by James Duvall
Joshua felt his eyes spark. Beneath the surface he could sense the dragon growling. “I saved your life! And Officer Grey's.”
Standing her ground, the sheriff's deputy let him finish, then spoke again in dispassionate tone. “The rules are in place for your protection as well as the rest of the community. The fact that you acted with bravery and on the behalf of agents will be considered, but it does not undo the knowledge that we cannot rely on you.”
“Rely on me? You can rely on me,” Joshua spat. “I risked my life to save yours. How is that unreliable?”
“I told you to wait in the car. Officer Dalton told y--”
Joshua cut in, his breath coming in a thin puff of cold mist. “If I were anyone else you would not have given me that order.”
“You are not a member of the Watch,” Amanda answered. She was looking at him now, eyes tracing over the scars where his wings had been shot through with arrows and the tattered edges of his sails torn by blade and brambles. There were missing and broken scales across his chest where he had crashed purposefully into an overturned cart to clear the way for the infantry. A ghostly line wandered down his back like a river of pale white where one of the ralian soldiers had dropped onto him from above and tried to prevent himself from falling by hilting his sword in the dragon's back. Arcamyn's war had left its mark upon him, body and soul.
“You are not a soldier here, Joshua.”
“I know that,” Joshua said, puffing his frustration in icy mist. “I simply do not appreciate having a gun shoved in my face when I claw my way out of hell.”
"What did you expect, exactly, leaping out of the portal like that?" Amanda asked, incredulous. "You nearly gave Dalton a heart attack. I thought you'd gone completely mad. You had a look in your eye... We do not like surprises, Joshua."
Joshua shrugged off her complaints, grumbling at the floor. “I did not know what would happen when I came back. When I sank, I fell from a high place. I was lucky to have my wings available at the time and I had to be ready. If the portal on this side was not ready to receive me it might have happened again. What I expected, was perhaps some acknowledgment of the fact that I ended up in the Cold in the first place because I went into battle on the behalf of two members of Solomon's Watch, one of whom was badly wounded. Furthermore if Officer Dalton is so terrified of allies coming through the portal perhaps he is not the best-suited to standing watch."
“Bullets!” Amanda spat. “He would have shot you. You are lucky he recognized you or he very well may have. We've been over this already.”
For a moment there was silence between them, Joshua doing his best to suppress a growl and Amanda glaring daggers at him with her arms crossed. The clock on the wall ticked off seconds, and somewhere in one of the adjacent units someone had started up their shower.
“What happens if they find against me?” Joshua asked, begrudgingly breaking the silence. In his mind's eye he could see Amanda returning to announce the results via a pistol drawn and fired into his eye.
“Potentially you'll be sent back to Arcamyn and barred from returning.”
“And if I come back anyway? Will you kill me?” Joshua asked, darkly. There had been a time in his life when he would not have had the gumption to ask it, but that life had ended somewhere on the road to Tavyn.
“The Watch will not tolerate a rogue dragon on the loose in the Rockies,” Amanda answered in cold tones. “You take far too many liberties, Joshua Woods. Your presence here is a privilege, not a right. This isn't like you. What happened to you over there?”
Joshua studied her, wondering if she really wanted to know. The drums of war echoed in his mind, keeping time with the beat of his heart. “The man that was in Orlus Gavrinno's house was Erlo Stolge. Last November he murdered me. We arrived in the Cold together. He ran out of bullets. I realized then who he was.”
Joshua's quiet voice trailed off as he studied the deputy's face with his crystal blue eyes. She had a worried look, brow furrowed in concern. He considered the wisdom of what he was about to say and the relatively little that Solomon's Watch could do about it. The new kyrithspan dagger was still in his possession unbeknownst to his would-be captors. He could feel the leather sheath still strapped to his leg.
“I killed him,” he finished in a voice drawn thin by the horrific recollection. Many men had died at his claws since, all enemies, all equally prepared to end his life, but none had tasted so bitter to his soul. On that night he had drank deeply from the font of vengeance and its poisonous waters had left him profoundly scarred.
