Page 15 of Heart of Fire
“Apity.”
Haakon shrugged, icy blue eyes watchful. “A brief setback. I’m a patientman.”
So was he. “The mark of a truehunter.”
A dangerous smile curved the hunter’s lips as Freyja settled again at the table. “What would a scholar know of suchthings?”
“I know many things,” Rurik countered. “Wine?” At the other man’s nod, Rurik took the carafe and poured before Freyja could. He had no intention of seeing her serve another man. Not when she washis.
“Mistress Helgasdottir.” Haakon noddedpolitely.
“I see you’ve been enquiring about me,” shereplied.
Enough to learn her name, and no doubt more. The amount of information the locals owned about the unusual young woman was immense, and offered generously. A growl curdled in Rurik’s throat. For what he could learn, so too couldothers.
“What man does not enquire about such a striking young woman?” Haakonasked.
This time the compliment brought no heat to her cheeks. She remained cool, and on her guard. “You are not the only one who can learn about another. You come to hunt thedreki,” she replied, sipping her wine. “To killhim.”
“I make no lie of my intentions,” Haakon replied. “Word reached my ears of this particular beast, and so I have come to try my hand athim.”
“Word of the beast? Or word of the reward?” sheasked.
“A significant sum.” Haakon leaned back in his chair. “But no, it’s the beast I’m most interested in. I am told you come from the village at the base of its lair. That you know of thecreature.”
Freyja's lips thinned. "I know the creature. It stole my ram, and so I was forced to enter its lair to try and savehim."
Haakon's eyessharpened.
"Without luck, I assure you," she repliedprimly.
“All here know of the mighty creature,” Rurik murmured. “You should be warned: this is no lesser dragon you hunt. This is one of the mightydreki.”
“There is a difference between dragon anddreki?” Freyja interrupted. “I thought ‘dragon’ was simply another term used in differentcountries?”
“No. They are cousins, but far different creatures. Many, many years ago, thedrekiwere born to this land. Spirits of earth, air, and fire, created by a goddess into a single creature with the powers of all three of theelements.”
“Which goddess?” He’d captured her curiositynow.
“None of yours,” he murmured. “Only she that is sacred to thedreki, born many, many eons before your gods were but a thought. Some call her Creator, some Chaos, and her name was Tiamat, or Thalatte. This mighty spirit tamed the salt waters to her mastery, and of her children there were many, which some called gods. When these gods went to war with her husband, Apsu, and killed him, she created monsters with poison for blood, to fight them. The descendants of these creatures are what we refer to as dragons. The lesser of them bred serpents of the waters, vile beasts with limited thought we call leviathan andserpents.
“But thedreki... they were different. They say when the great goddess used her powers to turn herself into an enormous serpent in the sea to fight her husband’s killers, she was slain by the storm-god Marduk. He scattered her body across the world, but her soul remained, formless yet still powerful. The sea and her waters had failed her, and when the north wind blew her soul around the globe, her soul sought solace in the warm, dark earth, where firebrewed.”
Both of them were focused intently upon him. Rurik continued, “Long did her soul brew in the heart of the volcano, Hekla, and her spirit strengthened with the force of the element of fire. She sought life again, but to form a fleshly body was beyond her. Her only hope lay in creating more children, ones that spun to life from the earth, were gilded with the power of fire, and ruled the air. Using her waning powers in one last act of Creation, the volcano exploded and with each gout of fire, the goddess created her new children. The goddess tore her soul apart, pieces of her power imbuing each spirit with strength. These were thedreki,and they carry a part of the goddess within them. Powerful spirits who ruled the elements and could tame the sky itself; those with the goddess’s own ability toshapeshift.
“The wyrms, leviathan, and serpents were slowly hunted by men, the last of them dying out centuries ago in the Persian Gulf. But dragons remain, and some say they haunt volcanoes, seeking to steal the gift of fire that eludes them.” He tilted his head toward Haakon, “These are the creatures you have faced. Fierce beasts with poisonous blood, but no breath of fire, nor mastery of the elements. Jealous creatures who yearn formore.”
“Anddrekibreathe fire?” Haakonasked.
“Some do,” he replied. “You have to understand there have been many generations ofdrekiborn. They are not immortal, though they have long lives. Now, only the purest of bloodlines have the gift offire.”
“Hekla,” Freyja murmured, “the gateway tohell.”
“So say many who believe in such a place,” Rurik agreed. Now it was the home of thedrekicourt, though he would not breathe word of ithere.
“I have never heard such a story told,” Haakon said. “Where did you come by suchinformation?”
Rurik shrugged and drained his wine. “Years of listening, perhaps. There are many who will exchange an old tale by a hearth on a cold night. And perhaps you were not asking the right questions?” Setting the empty cup on the table, he leaned forward, “Such as why a man sets himself on such a dangerous pursuit as hunting dragons or evendreki?Especially when he does not know the difference betweenthem?”
