by Jeanna Kunce
Darien felt relieved. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to leave the spot where she had first entered the forest. And there was no way to know if going back there would somehow lead her home. But if not, would she want to be stuck in this strange place alone—at night? If there were dragons here, what other creatures might be lurking about? No, Darien thought that it would be best to go with the dragons. At least Amani seemed to feel he owed her some help after what she did for Tabo, and she felt reasonably sure that he would protect her from any dangers they might encounter in the forest.
Darien forced her damp feet back into her shoes, while Amani leaned low to the ground to let Tabo climb onto his back. The little dragon instinctively crawled up to a spot between his shoulder blades, got a good grip with her front claws, and flattened herself against his body. Darien watched with fascination and then realized that she would have to find a place too.
“Um, where should I sit?” she asked.
“You can ride in front of Tabo, close to my neck. She’ll help keep you from falling off, since you humans are built with such inferior claws. And by the way, dragons are not accustomed to being ridden by humans like ordinary pack horses, so don’t get used to it.”
Darien had once thought it would be exciting to ride a dragon, but now that she was faced with one, a not-especially-friendly one at that, the prospect seemed rather intimidating. Having no other choice, however, she swung her leg carefully over Amani’s lowered neck and tried to get a good grip while avoiding the bony ridge that protected the back of the dragon’s head.
“Are you ready, Human—er . . . Darien?” Amani rumbled.
“I guess so,” she replied. The dragon crouched low for a second, and then, with a mighty leap, their bodies rose into the air. At the perfect moment, Amani’s great wings unfurled from his back and strained to lift them higher and higher. “Hold on . . . you two,” Amani puffed. “It’s going . . . to be . . . a bumpy ride.”
Darien held her breath as the ground lurched farther and farther away with each pump of Amani’s wings. Every jolt threatened to topple Darien straight into the lake or, worse, into the thick forest. What have I gotten myself into? I’ll never be able to hold on for long this way. She squeezed her eyes shut and clung tensely to Amani’s heaving back.
At last, with one final grunt of effort, the dragon lifted them, and suddenly all the jarring and jolting was gone. Amani stretched his wings to their widest, and they soared through the crisp air. When Darien was able to open her eyes again, she saw the tops of the trees far below. She was amazed at how fast the lake retreated behind them. At first, their flight followed a stream that fed into the lake. But Amani kept them on their own course, and gradually even the stream had faded from sight. Darien realized that it would do no good to try to keep track of their progress; she would simply have to trust that if she had to get back to the lake to return home, Amani would bring her back.
The air grew warmer after leaving the lake behind, and soon Darien’s wet clothes began to dry, aided by the rushing wind. The lake had washed away the traces of dirt she had gotten on her clothes as a result of her race through the forest, but it had done nothing for the small tears, and it had also left behind a bit of a strange, stale smell. I’m going to be in trouble if I ever get home from here, she thought, noticing her torn hem and snagged tights. There’s no way I’ll be able to explain this to my parents.
As Darien grew accustomed to the steady, rhythmic rise and fall of the dragon’s wings, her fears subsided and she began to enjoy the ride. She watched as the forest below gave way to a grassy plain. She glanced backward and was amused to note that Tabo had fallen asleep, her head snuggled against Darien’s back.
Amani cleared his throat. “Ahem. Sorry for the bumpy start back there. I’ve always been considered pretty strong, especially since I’m not yet a full-grown dragon, but I guess I’m not used to carrying so much extra weight.”
“Oh no, this is wonderful,” Darien reassured him. “Really wonderful. It’s better than I ever imagined.” That was the truth. And even though Amani claimed he would be embarrassed to carry a human, Darien could see that he was pleased by her compliment.
“Are things so different in your land? There are friendships between humans and dragons?” Amani asked. It seemed as though he hadn’t wanted to ask her anything, but curiosity had gotten the better of him.
“No,” Darien replied. “There aren’t any dragons where I come from. Not real ones, anyway. Only in stories and pictures. They’re what we call make-believe or imaginary.”
“Oh,” Amani said, pondering for a moment.
Sensing an opening, Darien asked, “Amani? Can I ask where we’re going? Is it far?”
“For a human on foot, far. For a dragon in flight, not so very far, but far enough out of the way to be frustrating. You see, if I were alone, I would have headed straight to where I think they are taking Mother and Father. But because I have Tabo to take care of now, I have to get her to safety first.” He politely didn’t mention that Darien was slowing him down too. “So we’re going to our caves in the hills, where Father’s sister and her daughter are awaiting our return. It will be safe to leave Tabo there while I rescue my parents—if I can figure out how to do that, exactly.” There was a pause as Amani considered the dilemma facing him. Darien was hesitant to push him for more information, yet she felt sure there was some way she could help, if only she could understand what was happening.
“Where are they taking your parents? You sound like you already know where they are going. And why do the people want them, anyway? I don’t understand any of this. Why would anyone want to hurt such beautiful creatures?”
