by Logan Jacobs
I climbed the backside of the establishment while my distraction was still going strong. I perched atop the green tiled roof, and they rumbled beneath me as the mother dragon roared in apparent agony.
I noticed the roof was open in the center, so I climbed up the slippery surface and peered down inside.
It was at this point I realized I’d never actually seen a live dragon before, and the paintings just didn’t do it justice.
They had her pinned down with chains on every leg and stuck her red-scaled hide with long spears as she shot flames at them from her open maw. The dragon’s blood trickled into the sandy pit where she was trapped as they attempted to tame her.
The memory of my father’s tortured body atop the elven podium on his execution day came to mind, and I couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
I wished Wade was by my side. He always knew what to do, but I hated to tell him that.
The risk of getting caught was too great, but I couldn’t leave the poor baby dragon with these people. One day it too would be chained down and prodded until the grainy sand ran red with its blood. I wouldn’t let that happen.
Also, Wade needed something to cook the whiskey, and I’d promised him I’d deliver.
I swung my body over the open edge of the roof and then used the wooden beams that held up the tiles to climb down unnoticed by the dragon “tamers” below.
They were much more like dragon torturers.
I dropped down onto a wooden platform beyond the pit, but the tamers were too occupied with the dragon to notice my silent arrival. Then I entered the hallway to my left and jogged down the stone halls on silent feet. The doors all looked the same, and I felt my heart race in my chest when I realized I was looking for a needle in a haystack.
Then I came across one made of metal.
The iron door was solid and required a key, so I pulled out my lockpicking kit and went to work as I prayed no one came down the hall and saw what I was doing. Eventually, it clicked open and inside lay a blue-scaled baby dragon about the size of a house cat.
“Oh, hello,” I whispered, but the creature whimpered as I approached and tucked itself into the corner.
“That’s okay, handsome.” I raised my hands and advanced slowly across the hay covered floor.
It was scared, and I couldn’t blame it.
I would be too if I heard my mother’s screams in the next room. I held out my hand, and the dragon came over and sniffed it tentatively while its silver eyes monitored my every movement.
It inched closer as it grew more courageous, and I held completely still.
I wanted a fuel source to make whiskey, and not to become a slice of burnt toast.
Eventually, it licked my hand and then my face as it nuzzled me with its scaled nose.
I chuckled at the sentiment as I debated how I would sneak the cute fellow out of captivity. When I stood and walked to check the hall, he followed me as well as any loyal dog.
“Can you sit?” I opened my hand to show him my palm, and the blue-scaled dragon sat on his haunches.
“Maybe roll over?” I asked as I twisted my fingers end over end.
The baby dragon tilted his head to the side for a moment, but then he rolled on his back and showed me his belly.
“I think we are going to be the best of friends, you and I,” I whispered to the strange blue beast as I bent down and scratched his belly.
He purred in response and wiggled his tail across the floor in agreement.
Suddenly, the door to the enclosure opened, and a bald older man entered.
“Who are--”
Without warning, the baby dragon flipped onto his feet, let out a small screech, and opened his tiny maw. I rolled backward into a handspring, but the blue magma-fire that emerged from his mouth wasn’t close to hitting me.
It completely roasted the zookeeper, though. The man didn’t even have a chance to scream, he just instantly turned into melted flesh and then ash with a single ball of blue flame.
“Woah!” I gasped as the oxygen was sucked from the room, and then I peered back at the baby dragon, and he chirped excitedly.
“Guess you didn’t like him?” I asked, and my new friend flapped his small wings in agreement.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” I said as I motioned for him to follow me. I actually thought about picking him up and putting him on my shoulders, but I didn’t know if I quite trusted him not to gnaw on my face or cook my neck, so instead I just removed my cloak and tied it around his spiky neck to deter someone from noticing his bright blue scales.
We headed away from where his mother was being held as I searched for another exit.
Suddenly, the mother dragon let out a terrible roar, and the baby dragon froze as he turned his head to listen.
“We can’t stay here, or the same will happen to you,” I whispered to the frightened creature as I smoothed the scales atop his small head. “I’ll take care of you, if you’ll let me.”
The small creature turned toward me and blinked his silver eyes. I thought he would have left me, but surprisingly he chose me over the cries of his true mother.
Maybe he understood what I was saying, after all.
I led him away from his mother’s agony, and eventually I spotted the guards at the front door. There was no way to get past them, and we couldn’t continue turning people into burnt crisps. Stealthy, that was not.
I had an idea that was borderline insane, but it was the only shot I had to get us both out of there in one piece.
I backtracked away from the guards with the little dragon and checked the doors in the hall until I found an unlocked closet.
“Stay here while I find us a way out. I’ll be right back, I promise, little one,” I whispered to the baby as I shuffled him inside to hide. Then I shut the door as I messed up my perfect ponytail and tore parts of my clothing.
I ran up to the front gates where the elves were stationed, and I started the waterworks.
