by Chrys Cymri
A low noise rose from the dozen merpeople around us. The sound rose, slapping against my chest like waves on a sandy shore. Bastien squeaked and took shelter behind me. I staggered onto a seat, gritting my teeth against the physical pressure.
‘Enough!’ This was from a merman. Age had added streaks of grey to his dark hair and long beard. ‘They volunteered, and they knew the risks. We do not honour their sacrifice with this grieving.’
‘You’re quite right, Rayan,’ Jasmeen said. ‘And one might still be alive.’
I nodded. ‘The one I saw had a silver cross tattooed on her left shoulder.’
‘Elisa. May the God she followed gather up her soul.’ A sigh followed Jasmeen’s words. ‘The other is Sasha. She worships Luna, so she bears the mark of the silver moon on her shoulder.’
‘I don’t know why I haven’t already heard about her.’ I pointed at the merpeople’s tails. ‘It’s not like she can blend in with the human population.’
For the second time there was an awkward silence and averted eyes. I listened to the waves slapping against wood until a grumble from my stomach reminded me that it was nearly dinner time. Hunger sharpened my voice. ‘And what are you not telling me this time? Look, if we’re going to help you, we need to know.’
Jasmeen gave Rayan a curt nod. He made his way to the shelter, using his arms and tail to propel himself across the platform. When he emerged, an expanse of dark green material shimmered in his muscular arms. I forced myself to hold still as he placed the warm skin in my hands. ‘Mer tail,’ I said grimly. ‘Sasha shed her tail.’
The old merman studied me. ‘So you know what that means.’
‘Yes.’ A few scales still clung to the thin leather. ‘Sasha now has legs. Once a merperson has shed her tail, it’s irreversible. She can never return to the sea again.’ My sight was blurred as I swept my eyes across the gathered merpeople. ‘Why would she do this?’
Bastien had crept back out into the open and was once again perched on a log. ‘As you noted, to have legs,’ he said. ‘From what I’ve seen, it would be very difficult to get around your world on a tail.’
I frowned. ‘It’d be difficult to get around if only one of them had legs. How exactly did Sasha and Elisa make their way to Midlands WaterWorld? How did Tarkik’s pod learn that he was there?’ Again the stony silence. I fought back the temptation to go to the nearest merperson and physically shake out the truth. ‘Okay, right, I’ll go to Midlands WaterWorld and talk to Tarkik.’
‘You’ll need Sasha,’ Jasmeen countered. ‘Tarkik has very limited air speech. The pod told us he finds it difficult to form the words.’
‘And once he’s back, will Abella be released?’ Raven demanded. ‘The akhlut had better keep their promise.’
All the talk about missing merwomen had diverted me from my own mission. ‘Okay, when I’m back home, I’ll find Sasha and take her to Tarkik. What I came for, though, is to ask for your help. One of our deep-water boats is somewhere in Lloegyr, probably held by a nest of nessies, large sea dinosaurs. Do you know anything about that?’
‘Abella would,’ a young-looking merman said, stroking his short red beard. ‘She’s good friends with Nessie.’
‘What about the rest of you?’
They shook their heads. No short cuts here. We’d have to do as the rat king advised. Freeing Abella had to be our goal.
‘I care nothing about missing boats,’ Raven snarled. ‘But I will pledge fire and wings to recovering Abella. So, tell me, are any of your merpeople related to Sasha? A sample of your blood would help me to find her.’
Rayan leapt into the water, passing into the sea so smoothly that only a small splash marked his entry. I took the opportunity to pull out my water bottle and take a gulp. Bastien pulled back ears and whiskers in a silent plea, and I poured water out into my palm and held my hand out to him. ‘It’s never this hot in Llanbedr,’ the rat said when he’d finished. ‘Not even in the height of summer.’
A young merwoman pulled herself onto the platform. Her head was shaved nearly bald, and metal piercings studded her lips and ears. As she wordlessly held out a tattooed arm to Raven, I rubbed my face to hide a smile. I’d not expected to see a punk merperson.
The dragon ran one golden claw along her skin. His tongue touched the ribbon of red which welled up from the cut. ‘You’re cousin to Sasha?’ he asked, then repeated the question in Welsh.
