001
The dragon sneezed. Then again. And then a third time, finally not bothering to cover her face as the third sneeze took her by surprise.
The same way it took by surprise an old vampire who now sat in his chair, swept back by the sheer force of a sneezewave, holding for his dear unlife to the glass of a preciously old wine. Beside the chair a fireplace crackled with flames, somewhat unhappy that a vampire missed it and landed in the comfortable chair instead of the hot embers.
“That’s new…” he said slowly, trying to straighten his now disheveled hair and clothes.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Mr. Krieger.” the dragon blushed.
“Is it magic?” the vampire looked at her with concern. “Like… an allergy to a spell or an artifact? Or a curse?”
“I don’t know,” Silver turned away and sneezed again, now covering her mouth with both her hands. “I think… I think I just caught a cold.”
“A cold?” Krieger closed his left eye, watching the dragon intently. “Nonsense. That’s impossible.”
“Why not?” Weisz, the vampire’s maid, chose this moment to assemble her corporeal form in the doorway. “Look at her: sneezing, coughing, runny nose… I’d say it looks exactly like a common cold.”
“She’s a dragon!”
“So what?”
“She’s a water dragon!” the vampire shook his head, upset by the need to explain what he thought was a common knowledge. “A water dragon! And that includes all of water – with the vapor and the ice! How can someone with the power over the ice get cold!”
“And yet she did!”
Silver sneezed again then looked at the maid while still covering her nose.
“See!” Weisz handed her a handkerchief. The dragon’s eyes sparkled with gratitude. “She’s sniffly! It’s a cold!”
“It has to be a magical one!” Krieger declared rising from his chair. “And I’m going to find its source and make whoever cursed her with it pay for what they did!”
“And I’ll make you some hot tea, okay?” the maid asked the dragon.
Silver answered by nodding energetically, still covering her nose with the handkerchief.
“Just sit here near the fireplace, keep yourself warm.” Weisz said before turning herself into mist and leaving the room.
002
“Weisz, what’s with all the herbs today?” Ruprecht asked, walking into the kitchen to drop off the bag of groceries the maid requested the next day. “I’m no cook but I don’t think any of them are edible…”
“That’s for our poor dragon.” the maid replied putting her biggest teapot on the stove before she reached for the bag and started taking things out of it.
“Silver?” Ruprecht looked surprised. “What’s with her? Did she suddenly decided to go vegetarian?”
“Don’t joke like that. She’s ill.” Weisz said crossing arms on her chest. Silver audibly sneezed somewhere down the hallway.
“Ill, huh…” Ruprecht scratched the back of his head. “That sounds even less possible than a dragon who’s vegan.”
“Yet that’s how it is.” The maid sighed and got back to putting things Ruprecht bought into their designated places in her kitchen.
“And what does Krieger say about it?”
“He spent all night in the library searching for what can trigger an allergic reaction in dragons… Unsuccessfully I have to add.” Weisz paused for a moment and shook her head. “I think he even took some books with him to his crypt for the day. I’m sure he’ll keep searching tonight – with the same degree of success, most probably.”
“I mean, it can be magical…”
“It’s just a cold!” Weisz waived her hand at him. “All she needs is a cup of hot herbal tea, a warm place and some time.”
“Weisz! Weisz!!!” they heard the dragon’s voice coming from outside the kitchen. “I’m cold! I need a blanket!”
“Some time and a blanket, huh?” Ruprecht rolled his eyes.
“And a blanket!” Weisz poked him with a finger.
“I’ll get it in a minute!” she yelled into the corridor before disappearing into the mist, leaving Ruprecht alone.
“A sick dragon who needs a blanket…” Ruprecht said slowly, then sniffed the air in the kitchen that was already filled with the decidedly medicinal smell of the herbs he bought. “Life’s never quiet in this castle…”
He turned to leave the kitchen but stopped, looking at the direction from where the Silver’s voice came.
“What a nonsense,” he grunted, then repeated while walking to the garage where he kept his bike. “A blanket… blanket…”
003
It was early in the night when Krieger walked up the stairs leading to his crypt under the castle and turned into the corridor to his favorite sitting room with the fireplace. The old castle was properly mysterious as usual with heavy doors half open into pitch-dark rooms, strategically placed painting and statues hinting at the secret passages and a thin layer of fog, swirling along the stone floor. But this time the passage was also full of the strong herbal smell – Krieger thought for a second and despite the centuries of life couldn’t identify all of the ingredients.
