Dragoris

Chapter 1

  Jaros was walking along the path of Etchon Hills to pick herbs.  His herb cabinet was running low, and cold season was almost there.  As the small town’s only healer, he had a lot of work to do before the winter season came about.

  Jaros walked along some beautiful trees near the Soundless Creek.  The Soundless Creek was about five miles south of the town Minathis, which was where Jaros resided and worked.   Minathis is an outlying town in the Kingdom of Khalanon.  Khalanon consisted of two main cities, the City of Drake and the City of Conner.  Khalanon also had many outlying towns and villages as well.  Minathis was about thirty miles south of Drake, and forty miles east of Conner.

  All along the Soundless Creek were rocks and bare bushes.  Most of the leaves from all the bushes and trees had fallen off last week.  And this much cooler season was when the flowers Groo can be found along the small runnels and creeks.  Groo was used to heal colds and aches and pain in the form of a tea.  It was a common flower and easily found.  But it only produced the necessary flower once a year.

  As Jaros walked along the rocks and sand of the creek, he kept plucking up Groo herbs.  Beautiful green stems that branched out in a pair of yellow flowers.  The flowers had five deep yellow pedals.  Inside of the pedals laid five little green filaments adorned with bright yellow anthers.  The sun was just beginning to rise, and gave the flower an amazing yellow glow.

  About a mile down Soundless Creek, Jaros thought he heard some noise off toward the boulders to his left.  He stopped what he was doing, having heard nothing more, went back to his search for Groo.  A few more steps forward and the sound came again.  This time he was sure it was a child making cooing noises near the boulders. 

   Jaros went to set his pack down on the grassy part of the creek, and headed toward the boulders.  The baby stopped cooing, and started crying.  Oh Dear Amos, Jaros thought.  Jaros could tell from the cry, that the child was no more than approximately three months old.  The cry was still shrill.

  Jaros started running toward the boulders.  After he ran across the creek and got to the boulders, he walked around the boulders to get to the side that was against the creek wall.  He could see a baby wrapped in a red silk cloth was pushed in between two of the rocks sitting against the wall, and started to reach in for the baby. 

  As he gently pulled the baby back out from between the boulders, he noticed two things; one was that the baby had a fair complexion, and the other was that the baby had the deepest green eyes he had ever seen.  The fair complexion would mean that the baby was most likely from Andrenon.  A big Kingdom far up north past the mountains.   The folks around Minathis were tanned.

  Jaros had been to Andrenon once in his late teens when he was exploring the countries.   It was an amazing city.  Stone paths and brick houses surrounded the main city.  Outside the city walls were filled with stalls and shops and little restaurants.  It was in Andrenon that Jaros decided to become a healer.

  Jaros was now thirty four, and a single man at that.  He stood lean and tall at six feet even.  His short dark-brown hair glistened in the morning sunlight.  His eyes were dark brown and intense.  His face was long, but matched well with how his nose and lips sat on it.  He could be called handsome.  But even then, living the life of a healer did have its drawbacks.  Marriage to a healer in the Kingdom of Khalanon was taboo.  The idea of a person dealing with the sick and dying on a daily basis kept people from getting too personal with healers.

  Jaros opened the silk wrap that was around the baby.  The baby was dressed in very fine silk.  Blue silk outer wear that came down to his knees, and tied around the left side of its waist.  The baby also had a golden chain around its neck with what looked like a blue sapphire pendant.  Jaros checked the gender and saw that he had a baby boy in his hands.  Right behind the baby’s back was a piece of paper, and Jaros pulled it out.

  It was a note.  It read, “Please take care of our precious Dragoris.  Drago for Dragon, Ris for Rising.  Due to some circumstances, we are not able to care for him anymore.  We can only pray to Amos that whoever finds him will raise him as their own.  And shower him with love and affection as they would their own.”  The note was short and to the point.  The parents no longer wanted this baby, and they abandoned him near a creek.

  Jaros found it odd that a baby would just be stuffed in between some rocks right next to a creek.  Seeing how finely the baby was dressed and wrapped, the parents could have easily afforded to take care of the baby.  And there are orphanages around all over the kingdom if one looked hard enough.  His name was another issue, dual names were usually reserved for kings and nobles.  But there was no surname, so Jaros had no clue what house this baby would have been from.

  Jaros took another look at the baby’s wide green eyes.  The baby smiled at Jaros and cooed.  Jaros smiled back.  Maybe Amos has blessed me with a son, seeing that I obviously will never marry since I won’t leave Minathis.  Jaros thought of it as a blessing.  Taking the baby with him, Jaros went to grab his pack, and headed home toward Minathis.

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