The Dragon Chronicles

by Ellen Campbell

  On the streets it was more a simple dislike for healers that pushed him and his acquaintances to avoid them. They were body grabbers — the lot of them. Always wanting poor families and street kids for research for the greater good of Sahalia.

  The female reached him first. “Calm down! Please, you’ll tear your wounds and your head can’t feel much better either.”

  “Where am I?” Vedaris demanded. “Which borough? ...I demand you call my cousin the...” Before he could finish that thought the male healer said, “You’re in the Madrassa Healing Center.”

  “Madrassa...THE Madrassa?” Vedaris spluttered.

  “Yes,” the female healer smiled.

  Vedaris now knew she was an initiate — they both were. “But…but I was on board a ship just past the Windswept isles.”

  The male healer frowned. “Are you sure?”

  The female healer said, “His clothes…they were caked in sea salt. It seems he speaks the truth.”

  They frowned at each other and then the male healer looked at Vedaris. “We need to consult with our superiors.”

  “Please wait here, we’ll have food brought for you,” said the female.

  Where the frack am I going to go? Vedaris thought bitterly. I feel like gutter trash and I’m fifty miles inland from the nearest port. I don’t even know how I got here.

  “Don’t worry,” the female healer said. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  Vedaris looked at her queerly. “I didn’t say anything,” he said, and then he remembered that human healers were said to have the strangest powers, including mind healing, whatever that was.

  If she thought she was going to spy on his thoughts she had another think coming, and with that last thought he promptly slumped over and fell back to sleep.

  The Choice

  Vedaris was awake again. This time he was alone in the room except for a person two beds down on the opposite side.

  Wincing as he pushed himself up in the silent room he looked around, calculating his next move. As he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood he could smell illness. He frowned. As a Sahalian his sense of smell was generally greater than a human’s. But the illness was…wrong. It stank not of death but of malaise.

  It was wafting from the immobile form between him and the door. As he approached the cot he saw that it, she, wore breeches and a breast band and had bandages around her middle.

  The stink came from the bandages, but they were unstained by blood or any other bodily fluid.

  His curiosity getting the better of him he leaned over, not close enough to get whacked on the head, but close enough to more clearly see what was invisible to the naked eye. It was almost as if a haze hovered over her wound. With a quick look at the girl’s face, kind of a sweet face actually, he inhaled the smog.

  It’s what his kind did when they came upon something that was unknown. They tasted it, they sniffed it, and they savored it.

  The complex chemistry of the saliva in their mouths allowed Sahalians to identify the unusual and even the toxic, which is why it was impossible to poison a Sahalian…orally anyway.

  He didn’t know why or how but as soon as it hit his lips it went from malaise to…nothing. Tasteless, clear air…quite the turn-off actually. He had been hoping for something more…dramatic, or to at least figure out what it was.

  Sitara felt ill. She floated in a miasma of uncleanness. It surrounded her. Suffocated her. She woke — surging up and smacking straight into Vedaris’s face.

  “Ow!” Vedaris howled along with a few other choice words. He stumbled back.

  Sitara looked around wide-eyed, as if she was ready to spring from the bed.

  Vedaris stood a few steps back, a scowl on his face, staring at her. “Who are you?” they both shouted at once.

  Sitara frowned and bit her lip, “I asked first,” she stated.

  “Not really,” he snapped back as he thought, Is she crazy?

  “Sitara,” she said.

  He frowned “What? What’d you call me?”

  “Sitara, my NAME is Sitara,” she said.

  “Well, where did you come from?” he asked.

  “I could ask you the same question,” she snapped.

  “No,” he said, “I meant, how did you get here?”

  She raised an eyebrow. They both turned as the door opened. The female healer was back. She walked in frowning at seeing Vedaris standing far from his bed and Sitara sitting up.

  “You both should be resting,” the healer said. Vedaris rolled his eyes as she stopped in front of him. “How’d I get here?”

  With a sharp look at him Sitara muttered, “Looks like you should be able to answer your own question before asking me.” Vedaris shot a glare at her and the healer held up a hand to forestall any further argument.

  “I’ve yet to figure that out but will continue to search for an answer with Research colleagues. I’m sure they’ll find your case very interesting.”

  “Yeah, well,” Vedaris responded, “Send me a letter when they finally figure it out.” The healer threw him a quizzical look “There’s no need…of course I’ll just find you in your School.”

  “My school?” Vedaris responded slowly. He was quick on the uptake and saw no need to dissuade the healer of any notion before he found out what she meant.

  “Well yes, we haven’t had a Sahalian candidate in quite some time,” she replied.

  No shit, he thought, his people didn’t have the highest regard for humans, who were once considered meals and now were undesired allies at best.

  “But,” she continued, “You will still have to test for School placement alongside your friend here.” Vedaris frowned, both at the reference to a ‘friend’ and at the thought he would once more face and fail a magical exam.

  At this point Sitara interjected into the conversation, to his surprise not a denial of the ‘friend’ comment, “My name is Sitara.”

  “My apologies for referring to you out of turn,” replied the healer. “My name is Roble. I’m sure you and your other friends will do well.”

