Dragon Bound

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Chapter Thirteen

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Jason’s grip on Lune’s hand was close to painful. He had taken both Damon and Lune to the hottest pools available and ordered them to strip and wash vigorously. Neither had argued and Lune had scrubbed so hard he nearly made himself bleed. Despite the strong soap he still felt like the scent of death and decay was burned into his nostrils. Damon joined them and had new clothes brought down. They were marching up to the meeting hall. Normally Jason would only bring Damon alongside, but he was refusing to let Lune out of his sight.

Lune didn’t particularly want to be left alone either. He was pressed tight to Damon as Jason took his assigned seat. The tension in the massive war room was palpable. Jason was almost rigid in his chair, and he wasn’t the only one. The faces of his fellow knights were grim. A few looked puzzled, having just come back from patrols or training and having not heard the full story yet. Low hurried whispers were being passed from one to the other. They had all been waiting for almost half an hour as knights and their dragons trickled in.

They were still waiting for news from the medics. The huge room was even more crowded than usual because almost all of the knights had brought their primary dragon in human form. The huge doors burst open as the king swept into the room, the head healer and three of the king’s most trusted advisors tailing after him. The murmurs went silent as the Sun King sat himself in one of the chairs.

‘Report?’ he said to the healer, an older man with greying hair named Aseam.

‘The tests are not complete but from what we have been able to confirm, the beast was poisoned. How and with what, we do not yet know,’ the man said gravely. The whispers started again until Lune felt as though he were standing outside in a light wind.

‘How is that possible? The stables are one of the most heavily guarded buildings in the entire stronghold!’ growled out Kyril. There were several aggressive nods of agreement.

‘Is it possible the poor beast was poisoned by accident?’ asked a weedy red-haired man named Samson.

‘Nay, you weren’t there. That animal didn’t die from a bit of bad meat. It died a foul and painful death in minutes of coming into contact with whatever it was,’ barked Gabe. More muttering, growing louder all around the hall.

‘Was that the animal’s usual stall?’ asked Amara.

The room went quiet again. The king turned to look at her.

‘That dragon was a youngling, freshly caught. The stall it resided in was temporary. Who normally uses it?’ Amara asked. Faces turned to look at each other.

‘My dragon normally rests there but I had him moved to a breeding pen. My filly came into season two nights ago. I told the boy he could use it,’ Fredrick said in his deep voice.

‘Isn’t he in your squad?’ Lune whispered.

Jason turned his head to respond. ‘Yes.’

‘Did he go to see that scorched farmland that the apprentices disappeared from?’ Lune asked, his brain suddenly working very fast.

Damon gave him a startled look. ‘He did,’ the black dragon answered. Jason frowned.

‘Something you would like to add?’ The Sun King turned his blazing eyes on Jason. All eyes turned to him, but he was still looking at Lune in astonishment.

‘You think that whoever it was recognised Sir Fredrick’s dragon and chose that stall on purpose?’ Jason asked. Lune nodded.

‘What!?’ Logan barked, thunderstruck. He was sat next to Fredrick and shared a stunned look with the man.

‘That would mean someone would have had to get through the stables to the killing floor to infect the feed meant for that particular stall,’ Garret added thoughtfully.

‘And not a single person noticed?’ Estevan spluttered. He looked very uncomfortable, but Jason wasn’t interested in that right then.

‘You did,’ Jason said, looking at Lune. The room went completely silent again.

‘Explain,’ the king ordered. Lune started nervously at being the focus of so many people and dragons.

‘It’s alright. You told me you didn’t want to go into the stable minutes before that dragon started making noise. How did you know?’ Jason asked, keeping his voice level.

‘I don’t... it was the smell,’ Lune responded shyly.

‘What smell?’ Amara asked quickly.

‘I had smelt it before a few times since I’ve... stayed here. It’s not nice. It smells like damp earth and rot. It smells like death,’ he said. Nobody said anything to this bizarre statement though both Estevan and Kyril looked disapproving.

‘But this doesn’t tell us anything! The beast was rotting from the inside out, of course it smelt. As for smelling it before, no one else has died,’ Kyril said insensitively. Lune noticed many of the dragons shifted restlessly beside their riders.

‘When did you notice it?’ the king continued, ignoring the smaller man.

‘When it was carried past my stall door a few weeks ago,’ Lune said, thinking hard.

‘Carried? You mean you think it’s an actual object you smelt, not just-’ Amara waved her hand in the air.

Lune tipped his head to one side, his long silver hair tumbling over one shoulder. ‘Yes, of course. It grows in the highlands but below the snowline. Mother always told us to never eat it when foraging,’ he said as though this should have been obvious.

‘What is it, pup? What does it look like? A berry?’ Logan asked his voice rising slightly with his impatience. Lune looked to Jason and Damon for help. He had no idea what it might be called in the human tongue.

