Chapter 14

On the road again

I was now disguised as a tortugan, or turtle person, while Malachite or "Morvis" was simply another human I had spotted in the crowd and put over top of him. Most of my repertoire of illusions were of course female, not that I didn't take the occasional male form when it suited me. But it was simpler to just pick someone moving past and away from us, duplicate them, and move on. We were keeping the three draig in sight as they went about asking around town for this Morvis person.

"So your real name is Morvis?" I asked him.

"My real name is Malachite," he growled back. "I changed it before I left my village, they should know enough to call me that and not my old name. Probably think they're being cute or whatever. As my parents would never tell me much about our family I've had to discover who I am for myself. I'm fairly happy with the person I've become, and could have gone my whole life never hearing the name Morvis again. Now these three jokers have to show up. Never much liked them, wonder what someone offered them to come find me."

"Well, you're definitely much more of a Malachite than a Morvis, if you ask me. Things… must have been pretty tough back at home huh?" I guess we had more in common than I originally thought. I was thrown out, it seems like he felt he had no choice but to leave given what he went through. Family can be complicated.

"I never felt like I fit in there," he explained, "and everyone treated me differently. No one would say why, of course, but eventually I had enough. When changing my name didn't do it I left. I didn't look back."

"And now here these three are, asking for you."

"Yeah." He wouldn't say more.

We followed them for maybe another hour, but it was always the same story. They were looking for him and while several people said that yes, they had seen a green driag walking around they had no idea where to find him. The three did let slip it was a matter of life and death, making Malachite scowl, but nothing more specific than that.

"Look, why not just go talk to them," I finally told him. "We can run them out of town if we have to, we do know several guards after all. And I can disguise you as easily as myself until they give up. We're heading after Jekserah anyway so we'll probably leave town again by tomorrow if the wanderer thing pans out or not. If we don't get an answer from them it's off to the spirit temple. They won't chase us across the plains or anything." I don't think.

"Fine," he agreed, however reluctantly. "We'll do it your way. Drop the disguise."

"Very well." I did, and we hurried over to them.

"I hear you've been looking for me," he told them. The three perked up at our approach.

"Morvis!" cried one. "Wait, so was that you I saw before?"

"Never mind that. My name is Malachite as you all well know. What do you want?"

"Hey, it wasn't our idea," said the one on the right. "It's the name we were told to ask around for. How were we supposed to know you didn't change it back?"

"Very few people that change their name later change it back. What do you want?"

Wait, how would you know that? Met many people that changed their name, have you?

"Look, it's a sensitive matter," said the one on the left. "We should go somewhere to talk."

"I'm not going anywhere with you three. Not until I get some kind of explanation. You do realize we're not exactly friends."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Are you implying it's mine?"

"Hold on," said the center one. "Look, Malachite or whatever you call yourself these days, it's about your parents."

"Sort of," said the one on the right. "More like great grandfather or whatever."

"Was there some kind of accident?" he asked. "And I don't have a great grandfather, or whatever, that I know of."

"No accident, your parents are fine."

"Get to the point."

"The point is Alveindros," said the center one.

"That dragon that protects the town? What about him? You're not making any sense, what does that have to do with my parents?"

"It affects all of us. Alveindros has fallen ill."

"A dragon?" he scoffed. "Fell ill? I hardly think so. Though I have heard of the dragon pox being particularly bad this century. I'll send him a get well card."

"Not that kind of illness. Look, if it gets out the town isn't as defended as it once was, if a rival dragon decides now is the time to start something and take his hoard, that battle could flatten the town and get Alveindros killed. Even… weakened, he would be able to put up a decent fight. Let's go somewhere to talk. Our inn isn't far."

"Very well. But my friend here will kill you if you try anything. If I don't get to you first, that is."

"This turtle?" they scoffed.

"I was trained by a rat," I told them, "in the ancient secret combat arts of the night."

"Of course you were. Come on."

We were now seated in the common area of the inn, furthest from the door. The three had rearranged the room sightly, bringing a table and chairs big enough for the four of them to the corner of the room.

