by Marc Secchia
“A beginning, similar to your engagement promises,” Dragon said. “She’d like to rush straight to the mating part, of course –”
“Dragon, that’s so untrue!” Aria gasped, blushing in her every fire.
“– me being such a handsome, irresistible example of draculinity and all that …”
Reaching around the Princess, she cuffed his jaw mischievously. “First Dragon scents his own brand. I’m glad you’re so impatient, because I’m going to make you so happy …” She winked at Azania. “Wouldn’t you agree, Princess?”
The tiny hands came down off her ears. “Did you say something? Phew, it’s like an oven in here.” Holding up a white nautilus shell to the radiance of his scales, she said, “This makes me think of love. You see, in this direction of the spiral, it gets infinitely deeper and closer and more intimate. In this direction, it grows ever larger over time. Isn’t that right? About shells, I mean.”
“Absolutely right,” Aria purred.
“Beautiful image,” he agreed.
Then, they settled down together as night enfolded the Archipelago in robes of sable. A family of three, soon to become four.
Strange, different and perfect.
* * * *
The following day, they swam, relaxed on the beach in the suns, and practised at sparring. They talked at length through all the politics related to developing a force of Dragon Riders to fly south from the Archipelago if and when that even became possible. On both sides, there were strong blocs opposed to the idea. Aria had been trying to sell it as a test, but even her more progressive younger Dragonesses had their reservations. When she noted that Chanize and Sankir Farizam planned to fly south along with them, Dragon felt he had to object.
“Chanize? Surely not.”
“Why not?” Aria asked. “She’s more than capable with her hands. She already sharpens a mean blade, and she knows leather work in addition to being an outstanding seamstress.”
“You plan to fly a woman with no legs into battle?”
Azania said, “I flew a Dragon with no fires into battle. What’s the difference?”
GNARR!!
Both females gave him a hefty case of the fiery eyeball.
Grinning with all his fangs, he growled, “Gnarr-thing, evidently. I stand corrected. What’s the plan for her saddle?”
“Extra support at the back, but we’re struggling with her balance, since she doesn’t have calves or ankles with which to grip a Dragoness’ neck,” Azania explained.
He considered this for a moment. “Oh, that’s easy.”
More of the fiery eyeball. In tandem.
“My dear and very lovely females, all you need to do is to think like a male.” Holding up his talons, he said, “One, you stuff the girl into skin-tight leather Dragon Rider trousers, thereby wrecking the Sankir’s concentration forever. Two, you fit the material as snugly as possible to her – I don’t know how to say this politely – leg stumps. Three, you make appropriate attachments at the ends and waist to fix her to a saddle with strong ratchet straps. No need for actual calves. Balance? No problem.”
No end to the staring, apparently.
Reaching out his forepaws, he chucked them identically beneath the chins. Much softer for Azania, of course. “You know, when you two glare at me like that, you could be twins?”
“We are not twins!” Aria snarled.
“You’re so rude!” Azania snapped.
Dragon shrugged in the most annoying way he was capable of.
Dragoness and Princess glanced at one other. A second later, they were rolling in the sand, hooting uproariously.
“Glad I’m employed for my comedic value,” he snorted.
Azania clutched her stomach and nearly wet herself laughing.
As sunset drew corals, oranges and rose tints upon a faraway cloudbank, Dragon, Aria and Azania nipped up to the point to wait for the Sea Dragon music. It swelled right on schedule, making the waters physically tremble. How did they do that?
≈My wave is Sirensong! Wait! Respond!≈
≈My wave is Dragon! I will wait! Respond!≈
Twelve minutes! Only twelve – they must be around three hundred and thirty miles away now, he estimated. By his wings, how could he stand to wait?
≈We seek your song. Why not swim out tomorrow evening to meet us joyously beneath the waves?≈
≈Wait. How will we find you, mighty Sea Dragons?≈
For the first time, an immense, musical wave of guffaws arose from the pod.
Sirensong laughed, ≈You cannot miss us, strange one called Dragon. You will know us by our song, and our welcoming fire that sets the oceans alight.≈
≈We will come.≈
He translated for his friends. Both agreed this was a good idea. They could calculate to meet the Sea Dragons up to three hours offshore, depending on the weather, for both he and Aria could manage that length of flight and a similar return with no issues.
