Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 049 - A Party to Remember Part 3 (Patreon)

Grumbling, Kaen fished out a gold coin he had in his pocket.  He had not seen the woman he had danced with earlier in the last few hours and was trying to find entertainment in other ways.  The gold coin was his only one, but Hess had told him he would be rich. He figured it was worth seeing this trick once as everyone who had seen it swore by it tonight.

He was sitting at a table with a pair of bronze adventurers who had gathered a large crowd over the evening.  The female, Samantha, appeared to be some sort of warrior or paladin, as her armor had a cross on the chest piece.  Why she wore chain armor in an inn at night seemed crazy to Kaen, but he knew adventurers were a weird bunch.

The interesting thing about Samantha was she supposedly had some skill in taming and training animals.  Her partner Jay was a massively built ranger who carried a massive sword on his back, wrapped up in cloth.  When he had leaned across the table to shake Kaen’s hand, Kaen noticed the blade was black when the cloth had come unwound for a moment.

On the table was Samantha’s pet crab.  Apparently, the crab Baltha, would collect a coin from someone in its pinchers, but only if it was gold. He had tried to lure it across the table with a bronze and silver coin, but it sat there, playing with the single gold coin it already had in its claws.  Next to it was a small coin pouch it had already deposited a few coins in, courtesy of some of the higher token adventurers that could afford the show.

“Just hold it out?” Kaen asked as he rubbed the coin between his fingers under the table.

Samantha nodded and pointed at the crab.

“The second he see’s it, just keep your fingers on the edge so you don’t lose any skin,” she stated with a grin.

Shaking his head in disbelief that he was about to spend a gold coin on this, Kaen slowly lifted the coin above the wooden edge of the table.

As if the crab had some uncanny sense, it stopped playing with the coin it held in its claws, and its eyestalks both turned to look across the table at the golden metal slowly creeping up.

It turned and opened its small pouch, tossing the current coin it had been playing with, and pulled out a monocle from its bag.

Kaen started laughing when the crab affixed it on its shell where a small dimple in it was.  He wasn’t sure if the dimple had always been there or earned from wearing that thing.

The crab skittered quickly across the table to where Kaen sat.  It stopped and glanced at Kaen.

He would have sworn the crab narrowed its eye stalks at him for a moment before it motioned to the gold coin between his fingers with its claw.

Kaen smiled and nodded, and held the coin out toward the crab.

It gave a slight bow and moved the few inches it needed to pluck it from Kaen’s fingers.  The moment it snatched it from his fingers, the crab started to do a little side-to-side dance and lifted both claws in the air, showing off its latest trophy.

A few seconds later, it lifted the coin in front of its monocle and peered at it intensely.  It flipped the coin over, checking the other side before nodding satisfactorily.  Glancing back up once more at Kaen, it gave a slight bow and skittered back across the table to its coin pouch.

Once there, it carefully set the coin down on the table, glancing around to make sure no one was going to try and take it before it quickly removed its monocle, returning it to the pouch.  Once the monocle was secured, the crab motioned to Samantha with its claws.

Kaen watched as Samantha reached into a pouch and pulled out a lemon, setting it down on the table near the crab.

Moving around the lemon, Baltha started pushing it toward Kaen with its claws, stopping its momentum right before him.

The crab then started tapping the lemon with one claw while pointing at Kaen with his other.

Kaen looked at Samantha.

“Does he want me to take it?”
“You paid for it. It's yours,” Samantha informed him with a smile.  “He believes you should get something for your purchase.”

Shaking his head and laughing, Kaen picked it up.

“Thank you, Baltha.”

The crab nodded and raced back across the table, picking the coin back up and playing with it just as it had its last one.

Kaen started to laugh harder, and Jay and Samantha joined in with him.  All those standing by the table who had not seen this occur yet clapped and laughed as well.

“You trained that thing?” Kaen asked as he stared in disbelief.  “A skill that could train an animal to do something like that would be powerful.”

“Trained?” Jay scoffed.  “No, she didn’t train it to do that. We were camped out near a small pond, and in the middle of the night, we woke up to the sound of coins clinking together.  Turning on a light orb revealed this guy trying to take my money!”

Samantha laughed and nodded.

“Thankfully, he wasn’t too hard to deal with,” Samantha admitted.  “I had some leftover dessert, and after a few crumbs, he was content to stay with me and count my, I mean, his gold coins.  Where he got the monocle from, though, I have no idea.”

“Sometimes I think Baltha believes he’s a damn banker or merchant or something.  Imagine that, a merchant crab,” Jay said with a wink.  “Anytime we try to spend money, he always wants in on the action.”

Kaen laughed and shook his head.  He hated giving up a gold coin knowing it was more money than he had ever owned until this week, but that was indeed worth the lift in his spirit that he needed.

The night drew to a close with only a few hours till the sun would start to crest over the mountains, signaling the start of a new day.

Patrons were asleep in booths, and a few had been left alone, sleeping along a wall.  Kaen’s eyes were heavy as he had stayed up and thanked everyone who had come and congratulated him on earning his token.  Hess had told him he could go to bed hours ago, yet he had stayed up, hoping his dance partner would show herself to him again.

Now with the light of the new day not far away, he stumbled upstairs to his room and gently opened the door. He had taken his boots off outside the door, trying to be quiet and not wake up Hess.

Lying in his bed, about to pass out from exhaustion, he realized his room was absent of noise.

Groaning, he moved out of bed and felt along the table between the two of their beds for the light stone.  When his fingers found it, he gently touched it, and a low light appeared.

Kaen saw that Hess’s bed was empty, and a smile crossed his face as he shook his head and turned off the light stone.

