Dragon Fire

by Dina von Lowenkraft

  “Anna,” he said. His voice rumbled around her.

  “You’re back.” Her voice trembled. She had missed him so much.

  He walked over and touched her face gently. She leaned into his hand. She could feel his warmth and his emotions. An inarticulate moan escaped from her lips. “Oh, Pemba.”

  “Rakan,” he said, brushing through her hair with his other hand. “My name is Rakan.”

  Anna pulled back. “What?”

  “Pemba isn’t my real name.”

  Anna rubbed her bare arms, feeling suddenly cold. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  “When could I have told you?”

  “Before I kissed you.”

  Rakan came closer. “I was trying to get you away from me, remember?”

  “You still could have said something.” She turned her head. He took her in his arms, but she squirmed away. “What else have you lied to me about?” she asked.

  “Nothing.”

  Anna spun around. “Really? What about your parents’ ‘research project’ to find June?”

  Rakan’s face closed. “Who told you about that?”

  “See? You don’t even deny it. You’ve lied to me about everything.”

  “No.” He reached for her hands. She tried to pull them away, but he didn’t let go. “Feel me, Anna,” he said. “Reach inside as far as you can.” He pressed her hands against his chest. “All you’ll find is that I love you even though I shouldn’t. I’m a dragon and you’re a human. And I don’t care.”

  Anna stopped struggling and slumped against him, breathing in his smell of incense.

  His hold on her hands loosened and he wrapped her gently in his arms. “All I want is you, Anna. Nothing else.”

  “Pemba – Rakan, darn you.” She pushed him away. “I can’t just change your name like that.” She had been calling him Pemba for the past four months.

  “Then I don’t care what you call me.” He pulled her back in. “As long as I’m the one you’re calling.” He slipped his hands around her head and leaned forward. His lips burned against hers and his tongue found its way in with soft, insistent strokes.

  Anna’s tongue responded of its own accord and she melted into him. Literally. She couldn’t tell where she ended and where he started. Their mixed desires pounded through her. She pulled back and broke the contact. “What happened?” She felt dizzy.

  “Melding,” he said. He ran his lips down her jaw line. She arched her neck and pressed into him as his teeth rubbed her skin, awakening a warmth deep within that made her forget her freezing feet. He bit her neck. His teeth sank into her and she groaned in pleasure. Anna felt a wave of power roll up inside Rakan and she clung to him as it exploded into her, gasping as it receded. An insatiable urge filled her and she bit his neck without warning. He gripped her so tightly that she nearly cried out in pain, but she didn’t let go. Rakan dropped to his knees, pushing her legs apart so that she was straddling him. She arched back and held his head against her chest, squeezing him to her as hard as she could. Eventually she released him and leaned forward. Her fingers danced over his face and into his hair. Her mouth tasted of iron and she looked at his neck. “You’re bleeding.” Shame filled her. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said, nuzzling her. “It’s the only way you can mark me.”

  “And me?” Her hand went to her neck. There was no blood. “You didn’t mark me?”

  Rakan smiled. “Of course I did. But I’m a dragon. You’re not.”

  She felt her neck again, it was smooth. “There’s nothing.”

  “Yes, there is.” He looked at her neck and ran his fingers gently over it. “Look.” He put his hand on his neck and then withdrew it. Where she had bitten him was a small circle-like patch of slightly paler skin. A Firemark. Except it looked almost like a flower. A multi-petaled flower. She touched it. But all she felt was his smooth skin. She brushed her lips against his neck and felt an answering tingle. Her tongue explored the spot and it throbbed in response. She placed her mouth on it and knew it felt right. It was her mark. She bit him again. Rakan groaned and slipped his hands under her shirt. The feeling of his hands on her bare skin made her bite down even harder and he crushed her in his arms.

  “You’re cold,” he said huskily, his hands firm on her hips.

  “No, I’m fine.” She pressed into him. “You’re warm.”

  “We should go inside.”

  Anna groaned. “No. My mom will come home soon.”

  Rakan stood up, and she clung to him like a koala bear. “You’ll freak her out,” she said. She could barely see his eyes in the darkening woods even though the sky was a dramatic green-blue laced with steel grey clouds. But she knew they were orange.

