Athyra POV

Two weeks in this town, and the adventurers still haven’t come back to White Rapids. Lord Talan has been nothing, but a thorn in my side with his constant need for updates on my progress. Most of my dreams still revolve around stuffing his eyes and genitals down his throat, so I can’t say my situation has improved much. Shortly after I arrived, I infiltrated the White Rapids Guild to discover the identities of Talan’s targets. It was relatively easy since the adventurers are well known throughout the guild. The warrior woman with emerald eyes is known as the Ghost to guild members, but her name is Leah Setzen, an S rank adventurer. The monkey girl was super easy to find out about because she is a troublemaker named Emalynn. Rory Bishop is the other human girl who wielded the daggers. The elf was a bit harder to narrow down, but based on his companions, I would say he’s the Spear of White Rapids, Elias Wulfric. People in this town like to brag about their top-class adventurers, and these four are among the best in the guild.

The guild master has been ‘frantic’ according to the guild members since the group hasn’t returned from their job assignment yet. They went hunting saber grizzly bears for a local furs dealer two weeks ago and haven’t returned. I admit the dwarf woman does seem on edge with the way she yells and throws her ax around the mess hall. It seems she has a vested interest in the missing adventurers, so I have been keeping a close eye on her, waiting for the adventurers to contact her. She isn’t an easy person to track though. I would even venture to say she is paranoid. Thankfully, my dragon abilities have made sneaking around easier.

“Ms. Athyra,” Eriz, my driver and babysitter, called to me from the staircase above me. “Ms. Athyra, where are you?”

Damn, babysitter. He’s going to blow my cover. The guild master just got a confidential letter that got her excited enough to squeal. My instincts tell me she has news about her missing adventurers in her letter. I allow my scales to rise from my skin and shift my appearance to blend in with my surroundings as I sneak around the corner into the guild master’s office.

“Ms. Athyra? Are you around here?” Eriz was only a few feet away from me as I entered the office.

“Eriz? Is that you out there?” Guild Master Myrra asked, walking toward her office door.

Shit. I had to move quickly, or they would run right into me. I tucked and rolled past the guild master into the center of the room as quietly as I could. The guild master stopped for a moment, looking back at me. For a second, I thought she saw through my cloaked scales, but she turned back to Eriz who had entered the office.

“Eriz, is something wrong? You seem stressed.” Guild Master Myrra asked a frantic-looking Eriz.

“I seem to have lost Ms. Athyra. We were supposed to do delivery this afternoon for the blacksmith, but I can’t find her anywhere.” Eriz sighed. He may be my babysitter but he does seem to care about me. He has only been kind and caring since I met him, if only he wasn’t annoying me every minute with his desire to help.

“Come, have a seat, Eriz,” Myrra invited him in.

He nodded and sat on the couch. I snuck over to the wall to stay out of their way. I need to be as quiet as possible to keep from being discovered. Myrra poured Eriz some tea to help him relax while I silently cursed myself for allowing this situation to occur.

“Tell me, Eriz. How long have you known Athyra?” Myrra asked.

I knew this moment was coming. Now, I prayed he could stick to the backstory we discussed before joining the guild. Lie Eriz. Lie like your life depends on it.

“A few months. Do you want to know how we met?” Eriz offered.

“That is one of many questions that I have about Athyra. So please, enlighten me.” Myrra said with a curious look.

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“In all honesty, I am a slave, guild master. My owner is for lack of a better word, abusive. Athyra stumbled upon me on my errand to town. She had just arrived in Gleaca, and I spent time helping her find a place to stay and telling her about our town. We got to talking, and she wanted to help me escape my master to repay my kindness to her. Only a day later, we ran out of town to escape. I am forever grateful to her for help.” Eriz looked truly happy when he spoke. He must be happy to get away from Talan. This whole experience is paradise compared to that scum’s manor. Note to self, when I kill that scum, I need to free Eriz from slavery.

Myrra had a pleased expression on her. “Athyra is unlike most dragons that I have met. She is still icy in her demeanor, but she has compassion and a desire to earn her way, which is respectable. I wonder why she chose to join a guild.”

“That’s easy to answer, guild master. She wanted me to have a chance to earn a better future too. Joining a guild was the safest way she could ensure we both had that chance,” Eriz had a thankful look on his face as if he believed his story to be true. I wish it was true. It would be a better story than us both spying on this guild for the scum bag. Chills ran through my body as I thought of Talan and his grubby hands. Breathe Athyra. You can’t ice over the guild master’s office. You will kill him once you get this powerful magic item.

