Dragon Force: The Complete Series

by Lucia Ashta

  I sensed disappointment, fear, and anguish in my twin. Traya looked like she was probably going through some of the same. My heart, which had felt more buoyant than usual as I shared myself with Dean and then Shula, beat uncomfortably in my chest. I hadn’t wanted to disappoint my siblings; their disappointment felt awful.

  Dean said, “She told us because she had to, because it’s important for the safety of our people.” I wasn’t sure how Dean connected my revelation to the safety of our people, but he appeared to sense my siblings’ reaction and mine. How, I had no idea, but he had. At the very least, he’d sensed some of it; his comment made little sense otherwise.

  He said, “You can trust Shula and me. We’re not like everyone else.”

  Well, that much was clear.

  “We’ll protect Anira and Rosie with all the skill and experience we have.”

  “Anira?” Rane whispered and looked to the spot above Rosie.

  But Dean, and not I, was the one to answer Rane’s unspoken accusation that I’d shared too much. “Aye, she told us her name and some about herself. But only about her. She didn’t involve either of you, nor did she mention you’ve been the ones harboring her.”

  Rane, Traya, and I gasped.

  Dean continued unfazed. “She didn’t implicate either of you in anything, but I can put the pieces together. You live on the edge of the village, where hardly anyone goes. On its own, that’s not suspicious, your family could just prefer solitude. But now I understand. You’ve concealed Anira, an invisible girl, since birth.”

  Neither my siblings nor I spoke. Dean was exposing our family secrets, and we stood naked before him. He was dangerously close to adding up the facts to determine that I was a twin. The only real explanation for how my mother could have birthed me without questions—because she birthed another child too, and it could be assumed that it was a single pregnancy.

  “Which means Anira is Alden’s daughter,” Shula said.

  Rane stood from his hunched position and froze. Traya’s eyes were fearful, something I couldn’t remember ever seeing from my gentle older sister before.

  Dean put a hand on Shula’s shoulder. “You’re right, my friend. These are Alden’s children.”

  “Which means we’ll do anything, anything at all, to protect them.” Shula’s words held an intense kind of ferocity. “Anything.”

  Dean’s green eyes glittered when he looked first to me, then to Rane and Traya. “We both owe Alden our lives. We weren’t able to save him or his son, your brother, Shean, but we can save you. All of you, go. Now. Leave Rosie with us and get out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving Rosie,” I said.

  “Don’t be stupid, Anira,” Rane said, and I tensed. He never called me stupid.

  “Don’t call me that,” I said, harsh as my instantly bubbling anger.

  “You can’t put a dragon before your safety.”

  “I can and I will. It’s my life.”

  Then Rane got angry too. “Is it really? It’s just your life, and the rest of us don’t suffer your decisions? I don’t suffer your decisions?”

  “She needs me, and I won’t abandon her.”

  “I need you.”

  My anger evaporated. My brother was just a big brute sometimes, but he had a good heart. “I promised her,” I said.

  “And I promised to take care of you. These are dragon charmers. If anyone can take care of her, they can.”

  “While this is all heart-warming,” Shula said without emotion, “we don’t have time for this.”

  “You need to get out of here now,” Dean said.

  “It’s too late,” Traya said. Her breathing was even again. “The chieftain already saw us.”

  “He did,” Rane said. “We left just a minute before he started down here with his entourage. There’s no doubt he saw us racing down the path ahead of him.”

  “He saw you?” I asked, injecting my voice with all the horror I felt. “But now he’ll associate you with the baby dragon who was invisible... until I couldn’t hold it any longer.”

  “Yeah, well, our choice was that or let Pumpoo surprise you all.”

  “It would have been fine. You should have stayed out of this. Pumpoo won’t harm us.”

  But no one, not even easy-going Traya, fed my wobbly hope. A sense of urgency and danger, as thick as the deep mists of the high mountains, was enveloping us. Dean and Shula had an air about them as if they were preparing for battle. It was impossible to miss, and nearly as difficult to avoid feeling.

