Dragon Treasure by SJ Sanders
Chapter 2
The snow, unseasonable even at her current altitude, had Tania warming the air with every curse she could think of. It was still early autumn, and she should have had weeks still of pleasant mountain weather before winter descended. More than enough time to do the job and make her way south to warm climates to wait out the winter. Instead, she had the cursed rotten luck of being snowed on, the lights of the mountain city only barely visible in the distance.
She fucking hated being cold. It was only a small consolation that any rivals she had also setting out for the treasure were going to have an equally miserable journey.
“This fucking sucks,” she muttered as she brushed another snowflake off her red nose and wrapped her long, fur-lined coat tighter around her.
She should have thought to buy winter gear, but she never stuck around long enough for the “joys” of winter. Her attire should have been warm enough, not having her toes freezing within her leather boots.
Jasee snorted in silent agreement. Or at least she took it for such. Logically, Tania knew that technically—according to the mages, anyway—anima-cog companions weren’t sentient. Because of that, they did not possess emotions or even thoughts beyond some basic programming implemented during the enchantment to make them easier to operate. That was fine with her. She was happy enough that her mare was nothing like a droid, who were programmed with more human—and unnerving—thought processes. Still, at times like these she liked to think that her mare empathized with her struggle.
She patted the mare’s metal neck absently, the dull thump of her hand on the thick, dense layers of metals sounding loud. “Well, no helping it now. We might as well continue on so we can at least get in someplace warm and dry for the night.”
Sighing, she squinted through the snow at the town tucked into the mountainside just above her. That was going to be one hell of a miserable climb ahead of them.
With a squeeze of her legs against the pressure plates in the mare’s sides, she silently bid Jasnee to continue. She winced a little at the dull metallic clang that echoed with every strike of the mare’s hooves on rocks stabbing at rough angles through the snow. They were close enough together that there was little path around them, making it exceptionally difficult to avoid all contact with them on a cog mare. That even a man would fail to get through soundlessly on foot without his weapons striking stone at least part of the time was at least mildly reassuring.
No army of trolls is going to be able to take this town by surprise. Everyone would be certain to hear them a mile away Not that any trolls would be tempted to even bother with it. Not when the space between the stones wouldn’t allow passage to more than one fully-armored adult male troll at a time.
Trolls, one of the worst blights in the more northern mountainous regions, were a very real risk for those tempted to live within the northern regions. Enough so that Tania had been keeping a vigilant watch for any signs of troll scouts. Fortunately, they were also highly opportunistic and rarely bothered where they wouldn’t have a distinct advantage. That the rock formations gave all the advantage to the town meant that she was likely now in a safety zone.
Her lips twisted in amusement at the clever placement of the human town. They weren’t protected from aerial attack, but the path up was ingenious. She wondered how many of the stones were natural and how many were placed and influenced by magic from local magic workers. She doubted an educated mage would be found this far into the northern mountains, not when they preferred their societies and comforts within the cities. Not unless he or she were the hyper-reclusive sort.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully beneath the scarf wound around the lower half of her face.
That would fit her theory about the so-called “dragon’s cave” being a mage trap. The downside was that, if that were the case, the locals would be unlikely to be of any real help. Like with other such cases, there was lore thick with supernatural appeasements and a relationship between the mage and locals. Especially if the mage had helped them, they would be highly protective of their lore and “dragon.” If asked, there would be nothing more offered than a silly story… no doubt about a dragon lifting the town into the mountains or casting the stones to form a protective barrier.
Not helpful.
At least there was a bright side to the whole situation. She had it on reasonable authority from the last traveling merchant she met on the road that the people were pleasant and welcomed strangers. She might not get any useful information out of anyone, but she wouldn’t be received with the sort of suspicion and hostility that many remote areas treated strangers to. The latter she experienced enough times to be well acquainted with sleeping in various barns or sheds because no one would trust a traveler inside their dwellings. With that in mind, she counted herself fortunate despite the inconvenience. Being able to acquire a hot meal and warm bed for the night from friendly locals was worth dealing with some jealously protected local superstition.
