by Jeanna Kunce
The large hunter approached Darien and the children with a nasty snarl on his coarsely bearded face. He appeared to have no fear of Darien’s small knife—indeed, it would probably do no good against the thick, black leather breastplate he wore—and came toward them with malicious determination. Not knowing what else to do, Darien scooped Qwinn up and started scrambling up the hill, Rian holding tight to the hem of her dress. Her only hope was that perhaps their youth, plus the man’s tremendous weight, would give them an advantage in escaping.
It was harder to climb with the two children than Darien had expected. Qwinn’s small arms grasped Darien’s neck, but it was still awkward to carry her and climb at the same time. Rian gained confidence and moved into the lead, though Darien feared he would take a misstep and go sliding back down the gravelly slope. Unfortunately, it was Darien who slipped on a loose rock. As she caught herself on a skinned knee, she could hear a mean chuckle right behind her.
“Look out!” Rian warned, pointing to the sweaty man reaching for Darien’s ankle. Just when she thought she would feel a rough yank on her leg, a familiar dark shadow passed close overhead, followed by a deafening roar that would have scared her, had she not recognized it. The shadow swooped back, and with one swift kick the dragon hunter was sent tumbling backward.
“Amani!” Darien screamed joyously. Amani ignored her for a moment as he surveyed the situation from the sky. He called out, and two more shadows came, pure-colored dragons flying side-by-side. In the glow from the sputtering firelight, Darien could see that one was royal blue and the other was a dazzling shade of orange; together they helped fight the last remaining dragon hunters.
Amani was relieved to see that his mother was safe. He called out to her, “Where is Father?” Brisa sadly shook her head, and Amani roared again.
“No, it might not be too late!” Darien yelled to him. “We can go back, but time is short. C’mon!” At once, Amani spun toward her and dipped low enough for her to leap onto his shoulders. He turned wildly once in the air, then they dove straight toward the previously hidden doorway. Already rushing to reach their children, Will and Saara hollered good luck wishes as Darien and Amani flew by in a blur.
Without an instant of hesitation, Amani went from diving through the air to running through the dark tunnel. Once they were past the entrance, Darien couldn’t see anything except a dim glow in Amani’s wide eyes, but the dragon must have been able to see because he continued running at full speed. Darien hugged herself low to his neck for safety, and she could feel puffs of warm air go past every time Amani exhaled in a heavy panting breath. They spoke little; Amani was in a running zone and Darien didn’t want to distract him, though she filled him in on what she thought he might need to know about where they were headed. Mostly she just kept her head down, and prayed that they would get to Audric in time.
The return trip to the palace was nothing compared to the earlier escape. Brisa was tough, but she had been exhausted, stiff, and sick. In contrast, Amani was smaller and fit in the tunnel more easily. He was fresher, younger, and filled with a fierce resolve to avenge the look of despair on his mother’s face. Much sooner than Darien expected, Amani skidded into the cavern where Audric and Brisa had been held prisoner.
“This is the last place I saw your father,” Darien said. They checked to make sure the room was empty. There wasn’t a person or dragon in sight besides themselves, but they could hear the murmur of a large crowd of people somewhere close. Turning toward the noise, they discovered four heavy chains hanging down, which appeared to work as pulleys to raise a large wooden platform that was flush with the ceiling.
“That must be how they got him out!” Darien realized, pointing to the platform.
“Thank you, Darien, for everything. There’s no time to express how grateful I am to you,” Amani said. “But you have to get off now and go back. I will finish this alone.”
“No—”
“I don’t have time for your protests,” Amani insisted. Darien sensed from his tone that there was no use in arguing, and so she slid dejectedly off his back. She hugged him around his neck, then backed away as he spread his wings wide. Bellowing a thunderous cry, Amani pumped his wings and shoved upwards with his thickly muscled legs. He shot straight at the platform, tucked his head, and smashed his way through, raining down chunks of broken boards. Screams of fear and surprise could be heard from above when the dragon appeared out of nowhere in a rage.
Darien covered her head until the last of the wood fell, then found herself alone yet again. She got ready to grab a lantern and make the long journey through the tunnel once more, then abruptly changed her mind. I made it this far—I’m not going to let it end like this, she thought. Testing one of the dangling chains, Darien found it was still intact and holding solidly to its pulley. She wasn’t strong enough to shimmy up, but the links were large enough to fit her small hands, and her shoes just fit if she turned her feet sideways and sort of wedged them in. In this fashion, she was able to climb to the ceiling and see a little of the chaos that was going on above.
Darien had expected to see a main floor room of the palace, but the platform (when it had been whole) was actually intended to lift machinery, and now dragons, to a courtyard along the side of the palace. The last of the daylight was gone, but the area was amply lit with hundreds of lanterns hung from tall lampposts casting their light on a mob of spectators. There was also a high stage where the king—Darien assumed it was the king by his authoritative stature and ostentatious bejeweled gold crown—and a small group of elaborately armored men stood furiously trying to figure out what was going on.
