A thin coil of smoke curled up into the darkening sky above the distant treetops. Caelan and Ajax both noticed it at the same time, marten’s ears perking, dragon’s head lifting and tongue lashing out. Carefully the rider reached down and stroked a paw across Ajax’s neck and chest, fingers spreading, touch pressing into the leathery velvet skin, and then drew away again at the first twitch of muscle underneath there.
“I know, I know,” he murmured, and leaned in again. “We’ll go check it out. Here’s hoping we’ll be able to finally get a bit of a rest…”
But as they approached, just as it had for the past two days Caelan could think only of that group of bandits. Someone must have found them by now, he continually thought to himself; what will they think? I could barely stand to look at any of them, and… it’s still haunting me. And then Ajax… As he rode he sat back, keeping his back straight, his paws resting along the beast’s shoulders, the grip of his legs firm yet still gentle.
Something had been changing in the dragon’s demeanor. Perhaps it had started before - Caelan struggled to remember - but since then he had become steadily more aggressive, more insistent. He had been taking longer and longer in his hunting, snuffling his broad snout underneath rotting logs and into little divots in the marshy ground for insects, often with Caelan waiting nearby and doing some fishing of his own in the meantime; during travel Ajax wanted to run, to sprint, often to the point of exhaustion where his handler would then have to go out and dig up some food for him; and then these past two nights…
Caelan turned a smooth corner in the road, and immediately felt Ajax’s body tighten underneath him. The dragon lifted his head and sniffed at the air, drawing in the sharp, unfamiliar scents: still down a ways the pair could now see a single solitary building cut into the line of the low-lying trees, a packed mudbrick structure reinforced with slowly decaying wood and all painted over to seal any cracks, two or three floors, a broad chimney from which that smoke rolled poking up above the canopy. A sign hung down in front of the door, etched with symbols above what looked to be a tankard crossed with a horse’s head.
Again the marten tilted his head. An inn, maybe? He reached down again, this time draping his arms more fully around Ajax’s shoulders, and turned his head to nuzzle across the beast’s jowl; and this time Ajax lifted up into the touch instead of bucked out of it, that familiar, cozy rumble vibrating deep within his chest. He turned to return the nuzzle, silky tongue flicking out, flapping across the side of Caelan’s muzzle, coming back in.
“We’ll be able to talk to someone,” the marten said. Ajax rumbled again. “Finally we’ll be able to get some information. Find out where we are, how to get home… some real food…” Then he chuckled, and scratched at one of the spots on his wrist where his fur was continuing to grow back in. “For me, at least. I didn’t bring anything to trade, but maybe I’ll be able to work a bit for it…”
Having given up on locating where home might be among the marshes, after their unfortunate encounter the two had pitched north and followed the road that way, wherever it may twist and turn. On their few times passing by other travellers Caelan had hailed and asked the same questions, always to the same response; some eyed him with suspicion and others with pity, but none had stayed to help him along his journey. The further they went, the more the trees grew and thickened, widening out from the densely-woven mats of roots and branches that he recognized from the deeper marshes and instead becoming solid and solitary, the ground underfoot similarly packing so that wider patches of grass sprouted here and there, and the sight of an actual sump or bog came more as a surprise than an expectation.
Naturally Caelan paused upon approaching the building and dismounting, murmuring a few words to Ajax to try to get him to stay in place while he went inside, and leaned in close to the wall. Doubt and frustration welled up inside of him: I can’t tell if these are bricks from my village… The color looked right where he could see it beneath chipping paint, but then again, he had only rarely seen the finished bricks after firing. He sighed, spat, then glanced over to Ajax again - who returned the sharp gaze, broad head tilted up - and then stepped forward towards the door.
Warmth wrapped around him like a blanket. Even before he entered, his nose tingled with the tantalizing scent of what had to be a long-simmering stew, meat and spices and vegetables and grease; the cool sting of fermented alcohol, the mix of various patrons of all different breeds and species, the heavy, cloying sensation of the enclosed walls, the wooden furniture, the… slightly sticky floor, the roof corners with unnoticed cobwebs, the smudged windows. Caelan had never been to an inn before - his home village lacked one, though their sister village out to the east had their own for visitors passing through outside the swamps - and already felt a strange combination of both welcoming and hostility, prickling at the back of his neck.
