Maurice thought he sounded bold standing at the mouth of the cave that overlooked his parents' kingdom. The prince had his hand on the hilt of his sword and his crown (which was really just a cardboard replica from his parents' restaurant) tipped forward like an old timy thug's cap.
If he brought the beast home, there would be a grand party. He would have a real crown and a seat at the head of the Queen's wide-reaching fastfood empire. It was complicated.
Hanna, who had been taking a wonderful nap, lifts his head to blink out towards the mouth of his cave. The walls were lined with carvings of runes and things, magic running through the whole thing all the way back towards his horde, which didn't amount to much, but he was a humble dragon of not too much strength or size. Larger than a human by far, yes, but not quite so terrifying when he got out into the light.
He yawns, his claws searching for his glasses before he plops them on his face, settling on his snout easily. "I don't feel like coming out to play," He responds in a rather board voice, deeper than one might think when they saw him, but not quite so deep that you would register it for a monster his size. "Do I have to?"
The prince's sleep was dreamless and honestly, it was better that way. His body was battered as was his pride and so he slept like the rocks he was surrounded by. Hanna needn't worry about getting all his things together by day break because the prince dozed until noon in his heap of furs.
When he finally did stir, it was slow. Sleep clung to him like spiderwebs and a gloved hand emerged from the bearskin. It made a weird gesture--and kept making it until it occurred to Maurice that it was gloved. He tugged it off with his teeth before lifting his hand into the air again.
He snapped his fingers--loud and well practiced.
"Arnold..." his voice was heavy with sleep. "Arnold, my clothes, please. And some willow bark tea, my head is killing me."
One thing his mother had beaten into her children was to call each and every servant by name.
Hanna hadn't taken much longer past daybreak, which suited him fine since the journey had tired him. He had left the village in scale and wing, not wanting to over-exhaust himself in the trek home. If Maurice had woken earlier than the dragon, he would have come across him asleep much like he had been the night before, though far less collected this time around. He slept on his back, wings spread and sprawled with his tail and long body laying all over, enjoying the warmth radiating back at him from the cavern walls and gold that pillowed him.
Hours later, he had finally woken, using his tail to sweep his horde back into a neat pile, much like one would make a bed. Having started his day, working on some spell or another, he had just about finished with an oddly colored potion when the sound of a snap hit his ears. They twitched, Hanna shaking his head to rid himself of the sound, when it came again, loud and echoing down the hall it came from. "Royalty." He groaned, glaring at the cavern ceiling before heading down the hall with a bundle gathered in his tail.
And, while it wasn't Arnold who greeted him as he woke, he was promptly pelted by a pile of clothes right in his face. "I'm sure that'll do good for your head, my lord. If that doesn't work I'm sure I could bite it off. I'm told that does wonders to get rid of pain."
Long into the night and well into the morning, Maurice did his scribe work. This attempt on mastering the huge scroll went far better but he still didn't finish by the time the birds outside the cave woke up.
He hunched close to the desk with one of the furs tucked around his shoulders like a cape and several spent candles created grim pillars along the desk's edges. Every time he heard Hanna's gold shift, every time he heard some stone tumble down the mountain, every time the birds stopped singing, he had to pause, hold his breath, and wait for the yelling to start.
This went on until what civilized folk who OWNED AN EASY TO LOCATE CLOCK would call nine am. He could no longer take it. With baggy eyes and covered in ink stains, Prince Maurice shuffled into the main chamber and squinted around in the rosy light.
Knowing better than to call out for 'Dragon' again, instead he croaked, "Hello...?" Did the guard show up when I blacked out for five seconds and behead you? Are they setting fire to the countryside? Is there any wine?
At least Maurice's predictions weren't far off. To ears far better than Maurice's, the sound of hooves on the hills in plain sight of the peak thundered.
Hanna hadn't actually heard Maurice's hello. The sounds he was more intuned to were the thundering of hooves coming closer. He lay close to the mouth of his cave, pressed to the floor and seemed to be working on some last minute runes. The whole mouth of the cave was covered in them. It seemed that while Maurice worked on his scrolls, Hanna had been quietly carving runes into the mouth of the cave.
