The Bond (Book 2) (44 page)

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“
Journeyman Halitos is here.” Master Millinith’s odd announcement only added to the strangeness of her suddenly calling a meeting tonight. Renata had never heard of the person before, but it was obvious Cheddar had.

He sat up and said, “What? The reporter?”

“Yes.” Master Millinith looked worried.

Who was this Halitos?

“Why is that hack here?” Cheddar looked angry. “Halitos is an affront to archivists everywhere. His so-called reporting is the worst of the worst.”

“He wants to do a story on us,” Master Millinith said, “on dragonlinked and dragons.”

“Oh no,” Cheddar whispered. He sat back, a stunned look on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Sharrah put her hand on his arm.

“His stories usually tear into their subjects, slander them, make them out to be terrible people. It’s worse than old men or women gossiping.” Cheddar looked at Master Millinith. “Is there any way we can kick him out of the Caer? We do not need this so close to the meeting.”

“Lord Baronel has allowed him to rent a room at the Housing Hall. He feels that if we refuse, it would seem as if we were hiding something.”

Cheddar stood. “We are!”

Master Millinith frowned. “Yes, but we don’t want to
seem
as if we are. Besides, this Halitos knows more than he should. It would not be wise to refuse.”

“What do you mean, knows more than he should?” Aeron asked.

“He knows we have several dragons. He knows we helped with the horse vaccine. And,” she looked at Willem, “he knows one of you was injured during those deliveries.”

“How?” Liara said.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Fillion stared at his hands on the table. “That same interfering person set him on us.”

“I came to the same conclusion,” Master Millinith said.

It made sense, Renata supposed. That person, whoever he or she was, always seemed to know what they were doing. “What do we do?” she asked.

“We let him write his story,” Master Millinith said. “Other than our interest in forming a guild, we have nothing to hide. Answer all his questions, just make no mention of the guild. With the meeting less than a month away, we can’t allow news of our true intentions in Delcimaar to get out. As far as anyone knows, we’re trying to form a company.”

She sat. “Journeyman Halitos will be joining us momentarily. He’ll be in the Caer for a few days as he interviews people. The one concession we asked of him was to not publish the story until the day before the meeting. He doesn’t know the importance of the date, just that we don’t want him to publish before it. So, let’s make the best of this that we can.”

As they waited, Renata kept glancing at Jessip.

A force of nature.

Her lips curved in a little smile. That was probably the most flattering thing she’d ever heard. Heart thumping, she glanced at him again.

When he’d told her all of that, told her how he felt, she’d been astonished. He didn’t see a pretty trinket to be traded away for prestige, or a drone in a hive of fanatic liars, or a stepping stone to a higher position. He saw . . . her.

Xochi’s words—he feels the same way about you as you do about him—had surprised her as well. They’d forced a re-examination of her feelings and a realization that she was more than just curious about him. She liked him. A lot. Which is why she’d almost kissed him. Stupid messenger.

She wasn’t sure she’d try again, however. As much as he thought he knew her, Jessip didn’t know the things she’d done. None of them did. If, when, he found out, would he still feel the same way about her? Would any of them?

The man is here. He is walking into Anaya and Balam’s den.

Xochi’s warning must not have been the only one. Several heads turned to the doorway.

Renata was surprised to find that Halitos looked normal. She’d expected
 . . . well, she wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t him.

“Dragons are larger than I had imagined,” he said as he walked in from the den.

Master Millinith stood. “Indeed,” she said, “Though they aren’t that big when they hatch.”

A notepad appeared in his hand. “Hatch?”

“Yes. Dragons hatch from eggs.”

“I see.” Scribbling. “How many eggs in a clutch?”

“Usually one, though up to three more is not unheard of.”

He grunted as he wrote.

“You and I can talk some tomorrow, if you’d like?”

“Oh. Yes, of course. And I want to observe your employee training sessions at some point.”

