Vali And The Dragon

chapter 7

A/n: I KNOW that this'll probably be late, so I'm apologizing now.

Skybrooke: Isxel are human-like intelligent beings with horns and tails. They are often looked down upon by most humans as lesser or thought to be demon spawn. They are often adept at elemental magic, fire being the most common magic mastered by the Izxel. The most common naming system for them is this: sons are named after their mothers, and daughters are named after their fathers. Sometimes they will be named after important person(s) in the mother's life
_____________________________________________

Rush drives the wagon, Reaan and Vali sitting in the back, talking quietly. Reaan scoots his torso into a more comfortable position, re-wrapping his tail around himself. Vali leans against him, watching the world go by.

They started out at mid-day, and it's starting to get late when Rush stops the wagon, causing Vali and Reaan to tumble together into a small heap. They've stopped at an inn.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to stay here for the night." Rush signs, not waiting for the others response before heading in.

Reaan slithers down, Vali leaning against the side of the wagon before remarking with a grim look, "heh, looks kinda shady... I don't think we should go in..."

Reaan looks up at him, a slight smile on his face. "Hey, if you want, I'll sleep out here with you." He offers, before continuing. "Of course we do have to go in to eat."

Vali pauses before nodding silently, hopping over the side of the wagon, landing on the ground like an acrobat in the old shows. He smiles at Reaan, pulling on his pack and offering an arm to him. "Well, I'm mean, might as well..." He says, grinning at Reaan.

They walk into the Inn, warmth and the smell of fresh food envelopes the duo, making them instantly light-headed.

Vali leans against Reaan, before they see Rush, head and shoulders above the other patrons, waving them over. Two Izxel, a tall, thin adolescent male and a shorter, plump-set, older, adult female sit at the table with Rush, talking quietly.

Vali and Reaan make their way over, and get introduced to Ril and Miril. Ril smiles and nods to you as he is introduced, Miril quietly says hello and offers her hand.

Vali and Reaan shake it in turn, looking at Rush for explanation. It turns out that Rush and Miril were adventurers back before Miril had Ril. Miril half-jokingly suggests her and Ril join the team. Rush grins behind their helm, and looks at the others, asking if it's alright.

Reaan thinks for a moment before agreeing. "Indeed! They might be able to help all of us!" Vali nods slightly, agreeing with Reaan. 'They will be useful' he thinks.

Miril smiles, going to get ready, instructing Ril to do the same. The trio order food, eating as things go on around them.

After they get food, Ril and Miril come back, having pit their stuff into the wagon as well. Vali eats and goes to sit in the wagon, both to keep thieves away, and just to be alone for a bit.

He looks up at the skys, into the massive, starry void. He lets his mind drift away for the first time in a few months, wondering what is beyond the stars, what lands could be found beyond the world he lives on.

He listens to the wind rustling the leaves, the Clydesdale and Fenni having been unhitched from the wagon and spending the night in the stables. He hums an old song that his father taught him, rummaging through his rucksack, pulling a pan flute from it and starting to play it

He closes his eyes, getting lost in the music. He gets up and starts to dance, twisting and whirling with an odd, serpentine grace. He opens his eyes as the song comes to an end, seeing a few people watching him.

"T-that was b-b-beautiful..." A sayter stammers before asking if Vali would like to duet with him. Vali agrees, starting to play again, the sayter playing and dancing alongside him on a stringed instrument that Vali didn't recognize.

Several travelers join in, caught in the music like flies in a spiderweb. They dance like men possessed, and continue on their way as the song comes to an end.

Vali pauses to catch his breath, leaning against the wagon. He smiles slightly at the sayter. "H-hey... Where did you learn to play like that?" He asks the sayter, who is re-tuning his instrument.

"O-oh... I just picked it up! M-my brother is quite the craftsman, and he m-made this out of spare pieces of wood that didn't work for his usual instruments. It's q-quite unique!" The sayter says, smiling.

"Ah w-well... I'd better get going, I'm heading into the city, a-and I'd like to get t-there before dark t-tomorrow." He continues, switching from one hoof to the other nervously.

Vali nods and wishes the sayter well traveling. The sayter returns the blessing and heads off down the road. Vali idly continues to play his flute, waiting for Reaan to come out of the inn.

After what seems like hours, Reaan slithers out of the inn, lifting himself into the wagon and curling up next to Vali.

"Hey." He says quietly, not wanting to disrupt Vali's song. There was an odd, syrupy quality about the air that made it hard to do anything other than listen to the song. Almost akin to a powerful suggestion spell without a suggestion to obey.

Vali ends the song, starting to talk to Reaan about the sayter that he had played a duet with earlier in the evening. Reaan nods listening to Vali, almost as entranced by his voice as by the spell.

He quickly shakes the syrupy fog out of his mind chatting about what happened inside the inn. Vali listened in turn, shifting to lean against Reaan's coils, falling asleep in the middle of a story about something that Reaan had seen earlier.

Reaan can't blame him, it's been a long day, and whatever spell had been hanging in the air must have taken a lot of energy from Vali for it to be that powerful.

Reaan falls asleep as well, curling around Vali so that he'd be protected from the elements regardless if it rained or not. He pulled a blanket over the both of them, falling asleep in minutes.

A/n: hello! Thank you for reading this book! If the new Wattpad restrictions affect me, I'll be moving my book to A03 possibly permanently! Look for the author Stained_glass_butterfly