  Dean skipped right over my hopes that Chieftain Pumpoo might be the man he presented himself to our people as, and said, “Then go hide in the forest, the other side.” He signaled with his head beyond where I stood, in the direction hardly anyone went. People came here, when the chieftain allowed, to see the sacred pools, not the trees beyond them. “Go. Now.”

  Rane and Traya moved, but I didn’t. “Rosie won’t stay without me,” I said.

  My brother and sister drew up to my side, and stopped. “It’s true,” Traya said, sounding as if this were terrible news. Was it? I couldn’t tell anymore. My life was changing so rapidly, I was having trouble keeping up.

  “He’ll spot them if they don’t leave now,” Shula, who hadn’t moved her eyes from the mountain trail, said. “He’s entering range.”

  Range of what, I didn’t know.

  Dean ordered, “Rane and Traya, you go. Hide until I come to get you. Anira, you stay, but you don’t let anyone see or hear you. Pumpoo doesn’t realize invisible girls live in his village. Even though Rosie is curled up on you, he won’t figure it out. He’ll just think the dragon is afraid. He likes people and animals being afraid of him. He’ll go with that conclusion. Shula and I will figure out what to do as we go. And if we’re lucky, the chieftain will just be coming here to see the oddity of a runt of a baby dragon, and nothing more.”

  Not one of us there looked like we felt that lucky.

  Dean turned to face the chieftain, who was easy to spot even among the crowd that arrived with him. For once, I was glad for his colorful shade and clothing.

  “Rane and Traya,” he said without turning, “you’d better not still be here. If you care for your sister, the best thing you can do is leave, that way the chieftain can’t associate you with her. He won’t see her. Now, get out of here.”

  Rane kissed my cheek as he passed, something he hadn’t done since we were children. I smiled a frightened smile he probably didn’t see, and told them both, “I’ll be fine, we’ll all be fine. I’ll come find you soon.”

  I heard them start to pick their way across the forest floor. When I turned to look for them, they were gone.

  Believing them safe, I watched the chieftain grow closer. Dean and Shula didn’t say a word as they waited. Whatever was about to happen, Pumpoo was going to set the terms. I tried to shake the heavy sense of foreboding away with little success. My instincts were rarely wrong. And just then, I was scared.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  As the chieftain and his entourage approached, I had time to think. Neither Dean nor Shula spoke while Pumpoo drew nearer, and they certainly didn’t look over their shoulders at me. They even ignored Rosie, and I suspected that was because they didn’t want to draw any more attention to her than necessary. Of course, if that was the case, it was a wasted wish. Pumpoo would go straight to see the dragon in our midst. Any tribesperson would. Every Ooba, even the invisible ones, had been raised almost to revere the dragons, and we didn’t get to see them up close.

  While Pumpoo, beneath an orange shade, wove his way down the mountain, the crowd behind him grew larger, its numbers increasing after each bend. The Ooba people revered him. I was certain I’d seen energy transferring from the dragon trainees to Pumpoo just the day before, but it was possible the energy transference had occurred all on its own, simply because his people gave them their personal power.

  It was further possible that Pumpoo put the well-being of the Ooba people at the forefront,
as he often claimed to do. After all, he’d been guiding our people for centuries, as his ancestors had done before him. Just because I didn’t like the man didn’t mean he concealed nefarious purposes behind his colorful wardrobe. It could just be that he wasn’t my type, but that he still desired to advance what was best for our tribe, even if I didn’t always agree with the means he used to achieve it.

  I could be wrong about all of it. Pumpoo could be coming to see Rosie because he’s as curious as the rest of us. We sacrifice so much to protect dragons, yet we rarely see them. It makes perfect sense that Pumpoo would want to see Rosie.

  By the time Pumpoo finally entered the clearing in front of the sacred pools, I’d decided to be open -minded and give him a chance. No person was perfect, and we were in this struggle of survival together. Every single one of the Ooba people worked toward fulfilling our purpose of protecting the dragons so that they might endure. We endured too, in the shadows of the beasts. We might all be different, but we were all on the same team. Pumpoo just happened to be its leader.

