Chapter 10: A “shocking” development

I self-edit and admit editing isn’t my greatest skill. I apologize in advance for anything I missed.

Kendra looked around the tavern and rolled her eyes. It was full of slightly drunk, slightly unhappy, and very irritable men. There was a roaring fire in the hearth, wrought iron chandeliers lighting the room, and enough beer and mead flowing to keep the patrons from remembering their woes.

She shifted in her seat to resettle her clothes. She’d chosen some simple peasant attire to blend in, but it wasn’t as comfortable as what she preferred. She adjusted her jet black hair to keep prying eyes off her face so she could listen in peace.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and listened for all the conversations in the bar. It was a cacophony, but also a good way to stay informed.

“Lord Delmar just signed a treaty with the Marcadians”

“The crops this year have been great.”

“My crop was hit by locusts.”

“I wish the emperor would do something about the--”

“The emperor is an idiot.”

“--dragons near Arcanum.”

Kendra inclined her ear so she could hear this specific conversation better.

“Lord Delmar’s right about these rogue dragons.” A gruff voice said. “We should kill the whole lot of them; dragons ain’t much good for nothing but dying anyway.”

“Bah, he’s just after their gold.” A slurred voice said.

“Stuff it man.” The gruff voice said. “You’re drunk.”

“I swear to drunks I’m not God.” The slurry voice said, and then hiccupped.

“Damn right about them dragons.” A deep voice said. “They’ve been killing us for hundreds o’ years, why hasn’t nobody done nothing about it?”

“They’re too scared.” The gruff voice said. “These damn lords spend all day safe in their castles and leave the real work to us folk.”

“Hey pretty lady.” Someone said way too close for Kendra’s liking.

She opened her eyes to see someone staggering over toward her table. He was at least fifty pounds overweight and his tankard sloshed beer onto his pants and shirt with every unstable step, and he wore a look of unrestrained lust as he undressed her with his eyes.

Kendra sighed; same shit, different tavern.

“You want I show you some much good times?” The drunkard slurred as he reached her table.

“I doubt you’re capable.” Kendra replied with an icy stare.

The man was either too drunk or too stupid to take the hint. He leaned over the table and started reaching for her chest, “I be so good bitch, you--”

Kendra interrupted his hand and his sentence by grabbing the back of his head and introducing his face to the solid oak table; hard. The man fell to the floor with blood pouring out his nose. Kendra checked to make sure her necklace was still concealed under her shirt before glancing down at the man and muttering. “I was wrong; that was fun.”

She then noticed that the tavern had gone completely silent and all eyes were on her. None of them looked happy.

“He had it coming.” Kendra said, and then turned back to her mead.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

The tavern was still silent. No one moved or made a sound except the drunk man at her feet who was groaning in pain as he held his nose. Everyone was staring at either her or the gutter trash at her feet.

“That was Morkleth.” One of the men said. “He’s a pillar of this community.”

“Then this community has some rotten pillars.” She retorted.

This pronouncement was follow by a definite souring of the mood. The men started leering at her, and not in an ‘I-want-a-piece-of-ass’ way either. Several of them closed their hands into fists and one brandished a hefty walking stick in a threatening manner.

Kendra sized up the crowd.

There were about two dozen men in the bar, all of whom outweighed her by at least fifty pounds, and many double that. Half of them looked angry, the other half looked livid. Most of them were simple town folk and didn’t carry themselves like fighters. A few looked like that had experienced, but one of them — the only one without hatred in his eyes — looked like a stone cold killer.

There was something about bearing and demeanor that screamed dangerous, though few but her would have the skill to recognize it. She’d met men like him before. You spend enough time in her line of work and you learned to recognize others who shared your very particular set of skills. They always carried themselves that way unless they were undercover.

She raised her eyebrow at him.

He sized her up, then shook his head subtly and made a deliberate show of going back to his drink. Kendra grinned; with him no longer a threat, this bunch of ignorant hicks wouldn’t be a problem. Still, discretion is the better part of valor...

“He was an ass and I defended myself.” Kendra said. “I’m not looking for a fight.”

They weren’t buying it.