It was coming from the clay mug in the hands of a dragon sitting in front of the fire, with her legs on the chair tucked under the heavy blanket.
Silver was sniffling and sipping the contents of the cup very carefully as it looked like it was steaming hot.
When Krieger entered, Weisz didn’t notice him busy with throwing more wood into the fire.
“What are you doing?” Krieger asked, startling the maid.
“I’m trying to keep our sick dragon warm.” She answered, turning to face the vampire.
“Like it’s going to help…” He glanced over at Silver, who put her mug on the small table nearby. “Look at her! She looks worse than yesterday!”
“That’s how colds work! It gets worse to get better!”
“She needs real magical help, not your boiled grass!”
“Boiled grass!?” for a fraction of a second a halo of spinning silver coins appeared above Weisz’s head, sending the vampire reeling but soon the maid collected herself and said in an excruciatingly plain voice. “And did you find the healing spell in those old books, Master Krieger?”
“Unfortunately, I have not…” the vampire slid sideways and into the chair across the room from the maid and the dragon. “But I’m sure I will find it soon.”
“Master Krieger,” the maid started in the same emotionless voice. “Please let me humbly express the full depths of my doubts in your selected way of handling this issue…”
“Please don’t argue…” Silver finally spoke. The maid and the vampire immediately turned to her and saw she wrapped herself in the blanket completely with only her face visible. “I’m so cold… sniff-sniff… But please… If you going to fight over me – I’d rather… sniff-sniff… rather leave. I don’t want to be a problem.”
“You’re not leaving!” Both Weisz and Krieger said those exact words in perfect sync, then looked at each other. Weisz canted her head, warmth in her eyes. Krieger smiled lightly.
“Let’s both do what we do best?” The vampire asked. The maid nodded.
“So…” Silver sniffed again. “May I get another blanket?”
004
Early in the morning Weisz met Ruprecht in the castle’s garage where he and his bike materialized out of the state of the quantum uncertainty.
“Where have you been all night?” The maid asked. “Master Krieger got worried.”
“Had things to do.” Ruprecht grumbled getting off the bike, carrying something wrapped in bright paper tied with a nice ribbon. “Personal.”
“I was worried too, you know?”
“Oh, Weisz. I was visiting friends from my old job that’s all.” Ruprecht walked out of the garage.
“You should’ve told us.” Weisz followed.
“It was a spur of the moment decision.”
“A spur of the moment?” Weisz chuckled. “You?”
“Uh-huh.” Ruprecht growled, then asked with a badly hidden concern. “How’s she?”
“Still cold. And weak.” Weisz said. It was easy to understand who exactly Ruprecht meant. “She’s sleeping near the fireplace, wrapped in two blankets…”
“Any luck with a cure?”
“No…” The maid sighed. “Neither my herbs, nor Master Krieger’s books… She doesn’t get better, just crawls deeper into the blankets and sneezes out of the pile.”
They walked near the room where Silver slept, and Weisz stopped talking, fearing she could disturb the dragon’s uneasy sleep. Ruprecht, despite his bear-like build tiptoed inside, carefully unwrapping the thing he was carrying as he went.
Weisz quietly watched how the colorful wrappings fell on the floor leaving in Ruprecht’s rough hands an embroidered comforter. It had brown deer with sparkling gold antlers running over light green spruce trees under the shifting glow of the aurora lights. Even standing more than several steps away, Weisz still felt the aura of warmth and coziness the comforter had.
Ruprecht quietly stepped over the dragon’s wrapped form in the chair and placed the comforter over her, carefully tucking the corners under Silver’s body.
The dragon sniffed, moaned something in her native tongue and kept on sleeping.
“So, the friends from the old job? Santa’s elves?” Weisz whispered to him when he walked out of the room.
“They didn’t mind.” He shrugged. “He didn’t either.”
“But…” Ruprecht stopped in the corridor facing Weisz with the seriousness of a millennia-old rock which is about to crush a walnut. “Don’t… Don’t tell her. Ever.”
