Dragon Fate

by J. D. Hallowell

  Chapter 15

  Returning to camp he found that all was relatively well. At least, Nassari and Chester were still intact, and Geneva wasn’t too peevish at being left so long. She had eaten the meat he left for her and slept most of the day.

  There were still several hours of daylight left, so he built a large fire and then butchered the pig. He cut several sections of meat. First, a large roast for the evening’s meal, which he intended to share with Nassari and Chester, then several smaller cuts that he placed so that they would smoke and dry as they cooked. The smaller cuts, once properly salted, would keep for quite some time if left wrapped. The largest portion of the animal he set aside for Geneva to eat the next time she got hungry.

  He didn’t have any potatoes, but there were cattails growing in profusion near the stream, and the roots would make a good substitute. Nassari helped him gather them. They also gathered greens, and Delno spotted some ripe fruits that would make a fine desert when pan-fried with a touch of sugar and some of the cinnamon bark he had bought in town.

  Once the meat was spiced, herbed, and set to cook, they sat back and talked while waiting for the meat to be done enough to start cooking the vegetables. They had just settled down to their conversation when Geneva bolted up onto her haunches, lifted her wings as if for flight, raised her head to the sky and began to produce an ululating wail in several different tones at once. The eerie sound seemed to be felt as much as heard.

  When she first started to move, Delno had initially reached for his knife, but now he went slack and looked to the sky as his dragon was doing. Nassari was alarmed and began to ask what was happening, but Delno held up his hand to silence him.

  The strange wailing continued for several moments. Then, as suddenly as she had started, she stopped. She furled her wings and lowered her head to her chest. Though Delno needed no explanation, she seemed to need the mental contact so she told him, “She who was my mother has passed to shadow.”

  Delno quietly relayed the information to his friend, and then went to comfort her. He leaned his head against hers and said, “She will be remembered.” Then they stood that way for a time. Even Nassari, generally glib at almost any occasion, silently waited out of respect for them.

  It took a while, but the mood finally passed, and they all settled back down and tried to return to what they were doing.

  “If I might ask,” Nassari queried, “how did she know her mother had died?”

  Delno was uncertain, especially since he had felt something then, too. He was about to ask Geneva if she felt like answering questions when she spoke, “All dragons can feel the death of another dragon. The closer you are, both spatially and genetically, the more you feel the death.”

  By this point Nassari was no longer disputing anything either psychic or magical about dragons; he’d seen more things out of the ordinary in the last two days than he had seen in the entire course of his life to that point. Showing remarkable concern for the feelings of another, especially for him, he asked the dragon, “Do you mind talking about this?”

  Geneva was quite willing to talk, so he pressed on. “I don’t understand how you knew, but I do accept that you did know. I didn’t go to the war, never been much for that sort of thing. I did help with the war effort with the rest of the people who stayed back. One thing I saw time and again was that sometimes women just knew when their son or husband had been killed or seriously injured. I suppose that it’s a trait that we sometimes have in common.”

  He paused, and seeing that Geneva was actually interested, he continued. “Tell me though, if you don’t mind, how is it that a female dragon knows when she is bearing her last female offspring?”

  The dragon was thoughtful for several moments before answering. “Unlike human females, female dragons can feel every part of their bodies. They can even feel what sex the offspring in an egg is from the time of conception. They know whether or not they will be capable of rising to mate again. So they know when a clutch will be their last. In the case of she who was my mother, she knew that even though she may have had the strength to rise again, that she would die after her eggs were laid because her rider had been slain.”

  “Well, that explains a lot, but what happens if a female dies unexpectedly? Does her line die with her?”

  “If she has no daughters, yes.” Then after composing her thoughts she added, “All dragons know their lineage, but only the last daughter actually carries it and her mother’s name. So, if she has daughters, they will know she has passed to shadow, and they will know that she left no one to carry the lineage. The youngest daughter will then take the mothers name and continue the lineage, though some of it may be lost because the connection wasn’t as strong between them. To ensure that no lineage is lost, or at least as little as possible, the youngest daughter will take a quest to find her sisters and collect their knowledge, because some may have knowledge that others don’t.”

  By this point in the evening the meat was nearly done, so Delno cooked the vegetables and set the fruit to cook. When the vegetables were done, they sat down to the feast. Though it wasn’t served in a fancy hall, it was, as he had promised his friend, fit for royalty. The main course was absolutely delicious and the dessert was just complex enough to complement the food without overpowering it.

  Chester, who was actually a very well trained dog, didn’t beg, but waited patiently, although he drooled excessively, until the humans had finished, then he happily ate whatever was left.

  Nassari looked as though he was about to attempt to ply Geneva with more questions, so Delno interrupted him before he could start. “You know, my friend, you’ll have to return to the city tomorrow.”

  Nassari stared thoughtfully at the fire for a moment, then said, “I know, Del, I can’t stay. The more people there are here the more likely we might attract attention from others. I just hate to leave you alone out here.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not quite alone.”

  “Yes, but you do have to leave her alone occasionally,” he started, but Delno interrupted him.

