Starbeam

by Adrienne Woods

  That was my dream for a better Paegeia. One where we could all exist together in peace.

  Chapter 13

  KATIE

  Training was hard. And every night I was more tired than the previous one.

  I really upped my game too with my bow and arrow, I was seriously becoming the best. Goran himself told me so.

  He wasn’t a bad person, actually real kind and someone that you wouldn’t say has a blue blood.

  He had that lost soul, broken wing thing attached to him and you just wanted to take care of him.

  He was good too, especially with a sword.

  We watched him numerous times fighting against four or five of the trainees he taught, and whipping their butts every single time.

  I had to be careful with how I stared at him too. I was having some sort of affection toward him.

  I felt guilty but had to remind myself that Albert was gone. That was why I was here. To fight, to avenge his death, the way Goran was avenging it.

  He had three deaths to avenge.

  I missed home. I missed pappa’s embrace and mama’s compassion. Her arms were the best when you were down or upset.

  She could calm you down with one single word and heaven knows I had needed it a few times during the past few months.

  The news that reached us wasn’t about Eikenborough, Disseldorf, or Alkadeem.

  It was about smaller cities that perished, but the three main cities were well equipped. We also heard of many Chromatics falling.

  News of the militia also reached us. A few of the groups that had assembled here on the first day and had left that night, were attacked and wiped out.

  I saw the fox again. I’d seen it a few times. How it went into Goran’s tent and a few minutes later it would run out again.

  I got up from the fire that we made just as it entered his tent and went closer.

  “Be safe okay?” Goran spoke softly to it and it came running out.

  I sat on my haunches with a piece of dry meat from my last hunt and held it out to the fox.

  It came toward me, slowly sniffed the meat a few times and then took it.

  My eyes caught Goran standing in the entrance.

  The fox ran off with the speed of light after it took the meat and I watched it run in the opposite direction.

  “It’s a beautiful animal.” I said and got up from my haunches.

  “Thank you. Her name is Zeba.”

  “Zeba.”

  “She was Albert’s fox. Now she is a messenger from the kings to me. Al trained her well.”

  “So you don’t believe in crows?”

  “I do but the kings think it’s dangerous to use them. The rebellion knows that crows are messengers and they shoot them down when they can. They don’t think that foxes are.”

  I chuckled.

  “How did he train her?”

  “He had plenty of patience when it came to animals. We found her when she was still a pup. Her mother had been shot with an arrow and must have been dead for days. She was starving and Albert kept her. He basically nursed her back to health.”

  “Nursed her?”

  Goran laughed at the expression on my face. “He had help of course. She is a great ally.”

  “You are not afraid someone will shoot her.”

  “No, she is extremely smart. She can smell danger a mile away. Foxes are build that way, very smart animals.”

  “She must miss him.”

  “She does. It’s worrisome that she just came up to you like that for a piece of dry meat.”

  “I have a way with animals too. I guess she smelled that I wasn’t a threat.”

  “Do me a favor please.”

  “Sure anything.”

  “Keep Zeba a secret.”

  “Goran, she comes and goes as she pleases.”

  “You are very observant, Andrew. You see everything, the others, if they do, haven’t asked questions.”

  “Why?”

  “Because in every camp there are one or two that don’t belong, if you know what I mean.”

  I squinted. “No, I don’t.”

  “Rebels, Andrew.”

  “What? The rebels are all Chromatic dragons, aren’t they?”

  He stared at me. “And, your point.”

  “They are dragons, Goran.”

  “They have human figures just like the Metallics, Andrew.”

  I froze.

  “You didn’t know that?”

  “I’ve never even seen a dragon in my life, accept from high above, how the hell should I know they can change into human forms?”

  He smiled. “They are like the Metallics, just different.”

  “More vile you mean.”

  “That too.” His smile disappeared. “I don’t want them to find out about Zeba and what she does, please.”

  “My lips are sealed.” I said.

  “Thank you.”

  “So, how do you know if you are dealing with one. I mean a Chromatic hiding as a human.”

  “You don’t. Not without loads of potions that could change them back to dragons.”

  “You’ve seen it before.”

  “Our fathers have special places in their dungeons just for them. Of course we have seen it.”

  A chill ran up my spine. “You aren’t scared about them breathing fire.”

  Goran laughed. “Magic is forbidden but not to the kings. The things I’ve seen, have made me wonder a lot just who the real monsters are, Andrew.”

  I nodded as I tried to imagine what he must have seen.

  “If you will excuse me, I need to get back to work.” He gave me a lopsided smile, turned around and went back into his tent.

  I went to mine.

  I was tired but couldn’t stop thinking about what Goran had said.

  I had a funny feeling that a part of him understood Chromatic dragons more than any of us.

  That a part of him must have seen this war coming from a mile away.

  Still, Chromatics killed his brother and friends. He must hate them too, just like me.

  I took out a kernel and put it underneath my pillow.

