Dragon’s Call: Dystopian Fantasy

by Ann Gimpel

  From somewhere far away, I heard Bjorn shouting. He sounded furious and worried. From the tone of his curses, he’d been trying to break through to me from his end of things exactly as I’d suspected.

  I focused my attention on a single dragon. And I sort of cheated because I picked the smallest one, small being relative. This one was green and stood a bit over two meters tall. I’d never vanquish it in straight-on combat, so I teleported onto its back where it couldn’t reach me with fire. Breathing shallowly, I tried to bring some of my protective bubble along with me.

  Didn’t work very well. Teleport spells are picky like that. I didn’t want to take the time to resurrect my shielding. Besides, the smoke had only been bad next to me—before I’d gone into full attack mode. The dragon I’d selected was bellowing and wrapping power bands around itself to either shake me off or press me into its thorny hide so hard its scales would cut into my flesh.

  Couldn’t let that happen. My blood would give it power over me. Enough power to immobilize my efforts. I unleased my instincts, pulled the dirk I always carry from its sheath banded to my thigh, and used scales for purchase to crawl up its neck.

  Sticking the point of my dagger in the one place beneath its jaws not coated by scales, I shrieked, “Surrender.”

  Everything around me went quiet. No more bellows, trumpets, or bugles. For the moment, no more fire.

  Ysien lumbered close. “Well done, Dragon Heir.”

  “No lack of guts.” The dragon beneath me shook itself again, but I had a good hold on it. Its praise pleased me, but words were cheap.

  I wasn’t in a hurry to cede my advantage, so I left the knife in place. Dragons are immortal too. I couldn’t do much damage, but I wanted to hang onto the illusion of having the upper hand.

  “Runa!” Ysien’s tone had developed an edge. “Stand down.”

  “Don’t call me that.” I couldn’t risk taking my attention from the hand that held my blade.

  “’Tis your name, and high time ye claimed it.”

  “We are done for today,” I announced.

  “I told you to sheathe your weapon. Dragons do not raise their talons against their own.”

  “So, it’s only acceptable if you’re attacking me?” I clung to my almost nonexistent advantage and repeated, “We are done for today. Once you agree, I will jump down.”

  A sheet of fire roared past me. Roared was an understatement. It sounded like a giant blowtorch and felt like someone had opened a gateway into Hell. Sweat sheened my body; I curled my damp fingers tighter around the hilt of my knife.

  “Agreed,” Ysien snarled.

  Blade still in hand, I climbed down Greenie’s neck, jumped lightly to the ground, and tucked my weapon away. Ysien furled his wings, but I shot in front of him and said, “Hold up a moment.” I tacked, “please,” on as an afterthought.

  He didn’t fold his wings, but he didn’t flap them, either. The dragon stared at me with his whirling gaze. Maybe because of my dragon blood, I can look directly at them without becoming snared in whatever spell they choose to weave.

  I settled my hands on my hips. “I have claimed my name. I’m not using it because true names offer power over the bearer.”

  Smoke puffed from his nostrils. “But we all know your name. We’ve known it since your birth.”

  Awk. There it was again. Proof of one more set of relatives who could give a fuck less about me. At least the Celts hadn’t made a secret over not giving a crap. Discovering a second batch who’d considered me irrelevant should be like water slipping off a dolphin’s back. Except it wasn’t. Their indifference stung.

  I cursed myself for a chump.

  “The length of time you’ve known my name is irrelevant. If it’s rolling around in your minds, anyone with magic could discover it. I’ve been Rowan since my birth, and Rowan I shall remain until I tell you different.”

  Before he could protest or tell me it wasn’t my choice—which it goddamn well was—I went on. “When Nidhogg told me I’d have assistance learning the dragon portion of my magic, he said one dragon would show up each day. One.” I flapped my hands for emphasis before resettling them on my hips.

  “What the fuck?” I went on. I was on a roll, and not in the mood to shut up. “Why are all of you here? Don’t you have anything more interesting to occupy your time?”

