Dragon Master

by Alan Carr

  “I’m so sorry,” I said to Caisi as she walked away. She couldn’t know what I was thinking, but she seemed to understand that I was referring to her new lot in life.

  She stopped walking and then came back to the table. She put her dainty hand on my shoulder. Like she was the one comforting me. Someone snapped a word at her and she stiffened, then hurriedly left to go fill another tray with mugs.

  The drink was what I’d needed right then. It had a sweetness and spice to it that competed in my mouth, forcing me to pay attention to it, forcing me to think about something other than my own sadness. The warmth of it might have seemed strange on such a hot day in Flame, but I found my insides had needed the added warmth. I still felt the hollowness, still felt weighted down by sorrow, but somehow I also felt a tiny bit better. When I saw that Boe wasn’t drinking, I picked up his mug and made him take a sip.

  “Apple cider,” he mused, quietly. “Who would have thought to serve warm apple cider on a day like today?”

  Before supper was served, one of the ten-year old Stone Souls crashed through the door of the mess hall and announced that there was another Dragonbirth. I looked at Boe and we bolted out the door, just ahead of everyone else who came pushing through behind us.

  Master Walker looked tired. He was still dressed in his dragon slayer’s armor, but the shine and glint of it had faded somewhat. He didn’t seem as though he’d taken the news from Adams any better than we had. Still, he sent a new team to replace Irvin’s team, tasked to travel along the same path. I did not envy them. After they’d left, this time without our cheering to spur them on, he told us about the next Dragonbirth.

  “The second Dragonbirth was north of Stone Lake, far across the Great River. It happened five days ago, and the path of destruction heads toward the Northern Oceans.” I pictured Stone Lake, far to the northwest, across the Realm it seemed. If it had taken a courier a full five days to bring word to Rægena then it would probably take nearly a full week for a dragon quest team to reach the point where the report had originated. And if the dragon was traveling away from us as reported then it would take even longer to catch up to it. It was entirely possible that the dragon had already been slain before we even received this report, there was no way to know. I was again relieved to know that the dragon didn’t seem to pose a danger to Daija, or to my family. Then again, if the first dragon was still heading along the southeastern coast then she could arrive in Helmsbridge eventually. I tried to take solace knowing that there was still another of our dragon quest teams between the dragon and my parent’s home, but it was hard to imagine them coming away victorious after what little Adams had told us.

  “Newell,” he was giving an order to Bayrd, “take your team back through Scribe’s Notch, you’re all familiar with it now. Cross the Great River at Lorrence and then travel along the coast until you find out where the dragon has gone, then catch up with him. If he’s still alive, one of you bring me his heart.”

  “Well, sir,” Bayrd said, “Caedan is the new leader of our—”

  Master Walker’s cutting stare caused Bayrd to stop mid-sentence.

  “We’ll leave right away,” I said.

  This was it. No time to think. No time even to eat supper, not that I was feeling at all hungry. We had food in our packs, we had everything ready to go. We collected it all, accepted the reins of our horses, and left once more through Scribe’s Notch on a dragon quest. This time there was no question what lay at the end of the quest. Death. Either for dragon, or for us.

  Happy Birthday to me.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Leader

  “You’re not actually serious are you?” Boe asked me. We were several days into our dragon quest now, and I’d been leading the team to Lorrence, yes, but I also had come up with a crazy plan while we were making the now-familiar trek through Scribe’s Notch. I’d been going back and forth in my head between dread of dying and conviction that the dragon was so far away that we’d never even reach him while he still lived. The two extreme thoughts stretched me so far that I guess I finally snapped.

  “I really am serious,” I told Boe with a straight face. I really was. Maybe a little crazy, sure, but definitely serious.

  “Who made you our leader, anyway?” Gable asked.

  “I believe you did,” I said, smiling at him. “Plus, as I recall, I’m locked in place until the dragon quest ends.”

  “Or until you die,” Gable grumbled. Bayrd shot him a look and I knew that if Bayrd had been leading us then such insurrection would probably have ended in bloodshed, right there. But I also knew that Gable didn’t mean it as a threat. Probably. Bayrd would not respect my leadership, but he would respect the chain of command. There would be no insurrection.

  “I swear, Caedan, if you get her killed—” I hadn’t considered the possibility that I would have to look out for insurrection from Boe, but his incredulity was quickly turning to real anger. He’d suspected I was up to something as soon as my mood had shifted, but he could never have guessed just what I’d been planning. None of them could have. After all, planning wasn’t something that I was especially known for. But once the idea occurred to me, I decided to take Boe’s advice to heart, tried to think through the situation, tried to visualize the victory. Now that I could imagine it, I couldn’t let go of it.

  We were in luck, I could see her outside, practicing with her wooden sword. I somehow knew she would be. Tahlor and Verrill were nowhere in sight, which was the biggest stroke of luck yet.

  “Go say goodbye to your girlfriend,” Bayrd said to me as I dismounted, “and then the four of us need to catch up with that dragon.” I ignored him. He knew that wasn’t the plan I’d just laid out for them.