There were three in total, One rather large on that he was finishing, he stood on, just finishing the last few lines as the sounds of hooves became more audible for regular ears. Maurice should have heard it by now. Hanna's tail lifted, curling around him after all that work he had done, and the barbed end looked a little worse for wear after carving into the stone for so many hours, but if it let him keep his head, it was worth it.
In any case, it was also worth the screams of the horses as he opened his mouth to shout when they road over the top of the peak, the ground flat entering the cave. "WHO DARES ENTER MY LAIR? WHO DARES TEST DEATH AND FIRE?" The words that came out were not Hanna's usual tone. It was loud, it was booming and it was deep and threatening. The rune carved into the ceiling of the cave pulsed with every word, and the other two were alight now as well. "DRAW YOUR SWORDS AND YOU SHALL MEET LUCIFER IN THE DARKNESS OF HELL!"
After a decent night's sleep, Maurice found himself waking with the birds again. The finality of yesterday's clash with his mother's men still gave him uneasy shudders and his fingers ached from all the writing he'd been doing so this morning, the young prince turned apprentice decided to do something different.
After fluffing his now clean hair and tying it, he crept into the dragon's main chamber. No runes in the works this morning. Not much of anything in the works from the looks of it. He was starting to miss conventions like breakfast. Last night's supper had been peaceful but he'd stopped eating halfway through and excused himself to bed.
But not wholly because he was tired. Maurice began to worry as he picked at his deer ribs, what if other animals were people just like Hanna? He'd been too embarrassed to voice this concern and so he bottled it up.
Speaking of bottles...Maurice frowned at the right mess the whole cave was in. The store room wasn't so bad now that he'd been living in it for nearly a week...but this 'kitchen' was a disaster waiting to happen. He had a feeling that his job might move to other parts of the cave once he'd finished his copying and organizing in 'his' room...so why not get a head start out here? It needed it and Maurice needed the distraction.
And so it went. The prince bustled around the dragon's keep eyeing labels on things and trying to put them in order just like he had the scrolls. But some thing weren't labeled. So he lined them up according to size, color, and how they smelled. He threw out a couple of things since they seemed 'spoiled' to him. It was a nice hour or two's distraction but his scribe's duty called and eventually he retreated back to his end of the cave.
A couple more days and the big scroll would be complete. He couldn't wait to see the look on Hanna's snout when he saw how ahead of the game he was.
Hanna, who had decided it was a good day to sleep in, had, completely oblivious of the cleaning that Maurice had done. There were some sounds that had made his ears twitch, but it wasn't enough to wake him, and he settled, breathing easily. He had used quite a bit of magic to create such a large illusion, and while it was easy, he hadn't used that much magic in a while, unused to it since he lived alone and potions required none to create. It was like exercising a muscle you never used, and had left him tired.
When he woke, he did his usual routine despite it being so late in the day, half awake and not realizing the newly organized work space, yawning as he poured his morning potions on a cloth, wiping it down his scales and yawning once more before heading off to check a list of orders he had recieved from the nearby town. He was just about to sit and go over it when the swish of his tail caught his eye, blinking, he watched as it swished again, back into his vision and he blinked once more. That was not pink.
His tail was a bright, bright Orange, his underbelly, while normally blue, was a hideous shade of sick lavender.
It was amazing how jarring it was to suddenly be among other people again. Sure he'd seen his mother's men but he hadn't spoken to them. They had come and gone like a daydream. It still felt like a daydream.
But now here he stood with his horse at his side in a filthy street in a strange town. Everything stank. Everything. He tugged his shirt collar up over his nose as he led Sally through the streets. Nobody looked at him. Nobody threw themselves at his feet when they bumped into his shoulder or sloshed what he hoped was mud onto his breeches with their wagon wheels and beggars tugged at his arms with their scabby hands.
It was an experience so surreal that Maurice felt like his soul was drifting out his his mouth by the time he reached a stand that sold oils.
"G'mornin', sir, what a fine horse! What can I do ye fer?"
Maurice swayed. The man's breath nearly curled the prince's almost-beard.
