Dragonlinked

by Adolfo Garza Jr.

  “He’s always getting us little special things. It’s one of the reasons I love your father so much.” She smiled and returned to what she was doing on her worktable, tapping away at a block of wood. The hammer sounded bigger than it looked.

  Tap. Tap, tap, tap.

  He looked back at the puzzle box in his hands, trying to figure out what bits to slide, and how. Though the puzzle box was plain, it was very attractive. Well made, strong and simply varnished, it was obviously fashioned by someone who knew how to work with wood.

  “Well, go on, open it.”

  Aeron looked up at Willem, who was smiling at him. He looked back at the box, raised the small brass latch on its front and lifted the lid. Inside was a leather item with a snap on the front.

  “What is it?” Aeron asked.

  “It’s a mark pouch,” Willem replied. “You slide it onto your belt. It has a snap closure to make it more secure. You can keep marks, pale, mill, and other small oddments in it.”

  Aeron lifted it up and examined it. It was quite nice.

  “Oh no,” Willem said, a worried look on his face.

  “What is it?” Aeron asked.

  “I forgot to put your name on it,” Willem replied. He grabbed the pouch and walked over to his leather worktable. “It’ll just take a moment,” he said.

  Aeron watched as Willem removed several letter punches from a drawer on his worktable and began hammering the pouch.

  Tap-tap. Tap, tap, tap.

  Willem started to look agitated. He started hammering rather quickly and forcefully.

  Tap-tap-tap, tap, tap. Bang!

  “Aeron.”

  Tap-tap-tap. Tap, tap.

  The tapping was so close.

  “Aeron, wake up lazybones.”

  Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap.

  Why wouldn’t the tapping stop?

  “Aeron, you’ll miss the entire day.”

  Tap-tap, tap.

  Aeron groaned. “But my head hurts, mom. Can’t I just sleep a little more?”

  Tap, tap-tap, tap.

  Damn that noise! He wasn’t going to be able to sleep with that racket, so he opened his eyes.

  It was pretty dark. He was lying on an uneven surface, which, for some reason, made a crackling sound whenever he moved. His head was on something higher than his body, making it jut forward awkwardly, and there was a throbbing pain at the back of it. He carefully turned his head, reached behind, and felt around. There was a lump. A sharp lance of pain made him suck in air between clenched teeth. That wasn’t the only pain he felt, however; he hurt in a lot of places. He remembered falling.

  “That was a weird dream,” he muttered, looking around.

  He sat up as carefully as he could, strained muscles and aches making him wince. Whatever he was lying on was somewhat wobbly, so he carefully rolled off and down to what he hoped was the floor of the lower ledge.

  Now on solid ground, he turned to see where he had fallen.

  Aeron knitted his brows. There wasn’t as much light on this part of the ledge, but it looked like he had fallen onto four . . . eggs? It seemed incredible, but that’s what they looked like. The eggs, for there was nothing else that they could be, were enormous. Most came up to just past his nose, so they were five feet tall or so. The largest looked to be about three feet at its widest.

  His landing had damaged two of them. A few inches of their tops were crushed, though they still held. And apparently his head had smacked into the one on the right.

  Tap, tap.

  Aeron twitched mightily and jumped. That had scared him nearly out of his skin! The egg on the right had made a noise and had moved slightly. He took a moment to recover himself.

  He wanted his lantern. Even now that he was down on the lower ledge, he still couldn’t see very well. He carefully made his way up the ramp and retrieved his satchel and lantern from near the opening of the passage where he had left them.

  He lifted the shutter on his lantern and placed it on the ground a few feet back from the eggs. All around the eggs were piles and bits of debris from the collapse, the vast majority of it against the back wall. That back pile was nearly half as tall as the eggs. Rocks, soil, gravel and even a few small boulders were strewn about. The eggs, however, were set upon a raised bed of small gravel and soil. That had not come from the collapse. It had been built.

  Tap. Scratch, scratch.

  The tap sounded much more feeble. Aeron realized that whatever was in the egg was trying to hatch, but for some reason, it couldn’t.

