Dragon Talker

by Anderson, Steve

  ***

  Yuri had been underwater for two minutes. His lungs were burning for air as the dragon sat calmly on the lake bed. Its own head and nostrils were above the water, but Yuri was held just inches below the surface. When he opened his mouth to finally breath, he knew those inches were enough to kill him.

  Two minutes turned to four, and Yuri realized he was still holding his breath. Not only that, the cold water was rejuvenating him like it had done the first time he went swimming after the gift from Samora. He wasn’t strong enough to break the dragon’s hold completely, but he was able to move and get himself in a better position where he could use his legs to push off against the dragon’s mouth.

  Before he could, though, the dragon took off into the air. Even inside of a dragon’s mouth, the air smelled great to Yuri as he took deep breaths of cold air. “Where are we going, dragon?” Yuri reached out with his mind and felt Samora getting closer the longer the green dragon flew. That’s nice, he thought, you’re taking me right to Samora. Yuri wondered if that meant it was over. Why else, he decided, would the dragon stop trying to kill him if Samora hadn’t killed the mage? Relaxing a little, he patted the outside of the dragon’s mouth and said, “I’m ready to go home.”

  ***

  Samora was circling Perante. Her tail knocked down what was left of the huts around her. After circling for a while, she stopped when she was facing Perante directly. Perante suddenly thought of Xeron. Was this what Xeron felt like when Perante was attacking him? More importantly to Perante was the memory of the sphere moving. Could he use the sphere to move?

  Basic levitation didn’t take much effort, but levitating while keeping a dragon at bay was more complicated. All he had to do, though, was keep the blue dragon from killing him long enough to get its scale from the dragon talker. His mind reeled at the thought of controlling two dragons by the end of the day. Samora snapped at his shield, returning his focus to the present.

  He watched as the dragon’s eyes narrowed and it placed a clawed foot gingerly on the edge of the sphere. Its claws dipped into the sphere. The claws held the sphere as Samora brought her arm down, rotating the sphere while Perante stood unaffected in the middle. The dragon stopped when the sphere was held against the ground.

  Perante moved two steps back, but the sphere didn’t move with him. Somehow, the dragon was holding it in place. Perante added more magic to the sphere, but it only sparkled around the dragon’s claws. He was stuck. He watched as what he swore was a cruel smile form on the dragon’s lips. The dragon placed nostrils on the sphere. He could see magic bleed off as the dragon inhaled.

  The dragon pushed its face into the sphere. First, it bent inward, but soon the dragon’s nostrils were breaking through.

  “No!” Perante was outraged at the change of fortune. “I am Perante, for the dragon’s tail,” he shouted. He took the pendant and placed it around his neck. He felt its heat against his chest. He used that heat to power his own magic, creating a fireball in his hands before sending the flame at Samora’s face.

  Samora had no fear of fire; still, the force of the fireball pushed her back, out of the sphere. As soon as her foot left the sphere, Perante levitated one hundred feet off the ground. He was not going to get pinned to one spot again. He could feel Thrinbin approaching with the talker. He was too leery of the blue dragon to wait for Thrinbin to arrive. He used his connection to Thrinbin like a rope, pulling him through the air as he flew over frightened villages that cringed at the sight of the mage flying through the air surrounded by a shimmering magic sphere.

  After being knocked down, Samora had started bleeding again, both from her nostrils and from the still not quite healed wound where she had given Yuri some of her scales. Her tail dragged through a few huts as she slowly gained height as she followed Perante. The villagers who remained, unaware that the spell that kept them trapped had been lifted, raced out of the way of her tail. More than one villager was knocked down by either her tail or flying bits of the remaining huts her tail was knocking down.

  ***

  Yuri was craning his neck to see where they were going when he saw the man floating through the air in a sphere. He saw it, but he didn’t believe it at first. When it finally dawned on him that this man was, in fact, somehow carrying himself through the air, Yuri swore. Samora hadn’t killed the mage just yet and he was not out of danger.