  No one answered, but twelve sets of whirling eyes bored into me. Unpleasant doesn’t come close to describing how creepy that felt. I forged ahead, anyhow. What choice did I have? When you clue bullies in that they’re getting to you, you’re screwed. I shoved my shoulders straighter and said, “I thought part of my training was to push the boundaries of how my magic slots with Bjorn’s, but you blocked us from each other. Why?”

  Ysien did answer that question. “To see how ye did on your own. Why else?”

  “Pfft. I’ve been ‘on my own’ practically since I was born.” I would have stamped my foot, except it felt juvenile. “I’m starting to feel like some kind of circus attraction. Does Nidhogg know all of you are milling about practically salivating over the anomaly you’ve known about but ignored for centuries?”

  A red dragon took a step toward me. “We had our reasons.”

  “And they were?”

  “Ye shall know at the proper time,” Ysien told me. He’s always had a patronizing way about him that grates on my nerves.

  Breath swooshed from my lungs. I wanted to punch him, but he wouldn’t have even noticed, no matter how much force I put behind the blow. “You’re as bad as Ceridwen,” I growled. “At least she was honest about how much she hated me.”

  “Apologize,” Ysien hooded his eyes and bent his neck so his head was more on a level with mine. “I am nothing like your Celtic whore of a mother.”

  My temper has always been a stumbling block, and I reined mine in. Still, I wasn’t about to grovel. I settled for saying, “Insofar as I know, no dragon has lied to me directly.” I stopped before launching into how lies of omission weren’t any better.

  “Dragons do not lie.” He snapped his jaws with their double rows of teeth shut. The clack sounded like a small canon exploding.

  Yeah, but you’re masters at twisting the truth.

  I cleared my thoughts fast. Among their other talents, dragons are exceptional mind readers. I’d been excited to discover I had a brand new extended family, but the novelty had faded fast. My commitment to learn about how to maximize my dragon-linked magic was waffling too.

  I wanted to return to Midgard—Earth—and the witches who’d offered me home and hearth and family after I’d walked out on the Celtic pantheon. The witches were worth my time and my magic.

  Instead, I was in Vanaheim standing in a substantial clearing not far from Bjorn’s cottage. Made of cunningly interlocking stones with very little mortar between them, it looked as if it had been here for hundreds of years. Who knows? Perhaps it had. Unlike Earth, where most didn’t wield magic, everyone I’ve met in Vanaheim had at least some.

  Bjorn possessed far more than “some.” He’s the master sorcerer in all the Nine Worlds, and his power defied description.

  “We shall leave you to your student,” the red dragon told Ysien. From the beast’s voice tones, I was fairly certain it was female. Her emphasis on student made it sound like what she meant was, “good luck corralling that headstrong monster you were stupid enough to invite into our midst.” But perhaps I was overreacting.

  “Ye will leave when I dismiss you,” Ysien stopped staring at me long enough to glare at her.

  I fully expected the Red to tell him to piss up a rope. Instead she bowed her head ever so briefly. The only indication she wanted to strangle him was the smoke wafting from her nostrils and around her jammed-shut jaws.

  “We have one final task today while many of us are here,” Ysien announced.

  Crappity crap. There was that tone again. The one that screamed he ran the universe. Why the others put up with it for a second was beyond me. He scanned the drago
ns and crooked a talon at a copper-colored one. Dragon talons are blood-red, maybe ten centimeters long, and razor sharp. They’re beautiful if you can get past how deadly they are.

  The coppery dragon ambled forward. Not built as heavily as some, it was tall with a graceful set to its long neck. Ysien said, “Zelli, meet Runa.”

  I nodded at the dragon and managed, “Pleased to meet you.” It wasn’t as if I could shake hands. The name, Zelli, argued the beast was female, and unlike Ysien, she hadn’t done anything to alienate me.

  Not yet.

  She puffed steam my way, a good sign from a dragon. “Pleased to meet you as well, Rowan.” She stressed my proper—as opposed to my true—name, and I loved her for it. Maybe she and I were destined to get along.

  Ysien glared at her. She glared right back and said, “’Tis a small enough thing. I say we accommodate where we can.”