  “Here.” Rakan set her down. “Better?” His eyes were brown and he was dressed in normal clothes.

  “No.” Anna unzipped his coat and pulled up his tee-shirt. She needed to feel his skin again.

  “Firecat,” he said. He picked her up and carried her across the parking lot.

  “Look.” She pointed behind him. “Northern Lights. In May.” She wriggled out of his arms and turned him, holding his waist. “You never see them at this time of year.”

  Emerald green and cobalt blue streamed across the sky. The Northern Lights coalesced and then shot across the visible part of the sky in a shimmering array of colors that lasted no more than a split second, leaving only the lingering clouds. Anna searched the barren sky. They were gone. But they had felt alive. “June,” she said, nodding her head. “June and Erling.” She was sure. She knew their feeling.

  “What?”

  “It was June and Erling,” Anna said, turning to Rakan.

  “How can light be a person?”

  Anna shrugged. “Because they aren’t people? And Erling is an Elythia. Maybe he taught June how to do that?”

  Rakan stood dead still.

  “What? Why is that so strange? You’re teaching me to do things humans can’t usually do.” Anna looked back up at the sky. There were only the scattered clouds, but no lights. “So why can’t Erling teach June things that a Draak can’t usually do?”

  “What did you call Erling?”

  Anna looked back at Rakan. “Uh, did I say something wrong?” He still hadn’t moved. “Are you okay?”

  Rakan gripped her shoulders. His hands were cold. “He’s an Elythia? They’re not all dead?”

  “Isn’t that why you were looking for June? Because she’s dating an Elythia?”

  “No. We were looking for Paaliaq. The dragon who killed Dvara’s father. We thought June was Paaliaq, but she isn’t…” Rakan’s voice cracked. “Is she?”

  “Dvara? Who’s Dvara? Your sister? Dawa?” Anna searched Rakan’s eyes in the artificial light of the parking lot. They were orange again. “You didn’t know what Erling was?” What had she done now?

  “No.” Rakan sank to his knees. “I need to see Dvara,” he said. And disappeared.

  Chapter 27

  Paaliaq

  RAKAN BURST INTO HIS SISTER’S ROOM and found it empty. “Dvara,” he shouted.

  “Hey, hey,” Dvara said, coming in from the living room. “Easy. What’s wrong now?”

  “Erling. He’s an Elythia.”

  She looked at him as if he had grown two heads. “None of them survived.”

  “Well apparently, they did.” Rakan slammed his fist into the wall. “How could I have been so stupid?” He hadn’t taken the time to analyze Kariaksuq’s memories. He hadn’t had the time. And now they were gone. All he had left was the flash impression from when he had held her rök. But as soon as Anna said Elythia it had linked to one of Kariaksuq’s memories. “Erling means the Inheritor.”

  “And Paaliaq seduced the Inheritor.” Dvara sank to the couch. “But Yarlung said Paaliaq made it up to scare the other Cairns into submission.”

  “No,” Rakan said. “Kraal said Paaliaq wanted to use the Elythia to overthrow the other Cairns. That’s why they attacked her.”r />
  “Where did you hear that?”

  “I didn’t. It’s one of Kariaksuq’s memories. They aren’t all clear. But she was scared of the Elythia and the thought of Paaliaq allying with them terrified her.”

  “You mated with her and read her mind when you wouldn’t read Anna’s?” Dvara’s anger lashed out at him like a whip.

  “No. I took her rök. She wanted to die.”

  “Why did you do that?” Dvara jumped up to face him. “She didn’t deserve to die in peace.”

  “She did what Yttresken told her to do,” Rakan said coldly. “She had no choice.” His hatred for Yttresken had multiplied after taking Kariaksuq’s rök. “She never chose to be in his Cairn.” Yttresken had grabbed her rök when her Kairök had died during the war.

  “Anna,” he said. He felt her running down the street. He bolted out of their rooms and down the stairs. He opened the door before she could ring. “What are you doing here? It’s late. Come upstairs before Ani-la hears you.”

