The cage was suspended twenty feet in the air by a thick chain attached to the end of a towering pillar, which accounted for the swaying motion. The screeching must have come from the pulley. The ground below sloped away, forming a massive bowl shape. It looked to be mostly rock, but some smoother parts looked oddly metallic. Along one part of the bowl, four more enormous pillars rose at regular intervals, curving inward like giant fingers. Anne felt trapped inside a colossal half-clenched hand. She couldn’t see much beyond the bowl’s edge due to a heavy mist hanging in the air.
Anne stumbled over to the metal strips of the cage’s sides and pulled at several, hoping to find a loose one. Despite their haphazard appearance, however, the makeshift bars were firm and refused to budge. Penelope and Hiro tried some of the other strips, but neither had any luck.
“Well, wherever this is, I’m guessing it’s a long way from that archway tier,” said Anne.
“Not to mention dragons can fly superfast,” said Penelope. “We could be anywhere.”
Anne brought out the guide. The title read: The Adventurer’s Guide to Cages You Should Absolutely Avoid Getting Locked In. Inside there was a picture of a cage that resembled the one they were currently standing in. Anne shook the book several times, but neither the title nor the image changed, so she tucked it back in her pocket.
Hiro slapped one of the bars. “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Valerian.”
“I don’t see how this is his fault,” said Penelope.
Hiro whirled on her. “Are you serious? Stealing the gauntlet? The Copper Knights? Not to mention trying to activate the quest in the first place? He isn’t responsible for any of that?”
Anne was taken aback by the intensity of Hiro’s reaction.
“Calm down,” said Penelope. “I only meant I doubt he summoned the dragons.”
“Oh, well, I guess that makes everything okay, then.” Hiro crossed his arms. “I can’t believe you’re still defending him.”
“I don’t think Pen is defending anyone,” said Anne, hoping to ease the tension.
“I can speak for myself, thanks,” snapped Penelope.
Anne felt an edge of anger creep in. “In that case, why are you defending him?”
Penelope put her hands on her hips. “Oh, so you’re taking Hiro’s side, are you?”
“I’m not taking sides,” Anne said. “I’m just trying to understand.”
“That’s just it, though. You can’t possibly understand.” Penelope clenched and unclenched her fists several times. “Valerian is suffering because of something that happened between his mother and the dragon queen. I’m not saying what he’s done is right, but neither of you know what it’s like to have other people constantly look down on you because of something your parents did.”
“So you think it’s okay for Valerian to kill the dragon queen?” asked Anne.
“Maybe he’s right,” Penelope said. “Maybe she deserves it.”
Before Anne could say anything else, Penelope stomped off to another part of the cage, and Hiro marched to the opposite side.
Anne’s heart sank. She didn’t know what to say to either of her friends. She wasn’t even sure who she agreed with. Hiro wasn’t wrong: Valerian had betrayed them. But Penelope also had a point: They didn’t know his full reasons for doing what he’d done, and she highly doubted he had intended for his mother to be harmed. Anne shuddered to think what had happened to her in the pit.
After several hours of restless sitting and waiting, the thump of approaching footsteps reverberated through the mist. Anne stood. As the footsteps drew nearer, she imagined any number of horrible fates. She gripped the bars and prepared herself for the worst. At first, she could only make out a large dark form, but as it neared the cage, Anne’s fear turned to joy. There was no mistaking those black scales and those deep-green eyes. A flood of relief washed over Anne.
“Nana!” she cried.
Penelope and Hiro leapt to their feet and came rushing over.
“I hate to say I told you so,” said Nana. “Actually, that’s not true. I rather enjoy saying it.”
Anne was so happy to see Nana that she was grateful even for the dragon’s cantankerous demeanor.
“How did you know we were here?” asked Anne.
Nana shrugged. “News travels fast. Dragon news even more so.”
“And you came to rescue us?” Hiro asked hopefully.
“Because of your deep affection for us?” Penelope added.
Nana smiled. “While I hate to admit it, you three have grown on me. Mostly like pieces of fungi, but then, some fungi are very hard to remove. You’re like irremovable pieces of fungi.”
“Nana, what’s going on?” asked Anne.
“Yeah,” said Penelope. “Those dragons threw us in here, but they haven’t done anything else—including feeding us, by the way. We’ve missed breakfast and lunch already today, and we’re on the verge of missing dinner as well. Isn’t there some sort of regulation against that?”
Nana yawned and made a show of stretching out on the ground. “You’ve been declared guilty under dragon law of conspiracy to murder the queen of dragons.”
“What?” said Anne. “How can we be found guilty when there hasn’t even been a trial?”
“It’s standard practice,” said Nana. “All prisoners are declared guilty before going to trial. But don’t worry. I’ve been appointed to defend you.”
“And you can convince them that we’re innocent?” asked Hiro.
“Not a chance.”
“But—but then why did you tell us not to worry?”
Nana shrugged. “It seemed like the sort of comforting thing someone appointed to defend you would say.”
Anne felt her anxiety return. “So what happens now?”
“You appear before the queen, who basically tells you what I just told you, and then they execute you,” said Nana. “But after that there’s a barbecue, and those are typically a lot of fun.”
