by Calista Skye
He considers his wrists and ankles. “Me, too.”
“Let’s sit here for a moment and rest. I’ll make more of the healing paste.”
He sits on the edge of the cliff and dangles his legs, looking down into the abyss. It’s a sheer fall of at least three hundred feet.
“Be careful,” I tell him as I spot a patch of the healing herb and go to pick the leaves. “Anyone can die from a fall like that. And even if you don’t, you’ll break every bone in your body and you will look ridiculous.”
“Can’t have that,” he agrees, but still leans over to look down. “There is someone else down there who’s met with the same fate.”
“Oh?” I get down on my hands and knees and carefully peek over the edge. “Where?”
“All the way at the bottom.”
It takes me a while before I can see what it is he means. But when I do, there’s immediately a new ball of coldness in my stomach. “It’s a spidermonkey!”
“Yes,” Caronerax confirms. “The number of arms does give it away somewhat.”
“How would a spidermonkey die from that fall? They can jump high into the air, and they land really easily, like they’re made of rubber.”
“That one didn’t die from the fall. He has two spears in him.”
I squint. “Your eyes must be better than mine. I can’t see them.”
“One in his back and one in his chest. He must have been surrounded. Those spears look like the ones those tribal fiends used.”
I grit my teeth. “Is it the same one we met some days ago?” I know the answer before I ask.
“So it appears,” Caronerax says. “The scroll is still in his hand. He’s been there a couple of days, I would judge.”
I lift my gaze and look over to Bune in the far distance, now almost obscured by low-hanging clouds. It’s impossible to tell if the escape ship has taken off from it or not.
“Dammit,” I exclaim, inching back from the edge and feeling energy leave me. “If the girls didn’t get my message, there’s a good chance they left without me, thinking I’m dead.”
I try to do some mental math, but my body has gone numb and my mind barely functions. “Six days, they said. They would leave after six days. How many days since the earthquake?”
“I only know how many nights,” Caronerax says. “Four.”
“How long will it take us to get to Bune?”
He looks over at the tiny white blob in the distance, soon about to be obscured by the clouds. “It’s further than it looks. The lower part is well beyond the horizon, and we have a high vantage point here.”
“I know.”
He considers it. “Walking, if there are no attacks and no swamps and no lake country where we must build a raft… maybe three days?”
That was my estimate, too. And I know it’s optimistic. Four or five days is more likely.
“Fuck.”
Well, there’s no time to lose. All I can do is to get there as fast as I can. Send some smoke signals, maybe. Hope they’ll send out Kyandros or Aragadon to investigate, ideally ridden by their wives. Or maybe Dar’ax and Heidi will tame another dactyl.
I make the healing paste and smear it on Caronerax’s chest wound, as well as his wrists and ankles. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m feeling okay,” he says. “Taking into account that that word can mean anything.”
“I mean, are you much weaker now?”
“Not much weaker than yesterday, no. Only slightly weaker.”
“Do you think your cache is far away?”
He ponders it. “Yes.”
I put a bit of paste on my own shoulders, but there’s no real need. Those wounds are healing fine, and now they only itch mildly.
Then I finger the little pouch I carry around my neck. I have gone back and forth about this, but the time for caution might be over.
“What kind of valuables would you need to feel better? Is it only gold?”
He glances at me. “Gold would be good.”
“How about gemstones? Diamonds?”
“Almost as good as gold, if the quality is right.”
“An uncut diamond, for example? As big as the last knuckle of your thumb?”
He frowns. “Uncut?”
“One that looks like a common rock. But which is in fact a large diamond.”
“One diamond might sustain me a little, if it were perfectly cut and polished. A single uncut one might not be sufficient.”
“It was enough for Aragadon,” I point out. “His was kind of polished, though.”
“Ah. And he had been on Xren for a long time, separated from his hoard by many light years, and he was absolutely starving for anything of value?”
“Pretty much.”
Caronerax shrugs, then winces in pain. “I doubt it would be enough for me. The larger the hoard one has collected, the more one would need to regain one’s strength. And my hoard is very large, indeed. My cache is only part of it, but would be a fine hoard for almost anyone.”
I look over at Bune, which is now completely hidden by clouds and mist. I have not wanted to show Caronerax the diamond Eleanor gave me. Firstly because it is mine, and I suspect I would have to surrender it forever if I handed it to him. Secondly because I am genuinely worried about what he will be like in his dragon form. The dragon in him will be in charge then, and it might not feel the same way about me as I think the human part does.
But this is getting kind of desperate. I have to reach Bune in one day, or the girls will take off, having not heard from me. If this diamond cures Caronerax or enables him to Change, and his dragon form still kind of likes me, then I can fly there in a half hour. I think it might be time to throw caution to the wind.
I fish the walnut-sized diamond out of the little pouch and show it to him. “Can we try?”
19
- Caronerax -
The pebble looks innocent in the palm of her hand.
If I had seen it on the ground, I would have walked right past it. It would not have crossed my mind it might be a gemstone.