The tavern folk took a collective step forward. Kendra sighed, stood up, and activated her strength-enhancing dragon-leather vambraces. She briefly considered taking care of these bullies without them, but didn’t feel like a real workout.

“If you have a problem, let’s do this.” She said. “Otherwise I’m going back to my drink.”

One of the bigger fellows scowled at her, took a step forward, and aimed a powerful haymaker at her head. She leaned back just enough to make it miss and grabbed his arm as it passed. She continued his momentum and stuck out her foot. The man was carried forward, tripped over her foot and smashed face first into her solid oak table.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone else join the attack. She continued the spinning movement she’d used to put the first man down and brought her foot up in a crescent kick to the second man’s face. He didn’t even see it coming. He hit the floor groaning in pain and barely moved.

Thank Illuminar for strength-enhancing enchantments.

Everyone else in the tavern was frozen solid. The men she’d just knocked out were twice her size and clearly in decent shape. No one else seemed to know what to do.

Finally a braver man — who was leaning up against one of the vertical support beams — drew a large knife. He hefted it threateningly, his confidence in the weapon displayed on his face. The rest of the tavern folk also seemed to take courage from the glistening blade.

She chuckled.

With a flick of her wrist, she sent one of her concealed throwing knives into the pillar beside the knife-wielding man’s head. With a satisfying ‘thunk’ sound, it sunk deeply into the wood less than an inch from the man’s head.

He blanched.

The change in atmosphere was palpable. All of the confidence in the crowd evaporated in an instant. Suddenly, instead of a group of angry and tipsy thugs, she was looking at a bunch of grown men behaving like kids who were caught stealing sweet cakes.

“Bring me my knife.” Kendra said to the knife-wielding man as she slipped another throwing knife out and let it hang from her fingers.

The implied threat was very effective.

The man hesitated, then sheathed his own knife and — after a few tries — pulled her knife out of the support pillar. He walked over to her and held it out at arm’s length, clearly trying to stay as far away from her as possible. Kendra took the knife, returned it to its concealed sheath, and then looked at the crowd.

“Now, I think we should all go back to our drinks.” Kendra said as if they were discussing the weather or some other trivial matter. “Don’t you?”

Everyone nodded or mumbled in agreement, though their shoulders were hunched and they didn’t quite meet her gaze. The one exception was the stone cold killer who’d declined to get involved. His face was unreadable. He raised his tankard and gave her a slight nod of respect, which she returned.

Kendra sat back down and took a sip of her mead. After a few moments, the rest of the tavern folk went back to what they were doing. A couple of guys helped the trio of men at her feet get away from her, though they gave her as wide a berth as possible.

She just sipped her mead.

She waited until the tavern was almost back to normal, then paid her bill and slipped out, leaving a large tip for the owner. She stepped outside to see the stone cold killer in front of her. Just by the way he stood — the way he seemed perfectly relaxed and calm — she could tell he was dangerous. He was certainly as dangerous as she had initially guessed, maybe even more so.

They stood there for almost a minute, neither moving nor speaking as Kendra analyzed him. He was neither tall nor short; thin nor muscular. Like her, everything about his appearance was designed to blend in; his clothes, his hairstyle, his beard; everything. He was the kind of fellow you would see in a crowd and completely forget moments later.

She resisted the temptation to ready a weapon. You didn’t provoke someone like this; not if you valued your life. She might be able to take him, but maybe not, and certainly not without injury.

So she waited.

“Good evening.” He said eventually. Even his voice was nondescript.

“Evening.”

“You didn’t kill them.” He almost sounded disappointed.

“The guards are more likely to ignore a tavern brawl than a triple homicide.”

“Indeed.” He said, and then fell silent.

“Did you want something?” Kendra asked after several seconds.

“How long, and how many?”

“Too long ... and too many.” She answered honestly, thinking about all her missions and the dragon’s teeth on her necklace.

“You’re a hard woman to find ... Kendra.”

“Obviously not hard enough.” Thinking back, it wasn’t too surprising that someone had finally found her. She had been getting lazy lately. Moving every week was growing tiresome and she decided to stretch it for a while. Obviously that was a mistake.

“I have a job for you.” He said.

“I’m out of the business.”

“Hear me out?” it was a respectful request, not a command.

“Listening.”

