Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 051 - Starting a Fire (Patreon)

Returning to the inn, Kaen felt bad for the people approaching him on the street.  Many had wanted to congratulate him on his quest and the token he earned, but once they got within smelling distance, they quickly found a reason to leave.

Kaen lifted an arm and took a whiff, realizing immediately just how bad he smelled.  Six hours of training had left him smelling like a pile of his dragon’s crap.  Well, maybe not that bad, but pretty close.

The sun was almost down over the western wall of the mountains, and Kaen thought about Pammon and where he was as he continued walking through town.

Are you lying down for the night?  Seems a bit early.

All I can do is fly and hunt for now, grumbled Pammon.  My focus has been training my attacks from the air and finding more food so I can get big enough to carry you.  Any luck with finding a harness?

Groaning to himself, Kaen had forgotten to ask Hess about that since they returned.  There had not been a chance with the celebration at the inn and Hess sleeping elsewhere last night.

I haven’t, but I’ll make sure to talk to Hess about that tonight if I can find him.

Is Hess missing?

He is making use of his freedom from me and has rekindled a flame with his old friend.  They are spending the night and days together right now.

Kaen sensed a grumble or something that felt like Pammon was not excited about that news.

He is still going to help train and quest with you, right?

He will.  He just needed some time to figure a few things out.  Remember, he gave up almost eight years to raise me.  I cannot fault him for that.

Kaen laughed out loud as he walked along the street when he felt Pammon huff through their connection.  Maybe Pammon thought Hess was old enough to look for a mate.

I’ll be fine.  You focus on your training, and I’ll keep focusing on mine.  If there is no quest this week, I will ride out to the woods, and we will meet somewhere.

I’ll hold you to that! Pammon declared as joy and happiness flooded through their bond.

Smiling to himself as he walked, Kaen saw a pair of children coming toward him, laughing and giggling.

“Hey, Mr. Kaen! Congratu… oh my gosh, you stink!” cried out the taller of the two.

His friend on the right nodded, and both of them grabbed their noses.

“Is it that bad?” Kaen asked as he chuckled and pretended to smell his own armpits.

Both boys nodded and grinned.

“Did you fall in something and roll in it?” asked the smaller of the two boys.  “My mom always accuses me of that when I come home smelling!”

Kaen shook his head no.

“I just finished training with Master Bren for six hours straight.  I’m trying to get better at some more skills.”

Both boys' eyes went wide as they heard that news.

“Six hours straight!”

The taller one turned to the shorter one and poked him in the chest with his free hand.

“We need to start training that hard so we can be like Mr. Kaen!”

The other nodded and grinned.

“Think we can be like you someday?”

That question caused his lifestone to surge.  Damn, Kaen was pissed.  All day he had tried to get it to do this. It was throbbing differently this time.  That question the smaller child had asked moved him.  Raw emotion and pain from the loss of Luca and his conversation with Bren overwhelmed him.  He could feel what his lifestone wanted him to say.  What it wanted him to do.

Kaen bent down, and both boys struggled if they wanted to move closer to hear what Kaen was going to say or move back because the smell was that bad.

“What’s your name, boys?”

“I’m Frederick, sir; he is Phillip!” replied the taller one.

“Good names,” Kaen replied as he smiled and pulled two silver coins from his pouch.

“I’ll make you a deal.  You two tell your moms and dads that I will pay for you train at Master Bren’s place if they let you.  If they say yes, you must train as hard as you can and do what Master Bren says.”

Both boys stood there in shock.  Kaen could see their minds trying to understand what he had just told them.

“How old are you both?”

Frederick puffed out his chest and dropped his hands to his side as he stood as tall as possible.

“I’m nine, sir!”

“I’m eight!” chimed in Phillip right after.

Smiling, Kaen handed the coin to each boy, who grabbed it and smiled as they held it close to their eyes, inspecting their newfound wealth.

“Remember, you could spend that on candy or some toy, but it will be gone, and you won’t have anything left.  But if you do what I said and I find out in two years that you continue to come and train hard, I’ll buy both of you a lifestone!”

Each of the boys almost dropped their silver coin and took a tentative step toward Kaen.

“You would do that, sir?” Phillip asked as tears grew in his eyes.

“You wouldn’t make a promise like that and back out?” Frederick blurted out.

Smiling and shaking his head no, Kaen stood up.

“I’ll go to the guild hall this week and draw up a quest sheet for both of you two and drop it off at Master Bren’s place or your house.  If you keep up with your end of the bargain, the guild house will know what I have promised and complete the quest.  You have my word on it!”

Both boys had tears running down their faces even though they had smiles as big as half a watermelon.  Kaen could see that they both knew such a thing would never be possible in their life, yet they could become something most kids would only dream of with this chance.

Ruffling their hair as he walked past the two of them standing there, Kaen winked when he turned around.

“Remember what I said.  Talk to your parents, go see Master Bren, and work harder than you have in your life, and both of you can be an adventurer like me!”

Each of the boys nodded, and as Kaen got about five more steps down the street, he felt two small bodies suddenly wrap around his legs.

Glancing down, he saw each boy had embraced one leg and was smiling, ignoring the dampness of his sweaty clothes.

“We will never forget this, Mr. Kaen!” Phillip shouted as he let go and motioned to Frederick to go.  “We need to go tell our moms!”

