Dragon Raider

by Ava Richardson

  “My people need me.” I sat heavily on the bed, whispering into the night. “These people might not be my family, but they need me.”

  Creak. There was a sound from outside of the room and I looked up. One of the creaky floorboards of the landing. Just like the sound it made when Pela was walking past, I thought, just as she used to do when I was a kid. Had she heard me mumbling in the dark?

  I stood up and opened the door. “Mother?”

  A light was on across the balcony, and from her room emerged Pela, my foster-mother, looking much older than she usually did. She didn’t wear her heavy leather armors and gloves that she wore during her day’s training exercises, and instead looked somehow a lot smaller to my eyes.

  “Pela,” she insisted, looking at me with sad eyes. “I’m not your mother, Lila… it’s probably about time that I accepted that as well.”

  “Oh, Mother,” I said, feeling my heart break as I rounded the balcony and swept her into my arms. The top of her head was at the height of my nose. How could I think that this small woman was my biological mother?

  Because she had acted like one, I knew. “I will always be your daughter, Pela,” I said. “You know that, don’t you?”

  She broke away brusquely from me embrace. “Hff. Enough of that silliness – or you’ll make me cry!” She dabbed at her eyes, before composing herself and fixing me with a hard stare. “I can see that you are miserable, Lila. I saw it the moment that you agreed with Kasian, and I suddenly felt terrible.”

  “It’s done,” I said, shaking my head.

  “But your dragon, and the young man – will they come back?” Pela frowned as she looked at me.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged, feeling my heart threaten to break all over again. “I hope so. I think so.”

  Pela hissed once more to herself, shaking her head. “I think that I and your foster-father were wrong. I see that now, Lila…” My foster-mother’s face creased with regret. “I haven’t been able to get the look on your face out of my mind when your dragon flew away. I never want any daughter of mine to feel like that. You weren’t meant to captain the Ariel, you were meant to be out there on your dragon.”

  “Mother! How can you say that?” I said, feeling upset and hopeful at the same time. I couldn’t put it into words. “But what about the other Raiders – how can I be one of them if I am not the First Mate of the Ariel?”

  Pela did not answer me directly, or quickly, and from that I could tell that she did not know the answer either. But she was a brave woman. “I think, Lila, that the Raiders are going to have to change, one way or another. It is true, that they are very wary of your dragon, and they don’t like the fact that you have been spending more time with it than on board the Ariel… But the Western Isles are changing, Lila, for good or for ill.” I watched as my mother shook her head sorrowfully. “We Raiders enjoyed some good times with the Dark King Enric ruling Torvald, I will admit that. A lot of people fled to the islands, there were rich pickings to be had… But now? With Torvald a strong force protecting its resources, and with Havick as strong as he is…? The Raiders are going to have to change,” she repeated. “And that means that they will have to accept you, not the other way around.”

  I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a cliff, ready either to fly or fall – and I didn’t know which one that it would be.

  “You should go to your dragon and your young man. Find them. Do what you were born to do.” Pela nodded. “You know who you are, Lila. Who you really are. Stop trying to please everyone else – and become it! That would be brave.” She gave me an affectionate punch on the shoulder, just as she used to do when we were training together. “And after all, didn’t I always tell you that being brave was the Raider way?”

  I smirked, and hugged my mother again, harder this time. “Thank you. But what about Father…?”

  “Oh bah! Don’t you worry about that big old lug – let me deal with him, will you?” Pela pushed me off her once more. “Go on. Go become a dragon princess or whatever it is you have planned – only don’t you dare burn any of my ships!”

  “I won’t, Mother,” I said, knowing that she liked hearing me call her that. I hurried back inside my room, changing my clothes for clean ones and refilling my pack with the supplies needed for a journey. On impulse, I shoved the carved dragon’s head into the pack as well, before setting it on my shoulder. I had the sudden image of how the world could be: of me being a Dragon-Queen like Saffron was, only this time I would live out here in the islands. I would be able to forge some kind of peace with my family of Raiders. Perhaps we could explore instead of raid, perhaps….

