The New Age

by Chris D'Lacey

  “What’s she doing?” he yelled as Garrison came past.

  But the answer was clear as soon as Pine dropped.

  She clung fast to the rocks as Gus lifted away, her hair and robe flying in a frenzy around her. Then she climbed into a narrow opening.

  And disappeared into the Gibbus stronghold.

  I pray that on the day I die

  The wind will come and raise me high

  And all the birds will sing my name

  For I will be a drop of rain

  That falls upon the mountainside

  To water any flower I find …

  Mell thought she must be dreaming. As the Gibbus veered away from the main cavern and started climbing toward an adjacent chamber, an old Kaal lullaby drifted through the haze.

  To water any flower I find …

  The tall Gibbus whipped around and barked at the others to halt. It dipped its shoulder and let Mell fall. Mell landed with a heavy crunch, her lungs too sore to force a cry. She blinked and gave her eyes time to settle. Through the lower wisps of smoke, she saw feet approaching. A bare-legged girl, in a Kaal robe.

  Pine? Mell mouthed. “No, child. Run. Run, you must run.”

  For once, no one kicked Mell or struck her down. They seemed too mesmerized by Pine’s soft voice to do anything other than stand and stare. Like Mell, they must have been asking themselves how a dot of a girl could be here among them, singing in the heat of so much smoke. But singing she was.

  A drop of rain. A drop of rain.

  I will find the erth again …

  She passed through the fug like the wisp she was and came to stand in front of the Gibbus. She pulled a flower stalk through her fingers.

  “My name is Pine Onetooth. I am Kaal—and more. I come to offer this flower for your prisoners. How say you, Gibbus?”

  She held the flower out.

  A daisy, it was. Its center yellow. Its petals white.

  The creature spoke not a jot of Kaal, and clearly felt no need to learn. Issuing a rasp that had spittle strings running off its grimy teeth, it stepped forward and clamped Pine’s hand in its own, closing its brawny fingers tight. It meant to crush her bones, her flower. But Pine was showing no signs of distress. She continued to look it fast in the eye.

  She held up the hand that Gayl had once bitten, the one that bore the three-lined scar.

  Mell, watching on in dizzy disbelief, recognized the shape and began to feel a sense of hope.

  Pine spoke again. “See, Gibbus. I am touched by dragons. I carry some of their powers also.” She twiddled her fingers. The daisy now showed in her scarred hand.

  Several Gibbus grunted in confusion.

  “This flower holds many fates in its petals. Choose well and you leave in peace. Choose foul and you and your companions die.”

  This the Gibbus did understand. For Pine had miraculously changed her voice and spoken in the native tongue of the Wild Lands. A shocked murmur ran among the horde. They snapped at Pine and called her “gwadrach,” roughly meaning “witch.”

  Pine turned the flower by its stalk.

  The tall Gibbus sharpened its gaze.

  It picked the flower from her hand and looked it over, still not letting Pine loose.

  Then it did a foolish thing.

  It put the daisy into its mouth, chewed it to a pulp, and spat it away.

  “So be it,” Pine said.

  She opened her hand again. The wall behind the Gibbus gave a splintering groan. Instantly, three large cracks appeared, mirroring the pattern of Pine’s scars. Through the gaps came the only erth element the Gibbus truly feared.

  Water.

  It began as a spray, but swiftly turned to a gush as the stone continued to heave and split. More cracks appeared all around the cavern. The Gibbus panicked and quickly broke ranks, leaping for the highest ledges they could find. One of them let Leif fall to the ground. Even as Mell scrabbled over to her, the treegirl was beginning to float, so fast was the cavern filling.

  The Gibbus holding on to Pine roared in fury and tried to attack. But the moment it fixed its eyes on hers, Pine mesmerized it the way a dragon would. And as it fell to its knees, she said, “Surrender to the light, and your kind will live.”

  She pulled her hand clear.

  “Pine!”

  Mell was on her feet with Leif in her arms. Water was welling around her knees.

  “Pine, this girl clings faint to life. She cannot swim. I beg you, help her.”

  “I must go, Mell. I have done what I came to.”

