by D K Drake
“She probably just got water in her lungs.” Taliya rubbed the sides of the baby, and her breathing returned to normal. “See. She’s fine. But she does need a name. Why don’t you ask her if she has any suggestions?”
“It wouldn’t do any good.” He averted his eyes. “I can’t hear her thoughts. We can’t communicate.”
“Maybe she needs to learn how to think. In the meantime, we’ll watch over her and get a good sense of her personality. Then we can assign her a name that truly fits.”
The baby curled herself into a ball and fell asleep. Don’t get attached, Taliya told herself. Do not get attached to this dragon. But it was too late. This dragon had already stolen her heart.
◊◊◊
“Aren’t you even a little bit curious about the dragon swimming around in that tub?” Micah questioned the Destroyer. Or what was it Kenton named her? Jane. Jane Smith.
Micah tried to think of her as Jane, and he supposed it was as good a name as any. He knew it wasn’t her right name, though. He wanted to know her right name and couldn’t stand the fact that she refused to speak.
It wasn’t only the not talking that bothered Micah. It was her whole demeanor. How could she show no emotion? None. Not even when a baby dragon had been carried right by her.
No Hunter or Destroyer had ever seen a newly hatched dragon. They had a chance to make history, and she didn’t show the slightest inclination of caring. “You must really hate dragons if you don’t have any interest in that baby. Maybe that’s not it. Maybe it’s so adorable you’re worried it will make you love dragons, and then you’ll have to stop trying to kill them all.”
Still nothing. No reaction. It’s like her face was made of stone. What game was she playing? Why sit there and not speak? And why wouldn’t she tell him her name?
Chapter 36
Complications
Taliya fluffed her pillow of hay and let herself relax. Micah was mesmerized by the box with the people in it, and Javan was researching something called the baseball playoffs on Kenton’s computer. He had tried explaining the game to her, but she was more interested in doing her job as a Dragon Protector. That meant watching over the Dusk baby and being there for her dragon to hatch.
She had thus retired to the barn with the baby and made herself a bed of hay. The baby dragon curled up at her feet, and her egg remained motionless in the incubator. She wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when a noise startled her.
The first thing she checked was her egg. “Pinky? Are you finally hatching?” She peered over the top of the box. Her egg hadn’t moved.
Ding. Ping. Ding.
The noise was coming from the other side of the barn. Near the door. Under the door. She caught a glimpse of a white tail slipping under a fresh hole dug under the big door of the barn. “Oh, no.”
Taliya ran after the nameless dragon. What if she wanted to test out her speed? If she ran in the wrong direction, she would end up smashed by those cars on the road. If she ran towards the open meadows and hills, though, Taliya may never find her. Either option was bad. Really, really bad.
The sliver of a moon and thousands of glowing stars were all the light available for Taliya to find the baby. “Dragon. Where did you go?” She wanted to call out the dragon’s name to bid her to return, but she had no name to call out. “Sorry we didn’t give you a name earlier. If you come back, we can figure something out.”
Taliya slowly made her way back and forth down the hill. She should go tell Javan that the dragon had escaped, but she didn’t want to admit that she had failed at her job as a Protector. She had to find the dragon. She had to bring it safely back to the barn.
To her left, a large oak tree rose to the sky in the middle of a field of dandelions. Something white broke up the pattern of the yellow weeds. The closer she got, the more the white body of the dragon seemed to glow under the branch in the shade created by the stars. “Is that you there, in the star’s shade? Hmm. Starshade.” Taliya whispered the name, and it felt like a perfect fit. “That’s what I’ll call you, and Javan will just have to agree.”
Taliya slowly approached the dragon. “You can’t be running around here, sweetie. It’s not safe. Once we get you back to Zandador, we’ll let you run as far and as fast as you want to, and it will be up to Javan to find you. If he can’t catch you, that’s his problem.”
The dragon wheezed in reply.
