The Little Dragons

by Rowan Starsmith

  “By being very, very bad at it.”

  “You’re not bad at riding, quite the opposite.”

  “Well thank you.”

  “Anyway,” he said, giving her a leg up. “I think you’ll find riding astride easier than sitting a lady’s saddle.”

  She settled herself into the curved leather seat. He was right. It was a much more secure position on horseback, although spreading her thighs so far apart felt strange, and would probably cause some sore muscles by the end of the day.

  Locheil clipped his travel lantern to his stirrup and mounted. “And so, onward, faithful servant Gerth,” he called out as he nudged his horse to a walk.

  Chapter 124: Maida

  “All right, all right, we’ll go,” Liandra said, exhausted and tearful.

  “I think we must,” said Maida, standing behind Liandra, massaging her lover’s rock hard shoulder muscles. That afternoon the Dragons had caught a man trying to sneak through the forest. Liandra’s throat must be sore, Maida thought, she screamed so much.

  “Perhaps we can take the goats to Father Mallory and Lynna. They are the nearest Healers to here. I hope they can care for them,” Maida said. She paused, rubbing a gentle circle on Liandra’s skin. “And then we’ll go.”

  Liandra sighed, her reddened eyes closed. She nodded. “And then we’ll go.”

  Chapter 125: Gleve

  Gleve walked in a tiny circle around his cell. At first he had paced this route in anxiety, cot to buckets, buckets to cot, but then his training as a Healer took over. It would just sap his health to be in a daily panic, he knew. Whatever happened, the wise course would be to maintain his body and mind. He called on all the mental discipline he had learned during his training as a Healer. He meditated and exercised, controlling his mind as he walked by remembering every trail he had ever travelled in minute detail.

  The food was ghastly. The smell was worse. He lost track of time, although the guards’ routine at least told him when it was evening and morning. He had stopped waiting for something to happen a long time ago because, day after day, nothing did.

  Some of the guards who had brought him here had given in to panic or deprivation or the torture they had suffered in a ridiculous effort to retrieve more information about the events on the Deep River Bridge. Their bodies had been carried without ceremony from their cells.

  Pitley, the Captain, was still alive in the cell next door and still occasionally demanded that the guards tell him why his troop was here when they had done nothing but faithfully serve their King. He seemed to know some of the guards and would ask them for news of the outside world. This is how they learned of the Challenge, the death of King Anglewart, and now a new war on the Dragons.

  Surely they had been forgotten down here in the bowels of the castle. Surely they would die here and never see those they loved again. Father Mallory, Keiran … Gleve could feel his heart speeding, panic again. He paused to run his filthy rag of a sleeve over his eyes, took a deep breath and increased his pace. Walk, walk hard. Drive despair away. Hang on to hope. Walk, walk hard.

  Chapter 126: Jessa

  One of the other pages was looking at Jessa. She shrank inside herself, bending even further over Locheil’s shield sitting on the wooden bench in front of her, polishing even more industriously with the rag in her hand. For at least the twentieth time she doubted her judgement, coming here to this castle where she was identical to the other King’s daughter, who had spent almost all of her life here. She had thought of packing rags inside her page’s helmet to make it fit better, but at the moment was thankful that she had not done it. As she leaned forward it slid down on her forehead, covering most of her face. After a few minutes she sneaked a quick peek. He had gone about his business.

  “And how often would the pages have seen you?” Locheil whispered during one of their stolen conversations in his tent. “And how close would they have been?”

  She didn’t know, of course, but told him, “Not very often or very near.”

  “It would be so far from possibility anyway, a Princess turned into a page boy. People don’t make leaps like that in their minds,” Locheil told her.

  “I certainly hope not,” she said. “It makes me nervous.”

  He looked around, assuring himself that no one was approaching the tent or hanging around outside it, then reached over and kissed her. His hand lingered on her face. “I look over at you sleeping there on your pallet and long to have you in my bed with me.”

  “Me too.”

