Chapter 68: How to Wash Your Dragon
“I look like a broke idiot,” Jarix protested inspecting his new harness. “My other one was so much nicer”
“Oh come now, we worked hard on that” Wiperna protested. They had managed to slap it together in record time, Tom had to give them that. He guessed it was on account of having a dragon work the fields for them rather than having the team of oxen lumber along at a snail's pace.
Jarix had been digging irrigation ditches with his claws all morning for the new fields while they finished up the last things on the harness. They only had two of single furrow plows, one of them having hastily restored to a sorta usable state. Tom guessed this should be an exercise in patience rather than strength on Jarix's part then, still, it would serve its purpose well enough.
“All good to go back here, whenever you're ready” Raulf went, manning the old plow.
With that Jarix began to pull and with hardly any effort the plow began to move along at a steady pace.
“Hey it’s working, congratulations Jarix you're plowing!” Raulf was perhaps a bit too excited about the achievement, Jarix certainly thought so as he let out an annoyed sigh.
“Can I go any faster?”
“Sure if you can manage,” Raulf replied. Tom just sat down on a rock and prepared to watch the fireworks as the eight-ton dragon put his weight into it.
“Oh shit, hang on Ralfy” Wiperna let out in alarm as she struggled to keep the plow in the ground. Raulf just hung onto the handlebars as he was dragged along behind it. Tom just sat there laughing beating his knee at the spectacle. Honestly daring a teenage dragon to go faster, the fuck did he expect?
It didn’t look particularly straining for Jarix either as he trotted along. The first two furrows were completed in record time, even if they were about as straight as Henry Cavill’s fan base.
“Should I go faster next time?” Jarix asked, cocking his head, turning back to look at the two dragonettes. Wiperna currently inspecting the result of the run scratching the back of her head. Raulf just gave him a thumbs up and an enthusiastic smile.
“Sure I think we need to be smarter about it though” Oh this Tom gotta see.
They brought Jarix and the plows around for the next run and Raulf got up onto his plow laying down on the handlebars, folding out his wings.
“You wanna ride the plow?” Wiperna asked in the sort of disappointed tone reserved for a husband with a bad plan.
“Yup,” Raulf replied clearly determined to try out his hare-brained scheme.
“You think it will work Kiran?” Tom asked the kid who was currently busy trying to plow using a stick in the dirt. The other kids were doing flight stuff with Apuma of all people. Predictably that meant they were in the library, learning about various maneuvers and important flyers through their history. Kiran had been very grateful to be rescued from that one.
“Of course Jarix is awesome, dirt isn’t” He replied without looking up, as he struggled to get the stick to go deeper.
“Hey Jarix, you got another fan!” Tom shouted out.
“40 years of training, certified combat flyer and I get more praise for digging up dirt” Jarix responded dejectedly. Tom could see there was an upward curl to the corners of his mouth. ‘yeah, playing in the dirt isn’t so bad if you're having fun’ Tom thought to himself, pleased at how this was going.
“Well, if it is dirt that needs digging.” Raulf responded “You ready sweetheart?”
“Sure why not” Wiperna answered, Tom gave her some credit for going along with the idea. He was a little sad they were still months away from the ability to make popcorn as he glanced at the corn plants who were not much more than large shoots yet. He could have used some for this.
Jarix swiveled his head back to look at his two passengers. “If you get hurt just scream then I’ll stop”
He got another thumbs up from Raulf and a worried look from Wiperna as the two dragonettes spread out their wings and made ready for the off. With that Jarix’s hind legs dug into the ground once more and they were moving, to his credit, he did accelerate more slowly this time. The dragonettes used their wings as rudders to keep the plows going sorta straight. It was a truly ridiculous sight and it didn’t seem that effective either. They were plowing though and that was all that mattered. The clock was ticking after all, so perfection would have to wait.
As they came by where Tom and Kiran were sitting, Jarix was going at a slow trot, Tom guessed he would need to be sprinting to keep up. Even with the quad bike, they had been struggling to go that fast and that was with one plow.
“You go Jarix!” Kiran cheered as the young dragon came thumping past. The dragon even reciprocated with a deep nod of appreciation and a smirk to his newest fan. Tom almost felt the need to bring out the speaker with Sweet Home Alabama or something. In the end, he settled for taking a few pictures with his phone and a video of a hard-working dragon in the flesh. Damn, he wished he could have sent this to someone back home.
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As they soared above the clouds Sapphire was peering over the side hoping to catch the first glimpse of their destination. They were finally here, at least Vulzan said so and he really ought to know. They should be able to see the city from here, but those damn clouds were in the way.
Baron had begun their descent, Archeon following close behind. The two dragons searched around for a hole in the cloud cover for a while but found none. Barron continued to descend though, so soon they were in the middle of the clouds flying blind. That was always an uncomfortable experience, you really needed to be sure there wasn’t anything coming the other way doing this and they were currently above the largest draconic city and possibly the largest city there was.
