“Maybe you should ask him.”
“I will, when I see him.”
Rjupa leaned back, looking at the blue sky. The sun was going down, so the colors were softening. “In the meantime, I’ve changed my mind. You need to go on a dragon ride with me.”
“No. Don’t do that, Rjupa.”
“Do what? You need to fly around.” She grabbed Dyrfinna’s hand. “The way you are destined to. Come on! You’re better at this than I am.”
The red dragon sat quietly on the rocks, watching them with interest as they came running up. She uncurled her long tail, which rattled over the rocks, striking off a spark.
Dyrfinna slowed as she always did, coming close to the dragon. Its scales when it was quiet glittered like garnets, a deep, dark red, in the setting sun. Dragon scales were like jewels, iridescent, with deep colors in them if you looked.
“You’re not supposed to take anybody for a ride,” said Dyrfinna.
“Oh, stop. I’ve already been flying my sweetheart around.” Rjupa laughed.
“It’s not allowed. You could get in huge trouble if you …. ” Dyrfinna’s voice trailed off.
Ordinarily, she would have passed, however much she wanted to ride.
But.
Her dad denied her a position she’d wanted since she was a child. This should have been her dragon, this beautiful, smart, glittering dragon. This should have been her, telling Rjupa, “Okay, just a little ride.”
No matter how she felt, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
They Can’t Kill What They Can’t Catch
“You sit in front,” Rjupa said as soon as they came to the dragon.
“Are you sure?” Dyrfinna said, her heart low.
“Please. You lead today. I insist.”
So Dyrfinna, with great compunction, climbed up on the dragon and seated herself, and tied saddle straps around her waist. These were to hold her on if he had to bank suddenly.
Rjupa climbed up behind her. “Give the command,” she said when she’d secured herself.
“Up!” Dyrfinna said. The great wings opened, and the muscles flexed under her hands. She gripped the forward strap fastened around the dragon.
The wings, like living sails, cast a gigantic shadow on the ground below them. Then with a great thrust of those wings, the dragon sprang into the air in a dizzying rush.
Dyrfinna loved that gather and that sudden, thrilling leap.
She loved the wind in her face—the great lunges the dragon made every time those huge wings thrust the air down and let them sweep higher—the feel of gravity trying to pull them back—the trees and rocks and ground flying past, then growing smaller as they rose—how the world slowly opened around them like a flower as they climbed, revealing more lands, more forests, more rocky crags, and more ocean, the endless ocean. Dyrfinna could gaze at it endlessly.
The dragon leveled off, circled. Rjupa had her arms around Dyrfinna, leaning on her back, but now she opened her arms and sat up.
“I always love that takeoff,” Dyrfinna said.
“Me too.”
They were not that high up, as Dyrfinna could cover her ship with her hand and have a little sticking out at each end. She leaned right, and the dragon also leaned right and banked in that direction.
Dyrfinna was taking it all in—the whole world laid out like a King’s Table before her. She looked across the pine-forested land, the dark sea, the twisting coastline, the small islands scattered generously around the edges of the coast. Farther away, on the ocean, were the ships. Scraps of black twisted in the air above them – King Varinn’s black dragons, all in flight. From this distance they were no bigger than flies.
“There’s his fleet.”
“There’s a lot of them.”
“There’s a lot of us,” Dyrfinna said quietly.
Hakr was right, she thought. The fleet must have been pushed back by the storm. They were coming to find us, but couldn’t make any headway against the wind.
“So that must be where we need to join the battle,” she told Rjupa, pointing at the fleet. She started memorizing the lay of the land, the islands in the sea, trying to figure out what moves the king’s fleet would make, what kinds of moves the queen’s fleet needed to make the most effective attack possible. “Do you think Queen Saehildr would listen to me if I made suggestions about her movements in battle?”
Rjupa shrugged against Dyrfinna’s back. “I don’t know. You’ve never been in battle—”
“What are you talking about? I fought a skirmish on the water and a full engagement on land.”
“Cripes! I’m sorry. I missed all that. But I’d still think she’d defer to her older generals first. Which, naturally, includes your papa.”