  He drew to a pause next to Dean and Shula, who bowed their heads as was expected of them. “Your Greatness,” Dean said.

  “Good morning, Dean, Shula. I hear we have a baby dragon.”

  “Aye, an injured baby dragon.”

  Pumpoo looked beyond the dragon charmers. He spotted Rosie right away and smiled. Even though I tried not to react, his smile sent a shiver through my body. Rosie felt it, and started to turn to look up at me. I hurried to bring a hand to her head and still her. “Shh,” I said so softly that no one else in the clearing could hear me. “It’s all right, Rosie girl. Shh.”

  She curled back in on herself and plopped her head down on my boots. I hoped no one would notice the slight lift in her head, because most of the people who crowded behind our chieftain peered curiously at Rosie.

  It’s all right, I told myself. Just because you don’t like a man doesn’t mean he’s evil. But when I looked at his smile again, my greatest urge was to look away. I continued petting Rosie, though I was no longer sure whom I was trying to soothe, her or myself.

  Pumpoo brought his attention back to the charmers, and I breathed out in relief. “Why did I not find out about the dragon from you?” His voice was even and calm, but my whole body tensed with a sense of danger. So much for remaining open minded. He said, “It was your obligation to tell me right away.”

  So Dean had been right, and the dragon trainees weren’t to be trusted. It hadn’t taken long for one of them to spill our secret.

  “Of course, Your Greatness,” Dean said, “I’m well aware of my obligations. I wished only to examine the creature before coming to you with the news. If I’d allowed the dragon to perish because I left her to go tell you, I would never have forgiven myself.”

  “So your duty was to the dragon first?” It sounded like a simple question, but it was far from it. Shula’s body was as tense as I imagined it must be before battle.

  “As a member of the Ooba tribe, and especially as a dragon charmer, my sworn duty is to protect the dragons. I didn’t realize you would arrive before I had the chance to tell you of the dragon. My thought was only to secure her well-being since her condition was urgent.”

  “You could have sent a messenger to tell me. Any of the dragon trainees that were with you at the time would have sufficed.”

  “Indeed, they would have relayed the message well, no doubt. I wasn’t thinking about delivery of the message because I intended to tell you myself. Once I made sure the dragon was well and her injuries tended to.”

  “So the dragon is a female.” I didn’t understand why Pumpoo’s statement spread terror through me, but it did. My petting of Rosie became more frantic.

  “Aye, the dragon is a female,” Dean said slowly, as if he too were searching for the reason why Pumpoo’s focus on the fact should feel so terrifying.

  “And is she now stable and recovering? I take it a couple of dragon charmers were able to handle her level of injury.”

  I trained my gaze on Dean’s back. He could not tell Pumpoo that my family had treated Rosie’s injuries.

  “The dragon is recovering well. She’s healing at a remarkable rate, as I believe most dragons do.”

  “Excellent, most excellent indeed.” Chieftain Pumpoo shifted his attention back to Rosie. I stilled my hand on her hand and slowly started to withdraw it. Even at this distance, if someone were to look closely, they might make out the distortions my invisible hand caused.

  “Yes, it’s a relief that she’s doing so well.”

  There was so much more information that Dean could have given Pumpoo. He could have explained her mother’s rejection, her fall, her name even. But Dean seemed to be giving only those responses necessary to appease the chieftain. Dean had done everything right since Pumpoo’s arrival, and yet what I read between the lines was loud and clear: He didn’t trust the man. Neither did I despite my attempts to do so.

  “Is she safe to approach?” Chieftain Pumpoo asked, nestled between Jore and another emissary, who held the orange shade above the shorter man’s head.

  “I wouldn’t recommend it, Your Greatness. Though she hasn’t shown any aggression toward us, she’s still a dragon. I don’t wish for you to expose yourself to such great danger. If she were to do something violent, which is within her dragon nature to do, I wouldn’t want you to be at risk of being hurt.”