  Before Ysien could correct her or order her to call me Runa, I smiled brightly and said, “What is this one last thing we have to do? Whatever it is, could we hurry it along? Bjorn and I were heading back to Earth in a little bit.”

  “Why?” Ysien bit off the word.

  “Now you look here.” I craned my neck back to attempt to look him in the eyes. “I don’t answer to you. My life and my home”—I stressed the word home—“are there. I do not require your leave to return home. Besides, I want to experiment to see if I can move some of the lore materials from world to world.”

  “Mmph. Does Nidhogg know?”

  “I don’t answer to him, either,” I replied tartly.

  Zelli pushed between us. “How would ye feel about riding me? ’Tisn’t something dragons normally offer, and it was the death knell of our relationship with the Celtic gods. They would have used us for steeds.” She turned her head, and the steam turned to a rain of ashy smoke.

  My eyes widened. I’m sure my mouth fell open, but I shut it fast. Of all the things she might have said, her invitation to jump on her back was the last one I’d have anticipated. I’d ridden on the occasional airplane back before the Breaking, but this was different.

  “Rowan?” Zelli prodded.

  “Uh, sure. I guess it would be interesting,” I stammered. I’m not usually at a loss for words. “Why would I be doing this?”

  “None of us are certain what ye’ll be capable of. Ye may find your own dragon form. In the meantime, ye must needs practice aerial warcraft. For that, ye require a companion who can fly.” After a hesitation, she added, “I volunteered.”

  I had a feeling she hadn’t had any competition. More than once, I’d thought how convenient wings would be. For one thing, they offered a superior view of the battlefield. For another, flight would move me out of harm’s way for some predators.

  Her jaws lolled in an approximation of a smile.

  Magic jumped to my summons and I vaulted onto her back. “What about Bjorn?” I asked. “We’re a team. We fight together.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Ysien said sourly and jerked his head to one side.

  The smoke had finally cleared enough for me to make out Bjorn astride a black dragon, who’d just leapt skyward. I reached for him in mind speech, not expecting much, but I broke through. “Hey there.”

  “We’ll talk later,” he said. I knew him well enough to hear the controlled fury beneath his words. He hadn’t liked it at all when the dragons had erected a barrier between us.

  “Ready?” Zelli spread her great wings. When I glanced over a shoulder, I was awestruck by how big they were closeup.

  “I think so. Anything I need to know?”

  She bugled laughter. “Doona fall off.”

  I settled myself farther forward until I could wrap my arms around her neck. A pair of horns sprouted from the juncture where her neck attached to her back. They looked like a better bet balance-wise, so I gripped them.

  She edged away from the group and sprang into the air. The transition felt effortless. One moment her hind legs were planted on the ground, the next, we were flying. “Just a little bit here to get you used to things,” she spoke into my mind.

  I must have been more nervous than I thought because I had those horns in a death grip, and my eyes were shut. I pried them open as we banked left and right and flew in a figure-eight. Next, she climbed steeply enough, I pressed my legs into her hide. She was warm. Might come in handy on a cold day. We hit some kind of zenith because she dove toward the ground, pulling up at the last moment. A heady exhilaration ran through me, and I whooped for the sheer joy of moving through the skies.

  “How are you doing?” she asked.

  “I love this!” It wasn’t an exaggeration. Riding Zelli was a lot like when Bjorn and I had first joined our magic. Destiny had speared me that day, making it abundantly clear our power was created to work together. Riding the dragon had a familiar feel to it, as if I’d done it in another lifetime.

  “Ready to fight?”

  “Yes!” I gathered defensive magic, while warding myself. Should I ward her too?

  She must have been in my mind because she said, “Worry about yourself, Dragon Heir. I will be fine.”

  I scanned the ground. While we’d been experimenting, Ysien—or someone—had been busy. Targets lined the far side of the clearing. Bjorn and the black dragon were heading right for them. Power burst from Bjorn, and the two targets on the end disintegrated.

  We waited for them to clear the area before we did our own strafing run. This was easy. Too easy. While I recognized that no enemy would just stand there and wait for me to mow them down, my aerial perch added a whole new dimension to my offensive strategies.