Some of the people in the crowd were yelling at a ring of dragon hunters circling around an imprisoned dragon, and some were yelling at the free dragon, threatening overhead. Some were quietly easing away from the crowd, and others were openly fleeing. None were looking as a young girl with a dusty face and wood chips in her hair climbed out from beneath the ruined platform and maneuvered her way to the front of the crowd.
Darien couldn’t hear the king bellowing orders to his dragon hunters over the noise of the crowd, but she could see they were confused and losing their order. Off to her right, she could see a small group of people harassing the closest hunters and protesting the dragon’s torture. Those people might help me, Darien thought and headed in their direction.
In little time, the nearest hunters broke their ranks (not being disciplined soldiers but rather men-for-hire) and began pushing back against the protesters. With this diversion, Darien dashed past them and ran as fast as she could to Audric. Two hunters grabbed for her as she passed and yelled for her to stop, but they were a moment too slow. She began cutting frantically at the new ropes around Audric’s jaws, happy to see that this time they had only used rope, not chains, to detain him.
Before she could get the rope cut, the hunters were almost upon her, though Audric was doing his best to protect her with his swinging tail. Darien ducked under Audric’s neck, then a searing heat burned the air nearby. As Audric shielded her, she wondered if he had somehow managed to break the rope himself. Then she was delighted to see that Amani, not Audric, was breathing his first fires to keep the hunters away.
The crowd became a panicked mob, and the dragon hunters completely broke apart. Darien was now free to slice away the ropes from Audric’s jaws and start on the others holding his wings. In minutes he was free, and she asked respectfully to ride on his back.
“I will take you anywhere you want to go, Little Warrior,” Audric replied. Darien laughed at this nickname and got on his broad back. Audric let out one long warning stream of fire and took off jerkily.
“I’m sorry. I’m a little sore,” he apologized for the rough ride.
“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Darien reassured him.
Amani joined them, but they were not out of danger yet. One group of dragon hunters, the king’s most elite men, remai
ned clustered by the edge of the stage and began using crossbows to shoot thick arrows into the air. Most of them landed harmlessly in the lake. A few glanced off the dragons’ tough hides as Amani and Audric dodged side to side.
Darien tried to point them in the direction of the main entrance, but from the air and in the dark, it was hard to tell exactly which way to go. She was squinting into the distance and almost lost her grip after Audric suddenly dipped awkwardly to the left.
Not again, she thought.
“What—oh no,” Darien said as she saw one of the hunters’ arrows sticking out from the dragon’s side, just under his left wing joint. Dark blood oozed from the wound as Audric tried to stay in flight. Darien scooted uncomfortably over the pointy ridges on his back to take a closer look. Amani flew close and blew a small flame to help them see better.
“What should I do?” Darien asked. The sight of blood usually made her stomach woozy, but she knew she had to be strong now—Audric’s life might depend on it.
“Every time I raise my wing, the arrowhead cuts at me,” Audric said through clenched teeth. “If you could try to hold it still and stabilize it, that might help long enough to get us out of here.”
“I’ll try,” Darien replied. She took a deep breath and placed her hand around the arrow and over the wound, feeling the dragon’s hot blood trickling under her fingers. She couldn’t hold the arrow completely still, but it seemed to ease some of Audric’s discomfort, and he was able to fly almost as well as before.
“That’s a little better,” he said, “but we’ve got to find the way out soon.”
“People live in caves along the walls. Shouldn’t we see some lights or something? There were glowing tubes lit up when I came through this way earlier,” Darien said.
“Yes, I see them over there!” Amani called. They headed straight for the dim lights, more anxious to escape than ever.
In another few minutes they passed the edge of the lake, and just ahead Darien recognized the marketplace, where only a few booths appeared to be open.
“All right, I kind of know where we are now,” Darien told them, relieved to see something familiar. “Just beyond those booths is a wide tunnel. After that we’ll reach the big metal gates and be free, if they’re open.”
They passed over the market quickly, hearing shouts of alarm now that they were flying closer to the ground. The remaining vendors cowered under their tables and prayed their goods would not be set on fire as the dragons passed. There were still some people coming and going through the tunnel, but they cleared out of the way after Amani shot out a couple warning flames. Finding the ceiling inside uncomfortably low for flying, the two dragons tucked their wings in, causing Audric to groan in pain, and began running for the gates.
Before they could get there, they heard a loud clamor of shouting ahead of them. Now that they were so close, Amani appeared in a fever to get out, charging into the fray without slowing his pace. He seemed rashly confident in his new fire-breathing ability, and he wasn’t going to let anything stand in their way.
Unbeknownst to Darien and the dragons, some of the king’s guards had seen the fires earlier and, suspecting some kind of danger, were trying to get the gates closed and locked against any escape. They were having trouble of their own, however, as a small faction of protestors was fighting to keep the gates open.
The guards were getting the upper hand, but just before they could lock the gates, the two dragons (and one rider) came thundering toward them. The guards never even thought of standing their ground once they saw the fierce look in Amani’s eyes. Everyone ran to get out of the way, and Amani smashed through the gates, bending the right one crookedly on its hinges.
