Chapter Text
The burn on Derek's back had just about finished healing. It was about damn time, he needed to be back at work a week ago. The Ashwick family was trying to encroach on his family's territory and Derek was not about to let them get an inch. His family had worked hard for what they had achieved and it was not going to be taken away from them. Every threat only made Derek hold on tighter. He couldn't fail them again.
Derek reached the stall early, before the sun was even up. He had to be here to receive their new shipment of dragon eggs. The Ashwicks had implied that something might happen if the Hales weren't careful so Derek decided to supervise delivery himself. Laura had followed the shipment from the border all the way to the inner city. So far, all was well. When the eggs arrived Derek inspected every crate and found that everything lay undisturbed.
Derek heaved a great sigh, finally able to really breathe again. He hadn't told his family how worried the threat had really made him; they wouldn't understand, they never really did anymore. While the new threat had made them cautious it didn't live inside them they way it lived in Derek, growing like a choking weed. He had begun to dream of the havoc the Ashwicks could wreak and would wake up sweating, heart pounding, with no one to confide in. They had stopped listening already.
Alone in the stall, he began setting the new merchandise out in preparation for the day's clients. The Hale stall was not large. The family name was long established; they didn't need glamour to draw people in. A deep blue cloth edged in gold tassels covered the stall creating the roof and two side walls. The front had two rich gold cloths hanging down with enough space between them to give entrance to the stall. The eggs sat on small poufs, each on its own small wooden shelf in one of the many cases that lined the walls.
The new eggs went on a small table in the center of the stall, built to show off new additions. The rest were arranged in the vacant spaces around the stall.
Derek was hungry after unpacking. It always took him the longest because of the care he showed each egg. The rest of the family would dust each egg off and put them up, but not Derek. He treated each one like the miracle it was, polishing until not a speck of dirt was left and whispering to the it about the greatness inside it while he worked. He loved the eggs and everyone who saw him with them knew it.
Pulling the gold cloths closed Derek left the shop and walked down the bazaar to the food market. No one called out to him as he walked; he might as well have been walking down a deserted street. Whenever Laura came this way it seemed as though every vendor called hello to her or tried to engage her in conversation. With Derek that never happened. He saw the looks people gave him, he knew what they were thinking about him, but they never tried to talk to him and Derek never said hello. He wouldn't go where he wasn't wanted.
"Hi, Derek," Danny said as Derek walked up. Danny was the only exception, he always said hello to Derek. Although it would be difficult to make a sale without speaking to the customer, Derek was pretty sure Danny was just being friendly. It was a sad thought, but this was usually the happiest anyone ever was to see Derek anymore. He wasn't even greeted this way when he got home.
"Hello, the usual please," Derek said and nodded at Danny. A lovely dimpled smile grinned back at him.
"Sure thing," Danny turned to get the meal ready, "anything for my best customer."
"I can't help it if you have the best food in this place," Derek said defensively.
"Whoa, learn to take a compliment," Danny turned around, steaming box in hand, "Here you go, enjoy."
"Thank you."
Derek paid and left. He ate food from Danny's stall every day, it was delicious, and none of the others seemed comfortable with him around. Sometimes it felt like the world saw him as though he walked through it swinging a large sword at anyone he saw, when really he carried a shield. Why couldn’t they see that?
As always the Hale stall ran a steady business throughout the day, the new eggs proving to be quite popular. Everything was going well until Derek was preparing to close for the night.
"Well, well. Here all by your lonesome," a voice like smooth ice said as Derek counted up the days earnings. He looked up to see the oldest Ashwick son, Porter, leaning against the entrance, his crisp suit completely out of place in the dusty bazaar.
"What the hell do you want?" Derek asked coldly, walking out to face him and crossing his arms.
"Just thought I'd check in on the new merchandise handsome. It did arrive today didn't it?"
"Yes it did. Now get out of my stall." Derek had no patience for this man. His family was scum and the Hales would give them nothing.
"Oh Derek, is that any way to speak to a guest? Don't you want to make a good impression?"
"Not for you, now get out of my shop or be removed from it." Derek stared him down. Finally the intruder turned to leave.
Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Hurling the man bodily from the stall wouldn't have improved their standing in the public eye. Legally there was nothing the Ashwicks could do to oust the Hales, they had owned the stall for thirty years, paid in full. They even owned the land it sat on. Therefore the Ashwick method of getting what they wanted was intimidation and making the Hales increasingly uncomfortable in their own space. So far it was only working on Derek.
Derek had looked into the family's background and found out that they had done something similar in three other towns. They tormented the proprietors so much that in the end they had packed up and moved away thereby giving the bullies what they wanted. It would not happen a fourth time.
