章 78: Work (I)
The light hadn't diminished from the children's eyes yet. It was already night time and they were back in the cave, having their dinner.
After the awarding ceremony of the race, the audience seated on the stands or standing outside started leaving. Even the people in charge were busily cleaning up the place. Ling then decided to come back there early tomorrow morning.
However, although the noises from the city lessened during midnight, he still couldn't forget the happenings that afternoon. From the breathing and movements beside him, Ling also knew that Maga was also having a sleepless night.
Morning came slowly for these two children. There were bags under their eyes but the sparkle in them hadn't diminished yet. After Ling and Maga had their breakfast, they immediately climbed past the rocks again to get to the city.
The city was started to awaken too with the coming sunrise. The merchants were setting up their stalls in the market area while the men at the port were loading their boats for another sailing. One could also hear clattering sounds coming from the houses within the city, and the roars and whines of several animals were joining the cacophony of the early morning.
When Ling and Maga reached the city center where the starting track was situated at, they also saw the workers there preparing for today's race. Ling then slowed his steps, turning his head left and right to look around for someone to talk to.
Everybody was obviously busy and most likely wouldn't entertain a lone boy with his dragon. However, the two soon garnered some stares like what they had experienced yesterday afternoon before the race. But most of the people's eyes were actually mirroring theirs, slightly confused and afraid.
Ling frowned. Were they still unique in this city? But the others also have dragons here. Some were even bigger than Maga.
The two children remained standing before the workers, now more hesitant to ask around. The previous night's excitement was slowly receding amidst the stares. They were only children after all. Before, they had an adult accompanying them when they went out in a city or town.
Consequently, before Ling could take a step back, a man saying orders to several workers stepped out of the group and walked towards their direction. He had been frequently staring at this boy and his dragon as he was giving orders, waiting for them to go to their destination. But now, it looked more like these children were lost.
"Hey, kid!" The man called when he got near the children.
Ling had noticed this man walking to them so he wasn't surprised with the call. "Hello, sir."
When the boy didn't say anything else, the man asked, "Are you lost?"
"Um," Ling gave a glance at Maga, then continued speaking, "We were looking for the person in charge of the race participants?" He then ended what he said as a question when he saw the man's frown getting more prominent.
Upon closer inspection, the man had carefully checked the dragon beside the boy. It was as they speculated.
"Boy, you should return to your group." The man started, ignoring the boy's question. "Isn't this dragon with you still too young to go out alone? We don't want any problems here."
Ling didn't understand the man's statement. Seeing that the man was now glaring at him, he wasn't able to reply. However, the people around started whispering to each other. A wisp of it reached him. Like he was probably from Kal'wa. Had ran away from the group then. A kid probably seeking for more adventure.
But a dragon this big could bring trouble here. Their power could even influence the weather from what they heard. These people hadn't even seen a dragon of this size and age outside before.
Ling was now sure of his previous thought. They were still different than the other dragons here.
When he saw all those dragons in this city for the first time, the thought of returning to the village since they already saw that another city was not affected by calamities even with several dragons entered his mind. However, he realized that they could still continue their adventure despite that. It wouldn't hurt if they could also meet Maga's family once they reached Kal'wa Island. But now, it looked like it just wouldn't be an adventure anymore.
"Kid, shouldn't your group gone back to Kal'wa by now?" The man suddenly remembered.
Hearing this, Ling got more flustered. They had to get away from here. "I'll go back now. Thank you, sir." Then, he slowly backed away, touching a hand on Maga's back.
When they had stepped back a few steps, Ling smiled at the still staring man, then turned and ran towards the city again.
As Ling and Maga were about to exit the track area, someone shouted from behind them. "Wait, kid! Hey!"
Ling turned around as he slowed down. When he saw the man running behind them, he couldn't recognize him. He was about to turn and run again when the man shouted louder, "Wait, don't leave yet! I need your help!"
Afterwards, the man reached Ling still wheezing. He caught his breath for a minute while staring at Maga. It looked like he understood something so he signaled for the two children to follow him in the shade of the stands.
Ling shared a look with Maga, then followed the man. A while ago, he had sensed the man's 'mist' even through his thin shield so Ling wasn't worried.
"So, did you run away to join the race, kid?" The man whispered once they were behind the stands. Despite going to this secluded area, he was still looking around as if guarding from being heard.
Yesterday, he had seen this kid outside the stands before the start of the race, then flying back with the race watchers in the air after the competition. Therefore, he knew that the dragon could fly for the duration of the whole race. Most importantly, it could match the pace of the racers.
"Well, I'm not part of the crew so I can't help you with that. But you can join it in the air." He smiled before continuing. "What do you say of helping us with the broadcast?"
One of his men was out today—injured from following the race in the forest. The rest were also incompetent so seeing this kid was a blessing to him.
"We're not interested, sir." Slightly backing away, Ling shook his head but didn't show his wariness in his face.
He had thought that the man might be able to help them enter the race through other means but then, he decided he had to talk about their next plans with Maga now that there might be a problem living in this city.
"Don't say that. Besides, you couldn't join the race anyway. Those participating beasts were trained since they were born." Seeing that the boy still didn't change his mind, the man whispered again, leaning closer. "I have news for you about the dragon riders from Kal'wa afterwards so you wouldn't lose out."
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