Chapter 2
She got slammed onto the ground and the air knocked out of her as she grunted, "What the fuck..." Zorina found herself blinking in an attempted to get rid of the white dots covering her vision. Someone was on top of her breathing heavily.
"I understand being embarrassed about getting caught naked but to actually try and jump off a cliff...are you insane?" he growled at her. The man had both her wrists pinned on either side of her head, for anyone else this would have been extremely uncomfortable, but she could burn him alive right now if she wanted.
She scoffed, "I was going to cast Floating Disk asshole and I ran before because frankly I don't like people not because I was embarrassed. Get your shit straight." She watched his face contort from anger, to confusion, then slight amusement. "What are you so fucking happy about, get off me!"
He let go of her wrists and she rolled out from under him, "Fucking humans..." she whispered under her breath.
"That's quite the fowl mouth you have there, my Lady." He was searching through one of his bags on Lil, she clearly needed clothes before she went to a town. Not that he wouldn't approve of it but most people were more conservative than him. He tossed a velvet robe to her, it was white with gold trim along the bottom, hood and sleeves.
She caught the robed and quickly wrapped it around her body, "I am nobody's 'Lady'." she rolled her golden (now in close quarters he very much noticed) eyes at him.
"My friends call me Saal," his hand outstretched towards her. How human, she thought. "And you aaare...?"
She raised a brow to him, "If you must call me something, Zoe." Zorina went to shake his hand, but he lifted her hand to his lips and winked. They're not blue they're silver, she observed him closer. "I find your attempted at flirting disgusting, but I appreciate you clothing me, so I won't burn you alive." He must be a half-human, some elves had silver eyes so that could explain why he has such a weird aura.
Saal Laughed, she was certainly a spit fire. He guessed he'd never get that robe back which meant his soon-to-be would surely be angrier with the idea of their marriage. He had heard the Princess lost her mind when she found out and almost took the mountain down with her during the rage. That temper could be fun too when he thought about it. Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman.
He looked at the wizard standing a few feet away from him, looking around. "So, where are you trying to go? I'm on a little quest of my own." Zorina turned to him, eyebrows pinched together.
"How well do you know this land?" she pulled the hood over her head as she turned to face him. Zorina now noticed he wasn't wearing his armor but leather pants and a white long sleeve shirt. Apparently, he hadn't felt like she was a threat, idiot.
He scratched the back of his neck, "Fairly well, although this is my first time crossing the ocean by boat-"
"Ocean? Where are we?" she blurted out trying desperately to find familiar landscape.
Saal laughed once again, "You must have had a good night if you forgot where you were."
Zorina huffed, "More like I threw a tantrum, fle-ran away and got cursed by my father. Whom I will be challenging to a battle when I arrive back home." she grunted angrily; her hand lit with flame.
"I see, well you are on the Eastern Kingdoms. I assumed you need to go West?" Saal never helped strangers, let alone chased after them when they saw him bathing. He wasn't sure why everything with this little human was like word vomit, not that he hated it. He shook his head, Saal was getting married in a month. Whether Zoe was attractive or not, he didn't want to betray his fiancé even if she hated him. She had such an effect on him it was almost inhumane, if he could only figure out what-
Zoe interrupted his thoughts, "I need to go to Rhikos Empire." Her stomach started growling loudly, she had forgotten she threw up that bartender. "Food first, that is a town, right?" She pointed to the bottom of the cliff.
"Yeah-" before Saal could finish she jumped off the cliff, this time he missed her arm and was able to cast Floating Disk.
Zorina turned around and yelled "I don't have any money so you're coming with me!" she cast Feather Fall on the Knight and his horse.
Saal found himself floating towards the wizard and landing on the ground next to her. It was almost as if she didn't interact with people on a daily basis, the way she handled this whole situation. She was caught bathing naked in a river, attempted to jump off a cliff, asked a stranger for directions and then forced him to come with her. Even if it was just to pay for her meal, he still found it strange. What was even more unsettling was his willingness to follow her. Not that Feather Fall gave him much of a choice. Plus, he was intrigued when she said she was going to Rhikos, it was also where he was going.
Zorina lifted her nose in the air, found the direction of the Tavern and quickly walked towards it. She ignored every person that passed her looking at her strangely. Golden eyes were not normal on the Eastern Kingdoms, she looked out of place here. The damp town clearly was not used to visitors and they stuck out like a sore thumb, or at least she did. Saal had the same dark hair, tall stature and confident aura they had. She was too hungry to care if these humans stared, Zorina took her companion by the wrist and tugged him through the wooden doors.
