Free Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) by G. Corin

was
staring at Ramaeka in shock.
    “You honestly
don’t know what it is?”
    Ramaeka
frowned, he wasn’t stupid after all. 
    “I know its
gold, but gold is a weak metal I don’t know what I would use it for.”
    Shady stared
at him for another moment then looked over at Stripe who was glaring at him
arms folded.  Ramaeka watched in fascination as they seemed to have an argument
in complete silence.  He sighed. 
    “Fine, you can
come with us.  For now.” 
    He stalked
away and began gathering things together.  Stripe grinned and ruffled Ramaeka’s
hair affectionately. 
    “Don’t worry,
he’ll come around, he has a heart as soft as gold.”
    Ramaeka beamed
at him and went to help Shady pack up the camp.
     
    They spent the
next two weeks on the road.  Luckily the weather stayed fairly fine and shelter
was easy to find.  Everything quickly fell into a routine.  They each took turns
on watch at night, Strip and Shady rotated the cooking while Ramaeka, after one
spectacular failure at creating something edible, washed up.  Stripe often
claimed that he could still smell the well cooked aroma of the muck that
Ramaeka had claimed to be fish stew.  Ramaeka often tripped him up after
hearing such a complaint.
    Shady ignored
Ramaeka for the most part, often engaging Stripe in conversation about people
or events that Ramaeka knew nothing about.  It didn’t worry him though, Ramaeka
was used to being ignored and he stored away all the conversations in his
memory in case they ever met one of those people.  Stripe never left him out
for long anyway.  Occasionally though Shady was persuaded to teach Ramaeka
about high finance.  Apparently the gold disc was a token of sorts used to
trade for goods.  He also demonstrated several techniques in the art of pick
pocketing, which, he informed Ramaeka, was essential to any self sufficient
child of the streets.  At the end of two weeks Ramaeka had become an expert in
at least two of these techniques.
    Stripe’s
questions about Ramaeka’s early life sometimes made the young dragon nervous,
however he was easily diverted and they quickly became close friends.  Shady
hated hunting and fishing, preferring to scout out the land ahead, this left
Ramaeka and Stripe to take care of the food supplies.  Stripe taught him how to
knot and cast a fishing line, and how to hunt using both spear and traps.
    The wounds
that his father had given him had faded to scars already.  There were three
scratches running parallel to each other.  They started under his right
shoulder blade down and around ending half way over his ribs.  Stripe told him
that they made him look interesting, like he had been wrestling a big cat or a
dragon.
    “But I did
wrestle a dragon,” he’d said confused.
    “Exactly,”
said Stripe with a barking laugh.
     
    At the end of
two weeks of travel, Ramaeka looked up from setting up camp to see Stripe
jogging towards him a wide grin on his face.
    “Ramaeka,” he
called.  “Come up and see the city.”
    Curious he
jumped to his feet and ran up to meet him.  Stripe led him back the way he had
come to the crest of a hill.  As he pointed down, Ramaeka immediately spotted
the city.  It was shaped like a pentagon, immense stone walls surrounding the
houses and shops while farm land bordered the outside.
    Ramaeka rather
thought it was beautiful, Stripe snorted when he told him that. 
    “Nah kid,
Talok’s alright but it’s nothing compared to Porkae, that’s mine n Shady’s home
city.”
    “We’re a bit
dry on supplies and such so we thought we’d stop here for a week or so.”
    “That sounds
good,” Ramaeka grinned.  “I can practice what Shady has taught me about
stealing.”
    Stripe looked
at him sternly.  “You make sure you check with me or Shade first.  We know who
to target, can’t have you robbing a nobbler.”
    “What’s a
nobbler?” he asked confused.
    “A nobbler’s
someone who’s barely got enough to nobble together, you know