Returning Home

Jeremiah and Dorothy were running away as fast as they could. The previous dark swamp was now lit faintly with the flames both emerald and normal as they consumed their home. When a winged shadow passed over them Jerimah's blood ran cold. He turned while shouting for his daughter to run as he fruitlessly took a stance with not but an old garden hoe he had grabbed on the way out. To his shock, it wasn't the dragon come to eat them after killing the boy. No, it was the boy. His clothing was tattered and shredded hanging mostly from his belt. Over his shoulder was slung his backpack and the falchion while in his hands was a two foot long rattle.

"BOY! You almost gave me a heart attack." Jeremiah placed one hand over his heart while he leaned on the hoe. Cold sweat beading his brow. "What about the dragon?" He squinted to gaze past the boy to the burning settlement of Lender's Mire. "Is it still chasing you? Should we run still?"

D hefted his backpack causing the large rattle in his hands to give an unnerving tinkling sound. "Dead." He walked past them as if heading into the swamp still.

"Dead? DEAD? You can't…" Jeremiah and Dorothy both glanced from the boy back to their burning home.

"Dead." D just grunted out again.

"Then, let us go back! We have to put out the fire. We can save the settlement if we hurry." Jeremiah was already starting to move in that direction while Dorothy hesitated to glance between her father and D.

"Don't." D stopped to give them a serious look.

"Why not boy?" Jeremiah asked a little exasperated.

D paused to think about what had happened after the dragon died. Those thick dark scales had turned to a black sludge that rolled off the corpse. Emerald flames burst to life consuming the actual flesh of the dragon rapidly. That sludge though seemed unphased by the flames as it seeped into the ground. A noxious gas started to rise up from the tainted ground. So harsh it corroded even D's scales and brought his eyes to watering.

As the emerald flames died down leaving only the spreading pile of sludge, it became apparent the land itself would be tainted here. Only the rattle remained normal, D had swept over the pool of sludge to scoop it out. Even just passing over for a few brief moments left him choking and gasping from the miasma rising up.

D considered how best to explain it. To tell them the dragon's corpse was now rending the former settlement uninhabitable. A toxic location unfit for man or beast. Doing so sounded like a lot of trouble, and more words than he wanted to use.

"Dragon's Curse." He finally said. "You will die." D pointed back at the burning settlement with his chin, again making the stolen dragon's rattle sound off faintly.

Jeremiah gulped hard as he looked back at the settlement. His home since birth. The place his great grandfather had built. Where all the men of his family had since lived and defended. To be the Lender to lose the fortified home was a great dishonor. Turning he glanced at his daughter, she was alive and unhurt. Shaking his head he squared his shoulders. His great grandfather built Lender's Mire. He'd build a new one. A better one. With his daughter. His gaze shifted to the half naked boy. And his new soon to be son in law as far as he was concerned.

"Fair enough boy. Fair enough. We be heading to Nimil?" Again his gaze drifted to his daughter, Nimil was no place for a woman let alone a girl.

D just turned his back to the burning Lender's Mire. "No." He paused before saying. "Home." The word sounded odd to his ear and felt strange on his tongue. But he couldn't think of anything better to call it. As D headed into the darkness, Jeremiah and his daughter followed.

**********

At dawn they paused. Walking was much slower than flying, D considered growing wings and taking off. But he still hadn't been paid, that was why he told himself he didn't want to leave the two behind. Carrying them while he flew might be possible, but outside of the chaos of the battle, he was still leery of showing off his inhuman nature. Not even to a pair that seemed to believe it was just magic.

So they walked through the night. Both the humans were twitchy and nervous at every sound in the dark. With the moon still in the new phase and far from the glow of the smoldering settlement they walked with one hand on the person in front. D for his part though wasn't worried. The swamp was empty and quiet. Nor did the darkness limit his vision, his eyes glowing like a cat in the dark. It was those glowing eyes that would have unnerved most but reassured the two Lenders.

Still, After days of little sleep. Lots of hard fighting. And the emotional drain of everything, by dawn they were at their limits. D let them stop to rest before wandering into the swamp much to Jeremiah's discomfort. Still, he stayed within sight and earshot giving them at least some comfort. Shortly after he returned with a mix of foraged roots and other edibles. D begrudgingly shared out the meager meal and thought of the previous delicious meals Dorothy had prepared as he chomped on raw roots.

