by T. J. Klune
“Ooh,” Gary said. “I get it now. That sounded ominous and scary and wicked cool.”
“You don’t have to give commentary for everything,” I reminded him.
He looked scandalized. “Of course I do. That’s how you know we’re having fun.”
No one paid us any mind. They were all under the spell of my grandmother. She reminded me briefly of a woman who had fed her followers corn mixed with truth serum, and I shuddered at the thought. I hadn’t been able to look at corn since without feeling the need to blurt out secrets. It was a terrible affliction.
“And the King bestowed upon me a great gift,” Vadoma said. “My grandson. The wizard Sam of Wilds, who is here to save Verania.”
Everyone turned slowly to stare at me, even as Gary coughed, “Apprentice,” as loudly as he could.
I gave everyone two thumbs-up like the cool cat that I was. “Heyyy,” I said. “What is up, y’all?”
“So awkward,” Gary whispered to Tiggy.
No one gave me a thumbs-up back. Apparently Mashallaha was completely inhabited by people who didn’t know cool even if it jerked off on their face. Good to know.
“And I’m not a gift,” I added quickly, just because it needed to be said. And because I always had the incessant urge to fill the silence. “Think of me as being on loan. Or not even that, because I’m not a thing. I’m a person. I came here because my grandma bad-touched me in the hallway and made me have visions of stuff.”
“You might want to stop talking now,” Ryan said through gritted teeth.
“Yep,” I said. “Good idea. Back to you, Grandma!”
The silence was deafening. But then, the silence usually was when it pertained to me. I was used to it.
Vadoma didn’t look affected. She was very good. “The star dragon has spoken! He has used me as his vessel to spread the word of the man in shadows that threatens our very existence. We must take his words of warning as truth. If we do not, we risk being swallowed into the dark, along with the rest of Verania.”
“Not that that’s going to happen,” I spoke up, because fuck her for trying to instill fear in people. “Because I’m going to gather the dragons of Verania and kick some motherfucking villain ass. You’ll see. I got this.” I grinned rakishly at them. “I’m Sam of Wilds.”
“And how do you plan on gathering the dragons?” a voice called out.
The entire crowd turned to face me again.
I grinned less rakishly. “Um. What?”
“The dragons. How do you plan on gathering the dragons? You do have a plan, right?”
“Oh,” I said. “Well. Um. You see. It’s not that simple. But it’s not that complicated either! I swear. I mean, I already got one after all. See?” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder at Kevin.
They all looked up at him.
Kevin preened. He tapped his chest with a fist and cleared his throat. “Hello, my dutiful subjects. I am the Lord Dragon, here to taketh your shinies and your virginities—”
“Exactly,” I said loudly, stopping that before it could start again. “So. One down, four to go, right? And I got him with no troubles, so how hard can it be?”
“Sam,” Kevin hissed at me. “You’re making me sound as if I was easy.”
“You sort of were,” Gary said. “I just had to flutter my eyes at you and you were gone.”
“This is pretty much true,” Kevin said. “But! I am my own dragon now, single and ready to mingle! Maybe I’ll find some nice young thing here to take back to my keep. I’ve done it before. And this time, there won’t be any pesky wizard telling me I can’t take my hoard with me! How about it? Is there a fit gypsy man with abs who would like to punch my junk?”
“All of your hoard was moved into the castle,” I reminded him. “Because you wouldn’t stop bitching about it. You literally go in and lay on it almost every day. And then you come out and tell everyone about it. For hours. Oh, look at me, my name’s Kevin, I like to go lay on rubies and books and other shit.”
“I have brooms,” Tiggy told the crowd. “Kevin give me brooms. I keep them because they’re mine.”
“And I fought the dragon bravely,” Ryan said. He started to pose, miming that he had a sword, taking a defensive stance. “The fierce and mighty creature roared and breathed fire, but I rode in on my trusty steed to save my true love…”
“Who you callin’ a steed, you pasty-ass motherfucker?” Gary snarled at him.
