Dragon's Cage

by Daniel Potter

  "That’s Rainbow on the Plain," Gama hissed, startling Wolf with a riposte. He drove at Wolf, mixing in feints that the other man scrabbled to defend against, only to leave himself open to more committed strikes. "And she's fine. And I'm fine without her." Gama lunged forward into an opening, driving the blunted tip into Wolf's stomach and sank to his knees like a deflated balloon. "So there."

  "Point taken." Wolf coughed.

  "You really shouldn't taunt him Raiju." Mouse bounced. "You never win when you make him mad."

  Yaki mentally noted that Wolf's name was Raiju, now someone needed to address mouse.

  "He doesn't win when he doesn't either." Gama stuck out his tongue at Mouse and offered Wolf a hand, who waved it off.

  "All Luck, Chimon." Raiju grumbled. From her hiding place Yaki grunted, Mouse was cuter.

  "Yep, skill has nothing to do with anything in this circle. We should all play dice instead." Chimon said. All three of them chuckled. Yaki did as well. Leaning back against the tree something snapped.

  Only Chimon looked up, eyes scanning the trees.

  Gama punched him in the shoulder, "Come on. You and me. You need to be taught some manners, O'fair and impartial distraction."

  Chimon made himself very small. "Hey you wouldn't stab a midget, would you?"

  "Engaurd," Gama made to poke at Chimon, his own sword came up to answer it and the battle was joined. Their blades flashed as they danced against each other. Gama lacked the strength to simply batter away Chimon's defense and Chimon's caution prevented him from being drawn in by Gama's feints. The two circled, tentatively engaging but neither committing. They were both completely focused on the other. Yaki found the silence odd. Her fencing instructor always said that if you're out of breath for speaking then you're losing the duel.

  "Do I have to get out the timer for you two women?" Raiju grumbled.

  "Hey." Yaki heard herself protest and clapped a hand over her mouth.

  And so did Raiju. He glance up sharply as Gama and Chimon met in a furious clash of blades. A scrape of metal on metal sounded and Yaki saw a round ball arc out of the melee.

  Raiju's eyes caught it too, and he jerked back to the fight. His mouth opened as Mouse's blade extend out the back of Gama's gi.

  "Stop!" Raiju cried out.

  Gama made a surprised gurgle as Chimon leaped as if something had bitten him, jerking the blade out with him. The sword had pierced straight through the flimsy mesh and pierced his right breast. Blood fountained from the boy's chest as he tipped backwards like statue.

  No No No no! Yaki was on her feet, stumbling down through the knotted undergrowth before thought jump started. As she reached the edge of the circle her hand had already pulled her medical crystal from her bag. She shouldered a slack jawed Raiju out of the way and slammed the crystal point first into the wound. The crystal's glow was dull and tired.

  Yaki breathed in, gripped the crystal with two hands and concentrated. The medical crystal's Kami touched her mind. A sense of over whelming exhaustion swept up into her limbs. One more thing, Yaki told it. One more time and you can rest. She had never spoken to a medical crystal before but it, like the power crystals, desired the same thing. To forfill their purpose. She fed it imagines of the youth beneath it, the smell of his life blood in her nostrils and overall the need for his life. An image crystallized before her. The three, Raiju, Gama and Raiju. Aged to men with silver hairs. Kneeling before her. I will need them. The thought echoed through her head from somewhere else.

  Red. Bight Ruby red streamed into her eyes. The crystal glowed with the force of a dying sun, joy radiating from it. Yaki let go and the crystal stayed, hovering upright over Gama's chest. It emitted a whine that sent Yaki back to point where her own chest had been pierced. Then an it had been the howl of pain of the Fox Fire's engine crystal, Julia. This was the same song but an entirely different tone.

  Through the glow dark lines could be seen growing through the crystal's interior as the pitch increased. Finally, with a scream of what had to be pleasure, it burst into countless shards. Yaki turned away as they bounded against her skin.

  Ka-clink, ka-clink. Her heart hammered at her very bones. She reopened her eyes to find a dazed Gama blinking up at her. A white puckered scar showed where the wound had been. The blood had disappeared from his clothing. Fine pink crystals covered him like a thin layer of snow.

