The Dragon Tamers
Copyright© 2024 by Cly Anders
Chapter 20: It’ll be a Long Train Ride
By the time they were refreshed and had finished the bottle of blue stuff, the sun was going down, and they were sipping on something new and colored like honey. They marveled at the sunset over a massive lake in the distance, the sky glittering in a myriad of sharp little flashes of color while beams of sunlight glinted off the buildings of the town along the shore.
The windows of the train car darkened suddenly. Before they could react, a Glimmer exploded into existence, snaking across the valley and stretching well over the lake before disappearing past sight. The windows returned to normal opacity once it was over.
“That was unusually long.”
Jumping, they looked over as Roscrow stood, stretching each arm up and bending to the side. His fingers nearly brushed the windows above them.
Tilting his head back, he sniffed at the air and a smirk struggled with the corner of his mouth. “Ah, of course. Leave it to the women to find the shower. Suppose I’ll bathe in booze.”
Jasper tried to hold in his chuckles to little avail while both women glared at the pale giant.
“We didn’t take that long!” S’re protested.
His smile stretching further, Roscrow stared pointedly at their drinks. “Had I slept any longer, you would have robbed me of the booze, too.”
Though she cast him a glare, it didn’t have much edge. “Were we not supposed to drink it?” she asked nervously.
He cocked a brow. “Not at all. I’m merely disappointed you didn’t wait. Now I have to catch up.”
Jasper chuckled as he sat on one of the immense, plush sofas. “Ha, somehow, I had the feeling you were the type.”
Roscrow fixed him with a cold expression before allowing it to melt into an almost friendly smile. “Considering I’m no longer on a harrowing escapade through the backwoods of an enemy nation, this would be the appropriate time to inebriate, especially as I require triple what any of you could stomach.”
Not waiting for a response, he strolled to the wall of alcohol and plucked a bottle from the top, far too high for any of them to reach without standing on something. “Ah, Bultaj. He always stocks my favorite.”
Glancing between them, S’re left her friends to sit at the bar with her Guardian. “So, um, how did you even become friends with this guy? I always thought the Syndicate was dangerous.”
Cocking a brow, he held the glass up to his lips and paused, stared off into the distance and stated in a deadpan voice, “I threatened to suck his dick fifty years ago, and he never forgot.”
Groaning, S’re rolled her eyes so hard her head went with them while Jasper burst out laughing. “Well, I’m pretty sure we all heard you offer to suck his dick when we got on the train so, yeah, guess he wouldn’t forget!”
Pouring himself another shot, Roscrow grinned behind his glass with a playful bounce of his brows. “The question was how I became friends with him. The rest is how I stay friends with him. That, and a very deep pocket,” he added as he finished his shot.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s your pockets that’re deep for his gangly ass,” Jasper muttered into his cup, not expecting Roscrow’s sharp ears to catch on.
Roscrow’s gaze flashed up and locked on him with a sour expression. “I assure you, saipaki, there is far more ‘ship’ than ‘friend’ in our friendship. Bultaj knows it, and I know it, and the rest is merely for show. It drives my father insane and makes the other Lords and Speakers delightfully uncomfortable and that’s reason enough. As much as he would relish the chance to lay his hands on me, Bultaj’s one true love is an open pocketbook and my pockets happen to run deep enough that he’ll do just about anything for me–” he looked at the drink in his hand– “and throw in some extras on occasion.”
He held up the drink to admire its clear, silvery color before glaring directly at S’re, and it disturbed her instincts that she was rapidly seeing less of him. “This extraction cost me almost as much as your bounty is worth, and I won’t even be eligible to receive it when we return. My leaving so suddenly twice in a row also damaged my political standing– a reputation I’ve spent half a century building. I would have preferred to leave Bultaj out of this entirely as it offers him a political advantage to know you’re coming, and he will undoubtedly try to gain your favor as soon as we arrive, but expediency was the priority.”
“How can you trust him, though?” S’re asked. “What if he sells you out?”
Roscrow gave her a bored look, as though she were a fool to even ask. “It’s simply not in his best interest to prattle about long lost Tamers. That business can become rather messy and as businessmen, this has already netted a loss for us both. Though, my personal losses can’t be calculated until we return.”
“Spoken like a rich politician,” Jasper muttered, shaking his head.
