The Summer Dragon

by Todd Lockwood

  Screams and roars of pain and terror erupted from the mouth of the cave as a blackened monster bowled Teff and his dragon over. The Horror enveloped them, its wing obscuring savagery that ended in screams. Another Horror bulled out of the cave to join it in a frenzy of tearing. A third scrambled to get past them as they fed.

  “Go now!” shouted Cairek.

  I turned, saw Tauman spin, too. Jhem and Darid launched from the brink of the ledge. I pulled Mabir’s arms tight and shouted, “Go, Keirr, catch Audax. Hurry!”

  We dived off the precipice. Keirr rowed hard twice, spotted Audax, and pulled her wings tight, gliding on just the fingers of her wings and the fan of her tail, shooting like an arrow. “Jhem,” I called as we pulled up alongside.

  Her face snapped up to me.

  “You have to take Tulo back to the Chamber of the Seasons and warn the rest of Cairek’s men: The aeries are under attack. Keep Tulo safe. Hurry, before Horrors spot you.”

  “But Maia—”

  “You have to do it, because you have to keep Tulo and his drawings safe.”

  “I’ll go with them,” shouted Darid, gliding on my left.

  Jhem nodded and hunkered close to her saddle. Tulo clung to her, though his wide eyes stuck to me for as long as he could crane his neck my way. Then Audax, his charges, and his escort faded down into the mountain’s shadow, out of sight.

  I looked around me. Tauman, Bellua, and I remained, carrying Fren and Mabir.

  “We go home!” I shouted, but I stole one last glance back at the mountain.

  Two dragon teams stood out against the failing sky. At this distance I couldn’t tell Cairek or any of his men from the Horrors.

  Behind them appeared another winged shape, and another. Then four more. Then too many to count.

  FORTY-EIGHT

  WE CAME IN FAST over the last ridge, spotted the aeries. A dragon and rider rose up to greet us. Addai.

  He rode high, then turned to come in from above and behind. Gods, but his Torchbearer was fast. “What have you done?” he yelled. “Witch, what have you done?” But for Mabir on my back and the eyes of Staelan and his barrage, I didn’t doubt Addai would rip me out of the sky.

  I ignored him. Keirr opened her wings to brake in for a landing. “Staelan—Horrors come,” I called. “Prepare your men!”

  Keirr’s head was high, ear frills deployed in alarm. Her eyes snapped to every loud or unfamiliar noise as Staelan’s men ratcheted their machines into readiness. Spears clattered. Crossbowmen dashed into the log palisades. I patted her on the bond mark. “You’re good, baby. You’re fine. Shhh.” She nodded, her left eye turned back to me, but her feet shuffled uncertainly. I dismounted and pulled her head down, wrapped my arms over her eyes. She laid down.

  Addai landed a few yards away, and with fury in his eyes turned his mount toward us. Bellua and Zell dropped into the space between us, blocking his way. I heard Addai above the clatter and shouts. “What have you done? What is the meaning of this insubordination?”

  Bellua’s voice; words indiscernible, but the tones calmer, more measured. Tauman warning that Horrors were on their way, Addai snarling, “Stand aside.”

  As I undid the first buckle in the dhalla’s harness, I saw Tauman in the corner of my eye and called to him. “We need to get the eggs and broodmothers into the ice vaults.”

  “Right.” He grabbed one of Staelan’s soldiers as he hurried past. “Give me your help.”

  “Sir?”

  “Help me with these doors.” He ran to the brood platform and unlatched one of the big rolling doors. All the buildings on the aerie had trapdoors leading to the old, original aeries, below the paddock in what was now the ice vaults. That’s where I needed to take Mabir, as well. The doors to the broodhouse were but the first line of defense.

  The ice vaults were our only sanctuary.

  Bellua appeared at my side. “Are you hurt?”

  I ignored him. He reached for a buckle on Mabir’s harness but I pushed his hands away. “Leave him,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

  Bellua frowned and reached again, but I took hold of his elbow. With a single move, he twisted my grip around, and had me by my wrist. “Let me help,” he said.

  I wrenched my hand free. “Haven’t you done enough?”

  Addai’s voice sliced into my hearing, but Bellua turned and stood between us again.

