by Calista Skye
I think that was real.
You can never know with a dragon, though. They’re deceptive and calculating.
But I want to think it was real.
There’s a bright, white crescent in the distance. I’m hundreds of feet up in the air, and the view is great. I can see for miles and miles. That has to be Bune.
Soon I’ll know how bad things are for me and the girls. We might be totally and irrevocably screwed. From the things in Ashlynn’s letter and the cavemen that caught me and Caronerax, I think that’s the most probable outcome.
And the Plood are here.
Hey, he asked me to come with him. That has to count for something.
No, I think it was real.
I kissed him first, but then he kissed me.
I said ‘I love you’, but he didn’t. If he was deceiving me, it would have been so easy for him to say it. Only if he was really confused would he hesitate like that, only if he had to straighten out his thoughts first. Only if that phrase had the same meaning to him as to me.
He made love to me like he meant it. He carried me across the swamp. He immediately played along when we were first observed by Marshie, instead of attacking her physically, which he was itching to do.
It was real.
It must have been.
But it couldn’t last.
- - -
Bune looks peaceful enough, a massive and vaguely egg-shaped structure that dwarfs even the bobont.
I make it walk a circuit around the colossal spaceship, but there are no holes in it that I can see. So either the girls didn’t try the escape ship yet, or the Plood were right and it won’t work.
Or it worked fine but moves in a different dimension and won’t make a trace in this universe. It’s all possible, because judging from the way Delyah and Ashlynn have talked about it, it’s so weird that even a philosophy major like me gets confused. And I have read Kierkegaard. Or tried to, anyway.
When I try to get the bobont to walk closer to the ship, it stops as if it doesn’t want to.
There’s movement down on the ground.
Trying to stay out of sight, I carefully lean to the side and peer down.
Dragons, no doubt about it. Not that many of them, but even one would be bad. About twenty, I estimate, blocking the way and looking at the dinosaur with lazy interest.
Yeah, I can’t climb down from the bobont right in the middle of a dragon convention. Getting down was always going to be a problem, and one I haven’t given that much thought to. As a last resort, I could probably slide down the tail, but that looks seriously dangerous.
I judge the distance between the bobont’s body and the side of Bune. There’s the door that leads into the ship, right above a wide, sloping ledge I can easily stand on. None of the dragons are climbing on the ship, probably because Bune was made by the enemies that they call the Inferiors and they abhor it.
I look down the bobont’s neck. It could work. If it doesn’t, it’s the last mistake I’ll ever make. And if it does, I’m equally boned if the girls aren’t inside or if the door is locked or just about any little thing goes only slightly wrong.
But I have to try. As far as I know, the girls are in there. And they’re only waiting for me.
And, I remember, they can probably see me right now. There must be someone in the control room, and according to the girls who have been there, from there you have an artificial view around the ship, three hundred and sixty degrees, the full circle.
At any rate, they must be able to see the bobont and wonder what the hell it thinks it’s doing.
I carefully stand up, which is easy enough on the bobont’s flat head. Then I wave with both arms, making myself as visible as possible to the upper part of Bune, while hoping I’m still hidden from the dragons on the ground.
Minutes go past with no visible reaction from the ship.
I’m just about to give up hope when the door opens a small crack, and a man comes out.
It’s a caveman, which doesn’t have to mean anything. I don’t recognize him. He could be a member of the slayer army and totally reliable, or he could be one of those renegade cavemen that Caronerax and I met, those that expected women as their rewards.
The man waves to me, and the dragons move closer to the ship.
I wave back, very briefly.
Well, I have to try. The length should be just enough.
I dangle the butterfly in front of the bobont’s eye, then raise it until it’s hanging right above it.
The bobont slowly lowers its head to get its eye away from the butterfly.
I keep dangling it as I get closer to the ground and to Bune as the bobont stretches its neck out like a mobile crane and keeps lowering its head.
It takes maybe two minutes for it to lower the head to where it’s as close to the spaceship as it will ever be. It’s right up to the door, and the caveman stands there with his hand on his sword, tense and watchful.
I glance to the side. The dragons are starting to climb up onto the sloping bottom of the spaceship, seeing that something interesting is going on. I don’t have much time.
But I can’t make the jump. It’s three feet too far.
“I can’t make it,” I yell to the caveman. “He won’t move any closer!”
The man doesn’t hesitate. He walks back to the wall of the ship, runs up, and jumps across to the head of the bobont. Then he unceremoniously picks me up, winds up, and throws me across to the ship as if I were a medicine ball.
“Ooof!” I land inelegantly on the ledge and scramble for purchase, but the sloped ledge is not steep and I’m back on my feet when the caveman lands beside me, carrying my fur pouch and my spear with the fake butterfly.
He looks at it and back at the bobont, which is now moving back from the ship and raising its head again. “Now, this is a real riddle.”
I look out over the treetops, to the distant hills where that dragon I liked has to be right now. “Oh, you have no idea.”
