Warding Song

Branches were piled into bonfires the colour of the sky, painted fiery gold by the sunset. Eleyna wanted to help, but Acora wouldn’t come any closer to the village. She’d tried to tell him she wouldn’t go too far and he growled at her.

“Stubborn dragon,” she muttered. A few villagers approached, and Acora snarled at them. “Oh, hush, you big baby,” Eleyna scolded, before walking over to greet the natives. “I’m so sorry about him. He’s not used to humans.”

“We understand,” one man replied. “Would you like us to catch fish for him?”

“That’s very generous, but he catches his own fish. Thank you for the offer.”

Eleyna went back to Acora. “Go get some fish. I’ll be fine.” She pointed at the ocean. “Go on! I bet you’re hungry.” He looked from her to the water and back again. “Yeah, go fish,” she insisted, and shooed him off. Acora slowly rose to his feet, padded away a little, looked back at her one more time, and took off.

She went to help with the bonfires, and saw how the branches were arranged to build the fires properly. The villagers set up spits over them to roast pigs. Her mouth watered; it felt like ages since she’d eaten meat that wasn’t dried.

Chief Haulani remarked, “Your dragon seems rather skittish.”

“He was locked up, and it put him off humans … long story,” Eleyna shrugged.

“A story I hope you will do the honour of telling us, whilst we wait for dinner,”Haulani smiled. “But where is Acora? Did he retreat somewhere quiet?”

“I told him to go catch some fish.” Eleyna heard wingbeats, and Acora landed on the shore. She ran over. “See? I told you I’d be fine.” He dropped some fish at her feet. Eleyna sighed, realising he’d misinterpreted her gestures earlier.

“Thanks, I guess. I hope you ate some yourself.” Eleyna gathered the slippery fish into her arms. “Can we cook these? Acora caught them for me, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings,” she admitted. Haulani smiled and nodded.

“Come; we will dry them, so you can take the fish with you.” Eleyna looked over her shoulder; Acora watched anxiously, but he wasn’t trying to follow.

As they walked, Eleyna inquired: “Do you ever get non-pirate visitors?”

Haulani shook his head. “We avoid contact with outsiders. Especially those who live in that place of thieves and murderers to the north.”

“Oh, you mean Escondido. Yeah, it’s … not the nicest town,” she agreed.

He raised an eyebrow. “You have been to that island before?”

“Uh … briefly. Just so Acora could rest. His wings get tired easily.”

Soon the delicious aroma of roasting meat filled the air. As they waited, Chief Haulani invited Eleyna to tell her story. “I grew up in a town called San Nicolas, on Atanes. My aunt raised me; she told me my mum died in childbirth, and she didn’t know who my dad was. So I always thought I was an orphan.

“Then one day, we had to leave, because some bad people wanted my aunt’s money. But they chased us, and my aunt told me my mum hadn’t really died, and to go find her. So … ” Eleyna swallowed hard. “So I stowed away. I didn’t realise it was a pirate ship until it was too late. They were gonna throw me overboard, but the captain changed his mind and kept me as a hostage.”

“I searched for clues about my mum, that’s how I learned about Entedines. There … was a storm, and the ship sank. I washed up on this island. I was so scared when I saw a dragon. I thought he was going to eat me, but he didn’t. Then dragon hunters came. They were gonna send him to work in a mine, and I felt bad for him. It didn’t feel like he deserved that. So I … let him out of his cage.”

Her words were met with gasps. “Yeah, it wasn’t my smartest idea,” she said wryly. “He broke out of the ship and I grabbed onto him as he flew away. The hunters said that dragons eat crystals, and I had an amethyst, so I gave it to him. That made him trust me, and when the hunters came back, we escaped together. I named him Acora. It’s short for ‘Acorazaria’, a song of protection,” she explained. “And we’ve been trying to get to Entedines ever since.”

They applauded. Eleyna beamed and couldn’t resist giving a bow. Chief Haulani announced, “Thank you for telling us of your journey, Catherine. Now, in honour of Acora’s presence, I present our traditional Dance of the Flames.”