“…sword drawn and at the ready. The battle was long and arduous, but soon I had vanquished the dragon so Sam could gather him as part of his quest to save Verania,” Ryan finished with a flourish, winking like an asshole at the crowd.
I snorted. “That’s not what happened at all. In fact, I didn’t even need to be saved. I was doing just fine. And I wasn’t even gathering dragons then. He just sort of followed us home. Besides, you just stood there and poked Kevin with your sword.”
“Yeah, you did,” Kevin said, forked tongue slithering out and running along his teeth. “You want to poke me again, Knight Commander? Once you go dragon, all the rest is lag—”
“I have a push broom,” Tiggy said. “And a whisk broom.” He paused, brow furrowing. “And a dust broom….”
“Call me a steed again,” Gary said, pressing his face against Ryan’s cheek as he crowded against him. “One more time. I dare you.”
“Meep,” Ryan said.
“And that’s how I plan on getting the dragons of Verania,” I said in conclusion, feeling really good about this whole thing.
However, the only sound we received in response were crickets. Actual crickets. I didn’t know they had any in the desert. Talk about bad timing.
Then, “Are you sure you got the right person?” someone called out from the crowd. “Because I don’t know if you got the right person. I mean, he has a dragon and all, but. You know. Are you sure?”
I was moderately offended.
Vadoma was glaring at us.
Ruv’s lips were twitching, like he was holding back a laugh.
“Hey,” Gary snapped at them, looking away from Ryan, who sighed in relief that the unicorn’s ire had been focused on someone else. “Sam is pretty good sometimes at what he does occasionally!”
Pretty good sometimes, I mouthed to no one in particular.
“Yeah,” Tiggy said. “Sam so cool. I love him and he my friend and Tiggy smash if you hurt him.”
“And,” Kevin said, “in case you hadn’t noticed, I can actually talk when he’s around. Before, everything was all rawr snort grr. And if he goes too far away, it happens again. Also? I happen to be a motherfucking dragon. You know? From the motherfucking prophecy? And maybe Sam didn’t gather me intentionally, but you can bet that I’ll follow him anywhere.” He looked down at me and winked. “And I mean anywhere.”
“Gross,” I said. “And thank you.”
“Kevin’s right,” Ryan growled. “He’s the motherfucking dragon from the motherfu—”
“Ahem,” I coughed.
“Oh, come on,” he said, looking pained. “You can’t make me do that in front of everyone.”
“Ryan.”
“Sam.”
“Are you, or are you not, a Knight of Verania.”
He scuffed his foot against the wood. “I am.”
“And are there, or are there not, impressionable young children here who might one day want to grow up to be just like their hero Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart?”
He sighed. “There are.”
“Then watch your motherfucking language, okay?”
“Gods.”
“You may continue your defense of me. It was very sweet. I love you.”
“Whatever.”
“Anytime now.”
“Well maybe I don’t want to do it now.”
I leaned over, cupping my hand over his ear. “I’ll rim you until you cry if you do.”
He shuddered as he bit his bottom lip. “Yeah?”
“Fuck yeah.”
&n
bsp; “He’s a mothercracking dragon,” Ryan snapped. “From the mothercracking prophecy. And I’m the Knight Commander to the Castle Guard and here on order of the King, who I speak for. So when I say Sam’s the right person, yes, he’s the right godsdarn person.” He folded his arms across his chest and glared, as if daring anyone to contradict him.
I wanted to mount him in front of everyone.
But that needed to wait.
I had a job to do.
I took a step forward.
The crowd around me took a step back.
Inwardly, I shrieked gleefully that I was intimidating.
Outwardly, I was a stone-cold killer.
“You can question me,” I said. “I don’t blame you for that. You don’t know me. Not like others do. And maybe I’ve made mistakes in the past. I’m not perfect. But if any of you can say differently about yourselves, then by all means, go ahead. If any of you are willing to step forward and go to the desert dragon, then do it now before I’ve had enough of you wasting my time.”
