by Jeanna Kunce
Abruptly, in spite of the heat, goose bumps prickled up on Darien’s arms, and she knew she was no longer alone in the chamber. Some distance away and about fifteen feet up, two garnet-red eyes smoldered. The dragon belonging to them approached while Darien stood anxiously, straining to see in the dark. With an unexpected roar, an enormous flame burst from the dragon’s jaws! Darien screamed and ducked down, covering her head with her hands, but the fire was not directed at her. It leaped from the dragon’s mouth toward the side of the cave where the swirling wind grabbed the flame and ignited torches along the wall, surrounding Darien in a wide circle of harsh light. Several loud echoing booms sounded in the distance and a moment later the winds died down. Darien, stunned, stayed in a low crouch and looked up at the dragon with fearful eyes, while he looked down on her from the ledge in front of his cave.
Even with her limited experience with dragons, Darien sensed this one was older than old. He had probably once been very large and impressive, but now he was stooped and bent. His dark green skin sagged off of his bones and he was covered in deep wrinkles. His eyes, however, were still stern and calculating, and one would have been very foolish indeed to mistake his aged looks for weakness.
Darien stood, still looking up at the elder dragon, even though the fear and heat were making her a little dizzy. Gathering her courage, Darien met the dragon’s eyes and addressed him in a voice that wavered just the smallest bit.
“Th-Thank you for meeting with me, sir,” she said, hoping she wasn’t breaking dragon etiquette by speaking first. She hesitated, waiting to hear if the dragon would answer, then continued when he remained silent. “I’m here because we really need your help. You see, my friend’s parents were captured by some bad people and taken to their mountain—I’m afraid they’re going to be killed, for their gold, you know—and it’s going to be nearly impossible to rescue them all by ourselves. I’m sure an important dragon like you could convince others to come with us and help—”
“Who are you?” Grisha’s rasping voice demanded. “You talk strangely and dress strangely; you even smell strange. Clearly you’re not from here. Just who do you think you are to come here, wasting my time, asking for favors for your filthy mongrel friend? Oh yes, I know who it is that waits, dirtying my doorstep. The name of Audric is still well known to us; we take much care in remembering those who turned their back on our noble ways. So the traitor’s son avoids us and sends a little girl instead to beg us for help, eh? I think Audric would be ashamed to see such weakness.”
Though Grisha’s voice was dry and gruff, it dripped with scorn as he gazed in his arrogance down at Darien. She didn’t know whether it was the heated air or her anger that was making her face so fiery hot, and Darien struggled hard to keep her temper under control. She knew that lashing out at this crusty old dragon would be the worst mistake, no matter how much she wanted to defend Amani’s honor.
“Well?” Grisha barked. “Explain now or get out! I want to know who you are and where you came from.” His eyes narrowed with suspicion while he waited for Darien’s answer.
Darien took as deep of a breath as she could in the thick air and tried to answer calmly, hoping to find words that would appease Grisha. She admitted that he was right, she did indeed come from another place. How she came to be in their land was harder to explain, since she didn’t understand it herself. Darien did her best to describe all that had happened, but Grisha seemed very reluctant to trust what she was saying; he attacked her with endless questions, trying to catch her off guard, as if hoping one time her answers would change and she would accidentally reveal some other secret reason for being there.
“Look,” Darien said with exasperation, “it doesn’t matter how I got here—we can keep going over and over it, even though I really can’t explain it any more than I already have—but the fact remains that two dragons, dragons just like you, will probably die if you don’t send help with us.”
Grisha nearly spat his reply out through his clenched jaws: “Those creatures are no longer fit to be called dragons, and they are not like me at all. I stayed true to our honorable traditions. I am not the one who turned my back on my duties and community. I am not the one who broke our society apart for my selfish gains. It was I, Grisha, who held the faithful ones together and forced them to stay with our ancient ways.”