“You were in a bad situation, trapped in a strange place,” Amanda said. She rested a calming hand on the dragon's shoulder and spoke in a soft, comforting voice, but to Joshua she seemed an entire world away. He was back on the dark plains, swirling with mist, drowning in blood. The bitter taste of blood washed over his tongue, and the air hung heavy with its acrid stench.
“I ripped him apart,” he said, hearing the crunching of bones and the gurgling of a throat choked with blood. Hatred, savagery, visions of violence haloed in red passed before his eyes. Erlo Stolge going to his fate, growing cold at his feet. He could sense the silent regard of a thousand damned souls all looking on at him from their graves on the plains of desolation. All watching. All seeing. All knowing what depravity lurked within his soul.
When the darkness faded, Joshua could see a hint of fear in Amanda's wide-eyed expression. He realized he was growling, and he relaxed that muscle, letting his breath rise silently from his chest. At some point she had taken her hand from his shoulder and withdrew a pace or two toward the door. Her sidearm was still in its holster. She left without further words.
In his solitude, Joshua had ample time to think over his situation. His apartment had become a cage in every way but for the bars to hold him in. The guards served as those, often occupying his living room to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the neighbors.
Brian was allowed to visit for an hour each day. Most days he came by shortly before dinnertime and brought a home-cooked meal, a newspaper, and sometimes a book from the library where Joshua had worked. The books were mostly about battlefield triage and first aid. It was not a simple task to piece together treatments likely to be useful in what served as modern day Ryvarra. For one, there were no antibiotics. That was not to say that the land was without medical capability, a surgeon's tools included scalpel, bandages, and gauze, but also alchemical tinctures, salves, powders, and enchanted crystals the likes of which had never been seen by a modern American doctor. Over a few days of study he managed to piece together a list of rough equivalencies, translating disinfectants to oil from the firebrand fern, antibiotics to Brogan's Elixir, and began committing to memory the basic treatment of common injuries.
Midway through the second week Amanda made another appearance. She had a dossier tucked under one shoulder. In her free hand she carried a small bundle of cloth, which Joshua presumed was Marreth's kyrithspan dagger. He could sense the little flicker of magic hidden inside. Faint though it was, on the magical void of earth it was bright as a candle on a starless night. Joshua greeted her as the dragon, as had become his custom with Watch agents. Even Amanda he had grown to distrust. His case was still under review, as the visiting officers daily reminded him. In the dark quiet of his mind he could see Amanda denouncing him by two rounds into his chest, and so he would not face even her without his armor.
If you are going to kill me, you will have to look me in the eye same eye you put a bullet through.
Amanda likewise, seemed ill-at-ease as she found her way wordlessly to the small table in the back of the living room. They both were well aware of the stakes. Joshua's body and word testified that he had set aside his fear of killing. He would not go down easy.
“Sam Paden retrieved your dagger,” Amanda said, placing the bundle of cloth on the table. She opened the dossier next, reading quietly over the top page.
“Thank you,” Joshua said, doing his best to keep the arctic bite
out of the dragon's voice. The front door closed again but Joshua could smell the two men waiting outside.
“As for the matter of your case, the Watch has decided to put you on probation. You'll still be allowed to come and go from Arcamyn as per the needs of your condition.”
“My condition?” Joshua asked, testing the word on his tongue. He found he did not much care for it.
“Your need to recharge your batteries, whatever you want to call it,” Amanda answered, sounding quite at the end of her patience. “Bottom line, if you step out of line again you will be required to not return to Earth.”
Amanda cut in as Joshua opened his mouth to speak. “And do not ask me again what will happen if you try to come back anyway. You know, Joshua.”
Joshua blinked in surprise, eyes widening to circles for a few moments. His jaws parted again to speak, though he hesitated, wondering if now was really the right moment. If Amanda too was a dragon, he was certain she would be growling.
