by Cyn Bagley
Knowing that she was in the den of a dragon, and a prisoner of dwarfs, just made the knot in her stomach harder. The tears stopped when she thought of the death of her mother. Revenge filled her heart. She wanted to kill the ogre, but it was the dwarfs that had chased her mother, and she put her mother’s death where it belonged—on their hands. She couldn’t trust Michael, her mentor, or Hilda because they were aligned with the dragon and the dwarfs. She shivered as a sliver of fear slid down her back, making the hair stand up on her arms. She was alone and enslaved.
Kayla sat up, rubbed her eyes again with her fists. The salty taste of tears closed her throat. She cleared her throat. She looked around the room for her clothes, but they were gone. In the corner was a pair of sturdy leather boots. She put them on, tied the laces, and then opened the door. Since no one was watching her, she would leave. She had no idea where to go, but she would go to the city and find work. Something like the Inn. It was clean and no one was allowed to harass the servers.
For a moment she was homesick, homesick for the inn and Grandpa Stevens. That old man would have hurt anyone that hurt his family and she was part of his family. She wanted to go back to the Inn, to a happier time. She sighed. What she wanted was her mother. Both desires were impossible.
No one was guarding the door. She walked boldly into the passageway. No one was there. She checked for heat signatures and looked for peepholes. She was the only one here. This was not how it should be. She was a prisoner.
She trotted down the passageway, looking for the main cavern. It was like a warren as the passageway twisted and turned. It would intersect other passageways and she would have to choose which way to go. She listened to her inner compass. She was a dwarf, after all, and should be comfortable underground. She wasn’t. She wanted to feel the sun burn her skin and the wind playfully whisk away her sweat. The air felt dusty.
As she crossed another passageway, she heard voices. For curiosity’s sake she opened a door into a room. They glanced at her and then went back to their conversation about shoring mines and mining metal. They chattered on and on. As she continued toward her escape, she could hear their voices echo down the passageway. Not a single one called an alarm.
When they had talked about their family, her mother had said that many of the dwarfs never saw the light of day. They were perfectly happy to live in the mountain and mine. Others, like her grandfather, were artisans. When her mother talked of her grandfather, her lips would purse as if the mention of him tasted bitter in her mouth. Kayla knew the story. She didn’t want to dwell on his betrayal of her and her mother.
Kayla tried to keep her mind on the task at hand and not to wander to past hurts. She needed to get out of here as quickly as she could before the dwarfs started looking for her, although she was beginning to think that they didn’t care what she did. It irked her. It was as if she were ordinary and not that important to the other dwarfs.
The only ones worried about her part in this travesty seemed to be Hilda and Michael. She was a little more sympathetic for them. She felt a deep betrayal that they would worry about this dragonling more than her… she didn’t understand. A dragonling became a dragon. He had very few weaknesses. The dragon she had met when she was a young child was the most evil of all. She shivered. She knew that dragons could force anyone to do anything. She had seen it.
Because she had seen it, she knew that dragons did not have consciences. They might as well be gods, trampling on the inner souls of other beings. The anger from these thoughts pushed out the last of her fears. She knew it. All dragons were all evil.
Kayla turned the corner and walked into the main cavern. A nest of gold rose from the center of the cavern. For an instant she felt greed and wanted every bit of that gold. She shook her head—NO, she couldn’t. If she touched even a piece, then she would be entangled in dragon affairs until she died. Her inner being screamed. “GO! NOW!”
A little voice said, “You won’t go far with nothing. Just take a coin or two. It won’t hurt.”
She tried to stifle the voice. She knew that dragons guarded their hoards jealously. Anyone caught stealing died by flame. She knew it was wrong. But it was wrong to steal her away to make her a slave. Her mind betrayed her. She had every right for compensation. Just one piece.
So she walked toward the nest. She climbed in, looking for the right piece to take with her. Behind her, watching in the shadows, was the dragon Varia in human form. She watched sadly as the dwarf girl picked a piece and started to clamber down. If the girl had just left without the gold, she could have avoided the bond. Now neither child would escape it. The young girl had chosen.
***
“Who are you,” said Davi. He was awake. “What are you doing?”
“It’s mine,” said Kayla. Her voice sounded hoarse in her ears.
“Yes, it is,” Davi replied.
The gold bracelet that she found had her name and Davi’s name with this day on it.
She had thought that a bond had to be formed by magic and forced upon her. She hadn’t known that she would choose it.
“Oh, no,” she said when she realized that the boy was the dragonling. She could feel him in her mind. She tried to shut him out, but couldn’t.
“Thank you,” Davi said, and fell back asleep, only this time he was sleeping normally.
She closed her eyes and followed the bond back to his head. She saw his abandonment, his time with Michael, and the white road. Her head hurt from the effort. She lay down beside him and fell asleep.
Varia shed a tear. This bonding was more gentle than hers had been when she found her blacksmith. Davi would get well. The dwarf-girl had found her home.
Dragon Cave
The Blacksmith’s story
“In the old days—”
Hilda interrupted, “how long ago?”
