by Bryan Davis
“Trust me,” Marcelle said as she pushed her feet into the hole, “I can handle it.” She slid quickly out of sight.
Adrian copied her entry and stepped down onto a hard surface. Bare rock enclosed them in a dim hovel, perhaps two paces across. Piles of grass lined the curved wall, and pieces of broken pottery lay here and there. The hovel smelled clean, though quite stale.
Stooping because of the low ceiling, he peered out the hole, now at waist level. He and Marcelle pressed close to each other, nearly cheek to cheek, as they watched.
Outside, a dark form overshadowed the children. They jumped in place, their arms stretching upward. An older boy pushed down a younger one and stood on his back. A girl grabbed the bigger boy and wrestled him to the ground, clawing at his face while he slapped her savagely. More children shoved, tripped, and pulled hair until the scramble looked like a mass of bronzed flesh, flying hair, and flailing limbs.
Bread began raining down in various sized morsels. The taller children snatched the larger pieces out of the air while the little ones scrounged along the ground, gathering up tidbits, like dogs licking droppings from a dining table. After getting two fistfuls of bread, the bigger children began devouring, alternating between their handfuls. One girl kicked a small boy, barely older than a toddler, took away his morsel, and quickly shoved it into her mouth. The tiny boy squawked and bit the girl’s leg, but the girl just slapped him down and ran toward the mound.
Marcelle pushed an arm through the hole as if ready to climb out. “Someone has to put a stop to this.”
“Not this time.” Adrian pulled her back and looked into her angry eyes. “They’ve probably been doing this every day for years. No sense in interfering now.”
Soon, something indistinct dropped from the sky. The children went into a frenzy, some shouting, “Fish!” though the falling offerings sounded more like stiff planks when they struck the ground.
After a few minutes of free-for-all skirmishes, Shellinda and Erin appeared at the hole and slid inside, each clutching bread in one hand and a fish plank in the other. Two other girls followed. Both pushed their empty hands against their gaunt bellies.
Shellinda plopped down on a pile of grass and ate her bread greedily. Erin sat next to her and did the same, while the other two girls, both about Erin’s age, looked on, their stares cold and wanting.
Marcelle clanked her sword against the stone wall. “Can’t you two share with the others?”
Shellinda spoke with her mouth full of bread. “They ate yesterday.” She then puffed out her pitiful chest, apparently no longer bashful. “I have to get some meat on my bones. Otherwise no one will buy me on trading day.”
Marcelle took a heavy step toward her, but Adrian grabbed her shirt and pulled her back. “Patience!” he whispered.
She spun toward him, every muscle in her face taut. “If you think I can stand idly by while this injustice goes on right in front of me—”
He covered her lips with his fingers. “Think long-term. We’ll solve all their problems if we just stay patient and plan an escape for everyone. We need to buy time and meet the leaders.”
She grasped his wrist and jerked it down. “My way has bought us a dead dragon, and there have been no repercussions.”
“Not yet,” Adrian said. “You have no idea what will happen when they find the dead body.”
Marcelle huffed. “As if you do.”
Cassabrie’s words knifed back into Adrian’s mind. Five children. How would it happen? When would the dragons exact their punishment? Should he let Marcelle know what to expect?
A boy slid into the hovel, faced Adrian, and scowled fiercely. “Who are you?”
Still hunched over, Adrian bowed lower. “Adrian Masters, a stranger relocated from a faraway land.”
With shaggy hair overlapping his ears, and blue eyes that seemed brighter and clearer than those of the other children, he pressed a thumb against his chest. “I’m in charge here. Adults aren’t allowed in the camp, so you’d better leave.”
“He’s Thad,” Erin said as she chewed on her fish plank. “He’s eleven. The dragons put him in charge of the rest of us,’ cause he’s the biggest.”
Thad spun toward her. “Shut up, if you know what’s good for you.”
“You don’t scare me, bonehead. I’ll tell Nancor that you stole Tamara’s trousers.”
“Did you catch that?” Adrian whispered to Marcelle.
She nodded. “Scott’s sister. We’ll have to check on it.”
