I slipped the chain over my neck and hid the stone in my shirt as I thought. No one had ever given me such a fine gift. It was a reminder that I was in this now. I’d made commitments I couldn’t wriggle out of and people were counting on me. And if I was stuck helping people out, I should at least find a way to do it my way. Something inside me seemed to solidify.
“Stop and think, Hubric. Which of us is better at hiding? Which of us has a chameleon for a dragon? It’s not you, old man. You go south and bow to Castelans and Dominars. I’m going north to rescue the girl.”
“If that’s how you feel about it.” He was watching me sidelong as if he was waiting for something. If he thought I was going to chicken out or change my mind, he could think again!
“And how will I know this Zyla girl?”
“She has golden eyes like that stone you just put in your shirt. That’s the only distinctive thing about her.”
“You must just kill with the ladies using those complimentary descriptions.”
“I don’t compliment people.”
“I’ve noticed.”
He looked awkward for a moment as if he was thinking of something else but then he turned back to me.
“If you succeed in rescuing her, she’ll know what to do next.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Saboraak will know what to do next.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You know, Hubric, you could go ahead and tell me. I’m great at keeping secrets. I can even keep secrets from myself if you want.”
“Best to focus on one thing at a time.”
“And if I end up separated from both Saboraak and Zyla?”
Hubric’s eyes narrowed. “Then you’d better be dead, or I’ll make you wish you were. They are your responsibility now.”
I sighed. “I don’t like responsibility.”
“I know.”
“Then how do you know that I won’t just get up and run.” I tried to make my voice sound defiant, but I knew it was no use. I was tangled up in this now.
He smiled. “I have my reasons to believe in you, boy. Oh, and Tor?”
“Yes?”
“Not to put to much pressure on you, but the world might hang in the balance. What we do now, could push it one way or another.”
Yeah. There was no pressure there. None at all.
Chapter Eleven
I SHOULD PROBABLY HAVE asked him why he wasn’t the one taking care of me when it was literally only yesterday that he vowed to do that. But if I said that I’d have just sounded like a whiner. Besides, I’d asked for this mission and I could do it without anyone’s help.
And you already whine enough. AND you’re doing it with my help.
Saboraak and I had been headed north all morning. I rubbed at the sore spots on my inner thighs – still no leathers to protect them – and tried to concentrate on the horizon, but it was all a blur of trees and hills and sky and had been for hours. We’d stopped at a creek just before noon and even that had looked about the same as everything else.
City eyes.
Is that some kind of insult? Or are you just terrible at nicknames?
It’s a statement of fact. You have city eyes. You don’t know how to read the forest.
Has the forest written something worth reading?
We hadn’t even seen Magikas on forest paths like we had yesterday.
Which is good. Hubric told me to keep you away from them. It will be harder to sneak in if they know we’re coming.
Because disguising a dragon was so easy.
You did see me change colors and shapes, right?
She was still green except for the burn marks and jagged pink scars from last night’s battle.
You were lucky to get out of that unhurt. Are you a good fighter?
I was just lucky. Did her wounds keep her from chameleon-ing, or whatever that shapeshifting thing was? I hadn’t seen her change again since the first time.
I can change. I just don’t want to right now. Hubric said to conserve my energy.
I looked back over my shoulder as if I could see Hubric back there. Unlikely, since he’d flown south at the same time we flew north.
Impossible.
Thanks for chiming in. I chewed my lip, hoping I’d see the camp before long.
I can already see the smoke from the cook fires. It’s a large camp. They must be planning something big.
Other than kidnapping, rebellion, selling Dominion secrets, and trying to suck the last magic out of the world?
Yes, other than that.
Saboraak had no sense of humor. I was going to have to help her with that.
I was still straining to see the smoke. Nothing. Either she was imagining things, or her eyes were better than mine.
I have a sense of humor.
Oh yeah? Prove it.
She was silent for long minutes and my smile was beginning to get smug before I saw the smoke. There was a ridge of hills between us and the smoke, but the smoke was clear enough.
I’ll land on this side of those hills and we can decide what to do then.
Hopefully, they weren’t too far from the camp. I didn’t want to hike.
Hold on. I’m going to change into something that blends into the sky better.
I held on, not knowing what to expect, but even though I was braced for it, my skin still felt like insects were creeping across it when she changed shape underneath me and her skin went from brilliant emerald to a bluish grey.
Perfect. Keep low over my neck. They’ll never see me now, but you still stick out like a long nose.
Long nose? She was one to talk.
On me, it’s called a snout.
Minutes stretched to hours before we reached the hillside. Saboraak landed close to the top, taking care to stay low, but even so, I had to creep up the last few paces on my own. My legs ached from sitting so much for the past two days. I concentrated on that ache and I swallowed hard to push away the fear creeping up my chest. All I had in my hand was my dagger. I should have asked Hubric for a better weapon than that.
What would you call me if not a weapon?
Too far away to do any good right now.
