Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology

by Pauline Creeden

  Even as I imagined the bounty held inside the incoming vessel, a streak of red lightning raced across the horizon. Almost immediately, another streak appeared, which could only mean one thing: a storm was brewing. My heart constricted painfully. Last year’s storm took my sister’s life.

  To hide my tears, I said, “Uh, oh. I think we’ve just discovered his need for speed.” My attention remained divided between the sheets of lightning and the ship, trying to gauge which one would get here first.

  “Looks like a big storm coming,” Marcus added unnecessarily.

  We could hope for two good outcomes. One, the storm would blow past the domes without going over us. Or two, Viceroy Blair could get the spaceship suitably docked before the storm hit. In any event, it was a risky maneuver. The third outcome did not bear mentioning as it would permanently end our planet’s space-faring ventures. Had my sister felt anything when the last storm blew in?

  I leaned forward, wishing I could see the landing zone, yet knowing it was just out of our line of sight. If we lived in Dome 1, then we’d have a perfect view. The electricity outside vibrated the dome and energized my body everywhere I pressed myself against the plasglass surface. In a minute, the converters would activate to harvest the energy and pull the feeling away from the dome’s surface. We waited for the klaxon to stop, unable to see much after the craft moved past us.

  The storm rolled closer, gaining momentum as it barreled over the barren countryside. Without any vegetation or landscape structures to slow down its advance, I knew we could expect a spectacularly fierce storm. My family knew the danger to the crew of the spaceship. Before my sister’s death, we would have relished in viewing nature’s rare spectacle beyond the safety of our dome.

  After several agonizing minutes, the klaxon’s three final beeps signaled the successful docking of the spaceship. “I should head home and get showered,” I said.

  “Yeah, you stink,” Marcus said.

  “I think you’re smelling the funk cloud surrounding yourself.” I discreetly tipped my nose toward my armpit. That would’ve been embarrassing, although I didn’t feel the need to impress either of these two boys.

  I moved away from the dome wall and toward the side yard to leave.

  “You’ll come back after dinner, right?” Alyssa said.

  “I wouldn’t dream of missing Grandma Talya’s storytime!” I broke into a trot to rush home. While it may seem strange for a group of seventeen-year-olds wanting to sit around and listen to an old woman tell stories, something in the way she spoke about them made me want to believe in her outlandish tales.

  I sped through the kitchen on the way to my bathroom. Mom didn’t even bat an eyelash at the layers of dirt caking my skin and clothes. She had long since given up on trying to convince me to pursue more girly endeavors. Deep down, I think my accomplishments in the art of swordsmanship actually made her proud.

  “Dinner’s almost ready,” she said.

  With a lift of my hand, I replied, “I’ll just be five minutes.” Already, I had my shirt thrown onto the floor even before the door fully shut behind me. Seconds later, my belt, sword, and pants joined my top in a dusty heap. With practiced ease, I used my toes to nudge off the heels of my close-fitting shoes as I stepped into the booth of the ultrasonic shower.

  Six minutes later, I sat across from my mom and beside my dad at our little kitchen table. Mom set the bowl down for Dad to serve up the gruel.

  I barely kept my nose from curling. Another nutritionally dense, yet disgustingly textured meal. Ugh! I craved fresh fruit salad, but since rationing had begun, it was saved for special occasions or when we had a rare abundant harvest. Those times seemed to be getting further apart these days.

  “It looks like I’m going to have a late night with the inventory from Viceroy Blair’s ship,” Dad said.

  “He should’ve waited until morning to dock.” Mom’s spoon stabbed into her bowl.

  Mom hated having disruptions in her evening plans. With the way her fingers clutched her spoon, I could tell something more significant bothered her, another painful memory probably brought on by the storm.

  “I’m sure he had his reasons, Charlotte,” Dad said, seemingly unperturbed. He heaped the gruel onto his spoon, and hastily ate.