He could be a good caveman. Or a bad one. If so, there will be many more like him inside, and that will mean the end of me. Eventually.
At any rate, I have made my choice and taken my chances.
He opens the door. “Do you want to come inside?”
I take him in. A normal caveman, cream stripes, big and strong, long sword. I can’t tell if he’s good or not.
The dragons are getting closer, and my skin creeps.
I take a deep breath. “Yes.”
He holds the door open for me, and I step into Bune for the first time.
23
- Caronerax -
“What’s in this for you?”
They all look at me with great suspicion. Three of them, standing far apart and as far from me as they can and still hear me.
I sigh. This was always going to be an uphill process. They don’t trust me. “Only what I said, Ganogeg. Come with me to another planet where there are actual hoards to be found. I will help you. And in return, you will do something I will ask of you at that time, but which I cannot tell you right now. Suffice it to say that it will be no detriment to you at all and that it will make us all more powerful. Immeasurably so.”
They glance at each other, mostly to check that nobody is moving in for the kill. They don’t trust one another any more than they trust me. Or I them, for that matter.
They will relent, of course. Regardless of how much they distrust both me and my scheme. They have no other option. Nothing. I am offering them a way out, and they will all accept. But it will take time.
Especially now. Because this has all happened too soon. I was not ready to meet other dragons!
But my hiding place was too smart. I buried my cache right under a path where the caveman slayers walk on their endless patrols, a spot they pass several times every day. I reasoned they wouldn’t sense the gold under the ground. It would never cross their minds that there was a major treasure under their feet, so they wouldn’t look for it or dig it up. But their
frequent and irregular patrols here would keep the other dragons from exploring and examining this place.
“You most of all, I’m sure,” Vroak states sourly. “Prince or not, you were never prone to charity, Caronerax.”
I study the claws on my fingers, tense and ready for any attack. “And I suppose you are?”
Of course, my hiding place only worked while there existed a slayer army to unknowingly patrol and guard it. The army appears to have been disbanded, and this particular spot in the jungle is now free for the dragons to check out again.
As I approached, I noticed these ones hovering around it, kicking at the ground and lifting rocks and squinting up at treetops, puzzled about what they were sensing. And at the same time, each one was noticeably anxious that none of the others should notice his intense interest in the spot. There is, of course, nothing in the universe as conspicuous as a dragon trying to act innocent.
I had to engage them while still in my human form, and still visibly wounded. I can’t get to my cache while these wretches are here, clumsily snooping around.
“No,” Vroak grants. “No dragon ever is. I was making a point. What is your plan? What are you really trying to do to us?”
“Sometimes my interests align with those of other dragons,” I explain. “Not often, certainly. But you must admit that the circumstances are unusual.”
“It is indeed unusual to see a prince of the dragons walk around in human form, losing ichor through a hole in his scales and wounds on all four limbs,” says Emerak, nervously checking over his shoulder to make sure there isn’t a fifth dragon about to attack him from behind. “You must be weaker than us. And yet, you only arrived recently.”
“If you think I’m weak, Lord Emerak, attack me now and we shall see,” I coldly challenge, hoping he won’t take me up on it. I do in fact feel quite weak.
“Why do you want to bring all the dragons off the planet?” Vroak asks. “Why not a few? Why not us three only? There will be larger hoards for all of us.”
“The plan only works if all the dragons currently here take part,” I tell him. “The target is extremely rich, but also somewhat defended. The more we are, the better.” It’s partly true, I think. The other, more important reason is that the Plood demanded it. Everyone or no one. Except Yranox. He has to stay here, or the plan will crumble.
“We must fight?” Ganogeg inquires. “Who will be our opponents?”
“Our opponents there will be small, but numerous,” I state, not wanting to go into details. “In your dragon form, you will lay waste to them effortlessly. But when you arrive at this target, you will be in your current form. Until you can gather a small hoard, enough for you to Change, you will be vulnerable.”
“Why do you tell us this?” Emerak asks. “Why tell us the drawbacks to this plan, before we have accepted?”
“I want you to know what you will be choosing,” I primly state. “I am a prince! Have you not met me before? I am not as deceptive as you think.”
“Nor do you talk like a dragon,” Vroak observes. “It is mostly the seeming lack of deception in this plan that makes us suspicious, as you probably realize.”
My chest stings badly, and I suppress an urge to put my hand on the wound. “I will not make up deceptions where none are called for,” I snap. “I am offering to take you off this planet and take you somewhere you can gather hoards and so regain your strength. To a place as rich as the Inferior planet. And what little I will ask in return will seem to you not only reasonable, but profitable as well. For you. But you need a prince for this. Only a royal can lead all the dragons in a common effort of this kind. And then for only a short time. Do you see my coloring? Do you see my eyes of different hues? I am Prince Caronerax, descended from kings.”
“The powers of royals are known,” Ganogeg agrees. “Only a prince or a king could lead dragons. How will we get to this target of yours?”