How he fretted! Having slept badly, he grouched his way into the morning, staring at an innocently glorious sunrise with baleful ire. Shake it off, Dragon! Today was a day for joy. Nonetheless, he could not help but fear that the Sea Dragons would not accept one who was only half like them. His egg had been born out of what must be tragic circumstances, stolen and raised by another dam; whatever had existed between his sire Blaze and his dam, Sirensong, had been shattered by a staggering act of treachery.
He and Aria trained with care. Neither wanted a wrenched wing joint to spoil the flight north.
At last, when he had nearly perished of impatience, the afternoon grew long enough that it was time to fly into the unknown. Azania mounted up upon his neck, and patted his scales. Quiet encouragement. He fitted his spectacles. No short-sighted Dragon wanted to miss this event!
Aria said, “Lead on, Dragon.”
They flew ten degrees west of true north, the direction he had most keenly felt their communication coming from. The last reefs and islets disappeared below the horizon. Nothing out here but ocean, vast and tranquil, but also a beast which could be roused to an unimaginable fury, the untameable power of nature.
A cloudless late afternoon coloured into a massive, fiery sunset as Ignis turned the waters into his personal bloodbath. Onward they flew. Dragon wondered if he should take to the waters to receive the usual communication, just as the upper curve of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. Alright. Do it. After transferring Azania to Aria’s back and handing over his spectacles, he plunged into the cool waters.
≈Sirensong?≈
≈Dragon, why did you not reply? We’ve been calling for hours.≈
He did not know how to apologise, so he tried to communicate contrition in the tone of his reply. ≈Coming. Show the way, please?≈
Almost immediately, her response boomed all around him, ≈Of course, you’re flying above the water! How foolish we were to think otherwise. SEE US COME!!≈
Alright, that last bellow almost lifted him clear out of the water. Tingling madly, he popped his head up to see Aria pointing more westerly of where they had been headed. Out there, the Lumis Ocean glowed white, brighter than he had ever seen before.
He submerged and got a wriggle on, hurling himself free of the surface so that he could climb up to their altitude. As they flew onward, the glow spread. Miles wide and long.
How many of them are there? the Princess whispered.
How big are they? Aria gasped.
Mmm, I’m feeling in a bright mood. Look at me glow!
His companions chortled on cue. Azania sighed, O Dragon, truly, you are the luminary in our midst.
Groan. “Delightful pun,” he agreed.
Double groan!
Still, he had to admit there was something catching about whatever was making him radiate white light – could it be some kind of communal effect?
The brilliance tracked like a foaming wave rushing through the darkling ocean. The darker the night became, the stronger the incoming Sea Dragons shone. His wing
beat stuttered for awe; he had to consciously keep himself going. He was part of this? This was his heritage? Joy cramped his throat. Fires and chills ran rampant through his body. At their combined speed it seemed they rushed toward one another at least twice as fast as his brain was prepared to accept. Faster. Faster still!
The Sea Dragons must have been well aware of his light gleaming against the backdrop of stars, for when they were yet a mile off, the first mighty white body breached the surface in a breathtaking leap, wings outspread to shimmer delicately above the waves. ≈Welcome!≈
Barely had he remembered to breathe again, when another pair leaped free, as if they were low-skimming seabirds. ≈Welcome, our kin!≈
≈Brother!≈
≈Friend!≈
≈Kinsdragon of the air!≈
≈Be welcome, o kin of the wave!≈
Suddenly, as one, the entire pod surged free of the water, spreading their mighty wings to float for long seconds above the surface before they slipped smoothly beneath the waters once more. Dragon’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Thousands! They must cover a surface area of tens of square miles. Or was that just because of the thrilling play of lights spangling off the ocean?
As their comparatively miniscule Dragonwing of two plus one drew overhead, the Sea Dragons breached a second time. Celebratory white fire gushed from their throats, rumbling across the waves like thunder. Instinctively, he responded with a massive salute of his own:
III – AAMM – DRRAAGOONN!!
Thunderclap!