“Lord Delmar has had some troubles with a young dragon recently. Given your history, I thought I could persuade you to come out of your very early retirement.”

“Still listening.” She succeeded in not reacting, though it was a struggle. She had heard about the bounty and been sorely tempted, even though the reward was a pittance compared to her usual fee. At twenty three, she had retired very early and wasn’t keen to get back in.

“A young, steel-gray dragon and his wood elf companion have managed to elude Lord Delmar’s men for well over a month now. They assaulted and murdered several of his guards and slaughtered nearly a whole airship crew that he sent after them. The dragon was also implicated in the death of an innocent girl less than a week ago.”

Kendra grimaced; he knew how to push her buttons. “Lord Delmar eh? Rumor has it he’s working with a dragon.”

“Is that a crime?”

“You didn’t answer the question.” She observed.

“No, I didn’t.” He replied simply. “Are you interested? Lord Delmar is willing to pay double your usual fee. Quadruple, if you bring the dragon in alive.”

“Alive?” Kendra raised her eyebrow. “That’s ... unusual. I thought the bounty was for a dead dragon.”

“Things change.”

“Oh?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Lord Delmar now has ... plans for this dragon; plans that would be greatly improved if he were delivered alive.”

Kendra suppressed a shudder. Death would be far more merciful than whatever Lord Delmar had in mind for a live dragon. Suddenly, she was far more interested in taking the job.

“What was the dragon’s last confirmed location?” she asked.

“Arcanum, the Arena, four days ago.” He replied. “We suspect he fled the city in an airship that he stole from Lord Borden.”

“Heading?”

“Unknown; likely north toward the gold mines.” He replied. “Good hunting.”

Kendra nodded, and then the man turned and walked away. He disappeared into the shadows with barely even a footprint to mark his passing. She looked after him for a few moments, and then headed back to her room. She grabbed her pack and a few provisions, then went into the forest to where she’d hidden her tiny airship.

“Hello beautiful.” She said when she had deactivated the enchantments that protected it from prying eyes.

At barely twenty feet long, it wasn’t large. However, it was plenty big enough for her. It looked a lot like a canoe, only with the stern ended flat like larger sailing ships. The lower mast was pulled up behind the vessel to allow it to land.

She stowed her things and activated the weight logs strapped to the inside. Once it had risen high enough, she dropped the lower mast and secured it in position. She turned the ships toward Arcanum — which fortunately wasn’t too far — and deployed the sails. A gentle touch plus a little bit of mana and the enchanted sails changed color from natural white to black as her hair.

As the ship caught a breeze and began moving, Kendra started planning. It had been a while since she’d been dragon hunting. She touched the necklace which was concealed under her shirt, feeling each dragon tooth as she went. She stopped at the most recent — and largest — one

“This one’s for you.” She said as she thought about who the beast had taken from her.

It was payback time.

Hailey decided that Ethan was the most confusing man she had ever met. Alana and Rachel didn’t make much sense either. Those three had just spent most of yesterday strategizing on how they could kill a dragon in order to free Taloni.

Kill a dragon!

The dragon was at least twice Ethan’s size — which was bad enough — but they actually seemed to think they could do it. Hailey found herself shaking her head so much she might’ve resembled a bobble-head from back on Earth.

It was sheer lunacy.

Yet, that hadn’t stopped them from meeting outside the captain’s cabin and resuming the conversation before dawn. The sun was just cresting the horizon and they show no signs of letting up. It just didn’t make sense to her. I mean, Taloni had saved Ethan’s life and all, but to risk your life with a slim chance of success for someone you’d just met?

Hailey shook her head again and leaned her willowy frame against the rail as she listened anyway, because there wasn’t much else to do.

“You’re sure your fireballs won’t do much?” Ethan asked Rachel.

Rachel sighed. “Like I said the last dozen times you asked; dragon scales are naturally resistant to heat. They’re virtually immune to it.”

He opened his mouth, but Rachel cut him off. “And no my ice attacks aren’t very effective because he can just pull heat from his breath to offset the cold.”

Ethan turned to Alana. “And your arrows won’t do much because he’s enchanted his scales to be stronger, according to Thaltien.”