“A century or two,” said the blacksmith. “Do you want to hear the story?”
Hilda settled back in her seat and looked into the blacksmith’s eyes. He must have thought that she was being properly respectful, so he started again.
“In the old days, we were free from the bond. We traveled from mountain to mountain looking for precious metals and raw jewels. It was inElitable that we would meet the dragons. Dragons also liked jewels and precious metals. Dragons also were magic. And, dragons are persuasive.
My great great grandfather was a blacksmith. His swords were renowned in the human kingdoms. They were stronger, more flexible, and stayed sharper than any sword the humans had seen. His swords were dragonkillers.
When he was pounding the last sword, a dragon came to see him. He didn’t know it was a dragon. Yes, the dragon had shifted into human shape.”
If Hilda hadn’t seen a dragon shift, she would have laughed and called the blacksmith a liar. “When are you getting to the important bits?”
The blacksmith paused and took a sip of the tea that must have been set on the table while Hilda was listening to the blacksmith.
“You need to know history,” the blacksmith rebuked her, “before you can understand the present.”
Hilda felt the reprimand. After all, she wasn’t a youngling who ran into action without first considering the consequences. Although, when she was young, she did make some rash decisions.
He continued with the story.
“The dragon bought the sword with hoard money. What the blacksmith didn’t know until too late was that when he accepted the money, he opened himself to the bond. When the dragon left, he felt the bond tighten. He had to go.
He didn’t have time to say goodbye to his wife and children. He had no time to grab clothing, food, or other supplies. He walked away from the blacksmith fire, and his craft. After many days and nights following the bond, he found the dragon’s hoard.
The dragon, still in human form, was admiring the sword. He laughed when he saw the blacksmith, bedraggled and sore. The dwarf was tired and hungry. Yes, we can go without food and water much longer than a frail human.”
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Hilda wanted to object, but she kept quiet. He was right. She needed to hear this story.
“The dragon told him that he would pay and his children’s children would pay for their sins. That too many dragons had been killed by his swords. What the dragon didn’t know was that the bond worked two ways.
It was this grandfather who taught us how to influence the dragon’s thoughts. We became the dragon’s conscience. Only the dragons with potential as protectors can bond with dwarfs.”
Hilda felt a sense of relief. But, what about HIM, the one that had scared Kayla so badly? She wasn’t satisfied, not yet. Maybe not ever.
“And you? You did bond with Varia and left your family and children. Whose tender mercy did you leave them too?” Her hand went to the side of her waist to the sword that wasn’t there. She had left it in her room. Maybe not a good decision on her part. She hadn’t thought that she would be among enemies.
He must have seen the sudden suspicion in her eyes because he quickly said:
“It was Maxxkluapffk.”
Her suspicion was confirmed. It was the dragon that Davi had defeated. “Tell me the story and don’t go off into old history,” she demanded.
This time he didn’t go into his storytelling voice. She could tell by his eyes that it brought him pain.
“Yes, I did leave my wife and my children. We lived in a breeder colony. Maxxkluapffk was looking for a blacksmith for a bonding, but he has never been acceptable to us.” He shivered.
“Elita ran away from that colony. The other dragons would come to see if they were acceptable to the bond. When I became Varia’s blacksmith, she became aware of our plight. Of course, she hadn’t considered it. She was a dragon. They need us for a conscience.”
“By the time she was ready to stand against HIM, the strongest blacksmith of all, my granddaughter had disappeared. We were able to save the rest of the colony. Most of them are here in this mountain under Varia’s protection.”
“What did she mean that this Maxx is immortal?” A human voice couldn’t pronounce that name ever. The dwarf looked a little pained that she had shortened it. But when you dealt with devils it was better not to name them fully.
Besides, Maxx was easier to say than that mess of words coming out of the dwarf’s mouth.
Hilda’s butt was getting sore from sitting and listening to him. She felt less sympathy toward him which wasn’t too hard since she hadn’t liked him from the beginning.
“Why didn’t you protect your wife, your children, your grandchildren?” Hilda’s voice rose. “Why didn’t you fight?”
“And die?” The blacksmith sighed. “We have the full magic of the dwarf people. If we die, the dwarfs die and become human.”
“What?” Hilda just felt the hits coming. “You are human?”
“No,” said the dwarf. “We were human once. If a blacksmith is killed, his entire line will become human again. It also means our line will be vulnerable.”
Hilda sighed. It meant that Maxx would look for the entire line and obliterate it.
The blacksmith continued, looking away from Hilda and into the flames, “We can die of old age…”
So Hilda didn’t have a choice. To save Kayla and her people she couldn’t kill this blacksmith. He slumped in his seat. She could see the age lines in his face and the white in his hair. He was older than she thought.
“Will you convince Kayla to stay?” There was a plea in this old dwarf’s voice. The issue wasn’t only because she was a blacksmith, but that this dwarf did love his family.
Although she wanted to shout “No,” she found herself nodding “yes.” Davi did need her. Kayla did need them. It was not a perfect solution and Kayla would balk. She wouldn’t force the dwarf girl. Her grandfather had said that she was the most powerful blacksmith ever bred. Still in Hilda’s eyes she was a girl and needed protection.