“I hope you’re right, Eriz. I would hate for all of this to be some elaborate scheme against you or this guild.” Myrra finished.

If I weren’t a cunning dragon, that last statement would make me feel guilty about my intentions here. Myrra is a good guild master and rightfully suspicious of me. I will have to take better care of my actions to reassure her.

Eriz thanked Myrra for the tea, but he decided he should go look for me again. Myrra smiled and told him her door was always open. Her kindness is probably one of the guild’s strengths. I was lucky that someone called Myrra out of the office, so I could make my move. Her large desk was a mess of papers. Where is that letter? Myrra’s voice got close to the office door again, causing me to flinch. Only a moment passed before someone else called her away. I shuffled through the papers until I finally found a letter that I think she had gotten this morning. The envelope was from Governor Kaya Valaris of Pine Row. Pine Row is a mixed-race town according to the adventurers. An elf governor over a mixed-race town?

“Sure. Just let me grab my ax,” Myrra’s voice carried into the office.

I placed the envelope on the desk and darted out the open window, leaving the office behind. Tumbling into a tree, I tried to grab a branch as I fell to the ground. My cloak wore off while I was being whacked by the tree branches. Dropping from the tree, I fell directly onto a familiar-looking guy.

“Ooof,” The familiar voice below me uttered.

I quickly climbed off the guy, so he could get up. “I am sorry I fell on you. I lost my balance in the tree.”

“That’s where you were?” Eriz questioned getting off the ground.

I knew the guy I was falling on looked familiar to me. “Yeah, it’s such a nice day. I didn’t feel like working, so I hid in the tree all morning. Even had a little nap in the shade of the tree top.”

“A lazy dragon. Yep, that sounds about right,” Eriz laughed, standing up. He held out his hand to help me up.

Giving him a death glare for his comment, I took his and pushed myself off the ground. His hand started to frost over. My temper was getting the best of me. He quickly responded as his hand began to overheat in my grasp. Steam was rising from our hands. We needed to walk away from this public space. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk.”

He nodded as let go of my steaming hand. We walked away from the guild building toward the town. Eriz didn’t say anything as we walked. His expression was blank. I had no idea what was going on in his mind, but we had a job to do. “I have a lead on the adventurers, but we need to go to Pine Row.”

“What’s in Pine Row?” Eriz asked.

“An elf governor over a mixed-race town. The guild master got a letter from the governor of Pine Row. which seemed to ease her frantic behavior.” I answered.

“But are you sure the governor is connected to the elf adventurer? I thought Talan didn’t have any information on the elf.” Eriz doubted my lead.

“He didn’t, but this guild doesn’t have many snow-white monkey girls. Based on that information alone, I was able to discover all of their identities, remember? Why are you doubting me?” I questioned him. He looked down toward the ground like he was hiding something.

“I just don’t want to end up on some wild goose chase that ends with me being punished by Lord Talan.” He said, weakly.

“There’s more to it than that.” I challenged him. I thought back to how happy he had been talking to Guild Master Myrra about our time here. That was it. Eriz didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to return to his life as a slave. Can’t say I blame him for feeling that way. “You are scared to leave, aren’t you? You are finally living a free man’s life here, and you don’t want to be Talan’s slave anymore.”

He grimaced at my words. “There’s truth in what you are saying. I don’t want to return to Lord Talan, but I am just as scared of his punishment for failure. Lord Talan gave us a cold trail to follow with little expectation of success.”

“Well, cold trail or not, we have a lead that we need to follow.” I sighed, “Look when the job is done. I will free you from slavery, okay?” I will free him once the scum bag is six feet underground.

“Wait, Ms. Athyra, are you serious?” He said, stunned. “You are really thinking of freeing me?”

“I am not just thinking about it, Eriz,” I answered. “I have decided that I will free you then you can come back and join the guild. Live your life however you want.” If I free you, you shouldn’t have any issues with me killing Talan.

“You are an unusual dragon, Ms. Athyra,” Eriz responded with a smile.

“Go pack our bags, Eriz. We leave tomorrow morning at dawn.” I said, crossing my arms. Eriz nodded and ran toward our inn. This was going to be a long journey to Pine Row because we would have to go through a mountain pass.