Dragonmancer

by Simon Archer

  “Prenna is under the impression that you’ve never seen a dragon before,” she said, looking me up and down. “Judging by the way you’re dressed, I’d tend to agree with her.” She walked in a circle around me slowly, and suddenly, I felt very exposed. It took an extraordinary amount of effort to clear my throat.

  “Prenna?” is all I could get out. Immediately I knew what a Prenna was because the dragon lifted its head and looked in our direction. The woman stood in front of me once again.

  “Yes. That’s Prenna,” she replied, tipping her head back to gesture to the dragon. “And you just made her day.”

  “Um, nice to meet you, Prenna?” I hadn’t meant for it to come out as a question. I returned my gaze to the woman. “How did I make her day?”

  “Well, she caught you falling out of the sky. None of the other dragons can say that they’ve ever done something like that,” she said. Her perfect pink lips moved like the words coming out of them were liquid, but they weren’t smiling. Prenna laid her head back down when she was certain we weren’t talking to her anymore. My heart was starting to calm down, and my head was nearly clear.

  “You may get this a lot but, am I dreaming?” I asked, feeling lame.

  “I’d say not,” she responded. “Why would you be dreaming?”

  As she spoke, I realized my body was no longer frozen in fear, so I shifted on my feet a little. Prenna raised her head quickly and stared at me. I made a very solid mental note not to move too quickly in her presence.

  “I just wrecked my car on a dirt road in Arizona, and now I am someplace, very obviously not Arizona, with a dragon and a beautiful woman standing in front of me. Not my typical day,” I told her, instantly kicking myself for tossing in the ‘beautiful’ part. The last thing I needed was to offend this woman and get eaten by her dragon.

  “Ah, I see,” she replied, looking me over one last time. “You came here through a portal between our worlds.” She spoke as though I was a little stupid for not knowing about some magical portal.

  “So, if I’m not in my world, where am I?” My lack of surprise at her words, well, surprised me. It wasn’t that I believed what she was saying. I just didn’t necessarily not believe her. She stepped aside from her position in front of me and swooped an outstretched arm dramatically.

  “Welcome to Blenwise,” she said. For the first time, my vision extended beyond her and Prenna. The dust had settled, and I looked around. While the spot where I was standing was all dirt and sand, the scenery changed severely just a short distance away. I slowly turned around to see I was in the middle of a circle of dirt that looked like someone had purposely carved it out of the lush green grass that surrounded it. I was in a field that stretched for a mile in each direction. Beyond the grass, littered with wildflowers I didn’t recognize, mountains rose up in the distance. The colors surrounding me, including the sky that touched the far-off mountains, were more intense than I’d ever known. They weren’t just brighter. They almost sparkled. Finally, I took a deep breath. The air smelled of roses and freshly cut grass, even though the field I was in wasn’t mowed. The grass was obviously wild but didn’t seem to grow up more than four to five inches. I returned my gaze to the woman and remembered that I had no idea who she was.

  “Who, may I ask, is welcoming me to Blenwise?” I asked, feeling more confident now that I was getting my bearings.

  “My name is Delaney. Call me Deyla,” she replied offhandedly. “We’d better get you to town. There are some people who are going to want to meet you.”

  “Why are people going to want to meet me?” I asked, looking around for signs of the town she mentioned. There weren’t any.

  “Prenna here, thinks there may be something special about you,” Deyla said, spinning around and walking towards her dragon. A flood of questions came to mind, but all of them sounded stupid, even before I’d asked any of them. Still, I had to get more information.

  “Does… um… does Prenna… talk to you?” The idea of a talking dragon was overly ridiculous to me, which didn’t make sense because until a few minutes ago, real dragons were a ridiculous idea to me.

  “In a way,” Deyla replied, glancing back over her shoulder. “Let’s just say, we communicate. I am a dragon whisperer.” She kept walking, and I found myself following her. The closer to Prenna I got, the slower I walked, though.

