Session XI - Haenerys and the Drake
General Summary
Haenerys and the Drake
The speed with which the merchants had set up the small bazaar uneased her. Haenerys scanned the small circular encampment quickly, trying to get a lay of the area. Even with the thrown-together nature of the setup, it still had the disorienting and lively feel of any other street market. She paced by vendors quietly, careful to keep her face impassive. The wares they had on display were nothing to write home about, but then again, Haenerys doubted anything would really be worth writing home about. She spotted Scidrix and Terra buying supplies for the group, haggling with one of the merchants which had ogled her. Only a few of them had seemed to recognize her noble colors, but the few that did stared at her with repugnant hunger in their eyes. She ducked her head down ever so slightly at the thought and turned into one of the narrow streets that dead-ended away from the main roundabout of shops and into the desert. Here, she spotted Endar Wa animatedly talking with a seamstress, waving around a ball of yarn. Haenerys narrowed her eyes at this. No one could truly be as aloof as this little Kender. He reeked of secrets in the way only someone with a stink of their own could smell. She subtly glided past the shop, making her way to the outer edge of the camp. Endless dunes rolled into the distance before her, spreading into the horizon. She could still feel the pull of the open space like an undeniable magnetism. The freedom of walking and not turning back. It made her feet itch to run.
With a sigh, she turned away from the sight and began walking the perimeter. She walked aimlessly, more in anticipation for whatever debacle her companions were about to set off than anything else. Companions. The word was still new and awkward to her, and it had a sort of bitter aftertaste to it. Could she really call her rag-tag group companions? These people she barely trusted?As she neared the enormous cart which had been at the heart of the procession, something about it cut through her internal musings. At first glance, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Besides the heavy-duty cartwheels and the elaborate infrastructure to distribute the weight of its load, it was just a cart. Whatever it was carrying had a huge tarp over it, vaguely resembling the shape of a box. But it pulled her. Much in the same way the horizon had. In her practiced nonchalance, Haenerys sauntered over, leaning up against the side of it. She could feel soft vibrations traveling from the box and into the wood, gently shaking the cart. With ease she reached behind her, lifting the tarp a few inches. When she was sure no one was looking, she glanced under the tarp through the corner of her eye.
A chill shot through her body. Abandoning any semblance of subtly, Haenerys turned around and with shaky hands yanked the drape halfway off the box. Under it, worn iron bars with small runes etched into them in fine script made up a large cage. But what made her break out in sweat wasn’t the cage, it was what it contained.
A drake.
With shifting interlocking scales, it moved to eye her, its slitted pupils a bright, piercing yellow. Haenerys felt the tremble in her hands spread to the rest of her body. A drake, from the genus draconemes. Close in biology to the fabled draconus apex, with a few key evolutionary differences. It was a fully grown male, recently out of mating by the look of the horns and spines jutting from its body. The scales on its back were interlocking in a spiral spanning out almost the whole 8ft of the creature’s body. The tail, as long as the drake itself, was also covered, and by the shed pattern running –
Stop it! Haenerys thought. Get a hold of yourself. The barrage of information slowed to a trickle, and she took a few deep breaths.
“Oi! Ey! Watcha doin’ there lady?”
Haenerys spun to find a man approaching her. Just the sight of him already made her irritated. He was short and thin, with scraggly facial hair growing in patches. More than that, it was his demeanor. It could only be described as greasy.
“I asked’cha a question lady! Are ya deaf??” He said in his grimy voice.
Haenerys put on the mask, the façade, and her best court-appointed smile. “Oh hi, friend! I was just looking at the merchandise! Quite a creature you got there!”
The man eyed her but seemed to ease at her attitude. Yes, Haenerys thought. I am nothing but a silly girl.
“This merchandise here, it ain’t for sale, yeah?”
“Oh I am so so sorry!” Haenerys said in an overly cheery, distressed way. “I was just absolutely drawn in by this creature here!”
The greasy merchant looked her up and down and shrugged his shoulders. “Take’a look if ya want lassie, no harm no foul I guess.”
Haenerys could feel a deep irritation growing towards the man and his overall character, but she held it in. Instead, she plastered a smile on her face.
“Really? Seriously? Thank you so much, mister!”
Haenerys got up on top of the cart as the beast merchant launched into a uniquely male bravado. She let the words fly right past her.
The drake eyed her wearily, but it had stopped shaking. Haenerys felt her hands start to tremble again as she watched the creature, so she shoved them into her coat pockets. With a little concentration and a few murmurs under her breath, she felt a Goodberry coalesce in her fingers. She pulled it out of her pocket, slowly raising it towards the drake.
