Dragonbound: Blue Dragon

by Rebecca Shelley

  You'll die first, Abhavasimha's victoriously smug voice sounded in Dharanidhar's mind.

  Dharanidhar did not respond. His oxygen-starved mind slipped beyond rationality into livid bloodlust. He twisted his body to try to tear out Abhavasimha's guts, though it put pressure on his trapped neck.

  Kanvar's left leg slammed into Abhavasimha's chest. The scent of dragon blood gagged him as it seeped from the cuts Dharanidhar had made in the opening throes of the battle. Kanvar put his hand on Abhavasimha's chest and shoved, hoping to free his leg, but neither dragon felt it. Both had forgotten for a moment about the frail boy riding Dharanidhar.

  Kanvar looked down. Though Abhavasimha's wings slowed their descent, the ground continued to rise up to meet them. Kanvar tried to breathe, but the great pressure on Dharanidhar's neck threatened to break it.

  I will not die like this, Kanvar fumed.

  If he died, Dharanidhar would die, and so would Devaj.

  Kanvar reached over his shoulder and unlatched his crossbow. Such a flimsy wooden weapon in the face of the massive dragon. He leaned over and got his right foot in the stirrup and the gaffle on the string. Then leaned back, cocking the bow.

  Spots fluttered across his eyesight, his lungs burned for air, and a ringing filled his ears. Holding the crossbow with his right hand, he forced the clumsy fingers and thumb on the stub of his left arm to pull one of the bolts from its fastening. His arm refused to move at first, and Kanvar realized it had broken along with Dharanidhar's wing. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Kanvar managed to force his left arm up over his back anyway and his fingers and thumb pinched hold of one of the bolts.

  Just as he got the bolt free, Dharanidhar got a claw into Abhavasimha's gut. Abhavasimha spun, trying to loosen Dharanidhar's hold while still crushing Dharanidhar's throat.

  The bolt slipped from Kanvar's fingers and fell toward the ground.

  Dharanidhar gasped. The spin allowed him one more breath of air before Abhavasimha clamped down again, crushing and grinding his throat.

  Kanvar accepted the last breath of air into his lungs. He clutched the crossbow with his right hand, though Abhavasimha's blood made the stalk slippery. One more time he forced his painful left arm to reach for a crossbow bolt. This time he got hold of it. Two fingers and a thumb. Pulled it free, brought it around to the crossbow, and tried to slide it into the blood-soaked track. His clumsy fingers lost their grip, and the bolt skittered away.

  Crushed between two grappling blue dragons, starved for air, in unbearable agony from his broken arm, Kanvar tumbled from the sky with the dragons. The emerald lake spread into view below him.

  The willpower of both dragons' minds dazed him. Neither would let go. Neither give up. Both on the verge of death, but Abhavasimha had the upper hand. Though Dharanidhar tore at him, he would not relinquish his hold on Dharanidhar's neck.

  Kanvar reached for his last bolt. Like the other two, he would die with the fight still in him. He pinched the bolt between his fingers and thumb. Pulled it from its fastening and brought it around. This time he switched it into his right hand and clutched the crossbow against his chest with the stump of his left arm.

  The ringing in his ears returned, and his eyesight went fuzzy. But his practiced right hand slid the bolt securely into the track. He lifted the crossbow. Shaking. Desperate. And aimed at a cut where Dharanidhar had torn the scales free in a gash across Abhavasimha's chest.

  Kanvar heard the click as he pulled the trigger just as he plunged with the dragons into the lake.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cold water enveloped Kanvar. Dharanidhar's mind slipped from his, and the blue dragon stopped moving.

  The weight of the dragons dragged Kanvar down. He struggled against the vines, but couldn't get free of them. His lungs, already oxygen starved, swirled him toward unconsciousness. Still he struggled to free himself.

  Daylight sparkled on the top of the water above him. Well, Chandran was wrong, he thought. I didn't die in a single day. It took me three. But better to die fighting like this than killed by the Maranies for being a Naga. Or worse, live a long empty life as a camdor stable boy.

  A faint chuckle rippled into his mind. Then Dharanidhar moved, kicking free of Abhavasimha whose jaws had slacked from around his throat. Dharanidhar pushed upward and burst from the water, inhaling a great gasp of air.

