Dragon Airways

by Brian Rathbone

  * * *

  Prevailing winds chilled the air. Cold stone leached whatever warmth Riette could find save what emanated from the fireplace behind her. Turned around backward in her chair, she huddled before it. Arms outstretched, she warmed her hands. Tuck did not seem to mind the chill. Agger and Grunt watched over them in uncomfortable silence. She and Tuck communicated with their eyes and expressions. Talking was strongly discouraged. At least they were together again. The flight had been torture. Not knowing why they were now allowed to be together wasn't much better.

  They certainly had little to fear at this point. It wasn't as if they could just walk home. They were trapped in a foreign land, held hostage by a tyrant and his madwoman. Casta Mett frightened her the most. Riette remembered seeing her in Sparrowport. She was the woman Emmet had said was mean, and he couldn't have been more correct. She never smiled, apparently ready to kill them at any given moment. The marks on her face and residual puffiness spoke of how poorly she'd fared against the hornets Emmet had used against her. Casta Mett would showed no kindness without some reason. When she returned from deeper within the hollow mountain, Riette turned and sat in her chair properly, wondering how the woman would further turn the situation against her and Tuck.

  The mean-spirited woman pretended not to notice but still glared at them with open contempt, her scowl itself seeming to suck the warmth from the air. "Have these things been fed?" she asked. "Argus wants them fed. Bring them fish."

  Grunt nodded and retreated into the hold.

  "Perhaps you should fetch them some water," Casta Mett said to Agger before turning back to Riette. She waited until they were alone before speaking again. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't waste the food or water. The only reason you're alive is because I want your brother dead."

  Riette kept her eyes averted, trying not to provoke the woman.

  "Have you ever been fishing?"

  Riette nodded without ever looking at her. She knew better than to ignore a direct question. She could still feel the sting on her cheek.

  "Did you slide a worm onto a hook?"

  Riette nodded again.

  "How does it feel to be the worm?"

  Tuck shifted in his chair, and Riette hoped he did not once again try to speak up in her defense. Some of Casta Mett's reprimands might have already left him with internal injuries. Riette wasn't certain how much more either of them could take. Even if her friends did come to save her, they would be flying into a trap. Two airships loaded with heavy cannon and exploding rounds awaited them. She'd heard Agger and Grunt talking about having repaired the damaged cannons. The city of Ri once again bristled with weaponry.

  Casta Mett was well defended herself. In one hand she carried a glittering staff embedded with thousands of tiny crystals. In the other, she carried the sky stone. She had gloated to Riette and Tuck about her intent to use it against Barabas. "I can't wait to see him again. I'll be sure to welcome him properly this time."

  It made Riette squirm. She did not want Barabas to come to any harm, but she knew he would come. He would not leave her and especially Tuck there to die. The boy was like his son. She was not foolish enough to think herself equally important to him, but she did think he would have saved her nonetheless. There had been a time when she'd hated him, and now she wondered how she could have had such opposite feelings for the same person. He'd done much to prove himself in spite of his betrayal. Riette had still not completely forgiven him for putting Emmet in such danger, but he had saved them both multiple times. And Emmet had thrived. In many ways, he was her only hope of survival.

  When he arrived, it was a shock. Riette wondered how the woman had known and stood armed and ready to meet him.

  When Berigor approached in near complete silence, the wind stretching his wings all that announced his arrival, it didn't seem real. Keldon and Barabas rode in silent readiness, looking prepared to spring from the saddle at any moment. A thrill ran through Riette, and she allowed herself a moment of hope. When the smile on Casta Mett's face widened, hope faded.

  No weapons fired on the incoming dragon. Riette could not understand why they would let the dragon approach after so much effort to arm against them. Realizing they might only want to trap Berigor made Riette feel sick. Being held captive was the most terrifying thing ever to happen to her, and she did not want to think of what Argus Kind and Casta Mett would do to Barabas given the chance. All along he'd been their target, and he would not get any of the courtesies afforded to her and Tuck, no matter how flawed those courtesies might have been. Casta Mett had hinted at what awaited Barabas, and Riette tried to block the words from her mind.

