Chapter 8

“That’s not what I said to her!”

S’re laughed hysterically, pointing at Jasper’s attempt at an indignant frown. “You absolutely did! She said she liked tall men and you puffed up with your thumbs in your vest and said ‘well, I’m taller on my dragon!’ I was standing right there! She was about to slap you! If she’d had a sword, this would be a different kind of story!”

Though Jasper rolled his eyes, he joined in her merriment.

Beside her on their bed, a big black mound of scales grumbled. Sitting up straight, Hero peered around. Now considerably taller than her when she was sitting, his height was mostly in the gangly neck. Opening his maw in a great yawn, the double fangs of the Wars were more pronounced among the smaller teeth that were as mixed as his heritage.

“Did we wake you, Hero?” S’re tittered. She patted the muscular joint between his wing and shoulder blades.

Stretching exquisitely, he arched his long spine before sitting back on his haunches again, a back foot sticking straight out, and curled his tail around his talons. “He-o, hmmm, dweeem.”

“I swear he learns a new word every day,” Jasper stared at the dragon in awe from his chair. “I’m going to have to start watching my language.”

S’re giggled and was about to respond when Jasper was out the flap of their home and racing through the trees before she felt the rumble that traveled through the dragon’s body. Standing at his head, Jasper peered around them. “What is it, buddy?”

The Tunk’ta raised his head high over the trees and tilted as if listening intently before he decided to plow ahead through the forest despite Jasper’s attempts to reroute him. The vegetation did not take kindly to being disturbed, and he made a terrible sound as he went, the animals fleeing long before he arrived. Those massive tusks protected the dragon’s face as he went, swinging his head side to side to clear the way enough to get his body through. Branches scrapped off the upturned edges of his back where younger plants grew, leaving them behind to one day regrow what he destroyed. All his passengers could do was hang on and wait for his trek to come to an end.

At last, he emerged from the trees and onto another trail as a large range shook the forest. After clacking his tusks together with the main patriarch and matriarch of the range in greeting and request, Randel waited to fall in step with them. Each dragon turned their heads to peer at S’re curiously as they passed but did not stop in their march.

“Wow!” Jasper marveled as another ancient matriarch moved past them in step with her mate, an immense curtain of vines growing all around her legs like the skirts of a lady. “Look at her! I think I’m in love!”

Turning her head to peer at this young newcomer, he could see the vines had taken root on the soil atop her head. Growing down in a tangle, it made the sage dragon blind on the side that her mate dutifully guarded.

Rushing back into their shelter, he slung his bag over his shoulder and dashed past S’re, making a running leap from Randel’s outstretched head and sailing through the air with a thrilled yell to tumble onto the matriarch’s shell. Hopping nimbly to his feet, he glanced back to make sure S’re had seen, giving her a playful grin before making his way towards the overgrown patch on the dragon’s head.

With a loving smile and a little sigh, she gathered her bow and took her position to shoot at the pesky cenepir that clutched the thick feeding tendrils under the Tunk’ta’s shells. She knew just how much he enjoyed showing off for her as he leapt and swung from dragon to dragon, casting her glances to check if she was watching.

It had always been her favorite part of their travels, watching him go about his tasks while she dealt with the pests. Diligent in his duties as a Tender, it was usually the only help he would accept from her. As most Tunk’ta met a Tender every few months, there was often little need for more than one person to keep up the maintenance. Tending the vegetation on the dragons that would overgrow or die and leave a skeleton that added needless weight was his most time consuming service.

It didn’t take him all that long to cut through these vines, though. In a thick, heavy snarl, the last few snapped on their own from the weight. The reaction from the old cow was as instant as a Tunk’ta could move, and he nearly lost his footing as her head lifted up in surprise. Realizing she could see, she let out a pleased trill that shook in Jasper’s chest, looking intently at the bull beside her as though falling in love all over again.

The old bull drew close, his great, glittering eye peering down at the human on top of his mate’s head in curiosity.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Jasper replied to the expression, hands on his hips proudly. “Remember me. And, you’re both welcome.”

Finished with his inspection, the bull returned his attention to his mate, and Jasper hurried off.

