Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

True to his word, the trees and brush vanished fifty yards ahead and we stepped out of the thick woods and found ourselves on a narrow dirt road. The thoroughfare stretched from north to south and wound its way out of sight in both directions.

Ware stooped beside the dirt and sniffed the ground. He frowned and backtracked, nearly crashing into Vargas who had pushed Allard out of the way at the first chance of getting out of the rough woods. Ware turned his head and glared at her and she scowled right back.

“I will not stay another moment in that forest!” she snapped as she hurried around Ware and to the middle of the road.

“Is there a problem?” Allard asked our hunting guide.

Ware dropped his nose close to the ground and sniffed the border between the wild grass and the civilized dirt. “The scent has vanished.”

“What do you mean?” Will inquired.

Ware circled the ground in front of him with one finger. “It appears here and begins its travel through the woods, but before this, I smell nothing.”

I looked up and down the road. “Did the thing come from a wagon or horse?”

Ware knelt beside the ruts in the road caused by the countless wagon wheels. He brushed his wizened old hand over the holes and furrowed his brow. “A vehicle passed by here within the last few hours. The mud thrown up by the wheels is still fresh.” He followed the tracks with his sharp eyes. “The wagon may have had four horses, but there has been too much traffic for me to be sure.”

“They could be anywhere by now with that many horses,” I pointed out.

Allard turned to Will. “Do you keep a close eye on the travelers in your domain?”

Will pursed his lips. “Not so thoroughly that I could recognize them all by sight, especially when they wish to elude me.”

“But you found the wagon that kidnapped me that one time,” I pointed out.

He nodded. “The wagon’s suspicious speed and your scent allowed me to catch you that time. In this instance, we may not even have the quick carriage. A furious driver would attract attention and since our foe is so eager to remain anonymous I doubt they will be so hasty.”

“Then what do we do? Scour the area ourselves?” Ware snapped.

“Oh no!” Vargas mused as she flexed one foot and winced. “All I desire is a warm bath for my feet, not a chill flight over these dank forests.”

Will raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled. I lifted my eyebrows at him as the sound rang loud and clear up and down the road.

Allard turned to him and frowned. “What have you called?”

“A friend,” Will answered as he lifted his eyes to the sky.

We all waited in breathless anticipation for an explanation. It came in the form of a loud shriek of a bird that filled the void left by Will’s quieted whistle. That was followed by the loud flap of wings and a shadow flew across the ground where we stood. A sharp wind struck us and my hair whipped my face.

Vargas cried out and clapped her hands against her inappropriate dress to keep the hem from flying up. She whipped her head up and glared at Will. “What is the meaning of this, Lord Thorn?”

Ware’s bulging eyes stared dumbfounded up at the sky. A few hushed words left his parted lips. “My God. A venera. I thought they were all extinct.”

“Only in this area,” Will mused with a smile on his lips.

The creature returned and hovered over us. My mouth dropped open as I beheld a large eagle like those that inhabited the northern stretches of the Rohkea Vali. The difference between the canyon eagles and the one that slowly lowered itself toward the road was the color of the plumage. This one sported soft gray colors mixed with a rainbow tail that reminded me of the legendary phoenix. A great tuft of the plumage started atop its head and flowed down the back of its neck like a fluffy mane to cover half its backside.

I caught Will’s eye and pointed at the bird. “But isn’t that one of the-” He pressed a finger to his lips and winked at me. I finally got the hint and clapped my mouth shut.

Ware was too distracted by the landing of the bird to care what I said. He practically skipped over to the creature as it landed with cool elegance. The dragon lord stretched out his hand to brush his fingers against the creature’s plumage, but the eagle narrowed its eyes and snapped at his hand. Ware jerked it back as the bird continued to glare at him.

“You wreak of animal blood, dragon,” the eagle growled.

Ware cradled his uninjured hand in his other palm and glared back at the creature. “Of course. I am a hunter.”

The eagle looked him up and down with a keen focus on the dragon’s stomach. “And you appear to eat all of your sport.”

Ware’s cheeks turned red and he took a step toward the beast. “Why you filthy-”

“Wait a moment,” Allard scolded him as he grabbed Ware’s arm and pressed his palm against the angry dragon’s chest. “You forget yourself, counselor. We are in Lord Thorn’s domain and cannot harm any of his subjects unless to defend ourselves.”

“I would defend my dignity,” Ware muttered as he cast a dark look at the bird.

“I have no idea why you believe this creature should be hunted,” Vargas spoke up as she sauntered over to the bird. The eagle watched her but didn’t move as she admired his plumage with an appreciative smile. “You are absolutely lovely the way you are. Are your feathers as soft as they appear?”

“Softer,” the eagle replied.

Her eyes lit up. “May I touch them?”

The eagle nodded. “You may.”

While she stroked the eagle’s long mane of feathers, Allard turned to Will. “Do you expect the bird to track the roads across your kingdom?”

Will smiled and shook his head. “No, I expect its company to do the tracking for me.”

“Company?” I repeated.

A sudden scream from Vargas forced our attention back to the eagle. The dragon woman stumbled back and fell onto her rear. She furiously shook her hand and something flew off one of her fingers and sailed over to Allard where it landed on his shoulder. The usually stoic doctor jerked back as the thing latched onto him.

“Don’t you dare throw me away!” a tiny voice squeaked.

I blinked once, then again, but I still couldn’t believe my eyes. A tiny person clung to Allard’s shoulder with its small hands gripping his coat. The figure looked like a witch had shrunk a man to the size of a pinky finger and did the same to all his old-fashioned home-spun vest, shirt, and pants. His feet were without shoes but not bare as they were covered in a thick mess of fur that hid his toes. The only part of the tiny man that was of any great size was his hair. The shaggy brown mane flowed down his back and cascaded over his front to cover him in a homemade thread-bare coat.

Allard stared in bewilderment at the creature. “What are you?”

The tiny man scowled back at him. “That’s not polite to ask that! You should ask my name first!”

Allard took the schooling in stride and bowed his head, which forced the small man to cling tighter to him. “My apologies. My name is Allard. What is yours?”

His small attachment lifted his chin. “Sir Arthur Slechtic, Master of the Tenky.”

“Tenky?” I repeated.

“T-there are more of you?” Vargas sputtered out.

Sir Slechtic scowled at her. “Of course. What would a master be without his subjects?”

Vargas creakily turned her head toward the eagle whose eyes twinkled with mischief. A gaggle of giggles floated out from beneath his long mane.

“Quit with that fooling about and come out!” Slechtic scolded the sounds. “Come on! Out with ya!”