‘No, not a berry. It’s, it’s like rot,’ he said, trying to explain. Logan shook his head but before he could say anything Jason grabbed hold of Lune’s chin and turned his face, so they were eye to eye.

‘Look at me. Think about it, show it to me,’ Jason ordered. Lune thought back. It was rare and its smell was so distinctive that the wild dragons always knew to avoid it, but he did remember seeing it, just that once...

‘It’s a mushroom,’ Jason said to the stunned crowd. ‘Wide, yellow and brown, rare but could pass for an oyster mushroom to an untrained kitchenhand,’ Jason said, seeing it in Lune’s memory.

‘We received a shipment of various ingredients two weeks ago. Dried mushrooms were a part of the shipment,’ one of the advisors said, consulting a long scroll of parchment he was carrying.

‘Yes, but if the thing smells so much why didn’t any other dragon notice it?’ Estevan demanded, shooting a distrustful look at Lune.

‘That’s obvious,’ Amara said coldly, drawing everyone’s attention back towards her. ‘Dried out, it probably had less of a smell. If it’s rare, a young tame dragon probably would never have come across it. On top of that, add that few of us capture dragons from that deep into the wilds and you have a situation in which very few of our beasts in the stable probably would know the smell or consider it dangerous. Lune is the only dragon here native to the Kaempeb Stor Mountains.’ Conversation broke out amongst the knights once more, the tone one of deepest alarm.

‘Silence.’ The occupants obeyed though the king barely raised his voice.

‘Sir Jason, take your dragon to the killing floor immediately and have him go through everything. Shipping crates, feed bags, anything that could store food. Sir Garret, double the guard for the stables, inform Gabe that no one without direct reason for being in the stable or forge may be there. Sir Amara, round up all workers of the killing floor and begin questioning them, all of them. Sir Samson, find out the details of that shipment. I want to know where it came from and who encountered it. Knights are to double check their stables, equipment, and squires. As for our dragons, until we know more, they will only eat fresh kill.’

‘That won’t be sustainable for long sire. Many of the dragons, without anything to bolster their feed would take an enormous amount of meat,’ said another of the advisors.

The Sun King nodded. ‘Yes. It will only be temporary.’ He turned to look at the advisor and his expression was so fierce that the other man actually took a step back. ‘Someone has entered my stronghold and killed one of my dragons. It had been decades since anyone has attacked my kingdom. This is war. I don’t lose wars.’

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It was with feelings of dread that the meeting was concluded. People spilled out in every direction. Jason purposely kept Lune in arms reach, guiding him away from the buffeting crowd.

‘What will happen to the dragon who died?’ Lune asked quietly.

‘They will dissect it to be sure that the mushroom was the cause of death then the remains will be burnt. They won’t risk using any of the parts for-’ He stopped mid-sentence at a particularly hard jab to the ribs from Damon. The Yoru’s face was twisted with anger. Jason glanced at Lune who was looking rather green. The rider winced. ‘My apologies. Somehow, I keep forgetting that you weren’t raised in my world,’ Jason murmured.

Tears beaded along Lune’s long pale eyelashes.

‘That dragon had a name. He wasn’t an “It”,’ he said tightly.

‘I know. I’m sorry,’ Jason murmured, drawing Lune in close. Lune buried his face in Jason’s chest. The little dragon was shaking slightly. He was clearly very rattled by everything that had happened.

‘Come, we have our orders. The best thing we can do now is make sure no other dragon can be poisoned,’ Jason said, stroking his hair. Lune nodded mutely and allowed himself to be led away down the busy corridor.

Amara was already on the killing floor shouting instructions. She may have been one of only a handful of women who had the rank of knight, but her voice boomed out just as loudly as any of the men. People were scrambling to assemble. Many of them looked scared. Lune was led past them and over to the massive storage room with its many shelves and hooks. The scent of blood, salt, maple, and smoking meat was strong in the air, but Lune had no appetite at the moment.

‘Watch the door,’ Jason muttered. Damon nodded sharply and stood guard.

‘Where do we start?’ Lune asked in alarm. He had never seen some much food in one place.

‘Left to right, top to bottom, I guess,’ Jason sighed. They headed over to the first set of barrels.

’Damon, call for Henry and George. We are going to need help to get all these open,’ Jason sighed. Damon was gone but not for long. When he came back, two squires were with him looking anxious and pale faced.

‘Sir-’ Jason held up his hand, stopping them both. He gave them a brief summary of events beforehand then handed them both a hammer and a crowbar. ‘Let’s get started,’ he ordered.

It was not a fun day. Every bag they untied, every box they opened Lune had to stick his head inside and smell. So far, they had found nothing. Lune had once suggested allowing himself to be in his proper form so he could scent better but he was too big for some of the narrower shelving.

The huge storage room seemed endless as they pulled out large terracotta storage urns and blown glass jars. Lune’s nose was starting to itch from all the different smells. He had already had one unpleasant experience when they had opened a jar and Lune had taken a face full of ground dried chillies.

