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Manhood

The trail had been quick once it got started.  He knew he had no chance once Tonnagell came to him.  She was sent to him before the trial began.  A guard came with her to make sure that she only tended the wound from the dagger.  Tonnagell cried silent tears as she took care of her husband.

She took the time to explain to Migus that the tavern wench he thought he was paying for was the favored wife of the new Dragon Keeper.  She had not lain with another man since she had been freed from slavery by her husband.  The screams he heard, were from the two that came to see why Avris was yelling.  They were her sister Monorra and Avris’s oldest daughter.  The dagger belonged to Monorra.  She had thrown it from the doorway.  The daughter ran screaming down the corridor trying to find any guards.

Tonnagell wanted to pull her husband’s pants up, but the guard would not allow it.  So she pulled up a chair and sat with her husband.  He looked at her.  She was beautiful.  Especially with her belly so big with their child.  She had told him it was going to be a boy and would be born within the next month.  He now wondered if he would get to see that boy.  He also expected her to scold him in some way.  She did not, nor did she leave his side.

After they sat there in silence with the guard for a very long time the speaker came and stood before Migus.  He was in black robes made of shed baby dragon skins.  His hair was long white and thick.  He held onto a staff and with his piercing eyes he looked upon Migus for silent moment.

“What is your name?”

He barely moved, “Migus.”

The speaker turned his head to Tonnagell, “This is your husband?”

She sadly nodded.

“Ye are not required to be here.  I feel ye should not stay.  But I cannot tell thee to go.”

“By his side.  I stay.”

“They will be charging him with the defilement of a daughter of Kothar. That shows he was not loyal to thee.  Ye have the privilege to leave him and have nothing to do with him.”

She looked into the eyes of Migus.  He had tears, “Good man he is.  Failed him I did.  Not cuddled him these few months.”  She rubbed on her belly as she said this to indicate why.

The speaker understood as he looked upon her swollen belly, “I have been sent to speak in thy behalf.  What can ye tell me?”

Migus stared at the dagger on the floor, “I knew her years ago.  She was a slave girl at a tavern almost two days ride from here.  The old tavern man took coin from me many times to have time with her.”  He felt so numb as he spoke.  He felt pressure in his stomach.  Something he hadn’t felt since he was a child.  A very young child.  Before his mother died.  He felt that he had let her down, but didn’t understand how.  An image of her came back to him as he spoke.  She was in her bed sitting up.  His father must have propped her up since she couldn’t move anything except her face.  She had a look of disapproval on her pretty face.  Her long hair was straggly and unkempt since his father couldn’t wash it for her everyday like she did before the accident.  He wanted to go to her and cry.  She had died during her sleep one night when he was a little boy.  The next morning was the only time he ever saw his father cry.  They didn’t bury his mother.  His father left her in her bed and surrounded her with her favorite things.  Then his father took the oil lamp and poured the oil all about onto her bed and all her things.

“It is time to go son,” his father packed up their bows and each a knapsack.  He then sent  Migus outside.  In a few minutes his father joined him and they sat upon an old large tree stump as they silently watched their little house burn.  He could tell that his father wanted to be on his way, but he did not move.  In time he learned why.   His father loved the forest and until he was born, his father and mother lived out in the open.  Never a night under a roof.  He had to watch and make sure that only the one room house burned and did not spread to any of the trees.  It was a day that didn’t seem to end for Migus.  It was the only time he ever saw his father cry.  His father had said many times that a boy does not cry.  So he asked his father why he was crying.

“Because I am a man.  It is a responsibility to cry for the woman I love.”  There was finality in the tone, which told Migus he would get no more explanation out of his father.

They stayed and minded the fire until it went out.  Leaving very little of the small cottage.  They then spent a few hours pouring water over the smolders.  From then on they slept in the forest under the stars.

His father taught him how to understand the forest and the animals.  He taught him how to read the stars and plants so that he would not get lost.  He taught him how to take care of a bow and how to use it.  They could live in the forest for months without ever seeing a soul or have need of supplies.  He was taught how to get all he needed from nature.

Sometimes they did go to the small village they seemed to always be near.  His father never said anything about his family, but his mother had family there.  They were always glad to see him, but not so happy with his father.  His father tended to bully people in town when he did his trading.  He usually got his way since he was bigger and taller than anyone there.

When he would ask his father about the people of that village, he answered with, “They are good people.”  He pretty much left it at that.

