But someone like that…there aren’t many like him. Every Knight has a special devotion. But Sir Rawn has an extra special devotion. And someone like him…they don’t usually see themselves as others see them. They know how great everyone thinks they are, but they don’t really think of themselves that way.”
“You think Sir Rawn isn’t proud?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s proud. But put yourself in his place. All you ever hear, all the time, is how proud everyone else is of you. And all you ever did it for was to have a chance to serve in the highest possible way. It was always about the service, always the duty, always…I don’t know if I’m saying this well enough; it must sound as if I’m saying the other Knights are lesser than Sir Rawn…”
“The highest possible calling,” offered Coram.
“Yes,” said Leanne. “That’s what I mean. The calling to do something that only you can, even in the most elite group of people. The thing that you’ve been singled out for. Well, to Sir Rawn, something like that comes naturally. He wants to be appreciated for it, certainly. But in the end, when it all comes down to everything, what’s most important to someone like him isn’t to be celebrated for doing it. It’s all finally about just doing it.”
“That’s true,” Coram agreed.
“So, he’s not really that interested in celebrations and parades, and he’s not that impressed with having things named after him. They’ve taken the tallest building in the city and named it after Sir Rawn. And that’s not the only thing with his name on it. I wonder what it’s like, when you’re not vain but there’s always something around you reminding you of yourself.”
“To a personality who is not narcissistic,” Coram guessed, “it must be a bit unsettling.”
“A bit, yes,” said Leanne.
“May I ask you something?” Coram ventured.
“Yes, what?”
“Would you like to be in the place of someone like Sir Rawn?”
“You mean, would I like to be celebrated as the greatest hero of my people?”
“Yes. Would a thing like that be attractive to you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think, maybe…,” she considered. “I think I’d like to know that the ones I admired the most admired me back. I think I’d like to have the respect of the ones I
appreciated the most. Yes, that would be what I’d like. The celebrations and everything, I think I’d be happiest when they all just went away and all I had left was the respect. And I don’t know if I’d want to live in a place where everything was named after me.”
Coram looked over at her from the controls with a subtly teasing smile. “Then you are not a narcissist.”
Leanne looked back at him, rolling her eyes. “No, I’m not. And keep your eyes on where you’re flying, please.”
Coram returned his attention to his flying. “You know, when this project is finished and it succeeds as admirably as we both know it will, you’ll get at least the highest citation and commendation out of it.”
“I suppose so,” said Leanne.
“And likely another promotion,” he guessed. “Perhaps even the command of a ship. Is that something you’d like?”
Leanne furrowed her brow at the question. “I’d never thought about that. I thought when this project was finished, I’d just go on to other assignments, maybe supervise the installation of the Protocols on other planets. Commanding a ship isn’t something I ever thought about.”
She considered further. “No, command of a ship…I don’t think that’s something I’d want, necessarily. My specialization is security. That’s what I am, a security officer. Commanding a division of a crew, I’ve done that. I’d be fine with that. But a whole ship…? No, I don’t think that would be for me.” She gazed at him again. “Are you interested in my future for some reason?”
“I was only curious,” answered Coram. “What people think of their future says a great deal about what they think of themselves. It was only really another way of getting to know each other.”
“What about you, then?” Leanne asked. “What do you see in your own future? Would you be happiest just staying a Knight or would you want to move up in the Knighthood and
become a Mentor?”
“Training young initiates into the Knighthood.” Coram smiled at the thought of it. “Many of us consider that as a future path. It’s a possibility, yes,” he said. “But there are other possibilities as well.”
“Other possibilities? For you?” This made Leanne more than a little curious. “What else could you possibly want to be besides a Knight?”
Keeping his eyes on his flying, Coram wore a faraway smile that suggested his mind was somewhere else. “Leanne,” he asked, “you’re aware, aren’t you, that sometimes someone comes to Lacerta with…a very specific interest?”
“What kind of ‘specific interest?’”
“Well,” he said, “sometimes one comes to our planet as a human…but is not interested in remaining one.”
Leanne blinked, startled and profoundly surprised to hear him saying this. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard about such people,” he said. “Sometimes, the fascination that a human has with Lacertans, with weredragons, is more than just a fascination. Sometimes, it’s a feeling that perhaps one is really a dragon at heart. And sometimes, one comes to our planet with an interest in…joining us.”
Now, Leanne felt distinctly uncomfortable, as if she could start squirming in her seat at any second. But he was damned if she would let him see the way she felt. “Joining you? You mean…becoming a weredragon.”
“Yes,” he said. “Sometimes, a human comes to us wanting to be one of us. And when that happens, someone born on Lacerta, born to the dragon shape as well as the human shape, takes on the task of guiding that person, helping him or her to discover whether it’s really the right and appropriate life, and then helping that person through the transition if both the human and Lacerta agree that it’s right.”