As they submerged, the white fires continued to bloom beneath the waters. He became dimly aware of unfamiliar chemical or magical processes firing off due to their power, and then a single female soared from their midst. She had to be all of seventy or eighty feet long, muzzle to tail, and wider still through her wingspan. Her colour was the lustrous white of pure pearl.
≈My wave is Sirensong!≈
≈SIRENSONG!!≈ His very hearts poured into the outcry.
Dragon glanced across at his companions. They both gestured: Go on!
Nothing could have stopped him now. Pouring all of his strength into his wing stroke, he shot over to his dam. Laughing. Mewling with grief-joy. Every scale on his body tingled. This was her, at last, at last!
≈Join us!≈
How did they know? How were they certain? Every iota of their welcome proclaimed that something had changed during the days since he had first contacted the Sea Dragons; was it his tell-tale white glow, or something to do with the sound imprinting they had insisted upon?
Who cared?
He rocketed into the water ahead of his dam, and had the shivery pleasure of seeing her have to leap to avoid him, for with his poor eyesight he had completely underestimated her speed. Now that he was underwater, matters resolved. A minnow thrashed between giants, getting in every Sea Dragon’s way as they rushed around him, chortling, spinning him in their wake and stroking him with their passing wingtips; then, an immense song boomed over him and a huge, hoary beast caught him up in paws that bracketed his body with ease, and righted him as an adult would correct a wobbly-kneed hatchling.
≈My wave is Thundersong, your great-grandsire!≈
Overwhelmed, he tried to twitch his wings in time with the behemoth.
≈My wave is Lifesong, your great-aunt!≈
Voices chimed all around him, ≈Echosong!≈ ≈Lightsong!≈ ≈Farsong!≈ ≈Ripplesong!≈ ≈Starsong!≈ ≈Eversong!≈ ≈Descantsong!≈ ≈Sweetsong!≈ ≈Truesong!≈ ≈Lovesong!≈
≈SWIM WITH US! WE ARE SONG!≈
Apparently, his family were the Songs, and there were far more of them than his poor little brain could process. Kerpoof!
The mighty paws of Thundersong gripped him from his upper torso right down to his hind legs, hauling him through the water at a crazy speed. He knew at last how Azania must feel. Thundersong had to be four times his size. This much Dragon was impossible for him to fathom. Amongst the Tamarine Mountains Clans, he had always been a creature of unusual size. The awkward heavyweight in the corner. Now, he was a guppy. Outmatched by everyone apart from a few fledglings and hatchlings of the Songs who swam rings around him, giggling in a state of high excitement that matched the frantic pulsation of his Dragon hearts.
Thundersong passed him over to his dam, roaring, ≈Swim with us, o wave of my loins! Swim, sing and be free!≈
≈Son, I know you by your voice. Wave never lies,≈ she sang to him.
≈Mother! O my dam!≈
≈My long-lost treasure, how majestic your wave. My hearts sing louder than the ocean itself!≈
He wept.
Chapter 39: Ocean, Arise!
DRAGON STAGGERED OUT OF the water onto the beach, shattered. Had he been in any doubt whatsoever as to the power of Sea Dragons, well, he had no illusions now. A couple of hours and he was ready to drop. These creatures had been swimming for months.
The northerly bay where he, Aria and Azania had spent the night was now cluttered with white Sea Dragons – and these were just the Songs. His pod was pure white. Further pods – the equivalent of the mountain Dragon Clans – had spread out all around the Archipelago’s talons, and from Wave Dragonhome all the way around to Aria’s lair on the north-western tip of the island, he understood. Jubilant bugles and the musical chatter of Sea Dragons filled the night.
Most disconcerting.
Creatures who looked like him teemed everywhere. His immediate range of sight took in hundreds, from younglings the size of Aria, to that great-grandsire who floated in the shallows above the reef, watching his half-air half-ocean progeny wheezing fit to burst a lung.
Right. Up on the paws, Dragon!
He glanced about curiously. Each family pod had a subtly different colouration –pale, delicate shades of teal, mauve, pink, green and eggshell yellow predominated, with subtle variations of scale, wing and underbelly patterning. However, since every Dragon glowed like a white T’nagrun lamp, it was difficult to distinguish the precise differences without closer observation.