For years they lived in the forest.  They never spoke much, but they enjoyed each others company.  Most mornings his father slept late.  Unless he was planning on catching some sort of game.  He always told Migus the night before they did early hunting.  But this particular day they had made no such plans.  Lately Migus had been sluggish on getting up in the morn because of a new development.  He had no idea what was going on and he was too embarrassed about it to mention it to his father.  Besides it always went down after a few minutes.  When he woke, he didn’t hear his father snoring.  So he took a look expecting his father to be gone.  But there he sat by the fire smiling at him with a knowing look.  His unkempt beard and shaggy hair making a mockery of those shiny white teeth.  His father was probably the only man around that had never lost a tooth. 

Before he could get a good stretch, “Son it’s time ye become a man.  Better get up and ready.  Ye got some hunting to do today.”  His father had mentioned many times that he would soon become a man, but never explained anything about how that was to occur.  Somehow what his father said to him made him nervous.  He worried about this as he gathered his bow and arrows.  His father was always pleased with his ability to shoot an arrow.

When he was ready, he looked at his father and saw his father had not gathered up his bow or any supplies.  He just stood there smiling with pride at his son, “Not hunting, father?”

“This is not my day.  It is yours.”

Migus had hunted alone before, but he could tell that today it was going to be somewhat different.  He checked his things again to be sure he had not forgotten anything.  Then they headed off into the forest with Migus in the lead.  It reminded him of when he was small and he followed his father on his hunts.  This scared him a bit, but also made him feel the importance of this moment.

His father watched from afar.  Always staying out of the way, but still near enough to see what Migus was doing.  Migus had been watching a particular trail the past two weeks.  It showed signs of a lot of game coming through.  It looked like the best place to hunt.  He checked it out from a good distance and then went up a small hill in the forest and found a pair of trees to hide between.  He had a perfect view of the trail.  He knew that it may be hours before anything came by, but his father had taught him to have patience with nature.  There was a good breeze this morning, but he had made sure he was upwind.  After some time a doe came down the trail.  She was very healthy and would make a good kill, but still he waited.  It wasn’t much longer when her mate walked up to her side.  They nuzzled a moment and then the stag stepped on a few more paces and stopped giving Migus a clear view of him.  He was large and magnificent.  Before another breath was taken, he raised the bow and let an arrow fly.  The stag dropped.

His father whooped so loud that the doe was gone almost instantly.  Migus never heard his father be so excited and the look he saw on his face was greater than anything he had ever seen before.  Pride was beaming all over him.  Migus got up and went to his father.  They hugged a very rare but wonderful hug. 

Migus thought they would return to their camp, but his father led him elsewhere.  It didn’t take long to know where they were going.  Ylja was a beautiful strange woman with an older sister that was really weird.  Most of the time when Migus was there he was very bored.  His father would talk with Ylja in whispered tones and then they went up in the loft alone and closed the door.  Migus was expected to go outside during these times unless the weather was bad.  He tried to avoid her older sister because he felt she was crazy.  He was certain that there was something truly wrong with her.  She became confused easily and would think you were someone else and she talked to people that were not there.  Many times she would go around cleaning without a rag or she would work in the yard or garden as if she were using tools, but there would be nothing in her hands.  Migus wondered why she was this way and most curious of all was wondering what her name was.  For each time he asked, she told him a different name.  Ylja was of no help in this matter since she only called her, “Sister.”

It took an hour to get there.  When they arrived they found Ylja and her sister outside.  Ylja was washing clothes in a tub and hanging them up to dry.  Her sister was sitting on the ground with a row of rocks in a half circle before her.  She was holding her hands as if she had a book and was telling a story.  Migus had seen her do this many times before.  The rocks were supposed to be her children and the story was about an evil black dragon from long ago.  It was always the same story.  He didn’t think much of that tale, since there had never been an evil dragon in his lifetime or during the lives of anyone he knew.  It was too unreal to him.

Ylja’s eyes went wide as she saw them come out of the woods.  The game they brought into her yard was the biggest she had seen in a long time.  She smiled up at his father as they approached, “I see that we shall eat well this evening and or some time to come.  I believe that is the largest that ye have brought here.”

Mallus actually blushed and then smiled down at his son, “Ye should be thanking my son.  He brought this down all alone.  I only watched.”

Ylja stood up and walked to Migus.  She was tall for a woman and her hair was a thick black that was very long and straight.  She wore a very dark colored dress with embroidered roses all over.  She loved roses and had many in her garden.  She took Migus by the chin and looked him in the eyes.  Her eyes were large and a dark brown.  She seemed to look deep into him.

