Dragon Matchmaker

Chapter 5

   The night passed way too quickly and the morning came with poor weather and cold air, adding to the list of things making Kinsey mad. On that list was Aldwin, her lack of sleep, and now the weather. She trudged down the hallway leading to the door and as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, she heard a door open ahead. Out walked Audrey, holding a wine tankard in his hand. He glanced over and smiled when he saw her, rushing toward her. "So how'd the king punish you?"

   She shrugged and sighed. "He's sending me out on a trip to kill that dragon we lost. May not sound like much, but I have to do it with Aldwin."

   He winced, but shook his head and patted her back. "Don't worry. I know you can still do it. Oh, and before you go."

   He pulled something from his pocket, but before she could see it, he pulled up her chin and kissed her lips, slipping his hands around her neck. She felt the cool touch of metal on her neck and she looked down to see a necklace placed there. The pendant was a golden heart placed on an iron link necklace. He smiled and licked his lips. "I made a request to the king, asking him if I could use a tiny section of the horn to make that. You like it?"

   She looked down at it and smiled, blushing scarlet. "I love it. It's beautiful."

   He nodded and pulled her up for one more kiss before he let her slip away to go and start her trip. As she stepped out into the drizzling rain, pulling her hood up, she spotted Aldwin's sodden shape hunkered down under a slight overhang outside of the gatehouse. She ran over and sighed as she stepped under with him. He was most definitely a sorry sight. Especially when he was as sodden and cold looking. He sighed and shrugged. "Ready to go?"

   She nodded and as he led her out of the gate, she felt a strange feeling in her chest. He'd never spoken to her with such a sullen tone before. Whenever he'd spoke to her, it had been with a fearful quivering tone that made her always think he was a wimp, but the tone he had used sounded slightly hateful and angry.

   They walked into the woods on the east side of the castle and started heading east and slightly south, where the dragon had flown after it had escaped. As they walked, Kinsey kept glancing at Aldwin. He seemed so cold all of a sudden. The silence was unbearable and so she made an attempt at small talk. "So, what do you think we should do when we go to kill this thing?"

   He turned his head slightly and glared at her. "Oh, so now you want to speak to me? I thought you were always too busy blaming me for everything that goes wrong."

   She jerked back and then snarled at him. "Well, it was you who cut that rope. Or was I lied to and you just didn't have the guts to say it?"

   He whirled around and she stopped, feeling a fear she hadn't expected. There was a gleam in his eyes that honestly scared her. "Yes. I cut it, but how was I supposed to know my sword would cut it. I didn't put any effort into it and yet it snapped. Ok? Now let's get this over with."

   He turned back around and kept walking. She was shocked. Never had she imagined him being so angry. She gulped and sighed, jogging to catch up. "I'm sorry. Audrey told me why you were part of the squadrons."

   Aldwin scowled and shoved a branch out of the way, letting it come back and slap her. "Oh, the story about my grandparents? Or the one about my single mother? Soldiers make them up all the time, but only one story is true and that's the one no one wants to hear anymore."

   Kinsey paused. "You're not an orphan?"

   He snorted. "No. Why is it that all the weak ones have to be orphans? Sure, I'm weak, but who needs power when you have what you want."

   She shrugged and moved closer. "Truly I'd liked to hear the real story about you."

   He scoffed and let the next branch hit her as well. "Then you'd be the first. I offered to tell the story to your boyfriend, but he shook me off and said he didn't care."

   "Wait! My what?!"

   He glanced back and held onto the branch he has pushed back. "Audrey. I always thought you two had something."

   As he said Audrey's name, he sort of spat it out with contempt. Kinsey blushed and shook her head. "No. We never had something before."

   "Tell that to the pretty gift he gave you."

   She glanced down at her necklace  and then shoved it down the neckline of her shirt to hide it. "How'd you know he gave it to me?"

   Aldwin frowned even deeper if it were possible. "He paraded that trinket around the mess hall like it was his new trophy wife, saying he was gonna give it to his new prize. We all knew who he was talking about. Three different soldiers had tried to catch you the other day, but Audrey shoved the other two away so he could get you. Flattering? Tell that to Gerard and Kolby's bruises."

   That stopped her short. "He was parading it around? I thought he would be more secretive."

   Aldwin actually laughed. "Him? Secretive? He came marching into the barracks last night strutting like a peacock among crows, blabbing on and on about how you and him had kissed. He described it as being sexually exciting. Not what I would expect from a girl like you."

   "A girl like me?"

   He glanced at her and shrugged. "Virgin."

   The blush that came over her cheeks was the hottest her cheeks had been ever since her father had given her the talk. "Okay, time to change the topic. He said it was sexually exciting? Like…arousing?"

   He hacked a thorn bramble away in front of him with his knife, kicking away a dead limb and then jumping over a mud puddle. "Yeah. He kept walking around saying you'd put a feeling in him he hadn't felt in several years. He's twenty three. It couldn't have been that long ago."

   Another branch came back and whipped her in the cheek.

   "Ow! Could you stop doing that?! Now, back to the topic of your story?"

   He sighed and broke off the next branch he shoved. "Fine. I'm not an orphan and my family isn't poor. They're gypsies, never stopping or staying for long. My parents didn't want me, but I was an accident, so they dropped me here the first chance they got. Which was when I was four, too young to start training and way too young to be classified as useful. The king let me live here and I ran around the hallways, scrounging for morsels and staying away from everybody. I was finally qualified as a soldier and now here I am."

   Kinsey glanced up at him and stopped when he turned around. He leaned against a tree, crossing his arms and obviously waiting for a reaction. "Yeah. Not the tragic story you expected huh? You expected some amazingly noble story of a weakling hoping to get something for his family. Well think again. I'm just an unwanted gypsy child who has to do this because there's no where else for me. I get the travel I like and I get to see the sights I've always wanted to see. Perfect life for a gypsy. Aside from the fighting. Gypsies don't fight. We run. That's why I don't like to fight. It's in my blood. Now let's go find this thing and kill it so I can get back to my pathetic life."

   He turned on a dime and storms  off through the trees, breaking every branch or bramble that stood in his way. She tore after him, diving in front of him. He reared back as she stopped. "Wait! What makes you think that isn't the tragic story I expected. I didn't expect you to be an unwanted child, but that's still sad."

   He snorted and tried to walk past, but she stood in front of him. "No. Stop for a second and understand that I only treats  You mean because I thought you were just weak. I didn't know you had such a sad story."

   He clenched his fists and shoved her backwards into a tree. She grunted and then gasped as he held her there by her shirt front. "Listen. I'll say this once. Stay away from me, don't ever speak to me on this subject again, and don't call me weak. I try hard because I don't want to lose the one job I have. If I get removed from the squadrons, its back to the family that doesn't want me. Understand, captain?"