“Then I pick you,” Thad said, pointing a finger at Erin. “I was going to take Shellinda, but now I pick you.” He grabbed Erin’s wrist and jerked her to her feet.
“For what?” Erin shouted as she tried to break free. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Someone killed a dragon, so Nancor says I have to pick five of us.”
Erin’s eyes widened with terror. “Not the burning!”
“You should have kept quiet.” Thad pulled her toward the exit hole. “This’ll teach everyone not to sass me.”
Adrian blocked his path. “Wait!”
Thad stopped and glared at him. “You’d better leave, or I’ll tell Nancor you’re here.”
“Did you say Nancor plans to kill five children?”
“The price for a dead drone. We didn’t do it, but the dragons think killing us will stop the adults from meddling.” Thad’s scowl deepened. “Did you do it?”
Adrian stared at the angry boy. Cassabrie was right, as usual. Killing the dragon would cost the lives of five children. Too many. One was too many. Somehow, he had to stop the slaughter. “Let’s say I did do it. Does it really make a difference? Nancor has to know these children couldn’t kill a dragon.”
“All he knows is that Millence is dead. No matter who did it, everyone will find out that five of us got burned to death. The dragons think that will keep the adults in line.”
Marcelle pulled Erin free and drew her sword. “Adrian and I killed the lizard. We will face Nancor ourselves.”
Thad looked up at her. For the first time since he arrived, a streak of fear crossed his face. “You don’t understand. Nancor isn’t like Millence. He is a guardian. His fire is a blazing flood from hell itself, and his scales are stronger than granite. If I don’t bring five to Nancor, he will burn me alive and choose four others himself.”
Adrian leaned close to Marcelle. “I want to kill that monster, too, but we’re the only hope these children have. If we die, who will rescue them?”
While leaning, his shirt opened further, revealing the bandage that hid his glow. Marcelle laid her hand over the frayed material. “Where is the heart of the warrior I once knew? Where is the passion that burned like an inferno when you battled Darien and his henchmen? Has the spirit of a girl living within softened you that much?” She pushed him away. “Stay here and babysit. I’m the one who attacked Millence. I’ll fight Nancor myself.”
Adrian looked at the glow, the top edge exposed again by Marcelle’s touch. It still pulsed with Cassabrie’s heartbeat. Was Marcelle right? Had he lost some of his passion, the warrior’s drive to protect every innocent life? Yet, the truth was the truth. This battle to save five would be noble, but might it risk destroying their purpose for coming here?
“No!” Thad blocked Marcelle’s path to the hole. “If you lose …” His voice shook with fear, forcing him to swallow before continuing. “If you lose, they will kill five anyway. If you win, they will bring a dozen dragons and maybe kill us all. If you let me take five, then no more will die.”
Adrian looked at Marcelle. Her downcast expression said it all. Thad was right. Win or lose, at least five children would die. A battle would cost more lives, more suffering. But how could they possibly hide in safety while a dragon burned innocent children to death? It was unthinkable!
Adrian grabbed a fistful of his own hair and paced in a tight circle. “There has to be a way! There just has to!”
“If we fight,” Marcelle said, a new determination steeling h
er jaw, “at least we’ll give them a chance. We’ll take them all out of here and hide them in the woods.”
Thad shook his head hard, his eyes growing wilder. “And then what? Yarlan, the fierce one, comes every evening on patrol. Because of the dragon murder, he will demand a count. If we’re missing, he will bring the greatest dragons, even Maximus, to find us. If they don’t find us, they will kill other slaves, our parents, our brothers and sisters. They never let anything go unpunished. And if they do find us, who can tell how many of us they will burn?”
As a tear dripped from Marcelle’s eye, she lowered her head. “I will say no more.”
Adrian stopped pacing and stared at Marcelle and Thad, then at the four half-naked girls, each one looking at him with wide, frightened eyes. The stripes on Shellinda’s chest spoke volumes. The dragons were cruel and heartless. They wouldn’t hesitate to inflict the worst of tortures.
His heart thumped. What could he do? Every option seemed too horrible.
“Adrian,” Cassabrie said. “There is one chance, but it is a very risky one.”
