Pib's Dragon (4 page)

“
Okay, okay, Dray, I get
the point. But I just mean that there’s no reason to go into hiding
because of one small incident.”

“
I wasn’t hiding,” Dray
mumbled, looking down at the floor of the cave.

Del came up to him and lifted his chin
until their eyes met. “Yes, brother, you were, and that’s okay. But
now it’s time to come out of your cave and see what options the
village has. Maybe someone could use your help? Maybe nothing
around the livestock, since you freak them out, but you’re a
shifter and you’re strong. I’m sure someone will need a
hand.”

Looking into the sincere eyes of his
brother, Dray felt hope stirring within him for the first time in a
month.

“
Okay, I’ll try,” he
whispered.

“
Good. Now let’s have
dinner, and tomorrow morning, we can go down to the village and see
what’s happening.”

“
Sounds good, I
guess.”

“
Come on, Dray, be more
positive,” Del said. He linked their arms together and started
dragging Dray out of his resting cave. At the door, he paused only
long enough for Dray to activate the spells around the entrance,
and then he started pulling him again.

“
Do you have to drag me
around?” Dray asked, amused.

“
Yes. It’s the only way I
can make sure you don’t go back to staring into space,” Del
replied, neither slowing nor looking back.

Getting up before the sun, Dray
mentally prepared himself for the trip into the village that
morning. As much as he would have loved to stay in his cave, Del
was right. He needed to stop hiding. After flying in dragon form,
he landed on the opening of his favorite cave, the one filled with
his prettiest gems and shiniest gold. He loved to stand at the
opening and watch as the sun rose and bathed the cave and the
treasures in golden light.

Just as the sun started rising, Dray
moved to the cave opening, his wings outstretched, and watched his
treasure shine. Contentment filled him as always until suddenly he
saw a spot that remained dark.

What the…

Dray had just taken a step when the
dark spot moved. It took him a second to realize he was now facing
a person in a black coat. His vision focused in on the face, but he
couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. He saw a smirk, and then
he was looking at empty air. Shaking his head, he realized the
person was running.

With a roar, Dray launched himself into
the air and flew in pursuit, but by the time he reached the spot
where the intruder had been, there was no evidence left behind.
Dray started sniffing, trying to catch the scent of the intruder,
but even that was missing. After inspecting every inch of the cave
in the immediate vicinity, Dray was furious to realize that there
was no evidence of anyone having been there except for him.
Frustrated, Dray roared in anger.

Looking around one last time, Dray
vowed to come back after the trip to the village and go over every
inch of the cave. If he didn’t think Del would accuse him of making
stuff up to get out of leaving his caves, Dray would have started
now. But knowing his brother was only trying to help, Dray slowly
made his way to the entrance of the cave, glancing in each
direction as he went, but nothing and no one stood out.

I
wasn’t seeing things, and I
will
find whoever
broke into my treasure cave!

****

Pib made it around the corner of the
small cave entrance, crouched down, and listened for the sound of
pursuit.

A dragon. There’s actually
a dragon living in the mountain!

After a few minutes of listening to the
dragon move around, Pib heard him roar.

Wow, he sounds
pissed.

It took everything within him not to
snicker aloud at the thought of angering the dragon. Although he
knew it was dangerous to play with fire, Pib couldn’t help himself.
When he found he was fiddling with something in his hand, Pib
looked down to find that he held a huge ruby.

Pib swore before he thought better of
it, then quickly looked to the opening to see if the dragon had
heard him. After a few moments of tense silence, Pib let out a sigh
of relief and slowly stood up. Returning to the entrance of the
cave, he shifted and crept back inside with the ruby in his mouth,
pausing beforehand to make sure the coast was clear before
re-entering the cave.

As he shifted back, he spat the ruby
into his hand, wiping his saliva on his clothes. He walked amongst
the treasure piles until he was once again standing in front of the
one he’d been inspecting before the dragon had arrived.

He tossed the ruby back onto the pile,
then turned his attention to the next pile and went to investigate.
With each step away from the ruby, his serval protested in his
mind.

“
Oh stop pouting. We’ll
find you another shiny. There’s plenty here, but no rubies. I don’t
want any rubies in my cave,” Pib whispered, remembering the ruby
Geraint had used to channel his power. Then Pib realized he was
arguing with his cat aloud and just shook his head at himself. “I’m
losing my damn mind.”

But that didn’t stop him from
continuing to explore. Confident that his natural magic, which kept
his scent suppressed, was still working, Pib had no fear in
exploring. Just as he was about to move on to another pile,
something flashed in the corner of his sight. Turning his head, his
jaw dropped at the vision of the sapphire in front of him. It
looked to be cradled in amongst the gold coins and other gems, but
unlike the others, or the sapphire already in his possession, this
one was about the size of his head.

While looking
all around him for any sort of traps, Pib slowly walked up to the
gem. Before he could think about what he was doing, the sapphire
was in his hands, and he was moving to moving to exit by the same
opening he had used to enter, as fast as possible without
disturbing the piles around him. Tucking the stone into the biggest
pocket he had to ensure that it would shift with him, Pib quickly
took to his serval form and wiggled his way out of the
cave.

Trotting back to his newly claimed
cave, both Pib and his serval wanted to see the shiny gem again.
Once inside and back in his human form, Pib looked around at the
empty cavern. Pulling out what looked like a pebble, Pib went and
placed it in the center of the room and muttered an incantation. In
seconds, the pebble turned into a trunk, and when Pib opened it, it
was filled with miniature furniture. Taking out each item and
placing it within the room, Pib rearranged them and went to stand
by the trunk. Sending out a small burst of magic, he watched as the
items all became life-sized.

