They hadn’t come to relax in the forest, but the dragons weren’t anywhere around. They’d tried looking for them, but Josef figured if the dragons didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t find them. They’d made several passes around the forest, but they hadn’t even seen a loose scale glimmering in the lush blades of grass. Instead, he figured they’d wait for the dragons to find them.
“We had one on our way to Darubai,” Geffrey said about the fire fruit, his voice somewhere between excited and disappointed. His was disappointed because he had not seen any dragons yet. He loved the dragons, and he had hoped they’d find one right off so they could question it about the dragon’s deaths. Now that they’d been here for a while, waiting to see if a dragon would find them—which the young yellow didn’t think they would—he’d lost some of his excitement.
“They’re a great fruit,” Drex said. “My parents used to tell me about them. They grew the fruit long ago, before they were destroyed.”
“Before your parents were destroyed?” Geffrey asked.
Drex scowled. “No, before the fruit trees were destroyed.”
“Wow. You’re old!” Geffrey’s proclamation was quickly swallowed by the darkening forest.
“How were they destroyed?” Josef wondered.
“Dragons,” Drex said simply.
“But how did dragons destroy them, if their powers don’t work on the trees?” Geffrey wondered.
“Well, you see, dragons have these things called talons, and toothy maws. They’re good for tearing and ripping.”
“Oh,” Geffrey said. “So they tore them down?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Drex said. “When I was born, the loss of the trees was still a dull pain for my parents. They taught me a lot about the trees, hoping one day they might be able to grow more. They never did.”
“Well they must have a great shelf life,” Josef said. “The one we ate was rather fresh.”
Drex shrugged. “Who knows what’s going on with the world? Lots of things that were killed off ages ago have started to come back—tamers, wizards, fire fruit. It’s likely it was shat out of the ether like all of those other things.”
“So what do you know about them?” Josef asked.
“Lots, what do you want to know?”
“How long do dwarves live?” Geffrey wondered.
They ignored him.
“Well, the main issue we’re having now is that the friendly dragons won’t use their powers on the trees, so the only way they’ve retained any powers is from attacks. The problem is, we don’t know what fruit has what powers since they only get random residual blasts.”
“That’s easy. Look at the leaves,” Drex said.
Josef stood and examined a leaf. It looked like all the others, orange with green veins.
“See the veins?” the dwarf asked. “The color shows what dragon imbued that fruit. So, those veins are green, it means a green dragon got to it.”
“Huh,” Josef said, taking a mental note to tell Garrett about later. He plucked the leaf off the tree and held it up to the waning light. “Poison and healing.”
“I was also told the juice could be concentrated and used as a fire source. Or a purifying agent. Whatever power the fruit is imbued with, the juice can do in much greater concentrations. The concentrated essence is the heart of that power. The fire imbued can create a fuel that’s hard to put out; the water can be used as an antiseptic, or a water purifier; the storm is similar to acid; the psychic one is used to separate one’s spirit from their body, and sends them into the spirit world. At least, that’s what the stories say.”
“So, how long do dwarves live?” Geffrey asked.
“A long time,” Drex responded evasively.
“Is that why your hair is missing?” Geffrey asked, pointing to where Drex’s beard should have been. “Because you’re so old?”
Josef had to cough to hide his laugh. His ears quirked up because he, too, was interested. But the dwarf only grumbled in response. Josef placed the leaf in his trouser pocket so he didn’t appear to be listening.
“How long until a dragon shows up?” Geffrey asked. “I’m tired of waiting!”
Josef opened his mouth to answer, but a rumbling voice stopped him.
“And what, young wyvern, would you need a dragon for?” It was a great, trembling voice, as if it had rumbled up from the depths of the earth. The air quaked with its coming, and Josef felt every fiber of his being quiver with its resonance.
Josef spun around, and there between the trees stood a great red dragon. It was so massive that Josef wasn’t sure how it had snuck up on them. Its head easily rose above the trees, but it swiveled lower with a serpentine grace to peer at the gathered group.
