IV. Retribution
To their chagrin, Alexander and Joshua had seen each other in town on the next few weeks. Alex was now surrounded all the time by men who looked just like him. Black leather outfits, scarves tied on their heads, and that stench of blood people found hard to stand when they were close to them. Throughout the years, there were not only McLeans and Richardsons fighting against the dragons, now they were also the Carters and the Littrells.
The dragons on the other hand, kept reproducing as if nothing was happening. As if nature refused to let them die. Joshua smiled at the thought of that, and took another sip from his honey wine, as Lance, his childhood friend sat next to him.
“I still can’t believe you were helping him, JC.” He was saying, shaking his head. “I’m sorry I was out of town, Joe needed me and...”
“Don’t worry, Lance, it’s fine.” Joshua responded in a lower voice, “and I should’ve never told you Chris called me JC.” Both of them laughed aloud, making people turn to look at them.
The town’s tavern was not as dark as the slayers always complained it should be. Amongst the inhabitants of the place, they had found followers and even advocates for their sacred cause; they had also found those who openly struggled against them, whether it was verbally or even fighting, but fear was a constant feeling amongst everyone. It was known that people disappeared from their houses and were never found again. However, the place represented a safe ground for everyone who entered there and it implied that no fights were to be started there, or else, they would never be accepted back.
The slayers were drinking their usual beer, and for what people could notice, some of them were already drunk and his voices had become louder as time passed. Lance and JC had looked at them sideways a couple of times already, and gone back to their conversation. They never spoke openly about certain things, though it was known in town who Joshua was. A healer from the mountains. It was not a secret either that he owned a dragon, but until the day of the incident with Alex, no one had dared harm either one of them.
On that night, however, it seemed like they wanted to start something. Joshua felt like something had changed and maybe Adair was no longer safe with him. He quickly thought of asking Chris to take Adair to the sacred meadow, though he also knew it would upset the dragon tremendously. He sighed, hurrying his drink. Lance noticed what he intended and left a few coins on the table. Justin, the owner’s son came to pick them up and smiled at them childishly, trying to diminish the effects of the slayers’ words. Joshua had always been a good friend of his house, and he did not want to have to see his face blank while the others continued saying the rubbish they were saying.
“You leaving, Healer?” Nickolas Carter shouted from their table. Lance put his hand on Joshua’s shoulder and led him outside the place. They had to hurry, since the truce lasted for as long as both sides were inside the tavern. Joshua allowed him, and soon they were walking to the outskirts of the town. They knew they were being followed, the tavern’s door had been slammed just a few moments after they left and there were footsteps behind them. Lance forced Joshua to hurry. “I asked you something, Healer!” Nickolas shouted again.
Joshua stopped then. The man turned to look at the others defiantly, which only augmented Nickolas air of superiority. Menacing, he thought, as he saw their height and their stare. “Kevin Richardson, Nickolas Carter, Brian Littrell and Alexander McLean, Joshua...” Lance told him in a whisper, “Let’s get our asses out of here, now!” he hissed this time afraid of what could happen to them.
“And I didn’t answer, did I?” Joshua rebuked. Lance stiffened and Alex raised his brow.
“Feeling brave, Healer?”
Joshua looked at him from head to toe and then backwards. He was annoyed by the way in which the blond one was talking to him. It upset him the fact that Alexander was there, standing in the back and saying nothing. Joshua turned again, this time ready to continue his way back home. He stopped again when a dagger flew near his ear and hit something wooden he could not identify what it was because of the darkness in the street.
“JC!” Lance hissed again, and moved his hand, showing him the way.
“JC?” Nickolas continued, “What kind of a name is that?” He laughed heartedly and Joshua believed he was going to return and hit him hard on the face. However, he did not. He knew they would come after him and Adair if he did, and as long as they did not do it, he was fine with it.
“Let it go, Nick.” Alexander said loud enough for him to hear.
“Right, brother. The red dragon! Yours!” When they all heard the words, they exploded in laughter. This time Joshua did not stop himself and turned. He was angry this time, and he faced the slayers, not thinking of what could happen.
“Anyone of you comes close to my place or to Adair and I’ll kill you! I swear to God I’ll kill you!”
“He’s got guts, the brat!” Kevin stepped out this time, facing him back.
“I said let go!” Alexander shouted at them and stepped between Kevin and Joshua, “You said it, it’s my fucking dragon! Now let this man be!” Nickolas wanted to say something else, and even Kevin dared try, but as soon as Alexander noticed it, he faced them, pulling out his sword, and looking at them in the eye, “You dare defy me? You dare defy me?!”
The men withdrew and shook their heads. While they did so, Lance pulled Joshua and headed to the man’s cabin.
