Here be Dragons!
Chapter 2
Rick, with Kate sitting on his horse right behind him, was trotting softly where Kate told him to go. Rick looked from time to time just to make sure Dog was either right next to him or following. He was sure he was and could almost feel it as they traveled.
"I need a stable for the horse," Rick told her when she mentioned that they were getting close. So Rick went where she told him yet again and spotted a stable just ahead.
He helped Kate get off then got off himself. He spoke to the hostler about care for his horse and what it would cost. Since it had been a little while he paid for his horse to be bathed and brushed. He also wanted his feet to be looked at. He chose not to pay for any grain and just hay. Then he took the saddle bags off and stayed and watched long enough to watch the saddle, blanket, and tack come off and be placed into a stall for now.
From there Rick followed Kate's lead to where she lived since he was now sure this was her city. He watched her head for this narrow gap between two commercial stands that were on the ground floor. One was a simple food vendor while the other sold handmade jewelry.
"Dog." Rick was sure that he was hungry and that the food vendor was a distraction. Rick motioned for him to go up the stairs ahead of him while he stopped at the vendor and bought something on a stick. It was basically just a snack for the dog but it would do for now.
Kate stopped at her door but all she saw was the dog a little behind her. Then she saw Rick coming slowly up the stairs. She didn't understand until she saw something in one of his hands. He was totally loaded down with his weapons, backpack, and saddle bags from the horse. Now his free hand held something.
Kate put her key in the door, opened it, and waited for Rick. "It's not much but it's all I need." Kate wasn't ashamed of her space. After all it was just her and it allowed her to keep saving money.
Rick stepped inside and saw that she lived in what was really a one room space. He spotted her carefully made bed straight off. There was a padded bench, a tiny kitchen, a few knickknacks, and two whole paintings that were generic looking nature scenes.
There was one window that looking out onto the main road they had been on to reach the stairs to reach this room and other rooms. What he didn't see was a bathroom.
It was almost like she'd read his mind. "The restroom is at the end of the hall. It's a common space used by everyone on this level."
Rick nodded and dropped his saddle bags on the floor. Then he took the food off the stick and hand fed it to Dog who started out trying to swallow it whole before trying to tear it into smaller pieces. Rick slipped his backpack off, fished out a collapsible bowl, poured water into it, and set it on the floor for him.
A more observant look around showed him that her clothes were hanging or folded out in the open. His eyes landed on a small pile of panties that had him forcing his eyes to look elsewhere.
"So how long have you lived in the city?" Rick decided on small talk before they got to the more important items, like them both being shifters.
"All my life. I've never had a reason to leave here. Even my parents still live here. What about you?" Kate was willing to learn the little things before they started talking about the big stuff.
Rick gave her some background on himself. "I was born in a little town far from here. I was the result of one of my mother's one night stands. He came and left and never even learned of me. Mother did her best but I'll admit that I was a handful. She sent me to a Ranger to teach me to focus.
"Through him I met my first Dragon. It was a Bronze Dragon. He was barely more than a baby. Roy, that was my Ranger trainer, volunteered me to be his protector. I spent a lot of my years with both Roy and Onedrion. That was when I took Bahamut to be my God. I've been honored to serve him twice before this. Because of that I've gotten around and seen a lot. I've killed three Dragons on my own so far. One Red and two Green Dragons."
"I've never been in combat with a Dragon. Actually I've only ever met two Dragons in my lifetime. It was enough to get me to see the benefit of taking Bahamut as my God and willing to extend his teachings," Kate explained.
"Tattooed Monk?" Rick questioned since she was his first. He'd never heard of such a thing. "I presume that means you have tattoos?" He thought he could see part of two of them on her upper arms but her sleeves hid most of them.
"They're power tattoos. Each serves a function. Heal wounds, spell resistance and other things." She wasn't willing to tell him that one of them was allowing her to know when he lied, which he hadn't done so far since she had first met him.