Sapphire silently got ready to disembark in a hurry if it came to it, as they pierced the clouds though, they were confronted with the city in all its grandeur. In the center the royal palace was shining like a beacon of polished white marble, sitting atop the grand cliff in the middle of the city, its spires reaching for the clouds. She could see the cave entrances carved into the cliff all over its face, betraying the myriad structures within that served as home to most of the city's large inhabitants.
On the ground sprawling towers and buildings were strewn all around, a maze of walkways connecting it all together visible even from this range. It was a vast place, but Sapphire found herself reminded of Tom’s words. They were kilometers up, but she could see from one end of the city to another. Apuma had claimed there lived maybe 200.000 dragonettes here. If what Tom had said about his home was true, their cities must stretch beyond the horizon.
She shook the thought from her mind, no use in dwelling on that. It felt a little strange being back here again as it was. Before, life at the keep had been safe and secure, but part of Sapphire had longed for the adventure the capital had held. Once Tom had arrived though she certainly hadn’t felt short on excitement. In fact, the capital held the promise of the familiar rather than the exciting for her now. She just hoped she got to see at least one of her siblings. She had also decided to send a letter back home. If she could find Haiko she might even get him to hand it off to someone from Vultcha Keep free of charge.
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“So where are we landing?” Archeon bellowed out.
“Training fields are always clear, don’t know about you but I wanna freshen up a bit before seeing anyone important,” Baron replied.
“Sounds fine by me”
Sapphire had never been allowed onto the training field before. She had snuck in once or twice to watch the royal guard train, but this time it was official, That was something new. she wondered if anyone who had kicked her out back then were still around, looking a tad nervous at Dakota.
“Now everyone behave yourself, we are guests and you are in my care. Let’s not have a repeat of Lady Flaxen here” Archeon went, making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard on Baron’s back. Sapphire smirked a bit. It was probably as close as they were gonna get to hear Archeon scold the lady but it still felt good to know he despised her too.
As they approached a younger black dragon came up to meet them. He clearly recognized them though as he veered off before he even got close.
“Good to see Salto is still lazy as ever?” Archeon joked.
“Careful now, I trained him too” Baron replied also in a joking voice. “And he still managed to figure out we weren't coming to burn or blow up part of the city didn’t he?”
“Well, how would he know that from a glance?”
“Cause if you're flying with me you don’t survive trying” Baron retorted, followed by a rumbling chuckle from the old dragon.
They came in to land along the grassy fields on the outskirts of the city barracks and hangars strewn about the fields haphazardly. It didn’t look like the home of the world's most elite military organization, but this was for recruits and training after all.
As they came down Baron set off at a slow walk heading for a group of buildings in a corner, his passengers remaining seated. Archeon quickly trotted up alongside once he made his own landing.
“What you got in mind, old sport?” Archeon questioned.
“First off, I haven't been out of this armor in over two weeks and haven't had a bath in three. Secondly, I don’t want to be seen with that lady or her compatriots any more than necessary.”
“Splendid, are those facilities for visitors too?” Archeon asked expectantly.
“They are if I say so” Baron responded confidently. Archeon did a little excited jig clearly looking forward to that himself. Sapphire guessed being a trader there was rather long wait between baths.
As Sapphire looked around there were easily two dozen dragons on station all looking at the newcomers. They made it to the collections of buildings, next to the giant sandpit where they could get dusted off first.
The prisoners were ferried down from Baron’s back and Vulzan set about directing the escorts to take off Archon's harness and cargo for the bath. Sapphire, Dakota, and Balethon jumped down to take a look around.
“How many have been here before?” Sergeant Kolinky questioned, walking over, looking at the three of them. Only Dakota raised her hand.
“Right, so if you need it restrooms are in there, feel free to use the dust pit, and there is water over there if you want any. Oh and baths are in there too if you fancy it, this might take a while. Don’t go anywhere other than that without someone accompanying you. Understood?”
“Yes sergeant” They all replied. Sapphire could use a warm bath come to think of it.
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“What do you mean you only got the lake?!” Jarix had done well, putting in hours worth of work in the fields as an impromptu tractor. He looked the part too, caked in mud and dirt.
“How else would you wash?”
“With warm water, obviously! It's gotta be freezing in there.” Right… how the fuck do you run a bath for an eight-ton dragon? “Do you at least have a sandpit?”
“There is a bit of a beach down there too” Tom replied apologetically at the now distinctly miserable-looking dragon.
“You gotta be shitting me”
“Can dragons swim?” Tom questioned receiving an incredulous look from Jarix, who failed to answer.
“He likes water… like a lot” Kiran tried to clarify.
“Fine then you get to wash this off. Radexi doesn’t like water much if he can’t reach the bottom… or see his feet” That seemed fair to Tom, he wondered if he could become the first to ever use a dragon as a diving board? Did he need to find a brush or something?