  Kanvar coughed the water out of his lungs and breathed deeply. He hurt all over, but somehow he was alive.

  Dharanidhar swam to shore and climbed out of the water, shaking himself so water droplets made a rainbow mist around him. He turned so Kanvar could look back to the lake.

  Abhavasimha surfaced. Stomach up. Empty, dead eyes gazing into the blue sky. His dragonstone had gone dark. A tiny hole in his chest marked where Kanvar's bolt had sunk deep and pierced his heart.

  You are a very dangerous little human, Dharanidhar said.

  Kanvar laughed, more in relief than humor as he fastened the crossbow into the harness on his back. I just wish I could take that dragonstone to show off to my grandfather. It's bigger than any he ever won.

  Dharanidhar leapt into the air and dived at Abhavasimha's body, tearing the dragonstone free from his forehead. Gliding with one wing, he made it back to shore and handed the stone up to Kanvar who held it aloft for the whole pride to witness that Dharanidhar had defeated Abhavasimha and regained his position as blue leader.

  The dragons filled the air with bellowing roars of acceptance.

  Dharanidhar clawed through the vines that held Kanvar to his neck and lifted him down to the ground. Kanvar's hand shook with the weight of the stone. It was almost as large as his own head. The blue surfaces flashed in the sunlight, but the heart of the stone remained dead black. He stared at it, feeling the same sensation of loss as he had when he'd killed the Great Green dragon. Like some little part of him had died along with Abhavasimha.

  He was a valuable member of the pride. I'll miss his skills in our war against the humans, Dharanidhar said.

  A pair of blue dragons lifted Abhavasimha's body from the lake and carried it over amid many piles of stones at the edge of the valley. Keening, the other dragons all carried stones over to cover Abhavasimha's body.

  Kanvar looked up at Dharanidhar's lair high in the cliff. We've got to get Devaj. He knew Dharanidhar's left wing wouldn't lift them that far until it healed some.

  Annoyed at the injury, Dharanidhar reached around with his right claw and wrenched the broken wing bone back into alignment and licked the painful break. Anilon, come here, he ordered one of the other dragons. He'd meant it as a simple command, but his mind wrapped around the Great Blue dragon's thoughts and jerked his body toward Dharanidhar.

  In shock, Dharanidhar pulled his mind away, freeing Anilon.

  Anilon crouched in fear. Kanvar sensed his revulsion at Dharanidhar's use of the Naga powers on him.

  Dharanidhar let out a rumble of apology. Forgive me, Anilon. Nobody warned me these Naga powers would be so hard to control. Please come here. Dharanidhar managed the request this time without mental compulsion.

  Anilon flapped over to stand before Dharanidhar and lowered his head in submission.

  Fly up to my lair and fetch the Naga prince down here, Dharanidhar ordered. It took great concentration to keep his mind from forcing into Anilon's.

  I need to teach you about shielding your mind, Kanvar said. Now he understood why Parmver had insisted on making him learn the basics of shielding before letting him anywhere near the dragons he might bond with. Kanvar had thought it was a defensive exercise, but now he realized it was so much more. The power to intrude on and control another's mind was like fire, easy to light, hard to control unless ringed with inflammable material.

  Dharanidhar caught onto the idea and built a stone wall around his more violent and commanding impulses.

  Anilon disappeared into Dharanidhar's lair and came back out a moment later carrying Devaj.

  Devaj hung limp in his claw. Head bowed. A gl
owing purple stone hung on a chain around his neck. A scream of singing voices tore through Devaj's head. His mind lost contact with Dharanidhar even though Dharanidhar stood right beside him. The stone on Devaj was the largest, most blindingly powerful, singing stone Kanvar had ever seen.

  Dharanidhar let out a howl of pain as Anilon laid Devaj at his feet.

  The singing stone paralyzed Kanvar. His entire body vibrated with the intensity of the discordant music.

  Dharanidhar snatched the stone from around Devaj's neck, shoved it at Anilon, and pointed to a cave at the base of the cliffs.

  Anilon took it and zipped away into the cave.

  Kanvar gasped and rubbed his head as the music faded and then snapped out.

  Akshara's stone, Dharanidhar said as soon as they could touch each other's minds again. I never heard it sing before. It never affected me like that. I guess there are some disadvantages of being linked to a Naga.

