Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 51: Bloodsucker

I climbed into Leera's saddle, feeling none of the enjoyment I usually did when I was about to go flying. A cinem woman—presumably Menira—took off. Tawny, Kuertis, and Clarisa followed without trouble, apparently unbothered by the collars.

"Take off and follow the other dragons," I said.

Leera's response was immediate. Within seconds, we were in the air, heading to Fraz.

On the way to Fraz, we passed over dry, barren countryside the color of rocky sand. There were few plants and fewer animals. Fraz city soon came into view. It was decently large, a bit bigger than my hometown. Menira took us for a short flyby over the city, and I noticed that it was arranged in thirds. One was filled with houses, one with shops, and one with public buildings like inns and what appeared to be a large bathhouse.

Menira landed with us in the middle of a circle comprised by several inns, where a fairly large area had been paved but otherwise left empty. I figured it was to allow for dragon and katalni riders to land directly in the city instead of walking in. My assumption was confirmed by the presence of several small dragon stables next to the inns around the circle.

As soon as we landed, Menira took off without another word. I hoped that Clarisa had some money to actually pay for a stay in one of the inns, because it was quickly getting dark and cold.

Clarisa dismounted first. "Follow me," she said with the air of someone who wanted to sound like they knew what they were doing.

We followed her toward an inn called Me Xnorkin Vuenitali. The Lykelish translation was written underneath—The Firefly Traveler. We went inside, through a tavern, and up to the check-in desk.

Clarisa opened her mouth, but Kuertis jumped in first. He conversed with the barman for a minute in fluent Ferish, then told us, "For one day and night, a room costs one amillian, and a stall in the stable is two ionites."

I'd heard that Ferentisians used crystals as currency, but I had no idea how much each was worth.

"Ask for two rooms and four stalls," Clarisa said.

As far as I could tell, Kuertis did as she'd asked. The man behind the counter took out two iron keys and four bronze ones. He waited patiently for Clarisa to dig around in her coin purse for the payment before setting a pile of thin, circular chips of crystal on the counter—two red, the rest blue. All of them were engraved with a crown on one side. As soon as the barman had counted them, he handed over the rings.

Kuertis said something that sounded like it would be a "thank you" as he took the keys. He gave us each one of the bronze ones as we went outside to our dragons. They hadn't moved, just as still and quiet as when we'd left them.

At our instructions, the dragons followed us into the stable. I opened one of the six katalni-sized stall doors and told Leera to go inside. She did. I glanced over my shoulder to look at the others putting up their dragons. They wouldn't understand if I took off Leera's collar and never put it back on, but I wasn't about to just leave her like she was. Maybe if I could somehow get it off and stop it from working, she could wear the collar without any ill effects when I put it back on.

I wouldn't be able to do it with the others watching, though. They quickly unpacked their dragons and had their bags ready to go inside, but I purposefully went as slowly as possible. By the time they'd finished, I was only halfway through undoing Leera's saddle straps.

I waved at the others. "Go on without me."

"We have the rooms six and seven on the first floor," Kuertis said.

"Okay, I'll meet you guys there soon as I'm done."

They left, and I finished taking off Leera's saddle and my luggage before starting to try and get her collar off. It had a couple of latches on the back, but they wouldn't budge, even when I had Leera kneel so I could get more leverage.