  Aeron stared at the large, mottled egg. What kind of animal could lay something that big, anyway? It would have to be enormous, at least the size of an elephant. How did it get down here? And what exactly was it? Was it a dangerous animal? When the egg hatched, would whatever came out try to kill him? Aeron looked around the ground. He grabbed a good-sized rock and gripped it tightly.

  Scratch, scratch.

  Whatever it was, it definitely sounded like it was getting weaker. Aeron glanced at all the eggs. What should he do? He so wished Willem were here with him. He bit his lip, thinking about his friend. Hells, he’d even feel better if Sharrah were here. She’d probably know exactly what these eggs were.

  Eventually, curiosity won out over his fear of what might be inside, and he stepped closer to the egg. It was actually quite pretty. The surface had a slightly rough texture and patterned splotches of color here and there. He carefully tapped the egg lightly with the rock and then pressed his ear against its slightly warm surface. From inside he heard a muffled mewling and a much fainter tap.

  It didn’t sound dangerous at all, Aeron realized. In fact, it sounded scared and in trouble. He stared at the egg. Again he heard the faint sound from whatever was within, almost pleading. The desperation he heard from the creature found an answering response within him.

  Unbidden, all the memories of being bullied at Caer Iron and now here at Caer Baronel came flooding back. All the fights, his fear, the running and hiding, the hateful comments and deeds, it all came crashing upon him all at once.

  ‘Mama’s babe, go play with the little kids and leave us alone, why don’t you?’

  ‘You’re too pretty. Are you sure you’re a boy?’

  Why wouldn’t they stop?

  ‘You gonna run to your daddy again?’

  ‘You’re about the smallest runt I’ve ever seen!’

  Why wouldn’t they leave him alone?

  ‘Are you gonna cry, babe?’

  It’s not fair!

  ‘Oh, that’s right, Aeron doesn’t have a mommy. She’s dead.’

  From somewhere deep inside Aeron, an agonized scream burst forth and he fell to his knees.

  The scream echoed back weakly from various points in the enormous cavern as he opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out, looking at the egg as he stood. After walking over, he placed his free hand on its surface.

  “Life isn’t fair,” he said, “is it? The only fairness is that which we make for ourselves.”

  He swung his arm and, closing his eyes, he hit the egg with the rock as hard as he could.

  Slam!

  Aeron opened his eyes. Bits of shell must have flaked and flown off the surface when the rock hit because there was now a small ragged area of missing shell. He stared at the spot. “Everyone deserves a chance to make something of themselves,” he said quietly, but fiercely.

  Slam!

  “My father gave me the chance I needed here in Caer Baronel!”

  Slam!

  A hairline crack appeared in the shell. He gripped the rock with both hands and aimed at the thin cleft. “Even Jessip gets another chance!” he shouted, conviction giving him extra strength.

  Slam!

  The crack widened, and through it, from within, he again heard the desperate mewling. He also heard labored breathing as whatever it was also tried to break free of the egg. And now that he could see the structure of the shell in the crack, it didn’t look completely solid, but it sure was st
rong. And thick.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out,” he said, looking over the egg. “I’ll give you a chance to live.”

  He turned his examination to the crack in the egg and an idea occurred to him. He slammed the rock in a new spot, again and again, forming a new crack parallel to the first and maybe two feet or so to the right. He was going try to pry the first crack open, try to make a door in the egg with this new crack as the hinge.

  It only took him a few moments and he was ready. He stuck his fingers in the first crack, gripped the edge of it, and pulled with all his might. He heard faint cracking noises and the sounds of strain in the shell.

  “Almost there,” he said between clenched teeth as he continued to pull with all his might.

  Suddenly, with a shockingly loud noise, the thick shell gave way. He flew backward, and as he did so, he remembered his injury. Quickly, he shielded his head with his arms as he landed several feet back on his left side, facing his lantern. The relatively bright light blinded him momentarily.