“Of course, of course, you grumpy bear…” The maid smiled. “I’ll say that comforter just manifested itself out of thin air, with enchanted threads, the Aurora of Comfiness and deer… the whole shebang.”
“Wouldn’t be the strangest thing in this castle.” Ruprecht said walking away.
005
As the day went on, Silver kept on waking up, sniffling, sneezing, drinking whole mugs of hot tea in one mighty gulp, coughing, putting the empty mugs in a pyramid on a table, letting Weisz pile the cushions around her, sneezing again, asking for more blankets and falling back asleep, hugging the comforter with the brown deer.
After two more blankets, many more cushions – turning the chair in a cushion and blanket fort – the dragon finally settled into sleep.
Then from somewhere inside that fort a sound came.
Deep, like the deepest ocean, it slowly rose to the surface, made the cushions and blankets tremble, then swiped them up like the sea wave swipes the small rocks and seashells and throws them onto the beach sand.
Then it went quiet.
Weisz peeked into the room.
The distant rumble started rising again, building slowly inside the pile of blankets on the chair.
The dragon slept. The dragon snored.
It sounded like a mighty river falling from the great height and breaking against the ground, like two icebergs crashing into each other, like the ocean waves beating against the concrete piers…
“This is unbearable!” Weisz heard Krieger crying out. “Absolutely horrible!”
The maid fell into the mist and appeared in front of the vampire.
“Shhh…” She put a finger on her lips. “Please let her sleep.”
“What about me!?” The old vampire stomped his leg on the floor’s stones. “I should’ve been asleep for two more hours! Can you imagine someone snoring so loud, she wakes the dead!”
“I can buy a pair of earplugs tomorrow?” Ruprecht peeked out of his room, smiling.
“That should help…” He said, but then another wave of the dragon’s snores hit, sending tremors along the castle’s walls. “Or not.”
“Enough,” Krieger straightened the cuffs of his shirt peeking from under his jacket’s sleeves. “I’m waking her up.”
“Silver!” He yelled at the pile of blankets in the chair.
There was no answer.
“Silver wake up!” He yelled again, stepping forward and reaching for the blankets.
His hand found one of the cushions. The cushion decided to fall off the pile, dragging the vampire along. Krieger let go but it was too late, his foot slipped and his forehead drew a perfect quarter of a circle, meeting the small table with empty tea mugs halfway to the floor. The mug pyramid danced and fell off, scattering the mug avalanche across the floor.
“I’m awake!” Silver suddenly rose up in the chair, sending blankets and cushions flying, burying the vampire prostrated under her feet.
Krieger squealed tiredly.
006
“Now, when everyone’s gathered, we need to find a way to end this silly circus…!” Krieger declared.
“It’d feel much more urgent and serious if you got up from under the blankets first.” Ruprecht chuckled.
“Ah.” Krieger sat up on the floor. “Yes. Yes indeed.”
He looked around and saw three faces of the oddities who were all living in the same castle. Some like Weisz were sharing it with him for centuries, some like Silver were here for a few relatively short years. All of them were watching him, a powerful vampire walking the earth since Dark Ages, wrestling with the pile of blankets on the floor. All of them were smiling.
Not in ridicule.
They just found it genuinely funny.
Krieger shook his head and tossed one of the cushions at Weisz. At the last moment the maid fell apart into the mist and the cushion landed squarely in Ruprecht’s face.
As Silver began laughing, Ruprecht growled, grabbed the cushion and threw it at the dragon. “Thump!” – the cushion hit the intended target.
“A-ha!” Silver stood up on the chair, holding the offending cushion proudly up above her head. “A duel!”
Krieger looked at the smiling dragon standing atop the hoard of the cushions and blankets. He blinked and slowly closed his left eye – as if he noticed something.
Then the old vampire jumped on his feet, holding the blanket.
“Weisz, together!” He ordered, hoping the ghostly made will understand him without the need to overexplain.
She did. She was with him for long enough to understand exactly what was on Krieger’s mind.
Weisz collected herself into the human form, picked up another one of the blankets – and together with the vampire they threw their blankets over the excessively proud dragon, making Silver sink back into the chair, completely wrapped in the fluffy cloth.
