by Travis Perry
“Twelve cycles.”
“Hah! See, I’m fourteen, so you can’t give me any nonsense.”
“No, of course not, sir.” She smirked. “Not unless you wanted me to.”
He laughed heartily. Oh, she loved that sound. She’d give him a bit of nonsense once in a while just to hear it.
“Oh, yes, Miss Laakkonen. That will do.” His smile faded. “You do realize what this entails. Not only the cooking but the laundry and cleaning, too.”
“Yes, I heard her complaining about it. It’s all right. I’d do anything to fly again.”
He stepped close. Too close. If he leaned even slightly, their bodies would touch. “Anything?”
She took a step back. “Except that.” Or would she?
He laughed and stepped backward. “Right. It’s heavy work, but I can feed you and give you a place to sleep.”
She stiffened. If that place were with him, she’d have to leave. Or would she?
He must have read her face, because one of his rich laughs bubbled up. “Unfortunately, that place is a trundle bed under Cook’s bunk.”
“Can’t be any worse than a bunk in the aerie with five other girls.”
“Hope you feel that way after a few nights with Cook.”
She chuckled. “When we get to Knossos…could I meet Master Basil and Madam Isidora?”
“Yes. Oh, yes, they’ll enjoy meeting you. But meanwhile…” He sighed. “You must know…a woman…on a ship with a bunch of men…people will talk.”
“I don’t care. A life aloft, Captain—that’s all I want.”
He stepped close again. Close enough to touch if she just shifted her weight. “Is it?”
“For now.”
Kristen Stieffel is a writer and freelance editor specializing in speculative fiction. She is the lead editor at New Authors Fellowship, a group blog for Christian speculative fiction writers, and serves as associate editor of Havok, a flash fiction magazine focused on speculative genres. Kristen has edited a variety of projects, including business nonfiction and Bible studies, but she is a novelist at heart and has edited novels for both the general market and the Christian submarket. Kristen is also an avid knitter, despite living in Florida. In the state that pioneered air conditioning, most sweaters are worn indoors.
kristenstieffel.com.
Sam and the Dragon
by Donna McFarland
Sam and the Dragon: Chapter 1
Sam burst through the doorway of the red brick hut. “Uncle Al! Uncle Al!”
An old man with a weathered face looked up. Alfonso of the Western Plain was 29 in Mars cycles, but his face already showed deep wrinkles from spending a lifetime working in the fields under harsh conditions.
Sam pushed his hair out of his eyes as he worked to catch his breath. “The dragon took another goat!”
His cousin, Ahnalin, cried out in alarm, “Not Galla!” Ahnalin had lived for six cycles and her favorite goat was practically a member of the family.
Sam smiled. “No, Ahni, it wasn’t Galla. Not this time, anyway.”
Uncle Al swore under his breath. “That dragon’s goin’ to ruin us, yet! An’ I can’t go after him! Mara’s got The Sickness!”
“I’ll go!” Sam said.
His uncle shook his head. “Out of the question.”
“But you just said you can’t!” Sam protested. “I’m almost eight cycles! Let me do something! Let me slay the dragon and save the farm!”
Uncle Al sighed. “I prom’sed your parents I would look after you until you came of age. I can’t let you go into the wild’rness of Mars by yourself to hunt down a dragon!”
“But...”
Ahni interrupted. “I’ll go with him! Then Sam won’t be by himself!”
Uncle Al slapped his hand on the table. “No! Abs’lutely not!” He turned to Sam. “You’d better bring in the rest of the goats.”
“Yes, sir.” Sam walked out the door and looked up into the sky. The red dirt of Mars gave the horizon a slightly orange tinge which faded into the bright blue higher up. He could see the two moons, Phobos and Deimos, along with the distant sun.
The pasture had no real grass, just scrubby plants and weeds growing in the red dirt. Sam herded the goats back to the barn; a dilapidated building that looked like the slightest breeze might blow it over.
