Alrighty Guys! I'm back, so sorry for the delay.
You NEED to go back and read chapter 13. I added a WHOLE bunch of info and edited a large chunk of that chapter, so please go back. And be sure to read the Author's Note at the end, some more info that you need. There is a great deal of time changes this chapter, I hope you can follow it. It starts out the morning after the gypsy show and ends where you left off last chapter. Hope it helps.
And I have started a little competition. In the last chapter and the next four, including this one, I will hide 2 Pirates of the Caribbean references. They are part quotes, things that should remind you of the actual quote. I will write a one-shot of their choosing to whomever finds all 10. :)
Anywho, chapter 14 awaits.
Earlier that day...
"Are you sure this is the place Arsenius?" The man gruffly asked as he jumped off of his horse, smoothly landing at the entrance of a great cave.
"This is the place Cadan. Do not worry your pretty head." He replied smugly.
"Aye, this is it. A dragon lives in this area, I have no doubt." Lorcan raised his nose, sniffing the air.
"Ah yes. Smell for it you dolt. Or you could just look inside and see the shed scales." Mehul chuckled to himself.
"Oh shut it! At least my great great grandfather did not lose his sword and bring shame and dishonor on my family name!" Mehul knew he could not argue with that, but maybe he could draw the attention elsewhere.
"Well at least I am not like Theron, whose brother gave up on the cause."
"Oi, leave Theodore out of this. His heart was too weak. He did not have the full blood."
"Stow it! All of you!" Edric ran his horse between the arguing trio. "Leolin, what are the orders?"
The older man scratched his scruffy black beard, causing flakes of unknown substances to fly off. "Berthold, Finlay and I will go visit our charming Vanessa. The rest of you will search the cave while Egmond keeps watch." He turned to Egmond.
"Use the sword to alert me of anything of interest." Egmond replied with a single nod. He led his horse to the edge of the cliff, and looked down at the country spread before him. He turned back to his men.
"Let us move."
Edric, Arsenius, Cadan, Lorcan, Mehul and Theron entered the cave.
"I have not ever seen so many dragon runes! Look at this!" Cadan stroked the wall admirably.
"Oh please. It is not like you have not seen them before. Dragon is your first language." Mehul spat.
He brushed off the remark. "Still, it is rather magnificent."
"Lads, come look at this." Arsenius beckoned them to come to him.
"Dragon teeth!" Cadan knelt to the ground.
"Gizzard stones!" Lorcan picked one up in his hand, examining it. "This dragon may pay off in more ways than one."
"These shed scales are at least four days old. And these ashes are old, but not horribly. I hope Leolin knew what he was doing, dragging us all the way here." Mehul hacked and spit on the cave floor.
"You idiot!" Lorcan gave him a hard smack. "We cannot leave any evidence we were here!"
"Of course, because my spit will give us away." He pushed him back. Soon the two were in a fierce scuffle. Edric unsheathed his sword and banged it against the wall. It rang with a high clank. The two split up.
"Could you both stop acting like children? Theron! Where are you going?"
"I found his treasure pile." Theron said pointing. The group followed him downward. He pointed his torch in the direction of the pile. "The poor creature, collecting all these things that resembled a dragon."
Lorcan pointed. "Ha, does not that parade float look like that Chinese one we slayed a couple of years ago?" He nudged Cadan on the shoulder, who grimaced in response.
"Come on, we are not interested in his "treasures." We need-"
"Theron! You better get up here!" Aresenius stood on the ledge and then walked out of view. Theron jogged up the slant to where his peer was standing. Arsenius pointed at the ground.
"What is that?" Theron was confused.
"Look harder."
He crouched closer to the rock. It was not rock at all. It was a melted, broken sword that had hardened and molded in with the cave floor.
"My father's sword!" He brushed the hilt. He knew it was his, it was the only dragon sword to ever be broken.
"Only dragon flame can melt our swords, so we know the beast was here. And he apparently had opposition."
"Theodore... I need to go to the castle."
"No, we wait for Leolin. He will return soon enough."
Meanwhile...
Leolin knocked on the door of a caravan. Esme opened it.
