The Drow's Mistress

Chapter 11 Dragon's Most Precious Treasure

As his mistress commanded, the drow put every piece of equipment on. The enchantment on his armor worked marvelously. The leather wrapped itself snugly around his lean body, accentuating his toned outline. His boots made no sound as he walked. Fully attired, Ysilnod reached for his blades and settled into a basic battle stance. The drow moved as if he were dancing. The drow was certain that only the matron’s son could afford the equipment that he was now donning. The fates truly had a dark sense of humor. The outcast who had been forsaken by his people was now decked out in an attire that befitted a true drow noble.

Ysilnod sheathed his blades.

“Does this please you?” he asked politely.

Nidia’s eyes shone like the stars. She started clapping furiously. “You look great! You’re going to make me look so good when we walk down the streets together!”

She eyed her servant approvingly before she appeared to remember something. She pulled out a tiny velvet box from her pocket and snapped it open. Sitting inside the box was a pair of diamonds set in mithril studs.

“Mithril is really expensive. It costs several times more than gold. This was all I could afford,” the half-dragon lamented before closing the box and tossing it to Ysilnod. “I thought this would look good on you the first time I saw your ears.”

Ysilnod stared at the box in stunned silence. The drow struggled to stem the rush of emotions surging inside him.

“Mistress, I do not deserve such a gift. Besides, my ears are not pierced.”

“Mine aren’t either,” Nidia said smoothly, “and I don’t like pain. That’s why you’re wearing them. Come here.”

Ysilnod kneeled as Nidia rummaged her bags for a needle. When she finally found one, she walked up to Nidia, clasped the back of his neck and shoved the needle through the tip of his ear roughly. Elven ears were delicate and sensitive. Ysilnod pursed his lips and hung his head as he bore the stinging pain his mistress was unleashing on him silently. In spite of her callous treatment, he felt no resentment or revulsion toward her. As Nidia pulled out the needle, blood seeped from the small puncture. The half-dragon leaned forward and stuck her tongue out. The tip of her tongue was warm and wet. Ysilnod trembled. The next second, Nidia had moved away. It was as if nothing had happened.

“Finally! Let’s head out!”

She had finally managed to dress her servant in something presentable. Nidia believed that was cause for celebration. Unfortunately, she could not flaunt her beautiful drow servant in the city. To prevent anyone from realizing what Ysilnod truly was, he hid his face under the hood of his new cloak and drew it around him tightly.

Evenfall was a thriving city of trade and commerce located along Starfell Coast. Many adventurers and merchants traveled through the city. Amongst its countless visitors, Ysilnod would not be the first or last ranger who preferred to keep to himself and keep his face hidden.

The pair entered a bustling tavern where Nidia shouted for the tavern keeper to bring them some smoked pork, roasted pigeon and ale. Then, through pure brute strength, she shoved her way toward an empty table. The half-dragon whipped her head around and was surprised when she realized that she had lost her servant. She hopped onto a stool and looked around. Sat in a discreet corner of the tavern was Ysilnod.

“What are you doing over there? Get over here!”

The dark elf made his way toward his mistress and slipped her purse back where it belonged. A pickpocket had lifted it from her pocket a few moments ago. His unsuspecting mistress appeared not to have noticed at all and was complaining about losing him earlier.

“Please forgive me. I was never allowed to dine with my mistress,” Ysilnod explained. Nidia took his word for it. After all, the male drow held little standing in the drow society. It made sense that they would dine apart from their female counterparts.

Their mountain of food was here. Nidia pulled her purse out and paid for it.

“Who’s going to know you’re my servant if you stand all the way over there?” she grumbled. “I would’ve paid for all that pretty equipment for nothing. I want you to stay close to me. Don’t ever leave my sight. All right?”

The half-dragon had ordered two sets of everything. Since she only liked to eat meat, the dried beans, onion and broccoli in her portion ended up on Ysilnod’s plate, giving the impression that Ysilnod had the larger portion. The drow murmured a soft apology before tucking into his food silently. As he ate, he continued to keep a watchful eye for other pickpockets who might be eying his mistress’s purse.

Nidia was elated. The days of forcing greens down her throat were finally over.

They returned to the inn and got ready for bed. Nidia performed her usual routine of pouring all the coins she had in her purse on the bed and counting them repeatedly. When she was done, she would line them up neatly on the bed. The coins formed the shape of a small shield on her sheets.

“My hoard’s grown smaller,” the half-dragon lamented before easing herself carefully onto her bed. No matter how hard she tried, her limbs spilled out of the shield. She simply could not fit within it.

Ysilnod observed his mistress’s behavior with puzzlement. After a long moment, something like realization dawned upon him. The books he had read about dragons in the academy had had illustrations of the creatures lazing atop a mountain of gold in their deep lair. Their treasure formed a glittering blanket that they tucked snugly under their belly. The drow had studied the pictures with the cool gaze of a distant learner, but it was one thing to read about it in the books and another to see, with his own eyes, a human-sized dragonling rolling around in her sad mound of coins. The drow pressed his fingers to his lips and reined in his laughter.

Nidia had no idea of the thoughts that were going through her servant’s head.

She started chatting casually with the drow. “This is what I plan to do next. I’m going to craft sheets from mithril! I’ve been to a dwarven city and seen the work that the dwarves do. The best dwarven maker can spin mithril silk from pure mithril. The fabric is as strong as metal, as soft as a cloud and shimmers like a running stream under the light. I’d sleep like a baby if I could lay on sheets like that.”

The half-dragon’s arms gestured animatedly as she stood on the bed and described the grand ambitions she had. After a moment, she realized that her servant was staring at the floor. His shoulders were trembling unceasingly.

“What’s wrong with you, Ysilnod?” Nidia asked. “Did you hear anything I just said?”

Ysilnod was aching from the herculean effort of stopping himself from bursting out into laughter. A thought flickered in his head like a firefly in the night before winking out.

He had never felt cheer like this before.

The drow struggled to maintain his stern composure as he looked up.

“May you succeed in your ambition, Mistress.”

Neither mithril nor dwarven craft came cheap. If his mistress did manage to get such a bizarre treasure made, she would be lying on a small kingdom’s fortune every night.

“Naturally! Wealth runs in my clan. This… this is a temporary setback,” Nidia blurted out as she stared at the pitiful pile of coins on the bed. With a quiet sigh, she realized that she was not going to get her bed of gold tonight. The half-dragon yanked her clothes off, flung herself back onto the bed with a heavy plop and a cascade of clinks, stretching her limbs. Then, with a loud yawn, she turned onto her side and blew out the candle. As her head fell back onto her distinctly non-golden pillow, her gaze fell on Ysilnod. The drow was standing in a corner of the room.

The pale light of the moon had spilled through the curtains and gotten itself tangled in his thick locks. The weave of silver strands and moonlight reminded Nidia vaguely of the alluring glimmer of mithril.

Her heart stuttered. Realization struck her suddenly. The drow was a part of her hoard too. In fact, he was quite a sizable portion of it.

“Hey! You! Get over here! We’re sleeping together.”