The Dragon's Kiss

As the horse bounded closer, Kel realized the man she saw wasn't the only rider.

Long locks of hair streamed out in every direction around the man, coming from a small girl huddled in front of him, her head only coming up to his chest.

Dash wasn't coming back.

Instead, it was the person she had originally confused him with when she saw his horse tied outside Harrow and Nesta's house.

The person with a young daughter, a crippled leg and heaps of money.

"I was lucky yesterday, but it seems intense manual labor is in store for me today," Kel sighed, stretching her arms above her head as she observed the rapidly approaching steed, "but…"

Why was the man riding as if the entire Serin army was after him?

With his daughter too?

Alerted by the steady thudding of hooves against the dirt, Nesta and Harrow quickly rejoined Kel outside.

Holding a hand to her brow to shield her eyes from the sun, Nesta murmured, "I wonder what Mr.-"

The mister had already arrived, cutting Nesta off with the neighing of his reared horse as he yanked the reins.

"Mr. Thomas," Nesta repeated, this time as a greeting.

"I need help," the man responded immediately between heavy breaths.

Both Mr. Thomas and his daughter looked ragged and tired, as if they had jumped on the horse as soon as they woke up that morning.

Their house wasn't more than a ten minute ride away from Nesta and Harrow's, though, so there was no way they could have been on the horse that long.

Unless, they hadn't come here from their house.

"What's the matter?" Kel asked, apprehension rising in her chest.

Something was wrong.

Something more than just a broken fence or piles of rocks in need of relocation.

"They ambushed us," Mr. Thomas panted. "They're ransacking our house right now!"

"Woah, easy there," Harrow spoke up, holding a calming hand to the nose of Mr. Thomas's antsy steed. "Slow down, and explain everything from the beginning."

"There's no time!" Mr. Thomas cried, glancing fearfully over his shoulder. "Please, help us!"

"Why don't you just tell us who 'they' are then?" Nesta soothed, her gaze flickering between Harrow and Kel.

"Thugs! Bandits!" the panicked visitor exclaimed. "Please! Before they destroy everything!"

Nesta's eyes widened with shock while Harrow's eyes dropped thoughtfully to the ground. Even Kel was caught off guard.

Troublemakers weren't just sparse in Tael. They were nonexistent.

That wasn't to say criminals and other unsavory people avoided the small village. No, they actually frequented it. But even the most hardened and violent types of people became tame in the face of the village's stalwart yet generous residents.

Any person, despite their personality or past, could get along in Tael.

"He.. he must have some enemies from.. wherever he came from," Harrow mumbled to himself. "Is that something we should get involved in?"

The other reason Tael was such an orderly place: nobody could be bothered to stick their noses in others' private business.

Nesta sighed, clearly in agreement with Harrow, and turned back to Mr. Thomas. "I-"

"I'll help."

All eyes turned to Kel.

"I'll go," she said again, locking her gaze with Mr. Thomas's. "I'll help you take your home back."

"Kel!" Nesta, her eyes full of worry, grasped Kel's hand.

"We can't just stand by and do nothing," Kel insisted, squeezing Nesta's hand. "I have to hurry before Mr. Thomas's house is ruined."

Regardless of who Mr. Thomas actually was, where he came from or what he had done before coming to Tael, Kel knew he was sincerely trying to make a decent life for him and his daughter.

She'd seen it.

Despite his crippled leg, the man worked hard on his little plot of land and made frequent, likely arduous, trips to the market to keep his child well fed with clean clothes.

Nesta and Harrow were kind enough to take Kel in, despite the fact that she was no more than a face on a wanted poster at this point. Surely, she could pass that kindness along and give this man her aid.

"Thank you!" Mr. Thomas replied, wriggling backward in the saddle to make room for Kel to hop on. "Ah.."

He paused, looking uncertainly at his daughter.

The poor girl was hunched over, taking shaky breaths as she stared blankly into the horse's mane.

"Leave that little thing here, and be off!" Nesta caved, reaching for the girl.

The woman was incurably weak when it came to small, pitiful children.

"Thank you," Mr. Thomas repeated, his shoulders slumping forward with relief.

As Harrow and Nesta carried the girl out of the saddle, Mr. Thomas pulled Kel up to take her spot. With one more heartfelt thank you, he clicked his tongue and sent the horse galloping back the way he'd come.

As they thundered through the dust, neither Kel nor the man spoke. Some implicit understanding existed between them that Mr. Thomas didn't want to answer questions about himself or the identity of the foes laying siege to his home.

It didn't matter, though. Kel would help him get rid of the pests as best she could.

While still a distance from the small cabin Kel had often visited to help Mr. Thomas with repairs, the man slowed his steed to a trot.

"There are three of them," he said quietly. "They are.. Well, they can fight. And wield weapons. It's dangerous."

They aren't the only ones who can wield weapons, Kel thought to herself.

"I understand," she said aloud.

"I didn't think it through when I asked you to help me," Mr. Thomas murmured. "I mean, how can I ask a young boy to risk himself for this. I just don't know what else-"

"Mr. Thomas," Kel interrupted, turning to face him. "I wouldn't have agreed to help you if I wasn't prepared for the danger."

"Still.." the man hesitated. "Kel. I can't ask you to go in there. I'm sorry. I.."

He let out a sigh, his eyes downcast and eyebrows knit together.

"You know, in Tael, we all have our secrets, right?" Kel said quietly.

Mr. Thomas looked up at her.

"I'm no different, Mister, so, please don't feel guilty for letting me help."