“I want to join Solomon's Watch,” he announced in even, clear words.
Now it was Amanda's turn to stare in befuddled wonderment at the creature across the table. “Wh- Are you out of your mind?”
Joshua shook his head. “No, I am serious. I am languishing here, cooped up in this tiny apartment for weeks on end. I'll still teach your classes if you really want me to, but Brian Ketch is probably just as suitable by this point and he knows Arcamyn and Calderr a lot better than I. I'm a dragon, not a cobbler or a tailor or a farmer like most of the rest of the people here. I know war. I've learned subterfuge. The portal is like a wall, you've been patrolling it, but you can't look over the side and see what's coming. I can. I can be your eyes on the other side. Put me to use. You won't regret it.”
For a moment there was only quiet. Joshua could see the gears whirring in Amanda's head as she considered the possibilities.
“I'll pass it up the chain.”
***
“And then she stormed out?” Brian Ketch asked. Joshua was sprawled in the back seat of Brian's beat-up old sedan. From his vantage point he could see the trees passing outside and Brian looking back at him through the rear view mirror. Stacy occasionally turned and leaned around the seat to question him directly. On any other day he would have been hard-pressed to regurgitate the whole messy ordeal, but Joshua was glad to be out of the house and a ride through the mountains was just what the doctor ordered.
“That's pretty much how it went,” Joshua said wistfully. His harsh words played over and over again through his mind and with his anger cooled he regretted a few of them, but not many. He had made his point and maintained his composure as well as a dragon could. The dragon's voice always seemed so intense, no doubt fueled by the nightstorm's zeal. His magic always felt closer to the surface when he was the dragon, like a smouldering fire about to burst into an all-consuming conflagration.
Stacy peered back from the passenger seat. “What he means to say is that we are glad you are okay. It's been months. We were starting to think you had decided not to come back. Earth isn't an easy place for Calderrians, and it's certainly no easier for a dragon.”
“Tell me about it,” Joshua grumbled. He thought he was going to have to force a halfhearted smile, but it came easily enough with the Ketch's. Brian was perhaps the only person that Joshua had ever known that didn't give a second thought or care to the idea of a dragon in the back seat.
“Well it is amazing to hear what you've been through,” Brian mused. “War in Ryvarra again. Can't say I'm surprised. The War of Ashes wasn't really won, you see. It just sort of ended after the Ralian invasion overreached and tried to take Camden. They ran out of supplies before Arcamyn and it forced them to end their siege and attack. Most people don't realize that its logistics that wins or loses a war. Sure you've got to have men, but if you can't feed them and arm them, you won't have them long.”
“Caedus has plenty of supplies. The supply caravan stretches almost a mile of road. I think they're going to go all the way to Embrahl,” Joshua said. In his mind he could still see the caravan beneath him, stretched out like a segmented snake along the winding valley roads as he flew over. They were without a scout in the vanguard now. No creature among them could match a seeker's speed. That knowledge made Joshua itch to return ever sooner.
Brian whistled, never taking his eyes off the road. “All the way to the capitol. Must be hoping to choke off supply to the ralian force occupying Camden. It's a good plan. Lets the Fendians hit at the heart of their foe while Ralia is busy with Arcamyn. Throws Arcamyn a bone too. The occupying force will have a hard time maintaining order if they're not properly supplied, and you can bet they won't be getting anything useful from the citizenry. Not after half the city burned in the War of Ashes.”
“I imagine not,” Joshua mumbled, his thoughts still on the men he had fought beside. “They're good men. Cleared out two garrisons along the Rilrath before we circled down through the Tingo River valley.”
“Ah, I've heard of the place,” Brian said. “It's a lovely place to visit from what I hear.”
“I went once on a trip with my father,” Stacy added. “Went through Auldon on our way up to Andrlossen. Father wanted to see the forges his iron came from. It's not all wrecked now, is it?”