Or… not quite hostility. He looked around the open tavern room, at all of the other eyes lifting from their drinks, their games, their conversations to appraise them, then right back down again. More patrons than he had expected, though the inn was certainly far from full, and likely stocked for the approaching night. He steeled himself, took in another breath of this warm, stuffy air, and stepped forward towards the counter; the innkeeper himself, a tall, broad bear with uncanny pale blue-white eyes, flicked an ear and then turned towards him.
He looked at Caelan. Caelan looked at him. The marten’s ear flicked as well, and he cleared his throat and adjusted the fit of the bandit’s - his - bag across his belt.
“Um.” He nodded over to the stairs. “Could I arrange for a room?”
Blunted claws drummed across the countertop. “Of course. Way out here, we’re not exactly bustling, but - we are the only space for a few days in either direction, so…” Those strange eyes appraised him. “Five sound alright?”
Caelan blinked. “Five?”
“Oh, no. You’re not another local, are you? You know what money is?”
Another flick of the ears. Embarrassment flooded through the marten… “Oh!” He reached down for his bag, rummaged, took out a small handful. “My mistake. I - ah - must have… misheard you. This will cover it, I imagine? For the night?”
“Dinner as well,” said with a nod over towards the main room, “and breakfast in the morning, but by sun’s height you’ll have to clear out or pay up.” Claws tapped as the innkeeper swept one of the glittering pieces from the countertop. “Oh! Alenari coin, huh? You must’ve come a long way. My mistake. Upstairs,” and he pointed with that coin still in his paw, “down the hall, turn, and it’ll be the fourth door on your right. You don’t have the looks of a trader, if you don’t mind me mentioning.”
“Oh. Um - no. No, I’m not.” Caelan glanced back towards the door, wondering if Ajax had actually listened to him this time. Ever since he had noticed the dragon’s changing behavior, there simmered a worry deep within him that their bond had begun to break down… “Just… passing through. Oh - have you heard any rumors of a… local village which - had a fire-?”
“Fire? No, nothing of that sort.” The bear swept the remaining payment of the counter to deposit it somewhere underneath. “Mostly we get folks running the road from Ryalon further south to the crossroads about three more days north of here. So I hear things from the cities rather than smaller towns. You might be able to learn more from some of the other patrons, though.”
“Alright. Thank you. You said - fourth door on…”
“Your right, after the turn.”
Caelan moved to head off, then stopped. “Oh. And stable space, for my companion?”
The bear nodded. “Comes with the room. Take your horse around back, find an open stall. I do have a boy cleaning twice a day, but please try to tend to your horse yourself.”
“Oh, he’s… not a horse.” The marten smiled, and felt a burst of warmth spread through his chest. “Where I’m from we call them dragons, since they’re these - large lizards, well suited to the swamps further south, good on the roads here as well. They eat bugs, and-”
The bear clapped a paw on the counter. “Oh! I know the type you’re talking of. Yes, another traveler came by with one of those a few days ago.”
Then suddenly the rest of the tavern fell away, leaving only Caelan here in the midst of curling steam and strange scent. His mouth felt dry; he swallowed, braced himself on the counter, leaned in again. “Is - is he still here?”
“She should be. Strange one, though - rises with the moons, and beds down when the sun comes up. I don’t think I’ve ever caught her returning to her room, either.” The innkeeper scratched at a spot behind his ear. “Almost nightfall, though, so. Shouldn’t be too much longer. Sometimes she comes here into the main room, but mostly keeps to herself. Best bet would be to catch her tending her own mount; gods know she cares more for that beast than any of the others here for their own.”
“Okay. Alright.” Caelan dipped his head. “Thank you. You’ve been a great help.”
“Good luck.”
As soon as he stepped back outside, the humid warmth of the swamp air swirled within his lungs and brightened his world all over again. Caelan licked his lips, shook himself out, sighed with relief - then felt his heart skip another beat upon Ajax of course not listening to him, and having disappeared from where he had left him. The curious dragon had wandered around to the stables, though, and was sniffing at the air when Caelan found him again; the beast jumped and chirruped at the touch to his shoulder, but upon seeing who it was, relaxed and leaned in for another bump.