Leanne let out a long, heavy breath, as if to expel her nerves at Coram bringing up such a thing. “I know all about this,” she said. “And I think it’s…really very interesting. But we’re getting close to the Ullery Tower now; I see it right ahead. I think we’d do best to think about duty for now and take this up some other time.” Or never again, she mentally added, feeling suddenly very exposed and vulnerable.
“You’re right,” said Coram. “We can discuss this when there’s something less pressing to think about. I’m taking us up to the dome of the Tower.”
Leanne nodded. “Up we go.”
Coram worked the controls to make the hover van go into a steady, swooping climb to a higher altitude as they drew closer to the tower. Leanne steadied her breathing and heartbeat and was grateful to have the silence back.
Coram glided the van to a stationary position hovering alongside the edge of the rooftop, having the passenger’s side let out onto the roof so that Leanne could climb out. He morphed to dragon form and flew out the pilot’s side to join Leanne at the rear compartment, which she opened. They worked quickly and efficiently. Coram removed the
gargoyle from the rear of the van and flew up with it to the top of the dome to attach it, while Leanne stayed on the level surface of the roof, monitoring the attachment with her uniform’s comm system.
A hologram of the status of the device flashed into the air before her, showing her the Protocol tech coming online and establishing communications with the satellite, and also displaying the expected smooth progress of the other installations. Coram flew back down to join her, and she showed him how well everything was going.
Watching the indicators, Leanne nodded, looking pleased. “Everything’s connecting,” she said. “We’re getting optimal readings from the other positions in the city. All the sensors are coming online, and it’s all going into sync.” She allowed herself a little smile. “This is
beautiful.”
“Agreed,” said Coram. “It should go as w
ell in all the other cities and settlements. You’ll have a very good report for Fleet Command today.”
Leanne nodded. “It really is going very well. Not the slightest problem; it’s all perfect. It’s just…perfect…”
Coram leaned his dragon head down towards her slightly. “You sound slightly disappointed at how well it’s proceeding. Did you want to have a problem?”
“No, it’s not that. I’m satisfied with how it’s coming together. It’s just…maybe it’s only the way my mind works. I look for perfection, or at least for the best, but I always expect it to come with a little effort or at least a slight flaw, a minor complication, a little something to shake out before it’s all exactly just so.”
“Be grateful that it’s coming together as well as it is,” said Coram. “It shows how right you were to be so confident about the Protocols. It validates the way you advocated for them all those years ago.”
“Yes,” said Leanne. “It certainly does.” She looked up into his dragon eyes. “After all these years, when no one listened when I was one of the ones who recommended this, now,
finally…” She trailed off at something that suddenly caught her attention. She wrinkled her brow and squinted slightly at something in the distance. “What is that?”
“What?” Coram asked. “What do you…?” He swiveled his dragon neck in the direction she was looking. When he caught sight of what Leanne saw, he reared his head slightly back, feeling as mystified as she.
“What is that?” Coram wondered aloud in his dragon voice.
From a direction beyond the edge of Silverwing, out past where the city turned to countryside and the countryside turned to forest, from the place where the mountains bristling with trees reared up at the horizon, there appeared what looked like a growing, spreading cloud. It welled up from there and began to creep across the sky in the direction of Silverwing. It gave Leanne and Coram a churning feeling of unease.
“Coram,” said Leanne, “your dragon eyes are sharper than mine. Can you tell what that is out there? It doesn’t look like the smoke from a forest fire. But what is it?”
Looking ever more intently at what was approaching the city, Coram replied, not with uncertainty but with stunned awareness. “Leanne,” he said, “if your uniform or your equipment has a magnifier, use it. You have to see this for yourself.”
Apprehensively, Leanne reached into a pouch on her uniform and drew out a pair of
special lenses which she clipped to the bridge of her nose. She looked again at the strange formation and could not stifle a gasp. “I’ve never seen anything like that! I’ve never seen them that way before…”
The words were barely out of her mouth when both her wrist comm unit and Coram’s badge sounded multiple incoming messages. They both activated their personal comm systems, and the air around them came alive with holograms of Kesta, Tarik, and Willem in their own dragon forms. Kesta was the first to speak up: “Coram, are you seeing something unusual
coming in from outside the city?”
“Yes,” said Coram, “Leanne and I both spotted it. We’re at a complete loss. They’ve made flocks before but never this large. It looks like some kind of mass migration.”
“But they don’t migrate,” Willem chimed in. “With the planetary weather controls in place, they haven’t had any need to migrate for generations. They’ve adapted to city conditions where we keep the weather perfect.”