  Hopefully I would wake up before the others did.

  I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming about foxes and Chromatic dragons breathing fire.

  I heard their screeches. It was so real.

  “Andrew wake up.” Tom’s voice yelled and my eyes opened at once. I grabbed the kernel and popped it into my mouth.

  The dragon screeches were still going like mad.

  Orange glowed against my tent. Screams were coming from all sides.

  I grabbed my bow and sheath of arrows and darted out of my tent. I didn’t even put on a shirt.

  Many men were running around on fire, while others were ducking the dragons’ fire.

  I ran toward it. Something was seriously wrong with me.

  I saw Frank, who worked the weapon shooting out nets, lying charred in a heap laying on the net weapon. I pushed his lifeless body away, and aimed toward a dragon in the sky.

  They were smart too. And fast.

  Think like a dragon Katie.

  Fast and devious.

  I didn’t aim at it directly, but a bit farther down the line, and press the weapon’s slinger.

  The net flew and caught the dragon by its feet, tangling him up.

  The earth vibrated when it crashed to the ground. The other two flew away breathing fire as they fled.

  My hand started to shake as men cheered.

  I got it. I had actually caught my very first dragon.

  “Andrew?” Goran called. He was riding one of the horses.

  I looked at him.

  “Where is Frank?”

  I motioned over to Frank’s body.

  “Dead.” The word barely came out.

  He looked at the felled dragon.

  “Nice shot,” he said, “let’s go.”

  I found life again and it poured down to my legs. He helped me up his horse and we rode
to the dragon.

  “I’m glad you are still alive.”

  “We are never going to win this war.”

  “Have faith. This war has been coming for a long time. We are not as innocent as the kings want the people to believe.”

  I stared at him as he walked to the dragon I had just shot down.

  I followed.

  When we reached it, many men were huddled around it as it growled, attempting to spit acid on anyone too close.

  An acid spitter.

  Goran looked closely at the Night Villain. His eyes seemed as huge as orbs but changed into a squint when he saw its face.

  He grabbed a shield as acid flew his way and blocked it. His reflexes were fast.

  Goran spoke in Latin and I wished that I could understand what he was saying, but it was a difficult language.

  A sword came out of nowhere and penetrated the dragon’s skull. I watched as its growls died out.

  It was Trevor’s sword. The crazy ass had really lost it for sure this time.

  Goran jumped up and his fist connected hard with Trevor’s face, he kicked him. It was as if he was going to kill him. Men pulled the prince off Trevor.

  “I could’ve gotten their location out of it you fucking idiot.” He spat in Trevor’s direction.

  “How, that thing is as big as a house? He would’ve killed us all.”

  “He was injured. There are ways to make them talk. Ways none of you know. Ways we learned when we were small kids from our fathers. You are either going to start following orders Trevor or you can find yourself another division, one out there that is already fighting. You are a loose cannon. Get him out of my sight.”

  “You are an idiot. The meat on that thing would last us a month, Goran.”

  I wanted to throw up as I knew they had human bodies.

  “Don’t talk about things you don’t know about or understand.” Goran was beyond pissed off. He turned around, and threw a burning tent, on top of the dragon.

  We all rushed out of the way as it connected with whatever was lingering in the acid breather. The flames flew high and the dragon burned. The smell hovering in the air was fowl.

  “Get all the injured to the main tent. We will have Swallow Annexes attend to them later.”

  He didn’t even look at me when he passed, too upset to care what anyone thought.

  He sure was different. I wished I knew what was going on in that mind of his. What horrors he had seen as a child and I was right about him foreseeing this war for a long time.

  What did he mean that we weren’t as innocent as we thought? I had never killed a dragon before, or been brave enough to even think about bringing one down until tonight.

  What did he mean, we were not as innocent in all of this?

  I rushed back to my tent, hoping that the bag of kernels was not destroyed. It was still buried in the shallow ground and I took the coin bag, tied it up against my belt. Then I returned to help the others take care of the wounded, moving them to the main tent, and bury the dead.

  There were only a few hundred left from what had been at least a thousand.

  In the morning more shouting came as the men saw two dragons in the sky.

  “Don’t! They’re Swallow Annexes,” Goran yelled.

  Their scales shined so brightly in the sun that I couldn’t look directly at them, but I felt them land.

  They were big.

  Goran was waiting with robes for them. One shifted right in front of my eyes from a big silver beast to a beautiful woman. Goran put a robe around her as her eyes caught mine.

  She didn’t even smile at me. It was as if she could smell that I had brought a dragon down, was part of its death.

  She greeted Goran, kissed each cheek, while the other dragon changed into a man.

  He took a robe from Goran and they left for the main tent.

  “They have human forms?” Tom asked me.

  “And Trevor wanted to eat that one.”

  He shivered. “Wait, they too have human forms.”

  “It’s a dragon Tom. They are all the same, some just scarier than others.”