  “Okay,” I said slowly, formulating my next question. “Why does she think I’m special?” Deyla shrugged her shoulders without turning around.

  “She felt it. She’s not supposed to feel things like that. She said it was different, not a direct telepathic connection like she and I have.” The matter-of-fact way she answered me was unnerving somehow.

  “Oh,” I replied, confused.

  When Deyla reached Prenna, she raised her hand in the air slowly. Prenna shifted her weight and unfolded one of her wings. She’d had them tucked away, and for the first time, I saw how massive they were. Once the wing was fully outstretched, at least forty feet long, I saw the angular beauty of the thing. It was narrow towards her body and gradually grew wider. She had what looked like eight bones curving down from the top, and smooth, white, scaled dragon skin stretched between them, not unlike bat wings. I caught a glimpse of the sunlight shining through the scales and realized how thin the skin was. I was unaware I had stopped walking and was staring, mouth open, until Deyla started laughing.

  “Ahh, it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen anyone over the age of five marvel at a dragon like that.” She shook her head and continued to giggle at my expense as she stepped up on Prenna’s wing. She turned and held her hand out to me. “Are you coming?”

  “Up there?” I croaked, fear shooting through me unexpectedly.

  “Yes, up here,” Deyla rolled her eyes. “I’m not walking to town, although I could give you directions if you’d prefer to do so.” Her haughty tone struck a chord, and my mood instantly shifted. There was no way I was going to pass on the opportunity to ride a freaking dragon!

  “Yes, I’m coming!” I shouted. Prenna snorted at me, blowing my hair back, and I was once again reminded to watch my actions. I stepped to the edge of her wing, reaching up and taking Deyla’s hand. I paused a quick moment as I lifted a foot in the air. “I’m not going to hurt her, am I?”

  The skin on her wings seemed so thin, and I wasn’t a small man. At six-three, two-hundred-thirty pounds of solid muscle, I envisioned myself falling straight through.

  “There isn’t a single chance in the heavens that you will hurt her,” Deyla said, yanking on my arm, forcing me to step forward onto Prenna’s wing. The moment my foot touched down, I believed her wholeheartedly. The skin under my weight barely gave in a single centimeter. It was like stepping on the tightest-stretched trampoline I’d ever been on, just a bit thicker.

  “Wow,” I said, before catching myself. Deyla giggled again, made sure I was stable, and let go of my hand. I wasn’t sure whether her new habit of laughing at me offended me or not. She walked up Prenna’s wing, and I followed. When we reached Prenna’s back, I saw a wide ridge down the center. It mimicked the one on her underbelly without being as sharply shaped.

  “Sit here, tuck your legs back, and lean forward, almost like you are hugging her,” Deyla instructed flatly. She held her hand out to me, and I realized she was handing me a leather strap. I hadn’t noticed that Prenna had a sort of harness secured around the base of her wings. Taking the strap, I sat down, positioned myself, and looked to Deyla for approval of my form. She simply nodded as she sat in front of me.

  “Hold on.” She leaned forward and put both her small hands on Prenna. That is when I noticed that there were five scars on each of her wrists in the shape of chevrons.

  “Hey, what are those scars from?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

  “Those are my dragon cuffs,” she replied. “They appear as I become a more experienced dragon whisperer. Now, hold on!” She rubbed her hands over the ridge on Prenna’s back and squeez
ed her thighs around the beast.

  I became extremely aware of Deyla’s tiny, but very curvaceous frame directly in front of me. Her round buttocks peeked out from under the leather covering it, slightly masked by the flowing chiffon all around her. My urge to brush the chiffon aside to clear up the view was intense, but so was my fear of what Prenna would do to me if I tried to touch Deyla, even if she couldn’t see us.

  The moment Deyla released pressure from Prenna’s sides, the dragon shifted and outstretched her other wing while pushing up on her front legs. In moments we were being lifted up as she stood. I’d never held on to anything as tightly as I was that leather strap Deyla had given me. When Prenna was fully standing, and had both wings outstretched, I sucked in my breath and closed my eyes. That is when I felt it.