Things had been rough lately. The family depended on being able to sell milk and cheese to buy food and pay the rent and they were just barely getting by. Then the dragon showed up and the more goats he ate, the fewer goats there were to milk. Besides that, Aunt Mara was not well. No one knew what was wrong with her, not even the Healers. She was so tired that she stayed in bed most days and she was rapidly losing weight.
Aunt Mara had never been as strong or healthy as the rest of the family, not even before she got what they now called, “The Sickness.” So one day, when Sam stumbled upon a cave with a pile of strange looking sticks, he brought some home hoping they would be a help.
The sticks were like nothing anybody had ever seen before. Uncle Al said they must have come from the old days, the Time of Magic, when settlers first colonized Mars. They were very heavy with brown and yellow streaks running through them and they were always warm. Aunt Mara put them under the covers of her bed during the cold Martian nights.
Sam filled the water trough in the barn and surveyed the dwindling herd. There were still a few good milkers left, including Ahni’s favorite. He shook his head. Ahni would be devastated if anything happened to Galla.
Late that night, after Sam had gone to bed, he awoke to the sounds of muffled conversation. He propped himself up on one elbow so he could hear more clearly.
Aunt Mara sighed. “Al, we have to do something. This morning Lord Em’rson sent another servant to collect the rent.”
Uncle Al moaned. “If we don’t pay by the first, we’ll be ’victed and lose everything. Not that there’s much left to lose. Blasted dragon! Why’d he have to come anyway? We never used to have dragons here!”
“What if we let Sam and Ahni go find him?” Aunt Mara suggested.
“What?!! They’re just children!”
“They won’t be children much longer. Sam’s an adult in just a few months and next cycle Ahni’ll be old ’nough get married. I’ve already taught her how to spin and make the goat cheese.”
Sam tried to stay perfectly still, but at the mention of goat cheese his stomach gave a low rumble.
“Hmph.” Uncle Al sounded calmer. “Ahni’s a quick learner. I wish I could send her to school—she so much wants to get ed’cated. But I need her here at the farm.” He paused. “I need Sam, too. He ought to be moving to town to start a ’prenticeship, but I can’t spare him even if I did have the money to pay a sponsor. Which I don’t.”
Sam realized he was holding his breath and he slowly let it out. Most boys his age were starting apprenticeships, but Sam didn’t want to be a blacksmith or a carpenter. All his life he had listened to stories of the early days and how the settlers had flying machines. In some stories, the settlers flew all the way to the moons.
Nowadays, people thought it was all fairy tales, but when Sam was out in the fields, he watched the hawks circle and he dreamed. More than anything, he wanted to fly. Once, when he was younger, he even constructed a pair of wings and jumped off the barn. He rubbed his forearm, which had not been quite right ever since.
Sam’s thoughts were interrupted by Aunt Mara’s voice. “If they can find out where the dragon lives we can ask the men in town to capture him.”
Sam could just imagine his uncle rolling his eyes as he said, “We’re just poor farmers, working hands. Why would anyone care if a dragon eats our goats?”
“After he finishes off our goats, he’s going to start on someb’dy else’s.”
“You want me to send the children after the dragon?”
Sam felt his heart beat faster.
“They’ll be fine—they’ll be together. They’re good kids, Al.” Aunt Mara paused before she added ver
y quietly, “I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. You’re all going to be on your own very soon.”
Uncle Al sighed. “Maybe it’s time I let them grow up. We’ll prob’ly get ’victed, but if the dragon is captured, maybe we’ll have ’nough goats left to sell and buy a ’prenticeship for Sam.” He paused. “Someone will hire Ahni to make cheese—she knows all your secrets. Or maybe she’ll get married.”
As Uncle Al and Aunt Mara’s voices grew quieter, Sam pulled up the covers and drifted back to sleep.
The next morning at breakfast, Uncle Al announced, “Mara and I have made a decision. We don’t want you children to fight the dragon, but we can’t ’fford to keep losing goats, either. Take the horse, take some food, take magic sticks to keep you warm. Once we find out where the dragon lives, we’ll have the men in town capture him.”
Sam and Ahni grinned at each other.
