Dragon Raider

by Ava Richardson

  I looked around and I saw that Adair was right. Where before I had just seen a fierce and disreputable crew, I now looked at them, seeing a motley collection of races, ages, men and women, all working together to protect their free way of life.

  “So, I reckon you’ll fit right in, especially if you can fish as good as you did on the first few nights!” Adair laughed, earning a stern ‘hsssh!’ from the sailing master.

  But young Adair had given me something new to think about. Yes, these Sea Raiders were a dangerous, blood-thirsty folk. But they were also a loyal folk, who loved their freedom, and were willing to respect others who did the same. I wondered if there was a way that I could use that to make Lila see the better path…?

  “Steady now, boys and girls…” the captain said as we drew closer to the merchant’s ship. I could peer through the water-run off gaps in the gunwhale, to see that we were close, very close.

  “Ready the cannon teams…” the captain whispered, and my heart froze in my chest. We were going to fire on them? They would drown. Innocent people would drown…

  “Roskilde vessel!” A loud voice called over the waves. “We are the Red Dragon’s Pride, under Torvald protection, state your intentions!” The voice was loud and fine, not the gruff booming of Captain Kasian.

  “Are we close enough to swing across?” Kasian, unable to see, asked the sailing master, who was smiling and waving at the other vessel. The sailing master gave a quick shake of the head at his captain.

  “State your intentions!” The same, finely-toned voice called again.

  I held my breath, terrified that we would fight, and that we would spill blood. There was only one thing that I could do – what I had to do. I closed my eyes, set my hand on the deck and hunched over as if I were going to be sick, while I tried to find that quiet, inner place and reached out to the magic inside of me.

  Chapter 9

  Lila, disappointed

  State your intentions!” The Torvald Captain repeated. I gritted my teeth as I peered at him from where I lay flat on the deck, through a gap in the gunwales. He wouldn’t be an easy man to kill, and I was suddenly scared for my father. It’s not that the rival captain was large at all – no, he looked more like thin Adair than he did my father – or even stocky Danu! But he had on him a metal helmet and shaped armor, leather scales like a dragon’s, with ring mail interspersed. Large gauntlets, and I could see on his deck a phalanx of longbowmen.

  They don’t look much like traders, I thought, as suddenly, there was a crackle of thunder.

  “What?” I thought, looking up to see that there was a knot of dark clouds boiling through the air towards us. They must have been hidden by the near cliffs of the islands, but now they were riding down from the hills, bringing with them wind and rain. The sea got choppy, and the boat started to rock.

  “Evasive maneuvers!” the captain snapped to his crew, swinging his vessel further out away from where the wind and waves were threatening to dash us together.

  “No!” I heard a low moan as my father leapt to his feet. He hated having to hide before a raid, even though he also loved the surprised shock that he would see in their faces when he revealed himself. We were still too far out to swing across on ropes, and our short bows wouldn’t be effective against their armor and helmets.

  And they had longbows. “Father!” I hissed. “They’ve got the longer range!” I warned him. I saw him grunt and nod.

  “Bring us about, sailing master. Ready the cannonade!” my father bellowed as the other Raiders started jumping to their feet.

  The captain of the Red Dragon’s Pride had already seen that we were no ordinary Roskilde naval vessel, and was whistling his orders to his crew to put on sails and extend oars. They had the advantage over us with the wind already behind them, but we were the quicker vessel, if the sailing master could cross the gale’s path.

  “Hyurgh!” Kal the Sailing Master slipped in the sleet, suddenly pelting all of us out of nowhere. Above him the wheel spun, and the Ariel started listing out of control.

  “No!” I cried out, skidding on the deck to climb up to where the wheel was and seize it’s spinning handles—

  “Ach!” The fast-rotating handles batted my hands away before I dove at the wheel again, throwing myself bodily against it to slow it down. The pull of the strengthening waves against the rudder was incredible, and I felt the boat slipping out of my grasp, moments before Kal managed to find his footing on the other side of me, and seized the far side of the wheel to add his strength to my own.

  “I don’t know what happened,” Kal muttered. “It felt like someone pushed me!”

  Between us, we managed to bring the Ariel back under control, but the Torvald ship already well and away, speeding towards the horizon. The storm was all around us, with the waves starting to rise and crash at our hull as the Raiders abandoned their weapons to tend to the sails.

  “We can still catch them!” I shouted to my father, storming and grumbling on the deck. “The Ariel is the fastest thing on the sea…”

  “No, First Mate Lila,” my father shouted. “They’re ready for us now, and they’ve got cannons and longbows. I don’t want to risk damaging the Ariel.”

  I growled in frustration, even though I knew my father was right. That fat little trading boat had been far better equipped than we had expected. They had armor and seemingly trained soldiers, and we only had three good vessels left thanks to Havick. It was far better to pick on smaller and easier targets than to pick a fight with one we might not be certain to win.

  This is why we need dragons, I thought angrily as I manhandled the wheel alongside Kal, and fled the storm.