Hanna, who had waited until he was sure that Maurice was further along, slipped from his cave, using his wing to catch up a good deal of the way, and landed not to far out of town but far enough to not alert the townsfolk. It was here that he cast his spell, one a little different than the one that he had used for the large illusion outside the cave. This one required no rune work, but more shape shifting than anything, his body shrinking down to size, clothes reflecting the color of his scales, still that horrid orange since he hadn't had the chance to strip himself of the potions color just yet. He glared down at his tunic, pulling at the material before shrugging, the sack he had brought holding a cloak anyways, which was thankfully not quite so orange.
Straightening his glasses, he heads into town, barefoot, but not seeming to mind the gravel and road he crossed in the slightest. To be quite honest, in this form he looked more the wizard than he did in his true one, though a quirky one, walking barefooted, red hair all over the place and glasses slightly too big for him. Though, not wanting to be recognized by the villagers he had become familiar with, he pulls the hood on his cloak and wanders forward, searching for Maurice. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard.
"FIFTY GOLD IS TOO HIGH FOR A BOTTLE YOU COULD SWALLOW ON ACCIDENT."
People were watching.
"Fifty or you can take yer nag and hit the road!"
A lot of people were watching.
"I will not 'hit the road' and I will not leave without that bottle. I was told that I could get it for thirty and thirty is what you're going to give it to me fore."
"Times is changin', sir." The oil-seller's cheer had dissipated like a fine, nicely scented mist about fifteen minutes ago. "The ingredients for it's gettin' hard to come by this time of year."
"That's hardly an excuse!"
"Sixty gold."
Maurice was ready to take off like a rocket. "Do you know who I am?"
It had been two days since his trip to town. Two days of labeling and organizing to fix his mess. His hands appreciated the break and the simple act of going on an errand had made him realize just how dull being a copyboy was. The label printing made him want to tear his hair out. He wanted to go outside again and he cringed whenever he thought of going back into that gloomy study to print scrolls.
Mage and apprentice worked in their respective spaces until, light a bolt from above, the words Maurice had been thinking when Hanna's disgusting colors drained away became clear. He put down his quill and looked across the chamber at the pale dragon's back and leaned to see if he was terribly busy.
Hanna, who had mostly gotten over Maurice's vicious burn after two days. And, despite how he had been working to get all the potions organized, he still wasn't ready yet to recolor himself, especially since he had discovered that the one that was responsible for the light pink of his soft spines was one of the potions that Maurice had thrown out. Of course.
Currently he was multitasking, stirring a potion with his tail while reading the recipe, not too terribly busy, but focused. He can tell when Maurice's gaze hovers though, and he lifts his eyes from the pages, curious. "Yes?"
The prince just stared back with that absent expression he'd had since his employment (at least when he wasn't busy fuming or pouting). He was tracing the shapes Hanna was made of with his eyes and repeating the word in his head. The way his neck curved coupled with both arches of his wings and the top-most point of his spines. It was an exact match.
"You look like a cathedral," he said, matter-of-factly.
Hanna had taken the day off, the quiet afternoon one of a simple sort of pleasure that he rarely got to enjoy, especially during the cooler months.
But, today it was positively sunny out, and he had taken to napping on a sun-kissed rock outside of his cave, his white scales glittering in the sunlight. Only another day or two, and he would be back to his hideous pinks and blues, but today he would take a break and enjoy the sunlight, and occasionally crack one eye open to watch his apprentice practice with his new bow. The sound of the arrows in flight starting to sound like a strange lullaby in the warmth of the sun.
Maurice had made himself a row of targets and had spent all morning getting back into form. He was pretty rusty. Several of his arrows sailed right over top of the targets but a few did clip the corners. His nerves were getting to him. He had to impress Hanna with this after making such a big show of it.
Maybe he was overthinking it. Probably. Thinking wasn't one of his best skills so he decided to give it a rest and focus on what was.
Wshew!
THOCK!
Dead center.
The prince broke into a huge grin. YES. He was back! He instantly wheeled around on a heel and bolted off to where Hanna was sunning himself. Needless to say he lifted an arm to shield his eyes. Hanna was brilliant. He really was like a cathedral.