Dyrfinna groaned. “What is his problem? He said he wanted the best for me. He let me do the sword lessons, let me work with dragons, and he let me bring all of you along because I wanted to be with my friends while I was learning all this. Would I have made him happier if I’d left you guys out? I don’t get it.”
“I don’t either,” she said. “It’s like he’s been different over the last couple of years, you know?”
“Oh yeah. I know.” Dyrfinna shook her head out of her funk and gazed across the wide land, still studying the position of the fleet, thinking about the most strategic approaches to allow them to strike effectively.
She needed to talk to Hakr about what she saw. If there was anybody who knew about directing a fleet on water, it was him. Maybe then she could get something to the Queen. Or he could at least tell her she was deluded.
“Wait. Where are Nauma’s ships?” Dyrfinna twisted, searching the ocean around and behind her for any ships, searching the shore for other fires.
“Who?”
“Nauma. We faced her division in combat over the last few days.” She turned the dragon toward where Nauma’s ships had been driven out of the harbor. “I don’t know where they went after they left here. They call themselves the child-killers.”
“No kidding.”
They looked out over the shoreline as they flew on. Dyrfinna told Rjupa what Nauma had said.
“She might be just saying that they’re child-killers,” Rjupa said. “You know, making herself seem more dangerous than what she is.”
“Yeah, but, the only reason you’d call yourself a child-killer is because you want people to kill you. I swear I felt the whole ship tense up when she said it.”
“Circle around,” Rjupa told the dragon. “We need to look up the coast for—how many ships did she have?”
“Two of her ships were set ablaze,” said Dyrfinna, trying to remember the exact numbers. “Two ships were captured. So five got away.”
“Well, nice.”
Dyrfinna started looking around for other ships sailing toward Skala. However, the view in that direction was cut off by the mountainous coast. If Nauma’s ships had gone that way, she’d have to fly well up the coast and around several mountains to even see Skala in the distance.
Just then, a movement caught Dyrfinna’s eye. She suddenly twisted in the seat, looking to the left.
“What’s that?” she asked, on full alert.
“What’s what … oh Freyja.” Rjupa grabbed her arms involuntarily, but though Dyrfinna twinged in pain, she hardly noticed.
About ten miles away, on the other side of a mountain, two large black shapes flew low in a dark riverbank toward them, their shapes flickering through the trees.
“Dive!” Dyrfinna hissed to the dragon, and lowered her body against its neck to reduce wind speed. “Rjupa, get down and hold on.”
“We’re in trouble; they’re going to kill us.” Rjupa pressed against Dyrfinna’s back, the wind snatching her words.
“Dragons can’t kill what they can’t catch,” she called back over her shoulder. Her ears popped painfully, and popped again as they plummeted.
“I’m not talking about the dragons. I mean the queen’s council! You’re not supposed to be riding on m
y dragon! What are we going to do?” Rjupa cried.
“Ugh. No time for councils. I can’t exactly jump off your dragon at this point.” They reached soaring altitude directly over the treetops; the dragon leveled off. The tops of fir trees whirred past, right below the dragon’s feet.
“And why are we flying toward them?” Rjupa cried.
Dyrfinna looked over the land and mountains ahead to calculate where they might meet the incoming dragons. “Rjupa. What would you do in this situation?”
“I’d signal the rest of the queen’s dragons and call them for help.”
“Before or after you engage Varinn’s dragons? Because if they haven’t seen us already, they’re definitely going to see us if we signal the queen’s dragons. And they’re a lot closer than hers.”
“But …. ”
“Not only that, but we’re the only defense between the enemy and our ships right now. All of our ships are visible from the sky. You saw them. If the king’s dragons pop up over that mountain, they’re going to see our ships sitting there, begging to be burned.”
“Finna!”
“Rjupa! By the time the queen’s dragons get here, our ships will be on fire! Dragon, stay low,” Dyrfinna added, then went back to Rjupa. “Rjupa, we’ve got to engage King Varinn’s dragons first. We have to hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive. If they arrive …. ”
“But Finna, I’m not supposed to engage the enemy!” Rjupa cried in her ear. “I’m too green, they said! They told me not to engage, but to signal!”
