Dragon Thief Box Set

Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

I lifted an eyebrow. “Where exactly are we going?”

“I did promise you that we would see my friend about your arrival,” he reminded me with a wink. “Shall we?”

I accepted his arm, but with some trepidation as he turned and led us down the stairs. “So, what does this friend of yours study?”

He chuckled. “All manner of magicks. I don’t believe I’ve found a subject in that field where he didn’t have some knowledge. Even the black arts are known to him.”

Both my eyebrows shot up. “Black arts? Like death spells and poisons?”

He nodded as we reached the second floor and turned toward the front of the house. “The best defense against such tricks is to study their workings, or so he has always told me.

By this time, we had reached the foyer, and I found myself looking at a picture of elegance. The area was perfectly square with two short walls on either side of us. The thin, high tables set against the walls had clawed feet, and the chandelier over our heads burned as brightly as a hundred-year-old’s birthday cake. A huge, flowered rug some fifteen feet square covered the glistening wood floor. Everything was so well dusted I swore I could have eaten off the flowers that decorated the vases on the tables. A pair of ornately carved wooden doors with paned glass finished off the decor.

Castle studied my open-jawed mouth with amusement. “Do you approve of my family’s tastes?”

I nodded. “It’s beautiful.”

His eyes had a strange look in them as he watched me for a moment before he turned toward the doors and nodded at them. “Let’s see what beauties this fair city can show you. That is, after you have affixed the ribbon to your wrist, and we’ve taken care of that staff.”

I blinked at him a moment before realization dawned on me. “Oh, right! I forgot about that.”

I draped the ribbon around my wrist, but found it difficult to tie with one hand. “Allow me,” Castle offered as he slipped in front of me. I let him take up both ends, and in a few quick motions the ribbon was tied. His hands remained around mine for a moment longer as he studied the cloth with a pensive expression. “I feel I must warn you that my knot is tight, but there is a chance someone may grab it. Should they do so, your cover will be revealed.”

I smiled up at him. “I know, but nothing risked is nothing gained, right? This, however,” I lifted up the broom, “needs some work.”

“Of course,” he agreed as he moved over to a small door a few feet to the right of the door. He opened it to reveal a small closet, and cloaks and coats of all manner hung in them. Castle chose a small black blanket from the assortment and closed the door before turning to me. “This should do it.”

The count strode back and draped the cloth over the broom. He produced a few loose strings from his pocket and tied them around the broom.

I leaned back and inspected the job. “It looks like I’m carrying around a broom that’s dressed up for a funeral.”

He chuckled. “Not quite so dramatic, I assure you. The cloth is merely the throw rug for my carriages.” He grinned at me as he looped an arm through mine and grasped the handle. “If nothing else is needed, are you ready?”

I snorted. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Castle opened one of the doors and revealed an elegant street much like the ones I had passed through late in my escape with the strange man in black. Small yards were window dressing to elegant marble-front homes with pillars and two sturdy floors. Some even had little wrought-iron fences around their large home plots. A few four-horse carriages rolled past, and their doors used coat-of-arms to brag about great lineages.

There were no sidewalks nor curbs, but a small gig carriage stood at the end of the stone walk. The walk started at the bottom of a set of four wide steps below where we stood. There was no coat or heraldic design on the side or rear and no ornate gilding on the trim. Just a simple two-wheeled black carriage with enough room for two.

The steed hitched to the small vehicle was of a massive size. The coal-black beast stood about twenty hands tall, and muscles rippled beneath its glistening coat. The creature pawed at the ground and flicked its head in the air as it gave another great whinny. Its call made some of the passerby horses whinny in return.

“Enough there, Ferox,” Castle called out to his steed as he guided me over to the horse.

Those great black eyes fixed on me, and there was such a sharp intelligence that I couldn’t help but sheepishly smile. I gave the horse a little wave. “Hi there.”

The horse snorted through both nostrils and pawed the ground. Its hooves were so strong that I swore I saw sparks shoot out from the shoe meeting stone.