  It started out as a slight tingling feeling creeping up my legs and into my torso. The higher it got, the stronger it got until my entire body was buzzing with some new, amazing energy. It didn’t scare me, it exhilarated me. I kept my eyes closed as Prenna shifted and noticed I could sense something from her. I don’t know how, but I could just tell she was excited and proud at the same time.

  Then, out of nowhere, I felt her will me to relax and have fun. My grip loosened on the leather strap, and my entire body released stress I hadn’t realized was there. The buzzing feeling started to smooth, and soon, it was as though I was floating. I had a quick concern that perhaps her skin had some kind of toxin on it, and I was having a reaction, but the feeling was so euphoric that I didn’t care. Just then, Prenna bent her front legs down, lifted her wings in the air, and pushed off the ground. With one flap of her wings, we were sixty feet in the air.

  “No fucking way!” I screamed out in excitement. “Are you kidding me?”

  I stared at the ground as it rapidly grew further and further away while we rose straight up in the air. The strength I felt from Prenna was incredible as her muscles moved beneath me. I could also feel that my reaction to my first flight amused her. How I could know that she felt that way, I had no idea. Deyla was once again laughing at me as she leaned sideways a tiny bit. Prenna responded immediately and turned slightly, changing the angle of her body so that her neck and head dipped down a fraction. One giant flap of her wings, and we shot forward, turning to the right as we did so. I’d been in race cars before and thought I was badass for going one-hundred-forty miles per hour, but in a matter of seconds, we flew at least double that speed. The air rushed loudly past my ears, and the landscape beside us blurred from how fast we cut through the air. Deyla glanced over her shoulder nonchalantly.

  “You still back there?” she yelled, laughing.

  “This is…” I didn’t have words to describe the thrill. At the same time, a shiver of humility shot through me. I couldn’t believe I could somehow feel Prenna’s emotions, that I buzzed with a kind of power I’d never experienced, that I could be as close as I was to a woman as stunning as Deyla, and that I flew through the air at record speeds, all at the same time. Once again, I was back to doubting the reality of it all for a moment.

  “I thought you’d like it,” Deyla yelled. “Alright, let’s get to town.”

  “How far is it?” As fast as we were going, the town she talked about must’ve been hundreds of miles away from our starting point.

  “It’s only about ten miles from the field,” she hollered. She must’ve felt my confusion at how we couldn’t have already reached the town traveling at the incredible speeds we were.

  “I had Prenna take the long way for you,” she chuckled. Before I knew what I was doing, I reached forward, wrapped my arms around Deyla’s waist, and hugged her tight.

  “Thank you!” I yelled, holding her. She didn’t seem to mind, but I was quickly reminded of my place when Prenna jerked suddenly, and with such force, I rose up off her back about six feet. I lost my hold on Deyla and slammed back down onto Prenna’s back just as she turned her head to look back at me, mid-flight. There was a smug look in her amber eye, and I felt her amusement and protectiveness of Deyla throughout my entire body.

  “Sorry!” I hollered at her, shrugging my shoulders. She shifted her attention forward again, then turned us to the left with a smooth flap of a wing.

  “There it is!” Deyla yelled, pointing an arm into the distance. “The town of Ponatha!” Far off in the distance, but approaching quickly, was a village of sorts. It was slightly bigger than I’d think a common village would be, but the buildings looked made of earth and stone.

  The closer we got, the larger the place seemed, and soon, I realized I was indeed wrong about it being a village. The various buildings spread for several miles in each direction, and we headed for the middle of it. Prenna adjusted the angle of her wings and, with one flap, slowed us down to a fraction of our previous speed. Two more flaps, and we were right in the middle of town, hovering over another large circle clearing. Prenna brought us down slowly and landed with such grace that I barely felt us touch down. Deyla sat up straight and turned to check on me.