The merchant paused at this, but without missing a beat, Haenerys chimed in:
“Oh my goodness! Really? So what did you do next?”
The merchant launched back into his story, even more passionately than before. Men, she thought as she drew her hand closer to the drake.
The drake snapped at her with her massive maws, making her drop the Berry and pull away. It sniffed the Berry, looked at her in the eye, and burnt it to a crisp with a bright gout of flame.
The merchant yelped and jumped back, startled by the flash.
“Alrighty missy let’s getcha back down and on yer way!” He said, trying to recover from his blatant cowardice. Haenerys stepped down, grudgingly taking the offered hand.
“He is quite wonderful!” Haenerys said. “Daddy would love if I brought him back home with me! Are you sure it isn’t for sale?”
“Sorreh lassy, there’s a baron who asked specifically for it. How ‘bout one of me fine birds, eh?”
The merchant started towards a side caravan with cages and wears, but Haenerys wouldn’t budge. This creature, as much as it terrified her, did not belong in a cage.
“Well hold on now! Surely everything has a price! Do you know what this baron requires the creature for? Maybe we can reach an agreement of sorts!”
“Got not a darn clue lassy! Could be for a pet. Could be for a meal! I couldn’t tell ya.”
Haenerys felt the mask she was wearing crack a little bit as the irritation she had been building within her was set alight with anger.
“Sir, you don’t mean to tell me you would do that to this poor creature, right?” Before he could answer, a thought crossed Haenerys’ mind and expelled from her lips in a flat, warmthless tone; “Where did you find this drake?”
The merchant was taken aback by the sudden shift.
“How’d ya know it's a drake, lassy?” He eyed her suspiciously, but when she didn’t answer, continued. “We nabbed’em off a monster hunter – ya know the kind! The types that hunt and trap for coin, yeah?”
Haenerys, barely keeping the mask on, choked out a reply through her anger.
“Well sir, isn’t that terribly cruel?”
“Ha! Kindness don’t pay me no coin girl! If the buyers pay, then it ain’t my problem!”
The self-satisfied look on the merchant’s face combined with the vile words coming out of his mouth burned through Haenerys. Some people were beyond reason. Haenerys reached for one of the daggers in her cloak, but right as she wrapped her fingers around the hilt, Scidrix appeared beside her and held her arm in place. Startled and furious, she shot a glare at him fuller of loathing than she thought was capable.
Ever the soldier, he ignored her, easily holding her arm in place.
“Ho, merchant. We are seeking information about the floating island of the Sandsea Desert.” Taking in the drake, Scidrix looked at the cage then back at the merchant. “Is this the type of creatures we will find there?”
The merchant scoffed and spit to the side. “That’s nothin’ compared to watcha find up on that island boy.”
“What will we find then?” Terra said.
Whatever the response, Haenerys missed it. She was fuming. It was bad enough to travel with these strangers, to have to rely on them, for but for them to try and control her?
In that instant, she made up her mind. She was going to free the drake, and she was going to leave The Collective.
“…well if ya wanna stick yer nose in there, power to ya kid. But don’t say ole Eamon didn’t warn ya!”
Before Scidrix could keep arguing, Haenerys pulled him aside and whispered to him.
“We are saving that drake.” The statement was flat and unyielding, like a tempered steel plate.
Scidrix eyed her, looking at her with his seafoam-colored eyes. They could be chilling. Whatever he saw must have swayed him, for instead of his usual objections, he simply nodded his head.
“Okay.”
Scidrix perked up, looking around for Endar. They made eye contact for a second, and Scidrix gave the barest head nod towards the merchant. Endar disappeared, and without another word, Scidrix walked back to where Terra and Eamon were bickering. Suspicious, Haenerys followed.
“…why I hate ya stinkin’ travelers! So high browed and mighty, aren’t ya? You could learn a few friends from yer friend here!”
At the remark, Terra and Scidrix both looked at Haenerys with curious expressions. She reddened a little, and just shook her head with the meanest mug she could put up.
“And, tell me this, why don’t ya!” Eamon continued. “Why in the –“
The merchant was cut off by a tug on his trousers. He looked down to Endar, who was smiling a rich, wrinkly smile. Haenerys hated that smile. She groaned internally, ready for everyone to take over. To do whatever they wanted, whether she agreed with it or not.
“Well, hello fine sir!” Endar said in his high pitched, unplaceable accent. “I must admit, it is but the rarest of occurrences to run into such an astoundingly mediocre-looking man! It is truly my honor – Endar Wa of Astrum, Seeker of Paths – a true pleasure indeed.” Endar bowed slickly, for a second looking nothing close to his age. Haenerys noticed his eyes were a normal pale blue today.
