A Dragon's Betrayal

by C L Patterson

  Maerek stood his ground for a moment and waited, thinking with what mind he had left. The drowsiness wasn’t natural, and he knew it came from the bird. These cockatrices were different. They changed to feed upon a traveling prey, putting them to sleep with their musk, and then feasting upon them as they fell unconscious. Even with this adaptation, Maerek couldn’t decide if their talons and bite were venomous.

  Nothing a little fire couldn’t handle, Maerek thought, his mouth filling with spit as he continued to run, but he had not yet changed to his true form. He spat on the ground and looked back again. These cockatrices were driven specifically by hunger and instinct, and with prey singled out from the “herd”, it wasn’t too hard to figure out that their stratagem was to wear down Maerek, and then go in for the kill.

  Another cockatrice broke off from the group and dove toward Maerek. Maerek turned, hearing the cockatrice make decent. In the few seconds before the creature would be within striking range, Maerek noted how much space he had in his surroundings. The thought had come to him to shift into his true form and show the witless winged beasts what it meant to own the sky, but there wasn’t enough room in the pass to maneuver or fly. He would have been stuck and more vulnerable than if he continued to run.

  The cockatrice that dove at him screeched and Maerek jumped to the side just in time to avoid the claws. He rolled, regained his balance, and threw his spear at the cockatrice. The spear landed in the creatures back and cockatrice crumpled to the ground instantly. Maerek ran again, wrenching the spear from the creatures back as he passed it. The cockatrice screamed as the weapon was pulled free, and then fell silent. The other cockatrices continued to pursue him, and Maerek began to worry.

  Three of their kind were killed within the last half hour and they still pursued him. The cockatrices were determined that he was going to be their next kill, unaware that they had already lost a few of their flock, or were they being driven and controlled by some other force? Maerek’s mind had grown foggy again and it was becoming harder and harder to think straight. He couldn’t sort it out. Was he being too paranoid? Were the creatures that stupid? What about the Japeth, and Naeru, and Thomas, and Keane, and Aelex? Was he being driven away from them for some other reason?

  The answers weren’t coming to him and all he could think to do was keep running, get out into the open, kill the cockatrices, and pray to the Faye that his new family was safe enough to survive the pass. He ran on, occasionally looking behind him for any other cockatrice that decided to attempt wear him down or attack. After the first two failed to return to the flock, the others seemed to understand that this would take a group effort.

  Then another question came to Maerek, and at the same time, provided an answer to his previous ones. Why didn’t they all attack now? His scent told the cockatrices that he was a dragon. Maerek knew that if they all attacked at once, he wouldn’t have a chance, and he knew that the cockatrices knew that too. Each must have been aware that a mass attack would mean that a few of them would die.

  The creatures that pursued him were as scared as he was and were trying to figure out how to kill him. Either that, or they wanted to separate him further from the other traders. They wanted to isolate him further from the traders, and that bothered him. If he didn’t get out of the pass in time, the cockatrices might swarm him at once and release their sleep-inducing scent. The stench could and probably would overwhelm him, and he would be dead again, this time without a third chance at life. Maerek huffed and spat. He was running further and further into a trap, and the only escape was to reach the end of the pass before the cockatrices were able to make their decent.

  He gripped the spear tightly as he ran. It was a useful weapon, and it aided in the death of two of the birds. Yet even with his strength and speed, the spear was slowing him down. The extra seconds gained could mean the difference between life and death, Maerek was sure, and the longer he held onto the spear, the lesser were his chances at survival. But being in the pass without a weapon was foolish. Maerek shook his head. The hunger was growing worse now and he was beginning to panic.

  “Dragons don’t panic,” Maerek said to himself. “Don’t think, just run, save your mental strength.”

  [][][]

  Three hours passed and Maerek was still running. The cockatrices still flew above him, hardly flapping their wings but gliding on a breeze and made no attack. The air was beginning to change too. Instead of the stench of death, rot and decay, the slight wind that entered the pass was a dry, almost sweet smell, like a desert right after a rain storm. There was a curve up ahead too, and the sunlight beamed down the path with a golden splendor. Maerek had reached the end of the pass. He looked back up at the cockatrices and they were slowly beginning their decent toward him.