Roscrow’s glare flashed up to him and narrowed. “I am a rich politician.” Returning his attention to S’re, he continued. “And now, as are you. As you are my Tamer, by tradition, all my wealth now belongs to you, so don’t look so glum and just enjoy the drinks.”
S’re’s eyes widened. “What? Really? Oh, uh, I-I don’t want to take your money...”
“That won’t really be your choice,” he interrupted with the hint of a sneer. “Or even mine, for that matter. Guardians live on the wealth of their Tamers, who have always had anything they wish given to them, while any money a Guardian makes on their own merit automatically belongs to their Tamer.”
Swallowing hard at his bitter tone, she looked back at her untouched drink. “Oh, well, um, m-maybe that’s the case, but, um, I won’t touch it if, um, if I’m not made to.”
Finishing another shot, Roscrow raised a brow at her and let out a long breath through his nose before letting his shoulders and his voice relax. “I’m really not that concerned, to be earnest. You don’t strike me as the spending type.”
Shaking her head in agreement, she noticed the faintest shine of his pupils in the uneven rays of the sun’s fading light. He knew just how to tilt his eyes and his head to catch the light or to avoid it, so it felt like catching him red-handed staring at her neckline. As though he knew, he tilted back so the focus of his attention was unmistakably her face. “However, a new wardrobe will be the first task after we meet with the Senate of Speakers. You are a Tamer. You will be expected to conduct yourself as such.”
Shrinking down and pulling her shirt up again, she nodded. “I’m, uh, I’m afraid I, um, don’t know much about, uh, political things.”
“You don’t need to. Dane and I will be there with you. You will have it lenient.” He sucked in his breath and let it out with displeasure. “I expect to answer for some ... misdirections.”
“Why didn’t you just send someone else?” S’re asked with a hint of irritation.
Tilting his head with a stern wrinkle in his brow, Roscrow put his glass down as he leaned towards her. “And who would I send? What you stole wasn’t supposed to be known to anyone else. I was permitted to pick one soldier to go with me as backup on that mission, and I chose my own ra’hin. I thought I’d only need the company. Lo and behold, some motley crew shows up with the only H’elfling Tamer in history and my ass gets laid out by a grun’gal with a hard on for arson.”
“I thought you were going to hurt her,” Jasper defended, but Roscrow ignored him, his eyes still glued on S’re.
“Had I told the Senate exactly what happened, there would have been uproar. To know that they had a Tamer within the borders would have caused a frenzy. And to make it worse, that Tamer they didn’t want anyone knowing about was running through the enemy’s countryside with an experiment they didn’t want anyone knowing about. Surely, the number of individuals who could be trusted with such information is extensive.”
S’re hung her head. “I get your point.”
Leaning back with a terse nod, Roscrow poured himself another shot. “Besides, as a Tamer, you could have turned anyone else away. It couldn’t be risked. And while Dane’s singular reason to leave the mountain is to hunt a Tamer, I had the luxury of my pride. It could only have been me.”
“It ... must be a lot,” S’re said softly.
Roscrow peered at her. “Excuse me?”
“It must be a lot,” she repeated. “Being a Lord and a soldier and a ... a Guardian.”
Staring at her for a contemplative second, Roscrow looked down at his drink. “Guardians are generally barred from military service. I, however, was given a special exception because I was not permitted to awaken a Tamer and there was no Tamer to serve at the time. After I was given my Lordship, my services to the state became only when necessary.” He looked back at her and ended with a cold smirk and a mock toast. “As the superior species, I have always been able to accomplish far more than my human counterparts and still have social time.”
She rolled her eyes a little. “Of course. Um, but I am curious. How exactly do you get rich off it? The whole ‘being a Lord’ thing?”
“Taxes,” he replied in a bored tone. “They pay for all the improvements I’ve made to the infrastructure.” A sly smirk curled his lips. “I had the idea to connect to the main train line, which was how I met Bultaj in person. He then gave me a loan which I returned tenfold by cornering the market on all mostly legal forms of entertainment, from night clubs and casinos to brothels and drugs, all of which I get to put a personal fee on. Once I was given oversight of the Court, I set the machine up to just about run itself. Though, I’m bound to have a stack of paperwork by the time I return.”
S’re was staring at him wide-eyed. “You’re a drug dealer?”