What are Friends For

“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!”

“Then prove it! Look at someone!” the old man challenged and others agreed, offering themselves up for the experiment.

Taken aback, she stuttered and muttered, trying to get back to Jasper, but he was having equal trouble getting to her.

Swarmed, S’re tried to push away the hands that grabbed at her, but more of them came at her until she was overwhelmed. Eyes darting about, she could not help but look up and meet the gazes of those around her. Shocked by sensations, she faltered, feeling faint, when a rope was tightened around her neck, pulling her forward with a stumble.

“She is a Tamer!”

“Cover her eyes!”

“Pluck them out!”

“Off with her head!”

“Hang her!”

The people pushed her up on a platform, forcing her to her knees. A few soldiers were pushing their way through the incensed crowd, trying to get to her, crying out that any Tamers were the property of the government, but the crowd couldn’t hear them over their shouting.

Squeezing her eyes shut when the rope tightened around her neck and her wrists were wrenched behind her, she could only hope the guards reached her in time when a deafening hiss filled the air. The Glimmer was so bright that S’re could see it through her eyelids, and the people who were yelling started screaming.

Opening her eyes, she was one of the few not blinded to witness with horror the line of chemical fire spray over the front of the crowd. It burnt through cloth and flesh like acid the split second before an inferno exploded from the line, rolling upwards in a wall of fire that caught on overhead banners and ropes. The screams after that were blood curdling, people trampling each other to escape.

Mouth hanging open, S’re stared in horrified disbelief. Hero lunged in front of her, sucking in his breath until he was shimmering with heat and sprayed another line of explosive chemicals, splattering against the walls of two nearby buildings, burning into the material before they went up and caught in an instant.

“Hero!” she cried out. “Hero! Stop!”

With a snort, Hero peered up at her curiously. Coughing as the smoke grew thick, she searched the panicking crowd for any sign of Jasper when she felt hands on her bindings. Turning to look, she gasped in surprise. “Diana?”

“Yeah, hey, how’s it going? Fancy meeting you here. Let’s go!”

Pulling S’re along, they met Jasper and Slina at the corner of a building just in time to hear an explosion. The building on fire was a general shop and the blaze had reached the fireworks. Among the innumerable pops and whirrs and whistles, one large rocket careened down the street and through a window, catching in an unoccupied room.

“Uh, we should go!” Diana urged, grabbing Slina’s hand to pull her along.

Zigzagging through alleys that were quickly filling with smoke, they struggled to run through the soft soil of the fertile field.

Diana turned and noticed that Hero was bounding along with them. “Oh, shit! It’s following!”

“Yeah, that’s Hero,” S’re explained hurriedly. “He was in that basket.”

Rushing up Randel’s back, Jasper let out a shrill whistle, stomping his foot with purpose. “I’m sorry, Randel, we gotta go! Now’s not the time for naps! C’mon, buddy!”

An idea dawned on S’re, making her gasp. “I think I could wake him!”

Looking over at her, his brow furrowed in thought. “Well, sure. I suppose that would be a Tamer power. Give it a try cuz we gotta go!”

With a deep breath, she focused on the dragon below her feet. She had discovered in the last few weeks that the buzzing she felt that had at first overwhelmed her was the very aura of the great creature she rode. Somehow, she knew Randel dreamed. He resisted her will, but he could not deny it.

“Wake up.”

The ground shuddered and the vegetation rustled all around them. The dragon sucked a deep breath and groaned, lifting his head as he startled to life. He rose to his feet in a hurry, swaying drowsily.

Feeling unsettled, she turned and noticed Jasper. Stricken and pale, his body was stiff as he stared at her wide eyed. He had to take a slow breath to recover from whatever he had experienced.

“S’re, that ... I did not like that feeling.” Clutching at his chest, he cut off her attempt to apologize. “It was like, I was just... aware of you making him do something he didn’t want to do. I feel ... compelled to protect him but ... I don’t even know how,” he whispered the last part. Again he shook his head when she tried to express her remorse, holding up his hand. “Please, S’re, don’t. I gave you permission. Let’s ... just get out of here.”

Turning away, he focused on coaxing his Bonded to once again begin the trek. Sweet promises that they would stop at the next plot of land so the dragon could finish his sleep got him a massive, frigid emerald eye glaring back at him. He used every silver tongued apology and praise he could think of as if it might appease the beast. After giving his Bonded a long and cold stare, Randel started back to the trail and they were soon in the shade of the trees, watching the smoke thick in the air.