Then those eyes widened, and those lips moved, forming a word. The dragonfly could see magnificently in colors humans could only imagine, and all around her at once, but she had no sense of hearing. But still, a word snuck into her tiny mind. Kyla.
The face changed. A smile. Joy. As the human laughed, the dragonfly danced in the air for she had found what she sought. Another word entered in her mind, a word that was like joy itself. Li.
~*~
A dragonfly does not live long. Half a year at most, with much of that time as a nymph. Kyla the dragonfly spent most of her short adult life traveling with Li and his companions through the Forest of Ganden. They sought something. While Kyla-dragonfly didn’t know what or why, she shared their desire and sense of urgency.
For the ruby-red dragonfly it was a joyous time. She would eat many bugs along the way—dragonflies are skilled and voracious hunters—and fly along with her human at other times. At night when the humans built their campfire and slept, Kyla-dragonfly would fly up into a tree and fall into a watchful slumber.
On a late summer’s night with the air cool, when she felt they were close to finding what they sought the feel of magic woke her. She saw it creeping below, a tendril of warm air her amazing eyes could see. It wound its way around Li’s body as he sat watching, his back against a tree. It slipped up his nostril and he fell asleep. Something was very wrong.
She took to flight, a bit unsteadily. While she could see into the infrared spectrum and could easily make out the approaching humans, she could not see her surroundings very well in the scant moonlight.
She flew slowly towards the first human. He was squatting down, with an arrow drawn back and aimed at Li.
Kyla-dragonfly’s magic was still with her. Not the chanting and mudra type, but something much more primal. Her magic served her need and, suddenly, she could clearly see the human that was about to slay Li. She flew fast, down the shaft of the arrow, while her body changed. It became harder and longer, filled with the heat of her anger.
The human flinched, the bow jerking up and the arrow flying off into the night, but the dragonfly’s wings compensated easily, and she met her mark.
For she was the arrow now and the attacker’s eye her target. Kyla-dragonfly could not hear the man scream, but she somehow knew that her friends would awaken, they would have a chance.
This was comfort to her as the man’s hand slapped down on her abdomen. She burrowed deeper, past the eye into the brain.
They died together.
~*~
The Draco lizard loved her wings. Not grey-green, like the rest of her skin, but a wonderful ruby-red with delicate black mottling. Flying was the most glorious thing.
Her wings were built on the scaffolding of very long and flexible ribs. They ran along her slim body from right past her front legs, down her back, joining with her back legs just above the knee. The lizard, not having a very large brain, did not reflect on her love of flying—gliding really, there was no flapping involved. She did not notice that for the rest of her kind it was no different than scurrying up a tree or munching on a fly. It was just part of life. But not for this lizard. Flying was joy.
She was different in other ways. She spurned males, having no desire to mate, and being large for her kind was able to parry their advances. She would puff up her dewlap—the pouch on her neck, which was also ruby-red—and the males would scurry away.
This Draco was restless, incomplete, ever seeking something as she wandered the tropical island of Canor.
Then one day she saw a tall human on horseback with three other humans riding behind. They were worn and disheveled, their heads down. She could feel their sadness, sense that they were missing something essential to complete their mission.
The lizard did not think, she leapt from her tree and glided to the man, landing on his shoulder, her claws digging into his worn leather jerkin.
His tired face swung around, a look of fear that quickly melted into a smile, his laughter ringing out.
“Kyla,” he said to his companions, two human males and one female, who repeated the word and laughed.
She had found Li again. Her dewlap swelled with pride as Kyla the Draco lizard looked forward, perched on her human’s shoulder, ready to continue their journey.
~*~
The journey across the sea was hard on Kyla-lizard. No trees. No forest. No flying. She learned to survive on cockroaches and to avoid the rats, staying with her human whenever she could, using his body heat to keep herself warm. When the boat would pitch in the stormy sea and Li would go out into the water and wind, Kyla-lizard would retreat to where the horses were kept and cling to the mane of the horse that carried Li.
She was glad when they came to land, although the island was hot with only a few palm trees along the shore and rolling sand dunes beyond.
They camped and rested for several days, giving Kyla-lizard the chance to climb trees and unfurl her red wings as she glided from one to another.
Soon the quest continued, and she hid from the sun behind the flowing white cloth that Li wrapped around his head. Weeks passed until the sand started to disappear, merging into rolling hills covered in the yellow straw of dead grass. A small mesa rose up out of this land and atop it stood a tower made of sandstone blocks, proud and tall, surrounded by a jumble of cut stones as if the castle and keep that used to be here had crumbled while the tower had remained.
Kyla-lizard sensed the magic and emerged from her hiding place, crawling off Li and onto the mane of the horse. This task was for her, she could feel it. She looked back to Li and then to the tower. He nodded, a grim smile on his lips.
He guided his horse around the back of the mesa and up the remains of an ancient road cut into its side. When they came to the jumble of stone blocks, Li stopped and looked at the lizard. She climbed onto his shoulder and then onto his hand. He understood what she wanted and stood up in the saddle to extend his arm up as far as it would go.