“He looks like he may show promise.”  It sounded like a question that hid a deeper meaning.  Migus felt she saw something that she dared not say.

“Today is a good day dear Ylja.  I feel it time to make him a man.”

There was a stiffness that came over her when she heard these words.  Mallus did not notice, but Migus was sure that she didn’t feel right about this.  Without looking at his father, “Skin and prepare the game and I shall see to Migus.”  She took Migus by the hand and led him into her cottage.  At the door she stopped and looked at his father.  A worried look came upon her face, but it passed quickly.  “Don’t take long with preparing that game I plan to make a meal worthy of a hero.”  Then under her breath as she turned to open her door, “Ye will need thy strength.”

Migus barely puzzled over this.  He wondered what she meant by that.  Soon those thoughts were gone from his mind, but those words would soon come back to haunt him in only a few days time.

Migus could never properly express what happened that next hour.  He did not know or even suspect the pleasures that Ylja brought him that day.  She was gentle at first and helped him over being scared of her.  She was the first woman that ever was naked for him.  Her image was burned forever in his mind.  She undressed for him and then slowly undressed him.  She laid him upon her bed and began to message his feet and then worked her way up his body getting him very relaxed and excited.  She showed him every part of her and then took him slowly and when he began to get heated, she begged him to let go and she encouraged him to get rougher and harder with her.  When he was done; she took him in her arms and crushed his head to her large breasts and gently sang to him.  It didn’t take long for Migus to fall asleep. 

Migus awoke hours later to the smell of fresh meat cooking over an open fire.  It was just getting dark.  He was hungry and when he went to get his clothes, they were no longer in the room.  This frightened him a bit.  He didn’t want to walk outside in front of Ylja’s sister, naked.  He sat there pondering over this, but he didn’t have long to wait.  The door opened and Ylja brought in his meal.  She had cooked him a large steak and there were potatoes and carrots nice and tenderly cooked.  To Migus this was a meal fit for a king.  As he ate, Ylja undressed again and sat next to him.  She caressed him and helped feed him. 

“Your father believes ye are a man now.  So remember this.  Only ye will know when ye have become a man.  Thy father may not understand this, but I know someday ye will.  Today has only been a single step on the path that will make ye a man.  As the Dragon’s say, ‘Follow the path, never stop.’”

Migus was enjoying the food and her naked body next to his and the soothing way she spoke.  She could tell that her words were falling on deaf ears, but she knew that someday he would remember them and find his way because of them.

Migus stayed in that room that night and the next.  Ylja took care of his every need and didn’t bring him his clothes until time to leave.  He had almost forgotten about his father being there, he had not seen him since he had been taken in by Ylja.  When he finally was dressed and walked outside his father looked at him as I he had grown a foot taller.  The pride in his face for his son was a bit more than Migus wanted to bear, even though it was good to have his father feel this way about him.  They made their way back to their camp without saying much at all.  Migus still felt that he was in a dream world.

At their camp, they work all day loading the wagon with all their trappings and other finds.  The next day they rode to the nearby village being pulled by their old donkey.  They were still under the spell of the past few days until they were near the village, when Mallus suddenly stopped the wagon with a puzzled look.  Migus knew that look.  It meant something was wrong.  Migus looked about and almost didn’t notice what was wrong.  Then he realized exactly where they were.  There was a family that worked this field and at least one of them was always at this part of the road during the day trying to sell vegetables.  It was quiet and no one was there.  Mallus got off the wagon and took the donkey by the reigns.  He pulled it off the road behind some trees and tied up the donkey.  He then took out has bow and arrows and indicated for Migus to do the same.

Soon they were running through the woods toward the back side off the village.  Actually this village was just a circle of shops around a statue of a dragon.  The statue was there in honor of the village being saved many years ago by a dragon.  Migus didn’t know the rest of that story.  His father once told him that he met his mother while sitting next to that dragon statue.  The rest of the village was a place for farmers to come and sell their crops to traveling merchants.  It was a good place to get any supplies they needed.

Migus knew where his father was headed.  There was a very large old tree behind one home that some of its limbs hung over the circle where the statue was.  They got there without encountering anyone, which was odd.  Quietly they climbed up and over the circle.  There they saw what was going on.  The village had been taken by the Dryads.  Many of the people were in chains and about to be taken away, but they were waiting for the dryads to do one more deed.  They were tying ropes to the statue.  It was obvious that they planned on pulling it down.  Migus heard his father give a low shallow snarl.  He looked at him and could see the anger heating up his face.

