Dragon Tamer - Book 1

Chapter 33

The day had taken a considerable unexpected turn, so because of that she thought she would turn in a little earlier than usual.

Dara was beside himself, his constant fear and worry giving her a headache, but he had managed to stay away for now, keeping to the shadows and flying high above the canopy of the trees so the three men would not see him.

Aldren the handsome dark haired one, who was clearly the leader, or was it more truthful to say that he was the superior, not necessarily the leader as he mainly just gave instructions and the other two got on with their own things, such as now.

'Aldren' as he called himself was seated in front of the fire, his heavy cloaks draped over a low hanging branch of the Crying Tree they were camped under, while 'Jin' and 'Sebastian' busied themselves setting up their and Aldren's bed rolls and caring for the horses. Either he was especially lazy or this was expected behaviour from a nobles son, doing nothing while their servants slaved away. They didn't seem unhappy, but then they might just be very good at hiding it, they were certainly capable.

Marcie was skinning and cutting the Buck which had enough flesh on him to feed her for weeks, she sorted the edible from the non edible and then set a fair portion aside to eat now and the rest she would smoke to keep it. She cleaned the skin as best she could and hung it over another branch to dry, all the while keeping watch over the men.

They were all quite different from each other in terms of appearance, she was used to the certain sameness of her fellow villagers and the difference of outsiders always surprised her, and now seeing them together it was even more intriguing.

Jin was...small, he was shorter than her and the other two and build slim and light, but he had a pleasant face and a smile sat comfortably on his face, his hair was a strange dark red as was the light amount of stubble on his jaw. He reminded her of Merrick, easy to make laugh and irresistible to women.

Sebastian had the darkest hair of the three, so dark it seemed to swallow the light. Junca, in his more lucid moments, told her tales of her mother, that she had hair "As dark as a ravens beak", Marcie wondered if it had been like Sebastian's.

Under his thick beard he had a relatively plain face, but it gave him an air of competence and reliability.

Lastly, Aldren, he was, as she noticed before, very good looking, well boned with a clean shaven face, his mud brown hair kept longer than the other two and tied at the back. He was the tallest of the three, taller than her by a little bit and where as Sebastian and Jin were build of bone and sinew, he was build of muscle and flesh, wide shoulders and a strong chin. He was demonstrating how he kept so clean shaven with a small silver hilted knife and a broken piece of mirror.

"A beard will keep you warm" she called to him from her seat against the trunk of the crying tree,

"Noble sons are never bearded" Jin informed her while Aldren ignored her and continued to de-hair himself,

"Well that's stupid, he wouldn't have to worry so much about the cold if he grew one" she said,

Jin smiled, "The noble's have many strange customs" Aldren glowered at him.

Jin and Sebastian finished setting up the bed rolls and hanging their supplies and cloaks on the branches to dry just as Marcie was putting the last of the deer meat over the fire to cook. Under the hanging branches of the crying tree it was dry and snow free, the mossy earth being spongy and soft to sleep on, and most importantly, not covered in snow. Jin flung himself down on the ground next the fire and gave a huge sigh of relief. He wriggled for a few moments getting himself comfortable then rolled onto his front and propped his head on his hands, watching Marcie. 

The sun was slowly setting now and so she mentally instructed Dara to land in a tree not to far from the camp, keep as quiet as possible but watch. Her own bed roll was already set up, her pack nearby, so all she needed to do was hang her clothes to dry but she would rather sleep in damp cloths than get undressed in front of three men, so she just took off her hooded tunic and laid it upon the ground, she shook her hair out of its bun and began the process of untangling it with her fingers, humming to herself.

All three men were watching her now, her bow was next to her and she had her hunting knife in her boot if they tried anything.

"My Lady, may i ask you a question?" Aldren asked after a few moments,

"If you stop calling me lady" she replied, focused on taming her hair,

"It is just...I had heard that The Forgotten had blue eyes"

Marcie stopped bothering with her hair and instead began to braid it, not answering,

"I meant no offence" Aldren added hastily,

She shrugged, not looking at him or the others,

"All of my brethren have blue eyes" she explained, "But my father married an outsider, a traders daughter",

She pulled the strip of leather holding her mothers ring from under her shirt and fiddled with it, "I inherited my eye colour from her"

Jin must have picked up on a little of her underlying bitterness because he asked, "Are outsiders not welcome in The Forgotten Village?" he sounded puzzled,

"They are, as long as they don't stay long" she told him.

The Deer meat was soon cooked and she nibbled on it as the others wolfed it down as if they hadn't eaten in days, she was right to cook a lot as they came back for seconds and thirds. When they were finished all three of them let out a contented sigh of happiness that she couldn't help but laugh at.

Jin grinned at her, "Nothing like having a full belly after being sure the last thing you would eat on this plane was two week old rabbit meat, with more salt than meat!"

Sebastian sighed theatrically, "Well now, if someone was a better hunter then we wouldn't have had to live off it for longer than a week at most"

"So its my fault" challenged Jin, but he was clearly teasing, "Can't catch a bloody thing in this bloody forest" he muttered,

"I seem to manage quite well, considering" Marcie said, raising her eyebrow. She could feel Dara relaxing every passing moment as the atmosphere in the camp became more and more relaxed and friendly.

"Beaten by a woman eh Jin" Aldren said grinning,

Jin reddened, "I was at an unfair advantage" he muttered,

"I believe you once stated you were unmatched in your skills as an archer" Aldren told him, Marcie laughed,

"Well i think that statement has been disproved" she said,

Jin rounded on her, "Just you wait" he said wiggling a finger in her direction, "We get out of this begotten bloody forest and ill show you a true master of the hunt"

Sebastian chuckled and thumped Jin on the back, "I would pay to see that" he said.

Sebastian offered to stay up and be lookout.

Marcie gathered that he didn't quite trust her, she had offered to take first watch, but he had regarded her steadily and gently told her no way in the dark beyond was he letting her be in charge of their safety. So she left him to it.

Late in the evening when the fire had grown small and Sebastian had finally fallen asleep against the tree trunk he had propped himself up on. Marcie silently got up, taking her pack and bed roll with her she crept out from under the crying tree and made her way to where Dara was waiting patiently, her vision lit up as she left the fire light and she could see everything, every aspect of the night was visible to her, she followed his tracks as well as the familiar feeling of his mind to an old hollow oak he was resting in and crawled into the little burrow near the bottom, the space was just big enough for the both of them, Dara nuzzled her happily, also a little concerned and angry that she had demanded he keep hidden. He demonstrated this by nipping at her fingers.

Marcie curled up in the burrow and Dara curled around her, now big enough that he was able to, and they both fell asleep quite comfortably, Dara's warmth heating the little burrow until it was hot enough to stave off the cold.