Amani seemed touched by her concern. He looked back at her almost kindly. “Thank you for saying that. Truly, you are not the same kind of human as I am used to. For the answer to your question is simple enough: greed. Dragons are hunted, captured, tortured, killed—solely to fulfill the pleasure and greed of these humans. Even the youngest human child here knows that when dragon scales are heated to the proper temperature, they turn into pure gold.”
4
The Dragons’ Tale
Darien was amazed by this extraordinary revelation. She looked down curiously at the smooth brown dragon scales underneath her hands. “And that’s why they captured your parents: to take their scales and turn them into gold.”
Amani nodded in response. “As strange as it seems to me, there was a time when our kind were protected, and dragons were happy to share our wealth—our scales—when they were shed naturally or after death. The strongest among us would breathe fire on them and melt them into gold, which could then be traded or given away as we chose. My father told me that in his youth dragons were quite generous, especially because they didn’t really need anything. The king’s laws protected the dragons, while the dragons protected him and the kingdom in return. Of course, ever since the king was murdered and the dragons were betrayed, we have become rather stingy.”
“The king was murdered?” Darien broke in.
“Oh, that’s a story better left for another time, and um,”—Amani glanced back at Darien nervously—“you might want to forget that I mentioned the part about murder. The official story is that he died from a problem with his heart, and although you’d never get my father to believe it, it might be best for you not to know any different.”
Darien was intrigued by what had happened in this world. She desperately wanted to press Amani for more details, yet she knew she had to trust his judgment, so she forced herself to keep her questions to herself. For now, anyway.
“Where was I?” Amani asked.
“The dragons were betrayed, and you don’t want to share with the humans anymore, right?”
“Ah yes. Well, of course hard feelings persisted on both sides. The more guarded the dragons became with their gold, the more greedy the humans became, and the more guarded the drago
ns became . . . and so on. The new king lifted the ban on harming dragons, and the hunting began. Since then, things have steadily fallen apart. Dragons were not very numerous to begin with. And having so many of our females taken during hatching is a terrible blow, especially since many of the new hatchlings can’t survive without their mothers. If you hadn’t been there to help Tabo, well . . . I don’t want to think of it.”
Darien blushed. “I just did the only thing I could think of. Anyway, she’s fine now. That’s all that matters. But why don’t you all rise up against the humans until they agree to stop hunting your people? You seem so strong, and I bet you’re awful fierce when you want to be.”
Amani considered this for a moment. “I guess it’s not that simple. You’re right, dragons can be quite fierce when defending themselves or their families, but we’re not generally what you’d call warlike creatures. We wouldn’t have a clue how to organize ourselves for something like that. Plus, let’s just say that dragons are independent, so working together is sometimes troublesome. Also, you speak as though we dragons are one united group, but that, too, has changed. A great rift has divided our race, and those of us on the wrong side have become outcasts, scattered about the countryside in small family groups or even alone.”
“What happened?” Darien asked.
“You see, in the past, dragons only bonded with—married—other dragons of the same color. It wasn’t a law, just a tradition. Then one day, our good king Dex was casually talking with a small group of advisers and friends, and they wondered among themselves why it was that dragons only partnered with others of similar color. They wondered whether any dragons ever felt trapped by having to choose a mate this way, or if some would have been happier choosing a mate of a different color. They went on to guess at the reasons why dragons behaved this way, and eventually their discussion turned in other directions. But the seed had been planted in the mind of a young dragon in the king’s guard. It so happened that Audric, my father, was on duty that day in the garden. Although he wasn’t interested in bonding with anyone yet, the seed grew as he thought about it and talked about it with his friends.
“Word of this radical idea spread through the young dragons, and of course the elders heard of it too, though they were not interested in discussing it. There was nothing to talk about, really, since there is no actual reason why the dragons had done things the way they had; it was simply a tradition. Perhaps long ago there was more to it, but if so, the meaning has been lost to us.
“Well, in short, my father was not the first to mate outside his color, but the idea had grown and grown in him, and it came to full bloom two years later when he first laid eyes on Brisa, my mother. Quite a few of the younger dragons had chosen to mix-mate by then. Though the elders certainly didn’t approve, it seemed like we would remain at peace, especially after my father did it—he was in the guard and held high in the king’s personal favor. Given time, we might have learned to accept one another again. But things happened fast after King Dex was . . . gone . . . and it became shamefully easy for the new king to convince the elders and pure-mates to turn against the mixed-mates.
“For dragons, the worst finally happened when the first hatchlings came into their colors. Instead of being a solid color like one parent or the other, they came out as a mixture of both. You can’t judge it by how I look; my colors are plain compared to some of the more outlandish combinations I’ve seen.”
Darien noticed that Amani was mostly brown with some red counter-shading on his underbelly, and the translucent skin forming his wings was a similar dark red. Otherwise he was fairly plain, though Darien thought his particular shade of brown was rather lovely, reminding her of stark trees in wintertime and the rich fudge her grandmother used to make at Christmas.
