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Chapter 10: theft

It was disorienting to wake up in a different location than one had fallen asleep at. She knew they were running away, but her sleepy mind still got confused because she woken by Mistica under a completely different roof. Moments later she remember their plan, then she realised that the roof she was staring at was made of wooden planks. She jumped up, fearing they had been caught. Instead, she was greeting to a barn that was almost empty apart from two dragons laying in it. The barn was crooked and the doors could not close completely. Many beams were dusty and any hay that used to be in the barn was decayed to compost.

“Are you mad?” Katrin hissed. “What if someone enters this barn?”

“I doubt anyone would do. The nearby farm is destroyed, and we have sniffed around. No human has been here for many a week, perhaps even months. I doubt one night would have us discovered. We were more afraid the barn would collapse if we opened the doors. It gives us some shelter so I can warm up from the frosty night and it is close enough to the city that you don’t have to spend a long trip from a forest to the city.”

Katrin unhooked herself from Lorkor’s saddle and slide down his flank so he could rest on the ground. The poor green dragon was looking tired and like he barely could stand anymore. As soon as he could, he let himself fall to the ground. Mistica was not far behind and laid herself against his back, pulling the green dragon close to her belly.

Still Katrin didn’t like any plan they had but there was little she could do about it now, She walked to the doors and peaked outside, the first rays of light where already shining on the horizon and soon the sun will be fully risen, movement was not possible. Then Katrin looked back at her outfit and the dragons. Despite everything, her outfit still looked presentable. No more dirty than any rider would have been after a long trip on their dragons. Her genuine worry was about the guards at the door. A rider without a dragon would raise suspicion. If it took them two days to go to this city on foot, no doubt the city would have heard of her escape and sounded the alarm. So she needed a good excuse to be without a dragon, and a better cover name.

She paced around the derelict structure that was the barn. Eventually Mistica poked her head back up. “Katrin, what you are nervous about, you are keeping me up with all that pacing”

Katrin stopped her pacing for a moment “because I got no clue what my excuse would be. I mean, I am in rider uniform without dragon,”

“But not all riders rider their dragons in town,” Lorkor chimed in, though he opted to keep laying down and keeping his eyes closed. “Böhr told me his rider used to leave him with farmers so he could eat and go on foot into the city.”

Katrin thought about it before raising her hands above her head. “Might as well work, or not. Only one way to find out.” She filled herself with any determination she had and wormed her way between the doors, not wanting to risk opening them. She saw the farm not too far away. It was slumped all the way against the ground and most of the wood was blackened and looked burned. There was a stone wall around the farm. Katrin looked down at the ground and saw burn marks here, too. “What happened” she observed claw marks along the wood, some draconian and some smaller. Curiosity got the better of her and she walked to the main building to the farm. To the left of the door, she noticed a family weapon. She whipped away the ash and sooth from the metal weapon. She noticed a single name under it that perplexed her.

Mathew Conwind! She thought in shock.

“Why are you thinking about my father” Mistica sounded sleepy but apparently she was not yet asleep. Katrin rushed back to the barn and pushed herself into the building, then and only then she noticed the hints that were spread around in the building. The holding points on the floor, the hooks on top of the roof beams, leather straps and ropes to hold a dragon in place.

“This, this is his farm,” she gasped for air. “I saw his name near the door.”

Mistica shot up her head and gazed at Katrin. “You mean what!? You must be mistaken.”

Katrin shook her head. “No, I am not.”

“Can you get the plate for me... It might not mean a lot, but I want to give it to my father. ”

Katrin looked around and peered between the doors for a moment. “I will try my best. “

She searched around the home to get find something to pry the nameplate from the building, eventually she founds a crowbar between the rubble of a shed that has fallen apart. Thanks to the damage of the fire and the rot of many years of neglect, Katrin pried the brass nameplate from the wooden wall easily. She returned to the barn to present it to Mistica, who hold it between her talons and traced her father’s name with one.

“Thank you,” she hummed, nosing the name plate before setting it down to her flank and resting her head on her paws.

Katrin gave a soft smile when she observed the two dragons coiled together to fall asleep like two giant, scaly cats. She slipped between the doors again and this time made sure that no one could see the two dragons from between the doors. Then she walked to the town, taking a brisk pace. The road was busy, filled with carts of farmers who are loading their haul of grain to bring to the town hall.

“Awright lassie,” one farmer looked up and called out to Katrin. He was tall and muscled, with blue eyes and brown hair. His skin had been tanned by many hours of working in the field. “Ou wull be aff tae th’ toon?”

