Dragon Tamer(On hold)

Chapter Ten

It was the next day when Sumner, Parker and Malcolm set out again. Millie and Brim joined them. "Never know when you'll need a good swordsman at your side." He patted the hilt of his sword. Millie looked unhappy about the whole affair, and Sumner wondered why.

Millie carried a now awake Ivy in her arms, wrapped in a blanket. She was staring at Sumner with her big amber eyes. He smiled at her and rubbed her head. She purred and closed her eyes, leaning into his hand. Ivy obviously felt better.

"She really likes you." Millie said, a hint of jealousy in her voice. Sumner looked at her curiously.

"Yes, I suppose she does. Do you not get along with her?" Millie winced and glanced up at him.

"No. In fact, I'm convinced she hates me." Sumner shook his head, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"She doesn't hate you. She just.....hasn't come to trust you yet." Millie's eyes studied him carefully.

"You think?"

"Yeah." He nodded

Millie smiled, thought still a little dubious. "Ok, then...." They walked in silence, Parker and Brim talking about something, Malcolm occasionally interjecting.

Hours went by with no events happening, for which Sumner was glad. Maybe they would finally reach Kura today without any more interruptions.

Finally, they reached Vander, which marked the halfway point to Kura. Sumner felt like it had taken far too long. They should have arrived the previous day. And we would have, too, if you hadn't been so careless as to get yourself stabbed with a poisoned knife, he thought glumly to himself.

"Whoa, look at this!" Parker exclaimed, pulling Sumner out of his mental remorse. He ran up to a vendor stall run by a old man with long, slightly stringy hair and picked up something; Sumner couldn't tell what from here. He sighed. Not again, he thought.

"Parker, put that down." He felt like a father, ordering his child. He strode up beside Parker, with Millie, Malcolm, and Brim right behind him.

"It's probably just another cheap, good-for-nothing nick-knack." Sumner said, remembering the knife Parker had almost bought a few days earlier. And, indeed, in Parker's hands was another knife. Its hilt appeared to be made of gold--or at least plated-- and had a pattern carved into the bottom of the rounded hilt tip resembling a rolled up scroll. It didn't seem to be anything especially eye catching or special about it. Except for the blade. It was made of a silver metal with a bluish tint to it, almost like the purest water. Sumner's earlier assumptions that it was not of any value vanished. He noticed something was engraved into it. He leaned closer to see it more clearly.

"Good luck, H.H...." He murmured aloud as he read. Who was H.H.?

"Ah, yes...." The man behind the vendor nodded, rubbing his hands together. "That wers given ta me by some ol' shady feller a whiles back,  'twas." The man leaned toward them. Sumner had to force himself not to back up when he caught a whiff of his breath. It smelt like rotten fish and sour milk. "I think he wers one of those...What ch' callits? Oh, yes, spies." The man cackled and smiled, showing off the big gap in his mouth where his teeth were missing.

"Erm, right...." Sumner gave him a feeble little laugh and took a step back.

"I'll take it." Parker said, a glint in his eyes. The mention of it being a possible spy's knife--according to the man's story, which Sumner most certainly did not believe--had sparked his interest.

"I didn't know there were any spies." Millie said. The man's ugly grin widened.

"Yer not s'pose to, girly. That's why they're spies."

"We should keep going." Brim broke in loudly enough to spook the dragons. Berry twirled around on Malcolm's head, tittering. Sumner looked at Brim curiously. He had a look of uneasy etched on his face.

After Parker paid for the knife with money Sumner didn't know he had, the group explored the town for a while. Parker played around with his knife as the walked. At one point he held his knife out in front of him and said, with his eyes squinted threateningly," I dare you to try and kill me." And that's exactly what happened. Except it wasn't Parker they were trying to kill, it was Sumner.

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I apologize on the shortness of this chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer.

Happy reading!