It was a wonder wingless ones didn’t starve, with how long they took to eat. First they made piles of dead plants, then set those piles on fire, and then burned their prey. That would make the flesh dry and tough and taste like ash.

Trill heard a thumping noise. The wingless ones warbled and slapped their forepaws together. Two of them climbed onto an unburned pile, fire above their paws that revolved, faster and faster until it blurred into sunset rings.

She’d seen this before, when her friends were with her … a lifetime ago. The first pair were joined by two more, who lifted them so the flames could float even higher, spinning and twisting. Trill crept closer, eyes fixed on the fire.

She wanted to see it up close, find out how they made it do that. To her dismay, they stopped making the fire dance. Then she noticed they were looking at her, and the other wingless ones were staring at her as well.

Trill realised how close she was – a few more steps and they’d be able to touch her! She nearly took off before a familiar cry made her pause. Click-Grunt ran after her; he skidded to a halt, throwing up sand, and reached out to pet her. The tension in her body eased as the wingless ones went back to … whatever they did, but Trill kept an eye on them, refusing to let her guard down.

Waves surged up the beach. Eleyna found herself lying on the sand under Acora’s wing. After the impromptu feast, she and her dragon had retreated to another part of the island. Acora would never have slept close to the village.

Last night, Chief Haulani had asked her to reconsider going to Entedines. “It is an accursed place. For generations, we have never sailed into its waters.”

“I know it’s dangerous, Chief,” she replied, “but I’m not going to sail there, I’m going to fly. Acora will protect me. He’s done it before. Besides, this is something I have to do.”Eleyna had gotten her bearings by then, and when the chief relented and gave her directions, it matched with what she recalled.

This morning she crawled out from under Acora’s wing. He was still asleep, the lazy pile of scales. “Acora, wake up. C’mon, up you get,” she encouraged, scratching at his eye ridge. His eyes flicked open. and Eleyna jumped. “Oh! Good morning.”

He gave a cavernous yawn and climbed to his feet, stretching. “Go on and get something to eat, okay?” she encouraged, pointing out towards the ocean. It wasn’t long before Acora returned, and dropped several fish in front of her.

Eleyna, who was chewing on some dried apricots, hid a grimace. “Oh, you know, I’m fine. You have them,” she insisted, nudging the slippery dead-eyed things towards Acora. He sighed, but ate them anyway. “Right. Shall we go?”

As she checked their heading, she wondered if they ought to bid goodbye to the natives. I don’t wanna disturb them so early, Eleyna decided, but we’ll come back afterwards so they’ll know we didn’t die. Acora glanced over his shoulder at her. She pointed him south-east and held on tight as he leapt.

“Land ho,” George muttered to himself, yawning; he’d been awake the whole night, trying to keep on course. Part of him wished he had help to sail the dinghy, but he didn’t want to risk anyone else. Avenging Patrick was his duty to accomplish, and his alone.

The island looked uninhabited, and there was no sign of the dragon. It might have sought shelter further inland, or perhaps had moved on. Stifling another yawn, George adjusted the tiller and boom to sail all around the island.

On the southern side, George noticed heavy furrows from claws. They trailed along the shoreline. He followed them until they stopped behind a small headland, beyond which he could make out the dwellings of a native village.

George hailed the nearest fisherman in Dejerese. “I mean no harm! May I speak to your chief?” The man asked him to wait, paddling back to shore.

It wasn’t long before the fisherman returned and offered him a lift to shore. George thanked him and dropped anchor before climbing into the canoe. They went back to land; he was escorted by two warriors to the chief. George bowed respectfully. “Peaceful greetings to you and your people, Chief.”

“I am Chief Haulani, and this is Alalanes. Who are you, stranger?”

“George Liddan,” he replied, unfolding a piece of paper from his waistcoat. “Have you seen this person?” He showed the Chief a wanted poster for the girl.

Haulani’s eyes widened, but he remained composed. “And if we have?”

