The Last Praetorian (23 page)

Tarion sighed. The last thing he needed was for Freya to be acting like a woman right now—her being a Goddess was quite bad enough.

She laughed and said, “You put too much importance on the difference between mortals, elves and Gods Tarion. We’re all beings of this world and we’re all, every one of us, children of the Creator.”

“I thought you couldn’t read my mind.” He took a deep breath and charged up his courage. Taking the Goddesses hips in his strong hands, Tarion pulled Freya to him, leaning forward to kiss her.

Freya giggled, but Tarion kissed only the air. He opened his eyes and she was gone. Tarion was no longer in the glade.

Chapter 20:
  A Foray into the Forest

The fresh green scent of the glade gave way to an older, heavier smell, altogether foul in comparison. Tarion found himself in the privy, back in Trondheim.

“Damn, she’s tossed me back in the muck—literally!” He stewed in a mixture of frustrated ardor, wonderment and trepidation. He looked at his hand. It was missing. Nothing had changed. “It was a pixie spell, nothing more.” Grudgingly, Tarion got on with his business and as weariness seeped back into his bones, he returned to the common room. The warmth of the tavern made him even drowsier, so he settled himself in his chair, wrapping the thick cloak snuggly around him.

As sleep began to envelope him Tarion confessed, “None of this is real. It’s all a product of an imaginative but delusional brain—with some pixie help, I’m certain! Therefore, I’ll have none of it. I’ll plunder Gaurnothax’s cave, collect my fortune and satisfy my parent’s wishes. Then I’ll buy myself a little keep deep within the woods where no one has ever heard of the Destructor, elven shades, the Imperium or Goddesses! Who knows, maybe I’ll even attract a young comely wife. We’ll settled down and have fifteen kids!”

He awoke to shaking.

Tarion blinked, looking up to the fresh, lovely face of Aubrey. He yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Then he saw he was in the common room of the tavern surrounded by other patrons who had too much ale to return home. The same must’ve been true for him. His waking mind raced back to his dreams. Guilty, he apologized, “Sorry honey, I didn’t mean to sleep over at your father’s tavern; where are the kids?”

Aubrey stared at him in disbelief, but then she broke into laughter. “I’d say you’ve been having some pretty interesting dreams Tarion!” She kissed him on the cheek. “Come on then darling and wash up; it’s time for breakfast.” She went away, giggling to herself.

Miserable, Tarion got to his feet grumbling, “Blasted pixie spell!”

He shuffled to the door of the inn and stepped outside for some fresh air. It was clear and crisp and he immediately felt better. The morning sun fell brightly on his face
. The sun dappled the river and the sea beyond with flecks of silver and gold. Tarion smiled at the change in the weather. His memory of the previous day came slowly back. “It should be a fine day to pay Gaurnothax a visit, but Aubrey’s right. A good breakfast is what I need first.”

He joined Hrolf and his family. Afterward, Hrolf gave instructions to his staff. In short order, they were ready to leave. Hrolf brought two oxen and a cart and Tarion led a horse. They enlisted Furge, two of his cousins and half a dozen men from Hrolf’s clan to lend a hand, just in case there were any misadventures. Hrolf didn’t mention Tarion’s intention to plunder Gaurnothax’s lair. Dragon treasure was, after all, too much of a temptation for most people to contend with. To Tarion’s surprise, Aubrey wanted to go see the dragon. She would ride the horse and return with her father.

The last member of the party was Setris, the pixie. “Good morning, sir,” he said, as he hovered next to Tarion’s face. His wings made a slight buzzing sound. It was higher in pitch than a bee but much more pleasant than a mosquito. “I hope you remember me from last night?”

“I do indeed, Setris. Thanks to you, I had an interesting night of sleep, or lack thereof. Pray never do that again!”

“Sorry, but the spell only showed things within you; I didn’t make any of that up Tarion.”

Tarion sighed and relented, “There’s no chance of you making up what I saw; that’s for sure. Alright, what can I do for you?”

 “It’s what I can do for you, Tarion, in a manner of speaking; for the right price.”

 
“Oh, you mean the boots,” Tarion said, embarrassed that his poverty prevented even considering such a thing.

“They would be of the finest quality,” Setris assured him. “I want to follow you around today in order to see what sort of use
you’d give them. There’s no use crafting a piece of apparel without taking the user into account, I always say.”