"So start at the beginning," Malachite demanded.

"Some time ago something happened to Alveindros," said one. "It's been weakening him ever since. As we can't find a way to heal him he's sent for you. Apparently someone of his bloodline can help in some way."

"Hold on, someone 'of his bloodline?' What's that supposed to mean? He's a dragon, I'm not. End of story."

Right, but something's been happening to you lately, right? That whole immune to fire business, that's not normal.

"That is all we've been told."

"So get my father to do whatever this is. He's still living in town isn't he?"

"Your father, according to Alveindros, is dead or this matter would have been resolved-"

"You said my parents were fine not twenty minutes ago!"

"Your step-father is fine, or was when we left. Your real father..."

"Hold on, I'm adopted?"

"I told you it was worth coming all this way, look at his face," said the one on the right.

"Oh knock it off," said the one on the left. "Though I do, of course, agree with you. This part has made the whole trip worth it."

"I see how it is now. Ugh, I don't believe this! Is my mother even my mother? Who am I?"

"All we know is that Alveindros sent us to fetch Morvis, that is you, saying someone of his line can open one of his hoards and thus, break this curse. You want the whole story, go talk to him."

"Ha! Don't see why I should. Clearly he had no interest in telling me the truth until now, when it benefits him. Let the old lizard die, it has nothing to do with me."

"You take that back!" The one on the left started to get up, hand on his sword, but the others, not looking any more pleased, pushed him down again.

"Look," said the one on the left. "If he does die, that means the region will be up for grabs. We're surrounded by dragons, in case you forgot. Do you want to see your home town smashed up by a dragon fight as three or more dragons squabble over the hoard he left behind? Even you must have some feelings for the place!"

"Not especially."

"Then consider this," the driag said with a sigh. "Saving the life of a dragon would surely result in your being well rewarded."

"Dragons aren't known for parting with any part of their treasures..."

"But the townspeople might be grateful enough to."

"Humm, you're not wrong. And I could learn the truth about myself. Maybe punch my so called dad. How far are we from there anyway?"

"Directly? A day by boat to the other side of the lake, then several days on foot."

Why do they have a boat? Didn't they just fly here? They couldn't have known he would bring other, non-flying people along. Odd.

"Man, it's a bad time. Jekserah is out there plotting her revenge. The Gloom is doing who knows what. You're asking a lot you know."

"Your responsibility lies with your family, and your own kind, not with this town full of humans."

"Yes, my own kind who were basically packing my bags when I announced I was leaving. What do you think, Orchid?"

"From a purely pragmatic perspective the possibility of a reward could come in handy in fighting the Gloom, should we need to hire mercenaries. You saw what was guarding a small sack of coins and some boots. And we do want to buy a house, and honestly not being poor for two minutes would be a nice change. Neither will move in the next week I'm sure, we can probably get there and back before anything major happens."

"We?"

"Of course. Did you think I was going to let you go alone?"

"You don't have to come. I haven't even decided, much less asked you."

I set a hand on his arm. "You don't have to ask, Malachite. You've stuck with me where I wanted to go all this time. Now I get to return the favor."

"Aw, is little Morvis making googly eyes at the little turtle?" said the one on the left.

"Disgusting," said the one one the right. "Is it because no driag would have you?"

"What-" he started to say, claws gouging the table, but I gripped his arm. He looked over at me.

"Gentleman," I sweetly told them, standing up. "As we'll be traveling together, I think it's best if you know my real face." I snapped my fingers and released the illusion spell covering up my true appearance.

"What… What are you?" said the center one.

"A fairly skilled and experienced magic user," I told them, gathering mana. With that I caught all three of them with telekinetic magic and threw them towards the ceiling. They cried out as they left their chairs and were pinned helplessly above.

"Hey now!" said the man behind the counter. "None of that!"

I ignored him, looking at the three. "I suggest you remember it, and treat me accordingly. My appearance, though unconventional, is the unfortunate result of my long study of magic and I will be treated with the respect my power deserves. Is that clear?"