As Master Millinith made introductions, Renata stared at him. That man, that average-looking man, could undo all they’d worked for. Did he even know how much power he wielded?

Should I eat him?

Renata placed a hand over her mouth and faked a cough to cover the burst of laughter. “Excuse me,” she said, when a few looked her way. “Must be dust or something.”

Xochi, don’t be ridiculous. Besides, would you even eat a person?

I do not think so. But it could solve the problem.

And create another one. We’d have to explain what had happened to him. We want people to accept us, to like us. News that dragons eat people would do the complete opposite of that.

“I’d like to interview each of the, ah, employees at some point while I am here.” Calmly confident, Halitos glanced at each of them.

Renata had considered letting Xochi have her way more than once over the last few days. Explaining Halitos’s disappearance might actually be easier than dealing with the man. He seemed dead-set on insulting them all, dragons included. Even so, they had taken him to the quarry yesterday and showed him around.

Halitos had seemed impressed with the construction, taking many notes as they gave him a tour of the place. But other than that trip, he’d spent the days mostly wandering the Caer, doing who-knows-what.

He had dropped by earlier today to sit in on their Magic Craft class. He sat in the back, quiet, except for the occasional soft scratch of his note-taking. He’d also dropped by the dragon stables a few times. To observe, he said. Though Halitos had given more than enough cause to do so, Aeron, with incredible, gods-like patience, had impressed them all by not throttling the man on those occasions.

The second evening, Aeron had been brushing Anaya when Halitos asked, “How do you train your pets to stand so still as you groom them?”

Aeron took a moment before answering. “As I’ve mentioned many times before, dragons aren’t animals. They aren’t pets. They’re people. You just explain to them what you are trying to do.”

“Explain?”

“Yes. They understand our language.” Aeron turned to his bond-mate. “Anaya, would you lift your left wing, please?”

She chirped and did as asked.

Aeron began brushing her hide beneath the outstretched wing. Glancing at the reporter, he asked, “Are you married?”

Halitos looked confused for a moment. “I am. To a very lovely wife.”

“Has she ever done anything you don’t like? Even something simple.”

The reporter rubbed his lip as he thought. “Well, she used to squeeze the tube of tooth-cleaning paste in the middle.”

In a casual voice, Aeron said, “How long did it take you to train her to stop?”

Halitos laughed. “Train her? I just asked her to . . .hmm.” He’d stared at Aeron for a moment.

Renata had also spied the man skulking about behind trees or bushes or corners. She caught him one time watching Sharrah and Cheddar kiss before they headed off to do morning chores. He’d scribbled something in his notepad. She saw him writing notes another time when he saw Aeron and Willem kiss before heading to their separate craft lessons. She had no idea what the man was up to.

And now, he was standing in her study.

“You’re not from around here, I’m told?”

“That’s true,” she said. “I’m from the south.”

“I see. Well, then I’d like you to be my first ‘dragonlinked’ interview.”

She could hear the quotes he must be thinking in his head.

“Why is it you’re called that, by the way?” He sat on the couch.

She turned her desk chair to face him and took a seat. “If the dragon hatchling chooses you, there is a spell, the Bond, that links you and the dragon together.”

“Links you together?”

Renata nodded. “Yeah. It creates a magical link between you and your dragon. Connects your souls, even. I can feel Xochi, can even hear her thoughts, sometimes.”

Writing in his pad, he said, “Dragonlinked. I see.” He looked at her. “So, as you’re not from around here, what do you think of these people?”

“Think of them?”

“Sure. Are they honest? Trustworthy? Doesn’t it seem as if they’re hiding something?”

She feigned confusion. “Hiding something?”

He looked at her for several seconds before leaning back. “Do you like them?”

“I do. They took me in and let me stay. They’ve treated me very well.”

“What do you mean, they took you in?”

“Well, I came here chasing the rumor of a boy who had a dragon. I wanted to see if it was true. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about what I would do once I got here, once I found out one way or the other. They invited me to stay, to join their, ah, company, to help fight nahual.”

