Chapter 19: A Friend
Xev left the housing building without a clue as to where Svarturvog was being held. He looked up into the dark night sky. Nothing but black except for a few stars and the large moon trying to penetrate through thick black clouds. Snow was falling slowly with almost no breeze. Following the path he took from the keep, seeing only a few yards ahead with glows of lanterns along the buildings and path, he found two guards that were on their rounds.
"Excuse me." Xev said startling both of them. They quickly drew their white enchanted swords and stopped halfway before noticing who it was.
"Apologies for startling you men, but I need to know where the supply building is. You know, the one housing a dragon." He said stood there his arms crossed shivering a bit.
"We're headed towards it. If you just follow us." One of them said sheathing his sword. They turned to continue their round.
He followed them which took him to the north eastern quadrant of the fort. They passed two more guards going the opposite way. Not long after they arrived at a large square building which had many agents and guards around its perimeter with some of them moving large crates of supplies into the entrance.
"There it is. You should find your dragon in there. Have a good night." Said a guard and they left.
"Many thanks." Xev said and rushed over to the entrance.
Two agents approached him to validate his identity.
"Your dragon seems very well behaved Xev. We're honored to have been assigned to watch over him." One of them said.
"It's good to hear that he hasn't been too much trouble." Xev replied with a smile.
They allowed him to pass without any issues.
As he walked through the large opening to the supply building he saw Svarturvog curled up sleeping on a mound of hay surrounded by a semicircle of supply crates. Gored animal remains across in the hay from his previous meal. He walked over silently so as not to scare him.
"Svarturvog." He whispered. "I heard that you caught the assassin. Thank you for that."
Svarturvog opened his eyes and nudged Xev's hand with his head. Xev sat down next to him.
"It's good to finally spend time with you. It's been crazy the last few days or day I guess? I'm still getting used to this new time scale." Xev said as he gently ran his hands down the dragon's side which was vibrating deeply.
Svarturvog was very sleepy since he had just recently finished a meal. Xev noticed that he had grown slightly but he still was no taller than his waist. He looked at the spikes running down his body and saw that they were starting to darken from a whitish colour into jet black like his scales. Two large fangs began to protrude from his upper lip now. Xev still couldn't believe he had found such an astonishing animal. He remained with his dragon for hours enjoying each other's company falling in and out of sleep until he thought he should get back to see how Zyra was doing.
"Svarturvog, I've got to go for a bit. Don't worry I'll see you very soon." He assured him and pet his head while he was still asleep.
After slowly backing away as to not wake him up he left the supply building and walked back to the main keep's medical bay where Zyra was resting. He entered the room and saw Zyra still there. She opened her eyes and noticed him.
"How's your leg doing?" Xev asked and sat on the chair next to the bed.
"It's doing alright. Still very painful when the meds wear off." She replied slowly sitting up. "I've regained my energy which is good." She massaged her leg.
"I'm glad to hear. Do you think you can walk on it?"
"No. Not unless I have to."
"Okay. We've got the rooms sorted and I have your key. Do you want to head back there? I'm sure the bed is nicer than this one." Xev asked.
"Yes I'd love to. I don't like the smell of this place." She said and grabbed the medication she was supposed to use to speed up the muscle and bone regeneration time. Zyra then moved to the side of the bed and lowered her feet to the floor.
"Perfect. I'll help support your weight." He said and wrapped his right arm around her side and put her left arm around his shoulders. "One, two, three." Xev said before lifting her off the bed.
Zyra winced in pain as she slowly began to walk, Xev holding her up all the while.
"Thank you." Zyra said as they made their way down the halls to the exit.
"I'm still not used to how slowly time feels to pass here. Days are much longer than back home." He said while he helped her along the path outside towards the housing building.
"Don't worry, your body will naturally adjust to this world soon enough. Since you spent so much time in the human world and grew up experiencing sun light and shorter days it is different to me and everyone else here who only know the darker skies and knights of the Fae world and nothing else. All we know of the human world is from words in books and stories from those who have been. I understand it must be difficult though." She said and lightly rested her head on his shoulder for a few seconds as they kept walking slowly so as to comfort him.
They entered the building and came before the set of stairs that led to their floor.
"Want me to carry you?" He asked.
"Such a gentleman you are. That would be kind." She smiled.
Xev bent down and without effort, picked her up carefully. His left arm around her legs and right arm under her back. She was very light yet very strong. He knew she could easily kill him numerous ways with her training yet she felt so fragile.
"What?" She smiled.
"Nothing. You're just so heavy." He joked and pretended to struggle.
She punched him lightly, "You jerk." Zyra said rolling her eyes.
Once at the top he set her down.
"Thank you." She continued to let Xev support her as they walked over to the rooms.
"This one is yours. They're all the same don't think we left you with the worst room." He smiled and handed her the key.
She held the key close to the handle but nothing happened. She tried again with the same result.
"Here try mine."
Nothing.