Katrin took a moment to realise what the farmer was saying. It had been a long time since she heard this dialect. She did not stop walking while answering the Farmer. “Oh yes, I am”

“Ye kin travel wi’ me” The farmer smiled kindly at her, adding the last large bag of grain tot he card. “Mah faither haes fallen peely-wally, ah hae a free plook oan th’ carriage “

Katrin stopped to look at the farmer, the carriage, and the two work horses that stood in front of it. It could safe time, but did she want to risk mingling with someone and be spotted?

“Alright, I will join you,” she finally answered and up on the farmer’s signals she climbed the carriage and took one of the two spots on the wooden bench in front of the grain. Soon the farmer joined her on the bench and took to leads to steer the horses down the road towards the town.

“Ah reconise that insigna, urr ye a dragon rider?” He did not take his eyes off the road apart from the occasional glance at her uniform.

“Yes, I am. My dragon has been tied up near to here.”

“Ah ah see, they ca’ me Rory, whit’s yer lassie? Hae bin a rider fur lang?”

Katrin nearly wanted to state her name, but just in time, she remembered it might not have been the best idea. She need a better name and then she remembered something. A name from one of the old queens of the land.

“My name is Aileen, I have been a rider for the summer now, though this is my first time in the town. I am not from around here.”

“Aileen, sic a bonnie name fur a lassie. eekin fur crakin’ in th’ toun?”

Katrin waited for a moment to answer, watching them drive by other farmers loading their grain and other goods to be sold in the farmer’s markets. “Oh, a map of the area. been tasked to patrol along the cliffs of despair, but they forgot to give me a map.”

rory stroked his chin a bit, thinking about something to help. “Yi’’ll need tae blether tae Olwydd, he haes a map fur a’ ”

“Oh” Katrin perked up “thank you, you know where he has his shop?”

“Aye, doon th’ main wynd. He is a uncle o’ mines. Aye, doon th’ main wynd. He is a uncle o’ mines “

Katrin felt that knot forming in her stomach. Knowing that she would need to steal the chart by the end of this. Having to betray the Rory’s thrust in order to be free. It made her shift in her seat a bit.

“Urr ye a’richt lassie?” Rory asked, seeing Katrin shift in her sear.

“yeah, uncomfortable to sit in.”

“Mair ill then sittin` oan a dragon ?” The farmer laughed a bit. “Ah ken, wood insae soft lik’ leather “

Katrin was happy when they finally neared the town, trough the guard stopped them at the gates. “Ah Rory, here with the grain? Who is that? Is your father not here?”

“Na, mah faither haes th’ peely-wally. Ah shored this lassie hulp”

The two guards then looked at Katrin, squinting their eyes a bit. “Forgive me if we ask miss, I can’t remember your face. Might I ask who you are and where your dragon is?”

Katrin suppressed the panic that was forming in her stomach. Hoping that the news has not spread already about their escape.

“I am Aileen, I am not from here. I was send to patrol the mountains of despair for an escaped dragon. However, In the rush I did not get a map of the area. So I stopped here to get one”

The guard stroked his chin. “I see, we have stables. You can bring your dragon into the city.”

Katrin smiled at the guard, hoping to be convincing “Ahh, but that might warn the escaped rider and dragon. So I decided it was best to come in on foot.”

The guard nodded and stepped aside. “Alright, I hope you catch that heretic. Lose dragons have been enough of a problem for the last twenty years. They must learn somehow.”

Once inside, Rory steered his card down into one of the main streets, only stopping in front of a building with many globes in glass windows. It was the only building in the row that had glass windows instead of using oil paper as windows.

“A’richt this is th’ shop o’ mah uncle, ah hae tae gang, this is ma cheerio the nou”

Katrin gratefully jumped from the cart on the hardened road that made up the main street. “Thank you for everything” and with a whip of the leash, Rory ushered the horses onwards and soon disappeared in one of the side streets off the main road. Katrin swallowed and entered the cartography shop. She was greeted by a man that looked like Rory. Brown hair with blue eyes, but this one did not have a tanned skin and his belly shows a good life of wine and meat.

“What can I help you with, Lassie?” He asked with a kind smile, his dialect being far less than Rory.

“I was looking for a map among the mountains of despair.”

The cartographer’s eyes squinted a bit when she asked that. “Few around these parts ask for that information. Say who are you again? I have good standing with the corps but i can’t remember i ever seen you here lassie.”