  I released the last buckle and allowed Mabir to slump down onto my shoulder. As I stepped away from Keirr, his legs slid onto my other arm.

  I’d never realized how frail he really was. A bundle of sticks covered in parchment. Wisps of hair. I started toward the broodhouse cradling him like a child. “Come along, Keirr,” I said, and she jumped to her feet.

  Staelan barked orders in the background. Latches clanked, men shouted. The rattle of a war machine turning on its gimbal. Another flurry of wings and a team landed, Marad with them. I looked to the sky for Cairek but saw only a terrifying mass of silhouettes against the deepening twilight. The broodhouse door stood partway open. Inside, Tauman cranked the windlass that opened the trapdoor to the ice vault. The two sides folded back like shutters in the floor.

  Addai grabbed my arm, one of his Juza fighters behind him. “You’re under arrest. Give the dhalla over and surrender.”

  I struggled to keep Mabir steady in my arms, but I wouldn’t let Addai take him. I leaned against Keirr to keep my balance. “Go fall off a cliff,” I said, my voice cracking. “You don’t know what’s happening here.”

  He looked startled for a moment, and then Bellua imposed himself again, breaking Addai’s grip on me.

  “You’re under arrest, too.” Addai snapped.

  I stepped past Bellua, and faced Addai directly, my arms burning with the strain. “We’re under attack,” I rasped. “We have to get the eggs and broodparents into the ice vaults. We have about thirty seconds to do it. Do you really want to have this fight now?”

  He tapped his Juza warrior’s arm, then pointed at Mabir in my arms. “Take the priest.” Before the man could act, Rov intervened.

  “We don’t have time for this, Prelate. Get your teams assembled, now.”

  Addai’s mouth snapped shut. I turned and headed to the broodhouse before he could regain momentum. Cairek rushed up to greet me. Cairek—thank the Avar.

  “You’re safe,” he said.

  “For now. We’ve got to get eggs and mothers downstairs.” I started toward the broodhouse again, but stumbled under the weight of Mabir. Cairek caught him and lifted him up.

  “You lot,” he said, to six of Staelan’s men passing by, “come with us.” The metal-clad step of soldiers followed us into the broodhouse.

  The trapdoors lay open in the floor behind Athys’s nest. Grus huddled on her eggs to the right, wings open wide in a threat display. Coluver keened in fear on our left. Athys picked up an egg gently with her teeth and passed it to one of Staelan’s men. Another soldier carried an egg down the stair. I followed. “This way,” I said to Cairek, and he followed me with Mabir in his arms.

  Tauman had lamps lit already. He directed the soldier to place the eggs carefully in piles of straw arranged in the rearmost chamber of the vaults. When he saw Cairek carrying Mabir, Tauman broke open another bundle of straw and laid it in a corner. Cairek kneeled and let Mabir slide off his arms into the bedding, where Tauman covered him with his jacket.

  I pushed past Cairek and felt for a pulse in Mabir’s neck. His eyes fluttered open. He scanned the room with alarm, then confusion before finding my face. “Maia?” he rasped.

  “You’re in the aeries, in the ice vault. You’re safe.”

  “Thank the Avar you’re alive.” He raised a hand and touched my upper lip. I felt the crust of blood there crumble under his fingertips. “Are you hurt, girl?”

  “Yes.”

  “How badly?”

 
“I don’t know. I have to leave you. Horrors are coming.”

  He groaned and let his hand fall. “I’m sorry. I meant only to take its attention so you could escape. You should have left me.”

  “You bought us time. You saved my life, dhalla. All our lives.”

  “Oh, sweet Asha,” he whispered, staring blindly with rheumy eyes. “It invaded my mind. Such truths for a monster to show an old man in his last hours.”

  I swallowed a lump, bit back tears. “I have to leave you now, dhalla. But I’ll be back for you. I promise.”

  He closed his eyes and nodded.

  I bounded up the stair to the broodhouse. Keirr nuzzled me at the top, shivering with fear. I patted her on the neck. Bellua followed me with a crossbow in his hands, and Zell met him. A soldier passed me in the opposite direction with another egg. We didn’t have half of them secured yet.

