by Marc Secchia
The Yellow Dragon, in a surprisingly husky voice, said, “We waste time. I shall dispense with one accusation, at least. I contend that Jalador the Green, being young and unwise–with due respect to the other Greens, mighty Verox–did not grasp the danger posed by this Human girl when she dazzled him with the praises dripping from her snake’s tongue and slithered into the heart of our community.”
The Green Dragon raised his right foreclaw. “Granted.”
“It is so granted,” said Blazon. “Who speaks for the accused?”
“I, Cressilida, shall speak,” said the Blue, her soft voice filled with nuances that escaped Pip’s understanding. Inclining her head almost playfully, she said, “Pip is but a fledgling amongst these Humans. She’s the newest member of a unique community. Coming to us from a troubled background, her introduction to the Academy has been fraught with challenges, not least from her own kind. By her word received from Kassik, she had little notion of the powers hid within her breast before she joined us. What she did today, was to mount a courageous defence of a friend’s life. We should applaud such a noble deed.”
“Further, I pay tribute to Zardon the Red’s wisdom in bringing into our roost one whose miniscule stature conceals gifts unheard of since the days of the Ancient Powers. Of course her magic is uncontrolled. She lacks the most basic training. I contend that we should nurture her powers and turn them to our service. As she grows in wisdom and stature, she shall prove a mighty warrior on the field of battle.” Pip was grateful no Dragon laughed at the word ‘stature’. “And we scent evil on the winds, my friends. Battle will come.”
Blazon nodded. “The defence is well spoken. Any further words, Cressilida?”
Cressilida added, “I deplore her assault on Shimmerith, and most especially her contemptible insults. Pip was puffed up with pride, strutting like a courting Dragon. She must be taught the error of her ways. What better place to teach her than here, beneath Kassik’s tutelage?”
One of the Reds snapped, “And the shadow creature?”
“It hunts her,” Cressilida stated flatly. “It seeks her powers. Imagine such a power corrupted to the works of evil?”
Pip shuddered.
Blazon inclined his head. “The wisdom of Cressilida. Kassik. Your evaluation.”
“The girl did not lie about the shadow creature, which she calls the Shadow Dragon,” said Kassik. The Yellow hawked and spat a glob of molten rock over his shoulder at this. “Or, she believes she does not lie. She knew about her unusual strength before she arrived. It was identified by the Oraial. She knew she could feel magic. And she believes she used a Word of Command when the Oraial was about to die, summoning him back from the spirit-world.”
This last statement raised a snarl of collective hostility from the Dragon Elders.
“How came she to the knowledge of magic?” asked Verox, the venom behind his question clear for all to hear.
“Pip?”
She cleared her throat uneasily. “Mighty Blazon, I was never schooled in magic. When I was a child, I was chained for display in a slave market. I broke the pole to which I was chained. That was the first I knew of magic.”
Thankfully, she had anticipated this question. But she was unprepared for the Yellow Dragon roaring, “So, why bother with those flimsy chains? I vote we run a claw through her chest right now!”
“Calm yourself, Lavador,” Blazon raged. “Finish your reply, girl.”
Pip wished her voice sounded stronger. She might have fled, but for the chains binding her ankles. She said, “Lately, I have begun to sense a little of magic, such as when Rajion heals another Dragon. I think it lies within me, untutored, as mighty Cressilida said.”
“Who will speak against the accused?”
Blazon had his pick of at least four voices, including Lavador’s. In the end it was the Yellow’s passion which won out. Turning the blazing pools of his gaze upon Pip, he sneered, “Her presence in this Academy has been based entirely upon a deception. The so-called Shadow Dragon arrived with her. It was never seen over the Cloudlands before. Now there are threats and rumours abroad and Zardon, who chose her, is chasing smoke and vapours around the Islands. The truth is simple. I contend that she is the shadow.”
Pip gasped, but her reaction was drowned by Lavador’s rising volume. Spitting fire, the Dragon said, “In the jungles, she was born. Like a shadow, she slipped among us. Having blinded Zardon to her true nature, she won a place here in this school. But now in extremity her true nature is revealed. None but the Ancient Powers have ever possessed the gift of Command. Even her size is calculated to deceive. Her insults are nothing. Inside that frail quasi-Human shell hides a monster, able to fell a Dragon at a blow, able to bend the very air to her Command and, by Kassik’s own testimony, able to summon a creature from the very portals of the spirit-world. A word from her could slay us all!”