  He heard movement and rolled over to face the eggs. Due to how close he had ended up to the lantern, his body cast a huge shadow over that entire side of the ledge and over the eggs. His eyes still had the afterimages of the lantern partially blinding him when he caught sight of the end of something as it scrambled behind the egg. It moved rather fast. Aeron had no idea what it was or how big.

  “I hope you’re okay,” he said aloud, though more as a spoken thought.

  Thank you, he heard in his head.

  Aeron blinked. He swore he thought he heard—

  I am hungry, came the voice again, pleadingly.

  Aeron put his hand to his forehead. I must still be dreaming, he thought. Or suffering from the head injury. He swore he heard that thing talking in his head.

  I am not a ‘thing.’ She sounded insulted, but shy. My name . . . my name is Anaya.

  Aeron was amazed. He looked at the eggs, but could see nothing of her. Somehow, he could hear her thoughts, and she could hear his. And there was no doubt in his mind that she was a girl. Her voice had been very clear. If voice was even the right word. She sounded young, but she had a rich, warm voice. And she seemed nervous, skittish.

  “I’m sorry Anaya.” How did she have a name? She was just born! It was an unusual name too, and pretty. Especially when she said it. “When I fell from the ledge above, I hit my head very hard on your egg. I’m still not completely recovered.” He sat up, and now that his body wasn’t completely blocking the lantern, light flooded that end of the ledge, though there were still deep shadows behind the eggs. He heard quick movement.

  “My name is Aeron. It’s nice to meet you.” He wasn’t exactly sure of the proper way to greet a creature that could talk. Well, not talk exactly. He decided to try speaking to her in her fashion.

  So you can . . . talk to people in our heads? he asked.

  After a moment, she said, I do not mind talking to you. You . . . you are nice. You saved me.

  Aeron stood up. His shadow loomed against the ledge wall behind the eggs. He heard more quick movement and suspected she was very nervous. She certainly sounded it.

  You know, Aeron said, in as calm a manner as he could, when we are born, we cannot talk, and we do not have names. He began walking slowly toward the now empty egg. Our parents name us. Did your parents give you your name? Now that he thought about it, where were her parents? He stopped and looked around, a bit nervous now himself.

  No, she replied, I knew my name. It was mine. And then more quietly, I do not know where my parents are.

  He could hear faint mewling from behind the egg.

  Aeron, I am very, very hungry.

  Barbs, he said. I’m sorry. You told me that already didn’t you? I’m still not thinking as clearly as I should.

  He walked back to his carry-all and opened it. I did pack some snacks for me in my satchel. But I’m not sure what you eat? I have some dried jerky and another apple left.

  He walked back to her egg, the right-most of the four. The large gaping opening he had made, which ran nearly from top to bottom, faced him. He again noticed the shell. It was very thick, thicker than what he could see of the other eggs he had cracked in his fall. There was also some kind of inner membrane that lined the inside of the egg, much of it shredded. Some of it lay on the ground just outside the opening, but most was piled within the egg.

  He knelt in front of the egg on his left knee, and around it, to the right, he held out a large strip of jerky.

  Here, try this. See whether you like it.

  He heard quiet movement behind the egg. Then he saw—was it a paw? It reached out and quickly grabbed the strip of jerky from his hand and disappeared. It had happened so fast, he wasn’t sure of any details. He had noticed, however, that it was just about as big as his own hand.

  He heard a bite? Two bites?

  This is good. There was faint surprise in her voice. Do you have more?

  Aeron smiled. Yes, I have two more pieces. Here, have another. He held out another strip.

  Again she reached out quickly and grabbed the strip.

  Yes, definitely a paw. It had five shortish fingers. Well, four fingers and a thumb. And there were small claws instead of fingernails.

  This is very good. What did you call it?

  It’s dried meat, with a small amount of seasonings. We call it jerky.

  Jerky is delicious, she said, with a note of authority. And then, with a faint hint of pleading, You said you had another piece?

  Aeron laughed and said aloud, “Yes. One more piece. Here you go.” He held out the last strip, elbow resting on his right knee. This time he didn’t hold it out as far. He hoped to coax her out a bit.