  “You can’t stay,” said Dvara to Anna when they came back up. “I need to talk with Rakan.”

  “She probably knows more than we do,” Rakan said. “How do you think I learned about the Elythia?”

  “From Kariaksuq,” Dvara said.

  “You saw her?” asked Anna.

  “He killed her,” snapped Dvara. “Why didn’t you tell her that?”

  “Stop bickering,” yelled Rakan. “It doesn’t help,” he added more calmly. He faced the two girls who were staring at him. “June can’t be Paaliaq. Not if she can go in the light. Only Elythia can go in the light.”

  “But June has a rök,” Dvara said. “How do you explain that?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she’s a half-breed.” Rakan glanced at Dvara. “You said Khotan had children with humans. Why couldn’t a Draak and an Elythia have had offspring?”

  “Amarualik might have known,” Dvara said. She glared at Rakan.

  Rakan walked back to his perch in the window and studied the street. It was dark even though the sky was still faintly greenish-blue. The only Elythia trail that was recent was Lysa’s. The others were gone. He cursed.

  “You can’t kill her,” Anna said quietly.

  “We have to kill her,” snapped Dvara.

  Anna glared at Dvara. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

  “No one is killing anyone, okay?” Rakan changed his dragon pants back to human clothes for the second time that evening. “I’ll walk you home. Ingrid is worried.” Rakan turned to Dvara as Anna walked down the stairs. “The sun will come back up soon. Meet me for the Call to Rise.” He flashed her an image of a craggy peak in the Lyngen Alps.

  Dvara didn’t answer but he knew she’d be there. She needed to morph even more than he did. And she wasn’t ready to do it alone.

  * * *

  The dusk turned to dawn as the sun began to edge back up after having disappeared for a few hours. The thin veil of obscurity that had marked the night slipped around the edge of the earth. Rakan knelt on the mountain, facing the Eastern sky, his hands on his thighs. He waited for the earth around him to wake. He had needed some time alone. And now he was ready.

  The flat greenish blue sky had only just begun to have a hint of purplish pink when Dvara arrived.

  “They say Paaliaq could morph into all dragon forms,” Rakan said.

  “Yeah, right. And I can turn into light like an Elythia.”

  “I want to test that theory,” continued Rakan.

  “Don’t be stupid.” Dvara stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. “You’ll kill yourself.”

  The last of the greens receded, giving way to the intense fuchsia that heralded the Call to Rise. “Something happened when I chased Kariaksuq.”

  Dvara snorted. “I noticed.”

  Rakan stood slowly and towered over his sister. “I need your help.”

  “To do what?” she asked warily.

  “To answer the Call as a fire dragon.”

  “No,” she hissed. She clenched her fists.

  Rakan closed his eyes and opened his arms to the coming day. It was almost upon them. Every muscle of his body tensed in anticipation of the first electrifying kiss of light, and his fingers began to curl into claws. The first rays raced across the ground and touched him, igniting every fiber of his being with fire. His blood thickened and burned through his veins like molten lava.

  “Rakan, stop. Don’t do this. I can’t lose you. I—”

  Coral-colored fire burst forth from Rakan’s mouth as his claws sank into the mountain. He could feel the heat that pulsed below, calling him in. He opened his eyes and rocked his head towards Dvara. She was crouched down in front of him, her back to the sun, her vermillion eyes wild.

  “Idiot,” she said, standing and dusting herself off. “Watch where you throw your fire.” She walked around him, still ignoring the sun. “You had better be able to morph back.”

  Rakan snorted, sending small coral flames from his twitching nostrils. He stopped resisting and sank into the ground. The stone enveloped him and he felt like he was swimming through cold, wet sand. He dove towards the heat that radiated from below, gliding through the different layers of rock, testing each one as he descended. Suddenly, he felt Dvara next to him. He faced her, seeing her form in heat. She glistened and sparkled with an inner fire that made her look like a gemstone. She lunged towards him and then twisted back on herself in an undulating fluidity that made everything he had seen on Earth look clunky and heavy by comparison. Rakan stopped. Were all fire dragons so beautiful? He turned to try to see his body but only caught a glimpse of his tail before a ripple of movement reverberated through him. Caught off guard by the unexpected seism, he nearly morphed into his air dragon form but Dvara slammed into him, pushing him lower and deeper into the earth. The layers of brittle outer crust gave way to a semi-solid state and Rakan slowed down, enjoying the feeling of being one with the earth’s mantle. A tantalizing smell of iron filled his senses and his skin itched. He dove towards the smell and launched himself into the liquid rock.