Adair knew something had been wrong, and he had been walking from one place to the other around the cabin and had even burnt a couple of trees in his attempts to calm down. It was late already; the moon had already hidden behind the mountains and Joshua was no where to be found. He knew he was with Lance, but after the dragon slayer, Adair did not trust on people much. The slayer had one morning left the house with nothing but the clothes Joshua had offered. His old clothes had been burnt after they brought him to the cabin and there was nothing else he had. Joshua had put the man’s axe and sword down on the basement and they had never talked about the situation again. Adair had been restless ever since that incident. He knew Joshua and the fact that he would not do anything reckless, but still, Joshua was human and humans did not have many ways to protect themselves.
Adair moved the big mass of his body and sat on his back legs, looking at the sky. It had also been a moonless night when he had met Joshua. When he was but a little dragon, no bigger than the cat in the Chasez household, they had all told him the story over and over. Papa Chasez had always disbelieved Joshua when he told him—instructed by Chris, of course—than Adair could understand them, still, they would keep telling the story.
The dragon also knew Joshua had been listless since the night Chris had paid them a visit. He had seen the man walk into the house and a moment later, he had gone back to them again, humming an old tune Mama Chasez had taught him as a boy, and he had sat next to Chris, scratching Adair’s tummy at times. He had noticed Joshua sad. He just did not know why.
“Stop it Lance!” Adair heard Joshua’s voice raised over another one, then he saw the two men approaching the cabin. The dragon stood up, putting the weight of his body balanced on his back legs and front paws; he also swung his tail. Like Kitten, Joshua’s cat had taught him to. What he noted the most was the way Joshua looked at him when he saw him. Adair moved to the man slowly, frightened by the look in his eyes. Was it fear? He did not know and was taken aback by Joshua running faster to him.
The man got hold of the dragon and clung to him. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Adair. Nothing.” He repeated as a mantra many times before leading is two companions to his place.
It rained that night. The water had started fallen as a soft breeze, but suddenly, it had turned harder and stronger against the warm land. Lance had gone home before it even started, and as Joshua saw it falling, he was glad his friend had decided to go. He was still afraid, though. As soon as he, Lance and Adair had reached the house, he had run to the basement and had looked for Alexander’s sword and even for his axe. He had received a slight training as a child, which he had refused to continue once he had decided what to do with his life. Still, he was sure he would use either weapon in the best way he could. The dragon slayers, no, Alex, was going to come and look for Adair.
As time passed by, Joshua’s impatience grew, stronger, almost burning inside him. Despite the rain, he had decided to stay with Adair under the tent, preventing anyone from coming and attack them. However, even if Joshua had been blessed by God, he was nothing but a mere human, and after a few hours, he fell asleep. Adair took his turn to take care of him now, though he was also tired and was soon defeated by sleep and had started to snore, near Joshua.
That was what Alexander had been waiting for, a moment in which the other would not feel threatened, though he did not know exactly what he was doing what he was about to do, but he did know, or at least believed, that he was paying a debt he did not want to have with Joshua. Earlier that night they had faced each other, He, a McLean and his fellow slayers; Joshua and—actually, it had been only Joshua. JC, he repeated in his head, correcting himself. That had been the first name he had heard the other name be called by, and he preferred it. Alexander’s footsteps were not heard because of the torrential.
The man smiled as he approached the two beings who were soundly asleep by now. Adair was curled up, covering Joshua with his body, while the other was there, as if he were ethereal. They were not cold, Alex mused, since Joshua was not even trembling because of the cold, and by God that it was freezing out there.
Still, Alexander James McLean decided to stay under the rain, waiting for any kind of movement from either Adair or Joshua. As he turned and looked around him, he remembered his fight with the dragon. On that morning, he had been scouting the northern lands. The Littrells had always warned him about what he could find if he approached the mountains, but he had always known that that was exactly the best place to find the dragons. In his heart, Alexander blamed everything that had been sacred during the old days, for the loss he had suffered. Even though he had been only four when it all had happened, the constant nightmares kept reminding him of death, and most importantly, they had never let his destiny to fade away before him.
More than once, his mother and grandmother had tried to make him, on their words, come to his senses and forget about Robert. Denise used to tell him he had to cling to the beautiful moments he had lived by his father’s side. As soon as the woman was gone, David and Samuel would come to him and ask him to tell them again how his father had defeated the dragon. Alex would just repeat the story he had wanted to remember. Both dragon and slayer had died on that day, even when he had been too young to understand it then.
He had followed his instinct that day and had crossed the river that separated the manor from the northern lands and had stepped on a territory he was not familiar with. He had wanted to find answers. Dwarves that would confirm his fears and that would prove to be keen to die. His anger had grown every day at the time, hating from his brothers who had left him and his father alone and abandoned to their fates after running out of fear; the dragons because they had taken his father from him.
