Shards

by James Duvall

  Behind the bakery the alley was empty. The air smelled musty from a brief morning rain, painting the paving stones dark like polished onyx. The fresh smell of baking bread wafted out from the bakery, making Sapphire's stomach churn with emptiness. Sapphire passed by the dumpster without stopping, the risk of poisoning was far too high to tempt even the most hungry of dragons. In truth it was only the most desperate or most naive that risked such treasures. Sapphire had seen several poisonings in her youth, all of dragons around her own age. She stopped at the window and peered through the foggy glass. There was bread in there, untainted by the baker's malice. In a moment of weakness she found herself slipping a slender claw beneath the back door and gently tugging it open so as to not make the hinges creak too loudly. She could be in and out in seconds with a big loaf of fresh bread, maybe two or three if she could avoid being cornered. Really, what choice did she have. They would not sell to her, they had left poison out for her. She had no option but to steal. They were the murderers. They deserved this. They deserved her.

  The door opened on its own, forcing Sapphire to take a step back. She readied herself to face the baker, pinning her ears back and crouching for a leap with a growl rumbling in her chest. She would go right through him before he had a chance to react. It was not the baker, just a young boy, barely taller than Sapphire. He looked at her in surprise, blinking for a moment in confusion before stumbling back in fright. Sapphire's growl went out like a candle's flame, caught in a cold wind. The little boy sat there for just a moment while Sapphire prayed that he would not scream. The wails of a human child brought down such wrath from the adults. She made a soft cooing sound to soothe him, and did not flinch when he reached down to pet her, running his sticky hands through her bright blue mane. They smelled like syrup and flour. Sapphire licked his fingers as he rubbed her nose. It was enough to mollify the little boy and he pushed a big hunk of bread to her nose. The alluring scent was enough to compel her to shut her jaws on it without thought. She tilted her head back and wolfed it down in three big bites while the child clapped with glee.

  Sapphire left the child with a little copper coin bearing King Richard's profile on one side and the seal of Deshym on the other. It was enough to pay for the bread and maybe a little more and it would be enough to mollify his parents over the dragons sneaking off with their son's lunch. It was for the best, she was too close to Ruby's hideout to risk angering the humans. Sapphire had no doubt that the little red dragon would pay for her transgressions.

  “Ruby?” Sapphire called up to the loft. There was not an immediate answer but a moment later Sapphire spotted the dragoness peeking timidly out through a badly mildewed pane of glass. Ruby's eyes lit up with recognition and she lifted the broken window up. Ruby could easily scramble through it, but Sapphire was full grown and the opening was just barely large enough to permit her. She had to tuck her wings tight against her back and pull herself through with her forelegs.

  “Sapphire!” Ruby cheered and headbutted her affectionately, rubbing foreheads.

  “Are you alright, Ruby? I was worried...” Sapphire said, already she felt a calmness settling into her heart. She ran a paw through Ruby's mane, ruffling the scarlet fur.

  Ruby's frowned, looking at her in concern. “We're fine. Why wouldn't we be?” she asked.

  “I saw... there was an evil man and he hurt one of us,” Sapphire said. “But you are well, so I am well. How is Rusty?”

  “Rusty!” a little voice peeped. Sapphire turned to look for it and saw a hay pile rustling in the corner. A little white nose poked out.

  “Rusty!” Ruby giggled and she bounded over to the pile. She pressed her nose to the smaller one and a young cub burst out of the hay, chattering excitedly. His head bobbed up and down and he charged into Ruby's chest.

  “Chaaa!” the little cub trilled, snuggling up against his caretaker.

  “He is my son,” Ruby explained, seeing the confusion in Sapphire's eyes.

  “Your son...?” Sapphire asked, lowering her head to look at the cub more closely. The markings were similar, but Ruby was so young and Rusty was at least three or four years along.

  “I'm Rusty!” the cub cheered, swatting at Sapphire's nose. The cub's paw was small but somehow still too big for his body. He would grow into it. Another few years and he would be bigger than either of the females.

  “Well... he is mine now,” Ruby clarified.