Since Rick was thinking they were going to be here for a while he began taking his armor off so he could set it all off to one side along with his weapons.
Kate only had the one weapon and she simply leaned it up against a wall. "Hungry?"
"Extremely. I was busy fishing for my dinner when I was interrupted. I hadn't had any plans to enter the city. I was planning to go much farther north from here," Rick admitted and felt his stomach rumble just at the mention of food and the thought of eating fish.
Kate wasn't sure she had much to cook with. At least not prove to him that she could cook. Suddenly she felt the need that she could prove her worth to him.
Rick stopped, opened one of his little bags and poured out a few coins of various amounts, and held them out.
"We just got paid," Kate reminded him.
"In gems yes, but unless you plan to find a place that's willing to purchase them or use them as payment at this hour, just take the coins. Please. I'll leave it to you what you want to eat." Rick would eat almost anything at this point. "However, if you could pick up a few more sticks at the place downstairs for the dog on your way back I would appreciate it," he added.
Kate sighed. She held out her hands and let him pour his miscellaneous coins into them. "I'll be right back." Thanks to living in this city she knew just where to go that was close. She left then suddenly reopened the door. "And keep your hands off my clothes." She meant her lingerie mostly but all of her clothes were included. Then she closed the door again and was gone.
Rick smiled. She was pretty, a little stubborn, mysterious, and not overly trusting. She was also a shifter and he couldn't wait to hear about that.
}{ }{ = }{ = }{ }{
Dog was done with his food that Kate had brought back and was now resting comfortably with his head on the floor but was still watching both of them and at every little sound he heard outside his eyes would twitch to look that way.
"He's well-trained." Kate was impressed. Most of the dogs she had come across in the city were not exactly wild dogs, just dogs with no owners.
"Dog has been with me since he was a puppy. About 6 months old I would guess. Rangers are allowed to have an animal companion. With a little extra work you can get something beyond a simple animal. I waited and got Dog," Rick said.
"It's a dog," Kate stated. His dog didn't look all that special to her.
"He's a blink dog. He can naturally blink from one location to another at will all day long. You think you're about to hit him and in the blink of an eye he's somewhere else. Literally. I've paid to have a couple of things added so he more capable than normal. I paid to have a spell permanently applied to his bite, making it far more dangerous. Plus the bandanna around his neck helps to protect him from evil," Rick explained.
"You named your dog, Dog?" Kate didn't understand that part. Pets were supposed to have names, weren't they?
Rick defended his choice of a name. "It seemed fitting. Besides he seems to like it. We've gotten rather close over time. We almost know what the other is thinking sometimes. You might think it's a little eerie but he's a good dog."
"He is that," Kate agreed since Rick had handed one of the stick back to her and told her to feed his dog. "Since we're going to be traveling together for a really long time, you need to be able to trust each other."
Kate had held it out and watched as his dog carefully took it and ripped it apart to eat it. That had actually gotten her to smile at it. It was so simple but she had liked it.
}{ }{ = }{ = }{ }{
Rick had switched to wearing a short sleeved tunic and linen braes while Kate had turned her back. She'd found that it hadn't been easy. He was handsome and what she'd seen told her he was also a hunk.
Now he was sitting on her padded bench and it was showing her that his legs were just as toned as the rest of him. She had a very attractive man who was almost half naked in her room and she was sitting on her bed. She actually feared what she might do if she was sitting next to him on the bench.
Rick decided to talk about the 8,000 pound gorilla in the room. "So, a shifter?"
"Ever since I was a little girl I knew I was different. At first it was simply my invisible friend. We talked a lot and played together. I kept to myself when I was little. There was this Monk who encountered me and started to teach me about being a Tattooed Monk.
"Then I met my first Dragon. She was in human form at the time. My Monk training opened my mind to what she had to say. One day when I was outside of the city with her, listening to her talk, I suddenly wished I was a dragon. Then just like that I was. Almost as instantly she, Silverywing, was suddenly in Dragon form right next to me. I was no where near her size though. She was several times my size.
