Of Gods, Trees, and a Sapling: Dragonlinked Chronicles Volume 4

by Adolfo Garza Jr.

  Polandra loved it. With a big smile on her lips, she turned to watch Uchu come through the portal.

  He flew toward them and hovered, head turning left and right, no doubt taking in the desert vista. Another dragon came through, then another.

  Polandra waved. Come. The caves are below. She grabbed the handholds on the saddle. Let’s go.

  Ikan rumbled and banked down to the mesa, to a spot next to the spire.

  Polandra dismounted and helped the other two down.

  As each dragon came through, they saw the one before heading to the mesa and followed. Soon enough, Mia flew through and Polandra ended the portal spell.

  After the gateway winked out, she looked around at the dragons on the mesa. This was more dragons than had been here in years, decades, even. The auditors, she noticed, were standing next to each other, watching. Adept Komako had a notebook open and Adept Oran occasionally whispered to her.

  W–Where are the trees? Uchu eyed the surrounds.

  With a chuckle, Polandra said, “There’s one, there.” She pointed.

  That is a tree?

  Liara laughed. “Uchu, that is exactly what I said when I first saw one here.”

  It is quiet and peaceful. Chel stared out to the east.

  Tozi chirped. And you can see so far!

  What is there to hunt? Chuki turned to Polandra.

  She thought a moment about the big game in the area. “There are bears and elk in the hills north of here and also in the mountains far to the south, and there are deer, cougars, and coyotes nearby. Some turkeys can get pretty big, too, the toms, certainly big enough for young dragons.”

  And water? Chuki looked out over the parched vista. It seems to be very dry.

  “It is,” Polandra said, “but come, let’s head inside. Let me show you around the caves. There is a spring in one of them.” She grabbed two lanterns from the saddlebags and handed one to Hunter.

  Gregor had some sort of short baton. He pressed a stud on it and a small glow appeared at its end. “Fillion brought this to me,” he explained. “Apparently they’re in use quite a bit in Stronghold.”

  Polandra grunted, unshielded her lantern, and headed for the large opening at the base of the spire.

  The sound of dragon paws on the ground was loud in the sloped rocky passage that led down to the cave system. Shadows danced along the walls, at least those cast by the lanterns. The lanterns swayed from their handles, causing the moving shadows, but the light from Gregor’s baton was as steady as his hand. Perhaps she should get one of those light batons.

  I can still smell dragon in here. How long have these caves been abandoned?

  Polandra recognized the voice. She glanced back at Uchu. “It has been dozens and dozens of years, season cycles. But there have been dragons living here recently. Ikan and Xochi’s blood-mother, Nayra, stayed here for a time, as did Xochi while her blood-mother taught her to fly.”

  She turned back forward. “It will likely not be as big a cave system as you are accustomed to, but it is comfortable.”

  According to Ikan’s memories of this House, when it existed, this place housed only about a third the dragons of what they believed House Yaot to have, and Ikan had once remarked that it was about the same in relation to House Peku. Perhaps because there was less big game in these dry climes? Dragons needed a relatively large amount of food, and that could have been a limiting factor. Then again, there had also been the Corpus Order hunting and killing any dragons they found.

  Polandra emerged from the passage into the large sand room. She held her lantern up to cast some light about. Others followed her example, and everyone had a look around.

  Nayra had used this place as a clutching room, but Ikan once mentioned that it had served as the meeting room for the dragon house that once existed here. Perhaps it would do so again. Or perhaps it would be co-opted as a clutching room, instead.

  Polandra led them down the earthen ramp to the floor.

  You must try this! Mia began rolling around in the sand.

  Polandra chuckled as she watched the dragons. Or maybe it will be a play room. All the dragons were rolling, or at the very least, lying, in the sand.

  A quiet chuckle came from Hunter. “That’s . . . kind of adorable.”

  Chuki sat up quickly and turned to her. The clay-colored dragon blinked then stood and shook herself. Sand fell from her. W–Where is the water you spoke of? I have need to w–wash sand from my mouth.