“I’ve no doubt they would be magnificent, Setris, but I don’t have anything to pay you with,” Tarion told him firmly.

“I’m certain you’ll have plenty; that is, if it’s Gaurnothax’s lair you’re seeking.”

“Let’s be quiet about that,” Tarion said. “All right, but I’ve no guarantee it’ll be enough to match the quality of your craft.”

“So long as you’ll agree to purchase a pair of boots, I’ll take the risk,” Setris said.

“Better agree on a price beforehand, Tarion,” Hrolf advised.

“Very well, what’s a good price?”

Hrolf thought it over and said, “At least ten times an expert cobbler’s rate, or a hundred times a street-bought pair. That would be twenty coppers for the one and twenty silver pieces for pixie craft.”

“Is that good enough, Setris?”

The pixie wrung his hands, “Well, that would be my standard rate, but I’m thinking you’re going to be extra hard on them, wrestling dragons and demons and such. The spells are not cheap, mind you. I couldn’t do it for less than five gold pieces worth of dust, but I’ll throw in a pair of gloves as well with the same quality and enchantments!”

“I only need a single glove, but if I am so fortunate to find that much, then we’ll call it a bargain,” said Tarion.

Setris assented and they started down the street. The pixie began the task of minutely studying the way Tarion used his feet. Some of this he did by flying close to the ground and observing the man’s strides, but for the most part the pixie rode the boot as a man would a horse and either watched the scenery or snored.

They passed the gate at about eight in the morning. The sun was shining through swift moving clouds and the morning was cool but not bitter. The oxen plodded along slowly and Furge and his cousins politely curtailed their strides to keep from outpacing the company, humming one of their native tunes.

A fresh carpet of snow covered the road. The woods were silent. Tarion felt the desire to talk to Aubrey, but he couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t sound trite and forced. She
didn’t seem to be in a talking mood anyway and that was troubling; it meant she was thinking.

He recalled the dreams of the night before. Were they perhaps real? If so, would he see Freya again? He hated to admit it, but he hoped so. Try as he might, Tarion couldn’t get the enchanting image of the Goddess out of his head. Silently, he rebuked himself. “The Goddess Freya is having tea with Odin and doesn’t have a clue that I’m having lurid day-dreams about her!”

Tarion tripped and fell face first in the snow.

The party stopped and Hrolf helped him up. “You drank a powerful lot of ale last night.”

Tarion shook his head and inspected the road where he fell, but there wasn’t a branch, stone or pit to trip him up. He looked around.
All right perhaps it was real my lady, but why me?

Why do you think, it’s all about the Wanderer!

Of course, meaning I’ll wander blindly to Asgard even if it kills me!

Light musical laughter echoed in his head. It only made things worse.

He was heartily relieved to reach the dragon. The summit of the road looked markedly different from the previous afternoon. It snowed during the night and the road was serene and quiet. Gaurnothax lay undisturbed. The snow wrapped his long serpentine shape in a funeral shroud of pure white.

Tarion helped Hrolf and Furge and the giants load the cart. Then as they saw to butchering the mastodon carcass—they couldn’t let it go to waste—he returned to the dragon. Aubrey was busy excavating the corpse using a pine branch as a broom. Tarion joined in the labor.

“I’d love to hear more of your dreams last night Tarion,” she said mischievously. “Did you find the chair comfortable?”

He didn’t dare tell her that his dreams were of Freya. Instead, he said, “The chair was comfortable enough for the purpose and entirely suitable for me.”

“I’ll wager my bed would have been more comfortable—warmer too,” she said, brushing so close that even her winter garb couldn’t hide the voluptuous feel of her body. “It sounds as though your dreams tended in that direction. How many kids did we have?”

Here was his opportunity to broach a more intimate subject. As he moved to speak, the image of Freya appeared in his mind. She was scowling.
What,
he demanded of the Goddess.
W
hy should you care? You have the Wanderer, Freya. A mortal, even the Praetorian, is beneath your consideration; that is, unless you mean to doom me to unrequited adoration for eternity!

She smiled.

Tarion said honestly, “Aubrey, I don’t think you’d appreciate the repercussions of having me sleeping in your bed.”

“Why would you feel guilty, Tarion?” she asked with a look of surprise. “Did you have ungentlemanly designs on me last night; we were married before I had the children weren’t we?”

“Oh Aubrey!” he retorted automatically. “I simply meant I would feel guilty about kicking you out of your own bed.”