The wood elf nodded. “And if he’s the size everyone says, they won’t penetrate deeply enough to cause a mortal wound anyway.”

“There’s got to be something else we can do that’ll help.” Ethan mused.

Raklan scoffed. “Just leave the Fey bitch behind; problem solved.”

Ethan growled at him. Hailey had noticed he’d become very protective of Taloni, almost as protective as he was of Alana.

“Raklan.” Serif said, then shook his head slightly. Raklan scurried off like a bolt of greased lightning.

Lightning...

“Hey.” Hailey said. “What about magical lighting attacks?”

Rachel snorted. “Yeah, and I’ll pull an army out of my back pocket too.”

“Wait, you’re telling me there aren’t any magical attacks using electricity?” Ethan asked.

Rachel cocked her head to one side. “What’s electricity?”

It was Hailey’s turn to snort.

“It’s what lightning is made of.” Ethan explained. “We actually use it to power machines where I come from.”

Alana and Rachel gaped at him.

“You can’t be serious.” The wood elf said.

“That’s impossible.” Rachel said at the same time.

“Not impossible.” Ethan shook his head and smiled. “We may not have magic, but we can still do some pretty cool stuff.”

“But harnessing lightning?” Rachel raised her eyebrow. “That’s like, the idle dream of the world’s master magicians. That would be like finding the Holy Grave.”

“The Holy Grave?” Hailey said. “Don’t you mean the Holy Grail?”

Rachel looked confused. “What’s a Holy Grail?”

“A religious artifact on our world that’s been missing for centuries.” Ethan explained. “And yes we figured out how to harness electricity, which is what lightning is made of.”

“But, how could people without magic harness Illuminar’s own weapon?” Alana asked.

“Come again?” Ethan wore an amusing look of confusion.

“Illuminar, the God of light, everyone know that lightning is his weapon.” Alana replied as if she was explaining that water was wet.

“Oh, yeah. God of light, lightning. That actually makes sense.” He said.

Rachel was still picking her jaw up off the weather deck. “You harnessed electricity without magic? How is that even possible?”

“Science.” Hailey replied.

“Science?” Rachel looked like someone had just said water wasn’t wet. “You mean that field of ‘study’ where they try to figure out how stuff works by cutting it up? Seriously? Those dullards figured it out?”

Ethan and Hailey both nodded while suppressing laughter.

Rachel shook her head. “Scientists can’t even figure out how a Golem operates; mages can. So pardon my skepticism.”

Hailey looked at Ethan, and saw her disbelief mirrored on his face.

“Culture shock.” He said.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“So how do you harness lightning?” Alana asked.

“You ... Uh ... I’m not sure.” Ethan said scratching his head. “It wasn’t something I studied.”

“Uh-huh; sure.” Rachel said, her voice dripping with skepticism.

“I’m serious.” Ethan said, then looked at Alana. They were both silent for several moments, then the wood elf spoke up.

“I believe him.” She said with absolute conviction.

“Wow, you just went from skeptic to true believer in five seconds flat.” Hailey said. “What are you smoking and can I have some?”

Alana looked very confused, opened her mouth to respond, then closed it and looked at Ethan. After another few seconds, she nodded at him like she understood something, and then turned back to Hailey.

“I’m not smoking anything and I’m certainly not a ‘pot-head’.” She said. “He just made a really good case.”

Rachel shook her head and looked at Ethan. “Okay, it sounds preposterous to me but I don’t think you’re a liar. How would we use lightning against the dragon?”

“I have no idea.” Ethan replied. “Like I said before, I’m not really sure how to generate enough to be useful.”

“You could always throw bat shit at the dragon.” Raklan called from across the deck.

“Yeah, that was part of the plan.” Ethan rolled his eyes. “We’re just trying to how stack the odds as far as possible in our favor.”

“You’re going to fight a dragon with bat shit?” Hailey scoffed. “Like, that’s actually part of your plan?”

“No, not bat shit; gunpowder.” He replied. “We already have sulfur and charcoal on the Argo. We collected some guano a while ago so we can make saltpeter so we can finishing making the gunpowder.”

“Saltpeter ... isn’t that potassium nitrate?” Hailey repeated trying to remember where she had heard of that before. “I think I used some of that in high school. It’s a white powder right?”

