Chapter 5

With yesterday’s meeting having gone nowhere, Victor returned to his duties. He flew a flight of some thirty kilometers–or sixty fields as the Lokahnians preferred to say– east of Whitestream, over the Stejer and across storm-battered forests. There, the small town of Morgansen awaited.

Of all the places in the world to meet, this dreadful town. It was seated on a plain bearing the scars of war. From scorched vegetation and felled trees, to holes blown into the ground from cannon blasts, and worst of all the disturbed earth bearing the bodies of those slain in the fighting for this area. Victor kept his eyes away from the ground, but the faint rot in his nose painted a solid picture of the horrors which had occurred here.

For the love of Divinity, let this war be over soon.

The Homefront’s troops standing guard at the gates saluted as he passed overhead. He circled for a while over the thin stone and timber wall around the town while looking for a place to land, eventually settling on a wide, empty street. From above, it was plainly visible that most of the townsfolk kept their presence contained on a single market street, and a large congregatory building. Likely a temple to Divinity, even though the appearance of the building didn’t match what a temple looked like. It was sober, and lacked a garden.

Victor angled his wings against the wind, slowing himself down as his claws drew nearer and nearer to the cobble streets. He took in a breath, and went for it; first his hindlegs, then the forelegs fell upon the stone, and he came to a running stop.

“Alright, here we are. Now where is she?”

There was a soft wind blowing through the streets when Victor landed. The clouds in the distance had a grey tint, the kind one would rather avoid altogether. A tinge of watery dust rose from the cobble under his feet. The first few days of spring always took time to get used to.

Not long into Victor’s search, he approached a pedestrian to ask for directions. The time wasn’t right for him to be spending energy needlessly. For all he knew, the imperials were about to attack.

“Excuse me, sir. Do you happen to know where the city clinic is located?”

The man, a wrinkly figure with a thick, bushy mustache, didn’t look further up than Victor’s chest. “Same place as usual, pal.”

Victor scratched his head. “Uh, my apologies, I do not know where that is. I’ve only just been assigned here.”

“Yeah, yeah, no surprise there. Seems like you dragons keep sending new people here every week. Unless a bunch of you dragons came along and moved it, it’s on Fortress Street, right next to the main square, yeh. Can’t miss it. ‘S got the big symbol on it and everything. The flag.”

“Oh yes,” Victor nervously replied. Tough crowd.

“Now can you please get going? Don’t wanna be caught up in whatever reprisal comes next,” the man said with zero emotion in his voice. Victor raised an eye at his words. They didn’t sound right.

“Excuse me, sir, but what reprisals are you talking about? The Homefront doesn’t do reprisals, that would be wrong.”

The man wiped his face down with a heavy hand. “I’m talkin’ about imperial reprisals, what else. They’ll be back here one day, and they’ll raise abyss like they’ve never raised abyss before. You know how awful the last few times were?”

Victor nodded. “I understand, but the imperials are gone now. You won’t have to worry about them anymore.”

The man scoffed at him. “Oh, we’ll see about that, redscale.”

“...redscale?!” Victor looked dumbfounded at the man. One generally doesn’t throw shade at a dragon, let alone one of Victor’s size. Well, except Victor, that is.

“Yeah, redscale. That’s you alright. Look at ya. For a killing machine you sure don’t act like one.”

“I’m not an evil bastard,” Victor said back in a voice that was far too high pitched to match the mouth it came out of. The man shook his head.

“Never said you were. That’s the imperials, alright. But look at you. You lot don’t have the guts to stop ‘em, finally. They’ll be back here one day, I can feel it. See this town? See how stripped it is, how empty the houses are?” the man gestured towards the rest of the street behind him. The building lining the road were scarred from the persistence of time, as if they had been derelict for years. “Yeah, they’ll finish the job alright.”

“Not if we have anything to say about it.” Victor fluttered his wings in an exaggerated, prideful matter. It wasn’t very convincing.