Ducking her head against a bitter current of wind, Tania gritted her teeth. It whistled slightly between thin gaps between particularly close stones fitted together in a manner that seemed almost artificial and designed. It made for an annoying serenade as she made her way up the mountain while sending the snow blindingly into her eyes and to cut into the exposed skin around her eyes.
Fighting for breath with the wind blowing against her face, she made a mental note to never return to the mountain if she could help it. The wind didn’t abate even once, but rather seemed to grow stronger the higher she ascended, making her misery more acute.
She didn’t even notice that she had arrived at the great outer wall of the town until it loomed out of the blowing snow. It seemed little more than a stark wall of white with deeply marked gray shadows from where large stones had been fitted together in the past.
Her eyes settled on a perfect dark line between two stones of a workmanship surprising to find. If mages were elusive in the higher altitudes, highly skilled architects and stone workers were even more so. Most villages and towns in the further reaches, unless fae-crafted, tended to be haphazardly put together.
She wrinkled her nose at the wall. It was a bit higher in the mountains than where the elvish courts tended to hold sway. That was more likely in the deep lowland valleys at the foot of the mountainside. Dwarves maybe, although they rarely entered into magical contracts from what she understood.
Tania snorted. The mystery was enticing, but she didn’t have the time to indulge her curiosities. She wanted to be far away with her riches before the actual winter weather drove in. As charming as she imagined the town was, the idea of being caged within for months on end without escape made her chest tighten in a familiar claustrophobic twinge.
During her southern winter retreats, she never lingered more than a few weeks in any one place. The idea of being trapped, surrounded by ice and snow without any way to escape the local population should they suddenly take it into their mind to harm her, made a cold sweet break out. She licked her lips. The confines of the walls in front of her suddenly looked far more forbidding and smaller than they had moments before.
“You, down there! What in Tarachna’s name are you doing down there in this weather?” a voice shouted from above.
Tania squinted up, her hand rising to block out of some of the snow flying into her eyes, and attempted to get a look at the speaker. To her frustration, she was only just barely able to make out the shadowy figure of a man standing at the guard post on the wall as he raised a hand and hastily sketched out a ward and respectful salute toward the goddess of storms, sorcery, and death. With the rebirth of the world, old, half-forgotten gods of ages past returned in new forms and new names, and this goddess was not the least of them. Tarachna received multitudes of offerings so that settlements remain whole, and its people protected during the long winters.
Some speculated that she was a demon, but as far as Tania was concerned, the differences were few and the lines blurred anyway, especially when it came to a goddess with such a terrifying gorgonian visage.
“I’m just traveling through further up the mountain,” she shouted back, slapping the snow off her arms as she continued to squint up at him. “I request shelter for the night.”
Her words sounded like they were swallowed up by the wind the moment they left her mouth, but the guard apparently heard her because the whine of the opening gate was carried to her, and a flood of muted light of lamps that lined the gate walls fell over her. Just beyond the other side of the wall, she could see the soft glow from street lanterns lining the streets, their glass domes protecting the flames from the wind. It was a hell of a lot more inviting than what she was expecting, that was for sure.
Gripping her mare’s reins, she dismounted and stepped in front, leading Jasnee after her, her eyes wide as she stared at the ornately painted walls of the gate as she stepped inside. Despite nearly sighing from the momentary relief from the snow as she passed through the gate, she jumped, swallowing a shriek, when she came to face to face with the painted likeness of the goddess’s head that was cast into stark relief by the lamps blazing on either side of it.
“Don’t be afraid. The goddess favors women. She is more likely to fly down from the mountain heights to hunt down and consume a man of age.” The guard chuckled as he ducked in from the opposite side, his warm brown eyes wrinkled with sympathetic amusement as he took in her alarm.
Right. She knew that.
She fought back the heat of embarrassment rushing to her face. She hadn’t been prepared to be caught off guard by the visage of the goddess that appeared so brutal. The goddess’s mouth was drawn open, exposing sharp teeth and long fangs as her eyes gleamed with what looked like two pieces of jade mounted in place within the orbs. Long, pointed ears flattened back aggressively, and, if she wasn’t mistaken, she thought she saw small horns poking through the curls of hair that billowed around her. Most images she had come across made in the goddess’s honor were less detailed scribbles made in dark pigments.
