THE MUSIC OF LIFE©
#8
he sighed and ran picking up speed he
opened his wings and glided upwards on the thermals his shield sliped over his
shoulder he found that he had an inner eye lid that protected his eye it also
was the sourse of some of his hunting skills at night it alowed him to focus in
on movement like a guided missle he glanced over at a river that meandered
through the now scrub brush and tiny thickets of brambles one side of the river
was high cliffs that were near impossible to climb so all the trafic was run
along side the river which as he flew it just got hotter finaly drenched in
sweat he landed and waded out into the river dunking his head it was incredible
how much water could feel like a god send at a moment like that
he walked out and relaxed against a scragley tree in a little shade the heat
had him dry in minutes and as warned the magic here wasent readily avalible
he had to reach really far just to feel it and it was a meager trickle
the brush rustled and he felt her instantly he ate a dryed fruit from a magic
bag tee'a had given him the spell for " hello avarelliss come to bother me
again?" she apeared in a poof sitting on the ground three tails slowly
shifting from one side to the other he just grined ...
"your a very bad boy
william" "only cause you made me into one..." smiling as he
flicked another fruit into his mouth " fruit ?" " no "
" your loss"
eating another he was gazeing intently at her as he chewed " do you want
something avarellis? or is this a sit and stair at the dragon eat visit"
"im trying to decide how best to punish you for your behavior... "
" and risk tee'a making a fur coat out of yer hide hmmm" " she
has no power over me!!"
" no but she is powerfull ..and was once your friend ..now your enimy...'
he sighed pulling the cord tight on the bag and slipping it into his hip bag '
she trusted you and you lied to her then tried to steal her time with me away
...why is the lady so much in your plans kitsuni? I know you wont answer me or
if you do it'll be some half truth or full lie " he stood and towered over
her and for a moment he smiled she was still drop dead gourgous
" i swore to protect her goddess and so i shall now you'll excuse me
"
" she is...important to me
" he looked into her eyes and for the first time saw the truth "
why?" she stood and glared " ohh no william ...you had best keep your
word to her keep her safe... oh and " gesturing at him he felt the flute
drop onto his neck " you'll need that " disappearing in her blue flames
he just smiled and walked on the heat now to much for flying he passed
abandoned towns and villages the wells still good but the water low he slept
inside the inn's stables smelling the mounts the lady and the badger it was
getting late when the roads ended on a good sized town
it was walled and the gates had sagged to be unmoveable weeds growing around he
wondered if he'd ever see anyone alive in this regin of the kingdom
but he smiled as he heard laughter of children walking round an old collapsing
shack he saw a lady coyote just showing she was pregnant the bulge to her belly
evidence, hanging out the wash as her three kids ran around playing
"hello there!" he waved they all went wide eyed and rushed for the
house "wait! I’m not ...oh damnit" walking over he picked up her wash
off the dirt shaking then draping it over the line he sighed and gently tapped
on the door she and the kids started crying " I’m with the lady, i am
william one of her guardians ..please don’t be afraid of me, I’m not a bad
dragon " he sighed and went over to a ring of stones for cooking he got a
fire started and went out into the woods he found a small buck and returned
with it in the darkness he could hear her singing to the children trying to
calm them
he hoped they were hungry soon enough
the smell of the meat cooking drifted around the house the door finally creaked
open and the smallest girl came out he smiled and patted his knee she ran over
the mother shreaked and bolted out the door sliding to a stop he blinked
" i have enough for everyone missus she was very hungry don’t be mad at
her " she eased over cautiously " did the lady not tell you her
guardian would be following ?" " s-she did but said nothing about a
dragon" " I’m sorry i meant you no harm i was just very happy to finally
see a living person. been walking alone for a couple days now " she calmed
as he gave the little one a small chunk of meat he'd been blowing on to cool it
she devoured it he smiled "slow down and enjoy your food there’s plenty
"
she soon had them all out eating with
plates knives and forks she offered him one but he declined the kids were soon
full and she put them to bed
walking out he held out a plateful to her which she took and sat down..."
my apoligies william " " its alright most are afraid of me in the
begining"
" she said you stayed behind to ..pay for there passage through the
dragons valley " " yes and i gained quite a lot from my staying
willingly " " so the dragoness will be having babies then?"
" yes, she is queen of dragons " smiling as the ladies eyes went wide
" oh my...then she will be hunting more then " " yes to feed
them but her valley is well stocked she flies outside so to stretch her wings
and for the pleasure of flying. where is your mate?" " hopefully
coming up river from dropping the lady off " he nodded but heard something
other than worry in her voice " you suspect something of him?" she
blinked clearly caught off guard then she sighed " i am the guardian to
the lady ..i chose who i wish to help and protect i am sworn to no king... does
he hurt you?"
" no ..but he takes far to long to travel up river after going down i have
found strange long hairs on him they are not mine ..they smell of laursta and
fellar flowers ..." " he has family in other villages on the
river?" " no" bill knew then " i can tell you with out a
doubt lady if he has ..my sense of smell can tell a single ladies moon from all
other smells in a village if he has mated with another i will nod at you ..if
it is worse i will nod and close my eyes "
"why do you do this?" " becouse if he is doing this to you he is
hurting the others too ..i can not stand by and watch that"
he worked around the empty village
tearing down old decaying buildings and repairing the walls and gates when she
needed some wood he got it for her lifting heavy baskets of wash and such weeks
went by he wondered about his home for the first time thinking about his dogs
..his fish
the kids started yelling and cheering he slipped into the river and waited for
the river boat to come into the dock under sail a burly coyote tied her up and
dropped the sails hugging the kids they ran for their mom the father walking
towards the house she came out as bill moved with all the dragoness smooth sinious
movements slipping up behind him bill leaned over inhaling softly he caught the
scents of two in moon, one not but young she looked up as the male opened his
arms to hug her bill nodded and closed his eyes...