  “I can’t wait to hear what he brought back this time. Do you think we’ll have the barter booths open tomorrow?” I hoped to lighten the tension spreading through the room.

  After my first taste, I decided to copy Dad. Taking larger bites would get the meal over with faster. We couldn’t fault Mom for the less-than-stellar food; the blame landed squarely on the poor quality of the latest batch of government-issued rations.

  “No doubt.” Dad knew how much I loved seeing the otherworldly artifacts brought in from Viceroy Blair’s space-faring travels.

  I could well imagine the wealth of the universe if what he brought home were merely their castoffs and surplus. One day, I hoped to see some of those things myself, but only if I scored high enough on my Federation Exit Exams, or FEE for short.

  Consideration for the space program, such as it was with only the one ship, went to the highest-scoring students. The idea of being relegated to some research lab for ten hours a day made me want to head straight to my room to study. Yet one more reason for me to win the Tatsu tournament so I could get first dibs on the job assignments.

  Only two months remained until life as I knew it would forever change. Just one Tatsu tournament and the FEE stood between my childhood and adulthood.

  Once the school year ended, I’d be relegated to the workforce, issued my new housing, and then I’d have to give up my dreams of being the best swordswoman Heliok has ever known. I’d begin the future which my sister had been denied, the one she always wanted for me.

  Ugh, I couldn’t think like this. At the same time as Dad, I shoved the last bite of gruel into my mouth. In unison, we pushed back our plastic chairs and grabbed our bowls from the table. Mom scowled up at us with her half-eaten food.

  “I’m heading over to Alyssa’s house for storytime.” I put my bowl in the sanitizer bin. I should have opted to stay home to comfort my mom through the storm, but I just couldn’t handle her melancholy mood one minute longer.

  “Don’t you think you’re a bit old for that, Katherine?” Mom said from across the kitchen, where she remained at the table to finish eating.

  “Leave the girl alone. In another couple of months, she won’t have time for it.” Dad leaned over to kiss my forehead and hide his grin from Mom. “Have fun.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” I turned to leave with Dad falling into step beside me. We’d grown so much closer in this past year; it physically hurt my heart to think about leaving my parents after graduation.

  “Hugh, you make sure to check the airlock before you step foot onto that ship, do you hear?”

  “I always do.” He blew a kiss back to Mom just before he shut the front door behind us.

  “Will you bring home a copy of the inventory?” I crossed my fingers in anticipation.

  “If I can.” His grin told me he had already planned on it.

  Staring up at the storm almost directly overhead considerably slowed my pace. Bright red lightning strikes hit one after another against the metal rods protruding from our dome, illuminating the black night sky. If only the storm could have remained free from the pull of our collection rods. I loved the wild gyrations of the red streaks, which fell too far away to be drawn to the tall metal. Brekke and I used to place bets on how far they would travel, giggling and shouting over who guessed better.

  The fierce and deadly winds outside our dome stirred a primal instinct inside me to fly freely through the skies as they did. Did my sister send this storm? After all, an identical storm had prevented the search parties from going out to rescue Brekke before her evac suit ran out of air.

  I paused several seconds to soak in the beauty of the storm before I let myself in the front door Alyssa and Drew’s house. Hearing so many of
the other kids’ voices let me know I’d arrived late. The participants in our longstanding evening tradition had substantially grown in the last five years or so with the addition of the younger siblings.

  Luckily, I didn’t need to worry about where I’d sit; Alyssa always saved me a spot right beside Grandma Talya. Yes, we all called her Grandma Talya. In actuality, Alyssa and Drew had the only valid claim to call her grandmother, but she became a surrogate grandmother to all of us who visited for storytime.

  Grandma Talya’s storytime represented the most enchanting moments of my life. After Brekke’s death, I knew she’d live on in stories. We gathered around the evening’s electric fireplace and listened to the unfolding tales of the mythical dragons.

