Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 1-4

by Wilson, Sarah K. L.

Leave that to me.

  I was going to have to. I had enough on my plate as it was.

  I scrambled onto the roof tiles, fighting the wind and slippery ice. If we stayed in this city long, I’d need gloves. My fingers were cherry red and felt like pins and needles were piercing them from the cold. I’d deal with them later. By the time I was balanced on the roof, huffing and puffing and clinging with those frozen fingers, the screams had grown even closer. I scrambled up the roof tiles, thanking the stars and skies that I had chosen a roof with a shallow incline instead of one of the steep ones.

  As I climbed, drawing level with the boardwalk and then springing past it, the scene beside me unfolded. People ran along the boardwalk, screaming, or were pressed by the mob until they were pushed up and over the rails, their cries falling from earshot as they careened to the levels below. In some places, knots of guards formed trying to defend them, only to be scattered as easily as the civilians.

  It was easy to see why they fled. Two massive creatures pursued them. They were nearly the size of a dragon, but they had no wings or tails, only wide, snapping jaws and glowing eyes. They moved swiftly, but with an odd gait, almost as if they were worked by pulleys and ropes rather than by muscle and bone.

  Wait. I wasn’t seeing things. These creatures – if that’s what they were – seemed to be made things. They were not fueled by human intelligence or animal instinct. Their movements were too perfect, too exact – like how one would expect a horse to move but not how they actually do move. Their faces were wrought of metal and porcelain and looked like wolves caught mid-snarl, but no wolf would move as they did.

  I gulped and forced back a sudden icy chill in the back of my thighs. Who cared what sort of thing was bent on killing you? Stopping it was more important than identifying it. And yet the dead-stare of those glowing eyes hollowed my belly and left my knees wobbling.

  With everyone masked, it was impossible to tell who was who in the fleeing crowd, but out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a red coat and a white mask. Was that? Yes. Bataar dangled from a railing, his feet kicking in the air as he tried to get enough momentum to pull himself back up. The edge of his tattoos shone in the light of the rising moon. If it hadn’t been for the chaos around us, that alone would seal his capture.

  He was four houses down from me, and though the crowd was moving in his direction, I wasn’t sure how I could cross such a torrent of people to get to him before he lost his grip.

  Saboraak! We could use a friend with wings right about now!

  Almost done ...

  Hurry! Bataar needs you!

  So, do these prisoners!

  I gritted my teeth. I needed to jump into that crowd and sprint to where he was. I was trying to plot angles and the best landing place but everything kept shifting. The – mechanical wolves? What did you call them?

  Golems are made things powered by magic.

  The golems – good word! – were almost upon my building. There was no place to leap in front of them before they surged past. I’d have to wait for them to pass and hope that Bataar could hold on.

  We come.

  The golem nearest me turned and I almost could see him mechanically snuffling toward my roof. I couldn’t save Bataar if this thing seized me. Beside him, the other one pushed forward, snagging a fleeing Ko’Torenth noble from the crowd with his massive teeth and breaking him in half with one snap of his jaws. A dog would have shaken the broken prey. A wolf may have dropped it to examine it or at least taste what he had worked so hard to kill. The golem flung the husk of the man over the rail in a single, efficient motion.

  I swallowed, backing up from the one near me. It was like he knew I was there, like this fake snuffling was him sniffing me out.

  I wasn’t ready to be broken in metal jaws by a creature who wouldn’t even enjoy killing me.

  Would it help if he enjoyed it?

  Yes! At least there would be some point to it all!

  Humans are confusing.

  And dragons are never there when you need them!

  The golem wolf snapped at me, missing by inches. I scrambled backward, slipping, barely catching myself and almost being caught by his ripping jaws a second time. I couldn’t stay on this low roof.

  And then suddenly the dragons were there. They flew straight up, their bellies toward me, as they gained height.

  I see him!

  I watched as Bataar’s grip finally gave out and he fell, flailing toward the level below.