  “Especially with our marching orders for the day after tomorrow. After the battle, who knows if one or the other of us, or both …”

  “Shhh,” she said, laying a finger on his lips. “Don’t say it. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

  “Nor me you.”

  Chapter 127: Maida

  Just as the sun was setting, a red Dragon set Maida down in a clearing a little distance from Father Mallory’s cabin. Roxtrianatrix had instructed her to curl up there and sleep, waiting for Maida to return at dawn so she could carry her back to the mountain. Maida walked through the Northern forest, so tall and dark compared with her home country in the Westlands, as darkness fell.

  “Lynna?” Maida said as the young woman opened the door, light pouring out around her.

  “Maida! Come in.” She turned back toward the cozy front room, allowing Maida to walk past her. “Father Mallory, it’s Maida,” and in the next breath, to Maida, “Where did you come from? They all say you disappeared from Mother Peg’s cottage. How did you get here?”

  “My child!” Father Mallory had struggled to his feet and came slowly toward her, supporting himself on his walking stick. “It is so good to see you. Everyone has been so worried.” He held out the arm that was not supporting his weight on the walking stick and Maida walked into it to receive his hug. “How did you get here?” he asked.

  “I came …” she hesitated, it seemed so strange to say it, “…by Dragon.”

  Father Mallory broke Lynna from her pose as a surprised statue by telling her to get tea for their guest. Maida he invited to sit in the chair facing his own by the fire. “My child, what a long story you have to tell us,” he said.

  The early part of the night was gone when Maida finished telling. Lynna had served first biscuits, then a milk soup, then more tea.

  “So you and your friend, the first Dragon Priestess, are living in the old Dragon Priestess’s School in the mountains?”

  She had told him this, but now confirmed it.

  “Oh my,” he said. “What will happen now?” Father Mallory was frowning deeply.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The new King, King Torrie, has declared war on the Dragons. He will be marching soon, any day now, to attack their lair in the mountains.”

  “What?” Maida let her cup clatter on to the wooden table.

  “Did you not know?”

  “How would we know? We have been alone up there in the mountains for months. We have heard nothing. What happened to King Anglewart?” Father Mallory told her about the Challenge battle. “Is he dead then?” she asked.

  “We heard they took him to the Men’s Retreat House to die, but we haven’t had news of his death. Nor has there been a royal funeral that we know of.” Father Mallory looked at Lynna, as if checking to see if she had heard more than he had, but she shook her head. Maida’s thoughts flew to the Queen in the Women’s Retreat House, but this she could not talk about. Only the group that came together that amazing day at Mother Peg’s cottage knew that the Queen was not dead. They and, obviously, the former King, if he still lived.

  “But war on the Dragons? That will just provide a feast for the Dragons,” Maida said, her mind jumping to thoughts of Liandra. Maida would have to bear the news that her father was certainly injured and may be dead, and if it came to battle between her brother’s army and the Dragons, how terrible it would be for her to witness through Roxtrianatrix’s eyes. So many of her relatives would be there
, and other nobles she would know. “What kind of a fool is this King Torrie?”

  “One determined to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, I guess.” Father Mallory shrugged his bony shoulders. “Is there something you can do to stop the slaughter, from up there in your mountain School?”

  “I don’t know,” Maida’s voice lifted into a kind of wail. “We don’t know what the old Dragon Priestesses knew. It’s more than just having a Little Dragon perched on your shoulder.”

  “Can we help in any way?”

  “I had come to ask you to take my herd of goats and care for them so Liandra and I could travel to the Healer’s School and learn what we can from Mother Rena’s journal, but now … I don’t know. Would we be better at the Healers School? Or is there something we can do here, to stop the killing?”

  There was silence for a few minutes, only the fire crackling in its grate. “I can’t tell you, my child. Only you and your friend Liandra can answer that, if anyone can. If you do decide to go, I think we can manage your goats.”

  Before she left, Maida asked about Gleve. Father Mallory’s face fell now into lines of deep sadness. “We have heard nothing,” he said. “Only a letter from Keiran telling us what happened at the bridge, nothing more.”