A murmur went through the crowd, but no one spoke against me. I could see the ire on some of their faces, and the fear, but there was awe there too. I was young, and most likely foolish, but I was sure news of our exploits had reached the desert. Couple that with whatever Vadoma had told her people about me—especially as the grandson of the phuro—I thought that maybe I could strike a chord with them. I was still only an apprentice. I was still only twenty-one years old. But I could do things that no one else could do. And even though I was sure all the stories spoken about me weren’t true, it would hopefully add to whatever legend of me they’d built in their heads. Morgan had taught me it was better to have people fear you a little than be indifferent toward you. I had never really understood what he’d meant until that moment.
“He is strong,” Vadoma announced, eyes on me. Her people turned to look back at her. “Rough around the edges, but strong. Listen to Vadoma. We have waited for this moment, for the blood of the gypsies to pulse around the heart of Verania. Be proud, because he is one of us, and he will rise against the Dark.”
There was her angle. And it was smart one. Gypsies weren’t looked down upon, not in the way people from the slums were. But they certainly weren’t revered. It was more out of sight, out of mind. And when they were thought upon, it was with a disdain for mystics and fortune-tellers, something of which I’d been guilty of myself. But by relating me to them and my position in Verania, it would help them align themselves with me. The will of the people was the strongest thing one could have.
And then she opened her mouth and ruined everything.
“It will also help us in the long run that Ruv, the Wolf of Bari Lavuta, is his cornerstone. The one who will help Sam of Wilds build his magic so that he may defeat this man in shadows.” The smile she gave was beatific and grandmotherly, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
The crowd gasped dramatically.
“Bitch say whaaaa?” Gary exclaimed as his eyes narrowed, glitter beginning to sprinkle from his body. “Is Gary gonna have to cut someone up in here?”
“Ah hells nah,” Tiggy said, cracking his knuckles.
“What the fudge?” Ryan growled. “What the heck did she just say?”
I almost had a mind to compliment him on the restraint of his language, but I was a little too shell-shocked to even formulate a proper response. I glanced at Ruv, but his expression was blank. I didn’t know him well enough to see through it, to figure out if he’d known this was coming. If he did, then he’d certainly played me for a fool. If he didn’t, then he was just as much a pawn in this as I was, and Vadoma was an asshole for doing that to the both of us.
I took a step forward, meaning to give her a piece of my mind, to make sure everyone within hearing distance knew who my true cornerstone was when Kevin spoke behind me and everything else just stopped.
“Sam,” he said in a voice I’d never heard before. It was dreamy and soft and filled with such wonder that it clenched at my heart. I didn’t know why. “Sam,” he said again.
I turned to look up at him.
And took a step back.
For the dragon Kevin stood above me, wings spread, the tips scraping against buildings on either side. Little tendrils of smoke curled up from his nostrils, and I could feel the heat from the fires that burned inside of him. It struck me as odd that this was probably the most I’d ever seen him actually look like a dragon since the first time he’d crawled over that hill, chasing after sheep before he’d knocked me through an equipment shed and kidnapped Justin. I knew him now, knew what made him tick, knew how his mind worked, crazy though it was. Kevin wasn’t just a dragon. He was my friend.
But this wasn’t my friend. Not now. Now he was a beast, far larger than anything I’d faced in the past.
His eyes were glowing like starlight. They’d never been that color before. They’d never glowed before. That probably wasn’t a very good sign.
“Kevin?” Gary asked, sounding unsure. “Are you okay?”
“He has awoken,” Kevin said, eyes flashing like a storm in summer. He never looked away from me. I could see his tail twitching dangerously behind him. “My brother. Deep in the earth. He wakes. I can feel him. In my head. In my blood. It vibrates. Sam of Wilds, he is calling for me. He is calling for you. He’s—oh gods. I can feel the—”
“Look!” someone in the crowd shouted, and whatever it was caused the others to mutter quietly in their native tongue, words dropping like music notes, spoken almost in veneration, like they were praying.
“Holy shit,” Gary said.
I didn’t take my eyes off Kevin. “What is it?”
“David’s Dragon,” Ryan said, sounding awed. “It’s so bright.”
I took a chance.
