Dragonseer (Secicao Blight Book 1)

by Chris Behrsin

  After a moment, Gerhaun continued to speak. Your dreams are more than just dreams. They're the closest that most come to the collective unconscious. Because you're a dragonseer, dreams also bring you closer to the truth. Once you learn to read them then, my dear, you can learn a great many things.

  I was still absolutely bewildered and a little frustrated, to be honest. But by this point I'd decided to bite my tongue. I took a deep breath. Gerhaun, all this time, had been waiting patiently for me to compose myself. My heart was thumping in my chest, but I tried my best to ignore it. What I needed the most, was to find out what was going on.

  What dream do you speak of? I asked.

  That's more like it, she said. Courage must come first before discovery. Often the answers you speak are within. Now, the dreams you ask of are only those of the myths of creation. The versions from your textbooks don't speak as true as the dreams you've had since birth.

  Of Finase and Honore?

  Yes, Gerhaun said. You know well the myth, I'm sure.

  I did. The creation myth was one of the first stories I remember my mother telling me as a child. In it, our world began with two immortal races: men and dragons. Finase was the leader of men, Honore the leader of dragons. There were no women.

  At some time in the distant past, a great war emerged between the two races. After a decade of fighting, they realized couldn't possibly exist together upon this world. So, they called up to The Gods Themselves for help.

  In response, the God Themselves sent down the Tree Immortal, with the promise that whoever drank first of its sap, would rule the world. The two leaders called upon great armies, which clashed at the base of this huge tree.

  There, Finase and Honore met and, in a battle to the death. They tore apart its bark with knife and claw. They ended up destroying the tree and each other before they could drink of its sap.

  All men and dragons died in battle that day, but their blood mingled with the soil and mashed up roots of the Tree Immortal. From there, out rose men, women, dragon queens and dragons of all the colours of the rainbow.

  Yes, that's the myth, Gerhaun said, again reading my thoughts. You learned your history well. But tell me Pontopa, is that the version you recall?

  My eyebrows knotted in confusion. What do you mean?

  I mean the truth, dear dragonseer. Do you know this myth to be true?

  I— Was there something I had forgotten from my schooling? I started racking my brains for what I'd read in the history textbooks.

  No, Gerhaun said. Not there. Don't search for the answer in knowledge, for what people have taught you in the past is often filled with lies. Trust only the truths rooted inside you. Recall your dreams.

  I can't remember my dreams.

  You do. They only become hidden within through years of trying to rationalise. Sukina was once the same. Just focus, Pontopa. Seek within.

  I dropped my head. My stomach churned and I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt so nervous.

  Breathe, dragonseer, Gerhaun said. Then again, I heard her voice more distant in my head as if I'd experienced a sudden change of consciousness. That’s right. Don't fear yourself. Simply let it flow.

  For a while, I felt the panic rushing through me. Wild thoughts that had no direction. Worry about my parents. And the fact we were terrorists now. How I was never really the best learner at school. And Velos, would he be okay?

  Relax, Pontopa, Gerhaun said. Breathe.

  And with those words, I did as she said. I let another breath of stale air fill my chest. With it, a sense of relief washed over me. Then, clear as rain, came the truth. Pictures I had seen many times but forgotten. Dreams of the past, of the future, of sailing the void that connected human, dragonkind and the whole of creation that The Gods Themselves had left behind.

  That's it, Gerhaun's voice now seemed to waver in the background. Go deeper. Connect to the collective unconscious. Never let your fear keep you away.

  I let my mind take the plunge and everything around me — Sukina, the massive dragon queen in front of me, the glistening pile of treasure — all this blurred into nothing as I entered a world within. I focused on recalling what was in my mind's eye and diving as deep beneath my own subconscious as I could, and then beyond into the sea of the collective unconscious.

  There, images flooded my mind's eye. I'd seen them may times in my dreams, now forgotten. The kind of lucid dreams that seem so real until you wake up and then ten minutes later, they're gone. And the next time, you feel a sense of déjà vu, but then again, as you awake, they’re lost to the mind, and so the cycle repeats.