The evening air felt fresh and invigorating. With a burst of energy, both dragons spread their wings and took flight. At the very moment that Audric thrust his wounded body into the air, Darien, who was still lying precariously across his back to stabilize the arrow, was thrown off and hit the ground hard, with the wind knocked from her. In an instant, three of the watching guards leaped out from the tunnel and were moving in fast.
I can’t get a break, Darien thought. She realized with rising panic that she had lost her old knife somewhere and had nothing left to defend herself with. She had a fleeting thought of simply staying on the ground, breathing the night air and waiting for them to come take her away; her energy was almost gone. With determination, she got back up on her feet and wearily prepared to face whatever was coming next.
The guards were near enough that Darien could smell the powerful stench of their sweat as they closed in on her, grinning triumphantly at this unexpected catch. Their terrible grins turned to grimaces of fear when a jet of fire surged toward them from the sky. One guard escaped unharmed, but the other two screamed and ran back to the tunnel, their hair and beards crinkling into flame. A soft thump behind Darien told her that Amani had landed and was waiting for her to climb on his back. They indulged in just one moment, savoring the sight of the two guards dunking their heads into the barrels of drinking water.
Using the last of her strength, Darien collapsed on Amani’s back and they joined Audric in their next task: reuniting with Brisa and the others. They were met within minutes, and after a little fussing by Brisa over Audric’s injury, they agreed to fly together to the edge of the forest before stopping to rest.
12
The Gathering Place
Darien found herself smiling at her new circumstances, noting how different her return to the forest was from the journey to Mount Garddrock. Then, she and Amani had been alone and without hope of finding anyone to help. Now as she looked to her left, she saw Brisa, tired, but delighted to be back with her family. Beside her flew Audric, with Will riding on his back to hold the hastily bandaged wound. On Darien’s right, Saara rode on the back of the orange dragon, Cora, with Qwinn tucked soundly asleep in her sling. Leading the way was their other new friend, Tomai, whose blue scales would’ve disappeared against the night sky if it hadn’t been for the large, red-tinted full moon lighting their way over the barren ground. And of course, she couldn’t forget about Rian, grinning and stifling his yawns as he rode in front of Darien on Amani’s shoulders.
While they flew, Amani recounted the tale of how he had been joined by Cora and Tomai while he waited for some sign of his parents’ and Darien’s return. It turned out that although Darien thought she had been a big failure during her confrontation with the old dragon Grisha, a few of the younger dragons on the council had been impressed with her courage and her sense of justice. After hearing about her encounter, they felt Grisha had been too hasty in throwing her out the way he had and without consulting with the rest of them, though they were careful not to say this directly to his face. They had requested permission to investigate what was going on at Mount Garddrock—which Grisha granted with a scornful sneer, adding that it was their time to waste if they chose.
Cora and Tomai, new to the council and anxious to prove themselves, had volunteered to check things out. They agreed along the way that even though they hadn’t discussed it with the others, they would try to help if they could. They were smart and practical enough to realize that if the king was allowed to go on hunting the exiled dragons, he might soon get tired of all the extra work required and simply attack the pure dragons where they lived. They knew he was greedy and couldn’t be trusted to keep his word on their protection, which he had never officially given anyway. The stronger and more confident he grew with his dragon hunters, the more likely it would be that he wouldn’t stop until he had destroyed them all, pure and mixed-color dragons alike.
When the pair had reached Mount Garddrock, they found Amani returning from a second attack on the gates. This time the guards had been better prepared, and he was looking for a place to rest, knowing it might be quite some time before Darien would return. Tomai and Cora watched for a while from a distance, then joined Amani at his hiding place hi
gh in the peaks of the mountain. He was pleasantly surprised to meet them and filled them in on everything that had happened. They agreed to wait with him and help watch for signs of Darien and his parents. The new arrivals seemed distant at first, but after talking with Amani and sympathizing with his situation, they began to warm up to each other.
After waiting a while, they decided to take turns checking the gate and the surrounding area, since their high vantage point didn’t give them a direct view and they were losing light every moment that the sun dropped further down toward the horizon. Amani and Cora each went once and reported nothing unusual. When Tomai returned from surveying the land, he told them that it was becoming difficult to see the ground but that he thought he had spied a couple armed men hanging around an unremarkable spot along the hillside. Though it might be nothing, he had said, it still seemed rather strange and he suggested they should all go for a closer look.
“By the time we got there, you know of course what was happening—you and your friends were there fighting off the dragon hunters,” Amani told Darien and Rian (although the boy was only half listening). “Yet another reason we have you to thank for our safe getaway.”
Darien was glad it was dark so no one could see her blushing at this compliment. It made her a little embarrassed to be the center of attention, even though she had valid reasons to feel proud of herself and everything she had accomplished.
Before she had a chance to think about it further, Tomai called out that he had spotted the tree line just ahead of them.
“I think it will be safe to rest for a little while. I suggest we stop at the first clearing we can find,” he said. The rest agreed, and within minutes they found a suitable place to land. It wasn’t much, but the surrounding trees were close enough to provide cover, and there was a trickling end of a brook that was enough to let them wash the dust of traveling off.
