Free Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four by Hideyuki Kikuchi Page B

just when it’s starting to heal. My name is Kima.”
    Matthew was at a loss for words.
    “I’ve come here to get you, but I won’t force you to go. I’ll just arrange it so you choose to go to the grand duke of your own free will. Oh, you mustn’t get up!”
    The old, hoarse voice suddenly became a youthful, buoyant one, and the presence the boy sensed morphed into that of someone else entirely.
    “I told you you weren’t supposed to move. You’re such a handful.” “Is that you . . . Sue?”
    “Yes, it is. Okay, now roll over onto your side.”
    With the girl pushing against his shoulder, Matthew’s hand hit the hard floor.
    “Wasn’t there . .. someone else ... in here . .. just now?”
    “Not a soul. But now that you mention it, when I first came in, for a second I thought I saw something red—but it was only my imagination.”
    Life on the Frontier was hard. People couldn’t be bothered to worry about the harmless visions or dreams that evil spirits or mirage beasts made them have.
    “Medicine time—I’ll change your dressings.”
    Sue’s ministrations were warm and personal. Removing his bandages, she wiped away the old ointment with gauze before carefully sponging his body off with warm water.
    “You’ve gotten a lot better. It’ll be fine for you to talk now. I suppose it might be okay for you to walk around, too.”
    “This is your house, isn’t it?” Matthew asked, his mouth finally free again.
    “It sure is.”
    “You sure it’s okay for me to stay here and everything?”
    “I’m all alone anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
    “And people in the village—they won’t say anything about it?” “Never mind about them,” she replied, sounding somewhat peeved. “That shouldn’t concern you. I’ll be sleeping on the sofa anyway. Don’t try anything funny.”
    Applying new ointment, she wound the bandages around him again, but this time he only needed them on his chest and part of his back.
    “Okay, that should do it!” she told Matthew.
    “Thank you—but I’ve got to leave.”
    Sue’s eyes went wide, and she said, “Excuse me?”
    “I don’t wanna impose on you any more than I already have, and I have a little sister to get back to. I’ve gotta get back to her as fast as I can. I’m sorry, but could you loan me some food and a horse?
    I promise I’ll get them back to you later.”
    “You don’t have to give them back to me,” Sue said. The terribly grave expression she wore stunned Matthew. “But in return, you have to take me with you wherever it is you’re headed.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Tomorrow, my husband’s coming back.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “I was already planning on leaving, but then when I saw you, I had a change of heart. I thought I’d show you to him and tell him what a good man I’d got myself.”
    “Just a second now—”
    “Relax,” Sue told him with a laugh. “On further consideration, that didn’t seem like such a smart thing to do. Besides, my husband’s big and he likes to hit things. When he went off to the Capital to do some sightseeing, the whole village got together and petitioned the sheriff’s bureau, and they ended up throwing him in jail there.” “So, this husband of yours—what does he do?”
    “He’s a Fire Dragon Hunter.”
    Matthew was speechless.
    There were various kinds of Hunters. Those who excelled at fighting vicious monstrosities had to have great skill, and they were assured both fame and fortune. The general consensus was that after Vampire Hunters, Fire Dragon Hunters occupied the next rung on the ladder.
    Fire dragons weren’t merely creatures that could spit fire from their mouths. With flames that turned their bodies scalding hot, the creatures could run at speeds in excess of thirty miles an hour as they burned a mountain clear of trees or dried up a small lake in ten seconds’ time. In recent years, an area that was referred to as their “graveyard” had been discovered deep in the