Dragon Lessons

by Eve Paludan

  “I knew you would.” He unsheathed his sword with a whisk sound, turned it with a flip, and held it out to me, hilt first. “Dear lady, I have a favor to ask. Will you please entrust Anthony with holding Ulfberht, my ancestral sword, for safekeeping?”

  “Anthony?”

  “Aye. It was made by my great-great-great-grandfather in a crucible with alchemy and dragon’s blood and many spells—there is not another like it in all the worlds. As an alchemist in training, I believe that Anthony will give it the love and the attention it needs. For it has a self-awareness about it and needs special care.”

  “Wait a minute. The sword can think?” I asked.

  “Aye.”

  I was overwhelmed. “It’s a stunning sword, and a gift beyond anything Anthony’s ever had, but aren’t you going to need it to take the Cup of Forgiveness from the bad guys?”

  “No. I have a strong feeling that it will be my heart that cuts through their evil and not my sword. I have to go forward in faith and unarmed by anything material because I have to cross a barrier that forbids certain things.”

  “I see.” But I didn’t see. I was scared to see all this metaphysical stuff because it was so complicated.

  Tammy rose from the table. “Don’t go yet, Thorn. I’m afraid it’s not the right time.”

  “Fear not for me. My strength is greater than it has ever been because I love you with all my heart and because I am willing to give you up to seek a righteous path that will seal the life or the fate of every living creature in this world, as that is the Creator’s design. This Cup of Forgiveness—this Grail as you call it—is my one true dragon quest.”

  “You’re sure about all of this?” I said.

  “Samantha Moon, Tammy, I was born for this destiny. And was made a dragon for it, the last surviving one of my home world. And it is my burning hope that Tammy will someday naturally arise as a dragon herself without my intervention, and also seek the greater good in all that she does. And carry on good works, and enjoy love everlasting. And eventually, immortality. I should be joyous if she came to that of her own accord and not by some scheme or design of my own selfish heart.”

  “You are some dragon,” I said, my heart getting heavy for his burden.

  “As are ye ‘some dragon,’ Lady Samantha Moon. I regret that I must take my leave of this welcoming manse before I lose my mind to the pursuit of true love, as I have already lost my heart.”

  “Thorn, no!” Tammy cried.

  “To walk away from you, Lady Tam, instead of giving you the run of the earth and the air as your kingdom, is the most difficult, most painful thing I have ever done. And yet, it is for the greater good that I must break your heart and leave without making apologies, promises or amends. For if I did hesitate and try to ease our broken path, I might never arrive at my destiny. And this world and all in it could perish.”

  “Holy moly, Thorn.” I didn’t know what to say.

  “I hope all that doesn’t sound arrogant. It’s just the truth. I try to say it with as much humility as I can, that this is my Cup, and I must needs accept what is in it, the drink of sacrifice and humble honor. And submission of my life to pursue the greater good for the sake of all.”

  “If your mother was alive, she would kiss you right now.” I kissed him on the cheek and felt the dragon heart of him reach out to my inner dragon as strong and brave and true.

  Our eyes met and his burned with an intensity that was beyond anything I had ever seen in another being.

  “I am filled with gratitude that you understand and that you believe in the things I must do. And trust me to do them. I daresay that every dragon left on this earth, if they knew you, would gather in the heavens and sing your name as their honorary mother.”

  Tammy threw her arms around his neck, no mean feat since he was much taller, and they kissed goodbye in a way that was so private, I had to leave the room and go out the front door. I stood next to Anthony, who had just finished planting a new hydrangea bush.

  “What’s up, Mom?”

  “Thorn’s leaving.”

  “Does he have the Cup of Forgiveness?”

  “No,” I told Anthony.

  “Then he shouldn’t go.” Anthony started toward the front door, and I stopped him.

  “Don’t. He and Tammy are saying goodbye right now.”

  “Oh, I feel so bad for her. It’s gotta be tearing her up.”

  “It is,” I said.