  He groaned in pleasure as warmth enveloped him, wrapping him in its undulating movement. Carried by the current of the viscous lava, his scales tingled with pleasure as the thickly grained magma massaged every inch of his being. He stretched his stubby wings that had always seemed useless when he had looked at fire dragons and realized that they were perfectly adapted to maneuvering in lava. He glided on the currents in a movement that felt halfway between flying and swimming. His massive air wings would only get in the way here. And a streamlined water body with no wings at all wouldn’t allow him to use the existing currents. Rakan floated in perfection.

  He hit a warm spot and curled up. Sleep would be so peaceful, so complete. Dvara slammed into him from below and he turned to snap at her, but she was already swimming away. He growled and chased her. A deep chill racked his body as they shot back up to the surface. He felt his blood thin as they penetrated the surface layer of earth. He felt a moment of panic until he realized that his body was simply adapting to a different set of physical conditions. Dvara stopped and watched until he popped out onto the ground and morphed back to human without even bothering to stand up. He was exhausted. But at peace. He’d forever crave the heat and fluidity of the fire bed he had just discovered.

  “Fire is the best,” he muttered into the ridiculously immobile dirt.

  Dvara curled up beside him, still in her dragon form. He felt her put up a shield as he slipped into an unconscious sleep.

  * * *

  Anna ran to school, her heart aching to feel Rakan again. But she slowed down and scowled when she saw Red leaning against the low stone wall at the intersection at the bottom of the hill where they had met every day last year to walk to school.

  “School gotten that much better since I left?” asked Red, standing up as she arrived.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Why wouldn’t I
be?”

  Red’s forehead creased slightly. “Because I felt Pemba here last night.”

  “And you think he would hurt me?” Anna trembled with anger.

  “I just don’t want anything to happen to you. That’s all.”

  “Why are you all convinced that Rakan—” Anna stopped abruptly. But it was too late.

  “Rakan? His dragon name is Rakan? Why would he be called that?”

  “What’s wrong with the name Rakan?” asked Anna quietly, wishing she didn’t always blurt things out.

  Red sat back on the wall. “It means Fire. But he’s not a fire dragon.”

  Anna sat next to him, a small smile tugging at her lips. “It suits him.” She glanced at her cousin. “What’s your dragon name?”

  Red didn’t answer right away. He just sat there fiddling with a rock he had picked up. “I don’t use it anymore,” he said finally. “I’m an outcast. By choice.”

  Anna felt Red’s sadness and his pain. She scooted closer and nudged his shoulder. “Is that why you hide your energy? So that the others can’t find you?”

  Red examined the rock and nodded.

  “But June… she’s not an outcast, is she?”

  “No,” said Red slowly.

  “Do you think she’s Paaliaq?”

  Red glanced quickly at Anna and then looked away. “I don’t know anymore,” he said. “I used to think she was because her energy feels like Paaliaq. And she looks like her. But she doesn’t act anything like her. And yet she can mind-speak with Haakon.”

  Anna felt a flicker of excitement. “They can speak mentally? Like the Elythia?”

  Red shot her a look. “How do you know that? No. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. But the Elythia are different. They can all speak to each other if they want, but only the higher ranking Elythia can initiate it. Whereas for the Draak, it has to do with being linked through their röks. Everyone in the same Cairn has a mind-link with all the others. So they can mind-speak anytime they want. But Ea is in the same Cairn as Haakon and she can’t mind-speak with June.” Red paused. “If June isn’t Paaliaq, why can she mind-speak with Haakon? And if she is Paaliaq, why can’t she mind-speak with Ea? In fact, June doesn’t even realize Ea’s a Draak, let alone one of her kais.”