Porter was the only one he had seen so far, the rest of the family didn't like leg work it seemed. Even Porter never came directly into the stall. He would always lounge against one of the entrance posts that held the roof up. Derek assumed it was a way of keeping themselves clean in the eye of the law but it got on his nerves.
At least the trouble with the dragons was good for something. The king, believing that war with the dragons was imminent had ruled that any law breakers were to be conscripted rather than imprisoned. While the Ashwicks may be bullies, fighters they were not. They wouldn’t do anything that might get them thrown in the army.
The trouble had started when it had reached the people that the dragon’s king was dying and no new heir could be found. If no new heir was found, the long standing agreement with the humans might crumble and war may erupt.
Surprisingly, that thought wasn’t troubling to Derek. He hardly ever thought of it. And if it kept the Ashwicks on the right side of the law, then it wasn’t all that terrible to him.
He tried to put the incident with Porter out of his head and finished closing the stall for the night.
"Was there any trouble at the stall today?" Laura asked as Derek walked into the kitchen that night.
Derek grabbed a drink of water, "Not really. The eggs arrived with no damage, but Porter stopped by at the end of the day. If he thinks he can intimidate me he's out of his mind. I got him out pretty quick."
"We have got to get these guys off our backs."
"The sooner the better. They better not try to scare our customers away."
Laura thought a moment, "The people who buy from us are a pretty tough crowd, they won't be easy to chase off." It was true, some of the clients they had dated all the way back to the original opening of the stall. People that loyal wouldn't run at the first sign of a new threat.
"As long as we stand together they won't be able to drive us away, but seriously, they need to go."
The Ashwick family operated using intimidation tactics. If they could cause the Hales to vacate they would be able to take over the abandoned property. Too bad they had picked the wrong family to try scare tactics on. They had survived one attack already and it had only made them stronger.
The others didn't worry the way Derek did, but they were ready for the Ashwick fly to quit buzzing around their heads.
At the stall the next morning Derek noticed that some of the eggs looked off. He quickly went to check each of them for damage but found none. He was relieved they were unhurt but was upset they had been disturbed. The fact that someone had dared to break into the stall and mess with the merchandise bothered Derek the rest of the day. He knew something had to be wrong with the eggs but he couldn't figure out what.
He kept checking them during the day certain that this time he would find the flaw, would figure out how they had been tampered with, but he couldn't find it. It was driving him up the wall. To top it all of, that night Porter showed up again.
"You look stressed, Derek. You're working too hard. It would be so much easier if you didn't have to come here every day." He smiled maliciously at Derek, looking like a snake about to strike. Derek was waiting for a forked tongue to come out.
Derek decided to ignore him today. Engaging with him would earn him nothing. He was working on polishing the eggs so the daily dust of the bazaar wouldn't tarnish their beauty. Each egg was a wonder to look at, they came in a myriad of colors and each one looked like a tiny swirling galaxy was being kept inside. The eggs were like precious gems, things to be treasured and kept safe.
Porter was still lounging against the doorway. "I heard you have an inspection coming up, Hale. I hope it all goes well for you."
He was gone by the time Derek looked toward the door. There was an inspection coming up tomorrow; they came every six months. Was Porter planning something? It was important that all dragon egg sellers kept a clean stall and properly maintained eggs and Derek made sure they did. Failure to do so could result in losing their seller's license but every inspection the Hales did exceptionally well.
Derek hadn't been worried until just now. It always went well but now he was sure Porter had done something that would mess them up. Something had to be wrong with the eggs and Derek wasn't leaving until he figured out what. He gathered all the ones that had seemed out of place that morning. The stall had a back room blocked by a curtain. He laid the eggs on the straw kept back there, then walked around the entire stall to check for anything else out of place. Two hours later he hadn't found anything amiss and decided that whatever had been done had been done to the eggs waiting in the back room.
Around three in the morning Laura came to the stall looking for Derek. "Why are you still here?" she asked as she walked into the back room.
"I can't figure out what's wrong with these eggs," Derek told her as he wiped a hand down his face. He was exhausted from being up so late, and frustrated that he couldn't find the problem. "I've been looking at them for hours but they seem fine. They're not fine, I know they're not, but I can't prove anything. I don't even know what might be wrong with them." Derek sounded completely on edge, there was a problem and he refused to let his negligence hurt his family. Every time he thought of going home for the night the terror inside him awoke and glued him to his seat again.
"Here, let me look," Laura said, taking one from the table Derek was sitting at. "What have you tried so far?" She turned the egg over in her hands, looking for any flaws in the shell. She didn't expect to find any; Derek was worrying for no reason. The Ashwicks wouldn't do anything that could get them in trouble with the law, they were cleverer than that. But if their plan was to drive Derek to madness they might have a fighting chance.