  Chapter 8

  "Don't move him." Yaki said. The world spun as she stood as she felt her own chest kindle with pain. Why did I do that? She asked herself. "The scar could be brittle." Her mouth spoke distantly.

  "I-I-I'll get a priest!" Chimon stammered, then set to running, boots crashing up through the undergrowth.

  Raiju's mouth flapped as if her were a puppet miming speech. He shook himself. "Who?"

  Yaki gave him a gentle smile which she feared might be more of a grimace. "A friend of Gama. We just met. I uh." The fire in her chest seemed to me snatching the words in transit from her brain to her mouth. "I had a dream that today might be dangerous." She took a labored breath, without the medical crystal she could feel the churning piece of the metal between her lungs with every breath. At least for the moment it wasn't stopping her from breathing.

  "You're from his tribe?" Raiju asked.

  "Deathwalker." Gama whispered. Yaki spun around to face him and nearly fell over herself, staggering to the side. Gama had propped himself up on one elbow. His eyes were wide and distant. "I've been saved by a Deathwalker."

  "Don't move." Yaki hissed. She couldn't trust herself to kneel beside him, she feared she might not be able to get back up. She turned to Raiju, "Hold him down. If that scar reopens he'll be lost."

  To her surprise, Raiju nodded, knelt and gently pinned Gama's shoulders to the stone.

  Yaki walked to the rim of the circle and sat on the root covered bench. Intending to the rest only a moment to recover her breath. However, in the seeming pace of an eyeblink she heard a pair of feet crashing through the undergrowth. She looked up from her lap to see Gama's eyes closed in the center of the ring. Raiju met her eyes.

  Chimon and emerged with a priest, her skin shining as she puffed behind him. She held a long oak staff. Tugging on the sleeve of her robe Chimon tugged her towards Gama as her eyes took in her surroundings with bewildered eyes. "A dueling ground?!" Anger flashed in those dark eyes. "Are you having unsanctioned duels boys?"

  "We're just practicing and had an accident! Honest!" Chimon pleaded, practically dragging her to Gama.

  "Safety tip got flung off." Raiju backed up his friend.

  It was way past time for Yaki to leave. She slipped of the bench as Raiju showed the priest the scar. The priest reached out her hand towards it as Yaki turned away. The Ka-Clink Ka-Clink Ka-Clink of the heart heavy in her entire body. Her stomach burbled, a fresh hunger awakening, as the remainder of her flesh cried out for rest. Yaki drove herself up the hill step by step.

  Crack! A stick broke under foot. Instantly, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled with the heat of a gaze. "And where do you think you're going young miss. Don't think I didn't see sulking there!"

  Well you didn't until I stepped on that branch. Yaki thought as she half turned, casting a glance down at the scene. The woman had both hands on Gama's chest.

  "I'll need a statement from all of you. Were they fighting over you girl? Who are you and what tribe do you hail from girl?" The woman hollered up at her.

  Yaki briefly considered staying and trying to play it to the priest's expectations but there was no guarantee the boys would play along. Then there would be questions, records and the checking of her purity.

  There was a far safer option. Yaki sucked in her breath, grabbed the trunk of a sapling and continued to haul herself up the hill.

  "Hey stop girl!"

  Yaki continued as fast as she could, as her heart began to beat in her chest like a hammer against an anvil.

  "Don't make me chase you! You boys! Stop her!"

  "Ah ooook
ay?" Chimon said as she reached the crest of the hill.

  Yaki held up her skirt and sprinted for the gap in the hedge row, heart an accelerating to a rapid ticking in her chest, a dozen times per step. Chimon was crashing up the hill behind her as she burst from the hedges and zipped along them. Heads turned toward her from the sparse strollers on the path. Yaki forced a laugh from her burning lungs and lowered her pace to a playful canter. Nothing to see here but silly games. She mentally willed the eyes watching her to see.

  Threading back toward the path she glanced over her shoulder to see Chimon watching her from the opening in the hedges. Not pursuing simply watching with curious eyes. Slowing to a walk, Yaki gave him a wave and proceeded toward the gate. She let her fist press against her sternum and felt heat throb back at her fingers. The golden Torii pendent had found its way back into her mouth and this time she did not remove it, the cool metal on her tongue a losign against the throbbing heat that was probably cooking her from within.