“I see.” He wrote more notes. “What about Millinith—”

“Master Millinith?”

He looked up. “Yes. What’s your impression of her? Do you think she’s too young to be president of a company?”

“She’s a master. Age has nothing to do with it. Besides, she’s amazing.”

“How so?”

“There are a great many things she has accomplished, a great many things she is tasked with. Not only is she a master sorcerer and an adept zoologist, but Lord Baronel has her in charge of getting the company launched and getting the new dragon hall built. She’s doing a very good job of it, even though she’s also training us in Magic Craft and Animal Craft.”

He made no notes. He just sat there, silently watching her. She could tell he was thinking, but about what, she had no idea.

+ + + + +

“So, because you and Aeron are dating, you got a dragon?”

Willem stared at Halitos and tried to remain calm. The interview had been going on in Aeron’s study for over half an hour so far, and Willem wasn’t sure how much more he could take. “One doesn’t ‘get’ a dragon. The dragon chooses who he or she will. We don’t have an influence on the selection.”

The man nodded and wrote in his notebook. “How long have you two been seeing each other, anyway? I noticed your dragon stays with Anaya in her den and there is a cot stuck in there.” He gestured to Aeron’s bedroom. “Though it doesn’t seem to have been slept in a lot.” A sly grin twisted his lips.

Willem clenched his jaw. “How often do you and your wife fight? Do you beat each other when you do?”

The grin disappeared. “What? We don’t beat each other. And anyway, that’s a little personal, don’t you think?”

“I’m sorry, I thought personal was the order of the day.”

Halitos’ mouth twisted in a frown, and he leaned back in the couch. “This company Lord Baronel is trying to get started, how exactly will it make money?”

“That’s a little like asking a pikeman how the battle will be won, but I have heard that we will charge fees, like any practicing professionals, for services rendered.”

Halitos grunted. He pointed to Willem’s cheek with the pencil. “Is that scar from the injury you received while helping with the horse vaccine?”

“It is. I got it killing a nahual.”

“Does it bother you being sent out to fight those creatures, being sent out to die?”

“Being sent out? Try holding me back. Try holding any of us back. We choose to fight those damned things.”

“Come now, let’s be honest, here. Mil—ah, Master Millinith sent you all out there knowing full well you might run afoul of those creatures. That truly doesn’t bother you?”

“We told her we wanted to help. If we hadn’t, who knows how many horses would have died, how many businesses and people would’ve been ruined. And we know nahual are out there. Investigating nahual attacks is what the company is for, you may remember.”

“So all of you actually want to work for the company?”

Willem glanced at the open notebook and then looked Halitos in the eye. “There are worse jobs we could have.”

The man met his gaze and said, “You don’t like me.”

“So you can glean some truths after all.”

A grunting dragon laugh came from the den.

+ + + + +

Aeron paced around the investigation office with the remaining interviewees. Halitos, starting earlier with Willem, had decided to do all the remaining interviews in Aeron’s study. Liara had been in there for some time now, and Aeron would be next. He wasn’t sure what to expect.

Liara walked in from the den and closed the door behind her.

“How did it go?” Aeron asked.

Her eyes were afire, she was so angry. “I’m sorry, Aeron.”

“For what?”

“I didn’t mean to tell him about that fight we had. It just came out.”

“Oh. Well, don’t worry about it. You told him we’re all friends now, right?”

“Yes. But—”

“Stop. Don’t let this reporter upset you. There isn’t anything we can do to control what he will write. All we can do is be ourselves, keep our tempers, and tell our story as best we can.”

“You should have heard the garbage that ass spouted when he asked about my getting hurt,” Willem said. “Honestly, he tried to make it out like Master Millinith sent us out to be killed. But I got him back in line. I told him why we were delivering the vaccines and that it was our choice.”

