by T. J. Klune
“Trees. Fire. Flowers. Stars.”
“Why do you dream of fire?” I asked.
He snorted, and a little curl of smoke shot from his nose. “I’m a dragon. I was born in fire,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell them?”
I watched him for a moment, trying to decide what to say. It felt important, like he was testing me. And I wanted to get this right. Finally I said, “Do you believe the gods are absolute? That they control everything?”
“If you’re asking me about free will, I’ll remind you that I’m fourteen and really only care about myself.”
I couldn’t help it: I laughed. “Dude. You’re an ass.”
He smiled, looking rather pleased with himself. “I like making you laugh. It’s a nice sound. Can I tell you something?”
I nodded.
“When I was five, humans came for me. I don’t know if they were terrible people. I don’t know if they were villains, or if they were just scared of something they didn’t understand, but they wanted my blood spilled upon the earth.”
My hands twitched to reach out and touch him, but I kept them at my side.
“I escaped, but not before they’d cut me. Broke through some of my scales. I thought about hurting them, about putting my teeth into their flesh, but I couldn’t make myself do it. I didn’t understand them, and they didn’t understand me, even when I cried at them to stop, that I would leave if they just let me. They didn’t let me. I got away, but only after I knocked them down. I didn’t mean to, but I hurt one of them. A woman. She hit her head on something. A rock, I think. It was scary, because she was bleeding and crying, and I just wanted to go. I tried to tell her that I was sorry, but she thought I was coming to eat her, because she screamed and ran away. So I left.”
“It doesn’t matter if they were villains or not,” I said. “No one should hurt another just for the sake of doing it. Or because they’re scared.”
“But aren’t you scared?” he asked me. “You’re scared, and you’re going to have to hurt someone. To stop this. Because when a life ends, it hurts.”
“My hand is being forced.”
“Maybe those people who came for me thought the same thing. That they were being forced.”
“Did you hurt anyone?” I asked him. “Did you give them any reason to see you as a threat?”
“No.”
“Then what they did was wrong.”
“Is that absolute?”
I balked at that, wondering how he’d been able to complete that circle.
“They chose to come for me,” Zero said. “They made their decision out of fear. Am I supposed to believe that was the path the gods set them on? That if they’d succeeded, that my life didn’t matter as much as theirs did?”
“Dude,” I breathed. “So heavy.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t believe things are set in stone. Look around you, Sam. Stone crumbles. Be it from time and age or the minds of men, it still crumbles. But I also think when a dragon god tells you something, you should listen. And maybe you should tell those closest to you about it.”
“It’s Ryan,” I blurted. I winced. “Shit.”
Zero’s eyes went wide. “What?”
I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I thought voicing it would make it more real. I didn’t want it to be real. “Vadoma showed me,” I said begrudgingly. “My grandmother. In one of her visions. Sooner or later, Ryan will die.”
“Everything dies, Sam,” Zero said lightly. “It’s the price we pay for being alive.”
“Do you believe in me?” I asked. “Do you believe I can do what I say I can do?”
“Yes,” Zero said promptly.
“Then you best believe me when I say that I will see that stone turn to dust before I let anything happen to him. I don’t care what Vadoma says. I don’t care what the star dragon says. He’s not going anywhere.”
“Chills,” Zero whispered. “So many chills. I want someone to love me the way you love him.”
I smiled at him. “One day, someone will. They call us HaveHeart, you know. For Sam Haversford and Ryan Foxheart.”
Have you ever heard a fourteen-year-old snake dragon monster thing squeal like he’s just heard the greatest thing in the world? I have. It was a lot louder than I thought it would be. “Oh my gods,” he said. “I could just die.”
A shadow passed overhead as Kevin returned.
Immediately, Zero’s smile dropped off his face, and he slumped down when Kevin landed near us. “Everything’s lame,” Zero moaned. “It’s all so lame. None of you understand what it’s like to be me.”
I wasn’t fooled.
Kevin was, but I let it slide. “Little bro, you need to listen to me. You listening?”
Zero harrumphed but said nothing.
“Your big bro is gonna lay some advice down on you. You get me? Some real life-changing shit.”
“Great,” Zero muttered. “Just what I wanted.”
“If you ever want to get some dick, you gotta chill with that whole me-against-the-world thing.”
“Uh,” I said. “I don’t know if that’s the best advice.”
“Of course it is,” Kevin said. “It’s coming from me. That means it’s automatically the best advice ever.”
“See,” I said. “I don’t think that’s a thing. In fact, I would say the opposite is actually truer.”
“You’d be wrong. I get laid all the time.”
“So do I.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but yours is married sex. That’s so boring. Me, I’m not tied down. I’ve spread my wings, and I’m going to fly straight into some butt.”
“We’re not married,” I said, wondering yet again how it got to this point. “Don’t even say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” I sputtered. “You could, like, I don’t know. Jinx it or something.”
“Right,” Kevin said, sounding gleeful. “And the only way it’d be jinxed was because you were thinking about it, right?”
The blood drained from my face. “You shut your whore mouth,” I said.
“You have been! Oh man, I can’t wait to tell—”
“You breathe a word about this and I swear to the gods, I’ll curse your dick off.”