"Must be broken or something." She said. "May I just stay with you?" She asked. "I don't want to walk back to the keep asking for another key."
"Yeah of course. No worries." He said.
He opened his door and helped Zyra walk through.
"Not bad this." She said looking around.
"It's nice. You can have the bed if you want. I'll take the floor."
"What, you don't want to share? Do I smell or something? I bathed just before the event in the interrogation room." She said.
"No you don't. I didn't mean any offence only out of kind gesture." He quickly said.
"Okay, but you honestly deserve to rest in a proper bed please I insist."
"Thank you, I would appreciate it." He smiled.
He walked her over and she slowly moved onto the bed raising her legs without issue. He helped her take off her boots.
"Do you have any spare clothes in the wardrobe I could use? My pants are destroyed from the blast." She looked down at the giant rip where the chain shrapnel went through. Dried blood stained the area although hard to see since her pants were black.
"There should be. Not sure if it's all men's." He walked over and looked inside. "There's some small black leggings like yours and some black shirts you like to wear as well."
"Perfect can you bring them here. Thanks." Zyra said.
He brought them over and she began to change. Xev turned around and decided to try and start a fire in the fireplace with magic. He walked over and knelt down. There was some wood inside it that was enchanted to not burn through only hold flames above it but of course Xev didn't know that. He kept focusing on the wood and saying the word of fire but failing all the while.
"You don't need to focus on the wood. Just think of the flame." Zyra said.
He did as so and a few tries later large flames came into being inside the fire pace filling the room with warmth and light.
"Nice work. At least you can cast a fire spell when your training time comes." She joked.
"Thank the gods right?" He smiled and sat back letting the fires energy relax his body.
They both enjoyed the fire in silence for a little while.
"You should rest for the new day. I'm sure your training will start then." Zyra said then took some medicine and got under the covers of the bed.
"True." He said and took his shirt and boots off then got into bed next to her.
Zyra pulled the covers over Xev and cuddled closer to him. There wasn't much room. She laid on her side and rested her right hand over Xev's chest.
"Your heart beat is really fast. You feeling okay?" she whispered.
"I'm okay, just anxious about the tests tomorrow. That and your hand is really cold." He laughed and brought his left hand over top hers for warmth.
"You'll do fine." She whispered a spell that calmed him.
His heart beat lowered and he felt very relaxed.
"Thank you." He closed his eyes.
"How's your dragon by the way?"
"He's doing great. They're feeding him and guarding him well." He replied.
"He's a strong animal. The way he caught the assassin surprised me."
"You and me both."
"Sleep well Xev." She whispered falling asleep from the healing medication.
"Good night."An image of the silver woman appeared in his mind and he couldn't stop thinking about who she could be.
Time passed as he slept for a short while until the familiar presence of her grew stronger. He quickly opened his eyes and looked to the left where she stood in front of the fire staring at him. She wore a similar black outfit as Zyra. Their gazes met and shivers ran down his body. He went to sit up.
"Stay." She whispered and silently walked over to the bed.
He watched as she slipped in bed next to him pulling the covers over herself. She also laid on her side very close to Xev resting her head on his pillow. He didn't know what to do.
She hugged him closer with her left arm. "How is she?"
"She's well." Xev replied. "Do you know her?"
"Yes. We're close friends. She hasn't told you about me?"
"No, she hasn't really told me much about her personal life."
"We haven't seen each other much recently."
"I'm sorry to hear. I would love to know your name." he whispered, careful not to wake Zyra.
"Tahan." She said.
"A beautiful name."
She smiled, "Thank you for looking after her."
"You're welcome although she was the one doing most of the saving."
"She's good at it isn't she?" Tahan reached over to Zyra's hand that was rested on Xev's chest and gently lifted it so she could kiss her.
"How long have you known each other? Xev asked.
"A while now…" She quickly avoided going any further with the subject and asked, "May I stay here with you both? I need to rest my mind."
"Yes if you'd like."
"Thank you. I heard that you'll be tested on your skills as a fighter and caster tomorrow. I asked Valon to take Zyra's place as your opponent duelist due to her injury. I'll go easy don't worry." She smiled.
"Same here." He joked, "Did Valon say he'll be testing me on my casting?"
"I'm sure he will be."
"Okay. That makes me a little less worried. He's the one who first taught me."
"You shouldn't worry it's just a display of your current skills and we'll help you improve where needed."
"Well I can already tell you my casting needs a lot of work." He said. "The only proper casting I know is how to summon fire. Everything else I've done has been spontaneous or from exploiting the power of the amulet."
"That's alright. I think you'll learn it quickly. Let's rest now." She said and hugged him tightly for a second.
Xev was a bit surprised at Zyra's relationship with Tahan. Not at the nature of their togetherness but how she didn't tell him considering how much she probably means to Zyra. Either way it did nothing to harm his feelings for Zyra.
Maybe us three could be together? He thought to himself. No don't be foolish.
He fell asleep next to two of the most beautiful women he had ever seen struggling to hide a cheeky smile on his face.