  Saboraak whipped out of formation, lightning-fast. She spun like a fish in water, darted down and under my falling friend, cushioning his fall and then leveling off to stabilize him.

  She wouldn’t be able to transport me, too. I could see that she was already struggling to keep Bataar in the saddle, already struggling to get the other dragons to turn around and follow her. None of them was Purple. None of them would be able to speak to a human mind.

  Everyone froze, watching the dragons – even the wolf golems. I didn’t dare freeze. This distraction would only last a moment. I scanned the world around me, eyes rushing over the fleeing humans, the snapping golems, the creaking walkways straining under the new weight, the houses in flames where the golems had passed, crunching and shredding lanterns and braziers so carelessly that fire had spread through the howling night.

  There was an answer here somewhere.

  And then I saw it. Looking down from a window five buildings down the walkway from where I was, Shabren the Violet stood in a wide window, his hands raised and bright light glowing all around him. I didn’t know how I knew that he was directing the wolf golems, but I did know it.

  He had to be stopped.

  Chapter Eleven

  THERE WAS NO TIME TO think about odds or wonder if I was making the right choice. I had mere seconds before the dragons would be gone and with them, my distraction.

  I scrambled backward three steps and then ran toward the edge of the roof, leaping at the last moment to clear the edge, over the wolf golem’s snapping jaws, past its broad head and landing cleanly on its back.

  The landing hurt, sending shooting pains up my spine and through my hips. It was all I could do to hold on to the slick metal, quickly flipping around and grabbing the molded saddle – a part of its back. Whoever had invented these things had made them to be ridden. That much was obvious. But I was willing to bet that they’d never expected someone in the crowd to take advantage of that.

  That was my specialty – doing the unexpected. Surprise was a friend to everyone.

  Remember, you can be just as easily surprised as they can.

  Did she think I was playing around? Did she think I didn’t know what a dangerous situation I was in?

  Do you know? You are riding a golem with no way to stop and no way to get off of it. If you try to do either, it will bite you clean in half!

  I shivered. I hadn’t even thought of getting off of it. The creature was already loping forward again. There had to be a way to disable it. What is made by man can be destroyed by man.

  Fools rush in where dragons fear to tread. There was a pause as I examined the golem and then she sent another thought. But maybe we need a few fools. If everyone lived safe lives there wouldn’t be any heroes.

  I was no hero. She would learn that eventually. She was the one who just saved Bataar.

  I examined the golem. There was nothing up here except for a smooth surface with the molded saddle. I could stay on, but I couldn’t disable it. There was no switch or lever, no gear or cog.

  The wolf-golem bucked and wove, forgetting the people in front of us in its desperate attempt to get me off its back. I held on to the pommel of the saddle, clenched my teeth, and rode for my life.

  After all, I’d ridden a dragon, and she flew in a lot more directions than this thing could run.

  I also wasn’t trying to buck you off.

  A point. A fair point. I dodged a sign hanging by a chain and then a flapping oak leaf banner. The boardwalk hadn’t
been designed for racing down it on the back of a metal golem. If Shabren had weapons like these, why had he fled the Dominion? Why hadn’t he brought them there?

  Maybe he found them here. Maybe he is still planning to bring them to the Dominion. Didn’t Apeq tell the other man to watch for his sign tonight?

  This wasn’t a sign. It was a massacre.

  It can be two things at once.

  We were coming to the end of the boardwalk. I could see it far in the distance. When we did, things would get interesting.

  Maybe I could leap off of this thing and land on Saboraak. Where was she?

  Settling Bataar and the dragons. I need a safe place for them. You’re on your own until I return.

  On my own? She was going to leave me to sort this out for myself?

  You’re a tough guy. You’ll be fine.

  The golem jerked under me, jostling me sharply to the side. My shoulder hit the wall beside us with a smack and I nearly lost my grip.

  I was not going to be fine!