“—absolutely no one because it’s not their business and I don’t even know what we’re talking about,” Kevin finished. “Zero, it’s been fun. It’s always good to meet another dragon for the first time in my life. Stay real, little bro.”
He scampered off toward the stone path.
“He’s… not right in the head, is he?” Zero asked.
I sighed. “That’s still up for debate. You gonna be okay?”
Zero rolled his eyes. “I’ve only been without you for fourteen hundred years. I think I can handle a few weeks until you’re ready.”
I reached out and pressed my palm on his snout. His eyes fluttered closed, and he hummed a little under his breath. I thought it was probably involuntary, but I couldn’t help but smile at the sound. “You need me, you come find me, you hear? If someone comes for you, you run. There is no shame in running, Zero. I’d rather have you safe and at my side than have you fighting alone.”
He opened his eyes. “I can handle myself.”
“I know,” I said. “But you’re not alone anymore, okay?”
“You’re not going to convince me to come with right now by being mushy.”
“Wouldn’t even dream about it.” I dropped my hand. “See you, Zero.”
I started to walk away.
I’d only made it a few steps when he called my name.
I looked back over my shoulder.
“You need to tell them,” he said. “Everything. Because secrets have a way of coming out when you least expect it. They deserve to know. He deserves to know. Stone crumbles, Sam. It always crumbles. Remember that.”
And then he slithered toward the dome, wings tucked at his sides.
Godsdamn him for getting the last word. I never
got the last word.
That dick.
Kevin was waiting for me near the edge of the island. He eyed me carefully as I approached. I could see the others on the far side of the cavern, standing on a sand dune, waiting for us so we could head back to Mashallaha.
“Is he going to be okay?” Kevin asked.
“I think so.”
“He’s… not what I expected.”
“Is that good or bad?”
Kevin shrugged. “Neither, I think. It just… is. I always wondered what it would be like. Meeting another dragon. If I would feel any connection to them because of what we were. How few of us are left.”
“And did you feel a connection?”
He looked surprised. “Yeah. Just… protective, you know? He’s only a kid.”
“And yet he’s technically older than you.”
“It’s best not to focus on the logistics,” Kevin said wisely. “It’s easier to just roll with it.”
“I feel like that pretty much sums up our lives.”
“Eh. I have no complaints.”
Something Zero had said ran through my mind then. “Kevin? Where did you come from?”
He cocked his head at me. “The jungles,” he said. “You know that, Sam. Beast from the East and all that. If you’ve forgotten, I can give you my whole spiel again. I don’t mind.”
“No, no,” I said hastily. “That’s okay. And I’m not talking about… that. Who are your parents?”
He blinked at me before he started laughing. “My parents? Oh, Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. You know nothing about dragons, do you? Wow. How the hell are we your destiny? You poor, poor sexy man-child. I feel bad for you. And slightly aroused. But mostly bad. And aroused.”
I scowled at him.
“Magic,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Sam, we’re born from magic. We don’t have parents. We are created when the world needs us most. There’s magic everywhere, in the smallest of things. Once there’s enough concentration of it, and once the world wills it so, a dragon is born.”
“But… but, that’s so stupid,” I exclaimed. “What the fuck is that esoteric bullshit?”
“Oh boy,” Kevin said. “Hey, champ. You okay? Your worldview expanding because your tiny little mind was just blown? Yeah. You’re okay.”
“But how do you know that if you’ve never met a dragon before?”
“How do turtles know to head for the sea once they hatch? Instinct, Sam. It’s ingrained into us.”
“I’ll never understand dragons,” I said grumpily as I crossed my arms over my chest. “They make no sense whatsoever.”
“That’s because we’re amazing.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Shh,” he said. “Shh. It’s okay. I heard what you didn’t say. I got you. Your mouth is saying no, but your body is saying yes.”
“God, that was so rapey.”
“I doubt that. The body wants what it wants.”
“You’re stupid.”
“Says the man who didn’t know where dragons came from. Hi, I’m Sam of Wilds. I have a destiny of dragons, but guess what? I don’t know a single thing about them!”
“I thought it was supposed to be a fairy tale! And I don’t sound that high-pitched and whiny!”
“He said, whining in a high-pitched voice, like the insignificant little speck of dust that he was.”
“You ass.”
“You love me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Ferry me across, Lord Dragon.”
He bowed low. “But of course, sweet cheeks.” He reached a hand to carefully pick me up and held me close to his chest. But before he could spread his wings, I said his name. “Hmm?”
“I felt him,” I said. “After. With his firefly lights.”
“So you said.”
“It’s not the same, you know? Like it is with you. He’s a part of us, but not like you are.”
“Are you hitting on me? I’m flattered, but I don’t know if now’s a good time. Oh, who am I kidding, it’s always a good time. Take off your pants.”
“Kevin.”
“Sam.”
“When did you become mine? When did you know?”
Kevin looked taken aback, like he hadn’t expected the question. He opened his mouth once, twice, and then sighed. He held me up until I was eye level with him. His teeth were razor sharp, but I didn’t fear them. I didn’t fear him. He was my friend, and I would do anything for him, just like he’d do for me. “You remember that night at my keep? After Ryan left with the Prince.”
