Spark the Fire

by Melissa McShane

  “You don’t know what reading is?” Rokshan sounded unexpectedly surprised. “But you said you have all those stories.”

  “Stories we tell each other, yes. Is that what you mean by reading?”

  Rokshan shook his head. “We…God’s breath, I don’t know how to explain reading and writing. We have symbols that correspond to speech.” He scratched a few lines and curves in the hard dirt between them. “That’s my name written down. And anyone who can read will know what those symbols mean, that they’re my name.”

  “Oh.” Lamprophyre peered at the marks. “How convenient. Then it’s true human memory is short, or you wouldn’t need writing and reading, yes?”

  “That’s it exactly. If I write your name—don’t know how to spell it—” He scratched out a much longer series of marks— “but on paper or stone, it will outlast a human lifetime, and humans hundreds of years from now will be able to read it and know it means you.”

  Lamprophyre traced the marks that meant her with her sharp sixth claw. “Fascinating.” What a concept, that marks could have meaning. “Who invented it?”

  “I don’t know. After you told me dragons taught humans their language, I sort of thought dragons had taught writing to us, too, but if you don’t have a written language, I guess not. It must have been centuries ago, though.”

  Lamprophyre rested her head on her arms again. “I don’t know how to get coin. I understand humans use it to exchange for other things, so I will need it to buy a home, perhaps? And pay humans to take care of it? And I can’t go on expecting the king or his people to provide me food. Though I suppose I could hunt.”

  “That would be a bad idea,” Rokshan said. “All the herds around here belong to people. You’d be stealing unless you gave them money for what you hunted.”

  Lamprophyre let out a puff of smoke from both nostrils. “You see? I don’t even know that I don’t know things!”

  “All our stories say dragons have hoards of gold and gems. I take it that’s not true.”

  “We don’t love gold more or less than any other metal, though it is delicious, especially when you eat it with anthracite. And gems. Don’t humans prefer certain stones?”

  “Diamonds and rubies, emeralds and sapphires,” Rokshan said. “Though adepts in magic use certain stones to channel magical energy. Like that wand they used against you. Sapphire must have mind-confusing properties.”

  “So they care about specific stones, too.”

  “Yes. But they’re not all precious gems. I know my sister Manishi is always buying semiprecious stones, jasper and quartz and dozens of others I don’t know the names of. Some of them are very hard to find.”

  “I love the taste of jasper. It’s got so many flavors.” The thought of the delicious stone made her salivate. Then the rest of what he’d said registered. “Hard to find, you say?”

  “That’s what Manishi says. I know she’s always dealing with the most disreputable traders from all over Gonjiri and Fanishkor and even beyond.”

  Lamprophyre sat up. “So do you think,” she said, “she’d agree to deal with a dragon?”

  Chapter Nine

  Lamprophyre tore into the delicious, juicy meat and rolled her eyes in pleasure. “This is amazing,” she said. “I’ve never had anything so good. Why is cow so much better than deer?”

  “Because humans carefully tend their cows and feed them things that will make their meat richer and more tender,” Rokshan said. He had a couple of small sticks that gleamed like silver, one a knife, though smaller than the ones the soldiers had had, and one with a couple of sharp prongs on the end. His chunk of meat lay on a thin, flat stone that shone with a glossy finish, and he held the meat in place with the pronged stick and cut bits of it off with the knife.

  “Dragons need to do that. I want to eat like this all the time. I wonder how hard it would be?”

  “You’d have to grow grains first, I think. I’m afraid I don’t know much about it.” Rokshan chewed his meat thoughtfully. “Or you could exchange valuables for cows. How sure are you that you can find the kind of stone adepts will want?”

  “Very sure, if they’re willing to tell me what they’re interested in.” Lamprophyre cracked a leg bone with her back teeth and sucked out the marrow. “Finding stone is as easy as smelling the difference between the dirt and this delicious cow.”

  “Then I’ll bring Manishi here to meet you.” Rokshan made a face. “If she’ll listen to me. We don’t get along.”

  “Rokshan, you don’t get along with your father and Tekentriya, and now you say you don’t get along with Manishi. Is there anyone you’re related to that you do get along with?”