“My name is Aileen. I am from the corps in the capital. I have not come this way, but I must gain a map to patrol along the border.” Katrin wanted to grab something to steady herself, but she had to maintain her stance as it was. Not wanting to be seen as nervous or doubtful. She had to sell that she was a rider. Heck, she was a rider by any definition other than the definition the corps has laid out.

“Oh, what colour is your dragon? I am fascinated by dragons. Alas, I can never fly on the back of one myself and see the world. I draw and document. “

“I ride a black dragon, and she is feisty” at least some things she did not have to lie about and it felt a relief finally to say something truthful.

“Uhm, black you say” he walked around the counter to take a poster from a shelf. “Say, are you sure your name is Aileen and not Katrin Endora?” He laid down the poster in front of her. A poster where she was painted full face in crude brushstrokes with the text ‘wanted alive’ on it with a price of around one hundred gold pieces. Katrin cursed herself for not having brought any weapons with her when she fled. Right now, having something would be nice.

She could hear Olwydd closing the lock on the door behind her before walking behind the counter again. “One hundred gold pieces is a comfortable buffer for anyone around here. For that money I could get many things my heart yearns, lassie. I am surprised that the guards have not arrested you at the gates, trough they aren’t the brightest bunch. The good guards all go to the capital to train there and hoping to make a captain or a general someday. Delusional I say.”

Katrin’s mouth became dry and her skin turned white. Even if she wanted to deny the accusations, her body language betrayed everything about her. She gazed at Olwydd with mortified eyes.

“Lassie, don’t worry,” He said when he saw the ghastly white that Katrin turned. “I saw what the corps does with young lassies like you. I can’t say I blame you.”

Katrin’s heart did not stop beating like it was processed by the devil himself. She regained control of her vocal cords again. “You let me go? But why?”

“I got my reasons lassie, don’t press my reasons. I would advise you to flee this town as fast as possible” “

“But I need a map...” Katrin protested slightly, rough she edged away to the closed door, weary of any sudden move the cartographer would make.

“aye, you would need a map, trough I doubt you would have the money to get one like this,” Olwydd pulled a rolled-up piece of parchment from a pile of similar rolled up scrolls. “This, this is one of my finer works. The only copy I have of the lands. I have spent many an hour trying to copy every little detail.” He unrolled it for Katrin to observe.

“I have made it in case someone of the corp needs to patrol the area. Trough it is old, the request for this map came from another fled rider, trough he had fled by the time I finished it, so he never got to collect it.”

Katrin swallowed and came closer to have a better look at the map. “You mean you made it for Matthew?”

Olwydd’s eyes squinted again. “I did not expect to hear that name from you. That name has been banned for some time. Before you were even born.”

“The black dragon that I ride on. She is the daughter of one dragon who fled with Matthew.”

Katrin’s words made Olwydd look puzzled for a moment before bursting out into laughter. “I see now.” He rolled up the map and shoved it at her. “Well technically, this now belongs to you. Matthew had already paid for it. However, I must still alert the guards you stole it. If the corps knows I helped you, well I would be burned a heretic myself. but don’t worry, I will give you a head start.”

Katrin looked at the map for a moment and slowly grabbed it and stored it under her uniform. “I don’t know what to say... I did not expect anyone to really help me, well, any human, that is.”

“A thanks would be a start.” Olwydd said. “I know the corps might seem that all humans are these obsessed lunatics, not all of us are. You are the prime example of that. But the even purest of intentions can be corrupted. Now go. Get the hell out of here.”

Katrin gave a quick thanks before unlocking the door and fleeing outside. She looked around to see if there were any other guards, but there were not. Nor she could see any posters of her. She should have paid attention to that detail before, but now here she was in the busy main street of the town, in rider gear with no knowledge if there were posters where she would have been spotted.

Katrin made her way to the gates of the town as fast as possible, drawing no attention. It was hard to pay attention and look around at what was going on and who was looking at her. She wanted to see where all the guards were, hide in the shadows or run as fast as she could, but she simply could not risk it. She could not risk Mistica being exposed or her being followed to their hiding spot.

It was not until she had the city gate in sight when she saw the first poster. It was being nailed to a house by a boy with a bunch of them, a hammer and some nails. He did not look up tough, but Katrin panicked when she saw her face reflected on the posted. She tried to hide her face in her collar and walk at a fast pace past the poster.

She walked through the arch that made the town’s gates when she was confronted by a pair of guards who had a poster in their hands and looked straight at Katrin. The two stared for a moment before Katrin walked with increased speed.

