The Dragon's Back Trilogy

by Robert Dennis Wilson

  Raven smiled again and puffed his large chest with pride as he responded, “As you have suggested, I have befriended him and am personally introducing him into life inside the Dragon. He is often under the influence of our Vitally Resplendent Moss dream-makers and this has helped to ease his transition. Yes, I would say that Kaleb is now thoroughly addicted to the new imagemaker moss, it fills his waking dreams with realities that suit our purposes. But he is not so consumed that he can’t be productive. We actually have him learning his accursed, late GrandSire’s trade and he is showing quite a bit of promise as an apprentice carver, working with scaline. He seems to be fitting in with the other members of our Society, who dwell with him in the hidden city.

  “And he absolutely loves the fact that you gave him the initiate’s grey robe. From what he has told me, he remembers feeling the blessing you gave him when his parents first brought him here years ago as an infant! That’s incredible! Your recent touch has only reawakened in him the passion to serve you. He has been searching for you all of his life, driven by the fire you placed in his heart. And now he is yours! In truth, this orphan feels like he has come home—except I think for missing his brother.

  “Excellent work, Captain!” she exclaimed, punctuating her words with a brief rewarding stroke of her upturned hand under his massive chin. “What of his feelings toward that accursed Swimmer bard and his desire to rescue his apprenticed bother from that meddling master?”

  “I am sure, my queen, that those two are always the foremost of all his thoughts. He has confided in me on numerous occasions, his deep concern for Jason’s safety and he fears, as do we all, lest Jason take up the Swimmer’s skin of adoption. Also, I have secretly observed him handling a huge thorn from his pack and whispering curses against Nathan, his Brother Jason’s captor. The only reasons I think that he has not begged me to go searching for them, yet, is that he knows you are here and he craves your blessing, that and the effect of the moss which allows him to live in a virtual reality that is molded more to his liking. I imagine it is one where the bard is dead and he and Jason are reunited!”

  “We simply must capture Nathan and the boy!” Raven flinched from the sudden vehemence of her sudden shout. The Dark Queen spat out the bard’s name as though it were a bitter curse that poisoned her just to recite. “I don’t have to remind you what’s at stake if these two brothers are who we think they are!”

  “No, my lady,” said Raven, bowing his head and shaking it from side to side to emphasize the negation, “I will not allow the Prophesy to be used against us! I would rather kill Kaleb with my own hand before I let that happen! As far as the two bards are concerned, the traps you have commanded for them will be set throughout the Heartland, especially along the routes that teacher is known to frequent. It should only be a matter of time before I can lay them both before your feet. Hopefully, before the Great Games commence!”

  “Excellent, but be wary of that bard! He’s a crafty one that has stolen into our house before, to our great detriment!” The Dragonlady paused for a moment as though pondering something. When Raven lifted his eyes to meet hers she continued in a conspiratorial whisper, “And what is the state of the older brother’s heritage? Tell me of Kaleb’s property in the Heartland?”

  “I am sure that he has no idea that it even exists. Because of Kaleb’s covenant relationship to us, all the land that he owns there is now totally under our control. The long-standing dark towers have been repeatedly reinforced with material that he unknowingly provides; they have grown so large that not a scrap of productive land remains available. Without any place for a foothold, it’s doubtful that any foreign seeds, sent by our Enemy, will ever grow there. And the external border to that plot is a solid mass of thorntrees so thick and tough, that I vouch that no Swimmer will ever breach them! The Dragon’s winged messengers have taken a special interest in watering and fertilizing that particular barrier and have even taken to nesting among its thorns! They are guarded and they are impenetrable!”

  “Careful, my large protégé!” warned the Queen of Darkness. “Our Enemy takes perverse pleasure in personally accepting that kind of challenge! Best not to pluck the tail feathers of a sleeping eagle, lest he turns and singles you out for vengeance! I would hate to lose you, my pet! Life would be lonely without you to entertain me.” So saying, the Dragonlady, pointed at the ground at her feet, waited for her dark knight to bow before her once again, then bent forward and bestowed a lingering kiss on his forehead.

  It has been whispered among the dragonmen, that though the power of her touch melts the hearts of all with the ecstasy of its fire, yet that fire in its greatness is but a candle measured beside a forest fire when compared with the rare blessing of her kiss. Raven quickly drew in a sharp breath through his nostrils as the feelings of her blessing overwhelmed his senses, leaving him trembling with pleasure.

  Then the Dark Queen sighed contentedly, moved gracefully around her desk, sitting, she leaned back in her plush, throne-like chair. The still-kneeling giant recovered enough to see her eyes wandering momentarily around the exterior of her richly appointed chamber. Colorful tapestries depicting many historic victories, subtle and overt, covered the harsh scaline walls of that large circular room. Raven wondered momentarily which scene his Queen perused for inspiration, but his own eyes remained firmly fixed on her.

  “You have done very well, my Captain,” she said and bestowed her smile and the favor of her eyes on him once again, “and it seems as though your charge is right where we want him, for now. I think that, with his progress and the part he played in the death of that pig from the Orphanage, Marvin, he has earned the privilege of wearing this. Let us continue to foster his link to me.”