  Chieftain Pumpoo looked annoyed, until Dean added, “Your Greatness is too valuable to our people to take such a chance. Risking my life is part of my job, and what I’ve trained to do. Allow me to put myself at risk so that you may avoid it—for the sake of our people.”

  Pumpoo said, “I appreciate your concern for me, but I must be strong for the Ooba people. This is the first live dragon we’ve ever had among us, and I believe it’s my responsibility to spend time with her to discover more about our purpose as a whole. Guiding the Ooba people is my duty, and I take it seriously. If the Something Greater has sent us a dragon, then I must interpret the message intended for me to understand.

  “You’re to bring her to my home. I’ve installed the necessary precautions to protect myself from the dangers of a dragon. There I can work with her without pressure, and if it’s necessary, I can bring seers in to spend time with her as well. It’s necessary to discern what the Something Greater intends by sending this dragon to us, and that’s my job. I take it that she’s able to travel. She can make it up the mountain trail to my home?”

  “With all due respect, Your Greatness, it isn’t possible to keep a dragon inside a home, if for no other reason that the dragon, however docile, will eventually set fire to it.”

  “I have all precautions already in place. There’s no danger I haven’t accounted for. I read your reports, dragon charmer. I know what to do to deal with dragons. And this one is a baby, a deformed one at that. She won’t have the usual strength of a dragon.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. Do as I’ve asked you. With Shula’s help, you should be able to manage it, right? Or do I need to call in some of the other dragon charmers to do your job for you?”

  There was a drawn-out pause where Pumpoo and Dean locked in a stare down. But Dean finally said, “Shula and I can do it. We’ll bring the dragon to your home, Your Greatness.”

  “Good.”

  Dean and Shula stood there, looking remarkably stoic. I, however, was freaking out, and doing all I could not to scream at Pumpoo that he couldn’t have my dragon friend. And after that, I wanted to scream at Dean and Shula, because how could they agree to bring Rosie to the chieftain? It didn’t matter a bit that I already knew the answer.

  “Well?” Chieftain Pumpoo said.

  “Well what, Your Greatness?” Dean said.

  “You aren’t moving.”

  “No, we’re waiting for you to leave, so that we show you the respect you deserve while you’re here.”

  “I’m not leaving without the dragon. You’re coming with us. Rig
ht now.”

  I swallowed hard, and discovered my throat was dry. My hand shook as I tried to reassure Rosie. But there was no one to reassure me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Everything happened too fast. Once the chieftain demanded that Dean, Shula, and Rosie go with him, there was no way to delay without causing more problems. Rane and Traya were somewhere in the forest beyond the pools. I couldn’t tell if they were close enough to overhear—most likely they weren’t—but there was no opportunity to explain my sudden absence. When Dean and Shula started going through the motions of leading Rosie away, I had to go with them. Rosie still wasn’t going anywhere without me.

  I had to move more carefully than ever before in my life. Not only did I have to disguise the sound and sight of my footsteps, but I had to make sure no one could knock into me in a crowd of people, and that Rosie’s continuous nearness to me would go unnoticed, with the bright sunlight shining all over me. Rosie was walking so close that she nearly tangled in my legs on several occasions. I hoped the crowd would attribute her unusual movements to her stunted, atypical form. They’d never seen a baby dragon before, and they’d never seen a dragon like Rosie.

  Dean and Shula walked to either side of Rosie and me, doing what they could to protect my presence. “Stay away, people,” Dean would say at regular intervals, “dragons are dangerous, even baby ones. We don’t want any injuries today.”

  Shula didn’t say a word, but whenever anyone drew too close, she spread her arms wide and advanced. Anyone with thoughts of coming closer soon forgot them in the shadow of the looming dragon charmer.

  Dean and Shula’s interference helped, and with a bit of luck, I managed to make it all the way to the chieftain’s residence without revealing my existence. It helped that the people were distracted by the excitement of the dragon. I managed to hold onto the secret I’d maintained all my life for a while longer.