Dyrfinna spun in her seat. “They told you to what?”
“The Queen’s Council! They said I need to be fully trained before I fight for real.”
“That is insane!” Dyrfinna fumed. “Who tells a dragonrider, in a time of full-on warfare, not to fight? It makes no sense.”
“Besides, it’s going to be two dragons against one,” Rjupa added.
Dyrfinna shrugged. “I’ve seen worse odds. That’s why we need to surprise Varinn’s dragons.” Dyrfinna leaned in close to the dragon’s neck. “It’s the only way to get an advantage over them. Where are the rest of the Queen’s dragons?”
“There’s a skirmish taking place at the fortress of one of our allies,” Rjupa said quickly. “They’re not too far away.”
“I hope they’ll be able to see our fireworks from there. Hang on.” Dyrfinna gritted her teeth. The mountain was coming up. “The dragons were flying along the riverbank, heading toward the other side of the mountain,” Dyrfinna said. “We can pop over the top, assess where they are, and start dropping fire on them.”
The dragon shot up the side of the mountain, just above the trees, and Dyrfinna held on, looking over every side of the mountain just in case the black dragons snuck around the side.
They came in close to the treetops, flying between them when the space was wide enough for the dragon’s wingspan. Dyrfinna had to keep her eyes narrowed because little insects kept hitting her in the face, and her heart pounded hard against her chest. She was afraid of fire. She didn’t like to admit it.
Dragonriders had little protection against fire. Just a song-spell. The thought of going into battle and having fire blown at her the way it had been with her and Skeggi terrified her.
Her heart stopped when she remembered their kiss coming out of the water. And here was Rjupa holding on to her from behind.
Not the time to think of it! Not the time!
She yanked her mind back to the trouble at hand, for the top of the mountain loomed above her, and she braced herself, knowing the two dragons could come over any second. “Be ready to turn and fight,” she called to the dragon. “Be ready.”
The dragon’s great head moved to the left and the right, watchful, as her great wings thrust them up, and over –
—and they came out dead on in the sights of two dragons. Dyrfinna actually saw one of them startle.
“Fire, fire!” Dyrfinna screamed, and their dragon let loose a horrifying gout of flame right in the faces of the two as they flew toward them.
The heat from the fire the dragon had just inflicted boiled up from below, and terrifying heat curled around her, flames almost as bad as when she was in the red dragon’s fire with Skeggi.
“Rjupa!” she screamed.
Her friend’s arms were around her, and Rjupa was singing, and coolness fell over them as the flames slipped past.
The awfullest scream from below, a heartrending shriek.
Rjupa gasped.
One of the dragonriders below was on fire. On fire, twisting and writhing in his seat. His dragon frantically plunged toward the ocean, trying to dive fast enough to put out the flames.
Watching the burning rider, Dyrfinna broke out in a cold sweat, very close to throwing up, but she managed to hold off her sickness. What a terrible way to die. Rjupa’s body trembled against her back.
And the second dragon came for them, fast from below, the dragonrider screaming for revenge.
Dyrfinna had to keep the red dragon between them and the king’s dragon to protect them against fire. In her panic, that was the only thing she could think of. “Drop on the other dragon!” Dyrfinna cried. “Drop feet first!”
Dyrfinna drew her sword, which flashed silver in the evening sun.
“Hold on,” Dyrfinna called as they dropped like a hawk to knock the other dragon out of the sky. She slashed at the dragonrider below.
He leaned back from the sword and let loose a note, infused with magic, that froze her sword hand where it was. Rjupa sang another note, dissonant, that broke the power of the dragonrider’s music.
But before Dyrfinna was able to lash out again with the sword, the black dragon below turned its head upward at Dyrfinna and inhaled.
“Pull yourself up!” Rjupa sang, throwing her arms around Dyrfinna.
The black dragon blasted. A gout of flame enveloped them. Dyrfinna buried her face on the red dragon’s back. Rjupa sang in a trembling voice. Dyrfinna hummed in harmony with her, focusing on cool, on protection, on air.