You insult me.
I held my breath as I reached the summit, kneeling and then folding down to press myself against the earth before I crept over the horizon and looked down.
Below me, a massive camp sprawled - striped silk tents, bonfires, covered wagons, strings of horses, and masses of people filled the bowl of a valley. From the camp, a tired road wound north, its poorly maintained surface rife with plants and moss. No one left the camp to travel the road. So – what were they doing gathering in this place?
There’s water there. A spring, I think.
How did she know that?
I can sense the bones of the earth. Can’t you?
No, I hadn’t been gifted that particular skill set. What would you even do with that?
Mine ore. Find water. Locate important tunnels or warrens.
Maybe it wasn’t as useless as it sounded.
I felt Saboraak’s mental sigh. It’s going to take a lifetime for me to educate you, human.
There was a stir in the camp below and a small figure was taken out of one of the tents and marched through the late afternoon sun, her head held high. If I’d been a betting man – oh wait, I was! – I would have said that they were under orders not to hurt her because while they pulled and prodded, the weapons stayed in their belts. Was that a glimpse of gold I saw in her eye? It could have just been a trick of the light.
Whoever she was, she was thrown into one of the central tents and left there. I licked my lips and thought about what would happen if I just rushed in.
You’d be quickly dispatched.
You think?
No need for sarcasm. Let’s think this through.
I smelled something like sulfur and rotten fish. I was about to turn to look for it when I felt a heavy jowl rest on my shoulder.
Oh gr
oss! Her breath was awful and if that wet sensation was saliva, she could just bury me now.
You’re a skittish little thing. I’m only here to help.
Then let’s get to the helping part, shall we?
Hubric suggested that you had ... skills.
Well, of course I did! Didn’t I mention that you were lucky to have me?
She ignored my boasting.
And your scales are not unlike theirs.
Scales? Did she mean my cloak?
Yes. Similar color and shape.
But underneath I was dressed in commoner clothes and these Magikas had heavily embroidered robes.
The ones who attacked us last night didn’t.
Only because it was a trap.
Then go down there and claim to be one of them. They can’t have made it this far yet. Tell the guards that they captured Hubric and that you were sent ahead with the news.
I rubbed my chin feeling the light stubble growing there. I hadn’t seen a razor in months. Fortunately, my beard didn’t grow very quickly.
Do you need me to flame those scraggly scales clean?
No! Keep your flames to yourself!
It was only an offer.
She sounded hurt, but seriously, she’d burn my skin off and leave me to dance in my bones. What kind of partnership was that?
I didn’t realize you were so fragile.
It was like she’d met her first human yesterday.
Actually, it was nine days ago.
I felt my jaw drop. I shut it with a click. Her suggestion for infiltrating the camp was a good one ... especially for someone who had just met humans.
I read a lot. She sounded proud.
Okay.
So, I needed to sneak down into camp, trick them into thinking I was one of their own, cause a distraction of some kind and then grab the girl from that central tent. No problem, right?
I shall wait on the hillside and camouflage myself. When you need me, call. I will come immediately.
That was as much plan as we could hope for. I was more of an improviser anyway.
I slid back down the hillside and hurried to rummage in Saboraak’s bags for anything I thought I might need. There was a leather satchel with a waterskin and some food. I took out most of the food and put it back in the saddlebags to make room for a blanket in the satchel. I needed to look like someone who was traveling. I added a flint and knife and carefully strapped the dagger to my belt before smoothing my hair back and making sure it was all in place.
You look dapper.
I squinted at her. What was she saying? There was another dragon sigh.
I’m saying you look fine. Go get ‘em!
I swallowed down my nerves. It was just another con. Just another gamble. And gambling was my life. I could do this.
I started my climb around the peak of the hill, careful to stay low enough not to make a silhouette against the sky.
You’ll do just fine. Try to look more confident. Push those shoulders back.
She was worse than a mother. I skirted a thorn patch and slid step by step down the steep hill.
Whose mother?
Anyone’s mother. She’d better come if I called her. That was all there was to it.
Chapter Twelve
BY THE TIME I REACHED the edge of the camp, it was deep into the heat of the afternoon and winter or not, I was sweating. I wasn’t used to walking so far and particularly not through nature. Nature hated me. Every dip, furrow, and root there was had sprung to life and tried to kill me on the way down the hill.
Don’t be so dramatic.
Worse, Saboraak’s voice was still loud and clear. I’d been hoping for a bit of a break from that.
If I thought I could trust you on your own, I would, but so far, your thoughts have not been very reassuring.
There was a loose string of guards around the camp at various intervals, looking bored but alert enough to catch me should I try to sneak in rather than going through on the main road. I didn’t even try. Instead, I ambled up to the cluster of five guards on the main road and knuckled my forehead like commoners did. I never did that. No one was above me, no matter how rich, no matter what title.
Is your arrogance a species thing or is it particular to you?
