Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology

by Pauline Creeden

  She thought of the picture that Aesa had drawn, that she kept in her shirt, and longed to be able to get it away. She wished she’d left it back in the cave. She didn’t want that small reminder of her little sister to wither and blacken in the fire.

  It was only because of Aesa’s drawing that she held out her hand and whispered, “No … no.”

  Dyrfinna was afraid. She’d been more afraid only once in her life, when she’d had that dream about Aesa burning.

  The dragon’s breath smelled like scorch and sulfur, the heat of a million fires. The air around the dragon shimmered. It radiated a brilliant, dark orange-red glow, like the flames that move inside a burning log.

  Even at the small distance, the skin of Dyrfinna’s face tightened, and a few hairs that had come loose from her braids slowly pulled into curls.

  There’s no word for that kind of scared.

  The dragon came down in a glory of sparks, floating down until

  its feet touched the ground … and it landed.

  It looked at Dyrfinna with jeweled eyes.

  To see death come down out of the sky,

  Fiery and beautiful ….

  And then it came to her gently.

  The dragon reached its neck to Dyrfinna’s outstretched hand. The dragon’s scaled head was taller than Aesa. The golden eyes, narrow, were half-closed under a carapace of flaming stone.

  It reached forward

  and sniffed her hand

  with a breath as hot as fire. A scalding breath blew over her hand, the smell of scorch and stone.

  Dyrfinna forced herself to remain standing. She swallowed hard, stilled her trembling as much as possible. But it snuffled her hand with that burning breath.

  Dyrfinna braced herself. Praying to the gods for herself and for her Mama and Aesa. She prayed that her death would be quick.

  “If you are going to burn me, do it quickly,” she said. She couldn’t help the shaking in her voice.

  The dragon gazed at her with one inscrutable eye for a long moment.

  After a long moment in which they stared each other down, the dragon lifted its head.

  It brought its head forward and nuzzled its nose up under her hand. Gently.

  And it shut its eyes, Dyrfinna’s hand lying on her nose.

  As if saying, I understand. And, I’m sorry.

  Dyrfinna’s breath caught.

  She had jumped slightly, but now she gently laid her hand on the dragon’s nose. The dragon’s skin was surprisingly soft here, almost like a horse’s except without the velvet. Its light made the edges of her hand glow. Her hand warmed in its heat.

  Dyrfinna’s hand trembled on the dragon’s snout. “Thank you for sparing me. Thank you.”

  The dragon opened her eyes. Gently nodded once.

  “You didn’t have to do this, Dragon,” she said. “You didn’t have to show me mercy. But you did.” She met those golden eyes. “And I swear that I will do everything in my power to make myself worthy of the grace you have given me.”

  The dragon bowed slightly to her.

  Dyrfinna could hardly speak. Dyrfinna began singing again, low, about her sister Aesa and how she missed her.

  She kept singing. She took out her knife.

  And cut a second piece of flesh from her other arm. Nothing too deep. But it was enough.

  She held the sacrifice out to the dragon.

  She accepted it delicately. Then the dragon, just as the other one had before, licked the wound. Dyrfinna tried not to grimace, because it would cauterize the wound

  Dyrfinna said, “Dragon, I have only one thing to ask of you. I want to go home to my sister. Please, could you fly me off this island?”

  The dragon said, Yes. I can.

  Dyrfinna gasped. “You can talk, too?”

  Didn’t you know? The sacrifice you made allows you to understand me. You can also talk to ghosts that way, though in their case, any blood would do to let you hear them.

  Dyrfinna looked at her arm. “I did this with one other dragon, not knowing why, because I was nearly out of my head at the time. I didn’t understand why it worked.”

  The dragon said, I accepted your sacrifice, because I have something I need from you.

  Dyrfinna’s eyebrows went up. “What do I have that I could give to you, a dragon?”

  Your word, she said. Your most solemn promise that you will leave my babies alone, and that your tribe of man will leave my babies alone. Because I didn’t forget how I saw you sneaking around my isle, trying to steal my babies.