  Then the Queen of the Blackrobes grasped one of the swirling shadows that partially covered her voluptuous body and pulled it away from her skin. The wispy blackness solidified in her hand and became a shimmering black garment, just like the one worn by Raven. She then placed her hand on her creation infusing it with the essence of her touch, before folding it and handing it to the giant.

  “This ‘award’ should help you with that task. But remember, Raven, I can’t stress how important it is that you press his indoctrination! We can’t afford to let the Enemy have any chance with this one! Not if we are to succeed.”

  “I fully understand!” he replied, grinning confidently and nodding his large head. “And I think you’re right about this bundle. Receiving it will lock him to us just like the finest Scalina chain. But a new thought struck me as pertinent; there’s another thing we might try. What about the Lodge?”

  “An excellent idea! Yes, you were scheduled to attend the meeting at the Lodge this afternoon. Take our newest recruit with you and see that he is duly impressed by what he sees!” she responded with a smile and a look that some might have called evil joy. “See to it as soon as you have set in motion the other plans we discussed. And let me know any results as fast as you can. My curtain is always open to you!”

  HIGH IN THE DRAGON

  I really like it here, Kaleb, Jason’s older brother, thought, while seated on the bed in his new room. Even though for some reason I feel tired all of the time, I think I’m starting to know what happiness feels like for the first time in over ten long years! They’ve given me a much better room since the ceremony last week. And it doesn’t feel quite so strange anymore, living in Subverzia, this underground city of the Dragonmen. I’m still amazed at all they’ve done and are doing here in these caverns in the heart of the Dragon!

  What’s really great is that I now get to wear an initiate’s dark gray robe and hope someday to have a black, like my giant friend Raven. What’s really great is that they’ve started giving me arms training and offered me my choice of classes in trade skills. (I wonder what my ol’ GrandSire would say if he knew I’m getting trained in carving? I’m working with scaline, not bone like he did, but it’s still carving.) At least it’s not that boring dust they were force-feeding me at the school
of Arden Nox. Dragon Claws! I’m glad to be away from that place. I had finally gotten outta that prison of an orphanage on Central Isle after ten unbearable years and then got netted up and forced right away into that stupid school, a place much worse and then some! Another half-year in prison! All of their strangling rules and regulations! I hated livin’ there! Raven rescued me when he got me out of there, that’s the truth!

  Then he bought me to this wonderful hidden city where I’m finally, for the first time in my life, beginning to know what freedom means! And the people here treat me like I’m long-lost family. I’ve got almost everything I ever dreamed of. Friends! A job I like! Freedom! Good food! And a room to call my own! These last several days have been like something out of a pleasant dream (when all the rest of my life’s been one nightmare after another!). Yet…

  He fondled the leather packet of fresh Vitally Resplendent Moss someone had left on his dresser, half-heartedly toying with its bindings. Kaleb could almost taste the bitter-sweet metallic flavor of the glowing VR moss it held. His heart quickened and pulse beat in his temples as he remembered the life-like images he could fashion with this newest kind of “dreammaker” given to him by his gargantuan friend. All he had to do would be to open the pack, roughly mold its contents into any image he fancied, then touch the glowing moss to his mouth. The reality of that image would then flood his mind and he could experience his desire in every detail. Yet…

  His thoughts, his desires, and his memories wrestled together in a match that he, himself never seemed to win.

  Yet, whenever I’ve been off the moss for a few hours, something still doesn’t feel right. I’ll never forget Marvin’s face when I stuck him with those two huge thorns. Yeah, I hated that Orphanage director and he deserved to get punished for the way he treated Jason and me all those years in the Orphanage… But to be tied up without a dagger to stand up on his behalf and defend him… All those thorns! And his screams… At the time it felt right, but now I’m not so sure. I can still see his pleading frightened eyes even when mine are closed. Unless I use the dreammaker to escape…

  Kaleb’s thoughts were interrupted by a slapping sound on the stone outside his room. This convention, he had learned, replaced courteous knocking in this subterranean culture where rooms were carved out of the living scaline rock and heavy woven curtains replaced too-scarce wooden doors for privacy. Flat-palm slapping sounded louder against chiseled scaline than knocking and also saved wear and tear on the knuckles.

  “Come in,” he called in response.

  The curtain swung aside. The bulk of his friend Raven folded itself through the door, to rise to its full height once inside the tall candlelit chamber. “You’d think they’d carve these doorways a little taller,” commented the giant blackrobe with humor in his voice. “My rooms are the only ones in the whole city where I don’t have to look at my navel to enter!”

  “Well, they would’ve made the doors taller,” responded Kaleb in kind, “but the weavers would have had to work day and night for three years just to make enough material to cover the doors. Besides, they couldn’t figure what to do with all that extra stone they’d have to chisel out! Come on in, Captain. Pull up an immovable chair.” As in Scalina—the fabulous city of lace stonework carved into the side of the Dragon which he and his brother had visited months before—much of the furniture in the city of Subverzia had been created as permanent fixtures during the process of carving out the rooms and chambers. Affectionately he used the military title when addressing his large friend, having only recently learned that Raven actually held a commission in the dragonmen army.

