Dream of Dragons

dry, and I have to buy salt from the market so it’ll keep longer.” Kae said, finally stepping away from the bones. Ma’trii settled down by the deer and set to chewing the bones and the scraps of flesh still stuck to them.
“You do this every day?”
“Not every day. Sometimes I’m out for days at a time with nothing to show for it.” Kae crossed to the branch table and continued preparing the deer cuts. “One winter was really bad. My father had just died, Ma’trii and I were still very young. We didn’t have enough food to last us the winter.”
“That’s terrible! What did you do?”
“We went down to Green Reach and hid in empty buildings. Ma’trii would steal the small fish that fishermen wouldn’t bother selling in the markets. We had no fire, ao we ate them raw.” Kae’s voice was steady as it always was. She was stating her life’s story as fact, nothing more. “I was so cold, I couldn’t feel my fingers. I had only my father’s fur coat for warmth. If Ma’trii didn’t cover me at night, I’d have died from the cold back then.”
Ma’trii approached the huntress, his paws padding softly on the ground, and nudged her leg. He whined softly. Kae stroked his large head. “So now, I make sure we always have enough to eat. Even if it will take me a whole week to track game, I will.” She laughed. “And he eats so much!” Ma’trii playfully snapped at Kae’s fingers.
Loren stood back as Kae strung up the deer meat with rope, and hung them from the branches. The huntress explained that insects and other animals do try to take the meat, but Ma’trii was always in camp to scare them away. Ma’trii himself was very accommodating, tugging on Loren’s trousers to show her their tent. The stitched-together hides hid one bedroll, covered in Ma’trii’s long gray fur. There was a pile of weapons, mostly a variety of bent and dented daggers, and chips of iron sitting beside branches whittled down and ready to be made into arrows. There was a pile of furs ready to be brought to the market, and rough cotton clothes for Kae.
While Loren was looking in their tent, Ma’trii’s ears suddenly perked up. The wolf darted out of the tent with a sharp bark. He stood in the clearing, hackles raised and snarling at the tree line. By the time Loren had exited the tent, Kae had already taken up her bow, nocked an arrow, and had it trained on the tree line. The princess was about to ask what was going on, when she heard it: the sound of a dozen horses’ hooves.
Mounted soldiers, clad in chain mail and steel, galloped into the clearing and easily surrounded the wolf and huntress. A dozen bows were drawn and trained at the two. Loren groaned as the soldiers forced the Kae to her knees, disarmed and arms over her head. The armor worn by the soldiers were emblazoned with the blue and gold dragon of Aldoran.
The captain of the soldiers gave a command, and the others drew their bows and aimed at Ma’trii. Loren’s eyes widened, and she jumped in between the bows and the wolf with arms outstretched to protect him.
“Princess Loren, please step aside.” The captain said. She was a doe Beastman. Small nubs of horn peeked through holes in her helmet. “The wolf is a feral.”
“I know! And he’s my friend.” Loren said defiantly. Behind her, Ma’trii whined softly. “I won’t let you kill him.
The captain was about to retort again, when the sound of horse’s hooves pounded towards the clearing again. The circle of soldiers parted, and the lowered their bows. Kae peeked up from where she was kneeling. A larger horse, with a long black mane, entered the clearing and reared up, neighing loudly. Segmented metal plates protected the horse’s neck and flanks, and its saddle bore the blue and gold insignia. Mounted on the horse, holding a large axe and glaring down at Loren with an intensely disappointed look, was King Jorrne.
Loren hung her head, staring at the ground. She didn’t look up as her father dismounted from his horse with a heavy thud.
“Loren.” He started. His voice was not raised, but it was his tone that hurt. “Explain.”
“Father, I’m sorry.” Loren muttered to the ground. “I only wanted to help.”
“Explain to me how running off by yourself into the middle of the forest, knowing full well spies and assassins may be out for your head, is helping.”
Loren pointed to Ma’trii. The doe captain snorted in distaste. “I wanted to ask for his help. I believe he can help us track down Kaiten faster than squads of soldiers could.”
“A feral wolf?”
The captain bowed her head. “My lord, let me lead a battalion to find the prince. We will do far better than one abomination.”
Ma’trii held his head low and submissive. Loren moved to stroke his gray fur. “I trust him. I just know he can find Kaiten. And if Kaiten was kidnapped, a smaller search party would be able to sneak up on them without alerting them from afar.”
The king sighed, large axe at his side. Only then did he notice the young woman on the ground. “And who is this?” he asked.
“My name is Kae, Your Grace.” The huntress answered. Her tone and words were polite, but she stared sharply up at the king with a look that would have the Warmaster drawing his sword in alarm. “This is my camp you’ve stumbled into, and my hunting partner you’re threatening.”
“How have you come to know my daughter?” the king demanded.
“She shoved me with a horse in the market of Markholme.”
“That was an accident.” Loren interjected, but the king help up a hand to silence her. He let Kae continue.
“She brought me up