Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 1-4

by Wilson, Sarah K. L.

  “When the war ended ... I thought. Well, it matters not what I thought. It only matters what is. And what is ... is trouble. A lot of trouble.” He looked up, startled as if he hadn’t realized he’d been rambling and then shook himself. Tiny flecks of snow and ash flew off of him like a dog shaking itself in the rain. “I’ve been on my own so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be near people. Forgive me. Let’s find Ephretti – I have a message for her – and then you and I best be off. You have much to gather?”

  I looked a question at him. After all the build-up of the weeks of waiting, this felt too simple, too abrupt.

  “You are coming, aren’t you?” His brows knit together.

  “Are you still offering to teach me to ride dragons?”

  He scoffed. “What do you think we’ve been talking about, boy?”

  I laughed. All this talk of trouble had me more shaken than I’d like. But I’d give just about anything to ride a dragon again – and this time, I’d be sure the dragon was mine.

  “Follow me, old man.”

  I strode through the city, smiling and waving to anyone who looked our direction – and everyone looked our direction. There were only three dragons in all of Vanika – Dax the healer’s white dragon and Ephretti and Lenora’s green dragons. And those three dragon riders were like legends come alive to us. A fourth dragon caught everyone’s attention. I glanced behind me to see Hubric strolling along looking indifferent, his dragon ambling behind him, almost knocking over street-side carts and booths with his whipping tail, but Hubric’s sharp gaze took in everything.

  If I were the Castelan of this city, I’d be blushing. But the old Castelan was dead and Ephretti had nothing to blush about. She’d dragged us out of the mud – figuratively, if not literally – and given us a new future.

  “Not how I remember the place,” Hubric said.

  “Last time you were here it was on fire,” I reminded him. “We saved who we could.”

  “We, is it?” He chuckled.

  “Well, I showed you where to go.”

  “That’s not the visit I was thinking of.” He caught up to me, so we could walk side by side. I was leading him through the New City – an area where people were trying to construct new buildings from the wreckage. It was as dingy as the rest, but a little more hopeful. If we lived through the winter, it was possible we could rebuild.

  “You were here before that night?”

  “I was here when it was a sky city, boy, towering up into the air so high only dragons would think to fly there. A glorious place, Vanika. Rich as a ripe plum, busy as a beehive, dripping with wealth.”

  “I remember.” My mouth watered at the memory of the sticky buns I used to steal on the streets. Even being an orphan in Vanika had been a good life when the city still rose above the land, held in place by magic. All that was past now. “Best to forget, though. We’ll never see that again.”

  “Not here. But you aren’t staying here.”

  We were almost at Ephretti’s Hall – that’s what they called the half-ruined granary she’d taken over for her work. I could see the people lined up to be heard and the guards stationed outside the Hall. She’d be hard at work at this hour, trying to shore up weaknesses in the city and resettle people into shelters where she could. Not really the job for someone like me. I preferred the fresh air and freedom of the outdoors, but she kept me working for her. Street Eyes, she called my work. Someone to tell her what was happening in her city.

  “Are you taking me to Dragon School?” It was hard not to hold my breath. He’d promised. I’d been waiting all these weeks for him to return and take me there. But I’d proven I’d be a good fit, hadn’t I? I’d proven I was brave when I dove through those fires with him to rescue people from the flames. I’d proven I was loyal when I stood with him and the girl on the other dragon to fight against our oppressors. I’d shown I was a great choice. Of course, he would take me!

  “Not quite.”

  I clenched my jaw.

  “So, you’re here to tell me you aren’t keeping your promise?” I kept my words bold, but inside my heart was sinking – a lead weight thrown into a pond.

  “Not quite.”

  It was all I could do not to retort. I bit back my words and then smiled – a false, manipulative smile. “Maybe you could try to slip a little more information into those responses.”

  But we were already at the Hall and he ignored me as he turned and met his dragon’s eyes. No words were spoken, but the dragon turned his back on the Hall and settled into a resting position as if he was just going to take a nap beside the line of gaping people.

  “Go collect your things and meet me back here. We leave within the hour.”