Was that a weird thing to think?
LET'S JUST SHOVE THAT ASIDE. The prince slowed to a trot and leaned down to gently tug at one of Hanna's wings.
"Are you ready to see the best archer in the kingdom?"
Hanna's ear twitches at the sudden sound of his arrow hitting something. It hadn't actually done that yet, and he was almost tempted to peak an eye open, but when he heard his apprentice walking over, he pretended to be asleep. Obviously feigned disinterest was the best part of being a dragon.
When Maurice tugs at his wing though, something he hadn't expected at all, his chest rumbles with a growl and he opens his eyes, raising his head and giving Maurice a rather irritated look. "You could have just said that and not pulled on me. That would have worked just fine."
After the Arrow Incident, Maurice did not trade words with his teacher for several days. He did his copy work, trained alone behind the cave with his bow, ate supper and went to bed.
Then, one day, he did not come to supper. The storage room was in the same disarray it had been left in. The bow was missing. Sally was missing from her little pasture out back and the two of them stayed gone until almost two days had passed. Finally, hooves could be heard echoing up the stony path and here came the prince filthy and tired walking alongside his little white horse. A young elk was flung across her back, field dressed and headless. Prince Maurice tied her to her post, dragged the carcass off her saddle, and made his way into the cave--testing the threshold ever so slightly with the toe of his boots.
Just in case Hannacross had set up a rune to keep him out.
After the Arrow Incident, Hannacross had not been in the best of moods. It was perhaps good that they didn't talk much, that they left each other alone. He brooded over the fact that his apprentice would injure him so lightly, that his pride was too big, that he couldn't change, and why was he putting himself in danger because he felt bad for the fallen prince? Was it worth it? He didn't even know how much the prince's word was worth after.
When he disappeared, Hanna wasn't sure what to think. Good riddance? Except it was too bitter to try to spin it at all in a happy light. It was lonely, and honestly, Hanna had enjoyed the company more than he ever would say because living a life like he did, you didn't make many friends. It was quiet, and alone, and talking to people could be dangerous. It was hard to get back into a routine without the Prince, and he sighed as he tidied up the store room, folding the skins and furs that Maurice slept with, putting them away where they had originally come from, instead of back on the ground where Maurice kept them.
He hadn't expected him to come back.
He hadn't expected it at all, which is why, when Maurice comes back, Hanna is sleeping, and even if he had spent the time to clean the store room, the whole work space in the main part of the cavern was a mess. Nothing seemed to have gotten done, and what was attempted was completely unorganized. Hanna wasn't even sleeping in his horde, but next to his work bench, the wood sinking a little under the weight of his head. He didn't stir when Maurice tested the threshold.
Once he wasn't zapped or catapulted backwards ass over teakettle, Maurice dragged the elk inside and startled to find Hanna's big snoot facing him. He froze, prepared for the worst, but when toothy death didn't rain down on him, he let out a sigh.
Okay. He could do this. He could start eeking his way back into the dragon's good graces.
With a loud grunt, he heaved the deer up onto the table and leaned heavily against it.
"I caught...dinner..." Maurice was completely out of breath. That last stretch that they'd walked really did a number on him.
Going into town with Maurice had been an actual treat. While he didn't enjoy stretching his human legs all that much, it was nice to walk with Maurice the regular way, even if it did take longer than flying half way. He had refused to ride his pony, but that was fine. He didn't like the idea of something that would think being between his stubby human legs and his fragile little body. Even if he was still strong, it was easier to get hurt like this and it made him uncomfortable.
In any case, with two lists made, they had split ways once in town, Hanna wandering stalls with a full purse due to the fact that he had needed to purchase some rather spendy ingredients for a potion he was working on. This had gathered some attention, and before he had reached the outskirts of town, needing to purchase an extract from a rare crop at the farm, there was a good three men following behind him. Further away from the crowds, the men gained more confidence, rounding on Hanna in his human form. He could do extra ordinary things, but his cover would certainly be blown if he tried to do most of them here, even on the edge of town.