“Hey, you,” Caelan murmured. He dropped down into a squat and touched his forehead to Ajax’s cheek; the dragon rumbled once more and stepped forward, knocking him back onto his rump. “I told you not to wander off. What’s going on with you? You used to listen so well, and now it feels like half the time you don’t know what I’m saying, and the other half you just ignore it - and - hey-”
Ajax kept on coming, swinging his broad forelegs up on either side of the now halfway-reclining marten, broad head and thick neck turning to keep his handler within his field of view.
“Ajax - would you-”
All around him the scent of what had to be horses, filtering out from the nearby stables; a faint warm, grassy note that mixed and melded with the natural acridity of the swamp, underlined by its own fresh pungency - which then fizzled away as Ajax impressed himself further into Caelan’s presence. The marten huffed softly as the weight of the beast pushed down on top of him, silken velvety underbelly lifting his shirt, powerful hindlegs finding a foothold between his own, that big head coming down to nuzzle at his cheek, then nip at his chin, then slide in at the side of his neck.
Then those fangs again, gentle but present, teasing in at his skin through his fur. Caelan whipped his head to the side to try to nudge the dragon away, still very clearly remembering the sensation of numbing coolness that had spread through his maw before; Ajax’s rumble pitched upwards and then down again, and his tongue danced out once more, following the line of Caelan’s shoulder, coming up underneath his jaw again, flicking over his lips. He pressed his paws underneath Ajax’s forelegs, trying his hardest to slide the hefty feral off of himself yet wholly unable to do so; one of those forelegs came up and pinned his arm to his side, and then the beast lifted his head, curled his tongue across his maw again-
-and flung a little dribble of that pale, translucent yellow from one fang, and Caelan’s amusement with the sudden affection flipped into quick panic-
“Don’t mind an audience, now, do you?”
-and then both of the males flipped their heads up and back to peer into the thickening darkness of the stables. There inside stirred the expected large, lumpy shapes of other travelers’s horses, but as Caelan looked around, Ajax’s weight still on top of him restricting his breathing, he shortly realized that another sharp, bright pair of eyes appraised him from further back in the stables, where the shadows gathered the heaviest. As he watched those eyes blinked, slowly, deliberately, and the shadows around them swirled and swept like still water then disturbed, taking shape, holding figure - and someone who looked like some malformed bird stepped just far enough into the light of dusk that the reclining marten could quite easily see up underneath the hanging tassels and wisps of her loose garb.
He blinked and looked away. On top of him Ajax grumbled again, settling his weight down even more firmly; Caelan batted at his forelegs and sides, but still found no purchase there.
“I was - just-” He took in the biggest breath he could. “Ajax, would you - please-”
Then that grumble suddenly ceased, and pitched into a little chirp of curiosity. The dragon lifted and turned his head, hoisted his shoulders, took a half-step back… then slid off to his handler’s side, finally freeing Caelan to fill his lungs as desired. The marten followed as Ajax tramped further into the stables, paying no mind to the larger horses standing around, and strode right up to the stranger where she stood; she smiled, her short yet angular muzzle splitting to show a pair of thick, intimidating fangs, and then crouched down to caress the dragon’s head in her paws.
Only she did not really have paws. As she moved her arms Caelan noticed that her garb shifted with her, the clothing more draped openly across her to allow space for the thin, leather wings cresting from finger to wrist to elbow to shoulder, to stretch out; still he could see the silhouettes of everything behind through the skin of those wings, Ajax’s figure briefly distorting through pale greyish-pink.
Then the dragon lifted his head again, and reared back, and shifted to show his broad side as the shadows once again stirred and melded together. Another pair of eyes lifted from the darkness, these wider-set, larger, sharper - and the stranger turned her head, smiled again, and leaned back into the vast presence of another feral beast, this one with powerful short-winged forelimbs stepping protectively forward, long neck dropping down to inspect its visitors.