“Then please tell me where she went. Chief Haulani, that girl is wanted for piracy and murder.” The villagers gasped. “I’m afraid it’s true. She is a fraud, giving fake names to everyone she meets. Her real name is Eleyna Skytte. Did she call herself Ellie, when you met her, or did she use a different alias?”

The chief’s brow furrowed. “How do we know this is not a trick?”

George pointed out the Imperial seal. “I assure you, this is official. The girl lied to you. She’s already gotten several men killed. There is every reason to believe she would do so again, if it suited her,” he warned. “I must know which way she has gone, Chief. It isn’t too late to stop her and bring her to justice.”

Entedines appeared on the horizon, a towering dormant volcano. Eleyna heard waves against the rocks, but nothing else; not even seabirds. The water was clear enough for her to see rocks covered in algae and seaweed below the surface, in front of large basalt slabs that formed a natural landing stage.

Acora hovered and snarled. “What is it?” Eleyna asked urgently, trying to get a better look. She saw nothing dangerous, only a sunken … oh. “It’s alright, calm down. It’s a shipwreck.” The algae wasn’t coating rocks, but the rotting wood of numerous, barely recognisable vessels. “Er, make that a lot of shipwrecks.”

Her dragon stopped growling, but didn’t land. Eleyna couldn’t blame him; this place gave her the creeps. That riddle had mentioned a guardian, but when minutes passed and they weren’t challenged, she gestured for Acora to land.

To their right were scattered, incongruously-white rocks; or so Eleyna thought at first glance. They were actually skeletons, bleached white by the sun; flesh and clothing long since rotted away, and the bones were jumbled. The nearest corpse still had its arm outstretched towards the shoreline, as if it had died trying to get back to its ship. A rusted sword lay on the ground beside it.

Eleyna gripped the hilt of her cutlass and followed the grisly trail of bones further inland. Some had rifles next to them, or at least the rusted barrels.

When she looked across the island, Eleyna saw bones heaped into clumps or scattered in trails. Not all the bones were white; some were blackened.

She saw boulders with charred silhouettes on the rock, and a cave mouth going into the mountain. It was more than big enough for Acora. So a dragon that wasn’t a runt would also fit … Acora sniffed warily, and then growled.

Eleyna froze, hand tightening on her cutlass. Acora herded her towards a boulder. He slapped his tail against the ground, and moved towards the cave. When she tried to follow, he thumped his tail again. He wanted her to stay put.

Well, considering all the times she’d insisted the same thing, it was only fair. “I’ll wait here; but be careful.”Acora warbled, and made his way towards the cave. He looked to make sure she wasn’t following, and stepped inside.

Trill had picked up the scent of another dragon, and they were trespassing, but she’d explain they meant no harm. It would be good to talk to someone again. If a flock lived here they would have been challenged by now, so this other dragon must be lonely as well. Ahead of her, the tunnel opened into a cavern. Just before she reached it, Trill heard a low growl from within.

She crouched and called, “No threat!” The growls abruptly ceased.

Trill waited, not daring to move. A deep voice demanded, “Who are you?”

“My name is Trill,” she replied, and waited.

“Come here.” Trill rose and moved into the cavern. A large dragon reclined within; she met his eyes, and found they were crystalline. A crystal-eyed dragon, living in a nest far to the east … she dropped into a reverent bow.

“You are the Great Knower!”

“It’s good that you have heard of me,” the drake purred, smug. “Come closer, little one, and let me have a better look at you.” Trill approached cautiously. He lowered his head to look her in the eye. “Have you travelled far to find me?”

“Yes, great one. All the way from my nesting place towards the west.”

“You’re a long way from home. What brings you … ” Knower paused. He sniffed at her, and his pupils narrowed. “You have been ridden by a human.”

Ridden by a what? “I don’t know what that is,” she admitted meekly.

“You have a rope tied to you, and you smell like a wingless one; they call themselves humans.” This was news to Trill, and she almost asked him more about wingless ones before she realised he had smelled Click-Grunt on her.

“Click-Grunt isn’t like other wingless ones, Great Knower. He … he’s my friend.”

