Chapter 36

“Glorious.” I said, gazing out over the city of Aribas. I was already impressed by the sheer scale of the walls surrounding this city, but the city that the walls protected went beyond my expectations. Humans would never cease to amaze me with their ability to adapt and live anywhere. From deep within forests full of monsters, to even the middle of a lifeless desert, humans have found ways to thrive.

“Come, dearest, we have too much work to do for us to be standing around sightseeing.” Merry said, although she was having her own troubles keeping herself from staring at the many shops and stalls lining the city entrance.

Merilyn and I had grown quite a lot in the past year, and now we looked more like 15 year olds. This was likely because the two of us had both reached adulthood in our true forms while training the little ones, causing us to go through rapid growth spurts in our human forms.

Merilyn had been quite cute before, but now she was undeniably a beauty among beauties. Her golden hair shined with a gem stone’s luster and her figure had finally filled out after several years of eating properly. At some point a few freckles has formed on her cheeks, but these human blemishes somehow only served to accentuate her charming features. Needless to say, she caught me staring from time to time.

“Perhaps I have become a little too accustomed to these forms” I mused. I wasn’t embarrassed about finding her human form attractive, she was still my Merry. It just seemed a little uncanny to me.

As for my body, I was quite proud to say that my beloved Rickurd’s form was doing splendidly. I made sure to keep my muscles well toned and firm, without becoming overly muscular and unwieldy and I was tall for my apparent age too. Over the years my brown hair had darkened considerably and now extended down to my shoulders.

“Oh? Do you mean to say that for once my Merry does not want to shop at the bazaar?” I said, offering her a mischievous grin.

“Worry not, my love, I shall take special care to see what wares this city has to offer after we finish doing what we came here to do.”

“Well, I suppose you’ll have the time for it…”

“As will you, which is why I trust you won't mind accompanying me while I shop.” She said, now returning my grin. I knew what she meant by that, that I would be the one carrying the various packages and parcels she purchased.

I hung my head low, defeated, and like that the two of us walked deeper into the city. We already had a good idea of the town's layout thanks to maps given to us by the Lord of Erstshire, and we were headed to a tavern inn called the Tilted Hourglass. It was recommended to us by that very same Lord because, in his words, “It is a very good place for those wishing not to be overheard.”

His intentionally vague wording puzzled us at the time. It wasn’t until now, as we were standing outside of the inn, did we understand what he meant.

“S-So noisy…” Merry said, amazed. The two of us hadn’t even entered the place, yet the noise coming from inside was equivalent to what you would hear on a crowded city street.

I just shook my head, not capable of understanding how humans could stand to live near this racket. Surely, it must have been another one of their amazing adaptations. As soon as we entered the building, we were greeted with an explosion of sounds and smells, like the carousing of mid day drunks and the scent of alcohol and hot food. The atmosphere in here was as lively as I had ever seen, with dancing and singing- all of which was accompanied by a live band playing a curious medley of drums and strings.

In the past a place like this would have set off my alarms and triggered my bloodlust, but now-

“So noisy indeed. Where do you think the innkeeper is in this mess?” I asked, looking around. In the corner of my eye I saw a desk with a small line of people in front of it. Deciding that it was our best bet, the two of us got in line as well.

“Is there anything I can do for you two?” the lady asked us once we got to the front of the line.

“Yes, there should be a room reserved for us under the name ”Illumen?“”

“Illumen…” she said, turning a page in a book of names she had in front of her “I’m sorry, your name doesn’t seem to be there…” she said tentatively.

“Scratch…!” I thought angrily, a vein pulsing in my head. Putting on a fake pleasant voice, I said “What about Merilyn, or Scratch?”

“Hmm…no, I’m afraid not.”

“I see…would you…uh…happen to have any rooms free?” I asked, making a mental note to box the boy’s ears the next time I saw him.

“Hmm, you’re quite a lucky one. Normally all of our rooms would be full at this time of year, but we happen to have one vacancy that just opened up. It’s just..um…oh my, it’s our Lovers suite, if you don’t mind…” Her face became flushed as she said that, looking from Merry to me.

“We’ll t-” I started, but then Merry said

“We’ll take it!” while smiling and hanging onto my arm. I could feel several jealous sets of eyes staring at me from the men closest to us.

Rolling my eyes, I said “We’ll be renting it for two days. We’ll also be having some company later, under the name Illumen. Ah, and if you see a guy our age with short hair and a dopey face, tell him he’s in a lot of trouble.”

“Will do sir! And will you and he misses be staying for dinner?”

“I suppose we will.”

“Then just find a seat anywhere and someone will be over shortly!”

The two of us nodded and, Merry still clinging to my arm, we found a corner table to sit in.

“What a pleasant little place.” Merry said, smiling at the rowdy joy of the establishment.

“Yes, once you get past the noise it certainly has its charms, though I still prefer the calm of the forest.”

The two of us chatted for a while, occasionally speaking up to gauge if anyone around us could hear what we were saying. There were a few people who, like us, were sitting quietly in their own little pockets of the room, and when we spoke up their attention was drawn our way.

“Eavesdroppers…but do they work for anyone, or are they just information brokers?” I thought, wary. Fortunately, as long as we spoke at a low volume, those men didn’t seem to be able to hear us.

Eventually a portly lady in an apron appeared at our table and said “And what can I get for you dearies, eh? Perhaps the couple would like a nice slice of cake to eat together?”

“Water. Meat. I don’t care what kind.” I said brusquely.

“I’ll have some of that cake, please. Also a plate of this spicy curry steak and greens? And a small glass of wine.” Merry said, elegantly as you please.

The portly lady was a little taken aback by our requests, but nonetheless said “Alrighty then! We’ll have that right out.”