  “Russsty!” Rusty said, and started running laps around Sapphire and Ruby.

  “He doesn't say a lot, he's still learning,” Ruby said, flicking her tail. The cub flopped onto his side and pawed at it, chewing and chattering as his little wings flapped like a hummingbird.

  “You said... you said he was your cousin,” Sapphire said, trying to make sense of it.

  Ruby looked embarrassed, rubbing her shoulder with a paw. “Well... I'm old enough to raise him!” she barked defensively. “I didn't want anyone to take him away from me.”

  Sapphire blinked in confusion. “You thought I... me? A mother? Err, no, that's beside the point. I am not hear to take anyone away from anyone. Where did you find him? Surely his mother is terrified.”

  “I'm his mother!” Ruby retorted, her wings unfolding aggressively.

  “Right, right,” Sapphire said, trying to calm her. “But you found him?”

  Ruby still looked concerned, her gaze drifting toward the window as though she was starting to regret letting Sapphire into her little home. “I did. That's why he's mine.”

  “So if his uhm... former mother... came looking for him...?” Sapphire asked softly, looking down at the carefree cub. He seemed to have no concerns in the world beyond how much of Ruby's tail tuft he could get into his mouth at once.

  Ruby shook her head. “The Harvester got her. So I came to find him and now he's my son. It happened a few months ago. She's... she's not coming back, so I started taking care of him.”

  For a moment there was only the sound of Rusty's paws against the floorboards as he chewed on Ruby's tail. Somewhere far below Sapphire could hear the cobbler hammering tacks into place. Inside she felt her lungs seize as though her ribs had become a giant fist, clenching around her chest and choking the light from her eyes.

  “She was harvested...?” Sapphire said in a bare whisper, her eyes focused on Ruby's face. It could have been her so easily, could have been little Rusty...

  “Yes... It was very sad. I knew C... Rusty's mother. After she was... I came here to find Rusty. He was sleeping in the hay pile.” Ruby said, looking sullenly toward the floor. Her ears perked a little though as her eyes found her cub and a smile slowly crept into her face. Sapphire could not take any solace in it. Every dragon in Nothnor was still at risk.

  “I have to go,” she announced. From the window she could see the empty, rain-slicked streets. Somewhere out there was the Harvester and the next poor soul to cross his path.

  Ruby came to Sapphire's side with her cub bounding along after her. “But you just got here,” she protested with a whine.

  “I'm going to put an end to this. The world will be better without the Harvester.”

  The announcement elicited a soft gasp from Ruby. “That's... that's really dangerous...”

  “I am going to find him,” Sapphire said somberly. Her eyes fell downcast to the empty streets below, where a young drake had met a violent end. She knew what she had to do, though it frightened her. She had never taken a life before. “I am going to kill him.”

  “But... why?” Ruby asked, gathering Rusty up in her arms and hugging him to her chest. Rusty squirmed for a moment and eventually slipped free and sat at the window, curious eyes looking out at the street. It would not be long until he would need to venture out into that world, a world that would teach him its many painful lessons.

  Why?

  There were so many reasons... A dozen of them fluttered like autumn leaves on the back of a merchant's cart. Was that not enough of a reason?

  “I had a brother,” Sapphire
began. She told Ruby the tales of her childhood, of the late nights she had spent sneaking into the railyard for magic lessons from Torch. Days spent in the apothecary's attic learning to brew remedies beneath her mother's tutelage. Her father's constant struggle to find work at the skyport. Torch's reticence at living as a lesser light in a city of so many bright souls. The harvester that took Calcite from the world, the poisonings, and the night Torch walked out that door one last time.

  “Your mother must be a very good healer,” Ruby said. She had seemed particularly interested in Sapphire's accounting of Amethyst saving several poisoned dragons with her potions.

  “She is,” Sapphire said, her spirits lifting to fond memories of her mother.

  “Is her name really Amethyst...?” Ruby asked, trying to step delicately around the question. While Ruby and Sapphire were common names for a dragoness, Amethyst was decidedly extraordinary for the association with the purple gems.