  She stretched out her paw, but no matter how much she tried, she could not reach the strip. He heard movement, and then she slowly reached out again from behind the egg. He saw her paw, her forearm, and, just barely peeking around the egg, her face. She blinked at the strip and looked up at him.

  He was astonished, but kept his thoughts calm.

  Hello, he said.

  She pulled back. But after only a moment, she slowly looked out at him again.

  Hello, she replied.

  Gingerly, and not revealing one bit more of herself, she reached out and grabbed the strip of jerky out of his hand. Keeping an eye on Aeron, she began to eat it.

  Aeron was so engrossed in watching her eat, he didn’t move. He had never seen anything like her. She had large eyes set in a softly triangular face. And they seemed to sparkle. Her little ears were nervously tracking any sounds, giving her a skittish appearance. Her neck disappeared behind the eggs, which hid the rest of her body. Her teeth, he caught a glimpse of them when she bit into the strip of jerky, were small, but sharp, and about three-quarters of an inch long. There was a curious small ridge that ran back about an inch or so from the top of her upper lip to where it abruptly ended. And her paw looked quite powerful, yet still somehow very delicate as she ate the strip.

  He had no idea what she was. A reptile perhaps? Except her—skin?—didn’t look scaly, it was more like hide, but with a soft sheen. Whatever she was, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  After she finished the strip, she stared at him a moment and blinked slowly. She turned to his hand, still suspended in front of her where he had been holding the jerky, and a clear inner eyelid slid closed over her eyes.

  We are one, she said, dreamily.

  Aeron knitted his brows, unsure what she meant.

  She slowly stretched her neck, moved her head toward his right hand, and after a moment, nuzzled it.

  Aeron had only enough time to realize that her hide was much softer than he thought it would be before white light exploded forth from where they touched. He felt incredibly strong magic pulsing across his body, nearly overwhelming him. It moved over them both, through them, between them. He briefly saw light spreading across their skin, veins of brilliance branching over them from where they touched, before he had to
shut his eyes against the growing intensity. And then, suddenly, he could sense her presence, her body, her mind.

  Somehow he knew that she had chosen him, that they were meant to be together, and from this point forward they would share their lives, each knowing the other’s heart and mind in a bond of friendship, of love.

  He felt her then, next to him, on her haunches, and he rose up on his knees and leaned against her. He felt her paws on his shoulders, felt her wings surround them, felt her head rest upon his. He knew that never again would he be alone. He would always have someone he could trust implicitly, someone to talk to, a confidant.

  We are one, he echoed, sliding his arms around her neck. Within moments, the light faded as quickly as it had arisen, and Aeron opened his eyes.

  Anaya folded her wings and emitted a rumble, which somehow sounded happy.

  Aeron sat back on his heels and looked at Anaya. Her clear inner eyelids retracted, sliding open toward the center of her face. Her eyes, a deep ruddy gold, were sparkling.

  What was that? he asked her.

  It was the Bond. Very powerful magic.

  The Bond?

  We have been linked by the Bond. I chose you for me.

  Chose me? Did you know you were going to choose me? Before I even came here?

  I did not, she said. Her eyes were now a lighter gold. But once I saw how kind you were, once I heard you and your thoughts, it just came to me. We were one. And I knew what to do.

  Aeron nodded and looked away, mulling everything over. He wasn’t sure what to make of it all. But now that he had some time to think, he was a little scared about the incredibly strong emotions he felt for Anaya. And how was he going to take care of her? With the hours he needed to devote to sorcery, would he be able to? Even giving up exploring the caverns, he wasn’t sure he’d have enough time. And he needed to do well in Magic Craft! He bit his lip. He had enough trouble caring for himself, much less another. Was he ready for that responsibility?

  Still, she was a dragon. After the Bond spell faded, he had realized what his lovely Anaya was. He was living every boy’s dream. And the link! Even without looking at her, he felt her love through the magical connection, felt her trust . . . felt her watching him.