"Is there a problem good sirs?" Perhaps flashing those eyes of his would work, throwing off the hood of his cloak. One man shifted uncomfortably, recognizing him as the wizard who wandered these parts, but his coin was too tempting.
Prince Maurice, his list in-hand, had finally grown easy walking among the folk that his mother ruled. He had grown used to being No One--only he wasn't no one. He was apprentice to a dragon!
And it was a secret.
How exciting was that?
With his horse trailing behind him and carrying little more than a few bags of the day's purchases, Maurice felt hopeful. As he browsed the stalls, his mind couldn't help wandering...
Just how hard would it be to start up their own little country of Aborg? Maybe he could find a book or scroll on some such thing.
As Maurice and his horse rounded the next line of shops, he caught sight of a little crowd forming. Curious, he urged Sally to follow him. A juggler maybe? A fortune teller? How he'd love to have his fortune told!
Life on the mountain had been...interesting to say the least. Maurice had rode up it intending to come home with the resident's head hanging from his saddle. Instead he found himself assisting the creature and eventually coming to call him a friend. A very strange, very infuriating friend.
What would his mother think?
The prince had finally returned from town--and errand to pick up some wax for sealing and a fresh supply of parchment-- and made the slow walk from the little stable they had built for his horse. The chore had taken him far longer than it normally would have and the white flecks drifting down from the clouds explained why. He hadn't dressed for cold, he hadn't even thought of it after spending so much time in the cave. His fingers were stiff and his face was red from the wind trying to push him back down the mountain.
When he entered, he quickly and almost unceremoniously dumped the things he'd been sent for onto the long work table and trudged toward the back where his pile of furs was. He was NEVER GOING TO LEAVE THEM AGAIN gods it was cold.
The winter wasn't the best time for Hannacross, in that he felt a little sluggish outside of his cave and had a hard time even with the fire in his belly to keep warm against he snow and ice. His heat radiated out of him in the cavern though and bounced warmly back onto him, keeping him and his home a nice cozy temperature.
He hadn't thought so much about the prince going out with the wind chill and the bite in the air, but seeing him come back in with his cheeks pink and the stiffness of his walk, he realized he might have made a mistake in not warning him.
Hanna's long neck turned as he watched his assistant disappear down the hall without a word and wondered if perhaps he was upset with him, but frowned at him doing so since he was very much aware it was more warm in the main cavern than down the corridor. "Your majesty?" He called after him, frowning down at his work before getting up and stretching his wings to start after him, following the smaller man down the hall. "Are you alright?"
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theattic2014-11-09 08:06 pm
DRAGON AU
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Maurice thought he sounded bold standing at the mouth of the cave that overlooked his parents' kingdom. The prince had his hand on the hilt of his sword and his crown (which was really just a cardboard replica from his parents' restaurant) tipped forward like an old timy thug's cap.
If he brought the beast home, there would be a grand party. He would have a real crown and a seat at the head of the Queen's wide-reaching fastfood empire. It was complicated.
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He yawns, his claws searching for his glasses before he plops them on his face, settling on his snout easily. "I don't feel like coming out to play," He responds in a rather board voice, deeper than one might think when they saw him, but not quite so deep that you would register it for a monster his size. "Do I have to?"
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The Magician's Assistant
When he finally did stir, it was slow. Sleep clung to him like spiderwebs and a gloved hand emerged from the bearskin. It made a weird gesture--and kept making it until it occurred to Maurice that it was gloved. He tugged it off with his teeth before lifting his hand into the air again.
He snapped his fingers--loud and well practiced.
"Arnold..." his voice was heavy with sleep. "Arnold, my clothes, please. And some willow bark tea, my head is killing me."
One thing his mother had beaten into her children was to call each and every servant by name.
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Hours later, he had finally woken, using his tail to sweep his horde back into a neat pile, much like one would make a bed. Having started his day, working on some spell or another, he had just about finished with an oddly colored potion when the sound of a snap hit his ears. They twitched, Hanna shaking his head to rid himself of the sound, when it came again, loud and echoing down the hall it came from. "Royalty." He groaned, glaring at the cavern ceiling before heading down the hall with a bundle gathered in his tail.