  “A little closer, a little closer” Maerek whispered to himself as he continued to glance back at the beasts. When the lead cockatrice was in range, Maerek slid to a full stop, turned, and threw his spear directly at it. It banked to the left just in time, the spear spiraled passed it and into the air, clanging against stone. Each of the cockatrices screeched wildly, almost in the sound of an early victory cry. Maerek sprinted off again, fueled by fear and instinct.

  The hunger had taken over him now. He craved open spaces, new blue sky, and fresh air. His muscles surged and bulged with new power. Smoke billowed out of his nose and mouth like the ash from a fuming volcano. In seconds he was enveloped in a dark cloud. The cloud grew, the sound of running changed from crushing ice to hard, robust crashes.

  Maerek roared as he left the cloud behind in his true form. He turned his head and spat a fire ball at the cockatrices. Each turned and flew up and away from the dragon, breaking their “V” shaped formation. Maerek couldn’t turn around fully to face them, not yet at least, and finally, at the end of the pass, he leapt into the air, pounding his wings down and up, down and up, racing higher and higher into the air, circling back and watching for his pursuers.

  The cockatrices shot out of the pass, their black and rot-gray skin a streaking against the azure blue sky. Their wings flapped furiously, molted feathers and skin falling with each wingbeat. The creatures screeched together, their voices a discord of high pitches, like nails on a chalkboard. Maerek returned their screech with a deep, powerful roar.

  The hot desert air coming from the east slammed into the Blades and pushed Maerek and the cockatrices higher and higher into the sky. The cockatrices rose faster, pounding their wings and jetting passed Maerek, misjudging the sudden energy from the thermal. Attempting to correct their flight, the cockatrices started to collide with Maerek, trying to snip at his wings with their long beaks, clutch his tail with their claws, anything to make him turn and lose balance in the wind. One tried to fly by the dragon’s head, but Maerek was quick, leaned back, and bit right in the middle of the bird’s torso. Maerek clenched down, splitting the creature in half.

  The other cockatrices backed off for a moment. Maerek grabbed the carcass in his mouth and tore off a chunk of flesh and swallowed. The cockatrices were starting to get too close again, and he threw both halves of the beast toward the group. He hit two, one with each half, smashing ribs and fragile wing bones, sending the two injured birds spiraling down to the ground.

  Maerek then folded his wings in tight against his body, and dove, chasing the two cockatrices that were free falling from the sky. The other cockatrices followed him downwards, but their small frames were buffeted by the thermal that rose from the mountain side. The group formed into another “V” formation to reduce drag and started to catch up to the dragon.

  Maerek grunted, tightening his stomach muscles, expanded his wings, and pulled out of his dive slightly, and then swayed left, right, and then lightning quick, turned into a wide and upward barrel roll. He held his breath and flexed his muscles as gravity pulled all of his blood downwards. When he leveled out, Maerek was behind the cockatrices and blasted them with another fire ball. Two more cockatrices were hit and instantly engulfed in flam
es. Only three remained. Each broke formation and tried to flee back to the mountain pass. Maerek banked right and followed one while continuing to look behind him and above him for the other two cockatrices.

  He caught up to the cockatrice quickly and spat a stream of fire across its back. The cockatrice screeched, and the cry was cut off as the bird was engulfed in flame and then fell from the air. Two other discordant screeches came from behind and Maerek instinctually banked hard left just in time for the remaining cockatrices to race by.

  The agility in air of the cockatrices proved them well. As Maerek banked and attempted to circle behind them, the cockatrices pulled upwards and into the sunlight. The dragon tried to follow them with his eyes as he pulled against gravity in his turn, but the creatures were lost. Maerek dove downward again, listening for the coming cockatrices that he knew were behind him. The cockatrices closed in, wings tight against their sides, talons outstretched, eager to latch onto their large prey.

