She turned her focus to Leaghan, who sat nearby, but was mentally so far away. She rocked back and forth on her knees, muttering something under her breath. Wylan turned away, seeing the elf in her mental torment reminded her too much of when she’d been trapped partially between the long desert, and part in the spirit world. She shivered.
Josef asked, “have you given any thought about what you’d like to do when you reach Darubai?”
Wylan shrugged. “When I lived with my parents I always wanted to go to the city and learn to fight dragons. But I’m not sure what Lissandra has in mind.”
“Most wyverns don’t argue with fighting dragons, they know it keeps us all safe,” Josef told her.
“I just don’t know what Lissandra wants at this moment to make a decision, but I’d really like to be part of the guard.”
“We are called dragon guard,” Josef told her. “Pretty catchy name if you ask me.”
“And what do you do?”
“There are tons of different options really. Some of us just guard the city and scout for potential threats. Not all threats come in the form of dragons. We deal with wraiths, tribes of drakes, all kinds of other threats. The dragons hit the hardest though. There are other divisions that scout the surrounding land looking for people to join the city and get out of the dangers of the long desert. Those divisions go on missions that can last up to a few months depending on how far out they’re told to go.”
“See, that’s what I’d like to do,” Wylan told him.
“They are a lot of fun. I’ve been on a few myself. We can’t always go to wing, we have regular soldiers that join us from time to time and since they can’t fly we often walk, that’s why the missions take so long.”
“I bet there’s a lot of danger out there,” Wylan said. The adventurer side of her that obsessed over books and heroes of old stirred at the thought.
“Haven’t you had enough danger out here?” Josef wondered.
“No!” Wylan said. “And I bet Lissandra and I can merge more often, that the adventures will be a lot more fun.”
Josef laughed at her. “An adventurer at heart. I’d rather stay in to be honest. Hearth and home is where the fun is at for me. Protecting Darubai is adventure enough.”
“You really deal with drakes?” Wylan wondered. “I thought they stayed away from populated areas.”
Josef shrugged. “They normally do, but I think they are after the magical books in the wizards keep to be honest.”
“So it’s true, they have magic?” Wylan asked.
“Of a sort. I don’t really know what their magic is based on, but I know it’s not the same kind the wizards used to use. Maybe they want to branch out.”
Wylan wondered at that. She tried to imagine a drake, a human-like creature covered with scales and webbed hands and feet. They were rumored to be largely magical in nature.
She also thought about the city and what life would be like for her there. It would be nice to have a home again, even if it wasn’t the home she’d thought it would be when she arrived at Darubai. She’d hoped that going to the city would have happened in the company of her parents.
“Do you have actual homes?” she wondered. “I had this vision of the city before. I don’t think that’s what the city will be like now.”
“Yea, we definitely have our own homes. The city is so empty that you can almost choose wherever you want to live.”
Wylan felt more excited than ever to go to the city now. She could have her own place. She’d never had that. The house she shared with Cuthburt and Kethill had been small enough that she had slept on the couch. She never had the chance to sleep in and she rarely got the chance to go to bed early. Most of her schedule reflected her parents who were late to bed and early to rise.
“But you’re eighteen, right?” Josef asked.
She nodded.
“If you make the guard then you will have your own place. Since you’re eighteen you won’t have to worry about housing with minors. Minors are often housed in apartments that are overseen by older people, unless they’re wyvern. You’re right on the cusp of being a minor in the eyes of the guard.”
“What does being in the guard have to do with?” Wylan wondered.
“Well, those people who join the guard often have a wyvern soul that is stricter with them and keeps them in check.”
Wylan thought of Lissandra. She was definitely strict in the sense that she wanted Wylan to do as she wanted, even if she didn’t tell her what she wanted. She could only imagine Lissandra punishing her by turning her back on Wylan if she got out of hand.
“I can understand that,” she said.
“I thought you would.”
“So what division are you in?” Wylan wondered.
“City guard,” he said. “I have the option to go out, but I rarely do. I keep the city safe, kind of like the constables used to before the dragons returned.”
“That could be fun too,” Wylan said. “It would make all the difference if Lissandra would just tell me what she wanted. All she’s said is ‘family’ and ‘unity’ and indicated that dragons are also family.”
Josef frowned. “So she wants you to protect dragons as well?”
Wylan shrugged. “That’s what’s so frustrating. She hasn’t come out and said that.”
“How strange,” Josef said. “Well, she can’t want all dragons to be safe. The wyvern soul is just as concerned with safety as any other living thing. They want to live, not die, and dragons want us to die.”
:Lies,: Lissandra grumbled so low that Wylan barely heard it. She didn’t tell Josef that her wyvern soul didn’t agree with him. It was hard to get a read on Lissandra. Wylan thought of asking her what she meant, but the wyvern seemed to be settling down for the night. Already the heat that came with Lissandra’s slumber was building in Wylan’s core.
“How much longer to Darubai?” Wylan asked. “We’ve been out here forever; I can’t imagine it’s far now.”