That’s no dragon. At least - not any kind that I have seen before…
“I’m - sorry,” Caelan stammered, managing to rise to his footpaws. Ajax scuttled back towards and wrapped protectively around him, lifting his head up beneath one of the marten’s paws. “I’ve only just arrived, and I was speaking with the innkeeper and thought that - maybe someone from my village was here, and…”
“Mm.” The stranger stood up as well, and turned to tend to her mount. Huge, angular ears pitched backwards to remain fixed on marten and dragon. “I hope you find them, if you’re looking for them. Or don’t, if you’re not.”
The tip of Ajax’s long tail thumped and tapped at the stable door. Unconsciously, Caelan spread his fingers along the reptile’s head and stroked over his velvety scales. “Well, you see - I mentioned Ajax here, when he said something about horses, and he said that there was another patron who had something similar, so I just thought… that…”
Again those sharp eyes flashing to the side, the stranger once more appraising him over her shoulder. Her beast had lowered its head into her winged paws, dangerous eyes fluttering shut in contentment; as the stranger watched Caelan, then, so too did the beast, shifting its attention to whatever she held in her gaze. But then as soon as she glanced away, the creature did as well, returning itself to its handler, where it looked upon her with those eyes becoming surprisingly soft, and appreciative, and…
And it looks at her the way Ajax looks at me. Caelan swallowed and glanced down; feeling the shift, Ajax lifted his head and, of course, returned the look. His long tongue flicked out into the air for a moment. When he’s not misbehaving like he has been recently…
Deflating a bit, Caelan sighed. “My apologies. I thought you were someone else. I should be getting to sleep now; it’s late, and we’ve been on the road for a while. Is there a space for my mount in the stables here, or-?”
“Yes.” The stranger stretched her arms up over her head, lifting that draped clothing across her smooth, sleek belly as she did so, wings flattening out underneath. “Xara and I, meanwhile, are just beginning our night after sleeping through the day. Even out here the sun is so bright…”
Caelan motioned Ajax forward, and after a moment the dragon obeyed and uncoiled from around him. The stranger and her own mount remained solidly in place as the two newcomers passed by, Caelan able to feel their unsettling gaze across his shoulders; the stall that they had apparently just occupied he could still see the imprint of the huge beast’s form where it had curled up, and…
And his whiskers twitched. He looked over his shoulder. “You slept out here?”
“Of course I did.” The stranger rested a winged arm over her mount’s shoulder. “Xara and I are bonded, as are you and…”
Again Caelan blinked. “Ajax.” He did the same, for the dragon to lift up into his touch again. The reptile’s frill briefly vibrated outwards, then once again flattened in against his neck. “And I’m Caelan. I’m from a village… somewhere… around here, we make bricks – have you heard anything of it? There was a fire, and I’m trying to find my way back…?”
In this time the stranger had turned and now knelt down before Xara, brushing at the puff of fur cresting around the strange beast’s neck from her mane. Shadowy greys spilled over into paler moonlight white along her forelegs and wings, mirrored again in the mane itself; longer tassels of fur, or hair, or something, draped down along her long neck where the stranger had woven and braided them together, then held them in place with small iridescent beads. Long claws kneaded at the hay-strewn floor of the stables; bright yet pale eyes still watched Caelan and Ajax where they stood.
And then one of the stranger’s large ears – at least the size of both of my paws, Caelan thought, glancing down at them, side by side – twitched back towards him again, and she turned her head.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that. Our time is spent seeking or resting. Xara does not sleep: she dreams awake, and through our bond I receive those visions and seek out what it is towards which the night guides me.” A winged arm lifted up towards the roof of the stables; Caelan noticed that she had the same patterns tattooed across the backs of her wings, simple figures resembling opened eyes, that Xara had naturally within her fur. “You are Caelan, the brickmaker; I am Alia, priestess of the moons.” She shrugged. “And healer, when the situation calls for it.”
This made his ear twitch. Oh. So you’re- “You’re a mage?” -insane.
Instead, though, Alia frowned, her large ears flicking back. Her little leaf-shaped nose wiggled as well. “Don’t be foolish. Magic doesn’t exist.”
