Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 1-4

by Wilson, Sarah K. L.

  Just spit it out! Saboraak could learn a few things about being direct.

  I think he was out here looking for Zyla. I think he is wondering if you are her in disguise.

  No ...

  Whatever you do, do it quickly. We are almost at the cotes. If he is only a criminal, we must set him loose before we enter. If he is Zyla’s contact, he should go straight to her. Either way, he has been a good cover. The guards hardly notice us.

  It was true. The guards around the cotes did nothing more than glance in our direction. The place was guarded and tended by men and women in livery.

  They are paid a fee for the care and protection of the ‘animals’ here. Tell me that isn’t insulting!

  I swallowed and then turned back to Apeq.

  “Do you have any cormorants in your jade collection?” I asked in my sweetest feminine voice.

  His mouth twisted slightly. I felt my face flushing. My voice work needed some improvement.

  “As a matter of fact,” he said with a smirk, “I do. And it’s my understanding that I owe you some fine pieces.”

  Now what?

  How should I know?

  Can’t you read his mind? Agh! Saboraak was frustrating. Why was she so tied up with ethics all the time?

  It doesn’t work like that. It’s not that I won’t get you your answer. It’s that I can’t.

  If only he’d say something more. I licked my lips from behind the veil, nerves making them dry. Maybe if I held his gaze, he would say something more. People always wanted to fill in the gaps in conversation.

  “After all, they were paid in advance on your behalf when our mutual friend was here,” Apeq said with a smile.

  I tilted my head to the side, urging him to continue. I was not going to risk speaking again. I sounded like a strangled cat.

  Eventually, his face paling, he added, “Hubric.”

  My eyes shut for a moment in pure relief. We would have orders. We would finally know what we were supposed to be doing!

  Chapter Three

  I found our contact! I could hardly believe it!

  Maybe because it isn’t true, trout. I found our contact when you thought he was a petty criminal.

  We flew into the dragon cotes, Saboraak’s annoyance making her flying more choppy. I’d never seen a dragon cote before, though I tried to look nonchalant as the huge honey-comb structure filled my vision. Dragons filled most of the rock structures. Their scales were bright in the dawn. Who would have thought there were so many people from the Dominion in the city?

  It’s a huge city. You could live here for months and never meet any of them.

  They dragons in the cotes seemed excited about something. Gusts of flames puffed from the openings and more than one snapped his jaws.

  A sudden headache hit me and I put a hand to my forehead, but surprisingly, as it faded, so did the excitement in the cotes.

  “If you aren’t Zyla-” Apeq began.

  I waved a hand irritably, cutting him off and spoke in my normal voice. “Hold onto your dragon, Apeq. Give us a minute and we’ll get you to your girl.”

  His silence worried me, but our cote was close. I could see Zyla hurrying to the front of it, a lantern held high in her hand as Saboraak slowed, gliding on raised wings. Saboraak’s huge foreclaws reached out and she grabbed the lip of the cote, pulling us into the open-sided room with the ease of practice.

  Zyla bounced from one leg to the next, her face flickering through emotions as we dismounted. She must realize this was Saboraak to be so calm about our landing. When had she realized that Saboraak could change colors?.

  “Rumors are tearing through the dragon cotes!” She said as soon as our feet hit the ground. “They say that the signs of destiny were revealed tonight – the Ko! I’ve been listening to stories about them all my life. Do you know what this means?”

  “The time of Legends is upon us,” Apeq said gravely.

  Zyla met his gaze and they were both nodding – true believers in some faith I didn’t share.

  “Legends will walk among us, touching our fates and drawing us along in their current,” Zyla agreed. Her eyes were bright, and her mouth trembled slightly. Somehow, the intense emotion made her look even prettier – and also crazier. Don’t get involved with crazy, Tor. Crazy kills.

  “The time when magic will change forever and a new generation will rise up to take the place of the old,” Apeq continued.

  “The signs will show us the way.”