  Polandra got the distinct impression that she was embarrassed. How old is Chuki?

  She is within a few moon cycles of my age, based on what she has told Komako and Oran.

  Hmm. Polandra glanced at Hunter and back at Chuki. “It’s this way.” She headed for one of the large passages leading deeper into the caves.

  They’d been walking along for perhaps two minutes when Renny spoke up.

  “The air feels different.” He lifted his lantern and looked about.

  It is not as dry down here. Ikan’s chirp came from behind. There is more—I believe the human word is humidity.

  Polandra stepped out of the passage into the chamber of pools and Liara let out a soft sigh.

  Appreciative ohs and ahs came from the humans and rumbles from dragons as they walked into the large space. The occasional quiet sounds of water dripping and splashing were soothing.

  “That is what allowed dragons to live in this part of the desert.” Adept Komako jotted something in her notebook.

  “One can go some time between meals,” Adept Oran said, “but without a fairly close and constant supply of water, life would be very difficult.”

  “And, too, it’s amazing in here.” Hunter raised her lantern and looked around.

  Polandra smiled. This was her favorite of all the caves she’d explored here.

  Just off the center of the large room, a series of three pools had been created by the deposition of calcium over what was likely centuries. The central pool, within which the water from the spring emerged, was the largest and deepest, at about ten feet in diameter at its widest and perhaps half that in depth. Getting to it would be a little difficult as it rose at least four feet above another pool within which it sat. The second pool’s walls were perhaps two feet high and stood fairly close to the central pool’s walls, a very narrow one or two feet. That was why Polandra, and based on her talks with them, Renata and Isandath, had used the third pool—the one at the bottom and a bit to the side—for bathing. For one thing, it wouldn’t do to contaminate your drinking water, and for another the third pool was the only one easily accessible with enough room to fit in it, though it was fairly shallow.

  Ikan walked to the pools and drank his fill from the second one. He chirped and turned to face them. Cool, clean, and refreshing.

  Mia chirped at him before quickly walking over and drinking.

  After a little shake of her head, Chuki padded to the pools and drank.

  Polandra just made out a quiet chuckle from Hunter.

  The other former Departed, Uchu in the lead, walked over and drank as well. Chel, Nenet, and Tozi followed right behind.

  Ikan is correct. Tozi bobbed her head at him. The water is good.

  Ikan chirped at her, then turned to Polandra. If you would all extinguish your lights, there is unseen beauty here as well.

  Unseen beauty? Polandra drew her brows together and shuttered her lantern.

  One by one, the others closed the light shields on their lanterns. Then, with a click, Gregor extinguished the last source of illumination, his light baton, and plunged the large room into darkness.

  “I don’t see anything,” Renny said.

  A chuckle preceded Hunter’s words. “Wait for your eyes to adjust, you goof.”

  There was a rumble of annoyance, it wasn’t from a dragon, and another chuckle, this one from Gregor’s direction, then there was aught but the quiet, watery sounds of the pools for near to a minute.

  “Fascinating.” Off to the right, Adept Oran sounded
surprised.

  Polandra glanced about. What had he—? Oh.

  “Wow.” She stared at the faint areas of light on the ceiling. “I didn’t even know there was any light moss left in these caves.” In the not-quite-absolute darkness of the chamber, she turned to the slightly darker mass of dragons. “Why didn’t you mention this to me, Ikan?”

  At the time, I was unaware of the limitations of human vision. I thought you could see this even with the light of your lantern.

  She grunted and looked back up. The glowing patches were getting brighter, or rather, her eyes were adjusting further. “There are remnants of the patterns that the moss-tenders used, too, it seems.” The geometric designs, what remained of them, were attractive in their simplicity.

  “Draconic art,” Adept Komako said. “Perfect!” From the sounds, it seemed she was sketching the moss patterns in her notebook. How did she see in the near-darkness?

  “It is good we came along.” Adept Oran, too, sounded enthusiastic.