“There’s that wheeze again.” Perhaps Starshade hadn’t stopped running. Perhaps she had collapsed because she couldn’t breathe. “I might need to take a closer look at those lungs of yours.”
◊◊◊
Javan leaned back in the dangerously comfortable leather recliner with a piece of cold pepperoni pizza in one hand and an even colder can of Dr. Pepper in the other watching the Cubs battle the Braves in the National League Division Series. He felt like a teen again, but this version of his teenhood was better than anything he experienced in Montana.
Here he had friends and a blood relative with him. Granted, Kenton was in his office, Taliya was out in the barn with the dragons, and Micah was in the basement standing guard over Jane. He was technically alone, but he knew he was surrounded by good people.
Here Omri couldn’t touch him. Jane the Destroyer had no power to destroy any dragons. Ravier wasn’t watching his every move, telling him everything he was doing wrong or needed to improve.
Here he was able to take a long nap in the middle of the day and was prepared to stay up late into the night watching baseball.
He loved being here. He hoped Taliya’s egg took the full three days to hatch so he could relax a bit more before re-entering responsibility land.
He took another bite of his pizza and cheered as the Cubs scored. That put them up 2-1 in the seventh. Not enough. They needed to pad that lead and give the bullpen a little breathing room for the eighth and ninth innings.
A pounding on the sliding glass door startled Javan. He looked across the dining room and could see Taliya holding the Dusk baby and kicking the door with her foot. “Help!”
He fumbled with the footrest and spilled soda everywhere as he struggled to get out of the cushy chair. “Why won’t this footrest go down?” He finally gave up and jumped over the side. In the time he wasted, Kenton beat him to the door.
When Taliya stepped inside, she crumpled to her knees and placed the wheezing dragon on the floor. In a quivering voice, she said, “Something’s terribly wrong with Starshade.”
◊◊◊
“This shouldn’t be happening.” Taliya stroked the dragon’s body with her ointment, only it didn’t seem to be helping. Starshade continued to wheeze. “She’s having a reaction to Earth’s atmosphere, but according to everything I’ve read, babies should be able to survive for up to seven days without scales here on Earth. She hasn’t even been alive for a day!”
“Then we have to go back to Zandador,” Javan said. “Right now.”
Tears welled in Taliya’s eyes. “My dragon hasn’t hatched yet. I can’t leave.”
“If we don’t leave, my dragon will die.” Javan put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re asking me to make an impossible choice.” She stood, intentionally moving away from Javan’s touch. “If I leave now to save your dragon, I’m sentencing my dragon to death. But if we wait for my dragon to hatch, I would be sentencing your dragon to death.”
“Those aren’t you’re only choices,” Kenton said.
Taliya sniffled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we have a plant here on Earth that can help Starshade. I have a contact in Costa Rica who grows it for me. I pay her well to be discreet. My dragons have been going to her for years to get treatments. The longer we stay on Earth, the more often we have to go.”
“Why don’t you just grow the plant here?”
“I’ve tried. I’ve imported soil and attempted to recreate the Costa Rican climate in a greenhouse here on the farm. It’s a unique hybrid plant that s
imply will not grow here.”
“Where is this Costa Rica? Can I drive one of your cars this place?”
“It’s too far to drive and will take half the night for Skylark to fly you there. I’ll give Luisa a call while you prepare for the trip.”
The tightness in Taliya’s chest loosened. She could get Starshade the help she needed without having to sacrifice her own dragon’s life in the process. “Hang in there, girl,” she said. “We’ll get you help. You just have to keep breathing and keep fighting.”
The scaleless dragon looked up at her with trusting eyes, and Taliya hoped she wasn’t making the dragon an empty promise.
Chapter 37
Leaf of Life
Javan spent the entire flight praying and trying not to let his mind even think about the worst case scenario. His mind rebelled and cooked up the scenario anyway.