  Chapter 10

  Danu, dragon-tongue

  The next four days aboard my new home proved uneventful, insofar as raiding went. A foul temper bedeviled the crew, emanating from the captain himself, as he stormed this way and that across the deck, picking on minor faults and petty wrongs wherever he could find them.

  But no one guessed that it was me who had summoned the storm, I thanked the stars on many occasions. The fact that I was wracked by headaches and nausea for the next three days Adair and the others put down to my “landlubber ways” and, regarded me with amusement, if not a gentle sort of scorn. As for Lila, she was caught up in the same foul mood as the chief was, but I could see her desperately trying to prove herself to the crew. She worked more watches than any other on the boat, often staying up late into the night or through the early hours well past midday, helping with the ropes, hauling in the fishing catch, tightening the sails. I tried to copy her example, but the nausea left by my magic only made me clumsy. I wondered what would come of me after this voyage. Had I already done enough to impress the captain, or would they be putting me on a boat and sending me back to Sebol?

  “Sick again, is he?” Was the only remark that I earned from Kal the Sailing Master, as he was more concerned with the mood of the captain.

  I was only too glad when the week was up and Kasian agreed, regretfully, that we had to return to homeport. We reached the outskirts of Spine Rocks one nightfall, and the mailing master announced that it would be wiser to anchor at sea than to navigate the crossing in the dark, given how tired and miserable the crew was. The captain agreed, but that night, I was surprised when First Mate Lila summoned all crew to the deck of the Ariel.

  “What does she want?” said Senga, sitting next to Adair as she always did. The other Raiders didn’t know, but everyone was visibly relieved when they saw the captain accompanying the first mate to address us over our simple meal.

  “Raiders! Ladies and gents!” the Captain called, his voice loud and commanding, if not especially thunderous. “You may have heard the rumors of what my daughter and first mate here wants to do. Well, those of you who haven’t are going to find out now. So, shut up and listen good; for she has my blessing.”

  Unsure of what their first mate was going to propose, the crew’s ears perked up as Lila took centre stage at the railin
g of the top deck.

  “Brothers and sisters of the seas,” she called out, her eyes flashing with passion, and her voice filled with it. “We’ve had a terrible raid!” she announced. I watched as a ripple of superstitious unease spread through the crew around us. This wasn’t usually what a first mate was supposed to say to their crew, I gathered.

  “Awful.” Lila continued, her eyes shining wet with tears of frustration or anger. “We came close to the best haul we’ve had in many a year, only to see it slip through our fingers! Now, we’re going home to our families, our mothers and fathers and wives and children with nothing to show for our hard work!”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” grumbled Adair, earning a warning elbow from his sister Senga.

  “How are we going to feed hungry mouths? How are we going to tend the sick among us? How are we going to survive next winter, with Havick’s navy squeezing our territory, every season?” She thumped her fist on the railing.

  “Yeah. Disgrace!” one of the more cantankerous Raiders muttered.

  “Well, I have the answer, my brave friends,” Lila announced to the skies. “Dragons!”

  A silence settled over the crew, as I watched something start to happen. Lila was talking to their hearts. She was capturing their imagination. I felt a surge of renewed hope. She was a queen, all right. She knew how to reach out to people even if she didn’t believe that she could.

  “You know how strong they are, how powerful, how fast and terrible…” Lila looked into the faces of the crew, holding gazes where they frowned at her, until the crew member was forced to look away. “The western dragons are the Raiders of the sky, going where they want, when they want. Nothing stands in their way – not Havick’s ships, for sure!” she laughed, and this time was joined by a savage chuckle from the assembled as they doubtless imagined dragons destroying Roskilde boats.

  “There was once a woman from these very islands – you may have heard of her – Queen Saffron Zenema, who managed to raise an army of dragons to retake Torvald from the Dark King. You’ve all heard that story, haven’t you?”

  “Aye…” the crew responded.

  “She was just like you or me, an island girl, only she rode dragons. And it was those dragons that changed the future of the world. Well – I know that my Raiders are brave enough and strong enough to become Dragon Riders. I know because isn’t that what we do, every season? We fly over the warm seas, through the teeth of storms!”

  A few excited cheers rose from the crew.

  “If Queen Saffron could do it, then I am sure we can. I know where there is a clutch of dragon eggs, and I intend to raise them as our own, so we can become Dragon Mercenaries!”

  A hushed silence fell over the group.

  “Impossible,” the cantankerous Raider opined.

  “Not impossible. Necessary,” Lila countered. “Imagine what power we would have! Imagine how strong we would be! Do you think that fat little merchant ship would have gotten away from us this week if we had a dragon?” I watched as she fell silent, waiting for her crew to imagine what might have happened. I saw slow, cautious smiles spread across the crew, with Adair and Senga being the first.

  “So, will you support me in my quest? Will you be ready to take to the skies, and deliver fear and fire to our enemies?” she demanded.

  “Aye!” Adair shouted, followed by others. But not all agreed, I could see. Many of the older Sea Raiders appeared wary of this new plan, the crew split fairly evenly, about whether to support Lila’s plan or stick to their traditional seafaring ways.

  But Lila, I saw, took it as a victory as she nodded and raised her fist into the skies. “To the future! For the Sea Raiders!”