  At once, Dyrfinna knelt to beg pardon of the dragon. “From the bottom of my heart, I apologize. Especially after how hard I had fought to keep my own little sister from getting killed and from being taken into thralldom. The same emotions rage in your heart. So, here where I kneel, I swear to you that I will not disturb your children as long as I live. They will be free to grow and be free, not held in thralldom by me.”

  That is well, the dragon said. I have no wish to be bound to man to fight battles for them. And I don’t want that for my children.

  “I can’t help what others do, and you are right to attack those who try,” Dyrfinna replied. “If anything, my first foray onto this island gave me a strong respect for your abilities.”

  Hm, said the dragon. I should hope it did.

  Dyrfinna bowed deeply. “When I return home, I will tell the queen of your mercy, and tell her that you and your children are not to be disturbed, and that all of you must be allowed to go free, for all your lives.”

  Thank you, said the dragon. That is all I desire.

  “And now, take me home,” Dyrfinna said. “Please. I swear to you, that when you take me home, I will let you choose a fine bull for yourself out of my herd. Any bull you want.”

  A bull! Ahem. I mean to say, I would be happy to take you anywhere you need to go. But, the dragon added, What if you trick me? What if you see fit to take me into slavery, or you take my children, or deny me what you promised? What is the penalty?

  “You may see fit to burn me where I stand,” Dyrfinna said, meeting the dragon’s golden eyes, though her words struck her with a chill inside her bones. “This I swear.”

  If you run and hide?

  “Then you may burn what is most precious to me.” she said. “But I pray nothing goes wrong when you bring me to Skala. I have no recourse if things go wrong. My life is at your mercy.”

  My eggs, my children, are also at your mercy, the dragon reminded Dyrfinna.

  “Fair enough,” she said.

  Agreed. The dragon bowed her head to Dyrfinna, which took her breath away. Get your things. I will warm my eggs. Call for me when you are ready to leave.

  “But .… ” Dyrfinna paused. “What about our guardian dragon at Skala?”

  What about him? the dragon asked.

  “You’d show up from miles away. Our guardian dragon would see you and attack us.”

  The dragon hissed in amusement. Your guardian dragon is too slow for me. I could eat several bulls before he notices. I could outfly him across half the sky if I’m spotted.

  “I will get my things,” Dyrfinna said.

  Dyrfinna hurried back to her cave. She wasn’t up to running due to her meager diet. Her hands and legs looked bony, and she was sure that she was developing scurvy. How long had she been on that isle? A month? Dyrfinna had no idea. But now she was leaving, she was going to see Aesa. That joy powered her weak body.

  First she went out on the island and found the remains of the straps that Egill had cut off her before he’d dumped her off his dragon into the ocean.

  Then she dug through her bag to find her sewing kit. When Egill had forced her to leave, she had taken everything out of her sea chest and crammed it into her bag, whether she needed it or not, and that included the sewing kit.

  Dyrfinna stitched the straps together, doubling and tripling the stitches so nothing would break. The work was quickly done, even when she briefly fell asleep over her stitches. She awoke, curs
ed her sleepiness, and worked on.

  Then she piled everything she owned into her two bags, including all those little mementoes that she’d gathered on the island. She sewed up the damage Egill had done the bags with his knife, then looped her bags around her shoulders.

  She crawled out of her cave without a single look back. She was going home, home, home to Aesa and Mama.

  The dragon came flying across the sky.

  Her heart skipped as the dragon sailed to her. Dyrfinna couldn’t get enough of how the fire’s light ran under the dragon’s translucent scales like fire, soft greys like ash, and the deep red orange glow that moved down under the scales, flaring up brightly as the wind blew on it.

  She was going to take a ride on this dragon. Amazing.

  “I’m going home!” she called to the dragon.

  I’m getting a bull to eat, the dragon said as it landed by her.

  “That you are. Dragon, with your permission, I’ll need to put these straps on so I don’t fall off your back on the way home.” She held them up for the dragon to inspect. “I promise to take them off when we land in Skala.”

  The dragon sniffed them. I recognize the smell of that dragon, she said. Very well, if you must strap yourself on, you must.