  “Nassari, you should give up politics and become a scholar. You’ve become absolutely enamored with studying this young dragon.”

  “You’re right, of course,” he said. “I am finding it harder by the moment to tear myself away from such a fascinating subject. Do you realize that soon she will master speech and I won’t even need you to translate? Why, you could go about your business, and I could collect volumes of information without even bothering you.”

  Delno laughed, but Nassari cut him off, “Please Del, you can’t just shut me out of this.”

  Delno looked at his friend seriously and said, “Nassari, I have no idea how long I will be gone. I don’t know how far I have to travel. I’ve already been told that the road I will travel on will most likely be dangerous. I can’t allow you to accompany me, old friend.” Then, seeing the crestfallen look on the man’s face, he added, “I’ll tell you what though; once I get south and get the least bit settled I’ll send word to you of where I am. Then, if you still want to come, you can hook up with a caravan and travel by safer roads.”

  Still disappointed, Nassari conceded the point and let the subject drop. They spent the remainder of the evening talking about their shared experiences and then retired for the night. The next morning, after being sworn to secrecy, Nassari left.

  Chapter 16

  Once they were alone, Geneva decided to try her wings. Delno watched, alternately delighted and amused as she went about figuring how to get off the ground. She got a bit frustrated with his snickering every time she stumbled trying to take off.

  “I’d like to see you do better,” she said, and snarled.

  “Your indulgence, Dear Heart,” he chuckled, “I know you are doing your best. All parents of young children find the child’s first steps amusing.”

  “I am not a human child, and you are not my parent,” she said testily.

  Delno decided it would be best not
to argue further. Instead, he found some simple tasks to occupy his time, and cover his chuckling, while she continued to try and get airborne.

  After several more tries, she finally found herself aloft. Flapping madly, she managed to gain some altitude and began to awkwardly circle the camp. “Delno,” she called, “I’ve done it. I’m flying.”

  “That’s marvelous,” he replied, beaming with great pride. “You look absolutely majestic up there.”

  “Well, after all, I am made for this,” she said, showing great pride in herself.

  She lifted her head to roar with delight. Unfortunately, the action shifted her body enough that her aerodynamics changed and she lost altitude quickly. With her belly brushing the bushes, it was all she could do to convert the downward plunge to a controlled crash landing. As her front claws dug into the soft ground of the clearing, her front feet tried to grip to slow her forward progress and her hind end, unchecked in its speed, kept going, and she ended up flipping over and landing flat on her back.

  Delno ran to her at once, terrified that she had hurt herself. “Are you all right?” he implored both aloud and mentally.

  “Yes,” she said, “I’m fine.”

  “Here, let me help you.” Rather than roll her over one of her wings they decided that rolling her over vertically would be better. As she raised her head, he moved up between her shoulders and pushed. He was surprised that she didn’t refuse his assistance. “You’ve got to move your tail to the side so that we can get you upright,” he grunted as he continued pushing. She was heavier than he thought. She must have gained two stone in as many days.

  Once they had her back on her feet, he again inquired whether or not she had sustained injury. “Only to my pride,” she answered somewhat indignantly.

  “Well, Dear Heart,” he said, chuckling a bit, “perhaps you had better put your pride away until you have mastered landings.”

  She glared at him for several seconds and then said, “I am going to try again. I will be hungry when I finish practicing. Perhaps you should get some food ready.” She was being pointedly nonchalant.

  He quickly embraced her before setting about his task. Such a simple gesture, but it embodied his feelings perfectly. She knew that no matter how much he might tease her, he loved her and was proud of her. She set about her practice with renewed spirit.

  When the morning’s practice was finished, Geneva ate with great appetite. After gorging herself, she curled up and napped. Delno felt that, since she was asleep, he might try his luck at fishing in the stream.

  Later that day, with several nice fish cleaned and roasting, he practiced his awareness of the magical energies around him. Reaching out, he was able to feel all of the creatures within half a mile of camp. He could sense and see the energy of the stream and the fire. He could even sense the bushes and trees.

  Once he had eaten, he began to work on a reed flute. Later, when he realized that Geneva was going to sleep through the night, he decided to turn in early himself, and he went to bed just as the light failed and full night came on.

  The next morning he woke to the sound of Geneva moving about. She was awake early and eager to get a start on flying practice. She ate, for her, a small meal, explaining that she didn’t want to be weighed down or tired.

  Again, there wasn’t much for Delno to do. He watched her and gave enthusiastic encouragement whenever he could, but he was just an observer. Though she had a ways to go before she would master the mighty leaps that her mother had executed, her take offs had improved a good deal in just the one day. Once aloft, she was a beautiful sight indeed. She was really getting the knack of flapping just enough to gain altitude and then gliding. Soon she was circling the camp like a soaring bird.

  After watching her all morning, Delno was proud of her accomplishments, though he was also secretly pleased that she would practice for several more months before he would be expected to ride with her. While her take offs were still a bit choppy, if she didn’t improve her landings before she had to do them with his added weight, they would both be grateful for his ability to use magic to heal the injuries.