“Good luck,” Kaen whispered to an empty room as he lay his head on the pillow and passed out.

I know you are awake. Pammon called out.  I can feel your heart beating differently and sense your thoughts.  What has you so distraught?

Lying in bed, with the afternoon light streaming through the window, Kaen sat up in bed.  Pammon was right; he had been up for an hour and could not get that woman out of his mind.

Just someone I met last night at the party.  I don’t know what it was about her, but she…  she made me smile and feel different from the other girls I have talked to or flirted with.

A groan came through the connection, and Kaen laughed as he sensed where Pammon was flying.

You are too young to worry about that stuff right now.  In a hundred years, you will be able to consider a relationship.

Choking on those words, Kaen shook his head.

A hundred years? That’s an awful long time to be alone!

You are not alone. You have me!

Pammon was frustrated, and Kaen knew it.

It’s not the same for us.  For me.  I feel complete with you, but last night was weird.

I will feel that pull as you do, but it will not be for a long time.  Dragons don’t search for a possible mate till they are usually at least a half-century old.  I’m not sure how I know that, but I just do.

Mulling over what Pammon was saying, Kaen started pulling out new clothes to wear.  He glanced down and realized he still had on his leather jerkin and vambraces.  He had never taken them off as there had been no time.

As he undid the knots of his armor, he was assaulted by his body odor and decided it would be pertinent to wash up before beginning a new day.

I am not sure what the next step will be. Kaen explained to Pammon.  Now that I am silver, I will have to do some quests with and without others.  Thankfully Hess can come with me for a few, and we can find a way to connect.

A grumble and pouting session trickled through from Pammon.

Don’t wait too long to get where we can see each other.  I have scratches that need you!

Laughing, Kaen nodded and sent a hug through the connection, and headed down the stairs to the inn.  He was clean and fresh, having bathed himself and wiped down his armor as best as he could.  It was still a little damp but nothing bad compared to some of the wet clothes he had worn before.

When he arrived in the downstairs area of the inn, he paused at the last step that led up to the rooms.

The entire area of the inn was spotless.  The tables and chairs were back in their places, and nothing reflected that there had been a party last night at all.

Glancing over at the bar, he saw Eltina leaning over it, working on some papers.  There were a few other servers slowly milling about.  He waved at one and made the motion for something to eat, and the woman ran off.  He couldn't remember her name but knew it began with a G…

Walking over to the bar, he grabbed a stool and plopped himself in Eltina’s face.

“How are things this morning?” Kaen asked as he leaned upon the bar with his arms.

Eltina glanced up and shook her head at Kaen, giving him a frown.

“Bar business isn’t something I discuss.  Talk to Sulenda if you want to talk about that.”

Laughing, Kaen nodded and leaned forward, and grinned at her.

“What about the betting business?  Can you share details on that?”

Without even looking up from her paperwork this time, Eltina shook her head no and tried to ignore Kaen.

“That doesn’t seem fair at all,” Kaen complained.  “Surely you can tell me something about how it all turned out or how much I might have earned.”

Setting her pen down, Eltina took a breath and let it out slowly.  After letting it, she smiled in a way that seemed almost threatening.

“Listen, Kaen, I like you, I really do.  I appreciate what you did for Sulenda and the rest of us.  She told me a little bit about how all of this was your plan.  I also know you freed Hess from his obligation to you, which has the two of them shacking up like rabbits.  Now I have to run a bar, manage the betting, deal with all of the other bookies who are not wanting to turn in their numbers like they are supposed to, and prepare for tonight, which will probably be a packed house again.”

Eltina motioned to the back of the bar, where Kaen looked behind her and saw that most of the shelves were empty, and only one cask was left.

“I have runners around town, trying to secure more alcohol because it seems your horde of adventurers are able to drink a lot more liquor than the average person.  I still have to find more food for tonight and get our store room restocked,” she informed him with a sigh.  “So while part of me would love to talk with you and listen to how wonderful life is as the new play toy of the city, I must instead turn my attention to these papers and get back to my job of running the bar!”

Eltina emphasized that last part as she waved her hands around in the air.

“I’ll let you be,” Kaen stated as he slowly eased off the stool and started to move toward a table.

Not even acknowledging his last statement, Eltina was face first in her paperwork, already mumbling something under her breath.

“Sir Kaen!” a voice exclaimed behind him.

Turning, he saw the same woman coming at him with a plate of food.  It looked like meat leftover from last night with a few fresh rolls and a glass of milk.

“Thank you…”

“It’s Ginny,” the woman stated with a laugh.

“Sorry, I…”
Shaking her head, Ginny smiled as she put his food and drink down on the table.

“Don’t be!  I wouldn’t expect you to remember my name after everything that has happened in the last few days.  I do want to compliment you on your dancing last night, though!  It has been the talk of all of us women.  Very few men have ever moved as gracefully as you did last night.”

Smiling, Kaen gave a slight bow from his seat.

“I’m just glad I didn’t trip over my own feet or hers!”

Ginny laughed and shook her head no.

“You and your dance partner were amazing!  Do you know who she is?”

Kaen perked up.

“I don’t.  Do you, by chance, or anyone else?”

Ginny’s face scrunched up as she shook her head no.

“None of us servers had ever seen her before, but I’m sure you could ask at the guild hall, and they would tell you!”

“That is a great idea!  Thank you, Ginny!”

She nodded and moved off so he could start eating.

As Kaen took a bite of meat and washed it down with some milk, he wondered about asking who the woman was at the guild hall.

“I wonder if that’s considered stalking,” Kaen mumbled to himself between bites.