  “You are Zyla Cloudbender,” Apeq said excitedly. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “You are my contact from Hubric?” Zyla asked, her head tilted to the side.

  “One and the same. The boy exchanged the password with me. I am Apeq A’kona of the Jadefire House of Marvels.” Apeq’s smile widened and I found myself looking him over, judging what I saw. He was about thirty, which was a lot older than Zyla or I. I figured she was about seventeen and I was only a hair older than that.

  He shouldn’t be smiling at her so confidently. That was my job, not the job of an old man who sold jade carvings.

  Jealous much?

  Of that old guy? Of course not.

  But the way Zyla smiled at him stung. It made no sense. I’d only known her a few days. What did it matter to me if she wanted to smile at an old man? I bet he didn’t jump off a platform last night and stun a whole city with the sheer guts of a move like that.

  You should play that back for yourself in your mind. If that doesn’t sound jealous to you then you need to adjust your mindset.

  Dragons! And girls! Frustrating – all of them.

  I stormed to the back of the cotes, wrenching the veil and skirt off. There was a half-wall set up. Maybe the saddlebags were back there. Last I checked, there was bread in one of them and I was still starving. Zyla could go ahead and get googly-eyed over Apeq – what kind of a name was Apeq? – I didn’t care. I was going to find something to eat.

  There was a pair of cots behind the half-wall along with a set of hooks for gear and a small cook area. Dragon Riders must camp out in these places when they didn’t have coin for inns or anything else.

  This place took coin. Surprisingly, Zyla had some hidden in her boot sole. Enough to pay for a week here. I think that was all she had.

  Saboraak’s tack was hanging on the hooks. I opened the saddlebags carefully, searching for bread. There was only a tiny piece left. Thanks, guys. It crumbled in my fingers, but I ate it sourly. Crumbled or whole, I needed the strength food could provide. I was dog tired, bone cold, and hungry.

  There was a wide metal dish full of red embers between the two cots. A brazier. I guess they heated these places that way. What I wouldn’t give to throw myself into one of those cots, but right now they were occupied by a snoring Zin and a sick looking Bataar. He mumbled in his sleep, tossing back and forth.

  I wandered over to him curiously, still licking the crumbs off my fingers. Why was he so sick? Saboraak had been hit by magical lightning.

  I’m a dragon. I am built differently than humans are. I’m stronger.

  Way to rub it in. But that point wasn’t valid. I had also been hit by the lightning in the heel.

  I sat on a small crate at the end of the cramped space and pulled my boot off, looking at my heel. It still stung, and the skin on my heel was glassy and smooth, painful to the touch. It formed a circle about the size of my thumb. The boot leather was burnt in the same place, leaving a hole about the same size as the wound on my foot. It was healing like a burn would heal - hurting, but not insufferable. I needed new boots when I could get them. Hmmm...

  The lightning that hit us was not natural lightning. It was magic lightning. Dragons can be hurt and die from that, but it takes a lot to kill us. A human? I am surprised that Bataar is still alive.

  And me?

  Perhaps it is your luck at play ...

  If it was, then I was very lucky.

  If it’s not luck, then there is some other factor. Have you considered
those marks on your arms – the ones that have the city in uproar – might have something to do with it?

  I shrugged awkwardly and put my boot back on. I hoped that the marks had nothing to do with anything. I hoped no one ever brought them up again. I would have to be careful from now on. I would have to keep them hidden.

  But if they provide you some shielding from magical attacks, that can only be to your advantage.

  We had no proof of that.

  You and Bataar were each hit by a magical lightning bolt at the same time. You have a minor burn. He’s struggling for breath in a cot. Proof? If that’s not proof, then I don’t know what is.

  She made a compelling point.

  Chapter Four

  I WOKE TO THE SOUND of someone quietly moving around the enclosure. I rubbed my eyes and Zin darted past me like a flash.

  I froze. If I didn’t move, then maybe she would feel safe.