  Thorn came out without Tammy. He gave Anthony a wordless man-hug and that was it.

  Then, Thorn walked off into the hot, shimmering daylight and disappeared in the bright day like a mirage.

  He left Anthony and me standing there all choked up for poor Tammy.

  I went inside and lifted his massive sword that gleamed with blue light and vibrated in my hands with a life energy all its own.

  Tammy ran up to me, crying. “At first, I felt him in my head and he was very sad and now, I can’t feel him at all. He’s really left us, hasn’t he?”

  “Yes, Tammy. He had to leave right now. I don’t know why since he didn’t have the Grail, but I couldn’t keep him here. It’s not enough for me to use police resources to look for the Grail. He knew he was supposed to be doing it and that he hadn’t been trying his hardest to find it.”

  Tammy fell to her knees and screamed her throat raw. I gently put the sword on the floor and knelt next to her. I put my arms around her. She quit screaming. “I’m so sorry you lost him, sweetie.”

  Tammy stunned me by saying, “I’ll never know what it would have been like to be his earth wife or the mother of his children, but what the world has gained, that is something greater than two people loving each other. Now, there’s finally hope for healing this evil, screwed-up world.”

  “Tammy, there’s always hope!”

  “Yes, in some far-flung, metaphorical way. But now, hope is manifesting as action in armies of soldiers of light, as the supernatural creatures of the world rise up into their power to change things for the better. I saw it in Thorn’s mind what is happening. And it’s real!” She looked up at me with tears shimmering in her eyes. “The dragons of the world, you included, are the warriors of goodness and light, slaying the growing evil and destruction. This is about you, too.”

  “No, I’m just a vampire-private-investigator-mom, not someone who saves the world.”

  Tammy replied, “I don’t just read minds. I read hearts. And I’ve read yours, Mother. Nothing can change what you are, deep down, despite your humble words. You are a vampire, a dragon, even a bit of an angel, and each part of you would give your all for love. And that’s what it’s going to take, from you, Thorn, Kingsley, Anthony, and all the supernaturals, even the angels. To save humanity from its end. Starting right now.”

  Her passion for humanity amazed me. “You’re a beautiful human being, Tammy Moon.”

  “Mommy!” she cried out. She wept in my arms, clinging to me for strength as her heart broke over Thorn’s departure. I knew that she was reading my heart, because I could feel her loving me back just as fiercely as I loved her.

  Chapter 30

  TAMMY MOON

  A week later, possibly from a lack of hydration, I’d finally stopped crying over the loss of Thorn from my life. But I still wore his family herald around my neck. Mom had asked about it, and I only told her it was a gift that he’d forged for me with his own two hands. She was pretty impressed. I didn’t tell her about my shared dream with Thorn and our handfasting ceremony in ancient Denmark. I don’t tell Mom everything…

  Sometimes, there were just no more tears and it remained to be seen if we would ever cross paths again. I just knew that, for now, I needed to accept what had happened—that Thorn had left me to do nobler things. Apparently, that was what dragons did. Made you fall in love with them and then left to save the world from weapons of mass destruction—in this case, the weapons were supernatural evil beings.

  We were still here, and the world hadn’t ended, yet, but pe
ople were still being shitty to each other outside the safety net of our house. I knew and trusted that Thorn was working on the problem, though. And I was praying for him, yes, praying, for maybe the first time since I was a little kid. And when I prayed, a tingling came over me that felt like a greater power was at work. It gave me some comfort to believe that life wasn’t totally random, that surely there must be some sort of order or destiny in the world.

  I had things going on, too. My own homework that I had neglected needed to be caught up. And in the back of my mind, there was my third wish to deal with…

  I’d thought about it carefully, and I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to do with my third and final wish with Thorn’s dragon quill. I had a list that I had already torn up and flushed down the toilet, so Anthony or Mom couldn’t snoop, but I knew all my options by heart anyway.

  First of all, I wanted Daddy back from the dead, but I didn’t know who else might die if I wished that, so I’d crossed that off my list with a sob.