Perhaps, while frustrating at the time since she hadn’t been able to discern any kind of detail, that had been a good thing. She doubted few could look unflinchingly at the snarling likeness of the goddess without being affected.
Tania swallowed. This certainly didn’t look like any kind of merciful goddess to her, much less a friend of women to her in any case.
“Sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her likeness before in such detail,” she murmured as she brushed accumulated snow off her shoulders and arms before plucking her hat off her head and slapping it against her leg for good measure to knock the snow and ice free from it too.
The guard’s chest swelled with pride. “Nor will you. Tarachna Kalithia is sacred to our goddess. She has a great monastery within our town where the keepers tend to her and safeguard the entrance of Dragon’s Keep.”
Tania’s ears caught on that, and she glanced over at him curiously as she slowly continued to brush snow off to keep the talkative guard lingering.
“Dragon’s Keep?”
He nodded enthusiastically, almost reverently. “They say that she is guarded by great ice dragons who protect her wealth and bower deep within the mountain.”
Her finger twitched in a subtle betrayal of her excitement—not that the guard noticed. If the monastery’s keepers protected the entrance, then that could mean the way into the cave may be there. Could a mage have been mistaken for the goddess and used it to her purposes? As much as that idea fascinated her and tempted her to explore its possibilities, it also made her wince.
If devout locals thought that the cave was the literal home of the goddess, it was going to be guarded, and she was going to be in a whole hell of a lot of trouble if she were caught stealing from it.
She had to have some kind of death wish because in the next moment she realized that the possibility of painful—and possibly lethal—punishment didn’t do anything at all to change her mind on the matter.
Oh well. Daddy always did say I’m too reckless to live until old age.
The good thing was that a holy city nearly always had extra provisions for pilgrims and travelers that visit to encourage them to spend time at the monastery. Because of that, it was unlikely anyone would think anything of her spending inordinate amounts of time there, no matter how long she decided to stick around.
Hello, silver lining.
She slapped her gloves together and gave the guard her most charming smile before reaching back to grab ahold of Jasee’s reins again. Although the cog mare wasn’t likely to bolt, or have any of the erratic behavior of an organic mare of old that had become extinct ages ago around the height of human civilization, she also knew that the mare wouldn’t move forward without at least a silent recognizable command.
“I had heard that there was a city of the great goddess Tarachna, but I hadn’t considered I might have been lucky to find it already.” All lies, but apparently effective because the guard nodded, a smile stretching across his face, eager to believe that the fame of their little city was of renown. “I must be extra fortunate to have found it already. I don’t know how to thank you enough. Oh, I know! If you are off duty soon, let me buy you a drink.”
And just maybe then his secrets will spill all the quicker and easier .She could tell from the admiration in his eyes, that he was attracted to her, and therefore freer with information with an eye to impress her. It was the games of young men, and at thirty-six, she wasn’t above using said games for her own purposes.
His smile widened, a cunning light gleaming in his eyes as they filled with heat. “I would like that. In fact, I am off here in the next few minutes, if you do not mind waiting for my replacement. Then I can show you to the tavern and help you secure a room there. I will personally make sure you get a room with the best view of the monastery,” he added as he reached out the short distance between them and gave her thigh a squeeze.
She nearly laughed at the obviously play but held it back. She didn’t want to completely wreck the boy’s pride.
Gently, she extracted herself from his grip, drawing Jasnee up further at her side which in turn forced him back a step or two. She kept an unwavering smile on him, her eyes wide and guileless… or so she hoped as she twisted and formed her small amount of magic around herself. Simple illusions were sometimes hard to set, but it seemed that this wasn’t going to be one of those times because the guard merely extended his arm to her.
Tania placed her hand on his forearm.
“That is so incredibly sweet. Now I feel doubly fortunate that I have also found someone so willing to help me and look out for my interests… and be such wonderful company.” She grinned up at him. “I’m sincerely looking forward to getting a good look at that monastery.”