  “Enough, Lila,” I scolded myself, imitating my mother’s tone as I did so. First I had to steal a boat, and then find my dragon and that fish-boy as well…

  I knew, all of a sudden, that I would have no trouble in either the stealing or the finding. There was a part of my heart that was forever given over to Crux, now, and all I had to do was to follow where it led.

  I took the back stairs from the house two at a time before escaping into the night.

  Chapter 29

  Danu, a council of Dragons

  Something woke me up – but it wasn’t a noise. Crux had relaxed his angered flight and the wind had died down, making it easy for me to snooze on the great dragon’s back. I was surprised at how quiet a dragon could be when it was flying, so long as it wasn’t in a hurry!

  “Where are we?” I yawned, looking at the scene ahead: a large shape of an island, dominated by a ruined, half-collapsed mountain. Its slopes disappeared into deep jungles.

  “There is no name for this island in your tongue. The island dragons just call it Home Island,” Crux said, his voice steady and tight in my mind. But there was something else here, something that didn’t make sense. I thought that Crux was flying away because he was angry, and that he wanted to ‘be happy’… But I could sense that there was no happiness in him. Instead, there was a tight ball of worry.

  “Skreeeech!” A sound rose from the island below us; low and echoing like a lament.

  “Skrech!” Crux stiffened, his agitation only increasing.

  “Crux? What is it?”

  “Something is wrong. I have been summoned.” Crux flexed his wings and let out a high, mournful whistle out across the nightscape.

  I felt the airs stand up on my neck as a sound answered Crux. Another hooting call, echoing strangely from the mountain itself. “Other dragons live here,” I said, stupidly.

  Crux didn’t deign to answer, but swooped down, lower over the dark trees towards the mountain, flying in a silent, deadly curve straight into a gorge in the mountain’s slopes. One that ended in a cave, and in that cave, I could see the glitter of great, shining eyes.

  The dragon home was too large for my eyes to penetrate all of its shadows. I was brought into a great cavern, following Crux’s soft tread on the sandy floor. It was a vast space, with giant chasms opening out into further caves. The slabs of the mountain’s bones projected out to form ledges and overhangs, upon which lay mighty lizards of varying colors. I could see the long Sinuous Blues draping across their brethren like scarves, and the stockier Greens hunched over their front claws like cats. There was also at least two – or it could have been one, I wasn’t sure – of the immense Whites, occupying the far recesses of the cavern. The largest number of the dragons here, however, were the smaller and falcon-like sea-green dragons, their scales rippling turquoise as they chirruped and whistled to each other.

  “But none like me,” Crux needled into my mind, and I realized he was right. There were no other multi-colored dragons like Crux the Phoenix here.

  “Crux, son of Velchmar, son of Daryx, son of Sol!” a dragon voice erupted into my mind, and I looked up to see that one of the Blues had unwrapped itself from its fellows and was leaning over the space, looking down at us.

  “Den-Mother Taliski,” Crux said and shocked me by lowering his snout to the floor. I hadn’t thought that the
fierce Phoenix was willing to bow to anything! Even dragons have their own queens, I realized as I copied his example.

  “I have called you here to discuss important matters with you. You know of my sister, the dragon Sym?” the blue den-mother said, her eyes flashing.

  “I do. I was there at the birth of her young ones.” Crux looked straight up at the queen dragon.

  “Yes. She was acting as den-mother to three eggs, as is our way,” Taliski intoned, earning a rattling hiss from the other dragons.

  “As is our way,” Crux repeated, as if this was some sort of dragon tradition.

  “Of the three hatchlings, only one now remains.” the Den Mother flicked her tail, and I felt a wave of deep mourning spread through my connection with Crux and from the other dragons around me. It was clear that the hatchlings were highly revered in dragon society, and so any harm or misfortune that befell them was a loss keenly felt by all.

  “I am sorry,” Crux said, scratching at the ground with a claw.