He nodded.

Hailey bit her lip.

The cooks at her former owner’s estate had used it to preserve food and you could buy it in the marketplace cheap. If she told them, they’d go back to Arcanum and she’d have a chance to see that bastard again. All she’d need was a few hours at night and a knife...

Subconsciously, she put a hand over the long scar on her stomach. Her other hand clenched into a fist so tight her knuckles turned white. It was everything she could do to keep her face neutral.

“Are you okay?” Alana asked her.

Hailey nodded. “Bad memories.”

She couldn’t tell them about the saltpeter. If she did, they’d go after that dragon and probably get themselves killed.

“Anthiel.” Ethan called up to the quarter deck. “Did you get that second pot so we can boil the guano water down?”

“I did.” She poked her head over the railing and glanced in Raklan’s direction. “However, someone threw your barrels overboard after you left.”

There was quite a commotion as Ethan, Alana, and Rachel all turned to chew out Raklan. Hailey tuned them out as she waged war within herself.

On the one hand, the proverbial devil on her shoulder was making a very compelling case. If they wanted to rescue Taloni — and get killed in the process — why should she care? They would do it anyway and she would just be helping them do what they wanted. Shouldn’t friends do that? Besides, she did owe them a favor, and this might count...

On the other hand, she’d be giving them the tools they needed to commit suicide. It was like giving a loaded gun to someone who was suicidal. It was like giving a bomb-vest to a known terrorist.

She shouldn’t do it.

Then she thought about her former owner...

Her hand once again moved to rest over her stomach where the scar lingered. If anyone deserved to die, it was that bastard. She hoped to God that hell was real because she wanted him to burn for all eternity. He deserved that, and much worse.

The proverbial angel on her other shoulder countered: “But what about Ethan, Alana, and Rachel; do they deserve to die?” They were good people and she would basically be sending them to their deaths.

Round and round she went, teetered between the two choices. Eventually, the others had finished chewing Raklan out, and Ethan brought her out of her reverie.

“Hailey, do you know any caves around here where we can find bats?” he asked.

“The market in Arcanum.” Hailey said without meaning to. It just slipped out without her thinking.

“Come again?”

“You can get potassium nitrate at the market in Arcanum.” She explained. “They use it to preserve food.”

“They use bat shit to preserve food?” Alana’s eyes went wide. “That’s gross.”

“Not quite, but close enough.” Hailey replied. She had always steered away from food preserved that way.

“Yeah, during the Middle ages on earth they used it for the same thing.” Ethan said. “I just wish Lord Delmar didn’t have his airships at Arcanum looking for us. Then we could go buy some.”

“They’re probably gone.” Rachel said. “Standard protocol only has them looking for two days. If they haven’t left yet, they will soon. It’s still early, we should be able to make it back by mid-afternoon.”

“Excellent.” Ethan grinned. “Then we’ll head back to Arcanum, pick up some saltpeter, and then we can start making some gunpowder.” He finished with quite the smile on his face, showing a large array of wickedly sharp teeth.

Hailey tried to return the smile, but she didn’t feel it. She had just sentenced them to death. Nobody kills a dragon that size, not unless they were in the emperor’s personal guard. Even then, there weren’t many of those left since that debacle a couple years back.

Her guilt faded somewhat as she thought about meeting her former owner with a knife in her hand. Fortunately, the Argo didn’t keep their weapons locked up. A quick trip to the hold would be enough. That bastard was going to pay for what he’d done.

She heard that when you go out for revenge, you should first dig two graves.

She was ready to dig.

Kendra lashed her ship to the bollards on a micro-berth in Arcanum’s dock. She looked around, breathed in the putrid stench of the dock and smiled; it was good to be back in civilization. Here, you could simply disappear amid the vast throng of humans, Elves, Fey, and the like. With the right clothes and style, you could be completely invisible while walking down the street.

She smiled wider, finished stowing her things in the ship, and then headed for the dock master.

“That’ll be one silver deposit, plus two coppers per day.” A very bored and overweight dock master mumbled when Kendra arrived.

She paid the fee, then pulled out a gold coin and rolled it back and forth on the tops of her fingers. The dock master’s eyes lit up at the sight and he followed the coin on her fingers like a hawk watches its prey.