It took Blazon some minutes to calm his Council. “Let the accused be heard.”
Pip did not know where to start. Finally, filled with self-loathing at her fear of the Dragons’ judgement, she turned to Shimmerith and said, “Shimmerith, what were you thinking? What threat does a peaceful, plant-eating Ape pose to the Academy or, Islands’ sakes, to a Dragon?”
By way of answer, Shimmerith bared her teeth.
“You would’ve killed my friend without a thought. You should learn to engage your brain before–”
“–claw and fang?” snarled Blazon, the sheer force of his malevolence driving her back against Shimmerith once more. “You presume to teach the Dragon Elders wisdom, hatchling?” His flaring wings sprayed molten rock either side of him, but he quietened the others once more. “Speak to the accusations or do not speak at all.”
Pip wrestled her temper into submission, but it simmered beneath the surface of her words. “Mighty Blazon, I joined the Academy because of Zardon the Red. He gave me no choice. Of course I wanted to escape. You’re free creatures. Do you understand what it is to leave home, Island and family, and live in captivity for seven summers? I was grateful to have a good friend in the zoo–Hunagu, the Oraial Ape. He cared for me. And Master Balthion, who taught me to speak Island Standard. Blazon, I contend that these accusers disrespect Zardon’s wisdom and insight.”
Low growls echoed in the cavern, but no Dragon spoke.
“I am very sorry I injured Shimmerith. I didn’t think it was possible.” Her voice lowered as, once more, she pictured Hunagu’s foolish grin as Shimmerith drove in for the kill. “But when I saw her about to kill my friend, I reacted. The words I said were perhaps the most foolish words uttered since the dawn of the Island-World. I spoke in anger. I regret it now.” Drawing a shuddering breath, she added, “I respect all Dragons. I will accept the judgement of the Dragon Elders, Blazon.”
From the side, Verox snarled, “Words, little one. What of your heart?”
Pip turned to him, meeting his gaze directly. “Mighty Verox, I wish you could cut open my chest and examine my heart.”
“Easily accomplished.” He gave a smoky snort of amusement.
“If you did, you would find no shadow there,” said Pip, bowing her head to hide her alarm. “If you fear me enough to demand these chains, then know that I fear the Shadow Dragon a thousand times more. It is a cold killer, a creature of another time and perhaps another place. Yes, I fear it is hunting me. Zardon said that even here, in this school, I should beware of those who might want to use my magic, or use me. I beg you, Dragon Elders–let me learn. Teach me. You Dragons are the mightiest magic-users in our Island-World. I will listen and learn from all your wisdom. I will do good, I promise.”
“The accused has spoken,” said Blazon. “Be silent, little one, whilst we confer in private.” Dragons, what is your judgement?
The child lies, Lavador growled at once. Toss that creature into a volcano before she destroys us all.
The threat is real, said Kassik. We heard Emblazon’s report. No known creature of this Island-World behaves as he described. Evil
is abroad, Dragon-kin. We must be great in cunning and wisdom. This little one has unspeakable power. How, I know not. We must not alienate her, lest she become the enemy. That, as Lavador rightly claims, would doom us all.
Suddenly, it struck Pip. They were speaking another language, yet she understood. It gave her a headache to listen to it, as though some unsuspected part of her brain had just been turned inside-out. They were talking mind-to-mind.
Dragon minds surrounded her, beautiful, shining Dragon thoughts, full of the wisdom and magic of the ages. Pip shuffled in her place, looking from one Dragon to the other. There was Lavador, all heat and anger, yet with a great heart–three hearts–pulsing within him, concerned for the hatchlings and fledglings and Dragon families entrusted to his care. Here was Verox, cold and cunning, and deeply jealous of her gifts. The other two Reds, bristling with hostility. Blazon, opposite, fighting a visceral fear that Lavador was right, yet seeking to uphold justice at all costs. Shimmerith, the beautiful Blue Dragon, with waterfalls of music rippling in her hearts, the healer and forgiver, who could hardly bear to see Pip accused. And there on the boulder, Master Kassik, the oldest of the Dragon Elders, a dark pool as still and wide as the night sky, a presence that overshadowed the others.