He bent lower, as if listening to a whispering mouse. “Let’s hear it. I don’t like the options we have so far.”
Thad looked at the girls, a curious expression wrinkling his brow, but he stayed quiet.
“Is Cassabrie talking to you?” Marcelle asked.
He nodded and clamped his hands over his ears. “Go ahead, Cassabrie.”
“Remember what I said before? Learning where great faith and brutal practicality meet might be your only hope. Great faith overcomes the fear of high risk when the goal is valuable enough.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Then prepare for a difficult decision.” Cassabrie seemed to let out a sigh, though she had no breath of her own. “The dragons permit bargaining. In fact, they rather enjoy it. Allow Thad to select the five, and when he leads them out, you go with them and tell Nancor that you’re a negotiator. He should then allow you to offer an alternative to the punishment he wants to impose.”
“Alternative? What alternative?”
Her voice rose to an entreaty. “Oh, Adrian, we are at a line I cannot cross. I have guided you to this place, to the terrible hell where your people abide in misery, and now you have seen their wretched state with your own eyes. What you are able to offer must be in keeping with how you judge their worth, their rescue, their freedom. I cannot decide for you how to value these little ones or what risk you should endure for their sakes.”
Adrian absorbed her words. Although they appeared at first to be avoiding his question, soon everything became clear.
“Let’s do this,” he said to Thad. “Go ahead and select the five, and I will face the dragon with you. I will explain to him that I delayed you.”
Thad grabbed Erin again and pulled her toward the hole. “No!” she cried, jerking wildly. “I don’t want to burn!”
Marcelle wrenched Adrian’s arm, whisper shouting, “What do you think you’re doing?”
Pointing at her, he spoke in a firm tone. “You stay here.”
She tapped her chest with her thumb. “But I attacked the dragon. I should be the one risking my life.”
“Trust me. Our only hope is for you to stay out of sight. When it’s over, go back to Scott and find the patriarch.”
Shellinda jumped up. “Let Erin go! Take me instead.”
“Are you crazy?” Thad asked. “You’ve heard the screams. Nobody volunteers to burn.”
Shellinda broke her fish plank in half and handed the pieces to the two other girls. “No one is ever going to buy me. Dying is better than being here, and a lot better than the breeding rooms.”
Erin shook free, leaped to the opposite side of the hovel, and cowered against the wall, sobbing. “Oh, Shellinda! Oh, my poor friend!”
Thad nodded at Shellinda. “Let’s go.” As he crawled out the hole, she followed, glancing back briefly before disappearing.
Adrian unbuckled his sword belt and let it drop to the floor. “Listen.” He took Marcelle’s hand and stroked it tenderly with his thumb. “I’m going to offer myself in their place. I have no idea how it will work out, but if I die, saving the children is all up to you. You will be their only hope. That’s why you can’t come with me. Do you understand?”
She nodded, her chin trembling. “What do you want me to do?”
He set a finger on the side of her head. “Think before you act. Your heart is right. You’re desperate to rescue the Lost Ones. We both are. But they need you to be calm and clear thinking. Killing every dragon you see won’t help them.”
Tears dripped to her cheeks, and a tremor rattled her voice. “And now you’re going to die because of me? You’ll be dead, and I’ll have to rescue all these poor souls by myself?”
“I don’t think we have any other choice. You’re smart and courageous. Just go with Scott and learn what you can from the patriarch. Remember our priorities. First, you have to find Frederick, and maybe the patriarch can help you. Cassabrie told me a story that might give you a clue. There’s a wilderness area of some kind where runaway slaves try to go, and I think Frederick might have set up a refuge for them. If you can find that refuge, you might find Frederick.”
“A wilderness,” she said, her voice still trembling. “I will find it.”
Laying his hands on her cheeks, he kissed her forehead. “Pray for me. I’m going to need a miracle.”
He pushed through the hole and into the waning daylight. Several paces away, Thad knelt next to Shellinda, tying a rope to a stake in the ground. The rope wrapped around her ankle in a tight knot and led to the ankles of three boys and another girl. The other children crouched, shaking and crying, each one no more than six years old. Shellinda stood upright, hands on her hips and her eyes dry.
