Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
“Oof.”
Mercury landed hard, the huge dragon on top of him. Talon, which was a fabulous name, slumped down on him, passed out cold. He supposed that someone’s first time sliding might take a toll on them. It was hard, slipping from one space to another.
Talon should try doing it when he had to pull the space out of someone else’s mind.
He looked around after he wiggled out from under the big, beautiful oaf who had rescued him, and he admired the shiny platinum scales laced with scars and the big, boofy head. Then he saw the mountains, and his jaw dropped, awe filling him.
Then he saw about twenty zillion angry dragons swarming at him, and he thought, right, time to leave, time to go.
He zipped up into the air, made it about six feet, and then collapsed, the magic leaving him in a rush. Fuck.
At least he was off the patio thing and now clinging to a balcony. If he just let go and put his wings out, maybe he’d catch a little swell and be able to get farther. Soar away or even just glide a bit.
A roar sounded, and it made him shiver with awareness. Not fear. Then Talon was in the air, hovering above him. Protecting him.
You are safe, hailee. Come down. There will be a hot bath and food.
He stared at Talon. They’re not going to eat me?
No one is going to eat you. Talon sounded very sure. That was very clever what you did, being able to find home so easily. Now come. We’ll find you some food and some warm clothes.
Talon seemed very much like a dragon someone could trust, and he was so empty inside. He let go of the balcony, Talon catching him easily. I tried to fly away, but I’m out of magic now.
I imagine it’s very difficult to do whatever you did.
Sliding.
What?
It’s called sliding. I wanted to go home, and when I said home, you thought of here, and we slid together. Because he couldn’t do it on his own. He needed someone to show him where to go.
He was just a mirror after all.
He wasn’t real.
Well, I was very impressed. Suddenly they were on the ground, and Talon was human-sized again, carrying him as if he weighed nothing, even in his dragon form. He thought Talon had to be very important for no one to even question what he was doing.
Where are we going?
We’re going to find some soup. I think soup would be very tasty right now. How do you feel about potato soup with bacon, chives, and a little bit of cheese?
He thought he was going to die, just the sound of that was magical, wondrous, absolutely, unequivocally a yes in his book.
That sounds amazing.
One thing you’re never gonna lack for here at Cain’s keep is food.
Who’s Cain? He tried not to think about the fact that Talon was carrying him, not putting him down for any reason at all, but he couldn’t help it. Talon was warm and he smelled like wind and rain and somehow something earthy.
He’s the seer here. It’s his keep. He started it years ago, or maybe it was decades ago. I don’t know the history really well. He’s a good guy. You’ll like him.
He sighed, hiding his face against Talon’s neck. I probably won’t be here for very long.
Why not? You don’t have any reason to go anywhere. I promise you there’ll be a place for you here, a home.
Talon carried him right into what looked like a giant dining hall with lots of people bustling around and long trestle tables set up throughout the entire place.
Some of them had benches and some of them had chairs, but there were also little round tables and along a few of the walls there were comfy settee-type things with tables in front of them.
That would be very nice, but I don’t have a heartstone.
Sooner or later, it’s going to make my energy drain away.
I’ll lose all my magic, and then I’ll die.
Mercury tried to be practical about that fact.
He didn’t want to get emotional about it and cry.
That had worked itself out of him many moons ago.
Hailee, I promise we’re going to get you a heartstone, a new one, something you can bond with and thrive. Talon gave him a little squeeze and then chose one of the settee-like areas to plop him down on, moving the table a little closer to him because he was so small that it was hard to reach it.
Heartstones are in short supply. Only dragons who deserve them get to have them. How many times had he been told that? So many. It was like water over stone now. It had worn him down until he believed it.
That’s not true. Most dragons deserve heartstones. There are a few that are evil enough that I would say they could just live without them. But I don’t think that qualifies as you. Talon flicked his nose with one finger. “I’ll be right back,” he said aloud. “You just stay there.”