“Looking to steal more recipes?” I asked, smirking.

“You weren’t complaining the other night when I made those coffee cakes you like so much.” she said, leaning over to plant a kiss on my cheek.

Once again I felt the jealous eyes of the various men around us, but I didn’t care. I was enraptured by Merry. For years she had been a rather timid and easily frightened creature, even to me. She had trouble speaking her mind and had a habit of just doing the things I wanted to do for fear that I would abandon her if she didn’t. But now? Now she was every bit as snarky as I was, and she didn’t shy away from teasing me.

And I loved it. Before she pulled away I made sure to get her back by giving her a peck on the lips, leaving her flushed.

“Illumi…!” she said, faking being indignant, before letting the facade fall and giggling.

“S’cuse me dearies, I’ve got your food right here!” The portly lady said, beaming at the two of us as she brought out our food. “If you need anything else, just find me or one of the other cooks and we’ll bring it right out to you.”

“Thank you.” Merry and I said in unison, still looking at each other.

“Hah, young love…” she said wistfully, before walking away to serve another customer.

The two of us tucked into our meals, mine being some kind of brazed chicken or duck, and then retired to our room for the rest of the evening. The room itself was a medium sized suite with a large bed and a number of candles at various stages of being melted laying around.

Incidentally, the pillows and blankets were all a rather vibrant shade of red. I had no idea why though. Since we had time to kill I figured Merry and I would spend the evening going over our strategy for tomorrow. We had already ironed out all of the kinks in the plan, but one could never be too sure.

But Merry had her own ideas for how we would spend our evening…

“Oh Illumi…” she said, laying down on the bed and beckoning me over with a finger. “Come, remove my dress for me.”

It wasn’t difficult to see what her intentions were.

She was like this whenever we got some alone time now. Ever since she reached maturity, Merilyn had been pouncing on me almost every night. At first I was able to deny her, as I still hadn’t reached my own maturity. Until, six months after hers did, my growth spurt finally happened.

I remembered the first night after I became an adult, I awoke in a cold sweat to an incredible pressure bearing down on me. I had been hunted before, but it was not until then that I truly understood what it meant to be somebody else’s prey. As it turned out, denying a young, fertile dragoness an outlet for her pent up desires was a horrid thing to do, and Merry made very sure to get that message across to me.

“Terrifying.” I had thought at the time, as I gazed into her eyes which were alight with maddened frenzy. The resulting next few nights were some of the longest and most exhausting of my life- even to the point where did little to save me.

Needless to say, I did not make that mistake a second time.

“Yes, my love.” I said automatically. It would do no good for anyone to deny her, and besides- I did enjoy it. I just wish she were a little more gentle…

****

A few hours later, after the sun had fallen below the walls of Aribas, there was a knock at our door.

“S’cuse me, dearies? There are visitors here to see you, so you’d best make yourselves decent. I’ll bring ‘em up in a few minutes.” came the voice of the portly lady from earlier.

“Right…” I said, rolling out of Merry’s embrace. I quickly gathered my clothes from around the room while Merry slipped back into her dress. I had just pulled a sock out from beneath the bed while muttering “…how did you even get under there?” when somebody else knocked.

“Come in.” I said, sensing who it was.

The door swung open and into the room stepped-

“Balor, Scratch! It’s so good to see you again!” Merry shouted happily, pulling both boys into a crushing embrace.

“S-S’good to see you too Master!” Scratch wheezed.

“A pleasure…as always…Master.” Balor said between breaths, before Merry released them both and looked fondly at her students. It had been the better part of a year since we saw these two- or any of our students really. The Lord of Erstshire had used what little influence he had to farm our children out to various positions in Langrace, all for the purpose of staging our coup-d'etat. Aside from these two, there were at least two dozen more of our precious children stationed throughout this city, and yet for some reason one of our most prominent ones was nowhere to be found…

“Balor” I asked “Where is Eri?”

Grimacing, Balor said “She won’t be able to make it tonight. They’ve put magic trackers on her and if she steps one foot outside of the Mages Guild they’ll know exactly where we are.”

I furrowed my brows and asked “They suspect her?”

“No sir.” he said, shaking his head “It’s just a precaution. She’s gotten herself into some pretty big projects at the Guild. The sort of stuff that even the Nobles aren’t allowed to know about. They keep tabs on all of them, as a matter of national security.”

“I see. Very well, then I will just have to contact her with .”

I spent the next few minutes sussing out Eri’s presence from the other talented mages at the Guild, and eventually I was successful in contacting her. I went over the plan, making sure she knew her roll and learning about some interesting secrets the Guild was hiding. While I did that, Merry brought Scratch and Balor up to speed as well.

“Now that that’s over” I said, cutting off the telepathy and turning to face Balor and Scratch “ do you two understand what you need to do?”

“Yes sir! The target is already in my hands, I just need a distraction so I can transport it safely.”

“And you?” I said to Scratch.

“ S’already done. No one’s going anywhere- at least, not by horseback.”

“Good. For now, return to your posts. We can have our actual reunion party after things settle down here.”

“Sir!” They both said, saluting. They turned to leave, but before they could…

“Ah, wait there was one more thing. Balor, you’re free to go, but Scratch I believe we still have something to discuss…”

“M-Master?” Scratch said stopping in his tracks and turning. Balor said nothing, and only snickered as he left his subordinate to fend for himself.

“I believe I told you to have a room prepared for us in advance, otherwise we would have nowhere to stay when we arrived in Aribas…”

“Oh…ah…yeah, about that…”

That night a great scream rang out over the Tilted Hourglass, but with all the noise in the building below, nobody seemed to have heard it.