The Dragon Knight's Soul

by D. C. Clemens

  “If I must.”

  “If we cannot find land before Mercer pushes himself too far, then is it possible for you to swim alongside a ship so we may board it?”

  “Such a situation may unfold, yes.”

  “Very good. I’d rather not see your partner in such straits again. It was not a pleasant sight.”

  “Why are you pretending I’m not here?” I asked, already guessing the answer.

  “Because you won’t lis-”

  I whistled, getting Aranath to rear up and flap his wings.

  With the princess’ plan in mind, I noted the ships below more than usual. This sharper combing of the sea had me spotting a trail of floating wreckage at noon. I steered Aranath closer to the ocean’s surface to look for any tempest survivors who might have been clinging to the debris. None could be found. I hoped they didn’t ruin their chances for a rescue by diving and hiding from the swooping dragon, so I had Aranath circle for a couple of minutes before concluding our search.

  Notwithstanding of the other intact ships we saw, Aranath’s eyes and the clear day allowed him to locate a smoking island toward the southern horizon. The roundish blotch of black rock no wider than three miles in diameter held the four hundred foot tall mouth of a volcano at its center, which spewed a grayish steam-like smoke thousands of feet into the sky.

  Except for the bird droppings at the island’s fringes, no evidence of life could be seen. And except for Ghevont, no one tried getting close to the bare island’s birthing vent. The scholar used the bottom end of his staff to check for solid ground, for some portions of the island looked less stable than others. Clarissa did not enjoy how the whole island constantly rumbled beneath our feet.

  At night we watched as the blobs of radiant lava squirted out the opening every few minutes. Aranath, without betraying a tone of homesickness, said places like this reminded him of the central continent in his realm. As for me, I strayed closer to Clarissa’s perspective. Staying on a hot, flimsy rock that might explode at any time did not help my nerves calm down, so full relief did not come until we left the petulant island in the morning.

  The relief lasted only so long.

  Aranath flew into a wide region of half spinning cloud cover that either foreshadowed its formidable future or told of a whimpering death. Whatever its prospects, its sporadic bands of light rain limited Aranath’s farseeing eyes for the present. All he could see was the intermittent boat that sailed quite still compared to his swiftness.

  Odet’s words from before rattled around in what became a lighter and lighter head. The memory of a spinning world only exacerbated the speed my eyeballs spun at. I did not wish to experience the brunt of the spin and queasiness again, and without a clear day to broaden the sweep of our search, there was a real chance I would push myself for naught. Hours from now, a ship might find us floating on an ice patch in the middle of a fickle ocean. Thus, before I lost too much prana and sense, my legs signaled for Aranath to descend when he alerted me of the next ship he found.

  This vessel sailed toward Efios, though an opposite trajectory would not have changed my mind. Three large sails of a reddish hue and shaped like curved triangles were angled almost parallel to flanks of the boxy hull. Since it looked to be twice as long as Aranath, a decent guess said the ship extended for at least a hundred and sixty feet. A black flag with the white silhouette of the great toothed albatross marked the ship as belonging to the Nikno kingdom, the most southwestern nation of Efios.

  As for their sigil, we had seen several real life examples, almost all of which flew far from the last bit of land we passed. The oceanic bird used their twenty foot wingspan to soar over the seas without so much as a flap, while their jagged beaks scooped up fish and squid on the wing. Even with a dragon to compare them to, I thought them a worthy choice for a sigil.

  My directions took Aranath in a circular path two hundred yards away from the ship. Rather than scare everyone with bone rattling roars, Aranath made a deep gurgling sound that came from his chest. The ship’s passengers must have taken notice after hearing it, so I had Aranath fly lower and at an angle that brought the saddle in clear view for those on the ship. On cutting the distance to the ship in half, the tip of his left wing nibbled the water for a few moments, creating an acute wake that hemmed in the ship. Then he told us to brace ourselves.