“Okay, never mind the reason they’re doing it; they’re doing it just the same. And they’re coming this way, getting closer every second. They’re going to reach the northeast corner first, and from the looks of it, they’re heading right for the center of the city. Tarik, are you seeing any change in their behavior?”
Tarik answered, “They look as if they’re spreading out wider. Some of them are still heading right for us, and their course will take them right to you. But I can see the others turning, heading for the southwest. Kesta, they’ll be coming your way.”
“Confirmed,” said Kesta. “The flock is getting bigger and spreading out wider. What’s making them do this?”
Suddenly, there was a spike of greater alarm in Tarik’s voice. “Coram! Leanne! They’re here! They’re right on top of us! They’re…they’re… Bane and damn! Damn, what are they…? How…?”
There was a sudden shock of light on Tarik’s hologram, and just as suddenly, it disappeared, the transmission cut off. Willem and Kesta both called out, “Tarik! Tarik, are you still there? Come in, Tarik!” Then, Willem spoke to Coram and Leanne: “We’ve lost Tarik.”
“What was that light? Any idea?” asked Leanne.
“I don’t know,” said Willem. “But…” He trailed off, something new catching his eye. “Look at that!”
Leanne and Coram turned their attention from the holograms of their colleagues to what they could see of the event at the northeast corner. Disbelief lashed at them like a dragon’s tail when, at the top of one tall building, bursts of an orange-red-yellow glow appeared amid a flurry of small, flying shapes. Leanne blurted, “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?”
Gravely, Coram replied, “Yes, they are. And they’re still coming quickly this way—breathing fire.”
Leanne half-shouted, “But HOW?”
“I don’t know, Leanne,” Coram answered. “But you have to take cover. We’ve only a few more seconds before…”
Coram did not have a chance to finish the warning. At once, the sky over them turned perceptibly darker from the flying, swooping forms of hundreds of grass dragons, all soaring directly for the Ullery Tower. In some little nook of her mind, Leanne felt foolish for even considering the question she had just posed. The answer was all too obvious.
And that was when the first jets of flame began to shoot down onto the Tower roof around her and Coram, making sparks leap on the rooftop all about them.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tendrils of flame raked across the roof, hitting near Leanne, who leaped and reared back while sparks erupted from the roofing surface around her. She drew her beam gun and tried to take aim at the winged shapes flapping and wheeling all about her, spitting long tongues of fire everywhere. At the same time, she sensed Coram at her back with wings outspread and power blade drawn and activated. She could no longer afford to indulge in her disbelief. The grass dragons, which so many visitors to Lacerta had found charming at best and a borderline-vermin nuisance at worst, had become a swarm of fire-spitting monsters, and they now had Leanne and Coram surrounded.
Hearing whooshing and popping sounds from her flank, Leanne took just a second to peer over her shoulder to see Coram slashing his power blade through the air. The energy sword connected with the bolts of flame coming from the mutated little dragons. Everywhere his blade swung and flashed, it hit a jet of fire and deflected it, creating a miniature upheaval in the air. Leanne then looked overhead and saw how many grass dragons were upon them: hundreds, flying around everywhere. Coram seemed to be drawing their fire—for the moment. She feared he would not hold their attention for much longer.
“Leanne!” called Coram. “I’ll cover you, but I can’t promise for how long!” He was
only confirming what she already knew. “You have to get back into the transport! It will protect you!”
Just then, a bolt of fire came shooting by, moving dreadfully close to her face before it hit the roof. Leanne first recoiled, then recovered, having no time for any other reaction. She lifted her pistol and started to fire at anything that moved, which gave her plenty of options. Her beams sliced the air upwards even as the dragon’s fire sliced down. She thought she hit a couple of them in the wings. She thought she saw them fall. There were scores of menacing little
reptiles to take their place. She called back to Coram, “What about you?”
“I’m a little more durable than you!” he cried. “I have scales and armor, remember? I’ll be behind you, but you have to go first!” And he swiped his blade through the air, this time connecting not wit
h a jet of fire but with a dragon who flew in too close. It gave out a little shriek before tumbling onto the rooftop a few meters away. “Now, Leanne!” he shouted.
Still shooting in an arc over her head, Leanne got the sight of the open hatch of the transport in the corner of her eye. They had left it hovering there with the passenger’s side open to the rooftop. All she had to do was get across the roof and through the hatch, and she would be in relative safety. She could tell it would not be as easy to do as it was to think. The space between her and where she needed to be was alive with strikes of fire and bursts of sparks.
Bracing herself, Leanne called, “Count of three! One…two…three!” And she moved, lunging forward, swerving out of the way of a fire jet and blasting her weapon up into the air in mid-stride. A grass dragon hit the roof near her, and she guessed it was the victim of her
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