At the last second, I realized my error. These weren’t full Magikas and if I wanted to pretend to be one I shouldn’t be behaving like a commoner.
“Where are you coming from, Apprentice?” one of the guards asked. The others barely looked up from their card game.
Oh good. The slip had made me seem like an apprentice, which was probably a better idea for me anyway. And these guards seemed too lazy to care. They probably didn’t see anyone but Magikas come through here, anyway.
“We had a trap laid at the house south of here-”
I was cut off by another guard – one of those sitting at the makeshift table. “Hold your tongue, boy! If your master was with you, he’d give you a thrashing for speaking about secret things where you shouldn’t!”
He looked sharply behind me and I turned to see another traveler stopping behind me, waiting his turn with the guard.
“You’ll give your report to Shabren the Violet or to no one at all, understood?” the guard said.
I nodded. A name like that didn’t sound very intimidating. The Violet? Sounded a bit girlish, really.
“Here, stand aside and let this Magika pass and then we’ll deal with you.”
I stepped to the side, edging close to the barrel where the cards were laid, and the guards posted.
“Magika, welcome to Caravan City. If you could please provide your name for our book of records, by order of Shabren the Violet.”
My hands sweated nervously but I kept an easy expression on my face. No need to let them see that the longer I waited with the guards the more worried I got about whether they would let me in. I leaned against the barrel and looked at the cards laid out.
“Triple pass?” I asked. I knew that game. Trump games were fun, but hard to win money on. Games of chance were better for that.
“You play,” the guard asked. He was a wide fellow who looked like he was incapable of standing on his own without the barrel for assistance.
I doubt he’d be a guard if he couldn’t move.
So now I couldn’t even exaggerate in my own mind?
I prefer accuracy.
There was something strange about the Magika who had just arrived. He was fishing around for something in his cloak and for a second, I thought I saw a gleam of silver in his eye.
I squinted at him. He wasn’t the same man as at the house or in Vanika. How many men could there be with swirls in their eyes? And why did they all seem to be near me? Could it be true that they were looking for me? I felt a little tingle of fear. I didn’t like the idea of being hunted.
The first guard – a lanky fellow with yellow hair – had a book and quill out. “Name?”
“I have it here somewhere, here ... somewhere ...” The Magika reached in a final pocket and pulled out a bowl.
“We just need your name, honored one.”
The guard frowned, and I felt myself frowning, too. Why wasn’t he giving his name? And what would he need a bowl for?
The same thing they used a rod f-
I was leaping behind the barrel as soon as I registered her thought. Lightning burst from the bowl in every direction, striking the ground and the air with cracking sounds. Flames burst up into the sky where the random strikes hit tents or wood.
The yellow-haired guard stumbled backward and froze mid-stride. A wrist-thick bolt of lightning hit his chest with a crack so loud that I jumped. He fell to the ground faster than I could gasp and for a half-a-second everyone was silent.
Screams and shouts erupted from the camp and as if a spell had been broken, the other guards leapt to their feet, drawing their weapons.
Before they could do anything else, silver pooled in the Magika’s eyes, flowed down his cheeks and to the dust around hi
s feet. I knew I should duck and cover my head, but I couldn’t help but watch as three little bursts of dust and dried grass rose up from the ground around him, swirling and growing until they were twice the height of a man and half as thin. Arms spread out from them and howling mouths appeared and then they leaned in around him and began to rip at the Magika. Shreds of cloth flew out in every direction, their actions a whirlwind of fear and destruction.
This time, I did duck – just in time to escape the worst of it when they moved from shredding cloth to shredding flesh. His howls filled me until I thought I must be howling, too.
Stop cowering and look! You need to get out of there!
I couldn’t!
Be brave!
I ripped my hands from my face and ran, half-crouching, half running, haunted by the hollow screams. I didn’t know where I was running, only that it was away from the magical fury behind me. I didn’t stop until I collided with a tent. I threw myself into the dark entrance, not caring who or what was within.
First Vanika, now here! I’d thought I was seeing things back there!
It’s real.
And it was coming for me. But what was it?
Evil.
Chapter Thirteen
THE TENT I’D STUMBLED into was clearly for storage. Crates and barrels were stacked haphazardly, some open and others nailed shut. Out of curiosity, I looked into the first open barrel. Grey dirt. Weird. I took a pinch between my fingers, rubbing it between them. It was more like sand, though I’d never seen such uniform sand particles before.
I left it to look at the next crate. Something was packed in dry lamb’s wool. I pulled out the wool to find a simple metal rod. Better put the wool back. I didn’t trust these artifacts. As far as I was concerned, anything old might spit lightning bolts at a moment’s notice.
The rest of the barrels and crates were the same. Useless junk. No food. No water. No clothing. No weapons. Just old things packed in wool, weird grey sand, and colorful glass bottles also packed in wool. The wool might work as Firestarter. It was bone dry and plentiful, but otherwise, this was just heavy junk.
Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 1-4 Page 6