  “Oh dear.” Maida leaned forward in her chair and took his skeletal hand in hers. “I suppose in the absence of information, we can only hope.”

  “At least Keiran and his brother are safely at the School for the time being.”

  “Are they? Did they accept Rafe there … I mean Aymeric?”

  “I still shake my head over it, that it was Keiran’s brother who was helping you in your stable all that time.”

  “Me too.”

  “And yes, they have given him work in the stables and gardens at the School, the same kind of work he did for you.”

  “I’m glad. I don’t think that would be Mother Peg’s idea.”

  “I know it was not. Sarah that made the decision. She’s a little older than Peg, you know.”

  “Only by six years, as Mother Peg loved to say.”

  “I guess I will have to go down on my knees in humility before Peg next time I see her. She was right, more than right, about this Dragon Priestess business.”

  “She’ll like that,” Maida said, and they smiled at the thought, despite their worries.

  Chapter 128: Liandra

  When the Dragons began to stir in the morning, Liandra could feel their excitement through Roxtrianatrix. Instead of the usual gentle rustle of stretching wings, the twitters and chirps of Dragons chatting back and forth, the close air of the cavern swirled with wing beats, punctuated with high-pitched cries. The soft light in the entrance was broken by lithe shadows as one Dragon after another launched into flight.

  She rolled over and roused Maida. “They’re coming,” she said.

  “Where’s Roxtrianatrix?”

  “Still in the cavern, but getting ready to fly with them. I’ve asked him not to go, but he’s ignoring me.” Maida gave her a horrified look and both women jumped from the bed and began to pull on their clothes.

  On one of their explorations in the library they had discovered a small doorway leading to a long spiral staircase. Following it upward until their legs ached, they had discovered a small opening high up on the mountainside. It looked down the long valley to the south, the way anyone on foot would have to come to reach the Dragon cave and the School.

  This day they ran until they could stand the tight muscles in their calves no longer, and then barely slowed, their gasping breaths echoing off of the stone walls. They came to the opening just as the sun emerged over the horizon. A steady stream of Dragons emerged from the cavern beneath them and, in a thunder of moving wings, disappeared down the valley. In the distance, they could see a growing crowd of Dragons circling in the air, the new day glinting from the moving kaleidoscope of their scales.

  “Can you tell where they are?” Liandra asked. She had not been out of the School since Alethilion first brought her here. Maida, on the other hand, had so recently made the journey to speak with Father Mallory.

  “There’s a big, circular meadow, just where the valley widens out to leave our mountain, before it narrows to pass that smaller peak on the horizon there. A logical place for your brother to challenge the Dragons.”

  “Oh no,” Liandra said, and reached out to steady herself against the solid rock of the mountain wall beside them. “Rox is getting excited.” She closed her eyes. “My brother’s army,” she said. “You’re right. They are spread out in the meadow, lined up in straight lines as well as the curve of the valley walls will allow. They’re all looking up, pointing spears and bows toward the Dragons. There are lots of flags. It’s all gay at the moment, like tournament day, “

  “Can you see your brother?”

  “I’m dizzy; Rox is circling.” Liandra began to lean more heavily on the rock wall beside her.

  She could feel Maida clutching her arm. “Liandra, this is a precarious place. I think we should go back down.”

  Liandra ignored her. “There they are, my brothers, on horseback, Torrie in the lead, of course, Eldrin beside him. Oh no, they brought Farrell. But he’s so young.” Through Roxtrianatrix’s circling eyes she tried to focus on Farrell. He was armoured like the others, but she could see the terror on his pale face. A strange stew of feeling bubbled up in her, anger at Torrie, fear for all these young men waiting like sacrifices in the meadow, and a sudden burst of overwhelming love for Farrell, her youngest brother, a child playing soldier.

  As this feeling coursed through Liandra, Roxtrianatrix paused, stopped his excited circling, focused his attention on Farrell. Alethelion, flying beside Roxtrianatrix, paused as well. Liandra could see him observing the Little Dragon as he hovered. The blue Dragon gave out a cry and in a few moments was darkened by a large shadow. He and Roxtrianatrix looked up. Huge Glenardinaliat hovered above them, looking down.