And suddenly the fire was gone, and they could breathe.
“Turn left, turn left,” Rjupa shouted at the dragon.
“Bank!” Dyrfinna screamed.
The dragon banked too hard … and Dyrfinna dangled in the air from its back, held on only by a few straps.
Rjupa was singing, grabbing for her, trying to get Dyrfinna into her arms.
A gout of flame burst around them. Dyrfinna slammed against the red dragon’s wing, swinging helplessly in the air, but the wing shielded her from the worst of the fire.
“Dragon, dive!” Rjupa commanded.
The dragon dove. Dyrfinna floated up in the air, tethered to the dragon by two straps, buoyed up by weightlessness as they fell. Rjupa reached out and plucked Dyrfinna from the air, helping her back to her seat again.
“Hold on to your straps,” Rjupa reminded her of the old lesson from long ago. Dyrfinna had completely lost her mind in her panic. An error that could have been fatal.
And it still could be, she thought, as their pursuing dragon blasted gout after gout of flame at them. Rjupa kept singing, keeping the flame off, but Dyrfinna knew she couldn’t keep up that magic all day. There was only so much her vocal cords could handle.
Suddenly Rjupa gasped.
“You need to get down.” Rjupa shoved Dyrfinna against the dragon’s back. “Make yourself tiny so they can’t see you.”
“Wait, what?”
“The queen’s dragons are coming in. They’ve spotted us fighting!”
The heat from the dragon’s scales seeped into Dyrfinna’s chest. She closed her eyes, hoping that she hadn’t been spotted already.
“Dive!” she commanded the dragon. “To the ships, now!”
Dyrfinna’s eyes snapped open. “No! We can’t lead the black dragons to the ships!”
“It’s okay, they’re peeling off! They see the queen’s dragons!”
Dyrfinna looked back over her shoulder. Rjupa was right. Th
e last remaining black dragon shot off, zigzagging through the trees. From far away, she recognized the roar of the queen’s dragons in pursuit.
She couldn’t see any of the queen’s dragonriders from this distance, but that didn’t mean that one of them hadn’t spotted her.
“We’re going to land you near the ships,” Rjupa said quickly to Dyrfinna, “but I need you off and hiding before I can blink, and hopefully before the rest of the queen’s dragons see you. Oh, we’re going to be in so much trouble. Dragon, to the ships, swiftly!”
They plunged, the wind whipping at Dyrfinna’s face. The dragon’s wings trembled against the power of the air. Two of the queen’s red dragons sailed toward them from the east, wing to wing.
When they were getting close to the ground, Dyrfinna undid the straps, holding on tight to the forward strap. As soon as the dragon’s feet hit land, she slid off, half-running, half-rolling under the shelter of the dragon’s outstretched wing, to the shadow of the ships. She ran to the other side of the ship inside its shadow, where she flung herself on the ground and pressed herself as far under the prow of the ship as possible. Other Vikings ran to meet Rjupa’s dragon.
Somebody yelled for Rjupa. It was Skeggi.
Dyrfinna lay her head on the sand of the beach. The keel of the longship lifted off the ground a handbreadth, and she wormed her way up until she could see underneath it and watch what was happening. From where she lay, she could see everybody’s ankles and feet from the other side of the ship.
The dragon’s feet were planted close to the ship and Rjupa’s soft leather boots were next to them, one of them jiggling a little as if she were nervous. Skeggi’s booted feet came up to hers, his boots still a dark brown and reddish color from the blood he’d waded through during the battles.
“Stay back,” Rjupa said. “I have to answer for this.”
She went up on her tiptoes for a moment, as if for a kiss. Then his boots walked to the longship and he leaned up against its side with a thump.
The rush and storm of leathery wings kicked up dust as the other two dragons came in, and their scales grated on the rocky earth like chain mail. The feet of the queen’s dragons touched down. Dyrfinna closed her mouth and eyes against the dust and sand that their great wings rushed under the ship. She wriggled an arm up to her face to cover her mouth so she could breathe. Her nose tickled. She pinched it shut and rubbed it until the sneeze subsided.
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