‘Ydw. Roedd ein mamau yn ddwy chwaer,’ the merwoman replied. They were first cousins through their mothers.
‘Close enough.’ Raven closed his eyes for a moment. ‘I can find her. Come on Penny, time to go.’
‘Thanks for all your help,’ I told the merpeople as I carefully walked across the gently moving raft to the dragon’s side. My socks were cold and wet, as were my boots, but I grittted my teeth and pulled them on anyway. I tugged my coat into place, and then accepted assistance from several mermen to help me onto Raven’s neck.
The speed with which the dragon inflated his gas chamber and lifted himself from the ocean caught Bastien by surprise. The rat launched himself from his log and pumped his bat wings furiously to catch up with us. Rarely had I experienced Raven flying at his top speed, and for a moment I worried that Bastien might be left behind. As his small body came to my side, I reached out and gathered him into my arms. I could feel his heart pounding against my chest.
The rat was just in time. Raven ducked us through a thin place. We skimmed over a wide expanse of wheat under a mid-afternoon sun. I barely had time to admire the distant mountains before we were plunged into darkness. A sliver of moon glistened on a series of lakes far below. I sensed Raven settling into a pattern of steady wingbeats. ‘We’ll be here for a little while,’ I told Bastien. ‘He’s obviously following a different route back. You’ll have time for a rest.’
‘I’ve not flown that fast,’ the rat puffed, ‘since a cockatrice took offence at my rhyming scheme for his message.’
‘What did you say?
‘It was the bit about “the miners already hate your muck, and they say you’re as ugly as fu--”’
‘I’ve got the picture,’ I interrupted quickly. ‘Not quite epic poetry, really.’
‘They didn’t deserve anything other than doggerel.’ Bastien sighed. ‘This has been terrific, this afternoon. So much better than flitting around with messages to ungrateful clients.’
‘Despite the salt water and the sudden take-off?’
‘Of course.’ The rat chuckled. ‘It’s been a great adventure.’
I found myself laughing as well. ‘I need to introduce you to Jago. You sound like two of a kind.’
Raven folded his wings and went into a steep dive. I tightened my legs around his neck and gripped a spine with my free hand. A moment later we emerged into late afternoon sun. I glanced down and saw that we were over a mixture of green fields, motorways, and industrial wasteland. England.
‘I must say,’ Bastien commented, ‘that I do dislike the scent of your country. Far too thick and sharp.’
I could smell the distinct taint of ozone for myself. ‘Pollution. We’re trying to make less of it.’
Blue-green wings stretched out into a hover. Raven curved his neck to look back at me. ‘Sasha is in that large building below.’
I glanced down at the gleaming roof. The long middle section, and arms leading off to the sides, made me think of a prison. I shifted Bastien to my leg and pulled out my iPhone. Removing the device from the waterproof housing took a moment, as did switching it on. But when I checked out our location, I was unsurprised to discover that we were above Stillbrook Detention Centre.
‘Raven,’ I said carefully, ‘there’s no way we can just drop down there and ask for Sasha. She’s being held in, well, a sort of prison.’
‘I’m a dragon,’ he snapped. ‘They’ll listen to me. And my flame.’
‘What do you think guards will do if they’re suddenly confronted with a dragon? I’m pretty certain at least some of them wil
l be armed. And you’re not bullet proof, are you?’
His lips drew back, revealing his teeth. ‘They wouldn’t dare.’
‘They would.’ I reached down to pat his neck. ‘Take me home, Raven. I’ll talk to Sue Harkness. She works in our government. I’m sure she can help us out.’
‘Wonder how long that’ll take?’ Bastien commented. ‘Akhlut aren’t that patient.’
‘What do you mean, rat?’ Raven demanded.
‘They might try using incentives to force Abella’s shoal to send more merpeople after Tarkik,’ Bastien continued. ‘Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual removal of a few fingers, maybe an ear. They’ll probably not kill her for another week or so.’
Raven threw his head back. His scream shuddered against my legs. ‘No! No! I can’t lose another one!’ And my stomach rose into my throat as he closed his wings and we plummeted from the sky.