Alexander sighed. When he had seen Adair that day, he had been taking a bath in the river. His eyes had shone with pride and anticipation as he had seen the red dragon. He was the one who would have to die by the might of his sword—or axe, he did not mind. But even then, he had seen how powerful the animal had been. There was something about him, a feeling that Alex had not been able to comprehend, but that he had linked to royalty. The dragon had a presence that had actually impressed him—and that had made him want to kill him, skin him and then hang the scales on his own bedroom. But he had heard laughter that day. It was not a maiden in distress, he knew, for it was manly and strange to his ears. True laughter he had not heard in many years. That had been the trigger back then, for he waited for the man to come out of the river, his pale bare chest, contrasting against the fire-like red that were the scales of the dragon. He had seen the man pulling his hair together in a pony tail and had seen him as he walked away from Adair, perhaps looking for dry clothes, he had thought at the moment, but he was not sure.
Alex also remembered how the man had returned a few minutes later, bringing some fruits for the dragon, who had eaten from the man’s hands. The first and last thing he had ever seen dragons do was killing. Alexander smiled. He had known that he was going to lose that battle. Their behaviour, the connection between them, had made him doubt, for this was in no way ordinary.
However, when Joshua had entered in the river again, now Alex remembered more clearly his face, he had seen his moment to attack. He could still feel how hard he had held the sword with his hands, leaving its scabbard behind. Nothing had mattered back then, only the red of the scales and the knowledge of a prize that was going to be his. He had screamed, warning Adair with it. He was not able yet to decide why he had done it. Why he had told the others he was there.
The dragon had turned to where he was coming from, and had seen him running. It had been when he had seen the flicker in his eyes, the anticipation someone felt when he had survived many battles. Adair, Alex was now able to call them by their names, had swung his tail with strength and had hit him, sending him to the nearest tree. Alex had not given up just yet, he was more determined to fight back and kill him, much more now that he was not focused anymore.
‘Die!’ he had shouted over and over. The dragon had proven if not faster, more intelligent. He was not the same dragon from his past who had not used his fire until the end, this one was going to use it and he was now preparing for death. He would die a glorious glory just like his father had. Starting there, he could only remember someone shouting the dragon’s name and then it was all blurred, until the day when he had woken up on a cabin in the mountains.
Alexander shook his head, water dripping down his body, heaving his clothes, and even his sword. They were too different to live in the same world. The man looked for some stones on the ground and when he found them, he started to throw them at the man sleeping between the dragon’s legs.
The air was musky and wet when Joshua woke up startled by whatever thing was falling on him. The man opened his eyes, while Adair rolled over his back, showing his belly delighted. Joshua stood up clumsily, looking for the sword that was lying next to them. He could only see a shadow standing a few meters away from them.
“Who are you?!” He asked yelling, unsure of the answer he was going to receive and the outcome of said answer.
“It’s me.” The man responded, “Alex.”
When he heard the name and the known voice, Joshua flinched. If he was there, then it meant he had come for Adair.
“What are you doing here?” Joshua made the question carefully, expecting the worst as an answer.
“I...came here because I wanted to tell you something.” Alex began to say and started to walk near the cabin.
“Don’t take another step, Dragon Slayer.” It was time for Joshua to speak with a poisonous tone in his voice. Alex recognised that tone, though he had defeated every single person who had ever used it against him. “I mean it!” He added, raising his voice.
“I’m here because I don’t want to owe you anything. I’m not going to anything against your dragon.” Alexander started to let the words slip from his lips, saying them with such rhythm that it felt as if they were chants from the mountains themselves. “You saved my life, and I’m saving his.” Joshua remained silent watching him, not putting the sword down for an instant.
“I swear by God.”
“Your God means nothing to me, since he’s a God that believes in killing.” Joshua said bitterly.
“I swear on my honour.”
“You Dragon Slayers have no honour, McLean.”
“I’m afraid that’s all you have to believe in, Healer. You saved my life and I do have my honour.”
As he finished he turned, the rain diminishing little by little as the man tried to put some distance between him and Joshua. It was slippery, the terrain forcing him to be more careful as he took each step.
“Why?!” Joshua yelled, finally dropping the weapon next to him, and coming out of the tent under the pouring rain.
“This is my oath to you, JC. That’s all.”
Alexander looked for the path that would lead him back to the McLean Manor and far from Adair and Joshua who stood on the same place until he heard Adair grunting. Joshua nodded to the darkness and walked back into his cabin, ready to going back to his life. Willing to forget about the Dragon Slayer and the threat he was to Adair.
There is more to come, which will be found on the author's site.