Draka

When an unfamiliar voice suddenly whispered behind us I barely kept from screaming in surprise.

Herald gave off a strangled "Eeep!" as she simultaneously tried to draw her sword and turn to face whoever was behind us. Unfortunately she still had her pack on, which both threw off her balance and got in the way as she turned. Unable to get her sword free she instead kicked out with one long, booted leg and I heard a pained "Oof!"

I got my head around in time to see whoever it was hit the floor with a soft thump. My first instinct was to pounce while he was down, but I didn't want him to scream. I’d have to go for the throat.

I turned, preparing to leap.

"Ouch. Sorry," the man groaned softly. He held out one hand in surrender as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Mercies, Kitten, did Lalia teach you to kick like that?"

"Tam!" Herald exclaimed in a whisper that expressed all of her relief and pent up fears.

I felt much better about not clawing or biting him immediately. Or choking him to death with venom, which I had also considered. That would have been very awkward.

"And hello, uh, miss?" Tamor said, turning to me with a guilty smile. He was the first person I'd met who didn't seem the least bit nervous. I liked him immediately.

"Madam? Lady? Draka, I am Tamor, of Karakan, as you may have guessed. Now, come on! Those bastards don't hear well but let's get safe, yeah?"

He turned and began half crawling away from the ledge, then got up and continued in a crouch. Herald followed her brother, and a tug on my wing got me moving as well. There was no alarm from below, nor any other sign that we'd been heard, but Tamor was right. For all we knew the guards might patrol up here now and then, and even though they looked like we could take them I'd rather avoid anything like a fair fight.

"Here, this should be far enough," Tamor said, standing straight after turning us into a tunnel a couple dozen metres along the wall.

Herald stood and threw her arms around her brother without a word. In both height and appearance Tamor was much more like his older sister than his younger, sharing Makanna's rounded face and slightly stockier build. He was also just barely tall enough to avoid embarrassment when Herald hugged him.

After a long, silent embrace Herald released her brother, then smacked him repeatedly on the arm.

"You idiots," she hissed, though there was no real heat in it. "I cannot believe you! Do you have any idea… Gods, I am so glad that you are alright." Her eyes became worried. "The others?"

"Ow!" Tamor protested with a laugh as Herald smacked him. Then he became serious and put his hands gently on her arms. "They're fine, Kitten! We have a safe little hidey-hole. I was on guard, they're resting. We've been on short rations for a few days, so we try not to move too much, especially Mak."

Still holding his sister, Tamor turned to me. "Thank you, madam, truly," he said, settling on a title. "My family told me how you helped them get the money to free me, and here you are, coming to our rescue again. I can only guess that you've been sent by the Mercies themselves."

“‘Madam’ makes me feel old. Just call me Draka. Or ‘Lady,’ I suppose. I like ‘Lady.’ And you’re welcome. Happy to help.”

His mouth twitched. “Glad to hear it, Lady. So, let’s get to the others, yeah? They’ll be overjoyed to see the two of you.”

Tamor led us up the tunnel. He really looked very much like a male version of Makanna. If you knew one and met the other, you would almost certainly know, in your gut, that they were siblings. Tamor’s hair was shorter and slightly wavy, and he had a few days’ stubble on his face, but it was still very easy to see the resemblance.

He also stank, which I had to forgive since he probably hadn’t had a chance to wash himself for several days. I was pretty disappointed in myself that I hadn’t smelled him when he crept up on us, though Herald honestly didn’t smell a whole lot better.

In behaviour, though, he had a completely different vibe than either of his sisters. He was open and friendly where Makanna was reserved, and felt relaxed and spontaneous compared to Herald, who was thoughtful and still had that teenage sense of “me against the world.”

I was not at all surprised that he’d been locked up for not getting his “magicking-in-the-city” licence.

Tam talked as he led us. “We’ve been here for… a few days, I’d guess? Can’t tell time worth shit down here. My gut says three or four days. We tried to get out after we found the villagers back there, but when we got back up the tunnel it was closed off. Probably should have seen that coming,” he said with a self deprecating laugh. “That’s supposed to be my thing, right, Kitten? To see problems coming? But we can’t any of us be perfect.”

