Private Tales A Burning Shed

[Fraeya]

"Hm," eyes stared into the flames. She tried to remember how magic felt the first time she used it. She'd never really been scared. Then again, her people had brought her up to embrace it. And here she was talking to the race that had shattered all that and turned her into an outlaw.

Ironic.

"You need a professional. Some mage. Teacher even. I'd say travel to the next town over. A bigger one and see if anyone there can help you because I can't. Not all elves are magic."

 

[Talus]

Talus looked rather nervous at that statement. He had absolutely no idea what it was like with Elves, but he knew for a fact that the next town over didn't have any mages either. Nor did the town after that, or the town after that.

He would have to travel a thousand leagues before he reached anywhere that would have even heard of anything magical, and half of that again to reach someplace that could actually help him. Who the hell knew what could happen over that sort of distance, he could burn down entire fields!

"Fuck." Talus swore quietly.

What was he supposed to do? The world was upside down and he felt his head spinning slightly. His fingers tightened, breathing quickened. What was he supposed to do?

Where could he go?

"This is bad." He breathed quietly. "Very very bad."

 

[Fraeya]

There was movement in the trees and she looked up worriedly. No, not now. Mouth opened. Then closed.

She couldn’t speak in that language in front of him. But he couldn’t see Ember. Eyes leveled back to the human.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. Humans are very privileged in this country.” There was definitely bite behind those words.

 

[Talus]

He gaped. "Privileged?"

Is that what she thought?

Talus supposed that in the village he did have it nicer than some others. His house had a second story and the land they owned was larger than most others, but all of them still worked hard. All of them still had to till the land and chop firewood. He would hardly consider himself, or anyone else living here privileged.

"We barely survived three winters ago!" In fact, had it not been for a traveling ship for Elbion half the village likely would have starved. They'd needed to trade most of the villages silver for food. "Were about as privileged as a mule in Alliria."

No one out here was rich, no one had a pass.

Even he didn't. There was a reason he'd always had to work. His father would let him change jobs, but never sit around.

 

[Fraeya]

She blinked in his direction. Was she supposed to feel sorry for him? For them? It was easier to believe that all humans were bad. Picking up a stick, she began poking at the fire.

A quick glance was cast up at the branches above as some leaves shook down.

Eyes narrowed, then shifted back to the flames.

"A mule in Alliria might be treated better than a slave," she commented dryly.

 

[Talus]

Talus mulled that for a second. There was really no arguing that fact, slaves were...well slaves, though as far as he knew Alliria didn't have any of those.

They certainly didn't out here. "There are no slaves out here."

He said quietly.

It was a weak defense, and certainly not one of all Humanity. Talus knew for a fact that some Rich Merchants kept slaves, same with some nobles in Vel Anir. They weren't supposed to, but...that didn't really stop them. Too much power, too much greed.

"Alliria is far away." He said quietly. "Too far."

 

[Fraeya]

No slaves?

He was more naive than she thought. Lips pressed thin. And he mentioned Alliria. A shiver ran down her spine.

She’d never go back there. Unless it was to burn the whole mage school down. Grip tightened around the fire poker. She remained quiet. She didn't know what he expected from her.

 

[Talus]

At this point Talus knew about as much about what he expected as she did. He knew that apparently she wasn't magical, that she couldn't help, but at the very least she wasn't trying to string him up in the middle of the town square.

That was better than some in his own village. "What's it like for you?"

He shifted for a moment, then corrected himself.

"Elves, I mean." From what he knew Elves were far more open to the magical beings than…well any human settlement. Hell they lived in the Falwood, that place itself was about as magical as you could get without living directly in a pool of Arcana.

At least from what he understood anyway.

Not that he understood much.

 

[Fraeya]

She poked at the fire silently, willing the baby dragon poking around in the branches above them to remain out of sight.

"It's hard for me to talk to you," she admitted slowly. Lavender eyes flickered to meet his in the growing darkness. "My tribe was not like your small town. They embraced magic. I never feared it. They taught us to respect it. The elders nurtured our skills. My tribe's magic is connected to nature. It gives us the energy to wield it."

Fingers came up to tuck wild strands of purple behind one of her pointed ears.

"You say there are no slaves so naively. A group of humans came to my tribe in Falwood and took those of us who possessed the gift of magic. They carted us off to be mage slaves to Alliria. So, you can see, it's hard to talk to you."

It was hard not to see his round ears and human face and not be angry.

 

[Talus]

Eyebrows shot up almost immediately. "Alliria?"

Talus sounded as though he were in utter disbelief. He could believe such things of Vel Anir and Cerak, but Alliria? Slavery was supposed to be illegal there. Even the lowest man on the totem pole was supposed to earn a wage.

A good wage.

"I-I'm sorry." Talus stuttered out. "I didn't know."

Perhaps he was a bit more naive than he liked to admit. He'd never left the village after all, at least not passed the next town over. Even his voyages out to sea hadn't been too far.

Maybe Alliria would be a mistake then. Talus thought to himself grimly as he stared at the fire.

