by Finley Aaron
“China,” I whisper, looking down at the crab legs in my hands. The sunlight glints off the gold on my fingers, and realization washes over me like a blast of superheated volcanic gases.
I made gold.
Okay, sure, it’s not like I have the golden touch like old King Midas. Not everything I touch turns to gold.
But not everything I touch has to break, either. It’s like I’ve reversed the curse, or overcome it in some small way.
At the same time, I can’t help but marvel at the gold itself. Every culture throughout history has treasured it. I’ve always assumed that was because it doesn’t rust or tarnish, and is always shiny and beautiful, besides being rare.
But if gold really does come from dragon tears, and even then only under certain, special, super-heated or ultra-pressurized conditions, then that makes it even more valuable.
Those ideas merge in my mind and it occurs to me that I could do this. I could go to China and find a bride. Things are possible that I hadn’t thought possible. I’m not cursed to forever break things. I can make things, too.
Valuable things.
One of the most valuable substances in the world.
We finish our meal and plot our course, and for the next week or so, make our way leisurely back to Azerbaijan. Ram is surprisingly decent to me now that he’s no longer fighting me for Nia’s affection. And the two of them are kind enough not to be too adorable together in my presence (although I take my time hunting in case they want some time alone together).
Speaking of hunting, I may have appointed myself our unofficial hunter, but Ram surprised me again by actually thanking me—on two distinct occasions—for catching us a good meal.
When we reach our home, my parents and everyone else is back from Siberia, and they’re in the midst of planning my sister Wren’s wedding to the water dragon Ed, and everyone, especially my mother, is relieved to see us. They immediately stop what they’re doing and everyone gathers in the dining room, and my mom pulls out snacks and we sit around catching up on what we’ve missed together.
They’re excited when we tell them our adventures—especially the part about how we killed off so many yagi that Eudora changed their orders and told them to retreat. I think there’s general disappointment that we didn’t find a dragon in the volcano after all, though of course, no one blames us. We did everything we could.
My father is particularly fascinated when I tell them about my gold. Of course I’m wearing the rings, and he’d glanced at them several times as I was talking, and finally there’s enough of a break in the story that he asks me about them.
While I’m reluctant to specify exactly what I was doing that caused the gold to form, there’s really no way around it. The tears are the crucial part of the equation.
So after everyone’s marveled about the gold and I’ve passed around the pieces from my backpack and my sister Rilla asks about the teeth marks in one and Ram admits he doubted what it really was and bit into it to be sure, my dad asks the question I’d hoped no one would think to ask.
“Why were you weeping?”
I suck in a breath but can’t seem to let it out. It’s like it’s frozen in my chest, and I glance at Nia.
She and Ram walked in all cozy together. He’s had his arm around her nearly every second we’ve been home. Seeing them like that, together, it’s hard to believe there was ever a time when I thought I might have a chance with her. So I feel a little foolish admitting the truth.
“Ram and I were both vying for Nia’s affection. We started to duel, but then I realized Nia should choose. She chose Ram.” My voice cuts out, then. I take a deep breath. No one else is talking, which is pretty weird for this group. Usually we talk over each other, but my confession seems to have sucked the conversation clean out of the room.
Then I shrug. “I realized if anyone was going to risk their life checking the volcano for dragons, it needed to be me, because those two had each other. So I went. And I wept. And my tears turned to gold.”
By this time the coins have all made it back to me from their journey around the table, and I tuck them back into my backpack. When I look up again, my sisters are looking at me with pitying expressions, and my mom gets up and hugs me in front of everybody, which sort of makes me feel like when I was six years old and lost at sword practice and she’d hug me to get me to stop crying.
For the record, I am not, at this moment, crying.
My grandfather Elmir, who wasn’t here when we arrived but then my mom called him and he flew over and has been here for most of our conversation since, has been staring at me thoughtfully through my explanation about the gold.
Now he taps his chin. “You know, your grandmother Faye said something to me. I didn’t understand it at the time. I’m not sure she understood it. But Eudora held her prisoner for weeks before I learned she was there. Eudora tried to…run experiments. Something about gold.” He coughs, and the distant look in his eyes disappears, returning him to the present. “Eudora seemed to think it was possible to make gold.”
“She’s still trying to make it,” Nia announces. “She pestered me for information about it, and when she found out I didn’t know anything, she was quite upset.”
“Based on these nuggets, I think she may be right. It is possible to make gold from dragon tears.” I shake my bag and the contents clatter together, shouting proof of their existence. “But I also think she doesn’t know exactly how it’s done. To be honest, I don’t know, either. I was there, but I don’t know which parts of what happened were essential, and which coincidental—but I hope to find out.”
“That’s another adventure for another day.” My mother shoots me a look that says she’d like a break from worrying about my safety, if only for a little while.
I wink at her. “I’m in no hurry. The recipe for gold has been kept secret for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. It can wait a little longer for me to decipher it.”
