Dragon's Apprentice (6)

Part Six
“Give up yet?” He asked as he returned. He was once again in dragon form, though no where near his true size, and at least ten fish strung on a peace of twined tree bark hung around his neck. They’d already been gutted and their scales were blackened char as if he’d breathed fire at them. Lynn knew from experience that this meant that, once the scales were pealed off, the flesh underneath would be perfectly cooked and tender. She’d watched him cook them only once before and still had to wonder how he had enough control not to turn her dinner into so much fine ash.
He dropped the fish beside her and continued on to the fireplace. It had burned down in his absents and, resuming his full size, he tossed several tree sized logs into the red embers before huffing a fire ball into them. They lit instantly and, with a sigh, he settled into the heat, the spines at the tip of his tail almost in the flames.
She removed one blackened fish- might have been perch or maybe bass?- she couldn’t tell, and fingered the line the fish had been strung on.
“I always wondered what form you took to fish in,” She wondered aloud as she scraped the scales off with her work knife.
He shrugged his scaly shoulders.
“A little of this, a little of that,” He said and put his head back on the back of his hands as he watched her pick the cooked fish from the bone with her fingers. Like a bird swallowing a fish whole she tilted her head back as she swallowed, her long, brown-gold hair flowing around her as she moved.
“Did you just lay in the water and let them flow into your mouth again?” She asked, remembering the one time she’d actually watched him fish.
He chuckled.
“No. I didn’t actually eat fish this time. I had a doe before I went to the river. Eating that many schools of fish too often really tends to deplete the resources of an area and I’d like to be able to remain here for at least a bit longer,” He said and closed his eyes.
“Only a bit longer?”
He chuckled without otherwise moving. “A bit, my dear, could be centuries for a dragon,” He rumbled. “Have you figured out those rings yet, my darling?”
Lynn heaved a sigh. “I’m afraid not. You win this one,” She said softly. He opened his eyes and stood as gracefully as any cat rising from a pool of sunlight.
“Oh? Let me see how far you got then,” He said and moved to join her, shrinking down to almost the height of a man as he approached. He sat down besides her like an oversized dog and looked over her shoulder.
There on the floor before her crossed legs remained only five rings. He stared. She had gotten closer then he had ever expected her to.
“You are so close. Why give up now?” He asked and looked over into her face. She was frowning down at the little bands where they formed and arch before her.
“Because I can’t figure out if you meant monetary value,” She said, pointing to one. “Emotional value,” She pointed to the next ring in line. “Spiritual value.” She pointed to the next. “Magical value or memory value,” She said, pointing to the last two.
He stared at her and blinked.
“And how did you make your choices? Most of these rings look as if they could be anyone’s rings,” He said and narrowed his eyes at her.
She sighed and picked up the fist one. Closing it in one fist she closed her eyes and her brow furrowed as if in great concentration.
“Forged within the deepest mines of the First Great dwarven empire, fallen so long ago that even the mountains that were their home don’t remember them, it is made from the rarest of metals. Impervious to tarnish or damage it will shine through time, long after the name it’s creators gave it have been forgotten and the mettle itself can no longer be found within the earth in its raw form. The jewels it’s delicate filigree is twined around are three of the purest blood red rubies ever found,” She intoned in a voice that was almost not her own. It sounded old and far away, a voice that knew centuries more then it should have. She held the ring up into the light so that it’s beautifully polished coils of wire so fine the ring looked as if it would crumble could be seen and the rubies set within it glinted like fire cast eyes.
She set it down carefully and, without opening her eyes, picked up the next one. Her brow furrowed further and her skin took on a decidedly white look. She took a deep breath that caught in her chest.
“SHE gave you this ring. It’s copper, though lovely, without a jewel, the copper molded to look like the leaves from her favorite tree. She wore it on a chain around her neck until the day she gave it to you as her last breath left her.” She sat that ring down faster then the first and picked up the next.
“Polished silver with emerald chips for eyes this ring was created to look like the first fox you ever spoke to. It‘s also dwarven made,” She said and put it back down.