“Stay here and make no sound.”  That was the last words that he ever spoke to Migus.  Then he climbed down and ran off to the north side of the village.

Migus didn’t know what to think.  He knew of the war between the Dryads and the Dragons, but that was supposed to be far north of here.  Why were they here?

Suddenly two of the dryads working the ropes fell dead with an arrow in each of their hearts.  A yell came from another dryad to find who shot them and then he fell dead as another arrow struck him.  One more fell and then Migus almost screamed, but somehow kept quiet.  It took all his might to keep that scream in as he saw his father run in with his sword and attack the dryads.  Mallus was much bigger and stronger than these wood sprites, but they outnumbered him and Mallus was not trained in swordplay.  Still he was able to take two more dryads before they overwhelmed him.  Migus almost screamed again as they unarmed him and began to tie his father up.  Still his strength gave them problems as they struggled to secure him.  Once he was tied up, another walked upon the scene.  He was a tall dark skinned  man wearing a mask.  He kneeled before Mallus in his tattered skins and caressed his face.  Mallus spit at him.  Slowly he stood up and ran a finger across his neck, turned and walked away.  Migus had never seen that gesture before.  But he knew what it meant.  He felt he should run away, so that he would not see, but he could not move.  Even as he watched his father lose his head, he could not move and he could not scream.  He stared for a long time.  Long after his father had died and his body had been drug away.  Still he did not move.  It was like he did not know how to move.  It was long after dark and the village was empty that Migus finally came down from that tree.  It was all so much like a very bad nightmare.  He felt lost as he slowly trudged away to where his father had hid the wagon.

He didn’t remember falling asleep.  Someone was calling his name.  They sounded rather irritated at him.  He opened his eyes and found a worse nightmare.  He was surrounded by many people and he was bound to a chair.  A rather unique chair.  He had been stripped of all his clothing.  The only thing covering his body was the bandage over the wound from the dagger.  He looked down to see what he now dreaded.  His manhood was stretched out and secured upon a chopping block.  He then looked up and standing before him was the Dragon Keeper dressed in his dragon scale armor with Avris standing beside him.  He had sadness and disappointment in his eyes.  Avris was also dressed in dragon scale armor, but with a skirt.  He recognized her as the tavern wench.  She was more beautiful now than when he took her.  Her hair was pulled back and braided like all of the others in the elite Dragon Guard.  Then his eyes went to her sword.  It was very much like the Dragon Keepers sword.  He knew then she was the one he had been hearing about.  She was the one that had been teaching the soldiers a new style in swordplay.  She was the Dragon dancer.  She was the Queen of Dragons.

Their eyes met and he could see madness there.  Somehow he knew it had been there for a long time and he had awakened it.  He wondered if he was about to die.

The speaker stepped before him and as he did so Tonnagell also came to his side.  Tears covered her face. “Migus.”

He looked up at the speaker.  He appeared to have aged since they first met only a few hours ago.  He appeared sad, but still kept a dignity about him.  “The Dragon council heard ye speak and listened to the words of Avris and her sister Monorra.  And listened to Tonnagell.  They have pondered well upon what has occurred today and have decided that ye shall live.”  Somehow that did not comfort him.  “As Gynyorra has spoken, so shall your punishment be.”  The speaker turned to Avris, “Let what has offended be departed.”  The speaker then walked out of the circle of people.  As he walked away, “Ye did not keep to the path and now thy path must be altered.”

All was quiet for a moment as Avris approached Migus with fire in her eyes.  She pulled forth her sword and walked to his side.  Tonnagell began to weep and she buried her face in Migus’s neck.  He knew she could not watch, but she was determined not to leave his side.

The daughter of Kothar raised her sword high.  Migus wanted to close his eyes, but could not as he watched her tower over him.  Then she howled as the sword came down.  The blade gleamed as it passed his eyes and then he heard the thud of it striking the wood.  For a moment he actually thought she missed.  She then reached down and picked up what she had cut off.  She held it before his eyes and he suddenly realized he was still holding his breath.  When he let go and began to breathe again, that was when the pain shot through him.  Avris then walked away still holding his member.  He remembered nothing after that until he woke at home in his own bed.  Tonnagell there by his side caring for him.

More of my Writing”

*  Dancer
*  Across the Fire
*  Captured Heart