"Okay, okay!"

I glared at them for a moment, arms crossed, then gestured letting them down. I wanted to drop them, but then they might break the table or chairs they landed on and I didn't want to have to do any repairs. "I'll put the matter behind me, then. If you stay respectful."

"Did you really think I would travel with someone who wasn't amazing!?" Malachite asked them. "I mean, uh, you know..."

"No please, go on."

We were walking back now to the Sleeping Lion, having never made it to the wizard's section at all. We were to meet the three at the docks when we were ready to go, and I figured we should grab all our stuff. It wasn't much, but better to keep it with us so it wasn't stolen while we were away. When we entered the others were already back, Snarly was for some reason in the process of shoving far too much food in his mouth and trying to get Hanz to look at him. Hanz was having no part of it, and rather thankfully gestured to us to sit down.

"No luck?" he asked.

"Something else came up," I told them. "You?"

"One hundred percent successful trip. But you're not going to like it."

"You're not going to like what we have to say either, so there's plenty of that going around. You first."

"Very well. We made contact with Hale, a very strange being currently squatting, as far as I can tell, at an abandoned inn called the Crooked Bone. We had to travel to the western most part of the city to find it, and them."

"They were weird," Snarly said, finally able to talk again. "Even by our 'tandards."

"Yes, I have never observed a wanderer dressed quite in that way. If they had not come recommended to us I would simply suggest leaving for the spirit temple at once, or trying to use what divination magic you have at your command Orchid, despite its limitations. Or seek out a better spell to purchase for yourself. As it is, Snarly badgered them into helping, but it will cost us. They want 'an orb' whatever that means, from the 'frozen hollow in the Copperneck Mountains.' They were not forthcoming with any more details than those, though I do have a rough map."

"An orb?" Malachite asked. "So, what? We pick up any round looking rock and they're honor bound to help us?"

"They claimed to be doing research of some kind, that we were disturbing. I must assume it relates to that research-"

"Like 'ow many cockroaches they could fit in'a jar," Snarly wondered. "That place wath filthy."

"Charming," I told them both.

"As I was saying, relates to that research and we will know it when we see it."

"Well, that will have to wait," I told them. "Unless you want to split up. Malachite and I are heading back to his home town. Apparently there's a task only he can do there, and may reward us quite handsomely."

"When do we 'eave?" Snarly immediately asked.

"So we are hitting the pause button, so to speak, on the Jekserah matter and the spreading Gloom?"

"This place will just have to look after itself a few days," I agreed. "And if the place is a smoldering ruin when we return, well, what could we have done anyway?" Besides she wanted to rule, not destroy, though that sentiment could have changed for all I know once the guard chased her out of here.

"Would you like me along, Malachite?" Hanz asked. "I am willing to brave the wilderness alone to retrieve the orb, should we think that the need is urgent. It wasn't that long ago I was alone, it would not cause me undo concern."

"No, you better come," he replied. "I know you can take care of yourself but there's three driag from my home town here. I would feel better outnumbering them on this journey, if you know what I mean."

"I 'hink I only count as 'alf," Snarly reminded him.

"Still."

"Very well. I assume we are leaving immediately?"

"As soon as we get our stuff."

"I will meet you back here."

We all packed up our stuff, I sadly packed the boots away as well. If only they had come a day later. I would have liked to have had a chance to talk to someone about how to figure out these boots. On a multi-day journey I could have had lots of time to practice the skill and maybe figure them out. Oh well. I'll find something else to work on I guess.

We headed to the docks, finding the good ship "Alveindros' Grace" right where they said. Looking at the vessel I saw the name must have changed just recently, as the old one was simply scratched out. I shook my head, what did it matter what the boat was called? Still, we went aboard and got underway.

