Chapter 1964: Meeting the Dragonkin
Quinlan stood at the merchantman’s repaired rail as Narethi’s crew brought them toward Sarthal, watching ships emerge from behind the harbour walls.
There were so many of them.
A broad cargo vessel passed close enough for Blossom to wave at the children peering over its side. Beyond it, masts crowded the waterfront, where cranes swung loads onto quays packed with wagons and shouting workers.
The city climbed inland behind them. Quinlan followed its roofs toward distant walls, then lost the streets among towers and rising smoke.
"We could stay here for a while," he finally commented.
"We could get lost here for a while," Aurora replied, leaning beside him.
"Blossom can find everyone!"
His dogkin lifted her nose, sniffed enthusiastically, and turned toward a passing boat carrying baskets beneath damp cloth.
"Master, Blossom doesn’t know that smell!!"
"It’s exciting, huh? There’s so much to discover."
"Yes!"
Quinlan watched the little boat disappear behind a larger hull while Seraphiel pulled her hood forward against the breeze.
Her long ears remained concealed beneath it. Kaelira wore hers up too, the cloth falling around her violet hair.
They had covered their ears before meeting Narethi, at Quinlan’s request.
He knew how readily people on Iskaris had treated elven women as things to capture, buy, and fuck. Until he understood these people, he wanted that particular attention kept away from his lovers.
More importantly, he wasn’t even certain elves lived outside Iskaris.
He knew of only two elven primordials. Humans had their distant homelands, and beastkin were certainly curious and brave enough to venture out before Iskaris faced the Suppression, but he could easily imagine elves remaining content in their forests while the other races spread across the world.
Perhaps their ears would draw ordinary curiosity here. Perhaps someone would look at his women and begin calculating a selling price or worse.
The uncertainty was enough to keep the hoods in place.
Seraphiel caught him checking hers and smiled beneath its edge.
Kitsara muttered with obvious dissatisfaction.
Seraphiel’s tone lost its purr.
Kaelira was looking past them at a crane lifting a loaded wagon bodily off a ship. Her hood turned with the swinging load until Seraphiel caught her sleeve before she leaned too far over the rail.
"We can investigate once we’re ashore."
"I can see how it works. I want to know what they’re using for the joints."
Narethi came down from the helm as sailors began calling to the quay. People gathered opposite the damaged rail, pointing toward the replacement timbers.
"Narethi! What happened?!"
The captain called back, but a woman on the dock was already shouting a sailor’s name. He appeared beside Quinlan, waving both arms until she saw him.
Her hands covered her face.
Quinlan moved aside to give the man room. Across the deck, other crew members were hurrying toward familiar voices, smiling through the exhaustion.
Narethi watched them while the gangplank was lowered.
Then she saw someone still searching the faces along the rail, and her smile faltered.
"Excuse me, my lord."
"Of course."
She went down first.
Quinlan stayed with his women while the captain took the waiting man’s hands. He couldn’t hear what she said over the workers calling for ropes.
He saw the man shake his head, then try to look past her toward the ship.
Lucille’s hand found Quinlan’s.
They waited until Narethi turned back to them.
...
The soldiers stopped Quinlan at the foot of the gangplank.
Quinlan noticed the woman first. Around a metre seventy-five, she had long auburn hair spilling between swept-back horns, with copper scales framing a beautiful face. Her full lips curved as her golden, slit-pupilled eyes met his.
Fitted armour hugged her bust and waist, leaving patches of scales visible along her muscular arms and outer thighs. A thick copper tail curled beside her leg, its pale underside exposed as she lifted the tip.
Her tail, however, was nothing like a demon’s or a beastkin’s; it was full of muscle, weighty, meant as a fifth limb for physical warfare.
’So this is it... A dragonkin.’
The man beside her stood around two metres ten, broad-shouldered and more heavily scaled. Charcoal plates climbed his neck toward his golden eyes, and a dark, ridged tail curved behind his boots.
Quinlan felt a thrill at the sight of them. With natural armour over powerful bodies, they looked like a race bred for war. He wanted badly to see them fight.
’And they’re only the port guards...’
The man was already examining Synchra before moving his attention to the women descending behind Quinlan.
"These are the passengers you reported?" he asked Narethi, his voice resonating in his chest with a low growl beneath the words.
"The people who saved us."
"They weren’t aboard when you departed."
"We met them at sea."
His eyes returned to Quinlan’s helmet.
"On what vessel?"
"We travelled by magic," Quinlan answered.
"You carried this many across the sea?" The dragonkin’s nostrils widened as he looked Quinlan over. "You?"
"Yes. I have an artifact that lets us rest when I run out of mana."
"What artifact?"
"I’d rather that stayed private until I know I can trust this city with personal information."
The growl deepened in the soldier’s throat. His pointed nails pressed against his belt, but he let the refusal pass while looking toward Lilith’s sword, then Black Fang’s blade.
"And what business brings you here?"
"My wives and I are travelling the world. Your captain recommended Sarthal. We’d like somewhere to stay and a chance to see the region."
"His honeymoon," Narethi supplied. "He took his wives on an adventure to celebrate their marriage."
The female dragonkin released an amused huff, her gaze travelling from Quinlan’s shoulders down to his saber. The prospect of a man taking his mates into dangerous foreign lands plainly appealed to her.
"Taking your women out to see what you can kill?" Her voice had a throaty rasp, rough even through her amusement. "That is a marriage custom I can appreciate. Which land do you hail from?"
"A long way from here."
"How informative," the man rumbled. "Take off the helmet."
Quinlan remained where he was.
"I’ll keep it on."
The woman’s nails tapped against her sword’s pommel as she watched him refuse. Behind Quinlan, Ayame stepped off the gangplank and came to his side.
"That will not stand," the man growled, baring the points of his teeth. "Whatever your servants tolerate at home, foreigner, you stand before dragonkin here. You don’t set the terms."
Quinlan looked at the pair of guards, then simply shrugged. "Okay. If we’re unwelcome, we’ll go elsewhere. Thank you for your time."
He turned toward his companions.
"Shall we? We can look farther along the coast."
"Certainly," Vex smiled. "I don’t like how they look at you, Hubby. Let’s find more hospitable people."
Quinlan was disappointed. He had wanted to explore the enormous city beyond the warehouses, and Blossom was still trying to locate whatever scents had caught her nose.
But they had an entire world ahead of them. He could find another harbour, another inn, another place worth visiting with his family.
He certainly wasn’t going to argue with hostile guards or reveal his cards just to gain entrance.
Vex slipped her arm through his while the Lilies began turning away from the gangplank. The male guard watched them, his mouth closing before he could find another accusation.
"They’re leaving Sarthal so readily...?" he muttered, his bafflement carrying through the rumble. "The center of the world?"
As a prideful dragonkin, he struggled to understand such a concept. His city was the best because it was ruled by dragonkin. The lesser races arriving every day to live beneath their protection only confirmed that belief.
He had expected resistance, followed by an excuse to comply. The foreigner was leaving with the same easy confidence with which he had approached.
"Hmm~" The female dragonkin’s interest only grew. This tall, masked man had finally given her something worth watching during a boring guard duty.
Quinlan glanced back at the pleased sound. Her lips parted, and a long, dark tongue curled over her upper lip, reaching past the corner of her mouth before slipping between her teeth again.
She held Quinlan’s gaze through the entire movement as she muttered, "I want to see what’s beneath that armor..."