  “Holy crap, what if there are some in this camp. How did that dragons know we were here?”

  “Good question. Be careful who you trust.” I said and rushed off to save what I could from the tents.

  We were going to have to relocate and something told me that Zeba would be here soon.

  I got a glimpse of how the Swallow Annexes healed the sick.

  It was just a touch of their hands.

  Their hands and hair glowed and when done, scars and wounds were healed.

  I gaped at it, but Goran was used to it.

  How many times had he seen them do that?

  He turned his head and saw the shock on my face.

  “Andrew, come here. I want you to meet Connie. She is a great friend.”

  Great friend? Was she Albert’s friend too?

  “Andrew.” I held out my hand carefully and she smiled.

  She stood up. “Do you have any injuries?”

  “I don’t think so.” I said. But she touched my face anyway and a small prickling feeling, not unlike the change danced on my forehead. “All done.”

  I touched my head. I didn’t even know I had a wound.

  “Goran told me what you did tonight. How did you do that?”

  I shrugged.

  She smiled. “You definitely have great instincts, bringing down a dragon on your own your first try.”

  “It’s a lot like shooting a bow and arrow. You just have to aim.”

  “And make sure it hits the target,” she said. I didn’t like the way she said it. It was as if she was assuming that I knew how to do this. I didn’t.

  “Nice meeting you, Andrew. Don’t die.” She smiled and walked off to her next patient.

  “How did they know we were here?”

  “I don’t know. Remember what I told you about their human forms. I have a funny feeling that there are a few among us, Andrew. You need to be careful.”

  I nodded. “Will we relocate?”

  “Yes, otherwise there will be another attack tonight. And I can guarantee you, they know where the traps are and they know we can’t build or move them to another place within a day.

  “How are we going to take them with us?”

  “We are not. We will go into the mountains and find a new base. I’m just waiting on word from the king, to know what our next order will be.”

  I nodded. “Do you need any help?”

  “You have done enough. Go rest. We will leave around twilight.”

  “Is that smart?”

  “Yes, it is very. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

  “Was that the Night Villain that killed Prince Albert?”

  He shook his head. “That beast had a scar on his head, a white scale just by his snout. It wasn’t him.”

  * * *

  ALBERT

  Constance came back. She had word from Goran and a letter.

  “How bad is it?”

  “Very, they have about 150 men out of 1500 left.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “Goran.”

  “He is unharmed. You need to find these idiots, Al. They are only making it worse for the rebellion.”

  “They are lessening my father’s army, Constance.”

  “They were boys. You know that Goran’s base is young men and children.”

  “Children?”

  “Your father demanded a male from every household, did you think he was going to ask for their ages?” She stormed off as if my father’s doings were mine.

  I opened Goran’s letter.

  He was retreating with the surviving men and boys to the mountains. The ones we used to camp out in during summer.

  I knew those mountains well.

  Andrew was one of the survivors and he shot down a dragon. But a crazy idiot named Trevor killed it before Goran was able to talk to it, to let it know if it wanted to fight in this war, to do it
with me, not against me.

  I closed my eyes.

  “I’m working on a few men,” he wrote. “Andrew is not an idiot Al, he saw Zeba, she took some meat from him. Don’t punish her, but make sure she is fed next time.”

  I knew what he was trying to say. She had been hungry and her hunting skills were not up to parr because I fed her food from our table. I’d have to train her better.

  He wrote that he gave Andrew an excuse for Zeba, that my father was using her and that she belonged to me. He bought it, but he would likely find out soon that something else was at play here. He asked a lot of questions about the Chromatics which was a good thing, but Goran had a feeling that a Chromatic had killed someone he loved. His hatred for them showed. He was going to take more convincing before Goran could tell him the truth.

  “For some reason he is very curious about the type of person you were. Maybe you will be the key to win him over Al. Let’s pray, he will be a huge asset.”

  I burned the letter and sat, thinking about how hard the Chromatics, that refused to choose sides, made all of this for our cause.

  1500 young men and boys died. It could’ve been Goran or even this Andrew.

  Goran admired him a lot.

  He sounded like someone that could easily become a dragon hunter, and I agreed he would be a great asset to my side, my cause. I hoped he would listen when he discovered that none of us were dead but that we were part of the rebellion.

  One could only hope and pray for the best.

  Chapter 14

  KATIE

  Seven months had passed when we finally went out in small groups.

  Maze was in my team, with Goran and a few others.

  I haven’t seen Tom or Craig for a long time.

  We would travel by day, scout and then set up camp at night.

  We fought when it was needed.

  Most of the rebellion’s dragons were all in their human forms, but they had abilities. Fire, snow, acid and lightning.

  It wasn’t as easy to kill them, and we would lose one or two men every time we fought.

  The dragons barely got a scratch on them. I wounded a few. Goran told me to go for the kill shot, he knew I could do it, but there was something in me that didn’t want to kill them.