But my mother… However, before he could continue, something caught Alia’s attention and she turned to cross the distance to the two of them. Caelan reared back upon those ears towering over him, but instead she passed right by and bent over before Ajax; the dragon’s crest frilled slightly outwards again and his snout curled in a silent warning snarl, but the priestess paid no mind. Behind her Xara padded slowly forward, keeping her angular head lowered.
“This, however,” she murmured, sliding long fingers beneath Ajax’s silver chain, “is dangerous.” She felt across the metal links, lifted it further, let it roll like liquid. Then she gave it a tug; Ajax growled deep in his throat, yanked forward on that pull, craning his head back to retain his distance, while Alia displayed no caution whatsoever of his sharp fangs. “You need to get this off of him as soon as possible.”
Caelan strode up beside his companion and gently nudged the chain from Alia’s fingers. She stared at him unblinking, and dropped her paw only after another few moments. “Why? It hasn’t seemed to do anything to him so far.”
Still staring at him: “It is an artifact of ancient and terrible power. Where did you even find this?”
Not a mage, but just insane. Got it. He shrugged. “Don’t remember. How do you know, though?”
Another flick of an oversized ear. “I can tell that much, but I cannot determine anything else about it.”
“Okay. Well…” Ajax’s growling once more dissolved into sweet rumbling as Caelan’s paws spread across his neck, lifting his head from underneath, then slid down beneath where the chain rested across his shoulders. The marten leaned in, bumped his muzzle to the dragon’s, giggled softly when that upper lip folded back and he felt sticky saliva squish against his fur. “How do I remove it, if it’s that important?”
“The same way you put it on, I imagine?” Then after a quick silence, Alia in a softer voice: “...You don’t remember that either, do you?”
Ajax rested his head firmly within Caelan’s cupped paws. Sharp eyes watched him. “...It was… during the fire. At first I thought it was a dream, and it still feels like one, and…”
He trailed off, eyes wandering, and caught Xara lifting her head up beneath one of Alia’s wings. The priestess turned to gladly receive her mount, paws coming in just as Caelan’s cupped Ajax’s head; she leaned in, closed her eyes, and touched noses with the beast, murmured something just too softly for the marten to hear, then nuzzled in along one side of her muzzle and then the other. Xara’s entire demeanor shifted accordingly, her mane smoothing out, her similarly large ears splaying comfortably out; a sweet shiver vibrated down the length of her impressive body, twin tails shaking out and flicking at the tapered ends, and she, too, rumbled softly, the noise from her like the slow splitting of an ancient tree. One forked tongue flicked out, curled across the lips of the nearby muzzle, briefly slipped in; then a second, much larger forked tongue did the same, briefly touching, brushing, dancing across the first, and-
-two pairs of eerily similar eyes flashed open and settled on Caelan where he stood. Ajax had wrapped around him again, now insistently pressing his head up against the marten’s midsection.
“Caelan.” Alia licked a trickle of saliva from her lips. “You must get to sleep, and I must… tend… to Xara, here. It is important to do so on the regular,” and she glanced at Ajax, “else her behavior suffers for it.” Briefly she turned back to the beast, then stepped around towards her twin tails. She looked over her shoulder. “There is no academy here in Mora that can help you. One exists to the east, outside the swamp, beyond the grasslands, within the Maldethi desert. Go there.”
Mora? Maldethi…? “I must – find my village first, and-”
And Alia shrugged. “We all have things we must do. It is up to you to determine when.” She licked her lips again. Caelan noticed that Xara did the same as well, long neck craning forward, wishing to repeat the shared affection again. Watching mount and rider exchange such a moment, such intimacy, stirred something within Caelan’s chest…
“Will you – be here? Tomorrow?”
“Here? Perhaps. There is much untouched history here in your swamps and marshes, beyond the easy access of… less determined scholars.” One paw drifting towards the underside of her beast’s tails, Alia peered up through the roof slats of the stables again. “And your more equatorial latitude allows for easier communion with the moons. And plenty of bugs around – I eat meat when I can get it, you see, but don’t mind a good bug or two.” She nodded towards Ajax. “Something shared with your kraal.”
Caelan’s thoughts paused. “My what?”
“Your Kraal.” Now she lifted her free paw towards the large reptile. “Ajax.”
