Snakes and Ladders-28

Chapter 28

It’s like out of LOTR when Boromir was talking about the horns of Gondor calling them home. Rampart has that sort of feeling right now a little as this is the place that I’ve spent the most here and there is something that tugs at me as I fly over to the castle section itself and see streets I know and shops I’ve been to while training here.

I bite my lip at some of those kinda sort of home feelings.

I had a few towns like this when I was trucking. Those places you’ve been to so many times that you know them well. It’s actually a good thing y’know.

Home away from home can be good because it’s not home.

I loved my house, my kids and wife and family in my old life but honestly I was a bit less than happy a lot of the time in Grand Rapids and before that South-Side Detroit. There were a few regular stops that just felt like so much less crap than home.

Rampart has that appeal to me right now.

We’re signaled in to land near our quarters and I let Bhlaze do all the stuff since I don’t know the flag signals and stuff.

I’ve been on airplanes before but there is nothing like the effect and feel of a dragon’s living mass under you and part of you as wings flare out and catch air and scoop us to a halt and then this almost elegant landing.

~Of course it’s elegant I’m a dragon not some prancing flying pony. ~

~Flying ponies ooh where!?~

~Well here on the Planet in a few places that are fairly out of the way like The Endless Mountains or The Great Eastern Grasslands but they can be found on Skywood as well as rare breeds of them on Rymora, Wildera and Shaelani.~

~Ohhh that’s so cool…I mean that they exist. ~

He cranes his head around so he can look at me with one eye at least. ~Of course they exist, winged horses as well and all manner of things exist Erendae. ~

~Well home all of this is things of legend, they’re not considered real. ~

~It’s human’s that way here. ~

~I heard we’re wondertales? ~

~More like horror stories. ~

I think about that a bit and honestly even in my own culture mankind can be pretty realistic about how crappy we are as a people.

~Well from what I’ve seen we’re no more evil that people here. ~

~T’iss true there are unsavory beings in all manners of form. That is because Evil and Good have no sole form and can be apart of all beings. ~

I get off and I start to unhook his gear while stamping my feet and giving myself a shake to get things sort of settled. I’m not going to be here and be seen trying to pull my panties out of my butt through my armor.

I see the pages and squires for the fortress arrive along with one of the soldier corporal’s and he looks to me and I give him a salute. (Thumb folded in over the palm so the hand is a leaf then placed over the heart.) “I have report to give to the commander and requests to be made for Dragonryder Shaya.”

He blinks actually surprised that I’m actually being all that official and stuff because I’m not exactly know for it and he nods. “I’ve been sent to fetch you for the commander just for that Lady. Lad’s treat our winged friend with respect and get him watered.”

~Ale.~

I grin. “He says ale.”

“Aye well then get our winged friend his casks and some supper and give him a scrub down too now.”

There’s a carousal of “Yes Corporal’s” from the youths except one that looks pissy about it and has that sort of spoiled rich look like an elfin version of the Malfoy family.

I can see it too, Pages and Squires are to be knights and therefore nobles and in any other place other than a Crown fortress he be this soldiers “Better” and he resents some commoner giving him orders.

It’s just the one but yeah I can see Lyam’s crowd has deep roots in these old ways.

I follow my escort and its right to the commander’s offices and I’m greeted by the heady smells of coffee.

Now I’m a trucker and I’ve drank so much coffee I stopped a long time ago. It’s not that I hated it but I hated it…it had to be really excellent coffee for me to even consider it.

The commander is there and he’s making coffee but he’s got an ornate bowl and hot water and he’s whisking it like Japanese green tea.

“Kaffet?”

“Not usually sir but this smells wonderful.”

“It’s L’honei volcanic pearlette kaffet.”

“I…okay we have something like it back home but I’ve never seen it made this way.”

“This is the Shaelani way of making kaffet; they borrowed from the Kyu-nari way of frothing tea.”

“Oh…that makes sense I guess.”