“Would you like to hunt us? Maybe you’ve come to tell us that we’re no longer welcome here?” The dragon eyed each in turn, a fire kindled in its eyes; a dull flare of power. “Like your empress? Do you seek to hunt us, push us back into exile deep within the mountains?”
Drex snorted, which earned him a smoldering glare from the dragon. The dwarf fidgeted, but didn’t scoff again.
“We’ve come to ask you a few questions,” Josef said.
“Again, what makes you think we are willing to help you?” the dragon asked. His breath was warm with a smell that reminded Josef of the forges in the Dwarven District.
“Well, why haven’t you been using your powers on the trees so the draconians don’t have to?” Geffrey asked.
“That’s not my question,” Josef said, giving Geffrey a hard stare, hoping the look conveyed to him just how much Josef wanted him to shut up.
“And what is your question? Maybe you wonder why two of our dragons have attacked your city? Isn’t that what’s being said in Darubai? How we’re monsters and how we need to be exiled?”
Exiled, Josef thought. So they do think of Darubai as home.
“The empress is an idiot,” Josef said. “Most don’t agree with her.”
“You say most as if a great many of you disagree with her,” the dragon hedged. “Yet only today I saw multitudes of people cheering for her speech at the pinnacle of the palace grounds. Are you to have me believe that those people don’t matter? Are you to have me believe even a small gang of those supporters won’t come to Dragon Aerie with mithril weapons to slay us?”
“I can’t guarantee that,” Josef admitted, his voice low, his shoulders slumping. “But I can guarantee you that if they did, the dragon guard would do for you as it would do for any other citizen of Darubai.”
“That is little consolation to those that would already be dead,” the dragon said.
“The only way we can stop that, is by setting an example,” Josef told him. “We are wondering if you could help us uncover the killer, so we can make Darubai safe for everyone who calls it home.”
“And you think this is our home, wyvern?” the dragon asked. There was disdain in his voice, old prejudice against the impure wyverns apparently didn’t vanish even if the dragons were under the thrall of the dragon tamer. “You think home is where we are made to feel not welcome? Home is a place where we are accused of trespasses we have not committed? Where we are the monsters to strike fear in your children?”
“Aren’t you?” Geffrey said. “I don’t see you as a monster. But you have to look at it from the perspective of the humans. You’re the ones who attacked our homes, destroyed our families and our lives! You’re the ones who hide in these mountains and refuse to help us with the fire fruit. You’re the ones who are refusing to help us now, when we come here only to find who really killed these dragons. How are we to know that you really aren’t behind the destruction of our forges?”
The dragon swiveled his head to Josef. “Are these your questions as well?”
“They aren’t,” Josef said. “But I can’t deny that Geffrey has a very valid point.”
The dragon reared back, as if he were about to strike, but as he did, rainbow light swirled across his eyes, dampening the
smoldering fire within. Josef watched in wonder as the power of the dragon tamer worked on the wyrm, easing the fire from his gaze until it was little more than a dim candle flame, and then nothing at all. The red dragon’s body relaxed.
“Very valid points indeed,” he said. “I will summon Drastlin for you.”
And with a flap of his wings, the red took to the skies.
“Boy, warn me before you do something like that,” Drex said. “I nearly shat my pants.”
“Me too,” Josef said. He narrowed his eyes at Geffrey. “Very well said.”
Geffrey didn’t answer. He crossed his arms over his chest, and stared after the red dragon. For all the fire the dragon’s eyes had lost, it seemed Geffrey had gained. They stood in silence until a yellow form blotted out the clouds. The leaves rustled violently, and moments later, a giant yellow dragon settled on the ground before them.
“Keenan tells me I’m to help you,” the yellow said. His voice was soft, like the brush of air across Josef’s skin. It was no less trembling or powerful, but in a way it was soft. “I am Drastlin. How may I be of service?”
