The white dragon’s hoard included a large amount of gold, a large amount of alcohol, several crates of food stuffs, art objects like vases and small statues, several gems, a few locked chests and of course the amulet. Kriv tucked the amulet away to return to Ogleby and we came up with a plan to get all these goods back to Fellhaven. Cherry picked the locks on the chests and we now had a shadowy suit of leather armor, a suit of razor scale mail, a remarkable axe and a staff engraved with runes. We would need to have these items identified, as they were obviously magical in nature.
It had occurred to someone, Cherry or Iceborn, I was not sure because they both presented the idea as they had already been discussing it while sorting the crates, perhaps we had enough here to open up a small shop in Fellhaven. It was a brilliant idea. I waited at the cave with Iceborn while Cherry and Kriv went back to town to get the wagon and return the amulet to Ogleby. When they returned, they reported that Fellhaven was filling up with refugees now from Monolith. We loaded up the goods and stopped by the group of dragonborn we had fought on the way in. Maybe the armor was little use to us, but as there seemed to be a war starting, someone would surely be able to use it in town.
Before we reached town, Cherry had a rather brilliant idea, “What about the boy from the wagon?”
“What about him?” Iceborn asked.
“Well…what’s he doing? Maybe we could give him a job if we opened a shop”
“Wonderful!” I had to give her credit, she did have a heart. It was an excellent suggestion; the boy had been getting into the merchant trade and was old enough to at least be a basic shopkeeper. His life had been turned upside down and he could truly use some direction at this point.
A bit later, I had a similar suggestion, “Ogleby.”
“What’s that?” Kriv turned to me.
“He owned a tavern in Monolith. He’s lost everything, but I’m sure he knows a thing or two about business. Maybe he would like something steady here in Fellhaven. We’ll have to ask him about it in the morning,” I explained as we rode into town as the sun was going down.
We were staying at the inn, the one we had been kicked out of just a month ago. The one where we were now welcomed by the innkeeper who was thankful to be out of trouble with the cult. He allowed us to store our crates there. We had a good meal and headed off to bed. Lom was reluctant to give up the muffin he was nibbling at, so I allowed him to take it to the room, crumbs of it falling all over my shoulders.
“A dragon,” I sighed as I leaned back. I pulled a talon out of my bag and examined the size. One talon was longer than my hand. “We fought a dragon.” I was careful not to sound too thrilled by the feat, keeping my tiny companion in mind. He eyed the trophy piece and then his own tiny fingers. He shook his head in disbelief and devoured the muffin as if he hoped it would make him bigger and stronger. I laughed to myself and thought back on our last great battle. My thoughts shifted painfully fast to Heddro. Would I see him again? He’d gone off to Monolith to be a soldier. The streets filling up with tents painted a vivid picture of the havoc at Monolith. What was it that changed him? Had Sir Keegan truly slapped him with a need to overcome his past? Was it the terror that gripped him as he stared into the rift, and beheld the fate of the wicked?
Whatever it was, this was not the same bully from Woodwell. He was better than that and he just needed to prove it to someone. He never needed to prove it to me. I looked out into the night sky, hoping somewhere Heddro was seeing the same stars, someplace safe. Something told me he had more than casual feelings for Lola, but to be able to leave like this, I surely had much stronger feelings. I cried. This hurt. Memories stung at my scars. Lom curled up beside me and put his head on my shoulder to cover the old arrow wound. He knew my pain. Together we slipped into a heavy sleep.