  Mell shook her head in disbelief. “Girl, you have magicks plain to see. Will you not free us from this hole lest the water take us?”

  Pine gestured at the terrified Gibbus. “They are your solution now.”

  “Wait!” Mell splashed forward, the hem of her robe floating freely. She shook her head again. “The Gibbus are my enemy, true. But I am not so short on pity that I would see them burn if they show themselves to skalers or swallow a lake if they don’t.”

  But all Pine would say was “They are the way.”

  On these words, she closed her eyes and phased out of sight.

  Mell gave an agonized cry. Despair! Despair! Swim for a tunnel. That was all she had left. Get Leif to an opening before it filled. Climb. Follow the drag of cold air. Pray the skalers would show her mercy.

  But as she looked for a tunnel, the tall Gibbus waded in front of her.

  “Stand away,” Mell pleaded. “I beg you, let us go.”

  The Gibbus barked a command, though it was not aimed at her. Another large creature dropped into the water.

  “No,” Mell whispered, and backed away. In doing so, she slipped and let go of Leif. To her horror, the second Gibbus reached forward and pulled Leif from her.

  “NO!” Mell screamed.

  But it had Leif now and there was nothing Mell could do.

  “WHY?” she yelled at them, dashing the water. “WHAT DOES IT MATTER NOW?”

  The tall Gibbus twitched its nostrils. Then it reached out and pulled Mell from the water, cradling her in its sturdy arms.

  “What? What’s happening?”

  The Gibbus waded powerfully toward a tunnel and gave another snap command.

  The next thing Mell knew she was being carried up a winding path toward the surface. She looked behind her and saw a long line of Gibbus following. One of them was carrying Leif.

  When they reached the top, the creature holding Mell ordered a stone to be moved to make an opening it could pass through with Mell in its arms.

  Outside, it dropped to its knees and laid Mell out.

  A huge green skaler immediately bore down.

  Mell heard its jaws click and closed her eyes.

  But another sound came from the sky. A sharp squeal, like a command.

  The ground rocked as the green skaler streamed over. Dust and fury followed in its wake. But no breath of fire issued from its jaws.

  Out came the Gibbus, kneeling as they did. The one holding Leif set her down gently.

  Now Mell saw their intent. She lowered her head and gave praise to the Fathers.

  The war was done.

  The Gibbus were raising their arms in surrender.

  It was the easiest fight the Wearle had ever won. From above, they had heard the mound cracking and seen water from the lake nearby draining in. They were astonished to see it, and have their enemy yield. Yet there was one more twist to come.

  As the wyng regrouped and thought about landing, a fire star shimmered on top of the mound and a boy astride a winged white horse appeared.

  Ren!

  The only dragon to truly react was Gariffred. He gave a graark! of joy but obeyed his mother’s orders to stay in the air.

  Ren glanced up at the circling dragons. Casually, he stroked Wind’s mane.

  “Now,” he whispered.

  From Wind’s magical, twisting horn came three intense rays of purple light. As Ren turned her, the lights strobed over the Wild Lands, revealing a m
ultitude of Gibbus still hiding. Grynt, when he saw the enemy exposed, was eager to launch a blistering attack. But Grendel quickly countermanded the order. There was a reason Ren had lit up the Gibbus. She wanted to know what it was.

  The creatures squirmed like newborn pupps, unable to run from the light. Gabrial thought for a moment they were going to shrivel or, worse, implode. He turned in the air, trying to shield Gayl from any more grisliness. But what came to pass was a thing of great beauty, not a terrible act of retribution.

  Out of each creature’s mouth came what appeared to be a small black star. As the stars rose into the air, Gabrial was astonished to see that they were not stars at all but tiny crows. He remembered how Graven’s heart was supposedly hidden among those birds. He held his breath, half expecting to see Ren burn the whole flock. Instead, the birdlings formed a twisting, three-lined shape in the air, then turned to white flakes and dispersed on the breeze.