  “Two of them were lost not to the sea, nor the storms, nor even accident. Humans,” Taliski hissed, and the rattling hisses turned sour. I shook where I stood, my knees going weak. These dragons were angry, terribly so.

  “Fiends!” Crux roared his displeasure. “Who did this?”

  “We were hoping that you, as the only bonded dragon in the isles at the moment – and not even an island dragon yourself – might have an answer, Crux!” Taliski stated with obvious displeasure. I was beginning to sense that there was an entire world of politics on the other side of the human-dragon relationship, one that I didn’t understand at all. Was Crux in trouble for being the first to bond with a human since Queen Zenema’s island dragon did, decades ago? Was it not an honor to bond with a human?

  Crux stared back at the queen. His answer was clear, even before his mind-voice spoke through all of us. “The human I have bonded with, Lila wave-rider, sought to bond with dragons, but she is the only one that I know of capable and brave enough to do so.”

  “Skrech!” Taliski hissed, pulling herself closer over the ledge, this time, I was aware, to look at me.

  “I had thought as much. The young ones were too small to bond, and Sym has sensed magic around her den ever since…” The great den-mother’s eyes settled on me alone, and I felt her presence suddenly in my mind, as close as my own skin.

  “Tell me what you know, Danu Geidt.”

  “You know of me?” I stammered in panic.

  “I can read you, Danu. I can read your heart, but not your memories. I can smell that you bear a great love for our kind, which I acknowledge… But what of those witches you have lived with? Sym is certain that it is only by magic that the young ones could have been taken from her…”

  I shook my head, my knees growing weak. Afar would have said something, wouldn’t she? If she had heard of some vile plan to steal young newts then she would have been against it, surely?

  Ohotto. As soon as I thought it, I became certain.

  “It is not the first time in the history of the world that dragons have been sought after, or that we have had our young ones stolen from us. We believed this evil practice stopped many centuries ago…” Taliski continued. “But, if any is to revive it – it would be those who dabble in the magic arts!”

  “I…I know nothing, your highness…” I stammered, my eyes tearing up at the mere idea that those young creatures could have come to harm. Dragons were noble and powerful creatures – any harm to them was like silencing a part of the world itself.

  “Hmm… Your heart is true, of that I am certain… But who could it have been? Old Chabon has always been a friend to us – but humans have such short memories…”

  “There is one witch, great den-mother, by the name of Ohotto Zanna. I do not know if she has anything to do with this great evil, but she is the one who seeks to undermine the ways of the West Witches. She seeks to use our traditions and power for evil in the world!” I was certain of my words, and yet I had no proof. It felt as though the old den-mother could sense that in me, as she shook her head irritably.

  “Then Danu Geidt, and Crux-Phoenix, as you are dragon-friends, and as you, Crux, have bonded with a human, I am asking you to get to the bottom of this mystery.” She looked at me directly. “If you humans seek to know of our ways, then you must also share in our burdens.”

  Find out who killed the dragon newts. Help Lila defeat Havick. For a moment I felt overwhelmed by all of these tasks – I was just Danu Geidt, an acolyte, not even fully trained! But even as I felt worried, I could also see how these tasks were two sides of the same coin. Havick and Ohotto aren’t just a problem for the Sea Raiders, or Roskilde, I knew. They were an evil that would spread across the islands. Everyone would be affects, and would be in danger. I had to get back to Malata and convince Lila somehow to give up her father’s rules…

  “It would be an honor, Den-Mother Taliski.” I bowed once more. “And I know that Lila wave-rider will be honored by this task as well.”

  “Good.” Taliski withdrew her head on her long neck, and at that, I knew our council was done. I was left feeling shaken and disturbed by the troubling news, if what Taliski said was true—and I had no reason to doubt her— then Ohotto was trying to revive a practice that was evil and centuries old. The butchery of baby dragons, and use of their bodies for magic. This was not what the West Witches were built on. Not what we stood for, and even Crux beside me seemed troubled by this news as he lashed his tail against the cavern walls.

