by N. M. Howell
What is happening? Andie ran her hands through her hair as she inspected the area surrounding her. It was so foreign, so wild. Thunder crashed overhead as another flash of lightning hit the mountainside not that far behind her. She had to move. It was too dangerous where she was. She could figure out the puzzle of the traitor another time. She couldn’t do anything if she was killed by the lightning, anyway.
She stumbled on, not really knowing which direction to take. The lightning pounded the mountainside around her and she was constantly forced to change direction as entire cliffs and stretches of the mountain crumbled around her. She walked and walked and walked, and just when she thought she had made her way substantially down, she realized she’d been going up for the last hour.
But she kept on, looking for something, anything, to help her find her way. Hours passed and so did the day. Time went quickly and although her magic kept her from tiring, Andie grew exhausted in other ways. There didn’t seem to be anyone on the face of the planet she could trust, and, worse still, whoever the traitor was, her father was with them. And a ship full of her friends and allies.
One person was about to ruin everything.
Chapter Eight
Just when Andie was about to pick a spot to settle for the night, thinking it was hopeless to try to find her way down with the sun nearly gone, she saw it. A dragon.
It was flying low over the nearest peak, dropping beyond the zenith and coasting along the mountainside. It swooped up and avoided the crags and came soaring across the gulf between that mountain and the one on which Andie stood, propelling itself with more grace in those fleeting seconds than in all the movements Andie had seen in her entire life. She gazed up at it in awe, frozen in place. It seemed to sense when a bolt of lightning was cutting through the air and avoided them with terrific ease. She blinked, her eyes not quite believing what she was seeing. It seemed to be getting bigger. It was coming straight for her.
The dragon flew up and soared until it was at Andie’s level and then circled her. It seemed to Andie that the warrior on the dragon’s back was looking down and surveying the area. Finally, the dragon landed near her and the warrior bowed from the dragon’s back.
“You are Andie,” he said, his voice accented with traces of a foreign dialect. He gave her a cautious smile. Andie couldn’t help but stare. His hair was long and windblown, the same emerald green as the dragon’s hide on which he rode. His eyes shone an even deeper emerald, reflecting the brief flashes of lightning that flickered across the sky above him.
“Yes,” she finally managed to say. Her voice was hoarse and she still tasted dirt.
The green-haired man inspected her up and down, a curious look on his face. “Are you well?”
Andie blinked at him, then looked down at the muddy and disheveled state she was in. “I’m… fine,” she croaked. She could hardly believe her eyes. “Are you… Are the dragonborn near? Are you all okay?”
She was having trouble wrapping her mind around what was happening to her. Where was she again?
“We’re all quite fine,” he said, smiling freely now that he was confident who she was. “We’ve been in these mountains for some time. We’ve grown happy here. No harm has come to us and we have yet to be spotted, though Saeryn doubts this peace will last.”
“Saeryn?” Andie asked, her spirits instantly lifted.
“Yes. She’s there with us, of course. Come. I will take you to her.”
When the man didn’t move, Andie realized what he had just asked her to do. “You mean, on the dragon?”
The warrior’s expression looked sly, but he nodded. “Perhaps,” he said as he slid gracefully from the dragon’s back, landing on two feet next to Andie. He held his hand against the creature’s side as he stood gazing at her.
Andie felt numb. She couldn’t help but gaze back at the stunning beauty of the man and the dragon, their colors matching in perfect harmony. He wore shimmering armor made from the same scales of his dragon, a brilliant green with jewels and chains and engraved metal—she had never seen anything so stunning in her life. She had of course seen depictions, mostly illustrated texts in books she had secretly found in the University’s archives, but seeing the dragon and its rider in person this close, so still, nearly brought a tear to her eye.
The man smiled and took a small step back from his dragon, motioning towards its massive back with one graceful hand. “Try.”
Andie did not hesitate. In a world where her circumstances were constantly changing, where life varied by incredible degrees from moment to moment and where she didn’t know who she could trust, the one thing she felt confident of was that these were the people she belonged with. These dragons weren’t the evil beasts she grew up hearing about through rumors. She knew better than to trust blindly, but out of everyone she had met and everything she believed in, she knew in her heart that this warrior and his dragon were on her side. She walked over to the dragon, and the dragon turned it’s long, scaled neck to look her in the eye. The warrior laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Andie asked, turning to face the warrior.
He grinned at the dragon and then bowed his head slightly to Andie. “She says you look like you rolled in dirt.”
Andie blinked and couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at him. “She talks?”
“In a way,” the man considered. “We riders share a mental connection with our dragons. We understand each other.”
“That’s… Wow.”
The dragon nudged her shoulder with its snout. Andie froze a moment then placed her own hand against its hide. It was not what she expected. She had thought the scales would feel cold, metallic. But they were in fact warm, the scales a smooth silk against her skin. The beast closed her eyes as she touched it, and Andie jumped when she let out a snort.
“She likes you.” The warrior grinned, leaning casually against the enormous beast as he watched Andie with a curious look on his face.