As it turned out Jarix had brought a very big brush, along with a rather large amount of cleaning supplies which were all under Radexi’s supervision. Kinda like the most oversized set of toiletries Tom had ever seen. Still, even with the big brush, the process of washing a dragon in a semi-cold lake was a considerable task. It didn’t help that the dragon in question was complaining all the while.
“No against the scales, not with them. You aren't trying to stroke me, get the dirt out.”
“But before that was annoying”
“Yes that was my inner-thigh you... That’s all soft in there”
“Yeah yeah, I’m trying here”
"Jarix you need your teeth brushed too by the way!” Radexi shouted from the safety of the shore.
“You really need to get him used to water”
“Have you tried, they really don’t like it” Jarix responded
“Yeah, I taught three of the girls to swim,” Tom replied in a proud tone.
“... of course you did, about done back there?”
“Yup no more mud what’s next then?”
“Drying then polishing of course”
“You sure that is a good idea you know what you are doing tomorrow right?” The look on the dragon's face would seem to indicate no. As jarix stared at Tom with a mixture of dread and disbelief. “We haven't sown anything today” The expression shifted to one of defeat as Jarix let his head hang low.
“More mud work...” Tom did feel quite bad at that, still, this was what they had agreed to.
“Cheer up, if those bastards Dakota talked about show up, you’ll get a chance to do your real job.”
“They won’t know what hit them” Jarix responded decidedly unenthusiastically head still hanging low.
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Nice warm bath over, Sapphire emerged to see Baron in the middle of being washed off using the suspended runner carrying water from the massive cauldron out to dump on the backs of the target. It was an impressive system that allowed for comfortable washing of just about anything, no matter the size. As a few able hands were hard at work brushing the old legend with soap, Archeon was laying in the grass waiting his turn still covered in sand.
When it finally became the trader's turn he looked about as content as Sapphire had ever seen him, as he ruffled his wings to get the water in under them. Hashaw had handed off Lady Flaxen to some of the guards who had come out to meet them. Sapphire just thanked her lucky stars she hadn’t had to deal with her on the flight. Judging by Hashaw's expression as the bitch was dragged away there was good reason for Sapphire to do so.
“Right then now that’s been taken care of, I need to deliver a report on this whole shit show, and I think you need to find a place to stay. Correct?”
“We do indeed", Dakota responded, “Gonna see if we can find a nice tavern”
“Very well, take Maiko with you then, so he can tell me where you end up staying, you will be summoned when you are needed. I do expect that to take a while though.”
“Thank you colonel.” Dakota replied with a respectful bow.
“Yeah yeah, don’t thank me yet we still need to humble the Lady if you ask me” On that, they wholeheartedly agreed.
“What do we know of her family, will they try and interfere?” Dakota questioned.
“I honestly don’t know following the allegations, doing so could seriously harm their reputation”
“I thought that bird had flown?” Balethon added a twinge of humor in his voice.
“More than what has already been done then,” Hashaw responded, seriously. “I will try and figure that out though, I want to know what I’m dealing with here.” That was certainly encouraging, Sapphire thought to herself. The colonel spoke as if it was them against the Lady. She clearly took the slight against her quite seriously then.
“Do let me know if we will be dealing with too much interference, might have some people I need to talk with if that is the case” Dakota replied and the two of them exchanged knowing looks. Oh this bitch was going down.
Following the bathing, Archeon had taken them to the free traders' guild where he and his crew would be living for the time being. Vulzan had complained a bit about not being able to get any work done just sitting here for who knows how long, but as always he had been polite about it. It wasn’t like he could go anywhere anyway. He was hired to take them back to the keep once this was over and he needed to testify in court along with them. Sapphire was still wondering what that had cost though.
So there they were, three frontier dragonettes with bags over their shoulders standing in the middle of the main market plaza, one disinterested corporal of the royal guard tagging along and they needed to find the Sweet Dragon… somehow.
Maiko made it very clear he had no clue where it was, and when Sapphire admitted she didn’t really know either apart from that it was within the inner city ring and possibly the south side, Dakota cursed slightly.
“Should have asked Canaberea to come along. No matter, how hard can it be to find a tavern? The escorts knew of it so it can't be some hole in the ground… I hope.”
“If you say so,” Sapphire replied, looking up at the myriad of towers and walkways hanging between them. It had been five years and this place was just as amazing as she remembered it. So much life, wherever you looked people coming into land or taking off on the central streets or climbing up and down the ladders and stairs to the different levels. She remembered a nice bakery somewhere on the fourth level of… was it King's Avenue or Royal Avenue… ‘dammit Sapphire’
“Why not just ask?” Balethon questioned shrugging.
“No no, we will find it” Dakota replied as she strode forth the rest of them on her heels.