Dragon Thief Box Set

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

My blood boiled and I glared at him. “Why is everyone asking that? I found it just lying on the ground in the park.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Which park?”

I waved my hand in a vague direction, which was about right for my sense of direction. “The one beside the river. I think it’s called Jefferson Park or something. It was along the concrete walking path that… faces…” My words died in my throat as the man watched me. Though most of his face was hidden, I detected a hint of confusion in his features. “What? Don’t you know where the river is?”

He nodded. “I’m very familiar with it, but I don’t know the park you’re referring to, nor do I know what ‘concrete’ is.”

I blinked at him. “You know, the hard stuff people use to walk on. It breaks apart if you drive a car…” There was that sense of confusion. It practically radiated off him when I mentioned the word ‘car.’ My heart began to pound in my chest as I sat up. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? About cars and that park? And if I said airplane?”

He shook his head. “That word isn’t familiar to me.”

I clutched my hand over my heart as it bounced around inside my rib cage. “That… that whatever it was. A portal or something. It came from that stick,” I nodded at the broom. “Only it changed into a broom when I was falling from the sky.”

He cast his hypnotizing red eyes at me, and I shrank beneath that intense gaze. After a moment a soft chuckle escaped him. He plopped his butt on one of the nearby gray stones and set the staff across his bent legs. One foot reached the ground while the other slightly swayed to and fro in time with his amusement.

I scowled at him. “What’s so funny?”

“I haven’t seen a pair of eyes that innocent in quite some time,” he explained as he brushed his gloved hand over the length of the stick. “And you’d have to be quite innocent to not take advantage of what fate has brought into your lap. There are not many who haven’t heard about the theft from the treasuries.”

“Well,” I returned as I scooted back against the stone and crossed my arms over my chest, “if you’re done asking your questions, then would you mind if I ask mine?”

He shook his head. “Go ahead.”

“Where in the hell am I?”

His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Have you never heard of the Halls of the Imperator?”

I shook my head. “No. What are those?”

He tapped the bare end of the broom against the stone. “Look behind you.”

I turned my head, and at that moment the wind rustled the leaves of the vine that hid most of the stone. They moved out of the way and revealed a name, a date of birth, and… a death date. The color drained from my face as I realized what I was leaning against.

I gave a yelp and pushed off from the stone before I twisted around to face my former backrest. “What the hell? We’re in a graveyard?”

The shadowed starlight and slight breeze had indeed revealed a tombstone. Now that my frazzled mind was slightly clearer, I saw that the other ‘rocks’ in the ‘park’ were also grave markers.

The man used the stick to draw back some of the curtains of vines on his own perch, and he revealed the tell-tale simple story of a life lived and lost. “I thought it a quiet place for us to speak. Hardly anyone comes into the halls, and fewer during the night.”

I whipped my head around and once more cast a disapproving glare at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? Who are you?” My blood began to boil as I climbed to my feet and faced him with all my confused fury. Tears welled up in my eyes as I balled my shaking hands into fists at my side. “What’s going on? Where the hell did that portal thing take me? How do I get back?”

The strange man studied me with a soft look in those bright eyes. After a moment a heavy sigh escaped him and he slid off his perch, where he then offered me a hand. “I’ll take you somewhere safe until tomorrow, and then we’ll try to find the answers to your questions.”

I cast a suspicious look from his hand to his face. “How can I trust you?”

He drew his hand back and chuckled. “How can you not? Or would you prefer to meet those friendly guards again? Commander Edouard would be most interested in reuniting with you.”

I bit my lower lip as I thought back to my confrontation with the soldiers. They’d promised me an unpleasant evening, while the man before me had rescued me from that fate.

First, however, I looked past him and at his wings. “Are we using those to get there?”

He turned his head to one side and studied his appendages with a bemused expression. “Don’t you like them?”

I tapped a foot against the ground. “The earth and I have an agreement. I don’t leave it for very long and it doesn’t try to kill me.”

His eyes revealed his amusement as he lifted his arm and used it to point to a path hidden in the weeds. “If you would follow me.”

I followed behind him so he could find the homicidal roots and strangler branches. It turned out those eyes must have been for more than just show because he tread over the ground like a panther. I, however, was as graceful as a gazelle with a peg leg. Two steps into the shadows of the forest of trees and death, and I found myself toppling into one of the stone markers. I wrapped my arms around the rock to catch myself, and I swear I heard a soft groan of approval.

I looked down at the headstone and noticed the name read ‘Thomas Fox.’ The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I hurriedly scrambled off the stone. I jumped a mile in the air when a hand grabbed my shoulder. It turned out to be the man in black.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to fly?” he teased.

I nodded down at the broom in his hand. “What I need is that stick to keep my ankles safe.” I reached for the broom, but he drew the stick out of my reach.

“It would be safer if I were to hold onto this treasure,” he insisted.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why? What’s so important about a stick that becomes a broom?

“Quite a bit, but that’s a story better told in front of a warm fire, don’t you think?”

Another chill wind blew past us, and I couldn’t help but shiver. “That does sound nice…”

He offered me his bent arm. “Then allow me to lead you there.”

I gladly accepted the arm, and he guided me over the rough terrain. The graveyard was small, only about a hundred square feet, and we soon found ourselves at a rusted gate. The gate led onto a narrow cobblestone street that meandered left and right. Small cottage-shaped stone and wood homes stood opposite where we exited the cemetery. Even smaller shed buildings on either side of us interrupted the fence, but otherwise, the cemetery and its ancient trees were the sole occupants of that side of the road.

My unusual guide stopped us on the threshold between dirt and cobblestones and looked up and down the street. “Perhaps I should be a little less conspicuous.” My jaw dropped open as I watched his wings shrink underneath long flaps on the back of his vest jacket. He stretched himself to his full height and rolled his shoulders. “That’s better. They’re rather awkward after a while.”

I gaped up at him. “What are you?”

His eyes twinkled down at me. “Merely a humble thief, my lady, though I’m sure my old friend, the commander, would like to call me many other names. Now if you will give me the honor, we’ll get you,” He held up the staff in his other hand and some of his good humor faltered, “and this unique item to safety under the roof of my old friend.”

I allowed him to lead me rightward down the narrow path. The street was dead, with one side being quite literal, and very few lights flickered behind the worn curtains. The silence, however, gave my heart time to rest and my mind time to think. The quaint building styles we passed reminded me of pictures I’d seen of the eighteen century with its simple woodwork hovels and the two-floor buildings with shops on the bottom and homes in the upper floor.

All of it looked so familiar, and yet not. Here and there were etched strange designs on the door frames, like protective talismans, or worse. A few random shops also advertised unusual wares such as tongue of toad and bat’s wings.

Most unusual of all, however, was the man who strode beside me. I couldn’t think of a*********s about man dragons except in bawdy romance novels. His very existence made me think that I hadn’t traveled back in time so much as been plopped into some world entirely different from the one I knew.

“So where exactly am I, anyway?” I inquired of my guide as I looked up at him.

“You’re in the city of Validen, near the coast of the Coerulus Sea.” He leaned forward a little and studied my face. “Those names don’t mean anything to you, do they?”

I shook my head. “No more than what Jefferson Park means to you.”

He returned his attention to the road ahead. “Interesting. I have a friend who would be eager to speak with you. I may take you to him tomorrow night.”