“You seem like a smart fellow who knows a good deal when he sees it.” Kendra lied while doing her best to look cute. Men always were more willing to do favors when she looked cute. “I’m hoping to meet a friend here, I just don’t know if he’s arrived yet. Is there any way I could find out?”

The dock master was still following the gold coin rolling on the tops of her fingers when he replied. “I suppose I could take a look.”

“Perfect.” She purposely rolled the gold coin over the side of her finger and gave it a little nudge. It fell to the ground and rolled quite close to the dock master, who stopped it with his foot.

“Oh dear me.” Kendra said in mock surprise. “I suppose the law says the one who finds it can keep it.”

The dock master smiled a toothy grin, revealing he didn’t have many teeth. “Who’s your friend?”

“His ship is The Midnight Sun.”

The dock master flipped through his list for a minute or two before responding. “Yup, arrived over a week ago. Pier 24.”

“You’re such a dear.” Kendra lied, and gave him a winning smile. “I appreciate it so much.”

The dock master bent down to pick up his gold coin. She turned and let the fake smile fall from her face and rolled her eyes; idiot. She grabbed a bag of gear from her airship, slung it over her shoulder, and set off.

A long walk later, Kendra was on pier 24 looking at The Midnight Sun. It wasn’t a large airship, but it was packed with boarding ballistae. Few ships in the ten kingdoms were faster. There wasn’t a soul on deck, but her gut told her she was being watched.

“Falkaan, you old man; aren’t you going to invite a girl in?” she called.

The Elf appeared on the quarter deck wearing his trademark blue sailor’s coat and tricorn hat. His pale face was darker than she remembered, though still lighter than hers. The stump of his left arm was even more obvious now that he’d sewn the sleeve up.

His jet black hair still made quite the contrast with his face. His almond shaped eyes were still filled with intelligence, though they looked somehow older; more world weary. She knew he was at least fifty, but his eyes looked older; much older.

He was laughing. “How do you always know?”

“I had a good teacher.” Kendra gave him a respectful nod of the head, which he returned.

“You’re too kind.”

She made her way up the gangplank onto Falkaan’s ship and dropped her bag of gear on the deck. Falkaan climbed down from the quarterdeck and greeted her with a huge hug.

“It’s been too long old friend.” Falkaan said.

‘Hey, who are you calling old?” She said in mock offense.

“You have an old soul.” Falkaan replied, then chuckled. “I thought that’s why you left the game.”

“It was.” Kendra touched the necklace that was still concealed beneath her shirt. “Sometimes the past won’t let go though.”

“You kept it.” Falkaan observed. “Was that wise?”

“Probably not, but ... I don’t know; he was like my brother, I wanted something as a keepsake.”

“Curious that you chose a tooth from the dragon that killed him, but I know what you mean.” Falkaan touched the stump of his left arm. “I was lucky to stay whole for so long. You were smart to get out when you did.”

“I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Falkaan nodded. “A decade is a long time, especially when you start so young.”

“Eleven isn’t young. Didn’t you start at eight?”

“And stayed way too long.” He nodded. “But enough reminiscing about a dead past; what brings you here?”

“A steel gray dragon and a wood elf.”

Falkaan nodded. “Let’s get some drinks.”

He led her into the hold where he grabbed a bottle of mead and a few glasses. A few minutes later saw them sitting on the quarterdeck chatting away like nothing had changed in the intervening years.

“Do you ever see any of the old squad?” He asked.

“No, I went solo after...” She touched the necklace again. “I just didn’t want to go through that again.”

“Friends are a true luxury in life.” Falkaan nodded, then waved his hand toward the city. “These people don’t know how lucky they are.”

“Do you ever wish you could leave all this and just settle down?”

“You can take the man out of the job, but you can’t take the job out of the man.” Falkaan replied. “I’m too old for family. Besides how could I ever trust someone that much?”

“Still, it would be nice.” She nodded. Despite all the respect she had for her old mentor, despite all the times he’d saved her life, she wouldn’t ever be able to trust him completely. He had never betrayed her trust, but he had trained her never to trust an agent — or former agent — of the emperor.

He had never steered her wrong either.