Bookshelves filled with books;
cushions, chairs, and rugs all became large enough and ready to
use. Walking to his most expensive rug, Pib struggled but
eventually removed the sapphire from his pocket and placed it in
the center, then shifted and let his serval curl up around it. This
one wouldn’t be easy to hide, so he’d leave it there. He’d keep the
smaller one in his room, under the pillow where it was
currently.

He had nowhere he needed to be until
later on in the day when Wil came home. The previous night’s dinner
at the tavern had been so informative and entertaining, they were
going again tonight.

Until then, Pib was quite happy to let
his serval sleep curled up around its latest treasure. He was just
going to ignore where they’d found the sapphire and the possibility
that its previous owner might want it back.

Silly dragon. Doesn’t he know not to dangle shiny things in
front of a cat?
He thought to
himself, drifting off to sleep with a purr.

Dray was still fuming when he returned
home after the visit to the village. Del had been supportive, but
there were just no jobs for him there. A guy in the tavern
suggested that he talk to someone named Wil. Apparently he was
building a house for the three lords in town and he might need a
hand. The guy couldn’t tell him where to find this Wil person, but
he did mention that he’d probably be in for dinner later that
evening.

That left Dray with an entire day to go
through his cave and find out how someone could get in, and hope
that nothing else had been taken. Otherwise his dragon was going to
be pissed. Shifting, he flew to his treasure cave, returning to
human form just inside the opening. Nothing seemed amiss, but a
quick glance wasn’t going to reveal if anything was missing, so
Dray moved forward to begin an in-depth investigation.

Four hours later and Dray had found a
small opening, more of a crack, in the wall of the cave. Without
his enhanced eyesight, he never would have seen it since no light
was able to reach the area around the crack. Growling, Dray looked
around until he found a rock to block off the opening. It wasn’t
perfect, but it should be enough to stop some thief from getting
into his cave.

Facing the opening of the cave, he
realized the sun was setting. Not wanting to be late to the tavern
in case he missed this Wil person, Dray had just taken a step when
his foot came down on something.

“
Ouch!”

Lifting his foot, he glared down at the
offending ruby. After picking it up, Dray turned to return it to
its pile, and instead froze in place. There, surrounded by gems of
all shapes, was an empty spot where his prized sapphire should have
sat. He heard the sound of the ruby falling to the cave floor, but
his eyes were glued to the vacant spot. He was so used to it being
there that he hadn’t even bothered to check on it when he’d been
searching for anything missing.

Dray wasn’t even aware of shifting into
his dragon form, his mind still unable to process what he was
seeing. The bellowing of his dragon finally registered, and he
wrestled control back just as the dragon got airborne, destruction
on its mind. Casting his mind out, he searched for the stone that
wasn’t a stone. Relief swamped him when he located it, followed
quickly by confusion. Instead of the usual nothingness he got from
the stone, there was warmth and contentment flowing through the
link.

What the…

Landing on the ground, Dray shifted
back and looked around the cave, hoping that something would jump
out at him and explain what the hell was going on. His gaze snagged
on the recently covered crack in the wall, instincts telling him
his visitor had something to do with his missing gem.

Tomorrow, I’ll uncover the
crack and see if the thief returns. Only this time, I’m not leaving
my cave until the culprit is caught.

Dray spun around and stormed to the
cave’s opening, then shifted back into his dragon form before
flying off. He had a man to meet about some possible
work.

Upon walking into the tavern, Dray was
assaulted by sounds and scents. It seemed that a lot of people were
not interested in making their own meals and therefore they’d
descended on the tavern. Making his way to the bar, he waited until
someone came to him, scanning the room as he did so.

“
See something you like,
handsome?” a woman’s voice practically purred next to
him.

As he turned to look at her, Dray
didn’t think before he spoke. “No.”

He watched as she took a step back and
started sputtering, her face turning a dark shade of red while he
tried to think of a way to reword what he’d just said. Before he
could come up with something, she turned and stomped off into the
crowd. A male laugh from behind had him spinning around.

“
Man, the look on her face!
That was the best thing I’ve seen…ever!” The stranger chuckled,
then held out his hand. “The name’s Wil. I hear you’ve been looking
for me?”

Dray blinked, then reached out to shake
Wil’s hand. “Dray, and yes, I was looking for you,” he said,
releasing the hand.

“
Well, what can I do for
you?” Wil asked, leaning an elbow on the bar.

Dray noted the shaggy black
shoulder-length hair and the amber eyes of the man in front of him.
While he might look relaxed, Dray could tell that he was alert. The
eyes made him guess that Wil was a wolf shifter.

“
I’m hoping you might have
a job for me,” Dray admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with one
hand.

Wil frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever
been approached for a job before. Can I ask why you’re
looking?”

It took all of his willpower not to
look at the ground, but Dray did it. “My previous line of
employment is apparently no longer needed,” he admitted, hoping Wil
would leave it at that.

“
I’d love to help you out,
Dray, but you need to give me a bit more information than
that.”

Dray sighed. “Have you heard of the
dragon who fell asleep and let the princess he was guarding sneak
out and run away?”

“
Yeah…”

Dray watched and waited to see how long
it would take Wil to figure it out. It didn’t take long at
all.

“
Ah, I see. Well, I’m sure
you’ve heard I’m building a house for the three id—” Wil cut off
what he was saying and cleared his throat. “Uh, three lords. You’re
more than welcome to come and help with that, although I have to
warn you, I can’t pay much.”