  Kanvar nodded agreement then dropped to his knees beside Devaj's body and set the Great Blue dragonstone aside.

  Devaj had an angry red welt where the stone had lain against his chest. His skin was so pale it seemed almost transparent. Dark circles ringed his eyes. His golden hair hung dirty and flat against the sides of his face. Kanvar had thought he looked sick and close to death five years previously when he'd taken with the fever. He looked worse now. If he'd had the stone on since Abhavasimha took him, the pain had to have been more terrible than anyone could tolerate. Yet Devaj's chest still rose and fell in ragged breaths.

  "Devaj?" Kanvar rubbed his fingers across Devaj's forehead, looking for a way into his darkened mind. Devaj. Wake up. He found only empty blackness.

  "We need to get him to the palace. Maybe Parmver's medicines could help him," Kanvar said aloud.

  Dharanidhar rumbled his agreement and cursed his broken wing. I cannot fly today. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day. We can't trust the job to anyone else.

  Kanvar looked around. The other dragons had finished covering Abhavasimha's body and were returning to their lairs. On the way, one by one, from highest ranking to lowest, they landed in front of Dharanidhar and bowed their acknowledgement of his return to power and offered their allegiance with many a look of worry or wonder in Kanvar's direction.

  Kanvar rose to his feet, standing protectively over his brother.

  The dragon who had carried Akshara's stone into the cave came out and offered his allegiance last. The Great Liberator wants to speak with you.

  Very well, Dharanidhar said. Come, Kanvar. I'm sure you will be the topic of our discussion.

  "Akshara is still alive?" Kanvar said in disbelief.

  Barely.

  That surprised Kanvar, but than Parmver was still alive from way back then too. It would be an amazing thing to meet the person responsible for the worlds' freedom. "But I can't come with you," Kanvar said, sitting back down beside Devaj and resting a hand on his cold forehead. "I can't leave him."

  Anilon will guard him. Dharanidhar said.

  Kanvar learned from Dharanidhar's mind that Anilon had been the third highest ranking dragon in the pride. The position of second in command fell to him now that Abhavasimha was gone. Kanvar didn't trust Anilon, though he could sense nothing but loyalty to Dharanidhar from the dragon's mind.

  It is a rare thing to be granted an audience with Akshara, Anilon spoke to Kanvar. I will stay with the prince and guard him well if Dharanidhar commands it. We are old friends, Dharanidhar and I. Been through a lot together, not that a young upstart like Abhavasimha would understand friendship. He let out an angry rumble. I'm glad you're back, Dhar. That fool would have had us at war with the Nagas as well as the humans.

  A distraction we can't afford at this time, Dharanidhar agreed.

  "Then why did you try to kill Devaj at the Maran colony?" Kanvar demanded. "If you wanted peace with the golds, why attack him and his dragon?"

  A smoldering anger seethed into Kanvar's mind from Dharanidhar. I thought he'd gone to negotiate peace with the humans. I couldn't allow it. Humans talk of peace, but it is only a lie so they can take more of our lands, so they can capture and enslave our young, and kill our ancients. We've tried to live in peace with them before. It never works. We will only be safe when the humans are driven from these shores.

  "But attacking the Maranies won't get rid of them," Kanvar said. "It just makes them send more soldiers here. The Maranies care more about money than they do about the lives of their soldiers."

  Money? Dharanidhar probed Kanvar's mind for the meaning behind the word and found layers of thoughts and memories.

  Humans need money to survive?

  "Yes, to buy food and clothes and pay for their houses. Everything depends on money for the Maranies. The Varnans are a little different. They do much with trade and barter. The system of jatis ensures the safety of each of their members, something like a dragon pride."

  Dharanidhar shook his massive head. I see what you mean in your mind, but it doesn't make much sense to me. If killing the humans won't stop them from coming, I don't know what more we can do.

  Kanvar smiled. The answer seemed obvious to him. If you want to get rid of the humans, you simply have to make it so the colony no longer brings so much money to the Maranies. Stop killing the soldiers. Burn their crops instead. Scorch the fields. Torch the flotillas of logs they cut from the jungle. Cave in their mines, preferably without the miners inside them. If the colony ceases to make money, the Maranies will pull their resources from here and send them to other colonies they've started on other continents. Kanvar fell silent. Guilt tugged at him. Had he just betrayed Chandran and the humans at the colony?