“It's pretty far removed from the fighting.” Joshua thought about it a moment and grinned. “I met the mayor.”
Brian eased the car into its parking space. Joshua felt a little unsure of his footing when he got out of the car. The air felt thin. Like a hiker going to high elevation, his nightstorm struggled to adapt, and the feeling of it leaking away from him made his vision swim. Soon, he needed to go back soon.
“Are you alright?” Brian asked, frowning with concern as Joshua slouched against the back bumper.
“I'm fine,” Joshua answered. “I'll be fine, anyway.”
Brian and Stacy exchanged worried glances, but Joshua noticed they weren't looking at him. They were looking toward the apartments.
“What?” he asked, following their gaze.
“I don't know how to break this to you, but someone broke in while you were gone,” Brian said. “I don't know if they took anything, but we went in the next day with Amanda. We found some books, worrisome books...”
Joshua shrugged it off. “Nothing was gone, nothing I noticed anyway. I don't have a lot of stuff.”
“And the books...?” Brian asked uncertainly. The question was left to hang for a moment. Joshua knew the tinker would not press him for details he was not keen to divulge.
“The dragon slayer books?”
Brian nodded.
“Just research. Grimlohr is the only dragon I've ever really known other than myself. I thought maybe I could read a little, learn a little about my own kind. The Watch's library is about as empty as my pantry. It's awful. I should try to bring some books back from Nobri. I know there's a bookseller; I saw the shop last time.”
“Well? Did you learn anything?” Brian asked, his face splitting into his good-natured grin.
“Well....” Joshua started, drawing out the moment as the two looked at him expectantly. “Arthur Greelam thinks I'd make an excellent postman.”
Both of them laughed.
Another iron dragon waited for them back at the apartment, its ruby eyes gleaming like two drops of blood. Joshua lifted it off the nail and held it out to Brian. “Mind making some adjustments to this?”
“Sure, what have you got in mind?”
When the time came for Joshua to return again to Arcamyn he left an iron dragon on his door. It had sapphire eyes.
Chapter 36
The Ravaged Land
Nobri, Arcamyn
And then he came into the city he had once loved and found it not empty, for war had made it a kingdom of the rats...
Joshua appeared late in the night, stepping out from his portal behind the vegetable garden and the tool shed. A starless night watched over him. Dark clouds loomed overhead, passing in silent reverence ove
r the darkened house. Only the cobalt moon shone through in misty gaps. A still wind barely blew, rustling through stalks of corn and untended weeds. A single window in the study glowed with soft candlelight.
In the quiet Joshua found his own way into the manor, stepping over debris. The floorboards creaked under the weight of his paws and on either side he could feel the tips of his wings brushing against the walls. He remembered portraits hanging there but they had all been taken.
In the study, a small figure looked out over the city from an open window. His shadow stood tall as a man on the road below.
“Come and see,” Rickthicket said in a quiet voice.
Burning buildings dotted the city like constellations in the night sky with only darkness between. Joshua's dragon eyes could see the bodies of human and ralian men in the debris-strewn streets, most no older than he. The greatest of the fires burned in the market at the city's heart. Even from the outer ring Joshua could hear the sound of battle carrying on the night winds.
Boots came marching up the road, three young men in leather armor and jackets bearing Camden's colors. They did not speak to each other, only carried on through the dark to maintain their vigil.
“What happened here...?”
“Ralian occupation. Fighting's been going on for almost five days now. Anthony Graham and the Lockworth Garrison showed up unexpected and caught them off-guard. Lockworth came in from the north side of town to cut off their retreat to Camden. The enemy built up fortifications in the central circle, but the reserve arrived yesterday afternoon with the siege engines. We've been pounding them all day.”
“Where is Syrrus?”
“At the market, fighting the Ralians of course,” Rickthicket said in grim tones. “She's got more reason to hate them than most.”
“Because of what happened to Tarvo?” Joshua asked, skeptically. “She cannot be the only sister to have lost a brother to this war.”