She was defiantly turning white, he decided as he watched her pick up the next ring. Blue light began to glow from between her fingers as soon as the gold band was closed in her fist.
“Elf mage,” Was all she said before she put it back down. “Even you don’t know all that it can do,” She said without opening her eyes before she picked up the last ring.
“The first ring you ever put in your hoard.” She held it up so that the six sapphire chips set around it gleamed. “It’s also an enchanted ring with spells of protection so old and powerful placed upon it that it’ll make the barer impervious to anything harmful from spells to arrows.”
She placed it down carefully and, at last, she opened her eyes. They were practically glowing.
Vaden stared at her with wide, surprised eyes.
“Well, that’s a new talent, my dear. How long have you had it?” He asked.
Her color still wasn’t returning. She didn’t look ill exactly, but more as if something had eaten all of the coloration from her skin.
She shook her head and leaned forward until her head rested on her folded legs.
“I don’t know, Vaden. I didn’t know I could do that until…I don’t know. Today. When I started sorting through the rings I saw a little bit, but the longer I tried to figure it out the stronger it got.” She sounded breathless and exhausted.
There was still no color in her skin. Even her hands had become the same bone white as her face.
He turned her to face him and, sitting back on his tail, took her face between his hands and forced her to look at him. She met his gaze evenly and her eyes were still inhumanly bright, though he doubted that a human would really notice.
“Hmm,” Her rumbled. “Use it a little every day, but don’t push it so much again…Can you turn it on and off at will or do you get constant flashes of information?”
“It seems to be a little of both, though it feels that if I work with it the control will get better. Like working a muscle I didn’t know I had,.”
He nodded and let go of her. “Well, my Lynn, it seems as if you won our wager…By a land slide. Since I promised you the most valuable ring in my hoard, plus one of your choice, and you were able to locate all five you may have them all plus one so take your pick,” He said and wondered back to the fire, growing larger as he went. He eased back down before the flames and watched as she lifted a sixth ring he hadn’t spotted from the shadows of the trunk.
“Which one is it?” He asked and she held it up for him to see. It looked like a brightly polished silver band but nothing more remarkable. He squinted at it then his eyes widened as he recognized it.
“One of Merlin’s rings,” She supplied before he could say anything.
“Which one?” He asked.
“The one that opens all locked doors while, oddly enough, also keeping anything that the wearer has from being taken from them under any means…I suppose if you’re going to go burglarize someone you want to be able to hold on to what you take.” She slipped it onto the thumb of her right hand before she began to slip on the others. The ancient dwarven ring went on to her right index finger, the silver fox ring went on to her right middle finger, followed by the elfin magic ring, then the first ring he had ever acquired, and, lastly, the copper ring went on the littlest finger of her left hand.
She held her right hand up and wiggled her fingers in the light. “Not a bad start,” She said and grinned.
He turned his head to look at her fully with one bright eye. “Start to what?” He asked.
“My hoard,” She said.
He threw his head back and laughed.
“Your hoard? Your kind don’t hoard,” He said.
“Oh?” She arched one brow at him. “I beg to differ. I’ve seen more human houses then you have and they all have small hoards stacked somewhere in their homes collecting dust.”
He laughed again. “Alright. Fair enough. Where are you going?”
She stood and stretched her arms high over her head, yawning.
“It’s late. I need to get home. I’ll be back tomorrow after the bridal auction.” She cracked her knuckles and dropped her arms.
“Aren’t you in the least bit worried that someone might want you?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m too strange and, as I told you, strangers are rare in Gold Spring.”
“I hope you’re right,” He said and shook his head. “G-.”
“Don’t say it,” She cut him off. “Goodbyes are bad luck. See you tomorrow, Vaden.” And with that she was gone, slipping out the tunnel and then out of the cave before he could say another word.
He watched her go, a little worried by the fact that, while her cheeks had taken on a pinkish cast, none of the rest of her skin tone had returned.
After a moment he shrugged to himself and pulled out the book he’d been reading before his ring search had distracted him from it.