  “We need to move faster,” I shouted, and another soldier jumped to help. I grabbed the handle on the last paddock-side door to roll it closed. Fren stopped me with one hand. With the other he waved several of Staelan’s foot soldiers in the paddock toward us, shouting, “This way. Hurry!”

  The spectacle unfolding outside froze me in place. I watched from behind the door.

  Roaring watchfires lit the paddock. Rov and his talon of eleven teams waited at the ready, along with Cairek and Marad, Addai and his seven remaining Juza. We had twenty-two teams, against how many? All six lancers, including Rov, took up positions on the perimeter. At his command, the mounts sat up on their haunches. Each rider attached a lance from a cache on their dragons’ backs to the lance mechanism, then cranked it forward, butt first. It flipped up and around as it crawled over the dragon’s shoulder and down to a stop on his belly. Guided by the dragons’ forepaws, they made a fence of tall spikes pointing outward.

  “Let them come,” shouted Addai. “Draw them in!”

  “Hurry!” I called out to Staelan’s men in the paddock. Behind me I heard the broodmothers keening in fear, heard footsteps on the stair to the ice vaults.

  Horrors descended on the paddock, charcoal black with portals glowing green. In the flutter of wing and failing light it became difficult to tell one from another. They hovered for an instant above the fighters below, and Staelan bellowed, “Loose!”

  Half the crossbows released. Ballistae rocked from the top of the broodhouse, the storehouse, the tack house. A cloud of arrows, and two dozen bolts the length of tent poles, caught the Horrors in crossfire. Two of the beasts tumbled into the paddock. A lancer jumped up to meet the first, impaling it before it hit the ground. The lance released as the thing fell to the paving. The Dragonry rider immediately readied another spear. Topbows met the other Horror as it struggled against several bolts through wing and torso. The remaining monsters coiled above in a confused knot.

  “Loose!” bellowed Staelan again. The rest of the archers released. Even the soldiers running toward our door paused long enough to let fly. The monsters scattered, screeching in anger, circled once, then descended on the ballistae crews. Passengers that had once been men dismounted, dropping through the log cages with swords and crossbows. Addai launched with his Juza. Cairek and Marad followed. Rov’s teams sprang as one.

  A Horror dragon clawed at the cage surrounding one ballista crew, on the storehouse roof across from me. A Dragonry team landed atop the Horrors, the dragon raking the monster’s wings and shoulders, the rider shooting arrows. Another monster dropped out of the darkness and ripped the rider from his saddle with a horrible snap. It clutched the body close as it savaged the dragon’s neck with its teeth. The dragon still struggled as the two Horrors ripped bites out of it.

  I waved the soldiers to greater speed. “Don’t look up. Run!”

  Other monsters fell on the palisades. The men inside leveled oversized crossbows between the logs. Nightmares reached inside to claw at them. A man howled in terror as a Horror dragged him out to the paddock. Two other monsters joined it in a manic feeding squabble that lasted only seconds.

  I heaved with all my strength to start the big door moving. Fren and the last soldier backed through, but the door was heavy and only inched toward closed. I could still see, as a Juza team landed near the squabbling Horrors and did something astounding. The Torchbearer took a breath, convulsed as if choking, then spat a thick gout of blazing liquid on the Horrors. They burst into flame where it clung, splashed fire where they stomped in puddles.

  I felt a moment’s hope. It struck me as a weapon that had to be directed carefully, since the blazing liquid clung to everything and burned white hot. Would it injure a Torchbearer too?

  From the roof above came a loud crunch, tearing noises and screams, breaking timber. The clacking of many crossbows, the ring of swords. The body of a ballistaman fell to the paddock, missing an arm. A thud on the broodhouse roof shook the building. Shouts became screams as ripping and tearing commenced above.

  Fren joined me and together we rolled the door closed at last. I threw the latch and set the bolt in the floor.

  Sounds of battle raged outside. We heard the heavy thud of a ballistae firing, but the bolt casters still thunked and crossbows sang. Shouts and screams of pain cut the air. Heavy impacts shook the roof and the doors to the paddock. Something crashed against the doors on the cliff side of the broodhouse opposite, then crashed again. Scraping. Another blow. Athys growled restlessly, Rannu beside her. Coluver moaned in fear, wings spread in threat display, unsure which set of doors to defend, cliff or paddock? There were still eggs in the nests.