"I hadn't felt like a child in a long time. She taught me to be an Initiate of the Draconic Mysteries. It actually accentuated my Monk abilities. She taught me to be a Dragon. To listen to the voice that was inside me all this time.
"I haven't shifted for a long time now. Once Silverywing left I had no real reason to." Kate waited for Rick to say something.
"I was away from my Ranger teacher trying to put what I had learned to good use. The voice in my head wasn't what I would call an invisible friend. More like an annoyance," Rick stated. "Yes, you were, don't argue with me."
Kate smiled wide since even now she could hear her Dragon inside her talking to her.
"As I was saying, I was out in this little mountain range when I found this big cave that was actually rather deep and dark. Totally dark. That was when I ran across this sleeping Red Dragon.
"Suddenly the voice inside my head had switched from talking to growling loudly. It didn't take much to figure out a Red Dragon was a really bad thing.
"While not listening to the voice in my head telling me to sneak up on it and rip its throat open, and I do mean rip, not cut, I came up with a different plan.
"I picked up a rock and threw it, but it didn't move or even blink. So I found a bigger one and threw it at it. That got it to open at least the eye that was on my side. I took careful aim and launched an arrow into its eye. To make a long story short I ended up killing it. Several hours later I had various Red Dragon parts that I was dragging behind me. Then once I was outside I ran across this old man.
"He told me to go somewhere who would teach me all about my Dragon heritage or I could continue being a nobody Ranger…. That's not exactly what he said, but that was the point I got from it.
"He, a Gold Dragon in human form, taught me to be a Vassal of Bahamut. It was only much later that I learned that the old man I had met was Bahamut himself. I had killed a Red Dragon all by myself and that earned me the chance at being one of his Vassals.
"In my travels I have shifted into my Dragon form on numerous occasions. I taught myself how to fly and how to fight as a Dragon. I crushed a lot of trees in my time," Rick joked and it made Kate smile.
"I'm Gold, by the way," Rick said.
"So am I!" Kate was a little shocked at that. She didn't know just how many Dragon types were out there, but what were the odds?
"So how do you know so much about where we are going? Have you actually been there?" Maybe this might be easier than she was thinking because she was thinking it was going to be bad.
"No, I've never been there or where exactly Mulhorand is located in the world. I have a map of what my teachers have taught me and what I've personally seen. I know getting there is going to be the first challenge. Even on horseback it will take us weeks that could turn into months. It might be summer before we actually get there.
"There's a large empty desert in one area and a large sea with pirates in another. We go the wrong way and we'll be walking straight into areas completely controlled by evil rulers and their inhabitants," Rick warned her.
"That's just great." Kate didn't like the sound of it. However, she was going to succeed. She wasn't accustomed to losing or giving up on anything. "So how do we get there?" Kate queried.
"What do you know about scrying?" Rick asked her and watched her suddenly look around. It meant she knew enough. "You're going to need to trust me." They would get there by using what he knew in his head.
Rick thought Dog would be able to spot if they were presently being scryed upon but he couldn't take the risk.
"Do you have a horse?" Rick asked her and watched her shake her head. "This will not be the only large city we will be in, but this one will be the largest. So a shopping trip in the morning is called for. We're going to need to plan ahead and take what we might need with us. We need to discuss what each of us can do. However, we can do that along the way."
"Is this stuff really as bad as you say?" Kate questioned him. Yes, she'd heard everything he'd said about it, but what idiot would even think of doing that to themselves?
"Worse. Much, much worse. Think about it. How badly do you want to accomplish the mission we've accepted?" Rick challenged her.
"If I don't it's because I'm dead," Kate answered quickly.
"Now think of that determination but double it with your desire to be immortal. Immortality is all that you care about. Any price you pay is nothing compared to what you'll gain.