  Rokshan chuckled. “My mother. My sister Anchala. It’s no coincidence that they’re the least political of my relatives. Manishi—with her, it’s nothing personal, she’s just abrupt and self-absorbed. I don’t think she gets along with anyone, especially other adepts. She’s very secretive about her work and never works in partnership with anyone, even though most adepts collaborate at least some of the time.”

  “Well, I don’t like your father or Tekentriya. But they don’t like me, so I think that’s all right.”

  “Just so you don’t share that opinion with anyone else. It’s undiplomatic.”

  Lamprophyre nodded. “I do know how to behave myself. Though I’m not sure dragon manners translate to human manners. I suppose I’ll find out.”

  “Not saying what you really think is probably common to both our species.” Rokshan took a final bite and set the stone and the sticks aside. “I should speak to Manishi now rather than waiting. You’ll need money soon, though I can convince the kitchens you’re an honored guest for a while.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Lamprophyre assured him. She set what was left of the carcass on the wheeled wooden platform they’d brought it in by and gave it a small push. She’d only managed half the cow before feeling full. It was considerably bigger than a deer. “Bored, but fine.”

  Rokshan stood and stretched. “What would you normally do, this time of day?”

  “Oh…go flying, probably. Tomorrow is my turn to hunt, so I’d do that. Share stories. Race my clutchmates, if I can stand to listen to Coquina brag about how many times she’s won.”

  “Who’s Coquina?”

  “I told you dragons are part of a clutch—all the eggs born in a season? She’s the only other female in my clutch, and I hate her. She likes to make me feel stupid and small.”

  Rokshan nodded. “My brother Khadar is like that. I understand. Look, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Sorry about the boredom. Soon enough, you’ll be able to fly freely.”

  Lamprophyre watched him run to the exit and disappear beyond it, then sighed and tried to fit more of herself into the strip of shadow. It was wider now, but not by much. She closed her eyes, but she didn’t feel sleepy despite her large meal. Still, it wasn’t as if she had anything better to do.

  Footsteps approaching made her blink and sit up. Four humans, two male, two female, stopped some distance from her, their thoughts a tangle of fear and awe. She recognized them as the humans who had brought the cow on the wooden platform, though at the time she’d been hungry enough not to pay much attention to them. Now, she regarded them with curiosity. They were dressed more plainly than the king’s companions, or at least their clothes weren’t colorful, and they didn’t wear the animal hide armor the soldiers did.

  “Did you prepare the cow?” she asked. “I’m glad you skinned it. I hate skinning animals. My claws always feel so dirty afterward, but roasting an animal unskinned makes it taste strange.”

  Her words made three of the humans take a step back. The fourth, a male with dark hair on his face, said, “I didn’t butcher it, my lady ambassador, but I chose the carcass myself, so I’m pleased you like it.” Talking to a dragon, what in Jiwanyil’s name am I supposed to say? he thought.

  “Well, thank you. It was delicious,” Lamprophyre said. “Did you come to take the rest away? I hope it
’s not too much trouble. I’m afraid it was too much for me to eat all at once.”

  “Not at all, my lady ambassador, it’s our pleasure. The kitchens are open to you any time.”

  There was that word again. “What are kitchens?”

  “The places where we prepare food.”

  So they had special places for food just like dragons did. How unexpected. “That’s very generous of you.”

  The male bowed. His thoughts mirrored his words so perfectly Lamprophyre felt more relaxed than she had from the moment the archers on the city wall had shot at her. “My name is Akarshan, my lady ambassador.”

  “I’m Lamprophyre.” Lamprophyre bowed in return, and Akarshan’s thoughts became amused, though not in a mean way; she could hear him think no one will believe this, dragon bowed to ME.

  She looked at the other three, whose fear had diminished as Akarshan spoke to her without being eaten or burned alive or whatever they feared Lamprophyre might do. “Are you all with the kitchens?” she asked.

  “I am the chief cook, and these are my assistants,” Akarshan said. “They are honored to serve you.” Better be honored, by Jiwanyil, God’s breath, it’s like meeting a legend.