  As smoothly as something his size could manage it, he leveled himself and glided right into the water’s surface with a splash only leaping whales duplicated. His wings now acted like giant fins and his tail snaked like an eel. He swam for the bow of the ship while my human companions unhooked ourselves from the saddle. With help from Gerard, Odet was the first to stand and wave her greetings to the people staring at the swimming dragon from the starboard side of the ship.

  The sailors, many of which trained their bows and crossbows in our general direction, reacted to the girl’s waving by diffidently gawking at one another. Getting Ghevont to help her with her balance, Clarissa stood up to flutter her hand as well.

  A hundred feet away from the boat, Odet exclaimed, “May we rest on your ship for the night?!” More tentative gawks from the sailors. “We mean you no harm! We merely seek a reprieve in our journey! Who is your captain?”

  “Our captain is ill!” answered a shirtless middle aged man with long dark hair and a crossbow. “I am Lian Shuren, first mate of the Biki Dog! Who are you?!”

  “I am Odet Astor, first princess of Alslana! I hunt Advent with the aid of a dragon knight and his friends! Summoning a dragon takes much energy, energy that is dwindling by the minute. We extend our friendship to your crew if you assist us in our plight! Do you agree?!”

  The dragon turned parallel to the ship as he came less than forty feet away from the hull.

  Now close enough to end the shouting match, the first mate said, “Uh, I suppose I can’t leave anyone stranded out at sea, princess or no. Drop the ladders!” Since no one wanted to take their eyes off the floating dragon, no one moved. “Hey! I said drop the ladders, you dunces!”

  A couple of men nearest him rushed to do as their superior ordered. Seconds later and two rope ladders rolled down the hull. Aranath pulled in his left wing so that his back could get right alongside the ship. With less speed and surface area to keep him afloat, the dragon started sinking. Gerard insisted on climbing up first. I told Ghevont to do the same on the other ladder. The girls quickly followed after them. On taking my first step on the rung behind Clarissa, I ended the summon. A geyser of water burst forth when the ocean replaced the vanished beast.

  Gerard’s hand pulled me up to the deck. The two dozen sailors that had been aligned by the bulwark still stood in that line, but backed up closer to the center mast. Most faces looked to belong to the kingdoms of Efios’ southern half, the ancestral people of Yang Hur and Ning. In particular, the face of the first mate grew a thin beard around his mouth I did not see before. Like most sailors of the world, they wore simple tunics and trousers that kept them light and practical.

  Stepping out of the line, the first mate said, “Now, what’s this about a princess and a dragon knight? Who’s the dragon knight?”

  “I am. Mercer Eberwolf.”

  “And you tamed a dragon?”

  “No, my dragon is no mindless brute that needed to be broken.”

  “Then, then our realms are reunited?”

  “Not quite. I fell into a unique situation. For now, my allies and I hunt the Advent. Heard of them?”

  “Perhaps a word or two in our last port. I certainly did not know a dragon knight chased them.”

  “It seems a dragon flies faster than the word of one.”

  “And faster than my comprehension of it. I’ll also assume the young woman is who she says she is.”

  “Is this a merchant vessel?” asked Gerard.

  “Huh? Oh, that’s right. We’re sailing back to Chosoky. Where are you heading?”

  “Wherever the Advent are,” replied Odet. “Thank you for allowing us to boar
d your ship, Master Shuren.”

  “Allowed? Refusing the request of anyone riding a dragon seemed like an unwise decision. You say you only want to rest for the night, um, Your Highness?”

  “Yes. We’ll leave in the morning once we gain the necessary repose.”

  “Ah! And food! And drink! The Biki Dog is a humble ship, but I will make certain a dragon knight and his comrades will remember her hospitality! Right men?!”

  Half the sailors howled in agreement or shouted, “Right!” The other half did the same, though their response came more awkwardly in timing and tone.

  On top of cargo and the thirty-seven crew members, the ship hauled nineteen non-sailors. Many had fled to the lower decks when they saw the dragon, so they had to be coaxed back out. To the girls’ glee, eleven of the travelers belonged to a troupe of singers, actors, and other assorted talents. Most of these brightly clothed performers hailed from Dracera, but one brown skinned woman’s original home lied in Vlaukris and three came from Hetrana.

