Chapter 4

- "Wait." said the redhead.

- "I don't trust him." said the one I took to be Syrava. She had pale, reddish blonde hair, and dark eyes. The pout on her lips made her look childish and petulant. If I was not mistaken, there was a touch of the fey about her. When you've a mixed heritage of your own, you tend to see it in others more easily. At least, that's been my experience.

- "I'm unarmed." I pointed out. "I know a couple of minor spells, which I can convert to healing. I'm no threat to you. I'm offering to help."

- "That's very nice of you." said Earrings. She offered her hand to help me stand up.

- "Careful." growled the redhead.

We circled the carcass of the dragon. Even dead, it was still impressive - though not so terrifying as last night.

Aressine turned out to be the tall warrior I'd seen, charging alongside the redhead. She had her helmet off, and was sitting on a shattered tree stump, still in her armor.

At Pamna's urging, and with her more suspicious friends watching me like hawks, Aressine let me come close. She was very tall, with blonde hair in a long braid. Her face was grimy and sweaty, but still quite attractive.

I cast my little healing spell, and discovered that she was badly bruised, under her armor. Most of her left side would be blue, or even black. I restored the blood flow, and soothed some of the angriest bruises. The big blonde felt it right away, and groaned - with relief.

- "That should feel a bit better." I said, with my best bedside manner.

- "Thanks." she said.

- "You are very welcome." I said, with a smile and a wink for Earrings, who smiled back.

The remainder of their party came around from the other side of the dragon. Two more women: one was Exotic Ravenhair, in her ornate armor - the one who had knocked me out, last night. The other was an elf.

Wood elf, of course - not High Elf. You rarely see any of the Old Ones anymore. This elf had hair so blonde it was practically white. Cute, too. I had to shake my head; was membership in this group open only to very attractive women?

- "What is it?" asked Earrings. She'd seen my head shake.

- "Nothing." I said. "Just glad to be alive - thanks to all of you."

- "We've separated the magic items." said Ravenhair. "Thirteen of them, in all."

- "Nice." said Syrava, the fey one. "Split six ways, that's two each."

- "Why not seven ways?" said Earrings.

- "What?"

Earrings pointed to me. "Don't you think he deserves a share, too?" she said. "I'm sorry - we haven't even asked your name."

I gave her a little bow. "Ken Jayden, at your service."

With a grin, she sketched a mock curtsey. "Pamna. Pleased to meet you."

- "Not half so pleased as I was, last night, when you arrived. You ladies saved my life. I am in your debt."

Pamna introduced the rest of her group. The fey spellcaster was Syrava, and I already knew that the tall blonde in armor was Aressine. The redhead was Kima. She appeared to be the leader, though she often deferred to Exotic Ravenhair, whose name turned out to be Taliesine. The elf was Fhaernala.

They didn't seem to know what to do with me, at first. Well, Syrava still looked like she wanted to finish off what the dragon had missed, and bury me behind a tree. Pamna - Earrings - was certainly in my corner.

The redhead - Kima - asked me to excuse them, while they discussed my fate.

- "Don't wander off." she said.

- "Can I look for ... the members of my party?" I asked. I had been about to say 'friends', but that wouldn't have been accurate, except in the case of Jim. Him I would miss.

- "We buried them." said Kima.

- "What was left of them?"

- "Yes."

- "Thank you."

There was a grave, which I assumed had been dug for Jim. What remained of the other three they'd buried in a hole alongside. It was a relief, in a way, not to have to see what the streams of acid had done to them. I couldn't even feel particularly bereaved; I'd barely known them. I might have ended up liking Tega, had I been around him longer.

I sat down, on the edge of the dragon's lair, with my back against a tree, while I waited for the women to decide what to do with me. Hopefully, they would return my weapons; I didn't know whether to expect any more.

Then a thought occurred to me. I stood up, and walked over to where they were.

- "Excuse me!" I called out. "Sorry to disturb you. I just thought you'd like to know: we left two wagons on the edge of the forest. You're welcome to use them, if that helps. I can show you where they are."

- "We saw them." said Kima. "But ... thank you."

- "Alright." I said, cheerfully. "Ahh ... I don't know much about horses, but you might want to see to our horses at some point. They've been hobbled in the same place since yesterday afternoon."

Kima pointed - back to where I'd been.

"I'll just sit over there." I said.

They talked for another hour, at least. I may have dozed off, for a time. When I opened my eyes, the redhead, Kima, was standing over me.

- "Can you drive a team?" she asked.

- "I can manage."

The two fighters, the elf, and the exotic spellcaster walked me back along the dragon's path, towards the edge of the forest. Seen in daylight, it was still eerie. It was also a much shorter distance than I remembered.

Once we reached the open grass, Kima and the elf, Fhaernala, went in one direction, while Aressine and Taliesine accompanied me to the spot where we had left our wagons. I helped the blonde fighter get the horses. The raven-haired wizard just watched us.

I glanced at Aressine, and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head.

- "No." said the fighter. "She doesn't do horses. Or wagons."

Aressine drove one wagon, while I followed with the other. Taliesine climbed into my wagon, and sat behind me. Well behind me.

I turned in my seat, and grinned at her.

- "That was an effective spell you used on me, last night." I said. "What was it?"

She didn't seem particularly inclined to answer, but eventually she said: "Sleep."

- "Worked like a charm." I said. "If you'll pardon the pun."

She didn't react at all.

"By your look, I'd say you were Eastern." I continued. "The Empire? Or even further east? Am I close?"

Taliesine frowned. "I mean no offence," she said, "but I have no desire to converse with you. I am only here to make certain that you do nothing foolish."

- "Fair enough." I conceded, and concentrated on driving the wagon. I wasn't particularly insulted, or annoyed. My charm is quite effective, but it doesn't work on all women. Thank goodness for that, really: life would be boring if every woman I encountered was immediately susceptible.

The horses didn't care for the smell of dragon - even dead dragon. We had to stop well short of the monster's lair. That led to another discussion. Kima called me over.

- "All right, Ken Jayden." she said. "You'd be dead, if it wasn't for our timely arrival -"

- "I agree completely."

- "Just shut and listen, will you?" She sounded more tired than angry. "Look, we know that your party did considerable damage to the dragon, before they were wiped out. And you shot out one of its eyes, which certainly helped."

"So even though you aren't one of us, we've decided to grant you a half-share of the spoils. Can you live with that?"

- "That's more than fair." I said. Honestly, it was better than I'd expected. Pamna, the witch, liked me, and Aressine may have felt mildly indebted, because I'd healed her. Taliesine was obviously no big admirer of mine, and if I know anything about elves at all, it's that Fhaernala probably didn't care either way. Syrava, the fey, seemed to have taken an active dislike to me, for whatever reason.