The Dragon Prince - Book 1: Cold War

On the Eve of Atonement

Soren was starting to worry. Not because he was chased by undead soldiers, or suddenly losing then regaining his ability to walk again or even his strangely friendly host of satyrs. He was getting worried about his sister's sudden attachment to Hecate the reindeer. Over the last couple of days, the two were inseparable; having deeply profound conversations without ever uttering a word.

He watched as Claudia stroked Hecate's long nose. The moment she would stop, the reindeer would nuzzle its snout into the crook of her neck and she'd laugh and resume petting him. Soren wasn't the only one marvelling at his sister's new best friend, other satyrs in the village watched in interest as the two formed a bond.

Soren was sitting at a dining table striking a friendly conversation among the other satyrs. He excused himself as he was about to go for a second helping of the savoury communal stew when he was joined by Naun, the fiery partner of Fa'ir. Naun plunked himself hard at the bench opposite of the knight. He glared at Soren while Soren only stared back blankly. The two kept their eyes locked like this for a while before Naun rolled his big, doe-like eyes and broke the stand-off.

"What do you make of that anyway?"

"What?" answered Soren. "The stew? Good stew."

"No, dumdum, that!" The satyr gestured a needle-like finger towards Claudia and Hecate walking along the forest edge in the distance.

Soren turned over his shoulder just as Hecate bowed his massive head, allowing Claudia to grapple on to one his antlers and he lifted her up and onto his back. Hecate burst into a loping run and Claudia threw her head back and laughed then the two broke through the dense forest and disappeared.

When Soren turned back around, Naun looked gobsmacked.

"Hecate has never allowed anyone to ride him, let alone a human," hissed the small framed satyr.

Soren swallowed hard. There was never an easy answer when it came to explaining matters of his sister.

"Well, Claudia is special among us humans. She's a dark mage after all."

Naun cringed as Soren said those words.

"And she loves fuzzy creatures so maybe Hecate sees that side in her?"

Naun slapped his forehead with a grunt and said, "Soren, Hecate is no 'fuzzy creature'. He is countlessly ancient. Older than the forests. He doesn't let anyone get close to him, no one."

Soren pursed his lips. Naun's red tinged irises seemed to blaze as he stared into the direction where Hecate and Claudia had entered into the forest. The knight watched as Naun's burning glare eventually softened as his eyes looked at the ground. Soren personally knew that look well.

"You're jealous," said Soren, wearing a smug grin while absentmindedly scraping the remaining bits from his soup bowl.

"Satyrs do not have human emotions."

"Eh, whatever word you use for being jealous... you got it," said the blond knight, placing the empty spoon into his mouth for emphasis. "Bad," he mumbled.

"Bah!" quipped the satyr, waving his hands and folding his wiry arms across his chest. Eventually, the satyr let out a low whistle which Soren understood was their way of sighing. For Soren, it was the first time he saw Naun let down his guard so the knight decided to use the opportunity to deftly uncover clues.

"So, like, what's the deal with you and the giant reindeer anyway? Does he run the town or something?"

Naun held his arms tight across his chest, opening his eyes into a cat-like glare. The satyr made a chortling sound which Soren wasn't sure if it was sarcastic or not. He always assumed everything was "sarcasm" after a similar battle of wits with a certain Moonshadow elf a year and a half ago.