  Due to their short stature, two of the Hetranians drew the most attention right away. The male dwarf, who walked with the help of an iron cane, and his lady companion did not hesitate to totter up to us on learning that a dragon knight and Alslana royalty were among the newcomers, which they could do since no one else had yet taken the initiative.

  Owing to the fact the bottom half my mind still swilled in a drunk-like mire, I let the image amuse me. Clarissa had to kick the back of my heel to stop the chuckle about to escape my throat. I cleared it and leaned against the bulwark with my arms crossed. I looked over at Gerard, who glanced at me with a raised eyebrow and the smallest of smirks.

  Despite the cane, the male dwarf appeared to have a sprightly middle-aged body, though his head was devoid of much of his short black hair. The little woman’s hair was in a loose bun and seemed to share a similar age as her companion. Both dwarfs stopped in front of Odet, clapped their little boots at the same time, and bowed at the same time.

  “It’s our honor and pleasure to meet you, Your Royal Highness,” said the male dwarf. “My name is Dinfa Bakshifin, and this is my wife, Gwedi.”

  Returning the bow, Odet said, “The pleasure is mine. I’ve always played with the idea of discarding my duties to join a troupe. Are you actors? Dancers?”

  “We touch upon all aspects of performance. My wife is a talented coordinator and writer of plays. I am the best caster in the troupe, so I support everyone else by providing light and elemental effects for dramatic and realism purposes.”

  “You’re a caster?” asked Ghevont. “Do you find your limited size also limits your capacity to cast spells when compared to your taller contemporaries?”

  “Ghevont!” said Clarissa. “Don’t be so blunt! I’m sorry, Master Bakshifin. Ghevont is a scholar who lacks in social graces.”

  Dinfa laughed. “It’s all right. Our height is no mystery to us. You should hear the other questions we get. One has to get used to it.”

  “We wouldn’t perform in front of audiences if we couldn’t handle the stares and words,” said Gwedi.

  “Maybe so,” said Clarissa, “but I know what it’s like to hear inconsiderate statements about one’s kind.”

  “I don’t think Ghevont was being inconsiderate, Clarissa,” I said. “Ghevont was just being Ghevont.

  “I know, I know. Doesn’t mean he can’t learn to be a bit more thoughtful.”

  “Ghevont, try not using so many size related words in front of our hosts.”

  “Um, okay.”

  “You’re the dragon knight?” Dinfa asked me.

  “Aye.”

  “You’d make a marvelous addition to our troupe. Imagine it, getting rich by simply summoning the renowned creature at the end of our show. Care to join us?”

  “If all my other plans fall through, you’ll be the first I go to. Where will I find you?”

  “We’re going to be in Chosoky for a while. Hopefully we won’t be there long. Our aim is to gain enough fame to end up in Wregor. We figure they have plenty of troupes to entertain everyone there, but few that look like our own. People pay more for the exotic.”

  “Indeed,” said Gerard. “Still, you risk much purchasing a voyage during the tempest season.”

  “That’s what I told everyone!” said Gwedi. “Almost proven right with that last storm. We should’ve waited a couple more months.”

  “No one wanted to spend another hour in that rubbish they call an inn,” said Dinfa. “We’ve been saving long enough.”

  “And apparently you think we’ve been living long enough.”

  Seeing that their shorter members had no trouble mingling with us, the others in the troupe moved in about this time. My lightheadedness blurred the conversations together until the ever aware princess excused herself to begin a restrained variant of our training at the stern of the ship. The troupe became the audience for once.

  An hour of training pacified me to the point I reached into my food pouch for its seeds and dried fruits. My stomach could not yet handle a heavier meal, and any utensil I held would still exhibit the tremble present in my fingers. I nibbled my food by the ship’s central mast, given that it turned out to be the least wobbly part of the vessel.

  Coming up to me, Dinfa said, “Forget the dragon, you and your princess can put on quite a show on your own.”

  “She’s not my princess.”

  “Oh, is that a hint of resentment I hear?”

  “I meant in that I am from Etoc, or the Glims. Depends who you ask.”