She sighed, got up to look for Kayla.
Chapter Twenty-one
Dragon Cave
Davi Dracson
Davi woke up to the bright sunny smell of gold as it whirled around him. He stretched and bumped his arm into a young dwarf girl sleeping next to him. The last thing he could remember was the old dragon and the white road. His head slightly ached and throbbed. His stomach growled.
The dwarf girl rolled away from him, her eyes wide as she scrambled away from him. He could feel her fear. “What’s wrong?” he said in her mind. She cried.
“What’s wrong?” he repeated. He took her hands. “I’ll take away your pain. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
“We are bonded,” she hiccuped “and I wanted to get away before this happened.” She cried and cried.
He murmured to her and put his arm around her. “What is this bond?” he asked when she finally quieted. He wiped her tears with the arm of his shirt. They were sitting in the middle of a nest of gold, but there were no decent handkerchiefs anywhere.
She tried to tell him how the bond made them closer than siblings and closer than a married couple. The explanation was interrupted by hiccups and when he finally got it out of her, he looked up.
Varia was watching. He glared at her. “I didn’t agree to this.” Varia was still in human form and then she transformed. He saw lights gather around her figure and then they sped away. In the center of the lights her body went from a thin beautiful woman to a beautiful full-figured dragon.
“I don’t think we should have this conversation in front of others,” he heard in his mind. “We had no choice. Kayla had to pull you out or you would die. We had done everything else to bring you back. You were gone.”
“But this,” he shouted. “This is unacceptable!” He stood up. Kayla was huddled at his feet. “We don’t force people to do this—this bonding.”
“Did you think I had a choice when I bonded with her grandfather?” The tone in his mind was pointed and felt like Varia was trying to keep her temper under control. The dwarfs in the chamber scurried out. The color of her skin went from a light green to a glowing red. She was ready to blow fire.
“What do you mean?” Davi was still physically weak. His legs shook and he sat down abruptly.
“The bond just forms when the two are close together.” Her words brought a chill to Davi.
“So we have no choice?”
“The only way to keep it from happening was to keep the two races apart. But we now have a symbiotic relationship. I provide a safe place and the dwarfs make sure I have the gold I need. We don’t get all of our nutrients from food.”
Davi had spent his childhood with the humans, so he didn’t know dragonlore. He had become humanized. The lack of knowledge hit him sharply. Until he had enough to function as a dragon, he would be dependent on Varia and the dwarfs. His voice calmed.
Varia must have seen something in his eyes, because her colors went back to normal. She stayed a dragon.
“Tell me about the gold,” he calmly.
“Later.” Varia’s voice echoed in his mind. He could feel Kayla’s mind huddled in a dark corner with him, away from her voice.
“We need to talk about the bond. It is not just you who needs that bond to survive. She also needs it to reach her full potential as a blacksmith.”
“You say the word blacksmith a lot. What is a blacksmith?” He looked Varia in the eyes without fear.
“He or she,” a male voice said in his head “holds all the magic of the dwarfs.” Davi turned his head. Varia’s blacksmith stood beside the huge dragon. “Let me speak to my granddaughter.”
He climbed up a small ladder of gold stuck to the side of the nest. He sat down beside Kayla and started talking to her. He must have put a privacy shield around them because Davi couldn’t hear with his ears or his mind.
“If we don’t ask permission,” Davi said, sounding young and possibly a little foolish, “then we are no better than the old dragon.”
Varia sighed. “Come,” she said. “We need to talk in a more private place. We will talk about your needs when
you become a dragon and what you need to do to make your blacksmith’s life bearable.” Colors coalescenced around her until she became human.
“You don’t control the blacksmith,” Varia said. “That is not the part of the bond. She is your conscience and when you overdo, which will happen more and more as other dragons come to test you, she will pull you back from the void.”
Davi climbed down from the nest and stood by Varia. She leaned against him for a moment before she could walk. She took his had and led him to a library filled with books and overstuffed chairs. He settled into a chair and waited.
Varia made a bubble around them and they talked. They talked of the importance of gold. Of why he needed to do his traveling before he changed the first time. Of how his blacksmith would keep him sane. One of the problems of the Old dragons is that they were amoral. They were lizards without the conscience that came from a mortal mind.
“No,” she answered his question, “dragons were not immortal, except for the first one, made by the Creator. The rest of them lived long, long lives that made the lives of humans and dwarfs seem like may-flies. Pleasurable in the moment, but gone in a second.”
But blacksmiths were different. They came from dwarf stock, but when bonded they lived as long as their dragons. No one knew why. It was thought that the blacksmith could tune in to the dragon’s very being. If your blacksmith was angry with you, Varia told him, then your life would be difficult indeed.
There had been stories of blacksmiths who committed suicide when their lives with their dragon turned evil. And the dragon died with the blacksmith.
“So I am tied to her forever? There is no way to break the bond without hurting her?” Davi asked.