Laura, the entire family really, was worried for Derek. For years they thought he was alright, but in the last few months they had come to realize he had never fully healed from Kate. The problem had burrowed down below the surface and grown. The poison she had left in Derek's head had spread, entangling his entire being. She didn’t think even Derek realized what a stranglehold it had him in.
"I've gone over each of them with the magnifying glass, I've weighed and measured them but I can't find anything wrong."
"Then maybe nothing is wrong with them. Porter is just trying to get into your head and you're letting him. The eggs are fine; he's only trying to convince you that they aren't." Laura put the egg back down. "Come on, it's time to go home."
"But the eggs-"
"We'll put them back in the morning. I'll even come with you tomorrow for the inspection."
Derek warred inside himself. He was exhausted and he longed for his bed. The pillows were calling him, he could hear them. Laura was probably right; he knew the eggs better than anyone else, if he couldn’t find a problem it was because there wasn’t one. But he still wanted to look just once more. No, he told himself, they are fine and you are not, go home.
"Fine, you're right. Let's go." Derek put out the lamp and left the stall with Laura. After locking up for the night they went home. Derek thought he wouldn't be able to sleep for worry but he passed out as soon as he touched the bed.
The next morning he was stiff with worry. It seemed to lock his joints and make him even surlier than usual. He stood over Laura as she ate breakfast.
"Hovering will not make me go any faster, Derek. We are going to be early as it is."
"There's nothing wrong with being early," Derek said to the back of her head. He wanted to be at the stall ten minutes ago but Laura would not be hurried.
"We will be early, Derek," Laura turned to look at her brother. "Derek," she said, putting her hand on his, "it is going to be okay. The eggs are fine. You checked them for hours. You love them and you know them better than any of us. If something was wrong with them you would have spotted it right away. Okay?"
Derek heaved a sigh as he looked at his sister. "I still want to be early."
Laura rolled her eyes, but finished eating and got up to put her bowl in the sink. "Okay, I'm ready. Lead the way."
They made it to the stall in record time. Derek had somehow convinced himself that they would be walking into a ruin, but the stall was unharmed. He hurried to unlock it and check the inside. Everything seemed fine. He was relieved, but still convinced that something would go wrong before the inspection. Laura was right, Porter had managed to worm his way inside Derek's head. This wasn't the first time either; maybe he was just more susceptible to mind games than other people. That was part of what worried him. He kept thinking back to the time he had been completely taken in, so young, so trusting. Now it made him over cautious, always assuming that he was being duped and trying to find out how it was being done; always looking for what was being hidden from him.
It made life difficult for Derek. Most people weren't trying to pull the wool over his eyes but he could never be sure. He second-guessed almost everyone. Only his family and a few close friends escaped his paranoia.
The inspection went smoothly and Derek was able to breathe properly again. It was the same inspector who had been coming for the past few years. She was a reliable woman who always did a fair and thorough job. Just like in the previous assessment the Hale stall received a perfect score. She praised Derek for his excellent work keeping up the stall and left.
"See, Derek," Laura squealed, as she knuckled his hair. "I told you it would be fine. And she complimented you as always. See, no problems at all. It's just that scum Porter messing with you."
"Yeah, guess so," Derek said shaking his head and stretching. He had been tensed up all day so it felt good to finally relax.
"I was thinking that we should get a security system for the stall,” Laura said.
"We've never needed one before."
"No one has ever tried to oust us before," Laura countered. Normally people left egg sellers alone; no one bothered the merchandise. Now someone was actively targeting them. A security system might help put Derek's mind at rest.
“Okay, I’ll get it.” Derek felt warmth spread in his chest. Did this mean that Laura was taking the threat more seriously? It was such a small thing, the idea of upping security, but to Derek it felt like a lifeline, like Laura was starting to come back to his side. For a while now it had felt like he was on one team and the rest of his family another. Now it seemed like Laura was trying to meet him somewhere in the middle.
"What the hell is that?" Laura exclaimed as she walked into the stall two mornings later.
"Security system," Derek said without looking up from his lunch.
"That isn't precisely what I meant."
"I know, I don't care."
"Does it work?"
"Yep."
"Okay then."
Laura left the stall in Derek's charge and went back home.
Derek scratched the new ‘security system’ behind the ears. He had gone to the animal merchant at the end of the bazaar and found him. Naturally it was the most battered looking animal he had; it looked as though it had gone a couple of rounds with a small dragon, but it was still here and that meant it was tough, just like Derek. He had taken to it instantly.
He could tell just by looking that it had been there the longest, and passed over the most. It wasn’t in him to leave it there. So he bought it. The animal got a home and he got a watch-wolf.
Derek was glad to have the wolf, Lightning, around. Until it happened he hadn’t realized how much he missed being looked at by someone who trusted him. Lightning had total faith in his new master. He had no reason to second guess Derek’s command, or treat him like an egg that could easily break. Why couldn’t Derek find a human who could do that?