Halfax clenched his claws deep into the ground, narrowed his eyes, and glared at the little girl. She returned his gaze without a flinch. The stare-down continued for some time before, finally, Halfax released a hissing sigh.
“There is a tower I passed on the way here. It looked like it had been empty for some time. We may be able to go there.”
“Really!?” she squealed in delight.
“It will be a long journey.”
“Don't care.”
“You will be alone there.”
“I'll have you.”
“It is far to the north, very cold.”
“North is this way, right?” she asked, hurrying off.
With a second, more defeated sigh, Halfax lumbered off behind her.
“It is my purpose to see that you are safe. This journey is dangerous. I need to know that you can make it by yourself. If something happens to me, I need to know that you can find your own way to someplace safe. So if you ever need me to carry you, even for a moment, I will carry you to the nearest city and you will not leave until you find someone. Do you understand?”
“I don't need your help. Let's go!”
Chapter 4
And so the pair began their journey. Jade was unfailingly cheerful and upbeat now that Halfax was no longer sending her away. When a town was near, they traveled at night. When far from society, they almost never stopped moving, pausing just once each day to hunt down and prepare a meal and sleep.
For the dragon, the journey was horribly slow. For Jade, it was brisk and tiring, but not once did she complain. She merely walked, a smile on her face, and happily provided a nearly unbroken flow of words, most of which washed over Halfax without acknowledgment or reply. Nights were spent in the shelter of thick trees.
After three days, dark clouds began to form and the drought came to a sudden end. The skies opened, dumping sheets of rain onto the thirsty ground.
At first, Jade was overjoyed, frolicking in the downpour. The novelty quickly wore thin, however, and had she not been in the company of the dragon, the night would have been a difficult one. But the wet wood was hardly a problem when the dragon could use his fiery breath to start the camp fire, and a single raised wing was as good as a tent to keep the rain from her head. When the rain let up, they continued on, but the heavy clouds made the night black as pitch. The little girl lit her lantern, but it was not long before its reservoir ran low. Jade tapped nervously at the lamp as the flame flickered out on the dry wick.
“We . . . uh . . . we need to stop in the next town,” Jade said shakily.
“We are heading into the mountains. No more towns.”
“Then we need to go back. We need oil for the lamp.”
“There is a moon, there are stars. Plenty of light.”
“They're behind clouds!”
“Plenty of light,” he repeated firmly.
“Not for me. I can barely see anything.”
“You don't need to see anything. I will lead the way. Just stay close.”
“But what if there are things out there? Monsters!”
“I am a bigger monster than anything the darkness might hide.”
Jade paused at an imagined sound in the bushes, then scurried to catch up to Halfax. She grabbed the tip of his tail and gripped it anxiously. He tensed at her touch and stopped walking.
“What are you doing?” he asked without looking.
“I'm holding your tail,” she said, squeezing it tighter as something scampered across the ground nearby.
“Why?”
“'Cause I don't want to lose you in the dark . . . An' it makes me feel better.”
“Very well,” he said finally.
For the rest of that night's travel, Jade continued to hold the dragon's tail as one might hold the hand of a big brother. Halfax had to walk in an awkward, deliberate gait to keep from waving his tail about and tugging it from her grip, but the little girl didn't seem to notice. She merely continued on, gratefully clutching the tail and keeping her eye on the darkness.
Within another day, the two had made it well into the mountains. The travel had been slow before, but now it was getting slower by the hour. Even on level ground, it took ten of the girl's strides to match one of the dragon's. Now that the mountainside was getting steeper, the beast was often left waiting for minutes while Jade struggled to pull herself up the rocky slope. When she reached the first level patch in what seemed like ages, the girl sat on the ground and fought to catch her breath.
“I just . . . I need to . . . I can't . . . catch my breath,” she wheezed.
The dragon watched her as she slowly recovered. When her breathing was almost normal, she struggled to her feet, ready to move on. The young girl raised her eyes to find Halfax crouching and leaning his shoulder low.
“What are you--”
“Get on my back,” he ordered.
“No!” she objected, trying to shove him angrily. She only succeeded in pushing herself back. “I told you I can do it by myself!”
“I am not going to take you back to a town.”
“You said you would . . .”
“I am saying different now.”
“You promise? You promise not to take me back?”
“Yes.”
“Say it. Say 'I promise to take care of you forever.'”
Halfax stood and turned, placing his face inches from her own.
“I promise to take care of you . . . forever,” he said.
Jade stepped forward and wrapped the dragon's neck in a tight hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The dragon shuddered uneasily at the gesture of affection.
“Yes . . . you are . . . we should hurry. We've wasted enough time,” he stuttered when the embrace lingered.
Climbing atop the beast proved awkward. It took a boost from Halfax's tail before she finally managed to take a seat at the base of his neck. As smoothly as he could, the dragon rose. Jade's frantic grip on his neck suggested it hadn't been quite smooth enough.
“Easy. Go slow,” she urged.