My father has been silent ever since I mentioned going into the volcano. “I’m proud of you, Son.” He places his hand over mine nearest him on the table, and gives it a squeeze. Then he looks over at Ram and laughs. “You know, Ram, you could learn a thing or two from your brother.”
*
It’s not until I’m in bed that night—in my own bed, in the room that still has a train track running around the walls near the ceiling—that I remember my dreams and the fire and what Nia said about being a Phoenix.
About choosing the fire, making a sacrifice so others can thrive. But most importantly, that a Phoenix emerges from the fire stronger than it was before.
Which I am. I didn’t get what I set out to get—either finding a wife or discovering a dragon inside the volcano. But I did something I never would have thought possible—killing thousands of yagi without swinging a single blade, and freeing Nia from being relentlessly pursued by the yagi.
And I made gold. I still don’t know how I did it, exactly, but I’ll figure that out eventually. I can do it.
I’m stronger than I thought I was.
I have been through fire.
I am a phoenix.
The End
DEAR READER,
I hope you’ve enjoyed the adventures of Felix, Ram, and Nia. The next book in the Dragon Eye series is Vixen, which tells the story of Zilpha’s adventures with her family’s arch-enemy, Ion. A sneak peek at the first five chapters of Vixen follows, right after another item of bonus material, so please, keep reading.
We’ll catch back up with Felix in the final book of the series, Basilisk, when we learn the truth about Eudora’s daughter. Basilisk is the sixth book in the Dragon Eye series. The fifth book, Dracul, follows Rilla Melikov and the Romanian count Constantine on their quest to keep an ancient book out of the hands of those who would kill for it.
For more information about release dates and upcoming titles, visit my website at www.finleyaaron.com. You can also find the most up-to-date information about new releases, sales, and givea
ways, by following me on twitter at https://twitter.com/FinleyAaronBook. The link to my twitter page, as well as links to my Facebook and Pinterest pages, can also be found by visiting my website and clicking on the icons for each.
I’m thrilled to have you join me and the Melikovs on this journey through the dragon world. I’d be delighted if you left a review of this book or any of the others you’ve read. (Hopefully you’ve read the ones that came before this one. Otherwise, awkward.)
Thanks again for joining us on this journey,
Finley
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you feels insufficient. On the journey of writing and producing these books, so many people have reached out a helping hand, lifting me up when I was down, keeping me going when I felt weary or overwhelmed, that simply saying thank you does little to adequately sum up the gratitude I feel.
First of all, and perhaps most of all, I am grateful to You, Readers, those who first took the dare of picking up that unknown book, Dragon, and reading it with no guarantee that it would be worth the time and effort of reading. And especially to those of you who went that extra mile and reviewed Dragon and Hydra. You did not just shine a light on the breadcrumbs in the forest, leaving a path for others to find it—though of course, you did do that. But you also lit that light for me, a candle in the window, reminding me of why I am on this writing journey, and guiding me in the direction of home.
Writing is lonely work, and so often I feel as though these books have been abandoned like so many dragon hatchlings in the wild, where they would surely perish if not for the kindness of those who stop, pick them up, and love them.
So to you, to each of you, my deepest thanks.
Finley
BONUS MATERIALS
NOTE TO READERS, FROM THE AUTHOR:
For the sake of keeping you up to speed on all that’s happened between Felix and Ram’s adventures with Nia, and a year later when Zilpha’s story takes place (chronicled in Vixen, Book Four of the Dragon Eyes series), I’ve provided this summary of Felix’s journey during that year, all he discovered, and what happened because of it.
Fair warning: it’s rather dull, which is why it doesn’t go with the rest of the story. In fact, it’s so abysmally disappointing Felix refused to tell it himself, preferring to forget much of it, so all that remains is this past-tense summary.
If you’re not interested in reading this, or if you start reading it but fall asleep from the pure dullness of it, you may be more interested in the sneak peek of Vixen which follows. But if you’re curious about what Felix discovered in China, and the peculiar misadventures that befell him in France, then read on.
A SUMMARY OF THE TEDIOUS JOURNEY FELIX UNDERTOOK IN THE YEAR FOLLOWING HIS ENCOUNTER WITH THE VOLCANO
Felix Melikov, following his adventure with his brother and the fire-dragon Nia, set off alone on a journey to China, equipped with the small clues Nia had gleaned from the White Witch Eudora, and a working knowledge of the Chinese language, which he learned from a computer program Nia recommended to him.
His foremost clue, and really the only bit of information that told him anything he didn’t already know, was that the dragons of China hunt with eagles. Felix had heard of the traditional practice of hunting with eagles (similar to falconry, only with eagles instead of falcons) but had always associated that practice with Mongolia. Knowing modern borders didn’t always reflect historical boundaries, Felix traveled to the Altai Mountains, the place where Mongolia and Kazakhstan almost meet, where China rises up to touch the crown of Russia.