  While she hadn’t ended up on her back again, she did regularly overshoot her intended landing site and plow into the bushes. One time she even hit a tree hard enough to upset several small arboreal rodents that were nesting in the branches. Delno wasn’t sure, because she was blocking some of the contact, but he suspected that she had quite a few bruises from her practice session.

  Again she ate heartily and then went to sleep. Delno was beginning to think that the old dragon had either been mistaken or deliberately mislead him about how much Geneva would eat. He was just hoping that the food would last until she started hunting.

  Thinking of this, he decided that he should bring several more animals from the pasture while she was sleeping. This time, he brought the remainder of the pigs—there were only five—and four sheep. It took the rest of the afternoon to move them. He knew so many animals would be a handful to care for in the confined space, but the way Geneva was eating, he figured the numbers would diminish rapidly.

  The routine established itself pretty quickly. Awake early, eat lightly, practice flying, eat heavily, and sleep. Delno decided that since he was nothing more than a third wing as far as the flying lessons went, he should do something to maintain his own physical fitness. He built a practice pell. Nothing elaborate, just two logs tied together in the shape of a cross that he could practice sword cuts on. Then using a stout stick of about the same length as his saber, he spent his mornings practicing. In the afternoons, after Geneva had fallen asleep, he would do calisthenics and then go for a run to keep in shape, and to tire himself out.

  In the late afternoons, he whittled while he waited for his food to cook. At first he whittled his stick sword into a more exact imitation of the real thing to facilitate his practice. That only took a couple of afternoons, though, so he started whittling other pieces of wood into shapes. Some of the pieces he merely whittled into more perfect abstracts of the original, but some began to take on images of the things around him. He was developing quite a knack for carving small figurines. Many of the images were birds, and bears, and there was even one rather good rendering of Chester the dog. One, however, he worked on a little here and little there, and it was taking on the shape of a beautifully carved dragon, just readying herself for flight.

  Later in the evenings before retiring, he would play his little flute. Sometimes Geneva would wake;’ she appeared to sleep less heavily now even after a good meal, and just lay and listen to him making music. Sometimes, when the mood struck her, she would hum along quietly in the strange multi-toned way of hers. Delno enjoyed making music by himself, but he especially enjoyed it when she joined in.

  Nearly two weeks had passed, and Geneva was flying extremely well. She was still having a bit of trouble with take offs and landings. She was getting a bit discouraged by that until Delno pointed out that she was growing so fast she was now nearly twice as large as when she had first started flying, and that her change in size was apparent from day to day.

  “I believe,” he told her, “that what is happening is this. You are growing so fast that your senses are having trouble keeping up with where your extremities are in space. Once your growth slows, you will be as graceful as any other dragon.” Then he added, letting his pride in her come through fully, “In fact, I’ll wager that you’ll be more graceful than most.”

  Geneva rose up on her haunches proudly. “Do you really think that is what’s happening, Dear One? You aren’t just trying to make me feel better, are you?”

  “My dearest Geneva, I wouldn’t lie to you even if I could. Think about this: every morning I can see how much you’ve grown overnight. Every morning you start off a little clumsy. Every morning the clumsiness seems to wear off a little quicker, as if your senses take a few tries to catch up to your new dimensions.”

  “That does make sense,” she replied.

  After saying this, she s
ank back on her haunches and launched herself perfectly. After flying so high that she was a tiny speck in the sky, she soared for almost another hour, learning to look for and ride thermals. She ended her practice session by spectacularly swooping down on, and neatly killing, the last sheep in the clearing. Then she ate the whole thing before settling down to rest.

  Later that evening, when she awoke, Delno asked her, “Do you think you could fly to the pasture and get your own sheep tomorrow?”

  “I believe so. Why? Getting tired of fetching the food?”

  “No, not really, but I do have to go back to town tomorrow. I have to retrieve my Dragon Blade. Also, I would like to get news of the road, if possible, since it seems that you and I will be traveling soon.”

  This time she wasn’t apprehensive about his going to town. “I can feed myself, Dear One. Just don’t be gone too long.” Then she teased, “If I get lonesome, I might eat your pony out of frustration.”

  Delno chuckled. She had wanted to eat the pony two days after she had devoured the last pig. She was less than fond of mutton, and it had taken some convincing to keep her from pouncing on the animal. In fact, he had finally had to threaten that if she did so, she would have to carry his gear herself.

  “I’ll hurry,” he promised, laughing.

  Then he put his flute to his lips and began to play a soft melody that the two of them had developed. He was delighted when she joined in, and they played together for a while before settling in for a good night’s sleep.

  Chapter 17

  All activity came to a halt as Delno entered the smith’s shop. One of the journeymen came over to him quickly, led him away from the door, and bid him sit down in an alcove from where he could no longer see the street. The young smith quickly explained that the mastersmith was quite busy and would be with him shortly, then left him alone. He was surprised by the reception and wondered what could be wrong that he would be shuttled out of sight and ignored like this. His answer wasn’t long in coming.