  “For the Sea Raiders!” the crowd roared.

  “You are sure?” Kasian said once again to his daughter before he helped her over the side of the Ariel and onto the small boat that the Ariel carried. It was a sharp little vessel with a mast, sail and oars, that the Raiders must use for their lightning-fast raids on beach villages. It would work perfectly for our purposes.

  “Yes, Father. You know this is the only way,” she said softly.

  “Then go.” Her father nodded gruffly. “You know what I think, but you won some support of the crew, and you may be right. It is better that you go and find out now, rather than lose another season.”

  “And the chance of those eggs.” Lila nodded, and gave her farewells.

  We were put over the side, and, after using the oars to push ourselves free from the Ariel, we were soon picking our way north and west, heading once more out into open waters.

  “I hope you really can speak to dragons, adept,” Lila said a little heavily to me as we worked to unfurl the sail and guide the rudder.

  I nodded, not saying anything. And I hope that you find out what being a queen really means, Lila of Roskilde, I thought.

  “Are you sure that we’re going to need these?” Lila asked me dubiously, patting the heavy oak cask that I insisted that she ask her father to gift to us. The winds favored us, and the spine of the dragon atoll could already be seen on the far horizon.

  We made good time, I congratulated myself. It must be the prophecy, wanting to be fulfilled.

  “Danu? Are you listening to me?” Lila cleared her throat as she said it again. She was stilling acting like the first mate, I thought, even on this, our boat of two people.

  “Yes, Lila, I am listening to you. Do you think that we could approach a dragon without gifts?” I said with a smirk. She still had a lot to learn about the ways of dragons.

  A frown crossed her features, and I half expected her to argue with me again (it seemed to be one of her favorite hobbies, during the two nights it had taken us to get here).

  “Okay then.” She nodded, surprising me. Her father had balked at the idea of offering the dragons anything, and especially not the Ariel’s kitty, but, in the end, Lila had pestered him until he had agreed to parcel out a few of the gold doubloons, and a scattering of the gemstone bracelets and medallions that the Raiders kept on board in case they needed to buy provisions, or bribe officials.

  It was a very small offering, I thought with alarm, especially as we were essentially asking a wild brood dragon to give up her eggs to some human that she didn’t even know.

  “The scrolls are clear,” I tried to convince myself as much as her. “That a dragon likes two things above all else: flattery and precious things.” Hopefully our blue dragon had simple tastes.

  “These scrolls….” Lila tapped her finger on the edge of the boat. “These would be in Sebol, right?”

  “The home of the West Witches, where I come from, right.” I nodded.

  “You were born there?” she asked, trying to distract herself from the task ahead, I reasoned.

  “Me? No. They don’t usually train children on the island, but I was an exception. My mother and father were fisherfolk from Tamm,” I said.

  “Hm.” Lila nodded. “I know of it. A southern island. Still under Roskilde’s Navy, though…”

  There wasn’t much that wasn’t under the reach of their powerful, ocean-conquering galleons, I shrugged. “I managed to quell a storm when I was just a child,” I said carefully, not wanting to reveal that I had in fact raised that storm as well. “They took me to the Isle of the West Witches, fearful that the islanders would probably drown me.”

  “Mages aren’t welcome anywhere,” Lila said. “Not after the Dark King.”

  “No. Not after the Dark King,” I agreed. I sometimes wondered if my parents giving me up so early had been because they had been scared of me, just as much as others were scared of magicians in general. I knew that even on Sebol, there had been some amongst the wise witches who had counselled caution in training me. ‘No one wants another Enric!’ I would hear whispered from behind the shutters. ‘What are we bringing into the world?’ And then Chabon’s croaking, ancient voice telling them that if they didn’t have to kill me, they shouldn’t. Those early days had been filled with fear. I remem
bered waking up in the middle of the night, as scared of these strange women as I was of what they thought I might become. But then Afar took me on. A strict task master perhaps, but kind. “You must learn to trust your heart, little Danu – for I can see that it is a good one,” she would say to me.

  “We’re almost there,” I said, eager to change the subject.

  “But you learnt about dragons there, on Sebol?” Lila asked, her voice careful, as if she were making complex calculations as she spoke. “They have a lot of scrolls about dragons, do they?”

  “Ha. If you think the West Witches are going to help you train the dragons, Lila, then no, they wouldn’t,” I said, guiding the rudder to take us straight for the golden beach of the atoll. “They are ruled by old Chabon, who thinks the witches shouldn’t interfere. It was hard enough for my own Master Afar to convince her to let me go!” I said.

  “But can they all speak to dragons?” Lila asked fiercely. It seemed important to her. I wondered what to tell her. Would she abandon me to seek their help instead? After I have done so much to get myself here, striking out alone with a boat, offering to help her and her violent people? Would she think more kindly of my plan to follow the prophecy and make her the queen if I told her they did?

  I didn’t want to tell her about the fact that no, only I could speak the dragon tongue. It had always been a private thing, a thing that I wasn’t sure of myself, and that I didn’t want corrupted by telling another soul.