The tunnel that we followed was not a long, curving affair like the one Herald and me had come down in. This one was rougher, rounder, and seemed to wind almost naturally through the stone. I had to lead Herald, since there was again no light in there, but Tamor seemed to be able to see well enough. Thanks to Makanna, probably. Now that I was focusing on thinking with my nose I knew that we were getting close to the group’s hideout long before I saw it. It smelled extremely lived in.

The hide-away was a small, rough room that opened off the side of the tunnel. I could see Valmik stick his head out as we approached, his face splitting almost in two as he saw Herald and me following Tamor.

“Hello, my dears!” Tamor announced as he reached the opening. “I’ve brought guests!” With a quick peck on Valmik’s bald head he ushered us inside.

The place was set up like a camp, with the exception of there not being a fire. They had bedrolls on the floor, their most commonly used equipment out, but otherwise everything was ready to move quickly, and their weapons were close at hand. Makanna had been sleeping, but stirred as we arrived. There was another round of hugs, kisses between Herald, Makanna and Valmik, and with a whisper Makanna cast her spell on Herald to let her see in the dark. Herald had some choice words for them about leaving her alone and then disappearing, and they looked too tired to argue when she was obviously in the right. Then Herald announced the good news.

“I have plenty of food for you idiots,” she said as she began unpacking bread, hard cheese, dried meats, fruit, and spare waterskins. “And we can get you out.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Makanna said while giving me the side eye. “Madam Draka. I see my sister reached out to you for help.”

Valmik sighed. “Mak…”

“Yeah, she did,” I replied before Herald had a chance to say anything. “Your friends in the Grey Wolves couldn’t go with her. Not like I could live with myself if I let her go alone.”

“What has she promised–” Makanna started, but Herald cut her off.

“Oh, shut up, Mak,” she said, sounding more tired than upset. “I told her that I was worried, she offered to come with me, I accepted. I have not promised her anything and she has not asked. And you are lucky that she came, because I could not have gotten in here without her. How much food and water did you have left, Mak?”

Mak scowled silently. “Food remains for two days, at quarter rations,” an embarrassed Valmik supplied when no one else looked likely to say anything. “Drinkable water can be brought from a cistern, but carefully, so we are not spotted.”

“So you are already starving. And here I am, with food to spare for all of us, for days. Thanks to Draka. And do you know what? This is not the first time I have been out with her, either.”

“Is that so?” Makanna asked, looking at me.

“Yeah,” Herald shot back. I considered stopping her but I honestly didn’t care about Makanna’s opinion, and Herald clearly needed to get this off her chest.

“I went to see her a few days after you left. You all left me! What did you expect, that I would sit at the inn all week until you came back? I was dying of boredom!”

“Did you at least take Garal or Lalia with you?” Makanna asked.

“No, of course I did not!” Herald said with frustration. “I was not going to tell anyone about Draka, because we promised not to! I went alone! And I was fine! We met, and we had a good talk, right Draka?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, surprised to be drawn into the conversation.

“And then in the morning she showed me a bandit camp, and we were attacked on the road by two utter bastards–”

“What–?” Makanna exclaimed, but Herald rolled on.

“And we dealt with them! And then we brought the Wolves there and we wiped the rest of the fuckers out!” Herald said with a gleam in her eyes that was visible even to my shadowsight. “I have killed two men,” she said, her voice tense, wielding her pain as a weapon.

“Oh, Kitten…” Tamor said sadly.

Herald kept talking, ignoring the interruption, words tumbling out faster and louder as her eyes stayed locked on Makanna. “I killed two of the murdering bastards, and I feel like shit about it sometimes, but you know what? I am glad for it. It was exciting, and I did the world some good, and it was thanks to Draka. And here we are, now, pulling your arses out of a hole you dug yourselves into, and you owe that to Draka."

She took a breath. "I love you, Mak. You are my dear sister, the head of our family, and I will always be thankful for all you have done to give me the best life you could. But right now, respectfully, take your suspicion and your awful attitude towards my friend and shove it up your arse!”

With Herald’s final word the room fell silent and Herald, looking spent, almost faint, sat back against the wall, pulling her knees up. She was breathing heavily, and with my shadowsight I could see sweat on her forehead, dark grey against the bright background of her face.