  Then, in a desperate move, Maerek rolled onto his back, exposing his belly to the creatures, and shot out a stream of fire, spraying chaotically left to right. The fire landed on the cockatrices and they flapped madly as their wings caught fire. The cockatrices spiraled and tossed out of the air like a burnt leaf. The dragon rolled again, spread his wings, and circled back to the cockatrices.

  Each landed with a hard thud and were silent. Maerek breathed in relief and circled down toward his lifeless victims. When he landed next to the carcasses, he breathed in, long, slow and deeply, multiple times. The air was a sweet refreshment after two days in stale and decaying odors. There was a slight dampness to it that Maerek rolled on his tongue, traces of some rain storm that passed through not long ago.

  The forest also was dramatically different from the Wiles as well. On the western side of the Blades, the trees were thick and clustered together, covered in mosses, mushrooms, and sometimes other varieties of plants. The air tasted like an amalgamation of mud, mold, mist, fungi, and decaying plant life. From a distance, the forest of the Western Wiles looked like a damp, moldy dish cloth. On the eastern side of the Blades, the trees were fewer, but they were taller and thicker and with longer needles. Some oozed sap, expelling beetles, or healing wounds from woodpeckers and other birds. In the underbrush, a few ferns and shrubs were scattered around the forest floor, rooted against an old bolder or fallen tree, but it was easily passable on foot.

  The color was also different. The undergrowth was a brown, dry, and seemed crisp and delicate to the touch. When the wind blew, foliage fell from the trees, and Maerek could hear the ticking of leaves and needles hitting against branches. On the western side, it would have sounded more like a brushing, or rubbing or paper.

  The flesh from the cockatrices popped and sizzled in the saliva fueled fire. Beaks and necks were twisted back and upwards unnaturally, muscles frozen in frigidity from the final spasms of death. Maerek watched the cockatrices until the fire died out and the black thick smoke turned into a wispy grey. He huffed and sniffed the dead creatures, then nudged them with his snout, portions of the burnt flesh sticking to his scales. Maerek licked the meat with his tongue and then snapped at the carcass, tearing off chunks of cooked meat. The ashen, crisp, burnt outer layer of meat aggravated the already fetid taste of the cockatrice. A smell of rot and bile dampened the area around the dragon and his kill. Yet, with each swallow and bite, Maerek began to calm and regain his senses. His intelligence began to return, and his bulging muscles, outlined with pulsing veins, relaxed.

  He was alive, the cockatrices were dead, and the totality of the situation was clear to him. He survived. And the best thing he could for his friends was to wait for them. His original plan of drawing out the cockatrices seemed to have worked, and he understood that for the traders, this wasn’t their first time through the pass. He knew they understood the dangers and was grateful that the traders decided to accompany him on his journey to fulfill his oath to Boshk. Their cargo wagon was ransacked, the traders threatened with death by their own kind, as well as the pass, and still, they came for him. The traders were his family now.

  They were his keep.

  CHAPTER 14

  Maerek felt a sudden, gut-wrenching fear for the traders. The sun set, and the stars were beginning to dance about the sky. The two carcasses of the cockatrices began to stink, feathers and flesh already alluding to the rapid decomposition. Heat from the day lifted into the darkening sky and a shuddering chill began to fall. Maerek, still in his true form, ran for a couple paces, and then leapt into the sky. He flew low and toward the tree line.

  He confirmed his initial plan after some of his putrid dinner had digested, that the best thing he could do was wait for them at the exit of the pass. That way, if the traders were being chased, the confined area would play to Maerek's advantage. All it would take is a steady stream of flame across the entrance, and the fire and heat would either defer the cockatrices exit or kill them. Maerek deemed both outcomes favorable.

  It was a quick flight back to the pass. He hadn’t noticed beforehand that the pass entrance from this side of the blades was atop an alluvial fan that seem to start the cascading rolling hills and forests that eventually ended at the desert further to the east. As Maerek came closer to the pass, the stench of rot, mold, and general decomposition wafted out and over him. Maerek tried to smell for his companions, but either the scent was so overpowering, or they were still so far in that he couldn’t smell them.