“Guards! Come quickly!” I panted as the tears flowed down my face. “The mother dragon ate the other tamers. I don’t think the chains will hold. I’m going to get help, but could you go down there and keep her occupied? She was nearly out of those restraints when … when … ”
“What do you expect us to do about a loose dragon?” one of the guards growled as he stared down at me beneath his helmet. “We were hired to guard the entrance, girl, not fetch the livestock.”
“It will be your problem when she escapes and burns everyone in this area to a crisp, mind you,” I pleaded with him. “Go grab her chains to prevent her from ripping them out of the wall while I go and find someone else to help.”
The guards exchanged a glance before they responded. “Fine, but hurry. This wasn’t a part of our job.”
Then they took off in a lithe run only they could achieve with their elongated forms.
Once I was sure they were gone, I ran back to the closet to fetch my new dragon pal. He looked happy the moment he saw me again, and I finally decided to put him on my shoulders so we could get out of here easier.
“I have trust issues,” I whispered to him as I reworked the cloak over my shoulders so it covered him. “So please don’t burn or bite me, baby dragon.”
He let out a purr, and then I felt his scaled head rub against my neck. I giggled despite myself, and I reached up to pet him through my cloak. A few moments later we were at the exit to the stone building, and I saw everyone was busy fixing the damage the fireworks had done to the outside structures of the zoo.
“This way,” I whispered to the dragon as I snuck out of the entryway and toward the rear of the closest cages.
We were almost out of here, and I was rather pleased with my performance. The only two people to see me were the elves, and the pointy eared bastards thought all us humans looked the same. I doubted they would even remember the color of my hair.
Yep, my quickly planned caper had gone off without a hitch.
“Someone stole the b
aby dragon!” a voice suddenly boomed behind us.
“Well, shit,” I said to my shoulder rider, and I could feel his small blue body tremble on my shoulders.
We had to hurry, or the dragon would be placed back in captivity, and I would be taken into custody by the elven guard.
“Everyone search the area!” the voice yelled. “He couldn’t have gotten very far.”
I ducked behind another cage, this one filled with displacer beasts that let out threatening growls, and I realized most of these caged monsters would give me away.
I sprinted a good twenty yards as I glanced back over my shoulder, and then I slid across the dirt and hid behind a dilapidated wagon. There must have been thirty guards and zookeepers searching the cages now, but the fence was right behind me.
I just needed them to be looking away so I could climb it without being seen.
“I don’t see the dragon. Do you?” I heard a voice shout, and I saw a pair of halflings sprint past me.
“No, let’s keep looking. It has got to be here somewhere,” another voice responded.
I released a shaky breath as I heard their footsteps fade away. Then I gave one last look at the main path through the cages and thought that it would be now or never.
I backed away from the wagon, turned to the wall, and then sprinted toward it. My hands found holds on the bars, but the dragon riding on my shoulder prevented me from doing my usual flip over the top. Still, desperation had made me fast, and I let out a sigh of relief when I landed on the other side.
Then I walked away at a casual pace and tried to listen to the cries of alarm over the sound of my heart slapping against the inside of my chest.
No one shouted from behind me, and a few moments later I was lost in the throng of people who worked their way like blood through the diseased city.
“Looks like we made it,” I whispered down to my shoulder, and then I smiled when I felt the baby dragon lick my cheek with his slobbery tongue.
“Come along now. I’m going to take you to your new home,” I promised him, and he clicked his tongue excitedly in response.
I hoped Wade would be as happy with me as the baby dragon was.
Chapter 13
My arms were filled with the copper piping I retrieved from the apothecary, so I had to use my hip to push the doors open. They were already unlocked, so I figured Penny must have brought back the fuel we needed to run the still.
“Penny, I--”
I froze as I saw the blue dragon sitting in the corner of the room by the giant water tubs. It bared its teeth at me, and I took a step back. This thing was a baby, and only the size of a cat, but it was still a fire-breathing dragon, and it was obviously pissed at me, so I didn’t want to get too close.
“Azure, down boy!” Penny reprimanded the blue-scaled beast. “Wade is a friend, little one.”
“Penny, where did you get that, and why?” I asked her, and then I realized my jaw was hanging open, so I closed it with a snap.
“Does it really matter?” she groaned as she tossed her scarlet ponytail back over her shoulder. “It’s free fuel, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but highly illegal free-fuel,” I said, but my words were rather poorly thought out, and I blamed it on the fact that I was staring at a dragon.
“Everything we are doing is illegal.” She waved a hand dismissively at me as she reached over and grabbed a raw leg of mutton. Then she tossed it to the baby dragon, and he caught it between his sharp white teeth, took it between his talons and began to rip into it like a dog, except I knew not to trust the loyalty of this creature.
“I’m fairly certain if you weren’t here, I would have been its breakfast,” I said.
“Look, you wanted fuel, and I got it for you,” she reasoned with me. “He’s cheap to feed and no one will even know he’s here. Look at him. He is content, and I can promise you he’s much better off here than where he was before.”
“And where exactly was he before?” I questioned. “I just want to know who will be after my head when someone finds out we have their dragon.”