“We’ll see, redscale. I’d love to be proven wrong, but I doubt it.”

The man turned and disappeared in a narrow, cluttered alley. Victor’s tongue dug into his cheek.

‘How could anyone think we’re something to be afraid of? I’m supposed to lead the country according to my father, yet here I am being turned into a joke. Nrgh, what am I doing, I shouldn’t be getting caught up on this. I just need to find her, that’s all.’

Keeping his head low, Victor wandered through the wide and empty streets of Morgansen. He was careful to avoid the main market area and square, despite them being the fastest route to the clinic at the other end of the city. The few people he did pass seemed as defeated as he was; they paid little heed to the large dragon walking past. The townsfolk were as dreary as the buildings they inhabited. It was as if everyone here had given up. Was there any point, anyhow? The war had been raging in this area for a solid two years now, with no end in sight still. All that fighting had made hope in short supply.

The red dragon made his way through the city streets, passing by storefronts and craft shops, homes and places of refuge for weary travellers, old communal buildings and city watch headquarters that had seen better days. Upon reaching Fortress Street at last, it didn’t take long to spot the crowd that had gathered at the end of the road, away from the market. Victor rushed over.

“Celesta? Celesta? Are you there?”

Victor came to a stop halfway across the street. A purple silhouette came out from another street. Its head turned immediately towards Victor, and as it fell out of the shadows, a wide toothy smile appeared, shining clear as crystal.

“Vic!”

The two dragons ran towards each other in a strong gallop, their tails whisking through the air as their wings conjured up a surprisingly strong gale, causing some of the passersby to waver in their tracks.

For a moment the purple dragoness wanted to leap at Victor, her claws were readied for the manoeuvre as did her profile sink. Remembering that they were not out in the middle of the woods, however, she tried stopping herself. It did not work out as planned; the two dragons bumped into each other’s noses.

“Agh!”

“Oww!”

Victor shook his horned head around, one claw lifted up to his nose to pat the lump he’d received. He looked back up to see the purple dragoness do the same, except with puffy cheeks. It wasn’t long before he lost control over his own cheek muscles as well. Supposedly they were paragons for the non draconic population of the world, yet here they were chuckling like fools while the crowd by the clinic watched with part unimpressed, part ticked off gazes.

“Well, that certainly is a way to say hello after all this time,” Victor said out loud. “It’s been too long!”

The purple dragoness nodded and laughed; for a dragon, her voice was smooth and easy on the ears, the kind of voice one would associate with the kindest of intentions. “Careful though, you might scare some people with that kind of bravado, Victor. I mean, I’m not complaining about it myself, or anything, it’s just.” The chuckles resumed. Victor drew and exhaled a relieved breath.

“I’m just glad we don’t have to be so formal all the time. My father demands it of me constantly these days. It doesn’t feel right at all, you know. That’s not me. I’ll always be a country bumpkin at heart, no matter what happens.”

“Even if scales suddenly grew over your skin?”

“Even if scales suddenly grew over my skin.” Victor’s tongue dug into his cheek. Well, it wasn’t exactly sudden now, was it. ‘Forced’ would be more accurate.’

“Well, I certainly don’t mind. There’s not nearly enough people like you in the world, Vic. It’s too bad, but hey. At least I have you.” Celesta pecked the red dragon on his nose.

Victor scratched his neck, blushing all the while. “That’s, that’s very sweet of you, Celesta.”

“It’s the least I could do,” the purple dragoness replied, then looked over her shoulder. The crowd by the clinic was as unimpressed as ever. Further down the street, someone was hanging out the window, shooting a deep glare at the two dragons. “We should find somewhere more private to talk, okay? It’s a busy day at the clinic.”

“Did something happen?” Victor asked. Celesta shook her head in a saddened manner.