  The men didn't die at each other’s throats, I said. No, I see a woman. Finesia, Finase's wife, drank the sap from the Tree Immortal's roots. The world didn't start with just men, but men and women alike, all immortal.

  The Gods Themselves gave Finesia to Finase for company. And, as he and Honore fought, Finesia thought she'd dive in and take the tree's power for herself.

  But her greed was her own undoing. An immortal, she was the only one who survived the battle. She watched in horror as her own kind perished around her, including her beloved, Finase. The dragons died too, including Honore. So, in despair, Finesia hacked the tree into a million pieces, which scattered on the wind throughout the Southlands.

  I then became Finesia, wandering in solitude, roving the barren plains of the world for company, but finding nothing. Reduced to delirium, mania, insanity. I felt it all — it struck my emotional core. Tears flooded to my eyes.

  It may hurt, Gerhaun's voice kept me grounded. But don't lose it.

  I took some more deep breaths, centred myself then brought myself back to the vision within. The Gods Themselves, looked upon such a desolate world in disappointment. Humans and dragons were their creations that they had once loved, and now they had undone each other through greed.

  That was when the Gods Themselves deserted us. They departed to other stars, other planets, to leave this one behind. But they didn’t want to leave this world devoid of life. So, they created men and dragons again out of mud. Then, they created women from the bark of trees and dragons and dragon queens from the sulphur at the centre of the earth.

  To guard us all, they also created eight creatures out of the blood of both man and dragon. These were born out of eggs but took the form of human women. Thus, came the first dragonseers, the Eight Ambassadors, who share the blood of both humans and dragonkind. Their job, to mediate the conflict between man and dragon and ensure the two races never destroy each other again.

  And those Ambassadors, Gerhaun cut in. Were the foremothers of the dragonseers today, and you are directly descended from the Ambassador, Candida. There can only ever be eight of you, a dragonseer will always have only one child, no more, no less, always female. Although thanks to King Cini II's dragonheats, there's now only two of you. Plus, another back in Tow—

  My mother.

  Not your mother, I'm afraid. If there was a fourth dragonseer alive, we would have sensed it by now. Another…

  Fortunately, I was too deep in trance to be shocked by that statement. But that didn't stop me being curious. Then who's the other? I asked.

  Gerhaun Forsi kicked out with her hind leg and the sudden motion brought me back to the present, almost as if Gerhaun had wanted to snap me out of my self-induced hypnosis. I opened my eyes to see a nugget of gold come tumbling down from Gerhaun's stack. Questions, so many questions, Gerhaun said. Have patience and you will learn more, but for now we need to get on to more pressing matters.

  She turned her mighty head to Sukina. Is there any more news of the little one from the north?

  Sukina smiled as she looked at me. I heard her speak within my head, without her even needing to move her lips. Gerhaun means Artua. You know the king's nephew we've been reading about in the magazines. I sensed there was more to this than Sukina let on. But I could hear nothing of her true thoughts, she masked those well.

  Very well, Gerhaun said. We shall call him A
rtua for now. Although Pontopa, you should know that the child doesn't really belong to the King of Tow.

  My eyes opened wide in astonishment. Sukina? It was you who was responsible for the kidnapping?

  Sukina shook her head. No, but we’re concerned about who did. We thought that Prince Artua was safe within the king’s walls, but now it appears he might be in danger. Gerhaun and I have been making plans to rescue him, since the matter is now becoming a matter of urgency.

  But I don’t understand, I said. What does the boy mean to you?

  That, we can’t reveal to you yet, Gerhaun said. You need to first learn to mask your thoughts so others can’t hear you. It’s not a technique that comes naturally, unless you’ve been trained since birth.

  Mask my thoughts. From who?

  From spies who might listen in the collective unconscious. There are others who can listen to your mind and they might do so to try and discover our secrets. You have to understand, dear dragonseer, that the more we tell you, the more we put ourselves at risk.

