Miradey

Law Keeper

Ben stumbled out of the Blue Halo's door. He looked around and saw that the doorway was hanging a few inches in midair.

Lanterns whose glass panes were engraved with Nyte Village's emblem, the crescent moon and stars, lined the unpaved road and Ben knew immediately that he was on the Main Street, where Miradey had said he would come out.

He looked around once more and found that there was no door to be seen. The Door of the Blue Halo was gone.

Shop fronts and other establishments aside from the Pewter Pub (whose windows and open doorway were warmly lit and lively with the activities of its patrons) stood dark and quiet at this hour in the night. It had to be past midnight. Ben checked his pocket watched and saw that it was seven past one in the morning.

"Benedict, you shouldn't dawdle."

Ben nearly jumped out of his skin as a shadow passed around him on the ground. Miradey's silhouette rose up and greeted him with a wave.

"There you are."

"It took me a while to come down from the mountains."

"Not very," he scoffed. It couldn't have taken her more than a few minutes to traverse the distance from the Blue Halo's cave to the Main Street whereas he was sure it had taken her an hour or so with him in tow to walk from Erst's tavern to the Blue Halo's cave in Nywo.

"Shadows race across the grounds, covering distances within the village borders fairly quickly." Suddenly, Miradey's face raised towards the sky.

"What's wrong?"

"I told you that if I'm needed I'll be notified. I've been called to the Scarletland Reserve. There are thieves afoot." She stepped away and turned in the direction of the fields.

"I'm coming with you."

"Keep up and stay out of sight." Miradey's silhouette melted back to the surface of the ground and streaked away.

At first, Benendict kept a decent pace with her but even at a dead run he couldn't keep up. Panting, wiping his brow, and cursing, he stopped. There was no way he could keep up with her at this rate. Ben took a deep breath, concentrated on Miradey's shadow quickly disappearing into a copse of trees in front of him, and made himself like the wind, following after her.

Some time later, they arrived at the edge of the village in a grassy, moonlit field where dozens of dragons milled about. They were winged and small for dragons, likely a class of drake, and did not seem to mind humans. Ben resumed his form, ignoring a bout of queasiness. He ducked alongside a little rise covered in billy blade grass where he had seen Miradey in her silhouette hide. He watched as the dragons ignored the human men lurking about the field who were snatching apples from the low hanging branches of the trees there.

The men were dressed like drifters in old robes and scuffed boots. They couldn't have gone unnoticed in the village proper so Ben surmised that they must be from another land and come here to test their fortunes.

"Eh, how about we gut one or two of these things," said one of the thieves. "Dragon heartstrings will fetch a nice price at the market." He drew a knife from his belt and stalked towards the drakes.

"What will you do?" Ben eyed the scene anxiously. There were other Knights. Miradey should call for help.

"They are stealing from the private reserve and intend to harm the drakes under our protection," Miradey whispered. "I must stop and apprehend them. Stay here and don't make a sound."

"How will you do that?" Ben asked incredulously. "There are at least a dozen of them! Must you put yourself in danger over a few apples?"

"This is about more than a few apples. If they only took a few apples to feed themselves, I wouldn't be here. They are trespassing on the reserve meant to preserve the lives of these dragons and they mean them harm."

Miradey silenced Ben with a hand on his shoulder and finger to her lips, then climbed to the top of the rise.

"You have trespassed on the private reserve of the Scarletlands, protected by the Dragon on The Hill," she announced. "Leave now and ne'er return or face your punishment."

The men stopped, dropping apples as they spun around to face her.

"You know not who we are or our purpose, shadow."

"Think you me a fool," Miradey said. "Your purpose here is thievery, criminals. I'll not lower wit to your attempts at deception."

She stomped her foot and the men froze in their tracks. Ben looked at the ground and saw that each of their shadows was joined to hers in inky stretches across the ground from where she stood on the small rise.

"Release us, black cur of darkness!" shouted the man, dropping his knife.

"Show yourself!" said another. "You hide like a coward without showing your face, woman! We would know our accuser."

"Revealing myself to you is more trouble than you're worth, dishonorable cretins. You are in no position to make demands of a Knight of The Order, considering your very current crimes. You'll not take from the mouths and pockets of my people without consequence. Nor will you hurt these dragons who are under the protection of Dragones House law, the law of the Dragon on The Hill."

Miradey raised her hands and stomped her foot again.

Ben blinked and then the thieves were simply gone, their cries of injustice fading on the wind as they were drug away swiftly into the skies, leaving behind only a scattering of apples behind.

"Where have you sent them?" Ben asked, coming out from behind the rise.

"Imprisonment in Nywo." She coughed and sank to kneel on the grass, clutching her throat.

"Miradey!" Ben scrambled up the rise and came to her side.

With a jerk of her hand, her silhouette was pulled aside like a black satiny sheet that had molded her body. Smoke fumed from between her lips. Her blue-purple eyes shone stark and black in the moonlit night.