  “Come, Danu. We will fish, and I will rest for a few hours before we return to find Lila.” I could sense a new sense of purpose radiating from the drake now. He carried his snout higher, he walked more forcefully. It must be the defenseless newts being harmed, I thought. He is willing to overlook his hurt feelings with Lila in order to put a stop to this evil.

  Chapter 30

  Lila, outnumbered

  The small schooner skipped over the night waves easily and eagerly, and for just a brief moment in that early morning dark, my troubles faded as I gave myself to the rhythms and patterns of sailing. Some people believe it to be hard work, which I guess it is, in its way; there is the constant playing out of the rope, one hand on the tiller, another on the guide line to the sail – the constant searching for wind and currents around you. But in actual fact, when everything worked well and accordingly—as it did now – it almost felt like flying.

  Almost, I grimaced. Nothing really even came close to flying, actually, but skipping along the tops of the waves in a brisk breeze was as good as I was going to get at the moment—maybe ever. I tried to focus on the task in front of me, and the pull of my heart towards my dragon.

  Crux. I am so sorry, I thought towards my friend, wondering if he could even hear me over this great distance. I should never have agreed to stay with the Raiders… I had hurt Crux’s feelings, and not only that – I could see now that what my foster-mother and Danu and Crux had been telling me all along was right. I wasn’t just Lila the Sea Raider, I was also Lila the Dragon Rider, and, although I hated to admit it to myself, Lila of Roskilde. I was all of these things, and I had been trying to force myself to be just one!

  “Lila.”

  I startled, not expecting to hear him – but it was unmistakable. There he was, the dragon in my mind – but he was faint, a long way away.

  “Crux?” I stood up in the boat. “I am coming to you! I am sorry!” I shouted over the waves.

  “I know.” The voice of the dragon against my mind was faint. “I should not have been so annoyed with you,” he stated, much to my shock. Who had ever heard of a dragon apologizing?

  With every passing meter that the boat clipped, I could feel the connection growing stronger in my mind. As the morning sky started to grey with the dawn, I thought that I could even sense a bit more of the dragon hurtling towards me. There was the feel of his urgency, the distant shadow of Danu on the other side of his mind.

  And upset. Loss. I rocked on my heels.

>   “Crux, my friend? What is it? You are upset!” I called.

  “Wait.” The Phoenix dragon did not spend time talking to me over such great distances, but I could feel how he put his power into his wing muscles to fly faster, and nearer. Soon, my heart led me to find a speck low on the north-western horizon, growing larger by the second. With the sight of him, my heart flipped over into relief, but also our bond grew stronger. I could feel the Phoenix dragon’s worry and his fury over something, and I also knew that it was not directed at me.

  Something has happened. Something very bad indeed…

  I waved my arm up at him – although he of course knew where I was as he soared across the sky like a shooting star. The sun had just broken the eastern horizon, and I could see his deep black, green, and purple scales in all their glory. Crux was magnificent, and he greeted me with a loud, deafening roar.

  “Skreayah!” I watched as he flared his wings to rise above me, before swooping around, bringing up his feet to catch the waves and throw the water to either side of him in massive plumes as he settled on the ocean like a great seabird. My little boat rocked, and I was fairly drenched by the time that he paddled towards me, bearing Danu on his back.

  “Lila! Thank the stars we have found you!” Danu called, looking exhausted but grinning, and I felt that my own face was grinning too as Crux leaned his massive head over the side of the boat and I swept my arms around him.

  “I will never choose another over you again,” I whispered fiercely to the wyrm.

  “Good.” Crux’s mind was warm against mine. “Now scratch my ears, will you. Your human hands must be good for something.” I smirked, and did as I was asked.

  As happy as our reunion was, however, I was still very much aware of the thread of anxiety and upset that was thrumming through Crux as I worked to seize my pack and clamber from the boat over to his broad slab of shoulder. I had decided to leave the schooner–perhaps it would wash back up on one of the islands, and someone could make use of it. I would only be riding dragons from now on!