Fire of the Inquisitor

Lucia’s heart skipped a beat as she stared eye to eye with a dragon. It tilted its head from side to side, looking at her with each eye that was placed on the sides of its head. It was smaller than she would have guessed by Sable’s concern about it, barely coming up to Lucia’s shoulders. Part reptile and part bird, it beautiful shining turquoise feathers that ran from its tail to the middle of its forehead where its narrow jaws hung opened to show its razor sharp teeth. At that moment, however, was more concerned with the curved talon on its foot that clicked against the rocks in the dirt.

Lucia was without her sword and with the amount of abuse it had taken in the Palace of Nightshade she doubted it would have done much good. All she had was the small dagger on her belt that she had been using to pick jungle fruit and kill a small rodent she had found. Still if the thing wanted to fight her, she wouldn’t make it easy on him. The little dragon watched as she slowly moved her hand to her dagger.

The thing cawed loudly at her face and then made a growling noise as it lowered its head. Out of bushes, three more of the beasts came jumping out and surrounded the soldier, their heads bouncing up and down as they loudly called to each other. Lucia never thought she would die in the jaws of such silly beasts.

She was about to pull out her knife when she heard Sable’s voice.

“Wait,” he said. The creatures all turned their heads as the inquisitor approached the first individual Lucia had encountered, who was also the largest. Then, Sable did something so surprising it made Lucia’s jaw drop. He patted the creature on the head.

“Sable,” she gasped. “Why are you petting the dragon?”

He looked at her curiously and that moment Lucia realized that the skull he wore on his head was identical if not larger to the creature’s, right down to the four feathers still attached to it. Lucia could feel her face redden in embarrassment.

“These are jewelled osprey.” The inquisitor scratched under the creature’s chin.

“My mistake.” She watched as each of the ospreys took turns greeting the inquisitor by rubbing their muzzles against his shoulder. “It looked like they wanted to eat me.”

Sable cocked his head and looked down at her belt, looking very much like one of his pets. “Do you have any fresh kills on you.”

Lucia reached down and removed the rodent from the pouch she wore, dangling it from its tail. This sent the osprey into a frenzy, bouncing up and down and making a terrible racket. Lucia took a step back. “I only have one.”

“Throw it to the biggest one,” the inquisitor said.

Lucia did what she was told and tossed the rodent into the air toward the big osprey. The creature used its impressive hind legs and jumped in the air to catch its prize. It came down chomping on the bloody snack as the other jealousy snapped at him.

Sable nodded. “I’m glad we had something we could offer them as a reward for finding your people.”

“Wait, they did what?” She ran toward Sable and grabbed his sleeve. The osprey startled by her sudden movement jumped and the inquisitor looked like he wanted to join them.

“They have found your people,” he said, looking down at his sleeve.

Lucia pulled him closer. “Where are they.”

Sable looked at the largest osprey who chirped loudly. “It seems like they have become trapped in a widow plant.”

“Oh no.” She let go of his sleeve. “We have to help them.”

“We will,” he said, turning to the osprey. He scratched under the chins of two of them and then pointed to his left causing the four to sprint in that direction. He then turned back to Lucia. “They won’t come with us, they are afraid of widow plants.”

“So, you can actually talk to them?” she said, as they started back to the camp.

Sable shrugged. “It’s not exactly talking like the way we talk or the way I can hear my lady’s voice inside my mind sometimes. It’s more like I can see their memories.”

“That’s amazing,” Lucia said.

“All inquisitors can do it.” Lucia collected her stuff from the camp as Sable put out the fire. “It helps us with tracking during our missions.”

“Your mission.” Lucia paused. “What about finding the dragon?”

Sable continued walking. “I have come to the conclusion that there never was any dragon.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t help, but feel sorry for him, all the suffering he had been through not to find what he was looking for. She wanted to console him, but she wasn’t sure he would see it as a mild failure. Instead, she changed the subject. “Is this widow plant far?”

“Not at all,” Sable pointed to the horizon. “You were much farther where I met you.”

“So, they almost made it here.” Lucia felt heartbroken over the revelation.

The inquisitor nodded. “The Fields of Shadow are not actually that large, you just have to know how to navigate them.”

“Like you do,” she said.

He shrugged. “I grew up in the upper fields, I don’t know so much about the lower fields.”

Lucia scratched her head. “Which fields are we in now?”

“We are about to enter the upper fields again,” he said.

The young soldier glanced over at the inquisitor as he walked with his hands behind his back. It dawned on her that he was answering her questions more freely than when they had first met. It made Lucia feel good like he finally decided to trust her.

She looked forward again. “I knew it, this isn’t part of the fields.”

They continued their talk as they made their way to rescue the others from whatever a widow plant was. Sable would explain much about the Fields of Shadow and the creatures that inhabited them and she would tell him more about her mission and her life in Nova Edenis. While on their journey, Lucia found a key shaped rock and made two wishes. She wished that one day he would consider her a friend and that the governor general was still waiting for them back home.