  “It is,” Sapphire nodded. “Mother's mane is very dark, in a certain light it looks deep violet. My brother used to tell me it was because Nightsong dragons are descended from warp singers, but...”

  Ruby had that frown of concern again. “Your mother is purple...?” she asked, worried. Ruby eyed her guest up and down, squinting in the faint light coming through the window. It was overcast and had started to rain again. Finally she came to a conclusion. “You don't have any purple.”

  “No, I do not,” Sapphire agreed. “But I do have magic, a lot of it. More than any other dragon I've ever met.”

  “You do?” Ruby asked, wide-eyed.

  Sapphire felt her cheeks warm a little as the younger dragoness fawned over the idea. Magic was a novel idea to most of the younger dragons. It was only when they got older that it turned into a frivolity the cubs pursued. Most dragons could produce a few simple effects, usually a ball of light, a spark here, an ember there, a few bits of snow and ice for certain bloodlines. Ultimately that would be the end of it. Unlike the humanoids, dragons all had a little magic but it was a true rarity to find a dragon that possessed the potential to excel beyond those basic tricks. Sapphire was one of these rare finds, and outside of her mother and brother she had known no others.

  “You should stay here,” Ruby pleaded. “You could teach me and Rusty magic, it would be fun!”

  Sapphire frowned. “Maybe after...” she said, not knowing if she would even be able to return. It was a possibility that she would not walk away from the encounter with the Harvester, but it had to be done.

  “Don't go again!” Ruby pleaded. “Rusty and I need friends. We're not from this flight. We were supposed to be going to the Bright Haven but Rusty was too young and we couldn't hide on a ship into the Glory Shard. Please stay! Please? Promise you will?”

  “When I come back, I will take you with me to Havek,” Sapphire promised. “You'll be safe there and Dawn and I will teach you magic.”

  Ruby looked like the light had gone out of her, regarding Sapphire with uncertainty. “You'll come back sooner this time? You were gone a long time...”

  “I promise,” said Sapphire as she nosed the window open. She had a duty to Torch and to those that needed her to be strong because they could not.

  We could fight them, but we don't. We run and we hide like the vermin they think we are.

  No more running. No more hiding.

  Chapter 22

  The Harvest of Storms

  Nothnor, Isla Merindi, Pendric Shard

  When his serving boy found him he had been ripped to pieces as though by a lion's claws. He had not been fed upon, except for by crows, and his songshard had been taken. The boy was whipped to death and he never gave up where he'd hidden the focus. Some thought the master's son had set the dogs upon him for it, but he spent the next three months tearing the estate apart looking for it and never found it.

  Statement taken from the memoirs of Jeram Kaidish, Majordomo of the House of Vandir

  By late in the afternoon Sapphire had found the Harvester's house in the better part of town. It was bigger than she thought it would be. Half of it was a butcher's shop, situated on a well-traveled street. From her vantage point on the brewery across the street, Sapphire could watch his comings and goings.

  She had not expected him to be a butcher. Her imagination had played up an image more like a monster, lurking in the shadows to take unwary dragons. He was one-dimensional in this regard, a force of evil with no other characteristics. She wanted him to be that way. It would make his death come much easier. She would be justice, a sword wreathed in white fire brought against the demons of the world, just like in the stories Torch used to tell her.

  “We can be brave,” Sapphire said to herself, though so many of those around her were not. It would be necessary to protect them from the consequences of what she was about to do. It would not do for the city watch to find this man slain by dragon claws, though that was how he would die. Afterward the building would be set to burn, a fitting conveyance for a soul borne into perdition's rage. There would be so little of him left that no one would ever think that something so meek as a luminarian had brought such a strong man to his end.

  As the afternoon lingered Sapphire made her plans, watching patrons visit the butcher shop and keeping tabs on the Harvester. He closed the shop around sundown and walked down the street to a public house. Sapphire seized the opportunity to study the building more closely. The door was locked but the windows gave her some view into the shop and an idea of the layout of the house.

