Chapter 14

Raimi wandered through the booths and multitudes of groups chatting and visiting, she was very pleased with the reception the new dragons had gotten, Renlock, Bartolow and Morpaw, Shelaw close by were sitting talking with a group that wanted to know where they had come from, asking question after question about the old world and what had happened there. Toledoes and Ailysh were with Connor and Bitsy, Strut was off checking out the gathering on his own, which gave everyone a worry or two. With a frown she saw a large group their voices growing louder and louder, with a groan Raimi could have sworn she heard Strut's voice, she was about to leave him to his own pot that he seemed to have set boiling until she heard her name mentioned and loud gawfs and laughter. Raimi pushed her way through the group, Zara perched on her shoulder and Hellhound on her heels, Raimi frowned as a hand reached out and grabbed Strut around the neck "I'm telling you no woman can string a long bow let alone pulled it back" the large brawny man laughed. Everyone gasped as a dagger suddenly pinned the man's gauntlet to a tree, "release the dragon, he is a lack wit and got loose by mistake, pay him no heed" said Raimi in a cold calm voice, turning her head she smiled at Zara who was sitting wide eyed on her shoulder "you better go back to your mama, Zara, this isn't a place for you, take Hellhound with you." Raimi realized most of the men were well in their cups, a few could barely stand, as Zara left Raimi's shoulder another man reached out and tried to grab Zara, "leave her alone, can't you see she's only a baby" came a calm deadly voice, the drunken man gawfed and grabbed for Zara again, Hellhound let out a low menacing growl, "go to your mama little one" the calm deadly voice told Zara. Raimi prying Struts neck from the other drunkard turned to see a young boy of perhaps thirteen if not younger holding Zara. Zara stared into the blackest eyes she had ever seen then whispered putting her paw over his heart "hurt here long long time, Zara make all better some day." Raimi snapped "Hell take Zara to Laurel." Hellhound let out a vicious snarling growl at the group then took Zara from the boy's hands gently and ran off.

One of the men snickered slapping the boy on the back "taken to rescuing babies now are ya DeClan, in a few years you'll get the hint it's supposed to be damsels in distress." The large brawny man who had grabbed Strut snickered reaching for Raimi "like this one, she ain't distressed yet but we can fix that." Raimi blinked as the man grabbed his hand with a scream as if something was tearing it from his wrist, "go sober up and leave the women and children alone" the young boy told the man. Raimi had not seen the boy touch the man, yet it was obvious he somehow had control of the man and causing him severe pain. Strut hissing as he hung onto Raimi's shoulder snorted "isn't so tough now is he." Raimi snapped "shutup you twit." Strut hissed "all I did Raimi was..." Raimi wrapped her hand around Strut's snout "I was right you are demented" she growled at him. The young boy called DeClan grinned at Raimi, she noticed he had a very nice smile but also noticed it didn't reach his dark eyes. One of the men chuckled "aye he is demented claiming yea can string a long bow and even pull it back." Raimi just raised an eyebrow and turned the leave. The large brawny man getting up off the ground laughed a nasty laugh "told yea he was just a braggart of a runt dragon, no woman can do that." Strut snorted and mumbled behind Raimi's hand, Raimi chuckled "of course I can Strut but why bother showing these louts" one of the men snickered "we even bet the runt dragon a gold coin yea couldn't do it, you gunna prove us wrong, or is he a liar?" Raimi blinked and twapped Strut on the top of his head "and what were you going to pay off the bet with if I couldn't do it you dunce?" Strut deftly caught the gold coin that was tossed in his direction "with that" Revanche said calmly, Alex chuckled and held up a gold coin "and this" Rav held up a gold coin "and this" Brax flipped a gold coin in the air and caught it "and this." Virlane strolled up and bowed his head slightly to the young boy "DeClan" the young boy bowed his head in return "Virlane" DeClan glanced over at Zara sitting on her papa's shoulder "brought reinforcements I see, little one." Zara nodded with a smile the boy also saw the huge hound was once again at Raimi's heels. "Well, yea gunna give it a try or hide behind your dragon friends?" gawfed the large brawny man. Raimi with a sigh walked over took the long bow from the man holding it, took the cord put the loop in the notch at one end, resting it against the side of her foot, she calmly bent the six foot long bow made of yew wood, looped the cord to the other notched end then held it up, with a smile she casually commented "do I get to shoot it?" without saying a word one of the men handed her an arrow, Raimi notched the arrow pulled back the cord and let the arrow fly a good 160 feet into the center of a knot in a tree. One of the men let out a breath "damn that bow must have at least 80 pounds of pull on it and as stiff as an old bent man." Raimi once again bent the bow, took off the cord and handed it back to the man "now pay Strut, he won his bet" seeing the look on the man's face DeClan snapped "pay the dragon!" None to gracefully the man handed Strut a gold coin, Raimi heard Strut snort and grabbed his snout again "one more word out of you and I'm going to truss you up and hang you from a tree for the rest of the night" everyone laughed easing the tension, DeClan turned to the men "shows over, go sober up and no more trouble or you'll be sent home." The young boy once again bowed his head to Virlane who returned the same, he looked at Zara for a moment bowed his head to her and walked off, following the men.

