TAW Tales: How to Train Your Shifters (#1)

~ Chapter 18 ~

Just so you have some background info about Mildew (I know most of you wouldn't need it, but I'm writing for those of you who DO need it), he's a thin, old man with a knobbly chin and a grey wisp of a beard. He adores his sheep and hates his three wives, all of whom had mysteriously died.

Oh, yeah, and he hates dragons.

After we'd helped the Vikings rebuild their village a little bit, my friends, the Dragon-Riders and I stormed at once up to his hut on the hill, which, miraculously, hadn't been touched at all.

As we knocked on his door and heard his sheep baa lazily, I doubted he'd even known there was a battle going on. Or he'd intentionally ignored it.

He opened the door and scowled down at us; five Dragon-Riders whom he absolutely hated and seven strangers from another land. Maybe he wouldn't have cared about us as much, except for the fact that Zero had Boomy perched on his shoulder and I had Wavebreaker sitting behind me on his haunches.

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you lot want now?" he drawled, his voice nasally and scratchy.

"We want to know why you never came out to help us while the Outcasts were attacking our village, Mildew," Astrid said flatly, her voice quivering with anger.

"Attack? What attack?"

I noticed that he didn't sound surprised, nor did he betray any sort of remorse for his absence. I gritted my teeth. Oh, he'd known about the attack alright.

"And who are these... strange people?" He looked down his nose at us as if we were something disgusting a dragon had dragged in.

"Oh, hi there," Night said, pretending to be happy and ignoring his rude manner. "My name is Night Shadow and these are my friends; Winter, Luna, Moon, Zero, Everest and Willow."

Winter face-palmed herself.

"Howcome I haven't see you around before?" Mildew asked in a low voice edged with suspicion.

"We're the ones asking the questions here, Mildew," Astrid cut in scathingly.

Mildew snorted. "I don't have to answer anything you throw at me."

"Why weren't you at the battle?" Astrid pressed on, ignoring him. "And how could you not hear it? We heard it from all the way across the valley!"

"I was sleepin'," Mildew replied unhelpfully.

"And if it happened to be a dragon-battle?" I inquired. "A battle between Vikings and dragons once again?"

Mildew narrowed his eyes at me. "You clearly do not know what a real battle between dragons and Vikings is. No one can sleep through anything like that. Of course, you wouldn't know would you?" he went on. "You come from another land, eh?"

I felt my heart skip a beat. His guess was too close to the answer. I did not want him to know where we really came from; there was no telling what he might tell the Outcasts.

Because as we walked away, Mildew slamming the door after us, I had no doubt in my mind that we had found our traitor.