  The twilight hour waned away slowly. Sapphire had everything she needed. She had only to wait now, predatory eyes scanning the streets until the Harvester returned and locked himself in his home. Still Sapphire waited, letting the dark hour cloak the city in shadow. There was only one thing left to do before she could begin.

  Earlier in the day Sapphire had found a berry bush. Sweet-smelling berries now filled her mortar. The sensible thing would have been to eat them, and the logical side of her mind told her so, but the complaint barely registered. She set to her task with detached determination. It did not matter what was more logical or more reasonable. It simply had to be done. Using the mortar and pestle she crushed the berries until the mortar was filled with dark juice. The pleasant scent made Sapphire's mouth water, but these were not for drinking. She dipped her claws into the bowl and ran them dripping through her mane, streaking it with purple. She shadowed her eyes in violet and painted streaks along her muzzle. Like the dragons of old she would visit death upon this evil.

  Painted purple, Sapphire tried the door and found it locked, a faint light shining out from the keyhole. Sliding one of her talons deftly into the gap, she pulsed magic into the workings and obliterated them. Bits of broken crystal tinkled into the bottom of the lock.

  Inside was no better, Sapphire's enchanted sight giving her only a faint view of the narrow hallway. Luminarian blood left a metallic bite in the air. The pervasiveness of the scent made Sapphire cringe. A chill crawled down her back like a cold serpent, its fangs nipping at the little spikes along her spine. Her ears pricked. A voice. There was a voice. Someone talking, pleading quietly for salvation. He was bargaining with the Almighty, the Night Warden, and anyone else that might listen.

  The voice drew Sapphire into the rooms beneath the butcher's shop. There was a body here, the murdered luminarian. He was hanging from his hind legs, ruined wings dangling below his bloody corpse. Sapphire choked down bile and turned her eyes away from the grisly sight.

  “Is there someone there? Please! Let me out!” the voice said in a frantic whisper that threatened to escalate to desperate shouting. “Seven among us let me out...”

  “Shhh!” Sapphire hissed. She found an emaciated drake in a small cage beside a workbench. “Where is the key?”

  The drake looked stricken by the question, his eyes growing wide with fear. “I... I don't know!” he said, horrified.

  “Keep your voice down!” Sapphire whispered urgently. “Don't worry, I'll find it.�
��

  It wouldn't be far from the cage. It only needed to be out of reach of the captive, after all. She found it on a peg near the door and hurried back to the cage before the whimpering drake panicked again. When he saw her return he began to sob desperately. He surged out of the cage and embraced her tightly.

  “Thank you! Thank you so much,” he said, sobbing into her shoulder.

  “Are there others?” Sapphire asked, craning her neck to try to get a better look at him. Eventually she had to pry him off of her.

  “There was...” he said, casting a furtive glance toward the gently swaying corpse. There was quiet for a moment, and the soft rattle of chains.

  Sapphire wanted to cut the dead drake down, but it would make too much noise. He would join the ashes of the building and have to take solace in the Creator's orchards that his death was avenged.

  “Go,” Sapphire urged. She waved a paw over the dragon's eyes, blessing them with her blindsight spell. He did not have to be told twice, and fled into the dark streets without looking back.

  Sapphire was alone again and she felt the great weight of her task. She wished Torch was with her, here in this dungeon of murder and strife. Like the paladins of old he would slay the demons and she would be by his side, warding off the darkness with her spells. But the darkness was not so easily slain; sometimes the darkness clawed back. Sometimes the darkness took the ones you loved the most...

  Bracing herself for what might very well be the last fight of her life, Sapphire made her way to the bedroom. Quiet snoring carried into the hall.

  Lights! Sapphire drew back against the wall, wings pinned to her back. Was he still awake? No, he was snoring. Had he fallen asleep with a candle still lit? Sapphire rallied her courage and poked her head out low to the ground, lurking in the darkest corner of hall. A sound like claws, clicking on the stonework floor. Sapphire's ears pricked forward and she frantically turned her head to look back to see if the drake had, against all reason, returned to this accursed place, but he had not. There was only darkness to greet her eyes.