  Was he kidding? No explanation, no respect at all and he thought I’d just be happy to jump up and follow him?

  “Stop looking so angry, boy. I’m the best thing to ever happen to you.” He looked wry, like he really believed those words.

  He turned and strode away so quickly that I couldn’t even curse under my breath before he was out of earshot.

  Great.

  Decision time.

  Risk everything on an old man who may or may not keep his promises or stay in this ash heap? I looked around at the tumble-down streets and burned out buildings. This ash heap was home. It had been when it was great, and it was when it was ruined.

  I took a few steps forward, looking up into the sky. That one night when I flew with Hubric on Kyrowat’s back, helping to save people from burning buildings ... well, it got under my skin. The feel of the air rushing around me and of nothing but dragon under me – the feeling of freedom and limitless potential – I wanted that again. I wanted it so badly that I could taste it. But he wasn’t really promising that, and he wasn’t at all clear on what he was promising. I felt torn.

  In the crowd, I thought I caught sight of a man looking at me. Was that a swirl of light in his pupil? I froze, but a moment later he was drawn away in the flow of foot traffic and I lost sight of him. My mouth felt suddenly dry. There was something about that man today with his ash creatures and swirling eyes. Something wrong, like the smell of rotting meat. I’d be a fool to stay where men like that roamed. And was it my imagination, or were they all looking at me?

  You’re driving me crazy.

  I jumped at the voice. It was so loud and clear, it was like it was right in my brain. Wha-?

  I spun around in a circle, looking for who might be talking to me.

  Up here.

  Up where? My head tilted up and I moved again in a slow circle. There were no more buildings in Vanika that towered above a man, though once there had been many. The only things above me were birds. I turned a little more and confronted Kyrowat – the purple dragon. He’d stretched toward me so that my vision was filled by one massive eyeball and a grinning line of teeth.

  Me.

  Skies and stars! He was talking in my mind! Impossible. He hadn’t done that before!

  I only talk to people I like.

  He liked me! Maybe I didn’t need to wait to see what Hubric would do with me. My eyes narrowed. Maybe I could just climb aboard this one and we could leave together.

  Flame burst from Kyrowat’s mouth and I leapt sideways, stumbling to the ground and leaping back to my feet amid screams and shouts. The ground where I had been standing was blackened and hot. Steam rose up from the patch of black earth. Behind me, the line of people scattered, and the crowd drew back, cursing and muttering.

  Kyrowat grinned.

  I don’t like you that much. Stop being a big baby and go get your things – if you have any.

  Chapter Three

  I COULD TURN AROUND at any time. That was the thing to remember, I told myself as I hurried to the tumble-down ruin where I’d stashed my gunny sack of things that morning - a ragged blanket, a long dagger and a tiny handful of things that were too inconvenient to carry around all day. I always kept the essentials on my person – fire starter, belt knife, a waterskin, a
pot, and the only two coins I still possessed.

  If I held on to that, it wouldn’t matter what trick the old man was pulling. I could just turn around and come home, no harm done. I grabbed the sack and hurried out of the alleyway and back toward the Hall. No one tricked the trickster and no one was going to trick Tor Winespring.

  Not even that old musty dragon.

  I heard that.

  I kicked a rock in my surprise and hopped on one foot, cursing. That old devil had better get out of my head. I turned the corner out of the alley and ran smack into a man in a dark cloak. The set of eyes that turned to look at me swirled silver. I blinked and the swirl was gone. The man hurried away, leaving me gaping.

  I was losing my mind. I was jumping at shadows. I needed to leave here before I went crazy.

  I arrived back at the Hall breathless, but I managed a grin and a saunter when I caught sight of Hubric mounting Kyrowat. Castelan Ephretti stood in the street beside him, her guards gathered in a knot around her, peering in every direction at once.

  “Here he is!” Hubric said with a smile. “Is that all boy?”

  He pointed at my gunnysack and I dodged under the arm of a guard, slipping into the inner circle with the Castelan. All the guards frowned at me in unison. Did they practice that together? I could just imagine it. ‘On three ... one ... two ... three ... frown!’ Ha!

