by Lucia Ashta
It was dark against the sky, visible even in whatever bit of fog still hovered around us. The dragon looked nearly black, but I didn’t think it was black but another color hidden beneath the shine of its scales.
Impossibly long wings pumped in continued flight. “People ride the dragon.” The words spilled from my lips in awe, even though I didn’t think anyone was close enough to hear me.
Were these more bad sorcerers, coming to reinforce their numbers? If two people could ride a dragon, then surely they possessed powerful magic. Would they kill us?
But then I heard Mordecai’s voice from somewhere beyond the other side of the carriage. “I told you they’d come.”
His voice sounded tense. I didn’t hear the relief I imagined his voice would hold if this dragon and its riders had come to rescue us. So they were here to kill us....
“Go now before our dragon burns you to a crisp,” he growled, and hope fluttered through my chest. Mordecai must be talking to one of the sorcerers. “Tell your crew that we don’t want to kill you, but if you come after us, we will. Tell everyone to stay the hell away from us. Respect us and leave the non-magical people alone, and we’ll leave you alone. If you harm us or try to force your magic on anyone, we’ll hunt you down. Got it?”
I didn’t hear a response, if there was any. “Good. Now go deliver my message. You’d better run, or our dragon will catch you.”
I imagined the sorcerer was scrambling to get away, but I didn’t make out the sounds of his retreat until I heard the fast footfalls of a horse beating his escape.
The dragon was directly overhead, and even over the frightened whinnies of the horses, I could hear the grace of its smooth flight. The beast was elegant despite its power.
I ran out from behind the carriage to follow its progress.
The dragon chased after the fleeing sorcerer until Mordecai yelled, “Let him go!” I didn’t think the old man’s voice had carried far enough until the dragon banked a sharp right and turned back around.
The dragon descended and looked as if it were about to land right on top of the carriage. It flew just past and dove straight at a copse of trees which lined the road.
My hand flew to my chest. It’s going to crash.
But then thick, enormous talons gripped the trunk of an old tree, and the dragon whipped to a stop. Its passengers tilted sideways so they looked as though they’d slide right off.
My breath was coming heavy as if I were the one about to slide off a dragon to an unpleasant landing twenty feet below. My knees wobbled and I slid down the carriage door until my butt rested on the lip of the step leading down.
A woman with long, brilliant red hair slid down the dragon’s back, held onto one of his legs and hung there for a moment before dropping down. She rolled on the ground and caught her feet, straightened, shook herself off, and turned toward the other rider.
The man, obviously strong despite his lean frame, mimicked her actions and stuck the landing without rolling. He patted the dragon’s leg in apparent thanks before turning.
His bright, piercing eyes landed directly on me.
Chapter 5
The man’s look was so intense that I thought surely he’d march right up to me and demand something I likely couldn’t give—answers, for one. But his stare lingered only long enough to make me want to shy away from its intensity before he looked beyond me, seeming to take in the entirety of the scene from the slightly higher vantage point the bank of the side of the road afforded.
When his gaze landed on Mordecai, he scowled. He leaned over to say something to the woman beside him, jumped down to the road, and turned to take her hand. With more grace than I’d ever had, she accepted his hand, and jumped down beside him.
He started to lead her away, but she stopped him and pulled back her hand. She turned to the dragon, mighty and scarlet-colored, whose hulking form jutted over them even with its wings pulled in tight. She tilted her head up to the dragon while the man waited.
I didn’t hear a sound from her, but she must have been communicating with the dragon, because as she turned back around, the dragon took off in flight. Her hair whipped around her head once, and then the dragon was climbing beyond the fading fog, far up into the sky.
“Don’t send him away!” the ghost cried.
The woman smiled, and allowed the rider she arrived with to lead her toward us. “Don’t worry, Albacus, he isn’t going far. He just needs to stretch his wings a bit after that awkward landing. He’ll be back for us.”
Albacus. So that was the ghost’s name.
“Oh good. That’s a relief,” Albacus said. “You need to take Mordecai out of here before more of these idiots have the chance to find him.”
“How did they find you in the first place?” the man with the piercing eyes asked.
“Who knows? Spies? Some kind of spell that alerts them to his presence outside of our protected wards? They might be idiots in what they believe, but from what I saw here today, most of them know what they’re doing.”
“Which makes them dangerous.” The young man scowled.
“Of course. Any idiot with power is dangerous. We need to get him out of here, and fast. He sent one away to deliver a message to leave us and the commoners alone. Once the sorcerer passes it on, or before, the SMS will be on him like ink on paper.”
Mordecai moved next to the ghost of his brother. He looked no worse for the attack beyond a tattered robe and a few soot-looking stains on his face and braided beard. “I can speak for myself, you know. Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you need to speak for me when I can do so perfectly well myself.”
“Of course you speak for yourself.” Albacus swirled on his brother with a flair of arms in the air, looking very much like he was as alive as Mordecai but for the detail of his translucency. “You always do what you want. That’s what landed us in this mess. You and your runes, always you and your runes leading us to disaster.”