  Both Thrinbin and the mage started descending as they neared each other, meeting in a clearing circled by oaks. The sphere disappeared as the men touched the ground. “Well, if it isn’t the blue’s dragon talker,” Perante called to Yuri, who was still trapped in the dragon’s mouth. “You are going to make this momentous day even greater for me.”

  Yuri pushed to open the dragon’s mouth, but to no avail. “I wouldn’t count on it,” he answered.

  “Stupid til the last. You are an amusing fool and I will enjoy watching this…no,” Perante reconsidered, “I will enjoy having your own dragon tear your head off.”

  Yuri stopped struggling for a moment and looked at the mage. “My head…That really isn’t called for, you know.” Yuri pushed against Thrinbin’s jaws. “You aren’t a good man.”

  That made Perante laugh. “Only a villager would value that.” He shook his head. “You will never get it. It’s never about good or evil.” Perante was only a few feet from Yuri now. “It’s always about power. Who has it, and who doesn’t, and once I have your dragon’s scale, I will have more power than anyone or anything in this world.”

  Yuri’s hand went to the pendant around his neck. “I don’t think so.” Yuri tried to think about what he could do, but he hadn’t been able to get out of the dragon’s mouth in the last ten minutes and he couldn’t think of anything new to try now. In desperation, he yanked the pendant off his neck.

  “Now, maybe you are not as dumb as I thought.” Perante held out his hand for Yuri to give him the pendant. “That’s the only sensible thing I’ve seen you do, lad.”

  “Then you’re going to love this,” Yuri smiled and put the pendant in his mouth. He yanked the leather cord out of the pendant and swallowed.

  Perante’s hand dropped to his side. His brow narrowed in anger. “I am going to enjoy tearing that out of you,” he hissed.

  “Tell that to my dragon, you ass,” Yuri said as Samora landed with a heavy thump Yuri could feel reverberate through Thrinbin’s feet all the way to his jaw.

  Samora was stretching her neck out to grab Perante even as he was raising his protective sphere. Samora was faster and had her head inside the sphere before Perante finished. Samora’s breath froze the air inside the sphere in an instant, and Perante felt the cold enter his bones as he tried to transform himself into a mist.

  The sphere wasn’t his anymore. Instead, he realized, this blue dragon had co-opted it and made it its own. Perante felt pressure inside his head as the dragon pushed its way not only into the sphere but into Perante’s mind. Whereas the green dragon was strong, the might of this dragon overwhelmed every mental defense he tried.

  Samora pulled images from his mind, seeing the Dragon Trilogy in Perante’s mind, even its secret hiding place and the spells that protected it. She saw the cage that was made for the green dragon in Perante’s castle. There was nothing else she needed to see. Samora’s first bite cut Perante in half. His legs dropped to the ground as Samora prepared to swallow his upper torso.

  Perante’s blood, though, poured bitter over Samora’s tongue and she spit him out, his chest landing with a thud next to his lower waist and legs. She stepped on him as she walked over to the Thrinbin and Yuri, who was still in that dragon’s mouth.

  Standing in front of Thrinbin, Samora let out a roar that washed over Thrinbin and Yuri. As it did, Thrinbin’s eyes turned from black back to their original emerald color. Thrinbin quickly spit Yuri out, sending him flying a few feet to a hard landing on his back on the rough ground in front of Samora.

  Yuri raised his head briefly to look back at Thrinbin and then
let it drop back to the ground. “Well, you didn’t eat me, so I guess I am grateful for that.” He looked up at Samora, who was staring down at him.

  “Nice to see you, Samora,” he said with a smile. “And I thank you for saving me.” He rolled over and got up on his knees. After spending so much time flying and being flung around in Thrinbin’s mouth, it felt odd to be on solid ground.

  Samora looked tired to Yuri. There was definitely black blood running from her nostrils. He didn’t know what it meant, but he was beyond worrying about it now or expecting any explanation from Samora.

  “Home?” he asked.

  The image of the field and boulders where he first met Samora flashed in his mind. “Okay, I just need to collect a few people and I will be on my way.”