  I zoned out for a moment. Gerhaun’s reference to danger had reminded me that my parents could be in jeopardy, and that got me worried. Part of this was due to the mention of the execution of the two perpetrators in the magazines. Unlike his father, Cini III had never acted aggressively to anyone within Tow before, he’d more wanted to protect his country as a perfect utopia, a place where nothing could go wrong. But now he seemed to be taking a different stance and so what he’d do next was anyone’s guess.

  Your parents will be okay, Sukina said in the collective unconscious. Doing that mind-reading thing again. It was starting to get on my nerves a little.

  I turned to her wanting to throw back my chagrin, but her expression was so full of sympathy that I couldn't possibly fault her. Despite the fact she'd kind of got me into this mess. I just can't help but worry about them, I said.

  Gerhaun cocked her head. You are quite right too, my dear, she said. And part of you wants to blame Sukina or blame Faso. But it was you who decided to come here, and you did so for much greater reasons than just to see a new place.

  But my parents… I said

  We've already sent a spy to the Five Hamlets to keep an eye on things and he'll send information back to us via Hummingbird if he discovers anything unusual. It’s probably better to see what news he sends back to us before acting on anything. We have strong resources to react quickly here, and you and Velos will be safe here.

  I lowered my head. You're right. But what can I do now?

  Sukina stepped forward and put a comforting hand on my arm. We've ordered Admiral Sandao to stay up north a little longer. If there's any danger, we'll hear about it pretty quickly. Meanwhile, we have a mission we want you to partake in.

  I raised an eyebrow. A mission?

  Yes. It would give me a chance to show you what dragonseers can really do.

  I shuddered. I had a sense that danger lay ahead of me. But then, perhaps this would help me take my mind of things a little bit. Tell me more.

  Of course, Sukina said. My father has already prepared a briefing team and he's waiting for us outside.

  CHAPTER 15

  We had the briefing in the courtyard on which we'd previously landed. They placed our seats around the tail of the huge golden dragon mosaic, which I now realised depicted Gerhaun. We'd all sat ourselves on the wooden, foldable seats at the front of around ten to twelve rows, with every seat stuffed with mustard suited soldiers. Sukina sat on my left and Wiggea, that nice guard who had escorted me to the cell, on my right with his hands clutched between his knees.

  General Sako was at the Gerhaun mosaic's head. He stood next to a noticeboard on a stand, with a map of the Southlands placed upon it. Smoke rose from the pipe clenched between his lips as he glared at someone in the back row. I turned around and peeked over the crowd to see Faso sitting right at the back-row corner, his head tucked to his chest like a sleeping pigeon.

  Behind Faso were the dragons. Velos lay on the floor in the centre, sound asleep, now awoken although still a little dreary, and no longer in chains. He still had that horrifying armour on him, of course. Other Greys had spaced themselves out well away from Velos. They stood around, picking bits out of their wings or eating out of secicao troughs that lay scattered around the courtyard.

  Due to the collective unconscious being stronger here, I could feel even more what Velos was feeling. And my heart went out for him, because he didn’t know how to fit in with these kin who were of the same species, yet so different from him.

  Go on, I said, this time in the collective unconscious. Make friends here. I doubt he understood my language, even if I now had a channel to his mind. But he understood the intention in my words, and I felt him whimper then and shy even further away from the Greys.

  I sighed and looked back at Faso who hadn't changed position one bit, then I turned to Sukina, who smiled. “Faso’s been showing off his contraptions in the laboratory ever since I let him out,” she said.

  Brown secicao clouds roiled in the distance. For the first time, I noticed how mesmerising they were to watch. Thin wisps occasionally broke through the invisible barrier only to dissipate like smoke would from a fire.

  But then it wasn't the first thing that seemed strange here. I couldn't work out why, after Sukina telling me that they kept dragons and humans separate, would both meet for briefings.

  I decided to ask her.