“You talk as if it is here with you.” He rose to his paws.

Trill darted over to the mouth of the tunnel and stood in front of it.

“I won’t let you hurt my friend. Click-Grunt is no threat! I promise!”

“Move aside,” he growled. She gulped, but stood her ground, wings spread. “You are brave, and very foolish.” He flexed his claws, “I could toss you aside with a sweep of my tail, or slash of my paw, but I’d rather not hurt a fellow dragon. Especially a runt who can’t defend herself. Move, before I make you.”

Habit made her want to submit. “Please don’t hurt Click-Grunt,” she begged desperately. “Promise me you’ll leave him alone. You don’t have to kill him.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. If your human has the locket, I will let it live.”

Before she could ask what he meant, Knower lunged forwards. Trill flinched out of the way; he went past her and into the tunnel. Panicked, she scrambled to follow him, begging: “No! Great Knower, please, leave my friend alone!”

It was eerie, being surrounded by the dead. Eleyna heard a shriek, and heavy footsteps made the ground tremble. Then a dragon emerged from the tunnel.

It was the size of a house, with rust-brown scales. Spurs jutted from wings, which were joined only at the shoulders, rather than the hips as well. Two large horns sprouted from its head; longer spikes ran down its back and tail. It reared to stand on its hind legs and look around, nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air.

Eleyna flattened herself against the boulder. For a moment she feared this other dragon had killed Acora. Then she heard him whine and gasped before she could stop herself. Hot air swept over her. She gulped, and looked up.

The dragon loomed over her, its … crystalline? … eyes narrowed. Rooted to the spot, she could only tremble as it glared at her. Then its jaws opened wide.

Terrified, she scrambled away, but it curled its tail around her, trapping her in the coil. “No! No, no, no, please, no!” Heart fit to burst, Eleyna screwed her eyes shut, expecting to be burned alive or skewered by fangs at any moment.

Abruptly, everything went dark. Acora had crouched over her, covering her with his wings. She trembled, hoping Acora would persuade the other dragon not to kill her.

Trill threw herself over Click-Grunt and dropped her wings to hide him, digging her claws into the ground. The Great Knower glared at her, his pupils turned to slits. “Move aside,” he ordered, snarling. “It has seen too much. It must die.”

That’s not fair! You let him see you! “He won’t tell anyone. Other wingless ones hate that he’s friends with me. They hunted him.” Then she remembered. “Wait! You – you said you would let him live, if he had something … had what? Whatever it is, we’ll find it! Please, you can’t kill him. He’s all I have left!”

Her desperate plea made him pause. “What has it ever done for you?”

“Click-Grunt saved my life. Some wingless ones trapped me, and he let me out of the cage, he even gave me his firestone. Please, I can’t lose him too!”

She looked so pitiful, crouched protectively over the human. “Long ago, I vowed to share my hoard with those who showed me a purple firestone, embedded in gold. They want to guard the secret of the hoard just as I have.”

Wait, a purple firestone? “He had it!” Trill exclaimed. “Click-Grunt, he had a purple firestone,” she chirped. Then she added, sheepishly, “He gave it to me and I sort of … ate it. I needed a firestone, and that was the only one I could get. It’s my fault he doesn’t have it anymore. Please don’t blame him, blame me.”

“So be it. I won’t kill the human, but nor will I allow it to see my hoard until it brings me the locket. Still, I would like to know how you came to be here. Come talk to me, when you’re ready.” He walked past her, then looked over his shoulder. “By the way, your friend is actually a … never mind. It’s more amusing if you don’t know,” he remarked, much to her bewilderment. Then he left.

Click-Grunt looked shaken. She nuzzled him and he stroked her snout.

Eleyna climbed unsteadily to her feet. That dragon, it almost … ! Acora gently rubbed his head against her. “Thank you,” Eleyna murmured breathlessly.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. It … it could be worse. At least I’m not … ” A nearby skeleton caught her eye, and she shuddered. “What am I gonna do now? Okay, let me think. The riddle said to show my mum’s locket to the guardian, which must be the big dragon. I bet it’s hoarding the treasure, and it only spares people who show it the locket. Which I don’t have.”