Kyla the Draco lizard unfurled her wings and flew across the downed sandstone blocks to reach the tower. She shouldn’t have flown that far in the still, hot air, but her magic had aided her, a breeze lifting her at the last moment, so she did not have to touch the downed stones. She feared them. Some ancient force still lingered there.
Up the tower she scrambled, until she found a window looking south over the vast desert they had traveled back to the blue strip of sea on the horizon. Through the window, she saw a cobweb-covered skeleton sitting on a throne, looking towards the sea.
The window pulsed with magic. Magic that would stop a man, but not a lizard. Kyla-lizard carefully crept through and down the wall, across the dusty floor and up the skeleton to its hand.
On it was a ring of shiny gold with a large green stone, unworn as if time had no effect on it.
She used her claws and pulled on the ring, but it resisted, as if it was still tight around flesh that was long gone. She pulled harder to no avail. Instinct drove her as she brought her own magic to bear and pulled on the ring one last time. It flew off and clattered to the dusty floor, Kyla-lizard tumbling down after it.
She rose, shaking her head, and went to the ring, putting her forefoot on it so it stood, and slipped her head through it. The tower shook violently. She scurried across the floor and up the wall to the window. Outside, the whole world seemed to dance as the tower swayed, the sound of it a deafening roar.
But something was different. She could see far across the sea to a cloaked woman standing on a ship. The human held a large ruby-red stone that Kyla-lizard longed for. She knew this ring was what the humans needed to complete their mission, that it would guide them.
The vision faded, and she paused. The ring was too heavy—she would not be able to fly with it around her neck. But she would not get down the tower before it collapsed, either.
There was a deafening snapping sound, like the earth below her had broken, and the tower started to fall.
Kyla-lizard jumped and fell straight
down, the sandstone blocks of the tower falling right above her. She would be buried along with the ring.
She unfurled her lovely red wings, her magic coming to her aid once again. The wings stretched in size and a breeze gave her lift. A stone block raked down her back, taking skin with it, but she was flying, farther than ever before, the joy of it filling her heart. She cleared the tumbling tower and the rest of the stones and crashed into the dirt beyond.
She was still too heavy and didn’t land well, tumbling on the dirt, breaking the ribs of her wings, one of them piercing her body.
Through the pain she felt joy. She had succeeded. The ring would let them continue their quest. Li picked her up in his hand while the female human tried to save Kyla-lizard with her own magic. But it was too late.
The last thing Kyla the Draco lizard saw were droplets of water flowing down Li’s face.
~*~
The large lizard, a Komodo dragon, basked in the sun on the southern edge of a small, unnamed island deep in the Sindu Sea. She weighed as much as a strong man, with long claws, sharp teeth, and a powerful tail.
This lizard had scales a deep shade of red around her eyes and down the top of her back and tail.
She was perched atop a cliff on black, volcanic rocks, watching the ocean as months slipped by. During the day, she left only to hunt or when the sun became too hot, and then moved to a nearby palm tree and watched from the shade.
One day a ship arrived, and a small boat made landfall. There was a strong human male with long black hair caught at the neck in red silk, with three other humans, two males and one female. After landing on the beach below, they did not delay, pulling the boat up above the tide line, shouldering packs, and picking their way up the cliff.
Sounds formed in her brain. “Li,” “Anden,” “Wicks,” and “Shu.” Her mind was just sophisticated enough to associate the sound with the humans—each human had a different sound that belonged to them.
She longed for the male, Li, as if he were a mate. The thin one, Aden, was tall and lithe. Wicks was stout and slow. And Shu, the female, she felt towards as she would a sister.
Li led, and when they arrived at the top of the cliff, the Komodo waited. Li’s hand went to the sword at his belt, but then he recognized her.
“Kyla,” he said, his face showing joy.
The lizard knew that sound was her sound. These humans were hers. They knew where she needed to go. She fell in beside Li as they started their long trek.
~*~
Kyla the Komodo dragon could taste the danger in the air before she saw it. They were three days into their journey and seemed to be wandering. They were searching for something, that much was clear to her, but what signs they followed or what they sought was beyond the lizard. She was content to be by Li, his hand often brushing her head as they walked.
As the forest opened up into a meadow covered in tall grass, Kyla-Komodo stopped, her forked tongue licking out. She tasted humans, but not her humans. Li’s hand went up and the rest of the humans stopped and quieted.
Three arrows shot forth from those tall grasses, one grazing Kyla-Komodo’s shoulder. It was not a wound of consequence and only ignited her rage. She sprinted forth, moving fast as her kind can for short distances, and was on the three bowmen. Using claw, fang, venom, and tail, they died quickly.
After it was done, she heard the clang of steel on steel and turned to find her humans surrounded. She sprinted towards them, but a female human stepped in her way. The sound “Ria” floated in her mind and she felt hate. This human was her enemy and betrayer. She lunged forth, but Ria’s hands wove intricate patterns in the air as her tongue formed sounds Kyla-Komodo did not understand.
The great Komodo dragon was frozen in place, an invisible force squeezing her tight.
With a smile on her thin face, Ria pulled a narrow dagger from her belt with her left hand, her right hand continuing to dance in the air.
