Chapter 2

Morwanneg went back to the stranger's room with a tray of food in her hands.  He was waiting quite patiently, sitting up against the headboard with his hands folded on his lap.  He bowed his head to her in greeting as she walked up to the bed.

"Thank you," he said as she put the food down before him.  He picked up the fork between thumb and forefinger and looked critically at it.

"What, never seen a fork before?" Morwanneg asked him.  He was a strange one, certainly.

He startled and looked at her again.  "It is only that…no, never mind."  The way he held the fork indicated that he wasn't used to using one, but he seemed to manage all right with his food.  "This is very good," he commented between bites.

Morwanneg smiled.  "Thank you, lad."

He put down the fork and regarded her carefully.  "I am called Jack," he introduced himself.  "I would like to know the name of the one who is showing me such hospitality."

"My name's Morwanneg," she said with a quick curtsey, "Head of the infirmary.  Nice to meet you."

"Can you please tell me where I am?  From what I have seen of this place it is very beautiful, but I would like to know its name."

She raised an eyebrow at him.  "You will in time, Jack, but first concentrate on getting better.  Everything will be explained soon – but until then, just eat and rest.  No, don't argue with me; you barely survived the mountain, and it'll take time for you to get your strength back."

She didn't know what to make of the way he smiled at her for that.

~***~

Jack was startled awake by the opening of the door.  He looked up to see who was entering the room.

It was not the same woman who had attended to him. This woman was young, wearing a dress of red silk and a collection of golden bracelets. Her skin was very fair and her long, dark-brown hair cascaded down nearly to her waist. She smiled at him. He tried to get up so that he could bow to her, but she waved for him to stay where he was, so he did.

She came to the side of the bed in a rustle of silk. He noticed with a shock that her eyes were milky blue - she was blind. But she had seen him try to get out of the bed, and moved as surely as any sighted person. And when she looked at him, he knew that she could see him, eyes or no.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Much better, thank you," he replied.

The young woman nodded. "Very good. My name is Arienne, and I am the Seer of the Dragon King. I know who you are," she said with a smile. Her voice, though it was young, had all the wisdom and confidence of someone much older.

"I am called Jack.  Please tell me, where am I?  Morwanneg will not tell my anything."

"This city is called Kel Tor.  I suppose you would like to know why you were brought here?" the Seer remarked. Jack nodded, hoping that he didn't seem too eager. The Seer closed her eyes. "I saw that you would be on the mountain, and that you would need our help. But we will also need yours."

"If I can repay your people for what you have done," Jack said, "Then please tell me how."

The Seer opened her eyes again. "I'm getting to that. This kingdom, you see, is one of the last free lands on the planet. Aku, naturally, wishes us ill, and has tried many times to destroy the city.  But he has not yet succeeded – because this is a citadel of dragons, and none of his minions have been powerful enough to defeat them."

"Dragons?" Jack realized that he had asked that question as a small child would, but the Seer didn't remark on it.

"Because of our inaccessible position and the combined strength of the dragons and humans of this kingdom, we have so far managed to keep Aku at bay. But I have forseen that he will soon launch an assault upon us, with dragons made of metal to match our own.  I had the two visions at about the same time - first the one about Aku's metal dragons, and then the one about you. Although we do not get much news from the rest of the world up here, I still know about you, for your presence in this world generates...ripples, if you will."

"I do not understand," Jack confessed.

"Most people don't," the Seer replied. "But suffice it say that I have been aware of you for a long time." She tilted her head to the side as if listening.

Jack listened too, and heard footsteps outside just before his door opened. Morwanneg came into the room bearing another tray of food. "I hope she hasn't been keeping you up too long. You need your rest."

"No, no, it is all right," Jack insisted as the healer put the tray down on a table beside the bed. The smells from it made him hungry again.

"Do not be concerned, Morwanneg, we were simply having a brief conversation," the Seer reasurred her, a note of amusement in her voice. She looked at Jack again. "I must go before Morwanneg chases me out. She is very protective of her charges." She smiled mischevously before nodding a good-bye and gliding out of the room as silently she had come in.

Jack did not like the idea of being anybody's 'charge,' but Morwanneg was rather difficult to argue the point with. He had wanted to get up and look around after he ate, but she insisted that he stay and rest. He tried to reason with her, but to no avail.

"We used magic to heal you. That takes a lot out of a person, don't you know, so you shouldn't be wandering about just yet. And if you sneak out and something happens to you, I'll be in a lot of trouble with the king and you will be in even more trouble with me. So don't you argue with me, young man." She crossed her arms and glared at him.

Jack could match wills with just about anyone or anything, but he had a feeling that Morwanneg was somehow out of his league. There was something in her eyes that told him that even Mount Fatoum was not as tough as this woman could be, when she got mad. And in any case, he was in no condition to fight a battle of any kind.

So he gave in, for the time being. "I will do as you say," he informed her.

"You darn well better," she replied. "But don't worry, you'll be up on your feet soon. It will just take a little time. Then you can wander about all you want."

~***~

            Jack spent the next two days (he knew it was two days because Morwanneg told him so) following his caretaker's instructions.  But when she told him that he was recovered to her satisfaction he was dressed and out of the little room as quickly as possible.  He had to force himself not to run down the hall to the great doors, and once he had passed through them he hardly knew where to go first.  There seemed to be a market bazaar in a grand square on the cavern floor below, and he could see shapes flying through the air close to the cavern opening far away – those must have been the dragons.

            He looked from one to the other.  It seemed that he would have to descend to the cavern floor in any case if he wished to make his way to the dragons, so he would look at the bazaar first.  There was a set of descending stairs at the end of the walkway to his right, and he headed for those.  It took him some time to work his way down to the ground, as the myriad walkways and ladders and such did not seem to be laid out in an organized pattern, or at least not one that he could discern.  Sometimes he had to climb up to reach the steps or bridge or mechanical lift (there were a few of those) that would take him to a lower level.  He considered asking someone for directions, but the process of finding his way was enjoyable in itself, for he saw many interesting things along the route – beautiful carvings, statues in alcoves, paintings and mosaics turned up in the oddest of places, and had he been following someone down he might have missed them.  Jack also had reason to be grateful for his borrowed clothes, since his usual attire was not ideally suited to a place in which one had to travel vertically as much as horizontally.  He could manage ladders in his geta sandals, but it was difficult.

            The bazaar, when he finally reached it, proved a fascinating place indeed.  There were a hundred stalls that sold everything from fabrics to food to jewellery, a score of minstrels, acrobats, dancers and performing magicians, and quite a lot of people.  Jack actually forgot about seeing the dragons for a while, and only headed for their part of the cave a good three hours after he had set off from his room.

            The cavern walls and ceiling formed a sort of bottleneck at one point – this point was the divisor between the human and dragon cities.  There was a low wall there, watched by a number of human guards.  These guards would not let Jack through to the other side, saying that he lacked the proper authorization to pass.

            But such authorization was not long in coming.  The clinking of bangles and the rustle of silk caught his attention, and he turned around to find the Seer behind him.  He bowed to her, and she responded with a curtsey.

            "You're a little earlier than I thought you would be," she remarked.  Jack did not even think to wonder how she had known that he would be here.  There was something else he wished to know, however.

            "Excuse me, but for what occasion have I arrived early?" he asked.

            "Your meeting with the Dragon King," the Seer answered.  The guards opened the gate in the wall, and the two of them passed through, into the dragons' territory beyond.