Dragonbound: Blue Dragon

by Rebecca Shelley

  Mani's second bolt hit Amar in the back just as he reached the window. The bolt slammed him out the window. Carrying Devaj, he fell. A blinding flash of gold light brightened the sky beyond the window, and Kanvar heard the beat of heavy wings on the wind.

  "Unbelievable, a Great Gold." Mani swore.

  Kanvar stood frozen, staring in disbelief at the sky outside the window. His blood throbbed in his veins while his mind tried to process what he'd just seen, or hadn't seen. Grandfather Raza had told him the Great Gold dragons were nearly invisible in direct sunlight. Their golden scales wrapped the sunlight around their bodies, hiding them unless they moved. A trained dragon hunter would recognize the shimmering flash of gold from the dragon in flight, where other folk wouldn't. Kanvar had seen the flash, and surge of wonder went through him. The sheer amazement at seeing the dragon vanished quickly to the thought that his father had fallen out the window, shot twice with bolts that could kill a lesser dragon with one shot.

  Shot by his own wife.

  Why?

  Because he was a Naga. A human bound by blood to a dragon—the Great Gold, most likely. The Nagas were human traitors who joined the dragons and used their power to fight against other humans. They had the power to talk to the dragons telepathically. The power to read human minds. The power to control human thought and actions and manipulate human emotions.

  Kanvar had grown up hating the Nagas above all else.

  Yet, how powerful his father must be to trick Kumar Raza into thinking a Naga was a human dragon hunter and to take Raza's daughter as his bride. A good bet Raza's disappearance had something to do with Kanvar's father. Kanvar was old enough to realize his grandfather wouldn't have gone after the Great White without all his gear. He'd questioned his mother about that before, but she hadn't been able to give Kanvar a reason. Until now.

  His mother stood at the window, the empty crossbow in one hand and the singing stone in the other. She turned away from the empty air, and her eyes fell on Kanvar.

  "Kanvar?" She held up the stone and crossed the room toward him.

  With each of her swift steps, the rush of song in Kanvar's head intensified. He cried out and pressed his hands to his ears, but it did nothing to stop the music.

  "You too?" his mother said. "I should have known. Deformed as you are. Dragon blood runs in your veins."

  She set the stone down on the table and lifted the cup of poison, holding it out to Kanvar. "Drink this now. Hurry, before the All Council's hunters get here."

  Kanvar sucked in a pained breath. The mind-piercing song from the singing stone left no room in his brain for him to think clearly. Still, the truth settled over him and interwove with the music. His mother wanted him dead.

  "Kanvar, now. Drink it!"

  How could she? His own mother who had loved and cared for him all his life. Who had been so proud of Devaj's fighting skills. Who had hung on his father's arm and looked at Amar with adoration. In only a few moments she'd turned against them all.

  I don't want to die, Kanvar thought. But he knew he should die. By all laws and all sense of right, he knew he must die. Better that than become a Naga. Better that than betray his own people. With a shaking hand he reached out and took the cup from his mother. It felt warm against his palm from the heated water the Unani had used to dissolve the poison. The sour scent of snakelily wafted from the drink.

  Kanvar lifted it to his lips. But could not force himself to drink it. The cup slipped through his fingers and clattered to the floor. The poisoned drink splattered his robes and soaked into the clay bricks.

  Mani rushed back to the chest and grabbed more crossbow bolts.

  The faint message his father had put into his mind before vanishing with Devaj, finally melted its way past the singing stone's music into Kanvar's consciousness.

  Kanvar run!

  He turned and fled. Speed had never come easy for him. He counted the seconds it would take his mother to ready the crossbow while he hurtled down the stairs, not striving for any balance, just throwing himself downward and hoping, between his good arm on the wall and his good leg on the steps, to get to the bottom without breaking his neck.

  When he reached the final flight of stairs he heard his mother start down after him.

  He redoubled his efforts. Gasping for breath. Imagining the fire off the crossbow bolt as it took him in the back like it had his father. His father had gone. Left with Devaj and the dragon. Abandoned Kanvar to his mother's fury. The taste of betrayal mixed with fear on Kanvar's tongue as he brushed aside the door covering, limped into the dusty street, and turned toward the harbor.