  “We only do it for missions involving dragonseers,” Sukina said. “Which means that dragons and humans will have to work together. It's more for the troops' benefit than the dragons. They tend to fear them less when they're briefed alongside them.” She opened her mouth as if to say something else but was interrupted by a cough from General Sako at the front.

  Immediately, everything fell silent. General Sako waited for a few moments, scanning the crowd as if looking for offenders as he puffed on his pipe. Then he took his turn to bawl out the brief.

  “It's come to our attention,” he said. “That King Cini has decided to test his prototypes for his new harvesting operations. We've nicknamed his new invention Mammoths. Massively armoured machines, these beasts work by ripping secicao out of the ground and then grinding it into mulch through huge grinders at their mouths.”

  Idiots, I thought. If they mash up the secicao before grinding it, it would lose some of its augmentative properties.

  And also increase its acidity when it's extracted into the soil as waste. Sukina's voice entered my head again. Once again, reading my thoughts.

  I wish you'd stopped doing that, I telepathed back.

  I saw Sukina nod out of the corner of my eye. This is exactly what Gerhaun means by needing to learn how to mask your thoughts.

  But how?

  It’s a lifelong practice, really, Sukina said. The theory is so simple but the application difficult. You simply still your mind and then watch your thoughts from a distance. But it’s a lot easier to explain than do.

  I guess you’ll teach me more later, I said.

  Of course.

  General Sako had drawn an arrow on the map from somewhere on the northern coast of the Southland towards fortress Gerhaun. “Cini wants to use the Mammoths to take operations further inland,” he explained. “As you know, automatons don't work well under the effects of secicao resin. But Cini has developed a hardened coating on the machines' caterpillar tracks, that potentially allows these machines to travel several hundred miles inland.

  “If we let King Cini progress with these automatons, then he might accidently stumble across Fortress Gerhaun, which wouldn't be good news for us. The king has designed the Mammoths to be highly impervious. Fortunately, our spies have confirmed that they have their flaws.

  “We'll need volunteers for a team to assist our two dragonseers to this point here—” he pointed to a location on the top right of the map “—where we'll intercept one Mammoth being tested and convince King Cini that his new toys are a big waste of money?”

 
He took another draw on his pipe as he scanned the seats with a stern gaze for a show of hands. Next to me, that guard Wiggea put up his hand and then turned to me and smiled. I guessed I could come to like that man. I turned around to see a ten or so more raised hands, an even mix of both ladies and men. Four of the soldiers who had their hands raised, wore the same navy-blue sash I’d noticed on Wiggea the other day.

  They’re dragonelites, Sukina told me, again reading my mind. Gerhaun’s finest troops. The other volunteers know they’ll also be considered for the rank if they keep volunteering. It’s a prestige thing.

  I see, I said.

  In front of me, Sako was scanning the volunteers. He looked slightly disappointed. “Is that all,” he said. “Come on, what did I train you for, to sit around all day and drink South Saye tea?”

  Another hand rose up from behind me. General Sako looked at it in disgust.

  “Blunders and dragonheats! What are you thinking Gordoni?” General Sako certainly could be loud when he wanted to.

  Faso stood up so that I could see him. He seemed unusually mouse-like under General Sako's stare, but still he stammered out his point. “King Cini has a brand spanking new invention, and there's no way that I'm going to stand on the side-lines and hear about how they work second-hand.” For once, I found myself almost admiring Faso for sticking up for himself.

  “What absolute nonsense,” General Sako said. “You're no soldier Gordoni. You'll put the mission in jeopardy. Or perhaps that's your intent?”

  “My intent,” Faso said a little sterner now, “is not to get bored within these walls. You wanted to employ me to be a scientist and that's what I intend to go out and do.”

  “You will do no such thing, Faso Gordoni. An order is an order.”

  Faso lowered his head and he looked as if he was about to sit down, almost defeated, until a lithe woman in a grey felt frock coat stood up. She wore glasses and had short raven hair parted in a fringe. “Please, General Sako. If I might make a suggestion?”