I looked away from the dragon toward the heavens.
A chill ran down my spine.
For it seemed all the other stars in the sky had faded into almost nothing, consumed by the light of David’s Dragon. The constellation was so vivid, so real, that it knocked the breath from my chest. I’d never seen it like that before.
“The star dragon!” Vadoma crowed. “The gods have shown you how it shines.”
“Well fuck me silly,” Gary said. “This is some mystic hoodoo shit. I don’t deal in mystic hoodoo shit. I am a godsdamned unicorn. I am glitter and sunshine and motherfucking good feelings. Those stars better stay in the sky or I’m gonna get my rainbow on all up in this bitch.”
“Motherfucking rainbows,” Tiggy echoed.
I tore my gaze away from the stars and looked back toward Kevin. I didn’t flinch when Ryan found my hand, squeezing my fingers tightly.
“The desert dragon,” I said slowly, unsure of who I was talking to. I hoped Kevin was still in there somewhere, but I couldn’t be sure. Because the color of his eyes matched David’s Dragon above. I didn’t know if I was speaking to my friend or a god.
“He of the fire,” the dragon said. “Buried in the sand. He has felt your presence here, Sam of Wilds. His soul is bound to yours as one of the five. But he will fight it until he deems you worthy.”
You are not ready, a memory whispered in my mind.
“Am I worthy?” I asked. “Or will this all be for nothing?”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “That is not for me to decide. I have seen all possible paths, Sam of Wilds. I know of all possible endings for you. I do not choose sides.”
That made me angry. “So you’re nothing but a messenger. Fat lot of good that does me.”
The people of Mashallaha moaned around us.
“Um, Sam?” Gary hissed. “Let’s not try and piss off the really large dragon who seems to be possessed by a constellation. If you don’t mind.”
“The stars do not pass judgment, little one,” the dragon said as it took a rumbling step forward. He lowered his head until his face was only a few feet from my own. I felt his breath blowing against me, furnace hot and moist. “They stand and observe.”
&nbs
p; “So you’ll watch and do nothing. The gods will watch and do nothing. What if the darkness comes? What if we’re consumed by it?”
“Then you weren’t meant to live at all,” the dragon said as if it were that simple.
“He spoke to me.”
The dragon said nothing.
“Did you know that? You must have. If you can see all paths. All possible outcomes. Myrin.”
“Myrin,” the dragon said. “The man in shadows.”
“Him,” I agreed. “He told me that you’ve shown him the same. That anything we’ve seen, he’s seen as well.”
“It’s the light,” he said. “And the dark. Two sides. Opposites. The balance must be maintained.”
“But he can’t get to the dragons,” I said. “Can he?”
And the star dragon hesitated. Then sighed. “Well shit,” he muttered, his voice suddenly less ominous. He still sounded like Kevin, but just off enough for me to know that it wasn’t our dragon. “You weren’t supposed to figure that out yet.”
I blinked at him. “What.”
“I think you’re being scolded by some stars that have possessed my ex-husband,” Gary whispered.
“That’s… not a sentence I ever expected to hear you say.”
“Yeah. You know, even for us, this is really weird.”
“I don’t even know why I ask questions anymore.”
“Hey, guys?” Ryan said. “Maybe save the banter for later. You know. When we’re not about to be eaten.”
“Stars don’t eat food,” the dragon said. “We’re stars.” It looked at me like Ryan was my fault. “Is he for real?”
“Um, I think so?”
“Right. Good job landing that one.”
“Hey!”
“Anyway,” the dragon said. Suddenly it leaned forward again, eyes glowing the brightest they’d been. “Get thee to the desert dragon. Test your will against his. The world is in your hands.”
Its shining eyes began to fade as the dragon reared back. “Wait a minute!” I shouted, taking a step forward. “You can’t just come in here all mysterious and then try and leave. Who does that? You want to know who does that? Assholes do that!”
It raised its head toward the sky and opened its mouth. At first nothing happened, and then David’s Dragon pulsed, and lightning shot from the open maw. It arced upward, splitting across the sky in a blinding flash.