“How can you be so stubborn that you can’t see it’s not worth the lives of your fellow dragons? Can’t you see how stupid it is to fight about what colors you are on the outside? You’re all the same on the inside,” Darien said, her anger and impatience beginning to show.
“What did you call me?” Grisha said in a terrifyingly soft whisper.
“I—I didn’t mean that you were s-stupid,” Darien said, backtracking, “I only meant that how you were acting . . .” Her heart began to throb violently in her chest, fearing what Grisha would do if he became enraged with her.
The aged dragon leaped from his elevated cave with an agility none would have guessed he still had. In three great paces, he stood towering over Darien, the light from the torches dancing devilishly over his sunken features. His fierce eyes blazed as Darien tried to stand her ground, then he uttered a hard, cruel, cold, and humorless laugh.
“Ha! I shouldn’t have been worried that you had some hidden motivation for being here, that your story was a clever ruse to trick us into revealing our treasures or secrets. You are only what you say you are: a girl from nowhere, ignorant of our proud and tragic history, on a foolhardy quest. Give up now. You will not survive your mission, and if the traitors die as well, I will not be sorry. Now, get out, before I decide to end your journey right here and now.”
“But I don’t know the way—”
“Go!”
* * *
Darien never knew how she made it back through the tunnel alone and nearly blind in the darkness. She only remembered stumbling along, her hand scraping painfully against the wall for guidance. Her ears rang from the deafening roar of Grisha’s bellowing voice. She felt the suffocating humidity and heat lessen gradually as she left the area of the council chamber.
After what seemed an eternity, Amani’s pacing silhouette appeared. In an instant, he read defeat in Darien’s expression and prepared to fly. Darien flung her small body onto Amani’s back, and without a word they leaped into the air.
With every breath, Darien sobbed, overwhelmed by her failure and with the reality of her new situation finally sinking in. What was I thinking? she berated herself. We wasted so much time! How could I have been so stupid to think I could make a difference in all this? I don’t have any idea what I’m up against with these dragon kidnappers. . . .I don’t have a clue how I’m going to get Amani’s parents back, if they’re even still alive. . . . and now I have nowhere else to go. . . .
Darien’s crying slowly subsided. She took a deep breath and let out a long trembling sigh. Then she remained quiet for a while, letting the feel of the wind and the steady beat of Amani’s wings calm her. Well, I volunteered for this job, didn’t I? There’s nothing else to do but to keep my word. I promised to help, and I guess I can only do my best. I hope something will come to me when we get to the city. I know one thing: I am not depending on anyone else’s help—I have to assume that I will be completely on my own there. As Darien resigned herself to the job ahead, she laid her cheek against Amani’s smooth scales and felt comforted by the warmth emanating from them.
Through Darien’s inner struggle, Amani remained patient and silent. When she had calmed down sufficiently, he said, “I can’t deny that I am very frustrated that none of the pure dragons were willing to join us and that we haven’t found any other help. It was not unexpected, but frustrating nevertheless. Yet I have to say how much it means to me that you would even try to confront the elders on behalf of my family. You were very brave—many dragons would never have dared to do as much—but I will understand if you want me to continue on
my own. When you agreed to help, you may not have understood what we are up against and how dangerous it might be. Perhaps now you have a better idea of how serious things are and want to change your mind.”
After a few moments thinking about Amani’s words, Darien raised her head up and let the cooling wind tug at the unruly strands of her blowing hair. She felt the last of her tears disappear from her cheeks. “We have to do this, no matter what it takes,” she said, her voice firm.
“It’s truly all right if you want to stop,” Amani insisted. “I appreciate that you wanted to try to help, but you don’t owe me anything—on the contrary, I owe it to you to keep you safe and not drag you into unknown dangers ahead.”
“I am not quitting now,” Darien said. “But we need a plan or something, since it looks like we’re going to have to do this all by ourselves.”
“Yes,” Amani agreed, “but first things first. What happened with Grisha? I don’t want to upset you, but can you tell me about it?” Darien’s hands clenched tighter against his back when he mentioned the elder dragon.