Once Talon had left him, Mercury looked around curiously to see what other types of dragons there might be here.
There were all different shapes and sizes, and then there were creatures he didn’t think were dragons.
Maybe they were shifters. He saw several of them, from one who looked like a cat, to a couple who looked like he wasn’t sure, maybe beavers?
One way or the other, they were fascinating, and the smells in the room made his mouth water. He could hardly bear how good it smelled. He was so tired of canned beans that if he never saw another bean in his life, it would be too soon.
He traced a pattern on the table with his finger, trying not to feel self-conscious. Nobody was staring at him, but he did see a few side-long glances as if people were trying to figure out who he was.
Talon came back carrying a tray that held some steaming mugs of something to drink. It smelled a bit like cider and a giant loaf of crusty bread with a pot of butter. “I ordered the soup, and they gave me this as a starter.”
Mercury stared at the bread, his fingers itching to grab it and just rip into it, but he didn’t. “It looks very nice. Thank you.”
“Hey, you’re welcome to have something. Do you want me to cut you a piece or would you just like me to tear some off?” Talon’s gentle smile was completely at odds with the fierceness of his face and the scars that crisscrossed it.
“Whatever you’re going to do for yourself.” That was fair, right?
“Then I’ll just tear it.” Talon took the loaf and then tore it in half, and then tore it in half again, before handing him a huge chunk as well as the pot of butter.
“I couldn’t possibly eat that much.” He laughed out loud at the very idea. He had been subsisting on half a can of beans a day, along with some white bread they brought him in loaves with some logo on the outside.
That and tuna. He’d eaten a lot of canned tuna. He loathed the very smell of canned tuna now, even though his people ate a lot of fish.
His former people.
He liked that idea better.
He didn’t love to think about those dragons as being his. Talon had been nicer to him in the last few hours than anyone had been in his memory.
He didn’t feel like honoring them by allowing them to be his people.
So there.
Mercury took the bread and buttered it liberally, and then took a big bite. When the flavor of yeast and sugar and butter hit his tongue, he burst into tears, a mixture of relief and horror and exhaustion pouring into him like a wave.
“Hey,” Talon smiled at him, winked. “This doesn’t have to be a big deal; you can just breathe.”
“I can?” He licked the butter off his lips. “You have more faith in me than I do. I’m not sure I can.”
Talon snorted. “You’re doing fine, hailee. I know it has to feel so overwhelming. I remember when I lost my stone, and everything seemed so dark. Like the end of days.”
“Who took your stone?” He found himself growling softly, and that was strange.
He wasn’t a growler as a rule. Even when he had something to growl about.
“Some assholes at my old keep. My friend, my best friend Kami… He gave me his own heartstone. It almost killed him.”
“Wow.” That was hard to think of someone caring enough about someone else that they could just give their stone away.
“He’s a stone singer now. He can find stones for dragons. I bet he can find you a new one.”
Was that even a thing?
He wasn’t sure they could replace stones.
He’d been told it was eternal, the bond between dragon and stone. Once the dragon was gone, the stone lost its power. And if the stone was destroyed, the dragon eventually died.
He watched Talon, loving the way the big dragon munched his food. He was quite beautiful in his own way, with fascinating lines on his face, his scales iridescent, lovely.
If he had to slide somewhere, he was glad it was here. This was a good place, and it was Talon’s place.
A tall dragon came up, a curious look on his face. Talon nodded to him as if he knew him. “Cain.”
“Talon.” Cain smiled over. “I just came to welcome you. This all happened much faster than I had anticipated.”
“Me too. I never expected this.” Talon grinned over. “He just popped me over here like it was nothing. Boom. Here I was.”
“Oh? You’re a sekiine?”
His eyes went wide. He’d never actually heard that word out loud. He absolutely didn’t know what to do or say.
“Man, Cain. Leave my hailee alone. He’s very tired. He hasn’t eaten anything in who knew how long. We’ll come up and talk, but we need a couple of days.”