"Good day madame."
"Good day, and who might you be?" Vanessa peeked over her sisters shoulder.
"I got this one." She stepped outside and shut the door behind her.
"Leolin. Berthold. Finlay." She curtsied to each one. "Come, we cannot talk here. Too many people to listen." She led them deep into the forest then turned to the three menacing men.
"Vanessa, our dragon was not in the cave." Leolin spoke.
"Yes, the dragon is gone."
"Why is the dragon gone?" He roared.
"Calm yourself. He is in the kingdom, I believe he took his friend out on a walk."
"The beast has a friend? That he takes out on walks?" Berthold was confused.
"No. The beast... is not a beast anymore. He is a man."
"You changed my dragon into a man? What good is he to me now?"
"More than he was if he was a fire breathing, claw bearing reptile! He cannot fight back the same way. An easy catch." Leolin smiled, showing his dull yellow teeth. "He will be a dragon again by midnight. Plenty of time yes?"
"I would hug you right now Vanessa, but I have a reputation to maintain." He winked. The two younger men chuckled. He whipped his head around and they straightened their backs and wiped their smirks away. "Now, where is our "man?"
"I understand that they are headed to a nearby meadow."
"Thank you kindly madame. You shall receive your pay when this is all done." The three started to head back to the mountain.
"Be careful though, his friend is a knight who is very protective of him."
"Is he armed?" Finlay asked.
"He? Dear me no. She is armed though." Leolin let out a bellowing laugh. His belly shook with each exhalation.
"A girl? You- hahaha you expect us to be scared of hehe- a mere girl?" He wiped a tear away.
"Do not say I did not warn you." Vanessa headed back to the castle. And the three men went the opposite direction.
"Come on out men!" Leolin shouted the order into the cave. His gravely voice echoed and bounced off the walls. All six ran out to the entrance. "I have the location of our dragon." He mounted his horse. "Quick, Lorcan, Arsenius, prepare the prisoner wagon. The rest of you mount your horses." He climbed atop his steed. All his men mounted theirs and waited.
"Are we ready?" They nodded. ""Come on then! Let us go kill ourselves a dragon."
All ten guided their horses nimbly down the mountain and to the meadow. They trekked through the thick woods and stopped at the clearing.
"Everyone, tie your horses." he dismounted and started to tie his own.
"MOOOO!"
The band of men nearly jumped out of their skins. All immediately unsheathed their swords. Leolin saw the source of the noise. A herd of stampeding cows blazed passed them. A tall skinny girl with flame red hair and a well built blonde boy chased after them.
"Bloody stupid kids!" Mehul growled.
Leolin leered, watching the strange sight. "Oh no Mehul. Far from stupid kids." He stood by him and patted his shoulder. "That... is our dragon."
"Edric, Lorcan and Mehul get down and come with me. The rest of you, mind your yourselves, watch the wagon, do not touch my horse." Lorcan grabbed some rope and a sack from the wagon. Leolin bent down and walked along the edge of the clearing with his men following close behind. Soon the stampede slowed to a stop and the two young adults fell to the ground.
"Looks like rain." Edric smirked.
"May I ask why we are capturing a child?" Mehul whispered.
"I have already said this Mehul. That is not just a boy, that is a boy turned dragon."
"And the girl?" Lorcan asked.
"A hindrance."
"Are we really going to do this with the her here?"
"This far from any people and this is probably as alone as we will get him. Besides, it will not be a problem if she is taken care of first. Lorcan, will you do the honors?" Lorcan grinned as the rain started coming down.
Meanwhile...
A single brisk drop of rain fell from the sky and landed directly on Jane's nose. Another one landed on the thick green grass. One more fell. And another. In an instant, rain was falling all around them. It tinkled on her armor and rolled off onto Tristan's leg in tiny splashes. Jane unpinned her opponent. She stood legs apart with one foot of each side of his knee caps. She lifted her head to the clouds and let her eyelids droop. She slowly opened her mouth and invited the tiny bead of water onto her tongue.
