Chapter 11-2: Sir Eric

        Caden finished every delivery except Sir Eric's. He carried the basket, empty sacks and two loaves of oat bread. He felt better, and regretted spending two weeks in bed. Even now he wondered how close the Dragon Knights were to rescuing Keilee.

        Sir Eric's homestead looked the same as it always did. Caden knocked on the door. Sir Eric opened the door. He wore a simple white shirt, brown pants and leather brace over his missing shoulder. Caden stared at the wound.

        "Caden?" Sir Eric said. "So you're not dead after all."

        "No, Sir."

        Sir Eric took his bread from the basket. "So how did your quest go?"

        "I made it to the Dragon Knight training camp, and now I need your help."

        "Why?"

        "I can join the Dragon Knights to save Keilee, if I'm not to late already," Caden said. "But first I need to slay five dragons. Can you help me?"

        Sir Eric sighed. He stepped aside and held the door open. "You better come in."

        Caden smiled and stepped into the house. Sir Eric closed the door, and motioned for Caden to sit at a table. He walked into the kitchen. Caden sat in the small room. He had never been inside Sir Eric's home before. He looked at the bearskins on the floor, and the deer antlers on the wall over the fireplace. Caden smiled when he saw through an open door. Sir Eric's Dragon Knight armor was displayed in a small shrine in the next room, exactly how it should be. 

        Caden stood up and walked into the next room. In the center of the far wall, was Sir Eric's armor. Spread out on shelves were weapons, broken bits of war machines, statues, and other trinkets collected from the battle field. Everything Sir Eric ever did, and was ever honored for was on display in this room. A museum to his service for the dragon knights.

        Caden walked around the room. He wondered what part of a dragon would he find. What part is considered a trophy. The heads would be too big to be put on display. Looked for a fang, or a talon, or even a scale. While he looked for the dragon trophies, he stopped on a weapon. A sword, that looked exactly like Rilyn's. Caden picked it off of the shelf and looked at the half sun engravings.

        Caden heard a shatter come from the kitchen. He returned the curved sword to it's place on the shelf and went to the kitchen. He found Sir Eric picking up a broken tea cup. Caden helped him clean up. He took the tray of tea out to the main room and set it down.

        Sir Eric came out with a new tea cup. "Caden, I'm going to make this as clear as I can." He set the tea cup down on the table. Caden served the tea. "Before the Dragon Queen attacked Erdon, I didn't believe dragons existed."

        "What do you mean?" Caden placed a cup in front of Sir Eric. "You've been trained to fight dragons, how could you not believe in them?"

        Eric shook his head. "I was never trained to fight dragons," he said. "I was trained to fight people."

        "You mean trolls and gremlins."

        "No, though they are closer to people then you might think. I was trained to fight people, like you, me or the mayor. We're never taught anything about dragons."

        "So you were part of a special squad? Others specialized in dragons."

        "No. None of us were."

        "But the general, he said his best dragon trackers wou..."

        Sir Eric slammed his fist into the table. His tea cup tipped over. "You're not listening to me. There are no dragon trackers, no dragon slayers." Caden watched the tea run across the rough wood table and drip onto the floor. "We got hundreds of 'dragon sightings' every moon. Yet not a single one ever turned out to be anything more then a rumor. The dragon knights don't investigate most of them anymore. The general probably thought that you made to story up to join even after he turned you down."

        "But he said..."

        "He lied, Caden. He told you what you wanted to hear so you would leave. No one is looking for the Queen, no one is going after Keilee."

        "The Queen, it's attacked other temples. When more reports about her come in, then..."

        "No, they'll go to the closest Dragon Knight camp. And they will be ignored. No one will pass on the story, so no one will ever see any patterns."

        Caden stood up. He grabbed his basket and sacks. "You're lying. You just don't want me to join them." Caden walked to the door.

        "Believe what you will, Caden. But the only people in the world who will believe your story are right here in Erdon."

        Caden left and slammed the door. Sir Eric left the tea on the table. He went into the kitchen and fetched a bottle of shine.

Chapter 5: The road to Tinate

        A week passed, and the Dragon Queen had not returned. It seemed like the old stories were true. A sacrificed daughter would appease the queen and she would not return for a year and a day. The stories did not say why she wanted the sacrifice.

        Caden was there. He saw the Dragon Queen take Keilee. It didn't kill her, it took her. He knew she was still alive. No one else believed him. Even if it took her alive, it would have eaten her by now. She was dead, the town held a memorial for her, and thanked her for saving the town. 

        Yet no one thanked Harron. 

        The town did not mention the role he played in the sacrifice of his daughter. He saved them, they knew that. But no one approved. Harron returned to his homestead with the remainder of his family. No one went out to check on them. No one would consider talking with him.

        In that week, the people were busy rebuilding their town. Sir Eric eventually recovered, but moped around worse then before. No one ever saw him sober anymore. He just walked around the town with a bottle of shine in his left hand. His right arm and shoulder were gone.

        The stranger, Rilyn, even helped out with the rebuilding. He had recovered and was only using a cane instead of a crutch.

        Caden fought a different battle. He tried to convince his father to let him go after the Dragon Knights. To get them to mobilize and hunt down the Dragon Queen, and save Keilee. His father refused. He told his father that someone had to notify the church of Father Coteson's actions. His father refused.

        Caden crept into the kitchen late at night. He carried a knapsack with a change of clothes. His father had been baking a lot of stew rolls lately. Giving them to the workers around the town. It was a good bread, hard outer crust allowed it to last for days. Inside was a soft bread stuffed with meat, vegetables, gravy, and potatoes. Caden preferred the spicy and sweet flavors, but couldn't tell which were which in the dark. So he opened his knapsack and filled it with loaves from all three trays.

        He moved a bench over to the ovens and climbed up. On top was a small lock box. Caden grabbed the box and brought it down. Inside was a handful of coins. He took about half. Right now, neighbors were helping neighbors. His father received free ingredients as long as he gave free bread to the people working. But it wouldn't last, and Caden wanted to leave him with enough to buy what he would need.

        His father's mare, Starlight, was old, past 10 harvests. Caden walked her out of his father's back yard and through town. He wasn't going to ride her until they were past the hollows left by the dragon's attack. Instead he carefully lead her down each one and back up the other side.

        He passed the temple, and saw the stone sword laying in the garden where he left it. He walked over and picked it up. He could barely lift it. He tried to swing it, but failed. He didn't understand why he couldn't lift it anymore.

        "What are you planning on doing with that?" Rylin stepped out from under a tree. In the moonlight, his hat cast a shadow over his eyes.

        "Protection," Caden said. "Bandits are on the highway, and I've heard people talk about the gremlins attacking at night."

        "And what good will it do you if you can't lift it?"

        "Hey, I can lift it." Caden strapped the sword to Starlight. "I saved the kids using this sword. And I'm going to save it Keilee with it."

        "You're going to get yourself killed."

        "Why are you here, Rilyn?"

        "The mayor said you were going to be leaving tonight," said Rilyn. He picked up a sack, threw it over his shoulder, and tied it in place. "Asked me to go with you."

        "How could he have known that?"

        "I don't know, kid. So where are we going?"

        "The Dragon Knights left town, heading north. So I'm going to check Fort Tinate first."

        "Lead the way."

        Rilyn wasn't stopping him, so Caden didn't care what he did. Rilyn followed Caden as they walked out of town. They exited the northern gate and followed the road till they reached the highway.