The Dragon's Rogue

Chapter 20

It was late, or maybe, by now it was early. Darkness clung to the corners of the workroom. Tables lined with various bowls created long, harsh shadows. My lanterns fluttered with the remains of the oil I had supplied them with. Now the cloth wicks smoked as they dried, adding to the strong scent filling the room.

Funny, when I left earlier I didn't expect to be back. Now it felt as though I had spent days without leaving.

Cillumn leaned against the door-frame, dozing lightly. His chin rested on his chest, one leg was bent up and the other stretched out. The beginning of stubble darkened his jawline bringing back the memory of the moment I first saw him. His black tinted blade rested loosely in his hands. He had found pants somewhere, I noted with only a hint of disappointment, it was practical to wear clothing when performing guard duty after all.

When news had returned confirming the medic's death, if not the cause, he refused to leave me in the workshop alone, even with the guards posted without. Which was fortunate since I finally had the chance to warn him of my stolen phials. I was working now with a far more concentrated form of the poison, as necessary for the creatures but the theft worried me. The milder poison I had worked on before coming to the aerie could easily kill. I still wasn't sure how the thief knew which of the phials to take. No one, not even my mother, understood my marking system, and I never bothered to explain it to anyone else. The only conclusion then, was that whoever it was knew what they were looking for and could identify it by sight and smell.

I sighed, tired of running the scenarios over and over in my mind, and rubbed my eyes against my shoulder, one of the only clean places left on my body. I needed to wash, but I didn't know where. There wasn't even a bucket of water in the workroom, and I was so tired now I wouldn't make it to wherever the Lords kept their washing facilities. The floor where Cillumn slouched was starting to look like the finest of beds.

My hands quaked a little. More than once I had nearly made a mistake with the poison that could have cost me my life. I should have quit hours ago. Slept, and then come back to it maybe, but enough time had been wasted. Now my task was complete, as complete as it was going to be in the time given any way. Already there were a hundred things I would change or do differently. But my goal now was to find a safe place to rest for the few remaining hours before Illaise's deadline.

No one had said anything about stopping her, or joining her either, though I left the conversation early. All this debating and speculation, it was useless. I didn't care who's plan was what, in a few hours I was going to get Adda.

I crept carefully around the table where I had been working. All of my supplies and new creations filled my satchel until it was bulging. It would be best if I could release the frogs as well, but I hadn't seen a place where it would be safe to do so. I would have to take that chance that no one else would bother with them, or even know what purpose they held. It would be wise, should I survive the next few days, not to share my procedures, I decided. It hadn't occurred to me in my pack, no one there had ever been interested in my inventions except when they required healing. But here there was far too much awareness. And it could lead to disaster. It was my responsibility to keep such things a secret.

Cillumn twitched the moment I moved, proving that though he appeared to be resting, he was hardly incapacitated.

"Are you finished at last?" he wondered, looking up at me, amber eyes hopeful.

A part of me softened then. He looked so like a young boy hoping for reprieve. He really had gone out of his way to see to my safety and comfort since coming to the aerie. And though he made it clear his intentions, his sexual desire, I had a difficult time believing all the trouble he had put upon himself was in the hopes of a simple sexual encounter. No, something else drove him, and that something touched me. A true interest in my work, and a devotion...to what I wasn't yet certain.