Even at the barely walking pace that Halfax maintained at Jade's behest, the journey became a much swifter one. Icy patches were no match for the dragon's claws, and steep slopes meant little. Before long, the initial jolt of fear had worn off and Jade began to enjoy herself.
“You can go a little faster, if you want,” she said.
His pace quickened to a trot. The gray mountainside slipping effortlessly below them, the steady rhythm of the trot, the breeze in her hair, they all combined into something Jade hadn't expected. It was . . . fun.
“Faster,” she said tentatively.
Halfax quickened his pace to a slow run. The landscape was rushing by now. Gullies that Jade would have had to find a way around passed below them with one powerful leap. She had never traveled this fast in her life. Her little hands held tight to the scales of his back in fear of being thrown free. It was terrifying. At the same time, though, it was thrilling. She was charging across the mountaintops on the back of a wild dragon!
“Faster, faster, faster!” she squealed.
Soon the beast was sprinting. Great, bounding strides covered in seconds what had previously taken minutes. Jade gasped with exhilaration, and by the time Halfax slowed, half of a mountain was behind them and her heart was racing as fast as his.
#
By the end of the following day, they had reached their goal. Jade's eyes widened as their destination revealed itself. It was certainly a breathtaking sight. The building--and, indeed, the whole of the clearing that it occupied--seemed to be experiencing entirely the wrong season. In the center of an icy gray forest, there was a bed of emerald green grass and a tree that bore juicy ripe apples. Along one edge, a stream flowed out from under a shell of ice, threaded a curving path through the clearing, and slipped back into the snow.
Though the setting was astounding, to the average adult the building itself wouldn't seem like anything special. It was li
ttle more than a humble wood cottage wrapped around the base of a precarious stone tower perhaps three stories tall. A large wooden shack extended from one side to form what had been formerly used as a stable, and the front door was splintered and broken. Nothing remarkable.
Jade, though, had grown up in a small farming village. She'd only seen a building half as tall a handful of times, so even the dilapidated stone spire was an object of wonder for her. Neither the spring clearing nor the stone tower was the first thing on her mind, however. No, to her the most important thing was . . .
“A wizard really lived here?” she piped, scrambling from the dragon's back and running up to it.
“Several, over the centuries.”
“Who defeated them?” she asked.
“Defeated them?”
“Yeah! It must have been a great hero. Maybe Desmeres!”
She spoke of Desmeres Lumineblade, by far the most popular and enduring folk hero of the north. His story was one of two histories of a very turbulent time, and had become the generally accepted one. This was largely due to the fact that literacy and academics had fallen out of favor, and his was considerably shorter and easier to remember. The fact that it seldom bore any more than a passing resemblance to the truth was largely beside the point.
“Why would Desmeres have had to defeat them?” Halfax asked, surveying the structure for any dangers.
“Because he was a hero, and that's what heroes do! They kill wizards and dr--and other things,” she said. “Look, an apple tree!”
Jade threw down her bags and scurried to the edge of the clearing where the tree stood, its branches heavy with fruit. After a few failed attempts at climbing, Jade looked imploringly to Halfax. He butted the lowest branch and down tumbled a handful of the apples. She eagerly scooped them up and bit juicily into one.
“It's a Myranda,” she said sloppily. “My dad used to grow these.”
She turned to toss the dragon one, but Halfax was busy investigating the tower.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Wizards protect their towers.”
“With magic?”
“Yes.”
“Can you find it just by searching?”
“You cannot find it without searching.”
After scrutinizing every inch of the structure he could reach, all while the little girl noisily worked her way through two more apples, Halfax could find no sign of danger. He turned to Jade, but his mouth hadn't yet opened to give permission by the time she had dashed inside.
“Be careful!” Halfax urged.
“There's all sorts of stuff in here. Tables, chairs! Oh, look, a big fireplace. Everything is dusty though.” She coughed.
Her voice and footsteps darted this way and that inside of her new home as she excitedly cataloged the contents. Soon she was spiraling up the stairs, peering out through missing bricks, until she reached the single room at the top.
“There is a great big bed up here! Here, shake this out!” she called, hurling a set of bedding out the window.
The dust-covered blankets managed to land squarely on the dragon's face. By the time he shook them free, Jade was outside again. She snatched up the bag of gold and hurried to the doors of the tiny stable.
“Come on!” she piped, tugging them open.
Halfax plodded over and peered inside.
“Look! You can sleep here! It is big enough, and there is a door right there that leads into the house and everything. I'll get it set up for you!” Jade trilled.
She dumped the meager handful of gold onto the ground in the center of the stable and crouched to carefully arrange it.
Halfax looked over the decrepit structure. It was completely bare; not even a scrap of rotten hay littered the floor. Whatever innate fear the looters may have had of a wizard's tower clearly did not protect this place. He turned back to the little girl. Jade looked up, the pile of gold at her feet now neatly stacked, and smiled expectantly at Halfax. He heaved a sigh.
In a series of slow, awkward maneuvers that took the better part of five minutes, the creature managed to squeeze into the stable. He filled it to capacity, so much so that he wasn't so much laying in it as he was wearing it. When he finally finished situating himself, he managed to twist his head to face the little girl. She was standing in the doorway, a smile lighting up her face.