  4

  “Here we are,” she chirped, suddenly very happy. Pride was beaming from her face, and it was instantly clear how much she loved her hometown. Prenna laid down and extended a wing for us to climb down.

  “Do you have dragon-landing pads all over the place, or what?” I asked as I stood on Prenna’s back.

  “There are several, yes,” Deyla answered. We climbed down, and Prenna folded her wings up behind her.

  Deyla walked to Prenna’s face and rubbed her between the eyes lovingly. The moment she stopped and stepped away, Prenna rose up, stretched her wings once more, and launched herself into the air. Deyla walked over to me and looked me up and down as she’d done when we’d first met.

  “You okay?” she asked as I took stock of myself. The incredible energy I’d felt while riding Prenna was fading quickly, and I wanted so badly for it to stay.

  “Can you feel how she feels too?” I asked, not sure if I even made sense. Deyla grinned, but there was a touch of fierceness in her eyes.

  “I cannot,” she replied. Her tone made me realize the fierceness was jealousy. “I am connected on a mental level, and of course, a basic emotional level, but she cannot transfer actual emotions to me the way she can with you.”

  “Wait, you knew she was doing that?” I barely knew how to express how it had felt, and here Deyla was talking as though she completely understood.

  “She told me while we were flying,” Deyla said, straightening herself up defensively. “She wasn’t sure what was going on at first either. There have been tales of something like that, though…” She trailed off, looking past me into the distance.

  “Tales of what?” I pried. “Like a story?”

  “We’d better get moving. I want to get you to Aron before her warriors get back,” Deyla said, almost to herself. I got the distinct impression that my questions had fallen on deaf ears. Still, more questions arose.

  “Who is Aron? She has warriors?” Deyla completely ignored me and started walking while I trailed after her like a kid in a supermarket. Once we were off the landing circle, we walked out onto a dirt street. On the other side, the buildings were neatly spaced approximately twenty feet apart, and all looked the same. Deyla pointed at them as we turned and headed down the street.

  “Those are business buildings,” she explained like an indifferent tour guide. I wasn’t exactly sure how, but I’d caused her sudden coldness, and it bothered me more than it should.

  “Hey,” I said loudly, reaching forward and grabbing her wrist, being careful not to seem forceful when doing so. “What did I do?”

  She spun around and looked at my hand on her wrist. The bumps from the chevron scars on her arm were warm under my skin. I instantly let go of her.

  “Nothing. You did nothing,” she replied, staring me in the eyes. “I just don’t like town much.”

  “But you seemed so happy to be here when we touched down,” I said softly.

  “I love my home, but I have no
desire to be in town for more than an appreciative minute or two,” she replied.

  “Why not?” I kept up my interrogation. She threw both her hands on her hips and glared at me.

  “You’re too damn nosey,” she barked at me. “I’m not meant to be with people. Hello, dragon whisperer here… I’m designed to be with my dragons. There, that make you happy?” She cocked her head to the side and stared a hole straight through me.

  “Happy no, but satisfied with your answer, yes,” I shot back at her. She wasn’t aware, but her little spat had changed my view of her. That instantly challenged me to become a human she wanted to be around.

  She flipped her hair as she spun back around and continued walking. We walked in silence for the next twenty minutes.

  As we got further from the landing circle, the surrounding buildings changed. They became larger and more elaborate. They were still all made of dirt and stone, but the new ones looked like someone had polished them, the way the sunlight, which had started to fade, bounced off the finish on the walls. They looked more like houses than just buildings as the first ones I’d seen. Soon we were passing between near-mansion-sized structures that towered over us. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me, and I broke our strained silence.

  “Are these houses?” I asked, stepping beside Deyla.

  “Yes, they are,” she answered, her voice softer than it had been earlier. “We have some amazing architects here. They love designing comfortable living spaces.” It wasn’t until she mentioned other people that I realized we hadn’t seen any. We’d been the only people on the streets we’d wandered down to that point.