  Fighting aside, riding the dragon sang to something deep inside me. It held a rightness that filled me with giddy joy. I’d have whooped again, but it wasn’t dignified. Beneath us, dragons replaced the spent targets, infusing smaller ones with magic to make them harder to hit.

  “Once more,” I shouted, too excited to hide my enthusiasm. I felt like a kid who’d just been handed the best toy ever. A glance at Bjorn told me he was as caught up in the whole dragon-riding gig as me. His usually stern face had relaxed into a smile. Power crackled around him, adding to his unearthly beauty.

  And then it was our turn again. Zelli added her power to mine, and we annihilated the entire rest of the row. I did whoop then, and she bugled. Maybe my crude shrieks were buried by her victory cries. I hoped so.

  I wanted to fly and fly and fly, but we thumped onto the ground, and she folded her wings. Turning her head, she puffed steam around me. “Thank you,” I said. “That was unbelievable.”

  “Doona tell anyone,” she whispered into my mind, “but I enjoyed our flight.”

  “It will be our secret.” I hesitated before adding, “Until next time?” I held my breath. There had to be a next time. This had been too brilliant not to have a repeat.

  I tossed a leg over her side and jumped down, disappointed she hadn’t confirmed there would be a next time. I was almost across the clearing to where Bjorn stood when she said, “Until next time, Dragon Heir.”

  I spun to face her and raised a hand in farewell. My throat was thick with emotion, and I didn’t want her to leave. She puffed smoke my way, spread her wings and circled to gain altitude. One by one, the other dragons left as well. I was grateful to avoid another confrontation with Ysien. I was a disappointment to him. I read those signs well enough. Mother had been a master at teaching them to me.

  Bjorn covered the remaining distance between us and draped an arm around my shoulders. “Flying was unexpected. And delightful.”

  I leaned my head against him for a moment. It had been all those things, and a whole lot more. I didn’t want to muck about describing what had felt surreal. Words might ruin it, so I asked, “What’s next?” It was past midday from the angle of the sun.

  “Ysien reminded me I need to commission several magical blades. He and Nidhogg worked on a list with me before we battled the griffon. Since then—”

  “We haven’t had any
time,” I cut in. “Yeah, I’m well aware of that.” I looked away from his direct gaze. It wasn’t as if we were mated or anything. We could—no, should—do things separately. “How about this?”

  I wriggled out from beneath his arm. Leaving his side harder than getting off Zelli had been, and both those things worried me. I’d gotten by being strong, needing no one.

  “How about what?” Warmth and caring streamed from him. I could lose myself in his blue eyes, fall into their beauty and never surface.

  Alarm bells tolled deep in my mind. “I’ll go inside and finish the section I was working on in that one scroll. If you’re not back by the time I finish, I’ll teleport to Earth and look in on the witches.”

  His smile faded a notch. “Sure, Rowan. Will you meet me back here, or—”

  “Either way,” I said. “I’ll be at one of the two coven strongholds. When I’m done there, I’ll head back this way. Might be a couple of days, though. Is it still all right for me to try to take one of the lore books with me?”

  He nodded. “It will let you know quick enough if it doesn’t want to leave.” Before he was even done speaking, power flickered around him as he built a teleport spell.

  I wanted to grab his arm, tell him I’d go with him, that we’d do everything together, but I kept my mouth clamped shut and hopefully concealed my stupid, ridiculous neediness. We had a job to do. A world to save. Once we’d pulled Earth out of the gutter, we could focus on each other.

  I nodded a farewell and sprinted for the house not trusting myself to stick around. I’d bought us a little space from one another. May as well make good use of it. I was certain I’d done the right thing, but desolation scoured me.

  I didn’t get it. Before, I’d always been enough for me. I shook myself from stem to stern. I had to locate that solo headspace again, and pronto. Bjorn’s cottage was not the place to accomplish it. The second I got near the place, his scent reached for me. The sea mingled with sunbaked clay tugged at my heart. My soul.