  “Keep moving eggs!” I yelled. One of the soldiers snapped off orders to his men. Two of them grabbed up eggs and ran down the stairs to the ice vault, even as a third returned for another egg. The rest spread out down the length of the broodhouse with their oversized crossbows lowered.

  I ran to Coluver’s nest, but the cliffside door next to it boomed and shuddered. Scrabbling and scratching. Metal shrieked as a strap was torn off outside. Splinters flew into the chamber, pelting Coluver. She roared in anger. Talons wrapped around the edge of the door.

  “This way,” I shouted, pulling my bow off my shoulder. Two of the soldiers came running with Tauman right behind. Fren nocked an arrow as the cliffside assault intensified.

  The door flexed outward. I saw a rear leg pushing on the door next to it, causing it to buckle inward. It snapped and bounced out of its track, swung inward and swept Tauman and the soldiers off their feet. The door in front of me ripped off its track at the same time, wheels exploding from the overhead rail. It twisted aside and fell away into the night.

  The dragon Horror hovered outside, recovering its balance. With each downbeat of its wings, glowing dust puffed out of the cavities in its body, along its neck and shoulders, up the arms of the wings. The rider on its back aimed a crossbow our way. Fren’s arrow appeared in his ribs. I nocked, released, hit the rider as he shot. His bolt went wide, but struck Coluver in the wing. The monster pushed toward us, sculled to a landing. I shot two arrows into its body.

  Tauman jumped up and released into the beast’s maw, causing it to lurch. The rider fumbled reloading his bow. In the same time, Fren shot twice into the creature’s head. I put arrows into its neck. More bolts struck from out of sight above—a topbow repeating. The beast veered aside and dropped out of view. A Dragonry team flashed by in pursuit. Another Horror swept in to the doorway before us.

  “Damn it!” said Tauman.

  I loosed, striking the monster’s face between nostril and eye. Fren put an arrow through its cheeks as two soldiers flanked him, spears at the ready. The dragon turned and lurched toward them. Fren fell back, shooting, as the soldiers set their spears against it. The beast swatted one of them aside—off the cliff into darkness with a cry. More of our arrows sprouted from its neck and head. The other soldier plunged his spear into the beast’s open mouth as it snapped at him. He pushed forward until its death throes r
ipped the weapon from his grasp. The rider failed to escape its harness before the dragon spilled off the edge.

  The next cliffside door in line already hung broken and loose. A Horror swept it aside as if it were a curtain of paper, exposing Rannu, Athys, and their clutch.

  Rannu launched into the monster before it could regain its balance, took it by the throat, and drove it backward. They tumbled out of sight below the lip of the platform. “Rannu!” Tauman cried, and stepped toward the precipice to see. Fren grabbed him by the belt and pulled him back. Another Horror wheeled into the doorway.

  We loosed arrows as rapidly as we could. Athys roared by Tauman’s side, Keirr keened beside me. A blizzard of arrows came down from the aerie roof above as well. The creature flinched backward as a score of barbs struck home. Its rider slumped in his harness with arrows sticking up from shoulders and helmet. The dragon turned and dropped from sight.

  The assault paused for a brief moment. Horrors dived and veered in and out of firelight. Sounds of battle came from above and behind. Tauman turned my way. “Maia?”

  “I’m fine,” I said, though my voice trembled. My arms shook as I nocked another arrow. I made a quick scan of the situation: all three broodmothers remained in their nests, to defend eggs still waiting to be moved downstairs.

  The onslaught began again. A new beast lit in front of me and surveyed the platform as it clung to the lip. Almost as quickly, a lancer dropped from above, impaling it. The lance broke away and the dragon crashed onto the monster’s haunches, driving it to the paving. He took a wing in each forepaw, chomped down on the rider. Snapped his head from side to side like a terrier on a rat. The Horror came apart in his harness, stumps glowing like coals, fading as they scattered. The dragon spat the thing’s torso aside with a roar of pain.

  Another monster dropped down on them from above. The lancer’s experienced mount twisted over on his back, breaking one Horror’s wings against his body, grappling mouth to mouth with the second. The entire mass of three snarling, struggling dragons fell away from the lip.