“What do you know of the red who presumably destroyed our forges?” Geffrey asked.
“Geffrey!” Josef said sharply. “Hold your tongue. I’m questioning.”
The yellow bowed his head to Geffrey. “I know that Drakanan certainly didn’t destroy your forge. At least, not of his own will. Drakanan is a sad story, for he thought of Darubai as home, more than any of us do. He wanted to live among the humans. I dare say he was just as curious about humans as some humans are of us. We see the humans coming to the Fire Fruit Forest with no other purpose than to catch a glimpse of us, and sometimes we oblige. Drakanan obliged whenever he saw a human, even if they were only coming to harvest fruit. He would swoop low over the trees, spouting out fire in a grand display. I think he enjoyed the human’s cries of surprise and delight almost as much as the humans enjoyed seeing him. It was his curiosity of humans that led to his downfall.”
“How much of his love of humans was because of Kira Dragonkin’s control?” Josef asked.
“None. Drakanan was one of the only dragons she hadn’t had to tame in order for him to help humans. There are few like him, but they are there. I imagine there’s still some among the draconians who are of his mind.”
Josef scowled. This was a completely senseless crime. While he’d thought all dragons were capable of killing humans and being the villains, it had been easier to investigate. But now…now he felt bad for the dragons. A beast that could easily overpower a human, was killed by a human for no reason other than his curiosity.
“What can you tell me of his death?” Josef asked. “Do you know who did it?”
“You’re investigating, despite what your empress says about sending us back over the wards?” Drastlin wondered. “You’d go against your ruler to keep us, the monsters safe? To do what your ruler doesn’t want is treason.”
“The empress is an idiot and has little dealings with the city. In fact, this is the first I’ve heard an edict from her in several years, so it’s not like she’s keeping up with what’s happening in her own city. I think I’m safe.”
Drastlin let out a chuff of breath that could only be considered a laugh. “What I know is little. What I can tell you with certainty, these two deaths are connected by the same killer. There’s a similar power surrounding their souls. And that they know you.”
“They know me? Do I know them?” Josef asked.
“That would stand to reason, but it’s not necessarily so.”
“How can you not see this?” Geffrey wondered.
“There are many reasons. The reason I suspect surrounds us even now. The fire fruit, as you know, can give the one who eats it many benefits. Even as some can protect against fire, others can protect against scrying.”
Josef chewed at the edge of his lip. “So there’s nothing you can tell us about this?”
“No,” Drastlin said. “We’ve already looked into it as far as we can. Many yellows have journeyed through the psychic energies surrounding the forge, and the attack of the green known as Darasah. Both are the same. The visions are sealed against us.”
“Fire fruit,” Josef mused.
Drastlin nodded. “Is that all, wyvern?”
Josef thought for a moment, and nodded. “Can I call on you again, if I have further questions?”
“You know where to find me,” Drastlin said. With that, he lifted into the sky, and was gone.
The walk home was quiet. At some point, Drex left them, but Josef couldn’t remember when in the trek home that he’d gone. When Geffrey and Josef arrived home, it was to find a letter from Garrett telling them they were to be moved to the Wizard’s Keep to protect Marcella and Leaghan.
Aariac wasn’t doing well.
Wylan didn’t need training in the infirmary to know that his leg needed to be set, or he’d face major complications. Through the bars of their cell, she could tell they’d been there several days already. The situation was growing dire.
She—like everyone in the dragon guard—had training as a field medic, but it only covered the minimum. If there was danger, and they needed to rely on that training, their orders were to do the best that they could, and then get the injured party back to Darubai so the healers could take over.
But she still had nothing to set his leg. And though she’d been taken out of her cell a time or two to stretch her legs and get sunlight, she hadn’t been able to sneak anything back to the cell. What was worse, their captors knew the terrible situation Aariac was in, and didn’t care.
