we do? How will we go on? You told them how. You led them.”

“That’s right,” Becket said from his seat. “He saved us all.”

Sadie smiled and turned to look at Holden. “Lead them now, Holden. Lead them into the future. You all came here with goals. To live as free folk. Do that now. Show them how. Show them that no one will control you again.”

Karl slammed his tankard of water on the bar, splashing some of it around. “Here, here!”

Sad raised an eyebrow at the man.

“We’ve got gold in the mountains. We can mine it anew and start over,” another man said.

“You’ve got the gold that was taken from you too,” John said. “I mean to return that to you, but you need to protect it. Others will come. Perhaps not dragons, but they might be as bad or worse,” John said. “We had the time to teach Highpass how to defend themselves. Here we do not… not yet. When we return we can–.”

“If you return,” Holden said.

John stared at him a moment before nodding. “That is fair. If we return. I’m hoping you can help us with those odds though. We need to know what you know about them.”

“Like what?” Becket asked.

“How many of them are there?” John asked.

Becket and Holden looked to one another before Holden answered, “I’ve never been able to account for more than eight of them at a time, but I’m sure there are more. At least two draconians too, but probably more. I’ve only seen one of them at any time but the one you fought had black eyes and a black face. The other one I’ve seen had some grey marks around its eyes and a gouge on its left horn.”

“That’s good to know, thank you. We’ve killed seven of them tonight, plus the draconian. The other day twelve more dragonkin died in Highpass. That’s nineteen of them.”

“A good start,” Jennaca said.

Sadie turned on the huntress, her lips parted in shock.

“What?” Jennaca asked her. “These aren’t natural creatures. Dragons are not natural creatures and nothing they create can be either. They came from somewhere else, somewhere not of this world.”

“How do you know this?” John asked.

“A wizard told me once that dragons were not of this world but came here and battled against the saints. The saints defeated their leader and imprisoned him. The others went into hiding for ages and began to work behind the scenes rather than drawing attention to themselves. My mother aided the King in his fight against the Order of the Dragon.”

“That is fascinating,” John said.

“Will it help us?” Sadie asked.

John looked at her and blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“Does that knowledge help us? Can we use it to fight these creatures or whatever their master is?”

“I… no, I suppose it doesn’t help us,” he admitted.

“Then it can wait for another time,” Sadie said.

John chuckled and nodded. “I suppose your right. Thank you for your wisdom.”

Sadie lit up at his words.

John turned back to the villagers. “One last thing… Artesia broke her sword on a dragonkin’s teeth… does anyone have one lying around I could buy?”

A few villagers looked to Holden and he nodded. “We’ve got a few. More bows and axes, but not the sort for war. We can help you out.”

John nodded. “Thank you… thank you all.”

Holden hesitated and, after a nod from Becket cleared his throat and said, “No, it’s us that should be thanking you, John. All the more if you succeed tomorrow. If not… well… know that we’ll be cursing you.”

John chuckled. “That’s fair. I think you’ll be please though, but only time will prove me right… or wrong.”

Holden smiled and nodded before he sat back down at his table.

John joined Jennaca and Sadie at their table and waited while Kyle brought out a bowl of stew and a tankard of water. He nodded and mumbled that there was no charge before turning and heading back to the bar.

John dug into the stew. It lacked flavor but it was thick with different meats. He tasted rabbit and squirrel most. He ate quickly once his belly realized how hungry he should be and demanded that become a priority.

John pushed it away and let out a sigh. “Not bad, considering they’ve had no proper supplies in weeks.”

“They’ve made do for themselves,” Sadie agreed. “I hope you don’t mind I butted in back there.”

“No, I’m glad you did,” John said. “You handled yourself very well and it was a good reminder to me. As you said, I get caught up in what is possible, not necessarily what we should do… or at least how we should do it.”

Sadie smiled and bowed her head. There was a hint of color in her cheeks.

John yawned. “I’ve a full stomach and I’m drained after all of today. It’s late and we’ve a long day ahead of us. I expect we could all use some rest.”

“There’s a small problem with that,” Jennaca said.

“Oh?”

She winked at him. “We all need to get some rest and they don’t have many rooms. We all need to double or triple up.”

“I see. And you took care of sleeping arrangements?”

“I did,” she said. “You’re stuck with me.”

John feigned horror. “How terrible!”

Jennaca giggled and rose. “Come on, my lord, let me show you to your bed.”

John grinned and caught Sadie rolling her eyes. He let Jennaca take him through the common room and up the stairs to the guest rooms. Once inside she shut the door behind them and began stripping off her equipment and clothes.

“In a hurry?” John asked.

“I need to feel you in me,” she said. “When I got hurt and you were struggling… I was scared. I know that’s going to happen sometimes– probably a lot– and I want to be in your arms.”

“I can grant that wish,” John said.

“Good. I know you’re probably full of power and all after killing that draconian, but I–”

John gasped. “I almost forgot! You’re right.”

“I am? You’re too full to fuck me? Can you at least hold me?”

“No, no… wait, I yes! I’ll never turn that down!” John corrected himself. “I meant the draconian. When I killed him I did pull some energy from him, but it was only a sliver. He… he didn’t have a soul. At least not a proper one. Just a shell of one. A fragment, maybe… I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Jennaca slid her shirt over her head and tossed it on the pile of her clothes. She licked her lips and said, “Good, It’s been long enough then. You fill me up and I’ll fill you up, sound good?”

John pulled his robe over his head and threw it on the floor with her clothes. His cock was rising as it stiffened before their eyes. “No, it sounds wonderful.”

Jennaca grinned and leapt into his arms. He caught her long enough to fall back onto the bed, then she proved that no matter how much he tamed her and made her his, she was still a wild animal at heart.

THE END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN