Dragon met Matteo’s gaze, the reptilian eyes drooped. “I have not had a conversation in one hundred years. My skills are rusty.” Then he turned toward the cave and slipped inside. The scales on his side brushed against the mouth of the cave. “No one cares enough to speak to a lonely dragon.”
Matteo stared after the creature, his jaw slack. He remembered what it was like after his father died, before Master found him, before Mary, before he had a place in a warm larder behind a fireplace and a warm mat to sleep on.
His heart broke and tears clouded his vision.
He would do whatever he had to keep them safe.
To Hunger
Hatred Caves
The Barren
Dragon had disappeared.
Or at least he had not reappeared from the depths of his home. Matteo didn’t want to wake him, but he’d been sitting outside the mouth of the cave for hours, waiting with a brace of coneys.
Perhaps Matteo could bargain for Mary’s life by befriending the lonely creature.
The pair of hares wouldn’t make much of a dent in the dragon’s hunger, but they were the best Matteo could do in the limited time he had been there. If Matteo could convince the dragon to take him flying, he could lead him to the animals the mayor had spirited into the countryside.
Mary had shown Matteo where they’d gone. He and Mary knew the hills better than most, exploring trails when Cook gave them free time. Rivenbourne needed the meat and pack animals more than the selfish mayor did. It would be an easy meal for the dragon.
Sharp shale points dug into the fleshy part of Matteo’s backside, and he shifted to alleviate the discomfort. The movement sent an avalanche of shale bits down the hill. The shards knocked against each other, and the sound reminded Matteo of the broken glass wind chimes that hung in Mistress’ garden.
An unexpected snort vibrated the ground and nearly sent Matteo tumbling down the slope. Matteo grabbed the hind legs of the rabbits and scrambled to his feet. He held the duo up as two large nostrils appeared at the mouth of the cave.
“What is that?” The voice rumbled through Matteo’s middle, but sounded only in his head. “What do I smell?”
Matteo grinned. “Red meat for you. I found them eating rainberry bushes. It does not take long to create a trap. After I had them, the rest went smoothly. Should I skin them for you?”
“Mmm?” Dragon poked his head out of the hole. “Oh, no, I eat them whole. At least I think I do. I’ve never been fond of rabbit.” He disappeared again.
“You are hungry, dragon. Your hunger starves you, and I believe you are shrinking.” Matteo held the coneys higher. “They aren’t much, but they are a beginning, and I know where we can find more livestock to fill your belly.”
Dragon sniffed. The sound of smacking filled the air followed by the sound of crunching bones. “It would take hundreds of rabbits to fill me.”
“Not rabbits.” Matteo tossed the food into the lair. “Beef cattle, Dragon. I know where you can find a small herd to consume.”
After a moment, Dragon appeared. “You would give away someone else’s hard-earned livestock?” He slipped from the cave. That time, his sides did not even brush the entrance at all. The dragon was definitely becoming smaller.
“I would give you your own livestock.” Matteo studied his hands a moment before continuing. “The drought has made livestock scarce, but the mayor of Rivenbourne took the meat animals we set aside for you and fled our town before you arrived. He did not even close the gate behind him. I know where he is staying until you’re gone. You can eat what we meant for you.” Telling such things, even though they were truth, still made him feel like a traitor.
“Indeed.” The dragon blew a long breath through his mouth. Flames danced in his eyes. “Perhaps beef should be on the menu.”
“I will show you where.” Matteo crept across the shale and positioned himself directly in front of the giant beast. “But you must promise not to hurt the men.”
Dragon froze, staring into the distance over Matteo’s shoulder. Then he dipped his head toward Matteo, moving low enough to meet Matteo’s gaze.
The beast sniffed at Matteo as though searching for something. Finally, he asked, “Why would you care about the cowards who left the town defenseless?”
Matteo did not flinch as the dragon’s warm breath swirled around him, moving his hair and his clothes. He laid his hand on the creature’s chin. “They are still men. I would not see them hurt for their cowardice. Perhaps they had no father to teach them a better way.”
Dragon moved away, each footstep sending shale tumbling down the steep incline into the draw. Some pieces even made it as far as the stream, splashing into the cold water. “Do you have a father, Matteo? Will he miss you?”
Matteo followed, picking his way across the uneven ground. “My father died when I was six. When I was seven, Master caught me trying to steal apples from his tree. I was so hungry and no one would let me work.” Matteo couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “He dragged me back to his kitchen and his Cook and told her to scrub me down to see if there was a boy beneath all the dirt.”
The dragon started toward the water. “Cook was kind to you?”
“Oh, mio,” Matteo laughed, still following. “She burned my clothes. Then she scoured me with boiled water and horsehair brushes until I howled and my skin turned bright red. When I told her what I thought, she boxed my ears.”
The dragon stopped short and snorted. “Why would you stay after that?”
“Because even though she told me she didn’t know what the Master saw in me, at the end of it all, she hugged me. I couldn’t get my arms around her fast enough. I cried and cried on her apron. I missed my father. I had been so alone; then I wasn’t. If Cook wanted to box my ears every day, I would have let her, if she would hug me. It meant more to me than all the apples in the world.” Matteo sighed, remembering. “When I finished, I looked up to tell her thank you, and she had tears on her cheeks.”
The dragon started walking again. “Did they let you stay?”
“I think Cook wouldn’t have let me go after that. She piled a plate full of biscuits and smothered them in butter.” Matteo rubbed his belly. “It was the first time I’d tasted butter. I ate until I couldn’t eat another bite, then I asked to see the cow that made the butter. Cook laughed and laughed, but then I met Daisy. I’ve been taking care of her ever since.”
“Who will care for Daisy now?”
“I taught Mary how to do it before I came.”
Dragon glanced over his back. “You planned to meet me?”
Matteo shrugged. He eyed a rainberry on a bush and plucked one. “When the mayor left, someone had to try to reason with you.”
His mouth puckered when he tasted the fruit. Not yet ripe, the berry was still filled with tannins, but those farther down the mountain, growing closer to the warmth of the valley, would be ready soon. He must find a way to get them to the town.
At the edge of the stream, Dragon dipped his face into the crystal liquid. He drank long and deep. When he finished, he turned to face Matteo, water glistening on his scaled snout. He sat back onto his rear legs. “You are a foolish boy, Matteo. You should have let the men protect Rivenbourne.”
“Perhaps.” Matteo nodded. “But I wasn’t sure they would, so I did.” He took a seat on a shaded boulder situated beneath a giant evergreen. “I have been given much, Dragon, and if I had not come, I would not be conversing with you.” Matteo paused. “‘For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required,’” he quoted. “One of the things my father taught me before he died. I do not know where he learned it, but it pleases me to keep it.”
The dragon leaned forward and started shaking, his size growing smaller with each shiver that rolled through his body. “I think that must be why I did not eat you.”
Matteo leapt down from the rock. “You are too hungry. We must feed you.” He waved to the scaled beast. “If you let me onto your bac
k, I can show you where our cattle have gone.”
The convulsions faded as quickly as they had come, and the dragon shook his head. “It is not my hunger that makes me smaller, Matteo.” He sighed a deep, rumbling sigh. The skin around his eyes pinched as though his next words pained him. “Dragons are not made to live alone, and I have been alone long enough that my firebox has cracks.”
“Your firebox has cracks…” Matteo repeated the words, testing them. They did not make sense to him. “Why does your firebox have cracks?”
The dragon started back up the hill, moving slowly. “When loneliness grows too large for a dragon’s heart, it breaks the firebox and swells inside the dragon, forcing the beast to grow larger and larger. A dragon can live a long time with those cracks. As I have.”
Matteo scurried after. “But it cannot live forever?”
“Dragons can live without fire, but, eventually, our fireboxes shatter from disuse. The shards spread throughout our bodies and slowly poison us.”
Matteo stopped. His heartbeat thundered in his ear. Finally, he asked, “Are you going to die?”
“My loneliness is shrinking, Matteo, so I am returning to my original size.” Dragon sighed once more, long and slow, still plodding up the hill as though marching to a great doom. “In the morning,” he said, “I will return you to Rivenbourne.”
The boy watched the beast make his way back to the cave, the large tail swaying one way and then the other. That would mean… He frowned and ran up the hill. “Why would I go back?”
“I am not your people.” Dragon disappeared inside the darkness of his lair once more, twice as much space between his sides and the circumference of the mouth of the cave.
Matteo tilted his head, studying the void where the beast once stood.
To save Mary, I will gladly make this dragon my purpose.
To Be Satisfied
Hatred Caves
The Barren
The next morning, Matteo woke, shivering, just inside the door to the dragon’s lair. It was the dawn of his new life as the dragon’s friend, and the dragon needed to learn to trust him.
He clambered to his feet, jumping up and down and rubbing his upper arms. His clothes weren’t right for so high on the mountains. If he stayed into the winter, he would have to find a way to keep from freezing to death. Behind him, the lumbering steps of the dragon filled the cave. There was a deep breath and then a stream of flames landed on a pile of sticks beside him.
“Your fire breath returned?” Matteo winced at the high pitch of his voice. At least he didn’t yet have the uneven tones of the older stable hands. After the revelations of the day before, and thinking of the unburned corral outside the city, Matteo had been certain that the dragon had lost his fire. He whirled toward the beast and found himself nose to nose with a diminished version of yesterday’s creature.
“You can scream.” Dragon ducked and brought his eyes nearer, his ears twitching, but did not back away. “My firebox contracted in the night,” the dragon continued. “It makes it easier.”
Matteo tilted his head. “That’s not all that’s changed.”
“Becoming smaller solves all sorts of things for a dragon.”
“We’ll sort more things today.”
“What do you mean?”
Matteo threw his arms around the dragon’s neck, tugging the creature closer. The sharp ridge scales scratched Matteo’s forearms, but he didn’t let go. A shudder traveled through the scales beneath his palms. “Today is the day we feed you.”
The dragon eased out from beneath Matteo’s arms and moved to the mouth of the cave. “How will you take me there?”
“You are still bigger than the master’s horse, and he was able to carry me.” Matteo studied the reptile. “May I climb onto your back?”
The dragon turned back. His irises had changed from reds and oranges to blues and purples. He leaned to the side. “Which way do we fly?”
Matteo grasped the upright ridge scales, searching for a place to settle. Over the dragon’s withers, the scales were less pronounced. They’d either broken off or worn away. Matteo threw his leg over and marveled at how much like it was like riding his broad-backed cow, Daisy.
“Toward the rising sun,” he said.
Dragon leapt into the air. “As you wish.”
Before the sun could reach its zenith, they dropped down through the bottom of the cloud cover and circled a camp situated in the curve of an oxbow. Men moved from tent to table to fire, probably preparing their midday meal, yet none had yet noticed the serpentine shadow crisscrossing the camp.
“There,” Matteo said, pointing to a corral filled with the largest beef cattle left in Rivenbourne. “You can eat from there. I’m certain the town would have offered them to you if the Mayor had not run away.”
The dragon glanced over his shoulder and smacked his lips. “I think one will suffice.”
“Take two, then, and save one for later.” Matteo squirmed in place. He wasn’t happy about witnessing the dragon’s hunt, but he’d always known that the beast had to eat. It was the natural order. He hoped the cow the dragon picked wouldn’t remind him too much of Daisy.
A shout sounded below. The cry of “dragon!” echoed in a hundred voices.
Dragon pitched his head downward and his body followed. “Hold on, Matteo. I do not want to drop you.”
Matteo squinted to shield his eyes from the sting of the rushing wind. As they flew, the men grew from ant-sized to man-sized.
Dragon dove toward the adjacent forest, dipped down into the trees, and touched down. “They’ll rush wildly for a moment,” he said. “Hurry, Matteo, wait here, between the trees, and I will return for you after I’ve frightened the men away.”
Dragon wouldn’t hurt him, and Dragon wouldn’t leave without him. He’d proved it already.
Matteo jumped off and ducked behind the largest trunk. He raised his hand once. The dragon leapt upward once more, his wings beating against the air.
In the clearing, men lifted swords and spears toward the sky, shaking them as though daring the creature to eat them. The dragon circled once and then landed beside the corral, hissing and growling like the barn cat that had kittens in Daisy’s stall. He belched fire at the first group that came near.
“Where is the mayor? Where is your leader?” His roar shook the trees and echoed off the mountains. Each man considered the other, and the movement repeated into the camp. Finally, the line of men split and a trio pushed a sniveling man through.
The mayor fell to his knees. “Please don’t eat me. Have mercy.”
“Did you abandon your city in its hour of need?” Dragon bellowed.
The mayor pointed to the cattle. “I meant only to protect our interests.”
“You are a coward. You are no leader. You aren’t even enough to be called a man.”
From his hiding place, Matteo cheered, dancing on his toes as the corrupt mayor earned his reward. Justice could be sweet.
Dragon darted forward and wrapped himself around the mayor. He licked his cheek and took a deep breath. “You will make a delicious meal.”
Matteo gasped. He couldn’t mean it. Surely, he wouldn’t… Matteo dashed out, his legs pumping as hard and as fast as he could make them go. He skidded to a stop before the man and beast.
“Don’t!” Matteo put up his hands.
“I could take my share from him, Matteo.”
“I didn’t bring you here for you to consume a man.” Matteo dropped to his knees. He hadn’t wanted death. Justice did not mean death. “Give him mercy. You are not fearful for your life, and you are not his judge. Let him live.”
Dragon drew back. “Do you mean this?”
“I do. No men must die.” Matteo stood. “And I cannot lie… I have been around your dragon magic.”
Dragon dipped his head and sauntered away, appraising the cattle that cowered in the corner. He spun back to the mayor. “You must return the remainder of the animals to your people.”
The mayor nodded. Tears glistened on his cheeks. “I will. I will.”
Later, back in the cave, the dragon made happy, purring noises and cleaned his teeth. His forked-tongue darted in and out of the space between his sharp incisors.
“Would you have eaten the mayor?” Matteo licked his fingers. The scent from the steak piece Dragon cooked for him still lingered in the air. He hadn’t been stuffed so well since… he couldn’t remember when.
Dragon moved on to cleaning his scales. “My mouth would not have opened far enough for that.”
“Your mouth is large enough.”
“I made a promise to eat none of the men. When I give my word, it binds me. Breaking it is impossible.” Dragon’s ears swiveled forward. “It’s the dragon magic. It keeps us both honest.”
Without warning, Matteo’s laughter bubbled up from his middle and poured out, the sound echoing on the cave walls. “You only meant to scare him?
“Someone had to return the livestock to Rivenbourne.” Dragon winked. “And maybe the mayor will think twice about committing cowardly deeds or cheating his people.”
“You are the smartest dragon I know.”
The beast chuckled, and the unfamiliar sound wrapped Matteo like a hug. “I am the only dragon you know.”
“That still makes you the smartest.”
When Dragon leaned back, Matteo could see the bulge in his middle, and, in a strange way, it made him content. He chewed on the tips of his fingernails, not wanting to break the goodwill between them.
But if Matteo was going to earn the dragon’s agreement, it would be best to ask while he had a full belly and sleepy eyes. He must seize the moment, or he would not ask at all.
“Dragon?” Matteo climbed to his feet.
The dragon made a sound that was half-way between a snore and a growl. “Yes, Matteo.”
“Will you promise to not eat the people of Rivenbourne?”
Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology Page 34