“No duels!” Krieger pointed at the dragon’s face. “Dueling has been outlawed in this country since 1871!”
Silver pouted.
Krieger finally smiled.
“Weisz…” He said. “Can you… Get us all a cup of tea, please? A properly warm one. And one for yourself too.”
“If you say so, Master Krieger.” Weisz fell back into her polite “loyal maid” persona.
“I don’t really…” Ruprecht started.
“No, Ruprecht.” Krieger cut him off. “This time you have to, believe me. This time we all need a cup of tea, here in this room around the fireplace. Don’t ask why, just take a seat and let Weisz bring it for you.”
“Sure…” Ruprecht wasn’t convinced but tried to follow the vampire’s words. He couldn’t find a free chair, so just sat on the cushion on the floor near Silver’s.
007
The fire danced in the fireplace, crackling and sparkling. Silver sat in her chair with her legs tucked under the comforter with deer ornaments. Ruprecht leaned his back against the chair stretching his legs on the floor. Krieger sat across from them watching Weisz carrying in the silver tray with tea for everyone.
He picked up the tea mug with both hands as if it was a ritual chalice, waited for everyone to get theirs, then said, sipping the tea:
“We’ve all been quite busy lately… By the way, Ruprecht, did you hear anything from that Ukrainian dryad?”
“Hm, no.” Ruprecht answered. “I just hope the hint she got from Cordellina was enough to find who he looked for…”
“Speaking of,” Silver interjected. “May I ask Lady Cordellina over?”
“We still haven’t got to recording the videos we wanted. Unboxing…” The dragon blushed. “…Stuff.”
“Absolutely not!” Krieger frowned. “In no way that woman should enter this castle!”
“You see,” he continued watching Silver pouting again. “We need to at least pretend we’re enemies… Internal vampire politics and all… old ways…”
“I understand…” The dragon said quietly, looking into her mug.
“Also,” Krieger glanced at the maid. “Weisz gets jealous.”
“I’m not!” The maid got slightly transparent to hide her face.
“You are!” Everyone said in unison.
“Oh well, I am…” Weisz picked up a cushion, put it beside Krieger’s chair and lowered herself on it, letting her head fall on the chair’s armrest. “And I will not apologize.”
“You don’t have to!” Silver nodded. “But you won’t object if I go visit her?”
“You know who you remind me of?” Ruprecht asked, looking up at the ceiling. “My old job with Santa…”
“On quiet summer nights when we mostly had nothing to do except the poor guys assigned to the deer duty… The old man gathered us around the fire and listened to whatever we had to say, to our complains and such.”
“We used to do the same, didn’t we?” Krieger asked.
“Yes…” Ruprecht finished the tea and put his mug down. “But then somehow went out of sync…”
“It’s not too late to change that.” Weisz said, standing up to put more wood into the fire.
008
An hour before the morning, Krieger left the room. The tea went cold, the fire died, but the room was still warmer then ever. Silver slept in the chair under the blanket – slept quietly and happily. Ruprecht still sat on the floor – but now relaxed, with his eyes closed.
Weisz followed the vampire.
“When did you notice?” She asked on the stairs to his crypt.
“Not soon enough.” Krieger answered absentmindedly. “All the books I’ve read looking for the cure… I’ve seen it more than once: the dragon losing their hoard may lead to sickness…”
But I looked at Silver under all those blankets you gave her. All those cushions piled up.
And I thought – surely that is her hoard! She didn’t lose it!
And I was wrong. Very wrong.”
Weisz glided down the stairs and turned to face the vampire. Krieger stopped and smiled at her.
“The blankets were never her hoard.” He said. “We were.”
“That sounds like you want to say she was just hoarding attention.”
“Nothing wrong with that when you feel lonely and abandoned.” Krieger paused. “She didn’t want to be pampered and spoiled. She wanted to be a part of something…”
“A family?” Weisz looked him right in the eye.
“Call it what you want.” The vampire shrugged. “I really should sleep… Please keep the castle safe for the day.”
“I will, Master Krieger.” Weisz bowed.
“Always.” She whispered watching him disappearing into the crypt under the castle.