Penelope crossed her arms. “And how exactly are we supposed to enjoy a barbecue if we’re dead?”
“I meant fun for me,” said Nana, smacking her lips.
“Nana!” cried Anne.
Nana grinned. “You three are a little high-strung, you know. You should try to relax. Trust me. I have it all figured out. After the queen declares you guilty, she’ll ask if you have any last requests. That’s when you ask to take the dragon trials.”
Anne perked up. “What are the dragon trials?”
“They’re basically a big test involving riddles and sword fighting and maybe even a bit of magick and whatnot. Nothing you haven’t done before. And if you pass the trials, they let you go free.”
“Why can’t you just bust us out?” asked Penelope.
“I told you, I can’t interfere. But I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“Has anyone ever successfully finished the trials?” asked Hiro.
“Technically, no,” said Nana. “But there’s always a first time.”
Anne’s heart sank into her stomach.
Two more dragons appeared out of the mist. One was large and yellow and had a long snout. The other was short, blue, and squat and had large ears.
“The queen will see you now,” said the yellow dragon.
Instead of releasing Anne and the others, the dragons simply detached the cage from its chain, grasped the bars between their claws, and flew off. As they rose into the sky, Anne got a clearer view of their prison. It was indeed a hand—a colossal hand attached to an equally colossal arm. The arm protruded from the side of an immense tier, and Anne wondered if there was even more of the body buried inside the floating island. If so, its size would be staggering.
They crested the top of the tier and continued onward. The landscape was dry and bleak, with sharp peaks and deep trenches. Without warning, the dragons dropped suddenly into one of the shadow-filled valleys. They descended rapidly until the light overhead shrank to a thin crack. Finally, they came to a stop and landed
.
They were on a ledge, and in front of them the trench cut even deeper into the rock. Spanning it was a bridge made entirely of bones. None of them asked where the bones had come from.
The dragons opened the cage, and Nana motioned for them to come out. Neither of the dragon guards seemed overly concerned about keeping Anne, Penelope, and Hiro close, maybe because there was nowhere to run. They proceeded across the bridge and into a domed cavern. It was moderately spacious, although Anne couldn’t imagine more than a few dozen dragons Nana’s size fitting in there comfortably all at once. A massive crystal formation rose from the center of the room, and the guards guided them over to a spot in front of it. Nana stopped behind them.
Through an entrance on the other side of the cavern came yet another dragon, a silver one. It was big, although no bigger than Nana. Anne had certainly seen larger. It moved regally, though, and with definite purpose. The silver dragon walked to the center of the room and climbed atop the crystal structure.
“Behold,” said the yellow dragon guard. “Her Majesty, Kassandra Dawnbringer, Queen of the Dragons, Rightful Heir to the Heartstone, Seventh Marvel of the Modern World.”
The queen nodded to the two dragon guards. “You may go,” she said. Her voice was not loud or threatening. In fact, it was almost quiet, and yet it conveyed a strength that was not to be underestimated or trifled with. The guards left.
The queen’s eyes swept across those present until finally coming to rest on Anne.
“So,” she said at last, breaking the silence. “This is the Keeper of the Sparrow who dared to break the treaty between the dragon clan and the Hierarchy by brazenly activating a Dragon Slayer quest.”
“I didn’t dare anything,” Anne said defensively. “I didn’t seek the medallion or know what kind of quest it contained.”
The queen shook her head. “Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Do you deny activating the quest?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” said Anne.
“I find that answer to be evasive.”
“Nana, aren’t you going to say something?” asked Hiro.
“Like what?” said Nana. “I thought it was evasive, too. Seriously, you really need to up your game if you’re hoping not to die.”
“Your Majesty,” said Anne, “if you would hear me out, I have troubling information you must know.”
The queen leaned back. “Proceed.”
They didn’t have a gift to present, so Anne couldn’t ask her question, but she could at least warn the queen.
Anne took a steadying breath. “As I said, I never intended to activate that quest, but someone else did. There’s a group of knights, known as the Copper Knights—”
“I am aware of them,” said the queen.
“You are?” said Anne. “I mean… that’s great. It’s great that you already know. Anyway, they are, or they were, working with a boy named Valerian. I’m not quite sure anymore because it turns out that they seem to be more in control of him than he is of them. Anyway, long story short, we think they’re trying to kill you. They even have the Three-Handed Sword. Or, I mean, all the broken pieces of the sword. They haven’t reforged it or anything, at least as far as we know, but who knows what they’re capable of if they’ve already made it this far, right?”
“Is that everything?”
Anne thought for a moment. “Actually, we also wanted to speak with you about a swordsmith we met named Emmanuelle—”
“Enough!” bellowed the queen. Her eyes were wide and red with rage. “You will not speak of that person in this chamber.”
“But she told us about your disagreement, and I really think if you—”
“I said, Enough!”
The queen was livid. She paced back and forth across the top of the giant gemstone. Anne opened her mouth to apologize but then thought better of it. There was no telling whether that would make things better or worse.