She groaned. “I shouldn’t have pawned off the locket … oh, but how was I supposed to know I still needed it! And even if I did still have the locket, that big dragon would probably eat me anyway, for breaking it. Damn it, mum, why couldn’t you have left a note inside? That wasn’t some vague clue?”

Acora warbled, but Eleyna ignored him. She was so frustrated. The treasure was right there in the mountain, and she couldn’t get to it. Not without the locket. “I’m gonna have to steal it back,” she muttered. “Which means risking the Imperials catching me.” Was the treasure really worth it? It had better be.

She heard a snort, and glanced at Acora. He tapped his tail against the ground, and took a step towards the cave where the guardian lurked. He wanted to go … talk to it? Well, she certainly wasn’t going near that thing.

“It’s okay, go on.” If the other dragon wanted to hurt him, it would’ve done so. Acora went inside. Once he was out of sight, Eleyna quietly snuck away.

I hope Click-Grunt will be okay. The most dangerous creature here was the Great Knower himself, and he had promised to spare Click-Grunt. She had nothing to worry about, but Trill worried nonetheless. The chance to talk with someone was too good to waste, however. Trill cautiously put her head into the Great Knower’s cavern; he was lying with his eyes closed, but he cracked one crystalline eye open to peer at her. “I was wondering if you would come.”

Trill bowed in respect. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, Great Knower.”

“No, I want to hear your story,” he answered, raising his head. “So tell me, Trill. How did you befriend a human, and how did you learn of my hoard?”

“I foolishly led intruders to our nest. Their own had been taken over by wingless ones. They were looking for a new home, and found mine. Their leader asked our alpha for sanctuary, and offered to join his harem. He said they could stay.”

Knower asked, “Are there a lot of islands to nest on where you come from?”

“No, not really.”

“Then this other flock would have found your nesting-place, whether or not you led them there.” Trill hadn’t thought of it like that; she’d always felt it was her fault other dragons had come and made the nesting-place more crowded.

“I suppose … but I wanted to undo my mistake. So my friends and I flew in search of another fire-mountain. Once, we landed on an island with a nest of wingless ones. I sneaked away to watch them. They made fire hover in the air! Great Knower, how do wingless ones make fire float?” she inquired.

To her surprise, he let out a rumbling laugh. “Oh, you naive thing,” he purred. “They don’t make fire float. Humans scrape rocks together to get sparks, and that is how they make fire. Then they set sticks on fire and hold the stick.”

“But I didn’t see any sticks.”

“Well, it was dark, was it not?” Knower asked, still amused. “It’s not the silliest thing to believe about them. Humans can be very strange creatures.”

“I know. They burn their prey, it’s gross,” Trill declared, shuddering. “I watched the wing … the humans… make their fire dance, and I sort of forgot to stay hidden, and breathed fire,” she admitted. “They saw me, and they were afraid.

“I was always told wingless ones were dangerous, but they didn’t even seem scary. They were scared of me. I was bigger than them. We all were, so I thought they couldn’t be dangerous, and that I could just scare them away.

“Then later we met a new kind of dragon, the ruffed ones. A fledgling named Dusk Cloud, he told us the story of – well, of you. I hoped I could find you and persuade you to share your hoard. Not with me, I mean, but with my flock.”

The Great Knower replied: “Even my hoard is not large enough for that; but perhaps one day I will share it with you and your human friend. Although, you speak of travelling with other dragons; what happened to them?”

Trill cringed. “Click-Coo and Snort-Snarl went home. They didn’t want to explore anymore. But Chirr-See, my best friend, stayed, and we searched for a fire-mountain. Then we found one, and there were humans there. I tried to steal their firestones, and Chirr-See tried to stop me, but I didn’t listen. He told me to escape. I should have helped him! But I flew away, like a coward. Now he’s dead, and … I’m the one who should have been caught. I’d deserve it,” she finished, with a small sob. “I almost wish I had been caught.”