Morpaw let out a sigh of relief as he watched them walk away "who was that boy?" Virlane chuckled "that BOY is DeClan Leander, his father is the most powerful wizard in all of Northern England, Scotland and Wales. They say the boy when he was born was so mean he chewed off his mama's ahhh leg as he was birthed, the old Leander is just plan mean but an amazing wizard who is raising the boy to be both it seems, each time I see DeClan he seems colder and more withdrawn from those around him then the time before, that boy you don't ever want to tangle with." Zara's deep dark blue eyes followed DeClan as he strode off filled with sadness for the pain she felt in the his heart. Strut snorting and chortling held his two gold pieces, before he could fly off Raimi grabbed him "give the one gold coin back, it's not yours." Strut glowered at Raimi but handed the coin back. Revanche chuckled "keep it Strut." Strut gave Raimi a grin and flew off. A moment later Raimi found herself being drug off by Natalie, Laurel and Bitsy saying they were going to look at the material booths, it took Raimi almost an hour to slip away from the women and go wander on her own. Laurel saw Raimi leave and frowned, telling Bitsy and Natalie that she would be back shortly, Laurel went looking for Revanche.

Raimi quietly walked up to Shelaw and put a bag of coins in her paw "these are to share between all of you, I'm sorry there isn't more" Shelaw gasped at Raimi "what have you done young Raimi?" Raimi chuckled then grimaced "there was a wrestling match, the purse went to the winner" Bartolow frowned "you are not up to such." Raimi nodded "I know, I'm going to go sit and have a drink." Raimi went and got herself a tankard of ale, then went out away from all the wandering beings, easing herself down she leaned her head back against the tree and tried not to cry, damn she thought she was in better shape than this Raimi told herself. "Whoeeee girly you look like you've seen better days" chortled Trink sitting down next to Raimi, grimacing Raimi looked down at Trink "don't make me laugh, Trink, right at the moment it hurt's too much." Trink handed Raimi a bottle "take a swig of this then yea won't be feelin much of nothing." Raimi took a big drink from the bottle and tried not to cough as it burnt its way down her throat. "So what sort of goodies did yea get yourself, purties always love ta shop." Raimi finished the ale out of her tankard and shook her head "I didn't get any goodies." Trink chortled "gunna go back later huh and do some bargaining" handing Raimi the bottle again. Raimi took a drink "I don't need anything besides I don't have any money to buy anything." Trink frowned and took a drink "welll now yea shoulda gotten some from Revanche, him bein your mate an all." Raimi took another drink "what makes you think he's my mate?" Trink chortled "wellll now yea do be livin together and all, old Trink figures that makes yea mates an all." Raimi took another drink "what are you doing lurking in that tree Strut?" she snapped. Strut came flying down with a snort "watching you get potted that's what." Trink chuckled "well now feel free to take a drink." Strut snorted "why would I want to drink that stuff all it does is give a body a headache." Trink snorted back "this be me good stuff ain't gunna give nobody nothin but a nice feelin." Strut gave Trink a ya sure look but picked up the bottle and took a healthy drink, choking, coughing and snorting Strut hissed "this is your good stuff?" Raimi started laughing holding her chest "you almost had yourself snorting fire there Strut, try it again and I'll light a match." Trink chortled "then yea would be a puffin like Zara." Strut hissed "if I had fire it would be flames not baby puffs, I'd have a huge roaring flame." Raimi raised her eyebrow "uh huh tell us another story twit, you're a puffer all right." Brax and Chad wandered over "what are you all snorting and chortling about" a none to stead on his feet Brax asked. Raimi grinned "we're trying to get Strut here to snort some of this stuff so I can light it and see if he is a puffer or a flamer." Brax sat down on a log "this I gotta see" glowering Strut grabbed the bottle from Raimi, grinning Raimi took out a match from the small pouch on her sword belt "ready?" Strut swigged a huge amount out of the bottle and snorted as hard as he could, everyone stared as a loud "whoooooosssssshhhhh" was heard, Brax gasped "oh my gawd bark dragon flambeau." Trink jumped up waving his hat "here use this and put the little bugger out." Raimi grabbed Strut and started rolling him in the dirt and grass while he screamed "I'm on fire do something I'm on fire." Chad fell off of Brax' shoulder laughing "is he out yet?" Raimi blinked as a huge splash of water hit she and Strut, Raimi stood up swaying from side to side holding Strut dangling by the tail giggling, Virlane holding a large bucket raised an eyeridge "children really should not play with fire." Mar who had witnesses the whole thing along with Virlane could no long contain himself and lay rolling on the ground laughing. Rav and Revanche came striding into the clearing wanting to know what was going on looking at a charred Strut, Raimi dropped Strut, who hopped up, his hands on his hips glaring at Raimi snorting out soot "I didn't say ready!" Raimi grinned widely "wanna try it again?" Everyone yelled NO! at the same time. Raimi saw the frown on Revanche's face and sighed, leaning against the back of a tree she slid down "go ahead yell at me now and get it out of the way" she muttered. Revanche sat down next to Raimi "I wasn't going to yell, I was just concerned about that bruise on your jaw and the way you're holding your ribs." Trink wandered off with Strut saying he knew a sure way to get soot out of scales, slowly everyone left leaving Raimi and Revanche alone.