A shiver rode up S’re’s spine that she had felt before, but she did her best to ignore it, keeping her attention focused on what was real and alive. Whenever Jasper asked, she played it off. How could she even begin to explain that occasionally traveling with them were the ancient Tunk’ta that had walked these paths long before them, while the few Bonded appeared as even less than the wisps of the dragon spirits? It was unsettling enough to her.

Hero thought that Jasper’s gravity defying leaps looked like great fun and lunged into the air, attempting to glide to the nearest giant. Shocked, S’re yelled after him and watched helplessly as he lost altitude and tumbled on the ground right in the path of the range.

Ready to jump, she paused when the cow behind them used a snaking tendril to wrap about the hatchling and lifted him to a great, yellow eye, peering at him closely. Unsure of what else to do, Hero tried pointing at Randel with his head, but the dragon was not done with inspecting him. Staring at the giant, glassy orb that reflected his own puzzled face back at him, the hatchling blinked a few times before realizing it wasn’t another dragon inside that one, it was himself.

“He-oooo!” he howled joyfully, making S’re giggle.

“That one belongs to me! Drop him right here when you’re done, please!” She continued laughing at his antics, trying to convince the uncooperative Tunk’ta to turn him around to see his backside.

The giant craggy eyelids slid shut and open in a slow blink that Hero could hear so close up before the eye turned from him to peer at S’re. It made her gasp. Without a doubt, this dragon knew what she was. It had encountered a Tamer before. It had been commanded away, but why or where or by whom she could not see clearly enough to tell, only that the dragon recalled the experience and disliked it. Immensely.

Reaching out the tendril, it unceremoniously hurled Hero at her with a flick, sending the two tumbling through the brush. Quickening her step, the big female slid her tusks under Randel’s shell and lifted his rump up until his back legs left the ground. Squealing in shock, even his tendrils stiffened with the fear of falling. The others in the range turned to look, but the attacker dropped him just as suddenly when a voice yelled at her indignantly.

“Hey! Hey! Knock that off! That’s my dragon! Not hers!” Hands on his hips, Jasper glared back at the massive eye that swung close to challenge him. Shaking his head, he wagged his finger as though chiding a child. “That’s not very Tunker like!”

Her great eye narrowed. The air visibly hummed with the deep growl from the cow but, noticing the other dragons paying attention to her and snorting in warning, she slowed her pace to give Randel room.

S’re had to giggle at Jasper’s triumphant grin, raising his hands up. “Look! I’m a Tamer, too!”

“Maybe I’m rubbing off on you,” she laughed back.

Grinning, he cupped his hands around his mouth just to make sure she heard. “You can rub me off any time!”

With a groan and a massive eye roll that rolled her head back, she shook it and turned around to leave when she paused and looked back coyly. “I would, but you’re over there!” And she vanished into the brush.

It wasn’t 5 minutes before Jasper materialized beside them, but he was staring off through the trees, an excited expression on his face that S’re knew well– like a pirate who had spotted fresh plunder.

Telling Hero to stay, they made their way off Randel and through a wide grassy field. In the near distance, Jasper had spotted a crumbling building– one of many failed dreams of taming the wilds that dotted the land. They slowed down as they drew near, using caution to approach until they ensured there were no hiding dangers in or around the sagging structure.

Crouching at an opening large enough for them, Jasper took three of the fire sticks he carried from his vest. He twisted each metal rod and tossed them inside against the walls. Then he turned to her and held out his hand with that impish grin, and she could not resist.

They admired the flames for a moment as it built and consumed, crawling up the walls. The blaze danced to a song that perhaps Jasper heard for he turned to S’re and embraced her, briefly moving them to the music in his mind. He had grown accustomed to the sensations that came from gazing into her eyes, unafraid of what she might see, and a fiendish delight shone in his soul, captivating her now as it had the first time.

When he stopped, she did not hesitate to lean down and kiss him. His fingers tangled in her hair, the scorching touch of him as hungry as the fire that crackled all about them, stealing away the air. Tender embers had begun to twirl around them, warning them that the time for escape rapidly approached. They were reckless in their attention, the thrill only deepening their passion.