  He pushed the guilt aside. No, he had not betrayed them. He might have just saved many soldiers lives, Chandran among them.

  It makes sense, Anilon rumbled.

  Dharanidhar agreed.

  You're keeping Akshasa waiting, Anilon said. If you wait too long he might fall asleep again and you'll miss your chance. He wakes so seldom these days.

  Dharanidhar lifted his head and started for the cave.

  Kanvar looked down at Devaj and wondered what he could do to wake his brother.

  I need your eyes, Dharanidhar said.

  Kanvar looked up and realized Dharanidhar had stopped moving. He could not make his way to the cave without Kanvar.

  Kanvar stood and faced off with Anilon. Do you promise not to harm him and not let anyone else touch him? That was Dharanidhar's agreement with me. My life and bond with him in exchange for my brother's freedom.

  Anilon extended a foreclaw and bowed to Kanvar. I will guard him, I swear.

  Kanvar limped over to Dharanidhar who lifted him in his claw. Together they crossed the ground to the lower cave and strode inside. The crevice went back a ways to a jagged cavern.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The cave opened into a great jagged cavern. Only a trickle of light came into the space, making Kanvar have to wait until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He felt Dharanidhar's annoyance at his limited human sight, but then Dharanidhar changed his mind, deciding to be grateful for any sight at all.

  A pungent odor filled the space, a scent Kanvar could not recognize. Dharanidhar knew it as the smell of ancient dragon hide gone, brittle like the pages of an old book. The sound of raspy breathing hissed through the chamber.

  As Kanvar's eyes adjusted, he made out a massive dragon curled against one of the walls, its skin bleached to a pale blue. Though its wings were folded tight and its tail curled around it, Kanvar could tell Akshasa dwarfed Dharanidhar. Akshasa was nearly twice as big, but his scales looked brittle and hide sunken in against his bones. His eyes were closed, and only the faintest blue glow came from his dragonstone. Akshasa's scars that had looked so ghastly in Dharanidhar's memory stood out even more now, angry slashes of bone-white skin where no scales grew.

  Kanvar glanced around the rest of the chamber. Akshasa's things were set carefully in great wooden trunks, carved in amazing detail with scenes from
Stonefountain. Kanvar took a step toward them. The carvings were fantastic like the master of all master carvers had spent years working on the details of each face, scale, and article of clothing.

  I used to carve in stone, a faint whisper of a voice floated into Kanvar's mind. But my claws are too soft now. Khalid chained me for two hundred years in his palace and made me work the stone to adorn his halls. I carved great murals and overlaid them with gold. By the fountain, I hate the smell of gold. You've been in Rajahansa's palace. I can still smell it on you.

  Kanvar froze, wondering what Akshasa had done with his singing stone. Fear of the agony it caused raced through Kanvar. And he remembered from his studies as a child that it was Akshasa who had ordered the death of every Naga. None were to survive the fall of Stonefountain. And any born afterward were to be killed, immediately upon discovery. Akshasa had sworn to destroy Kanvar's entire race.

  The stone is locked away in its box. Akshasa's voice remained faint in Kanvar's mind like an old echo that forgot to die out. Come over where I can see you, boy.

  Steeling himself, Kanvar walked over to stand in front of the almost skeletal face that rested on Akshasa's front legs. Dharanidhar set a protective claw down next to Kanvar.

  The faint glow in Akshasa's dragonstone intensified, and Akshasa opened his eyes a slit and looked on Kanvar.

  Akshasa let out a surprised rumble and lifted his head. His eyes opened wide. You're a cripple? They let you live? His jaws opened, showing teeth yellowed with age, chipped and broken.

  Kanvar drew himself up, hyper aware of his half-formed left arm and twisted left leg. He turned so Akshasa could get a clear look at them. Rajahansa and my father are very different from Khalid. Yes. They let me live. Rajahansa's son even agreed to bond with me. They thought it would be a good match.

  Kanvar reached out to Dharanidhar, rubbing his hand down the smooth scales on Dharanidhar's foreleg. I don't like the smell of gold either, or the way it gives beneath my feet when I walk across it. Seems stupid to cover the floor with gold leafing? I declined their offer to live as they do in the palace. I'd much rather fly wild and free. I sought Dharanidhar out and bonded with him instead.