But diamonds are strange like that. I can’t sense them in my mind when they are near, like I can other gems. They don’t call to me the way gold does. And yet they are extremely potent when I know what they are, when they have been polished and I can see, by looking inside it, that it is the purest object in the universe.
I pick up the dull, gray pebble with two fingers and bring it up to my eyes. “It’s quite cloudy.”
“It’s uncut,” Jennifer says. “All it needs to sparkle is an hour with a polishing stone and someone who knows how to use it.”
“I feel very little,” I confess, turning the pebble over in my hand. “Even if on the inside it is the clearest diamond ever found, I couldn’t be sure. It might be a worthless stone. Quartz or something else that’s common.”
“It is a diamond,” Jennifer persists, annoyance in her voice. “I’m telling you.”
“And I believe you,” I assure her. “But the dragon in me is skeptical. It would need to know. To confirm with its own eyes.”
“If it could, would it be enough?”
I weigh the pebble in my hand. It’s quite heavy. “It would be enough to Change.”
“If you could Change, you could fly straight to your cache and get healed there. Can’t you convince the dragon? Convince yourself? You are the dragon, for crying out loud. It’s not a separate being!”
Jennifer’s face is scrunched up, and like everything else about her, I find it adorable. But I don’t appreciate the tone.
“Are you sure you want to talk to me like that?” I ask, calmly. If I were in my dragon form, that little outburst of hers could have been the last thing she did.
She takes a deep, trembling breath. “No. I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m so worried about being left behind.”
I reach out and grab her dirty little hand, cool and green with coagulated paste and some speckles of my golden ichor, and put the diamond b
ack in her possession. “You will not be left behind.”
“Are you sure?”
Her face, her voice, her scent. I am helpless in her presence, and I have no choice but to make a decision I have been putting off since well before the earthquake. “Whatever happens, you will see your home planet again.”
She takes another deep breath. “Okay. But we better keep going.”
“Now we know where to aim,” I agree. “Unless you prefer your village?”
“Bune is better, I think. Although it’s supposedly under siege by dragons. Anyway, the village isn’t that far from it.”
“Then aim for Bune and walk as fast as you can. I will catch up with you.”
She picks up her fur sack, the spear, and the strange fishing rod. “You won’t go yet?”
“I have an errand to run,” I explain. “I will make sure your route is safe, though. Walk now. Go.”
She gives me a puzzled look, then walks back the way we came to get down the side of the hill. “I’ll check on the dead spidermonkey,” she calls to me. “To find out if it’s the one we think.”
I wait until she’s out of sight, then speed up and whoosh past her so fast she won’t be able to see me. I run as fast as I can in the direction of the Inferior ship, checking that the woods are safe for when Jennifer will walk there.
I find and kill two creatures, one probably unnecessarily, but right now I’m taking no chances.
When I’ve cleared her way as far as I think she can get before I catch up again, I run back and veer off into the woods where I have sensed the second group of spies for some time.
The first group was the cavemen, of course. And they have been dealt with. But this group think they are my friends, and that’s an illusion I’ll let them keep for as long as they need it.
I take them by surprise, and that gives me a spark of satisfaction.
There’s five of them, standing close together, like their kind always does. It appears to give them strength.
“You are spying on me,” I accuse them. “Explain yourselves.”
“Prince Caronerax,” the leader squeals in his high-pitched voice. “We are spying on you. We have done so for many days. As contracted and stipulated by your father, the king of all the dragons.”
I give the deplorable little mercenary alien a warm smile, inwardly wanting to strangle him. “Are you contracted to provide me with assistance?”
“There are some provisions in the contract,” he replies. “Some leeway in the phrasing of paragraph nineteen. Though invocation of same might unlock further liability for the counterparty, in the form of additional payable monies. As well, there is the other agent and his requirements to consider.”
I frown. “Which other agent?”
They don’t flinch. “Your brother, Prince Yranox. Your king’s other son. You are not informed?”
Oh my Gold, this is a complication. A really bad one. “I am informed, of course. Yranox is here, too. In his dragon form, yes?”
“Of course. We are surprised you are not.”
“The ways of dragons can be surprising,” I tell him airily. “As you know.”
“No. We are rarely surprised by the dragons.”
“Good,” I beam, boiling on the inside. “Excellent.”
I think fast. These people are mysterious and extremely strong in their own way. They are not a slave species, and many dragon kings have tried to subdue them, to no avail. They decide what they will do, I can’t pressure them into something they don’t want. They can resist me at will, and they know it. They work for payment, not for any other reason.
“Present your proposal,” their leader creaks.
I look away. It’s remarkably hard to collect my thoughts in this form. My mind is like a sticky mass that I can only manage by laborious processes of thought.
My brother is here. That is a serious complication. But it also makes things much, much easier on the other end of my plan, the end of it. There will be no Yranox to thwart me.
The mere thought of my older brother makes me want to punch the trees around me. All dragons hate each other. But I hate my brother most of all. He’s the only dragon that would give me serious trouble in a fair fight. Then again, Prince Yranox has never been involved in a fight that was anywhere close to fair.
