Dragons of Marak: Book 1, Wings & Sword

#15

 At lunchtime, Ana's father escorted her to the ground floor of the Obelisk. They passed by the dragonbound guards, whose quilldras paced on the floor beside them. Her father stopped and chatted with the guards. Ana waited, her father's dragonbound with the rapier beside her, as his easy, confident voice filled the air. The guards didn't know, she told herself. They didn't know that at the top of the Obelisk, dragons were being kidnapped by him. Otherwise, they would have never chatted so lackadaisically with him.

Eventually, Ana, her father, and the hadra dragonbound left the Obelisk. They walked purposefully down the street, making their way one and a half blocks south of the Obelisk in the heat of midday.

Ana could not stop thinking about the swirling purple and black mass that her father had used to imprison Cee and Ashwell. It had been released from a ring on his finger, a golden ring. She could not remember ever having seen the ring before. In all of her life, she'd only ever seen him wear one ring. His wedding ring. And that one was silver with a diamond.

Ana stared at the golden ring on her father's finger as they walked, studying every detail. The ring had no diamonds or decoration of any kind. And it was not a continuous loop, not a true ring, because there was a gap in it. The gap occurred where the two edges of the ring curled near to each other but didn't touch. Like they were about to form a spiral, but not a true spiral, because the spiral didn't keep going.

Eventually, they came across a restaurant, tucked in between two larger buildings. It didn't look to be much from the outside. There was a single, simple, sky blue sign on the exterior, displaying the name The Kapitan. They went down four steps to the front doors.

Inside, three circular tables were adorned with jade tablecloths. The tables were pretty far away from each other. Candles lit the room from every table, and torches hung from the walls. The place was small, but it was wondrously decorated with lots of light despite it having only two windows, on either side of the door. One couple in formal attire occupied the table in the center of the room. A waiter in a black tailcoat with a white cravat scurried over to greet them at the front door.

"Mr. Perez, excellent to see you again."

"Likewise," Ana's father said, and he smiled.

The waiter led them to the back of the room.

"How are the kids?" her father asked the waiter as they crossed the room.

They were seated, and Ana's father began chatting easily again. The waiter didn't realize what Ana's father was doing to dragons, she told herself. How could he? She frowned, considering whether she should say something. Then the waiter left to get them drinks.

"I am, of course, covering Eli's meal," Ana's father said, and he patted the hadra dragonbound's shoulder. "Would you ever come here on your own, Eli?"

Eli shook his head. "This restaurant is simply too expensive for me," he said, as if it was rehearsed. "I work part-time helping you, which brings in most of the money I make, and at other times I compete in the pro leagues."

Ana felt surprised. She would've never guessed he was in the pro leagues, too.

"You see, Ana?" her father said. "If you want to make a good future for yourself, and your kids, one day, you must leave this dragon stuff in the past."

The waiter came and brought the drinks and some appetizers. He took their orders. Ana stared at her drink and pushed her share of the appetizer around on her plate absentmindedly. It looked like corn, beans, and some kind of leafy vegetable.

"Do you understand?" Ana's father said. "You can't make a living as a dragonbound. No offense, Eli."

"None taken."