“Wait, a moment,” one guard called, but when she did not stop, he shouted, “Halt! In the duty's name, the crown has given up on me.”

Katrin did not just walk now, but she ran down the road, running faster and faster while listening to the shouting disappearing behind her. One of her hands moved to the pocket where she stored the map to make sure it was kept in place and she did not lose it. She feared the guards would get horses to capture her or worse, alert the corps that she had been spotted and soon she would need to fight off a flock of dragons who would stop at nothing to capture her. The distance between the town and the farm that Mistica was in would be too great to walk or run to in time.

Mistica! she tried to force her thought out I am in danger. She hoped had she got an answer but none came and she had no choice but to run past farmers who looked up in confused.

“What got into her?” one asked while looking after where she ran to.

Mistica damned you dragon. She thought again, in more despair now. Her heart beat in her chest, feeling like her heart wanted to burst out of her chest. She wondered how long she could run until someone caught up to her, or when someone blocked her road.

“Katrin?” Mistica’s voice sounded distance and quite tired. “I was sleeping. What is going on?”

_ “I was found out”_ Katrin hoped she was clear enough through the mental communication

“Oh,” Mistica answered. “Where are you now?”

“Running down the main road.”

“We will be there” “

Katrin did not know how long she could keep on running. Her legs were burning and her chest was sore with stress and pain. Moment later she could hear horses into the distance. When she looked over her shoulder, she could see a cloud of dust moving towards her at a rapid space. Then when she looked back another cloud was approaching towards her, but this cloud had a black and a green shape as its source.

Encouraged, Katrin ran faster with renewed energy, hoping that she could outrun the horses for a little longer. Through the sound of horses came in faster and faster, until she could hear guards shouting at her to stop and to surrender. Looking back, she could see that the horses were a lot closer than Mistica was. She could not outrun the guards for much longer.

When she wanted to look back to the road, she tripped over the root of a tree and fallen to the ground. She broke the fall, so she did not break something, but the impact hurt along her body. Before she could stand up and run again, she was surrounded by the guards. All pointing their spears at her.

“You!” one guard, who had an impressive helmet with a golden inlay, raised his sword at her. “You are under arrest for crimes against the church. “

Katrin could do little but to lie in the dirt, panting for air. Unable to speak. In the distance, there was a loud roar. The horses shifted uneasily and flick their ears. Katrin could feel the ground vibrating at two dragons where barrelling down to her at full speed. Some guards were also getting restless when they looked at the cloud that was coming their way.

“Uhm Captain,” another one said. “We might need to get a move on” He pointed at the cloud. “I believe those are dragons. “

“Ah excellent, those must be riders then, ready to take her from her hands.” The captain said triumphantly. “You put her in chains.” He pointed at another guard.

Then a roar silenced the guards. Mistica’s angry roar startled the horses, who reared up on their two legs to toss the riders from their backs and ran away. Katrin nearly was trampled by two horses who ran away to where she was laying a moment ago. Rolling away just in time to avoid her being killed by the hooves of the animals. The Guards let out a startled cry themselves. The captain sat up on the ground, looking dazed.

Moments later, the guards were face to face with two dragons. The Mistica’s face was covered in pure anger. An anger that even scared Katrin. She knew Mistica was here to save her, but that anger, it was an anger that resonated with a primordial fear of predictors.

Mistica let out another roar, one that hurt in Katrin’s ears. Lorkor added to the fear by letting out small jets of fire.

“Captain...these dragons don’t have riders,” one guard said again, his voice shaking with fear. The guards backed off from the two dragons, trying to create as much distance between them as possible. Their swords, while ready and in their hands, drooping lower and lower.

Katrin saw her opening and jumped on her leg, biting through the pain of her back. She should have visited a doctor while she had the chance. Perhaps the next time she had the chance. She gripped the leather of Lorkor’s saddle and pulled herself onto his back. Moments later, Lorkor spat out fire between them and the guards before running back to the forest. Katrin just laid in the saddle looking up with her whole body hurting and her heart pounding.

“Fuck me,” she growled in frustration.

“Now is not the time for that,” Mistica called back to her. “But what the hell happened Katrin, where you not careful enough” “

Katrin did not answer, trying to first get her breath back and her heart under control. Trying to control the pain she felt with controlled breathing.

“I thought I was. I even got the map for free, but they have posters... I barely made it out of town.” She panted, watching how the sky above her disappeared into the leaves of trees. Again, she was lost in what direction they were moving. She did not dare to get the map out now, in fear it was blown away in the wind.