  Yuri thought about the first thing Samora had thought/said to him in the field. He couldn’t help himself, “Don’t die.”

  Samora snorted and took off into the air, leaving Yuri, Thrinbin, and the destroyed village behind.

  Chapter 57

  Xeron was surprised at the ease with which Melanie had snuck into Perantium and gathered her mother and some of her belongings. He could tell something was different, even as they approached, but it wasn’t until Melanie returned with her mother that his suspicion was confirmed.

  Melanie told him, “Perante isn’t here.”

  “Really,” Xeron replied, “he is not the type to leave his fortress. I think I may have to take advantage of his absence.”

  Xeron noticed that Melanie’s mother was standing behind her. Was she hiding? She was dressed in worn but clean clothes, with a gray shawl over her shoulders that matched her gray hair. She was two inches shorter than Melanie, a few pounds heavier. She wasn’t a large woman at all, but there was a gravity to the woman.

  “Where are my manners? Please, introduce me to your mother.”

  Melanie stepped to the side so he could see her mother. “Mother, this is Mage Xeron. Mage Xeron, this is my mother, Abigail Koczak.”

  Abigail dipped her head to Xeron, never making eye contact with him.

  “It is my pleasure. Your daughter has been very helpful for me. You should be proud of her.”

  “Of course I’m proud,” she muttered, “but I just don’t think her current choices are very wise.”

  “That,” Xeron smiled, “is something I will leave to the two of you. I will pay you well and you will be well treated, which is more than I can say for how Perante runs his affairs.” He waved his arm, indicating the city.

  “I am going to go into town. Stay here and,” he looked directly at Melanie, “sort out anything you need to sort out. I’m not interested in any family squabbles from my servants.”

  He turned his attention to her mother. “Madame Koczak, please look at me.”

  She raised her head slowly, then held his gaze.

  “I am not the best nor am I the worst mage. What I am is honorable. If you and your daughter work with me, I will expect hard work and I will reward you with generous compensation. I will also give you all the respect commiserate with your position. I do not take to explaining myself, but I understand this as a unique situation. If you have a question, ask and I will answer it.”

  Abigail didn’t hesitate with a question, “Have you slept with my daughter?”

  Melanie looked away, blushing.

  Xeron answered, “No.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “No, she is hired as a servant and not that kind of servant.”

  “Do you like chicken?”

  This one threw Xeron. “What?”

  “Do you like chicken?”

  “Yes.”

  “Stay away from my daughter and I will make you the best chicken you have tasted every day and any time you want.”

  Xeron laughed. “Oh, that must be some chicken. I like you. We have a deal.”

  Abigail spat in her palm and extended it to Xeron. He paused for a moment, deciding if he was really going to spit in his hand, and then spat in his own palm and sealed the deal with Abigail.

  ***

  As Melanie and her mother rearranged their supplies for the road, Xeron headed towards Perante’s castle. He was curious to see if the damage he thought he caused was actually there. Their fight had taken on an other worldly feel, and at times he wondered if it had actually happened. He was glad to see wooden scaffolding along the outer wall where he remembered feeling the castle start to tear apart.

  “A full set of acorns,” he confirmed to himself. If Perante was in town, he never would have thought about coming near the castle, but with him out of town, he thought it was worth the risk. He didn’t think anyone left would be much of a threat to him.

  He watched people walk in and out of the main castle gate and wondered what kind of protection was there. Guards, of course, but did Perante add any magical defenses? Xeron decided the really good defense would be saved for special locations. He decided to walk in boldly and without disguise. Without using magic, he wouldn’t trip any magic traps, and he had spent enough time around Perante and the people who worked for Perante to know that the servants’ and guards’ first reactions to mages would be to get out of the way.

  And that is just what he did. When a guard did look at him, he stared back in his own version of the look of disgust that he had seen on Perante’s face so many times, and it worked. He didn’t think it would work for the really important areas, but if he decided to enter them, he would not be afraid to use the magic at his command.