  “I appreciate your help,” Lamprophyre said. “And you don’t have to be afraid of me. No dragon has ever harmed one of you.” She suppressed memories of fighting the bandits. That didn’t count.

  The other three humans glanced at each other, then at Akarshan. Two of them relaxed. The third still looked poised to flee, but Lamprophyre was willing to accept three out of four as a victory.

  “Rokshan tells me I am your guest until I have an embassy of my own,” she said, “and if it’s not too much trouble, I normally eat twice a day, morning and evening.”

  “It is most certainly no trouble,” Akarshan said. “We’ll take this out of your way now, my lady ambassador, and will see you again this evening?”

  “Morning will be soon enough.” She’d never felt so well-fed in her life. It occurred to her that the kitchens probably couldn’t provide her with stone to eat, and she would need to hunt some for herself as well as to sell to Manishi or some other adept, as Rokshan had called the humans who created magic artifacts.

  She wiped her mouth and watched Akarshan and the other humans turn the wheeled platform around and steer it in the direction of the largest exit. She felt more cheerful now than she had since being shot at on approaching Tanajital, between the excellent meal and the friendly conversation. Maybe this wasn’t an impossible task, after all.

  She stood and stretched, extending her wings fully. Normally, she would go for a flight after a meal to keep from feeling logy, but that was out of the question—or possibly not. She walked around the perimeter of the coliseum’s oval floor until she stood beneath the royal box. Flapping gently, she lifted off the ground until she was level with the top of the wooden box. This still put her below the top of the outer wall and out of sight, she hoped, from the city.

  With a few more gentle strokes, she propelled herself forward along the inner wall, keeping carefully level with its top. It was a challenge not to drift too far up or down, and she amused herself by using the barest twitches of her wing tips to maintain elevation. After a couple of circuits, she turned and flew in the opposite direction to keep from becoming dizzy. Then she practiced flying as fast as she could from one end of the oval to the other, but that meant coming to a halt against the wooden lower wall, and the first time she left scratches with her non-retractable toe claws, she decided to stop doing that.

  She thought about digging up enough dirt for a dust bath, but that would ruin the hard surface, and she was sure nobody would appreciate that even if she put all the dirt back when she was finished. The thought did make her wonder how she would get a real bath. The river was more than wide enough for her to share it with the boats, especially if she went downstream far enough, but that might still not be enough distance to make the humans comfortable. Frustrated, she returned to her strip of shadow and settled herself. Stupid fearful humans.

  Flying had made her feel even more alert than before. Unfortunate, since napping would be a good way to pass the time while waiting for Rokshan to return. Until today, she hadn’t realized how active a life she normally led. Waiting was stifling and boring and she hated it.

  She rolled onto her side and watched the clouds drift past overhead. They were high and thin, not a sign of an oncoming storm, which was as well if she had to live in this roofless oval for a few days. She hoped it was only a few days. Mekel had seemed to understand the urgency of finding her a permanent home, but he was human and presumably had a home of his own. People, or at least dragons, never acted so quickly as when it was their own needs they were meeting. Possibly humans were the same.

  The air within the coliseum oval was close and thick and warm, and Lamprophyre’s muscles relaxed in response. Maybe she could sleep, after all. She closed her eyes and listened with her ears and her mind. If she held very still and breathed shallowly, she could hear the sound of the city humming along. It was probably the noises of a lot of people in one place, but it was easy, after what she’d considered earlier, to imagine the city as a living creature that tolerated humans within it. Whether it would be as accepting of a dragon, she had no idea.

  Distantly, she heard Rokshan’s thoughts, just a snatch or two of disconnected words, but she’d spent enough time with him to recognize the way he thought. She couldn’t hear anyone else with him. Sitting up, she stretched her wings and then furled them along her back. Maybe Manishi wanted Lamprophyre to come to her, which would be a nice excuse to get out of this boring place.

