49 The Three's Journey

The silver merchant's horses dragged the wagon to the desolated ruins of Jaeden town and straight to the location of the silver merchant as if he had called it. Nia was disappointed that she couldn't save any of them, but she was at least happy that the monster would no longer do any more harm. Her wings and tail retracted.

Belze shouted Nia, "Are you alright, big sis!? You're covered in blood and dirt!"

Nia didn't respond immediately. Her eyes began to close as she lied on the grass. "I'm fine. Just tired."

She began to softly snore. Belze scratched his head wondering whether she had any injuries, but shrugged it off. If she was really hurt, the silver merchant could heal her. She left her red blade sheathed while she slept on the soft patch of grass.

The silver merchant walked up to the sleeping dragon while holding the cloak. It was torn up when he found it, but he fixed it with his magic.

"Did she just die?" the silver merchant asked.

"What!? Why would you say that!? She was fine a moment ago! Right, big sis?" Belze shouted, but Nia didn't reply. Her soft snores were the only reason they knew she was alive.

The silver merchant placed his hands over Nia's body. Small orbs of light glowed as they touched Nia. The blood that wasn't her own and dirt were thrown away by magic. Any scratches that she had during the fight was reverted back to its original state. The blood that was her own filled back into her body from the same wounds before they got closed up. However, there weren't any major wounds. The leather armor protected her from most of it.

"You're lucky that my armor is enchanted. Otherwise, you might have actually ended up -" the silver merchant paused as he held Nia's left arm and saw a scratch on the left gauntlet.

"Oh, my monarch!" he yelled while pointing at it with a cry loud enough to wake up Nia.

"Wha-? What are you talking about?" Nia asked.

Belze scratched his head and looked at where the silver merchant pointed.

"It's scratched. You damaged it, you clumsy dragon! It's damaged goods!" the silver merchant yelled.

"That does look like a scratch, Mr. silver merchant," Belze replied.

Nia was confused, but did see the scratch. It was like a tiny dent. Barely noticeable.

"I was going to let you have the healing free of charge, but the armor was supposed to be pristine when you bring it back!"

"Uh...I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry won't cut it. You're going to have to pay for this, somehow!" the silver merchant yelled.

Belze shook his head and replied to Nia, "Let me handle this, big sis. I think I know how to swindle a salesman."

"I'm right here, Belze," the silver merchant replied.

Belze coughed to prepare his voice. He said, "Since you reverted Nia's wounds, you must have also reverted the armor. So, in that case, the armor was already scratched the moment she got it."

Nia and the silver merchant went silent.

"That... actually makes sense."

Belze chuckled giving a thumbs up to Nia. She returned the thumbs up back, although she was still very tired. She lied back down. As she did so, the merchant tried to use his magic again to revert the leather armor.

Nia closed her eyes and remembered the feeling of a dragon nearby. But she didn't see any dragon. She heard the voice all around her. Maybe, it was a dragon flying by, but she couldn't be certain. She shrugged it off as a mystery for another time. She did know there were other dragons around, otherwise, she thought, that her senses would be off completely. A feeling that she has never experienced. So, that proved that there were still some dragons roaming around like her.

"Ah hah!" the silver merchant yelled startling Nia up from her nap again.

"My powers don't work on the leather armor because of it's magical enchantments. My balls of light just bounce off of it. So, Belze, you almost convinced me, but you didn't quite get the sales pitch," the silver merchant said as he waved orbs of light over the scratch, but the orbs would just get knocked away.

Belze moaned in disappointment. "Well, that's all I got. I don't know anything about magic."

"So, Nia, you have to pay me back for the damages. Basically, you have to pay for the whole thing. It's a set," the silver merchant said.

Nia looked at the silver merchant half-asleep. Instead of replying, she took her cloak as a blanket and slept of the grass patch.

"You can't just sleep away your debt," he said.

Nia turned around while still lying on her side, "I'm sorry, but I'm a little low on cash right now."

"Then, you'll have to pay it back with labor. I'm now hiring you to be my wagon's bodyguard."

Nia shot up upon hearing this. "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't. I need to get to King's City. I need to resc-"

Upon suddenly remembering her task, she got up. There was no time to sleep. There was still plenty of sun and she had to get moving. She wiped away the grass off of her armor and bowed to the silver merchant.

"I'm not exactly sure what you are, but you protected Belze. For that, I'm grateful. But we're on an important task. I'll hand back the armor and take back my villager clothes. After I'm done, I'll come find you and pay back the debt, but for now -"

The silver merchant interrupted her as if he wasn't listening, "It's settled, then. You'll be my bodyguard. And Belze can be my assistant merchant."

Belze exclaimed, "Me? A merchant?"

"Assistant."

"As if I was talking to a wall. I'll just change in the back of the wagon," she said as she headed towards the wagon. The horses grazed on the small patches of grass and weeds.

The silver merchant looked at Nia as she walked away.

"And our first destination is King's City," he said. Upon hearing this, Nia froze and looked back at the merchant. So, he was planning to take us there, anyways.

"You'll be my bodyguard and Belze will be my assistant while we head straight to King's City. After that, you're debt will be paid in full. And I might allow you to keep that armor as a gift."

Nia smiled. She jumped onto the passenger seat of the wagon.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked. Her journey to rescue her big sister Nera was just beginning and she had to believe that her big sister was safe. She closed her eyes and breathed in the warm air.

She won't let fear take a hold of her, again. This time, she'll jump straight into the jaws of the dragonslayers to get her big sister back.

Belze muttered while jumping into the back of the wagon and towards the front of it, "I'm going to be a merchant selling things? I've never sold a thing in my life."

The silver merchant walked over and sat in the driver's seat. He grabbed a hold of the reins and the horses immediately stopped grazing.

"By the way, Nia... be careful with your power," the silver merchant remarked.

She looked at him and asked, "What do you mean?"

"The power that you hold... that you were born with. It's not something that can be controlled easily. If you let it, it will take a hold of you until there is nothing, but ashes left around you."

She remembered her blade's fire. She was unable to feel the heat coming off of it, but instinctively knew that it was more power than anything that she has ever seen. She thought of the boy, and how if the silver merchant wasn't there with his magic, he would have been burned away. The mere thought of the child being a pile of ash sent shivers down her spine.

The silver merchant sensed her worry and consoled, "But that's alright. If something happens like that again, I promise I'll be there to protect the kid, at least. And I always keep my promises. If you're unable to control yourself at some point, I'll stop you."

"I don't need protection and I don't even think you can against my big sis. What she did was so cool. My big sis here beat that monster and his goons with that big bright fire. I'm sure that she could beat you in a fight," Belze said to the silver merchant.

Nia chuckled and was determined to be able to control her own strength. She took out her red blade and concentrated. With a single thought, she was able to produce a red flame. It was no where near as hot as the white flames. With another thought, she was able to make it hotter or colder slightly changing the shade of red in the process. Now, she was able to just think about the fire and it would produce one.

Belze awed at the flaming sword, while the silver merchant was apathetic towards it. With one last thought, Nia extinguished the flame. She was confident that she was able to control the red blade's power, and sheathed her blade.

Nia relaxed herself on the seat and closed her eyes. She said, "So, silver merchant, I'll be your bodyguard for the remainder of the trip. If there is any trouble, I'll be here to stop it."

The silver merchant looked away from her as she began to fall asleep.

"I'm sure that your presence will stop any opportunistic bandit," he said sarcastically.

He hit the reins and the wagon rode off as the sun shined brightly over the three.