  But it wasn't his father's fault, was it? Mother had shot him. Shot him! He might not have gotten far with a crossbow bolt in his back. He could have died in flight with the gold dragon. Then the dragon would have died too. And Devaj would have fallen. Dead. They were likely all three dead. His father had pulled Mani's attention away from Kanvar and told him to run. Run while he had the chance. Kanvar cursed himself for waiting so long to act. If Mani caught him, it would not be his father's fault, but his own.

  "Kanvar, you'll never get away," his mother called from behind.

  Kanvar rushed headlong down the street, not caring that his lame foot dragged against the stones, scraping his skin along the side where his sandal couldn't protect it.

  He heard the twang of the crossbow and tensed his shoulders.

  The bolt hit the building beside him, sending splinters of brick into his face. He cried out in fear and twisted around the corner just as the second bolt whizzed past him.

  She'd missed. Somehow she'd missed both shots, but then she was using Grandfather's crossbow, which was much too heavy for her.

  Kanvar continued his run down the hill toward the port. She'd have to go back up and reload now. That meant he had time. Not much, but a little. Time to get to the water. Time to barter the herbs for passage across the channel to Maran where the All Council had no power. The Maranies were Varna's arch rivals. The two nations were at peace for the time being, but peace never lasted long between them. Kanvar could hide there. He hoped. As long as the Maranies never found out that his father was a Naga.

  Chapter Two

  5 years later

  Kundiland, Maran Colony

  Kanvar caressed the polished wooden stalk of his new crossbow. With it he held his new life in his hands. With the crossbow, he could be more than an indentured servant as he had been the last five years. Come sunset, he'd be free from Chandran, the Maran soldier Kanvar had indentured himself to for passage to Kundiland. Come sunset, Kanvar would be the dragon hunter he was meant to be.

  He smoothed the dragon scale armor he'd fashioned for himself from old bits of armor cast off by the Maran soldiers. It looked ridiculous, he knew. And his friend Raahi mocked him for it. But ridiculous or not, it might keep Kanvar alive in the jungle. The armor was light, but strong. It would protect him from lesser dragons' claws, fire, and poison. He wouldn't want to face a Great Dragon with the light crossbow, mismatched armor, and no sword. With any luck he wouldn't have to.

  He was a year older now than Devaj had been when he took fever. Kanvar had spent the last year in constant fear of taking sick with the dragon fever while still indentured to Chandran. The Maran army was still at war with the Great Blue dragons, fighting battles almost daily with the deadly monsters. If Chandran found out Kanvar was a Naga, Kanvar would receive a far more prolonged and painful death from the Maranies than what his mother had intended for him.

  Raahi raced past the soldiers that guarded the fortified colony and out to where Kanvar waited in the open area that had been cleared of jungle trees and tilled for planting. The tobacco and cotton plantations, along with timber export, plus gold, silver, and jewel mines, made the Maran colony the most successful in Kundiland and worth stationing an army at to defend against the Great Blue dragons.

  Raahi kicked up a swarm of jewel dragonflies as he ran. Their wings buzzed and their translucent bodies caught the
sunlight, sending a disarray of colored dots across the ground around Raahi's feet.

  Kanvar waved the crossbow with his good right arm and smiled in triumph. He'd spent years taking extra chores and working well into the night to earn the money to pay for the weapon.

  "You got it." Raahi skidded to a stop in front of Kanvar. Sweat soaked his face and dirty cotton shirt. Raahi had been taken as a slave by General Samdrasen when the Maran army conquered his mountain village on the coast of the Darvat continent. Though Raahi had lived for two years at the colony, he still hadn't adjusted to the heat, humidity, and thicker air on the coast of Kundiland. His short, stout body was better suited for climbing high mountains than emptying the general's chamber pots and polishing his armor.

  "Yes, I got it. Come on, I've fashioned a target just past the field." Kanvar limped toward the edge of the field where he'd carved a target into an old torn-up tree stump.

  Raahi followed and watched while Kanvar readied the crossbow to shoot.