  Now he was here, like a light in the darkness. Blazing with power, Berigor looked ready to tear the mountain to pieces. He landed hard, clinging to the broken stairway alongside the entrance in which Riette and Tuck sat.

  "Oh, do come in," Casta Mett said. "Your friends are waiting for you."

  All Riette could think about was being a worm on a hook. Barabas was about to bite. He undid his straps and started to get down. Keldon remained where he was, appearing ready to leap into the fray if needed. Riette and Tuck were close enough to the front of the chamber that they could conceivably escape. Grunt and Agger returned and dropped the trays they carried, drawing air rifles instead. Casta Mett stood deeper in the chamber.

  Meeting Tuck's eyes, Riette got ready to run. Grunt backed away. Agger, too, retreated, looking as if he'd seen his own death approaching. Both men held their ground but clearly wanted to be as far from Riette and Tuck as possible. A terrible knot formed in Riette's stomach; these men must know something she did not.

  Laughter echoed through the valley. Behind Berigor, atop a nearby ridge, waited a terrifying sight. A dragon twice Berigor's size was ridden by Argus Kind and one of his henchmen. Lines of lightning and metal connected to a gleaming headpiece restrained this wild creature. It slithered with exaggerated serpentine movements and was missing one eye. Unlike Berigor and Dashiq before him, the wild dragon did not appear to have suffered massive facial trauma in battle. This dragon had only a ring of unadorned metal around a lifeless glass eye, as if Argus Kind had carved out the dragon's natural eye just so it could use the ancient Azzakkan's Eye. Such cruelty gave Riette physical pain.

  Argus Kind sat behind Deacon Rex, the Al'Zjhon who held glowing lines that seemed to bite into the creature with lightning and fire whenever he yanked on them. Crying out in impotent fury, the wild dragon seethed. The self-declared king was armed with something that looked like a crossbow with a luminous bolt nocked, but he held it to one side. In his other hand, he held a metal horn that amplified his voice. Clearly he'd thought this through. This was a devious, hateful man bent on revenge who had set a deadly trap. Again, Riette squirmed.

  "You always were a sentimental fool, Barabas," Argus said, his voice booming through the valleys. "And now it will be the end of you. I told you long ago kindness was your greatest weakness. That and willful foolhardiness. You knew I would be waiting for you. And now you are not the only one with a dragon. How do you like my pet?"

  "Beautiful creature. Deserves to be free, not enslaved by magic," Barabas said in response, his deep voice carrying well, slurred speech loud and evident.

  Argus Kind laughed. A moment later, he spoke without a trace of humor. "You have something that belongs to me. I want it back. And I have something you might want back. Make me a trade, and I will let you leave in peace. But I know you won't do that. Therefore we must face the alternative, where I kill you all."

  The wild dragon thrashed the air and reared up beneath Argus. Deacon Rex yanked on the lines. The mighty giant roared in pain. Its tail twitched. Bile rose in Riette's throat.

  "You just have to break their spirits," Argus said afterward. "Just like people."

  With those words, he raised the strange crossbow and aimed at the table where Tuck and Riette sat. He smiled at her a moment before pulling the trigger. Everything happened so fast, Riette had no time to r
eact.

  A bolt of blue light raced toward her and slammed into the table. Her chair toppled over backward, and Riette felt the sting of shrapnel. Dust filled the air and obscured her vision. Pulling herself up, she was still uncertain if she were hurt. On trembling knees, she looked over the dust and the wreckage of the table to see Tuck pushing out from under his chair.

  Whirring sounds began to echo in what must have been intentional silence. Argus Kind was a showman. Even before he'd killed the rightful king and named himself successor, he'd been a spectacle, known for criticizing society's fascination with executions then carrying out those very executions. Now his airships were about to close off any possible routes of escape. How Argus Kind must fear Barabas DeGuiere, Riette thought, to have planned such a massive and inescapable trap for an old man who appeared to have lost his dragon. Riette knew Dashiq was gone. Even in a moment of such imminent danger, her heart broke with the knowledge. She thought of Tuck and how he must feel, even as two airships came into view. Argus Kind laughed.