  I handed Hubric the gunnysack.

  “It’s all I trust in your care.”

  Hubric raised an eyebrow. “We won’t be coming back.”

  “Ever?”

  “For a while at least.”

  Ephretti spoke, finally. “Which is why I’ve come to see you off, Tor. I have a present for you.”

  She handed me a cloth packet tied in string.

  “Thanks, I guess. I don’t really need a tablecloth, though.”

  Her wry smile told me the joke wasn’t very funny. What did she expect me to do? Break down and cry? Tell her that I looked up to her? Admit I was nervous about leaving? Skies and Stars ... she didn’t expect a ... thank you ... did she?

  “I’ll miss you, too,” she said, hugging me suddenly. I patted her back awkwardly until her outburst was over. “Don’t sleep in the rain. Stay out of trouble. And for the love of the skies and stars don’t try your tricks on foreigners.”

  “I’m not going to war,” I objected.

  She sniffed like she was holding back tears. Skies and stars! If I stayed around her like this I might even cry. I coughed abruptly, frowning to prevent any emotions from leaking onto my face.

  “Just be careful,” she said, pulling me in close so she could whisper in my ear. “That man who was eaten by ashes on the street today ... I heard a rumor he was looking for a boy with a wicked grin. Don’t come back here for a long time. Not until I find out what’s going on here.”

  “Try to fix this dump while I’m gone,” I said, pulling back from her hug and trying to manage a cheeky grin instead of the terrified rictus my mouth was trying to form. I grabbed one of Kyrowat’s stirrups and pulled myself up onto his back.

  “Are we done with the touching goodbyes?” Hubric asked as Ephretti gave me one last firm nod of encouragement. Was that a tear I saw her brush away as she turned back to the Hall? Of course not. She had work to do. Obviously. But couldn’t she have spared one more minute for a goodbye?

  You don’t even know your own mind.

  Great. And now I was being criticized by a dust-rug of a dragon.

  Kyrowat launched into the air at the moment I thought that, leaving me scrambling to hold on. I wasn’t quite settled and definitely not strapped in yet.

  “Skies and stars!”

  When I chose a dragon, I’d choose one who wasn’t so bad tempered. One who was respectful and wanted to do things my way.

  Was that laughter I heard in my head?

  “Hang on!” Hubric called to me. “We won’t be there until just before dark. Make sure you buckle in. Kyrowat says a storm is coming and you don’t want to fall off.”

  Like I couldn’t stay on the back of a dragon.

  Kyrowat dropped suddenly and my belly dropped, too. He stabilized in the air and I hurriedly strapped in. I could feel a scowl forming on my face. So, he liked to play dirty, did he?

  There was more laughter in my mind.

  I didn’t think it was funny at all.

  Chapter Four

  KYROWAT, DESPITE HIS age, flew like a fire was nipping his tail. We roared out of Vanika and rose into the sky, higher and higher until my home was nothing but a speck on a rolling horizon of grey and brown. I’d never been so high before. The giddiness of it filled me and I found my attention flickering between the landscape and trying to identify the mountains and rivers I knew and then conscientiously watching Hubric fly. He hardly seemed to guide his dragon. The old Purple just flew as if he required no guidance.

  The day was grey and overcast, making it impossible to see where the sun was and the wind was so fierce that it whipped my scrap of a cloak around me like a flag. I must be turned around because it felt like we were headed toward the Oakbrim Forest. No one went there. Or at least, no one went past the wood cutting camps on the edge of the forest.

  Wait. This had to be Oakbrim. I could pick out a tiny wood camp beneath us. I remembered Ephretti giving orders to double the cutters there. Wood was desperately needed to rebuild and warm Vanika over the winter.

  I leaned forward and tugged on Hubric’s sleeve. Skies and stars, it was cold up here! He was busy trying to light a pipe. How did he expect the pipe to light in this wind? He should get the dragon to light it for him.

  I’m a dragon, not a flint. Forget that and I’ll scorch your boots while you sleep.