  The second golem surged ahead of us and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the shoal of people maneuvering around a statue ahead. It plunged up from the masses like an island in the sea. Two figures clung to it like survivors of a shipwreck. One of them looked at me with big golden eyes, her mouth in the perfect shape of an “o.” Her mask hung around her neck, the ribbon torn and frayed. Zyla!

  The wolf golem ahead of us raced toward her. If he got there first, what would he do? Already, he was tearing the people ahead of him apart, flinging bodies in either direction as easily as he scattered masks and loose clothing. Some smacked against houses or rock walls with sickly thuds while others shrieked as they soared over the railing to fall to the rocks below.

  My heart was in my throat, thudding as loudly as Saboraak’s snores. If anything happened to her ...

  I reached behind me, grabbed the spear from my belt – thank the Skies and Stars it was still there! I was no hero, but even a plain street-lad could see a possibility here.

  I whipped my golem in the flank with the spear. If we could just get ahead of the other one ...

  The spear couldn’t hurt him, but it must have enraged him. He burst forward, metal muscles squealing in his haste. I gripped the pommel as we lunged forward, nearly falling off his saddle before I righted myself. I shifted the spear to my other hand, pulled a leg up to wrap around the saddle pommel. I was as ready as I could be.

  This would need to be timed perfectly. I tried to breathe, forgetting in my haste whether it was in or out and then gasping from choosing the wrong one. Come on, Tor! Pull it together!

  Here we go ...

  She covered her eyes with a hand at the same moment that I leaned out and snatched her from the air with my free arm. All I saw was a look of horror in the other person’s face as I pulled her from the statue island. Apeq. He had been there with her. He couldn’t have been behind this. Not when he was in danger, too. Could he?

  The memory of Shabren with lit hands filled my mind, but I had no time to puzzle out anything more. We were careening toward the end of the boardwalk where both the walk and the buildings beside it ended in solid mountain rock. I needed to stop this creature.

  The other golem surged past us, something brightly colored and limp in its mouth. I tried not to look too hard at what it was. He sped ahead, whipping the last survivors out of the way with swiping metal paws and then dashing vertically up the rock.

  My head suddenly felt light. I couldn’t hold on to the pommel hard enough to keep us both in the saddle if this golem did that. Zyla was scrambling to find a seat behind me, her arms wrapping uncomfortably around my neck. I tried to ignore the choking sensation as I readied my spear one last time.

  It was a long shot. But better a long shot than nothing, right?

  And we couldn’t jump. There’d be no way to control our landing if we did. We’d be as likely to smack walls or fall to our deaths as anyone else.

  Shaking Zyla off my neck, I leaned as far forward as I could, aimed, and jammed the spear in the golem’s glowing eye.

  There was a howling whistle and a gust of steam whuffed up from the golem’s mouth as his front legs collapsed under him.

  I lost my grip on the spear and rocketed forward over the slick metal of his wide head, falling to the ground and bouncing from the force of my landing. Oof! Pain made me hiss as something hard and heavy landed on top of me.

  “What were you thinking!” That low, velvet voice made me want to melt into it at the same moment that I wanted nothing more than to get her agonizing elbow out of my belly.

  “Ngh!”

  At least she was alive. At least we were both alive.

  I risked a look up to the golem, but the light was out of his eyes and he was frozen mid-stride, only his front legs collapsing, the back ones still stiff and solid. In his place at the end of the boardwalk, it looked as if someone had poorly chosen the site of a new statue.

  I barely managed a breath out in relief before my vision was filled with Zyla.

  “Look at me! Look at me, street scum!”

  Her eyes were alight with fury, dancing with irritation, and yet somehow that made her prettier. I looked into them, just looking at the color, at the flash, treasuring the fact that they were still alive to be angry.

  “We could have both been killed! You would have killed us both with your fog-brained foolery!”

  I pushed myself up to a seated position. Everything hurt. My back, my arms, my head. The screams had stopped but shouts and cries continued. Who could even guess how many were dead or injured in the insanity of the golems? How many dead would need burial? Did they bury people here? How many people still dangled from railings or lay injured in crumpled heaps?