Andie smiled at him then turned back to the dragon. “Hello,” she finally spoke out loud. She didn’t know what else to say. She secretly cursed herself for acting so simple, but her mind was so consumed with wonder and yearning, she didn’t even care. All she wanted to do was ride the dragon.
The beast snorted again, small wisps of smoke billowing from its snout. She then knelt on her two front legs, lowering herself for Andie to mount.
“Alright,” she said, reaching up to grab hold of the heavy leather harness that wrapped loosely around the dragon’s neck. “Here goes nothing.”
Andie let out one long deep breath then bent her knees and launched herself up onto the dragon’s back. It was by no means a graceful maneuver, but she found her seating, and, when she realized she was actually sitting on a dragon, she couldn’t help but let out a long, joyous laugh.
“Interesting,” the warrior said, after she’d settled.
Within moments, she was riding a dragon for the first time in her life. She had imagined what it might be like hundreds of times, especially when she was trapped underground for all those months, but she could never have imagined the actual experience.
The dragon lifted from the ground with such power that it left Andie breathless for a moment. She could feel the massive muscles of the dragon’s back as it moved beneath her. Its wide, thick wings pumped up and down powerfully and with a sound like two giant, elegant machines of their own.
The iridescence of the dragon’s scales shimmered in the flashes of lightning like countless diamonds, and the dragon’s entire body was warm and poetic. The head weaved from side to side in front of her. They danced through the lightning and Andie had never felt more exhilarated. It was the most amazing sensation she had ever felt. She closed her eyes and relished in the cool wind that blew her hair as they flew through the skies, an incredible energy coursing through her body like one she’d never experienced.
The warrior rode with a straight back and with the reins in one hand, a true paragon of dignity and patience. Even as the dr
agon performed swift and daunting maneuvers, he never faltered or gave the slightest suggestion of discomfort. He was totally at ease with the creature.
“Does she have a name?” Andie asked.
“Her name is Ronen,” the warrior said. “She is not the fastest or the strongest, but she is the most agile. And she is an even better friend.”
As the warrior spoke, the dragon soared up and then allowed itself to fall, soft and graceful even in its descent, until it stretched its wings and cut the air once more. Andie gasped.
“She’s showing off,” the warrior explained, his voice partially lost in the wind as they soared through the skies. “Not only can we speak to one another mentally, but she can sense my intentions. My emotions. A dragon can read its rider through instinct. Dragons are incredible creatures.”
Andie held on tight and marveled for the rest of the journey. For the first time in a very long time, she felt totally and utterly herself. She felt free.
The dragon took them to the tallest peak of the mountain range. Higher and higher they flew, until they cleared the clouds and left the earth and the lightning behind. As soon as they were above the clouds, the sunlight and warmth flooded them, and Andie knew they were in the right place. There were dragons everywhere. Flying, crawling across the side of the mountain, sleeping in groups of several dozen. It seemed there was a dragon in every color imaginable and each was as beautiful as the last and the next.
And moving around among the dragons, Andie could see her people, the dragonborn. They were moving all over the mountain to perform whatever daily tasks needed done. The scene before her took her breath away. She hadn’t managed to comprehend just how many had come through the portal that night of the battle at the University. But, seeing them all there, going about their business as if the mountain had been their home for centuries, she couldn’t help but marvel in shocked silence.
The warrior brought the dragon down into what looked to be the center of their commerce section, a kind of improvised market square on the mountain side. They had set up the market on one of the level grounds and there must have been three hundred dragonborn there, shopping and enjoying themselves.
When the dragon landed, few people even bothered to take notice of it. They were so use to dragons that one didn’t even warrant their notice. But as soon as they noticed that the rider had a passenger with him, they began to stare at Andie and look her over.
“It might be best to give her some space,” the warrior said. “She looks like she’s already been through a great deal. I’m sure she’s just as surprised and thrilled to see all of us as well.”
“Who is it,” some little kid asked.
“This is Andryne,” the warrior said proudly, turning back to Andie. “She is the savior of our people.”
“Andie,” she corrected, although she wished she hadn’t. She would have to get used to her real name now that she was with her own people and didn’t have to hide.
Instantly, the clamor began. It was like the people had been waiting for her all their lives. The warrior did his best to hold them back, but one man was not enough. They flocked to Andie. They didn’t run up screaming or pulling on her, but they crowded around her and all spoke at once in that calm, graceful way of theirs. They were grateful.
They carefully pushed their wares and baskets out to her, though she declined. It took some time, but the warrior finally extricated himself and Andie from the crowd. He led her back to the mountainside. The people followed. Andie saw that they were approaching a large cavern.
“We have been hard at work making ourselves at home in this new millennium,” the warrior said. “Our old mountain no longer exists in the world, but this one will do for now. We have only just begun creating and connecting the caverns. It is slow work, as we do not wish to go too fast or too close together and destabilize the mountain.”
“How did you do this?” Andie asked, looking up at the top of the cavern which was easily thirty feet above her.