“I am sorry,” Herald said softly into the silence. “I have not slept well the last few nights.”

Makanna sat on her bedroll, looking stunned. I waited, not wanting to stick my nose in this but worried that she would explode at any moment. Instead her face went from shock to… not sadness. Regret, perhaps? She hesitated, and moved a little closer to Herald.

“Herald?” Her voice quavered a little. When Herald looked away Makanna moved even closer, slowly reaching out to touch Herald’s shoulder. I looked at the two men. Valmik looked a little stunned, while Tamor’s eyes flicked rapidly between his sisters, as if not sure what to do.

“I’m sorry, Herald,” Makanna said softly, her hand firmly on Herald’s shoulder. When Herald still didn’t react Makanna closed the rest of the distance and gathered her much bigger sister into her arms.

“Oh, Herald,” she murmured into her sister’s hair. “Sweet little sister. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We shouldn’t have left you. Of course we shouldn’t have.”

At first Herald didn’t react. She just sat there for a long moment, her arms around her knees, before she returned the hug.

“I am not a fucking baby,” she complained into her sister’s chest.

“I know,” Makanna agreed.

Herald sniffled. “I’m not.”

“I know,” Makanna said, stroking her sister’s hair gently.

I saw Herald shake silently. “Why don’t you idiots see that?” she choked out.

“I know. I know,” Makanna repeated, still holding her, still stroking her hair. “I’m sorry.”

Tamor approached me silently and gestured towards the tunnel, then did the same to Valmik. We followed him out.

“I thought Herald might bolt there,” Tamor said after we had put some distance between us and his sisters. “They’ll need some time. Makanna is embarrassed to cry in front of anyone, and there’s usually a lot of crying after those two fight. Or when I fight with either of them, really.” He shrugged. “We’re an emotional family.”

“‘Truth can only pass with pain,’” Valmik quoted sagely.

“You just made that up,” Tamor accused.

“And if I did?” Valmik returned.

“I’d probably love you even more, my beautiful warrior poet,” Tamor said, bumping his lover with his shoulder.

I didn’t really want to interrupt them. They were pretty cute together. But we needed to talk.

“So, about what Herald just told you…”

“I assume that it’s true,” Tamor said. “Herald very rarely lies. She’s so bad at it.”

“There is much sweat, and her eyes look everywhere except the person she is talking to,” Valmik agreed. “It is quite obvious.”

“Yeah,” Tamor said. “But we should have brought her with us. It’s lucky that we didn’t, but we should have. I knew that, but I didn’t know she would take it so hard.” He paused. “So. Two men?”

“Like she said,” I told them. “The first one was a bandit we met on the road. It was quick and clean, I think. Not like what I did to his partner. The other one was at the bandits’ camp. He went for her, I held him in place, and Herald saw an opening and finished him off.”

“How is she handling it?” Valmik asked, his voice full of concern.

“Not well. Or, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about shit like this. She has nightmares. Sometimes she gets really dark when she thinks about it. Is that normal?”

“The first man I killed, he haunted me for months,” Valmik said. “I think I will always remember. It’s…” he thought for a second. “It’s a little like the loss of a loved one. You carry it with you. But it gets easier.”

“Well, I’m not sorry for taking her out, but I am sorry for putting her in danger. Or letting her put herself in danger, maybe. But I think she’ll be right. She’s got dark moments, but she’s more confident the rest of the time. And I was never going to let her get hurt. Not on my life.”

“Thank you,” Tamor said. “For the apology and for looking after her. But if you’re going to apologise to anyone it should probably be Herald, and I don’t think she’ll want to hear it. She sounds satisfied with the outcome.” He sighed. “It’s a lot to take in, though. My little Kitten’s a killer.”

He fell silent for a while, staring at the wall. “I, uh…” he started, then faltered before rallying. “Oh hells, I suppose it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I have no idea what she’s feeling. I’ve never killed anyone. A person, that is. I don’t think that Makanna has, either. At least she never told me. Val’s probably the best person here to talk to her.”

Valmik nodded solemnly.

“Oh,” I said. I had kind of assumed that both Makanna and Tamor would have killed people, like it went with the adventuring lifestyle. “Well, I know that she’s been talking to Lalia about it. Maybe Garal, too.”