  Work was taking place all over the castle. He realized he really had come close to bringing the entire castle down around him. Again, he was in awe, not of himself but of the power he could now tap. The same questions ran through his mind whenever he thought about the power: What was its source? If he didn’t know about this, what other forces are out there that he is equally unaware of? Is there someone out there who has come upon this force before? If so, how could he find him? Learn from him?

  He found a quiet corner and reached out with a searching spell. He wanted to see if anything lingered from their battle. Normally, magic dissipates rather quickly unless it was spell enhanced to last over time. The spell brought red lines into view throughout the walls, the remains of his work. It was an indicator of just how much power was in his spells that the red glowed so brightly weeks after their battle.

  Red wasn’t the only color that appeared. Looking around, Xeron saw shades of green. Green often indicated protective spells. This was Perante’s handiwork, for sure. Xeron decided to head towards the main chamber and see what other signs he could find. In the past, he had always felt a sense of unease in Perante’s castle. Today, that was not the case. He couldn’t decide if it was because he knew Perante wasn’t here or because of his new strength. Either way, he liked it.

  The entire time he had been walking around, he could sense an ease among the workers and guards. That ease disappeared as he approached the main hall. These men were on guard. Obviously, there were some places that Perante made clear needed attention whether he was in the area or not. The hall was one of them.

  Xeron’s memory flashed to when he was below the hall. He was too busy trying to stay alive in the moment to register its significance, but now it came back to him: there were sub-caverns under the main hall. These where not the two to three lower levels most castles had. These were special, the kind of cavern that people go to a lot of work to keep hidden. The kind of cavern, Xeron thought, that a man like Perante would keep his prized possessions. Well protected, the cautionary voice in his head added.

  He answered himself, “Of course he would. Let’s see if he was able to prepare for the kind of magic I can bring.”

  Xeron left the main chamber and headed back outside to the main courtyard. He walked the edges, looking for iron grates that led to the underground sewers. Perante’s castle was on the cutting edge of architectural knowledge, having features like running water and a drainage system most smaller castle owners could only dream about. />
  The first thing Xeron did is move behind a cart and cast an invisibility spell once he was out of sight of anyone in the courtyard. Next, he headed towards one of the grates and tapping into the power he found in the earth, bent the grates wide open. He considered casting another spell to block the smell coming from the drain but decided against it. Dulling any of his senses as he approached one of Perante’s protected areas did not seem like a good idea.

  Xeron dropped down a narrow shaft into a circular brick-lined drain. The drain was three feet wide and tall, forcing Xeron to get down on his hands and knees. As his hands touched the slimly floor, he reconsidered his plan of crawling back towards the main hall. How, though, he thought, can I do this without caving in the ceiling over my head?

  Xeron reached out with his heightened senses through the brick to the ground below. Each time he did, he started to notice more - not just silver, but other rocks and minerals, animals and insects that called underground their home. The walls of the castle continued down until they hit bedrock. Only the spaces in-between the walls were left filled with earth. That earth, Xeron decided, would be easy enough to move and create his own underground tunnels to where he wanted to go.

  Magic always had an element of nature to it, a way to take something that was and transmute it, or make it more in some sense. Now, Xeron felt like his magic was more about becoming something more himself. Reaching out to the bricks around them, he felt as if his will, not magic, were infusing them. Breaking the lower bricks apart and sending them away from him through the sewer was as easy as sweeping dust off a floor, not that Xeron had ever done that.

  After moving the bricks, he moved the dirt, which flowed out of the new hole like water running downhill. The dirt spiraled down the sewer. Xeron smiled at the thought of Perante’s sewers backing up at the next rain storm because he was definitely destroying them right now. When the dirt stopped flowing up and out of the hole, he knew he had hit bedrock.

  He didn’t need a sphere to float down the new passageway. Instead, he only visualized himself being light as air and floating was easy. As he descended, he wondered what he might have to visualize if he wanted to move faster. His attention quickly returned to the search once he reached the bottom.