“Please sit.”

I get a seat and he pours the coffee and he has a thing for the cream which is foamy and basically he makes me a cappuccino and being sylvan elegant he even did this design in the foam on a sword on the surface.

“Thank you sir this will help.”

“Good we’ve both bust days though your’s looks to have been in a far more dangerous way. I’ve sent for food as well.”

I try the kaffet it’s good, it’s really good not too bitter but strong with closer to a chocolate finish to it but not a dark chocolate finish and the milk adds a sweetness to it that is nice but you can tell there’s not any sugar in the cup. It’s got a super-duper zing to it.

“Powerful stuff.”

“Indeed but I like it. So what happened out there?”

I start from the start and not just at the enemy fortress but all of the events at the Rymora fortress and the War- bats and the things he had gotten word of but might sound better from me and once I’m through that I’m going into things at the fortress and the food arrives and we’re soon both talking and eating.

The food is grand. It’s not fancy by far but it’s really good. Venison in a stew with savory veggies and dumplings that have herbs in them and a cup of these small like baked biscuits that are a bit bigger than oyster crackers but still biscuits.

There is stewed forest greens and they sort of remind me a bit of like a cross between collards and creamed steakhouse spinach…not runny but very creamy tasting and there’s some fried mushrooms in batter and fried beets.

Beets…I’ve never been a huge fan of those either but these are roasted or something first and rolled in spices and then battered. They are also a yellow/orange color instead of the other so they do look like veggie-liver and they sort of taste something like…pumpkin pie but with heat in the spices too.

I have to go over the fights several times and I get an idea.

~Shaya love?~

~Wren? You are alright?~

~I’m fine I’m with the commander at Steadfast. I was going to get you to give report too and stuff but I was thinking?~

~Oh…?”~

~Can you speak through me literally?~

~I don’t know the bond we share is extremely rare but I could try.~

I take a deep breath and I close my eyes and I exhale and then I feel…oh…I can feel her inside of me…rising up to the surface and there is so much light and power there…I can feel her magic even as low as it is I can feel her inside of me.

I almost want to cry and scream in pleasure…and fear…I can feel our dark edges too touching and flaring with each other like a power cable jumping around after an accident near a pool of gasoline.

Then we both can feel Bhlaze there between us as both a buffer and a connector.

I’m just sort of there for the ride and at the same time Shaya can’t really do much other than some simple movements and talk but it’s her gestures and it’s her voice not mine coming from me.

It’s so surreal and at the same time so very, very hard to not just shove me into what’s her and just blend with her as two hearts and two souls.

I can feel her wanting it too and Bhlaze is really helping. I mean the pull of being totally one with your heart’s true love is a great thought but in real life situations it’s scary as all get out.

Because there is such a draw to it.

Shaya finishes her report and there’s a few eternal seconds where we touch each other so deeply it almost like we died and we’ve met in heaven.

Almost…but I know it’s not and it’s so…odd.

I’m a good Christian girl, always have been and yet Shaya isn’t. She’s not even close she believes in magic and she believes in spirits and things that I don’t but sorta did and she believes in her own gods.

Which is enough of a shock that we separate.

She saw/felt Christianity or the way that I feel about being Christian and I felt her belief in her other gods.

What shocked me was the fact she’s seen clerical magic work…and it feels…felt like seeing…some of the things that would move me when I was living home. You know that stuff where you can just know he’s there and real…she felt the same about her gods.

It’s really mind-blowing.

It’s like this…her people’s gods are based off real people that lived here as elves like Jesus did. Only the generations of those that knew them are far less removed.

It’s a shock really.

The best thing though from the meld even with the things that I’d seen and felt…was when we touched each other I saw her soul and she saw mine and…

I really was me, like I am now and she really was Shaya.

I mean I knew but still there’s always that part of stuff from home that would drag me down being like I was…Bear and being transgendered….it’s so strange to see your own soul through the eyes of another and to get to see you really are the you that you feel you’ve always been.