  I walked toward Daija as quietly as I could and she didn’t notice my approach. She had her back to all of us and was practicing darting forward and backward, stabbing with her sword every time she moved forward. I made a point of not getting too close to her.

  “Ever use a real one of those?”

  She spun around at the sound of my voice and I was glad I’d stopped where I did. Her wooden blade came within inches of hitting me in the head and I knew from experience that those things could really do damage. She looked up at me and then past me to see Boe, Bayrd, and Gable sitting on horseback. She dropped the sword and this time I got a hug from her. I hugged her back, filled with relief.

  I’d spent the past couple days’ ride visualizing this moment right here, worrying about everything that could go wrong and plotting ways to steer things back on track if they turned away from what I’d wanted. The last time I’d been here hadn’t gone so well, after all; I was still extremely nervous about how the next couple minutes would go. Daija let go of me, but I pulled her closer and squeezed her tighter. I wasn’t ready yet. It wasn’t until I could hear the horses stamping their hooves impatiently that I finally let go.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Hello,” she said. Her fair skin was tinged pink from exertion. “I got your letter.”

  “I guessed that.”

  “Thank you for writing it.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t write it sooner,” I apologized.

  “You said that, yes.”

  “Yeah, I guess I did.”

  “I haven’t decided yet whether I trust you,” she said to me, a hint of warning in her voice.

  “I understand,” I said. I took a deep breath. This was it. This was my last chance to change my mind. But I had her here, now. Ready to trust me. I couldn’t stand the thought of messing things up again. And really, truly, what were the odds that the dragon would still be alive by the time we arrived? “Do you have any plans for the next few weeks?”

  The thoroughly confused expression that fell over her face was something to cherish for the rest of my life.

  “Well, remember when I said we were missing one of our team members?” I gestured back at the rest of the team. Bayrd was
dismounting and walking over to us, apparently deciding that we’d spent enough time in Chialaa Valley already.

  “Yes?” Daija’s response was guarded.

  “Well—” I started.

  Bayrd cut me off. “No. No, this cannot happen.”

  “What cannot happen?” Daija asked.

  “Bayrd is saying that you can’t join us on our dragon quest.”

  “Is he?”

  “But he’s not our leader now,” I told her with a wide smile.

  “He isn’t?” she responded, smiling back at me.

  “In fact, I’m the leader right now,” I knew that my position would be stripped from me the moment the dragon quest ended, but I didn’t care, “and I think you’d be a great addition to the team.”

  “Can you—you can do that?” She asked me. She sounded nervous.

  “No.” Bayrd repeated. “No, he cannot do that.”

  “Yes,” I contradicted, “I think I can. I am doing that.” A look of pure amazement came over Daija’s glistening face.

  “If,” I said, holding up a finger and then pausing. I knew I was pushing my luck by relishing the moment, but I couldn’t help myself. This part was important. I think this was the point that allowed my crazed mind to finally give in to the plan and believe I could carry it off. “If you can prove yourself by defeating me in that duel I promised you.”

  “No, no, no way!” Bayrd said. He turned to Daija, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, I can’t trust my life to someone I don’t even know.”

  “That’s what life in the Realm is, Bayrd,” I told him. “And you’ll be happy she’s with us. She’s good, you’ll see.”

  “No, I don’t trust you.” I could see Bayrd trying to find a way out of the situation. Some regulation or rule that he could quote to overrule me. I didn’t actually know if there was any such regulation or rule, but I figured that if one had existed he would have called me out on it by now. He seemed to come up with something. “She’ll have to defeat me,” he offered. “Best two out of three.”

  I grinned and agreed. I’d had no intention of holding back in a duel with Daija, but I was afraid that I’d be so excited by the chance to have her along for the journey that I might not be able to give it my best. I’d actually hoped Bayrd would offer to take my place in the duel, and here he was, doing exactly that. This visualize-the-victory stuff was really working out for me so far. We both looked at Daija. She was staring at me with wide eyes and that green sparkle was there again.

  “Yes,” she began to nod vigorously, “yes, I accept those terms.” She ran into the house and came back after just seconds with a smaller wooden sword, crudely cut from a large tree branch. It was something she’d made for herself, I realized, when she was younger. She really had been preparing for this all her life. I felt a weird kind of pride.

  “Choose your weapon, Bayrd,” I told him. Gable and Boe had tied the horses to a post and joined us, wanting to see the duel. Bayrd picked up both weapons and felt their weight and balance, and chose the one Daija had been practicing with. I recognized that it was a standard issue practice sword, properly weighted to be as close to the real thing as possible. Daija took up her smaller weapon and waved it around for a moment, remembering the feeling of it in her hand.

  “Be gentle,” Boe warned.

  “No,” I told Bayrd, “Be yourself.” I looked to Daija and she was nodding vigorously again. And she smiled at me again. It looked like I was earning that trust. When they were both ready, I told them to begin.