“This is not a pleasure trip,” Uncle Al said. “I ’spect you to be careful. It’s going to be cold at night like you’ve never experienc’d sleep’n at our house, so bring the horse blanket and your cloaks, too. And come back in a week if you can’t find the dragon.”
“We will, Father, we promise,” Ahni said.
“I’ll be careful, sir,” Sam said. “I’m good with the sling. I could just take him out.”
Uncle Al shook his head. “You know the law. We aren’t allowed to kill a wild animal without Lord Em’rson’s permission.”
“But he’s a dragon! And he’s eating our goats!”
Uncle Al hesitated. “Do bring your sling, Sam. But use it only if ne’ssary to save your lives.”
“I’ll take care of Ahni, sir, I promise.”
Sam and the Dragon: Chapter 2
In almost no time, Sam and Ahni packed their things into heavy saddle bags. Leading the aging plow horse, Old Red, they said goodbye and walked away from the farm.
Sam patted the horse. “I’ve always wanted to go on an adventure!”
“How will we find the dragon?” Ahni asked.
“We’ll use all our senses,” Sam answered. He pointed to the towering cliffs at the base of the enormous volcano, Ascraeus Mons. “Isn’t it beautiful today?”
Ahni gazed up. “It is.”
It was also hot. Heat radiated off the ground as they passed through the high plains. Around midday, Sam and Ahni came to a stream that flowed from the mountain. The water had the blueish tinge of a glacier-fed river. Sam suggested they stop for lunch.
As they rested, Sam gazed up at the sheer cliffs. “Do you know, they say there’s an enormous crater at the top of Ascraeus Mons.”
Ahni nodded.
“Someday, I’m going to walk all the way to that crater.”
Ahni hesitated. “It’s an awfully long ways.” Ascraeus Mons was so huge that the summit wasn’t even visible from the Tharsis plains.
“I’m going to do it,” Sam said. “Or maybe I’ll figure out how to fly and I’ll fly up there!”
Ahni smiled.
After lunch, Sam and Ahni continued on their way. They soon reached a river and followed the cliffs past a place where the river spilled down as a waterfall.
The early settlers who came to Mars from Earth had extracted air from the rocks to create a livable environment. None of the old stories explained how they did it. People said it was old magic, magic that had been lost for hundreds of years. The early settlers, the wizards, if this was indeed magic, also warmed up the planet so ancient ice melted into water for plants and animals.
It was a topic of much discussion why the wizards created dragons. Sam loved the stories of how they added wings to something called a Komodo. For some reason the wizards designed the dragons so they spit acid. Fortunately, dragons didn’t seem to be able to fly at high elevations, certainly not as high as the plains of Tharsis. Not until now.
Sam had only seen this one dragon, but he figured they all looked pretty much the same. The dragon was about waist-high and from nose to tail he was as long as two or three horses. He had an enormous wingspan and an obviously really big appetite.
Sam and Ahni traveled all day until the air grew cool in the evening. Then they set up their tent and gathered wood for a fire. Ahni started the fire with a flint and very soon they satisfied their hunger with re-boiled barley. Sam wished they had goat cheese, but he knew it all had to be saved to sell at the market.
“Maybe after we hunt the dragon, we’ll be able to have cheese again,” he said.
“Maybe,” Ahni said quietly.
Sam patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”
Ahni nodded.
Before crawling into the tent, Sam and Ahni covered Old Red with a heavy blanket to keep him warm. Martian nights were very cold, so the blanket even had to protect Old Red’s head and legs.
Ahni got out the two magic sticks they had brought. Sam turned one over in his hand. “I wonder what these really are. It’s good that they keep your mother warm.”
Ahni picked up the other stick. “We should put these under our blankets tonight.”
“I’ll be OK. You take them,” Sam said.
The next morning they set out after a quick breakfast. Sam squinted as he looked at the cliffs. “We’re looking for a cave,” he said.
Ahni pointed. “What about that dark spot over there?”
Sam studied the spot. “It’s possible. I’m not sure how we’re going to get up there, though.”
They drew nearer to the cliffs and Sam strained to see. “I don’t think that’s it.” They continued along the base of the cliffs for many kims. There were lots of dark spots like the one they’d already seen. Discouraged, they camped for a second night.