“Uh! This again? How many times are we going to do this, Albacus? Even in death you won’t let the matter rest. The runes have always guided me with wisdom, as they could do you if you weren’t so dang hard headed.”
The frustration dropped from Albacus’ face. “They couldn’t. Not anymore.”
Mordecai’s frustration vanished. A deep regret swam in the old man’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I forget myself. You’re so much what you’ve always been in every way—”
“Except that I’m dead.”
Mordecai looked at his brother with so much pain that my heart went out to the man I barely knew. Which reminded me of my brother, the one who should’ve been my focus all along.
“Uh, I’m sorry to interrupt,” I started. “But my brother is unwell, and he needs help I don’t know how to give him.”
Every head turned my way. “Your brother?” the woman asked me but turned to the old wizards before I could answer. “Is her brother the one you came out here to recruit?”
“Yes, he’s the boy the runes pointed me to.”
“I’m not sure it’s just the boy,” Albacus added, and all heads swiveled my way again.
“Oh?” Mordecai asked, taking a few steps toward me.
“She told me she’s here solely by accident.”
“Oh.”
“Yes.”
“So the runes might have been leading us to her all along.”
“At the very least, to both of them.”
“It only took death to get you to see my point of view with the runes, huh, brother?” This time there was a playful smile on Mordecai’s lips. Whatever pain he experienced from Albacus’ death, he’d stashed it away.
Mordecai started toward me, and Albacus, floating alongside him, followed. “The runes are merely a tool. Any tool is only as wise as the wizard who directs it.”
Mordecai seemed like he was about to fire away another retort but then changed his mind when he looked at me.
I’d gone from excited to be in the presence of a dragon, to overwhelme
d by all the strange occurrences, and concerned for my brother. All of it must have shown on my face. I’d never been good at concealing my emotions, one of the reasons people like Uncle didn’t like me.
Mordecai rushed toward me, but the woman with the flaming red hair reached me first. Straightaway, she pulled me into an embrace. I flinched at first, then held myself rigidly in her arms. “You must be terrified, I’m so sorry,” she said. As much as I wanted to resist the touch of a stranger, hers was filled with kindness and I allowed myself to melt into it.
She spoke softly next to my ear while clutching me to her chest. I also thought it was possible she was holding up most of my weight. “What happened to your brother?”
At that I pulled back to look at her, but I let her continue to hold me. If felt good to be held, even by a stranger. “He—” I stopped to wipe at the tears on my cheeks and wished I had a handkerchief. “We were in the carriage when the sorcerers, I guess, attacked. I was trying to keep Nando—that’s my brother, Hernando—from going outside to try to help with the fight when some light flashed in through the window. He was looking straight at it and collapsed on the spot. There was also the face of a young man snarling at us through the window at the time the light hit. Nando hasn’t woken up since then.”
I expected the woman, who didn’t look older than I was but for a few years, to pull me back toward her in comfort. But she didn’t. She turned to the dark-haired man, who stood right next to her, and shared a meaningful look, before turning back to me.
“Your brother was looking straight at the light when it flashed?”
Before I could answer, she looked to Mordecai and Albacus behind me. Then her eyes were back on me.
“I think so, but I’m not sure. I was worried about trying to keep Nando with me. But I think he was looking straight at the light when it flashed.”
I took in the worried faces around me. “Is that— Is that really bad? Will he be all right?”
“And how about you?” the young dark-haired man asked. “Were you looking at the light?”
“I don’t think so. I was looking at Nando. No, wait, that can’t be right because I did notice the face of the sorcerer peering in at us. I guess I was looking at the window.”
Another shared look, which I didn’t fully understand, circled those surrounding me.
“What? What is it? Tell me. I need to know if Nando will be all right.”
The red-haired woman squeezed my arms. “Is your brother alive?”
“Yes, he’s alive.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.” My voice quaked and the tears resumed their lonely trail downward. “He’s breathing and his heart’s beating, though his heart beat is weak. Will he be all right? Please. Tell me.”
Mordecai drew beside us. “I’m sorry, child, but I don’t know. It sounds like he was hit by a killing spell. It’s possible the glass or the fog or some other factor diverted some of the strength of the spell.”
“Or maybe it’s because the spell wasn’t directed specifically at him,” Albacus added.
“Yes, that’s another possibility, or it might be a combination of several factors. But the truth is that your brother’s condition is very serious. I’ll do everything I can to help him.” Mordecai turned toward the dragon riders. “I’ll need to get him to Acquaine as soon as possible.”
“Can it wait that long?” the dark-haired man asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to treat him here? His condition is grave.”
“Of course it would be better to treat him sooner rather than later. But if we remain in the open, whatever healing magic I can conjure might make no difference. The sorcerers won’t wait to return to attack. We can’t remain here any longer than we already have.”
“If you think it best, then we’ll do as you say.”
“Thank you, my son.” Mordecai turned to the woman. “I’d like to load the girl’s brother onto Humbert. You and I can fly him to Acquaine while the others take the horses back.”
The red-haired woman nodded. “You think the girl should ride out in the open?”
