A Healer, Bounty Hunter and Dragon enter a bar...

Chapter 2

Merideth Summers was by no means a noble. Her vast wealth came from her late husband, who lost his life in his line of work as a bounty hunter. In fact, they met on one of his trips to the tavern. Merideth was at the tavern as entertainment for the week, her voice harmonizing with the lute she played for the drunken adventurers. He fell in love immediately. They were so in love they decided to get married and have a child. The despair of his death wracked her for months before she pulled herself together for Eva. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to lose her life the same way. She knew it was wrong for her to intercept the letters to the guilds. Eva was too much like her father... Merideth's greatest fears came to be once she walked into Eva's room to find a note left on her bed instead of her daughter.

The note on the front read: "Mom, I love you so much." Merideth smiled at that. Once she turned it to the back, her face dropped. The back of the note said, "You've been found out." Merideth dropped the note and ran toward the entrance of the house. Every employee she ran past she asked if they had seen Eva. But no one had. Everyone was now scrambling to look for her.

Merideth turned toward the head maid and the butler, "You two are in charge of the search nearby the house. I'm going to the clinic." With that, she whistled for her horse. The ride was short, as she angrily stormed into the clinic. "You're dead Frank." Frank, Eva's boss, was already looking worried enough. With Merideth in sight his face turned pale. "I told you to wait on telling her! I had things lined up."

"Oh cut it out Merideth!" He looked around briskly. They walked into his office. "You weren't going to tell her, I know how you are."

"She's gone, Frank!" Merideth screamed so loud she could feel her throat strain. "Who knows where she ran off to!"

"You mean Eva?" One of the employees peeked their head through the door. "I saw her last night, she was hanging around the tavern. I didn't see where she went after that."

"The tavern?" Both Frank and Merideth said at the same time. Merideth turned back to Frank, giving him a look laced with vindictiveness. "If anything has happened to her, you're dead!" Merideth took no time to run out of the clinic and hop on her horse.

"Wait!" Frank ran after her, panting as he did. "I'm coming too."

"No way!" She sneered.

"She's my responsibility too. I made a promise to both you and Ken." He didn't look like he was going to back down.

Merideth rolled her eyes and helped him up onto her horse, where they both rode over to the tavern. Each of them asked around but no one really saw Eva inside the tavern. One of the busboys timidly walked up to Merideth when she looked like she was going to have a breakdown. "I did see a woman with blonde hair and some freckles on her nose last night. She never came into the tavern, but followed that bounty hunter Silas around back. I think I saw her ride away with him on his dragon..."

"What?!" She exclaimed.

The busboy flinched, "I-I'm sorry ma'am. I-I-I didn't know."

Merideth sighed, "No need to apologize. Here, for your help." She handed him a gold coin.

His eyes widened. "This is too much!"

"I insist. Keep it," Merideth and Frank walk out of the tavern together. She bit her thumb nail. "Oh Eva... I only wanted to keep you safe! Why did you..." she sighed and batted away the tears that threatened to fall.

Later on in the same day, Merideth hired a private agent. She gave him the description of both Silas and Eva. "Make sure to bring her back home. I don't care what you do with the bounty hunter." The man remained silent, only nodding and headed out the door as soon as their meeting was over.