“Some clever magic and quite a bit of dragon’s fire,” the warrior said with a grin.
They entered the cavern and walked a considerable way down into the mountain. Eventually they came to a clearing where fires were lit all around the area and a moderate sized group was meeting in the middle. Standing in the middle of the group was Saeryn. When she saw Andie, she threw up her arms to welcome her. Andie half walked, half ran over and hugged her.
“I’m so relieved,” she said, still holding Saeryn. “I was so worried about all of you.”
Saeryn was even more regal than Andie remembered. Wearing a flowing lilac dress with slits along the leg for easy movement, and magenta dragonscale and intricately-woven metallic armor and crown, she looked like a vision of fantasy. Her strong arms held Andie tight, the glistening scales reflecting the warm light of the surrounding fires. The armor was mesmerizing. Everything about the woman was mesmerizing.
“We’re just fine,” Saeryn said, beaming. “Though we were just as worried about you. How have you come? Where are your friends?”
“I don’t know. One minute I was with all of them on a ship and the next I was buried alive on the side of this mountain.”
Gasps went through the crowd as they all stood in shock and awe. Andie looked out at the surrounding dragonborn, her heart suddenly full. Her people surrounded her, gazing upon her with curiosity and kindness. She couldn’t help but smile out at them as she took in the scene before her.
Warriors, workers, and children alike were gathered around the fires, dragons dozing peacefully around them. Andie noticed the men and women clad in various forms of dragonscale armor stood near their dragons, all of which reflected the same colors as their riders.
Blues, greens, golds, and reds glistened in the firelight, each unique set of armor different and more beautiful from the next. The eyes and hair of each rider the same matching hues as their dragon counterparts. Andie had never seen such a display. It filled her with such wonder. She had so much to learn about her people.
“Who did that to you?” the warrior demanded, his hand on his sword. Andie’s attention was drawn back to the green-scaled warrior.
“I don’t know. I was surrounded by my friends and then there was this flash of blue light and an incredibly powerful burst of cold energy. And then I was underground. I don’t know exactly what happened, but someone in that room cast a spell on me. The day before, I had just found out that we had a traitor onboard. Someone had been spying on us for the University, but I never learned who.”
“They’re cleverer than I thought,” Saeryn said, her eyes narrowing with great concern. “But that is a matter for another time. Has your dragonblood healed you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. How long ago was it that you saw your friends?”
“Earlier today. This morning.”
“Did anything happen in the time you were on the ship?”
“No, nothing I can remember. We hid under ground for two hundred and forty days, beneath the University. We came up on the one hundred and ninety-first day of this year. That was two days ago. Since then—”
“The one hundred and ninety-first day?” Saeryn interrupted. “But that would make this the one hundred and ninety-third.”
“Right. So, then we were at sea and—”
“But that’s impossible,” Saeryn insisted, with a look on her face that Andie couldn’t understand.
“What do you mean ‘impossible?’”
“Today is the two hundred and twenty-sixth day of the year.”
Andie stared at Saeryn. That couldn’t be. It was the same day, it had to be.
“No, that’s not right,” Andie said. “We boarded on 191 and this morning was 193.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s not. We’ve kept excellent track of our passage in this world and made every effort to stay appraised of the world’s ways. Today is 226.”
“But that means that... I’ve been... away... for thirty-three days. But how?”
; “Your back,” Saeryn said, suddenly overcome with nervous energy. “Let me see your back.”
“Does she have the marks?” the warrior asked.
Andie turned around and allowed Saeryn to check her back. She heard more gasps from the people nearby and turned back to Saeryn. Andie began to feel her own back in a kind of mute and frantic terror.
“What’s wrong with me?” she asked. “What’s back there? What have they done to me?”
“This,” Saeryn said, turning to show Andie her back.
Andie could see that Saeryn had a blue tattoo on her back, only more like a scar than something done on purpose. It looked like a hurried infinity symbol with a harsh L drawn in the exact center. The entire design was glowing blue. Saeryn turned around to face Andie again.
“Eitilt,” she said. “The time curse.”
“What?” Andie said, still feeling her back.
“We know it well. It was the spell the sorcerers used to trap our people. That spell was older, more powerful, and it stretched from the day they overpowered us to the day you freed us. Centuries. It would appear that the one that was cast on you was more hurried, narrower, but the result is the same. You were taken from your time and put down in the future. In this case—”
“Thirty-three days,” Andie said, dumbfounded. “I can’t believe this. What about my friends? Are they okay? Are they even alive?”
“I don’t know. I’m so sorry, my dear Andryne.
“I believe she goes by Andie,” the warrior mentioned as he strode past. He winked at her as she caught his eye.
Just then a powerful bolt of lightning stabbed the mountain and shook the cavern so hard that stalactites fell from the ceiling. Saeryn disintegrated them with a wave of her hand, including one that fell directly over Andie.
“What is this place?” Andie asked. “Where are we?”
“These lands were known by another name in our time, but I believe your era calls this the Hot Salts of Mithraldia.”