  The rays of light faded. On the ground, the Gibbus shook themselves alert and seemed perplexed by the shadows sweeping over them. When they saw the dragons, the fear in their faces told its own story: Their aggression was tamed—they no longer posed a threat. Grendel gave the order to let them disband. Before long, they had scampered away from the mound, soon to be in holes far away from water.

  Gariffred could wait no longer. He graarked again and settled on the mound as Ren dismounted.

  “Galan aug scieth,” Ren whispered to the drake.

  Gariffred nuzzled his hand like a mutt.

  “Ren? REN?” Mell was on her feet, stumbling across the rocks to be with him. She fell against his chest and threw her arms around him. “Is it you? Is it really you?”

  “I am what you see, your son,” he said.

  He kissed her hair and she wept freely.

  “You’re hurt, Ma.” Her wounds were plain to see.

  Mell looked at her bleeding fingers. “Not as badly as some.”

  She took his hand and drew him to where Leif lay. The partial exposure to water had brought some color back to Leif’s face, but her limbs were still cracking and shrinking. She was breathing fainter than a ghost. “This child of the forest saved many Kaal lives. Can you help her, Ren? She is sore in need of healing.”

  “She must return to the forest,” said a voice. “The trees call her.” Pine had appeared behind them. She was sitting cross-legged on a smooth gray rock, playing with a single daisy. “The little one too.” She pointed down the hill.

  Ren looked down to see Gabrial set Gayl in front of Grendel.

  Grendel wailed in distress when she saw Gayl’s injuries and pawed the wearling with her isoscele. Gayl’s wings had collapsed along both arches. And because of the heavy blood loss she’d suffered, most of the purple had drained from them too. This was true of her neck as well, which was a ghastly shade of white and green. But the tail injuries were worse to see. Her fragile tail was broken at the point where it joined her back. Even if the myss recovered, she would never fly again.

  “Prime Grynt!”

  The Prime dragon forced himself to look up at Ren.

  “Any war there was between us is ended. The darkness that fell upon dragons and men will soon give way to a brighter dawn. De:allus Garodor will return to Erth shortly with tales more astonishing than aught you see here. He has much to say about the sons of Godith and the healing light of Seren. Gabrial, my friend, I bless our bond but I cannot help Gayl. Take her to the forest along with this treegirl. They are part of the New Age that will shortly come to shine upon us all.”

  “Ren Whitehair. Pine One-Fang.” Now the future queen, Grendel, spoke through her grief. “I pledge this Wearle to any just cause that will guarantee peace between our species.” She looked along the line of dragons. “If any dragon disagrees with my ruling, they are free to leave and return to Ki:mera. Those that stay will colonize this world, but in harmony with all its kind. Will your mother spread this word among the tribes of Erth?”

  “She will.” Ren put a hand on his mother’s arm.

  “What do they say?” Mell asked, a little awestruck. She had heard nothing but grunts and growls.

  Ren turned his mother to face the creatures she had so long loathed. “Here are my second kin, Ma. Love them now as you have always loved me. They will never do harm on you again. Speak well of them wherever you roam. That is all I ask of you.”

  Mell looked at Wind, admiring her beautifully feathered wings. “You talk as if you would leave me again.”

  Ren ran his hand down Gariffred’s neck. “Go to your guardian,” he whispered in dragontongue. “Your work is done. We will meet again soon.”

  Graaark!

  The drake fluttered down to be with his sister.

  “It’s time,” said Pine, standing up in one movement.

  “Ren, wait. We are so little met,” Mell begged. She looked hopefully at Pine. “Will I see you again—either of you?”

  “Look to the stars this night,” Ren said. “To those that shine newest and brightest. There you will find us both. Galan aug scieth. Remember these words. Speak them whenever you think of me.”

  And he kissed his mother fondly on the cheek.

  And together with Pine, he climbed onto Wind’s back and faded out of sight.

  “The forest,” Gabrial said softly to Grendel. “We must do as Ren said. Quickly, I fear.” He looked worriedly at Gayl. The myss was fading.

  “Matrial, I would like to assist.” Gus stepped forward, bowing to Grendel.