And, while it wasn't Arnold who greeted him as he woke, he was promptly pelted by a pile of clothes right in his face. "I'm sure that'll do good for your head, my lord. If that doesn't work I'm sure I could bite it off. I'm told that does wonders to get rid of pain."
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Smoke and Mirrors
Long into the night and well into the morning, Maurice did his scribe work. This attempt on mastering the huge scroll went far better but he still didn't finish by the time the birds outside the cave woke up.
He hunched close to the desk with one of the furs tucked around his shoulders like a cape and several spent candles created grim pillars along the desk's edges. Every time he heard Hanna's gold shift, every time he heard some stone tumble down the mountain, every time the birds stopped singing, he had to pause, hold his breath, and wait for the yelling to start.
This went on until what civilized folk who OWNED AN EASY TO LOCATE CLOCK would call nine am. He could no longer take it. With baggy eyes and covered in ink stains, Prince Maurice shuffled into the main chamber and squinted around in the rosy light.
Knowing better than to call out for 'Dragon' again, instead he croaked, "Hello...?" Did the guard show up when I blacked out for five seconds and behead you? Are they setting fire to the countryside? Is there any wine?
At least Maurice's predictions weren't far off. To ears far better than Maurice's, the sound of hooves on the hills in plain sight of the peak thundered.
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There were three in total, One rather large on that he was finishing, he stood on, just finishing the last few lines as the sounds of hooves became more audible for regular ears. Maurice should have heard it by now. Hanna's tail lifted, curling around him after all that work he had done, and the barbed end looked a little worse for wear after carving into the stone for so many hours, but if it let him keep his head, it was worth it.
In any case, it was also worth the screams of the horses as he opened his mouth to shout when they road over the top of the peak, the ground flat entering the cave. "WHO DARES ENTER MY LAIR? WHO DARES TEST DEATH AND FIRE?" The words that came out were not Hanna's usual tone. It was loud, it was booming and it was deep and threatening. The rune carved into the ceiling of the cave pulsed with every word, and the other two were alight now as well. "DRAW YOUR SWORDS AND YOU SHALL MEET LUCIFER IN THE DARKNESS OF HELL!"
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Toil and Trouble
After a decent night's sleep, Maurice found himself waking with the birds again. The finality of yesterday's clash with his mother's men still gave him uneasy shudders and his fingers ached from all the writing he'd been doing so this morning, the young prince turned apprentice decided to do something different.
After fluffing his now clean hair and tying it, he crept into the dragon's main chamber. No runes in the works this morning. Not much of anything in the works from the looks of it. He was starting to miss conventions like breakfast. Last night's supper had been peaceful but he'd stopped eating halfway through and excused himself to bed.
But not wholly because he was tired. Maurice began to worry as he picked at his deer ribs, what if other animals were people just like Hanna? He'd been too embarrassed to voice this concern and so he bottled it up.
Speaking of bottles...Maurice frowned at the right mess the whole cave was in. The store room wasn't so bad now that he'd been living in it for nearly a week...but this 'kitchen' was a disaster waiting to happen. He had a feeling that his job might move to other parts of the cave once he'd finished his copying and organizing in 'his' room...so why not get a head start out here? It needed it and Maurice needed the distraction.
And so it went. The prince bustled around the dragon's keep eyeing labels on things and trying to put them in order just like he had the scrolls. But some thing weren't labeled. So he lined them up according to size, color, and how they smelled. He threw out a couple of things since they seemed 'spoiled' to him. It was a nice hour or two's distraction but his scribe's duty called and eventually he retreated back to his end of the cave.
A couple more days and the big scroll would be complete. He couldn't wait to see the look on Hanna's snout when he saw how ahead of the game he was.
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When he woke, he did his usual routine despite it being so late in the day, half awake and not realizing the newly organized work space, yawning as he poured his morning potions on a cloth, wiping it down his scales and yawning once more before heading off to check a list of orders he had recieved from the nearby town. He was just about to sit and go over it when the swish of his tail caught his eye, blinking, he watched as it swished again, back into his vision and he blinked once more. That was not pink.