  But when Rokshan entered the coliseum, it was in company with another human. The female’s long hair was piled high atop her head in a messy way, with strands escaping to fly in every direction. Lamprophyre had thought Rokshan’s dark trousers and blue shirt plain by comparison to the king’s rich robe, but this female dressed the way Lamprophyre remembered the bandits dressing, in roughly woven tan clothing with a deep neck that showed more of her brown skin than Rokshan’s revealed. She wore nothing on her feet, which were dirty, the claws longer than Tekentriya’s, which was the only other measure of comparison Lamprophyre had.

  A whiff of sodalite reached Lamprophyre’s nostrils, and she inhaled more deeply and scented other stones: citrine, and quartz with a chlorite inclusion, and aventurine. She examined the strange female and saw she wore rings set with those stones on both hands. The citrine was polished, but the other three were rough-cut circles of stone. Lamprophyre took half a step forward before stopping herself. If this was Manishi, it was especially important that Lamprophyre not frighten her.

  Rokshan halted half a dragonlength from her, saying, “Lamprophyre, this is my sister—Manishi, wait—” The female hadn’t stopped when Rokshan did, but came right up to Lamprophyre and tilted her head back to stare at her.

  “You’re bigger than I expected,” Manishi said. “Bigger, and more brightly colored. Are all dragons like you?”

  “I haven’t reached my full adult size yet, but almost all dragons are colorful,” Lamprophyre said. To her surprise, she heard nothing but a dull hum from Manishi, like the background noise of the city. There were some dragons who couldn’t hear thoughts, but Lamprophyre had never heard of anyone whose thoughts couldn’t be heard. Maybe it was a human thing. Not being able to hear Manishi’s thoughts was pleasant and unsettling at the same time.

  “How intriguing,” Manishi said. She reached out and brushed her fingers across Lamprophyre’s scales. It startled Lamprophyre so much she jerked away. In a dragon, that would be a serious breach of etiquette and a profound invasion of one’s privacy. If humans were going to feel entitled to touch her without permission, she would have to do something about that.

  “Excuse me,” she said, reining in her shock and discomfort, “it’s not polite for you to touch me like that.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Rokshan said, sounding angry. “Manishi, that wa
s rude. You should apologize.”

  “Was it?” Manishi said. “I didn’t realize. Your scales are very soft.” She actually extended her hand to touch Lamprophyre’s flank again. Lamprophyre moved away again.

  “Manishi,” Rokshan said with some force. “Stop it. She’s a person, not an animal you can pet.”

  Manishi lowered her hand. “My apologies,” she said. Lamprophyre wished she could hear the female’s thoughts to know if she was sincere. “Rokshan says you can find specific stones. How does that work?”

  Her abruptness startled Lamprophyre. “Oh, dragons have an affinity for stone, and I can feel its nearness. And stones have unique scents that I can perceive. If you tell me what you want, I might be able to find it. We could exchange coin for that, yes?”

  “Of course,” Manishi said.

  Rokshan took a few steps forward. “A fair exchange.”

  Manishi glanced at him and returned her attention to Lamprophyre. “Of course. You don’t think I’d cheat a dragon, do you?”

  “I think you’d take advantage of Lamprophyre’s ignorance.”

  “I’d never do that.”

  “Of course you would.”

  Manishi rolled her eyes. “We can come to a civilized agreement, Rokshan. Can you find opal?”

  For a moment, Lamprophyre thought she was talking about the dragonet and felt confused again. “Opal. Oh! No, I’m afraid not. There’s no opal anywhere near this place. I’ve never even tasted it.” She decided not to explain how dragons knew about stones throughout the world, even stones they’d never actually seen; it was a religious thing and none of Manishi’s business.

  “Damn,” Manishi said, but without any force behind it. “What about emerald? Having a local source would be invaluable now that we’re virtually at war with Fanishkor.”

  “Emerald? Maybe.” Lamprophyre thought for a moment. “I know there are deposits of garnet nearby, and plenty of jasper. But maybe you already have those.”

  “We get our garnet from Sachetan, far to the south. But you can never have too much garnet. So many men wanting to breed sons, so many women wanting to avoid pregnancy…” Manishi’s voice trailed off. “But it might be even better if you could bring me something no one’s ever seen before.”