  Vedaris stood just looking at the healer. Only his eyes, which had darkened to a murky olive brown, showed how quickly thoughts were flying through his head.

  Vedaris didn’t scoff, though he barely held that in check.

  Releasing his bottom lip from a bite, Vedaris licked the tender flesh and said tentatively, “And you want…my kind in your human school?”

  “Your kind?” said Sitara slowly.

  Roble said shocked, “Of course. All races are invited to participate in the test, and if they pass, enroll in the famed school. You especially would be welcome.”

  Vedaris snorted. “And why is that?”

  “Your charming personality for one,” said Roble dryly.

  Vedaris shot her a wry look.

  The healer shrugged. “There’s something off about your aura…almost like a dark magic.”

  Vedaris stiffened as he felt anger rise. He may have been an outcast in Sahalia and have to take whatever was thrown at him like a grateful dog, but he didn’t have to accept the same treatment here.

  Roble must have sensed the tension because she raised her hands in a placating manner and said, “Not there’s anything wrong with different. All the students here are different from the normal population and some are…special.”

  “Special? Special how?” demanded Vedaris.

  “You’ll see if you pass,” said Roble.

  “And what if I don’t want to pass your damned entrance exam? What if I don’t want to attend?”

  “Then why did you come here?” Roble asked snootily.

  “Coincidence,” shot Vedaris.

  “There’s no such thing as coincidence in regards to this school,” the healer responded in an eerily calm voice. “There’s no way you would have gotten past the wards unless it was intended.”

  Vedaris crossed his arms in irritation. “Well, I’m telling you I didn’t intend to do anything.”

/>   “Maybe you didn’t,” Roble said easily. “Maybe it was your destiny, dragon.”

  Then the healer walked away, leaving a frustrated Vedaris and a contemplative young girl in a quiet ward alone with their thoughts and faced with their dreams.

  Vedaris didn’t really see himself as having a choice. He could take the test, pass, and stay in the school, or he could fail and head to the coastal cities and make a life for himself.

  It wasn’t a choice because he would be a fool to try.

  Cackling to himself as he grabbed a blanket and tucked himself in Vedaris muttered, “Who in the seven empires goes to school voluntarily anyway? I’m out of here at dawn and back on the road to where I should be. The human cities.”

  It’s Time to Change

  Vedaris woke bright and early. He wasn’t sure if it was nerves or guilt.

  “Why would I be nervous?” he said disdainfully. “I’ll take their test, fake an effort, and con them into giving me a ride into the city. Might take some of those magical potions with me…I’m sure the value on the streets is pretty good.”

  “What’d you say?” the girl muttered.

  “What? Nothing,” snapped Vedaris. “I wasn’t talking to you, bleater.”

  She glared and rubbed her shoulder in irritation. “No cause to be so rude.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” Vedaris repeated slowly enough with a flash of teeth that she couldn’t mistake it for anything but what it was — a threat.

  “Fine,” she sniffed and turned away.

  He snorted and watched out of the corner of his eye as the healers reapplied salve to Sitara’s wound, determined that she should rest for at least another hour, and so she sat in a wooden moving chair waiting for a student to push her.

  He shook his head. “They sure do treat people soft here. They don’t even know her. They don’t know me. We don’t pay no dues here.”

  “Come with us,” a new healer instructed.

  Vedaris eyed them and followed behind without a word. The sooner they got this done, the better. They exited the healing facilities together. The young male student pushing Sitara kept up a steady stream of one-sided conversation.

  Neither Sitara nor Vedaris contributed much to his ramblings…their thoughts were filled with the past day’s events.

  Two male youths and one female already waited in the atrium. All three wore what looked like travel clothes, not that Sitara or Vedaris were clothed any better. The two groups looked at each other and then away, as if the marble rolling beneath the wheels of Sitara’s chair, checkered white and black, was the most fascinating design in the world.

  After a few minutes of awkward silence and sneaky side-glances, a man in robes walked in. He was dressed in enough silk that Vedaris picked him out as an official of some sort fifteen feet away. He walked to the center of the room and gestured for the five young adults to gather around.

  “Some of you have met me before. To those who haven’t, I am the Headmaster of the Healing Hall. You may address me as Healer Masadi,” he began.

  “To all of you I say,” he continued, “Welcome to the halls of the Madrassa. An academy not just for learning the skills of a practicum, but also a practitioner’s academy where those far advanced in their fields come to strengthen their skills, test their magic and further the knowledge of the schools.”

  “This morning you will face the admissions test for entrance,” he said as he looked at each of them.

  Vedaris twitched when Masadi caught his eyes, thinking, Why’s he looking at me?

  “I don’t have to tell you that hundreds of students of all backgrounds come to these halls hoping for a place among the schools,” Masadi said. “We are very fortunate in the aptitude and quality of our students and hope they take the knowledge and responsibility of what they’ve learned seriously,” he said.

  His eyes wandered over each of the candidates to emphasize his point.

  AGAIN with the looking at me, Vedaris exclaimed in his head. And what’s her problem?

  This time he gave a side-eye towards the other girl who stood ramrod straight in front of Masadi, almost at attention.