‘Oh, a light disease outbreak. Some kind of mushy foot. People are struggling to walk.“

Victor harrumphed out a dull note, feeling a slight amount of guilt for ever asking. I’ve had mushy foot before. That was absolutely miserable.

“I'll let the staff of the clinic know that I’ll be gone for a while, okay? I feel kind of bad leaving them when they’re busy, but-”

“You don’t have to leave them if you can’t, I don’t want to be selfish,” Victor said. He was worried he wasn’t coming off as sincere enough.

“Nonono,” Celesta replied, “it’s alright. I cannot help them forever, anyhow. We can’t just make people depend on us all the time, that wouldn’t be healthy for any of us.”

“Alright,” Victor said, followed by a click of his tongue. “Wouldn’t it be intimidating, though?”

“What do you mean?” Celesta asked.

“Hmm, well, this may just be me, but I would be frightened if a large dragon suddenly came up to me and just threw any chance of helping out completely out of the window like that. There’s not much room for arguing about it.”

Celesta tilted her head with visible confusion on her snout. “But I’ve known and communicated with these kinds of clinics since we left the temple, Vic. They know who I am. I would never try and intimidate them.”

Victor nervously cllcked his tongue again. “Uhh, I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just, if I was a human and I, uhh… saw… saw a dragon come by and…”

If he had any objectionto begin with, he’d well and truly forgotten it now. There he was, standing in the middle of the street, wings curled up around his sides and tail slumped on the ground, stuttering his way through a whole load of nonsense he was conjuring up on the fly. He felt the judging stares of the clinic’s patients press against the back of his head. Even the few words he could think to say were hard to get out now. Celesta chuckled at his half open jaw and darting eyes, bumping the red dragon on the snout with her own.

“Oh, Victor. You worry way too much! It’ll all be fine, don’t worry. The people of this town are not fools, they can handle themselves fine for a while! And that’s just what we want, isn’t it? We want everyone to be all good and healthy.”

Victor sighed. “Yes, yes I understand,” he said under his breath, as if he had been running up and down stairs for ten minutes straight.

“You’ll see, it’ll all be okay. I’ll go and inform the staff, and then we can spend some time with each other, okay?”

The lavender dragoness wandered off towards the clinic in a jolly rhythm. The people standing outside all made room for her without any objections, their strides as tepid as can be.

Victor looked over his shoulder; a few other people were on their way to the clinic, but stopped dead in their tracks. His mouth curled into a frown, then he stepped aside. He had to have been blocking the street. Sure enough, the people made their way through the widened gap. At first Victor wanted to watch them pass, but that wouldn’t do. Not with their faces as saddened as they were. He might’ve damaged the buildings next to him, anyway.

Celesta wasn’t gone for long, and she brought the scent of some kind of soup with her. It largely smelled of onions and pig’s fat, with hints of carrot and leek thrown in there for good measure. Such a simple meal, yet mouth watering regardless. Victor’s dragon blood hadn’t destroyed his human appetite, in any case

“It’s okay! The staff had no problem with it. We’re all good to go now.”

Victor lifted his wings back up. “Huh. But the clinic looks busy, doesn’t it?”

Celesta nodded. “Oh yes, but they can handle it. Well, except the soup. I had to help them a little with that.”

“Really? It doesn’t smell like a very complicated soup to me. Onions, pig fat, you know. I’ve eaten that plenty growing up,” Victor said. Celesta chuckled right back.

“Let me tell you something, Vic. You wouldn’t expect a dragon of all things to have to teach people how to prevent something from burning, but you’d be surprised.”

“Oh.” Victor couldn’t hold in the laugh stuck in his throat. That’s pretty funny, actually.

Celesta breathed out in relief. ”Well, that’s all done and over with,” she said while stretching her neck, “shall we get going?”

Victor nodded. “Of course.”

