Claymore and Dagger (closed)

[KieranSoares]

Roman simply rumbled in answer. Even if he didn't understand, it seemed to be his way of answering when someone spoke to him. After a long while, he picked himself back up to sit on his haunches, but with his left hip being one of the worst affected areas on his body, he didn't want to push any further and was leaning heaving on his right side.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Up. Come on." Fiona encouraged him as he sat there to combat the pain. "Sunshine will make you feel better. Slow and steady."

When he rumbled at her, she smiled, laughing softly. "Come on, beastie. If I can hike all the way here to see you, you can walk outside for me."

 

[KieranSoares]

Slowly and with plenty of difficulty, Roman managed to lift himself up til he was standing and leaning heavily to one side. He followed Fiona out with a horrible limp, but the way he stretched his neck out and toward the sky and closed his eyes told her that he was definitely thankful for the sun and fresh air. Being essentially a giant lizard, he needed the sun to regulate his body temperature. But because he was also a type of apex predator, he had ways of functioning without sun that usually required a lot of physical activity. The latter not being an option at the moment, he was thankful for the warm, clear day.

Roman got a little excited at being outside again, hopping forward ever so slightly into the taller grass and stretching his claws and his back as much as he could without too much pain. His long, lithe tail swished over the grass easily and he snuffled around to get the musty smell of the barn out of his nose and replace it with fresh air and fragrant grass.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona smiled in pride as Roman explored the grassy area around the barn. He stretched and preened like a happy beast, his long tail swishing back and forth as he sniffed at the grass. He was a handsome beast and it felt good to know that the sunlight made him feel much better.

"Well done, beastie." Fiona murmured as she gently patted his neck with her good hand.

"Look at him." Annie said with a smile as she approached the both of them. "I take it he ate?"

"Every single bite. Didn't complain once." Fiona murmured as she glanced towards Annie, David approaching from the barn.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You must have a way with him," David chuckled as Roman scratched at the ground here and there, digging for little wild onions that dotted the field. "Ann and I couldn't even get him to drink anything til this morning. Twenty minutes and you've got him up and around." He wrapped an arm about Annie's waist with a smile for David.

Roman soon came back to Fiona, nudging her hand for more attention and affection. "I wonder what kind of drake he was supposed to be. Soldiers' drakes usually aren't this personable," David thought aloud. "Maybe he was a scouter or even a draft drake. By the looks of some of those harness scars in his scales, he might've been a draft drake before he came up here. I imagine he's probably about ten years old." For a drake, that was quite young considering they tended to have about a fifth the lifespan of their weredragon cousins, and of course dragons lived for thousands of years

 

[heartofcourage]

"He's docile." Fiona said as Roman came to nuzzle at her arm and hand, looking for more attention. "I would love to have a beast like this. There is no way that I could afford to keep and feed him, however."

She scratched at his scales, smiling as he rumbled his pleasure and leaned into her fingers for a moment. He reminded her of a cat who was enjoying a good scratch.

"David and I would be glad to pay you to come and care for him." Annie offered. "No matter what my stubborn brother has to say about the matter."

 

[KieranSoares]

"We already have too much on our hands," David agreed. "I'd be willing to offer some extra work with the older horses too, if you like. I haven't had enough time lately to give them the kind of attention they need, especially the lamed ones." Annie and David often kept older horses for teaching children to ride, and would hold onto horses who were lame as long as they could still serve some purpose, like breeding or light work. If they had no further purpose, David let the Lunars and Erygonians take them as companions to care for to the end of their days, and those horses usually enjoyed roaming the villages freely, living on fresh grass and the odd offered handful of vegetables in the warm seasons and living in large open barns in winter with plenty of feed supplied by the generous locals.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I don't know how much help I can be until my shoulder heals." Fiona said softly as she watched Roman limp off to explore some more. "I can give it a try, though."

Silas soon came riding around the corner of the barn on his little highland pony. He pulled the pony to a stop as soon as he saw Roman out and about, his little eyes wide with wonder.

"Mama! Roman's awake!" He exclaimed as he hopped off the back of his pony.

"That he is." Annie said as she smiled down at her little boy. "You can pet him, but be kind."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Just don't take Andy too close. You know how much animals like that get scared of animals like Roman," David reminded his son. The pony, Andrew, was an older male and fairly mellow, but like any horse he was skittish of predatory animals so he didn't let Silas lead him too far.

 

[heartofcourage]

Silas nodded and tied Andy to a hitching post before he approached Roman. The little boy had decided that he loved the drake from the moment that he saw him, captivated by his grandfather's stories of Italy and his mother's fairy tales. It all seemed so magical to him as he approached the drake cautiously, his hands held out for him to smell him first.