  A third airship appeared a moment later traveling at a different trajectory. Shouting echoed within a narrow point in the valley. The airships were already dangerously close together. From the third dirigible, someone jumped.

  Agger and Grunt came up behind where Riette crouched. They did not assault her but did prevent her from seeking shelter deeper within the mountain. Bait. When Tuck made his way to her, no one tried to stop him.

  "Give me Azzakkan's Eye, and I will let you go," Argus Kind said, his crossbow pulsing with blue light and aimed directly at Riette and Tuck. They had played right into his plan, giving him a single target.

  Berigor turned around, clinging to the mountainside, his wings spread and neck coiled in an aggressive posture, ready to strike. Hissing like a cornered viper, he exaggerated his size. The wild dragon above issued a low, guttural growl like rolling drums Riette felt in her bones. There was no panic, no posturing, only the secure knowledge he was the more powerful of the two bull dragons present. The air reeked of aggression and fear.

  Another person jumped from the third airship just before it struck one of the first two broadside, the attacking airship radiating steam and fire. Constricted by the valley walls, all three airships collided. Even the wild dragon retreated when the explosions began. Suddenly the air was filled with debris, shrapnel, and people leaping from airships. Most immediately deployed their parachutes, but some skimmed through the air on wing flaps sewn into their flight suits, including the two from the attacking airship.

  Berigor wore his war saddle, which seated two people, but he also wore the ancient saddle Dashiq had once worn behind it. It was further confirmation the dragon had died, and Riette continued to mourn the loss. Never had she known she could love a creature such as a dragon, that such true friendship and loyalty were possible. She was proud to have known Dashiq the battle dragon.

  Her body tingling with adrenaline, time slowed, leaving Riette disconnected from the events around her. She and Tuck could not simply climb into the saddle and escape, even with the airships destroyed. Argus Kind had assembled an overwhelming force, and perhaps rightfully so. Berigor did not appear ready to go down without a fight.

  Looking back into the cavern for a split second, Casta Mett's face was illuminated by the fiery explosions, shock and panic registering in her expression. Moving toward Riette and Tuck, she leveled her staff and them, the light around her taking on a bluish green hue. Thunder rumbled within the chamber, low and deep as the woman's temper got the better of her. The promise of death filled her eyes. Then Riette's view was blocked. Tuck stepped between them.

  "I've had about enough of you," Tuck said, and it was perhaps the bravest thing Riette had ever seen. He was no match for this powerful woman now wielding ancient magic, yet he stood tall and strong. The woman did not smile or laugh but instead continued forward, the light emanating from the tip of the staff growing brighter with each step. She wanted Riette to know what was coming, to know how she would die. Casta Mett was no better than Argus Kind. She was a killer and a performer, and it made Riette sick.

  Time compressed.

  Events moved so fast, her thoughts could not keep pace. Berigor leaped away from the mountain and attacked the wild dragon. Another soon filled the space. Far smaller than Dashiq had been, a four-legged creature bearing Riette's brother landed within the cavern.

  Emmet met her eyes, and she saw something that had rarely been there before but that she'd always known existed deep down within him—connection, synchronicity. At that moment her own connection with time felt tenuous, the flow of events accelerating and decelerating, stretching and compressing. It was almost what she imagined Emmet must have felt, which overwhelmed her with fear and compassion. Emmet trapped her in his gaze and communicated with her.

  It's going to be all right. I've come for you, his eyes said.

  Casta Mett released her energy, no longer aimed at Riette but now at the smaller dragon. Emmet had no magic, no defenses. The dragon he rode looked so young and inexperienced. Riette could barely keep up with all the input. Sounds amplified and sights rushed in. Soon she found herself in a ball on the floor with her hands over her ears and her eyes squeezed shut. This had happened to Emmet so many times that she'd become desensitized—perhaps at times lacking empathy for his condition. Now she understood and it shamed her. Tears in her eyes, she rocked.