She’s only a hatchling, Cressilida added. Hatchlings are thoughtless; they need instruction from their elders.
You say this because you miss your lost one, dear heart. This came from one of the Reds, whose name she had not learned. Compassion born in sorrow; yet, I know you see into her soul. What do you see?
The little one’s intentions are pure.
Verox said, Why don’t you invite her to swim in that lava pool with you, Blazon? She’ll soon spit out the truth, even as she entertains us with her screaming.
I’d have her for a toothpick, said one of the other Reds.
Blazon said, Shimmerith?
I am ashamed. I failed in my duty today, said Shimmerith. Her power was too great for me. Yet I have worked with this little one, and I believe Cressilida is right, her heart is good but her passions overruled. We must embrace her with a firm yet loving paw.
Pip had to interrupt. This was not right. Finally, she managed to work a few words past the fear constricting her throat. “Um, Shimmerith?”
“Silence, child!” snapped Blazon, with a quelling glare.
Pip bit her tongue in concentration. Blazon. I understand you.
Blazon’s jaw sagged in disbelief and surprise. He coughed out a fireball. Pip instinctively tried to dive aside, but the chains made her trip and fall flat on her face–which saved her life. The fireball seared across her back and splattered against Shimmerith’s flank. She rolled frantically across the blistering rocks, trying to put out her smouldering trousers, smelling a sickly-sweet stench that she realised was her hair burning. A paw stopped her before she rolled into the lava pond; claws scooped her roughly into the air.
That was close, said Shimmerith. The coolness of healing magic bathed her body.
Pip bit back a whimper. She had no time for weakness. Um … what does this mean? Shimmerith?
Shimmerith looked helplessly to Kassik, who tipped off his boulder rather precipitously and stalked over to Pip, his ever massive footstep shaking the ground. His great, hoary muzzle lowered toward her. She wondered what insane twists of fate kept having her end up facing Dragon after Dragon at the sharp end of their fangs.
Trapped in Shimmerith’s paw, she had no choice but to face her fate. Any moment now his fangs would flash and impale her frail Human body, she imagined.
Instead, he said, You understand every word, Pip?
Why was that important? Again, Pip reached inside to summon the strange language. It … feels weird, but I do understand. Am I speaking Dragonish, Master Kassik?
Indeed–perfect, eloquent Dragonish. Kassik’s massive knuckle tapped her chest. Humans can learn to speak Dragonish, especially Riders. But only Dragons are born speaking our tongue with such fluency. Pip, you’re a Shapeshifter, like me. You are a Dragon.
Pip shrank back in Shimmerith’s paw. “N-n-no …”
His great eye, a furnace of saffron and earthy colours mixed together, fixed her with a gaze that was fierce, proud and altogether terrifying. He said, This changes everything, little one. You are one of us, now.
Chapter 18: Apologies Stink
Maylin gave a whoop of delight. “She’s back! Pip’s back, everyone.”
Whoops and catcalls accompanied Pip’s return to her dormitory. “Dragon-basher.” “Magician.” “It’s the mighty mite.” “Did the Dragons give you a spanking?”
Dazed and numb, Pip wandered over to her bunk and plopped onto the end of it. It changed everything? Truly? Kassik’s confidence had rattled her. She had seen nothing of the trail back to the school building, only the shattered remnants of her life sloughing away by the moment. Her past felt dislocated, close enough to remember, yet daily displaced by this new, captivating reality. Escaping the cage, she had begun to live as a Human, together with Humans, doing Human things–not cage things, no longer the living object of fascinated, pitying, debasing stares. Grubbing in the dirt for food. Leaping at the nearest tinker banana before another monkey stole it. Those things were gone, perhaps forever.
No, she had almost begun to believe. Almost.
“Pip?” Kaiatha checked her forehead. “What’s the matter? Did they punish you?”
“I have to clean and redecorate Nak and Shimmerith’s roost,” she said. “That’s the easy bit. Actually, Shimmerith has been really sweet about everything.”
“We’ll help,” said Yaethi.