The dim merchant was overwhelmed by the verbal barrage, and after a second of consideration seemed to decide it was a compliment. Haenerys rolled her eyes.
“Er, yes, name’s Eamon, at yer service grandpa!” Endar’s eye twitched at the word, but his smooth smile didn’t break.
“A man like you, a man of business, of wisdom, of enterprise! Surely a man such as yourself sees an opportunity when he sees one, eh?” The haughty man smiled at this, playing right into it.
Endar continued with the flatteries, spinning in circles around the man. Haenerys felt a twinge of annoyance seeing the Kender enjoy himself so fully while toying with the simpleton, but a part of her was deeply satisfied.
Endar’s little dance went on for a while, the little Kender long-winded as usual. Haenerys tuned it out and looked longingly at the drake. It was still eyeing her from its place in the cage, rummaging around. Its eyes were full of distrust, yet rimmed with hope. I feel that more than you know, friend. For the gods’ sakes.
“I am a noble.”
Everyone froze and turned to her, even Endar, who had been just talking to the merchant. Haenerys dropped the ditzy girl act and stepped up to where Eamon and Endar had been huddled, speaking in hushed tones. Eamon was standing up, that same hunger from the other vendors of the camp clear as day on his face.
“I am a noble, and by the look on your face it seems you know what that entails. What it would mean for you to gain favor with my house.”
Eamon walked up to her, slightly too close, and gave an elaborate bow. “Eamon the Beastmonger, Premiere Creature Seller, at’yer service, her highness.” The wolfish grin on his lips made her sick to her stomach.
“Eamon, I am very interested in this drake, and you would be doing us a huge favor if you sold it to us.”
“Hmm, those colors aren’t from Andamar,” Eamon said, ignoring her statement. “Yer a free cities lassie, aren’t’cha?”
“That is none of your concern. What should be is – “
“Ah, I know! You’re a Selvacha, aren’tcha missie?”
Haenerys reddened at the question but kept her face blank. “Do you want favor with one of the noble houses, or should I make sure to let everyone know to not deal with a certain Eamon the Beastmonger, who can’t even muster the respect that even a hollow-headed idiot would know to show?” She did her best to infuse her tone with the condescendence only nobility can.
Eamon bristled at her tone, but quickly backpedaled “Now now, that won’t be necessary your highness! I am sure a deal can be struck one way or another!”
Kiron and Caifiel were walking up now, drawn by the commotion, and she could see Wakane trailing not too far behind. A wave of fatigue washed over her as she realized the group would likely stop her from fighting. They didn’t care what she wanted. They just wanted what was best for them. Like everyone else.
As Endar picked up on the negotiations again, Haenerys silently planned in her head. She’d leave with the group, and then split soon after. She’d have to trail the merchants on foot while they had horses, which would be tough, and then sneak into their camp at night and somehow get the drake free without alerting anyone.
It would have to do. She had been wrong to trust people.
She turned back towards Endar and Eamon, and saw things getting heated.
“Bah! The nobility can eat a rat’s ass for all I care, you stinkin' Kender!”
“Ah yes, that must be your favorite meal considering I could smell your breath a mile away, you dirty buffoon!”
The merchant clenched his teeth and raised an arm, but looked at the group that had gathered near him and thought better of it. Instead, he stormed off towards the desert.
Endar collected himself, still smiling and eyes twinkling. He walked up to Haenerys and beckoned her to bend over so he could speak to her. Sufferingly, she did so, her body tense with irritation and suspicion.
“Okay young one, be ready! Things might get a tad rowdy in a second, and I can only buy you a sliver of time, eh?”
Haenerys felt something weird in her chest, but before she could ask any questions, Endar winked a galaxy-filled eye and waddled off towards the merchant.
“Hold on now sir! I am not finished with you yet!”
He reached him a few dozen feet from the edge of the camp and started speaking in hushed tones. The merchant’s face went from angry, to slack, to terrified. Haenerys looked at the rest of the group. They were all waiting, ready to spring into action.
A deafening, booming shout broke the tense silence.
“FLEE!”
Haenerys looked to Endar and saw the merchant sprinting into the dunes at full speed and the little Kender looking her right in the eye from where he was standing.
“Go!!”
Without any hesitation, Haenerys bounded the few steps up the drake’s cage, channeling her power as she did. She hopped onto the cart, coming face to face with the Drake, and spoke to it:
“We’re getting you out, let’s go!” The drake’s eyes widened, and it made a series of hisses and growls which Haenerys was able to make out as if it were Common.
Help me. Let me escape. Haenerys heard the words in her mind, deep and grindy. She could feel the desperation the creature felt. While she searched frantically for a way to open padlock, she saw a blur of movement as Scidrix sprinted after the man and into the desert.