  Masadi continued, “Should you pass the entrance exam, you’ll be inducted today. Should you fail, we’ll have an escort take you to the way station and your fare paid to the city of your choice.”

  Perfect, Vedaris gloated to himself. I got two free rides. One across the sea and the other to the city, without lifting a finger.

  “Nothing further about the Schools or the Academy will be discussed until you pass your tests,” Masadi concluded. “Now please follow me.”

  They didn’t go far before Vedaris was engulfed in darkness.

  He was shocked for a moment but he soon reverted to wary readiness. It was smart of them, after all, to catch the potential students off guard and test them then. He just had to figure out how to fail and make it look like he’d tried.

  As the darkness disappeared, Vedaris’s vision adjusted and he realized that he stood in a fighting dojo.

  He frowned as he looked around. Wooden walls encircled a floor spread with training mats and not much else.

  Straight ahead of him stood a tall black man of fearsome appearance and simple fighting robes.

  With a smirk Vedaris stepped forward. This peacock didn’t scare him. He’d faced down drug lords and would-be kings of the city playground.

  If it was a test of fighting skills this man wanted then that’s what he’d get. Vedaris would just have to make sure he didn’t beat him too soundly. He had to get out of here after all.

  When Vedaris stood five paces in front of the man, without a word his opponent slid back in a fighting stance, raised his palm and gestured for Vedaris to bring it on.

  Vedaris needed no further invitation. With the speed of his kind and strength of his ancestors he would wipe the floor with this human in seconds.

  He was in for a surprise. The minute he began sparring with the man he could see that he was talented.

  Not only did the man seem to know the dancing fighting styles of the Windswept Isles but also the combat play of the knights of Sahalia.

  With a frown, Vedaris wondered what he had gotten into.

  Panting with exertion he continued to press for position against his opponent but gained no ground.

  He thought to do one final trick which often confused his foes on the streets.

  Abruptly he turned, ran full tilt at the wall and ran up the wall…one…two…three…four steps...twisted with an almighty push and kicked out straight into the chest of his opponent.

  Or at least he tried to. The push went great, the kick went well. But his opponent grabbed his leg, not at the last minute, but at mid-stride.

  Vedaris landed with a heavy thud on the practice mats, out of breath and madder than hell.

  “Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?” the pissed Sahalian said. He had already forgotten about his promise to fail. His pride was at stake.

  His opponent merely stared down at him, stone faced, and said, “Do you know why you lost?”

  “What?” said Vedaris, still dazed from his abrupt and humiliating defeat.

  “Do you know why you lost?” his opponent repeated.

  With a frown Vedaris snapped, “Because you’re faster and stronger than me…which is IMPOSSIBLE! No human can best a great dragon.”

  “You lost,” his opponent answered, ignoring Vedaris’ diatribe, “because you’re incapable of winning.”

  “What?” shouted Vedaris from his seat on the ground where he was nursing his leg, “You insignificant worm-eater, I went easy on you…”

  His opponent held up a hand to forestall further protest and continued, “You’re incapable of winning because you haven’t harnessed your magic.”

  That shut Vedaris up. Magic, Vedaris thought to himself, shocked.

  “What magic?” he demanded aloud. He didn’t have any magic. He’d just gone along with that crackpot healer’s suggestion because he’
d wanted a free ticket out of the school walls.

  He refused to acknowledge the little ember of hope in his chest that had just grown a bit brighter with this second individual’s confirmation.

  He said I have magic, Vedaris thought dumbfounded. He had a right to be confused. Magic for a dragon who couldn’t shape shift was unheard of…and as far as he knew, impossible.

  “That, I can’t yet tell you,” the instructor said. “But I can tell you that you have magical talents. It is my job to help you discover them and train you to use them properly.”

  Vedaris ears had perked up by then. “Train me?”

  “Are you going to repeat everything I say?”

  Vedaris glared. “Just answer one question.”

  The man tilted his head and nodded.

  “Would I have to stay at the school to get this magic?”

  A faint smile appeared on the instructor’s face. “Yes.”

  Vedaris frowned. “Can’t you just give me a book and send me on my way?”

  “No.”

  Vedaris swallowed. Here was everything he’d ever wanted. There in the distance was the chance to get to a city without delay.

  Vedaris hesitated and then spoke. “I suppose I can spend a day or two here…to learn the ropes.”

  The man gave Vedaris an unreadable look and then he bowed.

  When he rose from the bow, he said, “Welcome to the School of the Unknown.”

  He continued, “I am an initiate assigned to you. Consider this probation. When you are ready you will meet with the Headmaster for your true test.”

  “True test?” Vedaris sputtered as the room disappeared and he was back where he’d started. Staring at a Headmaster whose eyes knew far too much.

  Vedaris couldn’t help it. He snarled. The man annoyed him. The minute he got his magic…he was out of here.

  A Word from Terah Edun

  I hope you’ve enjoyed “It’s Time to Change”.

  Dragons have always been mysterious creatures. Mythological beasts that haunt our imaginations and fuel our sense of adventure. Are they the famed carnivorous beast slayed by St. George or something more? I enjoyed taking that to a new level and exploring a society entirely built by and run by sentient shape-shifting dragons.