"To be able to turn yourself into a God. A person that wants immortality so badly will think of being a God. Think of a Magic User who may also happen to be a Cleric. Very powerful in both, but also very old and fears dying more than anything. Willing to risk anything and everything to be immortal.
"A true God doesn't need this stuff. Even an Evil God knows immortality is a curse. But this person doesn't care." Rick tried again to get her to understand.
"It still makes no sense to me, but I get it." Kate responded. She was going to succeed and that was the end of the story. "So what do we do once we're done. If we're that far away from here, where do we go next." She hadn't noticed that she was using the word WE. As if going their separate ways wasn't going to happen. For now it was just a word.
"Well, I guess that depends on what you want to achieve next. Going north will put us in the lands of evil rulers. Going south will put us in a vast area filled with Nomads as I understand it. Or simply backtrack to an area that you liked. An area, person, or town that caught your interest. We can decide that after we get there," Rick suggested.
Rick was ready for sleep. "This is your place so you get the bed. I'll sleep here." Rick patted the bench. "Right after I use your common bathroom." He had to go. "And put on some more clothes and take Dog outside." Rick was betting he needed to do his business too.
"Last door on the left," Kate said before he got out the door.
}{ }{ = }{ = }{ }{
Rick was back after taking Dog outside long enough for him to do his business and was back and found Kate in the kitchen looking for something.
Rick took off the extra clothes he was wearing, even his tunic, and lay down on her bench. He quickly learned it was too short for him.
Rick watched as Kate stripped with her back to him. When her top came off he put part of his fist in his mouth to bite down on a finger. She was gorgeous.
It also allowed him a chance to see at least some of her tattoos. Her back had a big one. It looked like a Phoenix to him and it took up most of her back. She put on a top to cover it then took off her pants and displayed two tattoos on her long legs. One on each leg.
One was a Centipede and the other leg had a Nightingale. He had caught a glimpse of what was on her upper arms but couldn't figure those two out. She had said she had six of them and had a partial view of two more. It had him wondering where the others were located and what they were.
Kate killed the light and made her way to her bed.
"Goodnight," Rick called out.
"'Night," Kate replied and made herself comfortable. Except getting to sleep wasn't all that easy. She had a man in her room.
}{ }{ = }{ = }{ }{
The sun was almost up and Kate was awake as usual. There was just enough light with her dark vision to look around her place to try and find Rick. He was thankfully or unfortunately since she was conflicted about that, wasn't in her bed.
She found him on the floor inside a sleeping bag. She had no idea where he'd gotten the bag. However seeing it told her she was going to have to buy one. She was about to do something she'd never done before even though it sounded like that was all he had done. They were about to go traveling. Adventuring, if you preferred.
}{ }{ = }{ = }{ }{
Kate couldn't believe she was doing this. They were both in the bathroom, they were both naked in their individual shower area getting clean for a day of shopping.
The walls were tall enough that all she could see was his head as he washed. That body was just the other side of this flimsy stupid wall. What were they going to do when they traveled? Stopping at every little town might not be possible or desirable.
Rick so wanted to look over the top of this little flimsy wall. Or better yet break it down and drool over her amazing body. It was taking a lot of will power to just keep washing himself.
}{ }{ = }{ = }{ }{
Kate was dressed and had given Rick another view of her bare back. Much like he had given her a clear view of his bare chest and bare legs.
"Dog, Stay, Guard." He was leaving almost everything he owned behind. He had simple clothes on, amazingly enough the very same boots Kate was wearing. The only weapon he was taking with him was a dagger. However, like Kate, he was taking his bag of gems with him for this shopping trip.
"Horse, saddle, and such can come later. We need magical items so take us there first, please," Rick asked her since this was her city.
Unbeknownst to each other, both were leaving her building and couldn't believe that they hadn't at least kissed. He was drop dead gorgeous and had been nice. She was amazingly gorgeous even with her bald head. Each was trying really hard not to screw this all up. They had a long ways to go yet and they hadn't even left the city.