The trip to Malachite's home village was a bit strained. The three showed no interest in him, his adventures since leaving home, or us. They were impressed by my ally spell and we were able to move a bit quicker because of it. I could tell they wanted to simply fly and leave us, but with Hanz and Snarly riding one casting of the spell (I couldn't stand the smell Snarly gave off but Hanz didn't care) and me another, we made good time. At night Snarly seemed to take it as his personal mission to get them to lighten up, cracking jokes and doing tumbling routines to try and entertain them. It even worked, two of the three seemed to open up a little and strangely, get along with him. Meanwhile I tried to take Malachite's mind off it by insisting he help me with more combat training. I had come up with a new technique using Hanz's arrows, and for the most part it worked out. I could grab a bundle of them, animate them with Mercury magic and have them hover near me, then fire them off one at a time with little effort. This also allowed me to work on my deflection magic if he did get too near me, and we worked on the timing of my newest Neptune spell with Hanz, the two of them going at it while I alternately cast on both of them to make their weapons do magic damage. Of course neither was going all out, but it was a good exercise and had the dual purpose of letting the three draig know what we were capable of should they decide to double cross us in some way.

It was the afternoon of the second day when Malachite looked up at me.

"Hey Orchid?"

"What's up?"

"Mind using that wonderful divination magic to get me some answers? I'm concerned about this whole dragon thing..."

"I suppose I don't have to charge you. What would you like to know?"

"My first question is "will my life be in danger if I choose to help Alveindros?"

I cast the spell and got a yes.

"Will I die from saving Alveindros?"

I got a no to that one. So the dragon doesn't want his heart or anything, that's good to know.

"That's a relief. Are they telling the truth that the man I know as my father isn't my biological father?"

I got a yes on that one.

"Finally, am I a descendant of a dragon?"

Yes again.

"Wow. Okay, thanks."

"I actually have one since we're doing this. I'm going to ask if the dragon is worth saving. After all, if he's a despot and the world would be better off without him, may as well just turn back now."

"Good thinking."

I got a yes to that one as well.

"I guess it seems we're going to have to go through with this."

"So it seems."

I had thought the trip to the town was strained, but that proved to be only a preview of the chilly reception Malachite got when we marched into the place. Our three escorts left us, their job done, flying away to return to their previous lives. His parents were waiting there, but this was no tearful reunion. Driag dressed in what looked like ceremonial robes hastened to bring him to the lair of the dragon, and he made no attempt to stay a second longer than he had to. His parents did seem genuinely concerned for him as we went past, but I figured staying out of it was for the best. This being driag country I didn't bother with a disguise, did these guys know what a human looked like in the first place? Malachite was getting all the attention anyway so we just trailed along behind him. Until we got to the dragon's place, anyway. It was a rocky area to start with, and this just seemed to be another cave, albeit a large enough one for a dragon, going further into the mountainside. There was a lot of verticality in a driag village, as all the inhabitants could fly. So they built up and down mountains, which made sense to leave what little flat land they had for growing crops. Mostly to feed animals, not a lot of driag vegetarians out there.

"Only the chosen one may enter the lair of our great leader, the dragon Alveindros," said the guard at the center of the line of guards. The others interlocked their spears, creating a barrier of driag in gleaming armor, shields, and weapons.

"Take 'eir dragons seriously here, don't 'hey?" Snarly asked.

"Like he needed protecting, most of the time," Malachite sighed with a shake of his head. "But now I suppose his pride won't allow him to show weakness to anyone but me. Wait here, I'll go see him."

"Good luck," I told him.

"You can wait over there," said the guard as Malachite went into the cave. He was pointing with his spear off to the side, the path headed down to some stone benches carved into the rock.

"Then I guess that's what we'll do," I told him. "Come on, they seem jumpy enough we'll leave them to it."

Moments passed. I had to wonder what sort of impression my young friend was making on his dragon overlord, given his reluctance to come here. He wasn't going to insult a dragon, was he? Even one weakened by sickness could be a problem. And imagine if he said no, the town wouldn't take kindly to the fact their last hope walked away. Even if we had nothing to do with it, that kind of hostility could very easily spill over to us. As the minutes ticked by I got more and more worried, but finally the guard moved aside again and Malachite came walking towards us, a small box in his hands.

"Let's get this over with," he told us.