Blood Rider [Alonia's Queenslayer #1]

12

//Remember to vote! :D

"Can you just-" Eli was interrupted by loud screech, "-stay quiet for one second!"

The dragon, which had grown a few centimetres since it hatched, stopped its rampage to look at Eli with its head tilted. It had been clawing at the stone wall in an attempt to climb it. A worn, leather bag was sitting in the middle of a small room and items were strewn all around it. A candle was giving off a warm glow from an old nightstand, and moonlight seeped through the window, washing away the darkness.

Eli sighed as she turned her attention back to packing. Edjer had come to her with the typical 'you leave at dawn' news. It was unexpected, and Eli was sad to go so soon after arriving and reigniting her friendships – it had been a mere three days. She already said her goodbyes and promised to keep in touch via letters. It had pained her to do so. But she had also received a letter from Tanya, that she'd be coming to the council in a few weeks. Eli would finally be with her sister again, and her sister had never betrayed her or forsaken her – her company was better than Elan's or Teoh's.

And she had a dragon now, the part of her soul that had been missing. He was annoying a lot of the time, but that was to be expected. He made a lot of mess every day, from ripping Eli's clothes to biting a cook's leg and stealing meat from the kitchen. But Eli couldn't stay mad at him, when she saw the innocence in his eyes and the happiness he felt whenever he did something mischievous. He was young.

The leather bag was already heavy – Eli snatched a few of her favourite books, spare armour, spare daggers, a spare sword, herbs, healing aid, long-lasting food, and she would have a separate bag with raw meat. It would be a long journey, and she was traveling without anyone familiar. She would have to get to the capital, and from there find a ship that would take her to the island of Paol, where the council was. She had a letter from Valda in her pocket – it told her who to find and what to tell him in order to get the ship. Then, the voyage would last for three days, and she'd arrive.

Excitement as well as fear danced within her heart. Roaming around Linos and Notrhl was surely scary but going into a place made for mages and academics was even more foreign to her. She would get paid rather handsomely, get a room, food, water, and limited access to the knowledge. The place itself was, as Tanya described it, magical. It was enormous and full of intellectuals. Eli would be pretty unnecessary because monster attacks weren't really common, but the tension had heightened due to the sudden rejection of peace, so Eli's visit could have been justified. Her rider amulet also enhanced her natural resistance to magic, so she made for a perfect candidate to break up fights among mages. A mage's fireball would hardly harm her, whereas actual, natural fire would burn her and injure her severely.

The scaly beast let out another screech. Eli sighed in defeat and closed her bag tightly before getting up and walking towards her drawer. She had brought the dragon dry fish sticks as desert, aiming to give it to him in the morning, but she could afford to feed him just a bit before bed, she decided. Breaking off a nail-sized piece, she turned around and willed her dragon to stand still. And to her enormous joy, it obeyed, forcing a large smile onto her face. She threw the piece of meat towards him, and the dragonling opened his mouth, exposing rows of needle-like tiny teeth, and clasped it shut over the treat, swallowing it whole.

A purr-like noise came from the dragon, and he trotted towards a corner where Eli had put a small blanket for him, instantly rolling into a comfortable sleeping position and closing his eyes. He wouldn't breathe fire until he was half a year old, to Eli's relief, since if he could do it now, the school would've burned down long ago.

Eli, now wearing a clean, white shirt and clean leggings, threw herself onto her bed, blew out the candle and closed her eyes. She never had trouble with falling asleep, not even before going to Notrhl or in tents in Linos. Sleep always came quick. And it didn't disappoint then, either – after a minute, she was gone from the waking world.

#

The cold air nipped at Eli's face as she led her horse through the nearly-deserted streets of the capital. Stars gleamed from the dark sky and lit the lamp-less street. Reigns of the horse were clasped tightly by her gloved left hand, while the other helped balanced the heavy cloth bag she had hanging over her right shoulder. From the opening of the bag peered a scaly head with fiery eyes, silent and hiding whenever it noticed a stranger.

Eli wore a combination of chain and leather and had steel plating in a bag carried by her brown mare. Her freshly cut hair reached to her ears and freckles were already appearing around her nose. She wore Ejder's old leather jacket over her armour, as it would get cold on the ship.

The sound of waves and the smell of sold hit her senses as she took a left turn past a brightly-lit tavern. She was nearing the docks. Letting go of the straps of her bag and hoping her dragon wouldn't cause a ruckus and fall, she reached into her brown jacket's pocket and retrieved a neatly folded, thick piece of paper. She opened it with her thumb and skimmed through Valda's exquisite writing until she reached the part that explained how to get a ride.

'When you walk up to the docks, you'll have to find a tavern called the 'Singing Nymph'. Left of it is the sailor's house. Knock and give him a silver coin before saying anything, else he'll shut the door in your face. Tell him to take you to Paol by the orders of Valda. His ship is neither the biggest nor the safest, but the last time monsters attacked anyone on the way to Paol was fifteen years ago.'

The road stretched on for a couple of minutes, and Eli's shoulder was beginning to hurt from the weight of the dragon. He was a lot heavier than it seemed at first glance. Finally, the road curved to the left and the trio emerged on a wide, grey road which ended in wooden docks and lapping waves. The moonlight reflected off the water like a large orb of life, the stars sending their shimmers into the endless sea.

Eli took a right turn and then veered off left to admire the view. The wide street was utterly devoid of people, the orange-glowing lamps attracting only ugly moths. A sudden urge to veer off her path and visit Tanya woke up inside of Eli. But she couldn't. Valda was very clear that the man could only be reached on that very night.

Behind Eli, her mare, and the dragon, stretched rows of houses, fishmongers, traders, blacksmiths and a couple of taverns. Eli inspected the taverns from afar, and immediately noticed that the only tavern which still worked was the Singing Nymph. And stuck to it on the left, a house. Eli hated big towns because all the houses were terraced houses, stuck to one another like glue. She'd never live in a house like that.

With quiet footsteps, the trio approached. Even Eli's mare didn't make much noise, the clanks of her hooves producing no echo. Eli approached a lamppost first, and tied the mare's bridles to the worn wood. She pet her on the side and continued towards the door with only her dragon with her.

The wood was well-worn and the doorknob was rusty. Eli lifted her fist and gave the door three strong knocks. A second later, she heard uneven footsteps and the sound of several locks, and then the door swung open.

Before Eli stood and older man with a long, greying brown beard and a bald, egg-like head. He wore crumpled, dirty clothing and had a peg instead of a left leg.

"Whaddya want?" he asked with a heavy accent, his dark eyes narrowing. Eli, heart beating furiously, reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a shiny silver coin. The sailor's eyes followed it intently as it travelled from her hand to his. He eyed her curiously once the coin was safely stored within his own pockets.

"Take me to Paol under Valda's orders."

The man thought for a second, nodded, and thus the deal was sealed.

#

//It's short, but there's another update coming soon! :))