* * *

The two dragons went on to search the city for a place they could have a bite to eat. Celesta had tended enough to the needs of others for her to give her own some attention, and Victor had a long flight behind his back, even if he wasn’t feeling all too peckish. They went to a quiet sector of the city where only a handful of people dwelled over damaged roads, many of them sidestepping into dark alleys the moment they caught a glimpse of scales.

Victor had his doubts, but Celesta paid it no heed. They went and searched for a little tavern that would serve them: They found something promising on the end of a street that bore no name - ‘Nameless Street’, the lavender dragoness dubbed it with a laugh. It was a relatively large place named ‘The Gavel’. A look through the window revealed a small crowd. Celesta knocked on the door. It swung open half a minute later: A man with three large scars running over his head stood on the other end.

“What do you want?”

“Greetings,” Celesta said, “We’d like to know if there’s-”

“We don’t serve dragons over here.”

“...Pardon?” Celesta raised a talon to her chin. Victor’s jaws opened a little.

“You heard me, we don’t serve dragons over here.”

“What do you mean?”

“None of you sons of bitches pay your dues, that’s what. Been runnin’ this business for ten goddamn years and no one’s been so entitled before. I feed you, you demand it free of cost or you threaten to burn my shop down. To the abyss with you all! I’m not workin’ for you sons of bitches anymore. Now piss off.”

“Wait, sir! We don’t mean that at all-”

“Yeah, you have nothin’ to pay me with. You think I’m stupid? You’re all the same.”

The scarred man slammed the door in their faces. Victor and Celesta looked each other in the eye, both with jaws hanging half open.

Did that just happen?

“Uhm, Vic? I think we should go.”

“Yes, I agree.”

Without a word said, the two went back on the search for a new place to eat. But their troubles were far from over; by now, they were attracting dirty looks from a variety of shady figures hiding in the narrow, shadowy alleys. Without exception, they looked prepared to mug a man. Most retreated deeper into the shadows when eyes met, their features becoming further obscured to all but the sharpest eyes.

Eventually, Victor and Celesta decided to dodge the city for the moment. They both took wing and flew out onto the battle scarred plains. They’d have to eat the old fashioned way. Hunting for food… the thought by itself made Victor nauseous. Worse than that, Morgansen’s inhabitants were hellbent on driving them to that. What for? They were supposed to be liberators, yet were being hailed as conquerors.

“Celesta? I don’t feel so good.”

“Is it a stomach ache?” Celesta asked, gesturing at her chest. Victor presumed she was going to make a comment about being hungry, but her blue eyes had a tinge of worry in them that couldn’t be dismissed. He groaned as his head went a little lower.

“No, it’s just, I don’t like hunting. It feels revolting. Who can kill another creature and just devour it whole?”

Celesta nodded. “Well yes, that is something that takes a while to get used to. It took me a year myself. But really, is it any different than keeping livestock? It’s messier, yes, but the result is the same.”

“Fair enough.” Victor looked over his shoulder back to the town. “But we’ve been driven to this. Why didn’t we bring any money?”

Celesta’s head backed away. “Well, ehrm, I haven’t eaten out much. Normally the clinics I work for provide food for me. And usually there’s a farmer or a tavern that has something to spare for a dragon, but I don’t know what it is. Morgansen isn’t very rich, I guess.”

Victor shook his head. “Yeah. The war’s been going on around here for a while. But it’s not just that. You saw how hostile that man was, right? They don't want us here.”

“Don’t say that! They might just be agitated, or they’ve had a few bad experiences,” Celesta tried to explain. Victor wouldn’t accept her words for what they were, though.

“A few bad experiences is all it takes. You heard the tavernkeep, right? Just a few bad experiences with dragons was all it took for him to close his doors. He might even want the Justitians to come back now.”

“Who in the right mind would ever want that? They’ve been oppressing Lokahn’s culture from the day they’ve come in here! Everyone has a tale to tell on what they’ve done,” Celesta said with a foot forward.

Victor eyed the lavender dragoness from top to bottom, then grunted uncomfortably. “I’m not so sure of that.”