Tristan breathed heavily as his mind calmed down and his panic rushed out of his ears. The shower covered his white tunic, plastering it to his tanned skin. Jane, getting tired of the drops conflicting with her face, looked down. His face was drenched and his hair fell way beyond his eyebrows. With his tunic fully soaked and completely transparent, she could make out every curve of his sculpted stomach. His shoulders and his arm muscles bulged. She did not get the best look that morning and welcomed the sight anew.
Tristan's view was rather wonderful as well. The dark clouds mixed with the forest scenery that framed her body allowed him to see her in a new light. Her hair was now a dark auburn and dripped sending rain that greatly resembled tears down her cheeks. Manly instincts taking over, he extended his arms and gripped her hips, pulling her forward. She gradually bent down and placed her hands lightly on his chest. Her feet pushed backwards allowing her legs to land solidly between his and her knees to drop flatly on the ground.
Jane softly nuzzled his neck with her nose and dotted it with tender kisses. Tristan took one hand off her hip and directed her face towards his. He collided his lips with hers. He put that hand back on her hip and slid his hands up her back until they rested nicely on her ribcage. Jane moved her hands upward as well and soothingly massaged his shoulders whilst deepening the kiss.
Tristan heard the rustling of grass and opened his eyes briefly. Behind Jane, was a very large red haired man. He had the hilt of his sword raised above Janes head, about to bring it down. Tristan tried to push her off in time, but it was too late. He heard a hollow thunk, and Jane collapsed on top of him.
"Jane!" He took her face into his hands to try to see if she was still awake. Her eyes were closed and her body was limp. He gently pushed her off and started to get up, but it was hopeless, for he was looking down at the other end of a sword.
"Sorry to disturb your "fun"". The man smiled.
Tristan felt the heat rising in his throat and thought seriously about letting out the flames. Watch your temper lizard man. Men cannot handle breathing fire. He swallowed the heat and tried to calm his temper. He kicked the sword and tried to leap up. In a split second two men were on top of him, tackling him to the ground.
"Do not hurt him lads." Tristan felt his cold air rush to his hands as his gloves were removed.
"Look at that those scales. You were not kidding." Mehul said to Leolin.
Tristan felt his wrists and ankles being bound.
He wanted to fight back. Oh how he wanted to fight back. He wanted to rip them to shreds. He wanted to claw their eyes out. He wanted to do a hundred horrible things to them, but he could not. He was helpless.
A sack with two holes was shoved over his head and tied around his neck.
He was a man, not a dragon. A helpless man.
So it begins... :) *evil smile*
Okay. A little background on our Dragonslayers. I took a lot of time finding good names for them all. They come from all over. From Greek, Welsh, Gaelic, Indian, English, and Germanic. Their names, most of them correspond with their duty.
Now, here is how MY dragonslayer clan works. It is a family business, a family business that you have no choice but to inherit. The origination of the clan, started a LONG time ago, when an evil dragon was kicked out of the dragon brethren and turned into a man. He wanted revenge. Before he was kicked out, he forged ten dragon blades. (Actually that is the reason he was kicked out.) He married a human woman and they had a kid, who inherited the evil dragon blood. He had ten different wives, with ten different children.
The first born man in the family, was to inherit the dragonslaying. If the first born was a girl, they either waited until they had a boy, or they waited until the girl had a boy. Either way, a the firstborn boy got it.
In the case of Mehul, his great great grandfather lost his dragon blade in Dragon's cave. That is the blade that Jane has now. Mehul's family was downgraded in the clan. The great great grandfather and every child after that, then took care of the dirty work, (disposing of entrails and whatnot.) He only has a regular sword.
Theron, is a second born male. The first born male, was our darling Sir Theodore. His dad had broken his dragon blade. For some reason, his dragon blood wasn't strong enough. And he didn't believe that slaying dragons was right. So he left his family and went far away, taking the dragonblade with him. Theron was born (theodore isn't aware that he has a brother) and inherited the duty, but because his theo gave up the duty, his family was downgraded to dirty work. He too carries a regular sword.
That's about it. :) Please oh please review, tell me what you think of this. Of the dragon clan, Vanessa, anything. Tell me your thoughts. :)