A huge dragon sat on its haunches in front of the victims, half again larger than Millence. His scales were darker red and clearly thicker, and smoke pouring from his nostrils gave evidence that a hot fire burned within.
Adrian nodded. Seeing Nancor’s size and constitution confirmed Thad’s warnings. Even with Marcelle’s help, defeating him would likely have been impossible. Leaving his sword behind was the right move.
“Who are you?” Nancor bellowed.
Taking a deep breath, Adrian strode toward him. “I am Adrian Masters, and I have come as a negotiator to offer an alternative to the punishment you have prescribed.”
“Is that so?” Nancor’s head swayed back and forth, his eyes glowing scarlet. “By what authority do you take the negotiator’s role? You are not their foreman.”
“They have no adult supervisor, so I am here at the behest of a close relative of one of the children.” Adrian straightened his body to show resolve. Indeed, Scott had asked him to come for his sister, so that much was true. “Shall we negotiate?”
“I am interested, but I must ask a simple question.” He shifted his gaze to Thad. “This adult was with you in the hole. Why did you not report him?”
Thad stood and sidestepped away from Shellinda, trembling. “I … I …”
“I am the cause,” Adrian said. “He knew that if he reported me, I would oppose him. He likely feared for his safety.”
“I find that excuse to be inadequate. He knew the rules, so I will have to appoint a new leader.” Nancor opened his mouth and shot a blast of fire at Thad. The flames covered his bare chest, instantly melting his skin. Thad screamed, but the fire raced up to his face and smothered his cries.
Adrian lunged toward him, but the dragon sent another blast of fire, blocking his way. As Adrian backpedaled, the dragon growled. “If you interfere, you will suffer the same fate, as will the five sacrifices.”
While Nancor blew a new stream of fire at the boy’s chest and head, Adrian panted, sweating, heaving. Criminal! Damnable! But what could he do?
Thad dropped to his knees. Buried in flames from his waist up, he choked and gagged while slowly turning black. Soon, his body toppled forward, and the flames withered.
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The odor of burning flesh assaulted Adrian’s nose. He bent over and wretched, but nothing came out. Tears poured forth and dripped to the dusty ground.
When he straightened again, he glared at the dragon. Nausea knotted his stomach. Grief tightened his throat. He couldn’t say a word. He heaved quick breaths, trying to calm himself. He had to save the other five.
“Now,” the dragon said, turning to Adrian with a toothy smile, “I am ready to hear your offer.”
While Adrian tried to slow his breathing, Erin ran from the hole and dragged Thad’s body several feet away. She began stripping off his trousers, mumbling, “I’m giving them back to Tamara.”
Adrian fought against emerging tears. Marcelle would have to check on Tamara. One way or the other he wouldn’t be able to do anything more for these children.
“Well?” Nancor said. “Are you going to negotiate or not?”
Adrian cleared his throat and forced his voice into a bass range. “I know who killed the dragon you call Millence.” He nodded toward the children. “In exchange for the lives of these five, I will deliver the killer to you.”
“Is that so?” Nancor drew his head closer. “What guarantee do I have that you will present him before me?”
“What guarantee do I have that you won’t punish me when I do?”
Nancor let out a throaty chuckle. “An adult comes into a forbidden zone, carrying an arrogant swagger in his gait, and expects immunity.”
“I assume delivering the dragon killer is valuable to you, so immunity is a fair trade.”
“You have already requested the lives of these vermin. Are you requesting both?”
Adrian resisted the urge to glance at Marcelle. She was likely watching from the hole. “The assassin you seek,” Adrian said, “is a mighty warrior with a sharp sword that could kill many dragons.”
Nancor snorted. “If a rash of dragon deaths occurs, then every murder will be matched tenfold with the deaths of slaves.”
“Perhaps you would like for me to pass that warning on to the assassin, but for now I suggest that we continue our negotiations.”
“Very well. I will grant your immunity and spare the lives of three slaves of your choice. The other two will join the overseer in a pile of ashes.”