Pip’s smile was a dagger half-drawn from its sheath, a whisper of sharp blade that threatened to pierce her own heart. She hated herself. She could not admit her fears. Instead, she said, “That rather defeats the purpose of my humble apology, doesn’t it? No, Yaethi, it’s worse than that.”
“What can be worse than handling Nak’s filthy underwear?” asked Maylin, making round goggle-eyes at everyone. “Ooh, there’s the dinner-gong. I’m starving. Race you–”
“Wait,” Pip blurted out. “There’s more …”
Kaiatha searched her face. “Oh, Pipsqueak. You haven’t been expelled, have you?”
“I’m on probation,” said Pip, automatically offering the only part of the truth that did not terrorise her mind. The other students rushed off for dinner as a body, leaving the small group of friends in a deserted dormitory.
“Petal, you’ll be fine,” said Maylin, loosing a snort worthy of a Dragon. “You should have seen your Ape friend take on Emblazon. I thought Emblazon would be–you know–snip, snap, Ape-steaks! I mean, an Oraial’s huge, but a Dragon–Pipsqueak?” Her face fell. “What is it? What–”
“I’m not Human!” she wailed.
To her chagrin, Pip burst into tears. Once she started, her tears turned into an unstoppable waterfall, a breach of the terrace lakes of her heart. Little by little, her friends wheedled the story out of her. At the end of it, they all sat back, stunned.
Yaethi was the first to speak. “Master Kassik thinks you’re a Shapeshifter? As in–how does that even work? Do you grow wings at night? No, that’s silly.”
“No.” Pip accepted a handkerchief from Kaiatha and wiped her eyes. “He started to explain, but there wasn’t really time. I was too shocked–I don’t believe–I can’t believe it.”
“Hold on,” said Yaethi, her pale face framed by her white silk headscarf, alight with excitement. “You said Master Kassik was there, Pip. How’s that possible? It was a Council of Dragon Elders, right?”
“I’m not supposed to–”
She snapped her fingers. “Great Islands! He’s a Shapeshifter Dragon. Come on, Pip, I’m right, aren’t I? I knew it. Only Dragons have that much magic. How come you’re a Shifter? Does it run in your family? No wonder you go all mushy around boy Dragons.”
“Yaethi!”
Maylin giggled. “A date with a Dragon, eh? Careful, they bite.”
/> “Maylin!”
“Grr,” said Kaiatha, pretending to claw Maylin’s face.
Her friends were impossible. Pip stuck out her tongue at them. “Guess what? One of you could be my Dragon Rider.”
“Oh, far too much trouble,” Maylin shot back at once.
“I get the first ride,” said Yaethi, “and ralti sheep droppings to you, Maylin. Pip, can you transform yet? You see, Shapeshifters usually come into their powers in their adolescence. That’s what the scrolls say.”
Pip felt compelled to protest, “No, it’s not real. Kassik’s wrong.”
Kaiatha said, ever so gently, “About speaking Dragonish? Pip, even I know that legend.”
“There’s a legend? Mercy, Kaia–can you stop doing this to me?” She wrung her hands, hating having hurt her friend now, the words just bursting out of her, “All I ever wanted was to be Human! Don’t you understand? Any of you? It was my dream.”
Sweet friends, they did understand. Pip read it on each of their faces. There was no need even for the words they spoke over her, for the reassuring touch from Maylin, Kaiatha apologising, Yaethi trying to rationalise her way around what they all knew, deep in their Islands, to be true. Master Kassik seemed convinced, Pip thought. He had already made changes to her schedule, combining her penance with training amongst the Dragons. Her heart squeezed painfully within her chest. She had to find the courage to ask the question which struck to the core of her devastated hopes.
“Oh, Yaethi, Maylin and Kaia …”
Her pain cut through the soft babble of friendship. Three pairs of eyes widened, expectant.
Kaiatha said, “Whatever it is, Pip, speak your heart. We can hear it.”
The question burst out of her like a hot splatter of lava. “Will you still be my friends, even if I turn into a Dragon?”
There was a brief, shocked silence before three sets of arms squashed her in the middle of a muddled hug.
“Silly Pipsqueak,” said Kaiatha, wiping her eyes. “Look at me, weeping like a Cloudlands-bound waterfall. We’re so happy for you. I couldn’t imagine anything more marvellous and magical in all the Island-World. The girl who was enslaved–she will fly.”