“All I know is I’m going to fix that hole in the roof today so he can’t fly out while we’re gone,” she cooed as her emerald eyes glittered mischievously. “This way, no one will be after your pretty little head.”
“Whatever, just make sure he doesn’t cook me when my back is turned,” I muttered as I set down the copper piping in my arms.
“So, ya aren’t even going to thank me?” she sighed as she rolled her emerald eyes. “Typical for you.”
“What do you want me to say?” I groaned as I turned to face her.
“I just told you,” she scoffed. “How about ‘thank you, Penny, for getting me a fire source that isn’t coal or wood or anything that can be easily traced back through dwarven suppliers who might eventually want a piece of my business.’”
“Huh,” I said as I glanced back at the small blue dragon. “You make excellent points.”
“See?” she snickered. “What would you do without me? Don’t answer that. We both know you’d be all sorts of dead.”
“I guess the dragon can work,” I said with a shrug. “I’m just worried about him eating us.”
“He’s small,” she pointed out.
“Dragons don’t stay small forever,” I countered.
“We’ll be nice to him,” she laughed. “He won’t want to eat his family.”
“So, now he’s our family?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow. “Are we his dad and mom?”
Penny didn’t answer. She just crossed her arms and gave me her usual sour look. It somehow made her look even prettier, and I wondered if I always tried to annoy her so I could see her eyes narrow and her full lips purse together.
“Okay,” I finally sighed. “I suppose we are taking risks in every step of this plan. What is one more? Maybe he’ll roast anyone that comes in here who isn’t us.”
“See?” She smiled sharply. “You can think smart.”
“That means he has to like Dar and Cimarra,” I pointed out, “so we’ll need to introduce them as soon as possible.”
“Fine with me,” Penny said, but I saw her shoulders tense a bit when I said the dancer’s name.
“Let’s get started.” I looked over at the two water tanks I had at my disposal as well as the pile of kegs Dar left for me in the corner. He’d filled a few of them up with cold water for me, and I made a mental note to thank him the next time I saw him.
The wash I created a few days ago had fermented, so all I needed to do was finish the still and cook my first batch of whiskey.
I placed a keg on top of two other barrels beside the water tank. Then I climbed up the ladder beside the tank and used my knife to carve a hole in the lid of the last tower. I took my copper pipes and lined them up along the stable floor as I laid out how I planned to connect them.
I cut off a few pieces of copper and opened them up, so I could use them to connect the pipes together.
“Penny, I’m going to need your dragon’s fire. Do you think he can help without burning off my hands?” I asked her.
“Just tell me what needs to be heated,” the redhead informed me. “I know he won’t hurt me.”
I nodded my head and placed my makeshift fittings over the ends of the pipe.
“You need to place the strips of solder here, like so,” I explained as I showed her how to twist it around the edge of the copper. “When he heats them, it should melt them into place. I also need him to heat the far end of the pipe. It needs to be coiled, but I can manage that after he does his part.”
I wrapped my hands in strips of cloth as Penny called her pet dragon over. I was surprised to see how gentle and precise he was with his flame, despite his beastly qualities and young age. It was almost like he thought of her as his mother, and Penny’s cooing voice showered the creature with more affection than she’d ever shown me.
I doubted she would ever tell me the story of how he came to be in her possession, but I was sure
she had a hell of a time.
The dragon heated my end of the copper after Penny had connected all the pieces, and then I took the long copper in my hands and coiled it until I was sure it would easily fit into the keg.
When all the piping was as it should be, I began to place it within the still. First, I inserted the first copper tube into the hole then continued over and placed the coiled segment into the lidless barrel.
Second, I carved a hole in the bottom for the moonshine to come out and pushed the tail end of the coil through the hole. Then I placed an old wooden bucket beneath its copper opening.
Third, I took a singular copper pipe long enough to extend from my mash boiler to the next tub where I would make the whiskey. The tub had a spigot for draining the bath water, so I placed a piece of cloth over it and luckily, the copper pipe fit snugly over the cloth-wrapped end. Next, I inserted the other end of the copper pipe into a hole I’d made in the bottom of the next tub. The mash boiler tub had a spigot at the bottom of it, so I used it to my advantage.
Finally, I took the torch off the wall and scooped the thick and gooey tar from its surface. I rubbed the substance over the edges of all the holes I’d made in the tubs and the keg to seal them. Then I opened the spigot to let the wash strain through the cloth, and it flowed from the copper pipe and into my main drum. I let it continue until I was sure we could begin to make the product.
“That it?” Penny asked once I’d walked around the pipes, tubs, and vats a few times to inspect everything.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I think that’s it.”
“This gonna work?” she sighed.
“If you didn’t think it was gonna work, then you wouldn’t have stolen a dragon for me,” I laughed.
“Maybe I stole the dragon because I just like dragons,” she shot back as she rolled her sparkling emerald eyes and tossed back her flame-colored hair.
“Well, if you would please have your pet dragon provide fire to the bottom of this drum, we can get started with the cooking.”
“He has a name you know,” she responded as she directed the dragon over to the tub. “If you call him Azure, it’s not going to make it any more dangerous or illegal.”