“From your own mouth you condemn yourself. You admit to activating the Dragon Slayer quest. You admit to associating with the Copper Knights. You admit to conspiring and colluding with a sworn enemy of the dragon clan. And you do so freely in this chamber, this most hallowed place of the dragons. Have you no humility? Is there no end to your brazenness? Even worse, you express false concern for my well-being, when it is widely known that there is no weapon in existence that can kill me.”
The queen raised herself to her full height. “You have been found guilty. The penalty for your crime is death, to be carried out immediately. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”
Penelope nudged Anne, and it was enough to bring her out of her state of shock.
“We… we request the dragon trials,” said Anne, her stomach flip-flopping.
“What?”
“Th-the dragon trials,” Anne repeated. “It is our right as prisoners to choose the trials for the chance to prove our innocence.”
The queen’s eyes flickered over to Nana and back again. She didn’t say anything, but she was obviously displeased with this turn of events.
“Very well,” said the queen, her jaw clenched tight. “At dawn tomorrow, you will be taken to the arena. There you will face the dragon trials. And there you will die.”
The night passed slowly.
Nana had brought them some food after their meeting with the queen, but despite her full stomach and overall exhaustion, Anne had trouble falling asleep. Hiro tossed and turned in his corner of the cage. Penelope didn’t make any sound whatsoever. No one seemed quite as angry anymore, but Anne could tell their fight was still a sore spot.
Anne’s thoughts drifted to Emmanuelle. Even if she hadn’t been injured in the fall, she was now stuck in that… place. She said going there would speed up her transformation. Anne couldn’t imagine being trapped there, all alone, life slowly ebbing away. And what must Valerian be feeling? Anne was furious with him for his betrayal. Even if what had happened to his mother hadn’t been his fault, hadn’t he chosen to work with the Copper Knights in the first place? And hadn’t he lied about continuing to have contact with them? Anne had little sympathy for him.
It was all too much for her to untangle. Tomorrow, they first had to face the dragon trials, and then she could worry about the rest.
She closed her eyes and fell into a fitful sleep.
A NOTE ON DRAGON LAW:
Little has been written about the dragon legal system (since most defendants are arbitrarily declared guilty and become dinner). Less still has been written by dragons themselves (since dragons are typically too busy enjoying dinner). In fact, the only known book by a dragon on the subject of their own laws, So You’ve Broken a Dragon Law and Are About to Become Dinner, of which there was only ever one copy made, was mistaken for a fancy dessert at a posttrial dragon barbecue and swallowed whole by the judge, who declared it “delicious.”
The Dragon Trials
The next morning was unusually bright and sunny. Anne wasn’t sure what she was more anxious about: the upcoming dragon trials, or the fact that every minute wasted was yet another minute not spent finding a way to stop the Copper Knights. The dragon queen seemed confident that any attempt on her life was doomed to fail, but if she was wrong, the consequences could be disastrous.
The yellow and blue guard dragons arrived to escort the three adventurers. They returned to the same ledge, but they didn’t cross the bridge again. Instead, the guards led them down a steep, curving stairway that descended into the depths of the tier. Eventually, they arrived at an enormous rocky cavern. A large hole occupied the center of the floor, and the roiling waves of the BGFM were visible far below.
Multiple ledges ran around the perimeter and were filled with dragons of every size, color, and class, from tiny yellow hummingbird dragons to colossal bright-pink elephant dragons, from fiery red dragons with a row of spikes down their backs to blubbery blue dragons whose continuously jiggling bodies were mesmerizing. There was even a tiny green dragon the size of a flying ant that Anne didn’t notice
until it buzzed past her nose, and there was a scaly brown dragon that looked like it had been carved out of rock, which Anne mistook for a statue until it moved while she was looking at it. She stared at all the dragons in amazement.
The guards led them around the hole in the floor, which Anne realized resembled the archway through which they had traveled to fetch the Three-Handed Sword. In fact, it looked identical in every respect, save two: a low wall ran around the perimeter, and a large disc hung from the ceiling directly above it. Anne couldn’t guess what was on top of the disc, but she felt certain it must relate to the dragon trials.
On the far side of the archway an enormous green dragon stood atop a pillar. The dragon nearly reached the ceiling of the cavern, and it took Anne a moment to realize it was only a statue. Seven much smaller pedestals formed a semicircle in front of it, but these were empty. Each of the smaller pedestals had a letter and a number carved into it: A1, A2, and so on to A7.
The queen stood directly beneath the pillar with the dragon statue, and the guards brought Anne, Penelope, and Hiro to stand before her. She appeared to have regained her composure from their previous encounter, and her manner was once again quiet and resolute.
“So, do you still desire to face the trials?” asked the queen, a definite edge to her voice.
“Do we have a choice?” asked Anne.
The queen smiled at this. “I suppose not.” She turned to the black pillar next to her. “Activate archway.”
The pillar opened and a small black sphere rose into the air. “Please stand by for retinal scan,” said the sphere.
A red beam of light scanned the face of the dragon queen and stopped on her eye. While the sphere performed its scan, Anne wondered again about the connection between the dragon queen and Emmanuelle. Why did their eyes, and only their eyes, open the archways?
The Adventurer's Guide to Dragons (and Why They Keep Biting Me) Page 11