she trembled " cersta what’s
wrong...your trembling" " I’m j-just so glad your home .. the ladies
guardian arrived and has been waiting for you" " he has well! where
is he!?" she gestured behind him he turned and went near panic "
greetings.." " ahh hhh a d-dragon " " who has been
waiting for quite awhile for you to return " he smiled a nearly evil grin
" so you’ve been in that dragonesses valley ..is it true about the
treasure hord she has ?" moving from her arms pulling free without any
concern for her feelings she nearly broke her eyes glassed with tears "
she has quite a treasure ..more than a legion could carry away "
his eyes lit with gold fever he smiled and pulled bill away to talk in private
bill finally asked him what of the ladies he had waiting
"ehh they all want, want, want ..only really good time with them is when
they’re all red and willing then they want to give" bill took his purse
and felt it's weight " then i buy them from you i enjoy ladies when ever i
chose " he smiled "deal! dragon take the boat it's yours I’m off to
find a treasure "
" i'll open a gate for you it will be a strain but i can do it ..you’ll be
on the road not far from her horde " " my thanks dragon let me get my
mount " he was soon packed and ready she pleaded with him for a moment he
turned to her " your his now and so are the three others I’ve enjoyed
..like i told him i enjoyed what you gave willingly but grew tired of the want,
want, want ...goodbye" bill opened the portal and he rushed through onto
the road
" enjoy the ladies dragon... i will the gold" bill gently put his
hand onto cerstas shoulder she saw the dragoness but lowered her head "
enjoy what you have left of your life treasure hunter ...i too have wants and
needs ..i wanted to make sure you hurt these ladies no more and your being
there makes sure my queen does not go without" closing the portal as he
heard the dragoness greet the coyote ..
he let her cry but when she came to
talk she had a slaves submissiveness " your not a slave lady ..i set you
free the moment he accepted my gold
i set you free from him " she nodded " I’ve noted that the hills
around the area are filled with gold mines " " all worked out though
william"
" don’t bet on it " he soon gathered a tumble weed like bush that was
filled with highly flammable sap and stuffed a mine to the point where a huge
old water wheel shaft couldn’t jam any more in. she’d watched this with
interest he stopped and smiled only his loin cloth on he sighed "now then
inside i saw this black rock and it's in the tailings ' holding one up '
..vents have been made for air this should work " he torched the nearest
part and it was soon burning deeper into the mine shaft the rock becoming red
hot he smiled seeing the first of it trickling out she looked " what is
that? " " gold melted by coal and sap burning deep inside the draft
from the air vents high up is fanning the fire into an inferno inside " he
watched as the gold flowed into bowls he’d made into the soaked sand as one
filled it flowed onto the next " this i give to you lady and the others he
has hurt ..together you can be very powerful and quite rich able to pick and
chose your future mates as you! wish ...or none permanant at all ..wise
investment ..into played out gold mines ..could get riches beyond all
belife" her smile reflected her thoughts he bowed his head and went
to get the boat loaded with provisions
three days later two hundred of his
blocks of gold, all the families belongings and provisions for the trip they
set sail the current gentle but not quite enough to get the boat going "
do you know the river lady?" "i should my father was a boats male"
he nodded smiling pushing the oar to the left to get into the deeper water he
stood at the stern as she had the kids pour buckets of water over the decks the
oldest working the pump to remove excess water from the keel with all the gold
it wasn’t needed it was nearly sunset when he heard a familiar wing beat
looking to the stern tee'a settled into the river to float along his purse
thunked to the deck " he didn’t need it anymore " bill smiled "
" i didn’t kill him william ...he is cleaning my cave scrubbing the inside
and removing the centuries of nesting material inside. i need it very clean
" he reached out to kiss her but she eased back away " behave drake
..or i will play with the boat " " but why? when I’m here.."
grinning sly she laughed and smiled as the lady came out unafraid " you
will find lady ..william does not do anything without expecting something in
exchange .. he has his price it may not be now he asks for payment he will one
day "
" anything he might ask for ..is his he has set me free and given me a
life ..if he wanted me i would give that too " he blushed "that’s
something the lady has ..and by my eyes does not care much about it ..take care
drake, live life well " " i shall dragoness take care ..if you "
she plopped a claw on his lips
and with a sweep of her wings was air born and gone... she smiled and patted
his arm walking back inside the boats cabin
three days later
they finally broke out of the canyons he set into shore so they could camp he
also needed to hunt striping of vertualy everything but his loin cloth he
slipped into the brush and woods wandering well into night he came on a
clearing a huge circular clearing from the tracks it was a major game atractant
he found three buck scrapes . "big buck too, might even give me a run fer
my money...stripping the bark clean to about my chest height off these
saplings" he smiled realizing the huge dead tree in the center of
the clearing was a perfect hide he sailed up and settled down on top
opening a gate took effort but he got his bow and quiver from the boat he
folded his wings around himself so that only his eyes and nose were revealed
for awhile he thought he'd miss judged the age of the scrapes but the herd came
into the clearing nothing but does ..then the moons came out 'dam there goes my
cover'...his shadow loomed up but the does were clearly more interested in the
scrapes then to bill's eyes came a glowing sliver buck near to dancing into the
clearing!! 'my god look at him prancing around like he's a god ' he knocked his
arrow 'sorry bud but dragons gotta eat ya know '
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