I straighten, trying to look regal. “Very well. This is what I request…”
20
- Jennifer -
The spidermonkey has been dead for a couple days, at least. There aren’t many small insects on Xren, but some of them are crawling all over the carcass and the two caveman spears sticking out of it.
I poke the tip of my spear at the creature’s dead hand, and the scroll falls out and rolls a ways on the ground. I gingerly pick it up, and it unrolls halfway.
The writing is upside down, but I can read it. After all, I wrote it.
PS: This is not my blood.
“Shit.”
I shake the insects off the scroll and put it in the fur pouch, throw a handful of berries into my mouth, and decide to eat a whole salen fruit when I’ve walked for another hour or so.
Then I walk on, feeling guilty about not burying the dutiful little spidermonkey. But I don’t have time for anything other than walking now. I will try to go without sleep, too. Like I did last night.
Thankfully the jungle is quiet, and I think I know why. When I come across the bloody remains of a raptor that’s been summarily torn to shreds, I afford myself a smile. “You really want me to be safe, huh, dragon boy,” I mutter as I continue.
I’m tired in every way, but I’m also so stressed out and worried that even if there was a nice suite at the Marriott right behind that tree, and it had the coolest, cleanest sheets you could imagine, I would totally ignore it right now and keep walking. If I don’t get to Bune in time, I will never see a real Marriott for as long as I live. Not that I’ve ever seen the inside of one, but it used to be on my bucket list.
There’s still a chance.
Maybe the girls have decided to tough it out past the deadline.
Maybe they somehow got the word that I’m on the way and will be there soon.
Maybe the crisis resolved itself, and the siege is over so there’s no rush, after all.
No, it’s not really realistic. If everything was back to normal, they would send out scouts to look for me. Not only spidermonkey messengers, but dragons with Mia or Eleanor riding on them. And I haven’t seen a single dragon apart from my own.
I glance up at the sky. Nor have I seen any dactyls lately, but I don’t miss them. That could be because they sense Caronerax’s presence and stay away. Except the one that grabbed me wasn’t deterred.
I keep my head down while still being on my guard, walking as fast as I can. I eat a whole salen fruit while walking, and it gives me the energy to jog a few yards once in a while.
Before I know it, darkness falls and still no Caronerax.
I have no idea what kind of errand he could possibly have here in the woods. I suppose it could have been an easy way of ditching me. The cowardly I’ll-just-go-out-and-buy-smokes exit that’s such a classic back on Earth.
I suppose I couldn’t expect anything else. He has too many other priorities, he’s injured, and he must be longing for his cache. I slow him down, get us captured and him injured further. Hey, in his place I would have made my exit a good few days ago.
Except I thought there was something more. Was I kidding myself? Was his passion all fake? His little touches, his glances, his intensity, all that stuff? Faked, so he could get an easy lay?
It must have been something like that. Or some kind of scheme I’m too stupid or too naive to understand.
My future isn’t looking that great right now. Unless I make it back to Bune so I can go back to Earth with the girls, I’m stuck here with angry, desperate dragons and cavemen that seem to have gone sour. Being the only woman on the planet is not going to be fun.
Getting to Bune on time is a matter of
life and death. I would take any chance to get there sooner. Even climb on the back of one of those dactyls that Heidi and Dar’ax can tame, although they would have to tie me up in a bundle to get me on it.
In the dark, I have to slow down. There’s no moon in the sky, which would have made it easier to keep my speed up and to check that I’m going in the right direction.
And of course, after a while I get to a huge, sheer cliff blocking my way. It’s dark and rounded, and I sigh at the thought of having to walk all the way around.
Then the smell hits me, and I realize it’s another bobont lying down.
From up above, I can hear the sounds of a big mouth calmly chewing on a tree, but I can only see a vague shadow of the immense neck, curled back like that of a swan, relaxed and content.
I can’t help but notice that the bobont is pointing due south. Exactly the way I’m going, too.
I walk behind it. Yep, there’s the trail of destruction it has made as it walked through the jungle, flattening every tree. When they walk at normal speed, these things destroy everything in their path with their sheer size.
The tail is as thick as a lighthouse.
An absolutely crazy idea is taking shape in my mind.
It’s a life or death thing. In every sense. But if I’m left behind here on Xren, the short remainder of my life will not be worth living. And the extreme urgency washes away all other concerns.
In the darkness I gather the materials I need, then sit down by a tree trunk and get to work.
“Another one of those huge things,” a voice says right into my ears.
I’m so startled I drop the thing I’m making. “Caronerax! Where’ve you been?”
He grins, white teeth glinting in the darkness. “Here and there. Do you think this one will be as easy to scare as the other?”
“The bobont? No, don’t scare him. He’s minding his own business.”
“Very well.”
“Shall we continue?” I pick up the spear and the pouch and get to my feet. I’m still in a bit of a huff because he’s been so late in joining me again, but I’m mostly relieved.