There, he encountered some difficulty in communication, for while he’d learned Chinese through the limits of the computer course, and even studied the first level of Russian, nonetheless, the Mongolian dialects he encountered in those remote areas shared little in common with the languages he knew. And while the Kazakh language has some words in common with his native Azeri, nonetheless, it wasn’t nearly enough for him to communicate fluently.
After several weeks, during which he mostly lived alone in the mountains, visiting various villages and nomadic encampments in vain, Felix began to wonder if he would ever make any inroads among the people. He’d begun to grow more desperate, and was surveying the countryside from the top of a tall mountain, when he spotted a caravan of delivery trucks journeying through the pass. Noting their progress, he made to intersect their path, then trudged along the road ahead of them so they caught up to him from behind.
As Felix had hoped, these travelers came alongside him and slowed down to speak with him as he walked. They tried to communicate in a few different languages before settling upon Chinese. He accepted their offer of a ride, and the two men in the truck he rode in began to converse with him. They turned out to be a well-traveled family of traders who were fluent in the various local dialects, besides being conversant in the standard Chinese Felix had studied.
The story Felix gave, which he had invented as a cover, was that he was a researcher who wanted to study the eagle hunters, to document the practice, which was dying out among the locals as young people moved away to cities and lost interest in traditional lifestyles.
Felix was then able to convince one of these traders, an older man named Yul, who was sometimes retired from trading anyway, and who was fluent in more dialects than many of the others, to accompany him as his guide and translator for a rather large fee.
Fortunately, Yul had some knowledge and appreciation for the eagle hunters, and was able to connect Felix with families in the region, visiting various eagle-hunting communities in turn.
For a few weeks, everything went smoothly, though Felix met no dragons. He gathered a great deal of information on eagle hunting, and learned enough bits and pieces of the language that he was, at times, able to understand their words before Yul even translated. Still, Felix preferred to speak through Yul, rather than attempt to communicate directly with the people.
As time went on, and Felix learned everything a researcher might hope to learn on such an expedition, it became apparent to him and to Yul that he was running out of reasons to stay. However, it was about this time, as Felix began to fear he’d have to move on without finding any dragons, that he discovered a gap in the training schedules of the young eagles.
He’d watched the eagles being raised from hatchlings. The humans taught the eagle hatchlings to fetch small stuffed mice as a training exercise. The young eagles even knew, either instinctually or from watching the older birds, how to catch small rodents and fish for their own meals.
But the older eagles were practiced in hunting for their owners—bringing back larger fish, enough to feed a family—as well as the foxes, hares, and other larger mammals whose pelts and meat were so valuable.
Felix overheard some men conversing about the next stage of training for the eagles, which involved the birds going off to a pair of tutors of sorts. Just as Felix began to wonder why he hadn’t heard of this stage of training before, the men (who were speaking freely in his presence, doubtless under the assumption that, without Yul’s assistance, he couldn’t understand them) agreed to wait until after Felix had left their village before taking the eagles to be apprenticed.
Always savvy, Felix did not let on that he’d understood, but pondered his next move. It seemed suspicious, and perhaps even fortuitous. Why wouldn’t the locals want him to know about the next stage of training? They’d been open about sharing everything else. Was it that, perhaps, there was something about the two people who performed the training, that the men wanted to keep a secret?
Dragons had to be kept secret.
It was the closest thing to a possibility that Felix had yet encountered, especially in light of the clue Nia had learned from the white witch.
Given what the men had said—that they wouldn’t take their eagles on until Felix had left—Felix decided to leave. He announced it through Yul that afternoon, when most of the men were present. And after leaving parting gifts with everyone, he made a big show of going on his way.
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After he and Yul had disappeared out of sight past the mountains, Felix made his next difficult decision. While Yul had been a great service to him, the man’s services were no longer so necessary. Rather than try to explain his real intentions to his guide, Felix thanked him for all he’d done, presented him with a gift, and parted ways.
To his relief, Yul seemed happy enough to return to his family, and wished him well on his research and remaining journey.
Once Yul was also out of sight, Felix sneaked back toward the village and waited from a hidden vantage point to see what would happen.
Nothing did, not for the rest of the evening or that night. But early in the morning, so early the sun had only just begun to lighten the sky, men set off on horseback with the young eagles, headed deeper into the remotest parts of the mountains.
Felix followed. He had to run to keep up, but fortunately, the men and their horses made enough noise, Felix didn’t have to worry much about being heard. He suspected at one point that one of the eagles spotted him, but as he’d already made himself familiar to the birds during his stay, the eagle wasn’t alarmed by him and didn’t alert the others.
After riding much of the morning, the men left their horses near a small spring and started up a steep mountainside on foot. Felix debated his choices. The trees and brush thinned further up the mountain, disappearing completely in the direction the men were headed. If Felix followed them, he’d have few places to hide.
He already knew the men didn’t want him to know about this trip. They’d surely be angry if they spotted him. And if they were protecting dragons with their secrecy, they might well refuse to go any farther.
Anyway, the men would have to come back for their horses. And with his excellent eyesight, Felix would be able to watch their progress up the bald mountain.