“It is most unfortunate that your friend perished, but Chirr-See would not have wanted you to spend the rest of your life blaming yourself. What’s done is done, but if you cling onto the past it will destroy your soul from the inside out. He sacrificed himself so that you could live; you should honour his wish.

“Life can be harsh and unforgiving. Your will to live shouldn’t hinge on whether someone who is now gone wants you to. It may be cruel to say it so bluntly, but your friend is now dead. There's no point in you ending up dead as well.”

Trill flinched, but deep down she knew the Great Knower was right. “I understand,” she replied. “I … will try to move on.” She didn’t know if she could forgive herself so easily, but she had to try. Now, where had she got to?

“After … afterwards, I found an island with no wingless ones. I was too ashamed to return home and tell everyone he died, but I didn’t know where else to go. There was a storm, and Click-Grunt was washed ashore. More wingless ones came. They ambushed me and trapped me inside their floating-nest.”

“Ah yes, you said that your human friend rescued you.”

“He opened the cage, but the wingless … I mean, humans, tried to capture me again. I rammed the nest, over and over, and I tried to breathe fire … until it blew a hole. Click-Grunt grabbed onto me and we escaped the floating-nest.”

Knower remarked, “Thank you for sharing your tale. It has been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of another dragon’s company, but my hoard must be guarded, and more dragons would be more noticed,” he explained to Trill.

She happily agreed, “Me too! I like Click-Grunt, but we can’t talk to each other. It’s so good to see another dragon again; it feels as if it’s been a lifetime.”

“I would like to hear the rest of your story, and how you found your way to my island,” Knower declared. Trill was willing to oblige, and began to speak.

Eleyna regretted wandering off alone. This place gave her the creeps. For all she knew, a third dragon was lurking in wait. Something moved in the corner of her eye and she flinched. A small brown lizard scampered away from her.

She examined the boulders, hoping to find a clue, an inscription of some kind. As she made her way around the volcano, it began to feel fruitless. Eleyna planned a heist on the pawnshop out of boredom. She’d need to change her appearance – get darker clothes, or dye these ones, cover up her hair …

Eleyna had almost encircled the mountain. Looking ahead, she noticed a dinghy approaching the island. She hurried to the shore. If she could warn whoever was sailing the dinghy to turn back, the‘guardian’ wouldn’t kill them.

She hid behind a boulder and watched as the dinghy grew closer to shore. At last it was near enough for her to recognise the man sailing it … George.

To her relief, he was distracted steering the dinghy. Heart in her mouth, Eleyna stepped out from behind the boulder and hurried over to another one. A bone cracked underfoot. Eleyna stumbled and looked over her shoulder. George was running right at her. She bolted. “Acora!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Acora, help!” Could he hear her? He had to hear. Please let him hear!

Eleyna had to hold George off long enough for Acora to come. She grasped the hilt of her cutlass and spun, intending to draw the blade and block his first strike.

The instant she slowed down, he thrust his sword forwards. Eleyna screamed in fear, and then agony, as the blade pierced her stomach. Indescribable pain radiated through her body as she stared at the sword, vision blurred by tears. It felt like time had frozen. Eleyna looked up at George, helpless. “ … Why?”

His gaze hardened. “Even in your last moments, you refuse to admit what you did.” He braced his hand against her shoulder and pulled his sword out. Her hands clutched at the gaping wound; her knees gave out and she collapsed on the ground. I don’t wanna die. A sob escaped her. I don’t wanna die …

She doubled up, bloodstained hands pressed against her stomach. The rank odour of blood and bile filled her nostrils; darkness crept in the edges of her vision. She trembled, mouth dry as the dirt beneath her. George knelt down and told her, “Your dragon cannot save you now; and no one will mourn you.”

He watched as her body went limp. “Dread Judge, acquit me,” George prayed. “I have spilled blood only to avenge a fallen comrade. Now … I leave the corpse to the birds.” He spat in contempt at the girl’s unmoving form, and hurried back to his dinghy. The dragon might return at any moment, and he needed to be far away from this accursed island before it discovered what he’d done.