His tail was a bright, bright Orange, his underbelly, while normally blue, was a hideous shade of sick lavender.
He took in a calming breath, and then screamed.
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A Prince Among Men
It was amazing how jarring it was to suddenly be among other people again. Sure he'd seen his mother's men but he hadn't spoken to them. They had come and gone like a daydream. It still felt like a daydream.
But now here he stood with his horse at his side in a filthy street in a strange town. Everything stank. Everything. He tugged his shirt collar up over his nose as he led Sally through the streets. Nobody looked at him. Nobody threw themselves at his feet when they bumped into his shoulder or sloshed what he hoped was mud onto his breeches with their wagon wheels and beggars tugged at his arms with their scabby hands.
It was an experience so surreal that Maurice felt like his soul was drifting out his his mouth by the time he reached a stand that sold oils.
"G'mornin', sir, what a fine horse! What can I do ye fer?"
Maurice swayed. The man's breath nearly curled the prince's almost-beard.
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Straightening his glasses, he heads into town, barefoot, but not seeming to mind the gravel and road he crossed in the slightest. To be quite honest, in this form he looked more the wizard than he did in his true one, though a quirky one, walking barefooted, red hair all over the place and glasses slightly too big for him. Though, not wanting to be recognized by the villagers he had become familiar with, he pulls the hood on his cloak and wanders forward, searching for Maurice. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard.
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"FIFTY GOLD IS TOO HIGH FOR A BOTTLE YOU COULD SWALLOW ON ACCIDENT."
People were watching.
"Fifty or you can take yer nag and hit the road!"
A lot of people were watching.
"I will not 'hit the road' and I will not leave without that bottle. I was told that I could get it for thirty and thirty is what you're going to give it to me fore."
"Times is changin', sir." The oil-seller's cheer had dissipated like a fine, nicely scented mist about fifteen minutes ago. "The ingredients for it's gettin' hard to come by this time of year."
"That's hardly an excuse!"
"Sixty gold."
Maurice was ready to take off like a rocket. "Do you know who I am?"
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Complimentary
Mage and apprentice worked in their respective spaces until, light a bolt from above, the words Maurice had been thinking when Hanna's disgusting colors drained away became clear. He put down his quill and looked across the chamber at the pale dragon's back and leaned to see if he was terribly busy.
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Currently he was multitasking, stirring a potion with his tail while reading the recipe, not too terribly busy, but focused. He can tell when Maurice's gaze hovers though, and he lifts his eyes from the pages, curious. "Yes?"
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"You look like a cathedral," he said, matter-of-factly.
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You'll shoot your eye out!
But, today it was positively sunny out, and he had taken to napping on a sun-kissed rock outside of his cave, his white scales glittering in the sunlight. Only another day or two, and he would be back to his hideous pinks and blues, but today he would take a break and enjoy the sunlight, and occasionally crack one eye open to watch his apprentice practice with his new bow. The sound of the arrows in flight starting to sound like a strange lullaby in the warmth of the sun.
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Maurice had made himself a row of targets and had spent all morning getting back into form. He was pretty rusty. Several of his arrows sailed right over top of the targets but a few did clip the corners. His nerves were getting to him. He had to impress Hanna with this after making such a big show of it.
Maybe he was overthinking it. Probably. Thinking wasn't one of his best skills so he decided to give it a rest and focus on what was.
Wshew!
THOCK!
Dead center.
The prince broke into a huge grin. YES. He was back! He instantly wheeled around on a heel and bolted off to where Hanna was sunning himself. Needless to say he lifted an arm to shield his eyes. Hanna was brilliant. He really was like a cathedral.
Was that a weird thing to think?
LET'S JUST SHOVE THAT ASIDE. The prince slowed to a trot and leaned down to gently tug at one of Hanna's wings.
"Are you ready to see the best archer in the kingdom?"
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When Maurice tugs at his wing though, something he hadn't expected at all, his chest rumbles with a growl and he opens his eyes, raising his head and giving Maurice a rather irritated look. "You could have just said that and not pulled on me. That would have worked just fine."