  His mind raced over possibilities of what could have happened. Perhaps there was a second group of cockatrices and they were attacked, perhaps he should have stayed, perhaps they are tired and need rest, perhaps they are taking a slow and cautious exit. What if they were wounded? Maerek scratched his neck and consciously had to stop thinking. There was too much that he didn’t know and couldn’t know without risking his own life. The single thought that kept coming back to him was that the traders had years of experience with this pass, and he needed to trust in their skill to overcome its dangers.

  Just as he rested his head down, some smell from within the cave rolled into his nose. It smelled much stronger, a more pungent version of the same decay that was constant within the pass, and it was moving closer to him at a very slow pace, almost a limping crawl. It smelled of many kinds of blood, suon, rotted cockatrice, human, with a touch of some acrid bile. Maerek tilted his ears side to side, listening, waiting for another sign or hint at what this denizen of the Blades could be.

  Maerek slowly stood and ruffled his wings, breathing deeply, expanding his torso as he did so. The moonlight barely touched the entrance to the pass. As he peered deeper into the darkness, six sets of eyes peered back at him.

  He sighed and relaxed immediately as all five of the traders, and Ledría rushed out to meet him. The suon trotted along behind, the wagon bumping on the stony ground as it rushed to stay close to its masters. Maerek backed away quickly, covered his nostrils with both claws and snorted viscously.

  “You smell horrible!” he exclaimed. “I smell blood and if I am not mistaken, vomit of decayed… something.” Maerek retched, then swallowed, keeping his own stomach contents in check.

  “Aelex had the idea after you killed the first one,” Keane said.

  “Blood would attract predators, not dissuade them,” Maerek said, still confused.

  “Which is why we had to resort to stomach contents.” Keane shot a sideways glance at Aelex. “There were a few that hovered above us after you ran ahead, but after we covered ourselves in digested something, as you put it, they left and headed after you. I suppose they saw the other dead cockatrices and either feasted on them or gave up the chase.”

  “Enough talk!” Japeth shouted, “I can’t stand this smell, worse than the hind end of suon in heat this is! Let’s get to the river and be quick about it!” Japeth threw his hands in the air and rushed passed Maerek, down the trail. The rest of the group, save for Ledría, quickly followed. Ledría stayed behind, placing a gentle hand on Maerek’s le
g. Maerek smiled, taking in her human scent, void of any stomach juices, blood, or decomposing flesh.

  “What is it with boys and their fascination with dead creatures? I mean, it seemed to me that as soon as Aelex lathered his arms in the stuff, the rest of the boys tried to one up each other. Thomas rubbed it on his face like war paint, so Naeru had to coat his neck and forehead. And then before you knew it, all of them were completely covered in the stuff, gagging and half choking the entire way.” Maerek laughed as he and Ledría began to walk down the trail. “I’m serious. They were so intent on being the one most covered in slime, without taking a moment to think that only one, maybe two of them had to go as far as they did to cover our scent.”

  “It’s not just with humans either,” Maerek replied. “Males of any specie like to compete with other males. It’s what we are.”

  “It’s foolish is what it is.” Ledría breathed a calming sigh. “Thank you again for saving us.”

  “It was what the situation-”

  “Maerek,” Ledría spoke firmly, stopping the dragon midsentence. She sighed again. “What you have done for us is more than a promise. You must understand this. You saved us because you said you would protect us. At the same time, you could have died. You risked your life on our behalf… and not because you said you would.”

  “Because I wanted to,” Maerek said calmly. “I have grown fond of the traders, all of them, and they are, rather, I look at them as if they are my new family, my new keep.” Maerek looked down that the Conduit healer. “And that means you too.” Ledría smiled back. Short yelps of almost pain and enjoyment could be heard among the quiet rushing of a river as the group rinsed themselves of blood and stomach juices.