  She froze, too, chewing her bottom lip and watching me.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I just ummm ...” I looked around. I had fallen asleep on the crate propped against a wall. “I just fell asleep.”

  She didn’t move, just stood there, watching me from the doorway of the enclosure. I tilted my head to the side. I couldn’t really move without seeming threatening and I didn’t want to threaten her. Skies and stars, the girl had been through enough. I shifted my weight and she flinched. Great. She hadn’t been this scared of me before.

  She was always with Zyla.

  A paper slid from my lap and I reached for it. The writing was flowing and elegant like how I expected a magic book would be written.

  Tor, it began.

  Apeq and I have gone to his Jadefire House of Marvels to prepare a place for Bataar and Zin. Do not leave them alone. Do you hear me? I don’t like having to trust you with them, but I don’t have any other options.

  Zyla.

  Really? She didn’t trust me? After everything I’d done? Girls were the worst.

  I had a flashing mental image of her huge golden eyes framed by too-long eyelashes. Well, maybe they weren’t the worst, but they sure did make things hard for a guy. I folded up the letter while I leaned over to look at Bataar. He was sweating and pale, his breathing shallow. I ran a hand over my forehead. He needed ... I didn’t even know what. He needed something. And he needed it soon or he was going to die.

  Something magical.

  I still wasn’t convinced of that.

  I shoved the folded letter into my pocket and my fingers hit the book in there. Maybe I should read this thing that people wanted so badly. It wasn’t like I could do anything else. I couldn’t leave these two here on their own and there was no food around.

  Irritably, I took out the book, glancing up to where Zin was standing on tiptoe, trying to get a better look at what I was doing.

  At least she still had an interest in life. That was a good sign.

  The book was handwritten in a flowing script and extra notes and maps had been shoved into the pages. One of the maps was of the plains around two sky cities. The only cities that close together were Dominion City and Sky City. I peered at the tiny notations all around the map. Was this a layout of the campaign in the war? It looked an awful lot like troop allocations and logistics scribbled in the margins. I tucked it carefully back into the end of the book.

  The front of the book had a title written in it: Ibrenicus Prophecies.

  These are the prophecies collected by Ibrenicus of Haz, son of dragons.

  For the time comes soon in which these prophecies will be needed so that the world is not broken by a war between the earth and the sky. For long years we have fought, but peace is brokered, and we lay down arms. We shall grow sleepy in comfort and one day our children will have forgotten the grim battles fought for the peace they think they hold in their palms.

  Boring, boring, boring. We get it. People are stupid, and they destroy themselves with their stupidity.

  Without the Ibrenicus Prophecies, we would have lost the war against the Ifrit Scourge.

  Had she been there?

  No.

  Was that chagrin I was feeling from my know-it-all dragon?

  I wish I had been there.

  Well, I didn’t. I was no hero and I knew how wars played out. The innocent died with the guilty and everything of value was spilled out across the ground including human love and life. No, thank you! All I wanted was my next meal and a warm place to sleep. I was no hero.

  Your display last night was a great start to your life of anonymity.

  Sarcasm, Saboraak? From you?

  I flipped further into the book. There were scribbled notations in the margins beside some of the dusty old prophecies.

  Here was one prophecy:

  Surrounded on every side, not overcome,

  Light battles the depths, commands armies come,

  Her battle not with mortal man, but earth and fire

  And beside it, the owner had written:

  Ifrits are made of earth and fire. Knowing that, where does their weakness lie. Is it in opposites or in a stronger version of their own strength? If light battles the depths, from where does our help come? Could it be the skies?

  Wow, the owner of this book really took it seriously. I flipped a little further to where the flowing script of the Ibrenicus prophecies seemed to end with the words:

  These are all the prophecies of Ibrenicus son of Haz, son of skies, concerning the Chosen One and the coming age.