  “I don’t want to fall off before I get home. I want to see my little sister. She’s the only thing that keeps me alive.”

  In an eyeblink she’d arranged the straps, the dragon fidgeting. Then Dyrfinna said, “Dragon, I ask your permission to mount.”

  Granted. I hope you can take those straps off soon. They’re uncomfortable.

  She climbed up carefully, slowly, so she wouldn’t frighten the dragon, who was skittish, having never had someone on her back before. Dyrfinna described aloud everything she did to keep the dragon at ease.

  A brisk wind blew, and the stars were brilliant, and she was going to fly the flaming dragon back home to see her little sister and her mama at last. She was overjoyed.

  Dyrfinna tied the bags so they wouldn’t move and strapped herself in, making sure the straps were secure. “I use these so if you bank hard to the left or right, I don’t slide off your back. So if you want to do some fancy flying, I’ll do my best not to throw up.”

  Hm, said the dragon. That had not occurred to me.

  “Uh-oh,” Dyrfinna said.

  The seat was hot, no question there. Heat rose from the dragon’s body, and was particularly intense where her legs touched the dragon—nothing that would scald her, but Dyrfinna was sweating.

  “Let’s go,” she said, gripping the straps. “Up!”

  Her sweating ended almost immediately when the dragon opened its wings, and with a powerful downstroke she leapt into the air.

  The cool wind rushed over Dyrfinna, delicious, and the speed of takeoff blew her hair back, and her knuckles grew white on the strap as the flame-red dragon, going at a speed she’d never experienced in her life, shot up into the air.

  “Oh my gosh, help me Freyja help me Odin oh my gosh,” Dyrfinna said,

  Ah, said the dragon, sounding pleased. Your dragons are a little slower than I am, I take it.

  “Aaaaaaaa” was about all that Dyrfinna could manage. Her ears popped and popped again as they shot up higher and higher.

  They leveled off at last, high above the world, giving Dyrfinna a chance to catch her breath. Looking back at the ground, she could cover the dead island with one hand. The rest of the world lay neatly out before them, a tidy blue patchwork of fir forests, ocean, and islands in the light of the stars, but a faint white glow rose in the east. Early dawn.

  She was free of the burned island. She was free.

  Which direction shall we go? the dragon asked.

  “North-north-east,” she said, pointing. “I can’t see Skala from here. It’s still too dark.”

  The dragon sprang forward. Dyrfinna held on tight. They flew over the quiet dark world.

  An owl flew up and challenged the dragon, swooshing over her head a few times, trying to scare the dragon out of its territory. The dragon ignored the little owl until it flew off.

  “The owl won,” Dyrfinna said.

  Hm. Indeed, said the dragon.

  The dragon glowed like fire under Dyrfinna’s seat, under her hands. Orange-yellow sparks lit on the dragon’s skin, then faded away. Dyrfinna touched one. It was a real spark, a pinprick of burn under the pad of her finger.

  They glided on. Dyrfinna dozed off once or twice, only to jolt herself awake a moment later. She was too afraid of missing Skala to sleep for long.

  Then, in the distance, she saw the familiar keep, but it looked different from their angle in the night air. Once she recognized it, she also recognized Skala, all the familiar contours of the small city going down the long slope to the sea, and the busy, ship-filled harbor, the cluttery islands farther out from the shore, and Pyrr Mountain overlooking the city. Dyrfinna’s heart leapt as she looked upon her sleeping city. Skala was a small city, but also a busy trading center, with international ships coming in almost daily, and other ships leaving for every port in the known world.

  Holding onto the dragon’s neck, she pointed so the dragon could see. “That’s Skala. That’s where I live.”

  Small dots of light shone in that dark city, signifying only a few people awake. The light of dawn grew brighter in the east.

  “I’ll guide you over the pasture where my herds are,” Dyrfinna said. “Then I’ll show you where I live so you can drop me off and you will know where you can find your bull.”

  Fine with me, the dragon said. I’m hungry.

  Just then, out of the Queen’s Keep rose a fleet dragon—the guardian dragon of Skala, flying straight toward them, guided by the local dragonrider.

  The dragon hissed something in her own language.