The day after his injury, chills had set in. Wylan hadn’t thought too much of it because their cell was damp, and he hadn’t gotten any sunlight. When he started coughing the next day and seemed confused, Wylan knew they were in trouble. She’d tried to set his leg as best she could without anything to bind it or to hold his leg secure.
He was in the middle of another shudder, and a wracking cough when keys jangled at their enclosure. Wylan jumped at the sudden sound, and the sight of a drake before the bars.
This specific drake was female, with a loose-fitting tunic that might as well have been a gown it was so long. It was in earthen colors, and Wylan wondered if the coloration was special in some way, if it marked her station in the settlement.
Every inch of her exposed skin was covered in slick green scales so dark they reminded her of the forests of High Haven before it’d been ruined by dragons. Her eyes were golden, like a snake, and there was no indication of whites about them. While her fingers were slender, they were much longer than Wylan’s. She walked human enough when she opened the door and stepped in.
She motioned to Wylan with a quick gesture. She took it to mean the drake wanted her to near. Wylan felt apprehension knot in her stomach. This was a creature that had her captive, who was known to be ruthless and barbaric, who had chased her and Aariac into a sandstorm, and brought them out in chains.
Wylan ducked her head low, hoping to appear slight and peaceful—which she was forced to be without her powers. As she neared the drake, the creature pulled out a length of chain, and hooked it around the cuffs on Wylan’s wrist.
The drake cast a glance at Aariac as he began coughing anew. If she was concerned about his well-being, she didn’t show it.
She tugged on Wylan’s restraints, and Wylan followed her out of the cell.
What she saw when she stepped into the light of the sun was far beyond anything she’d ever imagined possible for such a primitive race. She’d seen the city before, but it still took her by surprise.
The city, for lack of a better word, was centered within a caldera with numerous walkways that started at the top and spiraled down toward the center. The slopes and paths that led down into the caldera were smooth, as if freshly brushed. The sand of the long desert gradually gave way to hard-packed earth, and then to velvet, green grass so lush that Wylan thought for a moment she’d see elves trekking along the base. Tall
trees with great fronds of leaves spouting from the top dotted the deep canyon. The homes, if you could call them that, seemed carved out of the sides of the paths themselves, much like the infirmary was in Darubai. There were no doors on the homes, giving Wylan the impression that the drakes trusted one another completely.
All of the paths seemed to converge in the center.
In the center of the city stood a towering dais, and on the dais was a throne. She knew whoever sat in the throne must hold great sway over the city, so she was surprised to see a short, plump human sitting there.
What was more, the pudgy man saw Wylan as well. She could see a slight tightening around his eyes, a strange slip of awareness drifted over her mind. If he could see her at this great a distance, he had to be wyvern, or at least something other than human. Humans couldn’t see that great of a distance, not like a wyvern could. But this man on the throne, he met her eyes.
Within her, Lissandra undulated, and whispered against her skin, though the shackles at her wrists wouldn’t allow the wyvern to come out and play.
The drake before her tugged on the chain, and Wylan’s attention was drawn from the man on the throne, and back to the path before her.
Wylan didn’t ask where they were going. She figured the drake wouldn’t understand her anyway. Instead, she followed the drake, watching the path before her. Before long, she realized there was no real need to watch the path, and she allowed her eyes to roam over the city.
In the center of the caldera, here and there, she could see small fires, their smoke drifting lazily into the air. The smell of cooking meat came to her nose, and her stomach growled. She hadn’t had actual meat in several days. In fact, she wasn’t sure what the gruel she’d been eating was, and she didn’t want to know either. All she knew was she had to eat to keep her strength, and so she did.
The drake didn’t let her walk long. It seemed like Wylan’s eyes were just adjusting to the light when she was being led back to her cell. As much as she didn’t want to go back into the cell, Wylan wanted to make sure Aariac was okay.
Dragon Forged: Chronicles of Dragon Aerie Young Adult Fantasy Fiction (Plague Born Book 3) Page 10