  “I didn’t want to see you hurt,” I said stupidly. “I thought it would rip you to pieces.”

  I flinched at the thought. Too many images of others being shredded or flung to their deaths were trying to flood my mind.

  “So you rode it? And you pulled me up there with you?” Her curls shook with her fury, but she looked like she was on the verge of tears. “When I find out where your brains went and what Hubric replaced them with, I will stuff you both into jars and keep you in my pantry for the rest of your lives!”

  My eyes felt dry from growing so wide. You saved a girl’s life and this was what she did! I would never understand women. They were as crazy as dragons!

  “Do you hear me, Tor Winespring? Do you?”

  I nodded.

  She seemed to sag, looking up at the golem with glassy eyes. She turned back to me and leaned in so close that I thought she was about to yell at me again, but instead, she leaned all the way down and kissed me so thoroughly that I almost forgot I was aching all over.

  My arms wrapped around her instinctively, but almost as soon as they did, she pulled away leaving them suddenly feeling emptier than they ever had been before.

  “Stop being a hero. I don’t want you to die.” She sounded so serious that I almost smiled, but at her frown, I shifted the smile to match her seriousness. At least we could agree on that.

  “I don’t want you to die, either.”

  She gave herself a shake, stood up and straightened her party dress. It was torn and smudged in a dozen places, but she seemed satisfied with simply rearranging it before she spoke.

  “I need to find Apeq. His plots won’t stand still just because half the nobility of Ko’Koren are dead or wounded.”

  I gaped. “Don’t you think you should come with me.”

  “Don’t go thinking that just because I kissed you, you have the right to arrange my life, Tor Winespring.”

  I held up my hands defensively. “Of course not.”

  She nodded firmly. “He still has Zin. And I still have a job to do.”

  And then she was gone before I could catch my breath, a flurry of determination and energy.

  One thing was certain. I would never understand girls.

  I can help you now if you wa
nt. Things are settled here.

  Or dragons.

  Chapter Twelve

  FOR THE NEXT THREE days, the city was in mourning. Everyone wore white from head to toe and Bataar and I squabbled over the only white cloak in the storeroom.

  “I’m going to sneak around Apeq’s Jadefire House of Marvels and see if I can get a glimpse of Zin or Zyla,” he said when he snatched it from my hands.

  “You would be more use helping me look for the Dragon Riders. They’re somewhere in this city and the one place we know they aren’t is at the House of Marvels. I think they might be with those Oak Leafed Order guys.” I argued, but my argument was half-hearted. I was worried about the girls, too. And I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. What made Zyla do that? It definitely wasn’t something I said.

  Bataar smacked my shoulder good-naturedly. “If I see an opening, I’ll steal Zin away. You’re sure she doesn’t want to be there, right?”

  I nodded, scowling slightly. If I knew Bataar, he’d also try to steal Zyla away from Apeq ... and from me.

  He’d taken his fall from the railing during what people were calling “the madness” in stride. He refused to talk about it, but I knew he was as haunted by that night as I was. He tossed and turned at night and spent any time we weren’t searching the city sitting by the hideout entrance looking out over the mountains and the mist and muttering about things I didn’t understand. But he also helped me and Saboraak find a place for the dragons around the side of the mountain range, tucked away in a place inaccessible to humans.

  “Watch out for patrols,” I told him. “Your face is clearly Kav’ai and they’re looking for anyone who stands out.”

  “Are you sure you saw Shabren the Violet up in a window during the fighting?”

  I’d told him everything – not that he believed me.

  “Are you going to make me tell you the whole story again?” I asked, irritably.

  I was in a bad temper. I wanted a closer look at the golem I’d disabled, but I’d had to flee almost as soon as Zyla left the scene. Guards had rushed in from every direction and they hadn’t left the statue-like creature since the moment it froze on the boardwalk. There was a rotating patrol there and when I tried to sneak close to it, they’d grabbed me and demanded that I show my arms. Fortunately, that had been in the daylight.