  Not only had the dragons flown freely through the skies and lived in harmony with the people, but it was also said they were responsible for keeping the land viable. The theme of hope always remained; just the details changed from one telling to another.

  Here, we could all dream of better times. Our dull daily lives held no meaning here. Looking around tonight’s gathering, the teenagers’ faces showed rapt attention as they listened to the story, beginning in the same manner as all of the previous tales.

  “Long ago, when the dragons lived here on Heliok, the people lived in harmony with the gentle giants. Other rumors persisted about the dragons having the ability to talk with the people, although I don’t know how much credence I’d put into that detail. Anyway, I digress, the people lived alongside the creatures.

  “The dragons had many different classes. The majority of them belonged to the working class. These dragons kept the plants growing, the water pure, and the air breathable.

  “You could tell the dragons apart because of their particular colorations. The ones who took care of the plants matched their role with green bodies and brown underbellies. Likewise, the water dragons had solid blue bodies, which some said came from the water itself. Lastly, the air dragons with their light blue bodies and white underbellies kept the air pure.”

  “What were the other dragon classes, Grandma?” Drew asked.

  Never having heard this particular version of the dragon tales, I eagerly leaned forward.

  As if she considered how much she should divulge to our impressionable minds, Talya smiled at her grandson. Coming to a decision, she nodded curtly and began speaking again, “There were two more classes: the royals and the warriors.”

  “What were they like?” Drew began to fidget with excitement at this new revelation.

  “What colors were they?” Alyssa pointedly ignored Drew’s glare.

  I would’ve asked the same questions had my friends not beaten me to it. I wondered at Grandma Talya’s quick creativity in making up these stories. Surely, not all could be figments of her imagination. I’d always heard that the best stories relied heavily on a version of the truth. I just had to figure out which parts I should believe.

  Talya smiled at the twins before she shifted her gaze to the rest of us. “Both very valid questions.” She nodded her approval.

  I often wondered if her pauses helped her attempt to create more fanciful stories or if she really struggled to retrieve the details from the recesses of her vast memories. My musings abruptly ended when she started speaking again.

  “The royals kept all of the other dragons in line. The queens had deep purple bodies with golden bellies. They ruled over their regions and could lay clutches of eggs.” She pursed her lips as she paused again. “The warrior class dragons were completely red, and they could breathe flame to keep order and defend the queens from anyone or anything attempting them harm.”

  “Who’d want to harm the dragons?” Drew’s lowered eyebrows made him look fierce.

  “You’d be surprised, my boy, how jealous people can become.” She paused again as if waiting to see what her audience would make of her latest statement.

  Mere seconds passed before Drew’s best friend, Marcus, spoke up with his opinion. “So, the people thought they’d be better off without the dragons?” His soft tone spoke clearly of his uncertainty.

  “You guessed it. They complained about how much the dragons took from the people; they did have large appetites, after all, requiring quite a bit to keep them healthy.”

  I felt Talya’s statement sink in for a few seconds. With how low our food supplies had become, I could well imagine how the people would resist sharing with the voracious appetites of the dragons. But still, would I want to see them leave?

  While entertaining, I always thought she intended for her stories to teach our younger generations about the follies of our past. She wanted us to have hope for the future, yet also know where our ancestors had gone wrong in their thinking.

  My gaze drifted over to the view outside the window. This house happened to be situated next to the dome, encapsulating our section of the world. Beyond the dome, the barren land could not support life; the cracked, dry earth continually shifted as the winds blew unchecked across the plains. If only I could have seen the planet during the times of the fabled dragons; it must have been a beautiful sight to behold.

  I rotated back to face Grandma Talya. “Did all of the dragons die, or did they simply go somewhere else?” I dreaded hearing the worst, yet I had to know the unvarnished truth.