 

[Fraeya]

Lips pressed thin as her eyes flickered back to him from the heat of the fire. She believed his was sorry but she couldn't accept it. Or say it was okay. Because it wasn't.

There was a small gurgling sound from above and Fraeya rolled to her feet. Everything she did looked graceful and sure. her fire stick dropped and she held out her arms as a scaly, small mass suddenly leaped into them.

Talus would suddenly find himself staring at a baby dragon with scales that matched the purple hues of Fraeya's. It's long, forked tongue came out of its mouth and licked against her cheek. He'd also suddenly find a strange language coming from Fraeya's mouth as she and the dragon conversed. Fraeya was scolding Ember for coming out while Ember was trying to explain he was too curious and bored to stay up any longer.

 

[Talus]

Talus jumped back in an instant. There was no threat to his movements of course, just the opposite in fact, he hopped from his place as though someone had set the ground on fire.

His hands shot up as though he were actually going to defend himself, though the moment whatever had swooped down landed on Fraeya a small bit of recognition crossed his face. At first he thought it was some sort of lizard, then he stuttered out.

"I-is that a Dragon?" Who the hell was this woman.

Dragons were real?

Why was there one here?

All the stories he'd ever been told said Dragons made their homes in the Spine, far in the mountains and high up where no one could reach them. Those had been stories. Not reality though.

What the fuck was going on?

 

[Fraeya]

Ember turned his head to the stranger and let out a series of sounds that sounded like hiccups and gurgles. Fraeya shifted her body to the side as if she needed to protect the dragon from Talus. Toned, lithe arms held the beast protectively.

"Yes," she finally said. With a small hop, the dragon shifted from the elf's arms to her shoulder, rubbing its scaled head into her hair. One wing stretched into the air.

Her voice became deadly serious.

"You have to promise me right now you won't tell anyone about this. No one. Or seeing me. Got it?"

 

[Talus]

"Who am I gonna tell?" He had his own problems at the moment. Talus wasn't about to run into the village and shout about the elf with a Dragon running around in the woods.

Hell, if he did they would probably think he was mad.

"Where did you find it?" He asked. "I mean...they're not supposed to be around here, are they?"

Were they?

Fuck, he was starting to think that he didn't know anything at all.

 

[Fraeya]

The dragon chomped its little jaw in Talus' direction.

Fraeya rolled her eyes and gave the dragon's body a small pat. "First of all, it's a he. His name is Ember." The dragon's wing slowly folded back into its side. The elf settled the human with a thoughtful look. "Not normally, no.

"He and I escaped together. From Alliria."

Ember hiccuped and bounced down, hopping after a forest mouse. Steam began escaping from the little dragon's nose. With one quick swoop of its head, it got the mouse in its jaws and quickly swallowed it with one satisfied gulp.

 

[Talus]

Alliria again? What the hell was going on in the city. The place was supposed to be filled with Rich Merchants and the like, not Dragons.

Briefly he wondered if the Rangers knew about any of this. A few of them had come by once or twice in the village, and they had always been helpful. Kind even. Surely they wouldn't allow slavery to go on beneath their noses. "I don't understand."

Talus said with a deep frown.

"How did you find a Dragon in Alliria?" There weren't any mountains there either!

 

[Fraeya]

Fraeya sighed at this human's questions. He was always asking the wrong ones. She honestly wondered how he'd survived this long. He was like a babe still on his mother's breast.

She sat back down and ate some more roots, nuts, and seeds. The non-meat eater watched the scaled meat-eater for a moment. "The mage school in Alliria is training dragons for an army. Think about how unstoppable they'd be." Her voice was deep, dark, and bitter. "They were using me to learn how to do that. And to command the army since dragon-speakers aren't exactly everywhere."

Ember came over, sensing its companion's anger and pushed his hand beneath her hand. A soft look went to the dragon. "Ember was the first one they'd gotten and so...when we escaped we stuck together."

Great, now she was telling this stranger everything. The only solace was that no one would believe him if he told. Well, unless he told the authorities that were looking for them.

 

[Talus]

"So they don't have any other Dragons?" He asked, still trying to work through the puzzle she had laid out in front of him.

He supposed that made sense.

If Dragons were in fact real then it made sense that they were extremely rare. After all, there weren't exactly reports of them flying all over the place.

Something dawned on him. "Are they chasing you?"

 

[Fraeya]

"They might have more now," shoulders shrugged. Jaw tensed at his next question. An angry and agitated poke into the fire. Ember hopped beneath her bedroll as if understanding his question. A small puff of steam left his nose.

"Why're you asking that?"

 

[Talus]

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "It seemed natural."

The thought of selling her out never occurred to Talus. Despite what some in the village thought there was not an evil bone in his body. He was lazy, and had some other negative qualities, but he didn't want to see people get hurt.

That wasn't him.

"Are you going to go back to the Falwood?" He asked quietly, apparently unaware of her anger. "It's still pretty far."

A thousand leagues or more.