  At least I've saved someone. She thought glumly as she wandered back toward the boarding house. The burning sensation in her chest did not cripple her as it had before but the pain dulled the world around her, making the brightly painted buildings and shops little more than blurs as she staggered by. She had no energy to restrain her appetite either. The cuffs of her sleeves grew dark and sticky with sauces as she stopped at every street vendor whose food punctured her haze with the scent of frying fat or roasted vegetables. By the time she stumbled through the doorway to the room Guro had rented her stomach was burbling happily as if it were a bobcat that snuck into torso and fallen into a contented sleep.

  "I found us a place!" Guro beamed at her, setting down a jug of Saki on their small squat table.

  "Good for you." Yaki all but flung herself onto her mat.

  His brow furrowed. "Are you drunk?"

  Yaki considered but no, she had not stopped for any drinks in her meanderings. Heavy weights on the inside of her eye lids prevented her from answering. Sleep took her.

  Chapter 9

  Ishe woke with a crick in her neck and a gut full of lava. The entire world beyond her cage held blackness. Although from it came a steady, repetitive grumble. Rolling onto her side made her hiss with pain. Below her there was a scrape of metal over stone and a soft groan. Fumbling at the edge of her cage until her fingers found the book, her mother's biography and small cloth pouch. Extracting a marble shaped stone, she cupped it in her hand and blew on it. Light blossomed from the reading stone. The book and the stone had been waiting for her when Miss Cog and a throng of guards had shoved her into it moments after the Scale left with Yaki. Yaz'noth's merciful 'gifts' she had no doubt. The cage also had been outfitted with a chamber pot and somewhat luxuriously, a box of tissue.

  Holding the reader stone to the bars provide just enough light to make out the outlines of Yaz'noth hulking shape. The dragon did not appear to be slumbering peacefully. While he curled up like a cat did not stay still, it lashed back and forth across the floor. Then every few minutes he'd shiver, his head would give the tiniest shake and that motion would travel down his neck, twitch through his wings and flex his paws before dying away in his tail.

  Closing her fist around the gem, extinguishing its light Ishe hugged her aching middle section and leaned her back against the bars. She had a day before her next beating, then four and then over forty in some weird mockery of proper grieving. Bastards couldn't grieve right. Supposed to be crying, not punching. Definitely weren't taking care of their dead properly if they were walking around the unused caverns. In the tunnels she'd never seen anything approaching a shrine. Yaz'noth consumed their worship. Yaki might have been able to do something about that. She'd done all those things you were supposed to do, tended a shrine, learned the prayers and cleaned up the grandmother willow.

  This wasn't fair, a little voice in her called out. Yaki was the one groomed to be the pretty bird singing in the gilded cage. She'd been the Rhino. Although if with Yaki bearing the mark of the Death Panther, maybe she really wasn't the Flower anymore. And if she wasn't the Flower did that mean that Ishe couldn't be the Rhino anymore? Even if something let her out now, she scarcely be able to stagger about.

  Endure, she told herself. Wait and endure. Mother would pray. She would kneel at these bars and whisper under her breath to coyote, the doom of fools. In the brig of the Lyndon ship, she had done this for over an hour. Then she had sat back and began telling stories of Coyote before he met the white coated fool. She told how Coyote had angered a magic boulder by stealing its jacket, how it had squished him flat into a rug. Next was a tale detailing a series of mishaps involving coyote eating his friend, Spider's bull testicle soup which in result in Spider chasing Coyote across the plains with a knife, demanding a cut of Coyote's manhood.

  After the third story, about Coyote and five sisters stuffing him in their cookpot which even had their guards chuckling, an explosion had rocked the Lyndon ship. The Guards staggered from the brig to see the problem and by the time they had come back Madria had picked the lock. A magazine had exploded setting the ship on fire. In the chaos the crew entire managed to fight their way to back to the Fox Fire. Nobody ever found out what had had caused the explosion.