“What are you saying, Tarion, am I not comely enough for consideration?” she asked. She planted her little hands coquettishly on her round hips and pouted.

“A little too comely for my comfort!” he told her firmly. Then he sighed and said, “I mean, of course you are. You’re an amazingly lovely and spirited girl, Aubrey. Any man in his right mind would kill to have you. I don’t grudge Koth his admiration for you.” He paused, wondering why he, a man who’d made a thousand battlefield decisions, was suddenly doubtful. At length he told her, “Listen Aubrey, yesterday I was the Praetorian of the Imperial Legions and I was betrothed to the daughter of the emperor; today, I don’t know what I am. I’ve left that life behind me, but I don’t know yet whether it will allow me to move on. If I can’t live as just a man,” he hesitated and shook his head. “Well that’s no world for a girl as lovely as you. You deserve better.”

The laughing voice entered his head again.
Well done Tarion; really, you are quite the cad!

“That’s very sweet Tarion; you’re such a nice and honorable man,” Aubrey smiled and she patted him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you yet.”

Tarion groaned. He brushed the snow off Gaurnothax’s head, hoping to change the subject. “Well now, there’s the business end of Gaurnothax. An impressive brute isn’t he?”

“Yes, that he is,” she said with a feral smile—meaning every word but not considering the dragon a bit.

Tarion swallowed hard. Thankfully, after an uncomfortable silence, Aubrey did inspect Gaurnothax. Even in death, the dragon was enough to command attention. Bared to his thirty-foot length, gleaming green-black, Gaurnothax seemed like he slept in life rather than in death.

“He’s so big,” Aubrey said. “I never imagined dragons grew to this size. I was thinking of something rather like a large horse.”

Hrolf laughed and stumped through the snow to the carcass. He opened dragon’s jaws and placed his head inside the maw. “Hey, lass, here’s the highway your father took for an age. A pretty handy way to Odin’s table, I must say!”

F
ather, you needn’t joke of it,” Aubrey scolded, seemingly sobered by the thought. “All my life I’ve heard stories of dragons and daring deeds; but that was all in the comfort of my own home and by the warmth of my own fire.” She shivered and huddled in her cloak. “The world is cold and real and deadly.”

“That it is,” Tarion nodded, unlatching his wrist-blade. He inserted it beneath a row of scales behind the dragon’s shoulder. He began to cut lengthwise across the back.

“Tarion, you’re not going to cut off its head, are you?” Aubrey asked with disgust.

“No Aubrey, something quite different,” he said curtly. “For an adventurer, opportunity is as important as gold. There’s more to Gaurnothax than his conquest and his hoard. I suppose I could leave him to rot and be forgotten, but that would do me no good and Gaurnothax no justice. I honor him, in a morbid sort of way, by using his power for my own ends.”

Aubrey sighed. “Very well, I’m justly rebuked. I ask you again, what are you doing? From here it looks like nothing more than trophy hunting and that is quite simply disgusting.”

“I’m not trophy hunting, I’m requisitioning. I no longer have my legions behind me
. I can’t go around in my Praetorian armor. Therefore, I’m cutting myself a dragon-scale tunic. A good smith can make these scales into armor wonderfully light and strong. It will rival dwarven chain, but be far more effective against fire and cold.”

“Where did you learn so much of dragons and armor?” Aubrey asked, somewhat placated by Tarion’s intentions.

“I was the Praetorian! It was my vocation to know these things,” he laughed. Noting her serious expression, he explained, “It’s a wide world Aubrey. I’ve ridden the depth and breadth of the Imperium, even to the wastes of the west. There are many wondrous things in the world. Some things, like this, are mixture of wonderment and practicality. I have a long and dangerous journey before me. It requires stealth but it will result in strife. I need to take advantage of every opportunity. Besides, Gaurnothax will be able to brag about this in the ethers if his armor saves my life—believe me it’s true.” In another moment, he had a swath of Gaurnothax about six feet wide and almost ten feet long. “Ah there we are! You see, the secret is to take the flesh along with the scale. A dragon’s flesh is a tightly beaded mesh of tiny scales—a wonder of the Creator’s art! They bind the larger plates into a flexible sheet of armor. The larger scales are extremely tough and difficult to pierce. A smith will wear out many an iron awl piercing the large scales to link them together with wire, that’s why it’s much easier to shape the hide with the flesh, though that takes time as well.”