Page 27 of Dragon Heir

“We’re never going to get that far if we don’t get you a little clean,” I chimed in as I brushed Will off. A cloud of soot floated off him and onto the ground, peppering the earth with black spots.

Vargas scurried back away from the muck. “Stop that! It will only make matters worse!”

The Dragon Lady held up one hand in front of her face with the palm turned upward. A faint flame popped up out of her hand and she blew. Specks of bright orange sparks flew out of the flame and wrapped around Will. A faint warm glow surrounded him, forcing me to jerk my hands back. The magic clung to his person and stopped the constant release of ash.

Will flexed his arms and smiled up at his fellow dragon. “Your personal protection cloak. You do me a great honor.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I do myself and the rest of us a great favor by preventing you from soiling our clothes and your beautiful carriage, now let us hurry so my magic can stop being used for such a low purpose.”

We piled into the carriage and Raines took his seat. I was near bursting with curiosity about the real reason behind the barn blowout. The dour expressions on my companions’ faces only worsened the feeling, but I waited until we were well on our way before saying anything.

“Well?” I asked the company. “What did you really find in the barn that made you burn all the hay?”

Will pursed his lips before he dug into his pocket and drew out something. He held it up in front of me. I blinked at the tiny object. “A piece of straw?”

“Rotten straw,” he mused as he drew the straw up to his own face and twisted it this way and that. “The barn is full of it.”

I cocked my head to one side. “Doesn’t that happen a lot with barns?”

“Yes, but Steven is a very careful farmer,” Will countered as he tucked the straw back into his pocket. “He keeps his barns as clean as he can but the amount of rot we discovered made it appear as if he hadn’t cleaned the floor in a year.”

My face fell as I began to understand what he was saying. “Do. . .did that thing he saw rot the straw?”

“There is magic in that piece of dry grass that hints at something nefarious,” Ware spoke up as he nodded at Will’s pocket. “Something is trying to ruin that mortal’s animal feed.”

“And doing a good job of it,” Vargas chimed in as she wrinkled her nose. “The whole place smelled of such rot that I nearly fainted.”

I caught Will’s eye. “Is this something that’s happened before?”

He shook his head. “Not in my many years of residing here, and the faint whisper of magic is very similar, if not exactly like, the worm you have seen twice now.”

I wrinkled my nose. “But why would the worm be slithering around somebody’s barn trying to rot the animal food?”

“To cause a great deal of trouble,” Allard spoke up as he leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “The threat to one’s livelihood would most definitely upset the locals.”

My eyebrow shot up. “Upsetting the locals like that Wrecan guy?”

“Just the same but with even more anonymity,” Will added.

“You appear to have a concerted front against you, Lord Thorn,” Ware commented.

A dark cloud settled on Will’s brow. “That’s exactly what I was thinking, Lord Ware. It seems someone has decided to target me.”

“But why?” I wondered.

A bitter smile slipped onto his lips. “I suspect that if we knew the answer to that question we would know the culprit. As things stand, our only lead is through this Mr. Wrecan and the trouble he is creating among the locals. That is if the Tenky don’t find anything in their search. I hope we shall find the opposite on our arrival.”

Sir Slechtic waited for us at our return along with a few dozen of his people. They all sat on their ‘bikes’ in the soft light of sunset with the house at their backs and the driveway in front of them. The leader of the Tenky rolled forward at our alighting from the carriage and the grim expression on his face told me everything I needed to know. “My apologies, Lord Thorn, but my people haven’t found anything yet. Many are still searching, but the odds of us finding anything aren’t good right now.”

Will offered the little folk a smile. “That’s quite alright. There’s still hope and tomorrow is another day, so long as you’re willing to search again.”

Sir Slechtic stood straight and puffed out his chest. “Of course, Lord Thorn! We’ll keep searching until we find this trouble that’s bugging you and then we’ll kick it out of the forest!” He spun on his heels to face his people and pointed at the woods. “Who’s with me?”

“Aye! Yay! Me!” came the cheers from the crowd.

“Then off with you and don’t come back until you’ve found something!”

“What about supper?” one of them spoke up.

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