  “Ah, forgive me. It’s just that I used to be resentful, so I thought I got good at hearing it.”

  “Well, maybe your ears aren’t so off. How’d you purge your resentment?”

  “‘Purge’ isn’t the right way to put it. It’s more like I spend fewer hours cursing the gods and my father for the hand they dealt me. As to how I even got that far, I remembered that my ‘limited height’, as your friend put it, did not preclude me from learning the art of magic. I wanted to be such a great caster that I’d someday become a general in the army! Makes me laugh to this day, but back then I wanted to prove my doubters wrong in the most grandiose ways.

  “As it turned out, the only master that would teach me worked for a troupe. That’s where I met my future wife. I sort of disappointed her. She wanted a great general for a husband! Still, she gets to see me in shining steel armor when we act out the Battle of Silence in her Easy Obsession play. Everyone always gets a big laugh when they see me hop out in that. Too bad I had to sell it to secure a few more coins. Did you sell your armor? Or do dragon knights not need it?”

  I lifted my shirt and knocked on the dragon scales. “Do you think your wife would swoon seeing you in this?”

  “She’d poison you to sell it, buy a castle, and marry a full-sized man.”

  “I’ll keep my eye on her, then.”

  “By the way, what did your friend mean before? About hearing inconsiderate statements?”

  “She’s a vampire.”

  “Oh, I, uh, I see.”

  “She only drinks animal blood, but many won’t care about that detail. Do you care?”

  “Eh, not if a dragon knight vouches for her. It also reminds me of a joke. A dragon knight, princess, vampire, scholar, and soldier walk into a tavern…”

  “Don’t forget the dwarf.”

  “Yes! The most important part. You know, if I recall correctly, my kind do owe the old dragon knights a debt of gratitude.”

  “That so?”

  “Aye. Many cultures threw us away as babes, or would cleanse our brains to make us one of the Reborn. Being a court jester was our best hope for an affluent living before dragon knights convinced everyone that we can cast a spell as well as anyone else. That we can think just as well if given the chance. After all, to a dragon, all humans are short, little things. A few places have reverted back a touch since the dragon war. Maybe you can remind them now that you’re back?”

  “Every chance I get. My compa
nions will make certain I do. Still, I do have bigger problems on my plate. Uh, literally.”

  “Right, right. Only a humble request.”

  “And may I ask a humble request from the self-proclaimed best caster in his troupe?”

  “Of course. What is it?”

  “Only if you have any spell or training method that might be useful for a dragon knight.”

  “Humble indeed. I’m no warrior.”

  “The last man I took advice from claimed the same. I take my advice where I can get it. Whether I use it or not is up to me.”

  “Fair enough. Let me think a moment… Hmm, yes, I remember my master telling me something about treating every spell as though you’re consuming your very life source, not merely its vestiges. You’re casting with something the gods judge and use to balance the universe itself.”

  “Uh, okay. Any hint on how to do that?”

  “The soul carries your very being, who you are. So when you cast a spell, make sure all your love, hate, happiness, and every other emotion you feel is poured into it. I realize how mawkish it sounds, but once I embraced that mindset, it really helped me progress beyond my nascent casting ability. I also enjoy the idea that my prana can balance our realm as much as anyone else’s. So, will you use my advice?”

  “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

  “Well, thanks for considering it, anyway.”

  The dwarf bowed and went back toward the livelier group of raconteurs.

  With no one in my realm in hearing range, I asked, “Is what the dwarf said helpful?”

  “It can be, though your mitigated emotions might not be the best fuel for your spells.”

  “I don’t know about that. Every time I imagine my brother almost cutting down Clarissa, I feel a whole host of emotions seeping to the surface.”

  “Then use it. I do not expect you to benefit much from such a practice, but I may have underestimated how deeply you’ve suppressed your passions.”

  “Aye, me too.”

  Minutes later and I found the girls being taught a synchronized dance by the troupe’s dancers. It was an odd looking dance that had one swaying and twisting their upper body as much as possible without moving their legs. Then the legs flailed about while the upper body straightened and stayed still for the next phase.