A deep sense of connection arose when he glanced at the giant white Sea Dragon, but far deeper and more poignant was the tingling sense of belonging he enjoyed as he stood beside the lustrous, striking Sirensong. Dam. Mother. Bearer of his egg. She was sleeker than him, built in the mould of highly streamlined Sea Dragons, but the similarities in detail … he shook his muzzle slowly, reassured when Aria fluttered down beside them, a sole patch of cobalt amongst the enormous throng.
Sirensong’s gaze captivated him. The shape, quality of inner fire and pattern changes of her eyes, which were as unique as Human fingerprints were said to be, were like looking at himself. Even Thundersong’s gaze had that mesmeric, familiar quality about it.
His dam held him jealously against her side, as if daring any Dragon in the world to tear him away once more. Her mate, Everdeep, also positioned himself alongside, smiling until he proclaimed that his jaw ached. Dragon noticed that the larger, older Dragons did not come ashore, or at least, lay toward the edge of the restless surf. They seemed able to breathe just as well on land as in the ocean, although none flew aloft. Why was that? Sheer size?
He stepped forward to greet Aria and Azania; the Dragoness genuflected respectfully, spreading her wings before settling them upon her back in a peaceable gesture. Azania alighted too, her dark eyes gleaming with delight as she took in the mighty throng, especially those who stood closest to him.
Switching to Draconian, Dragon said, This is my promised, Ariamyrielle Seaspray of the Isles Dragons, and my companion and friend, Princess Azania of T’nagru. She is my Dragon Rider.
As Wavewhisperer had Yarimda for her honoured Human friend? Everdeep rumbled, stealing the wind and about fifty billion problematic explanations from Dragon’s sails in one brief sentence. Theirs was a legendary friendship, the first wave of understanding between our kind and yours, Princess Azania.
He stumbled slightly over the unfamiliar name.
Does she understand us? S
irensong asked.
Azania bowed fluidly. My heart soars to meet you at last, my Dragon’s precious family. I cannot contain my joy. I do speak Draconian, honoured Sirensong, but not Dragoceanic, apart from … your name.
She smiled as the Dragons made rippling bugles of astonishment and bade her demonstrate, of course. She sang, ≈Sirensong!≈
≈Excellent!≈ the Sea Dragons agreed.
The Princess said, This Dragon is a creature of mighty deeds, Sirensong. I owe him my life, and together, we defended my kingdom from a terrible invasion.
What Azania isn’t telling you, honoured dam, is that she was the crucial factor in my discovering my white fires just a few months back. I used to be a brown Dragon, believe it or not. Murmurs of astonishment! I thought I was of the Tamarine Mountains Dragons. Then, when we discovered my fires, I shed the scales of old colour and became as you see now, white and brown-gold. I – I have been called Blitz in the past, but I was rejected from my Dragon Clan, because –
We will have you here! Everdeep roared. You are ours! You are Song!
Sirensong caressed her mate fondly with a wingtip as Everdeep’s outrage caused him to spit white fire.
Aye, his dam was seventy feet in length, and his sire-by-bond, easily over a hundred. Double his own measure! He towered above in a way that made him feel like a hatchling all over again. Aria looked like a beautiful toy beside him, and Azania … hope no Sea Dragon stepped upon her by accident, especially Thundersong!
His dam said quietly, They called you Blitz the Devastator, and kept your heritage hidden from you all these years?
Aye. He hung his head.
She voiced a grieving note that stilled all conversation around them.
Coming up beside him, Azania laid a hand upon his neck. Sirensong, who are Dragon’s kin here?
We are many! she fluted, her voice lilting with wonder. Let me see. There’s Thundersong, our Elder – indeed, he is the oldest and biggest of all Sea Dragons. He is your great-grandsire, my son, a titan of the oceans who has enjoyed one hundred and forty-two cycles beneath the suns. My sire and dam are here, Echosong and Starsong. Here are Descantsong and Farsong, your surviving grandsire and granddam respectively. You have two brothers in Lightsong and Eversong, and three sisters in Echosong, Farsong and Ripplesong.