“It definitely seems to be taking longer than I’d hoped. I would say two, maybe three days.”
Millie chose that point to come back to the camp with Geffrey. “Four or five days,” she said. “Geffrey has dreamed of some ruins not far from here. He thinks there may be something there that we need.”
“Ah, gotta love prophecy,” Josef said. “It could be the greatest weapon to fight dragons, or it could be a chunk of meat.”
Geffrey giggled and sat beside Josef.
“How’s he doing?” Wylan asked. “You’re healing his mind?”
Millie nodded and sat down. “Healing the mind is a lot harder than healing the body. There are layers to the wounds there and you have to address each and every one, even if it doesn’t seem to be the cause of the current problem.”
“Better you than me,” Josef said.
Millie nodded. “I agree.”
Wylan laughed at the shocked look on Josef’s face.
“Anyway, we should get some sleep. The ruins will take the better part of a day to get to without flying.”
Through the morning and afternoon of their travel dragons patrolled the skies. Wylan knew Millie had hoped they could fly to the ruins, but with so many multi-colored beasts winging through the skies above, there was no chance of that.
Geffrey was able to give them enough warning when dragons were coming so they were able to find some way to hide themselves. Wylan would watch the giant beasts drifting on the currents of air above the clouds, casting cold shadows across the land as they passed. She wondered if a particular blue dragon might be the same blue that had killed her parents, but that was unlikely. At this point, Wylan figured she would never find that blue again, and she had no idea how to track it down.
Wylan had seen enough ruins in her time that these ruins looked little different. A lot of smashed buildings, a lot of burned foundations. The sand had claimed much of the settlement making it sometimes hard to tell if you were walking through streets or someone’s kitchen.
When the town came into sight, they separated and Wylan made her way through the shifted sand, her eyes peeled like they were when she hunted through rubble with Cuthburt. The difference was, when she ventured with her father she knew what they were looking for. This time around she had no idea what to hunt for. For all she knew, whatever they sensed could lay beneath feet of sand.
She started out slow, looking for the typical things she would have looked for with Cuthburt. There weren’t many books to be had in the first house, and there was no trace of food that hadn’t been ransacked by rodents of other desert lizards. She sifted through tools on the tables, sure that they weren’t looking for a kitchen knife or chipped bowls.
She went to the next house, wondering what it could be they were looking for. It had to be something out of the ordinary, something they needed Geffrey had been certain about that.
It wasn’t until she was in her fifth house that she found something interesting, a book titled A History of Dragons. She sat on a rickety chair and flipped through the worn pages, careful not to rip any of them. There were pictures of dragons, potions that were said to help dragon slayers, and all kinds of tables and appendices that Wylan was sure would help. The light was fading, however, and she didn’t have the time to give it more than a cursory inspection.
She tucked the book under her arm and kept searching. It was in the same house that a shimmer of a blade attracted her attention. It rested in the corner of the room, in the near darkness of the foundation that hadn’t been completely destroyed when the dragons attacked. She made her way through the debris to the blade.
It lay in the sand, a fragment of a sword, the end broken off. The blade itself wasn’t more than a foot long. While she expected it to be tarnished, or dull with the elements, that wasn’t the case. The edge was still sharp, the metal still shown with a cold light. The pummel was artfully wrapped in leather.
The moment she touched it, she felt Lissandra’s attention pique. The wyvern was both drawn to the blade and afraid of it. Wylan could only picture Lissandra’s interest in the blade like the wraiths were drawn to scales. Lissandra moved beneath Wylan’s skin, her power reaching down the arm that held the sword. When the wyvern soul touched the pummel, it recoiled and purred.
The wyvern was afraid of the blade. It felt power within the forged steal.
“I will take that as a good sign,” Wylan said.
“I found something!” Josef called out.
Wylan jumped and turned toward the fallen wall of the house. She made her way out into the fading sunlight. She could make out the figure of Josef to her right, and she headed for him. As she neared, Millie and Geffrey both materialized out of the shadows of a nearby building.
“What is it?” Millie asked.
“Fire fruit.” Joseph held up a round, orange fruit. The skin on the outside looked tough, like hide.
“Fire fruit,” Millie breathed. She took the fruit from Josef and inhaled deeply, her eyes fluttering closed. “I haven’t seen one of these since the dragons came.”
“We could try to grow some,” Josef said. “Hold on to that.”
“What did you find?” Geffrey asked Wylan.
“A book on dragons, and a sword.” She held up her treasures.
“Way to make mine look insignificant,” Josef grumped.
“You think they’re important?” Millie asked, handing the fruit back to Josef.
“Yes, Lissandra was both drawn to and afraid of the sword.”
“That’s a good sign,” Millie reached for the sword, and Wylan handed it to her. She grasped the sword and closed her eyes. Wylan could tell the moment she felt the power of the sword because Millie’s face contorted in glee and pain. She sighed a quick, ragged breath and her eyes fluttered open. “That’s a really good sign.”
She passed the sword to Josef and moments later his face split in a smile. “This might be useful to the guard.”
