Page 3 of Henry & the Dragon
“She won’t eat you,” he assured Henry. “She’s grateful to you for helping her pup. She knows well that anyone else would have slain him, despite the fact he is but a babe.”
How was this man not affected by what was unfolding in front of him? How was—wait.
“You understand them?” Henry called out.
“Of course. Don’t you?”
Before he could answer, the larger Virbolg licked Henry, much like the little one had, only this time the enormous tongue left him covered in spittle from head to toe before he was set on his feet. Then the baby was picked up, and the two moved back the way the big one had come.
“See? She wouldn’t eat you. They don’t eat meat.”
“What? But her teeth—“
“Are for grinding stones, which is where they get their food from.” He moved closer, and Henry could feel warmth flowing from him, suffusing Henry’s body with heat. “Who are you?”
This conversation was strange by any standard. They’d just witnessed Virbolgs towering over the treetops, and this man seemed unaffected.
“My name is Henry Cabot. I come from Innernook, the town to the east of here.”
The man’s lip curled, his disgust obvious. “Aye, I know of that wretched place. It strikes me as strange that you come from there, but you attempted to help the Virbolg. Any others would have slaughtered it without second thought and sliced him up to harvest the parts of the body they deemed useful, then leaving the corpse to the elements and scavengers.”
Henry paled and shrugged. “It was hurt, and I don’t like to see things in pain.” He glanced in the direction the Virbolg hadgone. “I’m sorry they are so willing to hurt creatures such as that one. It was beautiful and friendlier than I expected.”
The man smiled, and Henry’s heart thudded in his chest at the sheer beauty of it.
“You can call me Kai,” the man said.
“Kai?” What an odd name. “Where are you from?”
Kai grinned as he gestured to the west. “A place far from here. Over the mountains, and beyond the horizon.”
“Came you here by ship?”
Kai shrugged. “Of a sort, I suppose. Now, what are you doing in the forest? This is no place for one such as you.”
Henry bristled. “What do you mean?”
Kai reached out with a hand and placed it on Henry’s arm. His eyes softened as he peered into Henry’s. “The only ones who come here are the dangerous and the foolish. You, Henry Cabot, are neither one. This forest is not for one such as you. Though the Virbolg would not harm you, there are things here that would certainly do so.”
“I—I am here to collect ghost moss for my master. We—he—owns the alchemy shop in town, and needs it to make potions.”
Henry had no idea if that was true. Ghost moss didn’t have a lot of uses Henry was aware of, and the ones it did were limited to being used as a base for other things.
“Henry… I like your name. It’s very special.”
“I’ve never heard of one called Kai before.”
“As I said, I come from another land. There it isn’t all that uncommon.”
“Oh, I understand.” He sighed. “I should get back to collecting before the evening falls. I have a long way to go before I sleep for the night.”
Kai smiled, and Henry’s stomach fluttered. “Allow me to assist. I couldn’t let one such as you come to harm.”
His words thrilled Henry. He’d never told anyone, but the reason he never took the townsfolk up on the chance to meet their daughter, is that Henry’s heart would never be in it. He longed for the company of men, a crime for which he could be executed. And Kai? He made Henry want things he could never have.
No matter how badly he desired them.
Chapter 2