  “Nobody knows for certain.” Talya paused for effect. “Over the course of many years, fewer and fewer dragons were seen, until one day, no more remained. I’ll let you decide what might’ve happened to them as you sleep tonight.” She clapped her hands once, her usual cue to indicate storytime had come to an end.

  Standing along with everyone else, I stretched my legs until the blood began to tingle again in my toes. Noise filled the air of everyone talking and moving away from the living room. Tonight’s story created quite an exciting buzz among our small group.

  The massive changes in the landscape and society of Heliok forced me to contemplate my life. How many more nights would I come here for stories? I could feel the tension of time slipping by where these days of idleness would fall into distant, fond memories.

  Unlike our ancestors, who simply thought about their immediate well-being, I wanted something different. Our world required drastic changes if we planned to grow and thrive. If I could bring back the dragons, I’d do it. But that fanciful dream was merely that: a dream.

  I didn’t want us to end up like the dragons. Already, I could see our decreasing population. Pretty soon, we would all disappear along with our heritage. The stories wouldn’t matter if nobody existed to hear them.

  I wanted to change the course of Heliok’s future for the better. We deserved the opportunity to step outside the domes and expect to remain alive. The status quo wasn’t good enough. Any idiot could see that our systems kept failing, our resources were low, and the infrastructure of our domes could not be adequately maintained.

  I needed to do something audacious. Something brazen. Something worthy of my sister’s sacrifice. I’d lead the Sword Dome to total victory in the Tatsu tournament. Maybe then, people would take us seriously.

  Chapter 2

  I RAN THROUGH the kitchen, clutching the last nutrition bar. I hated the tasteless bricks, but I was running too late to attempt anything fancier for breakfast. Not that the synthesizer produced anything much better, now that I think about it.

  “Better than nothing.” I bit off a hunk while rushing out the front door and into the bright sunlight of the new day. I hated feeling rushed after my alarm failed to go off, but the sunshine did seem to help ease my tensions. Besides, the dream I’d had last night almost made it worth being two minutes behind schedule.

  Looking up, I could see the remnants of the storm debris on the outside of our dome. The clean-up crews would have to work overtime today, not that I envied them their jobs. Brekke had often told me about the strange problems with the domes they would encounter after an intense storm.

  As the sun rose higher, the unbearable heat would instantly burn bare skin, made slightly
less dangerous by the air-conditioned evac suits the workers wore to survive the inhospitable climate outside the domes. Shivering, I imagined Brekke’s fear during her final walk outside. Hopefully, she’d had a peaceful passing from a lack of oxygen before the storm whisked away all traces of her body.

  Today, I thanked my lucky stars for having my student status. My few worries consisted of memorizing data to regurgitate on the upcoming finals.

  Laughter caught my attention, causing me to shift my gaze to the left, where I anticipated Alyssa, Drew, Marcus, and Violet appearing from around the corner. Right on cue, they showed up; Alyssa raising her hand to wave at me.

  I rushed over to catch up with them. “Sorry, I forgot to set my alarm.”

  “It’s no wonder with last night’s storm.”

  I should’ve known Alyssa would understand. Having been friends since we were born, she knew how much the storms fascinated me. They always had. I’d stayed up much too late, lying flat on my back on the porch so I wouldn’t miss a single streak of lightning or flinch as particles of flying debris hit the dome particularly hard.

  “You should’ve been in my room last night, Kat. I could almost swear something tried to get into my bedroom window with how hard the storm blew against the dome. You would’ve loved it.”

  “You got that right. Why didn’t I think of asking my parents for a sleepover?”

  “Maybe it had something to do with wanting to see your dad’s inventory list.” Alyssa held out her hand. “Hand it over! I’m dying to see what’s coming to the barter booths!”

  Chuckling at her enthusiasm, I dug my hand into my bookbag until I felt the slippery film of the plaspaper. With a flourish, I whipped it out and let her snatch it from my unresisting fingers.

  “Ugh! Why so many new slaves?” Alyssa wrinkled her nose.