Davion heard a knock on the door near sunset. He opened the peephole, gasped, and threw open the door. "Zebulun!" he said. "Quinn!"
"May we enter?" asked Zebulun.
"Of course!" said Davion. "Come in! I’ll get refreshments."
Zebulun nodded to Davion and walked inside. Quinn ran in, threw his arms around Davion’s neck, and kissed him on the cheek.
"I missed you!" he said.
"Uh, yeah," said Davion, blushing. "You too." He disentangled himself from Quinn and brought bread and cheese to the table.
"Got any wine?" asked Quinn.
"Sure," said Davion. He brought an earthenware jug and three cups.
Zebulun ate moderately. Quinn ate with gusto.
"So," said Davion, "Where have you been?"
"We’ve been everywhere!" said Quinn, his mouth half-full of cheese. "Zeb’s been healing people and preaching the law all over the edges of the kingdom. I’ve watched him heal, like, a hundred people. There was a lot of philosophical talk, too! You would have loved that part."
"Philosophical?" asked Davion.
"Folks had questions," said Zebulun. "They didn’t tend to agree with everything I said right away."
"Heh," said Davion, "No surprise there. What brings you back to the capital?"
"I came here for you," said Zebulun. "I want you to help me kill a dragon."
Davion blinked. "Another one?"
"A worse one," said Zebulun. "A murderer of children."
Davion sighed and looked down. His hands played with a piece of bread. "That’s horrible," he said. He looked up. "Why me?"
"I don’t know," said Zebulun. "Ur said to take you and Quinn with me."
Davion furrowed his brow in thought, clasped his hands before his face, and stared at the food. "I gained an expanse of knowledge from the star folk. More than I could explain to another person in five years. The short version is that I can now do what dragons do. Watch this."
Davion held up his hands. Lightning danced between his fingers.
Quinn’s eyes got wide, and he clapped once. "What other tricks do you know?"
"It’s no trick," said Davion. "It’s magery. Natural philosophy."
Davion held his hand over a slice of bread and warped the space between them. The bread rose to within an inch of his palm. It followed his palm as he flipped it upward, then shot up to the ceiling and fell back to the table.
"Cool!" said Quinn, as he poured himself more wine.
"This is the most unsettling," said Davion. He focused his will. A small portal appeared before him; another appeared near a pile of scrolls. Davion stuck his hand through the portal, picked up a scroll, and pulled it through.
"Impressive," said Zebulun.
"You never saw this in the army?" asked Davion.
"I saw dragons roast men and ships with fire," said Zebulun, "but I never saw them do that."
"Well," said Davion, "That’s the kind of thing I can do now. That’s probably why Ur wants me to go."
"Sounds likely," said Zebulun.
"But why Quinn?" asked Davion.
"He talks a lot," said Zebulun, mirth in his eyes. "He’ll be a great distraction."
Quinn grinned and said, "I’m a great shot with a sling, too!"
"You think you can kill a dragon with a sling?" asked Davion.
"You can kill anything with a sling!" said Quinn. "All the old stories say so."
Davion smiled and shook his head.
"This jug is empty," said Quinn. "You have more wine?"
"Did you finish that jug already?" asked Davion.
"Well, yeah," said Quinn. "It wasn’t that much."
Davion looked impressed. "No," he said. "I don’t drink that much of it. That was all I had on hand."
"Well in that case," said Quinn, "We have got to go to the bar tonight. Especially if we’re going off to kill a dragon in the morning."