“Do you think it’s something that can be replicated?” Wylan wondered.
Josef nodded. “Probably. We have yellows that can try to figure out what magic made it, maybe they can channel an ancient wizard and fire up our forges for working a spell in it.”
“You’re collecting quite a few weapons,” Millie said. “Josef, why don’t you try to find her a belt to sheath the sword and that wand.”
Josef saluted and vanished into the shadows of a building.
“In the meantime, we should settle down for the night while we have such great shelter.”
While Millie and Geffrey hunted, Wylan scouted around for reeds in the rubble of buildings that might still burn. When Josef returned with a belt for her, Wylan had a nice little fire going.
He tossed the belt to her, and she caught it.
“Figured out how to work with your magic without blowing things up?” Josef asked.
Wylan nodded. She surveyed the belt, finding a place to sheath the sword and another place where she could slip the cold length of the wand, and it fit snuggly enough that she didn’t worry about losing it when traveling.
“It’s freeing in a way, knowing how to use your powers,” Josef affirmed. “It makes you feel less at the whim of the fates.”
“What was it like for you when you caught the plague?” Wylan asked.
Josef sighed and crouched by the fire. He placed his hands near the crackling flames, warming his fingers. “Well, not like yours and not like Millie’s. I lived in the city, I was one of the poor saps that caught the plague and made it through. There wasn’t any dragon fire, no destruction of family and home. I didn’t have a home.”
“Is homelessness much of an issue in Darubai?” Wylan asked, shocked.
“Yep, it happens more than you can imagine. Well, not as much now since there’s more buildings than people. The section where we keep those with damaged minds used to be my home. I had a nice spot on a roof that I had set up like home. It was pretty cozy. When I heard of people getting sick, I thought it might be best to get out of town.”
“But the sickness was everywhere,” Wylan said. “That wouldn’t have helped.”
“I didn’t know that. We didn’t know that it was anything outside of the city,” Josef said. “There were a lot of people catching this sickness, and I figured what chance would an urchin like myself have against a plague that people with money could by medicine for.”
“What stopped you from leaving?”
“When I realized there was an actual plague on our hands, I tried to run. When I made it to the city gates I was scared to leave. I stuck around for a few more days, and by the time I was about to leave I realized I already had the sickness.”
“And you didn’t think you’d survive in the long desert.”
Josef nodded. “If I couldn’t survive in a city with water and food, what made me think I would survive in the Dar Desert with none of those things? I headed to my home, but before I got there, dragons swarmed the city. Twice as many as High Haven. You can’t imagine what it was like, hundreds of dragons converging on the city. Some breathing the plague like green mist through the city streets, others sending buildings up in a blaze of fire. There was a great white dragon swarming through the streets, freezing people solid as they ran in fear.”
Wylan shuddered. “That’s awful.”
“It was terrible. Add to that some people were already starting to change. We had people bursting into flame of their own accord, we had others transforming into wyverns and taking to the sky, fighting back the dragons. Many of the early wyverns that tried protecting us died. They would fall to the city street, their shape shifting back to humans before they broke against the roads or against a building. Blood and gore was everywhere.”
“I’ve seen evidence
of that in some ruins,” Wylan told him, remembering one town Cuthburt and her came to soon after a dragon attack with bodies strewn everywhere, torn apart, charred, and some impaled on remnants of houses.
“It happens everywhere,” Josef agreed. “Dragons have no care about the carnage they leave behind. It was absolute mayhem. After the dragons left I realized some of the attack hadn’t come from dragons, but from the plague within people. We had a new breed of humans walking among us—wyverns.
“Of course we didn’t know what to do with them, and I thought they should be put to death…until I changed. It didn’t take the emperor and empress long before they saw the benefit of shifters that could change into wyrms. They set up the dragon guard and the moment I heard news of it, I enlisted. I knew the dragons would be back, and I would do everything in my power to kill them.”
“Have you killed any?” Wylan asked.
“Two,” Josef said. He didn’t look away from the fire. “And lost several of my comrades in the battles against them. One was a white dragon, the other a purple dragon. You can imagine how tough those fights must have been. Ice, and lightning.”
“Together?”
“No, no. That would have been impossible. But the white dragons seem to be the leaders in most cases. That one had to be the toughest dragon there was around.”
“How did you manage it?” Wylan asked.
Josef smiled. “By accident. It nearly destroyed my entire group when it turned on me. It breathed in, and just before it let loose a wintery storm at me, I threw up my hands and called my water. The power surrounded me, encasing me in an orb of ice. The wyvern came to me, I shifted and stayed alive within the ice until the dragon turned to leave. It was a bloody battle, but I found the weak spot.”
“And where’s that?” Wylan asked, curious if it would help her fight the dragons.
“The roof of their mouth,” Josef said. “It’s not scaled, and it leads almost directly to their brain. It opened up to blast me again, and I drove my sword right up through its head.”
Dragon Plagued: Chronicles of Dragon Aerie Young Adult Fantasy Fiction (Plague Born Book 2) Page 15