  I also knew I shouldn’t wish that Thorn and I would be together in his world because that might stop him from saving this world and also, I didn’t want to go to a place or time where I didn’t have a vaccination for such things as the bubonic plague. And I sure as hell didn’t want to live during the Inquisition, especially with my rising powers that went far beyond mind reading.

  And there were problems with wishing that Thorn would come back to my world and be my love for the rest of my life because he would live longer than my mortal self. And then, he would miss me after I died of old age, or whatever.

  In a way, I did sort of want to be a dragon, but then I didn’t want to be a dragon because I would miss my family and be off doing who knows what for eternity ad infinitem, every single night!

  Same with wishing for peace on the whole earth—who knew what untold repercussions that could have? I mean, if I wished for peace on earth, would I cause a world war that would come before the peace did? You just never knew. Wishes were tricky concepts.

  And I didn’t want to wish for other people to do something for me or give me things or love me in a way where I controlled their destiny. I knew that I had to do things for other people, and I needed to seize the power to do it. But how?

  At first, it had seemed selfish to use my third wish to wish for there to be infinite wishes for me, as long as I lived. But if I had that, then I could maybe make a deal with myself that the powers that I had would be used to carry out helping others. Not making myself rich or anything crazy or evil or greedy like that. Just the power of unlimited wishes, with the promise to myself that I would use them for the good of others to make the world a better place.

  It was so simple and yet, I thought about it until tears came and reality sank in that I knew it was not the right thing to do. I was just fooling myself that I would make myself a virtual goddess on earth “for the good of others.” I knew that wish wouldn’t cut it, and yet, the temptation was real to wish for unlimited wishes and I could not stop thinking about it!

  I locked the door to my room and resolved to wish for that anyway, even as I felt some darkness creep into my heart. Yet, when it came time to make that final wish, I couldn’t do it and the darkness receded. Something was stopping me, as if it was the wrong wish to make myself into this almost omniscient powerful mindreading witch or whatever I am, or would be considered. In the end, I decided I should save that third and final wish for something else.

  I loved Thorn, and respected him, too. I hoped he might somehow know that my inability to make my final wish was because I was still learning from his dragon lessons, still learning to discern right from wrong, and selfishness from unselfishness. If he even knew I was sitting on the third wish like this, I hoped he would be proud of me for figuring out this dilemma by myself—and not seizing the opportunity to just make him a prisoner of my heart for however long my mortal years lasted—or make myself stinking rich—or all-powerful.

  I had to be tougher than that, and smarter than that for the good of everyone who crossed my path. I even got a little bit excited that I would be able to wish for something in the future. A virtual ace in my back pocket wasn’t such a bad thing, I reasoned.

  I had to think on this further because I would be so distraught if I used my wish and things went wrong with the outcome, somehow.

  I’d had enough mind-reading experience to realize that any supernatural power got really boring if I didn’t use it to help people—and making myself all-powerful by wishing for unlimited wishes might just be on the cusp of evil, if not evil in its own right.

  Using my mind-reading power for my own amusement got old pretty fast and it made me kind of jaded to other people’s pain. I worried that the same thing would happen if I just wished for unlimited wishes. It could lead me down a dark path and I knew it. Anyway, I had made my decision, to save my wish for later, maybe when I was more mature and had some more experience in life.

  After I carefully put the dragon’s quill away in my backpack again, I went out to the garage with my dirty laundry. That’s where the washer and dryer were.

  Anthony was out there, too, using Daddy’s woodworking tools to make a custom case to hold the sword that Thorn had left for him.

  “Why didn’t Thorn leave the sword for me?” I asked my brother.

  Anthony shrugged. “I dunno. Can you even lift it?”

  I tried picking it up from the hilt, and I couldn’t budge it. “Nope.”

  “Thought so.” Anthony paused. “And Thorn’s from olden times, don’t forget, so you were probably a physically weak damsel in distress to him. So, that is probably why he left the sword for me and not for you.”