Air. Kyla-Komodo realized that this Ria was using her air magic to hold her. How could she fight this magic?
Ria smiled as she knelt in front of Kyla-Komodo and pressed the blade to her scaly throat. The Komodo struggled, but could not move, beyond her jaw cracking open and her tongue flicking out. Her innate magic came to her aid and as Ria pushed, the knife skittered off her strengthened scales.
The tall mage rose up, her knife discarded, her chanting growing louder and her hands dancing more intricate designs, and the pressure increased.
Behind Ria, Kyla could see the battle rage with Li, Anden, Wicks, and Shu, surrounded by ten strong men. They did not have a chance.
Memories came to her of humans in stone chairs laughing at her, of the human Li taking her away from her home seeking something important, of the taste of defeat, bitter and rank, of feeling small and weak and insufficient.
But she was Komodo now and all of those memories and feelings burned in the fire of her anger. More than shame came back with those memories, her magic came to life, sounds forming in her mind, a long ago spell resuming.
I am now the dragon.
Lives passed through her mind’s eye. As Kyla the human falling from a high cliff desperately trying to turn into a dragon. As a dragonfly, a fearsome hunter and master of the air. As a Draco lizard that loved to fly, so small, so brave. As this powerful Komodo dragon that had found its purpose and its place.
I am now the dragon.
Her body grew many times larger and elongated, becoming more serpentlike. Wings sprouted out of her back, her claws and teeth lengthened, and the chemistry of her venom sacks changed.
Ria backed up, a surprised look on her face, but continued her magic. Kyla was now a dragon, but still could not move, the air pressing her, crushing her. The pain was terrible. She was dying.
Her friends would perish at the hands of Ria’s mercenaries. The volcano would erupt and scorch her home of Jango, sending those that survived forth. Ria was winning. Ashna’s Heart and the great priestess’s sacrifice would be perverted.
She was dragon and still not enough.
But she was dragon now and instinct took over, and she forced her mouth open again, this time a gout of flame leaping forth and catching Ria’s clothing on fire.
Ria screamed and the spell was broken. Released from the vice of magic, Kyla-dragon leapt forth, biting the mage’s head off before going to the rescue of her humans.
~*~
There was some green left in the caldera below. Just a few pine trees along the edges of the growing pool of lava, the sulphur smell of it reaching the dragon’s nose. After Ria’s death and the routing of her mercenaries, it hadn’t taken long to find Ashna’s Heart. The Komodo lizard turned dragon had found it easily, hidden in a nearby cave. She had invited Li to come along and had flown him back here to the island Jagno, her once-home.
“How can you return the heart?” Li asked, standing beside the dragon on the lip of the volcano. “The chamber must be flooded with lava.”
The dragon was Kyla, but many other people too, and insects, and animals, and fish. The dragon had a mind that could see things clearly, could see her past lives all the way back to the time of Ashna.
My sister did it all alone. With her heart. I will find a way. The dragon did not speak, her thoughts entering Li’s mind like a whisper carried on the wind.
“Ashna was your sister?” Li pulled Ashna’s Heart out of his satchel. It was stone, translucent red, pulsing with power, and looked like a human heart.
The dragon nodded. I remember it all now. She remembered being jealous of her older sister and her power. Of being one of Ashna’s attendants here on Jagno. And she remembered the jealousy she felt when her sister gave herself for her people. Kyla-dragon knew that the seeds of Ria’s betrayal—the stealing of Ashna’s Heart—had been sown in her own jealousy and passed down from generation to generation throughout the ages.
It was time to make amends.
The ground rumbled beneath them, a geyser of lava hundreds of feet tall shooting
up from the pool below, a blast of heat rushing over them.
The dragon lifted her front leg and held her claw out.
Li swallowed hard and gave her the red stone. “We will find each other...” he said, beginning their ritual.
The dragon studied him. She still felt a longing for him and found comfort in those brown eyes, but the kind of love he professed was now foreign to her.
Her lives made sense now, all leading to this moment, this purpose. The dragon leapt off the volcano, her wings beating the air as she climbed above the island. She could feel the power of the stone in her claw and she could feel her long-ago-sister. No words, just feelings. Pride. Relief. Confidence.
She flew higher and higher until the island was small in the broad ocean with a ragged gash of red-orange lava leaking out the side and nearing the populated coast. Then she dove, folding her wings to her side and using her long tail to guide her, the wind lashing over her scales, down, straight down, towards the pool of lava.
When the island was large again, when she could see Li watching her fall, she finished the ritual and projected to him, No matter how many lifetimes it takes.
She didn’t know if she believed it, but perhaps a calm life with him would be her reward, or perhaps another life of adventure together.
As the dragon splashed into the lava, she knew it would be all right. One way or another, one lifetime or another.
~*~
The cool breeze coming off of the ocean played at Kani’s thick, black hair as she held tightly to her mother’s hand, her clumsy legs pushing her slowly along the beach’s firm, wet sand.
Seagulls flew above, crying and begging for food, while children bigger than her splashed in the waves, laughing. Tall palm trees held court over it all.
Swords, Sorcery, & Self-Rescuing Damsels Page 10