An Affinity For Fire

10. Heleonne

Leo had never particularly enjoyed riding. To him, it was more of a necessity than a pastime. But at least with half-breeds the journey would only be a few days.

If Clover got the hang of riding one.

"You're being too gentle," He told her as her half-breed reared. "Dig your heals in harder."

"But I don't want to hurt her," Clover insisted, clinging to the reins.

"She's a lot stronger than a horse," Leo explained for the fifth time, "and she needs to be treated more forcefully or she won't do what she's told."

Half-breeds were the offspring of a female horse and a male kelpie. They were stronger, faster and much fiercer than their mothers, whilst still being slightly less aggressive and volatile than their fathers. They were also extraodinarily expensive.

"You're lucky my father isn't here to see you," Leo said. "He'd never let you borrow Thunder if he knew you'd never ridden a half-breed."

He had had a hard enough time convincing his father that Tarragon and Clover should join him. Getting him to let her take his prized Thunder on the journey had been near impossible. But without being able to give away the importance of their journey, Tarragon had only managed to convince his aunt and uncle to lend him a single half-breed, leaving Clover mountless.

And travelling to Aestas by horse would take far too long.

Once Clover had managed to get Thunder under control, the first half-day of riding was fairly smooth. They followed the Wolf Track south-west, through woodlands, fields and valleys. Shortly before sunset, they reached a stone bridge over a vast river. Beyond the bridge, the track widened and veered slightly further south.

"Here," Leo said, pulling to a stop. "We should camp for the night. This bridge marks the end of the Wolf track. From here on, we enter the Fractured Fields. Better to stop somewhere where there's water and vegetation."

Tarragon didn't need to be convinced. He swung from his saddle and winced as his feet hit the ground, rubbing his thighs. Clover took a little longer to get down, clearly sore all over.

"I definitely prefer horses," She groaned.

Leo dismounted and looked his two travelling companions up and down. They were a sorry sight, and he couldn't imagine he looked any better. With two more days of riding, he knew they would only get more sore, dirty and sweaty, especially under the Aestasan heat. He dreaded to think what Queen Romira and the royal court of Aestas would think of them.

They were requesting a conversation with Fitteia the aderach, that was their cover story. In reality, they needed to get a basilisk's tooth. They would have to wait until they got to Ocassus to acquire the third item, the tongue of a siren. The last thing needed for a summoning spell was the blood of either the individual or something close to them. To get Merith's blood, they would need to know where she was, and if they knew that, they wouldn't need a summoning spell in the first place. The ideal solution would be a family member, but the old mage had no known relatives. Fortunately, the mastering of all four core roots of magic had allowed her to grant immortalitly not only to herself, but also to her numerous pets. One of them, an owl, was still kept in the Dormisian royal aviary.

Sadly, the other required creatures were not kept so close to home. Some long-dead Ocassan noble had given two basilisks to an Aestasan king many years ago. At the time, the species had been dwindling, but basilisks still existed in the wild. Now, though, the Aestasan pets were the only two known to still be alive.

And somehow, Leo needed to get a tooth out of one of them.

"So," Leo said, throwing down a blanket to sit on. "Clover, you seem to know the most about divine creatures. What can you tell us about aderachs?"

"Not a lot that's helpful."

"I know pretty much nothing," Tarragon said, "so anything would be helpful."

Clover sighed, sitting down. "Alright, well ... they're closely related to dragons. they don't have males and females, so any aderach can breed with any other aderach. Not that they do that often, they tend to be pretty aggressive towards each other. They're far more intelligent than humans. When they're asleep, they dream of everything that's happening everywhere and they have a near infinite memory. Oh, and they can speak in almost every human and animal language currently in existence. So, they don't just watch us while they're sleeping, they listen to all our conversations."

"Right," Tarragon said. "Because that's not unsettling in the slightest."

"Don't flatter yourself," Leo said. "They're watching every living thing in every part of the realm, I doubt your life is of enough interest for them to fixate on it."

Tarragon opened his mouth to make some sort of retort, but Leo never got to hear it. he was cut off by Clover.

"Boys, be nice. You're giving me a headache. Now, I'm going to go and get some wood and when I come back you two had better have stopped acting like six-year-olds."

She left before they could argue.

Leo sighed. "She certainly has no qualms with telling people what to do."

Tarragon grunted out a bitter laugh. "You have no idea. It doesn't matter who she's talking to, either. She speaks truth to power, always has. You should have seen her in a classroom." He laughed again, but this time it was a warm, gentle sound.

Leo couldn't help but smile. He watched her wandering about between the trees, stooping to pick up dry wood.

She looked so much like a Dormisian. No Ortusian had hair as light as hers. Nor did they laugh so whole-heartedly, or smile so boldly.

"Hello?" Tarragon said.

Leo blinked and tore his eyes away from her. "Sorry. Yes. Truth and power. Urm... what else did you say?"

Tarragon narrowed his eyes, his expression once again cold. "Hold on, do you- no, no, of course you don't. How could you? You're getting engaged," he said, overly enunciating the last two words.

Leo turned his head, trying to hide the flush of blood rising to his cheeks. "What does it matter to you?"

"It matters because Marram is my cousin. If you know anything at all about Ortusians, you'll know that loyalty and family are everything to us, so if you ever hurt her, or Clover ... well, I don't need to threaten you. You've seen enough of Clo to know that it won't end well for you."

"May I remind you, the engagement party never finished, so strictly speaking, I am not yet under any obligations to settle my engagement." He left out the part where his father would throttle him if he refused her.

"Alright," Tarragon said, tone nonchalant. "Do what you want. But if you mislead Clover, don't say I didn't warn you for the Hells she will rain down upon you-"

"How's it going?" Clover called out, causing both boys to turn. "Best friends yet?"

"Like brothers," Leo said, plastering on a massive smile and slapping Tarragon heartily on the back. he heard the boy suck in a breath as he stumbled forwards slightly.

"Yes," Tarragon bit out with an equally false smile. "Brothers indeed."

When Clover turned around again, Tarragon leaned into his ear.

"And if you touch me again," he hissed, "I'm committing bloody fratricide."