  “How sexist. That’s not fair.”

  “Don’t be shocked, but I agree with you. Mom’s a girl, and she can really kick some ass and lift heavy things like a hundred-pound sword.”

  “A hundred pounds?”

  He nodded. “I weighed it. Anyway, I asked myself, ‘Mom is a dragon, too. So, why didn’t Thorn just give the sword to Mom after he saw her in action?’”

  “Good question, but you kicked ass in that fight, too,” I replied.

  “I tried my best.”

  “It showed.” I sighed. “Hang on a sec. I have to say something.” I paused. “I know we haven’t been getting along for a long time, and all the apologies in the world won’t fix that, but I am grateful for you saving my life, and for helping Thorn.”

  Anthony looked surprised. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too, for playing that trick on you in the chemistry lab at your school. That was rotten of me.”

  “Thanks, Anthony. That does mean a lot and I’m sorry, too, for being a bitch about Melody and making you look bad to her before she even got a chance to know you.”

  “Me and Melody? It’s not meant to be. She’s my T.A. in crystals class, and she isn’t about to let a guy get in her way of her goals to be a crystals alchemy teacher. She would have rejected me anyway for that reason.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  He shrugged. “It’s all right. I get to keep her for a friend, when any relationship would have fizzled out after a few semesters. If that. She’s driven to do her thing, and she doesn’t date anyone who might distract her from her goals. She’s a type A all the way.”

  “Love sucks, doesn’t it, bro?”

  “Yep, it does.” He blew air through his lips. “As far as helping Thorn goes, I did what had to be done. Even though it seemed impossible, I knew I had to help or people would die. Him, too.”

  “And that’s the reason that Thorn left the sword to you for safekeeping. He saw your bravery and figured you could handle whatever came of having the sword. You have great potential to be a hero because you already are one. In his eyes. Or he wouldn’t have entrusted the sword to you.”

  Anthony sort of blushed, and I realized in that moment how unaware he was of how amazing he was.

  “Hero might be too strong a word. I think it has something to do with the fact tha
t I’m in alchemy school and the sword is made of a special kind of steel, with alchemy thrown in.”

  “That makes sense, too. The box you’re making for the sword is really beautiful,” I said, throwing my laundry in the washer, pouring in the detergent, and turning it on.

  “Thanks. I guess my former high school’s shop classes won’t go to waste. For the finishing touch, I’ll use Dad’s tools and carve the name on the box.”

  “Thorn’s name?”

  “No, the sword’s name: Ulfberht. But it’s spelled this way on the blade.” Anthony easily lifted the sword with his freakishly strong arms and turned it so I could see it spelled out: +VLFBERHT+

  “Back then, they used the letter V for a U?” I noticed.

  “Looks like it.”

  “And what are the plus signs?” I asked. “Is that something about math?”

  “No. I think those are crosses, but not necessarily in the Christian way. They can be mystical alchemy symbols, too, and that’s what I think they are. See the worn trace of a circle above the cross? When the two are combined together, it’s the alchemy symbol for antimony.”

  “Antimony?”

  “Yeah, it’s a chemical element. Although some metallurgists consider antimony to be an impurity in swords because it can make them brittle, alchemists like the protection that antimony offers. It’s known as the stone of protection or more famously, as the philosopher’s stone.”

  “Oh,” I said. “So Harry Potter has real science in the books?”

  “Sure. Antimony can be found in nature or it can come from the sky, like a piece of a fallen star.”

  “Neat. What else?”

  Anthony’s face kind of lit up when he was talking about alchemy stuff. “Antimony also has projective energy powers and healing powers, but it can be toxic, too, depending on how it’s used. For example, in the far past, people may have used it as eyeliner or other makeup, but we know better than to do that now. It wouldn’t be safe. Or to lick the sword, either. And depending how much antimony is in it, striking the sword against certain alloys can cause sparks or even, in rare cases, explosions.”