  Friendly fellow.

  Hubric turned around.

  “Any tips for lighting pipes in a high wind?” he asked.

  “We’re going the wrong way!” I shouted over the wind.

  “Headed west and north, boy. Exactly as planned.” He tried the flint again, nearly dropping it. He passed me the pipe. “Here hold this.”

  “But Dragon School is South-East. Even I know that! Ephretti told me about it. She says that on your first day you get to choose your dragon and I’ve already made a choice. I want a big Green like Ephretti’s. Ephretti says that the Greens are explorers and adventurers – like me!”

  “Ephretti says a lot.” He struck his knife on the flint, trying to angle it to a handful of dry grass in his other hand. “You shouldn’t be too hasty. You’ve only ever seen a few colors of dragon. Purples like Kyrowat, Ephretti’s Green, and that sleek White thing Dax used to fly with before he set up the hospital for you all. What does he do now?”

  “Relaxes. Sometimes Dax pays me to polish his scales if I catch him in the right mood. He pays well. The dragon sleeps through the whole thing.”

  “Well, there you go. That’s not many colors of dragon.”

  “I also saw a Gold.”

  “Hmm?”

  “I saw the Prince of Baojang arrive on a Gold dragon that night I helped you. What do Golds do?”

  “Diplomacy. Negotiations. Boring stuff like that. Not a good fit for a lively fellow like you. I can just imagine sending you into a negotiation. You’d probably try to play Find the Weevil, only while you thought you had them distracted, they’d be fleecing you.”

  “I doubt that.” No one pulled tricks on me. I had fast eyes and faster hands. When it came to marks – I knew a few, but I wasn’t ever one of them.

  “Keep an open mind, boy.” The dry grass flared to life and Hubric snatched the pipe back from my hand, lighting it deftly with the dry grass before tossing it away into the wind.

  “Ephretti told me other things about Dragon School. There was a lot about hot savory meals and learning to fly a dragon.”

  “You’re flying on one now.”

  “But I’m not holding the reins!”

  “Neither am I.”

  I sighed. “Hubric?”

  “Yes?” He puffed out a stre
am of smoke but the wind snatched it away as quickly as it formed. I could hardly tell where the smoke ended and the light snow began.

  “Be straight with me. We aren’t going to Dragon School, are we?”

  “Nope. We’re headed in the wrong direction.”

  I gritted my teeth, trying to keep from losing my temper. “Then do you think that you might want to tell me what the plan is?”

  “The Dominar has commissioned me with the task of setting up a spy network for the Dominion. And it occurred to me that I knew someone who’d lived his whole life hiding, being chased, and taking things that didn’t quite belong to him.”

  “You lied to me.” My voice sounded tighter than I would have liked. I didn’t want him to know how close I was to throwing him off this dragon.

  Don’t even try it.

  He snorted. “How’s that?”

  “You said I would ride dragons!”

  “What would you call the thing you’re riding right now?”

  “Agh!”

  I was silent after that as the hours stretched out. I should tell him to turn around and go back to Vanika. This wasn’t what he promised me. I’d never signed up to be a spy. Spies had bad things happen to them – daggers in the back, torture in dark rooms, beautiful women trying to steal their secrets ...

  Well, maybe I would stick around just a little bit longer. I didn’t have my own dragon yet, but I was flying. And it felt good. It felt like what I was made for. And while Hubric didn’t seem to have much with him, he probably had food. And I was hungry. And up here in the air there weren’t men with swirling silver eyes following me – which was a pretty big consideration now that I thought of it. So, maybe I’d wait until nightfall and see what happened. Maybe, if things looked grim, I could still talk Hubric into turning around and heading straight to Dragon School.

  I let my mind wander as I studied the landscape below. There seemed to be a trail in the forest. It was a narrow thing. I wouldn’t have even noticed except for the people walking along it. At first, there was just one or two, but now that we’d gone further, there were more. Dozens of people with packs and horses walking through the Oakbrim Forest – a place that no one ever went. I felt a chill at the thought. What could they be up to in this place? Not that it was any of my business.