  Did Yaki find the Death Panther because I called out to Coyote? Ishe wondered, wiping away the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Did Coyote always answer prayers in a way that you regretted it?

  In the darkness something snickered. Ishe froze and strained her ears. Nothing else came.

  "Hello?" Ishe asked the dark.

  In response a golden eye opened, glowing in the murk. "Yes?" Yaz'noth groaned as the eye rose into the air. It disappeared and several deep metallic cracks reverberated through the lair. "Huuugh." Their glow reappeared at the edge of the cavern, illuminating a rack that held three-hour glasses that tracked the length of each of the three Dragon Sworn shifts. "Early." He grumbled.

  "Oh am I depriving you of your ugly sleep?" Ishe mocked.

  "Harhar." The Dragon replied. "How long have you been sitting in the dark thinking that one up?"

  "Sorry my insults will never match the foulness of your breath." Ishe shot back.

  That drew a groggy chuckle. "Much better, if you feel the need to insult me at least use your imagination."

  "Let me out of this cage and I'll show you how sharp my imagination can be."

  "No doubt." A rumble sounded, his eyes shown from some distance away.

  Her cage rattled, the eyes suddenly obscured. The cage was violently shoved against her back for second before falling away. "AAAH!" Ishe screamed instinctively as the freefall griped her. The rest of her wind was knocked out of her as the cage bars slammed back into her. Her momentum halted, and she saw again shoved into a violent swing.

  "You should appreciate that cage." Yaz'noth said as Ishe managed brace partly for the impact, only to slam her head against an iron bars. "That and my supervision are only thing keeping you and the remaining crew of the Fox Fire alive."

  Ishe grunted as he caught the cage again. He had rolled onto his back and must be alternatively throwing and catching the cage with his hind paws. Like a malicious cat playing with dinner.

  "Dammit! Stop!" Ishe growled, she'd manage to brace herself against the impacts but the effort of standing made her bruised midsection scream with pain.

  "Do have any idea how bored I am of this mountain? How tired I am of being cooped up in here?" Yaz'noth continued to swing the cage. Occasional missing the catch or adding a spin to the cage. "Every time I leave I have to worry about a Navy on my tail or uprising when I get home. I've never conversed with another dragon. A hundred years ago I went to see the White Queen of the South. Without a single word she tore up my wings so badly I had to walk home." He chuckled, "Learned a lot on that walk at least."

  "But you have your children." Ishi grunted, deciding that maybe if she engaged he'd stop throwing her around like a toy. Her muscles were starting twitch from the effort of bracing. />
  Yaz'noth's voice grew bitter, "Have you tried to have a conversation with them? Words don't get used until they're nearly two hundred years old. Besides I don't know who's spawn they are, we found them in the mountain. It will be another three centuries before they begin to rival stupid adult humans such as yourself."

  "I'm not stupid!"

  The next blow hit the cage hard, knocking her against the bars. "You don't act smart." Yaz'noth let a small bit of flame illuminate his teeth as Ishe's cage swung free.

  "I'm never going to roll over for you Dragon." Ishe preemptively winced as she braced herself for another angry smack.

  "Did you not hear me today? I will conquer your home. And if I let you go what will you do? You will be a famous pirate without a ship or safe harbor. Where will you go?"

  "They will not allow you to rule. The Kami of all things will rise up destroy your efforts. Can do you anything against a swarm of paving stones? And even if you manage to appease them then Valhalla and Lyndon will declare a war. If a navy of three hundred years ago shot you out of the sky then you stand no chance now. I'll be on one of those ships. The shell that brings you down will be mine." Ishe hugged the bar and bore her teeth as she swung back and forth.

  Yaz'noth shook his head. "You poor thing. You really think it will be that simple? That straight forward? Who rules Valhalla, Who rules Lyndon? Not men. Gods, Creatures born of crystals and dreams. Do you really think they'll object to a Dragon ruling a city? A being far closer to their peer than a mortal Steward."

  Ishe's cage stopped swinging and his eyes loomed large. Golden irises, perfectly smooth as if made of liquid metal, opened wide in the darkness, a pupil large enough to dive through. By all rights alien things but they communicated his utter certainty. In the face of the doubt fluttered in Ishe own heart.