I did. My heart had been broken. Everything felt like it’d been crashing down. I had kissed Ryan, and he’d kissed me back, almost with the same breath he’d used to tell me he couldn’t—wouldn’t—break his oath to Justin. The stars had been bright above.
Where did you come from?
Far away.
What were you looking for?
A place to call my own.
And I remember thinking how this creature—this magical, wonderful creature—infuriated the shit out of me. That even though it felt like I was bleeding out on the stones of the keep, he was being enough of a dick to help me forget how much I hurt.
I’ve seen things. Many different things. There are lands far away from here that you couldn’t even possibly dream of. I’ve seen cliffs of ice so tall they disappear into the clouds. I’ve seen flowers deep in jungles that eat everything that happens by them. I’ve seen the hearts of men, the darkness that lies within. I’ve been captured by wizards who wanted nothing more than to spill my blood to make their spells. I’ve seen people cower in fear at the mere sight of me. I’ve seen a city that floats in the clouds, and the beings that live there have translucent skin and cannot speak for they have no mouths. I’ve seen a volcano erupting during a lightning storm, ash in the sky as the mountain explodes. I’ve seen many things, pretty.
And I hadn’t understood him. I hadn’t understood what that had to do with me.
But he’d known that. Because he was far smarter than I could ever know.
I’ve seen many things. Both good and evil. Majestic and destructive. Stars falling from the sky and a man whose tattoos moved across his skin as if they were alive before he tried to rip one of my hearts from my chest. I have seen many, many things. But I have never seen one look at another the way the knight looks at you.
One day I’ll believe you.
And one day, maybe I could be there to tell you I told you so.
And he’d curled around me that night, holding me together even though I’d wanted to fly apart. I’d told him of the City of Lockes, and that night, when I’d dreamed of home, Kevin had dreamed along with me.
“You made me feel like I could belong,” Kevin said quietly. “I told you that I’d left to find a home. To find a place I could call my own. To feel safe for the first time in my life. You told me you wouldn’t hurt me.”
I smiled faintly at the memory. “Unless you tried to get all up in my business again. Which you totally do. Daily.”
“You like it,” he rumbled happily. “But I remember seeing how you and Gary and Tiggy were with each other, and I wanted that for my own. Desperately, in fact. I think that’s what I wished for. Under all those stars. That I could belong to you. That I could belong with you. And I think the stars granted my wish.”
“I’m not crying,” I said with a sniff. “You’re crying. Stupid dragon with your stupid fucking stories that make me want to punch your face and then hug you.”
“I love you too.” Kevin sounded amused. Then, “Do you think it’ll be like that for him? For Zero? Can you make him feel safe?”
I looked over Kevin’s shoulder back at the dome. I didn’t know if Zero heard us talking, but I had a feeling he was listening to every word. “I’ll try.”
“Good, pretty. That’s all I can ask for. Should we vomit more feelings on each other, or should we get back to the others? I’m pretty sure Ryan is about to shit himself with worry.”
“Right? He really needs
to learn to calm down.”
“I’ve got a few ideas on that. Have you guys ever thought about couple’s erotic massage? It works wonders on stress.”
“I don’t even want to know.”
“I’m licensed in the City of Lockes to administer such massages if you wanted to consider it.”
“No. You’re not. That’s not even a real thing.”
“It totally is. I have a piece of paper and everything.”
“Oh my gods.”
“My malt brings all the boys to the vestibule.”
“What does that even mean? What the hell is you—you know what? I don’t even care.”
Kevin spread his wings and laughed as we left the island and the snake dragon known as Zero Ravyn Moonfire behind.
Chapter 21: The True Cornerstone
RETURNING TO Mashallaha went quicker than I expected it to. Maybe it was the fact that we’d succeeded in what we’d set out to do, that something had actually worked the first time we’d attempted it, even if it’d been a bit of a bumpy road to get there. I didn’t know what it was I’d expected, but I didn’t think it mattered. We’d gotten the desert dragon on our side. I had Kevin already. That was two out of the five. The Great White had said I wasn’t ready. The star dragon had said there would be a sacrifice. But we’d come out ahead so far. And Zero was right: stone crumbled. We would prove everyone wrong, like we always did. I didn’t care if the gods themselves decried us. We would show them. I had faith in those around me. I had faith in myself. I wasn’t going to be controlled by Vadoma. I wasn’t doing this for Morgan or Randall. I was doing this because it was the right thing to do. And I would do this.
Stone crumbled.
Ruv went ahead as soon as we’d gotten into view of Mashallaha, saying he wanted to report to Vadoma as quickly as possible. He snapped open his sailboard and took off down the dunes, the wind at his back. Before he got too far, he turned and winked at me.
“Reporting to Vadoma?” Gary asked. “That didn’t sound ominous at all.”
“He’s probably a spy,” Ryan grumbled. “Gathering intel to give to Vadoma.”
“You just don’t like him because Vadoma wanted him to be my cornerstone,” I told him. “If he was anyone else, you’d think he was great.”