  “Not you,” said Grynt, lashing his tail across Gus. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

  “Enough,” said Grendel, almost snorting fire. “This is no time for petty arguments. Gabrial’s right. I trust Ren’s words. We will go to the forest. Gabrial, carry Gayl as gently as you can.” She glanced at Mell, who was kneeling beside Leif, trying to stir the girl awake. “Gus, let the Hom woman ride on your back.”

  “She won’t be able to carry the treegirl,” said Garrison. “Not and hang on to Gus as well. The girl looks to weigh no more than a vapor. If any of us pick her up, we’ll crush her.”

  “Not all of us,” Grendel said. “Gariffred!”

  Graark?

  “Take the child gently in your claws and follow. Gus, lead us to the clearing where Gallen came down. Grynt, I want the whole Wearle to attend.”

  The Prime gave a solemn nod. He looked at Garrison. “Bring the others from the mountains. Go.”

  Snow was still falling in pretty twists when Gus put down in the Whispering Forest. The air was silent, the trees still. The Erth sun had done most of its work for the day. The few spare rays it was able to cast were lighting the clearing with a dark gold glow.

  Mell was shocked by the extent of the destruction she saw. The first ring of trees were bent back and broken. Fragments of charred wood were poking through the snow, despite the heavy drifts left by the ice storm. The long frame of Gallen was pushing through also, ribs and tall scales draped and dripping. The sight of those skaler bones made Mell shiver. There, she suspected, lay the reason for this crime against the forest.

  She slid off Gus’s back, breathless and trembling, more from exhilaration than fear. Never, not even in her wildest dreams, had she ever believed she would ride a winged beast. She found the courage to pat his neck and tried not to wince at his awful breath. How had Ren ever put up with that?

  All around, dragons began to land, though most of them stayed in the air, circling. The little one carrying Leif was among the first to come down. He fluttered awkwardly near to the ground, but dropped Leif kindly, causing no hurt.

  The big blue skaler was next to arrive. He put their injured one down beside Leif.

  Mell picked up the skirts of her robe and hurried over. Her intention was always to go to Leif first, yet something compelled her to kneel beside Gayl. She looked up at Grendel, begging her permission to be this close, then ran her hand softly over Gayl’s head.

  The wearmyss didn’t respond.

  Mell shook her
red hair. “No,” she whispered. Snowflakes danced on the warmth of her breath.

  Gariffred stepped up. He blinked at Gayl and tried to rock her gently.

  Gaaraarrk? he said.

  It was the most plaintive sound Mell had ever heard.

  A tear left her eye and dripped on to Gayl’s neck.

  The wearmyss stared at the sky. She was dead.

  Prime Grynt said to Grendel, “I’m so sorry for your loss. May Godith bless her spirit. She was brave to the last.”

  Gabrial lowered his head in mourning. “She was gone when I lifted her,” he confessed to Grendel quietly.

  Grendel put her head back and wailed.

  In the sky, the Wearle began to echo her grief.

  Gabrial turned his face away, hardly knowing what he could do or say. He looped his tail around Grendel’s back, but knew his touch would be little consolation. He was sure that Grendel had known deep down how serious Gayl’s injuries were, but Ren’s words by the mound had given her cause for hope. Where was this New Age the boy had spoken of? What good could come of losing Gayl so young?

  One of the roamers gave a warning grunt. Gabrial looked up to see faces among the trees. Forest dwellers. That made him glance at Leif. The treegirl was still alive, but something odd was happening to her. The fingers of one hand were thinning out and creeping slowly over the snow, turning down wherever they found gaps in the bracken. The girl, it seemed, was putting down roots.

  Mell had seen the change too and now went to Leif, being careful where she placed her feet. Gariffred likewise was picking up his claws and moving away from the spread of Leif’s fingers, which were splitting all the time, claiming more and more ground. More filaments broke through the soles of Leif’s boots. They began rooting too.

  “Leif,” Mell whispered. “Is there aught I can do?”

  She doubted the girl could hear. For Leif’s face was now wooded, her features shrinking into the grain. Yet she managed to extend what would have been a thumb and point to what remained of the pocket of her robe. Mell put her hand inside. She found a pinecone there.