  Kanvar took a deep breath. It had been five years since he'd shot a crossbow, and the one he'd owned previously had been made especially to work with his infirmities. He was sure the one he'd bought now would work for him, it might just take some time to figure out how to use it. Shifting his weight to his crippled left foot, he set the tip of the crossbow on the ground. It had a steel stirrup at the top for the crossbowman to put his foot into. That would hold the crossbow in place while the string was drawn back.

  For a normal man, putting the right foot into the stirrup posed no problem. It took Kanvar a few tries, and he nearly tipped over in the process. If only his crippled left leg would hold his weight better. No matter. He didn't care how long it took him to master the new crossbow, or how much Raahi laughed at him. He would do it.

  Finally he got his foot in the stirrup and bent over to hook the gaffle onto the string. The gaffle was a catching mechanism attached to Kanvar's belt. With his foot in the stirrup and the gaffle hooked to the string, all Kanvar had to do was stand up to pull the string back to the catch, cocking the bow. So easy, and yet somehow Kanvar lost his footing on the stirrup and the bow flipped up and slammed into a tender part of his anatomy. He doubled over in pain.

  Raahi patted his back. "Are you all right, Kanvar? Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Life isn't so bad working for Chandran. He is patient and even-tempered unlike some." Raahi didn't need to name General Samdrasen as one of the soldiers who was anything but patient. Kanvar had seen enough bruises on Raahi to know exactly what his friend meant.

  Kanvar swallowed his pain, unhooked the gaffle, straightened, and worked his foot back into the stirrup. "Raahi, when I become a famous and wealthy dragon hunter, I'll buy your freedom from the general. I can do this. I know I can."

  Sweat trickled in Kanvar's eyes as he bent over and fumbled with his good hand to reattach the gaffle to the string. He was used to working one handed. It was his balance that plagued him now, his stupid weak left leg.

  The swarm of jewel dragonflies buzzed around him. A hot wind rustled the leaves and vines in the jungle ahead and licked the target Kanvar had carved into the old tree stump. Raahi shuffled his feet. The scent of rain and decomposing leaves hung on the air and lingered on Kanvar's tongue. The air was so heavy and wet at the colony, it had taken Kanvar months to adjust to it when he'd first left the deserts of Varna behind and come over with Chandran. Now the dense air sat heavily on him, adding to the pressure of the string as he got the gaffle hooked onto it.

  He straightened slower this time, making sure of his balance. The bow creaked as the string pulled back into place and caught.

  Raahi sucked in a nervous breath.

  Kanvar detached the gaffle from the string and reached for one of the five bolts that were secured to the leather crossbow harness he had strapped on his back. Each bolt was held tightly in place by a leather loop, and it took Kanvar a moment to wiggle one loose.

  Most men would raise the crossbow to a horizontal position with one hand while putting the bolt into the track. Kanvar couldn't do that. To compensate, he'd had to purchase the more expensive slurbow, which had a wooden leaf on top of the stock to hold the bolt in place while the crossbow was still vertical with Kanvar's foot in the stirrup and the stalk of the bow leaning against his leg.

  Kanvar fitted the bolt into place and lifted the crossbow with his shaking right hand. It felt heavier after all the exertion to get it cocked and ready. He tried to sight the bow on the target, but his hand was shaking too badly. He'd miss by a long way if he loosed the bolt like that.

  He lowered the crossbow to the ground and shook out his right hand.

  Raahi bit his lip and looked at Kanvar with his round eyes that somehow always looked like a startled kitrat.

  "I just need a moment to relax," Kanvar said.

  Raahi let out a weak laugh. "Even a lesser dragon would have eaten you five times over by now. And you plan to head out into the jungle tomorrow morning?"

  Kanvar licked his lips and stared off into the dim green interior of the jungle beyond the field. "Hunting dragons isn't just about shooting them," Kanvar said. "It's about knowing how to find and track them. It's about knowing their habits, where they eat, where they sleep, how they hunt. It's knowing how to survive in the jungle, how to avoid the dragons you don't want to face, and find the one's you're looking for. With any luck, I'll have the crossbow ready long before I have to shoot anything. Besides, that's why I'm practicing now."