“Oh, he made me so frustrated! He kept grilling me over and over: Who was I? Where did I come from? What did I really want? To explain how I got here again. He was suspicious and he was grouchy, and he was really, really mean at the end, calling your parents traitors and saying he wouldn’t care if they didn’t survive. I know he was going out of his way to seem scary to me, too. Amani, I tried so hard to be polite and keep myself from getting mad at him, but he wouldn’t even listen.”
Darien was quiet for a few moments until Amani glanced back to see her deep in thought.
“You know,” she said finally, “I realize that I don’t understand everything that happened with you dragons in the past and that I’m an outsider here, but I just don’t get how the fight could still be so important after all this time, more important than helping other dragons in trouble. It just doesn’t seem right to me.”
“I certainly won’t defend the elders’ actions,” Amani said. “I guess the only thing you need to understand is that the older generation is very stubborn and proud and very close-minded. They think they’re doing the noble thing, and they want to uphold what they see as their sacred traditions. They are too blind to see that the traditions will die out either way. Change is bound to happen, sooner or later, for better or worse. If they would’ve only embraced the changes, perhaps. . . . Oh no, not now—”
Darien looked from side to side, straining her eyes to see. “What’s wrong, Amani?”
“Look below,” he answered bluntly, preoccupied with the unexpected danger.
“I don’t see any— oh, wait a second,” Darien squinted down. At first she didn’t see anything except the scrubby trees far below, but then she saw what looked like a dark pulsating cloud moving closer to them. It was no ordinary cloud, however. It appeared to be following their attempts to avoid it. Amani pumped his wings hard and fast, raising them higher with each thrust. No matter how fast they flew, the cloud seemed to keep gaining on them until Darien could see that it wasn’t a cloud at all but a flock of some kind of flying creatures. They had dark gray softball-size bodies and short, fragile-looking wings that flapped in such an awkward way it would’ve been funny, had they not been so clearly intent on attacking.
“Amani, what are those things?” Darien asked. “Are they dangerous?”
“They’re called charlots; they’re fire-eaters,” he answered, panting heavily. “Won’t hurt you. Not sure about me. Bad to have so many at once. Hold tight.” Amani stopped talking, straining with the effort to outrun and outmaneuver the charlots.
Soon enough it became clear that they couldn’t escape. Somehow, even though they were clumsy and small, the charlots were catching up. Darien began to hear the strange beating sound of the creatures’ flopping wings, louder and closer with each passing moment. Every muscle in her body was tense as she gripped Amani’s back. Darien fought against the tide of panic rising inside.
“Amani, what are we going to do?” she shrieked.
“Hold on!” Amani yelled back. “They’ll go straight for me. But if you get the chance to kick any of them off, do it! They’re not very tough, but they’ll keep attacking until I blow fire to get them away.”
“Can’t you just do it now?”
“No! Dragon fire makes them crazy and causes them to give off a horrible gas too sickening to breathe. Literally, it’s poisonous. Doesn’t matter anyway, I can’t make fire yet—at least not much—” Amani broke off as the first of the hideous creatures came within reach of the dragon’s mighty jaws, which snapped shut just inches away from the small, bulging, hairy body of the charlot. It dropped away to avoid Amani’s bite, but another one was already flying in to attack the other side. Before it could reach them, Amani’s tail whipped around and smacked it with a solid pop. Over and over, Amani defended them from the flying assault, but there seemed to be no end to the swarm of charlots darting in and out.
Finally, one of the beasts was able to clamp a mouthful of sharp teeth into the bony part of Amani’s left wing. It didn’t hurt much through the dragon’s tough skin, but his flying became more unstable and erratic when he tried to shake the creature off. Darien’s already cramped hands managed an even tighter grip as she kicked it off with a squeal of disgust. Before she could take a breath, two more attached themselves to Amani’s opposite wing as the fierce dragon began to tire from the relentless assault. Still, his tail was a blur as it slashed the air, his body writhed from side to side, his head lashed out at every approaching attacker. Many of the charlots were knocked away, but so many more were diving and dodging their way in toward Amani’s body.