  “Indeed.” Adept Komako sketched away, glancing up at the ceiling and then at her notebook.

  Polandra raised her brows. Now that her eyes had adjusted more, she could just make out everyone’s shapes.

  Highest Mother Anaya mentioned once that in addition to light moss in several of the passages, the moss-tenders at House Yaot also have an enormous and beautiful garden in the meeting room. Ikan tilted his head. She hopes that one day the garden in the clutching room will be like that.

  “Would that we could see the Yaot garden.” The longing in Adept Oran’s voice was strong.

  Polandra turned to Ikan. What of House Peku? Do they have gardens? And would the queen there allow human visitors?

  I will speak with my blood-mother about it. I do not want to jeopardize her position there. I will let you know.

  Polandra nodded. Okay.

  “Please do,” Adept Oran said. “We will also need to observe unbonded dragons as much as possible.”

  Adept Komako had closed her sketchbook, so Polandra unshielded her lantern. Others did the same.

  Polandra turned to Adept Oran. “You’re going to also include them in your paper on dragon sentience?”

  Adept Oran and Adept Komako glanced at each other.

  “About that,” Adept Oran said and turned to her. “We’re taking a different tack with the paper than we originally thought about.”

  Polandra’s stomach tightened. “What?” Did the Guildmaster know about this?

  Liara stepped toward them. “But we have to prove that dragons are people!”

  “That’s just it.” Adept Komako said. “If we write a paper with the presumption that we must prove dragons are people, then that in and of itself could lend credence to the idea that maybe they aren’t.”

  “Instead,” Adept Oran said, “we’re going to write the paper with the presumption that dragons are people. The new direction for the paper will be to present an initial study of dragon society.”

  Hunter grunted. “A bit like presenting information on a newly discovered people that had been hidden away in some deep forest or inaccessible mountain valley?”

  “Exactly.” Adept Oran smiled.

  “What do you know of undiscovered people?” Renny stared at Hunter with a bemused smile.

  She laughed. “Not me! My mother. She’s a member of a group, a bit like a club, I guess. The Muirgen Geographic Society.”

  Adept Komako let out a sound almost like a squeak. “They’re one of the organizations to whom we will submit our paper!”

  Hunter glanced at the Animal Craft adept and nodded. “Mom gets a magazine from them with articles about various places and peoples. I used to devour each one after she finished reading it. Also, they’ve recently begun to include photographs that are quite stunning.”

  “We should take photographs,” Adept Oran said, a finger to his lip, “now you mention it.”

  “The guild now photographs each dragon soon after hatching,” Liara said, “for the guild files.”

  “I think I heard that they will take another when a dragon is full-grown,” Renny said, “also for the files.”

  “They do.” Polandra nodded. “Ikan had his taken recently.”

  “What’s considered full-grown?” Hunter’s brows were drawn together.

  “Right now, a year and a half,” Polandra said. “Based on our dragon’s memories, that seems to be when most dragons reach their maximum growth. As more of our dragons reach that age and beyond, we’ll be able to back that up with documented measurements.”

  “After all,” Liara said, chuckling, “as Sharrah has mentioned before, good documentation is part of good science.”

  “Sharrah is right about that,” Adept Komako said, “which is why Oran and I want to document as much as we can of both bonded and unbonded dragons.”

  “If I can help you two in any way,” Renny said, “let me know. I really want there to be no question that dragons are people.” He glanced at Uchu and then back at Adept Komako. “Right now, dragons could be treated like objects to be owned, used, and even tossed away on a whim, and I’m not sure there would be anything we could legally do about it. That cannot stand.”

  “Exactly.” Hunter was smiling at him.

  Polandra nodded, as did Liara.

  Ikan and Mia let out barks of agreement. Most of the other dragons glanced about at those fully in support of Renny’s statement. Uchu, eyes on the young man, let out a quiet rumble.

  “That’s one of the reasons we’re so excited about doing this paper,” Adept Oran said. He grinned. “The fact that dragons are the first non-human people ever discovered is another.”