Kaen turned and watched as they both sprinted down the sidewalk and around a corner, laughing and smiling.  His heart felt full, knowing he was doing all that he could to honor Luca.

“Upstairs! Now!”

Eltina was pointing at the stairs at the back of the inn as she watched the crowd of people in the room move away from Kaen as he moved through them.

“What in the world did you fall into?” asked Hess as Kaen passed by him and Sulenda as he neared the stairs.

“Training for six hours,” Kaen replied. He knew he smelled but had no other way to get to his room than the front door.

Nodding his head in understanding, Hess grimaced and watched Kaen as he passed by.

“Perhaps I should get him a tub to soak in,” Sulenda called out as Kaen’s odor assaulted her nose.  “I’m not sure a simple cloth and small jug will handle that mess.”

Laughing, Kaen moved quickly and embraced Hess in a hug as the large man attempted to dodge the sudden attack by Kaen.  He failed to dodge it and held his hands up in the air as Kaen squeezed him and rubbed his face all over Hess’s shirt.

“Boy, I would thump you if it wouldn’t mean me putting my arms around you,” howled Hess.  He was trying not to laugh at what had happened, but he knew Kaen had probably planned that attack the moment he had seen him.

Laughing, Kaen broke the embrace and quickly dodged away before feinting an attempt to hug Sulenda.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Kaen shook his head no and held his hands up as he saw a glare that could freeze milk coming from Sulenda’s blue eyes.

As Kaen ran up the stairs and disappeared from sight, Hess let out a chuckle.

“Seems he did learn a thing or two from me after all,” he muttered.

“He learned that from you?”

Hess nodded and grinned like a fool.

“I cannot tell you how many times I hugged that boy after a hards day of work at the quarry and made him smell my pits.”

Sulenda pretended to gag and then chuckled.

“Do that to me once, and I will make sure it's the last time you ever attempt that,” she informed him.

“I’d never do that to you, my dear,” Hess replied as he came in for a hug.

Holding her hand out, she put it on Hess’s chest and pushed him away.

“You need to go change,” she informed him with a smile.  “You smell like the backside of Kaen.”

Having used a few jugs of water and multiple rags, Kaen finally felt he could stand in most people's presence without causing them to pass out.

He had gone through his backpack and realized he did not have multiple changes of clothes, and he needed to remedy that in the coming days.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, Kaen noticed that Hess had on a different shirt and chuckled, knowing he was the cause.  The inn was packed tonight, nowhere near as busy as last night's celebration, but they were still almost two-thirds full.

People saw him as he came around the stairs landing, and some cheered or raised their cups in honor of him.  Or they were raising their cups to appreciate the drinks he still had to buy for most of the town.

He saw Hess motioning to join him over at a table near the office door, and Kaen made his way to it, shaking a few hands of those who stood up as he walked by.

“New shirt?”

Hess groaned and nodded.

“I was an ass for all the times I did that to you, wasn’t I?”

Nodding, Kaen smiled as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

“I think I remember a few too many times of you doing that with no shirt on.  I almost did that, but I wasn’t sure if Eltina would make me buy the entire bar a drink for such a maneuver, and I don’t want to know how many more drinks I still owe.”

Sulenda snickered at that comment and winked.

“Between your bar tab and how well we did on the betting, I can probably retire to a nice estate off to the east.”

“Any chance we could go over the numbers now? I made a promise to two boys, and I want to know what I can do with the money I have.”

Hess furrowed his eyebrows at Kaen and leaned across the table.

“Should I ask?”

Shrugging, Kaen motioned to Beatrice, who was a few tables over.

“Kaen!” Beatrice exclaimed as she came over and wrapped her arms around his head, letting him enjoy the warmth of her chest against the side of his face.  “It has been far too long, and Miss Sulenda said I cannot give you hugs like this anymore without your consent.”

Sulenda rolled her eyes and shook her head at Beatrice.

“That is entirely not what I said.  I stated you needed to restrain yourself and not take advantage of the boy.  We both know he might not survive such an encounter, and it would not be fair to the kingdom to take out one of its newest adventurers.”

Hess almost snorted ale out of his nose, having taken a drink when Sulenda had spoken.  Coughing and gagging, he wiped his face as tears filled his eyes.

“Kaen, you know I’m here if you ever need anything,” Beatrice answered as she let his head break free from her embrace.  “Now, what can I get for you?  Milk?”

Kaen nodded yes and heard Hess snicker.

“It has done me good so far.  Why mess with a good thing?”

Laughing, Beatrice nodded and moved off to the bar.  Kaen watched her as she moved to the bar and shook his head.  Her movements reminded him of the girl that he danced with last night, and suddenly, the frustration of still not knowing who she was hit him.

Turning back, he saw Hess and Sulenda watching him.

“You two ok?”

Both of them smiled and nodded.

“I’m just wondering when the boy I knew became a man,” teased Hess.

Laughing again, Kaen was surprised to find he was still so happy.  All those years in Minoosh weren’t bad ones, but he was always on edge and angry.  Once Pammon came into his life, everything changed.

Now, sitting here in this inn with Hess and Sulenda, he was ready to start his adventurers' career. All he could think about was how great things were.

“Once she returns with my milk, I want to go into the office and know how I stand on the money side of things.  I got things I need to do.”