  Kanvar let out a slow breath. Then in one steady motion he lifted the crossbow, sighted, and loosed the bolt. The bow jumped in his hand, but the bolt struck the edge of the target.

  Raahi let out a shout of triumph and ran to retrieve the bolt.

  "A fine shot," Chandran said from behind Kanvar.

  Kanvar jumped in surprise and whirled around, the crossbow clutched in his hand. He'd been focusing too much on the target to notice Chandran walk up behind him.

  Chandran folded his arms across the blue dragon-skin armor on his chest. The hot breeze ruffled his graying hair and short beard. He looked Kanvar up and down with a slight frown on his suntanned face. "I would have bet a week's wages you couldn't make that shot."

  Kanvar smiled. "I hate missing. It's too much work to find the bolt, and I can't afford to buy more just yet."

  Chandran laughed while Kanvar looked over his shoulder at Raahi pulling the bolt from the old stump. Kanvar had nearly missed, even at this close of range. Five years ago, he'd have hit it dead center. But that was with a better crossbow and constant practice. "I can do better," Kanvar said.

  Raahi rushed back over, handed the bolt to Kanvar, and bowed to Chandran.

  "The general is looking for you," Chandran said. He frowned with concern as Raahi bolted back toward the colony. "That boy deserves better," Chandran muttered under his breath.

  Kanvar kept his plans to buy Raahi's freedom to himself and wondered why Chandran had come out of the colony. Certainly not to fetch Raahi for the general. "Did you need me?" Kanvar asked. Chandran had given him an hour of free time, and Kanvar still had most of that hour left.

  "I'm afraid so." Chandran turned his attention back to Kanvar. "Sorry to interrupt your fun. You do look ridiculous, you know that right?"

  Kanvar ran his hand across his mismatched armor—faded Great Blue dragon hide, cast off from Chandran's old armor; a jagged square of tan camdor scales; bits of skin from lesser green dragons; a patch of black from a black monkey's heavy hide. Even his dragonhide boots were patched together, since no normal boot would fit his twisted left foot. He just needed bracers and a helm to complete the strange assortment of armor. "Yes, sir, I do. But it's better than nothing."

  "Kanvar, you're too . . . young to hunt dragons." Chandran had his eyes locked on Kanvar's bad arm and leg. He said "young." But Kanvar knew he really meant crippled.

  "You won't last a day out there." Chandran gestured toward the steaming jungle.

  Kanvar bit his lip, and slid the crossbow bolt bac
k into its loop. He did not want to argue with Chandran about this, and he couldn't tell the old soldier the truth—that it was only a matter of time before the fever took Kanvar, and if Kanvar didn't find a Great dragon to bond with before then, he would die. Hunting dragons was Kanvar's only possible path to survival.

  "You're not going to take my advice, are you?" Chandran said in a stern voice.

  Kanvar shook his head without making eye contact.

  "Well, it's not sunset yet, and I have work for you. You'll have to do it before you go off and get yourself killed. Come on." Chandran strode back to the colony. Kanvar slid the crossbow into its leather harness on his back and tightened the straps to hold it in place, then he limped after Chandran, struggling to catch up.

  They left the fields behind and walked through the big stone gates. Vigilant soldiers guarded the gates and manned the heavy ballistae mounted on top of the wall, loaded and ready to send steel spears shooting at the Great Blue dragons that so often attacked the colony. The tips of the waiting spears were set skyward since the blues came from the high mountains that jutted up out of the jungle not far from the coast and the colony which hugged the shore line.

  A watch tower stood at the center of the colony, with mounted spy glasses that could see out across the ocean in one direction, and deep into the mountains from the other. Above the landing on the tower, a great bell hung, ready to ring a warning should the colony be attacked. It was important that the people farming outside the gates could get inside the stone buildings before the Great Blues descended with their super-heated fire breath.

  Kanvar had been to the top of the tower once and been allowed to look out across the water through the spy glass. Past the shoreline with its black sand beach, past the still blue harbor, across the ocean, where far and away he imagined he could almost see Varna's shores. The Maranies kept as keen a lookout of those shores as of the mountains. Varna wanted to claim all of Kundiland for itself, but the Maranies had no intention of letting Varna's army conquer their valuable colony.