“Well, by the ancients, that is bad, but do you have the map at least?”

“yes, I have the map and by the gods, we must thank your father for that else we might not have got it.”

“that old man still helping me.” Mistica let out a snort.

“Thanks for getting me, even trough i ruined everything,” Katrin thought, hoping mistica would not hear it, not feeling that comfortable about speaking those words.

“It is nothing Katrin, I couldn’t risk you being captured. You did not ruin a thing. This was about to happen. I am just frustrated. It happened now, not later. If only i could fly, then we would have been faster.”

Katrin rolled to her belly before peering over the edge of the saddle forwards. “How long do you think you can keep this tempo?” she asked.

“Not long,” Lorkor answered first. “I barely had any sleep,”

“I agree” Mistica hummed herself. “Trough, I just hope they don’t figure out our way to travel. If they did, we might have a big issue.” At the same, Mistica narrowly avoided a tree. “Dammit!” She swore, “It’s hard to focus.”

“then slow down a bit,” Katrin suggested. “We would have a bigger issue if you run into a tree and get injured...” she looked at Mistica’s wing. “Even more.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Mistica agreed with a bit of a sour tone in her voice and slowed down her speed through the trees to what could be described as a fast jog for her. Katrin placed her hand on Lorkor’s neck to rub it softly, but she was surprised by the fast and steady heartbeat of the young dragon.

“You alright?” She asked him, petting his neck softly.

“Yes, just tired” Even his mental voice was tired and slow. Katrin gave a wry smile about his response. If only she could do something, rather than being stuck on the back of a dragon.

“Mistica, how are you? Are you feeling you can carry me?”

“Yes, I can.” Mistica stopped. “Lorkor, get to my flank” The green dragon did so and Katrin moved over to Mistica’s back. It was a rather hard move to make. Jumping on the back of Mistica, she nearly fallen off. She barely got enough time to get a tight grip on Mistica before the two dragons darted off into the forest again.

“You know where to go?”

“Not yet. When we are further away from the town, we can have a look. At the moment, I don’t want to risk it. The further we are away, the larger area they have the search, the less likely they are to find us.”

Katrin wanted to say something, but she was interrupted by a roar from above. A roar that made Mistica and Lorkor stop dead in their tracks, not daring to speak or make a sound. They pressed themselves against one of the large trees, hoping that the dense leaves would cover them. Lorkor put a wing around Mistica, covering most of her body with his green wing.

“Oh,” Katrin whispered softly when she realised what Lorkor was doing. That he was making sure that her black scales did not stand off against the blackness. The three of them kept listening to the wingbeats of the dragons as they circled above, occasionally roaring and growling.

Suddenly, a dragon dived to soar above the treetops, the dragon’s claws tracing along the trees. They flew around a few times before circling higher again. Katrin did not know how long they were sitting there in silence and in fear, listing to the sound of dragons as they circled around. Eventually, they left and flew onward. For now, they were safe. Mistica sighed and let herself fall to the ground.

“Lets see that map,” she said with a gasp. “Now we might have more than then we will ever get in the future.”

Katrin slid from Mistica’s back and unrolled the map for Lorkor and Mistica to look at. First, they found the town where they started off.

“My mother and father roughly flew this route” Mistica traced a route with her claw straight over the lower portions of the mountains of despair. “But we must go this way” She traced another route with her claw up through a dense forest that gave way to a dessert and the border at the foot of the mountain of despair.

“I think they are going to patrol the entire mountain of despair. So spending less time there would increase our chance to remain stealthy. but here,” she tapped the desert, “My wing needs to be healed or we need darkness to cover us. Lucky the nights are getting longer, but they are also getting colder.”

Katrin looked closely at the map to see an alternative. “and if we follow the trees up to the desert but the last moment we stick to the mountain? That would mean we almost always have some trees to hide under. “

Mistica hummed softly, “Yes, perhaps that would work, but that would add some days to our journey, since it’s longer. And would increase our risk of being spotted.”

“Spotted being more likely than being out in the open? Hell, we could try to cover you in two in leafs to hide you.”

“Cover my scales in leafs... If you would suggest this any other day I would bite you... but right now, I like it. Alright. We will take your plan for now. But since we have some time, Lorkor and me have to sleep somehow. Can you stay and watch over us? Wake us if another dragon comes close. In the meantime, we can get some rest. So long as they are searching ahead of us, we have time.”

Katrin stroked Mistica’s neck. “Take care. I will watch you and wake you when needed. “