  Polandra glanced again at the assembled dragons. They were big, beautiful beings. She definitely wanted them to have the protection of laws already in place for humans, but if the recent experience with Fala taught her anything, it was that while laws were all well and good, even with them, people could still threaten what you held dear. It was a place to start, certainly.

  She put her hands on her hips. Alright. How about we show you the sleeping caves?

  + + + + +

  “Watch it, Tobin!”

  Barbs and blades! Tobin grabbed the guyline again with his right hand, and now that he had both hands on it, he very slowly pulled. Half of the enormous bust, the left half, rotated toward its proper orientation, though momentum made it turn a little too much. Tobin did not yank, however, did not try to get it to turn back—he just held the tension on the guyline.

  “That’s the way.” The crew boss watched the gilded profile slowly rotate back and forth, each time a bit less, until it settled and became still. “Okay, everyone watch yourselves as we lower it down.” He pointed to the operator and said, “Now.”

  The sound of the winch was loud in the empty house. The half-bust bounced with each loud clank, but little by little, the section of prop lowered down to the wooden pallet on the stage.

  Tobin could only blink the sweat from his eyes. He dared not let go of the line again.

  Once it was finally on the pallet, the lift cable and guyline were removed. As two people strapped the left part of the face down, it gave Tobin time to wipe sweat off his own face and rest a moment. The lift cable, meanwhile, was attached to the top of the crate. After the bust section was secured to the pallet, the shipping crate’s top was lifted over it, lowered down, and then it, too, was secured.

  One piece of the bust was packed away and ready for the troupe to load onto their wagon.

  Tobin looked at the remaining half of the huge bust and shook his head. That damn stage prop was a pain in the ass to break down.

  “The right half, now.”

  After a glance at the crew boss, Tobin pressed his lips together, walked over, and sweated some more.

  Not too much later, Tobin and the others were done. At least with that prop.

  “I’ll give you five minutes,” the crew boss said, “but no more. The sooner we get this packed away, the sooner we can start gett
ing the place ready for the Summer Festival.” He walked off stage left.

  Tobin sat on the end of the stage, legs dangling toward the orchestra pit. “Gods,” he murmured, “that was the worst. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to help out.”

  “Are the usher’s delicate fingers hurting?” Parlan chuckled and sat next to him. “At least this troupe’s crew is helping instead of just standing off to the side ‘supervising.’ It would have taken longer without them.”

  “True enough.” Tobin glanced at the theater troupe’s stage crew where they took the break together.

  The three women laughed at something the man said. Once all their props and gear were packed, that crew and troupe would be off to another engagement for more performances. Parlan and the other stage hands, meanwhile, would be getting things ready here for the busy celebration that was less than a week away.

  Parlan lifted his arms up high, stretching them and his back. He let out a loud breath after. “Hey, how’s Astin doing? Haven’t seen him around in a while. He was a great help. Thought he might be thinking about applying for a permanent job with all the questions he was asking.”

  Though the reminder hurt, Tobin made no attempt to avoid or bury the pain. Rather, he accepted it as proof of change. He stared at the chairs in the orchestra pit below. “Astin passed away.”

  “Good gods, Tobin, I’m so sorry. I hadn’t heard.”

  He shrugged. “No worries. How would you have?”

  “What’s going to happen to Preeti? When Astin wasn’t asking questions, his girl was almost all he talked about. With his wife passed on, the lass was all the family he had left. And now, with him gone . . .”

  “Elke and I have taken Preeti in. It was the least we could do.”

  Silence made Tobin look at Parlan.

  The stage hand was staring at him. “You’re a good man, taking in another during these times.”

  Tobin turned to the unlit part of the house filled with dim rows of seats. Good man? Well, he’d certainly try to be.

  “What happened, anyway? Your brother was healthy as an ox.”

  “A nahual-ton got him.”

  “Nahual . . . ton?”

  “They’re nahual, but from what I hear, nahual-ton are invisible until killed.”