Darien did her best to help, yet every moment it became harder to hold on. The charlots were ignoring the girl clinging to the dragon’s back, their simple minds focused on their large prey. Two of them swerved to avoid Amani’s biting teeth, collided with each other, and bounced straight at Darien’s head. Instinctively, her hand flew up to slap them away from her face, and suddenly she felt weightless.
With a nauseating lurch, Darien dropped away from Amani’s twisting back, both hands scrambling to grab on. Then she found herself falling toward the distant land below. The wind rushing past Darien’s face rippled her skin and left her feeling breathless, unable to find a pocket of air to fill her lungs. She struggled not to pass out, which at least kept her too distracted to think that she was almost certainly falling to her doom.
7
Darien Makes a Difficult Decision
Darkness came and wrapped itself around the girl like a tight swaddling blanket. Neither the wind rustling gently through the trees nor the heavily pacing footsteps could make the darkness loosen its embrace. The girl wandered in the darkness and lost herself in its depths.
She begged the darkness to stay, but it began to pull away from her. She chased it down, willing it to continue, fear gripping her chest and right arm. Please stay, she pleaded. I am afraid of what will be here if you go.
* * *
A throbbing heat encircled Darien’s upper right arm. She gasped and her eyes snapped open. Afternoon light stippled her body, winking through the canopy of leaves overhead. Jagged, broken branches and tattered leaves lined an open path to the clear sky above and to the left. She barely had time to wonder where she was and what had happened when Amani’s concerned face filled her view.
“Amani,” she cried, “what happened?”
“Before we get into that, how does your arm feel? Can you move it?” he asked.
Darien sat up slowly and examined her arm. There was a wide red ring past her elbow, but that didn’t hurt nearly as much as her shoulder did. She could bend her elbow easily, but when she stretched and tried to make a wide circle with her arm, the pain became almost unbearable.
“It’s not too bad,” she said to Amani, although her strained expression told him it was worse than she was letting on.
“C’mon, I want to know what happened.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell, but if you feel up to it, climb on my back and I will tell you as we travel,” Amani said. He bent low so Darien could get on easily, and when they reached a big enough clearing in the trees they took flight once again.
Amani told Darien how he had realized immediately that she had fallen, so he had knocked the remaining charlots away with his wings and dove through the air to grab her with his large claws.
His brief description didn’t do justice to how he had powerfully flown up in the air, then twisted downward in a blurred corkscrew, batting the charlots away with his wings. He didn’t tell her how he had shot straight as an arrow toward her, his wings tucked to his sides, his body cutting through the air so quickly he could hardly see. He didn’t tell her how he had clasped her arm just a moment before she reached the treetops and they both had crashed through leaves and branches until finally making it safely to the ground. He didn’t tell her how he had sat and worried over her as she lay unconscious on the patchy grass.
“I’m sorry about your arm,” Amani said. “Are you still in a lot of pain?”
“It’s feeling much better already,” Darien said. She laid her head against Amani’s warm back and wrapped her arms as far as she could around the sides of his neck in a tentative hug. “Thanks for saving me, Amani,” she whispered. He pretended not to hear.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” Amani asked as Darien tried to gently stretch her sore arm. “It is not yet too late to take you down to the forest, but it soon will be. See how the ground is becoming more rocky and barren? We are getting closer to the mines, and there will be no safe place for you to wait for me once we pass the edge of the tree line. I am disappointed that we haven’t seen even one other dragon who might have come to help. That is going to make our job even more difficult. My plan to go in forcefully, with other dragons by my side, is obviously not going to happen. I would understand and encourage you to stay here, where you’ll be much safer. I am not giving up without a fight, but just so we’re clear, I might be fighting an impossible battle.”