Their exhilarated laughter lasted all the way to their shelter back on Randel, who had lagged behind the herd until his Bonded caught up. Hero found himself rejected from their company, told to remain out until he was given permission to return. The little dragon growled and curled up tightly by the door, only to move further away with grumbles under his breath when there was too much noise for his nap.

“Well, look at that! This looks like the best place we’ve come across yet!” Jasper exclaimed excitedly as the range slowly crested a hilltop to look down on a large human city.

Several taller buildings were built alongside the Tunk’ta road, more than large enough to warrant for the dragons to avoid them and not disturb the interior city. The glassy exteriors afforded those inside immense entertainment when the mighty Tunk’ta would slow in curiosity, peering at their own reflections and sometimes even turning around to look at themselves head to toe before carrying on.

Hanging forward while holding his favorite tree, he turned to S’re and smiled. “Looks like they even have a Tunker field. Could probably hang around for a while. Get a room while Randel feeds. We’ll lose the range, but it’s been nearly a month since my last real hot meal, and I’ve got plenty of stipend banked up.”

S’re had a giddy smile. “Oh, and hot shower! And sleeping in a real bed!”

Jasper swung around the tree to be nose to nose with her. Taking her hand, he laid his lips to her knuckles, flashing her a scoundrel’s smirk. “Fucking in a real bed...”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help giggling. “Why not in the shower, too?”

“Oh, lulumi, you promise?” he returned eagerly with a suggestive snap of his eyebrows.

“Let’s get the room first.” She pushed him away as she swaggered back into the foliage.

“Fair,” he snickered after her, still hanging onto the tree, and indicated for Randel to find a spot to burrow into the loamy, well tended soil.

While S’re gathered their items and made certain Hero understood to stay put and out of sight, Jasper used a small shovel to toss the fertile soil up onto his dragon’s back to replenish what had been lost, hauling a few extra buckets worth to the top that tended to erode, remembering the hard words of the other Tender.

Getting a room where they could see the grand dragon sleep beside a few others, they did not hesitate to utilize the modern luxuries and their privacy. They spent the day and night in the room and even most of the next day. Begrudgingly, they left to find food, dining at a nice eatery and picking up treats to take with them.

They visited the market for some new clothes and other supplies. All the while, S’re made sure to keep her eyes down as much as she could, which had led to various good fortunes with lost change and even jewelry. It also meant she did not see when the Drakund and Spindle turned their heads to peer at her, often heads taller than the local commoners, many of whom gave her glares and did not bother to get out of her way at times.

Passing a massage parlor, Jasper paused and enticed S’re with a lecherous grin, pointing out she could easily keep her eyes down while the cute couple who owned it eagerly gave them both the royal treatment without prejudice.

Relaxed and satisfied, they were on their way back to their room when S’re’s shoulder bumped into someone. Spinning around instinctively, she began to apologize when her gaze met the old man. In an instant, she knew him, knew she wasn’t escaping. Sucking in her breath, she turned away to hurry after Jasper.

Stunned, the old man stood there for a second. “That ... You...” Turning around as he came back to reality, he pointed after her. “Hey! Hey, that lady! That ... H’elflin’! She’s a Tamer! We got a Tamer ‘mong us! Ev’body, that Tamer’s here to control you!”

The hairs rose all over her body when heads snapped around, the crowd growing quiet to hear the old man’s cries. Her ear tips grew cold, realizing the crowd would not let them disappear.

Jasper scoffed, attempting to dismiss it. “If she was, I would have noticed. Sorry she bumped you. Won’t happen again.” Grabbing her arm, he tried to take her and go but the people were not quick to get out of the way while they gawked.

“Naw! I saw it! She was tryin’ to control me! Bloody H’elflin’ thinks she’s better than us! That she can control us! I’m tellin’ y’all, that lady! She’s a Tamer! Keep your dragons away! She’ll turn ‘em on you!”

Suddenly pulled away from Jasper’s grip, S’re grit her teeth and wrenched herself from the hold of her captor. “Let go of me! I’m just a visitor!”