  “Maida,” Liandra whispered. “My love for Farrell made them hesitate for a moment.”

  “Look for other men you care about, then.”

  “Who? I’ve hardly met any men besides my father and brothers.”

  Maida thought for a moment. “The one you were going to marry?”

  Liandra scanned the army below her, looking for Locheil. Her brothers stood out because they were mounted. The men on foot were one, large mass from the air, matching pale faces, matching metal helmets in a multicoloured swirl of cloth tabards and hoods.

  Chapter 129: Mother Peg

  Holly appeared at Mother Peg’s door. Peg saw immediately that what she held so protectively to her breast was Dragon Priestess Rena’s Journal. “Well,” she said, “Well then,” a hint of satisfied smile on her lips.

  “Just for an hour,” Holly said, carefully setting the Journal on Peg’s table.

  “Humph,” Peg scowled at her. She considered the Journal hers, since she had brought it to the School, but when the others gathered in the Library to read aloud from it every night, she refused to leave her room. Tired of the argument, Mother Sarah finally ruled that Peg could study the precious book for one hour each evening.

  Holly arrived promply to take the Journal back. “Listen to this,” Peg said, obviously reluctant to close it and hand it over.

  “We talk to the Little Dragons, and through them the Great Dragons, through our minds, but even more important is what we say with our hearts. The whole of Dragonkind can pick up what we feel. If we love a person, he or she is completely safe from harm in the presence of any Dragon. On the other hand, if we feel anger or hatred for anyone, an individual or group, they are in danger.

  “This makes it crucial that a Dragon Priestess discipline herself to discharge her anger only in the appropriate way, in a ritual designed for this purpose, where these dangerous feelings can be expressed, written on paper and safely burned. Peace in the Realms depends on the Dragon Priestess’s learning to love everyone, in all corners of the Lan
d, like us or different from us, friend or someone with whom we find it easy to be in conflict.”

  Mother Peg looked up, her eyes glassy. “That couldn’t have been easy.”

  Holly bit her lip and reached for the book.

  Chapter 130: Jessa

  Jessa stood behind Locheil holding his spears. From one of them the pennant of the Southlands fluttered in the cool breeze. Locheil was armed with his bow. He held it loosely before him, an arrow nocked, ready to raise the moment the Dragons came within range. Around them were Locheil’s brothers and cousins, all armed with bows, all backed by pages holding their spears. Pennants matching theirs snapped and blew all around them. It was amazing to see all the colours of the men’s fighting regalia in the daylight, so vivid and bright.

  Like the men around her, however, Jessa could not spend much time admiring the colours of the army, for overhead circled more Dragons than she could count. Their colours outshone the humans on the ground by far. The sun rippled off of their scales as they slithered through the air. They were all looking down, studying the army that was watching them.

  The swirl of Dragons expanded, spreading outward, increasing their speed. Their moving shadows darkened the meadow. Then, as if in response to a command, they descended, claws outstretched like bouquets of daggers.

  The moment the Dragons came within range, a storm of arrows shot into the air. One Dragon yelped and soared away from the field of battle, Jessa thought it had taken an arrow in the eye, but most of the arrows clattering harmlessly off of hard scales. Jessa choked back terror and turned her attention to Locheil. He had dropped his bow and reached back. She placed a spear in his open hand.

  A melee of Dragons fell on them. Men sheiked as they were pierced and torn. The ground became slippery with blood and entrails. Jessa lost her vision as her helmet dropped forward over her eyes. She pushed it back with her forearm and took a spray of blood across her face. This she wiped away with her sleeve just in time to see Locheil’s open hand waiting for a second spear.

  Chapter 131: Maida

  Liandra’s eyes stared blindly into the open sky and her words tumbled over one another as she gave Maida a running account of the circling Dragons and the gathered army. Maida’s fear grew. She held Liandra’s arm and tried to coax her to go back down the stairway. Liandra couldn’t hear her.