“That's good," Tamor said. "Have you met them?"

“Yeah, I have. Believe it or not, but they were actually the first two people I met here. And the first one I ever really talked to was Lalia's sister, which is just weird now that I know.”

“A great coincidence,” Valmik said with raised eyebrows. I saw him glance at Tamor. "What happened?"

“I saved Garal's life and Lalia tried to kill me. Couldn’t talk to them yet, so that didn't help. And then I saved Lalia's little sister from a monster pig. Anyway, I think Lalia hates me. Garal seems like a good guy, though.”

“Oh, he is,” Tamor said fondly. Valmik gave him a theatrically dirty look. “Oh, lose it!” Tamor said to Valmik and threw his arm around him. “He is! And you know that you have nothing to worry about, my sweet. That man is far too concerned with his appearance to interest me.”

He smiled and primped his hair. “If anything, maybe I should be concerned, hmm? You always liked the pretty ones.”

Valmik made a show of considering this. “Well,” he said after some time. “He is very easy on the eyes.”

“Traitor,” Tamor said happily and hugged Valmik tighter, then turned to me. "So what about you saving Garal's life? I know he was injured when his camp was attacked a few weeks ago, but no one would talk about it."

I told them. I cleaned up the details so that I didn't have to admit to my near panic and complete ignorance, but they got the broad strokes as accurately as I remembered them.

"To be fair to Lalia, it wasn't her that tried to kill me that time. It was some guy on a horse."

"That time?" Valmik asked.

"She did try to kill me a couple of days ago, at the bandit camp. But she apologised. Kind of."

Tamor scoffed. "Lady, I can believe that I'm sitting here, deep underground, having a conversation with a dragon. And I'll believe what my sisters and my love have told me about your short adventure together in the mines. But Lalia apologising?" He pointed a finger accusingly. "You go too far!"

"Be nice," Valmik told him, elbowing him in the side lightly but smiling as he did so. "Apologies are rare from her, but they happen."

“When she’s well and truly piss drunk, perhaps. Were you in or around any taverns at all?”

“No,” I said drily.

“Well, in that case I can’t imagine what made her stow away her pride. But don’t take it too hard. Lalia doesn’t trust easily. She’s a lot like Mak in that way.”

“You do, though. You’ve known me for all of five minutes and you’re talking to me like an old friend. You didn’t even blink at what I am when you ambushed us in that cavern.”

"I'm usually lucky with people," he said happily. Then something odd happened. I saw Valmik nudge Tamor's foot with his own and give him a very pointed look, but he barely moved his head to do so. I thought he might be trying to be stealthy, but he wasn’t very good at it.

“You’re a lucky guy in general, aren’t you?” I asked, trying to lead him, but he didn’t take the bait.

“I’ve been luckier than most in some things, less so in others.” Valmik nudged him again. I couldn't tell if Tamor even noticed, but he shrugged and continued. “In any case, I like to give people a chance. According to Herald and this fine man here,” indicating Valmik, “you are not just a person, but a good one. And Mak… well, like I said, she doesn’t trust easily. For good reason, unfortunately. So I try to consider that when I get her opinion on someone. If it helps, I did take a minute to work up my courage before approaching you two.”

“A minute?” I said in mock horror. “I can’t believe I didn’t smell you! I don’t know if my pride will ever recover.”

Tamor smiled indulgently. “As for what you are, I admit that your kind are always villains in our stories and our histories. But here’s the thing. Dragons are said to have a lot of treasure, and when the hero inevitably slays the dragon he usually ends up with enough gold and jewels to buy a city. I don’t like to think of myself as a devious person–”

Valmik scoffed.

“Thank you, my love,” Tamor said without missing a beat. “–but if I were to murder someone and take their stuff I imagine I might try to make sure that everyone thought that the dead guy was a much bigger bastard than me, and good riddance. So I figure I should judge you as a person and my darling sister’s friend, first.”

I definitely liked this guy. “Thank you,” I said after a long pause. “That means a lot.”

“Don’t mention it.” After a moment’s hesitation he reached across the tunnel and clapped me on the shoulder. “Shall we get back?”