 

[KieranSoares]

Normally David was very cautious when Silas met new horses that came into the stables. But with a creature twice the size of a horse, outfitted with claws and fangs and in a rather poor state, David seemed at ease as if he could just tell Roman was harmless. Roman pushed his maw into Silas' hands, snuffling loudly with a deep, content rumble before he laid on his side when his legs needed a rest.

"Good lad," David encouraged his son. "Scratch under his jaw where the scales are soft. He likes that."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona smiled as Silas dutifully scratched under Roman's neck until the great animal purred like a house cat. It was a lovely childhood that the little boy was leading, all thanks to the parents that were watching over him just that moment. She wished that her own childhood could have been like that, but she knew that there was no use to thinking about the past. She couldn't change a thing.

"I think Roman will make a lovely steed for him one day." Fiona said as she glanced towards Annie and David.

"Maybe, but I think that I know of someone else who might have their eye on Roman." Annie said as she looked at her husband and then at Fiona. "Perhaps we can talk in the future about giving him a more permanent home with you."

"No. There's no way that I would ever have the room for him or be able to afford feeding him. I can barely afford feeding Will." Fiona said in a soft voice, her dreams and expectations low.

 

[KieranSoares]

"That may not always be the case. Besides, if you do a little extra work for us, we can keep him stabled here," David assured her. "Though he's probably not used to a stable. Drakes aren't kept in pastures and stables like horses. They roam fairly freely and hunt for themselves."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona glanced towards David as he mentioned that they would keep Roman if she worked for them. Looking back towards the drake as he continued to enjoy Silas's attention, she wondered if she might be able to have the great beast as a part of her life.

"There are a few things I would have to think about." She said softly, hoping that perhaps her luck were turning for the better.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Well, he'll be here. I wouldn't want to sell this fellow, or he might end up back in combat. I think he's too soft a soul to do that." And that was coming from a man who helped his wife train battle chargers for a living.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I would say so." Fiona murmured as he watched Silas hug the drake tightly under the chin, the intent rumbling from the animal loud in the quiet of the field. "He certainly has a soft spot for that little boy. Perhaps he has had a good life so far."

After a few more moments in the sun, Fiona helped to get Roman back into the shed, tucked in with some more herbs for the pain. She murmured to him, telling him that she would be back in the morning. She hoped that he would understand and not think that she was abandoning him. That was the worst feeling in the world.

Once she left the farm, she made her way towards home, hoping that Will was at the cabin. The moment that she saw him out front, chopping wood, she smiled and called his name. When he turned, she stopped and held her arm open and hugged him tightly as he ran to her.

 

[KieranSoares]

When Will saw Fiona approach, he dropped his axe and nearly tripped over the wood pile trying to get to her to wrap her up in a hug. Seeing her so beat up terrified him. "What happened?" He asked quickly. "There's rumors all over about something bad that happened in the woods." He'd been worried from the moment he'd heard the start of those rumors.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I just had a little sense knocked into me." Fiona said softly as she hugged Will tightly. "And something did happen in the woods. We found a camp of Greeks that had been slaughtered. We saved one of their drakes and I think he's laid claim to me."

Fiona pushed Will back slightly and smiled down at him. He was growing up and a handsome young man. His uniform was slightly big as were the boots he had on but he would grow into them in no time. She gently pushed her fingers through his hand, scooping the mop of unruly locks back off his forehead.

"I am proud of you." She said softly, knowing that he needed encouragement and safety in his life to flourish. "Very, very proud."

 

[KieranSoares]

Will fixed her with an odd gaze, as much a stranger to praise as she was. "Anything else? You're acting weird. I'd like to meet the drake sometime, though."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Take the praise, Will." Fiona said as he told her that she was acting weird. "And you can meet Roman tomorrow. He had a busy day today."

 

[KieranSoares]

Will took her good hand then, leading her toward the house. "Come in. There aren't many patrols out today. I think it's safe to say Sam's distracted."

 

[heartofcourage]

"For a while, at least. We need to go get my things from my camp. I'm going to help out at the Shanendoah farm in exchange for them keeping Roman." Fiona said softly as Will led her into the house. "Some rest and some good food and I think I'll be as good as new."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I just went to the market this morning. And Aleister's son came by and asked me if I'd test some of his Da's newest pastries, if you want one. They've been really good to me. Kayla stops by all the time to make sure I'm okay on my own." Will had her sit at the table while he started preparing dinner.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You went and let someone else adopt you." Fiona teased him with a smile. "How does it feel to be a part of the MacNamaras?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm not a MacNamara," he insisted. "They're just friends now. If anything, I'm a Blackstone." Of course his real last name was Bard, but he never used it if he could help it. He much preferred being connected to Fiona than his own name.