  Bayrd took a step forward and lunged with his sword, going for a quick win. It wasn’t a bad strategy some of the time, as I knew from experience, but it wasn’t Bayrd’s style. This wasn’t good, he wasn’t taking the duel seriously enough. He didn’t really think Daija could beat him. She easily sidestepped the move and quickly brought her sword down on his outstretched arm, which would have disabled him, qualifying her for a victory.

  “No good,” I declared. She looked up at me, upset. I held out my hands. “I’m sorry, but if Bayrd’s going to fight like that then I’d rather you proved yourself against Boe.”

  Bayrd was seething. “Best three out of five,” he said, “and that one counts.”

  “Okay with you?” I asked Daija.

  She nodded, slowly now, and her eyes narrowed. “Okay then, best three out of five. But no more rule changes.”

  “Agreed. Begin.”

  This time Bayrd opened properly, taking a defensive stance and waiting to see what his opponent was capable of. Daija took her own defensive stance and they began to circle each other. She moved in close with an exploratory blow, and Bayrd expertly whipped his sword through the air and disarmed Daija. I watched her sword fly back and careen off a birch tree, falling to its base. Normally this would be a surrender, but I nodded in amusement when she instead darted backward and then turned her back to Bayrd and sprinted to retrieve her sword. He was slow to react at first, but he began to chase after her and he was faster than she was. As he brought a strike down at her, she reached for her sword and picked it up while rolling out of the way of the blow. She counterattacked and he was just barely able to defend against it. They both stepped back into defensive stances and began to circle again.

  “You’re going to have to attack some time,” she taunted him.

  “You’re going to have to hold on to that toothpick of yours a little firmer,” he responded. Boe and Gable both laughed at this. Neither was rooting for her to win the duel and join the team.

  Daija let loose with a series of short strikes which Bayrd defended easily. With the last of them, Bayrd counterattacked and caught Daija off balance, but she recovered her footing while blocking and then counterattacked back. It had nothing behind it and Bayrd easily stepped out of the way of the blow. Still, I could see his eyes searching her now, finally realizing that he was up against a real opponent. Good. He brought his sword arm back and then quickly let loose with a strike directed at Daija’s sword. She sidestepped the attack rather than try to block it, and then was trying to redirect her sword to counterattack, but Bayrd was able to swing again and struck her on the side. She collapsed, defeated.

  Gable was laughing out loud now, though neither Bayrd nor Boe joined in.

  Daija pushed herself up and readied herself, and Bayrd lifted his sword. I told them to begin again. The next round took several minutes. Daija kept getting an upper hand but then failed to capitalize on her opportunities. Bayrd was struggling, but eventually one of his attacks slipped past Daija’s defenses and struck another victory. They went again. Daija was looking worn out. I hadn’t factored in how tired she would be from her practicing. Bayrd was completely rested from several days on horseback, and in truth was probably feeling restless thanks to the dragon quest and had extra energy reserves that he could call upon. But Daija had untapped energy reserves too, and she called on them to block a strength attack from Bayrd and then responded with her own strength move which he hadn’t been expecting. She got the victory.

  “Two all,” I said, “next point is the victor. Let’s take a minute break,” I suggested.

  “No!” Both Daija and Bayrd responded at the same time. They were both in ready positions, watching each other’s every move.

  “Okay,” I said with a shrug. “Begin.”

  Bayrd started out strong and kept pushing ahead slowly, gaining positional advantages and not letting Daija fully retreat. She was not in a great position. Bayrd started to chop at her, repeatedly, making sure that the best she could hope to do was block each blow with her sword and then reposition to block the next one. And the next one. She was panting, and I could see her grip was loosening slightly with each blow. I held my breath. This was not the victory I had visualized.

  Bayrd sliced at her throat and instead of trying to block, Daija threw herself onto her back, getting as far as she could from the attack and repositioning her grip on her own sword as she did so. Th
e wooden blade passed just above her neck, and as it did so she kicked out at Bayrd’s shin and scrambled to her feet. He stumbled, but spun around to keep his sword facing her and managed to block her clumsy counterattack. She pressed, attacking again with more force. When he blocked that blow, she came at him again from another angle, forcing him to contort his body to block. Now she had the advantage and was building on it slowly. She attacked relentlessly, Bayrd sometimes just barely blocking in time. I could see that he had no chance to attempt any kind of counter attack, and that he’d be putting himself at risk if he tried to scramble away from an attack rather than block it. She was relentless, and she was clearly wearing him down. At last he tried to catch her by surprise by leaping forward as he blocked one of her attacks, but she was ready for him and easily dodged his counterattack. Then she sliced at his attacking arm, disabling him again.

  It was quite a sight to see. I couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone defeat Bayrd at his own strategy, but she’d done exactly that.

  “Welcome to the team,” I told her.

  Bayrd was panting, but he stuck out his hand and she accepted a handshake from him. “Thanks,” she told us.

  “Thanks.” Boe told me, holding his head in his hand.