Jeremiah was impressed with the boys ability to forage in the swamp. Not many could easily find edibles. He promised to teach the boy more about it. After all, he had made his living gathering valuable plants that grew only in the swamp. D just grunted imagining more lessons similar to how Dean had taught him to find food. As much as he didn't look forward to it, the talk of anything valuable peaked his interest. Sharing sips from D's lone waterskin they resumed their march.

It was late that night when they started to approach the corpse of maple trees. D had just walked within the boundary of his wards when the two following him came to an abrupt stop. It wasn't like walking into a wall. More like the air suddenly grew thick as molasses and they couldn't push through.

D just grunted. "I have to add you."

"Then I take it they are friends?" Jeremiah and Dorothy jumped as a voice spoke from one of the dark shadows nearby.

When the large one armed man seemed to materialize out of that shadow they only flinched slightly. "Does everyone else in the world use magic?" Dorothy couldn't help but quip out in frustration.

Dean chuckled friendly, a pleasant smile on his face that distracted the girl from his cold eyes sizing them up. Jeremiah didn't miss it either and suddenly remembered D mentioning a royal ranger. He had never met one of the feared men before, luckily. But he didn't have a hard time recognizing one.

"I see you got the sword." Dean turned away from the two newcomers and stepped through the boundary of the ward.

D nodded and shook the rattle with one hand while his other was already pulling out the golden spell quill.

"Hmm, I've seen one of those before." He motioned to the quill already writing fine runes. "What's with the rattle?"

"Dragon." D grunted out while glaring at his chicken scratch writing. When he partitioned his mind off his writing improved, but if he was focusing on something he used his old bad writing. What was worse, while he could split his mind now. Unless he had something particularly pressing to keep his main mind focused, the other seemed to work in the background. He couldn't just switch to the neat writing and it was pissing him off.

"Dragon?" Dean glanced at the swamp and recalled the huge burst of fire in the night. "You fought a second dragon?"

When Dean mentioned a second dragon Jeremiah and Dorothy shared a look. "Killed this one." D grunted out. The air between him and the newcomers shimmered. Without elaborating he turned and headed through the shielding red maples.

Dean looked the other two over, making both shiver in reflex before motioning them to follow. Jeremiah hesitated and held out his hand. It passed through the air without any issues where previously it had hit the strange resistance. Nodding to his daughter he followed them in.

They spotted the little cabin with a decently set up cooking area in the front. There was the rough frame of a second building similar in size to the first but far from complete. Jeremiah eyed the fresh and new looking lumber. He found himself frowning, it was so perfectly cut and smooth he'd never seen anything like it. If they had the tools to do something like this he might have underestimated the group.

Dorothy was eying the cooking area. She hadn't let D's dissatisfaction with his raw meals get past her. She already was thinking of what she could cook him as a thank you. Suddenly there was a burst of shouts, all the same thing.

"D!" came a chorus as the one building opened up and out rushed several people.

One tallish dark haired girl practically tackled D and buried her face in his neck in a most intimate manner while mummering out his name like it was a mantra.

A short willowy girl hugged him tightly before glaring at the dark haired girl. She was actively tugging on her as if to pull her off while growling and hissing like an angry cat.

Then a second girl around the same size as the last seemed to almost glow in the faint light cast from the open cabin door. Her skin was such a pure white and her hair was so light it seemed almost silvery. Even her eyes were such a pale blue or grey they almost seemed washed out. She was wacking D in the face with a cattail alternating between saying "D" and "Play".

D went stiff as a board. For a moment Jeremiah and Dorothy thought he was going to start shouting. Instead, he just stood there stock still as if enduring a great trial. Eventually, the girls mobbing him either stepped back or were dragged off as two more emerged from the cabin.

"Now we have to build the second. I'ma too old to be sleepin on no floor." Mil grumbled eying the new members. "Alright. Git on inside. We will get ya settled and fed. I know ya be hungry. Ya always be hungry." Mil grumbled as he went inside while Rachel gave a little curtsy of greeting to the new people.

Dorothy glanced up to her father for guidance suddenly feeling shy around so many people and was surprised to see him scowling. Her father snorted. "Not attached my arse." He glanced at his daughter and his scowl softened. "Bah, ya prettier then them all. Don't you fret girl. Don't you fret."

Dorothy had actually forgotten about her father's plans and blushed. Looking at the ground she followed the rest inside.