Castle frowned at his steed. “She is our guest, Ferox, and for this day you will be carrying both of us.”

The horse cast its disapproving look at me once last time before he faced ahead.

Castle sighed, but led me to the carriage where he helped me in first before climbing up after me. The reins were wrapped around a horn on the front of the carriage, but he didn’t even reach for them. The horse trotted forward of its own accord, and that slow gait was still faster than many cantering horsemen whom we passed.

I clutched onto the side of the box as we hurried along the road. Castle noticed and wrapped his arm around me. He drew me close against his side and smiled down at me. “You don’t have very much experience in carriages, do you?”

I grinned up at him. “Does a rocking horse count?”

He chuckled. “There’s no need to worry. Ferox may appear ferocious, but I trust him with my life.”

I cast a curious look at the elegant, harnessed back that faced us. “What does the name ‘Ferox’ mean?”

“Spirited,” Castle informed me as he admired his beautiful steed. “I found him while wandering through the auction pens in the Plaza some two years ago. Or I should say he found me.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “He came up to you?”

Castle grinned. “No, he nearly trampled me. The scoundrel had escaped the pens and was intent on running amok until he could find an outlet to the countryside. We came face-to-face as he rampaged down one of the wide streets.”

“So, you stopped him by facing off with him?” I guessed.

He chuckled. “No. I was forced to dive out of the way, but fortunately, I dove into a tack shop. I grabbed a stout rope and looped it around his neck. He dragged me for quite a distance before I was able to pull myself up onto his back and ride him.”

I blinked at him. “And then you subdued him?”

Castle shook his head. “No, then he took me for a wild ride. It was some twenty minutes before he tired, and others were able to rope him into submission.”

I turned my attention to the elegant and mild-manners steed in front of us. “So how did you get him?”

“By the simple fact that no one else would bid on him,” Castle mused as he, too, studied his horse. “It took a dozen men a day to get him into my reinforced stable stall. It took another three days before he would take food from me. Only then did he and I form an... understanding.”

“Food for work?” I assumed.

He nodded. “Yes, and a few weeks out of the year at my country estate. He has a great many acres to roam out there, and I procured for myself the fastest horse in the empire.”

My attention was piqued by his last word. “Empire?”

“The Ortusia Empire,” he revealed as he nodded at the elegant houses around us. “And these are its great families who helped lay the foundations of this very metropolis. Emperor Callidus the Third has ruled these lands for nearly four decades.”

His mention of an emperor brought up a memory. “He lives in the castle, right?”

“Yes. It was the first structure built in the area some eight hundred years ago. The town itself grew up around it and now covers much of the countryside to the Coerulus Sea some twenty miles to the south.”

“And there’s magic here,” I mused as the stately manors gave way to smaller homes and shops. A few of the shops advertised love potions and hair-growth formulas.

“There’s no magic where you come from?” he wondered.

I frowned at him. “Didn’t you already ask that?”

He smiled at me. “We haven’t had that discussion, my lady, but you may have made note of it to my black-clad friend.”

I thought back to last night’s adventures and furrowed my brow. “He didn’t even give me his name.” I glanced up at Castle. “Do you know it?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. He only wishes to go by his title. That is the Dragon Thief, or Thief, for short. It’s not a very imaginative name, but I believe the Commander has others for him.”

“So do a lot of people have wings around here?” I wondered as I looked at the people we passed. They appeared to be completely human to me, though a few could have passed as crones.

Castle’s amusement failed somewhat as he looked ahead and pursed his lips. “No. That is rather a unique trait of his. Magic must be how he came to have them, but by what spell is unknown.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Even to the friend we’re going to?”

He nodded. “Even to him, or so he tells me.” He returned his attention to me as the cobblestones beneath the tires became a little rougher. “I hope he has something to tell you.”

I winced. “That unlikely?”

“To be honest we may not find him at home,” Castle admitted as he gave a sigh. “He keeps irregular hours, and is want to travel to the far corners of the city collecting items for his experiments.”