Cain nodded, offering him a gentle smile. “Of course, of course, and if you need anything—”
“Thank you. I just can’t—” He didn’t feel very much like seeing people.
This was the biggest crowd he’d been in in his entire life.
“Just breathe, huh? And have some food.” Talon put a warm hand on his shoulder, and he immediately settled some, his breath coming easier. “I’ve got this, and so do you. We’re gonna figure this out.”
The other man faded away, and suddenly it was as if he could relax again. He nodded at Talon, “Thank you. Yes, I can do that. I can eat.”
“This is a lot. I think you’re doing great.”
He blushed and grinned at Talon. “You’re a very smooth talker,” he said.
“Me?” Talon blinked. I’ve never had anyone say that to me ever.” In fact, most people said he communicated in grunts and clicks.
“Well, I find you very comforting. Very. This is very scary. You’re the only thing,” he whispered, “that’s not scary in the whole world right now.”
Talon had taken off the magic inhibitor.
Talon had brought him here.
Talon had come for him in the first place. It was terribly scary and wonderful and utterly foreign.
“Okay.” Talon gave him a smile that crinkled up the lines around his eyes and made his scars bunch on one side. But it was so beautiful, and it made Mercury gasp. “We can work with that, hailee. Now eat up, and then I’ll take you home. To my lodgings, I mean.”
Oh dear, he didn’t know if that was what he wanted, though, so he was going to go wherever Talon asked. “Is there room for me there? I don’t take up much space. I don’t need much—a blanket on the floor.”
Talon glared at him. “You will not be sleeping in a blanket on the floor. You can share my bed if you wish, and if you do not wish, then you can have my bed, and I will sleep on the couch. Or we can sleep on the couch together and watch television.”
Talon sounded very sure.
“Do you have a television of your own?”
“I do. In fact, I have one in the bathroom.”
Mercury tilted his head so far that he almost tipped over the bathroom. “Why?”
“Because I like to have a bath. I like to take a long bath and watch television while I’m doing it.” Talon sounded so happy and deeply satisfied that it made him chuckle.
“All right.” Like he would argue. In fact, he was kind of desperate to see.
He almost said they could forget about the rest of the food, but then the soup came, and his mouth dried up. It smelled so good that he began to shake a little bit.
“It smells amazing, doesn’t it? It always makes me a little crazy, this soup.”
He thought Talon was incredibly kind to say it because he didn’t see Talon’s hand shaking. But it didn’t matter. He was going to eat every drop. “It smells wondrous.”
It was as if they were in their own little world now that the other man, the other dragon, Cain, had left them alone.
Maybe Cain had spread the word somehow, but nobody came to bother them so he could shovel soup into his mouth and savor the truly perfect flavor of those potatoes, which were soft but still had texture, and the bacon and the cream and the chives. He’d never had anything so good.
Mercury blinked at his bowl when it was empty, and he felt like he should be upset in the stomach after not eating more than a can of beans for so long. But he wasn’t. It was like the food made his magic feel stronger, better, at least for a little while.
He sat there, head bowed over his bowl, and he didn’t realize he dozed off until Talon touched his arm.
“Are you ready to go up now and get some sleep? Once you’ve had a nice nap, we can get you a shower and some clean clothes.” Talon’s voice was a bass rumble, soft and gentle somehow, and yet still fully alpha.
He simply raised his arms and Talon picked him up, cradling him against that wide chest. He reached up to touch Talon’s scars, his fingers tracing the lines on that face which was becoming rapidly familiar and dear to him. “Thank you, braaken.”
“You’re very welcome, hailee. I promise. This is a good place, and I know you don’t fully understand how things happen here, but you will.”
Talon started walking, cutting through the small crowd of people who were just eating around him, and he laid his head on Talon’s shoulder, closing his eyes.
His braaken was correct. He really didn’t understand anything at this point. But it didn’t matter. He was warm, his belly was full, and all he wanted to do was sleep.