Jessip nodded. “Like Aeron said, keeping the focus on what we believe, what we are trying to do, is the best tack to take. Hopefully some of it will end up in his article.”

Liara nodded and looked at Aeron. “He said to go in whenever you’re ready.”

Aeron stood. Might as well get it over with.

The man was sitting on the sofa.

Halitos gestured to the desk chair and said, “Please, close the door and have a seat.”

Aeron did so and stared at the man.

Keep calm. Don’t get angry.

“You’ve got it pretty easy, here.”

“Easy?”

“Sure. You’ve got your own rooms, a place for your dragon, and all your friends are here with you.”

Halitos hadn’t called Anaya a pet. Maybe the man could learn after all. “I don’t know that I would call it easy.”

“No?”

“Comfortable? Undoubtedly. Amazing? Perhaps. But easy?” Aeron grimaced. “There’s a lot that we do, not much of which I would call easy.”

“Like what?”

Aeron listed things off. “We’ve divided up the major communities in the region amongst us and patrol them once a week, looking for nahual. We care for, feed, groom, and train our dragons. Also, we’ve got dragonlinked classes to attend, where we learn combat and defensive magic and learn the biology of our dragons. Then there’s responding to ‘writer messages of attacks. When we get one, we send a team to investigate the site to learn more about nahual. And there’s the company we’re trying to start to make it easier to fight those horrible creatures.”

Halitos looked up from writing in his notebook. “I suppose you do keep pretty busy. Incidentally, how many nahual have you and the others killed?”

“Five in the last six months. I’ve run across three, Renata one, and Willem one. We’ll undoubtedly find and destroy more, too, now that we’re running patrols.”

“Well, this is the Northern Wilds, after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”

Aeron shook his head. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that nahual are only a problem in the wilds. They’re everywhere. Renata and Xochi killed theirs further south, as they made their way up here to Caer Baronel.”

Halitos grunted.

“And killing them is not easy. Nahual can cast spells. Not many know that. They can also counter spells cast on them. The first one I ran across nearly killed me. If Anaya hadn’t been there, I’m not sure I would have made it. Dragons really are an important part of our efforts.”

Halitos stared at Aeron a moment. He sat back in the couch and said, “I know you dislike dragons being called pets, but that’s how a lot of people think of your relationship with your dragon. Well, at least people out there in the rest of the world. Everyone in Caer Baronel thinks very highly of them.” He let out a gusty breath. “The thing is, I really haven’t seen much to dispel the idea that dragons are anything more than pets.”

I heard him asking about me and the other dragons all day. He does not believe the answers he received.

Aeron leaned forward. “Why do some people refuse to believe the truth?”

“What do you mean?”

“Dragons
are
people. But as many times as I’ve said it, as many times as all of us have said it, you still don’t believe.”

Aeron stood. “I think it’s high time you interviewed one.”

Halitos, looking highly skeptical, followed him into Anaya’s den. She and Balam watched them approach.

“Humor me and pretend she is an intelligent being,” Aeron said, “a person. Ask questions with that in mind.”

Halitos stared at Aeron, then asked, “Does she like being bonded to you?”

Aeron shook his head. “Don’t ask me.” He pointed to Anaya. “Ask her.”

With an audible sigh, Halitos turned to Anaya. “Do you like being bonded to Aeron?”

She let out a happy chirp and nodded.

Halitos, eyes narrowed, glanced at Aeron.

“Don’t look at me,” Aeron said. “I’m just standing here.”

Turning back to Anaya, Halitos said, “Aeron and others have said that killing nahual is the purpose you all share. Do you agree with that?”

Another chirp and a nod.

Halitos looked at Aeron a moment, then turned back to Anaya. He stroked his chin between finger and thumb. “If Aeron were hurt while hunting nahual, would you be happy?”

A deep, rumbling growl came from Anaya, and she shook her head.

“Steady, now.” Halitos raised his hands. “I just wanted to be sure you could do more than agree. I’ve seen animals trained to answer questions.”