“I think you look cool,” Darien commented.
Amani huffed. “Well, the pure-mates were horrified, even the ones who were closely related to the hatchlings. The elders told the mixed-mates either to rid themselves of their freak babies and part from their chosen partner or to leave the dragon homeland.
“It sickens me to say that there were a few who chose to stay, but my parents and many others appealed to the king—the new king, Nevin Radburn, not King Dex—to grant them a land of their own. He consented, but when the dragons gathered together to leave for the new land, it turned out to be a trick. The king figured that no one would care about these exiles, and he and his minions would be free to kill them off and keep the gold for themselves. But they underestimated the dragons’ fury at being betrayed. The men were no match for the dragons and were forced to flee back to the royal city. Yet the dragons weren’t through. They flew into a rage and attacked the city they had spent a lifetime defending. The people had no choice except to run, and the dragons were not idle after the humans left. They carried off what they could of the food and then destroyed everything else, leaving nothing for the people to return to except stone rubble. They say you can barely even tell where the great castle stood.” Amani’s voice lowered wistfully. “I wish I could have seen it just once. Father told me it was magnificent in King Dex’s time.”
Darien felt saddened by the tale of the dragons’ lost homeland, the ruined city, and the innocent humans forced to leave with the bad ones. “So what happened to the dragons? And where did the people go?”
“For the dragons, there is not much to tell. Some of the related families tried to stick together, like we do with my aunt’s family; the rest went out on their own. Remember the hatchlings? The parents were desperate to find safety and shelter for the young ones. So they scattered, living in obscurity and hoping to one day hear news of dragons gathering and thriving in a new land. My father had recently begun talking with a group of traveling dragons, trying to convince them to settle near us. But then Father’s sister’s mate was killed, and the travelers were scared away.
“As for the humans, you should know that the royal city was not their only place to live. There are other settlements, though none as grand or as isolated from other races. The king decided to make himself a new royal city in Garddington, under Mount Garddrock. Many people already living in Garddington resented this, but they were not going to openly refuse their king. There was a rumor, however, that a faction still loyal to King Dex fled and has not been heard from again.”
“And this Mount Garddrock—” Darien asked, “is that where they’re taking your parents?”
“Yes, I believe so. I’ve never been there, but I’ve seen it from a distance and heard about it from my father. The city lies within old underground mines, so as you can imagine, it would be impossible for me to free my parents secretly. There’s not much room to fly, and I’m sure they would notice a dragon stomping his way through their tunnels. No, I think my only chance is to gather as many dragons as I can find on my way and hope they will agree to help me. If there are enough of us and we are strong enough, I have to believe we can force the humans to free my parents.”
Amani paused. “It’s odd though,” he mused.
“What?”
“That they were captured instead of killed outright like all the others. Of course, that’s good, but I wonder why the hunters would go through all the extra trouble. It was no small feat for them to take two dragons alive and haul them all the way back to the city.”
Amani became silent as he and Darien contemplated the gravity of their situation. While she thought about the impossible-sounding task ahead of Amani, Darien noticed that the landscape had changed yet again. Below, rippling green plains had long since given way to smoothly rounded hills, which were becoming increasingly rocky-looking the farther they flew. Appearing out of the mist ahead of them was a chain of imposing mountains that reached as far as they could see on either side.
Amani’s head began to sway from left to right until finally he exclaimed, “Ah! Here it is,” and they began to descend from the air. His wings tucked in, and they dove toward a cl
earing in the sparse forest of the hillside. Darien gripped the dragon tightly, anticipating a rough landing, but in a blur his large wings opened to their fullest—mere moments before they would have crashed onto the rocky ground—and they touched down without even a bounce.
Tabo scrambled easily off Amani’s back, already stable on her feet, though unable to do much with her wings yet. Darien followed and tried unsteadily to walk, though it felt as if the ground was rising and falling under her feet. Amani took a moment to catch his breath, then cautioned Darien to stand far behind his back.
“We need to be prepared for a hostile welcome. I don’t think my aunt will be happy that I’ve brought a human to our home.” With that said, Amani stood next to Tabo and let out a strange, piercing whistle.
Moments passed. Darien’s eyes darted from side to side, trying to anticipate where the aunt would emerge from the trees. Finally they heard two short whistles in response. Amani repeated the two whistles back, and another moment later a large dragon crept out with her back hunched over and her nostrils flaring.
“Aunt Gallia,” Amani called, “it’s safe to come out. Come meet my new baby sister.”
A dull brown dragon with sad eyes approached Tabo and they rubbed noses. “Oh, you are beautiful,” she whispered.
“Her name is Tabo,” Amani added.
Aunt Gallia abruptly pulled up to her full height, and Darien saw a large scar across her chest. The dragon had spotted Darien and was becoming extremely agitated.
“Human! Human!” she screamed.
Amani stepped in her way and prevented her from lunging at Darien.
“Where are your parents, Amani?” Aunt Gallia demanded. “You signaled it was safe! Why is there a human here?”