  But why did the book keep going? In a tight hand, similar to the flowing hand of the prophecies above, but more ... hurried? stressed? cramped? ... another series of prophecies were written. I began to read, barely noticing that Zin had crept across the small enclosure and was sitting on the edge of her cot beside my crate. Her head pressed in close to me, so she could read, too. I sat still, afraid that any movement would spook her.

  I read:

  These are the prophecies of Savette, daughter of the light, Chosen One about the day to come.

  The day of walking legends comes. A Legend returned for the north to fill the breach, to stop the leak of souls and death of power. His sign the brand of smoke on skin.

  Uh oh.

  What? Saboraak asked.

  I only knew one man who had smoke branded on his skin.

  Me.

  Chapter Five

  “YOU,” ZIN BREATHED so quietly that I wasn’t sure she’d spoken at all.

  I moved very, very slowly so I could look at her and she smiled slightly before motioning to me to give her the book. I shouldn’t give it to her. Not only was it precious, but people were willing to kill for it. That made it dangerous.

  “Please?” she motioned again for it, her big eyes and slight figure made her seem child-like in her request. How could she and her sister have identical features and still seem so different?

  Reluctantly, I passed the book to her and her smile grew before she shyly looked away, hopping further into her cot and jamming her nose into the book. Well, someone was happy. And if I was being honest, it made me feel warm inside to make Zin happy. Her smile was like a tiny dawn.

  I was just standing up and stretching aching muscles when Zyla burst through the door. She tossed a small burlap bag at me, keeping a larger one for herself, and began to speak as I opened mine.

  “Word has reached Ko’Koren of the forest fires to the south. I don’t know how they got word so quickly, but travel outside the city is being restricted and the city watches are being redoubled.”

  Great. As if things weren’t bad enough already.

  Inside the bag was a loaf of bread and three boiled eggs. I gently offered an egg to Zin who took it absentmindedly and began to peel the shell from it as she read. At Zyla’s sudden silence I looked up.

  “Is that all?” My own shell was coming loose, and my mouth was already watering.

  Zyla startled and her mouth worked silently for a moment before her eyes narrowed and she began to speak again.

  “T
he four Exalted families – the royalty here - are all searching for the man who showed the Ko last night. They have their house guards and spies in the streets everywhere. Apeq has given us clothing that marks us as from his house. It should provide us enough protection to get across the city to the Jadefire House of Marvels. He’s already arranging for a healer for Bataar.”

  “What a hero that Apeq is turning out to be,” I said sourly. Who did so much for strangers without payment? He must want something from us.

  Or he is simply a compassionate person.

  In my experience, those were rare. I popped the whole boiled egg in my mouth almost melting when I reached the creamy yolk. Oh, skies and stars, that was good!

  “Isn’t he? He’s waiting outside with a cart and a yudazgoat for Bataar. Here, you should change outside.” She reached into the large bag and shoved a ball of clothing at me.

  I took the ball with a scowl. I had to change out in the freezing cold with no shelter just because I was male? Bataar might have the right idea. Dying slowly by magical wound didn’t seem so bad after all.

  So, you admit it’s a magical wound?

  I stormed angrily out of the enclosure and into Saboraak’s cote. At least there were three walls here. I hid behind Saboraak, grateful that she shifted to shield me in a corner of her cote. Someone had spread out fresh straw on the floor and beyond the cold, it wasn’t actually that bad in here. Would she be okay waiting here while we moved Bataar and Zin to a safer place?

  For now, though I don’t like the thought of staying here for long. I’m going to keep an eye on the comings and goings of the city from here. Maybe we can deduce something from the patterns in travel and flow of goods.

  Smart thinking.

  I shrugged into a pair of close-fitting breeches. They felt little too snug against my legs, but they were more than long enough. I tucked them roughly in my high boots, added a homespun shirt and a close-fitting grey jerkin with a green fire embroidered on the front, and then a thick charcoal cloak on top of that. So, this must be how Apeq’s workers dressed. Fancy. Maybe he was more important than I first thought.