Chapter Seventeen
‘Raven! Raven! Pull up!’ I kicked my boots against his sides. ‘You’ll definitely lose her if we crash! Pull up. Or do you want to let Abella die?’
The large wings unfurled, caught at the air. We skimmed just a hundred feet above a motorway, so close to traffic that I could smell the diesel fumes from the buses. Raven’s tail snapped past my vision, and then he started to pound our way upwards. Bastien, who had taken off during our plunge, now dropped back to my chest. ‘Just like a rat, to abandon a sinking ship,’ I told him bitterly.
He tilted his head to look at me. ‘Why wouldn’t someone abandon a sinking ship?’
Raven made a sharp turn, and I once again clung to a spine with grim determination. The setting sun told me that it was getting late, and my stomach reminded me that lunch had been a very long time ago. ‘Back to the house?’ I called out to ears many feet away from me.
I received a snort in response. Raven lifted us towards a faint shimmer in the sky, and we traded evening over industrial England for midday sun over an old-growth forest. Several dinosaurs soared in the distance, pterodactyls or something similar. The sight of their colourful feathers reminded me that, one day, I’d like to able to correct all the science books which had neglected to tell children that dinosaurs were not bald.
For several minutes we glided over the tall trees. I dug a hand into my jacket pocket and managed to extract an oat cake. The moment I swallowed the last mouthful, Raven dived down and took us through another crossing. Our time over a sprawling city somewhere on Earth was short. With a few quick wing beats and a twist to the right, the dragon pierced the next thin place.
I stiffened in my seat. The mountain range was familiar, and as I looked down I recognised the lake lying below us. Raven extended his wings, and we glided into the valley. The temperature was warmer than our last visit, albeit still a few degrees colder than in Northamptonshire. That and the angle of the sun led me to suspect that we were somewhere in the Daear equivalent of Scotland.
Raven landed in a trot, pulling up alongside the ruined house. Near the stone wall, he dropped down and I slid from his neck to the grass. To my surprise, he rose again to his feet and strode down to the shore of the lake.
‘Let him go,’ Bastien said, climbing up my chest to my left shoulder. ‘I’ve seen this before. He needs a few minutes to bring himself under control.’
‘Only because you pushed him.’ My legs felt weak, and I limped over to a wall to take a seat.
‘That was a mistake,’ the rat agreed. ‘And I should know how emotional he is. I’ve seen this often enough since I started living with him.’
I took deep breaths of the clean air. ‘So this isn’t the first time he’s, well, over-reacted?’
‘It isn’t.’ Bastien hopped down to the wall to sit beside me. ‘Father Abbot says it’s because Raven is fighting against the spirit of the Noble Leader. It reduces his control over his emotions.’
‘Then he needs help.’ I rubbed my legs a few times, then stood. The slope down to the lake was a mixture of grass and rock, and I took my time. My waterlogged boots squelched uncomfortably around my feet as I made my way to Raven’s side.
The dragon’s gaze was fixed on a spot just a few yards from the shore. ‘That is where she found me,’ he said as I stopped on the sand and pebble beach.
‘In the water?’
‘When I escaped my mother, I passed through thin places, although I didn’t yet know what they were.’ He pointed with his nose. ‘My matriarch tore one of my wings, and I fell through and into the water just there. Audrey pulled me out. She saved my life.’
I kept my voice low and calm. ‘How old were you when this happened?’
‘Just born.’
A light breeze rippled the water. I tried to imagine Raven as a puffling, birth fluid still glistening on his green-black hide, bleeding and traumatised by his flight from his murderous mother. ‘So, after your dam, Audrey was the first being you saw?’
‘There were some soldiers in the desert...’ Raven shook himself. ‘Yes. The first one I saw close up. She pulled me out of the water.’
Birth water, then lake water. Jaws which bared teeth and tried to take his life, then a face which pulled him to safety and saved him. I found myself thinking of goslings, how the small birds imprinted on the first creature they saw after breaking free from their eggs. A thought iced its way down my spine. Geese which imprinted too strongly on humans were never able to form an adult relationship with another goose. They only identified with humans.