If he lost his dragon, Taliya’s dragon would become his last hope for gaining the throne. She would hate him for stealing this dragon from her after he already collected Kisa. Frankly, he preferred Taliya to the throne, but should he let his personal feelings keep him from doing his duty and saving the Land of Zandador from the terror of the Dark King’s reign?
The flight through the night was fast and furious. Varjiek had refused to be left behind, so Javan rode his dragon while Taliya rode Skylark. Kenton had provided backpacks. Javan wore two of them. One was on his back filled with food, the belt with his Stalker swords, and two leashes. Once Starshade revived and Taliya’s dragon hatched, they would both be wearing leashes to prevent them from running away.
Javan wore the second pack on his chest. It held the precious Starshade.
Starshade. Javan liked that name. It fit. And he liked that it connected Taliya to his dragon. Since she had bonded with both Kisa and now Starshade, she was more likely to hang around even after he won the throne.
“Stick with me, girl.” Javan put his left hand on the front backpack. It was barely moving. “We should be there soon. Just a little longer.”
A second after the words left Javan’s mouth, Varjiek dove toward the ground and landed in the middle of a garden beside a visible Skylark. The aroma of herbs and the sweet scent of flowers attacked his nose. A thin figure carrying a lantern walked toward them. Soon Javan could make out a hunched Hispanic woman with shriveled skin and white hair.
She rubbed Skylark’s nose and said something to her in Spanish before turning to Varjiek. “Strong physique. Beautiful dragon.” Her accent was thick.
Varjiek puffed up at the compliments. I like this Earthling.
“Why you still sitting there?” Her soft tone was replaced with an orderly one. “Get down. Don’t want dragon to die while you dawdle.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Javan did as he was told and handed his precious dragon to the strange woman.
◊◊◊
“Please hurry.” Tears streamed down Taliya’s face. She held Starshade in her lap. The dragon had stopped wheezing and was now only taking a shallow breath once every ten seconds. “She’s not going to last much longer.”
“Patience.” Luisa picked a pointed purple leaf that resembled a hand with seven fingers off a vine. Using a stone spoon, she crushed the leaf into a powder in a stone bowl. She added a red berry and a dollop of water. “It’s ready. Open her mouth.”
“Gladly.” Javan gently pulled the jaws of the dragon apart.
“Berry not necessary. Helps with texture.” Luisa rubbed the mixture on the length of the dragon’s tongue. “Close jaw and rub throat.”
“Okay.” Javan followed Luisa’s instructions.
Taliya noted the concern on his face and the gentle way his fingers stroked Starshade’s soft neck as they sat under some vines at the edge of a garden. The same stars that had inspired the dragon’s name shone here, and they sat in the shade of those stars trying to keep the dragon alive.
Starshade coughed and lifted her head. Breath after breath filled her lungs. “She’s breathing normally again,” Taliya said.
“She will need next dose in few hours. In meantime, we must sleep. I have extra bed. Come. I will show you.”
“You take the bed, Taliya,” Javan said. “I can sleep in that hammock over there.”
“I can’t sleep yet.” Taliya took her egg out of her new backpack. “I have to find a warm, moist place for my egg.”
“Ooh.” Luisa’s eyes went wide at the site of the egg. “May I touch?”
“Sure.”
Luisa stroked the egg. “I know perfect place. Follow me.”
She followed Luisa deeper into the garden with Starshade trotting right behind her.
◊◊◊
Micah clicked the television off. His eyes hurt from watching the screen, and his body felt blah. All he had done since arriving at the farm yesterday morning was watch television, eat, and sleep. He hadn’t even been outside.
Kenton had left after breakfast to buy food and clothes for everyone, leaving Micah alone with the Wordless Wonder. He had decided that if she could be stubborn and not talk, he could be stubborn and ignore her.
Nevertheless, his questions about her continued to race through his mind. He had hoped that making her sleep on the carpeted floor last night would inspire her to talk. He had offered her a blanket and pillow in exchange for her name. She had refused.