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Precious Stones
Then, one day, he did not come to supper. The storage room was in the same disarray it had been left in. The bow was missing. Sally was missing from her little pasture out back and the two of them stayed gone until almost two days had passed. Finally, hooves could be heard echoing up the stony path and here came the prince filthy and tired walking alongside his little white horse. A young elk was flung across her back, field dressed and headless. Prince Maurice tied her to her post, dragged the carcass off her saddle, and made his way into the cave--testing the threshold ever so slightly with the toe of his boots.
Just in case Hannacross had set up a rune to keep him out.
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When he disappeared, Hanna wasn't sure what to think. Good riddance? Except it was too bitter to try to spin it at all in a happy light. It was lonely, and honestly, Hanna had enjoyed the company more than he ever would say because living a life like he did, you didn't make many friends. It was quiet, and alone, and talking to people could be dangerous. It was hard to get back into a routine without the Prince, and he sighed as he tidied up the store room, folding the skins and furs that Maurice slept with, putting them away where they had originally come from, instead of back on the ground where Maurice kept them.
He hadn't expected him to come back.
He hadn't expected it at all, which is why, when Maurice comes back, Hanna is sleeping, and even if he had spent the time to clean the store room, the whole work space in the main part of the cavern was a mess. Nothing seemed to have gotten done, and what was attempted was completely unorganized. Hanna wasn't even sleeping in his horde, but next to his work bench, the wood sinking a little under the weight of his head. He didn't stir when Maurice tested the threshold.
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Okay. He could do this. He could start eeking his way back into the dragon's good graces.
With a loud grunt, he heaved the deer up onto the table and leaned heavily against it.
"I caught...dinner..." Maurice was completely out of breath. That last stretch that they'd walked really did a number on him.
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In any case, with two lists made, they had split ways once in town, Hanna wandering stalls with a full purse due to the fact that he had needed to purchase some rather spendy ingredients for a potion he was working on. This had gathered some attention, and before he had reached the outskirts of town, needing to purchase an extract from a rare crop at the farm, there was a good three men following behind him. Further away from the crowds, the men gained more confidence, rounding on Hanna in his human form. He could do extra ordinary things, but his cover would certainly be blown if he tried to do most of them here, even on the edge of town.
"Is there a problem good sirs?" Perhaps flashing those eyes of his would work, throwing off the hood of his cloak. One man shifted uncomfortably, recognizing him as the wizard who wandered these parts, but his coin was too tempting.
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And it was a secret.
How exciting was that?
With his horse trailing behind him and carrying little more than a few bags of the day's purchases, Maurice felt hopeful. As he browsed the stalls, his mind couldn't help wandering...
Just how hard would it be to start up their own little country of Aborg? Maybe he could find a book or scroll on some such thing.
As Maurice and his horse rounded the next line of shops, he caught sight of a little crowd forming. Curious, he urged Sally to follow him. A juggler maybe? A fortune teller? How he'd love to have his fortune told!
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Cold Blooded
What would his mother think?
The prince had finally returned from town--and errand to pick up some wax for sealing and a fresh supply of parchment-- and made the slow walk from the little stable they had built for his horse. The chore had taken him far longer than it normally would have and the white flecks drifting down from the clouds explained why. He hadn't dressed for cold, he hadn't even thought of it after spending so much time in the cave. His fingers were stiff and his face was red from the wind trying to push him back down the mountain.
When he entered, he quickly and almost unceremoniously dumped the things he'd been sent for onto the long work table and trudged toward the back where his pile of furs was. He was NEVER GOING TO LEAVE THEM AGAIN gods it was cold.
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He hadn't thought so much about the prince going out with the wind chill and the bite in the air, but seeing him come back in with his cheeks pink and the stiffness of his walk, he realized he might have made a mistake in not warning him.
Hanna's long neck turned as he watched his assistant disappear down the hall without a word and wondered if perhaps he was upset with him, but frowned at him doing so since he was very much aware it was more warm in the main cavern than down the corridor. "Your majesty?" He called after him, frowning down at his work before getting up and stretching his wings to start after him, following the smaller man down the hall. "Are you alright?"
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