“Uh, right,” I said nervously, jolted into awareness that the speaker, or rather, the Intercessor, would be me. Inhaling a big breath, I squared my shoulders. “You can do this,” I whispered to myself.
As I walked to stand in front of Frelanfur’s nose, Jason patted my shoulder, filling me with a hesitant comfort.
“Umm, yes, hi, I–I ….” I said lamely, and I stuttered to a stop.
The dragon lowered his head to bring one of his huge dark eyes level with me. Frelanfur viewed me up close and personal, snaking his agile neck all around me so he could see me from every angle. My clothes ruffled and dust puffed around my feet from the breaths of his nostrils. I felt like a bug on a microscope’s slide at the close inspection, and I stood perfectly still. In truth, I didn’t know if I would have been able to move on my own just then; I was so scared. After a couple of minutes of this the dragon focused his gaze over towards the carpet for a few moments before returning to me. He rumbled in his chest to himself before he spoke out loud.
“You are a Human! And yet you have a connection to the goddess Caelestis? How very curious. And you have another Human with you? Even more curious. You had to have somehow used a mist gate to cross the Disjoin. How is it that you accomplished this?”
My jaw dropped open. He knew about mist gates? “By accident, really,” I said, surprised into speaking without thinking first.
Frelanfur laughed. “I would have to imagine so! Humans do not have magic—or at least, have very little. But the gates were designed to let you into this world if certain conditions were met, so obviously you met them.”
“What do you know about the gates?” I asked eagerly, forgetting Arghen for a second.
“Is that what you wish to bargain for? Knowledge of the gates?” the dragon asked.
I opened my mouth to say “yes,” but a clearing of a throat behind me made me bite my tongue instead. Dusk’s words about Frelanfur came flooding back: make sure to get something for something. If you say something of knowledge or interest, then make sure he does as well. Otherwise he will take advantage of you and your magic items.
I said instead, “Well, I certainly wouldn’t mind knowing about the gates, but that isn’t why Quiris asked you to come. We,” I vaguely waved a hand to indicate my friends behind me, “need a fast way underground to Chirasniv, and a way back inside the city-state once we get there.”
“Hmmm. Tricky,” Frelanfur rumbled. “Under-elves are secretive, but it seems you already have intimate knowledge of them and their ways. And your words indicate that you have been there once already and have lived to tell the tale. Innnn-teresting.”
I mentally smacked my forehead. Dusk had said to do an exchange for an exchange, and here I had just given Frelanfur information for free.
Well, I guess one side has to start sometime, I thought. “Uh, yes, I thought I would mention that to start our discussion. So what can you tell me now?” I said, trying to brazen it out.
The dragon threw his head back and laughed. “I do not remember agreeing to anything yet, little Human. I think you missed a step in the bargaining process. Where is my incentive to start this Inter-change?”
“Que?” Jason exploded behind me. “You’ve already had your incentive! Quiris gave you three magical items from us!”
Auraus shushed Jason frantically as the dragon snaked his head over mine towards the group at the carpet until his eye was up close and level with Jason. “Make no mistake, other little Human, that those items Quiris gave me were my bribe for coming here at all,” Frelanfur informed Jason with a menacing growl. “Now it is up to you to bargain with me for what you actually want.”
Jason shut up as the big head inspected him the same way I’d been examined. As the dragon looked him over, Frelanfur glanced at the carpet and licked his huge lips. Auraus, sensing the possible danger to our transportation, reached into her pouch and pulled out the golden vial that could pour any drink.
“Please, Frelanfur, will you accept this piece to start the even Interchange?” she asked with only a little quaver in her voice.
The dragon left off eyeing the flying carpet and Jason to inspect the vial instead. His eyes glowed a little as he checked it out, and a smile peeled back the corners of his leathery lips to reveal large, pointy teeth.
“Yes, Wind-rider, I will accept that to start the equal Inter-change.”
“How shall I give it to you?” she asked.
“Just toss it high up in the air.”
Auraus looked perplexed but did as Frelanfur had instructed. The dragon raised his head quickly and followed its trajectory, then snapped his teeth around the vial at the top of its arc. We heard a loud gulping sound as he swallowed it whole. I widened my eyes, and was pretty sure from the sounds I heard behind me that I wasn’t the only one surprised.
The dragon looked down at me with a satisfied look on his face. “Now, then, little Human. Let us begin the Inter-change. I am Frelanfur, dragon and a user of natural magics, and I agree to the opening formalities of the Interchange.”
He paused, as if waiting for me to say something, but I was still kind of in shock about the vial disappearing down his gullet.
“You eat magic?” I blew out a breath in surprise.
The dragon frowned as he eyed me. “Yes. Does this bother you, little Human?”
“Errr, no, I guess?” I replied. “But I mean, why would you eat it when you could use it?”
“Because magic tastes delicious,” he distantly boomed in reply.
Somehow, though, I got the feeling that that wasn’t the only reason. But I didn’t follow up on it since I wasn’t here to interrogate a dragon on his eating habits.
“So, about my question ….” I began, but he cut me off.
“First you must introduce yourself, and then it is my turn to ask something, little Human.”
I opened my mouth to tell him my name, but then realized the dragon was counting the question I’d had about his eating magic as part of the Interchange.
“Wait, no! You eating magic isn’t part of what I need to know!” I protested.
He shrugged a large, sinuous shrug, rolling slightly onto his side to make himself more comfortable and incidentally crushing more of the scrub vegetation growing in the area. It was pretty awesome to watch the muscles ripple under the hide. It was also kind of intimidating to see how easy it was for him to flatten things in his way. I shut up.
“You need to be careful of what questions you ask, then, little Human,” Frelanfur said lazily. “But we need to begin at the beginning. Your name?”
“Lise, human and Champion of Caelestis, and I agree to the opening formalities of this Inter-change,” I said, parroting back what Frelanfur had said before.
The dragon smiled wider. “Excellent,” he almost purred.
I narrowed my eyes and wondered if I had done something wrong, because Frelanfur seemed entirely too pleased about what I’d said, somehow.
“I will now make sure that there will be no further interruptions until the Inter-change is done,” Frelanfur announced.
“Huh?” I asked as he scratched a rune in the ground.
He said ‘scaageir,’ the rune flashed and disappeared, and all sounds of movement behind me ceased. I turned in a panic to see Ragar, Auraus, and Jason each frozen stiff like a statue, though at least they hadn’t been turned to stone.
“WHAT?! What did you do that for!?” I practically screamed at Frelanfur, turning back around to glare at him.
The dragon said calmly, “I did not wish any further interruptions. Have no concerns, Lise, Champion of Caelestis. They are fine, they can hear you and me, and they will be released as soon as the Inter-change is done. Now, draw a weapon and defend yourself.”
“Huh?” I burst out. “Wait a minute, wait a minute! First off, I have no sword; and secondly, I didn’t come here to fight. I came here to negotiate!”
Frelanfur frowned. “You just agreed to the opening formalities. The opening formalities are unchanged—you need to prove your worthiness of the Inter-change before I will speak to you.”
Desperately, I said, “Does it have to be fight? A fight is just a contest of skills. What about a different kind of contest instead? Checkers? Chess? A guessing game?”
The dragon’s eyes glowed a little as his lip curled disdainfully, and a rune flashed an appearance for a second on his side. My sword and sheath materialized on the ground at my feet.
“Your weapon. Now, will you be a coward and back out, or will you take up the challenge of worthiness?”