“No, I don’t, but I think our choices are limited. The less burdened Humbert is, the faster we’ll go, and speed matters right now. We need you to direct Humbert, and we need me to do the healing. We don’t need her.”
“Very well.” She tilted her head upward, beyond the haze of the thinning fog. She remained perfectly still, eyes closed, for several moments, during which no one else did or said a thing. “He’s coming.”
She squeezed my arms and smiled. “I’m Clara. This is my husband, Marcelo.” She tilted her head toward the dark-haired man standing next to us. “Trust him as you would your own family. He’ll take care of you.”
I didn’t know exactly what to say. All I could think about was my brother and how he’d been hit by a killing spell. “Thank you. I’m Isadora. Isa, for short.”
Clara smiled again, but wasted no more time. “Let’s get your brother out of the carriage so we’re ready when Humbert returns.”
I moved to the carriage door. “Humbert? Is that the... dragon?”
“It is indeed.”
I didn’t spare a thought to how strange my life had become in so short a time. I’d need lots and lots of them to begin to make sense of all that was happening. I pulled the door open and swallowed through a dry throat.
Nando looked terrible. Half laying, half sitting, he looked lifeless. I prayed he hadn’t died sometime while I was out here. I’d never forgive myself if I hadn’t been there for him when he needed me most.
Don’t think that way. He’s alive and he’ll recover.
I started to step into the carriage, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. It was Clara again. “Let Marcelo do it.”
I moved out of the way and wrung my hands nervously. Marcelo was much bigger and stronger than I was, but I needed to check on Nando.
I expected Marcelo to jump into the carriage, but he didn’t. Instead he lifted both hands into the air in front of him and muttered something under his breath. I strained my ears to hear, but couldn’t make out whatever he was saying.
And soon enough I didn’t care what he might be saying, and I nearly forgot that Nando was barely hanging onto life.
My eyes bulged yet again as I watched Marcelo stretch my brother’s body into a straight line, hover his reclined form in the center of the carriage, and then float him out the door with so much care that my brother didn’t bump into any part of the frame. Not even his arms, hanging limply downward, hit anything.
Marcelo hovered him beside us and asked Clara, “How long till Humbert arrives?”
She tilted her face toward the sky once more and closed her eyes. “A minute. He’s almost here. We need to move further up the road so he can land.”
En masse, we moved beyond the carriage and the horses which pulled it. I tried not to look at the unmoving bodies of what I assumed were dead sorcerers as we passed them. I didn’t look because I didn’t want to feel pity for these men—oh, and one woman! I hurried my attention on the open road ahead. They’d nearly killed my brother, and he wasn’t safe yet.
“This is good,” Clara said. “He’ll be here in seconds.”
“Excuse me, but can I check on him before you go?” I asked.
Clara looked to Marcelo. His intense expression relaxed. “Sure. But make it quick.”
I reached a shaking hand to Nando’s neck. Don’t even think about there not being a pulse. But nothing came. It will come, just wait for it.
I was already crying again when a faint beat of his heart finally arrived. My knees nearly gave out on me and I had to step back so as not to pull Nando down with me.
I bumped into someone behind me and turned, startled, to look into the ghostly face of Albacus. I’d bumped into his brother, who now put a comforting hand on my shoulder. But Albacus was the one to speak, his eyes all compassion and sorrow. “Well? Is he still alive?”
“He is.” But the tears still rolled, no matt
er how much I wanted them to stop.
Albacus looked to the sky behind me and spoke to Mordecai. “Be well and safe, my brother. I’ll see you soon.”
Mordecai reached out his free hand to his brother before dropping it with a devastated grimace that he quickly hid. “I’ll see you soon.” Then, “Clara?”
“Ready,” she said, though she dipped into Marcelo for a final kiss. “Please be careful.”
“I will, I promise. I’ll see you soon.”
She nodded. I thought I might have caught the shimmer of unshed tears in her amber eyes before she turned her back to Marcelo.
She walked ahead, back straight and shoulders held high, to where a monstrous beast was already flying low enough to snatch her up in one of his enormous claws.
Chapter 6
I gasped. The dragon was going too fast, flying too low, and Clara was too close. Certainly, he’d smash right into her, and as much as she might trust the dragon, the beast was simply too big and too heavy. He’d kill her!
I wanted to cry out a warning, to say something useful that might help her, but in the end, I did nothing but experience a wave of terror for the flame-haired woman I’d only just met.
The dragon set down next to her. The weight of his frame caused him to skid across the dirt of the road. He bumped into her, as I’d predicted, but it turned out to be little more than a nudge before he came to a complete stop.
My mouth hung open, agape. How a beast that size managed to stop so quickly must be some sort of magic. I hadn’t believed it possible.
Clara leaned in to the dragon and wrapped her arms around his neck, though her arms weren’t long enough to manage it completely. She nuzzled her forehead against its—no, his—snout, patted him on the neck, and stepped back.
“Ready?” she asked Mordecai. I stared, agog.
Mordecai walked toward the dragon. “Bring the boy, Marcelo.” He waved his arms at Marcelo, who’d already been moving, hovering Nando alongside him.