I look up at the treetops. They sway ever so slightly, and the ground shakes. A large creature is walking somewhere in the woods, not far away. “That will be revealed when you all agree to my proposal. And we know you all will. Eventually. Now go and gather all the others. We will meet at the abandoned slayer camp. If you see other royals, tell them nothing about this. They are not part of the plan.”
It’s a weakness. Yranox must not learn of my scheme to become king of the dragons. He would do anything to thwart me.
“I have not agreed to anything yet,” says Emerak. “I will think about this.”
“You will all think about it,” I agree. “And then you will all accept. You have no choice.”
All four of us back up slowly, keeping an eye on each of the others, tense and ready for a surprise attack. Then we all are far enough apart to relax, and I pretend to make my way back the way I came. In reality, I’m circling back to my cache spot, stopping a distance away to make sure I’m alone here.
I count twenty slow beats of my heart, and still nobody else returns to complete their snooping. No, they have something else to think about now. Something bigger.
I walk up to the right spot and start digging.
24
- Jennifer -
“It was pandemonium,” Delyah says, looking drawn and haggard. “The earthquake shook everyone up in every way.”
“Tell me about it,” I agree.
We’re sitting in some kind of luscious garden inside Bune, on the highest level except for the control room. Some of the girls are walking around or sitting in groups, the toddlers and babies are here, the husbands and about twenty cavemen from the army. There are a few others inside the ship, at a lower level where Ashlynn and Mia are busy trying to make more sense of the escape ship. It could be an idyllic scene if the atmosphere wasn’t so gloomy.
I was received with relief and a tired joy by the other girls, but there’s no doubt the mood is not exactly happy. I told them most of my story, skipping some details.
Mia and Eleanor showed me particular sympathy, hugging and squeezing me and saying optimistic things. They know what it’s like to love a dragon. It’s the strongest emotion anyone can have. Except for the grief when the dragon is gone.
“A lot of the cavemen in the army lost their nerve,” Delyah continues. “Some of them said their ancestors had cursed the whole army, while some of the others had obviously been looking for a reason to leave without losing too much honor. Looks like some of them joined up because they thought we were only the first of a whole lot of women to come here. They’re still mired deep in the old legends, especially the one about the Woman, the Mother of Xren, and so on. Many of them still believe the myth is basically true, and that we simply needed to see they were worthy before we would go away and bring back thousands of women. Their own women, as the myth states. But time has gone by, and no women arrived. They got impatient.”
“Yeah,” I agree, sipping primitive booze from a clay cup. I’ve never needed a drink more, and Beatrice sensed that and pushed the cup into my hand. “I think I met some of those that left. We barely escaped them. Do we now consider the tribes our enemies?”
“We don’t know,” Heidi says, looking fine except for a scar on her forehead, rocking the toddler in her arms. “Some of them would probably attack us if they thought it gave them a chance of scoring a woman for the tribe to breed. Actually, probably most of the tribes would. We suspect they only need a strong leader to unite against us. Their whole society has been turned upside down.”
“By us,” I complete her thought. “What did you guys do after the quake?”
Delyah leans back on straight arms. “The dragons attacked and killed a good few of the men in the army. A number of dragons died, too. Then they started to fight each other and withdrew.”
“They can’t concentrate for long at a time, and certainly not together,” Beatrice says. “We don’t think they knew why they were attacking. They seemed frustrated and impatient, like they had an urge to do something, anything.”
I remember what Caron
erax said. “They could feel the earthquake coming. Something big. That’s why they chose that time, independently of each other. You all left the village?”
“We left that night,” Delyah says. “Walking all the way here with as much stuff as we could carry. We knew you had been taken, and we wondered how we could make sure we didn’t leave you behind. Then… well, you know how Alice tends to turn up at the strangest times? She was waiting at Bune when we got here. Emilia explained the situation to her, don’t ask me how, and the next morning Alice was back with fourteen young spidermonkeys. We decided we would send them out in every direction with a message. We all wrote a letter, one for each messenger.”
“I got Ashlynn’s,” I tell them. “And I replied. But the messenger was killed on the way back here.”
“Shit,” Heidi exclaims. “I’m so sorry to hear that. They were really eager, bouncing away into the jungle.”
“I will ask Ashlynn later what his name was,” I decide. “I want to know. I want to remember him. You all decided to go back to Earth? Trust the escape ship and the government back home?”
Delyah pulls a strand of grass out of the ground and absentmindedly fidgets with it. “Well, yes and no. That day was incredibly tough and stressful. And none of us wanted anything more to do with this crazy planet. But right now, I’m not sure if we all want to go, after all. I’m not ever sure if I want to leave. I go back and forth on it.”
“Most of us do,” Heidi confirms. “The problems about going home are the same as ever. But this planet has turned against us, especially the tribes. We’re not sure if we understand why. Not completely. It seems strange. Right, Delyah?”
Our leader nods. “Right. They seem so weird now, the slayers in the army. They used to be all about honor and doing the right thing. Now, they seem to have other and less worthy concerns. Well, they’re only human. Humanoid aliens. Close enough.”
