Dragon Matchmaker

Chapter 6

   The fire crackled and a log popped violently below the rotisserie spit they'd set up. After an entire day of trudging through mud and getting slapped by wet branches, the second being mostly what she felt, they had turned in and set up camp.

   Kinsey glanced up and saw Aldwin spit off to the side, propping his fire poker against the fire ring. He pulled out a cylindrical piece of wood from his bag and then pulled out his knife. He began to carve and peel at the wood, continuing to shape it. It had obviously been worked on before, but not quite finished. It was about the length of his hand and the diameter of three of his fingers. She watched in silence as he shaped it into what appeared to be a sleeping dragon, with its wings tucked in and its tail coiled up.

   She took a deep breath and decided to try again. "You're really good at that? Did your parents teach you how?"

   He glared at her and, much to her surprise, threw the dragon in the fire. "No. My uncle did. It's how my tribe makes a living. We carve."

   She shrugged and gulped awkwardly. "Well, it sure did look nice."

   He sat back against the rock wall of the cave they had found, pulling out another smaller piece of wood which couldn't have been half the size of the old one. "They have to look good to be worth something. Now it's just a useless skill that'll never make me money. No one wants gypsy carvings around here. They think we're useless and stingy because we avoid tax collectors."

   "Well that's what gypsies do isn't it?"

   "Of course it is! We're excellent weaselers. We can get out of almost everything."

   Kinsey paused and then scooted further from him in case he snapped like earlier. "You keep referring to you and your family as we, but it would make sense if you didn't want to be counted as one of them anymore."

   He growled and clenched his hand on the knife, wrenching it harder against the block. "I'm not referring to my family. I'm referring to my tribe. I never said me and my family. I said tribe!"

   He ripped the knife through a groove in the wood, but then he yelled and dropped both the block and the knife, clutching his palm. She forgot all about her fear of his anger and rushed over, taking his wrist. "What happened? Open it."

   He yanked it away and growled, but she yanked it right back, snarling at him. "I'm trying to help. Now cooperate or bleed."

   He scowled at her, but them his palm unclenched and exposed a deep gash in his hand. She reached over to grab the bandages and her necklace suddenly slipped out of her shirt, bumping against his knee. She brought the bandages over and dabbed at his gash before wrapping it tightly with the bandages. She went back to her seat, avoiding eye contact with him. She reached up to situate her necklace and found the pendant was gone. She gasped and looked down, noticing her necklace was missing. "My necklace! Where'd it go?!"

   He shrugged and looked around on the ground. "I don't see it."

   She sighed and sat back, looking at the ground. "Audrey'll be so upset that I lost it the first night I had it."

   Aldwin cocked an eye and then cleared his throat at her, lifting his finger. On it was the necklace. She gasped and rushed over, snatching it from him. "I thought you said you didn't see it?"

   He chuckled and put his hands behind his head. "Just another gypsy skill. I was wondering how long it would take you to find out I took it, but you gave up pretty quick. Not a good sign from a leader."

   Disappointment and anger flooded through her. "You took it? Why?"

   He shrugged and closed his eyes, looking for all the world like he'd rather be taking a nap. "I wanted to see if you really meant it when you said that you and Audrey didn't have anything going on."

   "I never said we didn't have anything going on! I just said we didn't have anything going on before now."

   He laughed and waved a hand in her direction. "Oh, please. Don't try and hide the fact that you've found him utterly irresistible ever since you first saw him."

   She scoffed and stood up, pointing her knife at him. "No. I never felt any attraction to him."

   Aldwin gave her a teasing look and pointed at her. "Admit it! You wanted him to catch you. You wanted him to kiss you. And you want him in your bed don't you?"

   She gasped and threw herself over the fire onto his chest. He grunted and then yelled as she grabbed his hair and wrenched it upwards. "Take it back!"

   He grabbed her wrists and held them in place so she couldn't yank his hair again. He glared up at her from in between her arms and then he had the audacity to smirk. "I bet he wouldn't disappoint you. He's a real hit with the servant girls."

   She screeched and grabbed his head, rolling them both to the stone floor where they grappled for a moment or two before he suddenly shoved her over and pinned her down. He panted and stared down at her, his hair ruffled from their fight. "Alright. Fine. You don't wanna talk about the truth, then let's make up some lies shall we? You haven't secretly admired him for ages, you didn't enjoy the kiss he gave you, you don't care about the fact he's presented you with gifts and affection, and you don't want him to begin a sexual relationship with you. Oh, and you also think he's gonna keep the relationship going at your pace. There. There's the list of lies you've told yourself. Happy now?"

   She fought at his hands, but she had no chance of getting free. He'd sat over her waist and he had a death grip on her wrists. She glared up at him and blew her hair our of her eyes. "What do you mean he'll take the relationship going at my pace? He'll try and take it differently than what I expect?"

   Aldwin snorted and got off of her, sitting back down in his spot. "Yeah. Of course he'll take it differently. If by differently, you mean, faster, then yes. One day you're smootching in the mess hall and the next…boom! You're waking up naked in his bed."

   She snarled as she stood, pushing her hair off her face. "He wouldn't take it that far if I didn't want him to."

   Aldwin sat forward and gave the spit a turn, slicing the chicken open to see of it was cooked. "Of course he wouldn't. Which is why he'll use deceit, lies, and seduction to get you to cave. I've seen it done to dozens of innocent servant girls. One minute they're the cutest things you ever saw, the next, they've been hit by Audrey."

   "So, he's promiscuous?"

   Aldwin snapped his fingers and tapped the side of his nose. "On the nose! That's one word to describe it."

   This couldn't be true. Her dream guy was really more interested in sex than her. She sighed and sat down, hugging her arms around her knees. He looked around the chicken a bit more and then nodded, taking it off the spit and laying it on a wooden plate he'd brought. "Dinners ready."

   She sighed and shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

   For once, Aldwin paused and regarded her, then he sighed and pulled off a leg. "Fine. I'll eat half and then save the rest for you when you're ready."

   An hour went past, but her hunger never sparked up again, but Aldwin kept his promise and left half of the chicken behind. He sighed and went over to the corner, rolling out his blanket. "I hate to ask this, but did you bring your own blanket?"

   She shook her head and sighed, picking at the laces on her boots. "No. I forgot this morning."

   Aldwin groaned and rolled his eyes, laying down on it. "Then join me when you're ready. We have to share one."

v She sighed and left dinner untouched, going over and rolling in beside him. He pulled his second blanket  over top of them and rolled over so his back was to her. She didn't dare try and tell him goodnight. He'd probably grunt and shove her off the blanket, making her go and sleep on the cold rock. So she settled for a quick mental farewell before falling asleep.