The next morning, Sam looked into the sky. “There!” he shouted. “There’s the dragon!”
Ahni cried, “Oh, no! It’s flying toward our farm!”
“Oh, yes!” Sam declared. “All we have to do is wait for him to fly back and we’ll know where he lives!”
All day, they waited and watched. Finally, around sunset, the dark shadow of the dragon appeared. Then the dragon flew past the cliffs and out of sight.
Sam’s shoulders slumped. “It might not have even been the right dragon.”
Ahni frowned. “How many can there be? It has to be him and we have to find him before he eats any more goats!”
Sam and Ahni spent another night camping. In the morning, Sam looked at the mountain. “We’ve been by these cliffs for two days and we haven’t seen any dragons fly out of them. We’re going to have to move on.”
They packed their belongings and continued walking, following the route that the dragon had flown. At one point, the towering rocky cliffs jutted out in front of them. They followed the cliffs around the bend to a place where they were less steep. Sam suddenly got a glimpse of the snow covered flanks of Ascraeus Mons. He stopped and gazed up.
Ahni pointed. “There,” she said. “Look at that dark spot. That has to be a cave.”
Sam squinted at the spot. “Let’s go!”
Sam and the Dragon: Chapter 3
It was so hot that Sam and Ahni drank almost all their water as they picked their way up the side of the cliff. At first it was easy to make their own trail, but when they reached a ledge too narrow for Old Red, Sam tied the horse to a spindly tree and he and Ahni continued up, scrambling through boulders.
They carefully made their way along another ledge and were almost to the cave when a dragon soared out. The wind from his enormous wings nearly knocked Sam off the cliff. The dragon flew off into the distance.
Sam turned to Ahni. “Whew! You OK?”
Ahni nodded.
“We need to be sure that’s our dragon,” Sam said.
They inched their way up to the entrance of a large cave. Stepping inside, Sam felt cool air on his face. “This cave must be really deep,” he said. “Watch your step.”
Sam made his way farther back into the cave. Suddenly, Ahni cried out. “Sam!”
Sam turne
d around. Ahni pointed to a huge pile of black shiny rock.
Sam eyed the rock. “Ahni, that’s obsidian! I’ve seen knives made of that stuff! If we carry some back to the farm we can sell it!”
Ahni pointed to another mound on the cave floor. “Look.”
“Dragon dung!” Sam exclaimed. “Nice work, Ahni.” He picked up a stick and used it to dig through the pile. “Bits of bone and goat hair,” he said grimly. “Looks like we got the right place.”
Sam explored farther back in the cave. The cool air came from a vent in the floor too small for him to climb down. In the dim light, Sam checked the walls until he was satisfied that it was safe and he’d found the back of the cave. Then he said, “OK, we found obsidian. Let’s see what else is here!”
Ahni found some small silver colored coins. They looked old. Sam thought they might be nickels from the Time of Magic. He and Ahni put them in their pockets and continued looking. They were almost ready to leave when Sam found a heavy box. He carried it to the entrance of the cave where he could see it better.
The box was smooth and made of an unfamiliar material. There were lots of buttons on it, a big slot and a tray. Sam turned it over and saw rows of tiny symbols on the bottom. Two of the symbols were larger. Sam ran his hand over the box. “I wonder what this is. I bet it’s a relic from the old days.”
Sam and Ahni carried the box and the coins down the side of the cliff to Old Red and they returned with bags for the obsidian. They took as much as they thought the horse could carry. After loading everything on Old Red, they went back to the cave one last time to see if there was anything else of value.
Suddenly, Sam heard the sound of flapping wings. He whispered, “Ahni! Hide! And don’t move!”
Ahni crept behind a pile of rocks. Sam stepped behind a large boulder. He picked up five small chunks of obsidian. The dragon flew into the cave and laid down.
Trembling, Sam peeked out. The dragon licked the last bits of something off his lips. Sam held his breath. The dragon had just eaten, but he probably still had room enough for Boy. Sam looked at Ahni and put his finger to his lips.