He had sneezed violently for nearly five minutes and had to be led away to sit down and sip water until he could breathe normally again. As the hours dragged on, a few of the older killing floor staff returned. They had been instructed to clean everything. They followed behind Jason’s party, wiping down shelves and steaming out any empty jars.

Just when Damon was about to suggest they take a break, Lune’s head whipped around.

‘There! That!’ he called out. Harry had just prised open one of the small crates in the row they had been working on. Damon sniffed. The smell of aged timber and must seeped from the open box. As he breathed in again, he thought he could detect something earthy, like old rotting leaf litter. Jason hurried over and peered inside. The crate contained many smaller bags of dried ingredients.

‘Odd. This box is definitely from the shipment that Pirus mentioned but it should be over there,’ Jason said, pointed to where more marked crates lay.

‘Think it was separated on purpose?’ Damon growled, leaning in for a closer look.

‘Wouldn’t be surprised if it was,’ Jason sighed. He looked over at Lune who had his little, rather red, nose wrinkled in disgust.

‘This smell is very strong for you, isn’t it?’ Damon asked.

Lune nodded. ‘It stinks,’ the white dragon muttered with distaste.

‘Not to me, it doesn’t,’ Damon said, sharing a frown with his rider.

’Well, drag the crate over there. Everything inside will need to be burned. I’ll take the dried mushroom bag to the healers for them to analyse.

‘I can take it,’ Harry offered shyly but Jason shook his head.

‘No, the king will have our hides if this bag isn’t well protected and handed over properly. I’ll do it. Well everyone, you’ve done well but we aren’t finished. There may be more. Let’s keep going.’

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‘I never want to smell anything ever again,’ Lune whined; his face buried in a pillow. Damon snorted though he couldn’t blame the smaller dragon. He ached in his shoulders and lower back from all the lifting, shoving, and arranging. He wanted to spend a good hour in the hottest of the bathing pools, but Jason had ordered them straight back to his quarters. He knew his rider was apprehensive and worried, so he didn’t argue, just escorted the tired little Lune back with them.

It had been dark when Jason had finally declared them done. They had found two other little bags. More worrying still, it looked as though each bag had been specifically separated and hidden on purpose as one had been found in a container of pickled bean shoots and the other buried at the bottom of a large bag of rice. They had searched the food stores for the human occupants too but thankfully, had found nothing. Jason had left with the squires to deliver a report to the king. Damon had been warned not to open the door for anyone that wasn’t Jason.

‘Damon?’ One of Lune’s lilac eyes peered at him from behind the curtain of silver tresses.

‘Mmm?’ Damon came and sat on the bed, making Lune slide into his bulk.

‘Is this normal? What happened?’

Damon shook his head. ‘No. It isn’t. Even during the last war, which was over a hundred years ago, no one had ever tried to poison the dragons living here under the king’s protection,’ he said honestly.

‘Is that why Jason is so worried?’ Lune asked. He was shivering slightly. Damon tugged the little dragon into his lap. Lune leant against him, soaking up Damon’s body heat.

‘Yes. He is not afraid of battle, has been trained for it since he was young but that does not mean he wants us hurt and war is rarely done without casualties or injury.’ At that moment the lock of the main door clunked. Damon quickly deposited Lune back on the bed and stood, putting his bulk in front of the smaller male. His stance lost some of its rigidity as Jason came through the doorway looking tired and carrying a platter.

‘Come eat,’ he said in a worn-out voice.

‘Any news?’ Damon grunted as he helped Jason put the plates and bowls down.

‘Not really. Our team had the most interesting news to give. They were all still bickering about who it might have been even as I was leaving.’

‘Any good theories?’ Damon passed Lune a bowl of soup. It looked thin. Lune didn’t voice any complaint. He just sipped at the bowl. Jason shrugged.

‘None that we hadn’t already considered. That shipment definitely came from the City of Glass, but the crate could easily have been added well after it entered our border. It could be a spy from another kingdom or someone completely unknown to us just trying to stir up trouble between the kingdoms,’ he said, stirring his own soup with little enthusiasm.

‘Why would anyone do that?’ Lune spluttered, looking up from his bowl.

‘Kingdoms at war are vulnerable. It could be any number of reasons,’ Jason said.

‘Humans can be horrible even to each other,’ Lune muttered.

‘I’m not disagreeing,’ Jason replied. Lune was surprised by how uncomfortable it made him inside to see the man so tired and worried. After they had eaten, they all three lay back in the massive bed. Lune curled up, with an arm over the man’s broad chest. Jason was staring up the ceiling, apparently lost in thought. He jolted at an odd sound.

Glancing down, he looked at Lune’s relaxed face. His eyes were closed, and he was purring. It was a low, warm rumble that settled into Jason’s bones and muscles. He found himself relaxing, and with his little dragon curled tight to him, he soon fell asleep.

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END

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