  “How’re you doing in your new quarters?” asked the giant, landing his bulk in the offered stone chair.

  Kaleb paused for just an instant and issued a half-sigh before answering with what he hoped sounded like a very sincere tone, “Oh, I’m doing fine. No real complaints to speak of. There’s really a lot going on around here! And I’m actually doin’ pretty good with my carving!”

  Raven must have read his hesitancy for he responded, “All right, little brother, out with it. What are you really feeling?”

  Kaleb lowered his eyes, bowed his head slightly, and gave an embarrassed shrug of his shoulders. He felt reluctant to share his feelings of guilt with the large blackrobe lest he seem weak in the other’s eyes. There were other issues that troubled him. Some of those might do.

  “Please don’t misunderstand me. I really like it here…”

  “But…” prompted the giant.

  “Well, for one thing, I’m really concerned about my brother. Every extra day that he’s in the hands of that cursed Swimmer bard,” and he spat out the title as though he were naming the vilest thing on earth,” is another day of torture for me! I want to rescue Jason from that lying murderer before it’s too late! The second concern is the matter of vengeance. It’s ten years overdue! That’s a long time for a guilty man to remain free! I can’t do anything about that if I remain here in this cave.”

  “Those are concerns that many of us share, including the Dragonlady, herself!” promised the captain. “We have our forces on alert all throughout the Heartland to find and, if possible, detain both that accursed bard and your brother, his apprentice. In fact, we are in the process of setting up ambushes in several of the locations that the bard is known to frequent. And, no, we do not intend to hurt either of them, only capture and escort them to the nearest of our underground fortresses. When that occurs (and I’m sure it will in a relatively short time) we will be notified at once. (I assure you Dragon news, like Dragon justice, travels much faster than those on the surface could ever imagine!)

  “Wow! That’s great! I had no idea that you felt that both my brother and my mission against that bard were so important.”

  “Well, of course, we do! We have considered both you and your younger brother as part of our family for quite some time. And that meddling bard is no friend of ours! We support you fully in your legal right for vengeance! Now Kaleb, do you have other things that are bothering you? I’m here to be your friend and I really want to help.”

  “This will seem silly to you, but I’ve been feeling emotionally drained and kind of down since I’ve been here. I don’t even know why. The moss you’ve given me helps, but I can’t walk around with a piece of moss in my mouth all the time! I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

  “Little brother,” exclaimed the giant, slapping Kaleb on the back yet another time, “I know exactly what’s wrong with you! I also know how to fix it!”

  “You do?”

  “Sure. It happens all the time to folks who’re not used to living ‘down below’. It’s sun sickness. We call the process ‘getting acclimatized’ or ‘the darkening’. It comes from livin’ in a world without sunlight when that’s all your body’s known before. You see, down here there’s no change between night and day, so your body gets confused even if you’re not! Some people feel uneasy or uncomfortable, others sad, some get downright hostile!”

  “You said there’s a cure?” asked Kaleb hopefully.

  “Yeah, a simple one. We need to get you into some sunlight. Doin’ that will fall right in line with why I’m here, anyhow. They’re havin’ a meeting in ‘the Lodge’ up top on the surface of the mountain and my Lady wants you to observe what’s going on up there. She thinks it’ll be educational for you to see some of our influence among the outsiders.”

  “So when do we leave? Do I need to pack anything?” his eagerness to go easily conveyed through the excitement of his words.

  “We need to leave right away to get to the meeting on time and, no, you won’t need anything. That is unless you want to take this along so you won’t be out of uniform” replied Raven with a grin, handing his young charge a black shimmering bundle from his pack.

  “My black robe!” exclaimed Kaleb, instantly taking it and enthusiastically holding it up in front of himself, to show his friend what it would look like. “I can’t beli
eve that I got this so quickly. I thought the process took much longer than this!”

  “Usually it does,” agreed the giant. “Our Lady is making an exception in your case because of the special nature of your need.” He then winked and added cryptically, “Most men who join the Society try to work their way to the top. Your trip ‘to the top’ will be sooner and shorter than you think.” The big man chuckled as if remembering an inside joke.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  “Lead on, my Captain. I follow you to the sunlight!”

  As Raven bowed to exit the room he added, “You can follow, but first change into your new uniform. This trip will be the perfect place to show it off!”

  Kaleb expected to go back out through the tunnel they had used to enter the city of Subverzia. Instead, to his surprise, Raven led him to one of the huge wicker baskets that dangled from ropes at various locations around the perimeter of the cavern. The wall of the cavern above where they stood extended upward in an unobstructed vertical shaft, free in this place alone of the inverted forest of scaline spikes that crowded the rest of the cavern roof. (Raven had said those upside-down pointed rocks were called stalactites.) Through a series of pulleys and counterweights, the woven bucket could travel from the cave’s moss-lit floor up into the dim recesses of its summit.