It was a busy night it seemed. A bard was playing a Western Kingdom song and the crowd was too heavily drunk to notice. The two continents had never really gotten along, individually they had their own Civil Wars and the last major war between them had been years before her birth but they were known to dislike one another none the less.
The whole purpose of her marriage was to calm the feelings between the two largest Dragon Clans and agree during the next Human, Elf, Orc or whoever war, that they would not get involved. Dragons dwindled in numbers as it was, but she wouldn't be used for Political gain. Gold Dragons were solitary creatures. Silver Dragons loved living among humans and Elves, the Prince could marry someone else.
As if feeling her frustration towards the crowd, amongst other things, Saal poked her shoulder and motioned for a table in a dark corner by a window. Thank the Goddess, she hurried to the table and let down her hood. Saal was able to see her hair dry now, it was curlier than he expected but still just as golden as before. He noticed her eyes almost glowed in the candlelight, she must be something other than human. That is the only thing that would explain what was so drawing about her.
The door opened and a large Leonin began making him way to their table. His black furred body adorned in silver cloth making an X on his chest and covering only his manhood and rear, held together by a large leather belt as well as one leather pauldron on his left shoulder. A long tail swayed as he walked over, the closer he got the taller he was. He must be over 7 feet tall...she mused. Saal seemed to be around 6 foot 5 inches. She wasn't short by any means, 5 foot 5 inches was the average height of a Gold female Dragon in human form. If she was in her Elven form she'd be at least 5 foot 11 inches.
He then sat in the chair next to Saal and spoke in a low voice about where they would be staying for the night now that they had an extra member of the party. Zorina couldn't quite place where she had seen him before, something was so familiar about this man.
When their exchange of ideas finished the man looked at Zorina and smiled warmly, "Greetings Zoe, we met earlier in my other form. I am Lil." he extended his paw towards her.
Zorina put her hand in his, "Oh! You're the horse? You're a shapeshifter! I've never met one before, I can only do-" she stopped herself. "Um, magic...shapeshifting is so different." she let out an awkward laugh and retracted her hand.
Saal growled, "How come he got a nice greeting and I got 'fuck this, fuck that'?" he rolled his eyes. A waitress came over and got everyone's order the sauntered off after flirting with Lil a bit. He was obviously a charismatic man, it's probably why Zorina just liked him from the start, even in horse form.
They spent the night getting to know one another, as much as they would each share. Zorina learned Saal was getting married and that's why he was going to the West Kingdoms, Lil was his best friend and escort. Saal was surprisingly fine with his arranged marriage, Zorina couldn't figure out why. But she didn't want to ask anything further in case it led them to ask about her situation. She lied about her entire life, according to them she was a wizard who practiced at the College in Rhikios, one of the best Wizard Colleges in the world. They accepted the information as fact and she didn't have to explain anything in detail. Although Lil was giving her a strange grin she wasn't too fond of.
Lil was from Theros and a Paladin, he spent most of his life at the Temple raising the cities orphans and healing the injured. When he met Saal they were fighting each other in battle and enjoyed each other's quips so much that they stopped in the middle of battle and started comparing fighting styles. Lil promised his unending loyalty to him and hadn't left since. Men, one minute they fight and the next they're drinking companions...Zorina smiled.
Saal was from Xurx Empire, he was less specific about the city or town but explain it was in the mountains. He family had promised him to another to heal old wounds and now he was off to marry her. Zorina had been discreet about her life but he gave little to no details about his.
"So that's it? You grew up in the mountains and now you're off to get married to a stranger?" Zorina asked.
Saal looked up, "Yep. All I know is she is apparently beautiful with a bad temper." he took a large swig of mead from his mug.
Saal watched Zoe look out the window, she appeared to be deep in thought while watching the rain fall. Maybe she had her own troubles of the heart but it wasn't his business. Lil nudged Saal in the side and raised his browns at him, Saal rolled his eyes in return. He knew what Lil was trying to do and it wouldn't work, if she didn't want to divulge more information about herself, he wouldn't ask.
Lil stood from the table and spoke "It's time I go to bed, we have a long trip in the morning. It will be roughly three hours to Stiol Coast and the ship ride will take a week or more. I hope you don't get seasick." he bowed to Zoe and smacked Saal on the back.
"I've never been on a ship before so I don't know." she responded before sipping her drink. This mead tasted like shit to her, her brother brewed much more powerful beer and she wouldn't be lying if she said she preferred wine anyways.
"How'd you get over here then?" Saal raised his brow in question.
Zorina finished her drink with a smile, "I got friends in high places." and with that she walked upstairs to a random room and commandeered it for the night.