Now he was using food as a bribe. She hadn’t eaten anything the day before and was certainly hungry. He tied her to a chair at the kitchen table and shoved three bites of eggs in her mouth. When she opened her mouth for a fourth bite, he said, “You want this? You’re still hungry? I can keep feeding you, but I need your name first.”
She slammed her mouth shut and pushed away from the table.
“Okay. We’ll try again at lunch. Your stomach should be growling loudly by then.” He grabbed the back of her chair and drug it over to the recliner. “And since you don’t want to talk anyway, some solitary confinement will be good for you.”
He tied her chair to the bigger chair and stepped outside. He took in a deep breath and surveyed the land stretching out before him. His feet were itching to run through the lush green grass, and his mind wanted to dash through the trees in the distance. He looked back at Jane Smith. She sat staring at the wall in front of her, not even trying to escape his excellent knots. She would be fine while he went out for a much needed run.
He stretched as he stepped outside and smiled as the sweat began to pour down his face moments later. The further he got from the house, the faster he ran through the vast fields and batches of trees.
Life here on Earth was easy. Perhaps he should stay. Mertzer would be free again, and he could create a new life for himself without worrying about anybody trying to kill him.
A gunshot interrupted his thoughts. A bullet struck a tree inches away from his face, sending splinters in every direction.
Another bang. Another near miss. Where were these shots coming from?
Then he saw her. Jane Smith. The Destroyer. She had somehow escaped and was holding one of Kenton’s guns. And it was aimed right at him.
Chapter 38
Bullets that Sting
and Bullets that Bite
Javan swallowed the remnants of his breakfast banana and stepped through Luisa’s kitchen door onto the back cement porch. Clouds covered the morning sky, and the smell of impending rain filled the air. Perhaps Taliya’s egg had hatched during the night, and they could head back before the rain came pounding down. With one glance to his left, however, he saw that Taliya still sat faithfully by her unhatched egg humming away. The kicker was that Starshade was curled in her lap.
He should have taken Starshade inside with him when he went to bed. That would have given them a chance to bond after her death scare. Instead, Taliya had spent the night gaining the loyalty of his dragon.
“Why don’t you take Starshade for a walk?” Taliya held the white, scaleless, baby Starshade out to Javan. A leather leash dangled from her neck to the ground. “She could use the exer
cise.”
“Oh. Um. Sure.” As he walked over to them, he noted that in the six hours they had been in Costa Rica, Starshade had grown from the size of a cat to that of an iguana. He reached for her, but she jumped to the ground and began prancing toward the garden.
“Well,” Taliya said, shooing him toward Starshade, “go.”
“I don’t think she wants me to go with her.”
“Did she say that?”
“No. I still can’t read her thoughts.”
“Then go. She’s pretty quick. You’re going to lose her if you don’t hurry.”
Javan barely caught a glimpse of her long white tail as she turned the corner through some waist-high herbs. “Yo, Starshade! Wait for me.”
He caught up to her in a section of red and yellow flowers and snagged the handle of the leash. “Wanna come with me to check on the Noon Stalkers?”
She sniffed a flower and slowly turned to face him.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
They walked in silence as they wove their way through tall trees and tiny shrubs until they reached a clearing. Varjiek and Skylark slept back to back in the tall grass. Two long flights in less than twenty-four hours must have wiped them both out. He let them sleep and began his way back toward the house. Starshade followed without him having to tug too hard on the leash. “Glad you decided to acknowledge my existence. I’m just the guy who gave you a chance at life by picking you out of that cave.”
She grunted and shrugged.
“You know, if you’re growing this fast in Costa Rica, I can’t wait to see how fast you’ll grow once we get you to the Land of Zandador. I’m ready to take you there now, but Taliya doesn’t want to leave yet.” Javan crouched down and whispered to Starshade. “What are we going to do if Taliya’s egg never hatches? I’m worried she might decide to stay here if she doesn’t have a dragon of her own to protect back home. I don’t want to do life without her. She’s kinda cool, and I like having her around.”