“See? Perfect!”
#
Over the course of the next few days, Jade set about preparing the tower. With Halfax's help, she washed her bedding, cleaned up clutter, set out pots and pans. Slowly, the abandoned place began to change. There was life in it now. It was by no means a mansion; in fact, it was little more than a pair of large rooms around the base of the tower.
One room was an all-purpose sort, playing the role of entryway, dining room, workshop, and clearly anything else the former resident had in mind. It had a fireplace at one side, a long table with two chairs, and very little else. It was the sort of room one might imagine would be assembled by a man who lived alone and preferred it that way, built simply and sparingly.
One door led to the outside, another to the stable, a third to the kitchen. A closet with no apparent knob stood on one wall, and opposite was a stone arch that led to the tower. A staircase that seemed to be perpetually on the brink of collapse spiraled up to a room that looked to have been emptied in a hurry. There was a bed, another table, and a ring of dusty, vacant shelves covering every wall. Boxes, chests, and cabinets were everywhere, and all completely bare. It almost would have looked ransacked, save for the fact that looters were never so gentle.
At the moment, the little girl stood in the kitchen. Her eyes took in a simple sight, just a stove with food cooking atop it. She marveled as though it were a celestial event. There was a roof over her head again, food in the cupboard, a bed to sleep in. She'd had all of that when she was with the Drudders, but here there was something else.
Jade walked into the fresh spring air and peered into the wintery forest that surrounded her. Halfax was among the trees, eyes ever vigilant. He turned to her briefly, and she smiled. Here she had something she'd lacked with the Drudders. Here she had someone who cared about her. That made this place something she hadn't had since the fire took her family. That made this place her home.
#
Jade had taken to sleeping in the tower. It was the only place that had a bed and she had no way to move it. It was a nice enough place to sleep, though. Three windows, the only parts of the wall not covered with empty shelves, let in plenty of light and fresh air. Thanks to the perpetual spring weather, she seldom needed more than a single blanket. There was only one real problem. A lifetime of waking in a room filled with family--be it her own sisters or her foster brothers--made nights without the sounds of others feel horribly empty. Sleep came slowly, and when it did come, all too often it brought terrible things. Things she wished with all of her heart she could forget.
Her eyes shot open from just such a dream, the images still stinging her mind. Try as she might, she could not shake them away, and she dare not try to sleep again with them in her head. If she did, she might return to the same terrible, terrible dream. Finally she pulled herself from bed, grabbed the blanket, and trudged to the stairs.
“Hal?” came Jade's voice meekly.
The dragon's eyes slid open, locked onto her. As far as Jade could tell, Halfax never slept at all. The faintest noise drew his instant and dedicated attention. Now his eyes fell upon the little girl, standing in the doorway of his cramped quarters and dragging her blanket.
“Tell me what is wrong,” he commanded. When there was even the slightest hint of trouble, the beast did not ask questions, he demanded information.
“I had a bad dream,” she whimpered.
“Oh. Good,” he said, eyes closing once more.
“It's not good!” she objected, hurt.
“It is good, because dreams cannot hurt you. Go to sleep.”
“Can I sleep in here with you?” she asked
, a tremor in her voice.
“Why?”
“It would make me feel better.”
“But why? There is nothing to be afraid of. It wasn't real.”
“You know . . . you know how there are some things you don't understand about me . . . because I don't understand them about me?”
“Yes.”
“This is one of those things.”
“There isn't any room here,” he objected.
Jade quietly climbed into the stable, crawling onto Halfax and nestling herself between his folded claws and the curve of his neck. The dragon held perfectly still. He wanted to object, to send her away. This wasn't the role he was meant to play. But . . . the very moment she rested her head upon him, he could feel the fear in her drop away. He knew fear. He could smell it, hear it in the beat of a heart. Predators were sensitive to it, trained to detect it, to seek it out. She'd been terrified, but now the anxiety was nearly gone.
For a time, it seemed that she would sleep, but before long she began to stir. She tossed and turned, fidgeting under her blanket.
“I can't sleep,” she mumbled.
“Try.”
“I am, but I can't. Tell me a story,” she said.
“I don't know any stories.”
“You must know stories. What did your mother tell you when you couldn't sleep?”
“I never had trouble sleeping.”
“Well, you must know some stories. You're a dragon. You're old. And knights fight you and things,” She yawned.
Halfax heaved a long sigh that drifted into a faint, frustrated growl.
“Whoa . . .” Jade said, her voice thumping with the rumbling sound. “Your whole body shakes when you do that. Why are you doing that? Are you--”
“Just go to sleep,” he grumbled sharply.
After a startled silence, “Okay,” was the meek reply.
Again a few silent, still moments passed, and Halfax desperately hoped she'd drifted off. Then came a sniffle and the soft sound of gentle weeping.
“Are you crying?” he groaned.
“No,” she managed between whimpers.
The Book of Deacon Anthology Page 135