‘We lived here,’ Raven continued. ‘She fed me until I could hunt for myself. She treated my wounds. She gave me my name. Raven, not Hrafn, the name my mother had given me. Only Audrey called me “Raven”.’
I stared at him. ‘But when we met, you told me to call you “Raven”.’
‘Yes.’ His eyes slid from mine, and he once again looked at the glistening water. ‘I grew to maturity here. We survived a winter together. We celebrated Christmas. I thought we would be together forever. But all she wanted was to fly away from here. All she wanted was to go to London.’
His skin was only inches away, but I feared what would happen if I tried to lay a comforting hand on his tense neck. ‘And you took her. That was good of you.’
Flame jutted from his jaws, warming the air and spreading a chemical smell over the beach. ‘I only took her because I didn’t know she planned to stay.’
‘She lied to you?’
‘No,’ Raven said heavily. ‘I was young. I was naive. I didn’t understand. I thought she only wanted to visit London. That she’d visit, and then we’d come back here. I even prayed to her God, your God, to give me the strength to fly her to London. And he answered my prayer!’ The laugh that followed was deep and bitter.
This was not the time to launch into a long theological discussion about the mysterious ways of the Almighty. Besides, Morey would do a much better job of it. So I deliberately picked up on a different aspect of his story. ‘Her God? Audrey was a Christian?’
‘She sang hymns, she read to me from the Bible, she said I was a miracle.’ Raven’s tail slapped against the ground. ‘I made my first nativity set for her. For our Christmas together.’
‘Sounds like you two became very close.’
‘Yes. I thought so.’ Smoke wisped from his nostrils. ‘But she only saw me as a pet. “Every dog is happy when his master is at home.” That’s what she said to me one time. And when she was in London, when she dismissed me, she said that a small dog would be a far more practical pet.’
‘You crashed here,’ I said, forcing my voice to remain neutral. ‘Audrey pulled you out of the lake. So, it was just the two of you?’ He dipped his head in a nod. ‘For how long?’
‘Nearly a year.’
The sound of leathery wings warned me a moment before Bastien landed on my shoulder. ‘This woman sounds positively dreadful, Raven,’ the rat said with a bluntness which made me wince. ‘You obviously bonded with her, yet she cast you aside once you had stopped being of any use to her.’
‘I w
as trying to be a bit more tactful,’ I murmured to Bastien.
The rat sniffed. ‘I’ve heard the story about Audrey before. It doesn’t improve on the retelling.’
‘She didn’t want me.’ Raven curved his head away from us. ‘She just walked away.’
My hands curled into fists. ‘Then that’s her loss,’ I snapped. ‘She didn’t realise what she had, and she just threw it away.’
Bastien cocked his head. ‘And what did Audrey have?’
‘The heart of the best dragon I’ve ever met,’ I said heatedly.
Raven’s head swung back to us. ‘The best dragon?’ There was no arrogance in his question, just a deep sorrow which cut through me.
‘The best.’ I stepped forward and placed my hands on his muzzle, fingers curling just below the red-rimmed nostrils. ‘Sometimes we offer our love to people who don’t realise what a gift they’ve been given. And so they leave us, and we somehow have to pick up the pieces and carry on.’ The dragon’s eyes were blurring in my sight. ‘But that doesn’t mean that our love was wasted or unimportant. It just means that we haven’t found the right person yet. The last thing we should do is to harden our hearts and refuse to ever love again.’
His breath was soft against my face. ‘Because that would mean that she won.’
‘Not that.’ I shook my head. ‘With Audrey, with Peter, there was no winner, no loser. It’s not because of that. It’s because we’re both worthy of loving, and being loved. Not for what we can give, but for who we are.’
Raven lifted his head up, pulling away from my grasp. For a long moment he looked down at me, ears and horns rising and falling. Then, finally, he said, ‘Then it’s time I left this place behind.’
‘Yes.’
He lowered himself to the ground, and I clambered up to my usual spot on his neck. Bastien dropped down to my chest as Raven straightened. But the dragon galloped down the beach, giving us a steady take-off. As the valley fell away beneath us, I sensed a new determination in his wing beats. I had the feeling that Raven would never return here again.