I feel the connection slip away and I’m bereft a few long seconds and then I’m really tired and soaked in sweat…again.

My armor feels really icky right now.

I look at Commander Falcon who is pouring me a drink. I’m no a big drinker but there sometimes is some virtue in taking a shot to calm the nerves. I’m actually a little shaky taking it and I’m not sure what it is, it’s on the strong side though but smells vaguely wine like.

It tastes like strong booze but with this flavor of mild raisins and a cream finish.

I don’t mind raisins but for drinking? But this would be good in like a butter tart. It reminds me actually of rum and raisin ice cream.

But I can feel the warmth spreading through my stomach…very strong in content I think.

“Thanks…that helped.”

“Another?”

“Oh…no…definitely not, actually I think by the time this hits me I’ll be ready to pass out.”

“Well then we had best get you taken care of lady. You’ve done a service to all of us Erendae, gathering the men and supplies is the least I can do.”

“I’m not about to let someone like Lyam destroy all of this. You people have fought for freedom, you’ve been through slavery…how can I just sit by and let some one like that wage a war that’s going to threaten everything that people have hoped for, fought for and died for.”

I get up with more than a little effort. “I’ll help with the things we’ll need, Shaya can tell me what we’ll need through the link but we will need a few scribes and if they can be knights that would likely be good and we need a fence.”

“A fence? I’m not familiar lady?”

“A person that sells thieved wares and the like.”

“Why would you require such a person?”

“The things we had found in the fortress.”

“Ah yes this idea of yours about the goods.”

“Yes, if we can trace back these goods then we can find out the supply chain for there and likely others in Lyam’s terrorist organization.”

He get’s this wry look on his face. “This is an interesting idea, I think we might have just the person.”

“You might have just the person?”

“Well you might change you’re opinion when you meet him. He’s in lock up.”

I nod and smile. “Well then let’s go see this person and the faster that I meet him the faster we can get things organized.”

Commander Falcon helps me up and I’m feeling pretty creaky now with the tiredness settling into me but the shot is sort of keeping me sort of loose. Seriously I have a small lift off the stuff. Though I’ve never really been a drinker so I am a light weight.

He escorts me to a different section of the fortress closer to the inner walls that are edging the township part of thins here and it’s linked up to the guard houses too.

This is actually semi familiar; I’ve been in a lock up once or twice from bouncing when things would get to the point where the cops just would take everyone.

I know him as soon as I see him. Not know him know him but I mean he’s in a artists shirt and a vest and he’s brown haired and it’s braided on the sides but rakishly pony-tailed and he’s the one that’s playing three card Monty with two of the guards.

I mean who else could it be?

Commander Falcon coughs and the two guards scramble up but he stays where he is lounging on the stones of the cell.

“Lady Erendae this is Ryann Skydancing, Ryann this is Lady Erendae she would like to have words with you.”

He actually get’s up and he dusts himself off and he looks at me and he grins this kind of roguish grin and he produces a key chain and he unlocks his cell with a flourish and opens the door with a gentlemanly flourish. And a very purposeful stare at my chest. Oh it’s way more intense and at the same time…god…he’s that kind of guy that you want to stare at your chest.

I can’t believe I’m thinking that either.

I mean I can and I sort of want that…I mean women want to feel attractive.

And he’s doing that and then some.

“Welcome to my humble abode Lady; can I offer you a seat?”

One of the guards is gaping and patting himself down before he gets angry. “Lookit you!”

I step between them and into his cell. He’s having too much fun to be a bad guy. He’s…just a little tarnished and bent I think. Actually I like him already.

“Thank you Ryann that’s kind of you.” I actually sit on his wall cot and look at him.

“My mother raised me not to be a complete hooligan lady.”

“Wren, you can just call me Wren.”

“Oy, well that’s an honor considering we just met. What can I do for you then?”

I smile at him and look him up and down. “I’m finding myself in need of a burglar.”