Talk To Dragons

Engel sat on the bed next to Violet. The little witch didn't want to move an inch, her sore hands pulsing waves of discomfort through her body.

"So, do we get paid now?" Violet asked, staring at the ceiling.

"You did your job," Jack replied. "As soon as you think you can move we'll get ourselves back to my shop and you'll get your reward."

With a sudden burst of motivation, Violet sat up and tested her hands again before hopping off the table.

"Looks like the little witch wants her money," Fred said with a laugh. "Now, be careful with those stitches. You push them too far and they'll snap. They snap too early, you'll have an open wound again. I used a strong thread but if you're going to be fighting again they won't hold."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Engel asked Violet. "Why not rest and let your hands heal?"

"Rest?" Violet replied. "We've got a lot of ground to cover, apparently. There's no time for that. We need to get our money and make tracks."

"It's pretty interesting how you talk to that dragon," Jack said.

Fred sighed at the witch's enthusiasm. After writing down something in a little notebook he kept in his shirt pocket, he retrieved a small glass bottle with a c.o.c.k top from a cupboard. It was fairly small and dark brown, easy enough to hold for a child.

"This bottle has a powder in it that'll help your pain," Fred explained. "Take the cork off, tap a tiny bit into your palm, and lick it up. It'll take the edge off of whatever discomfort you might be having with the stitching or if you pop them open."

Violet gladly accepted the bottle and put it in the pocket of her robe. The use of her hands was uncomfortable but not unbearable.

"What did you write down?" Violet asked.

"I wanted to be sure I remembered what I did with an entire bottle of Cann Dust," Fred answered. "I usually sell it to patients in tiny doses. Consider this large amount a favor you can repay someday."

With the doctor visit done, Jack led the little ones back to his shop. It wasn't a long walk, given the size of the town, but a couple people stopped the blacksmith along the way to ask about work being done for them.

"Do you do all of the metalwork for this town?" Violet asked.

"Just about," Jack answered. "It's easy to get by when your trade isn't very common. At least around here. To get any other blacksmith work done you'd have to travel up the road to Fozen. Several days by horseback."

"Oh, that's right," Violet said with a heavy gasp. "We should be thinking about traveling arrangements! We can't just walk to the elven city, we need a horse!"

Jack laughed heartily as they reached the front of his building.

"I've already thought of that," he said. "Just let me grab something from my shop and then we'll head over to the stable."

"For a moment I thought he was going to offer us some horse he had hidden in the house," Engel said.