The padlock was bound to the rest of the cage and needed a key to be opened. “How do I get you out?!” she yelled at the drake. It eyed her warily, refusing to help. The hard way, then. Haenerys pulled out her short sword and began smashing the hilt into the lock over and over.
“Endar! Those keys you swiped!” Terra shouted at the approaching Kender. She had run up the cart as well, and was standing at the ready, coiled like a snake prepared to strike.
The Kender fumbled for a moment, then pulled a ring of keys from his cloak and tossed it in an arch right at Haenerys. She dropped the sword and plucked the keys out of the air, wasting no time in trying them all.
“Which key is it?” She growled under her breath.
She went through the keys, none of them working. In the distance, she saw Scidrix tackling the disoriented merchant and restraining him. She felt desperation clawing at her throat and turned back towards the drake.
“Please! Help me get you out! Anything!” She pleaded.
If there was anything I could do to free myself, I would have done it a long time ago. Haenerys looked around wildly, looking for the answer, but a pair of rough hands shoved her out of the day.
“Move!” Kiron shouted at her.
Haenerys tumbled to the side and sprung back up, drawing her dagger. Hot rage flooded through her veins until she heard a soft sound in front of Kiron. Click. The cage door swung open, padlock discarded on the ground, and Kiron dove off the cart. Haenerys, realizing the drake was charging, did the same.
She rolled to her feet as she watched the drake trot towards the middle of camp at a frightening speed, roaring and bellowing big gouts of flame. Without thinking, she chased after it.
There were people running and screaming, escaping in every direction and abandoning their tents, a lot of them now set aflame. The drake stood in all its glory in the middle of the market, in the plaza made by the encircling bazaar. It was wild-eyed, looking for a place to escape.
“Wait!” Haenerys shouted.
The drake turned towards her; teeth snarled. With sudden recognition in its eyes, it calmed a bit, gingerly taking a half-step towards her.
“Please, wait. If you want to run and escape, I won’t stop you. We’ll make a path for you and you can run and never see us again. But please, listen to what I have to say.”
The drake looked at her, unblinkingly. She took a deep breath.
“I know you’ve been hurt by people. I can’t imagine the amount of agony that they must have put you through. To be honest, I have been hurt too. So I understand wanting to run. I understand wanting to turn your back on everything and flee. People are unreliable. They are cruel, mean. Self-interested.” The drake growled in agreement. “Most days I think I could go the rest of my life without seeing another person, and be okay. But…”
“But people will surprise you. They are not all bad. Not all cruel and selfish. And the pain – it can distort the way we see people. Focalize always on the worst, make us obsess over how we will be hurt next.” She paused, thinking of her companions. Her…friends. The way they all jumped in, no questions asked. With no hesitation, despite her constant skepticism.
“I am not asking you to trust me. To become my friend. Not right away, anyway. But it’s a really big world, and we’re both far from home. As it turns out, having someone to walk with, to break bread with…it isn’t such a bad thing.”
The drake eyed her, and slowly, bowed its head. Haenerys approached and very lightly placed a trembling hand on its head. She ran it over the smooth scales, feeling the tremendous mass of muscle gently shift under her hand as the drake moved. It nuzzled her gently, letting out a soft, gentle growl.
Very well.
Haenerys felt a flood of emotions break loose within her, and she released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. She let the warm mass of the drake comfort her for a few seconds until shouts in the vicinity made the drake snap its head towards the sound. It looked at her, some panic back in its eyes.
We must go. Now.
Side by side, Haenerys ran with the drake. They broke out of the small encampment, quickly rendezvousing with the rest of the party. Together, they set out in a run towards the floating landmass in the distance.
Endar let out a whoop from Scidrix’s shoulders, hollering apologies back towards the merchants. Haenerys rolled her eyes but had trouble suppressing a smile. She felt lighter than she had in a long time.
As she ran, Scidrix drifted near her.
“A new addition to the Collective?”
Haenerys looked at him, and in response, grabbed one of the horns jutting out of the drake’s back and effortlessly swung up into a low riding position as they ran. The scales seemed to shift under her, molding to her body. It was terrifying, exhilarating, and it felt right.
Scidrix gave one of his rare smiles before drifting back to the front of the group, Endar happily bobbing on his shoulders.
Haenerys looked over the group as she hung tightly to the drake. They were a mismatched, ragged bunch of misfits, but they were a group. They were her group. For the first time since her life had spiraled out of control and paranoia had swallowed every inch of her thoughts, she felt okay.
More than okay, at that.
In a whisper, so low she barely heard it herself, she spoke two single words:
“Thank you.”
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