  “Skala passenger on board, and I hail you,” Dyrfinna called as she’d been taught.

  “Who are you?” the guardian dragonrider called back.

  “A friend who does not know the countersign,” Dyrfinna called. “I am Dyrfinna Vaetildrsdóttir, and this dragon is bringing me home. Let her approach. Dragon, please stop a moment.”

  I can outfly her, the firedragon said wryly.

  “No. I just want to get home, please.”

  The firedragon reluctantly hovered as the guardian dragon came up. Dyrfinna was amazed at how the guardian dragon seemed to lumber next to her little firedragon. “Sir, I have returned home, if you would allow us to pass safely.”

  The guardian dragonrider narrowed his eyes at Dyrfinna. “It really is you,” he said. “Dyrfinna, I greet you. But my dragon will not let the wild dragon by.”

  “This dragon is coming in under my recognizance. She is not here to do any damage. I have promised her a bull from my flock for bringing me home. After she has chosen her bull, she will go back to her home. On this you have my solemn oath.”

  The dragonrider pulled the guardian dragon back, although the dragon didn’t look pleased. “In that case, you may pass. But this dragon must stick to the terms of her agreement, or the consequences will be severe.”

  “Understood.” Dyrfinna prayed that her firedragon also fully understood.

  Then the guardian dragon said something to Dyrfinna’s dragon, who didn’t reply as she flew on past.

  They passed over the pasture where the herd stood sleeping, though some of them stirred and lowed as they flew overhead. Then she guided the dragon into town.

  “Land over here,” she said quietly, guiding her to the plaza near her home.

  They landed in a glory of sparks.

  “Wait for me, please,” Dyrfinna said, unwrapping the straps and nearly falling off in her excitement. Her legs were shaky when she slid to the ground, and she stumbled.

  The dragon reached out a wing, just enough to steady Dyrfinna.

  The gesture surprised her. “Thank you,” she said, looking up with gratitude.

  Go see your little sister, the dragon said fondly.

  Dyrfinna ran to her
front door, though she stumbled again, and knocked. Her home looked the same and yet so different after being gone … how long? She had no idea how much time had passed.

  The door flew open and her mama said, “Who’s there?” But her eyes widened in shock and amazement. “My little girl! Oh, my girl!”

  They embraced, Dyrfinna clinging tightly. She was home. She’d survived and she was home.

  “But what happened to you?” her mama cried, pulling back and looking at her. “Finna, you’re nothing but skin and bones.”

  Dyrfinna could hardly keep her feet. She looked down at herself. “It’s a long story.”

  Aesa shuffled up, rubbing her eyes, clutching her soft stuffed-puppy that Mama had sewn for her.

  “Aesa, it’s me, your Sissy,” Dyrfinna said, going down on one knee.

  “Sissy” Aesa cried, and they were hugging at last. Dyrfinna hugged her tightly, feeling her sister’s little heart beating next to hers.

  Aesa said, “Sissy, you’re squishing me!”

  “Sorry,” she said, not wanting to loosen her grip at all. Reluctantly, she did.

  “Your face got skinny,” Aesa said. “Where did your cheeks go?” She patted Dyrfinna’s cheeks with both hands, which Dyrfinna adored.

  “What happened to you? How’d you escape?”

  Her face came up. Mama knew?

  “Weren’t you taken prisoner with your ship,” Mama said.

  “What?” Dyrfinna breathed. “With my ship? What are you talking about?”

  “Your whole ship was taken prisoner. You weren’t there? It was right after that first big defeat, and they headed out the next morning, right into Varinn’s trap.”

  The news staggered Dyrfinna. What had happened to her crew?

  “What happened to my ship? I was not there. And how long ago did this happen? I have no idea how much time has passed.”

  “It’s been over a moon since you came back with Rjupa’s dragon.” Mama said. “No, longer than that.”

  “And my ship?” Dyrfinna asked, gobsmacked.

  “Your papa said that you led the morning attack with the fleet,” Mama said. “All the ships left in the early morning to go meet Varinn’s fleet. But you fell into a trap that Varinn had set for the ships.”