“My what? He’s a dragon.” Then doubt began to creep in. He scratched at a spot behind his ear. “Or, at least, that’s what we call them. Back in my village.”
“He is a kraal.” Once more Alia stepped forward and crouched down – Caelan took a half-step back – and tilted her head as she inspected the beast. Ajax slitted his eyes and bucked at her; she did not flinch. “Dragons do not exist. Not anymore, at least. I can see where the assumption would come from, though. These are desert beasts, utilized in the Maldethi to traverse the endless seas of sand, though impressively well-adjusted to wet, swampy environments, after the rivers and oases to be found there. There is more?”
“Yes.” There were. There should be. There… “He was… my father’s, first.”
That caught her attention. Alia paused in reaching out for Ajax; Caelan’s heart skipped a beat upon seeing the way the dragon – the kraal – leaned in towards the offered extremity. His jaws slowly parted open. “Interesting. And your father was…?”
“A…” As those opened jaws came closer, tongue draping out, saliva dripping, Alia turned her paw upwards, something pinched between her fingers. Caelan blinked again. “He was a criminal.”
“Oh.” Then Ajax snapped forward, maw briefly encompassing the offered paw, and Alia did not cry out. Instead of one her ears just tilted towards the dragon – the kraal – and finally she turned her head when he pulled back, the offered insect crunching between his jaws. She flicked the dribbles of drool from her fur, then wiped the rest off on a bare thigh. “It seems like there is a story here. However, the moons are rising, and I should not keep you – or Xara – any longer. Good night, Caelan.”
“Oh. Goodnight, then.” He watched as she stood up again, brushed herself off – her own twin tails lifted the back of her clothing – and stepped back over to attend to her mount. Caelan went over to Ajax and crouched before him, immediately receiving another nuzzle and bump and rumble across his cheek and chin; “Okay, okay,” he murmured, pressing his paws back along the beast’s crest and down towards his shoulder. “I know, I know. It’ll be weird not sleeping together tonight, but – I paid for the bed, I might as well use it, right? Can you promise me you’ll stay here, and behave? You – could-”
Powerful forelegs came forward again, this time quite easily pushing Caelan down to his rump among the hay. Again he chuckled, one arm coming up in defense; Ajax quite easily nudged it aside as he approached, climbing up on top of his handler, silken underbelly brushing across him, the latent heat of his body seeping in through Caelan’s clothing. The marten reached up, locked his arms around Ajax’s broad neck, tugged him down on top of him, and felt a resultant shudder, wiggle, and then shift from the best now nestled between his legs, the dragon – the kraal – pressing himself more firmly up against him.
“I know,” he repeated, voice softer. Ajax’s breath puffed humid across his neck, sending little sparkling shivers down his back. Broad muzzle pushed against his neck, dug down into the collar of his shirt, huffed his scent, came up again; “I’ll be back. Don’t you worry. Don’t – you-” - then those jaws parted again, Caelan’s heart fluttering – and sharp teeth grazed gently across his shoulder, lining through his fur, tingling the skin beneath, but never digging in or breaking. Ajax flicked his tongue across him, sucked in another breath, sighed it back out, and then drew back, leaving the marten breathless and shivering.
Caelan looked at him for another moment, then leaned in, touched nose to nose as Alia and Xara had done, and smiled. Then he patted at Ajax’s wide sides, and tried scooting him out from underneath. “Okay. Goodnight, you. I’ll be back in the morning.” With great effort he managed to extricate himself from his mount’s affections, leaving Ajax looking a bit ruffled and annoyed, and then Caelan brushed himself off on his way back through the stables.
The other pair had retreated to another corner, Xara now sprawled out on her side with Alia sitting beside her, paws working along her underbelly. A tall ear flicked back as Caelan passed; he paused, thought for a moment, turned to face her. “Alia?”
“Caelan.”
“I’m a marten, by the way.”
“Yeah. I know.”
And silence. He tilted his head. “And you are…?”
“Bat.” That ear angled forward again. “I come from caves. Goodnight.”
Ah. Outside night had fully fallen, the twin moons partially visible through the canopy of trees in the distance. Definitely insane, then. Priestess, deserts, Maldethi, Mora, kraal… what in the world is Xara, then?...
