Dragon Fool Read online

"She's alive?" Rib swayed dangerously on his feet, breath coming in short.

  "Whoa, hey," Gavin, a young Eristad man, stood in front of him, hands up as though to steady the dragon. "Yes, she's alive. Everyone's talking about her."

  My sister?alive after all this time?my little sister?

  "Where is she?" Rib croaked.

  Gavin leaned against the wall of the Salten Gust Inn, arms folded. "I can't be sure," he answered. "But recently sailors have been saying they've seen her with Zheal at ports all across the seas. Say she's big, too. Some call her twice the size of a horse, but I'm guessing that's just some bard's inflated tale. Should be about the same size as you, shouldn't she?"

  Rib couldn't answer. He hadn't heard a thing about his sister since she was stolen away from him five years ago. Now, a hundred questions of his own built up inside his throat, choking his words.

  What has she been doing?

  Will she come here?

  Could I see her?

  "Hey, you with me?" Gavin asked, waving to him.

  Rib blinked, focusing his eyes on the twenty-two year old man, who laughed lightly at him. Tight curly hair, dark grey skin, winning smile. This was the friend that so often made Rib feel like life was good, even when people ran from him in fear or when hunting conditions were poor.

  But with this sudden news of his sister, he felt as though his entire world had changed.

  "What- what have you heard about her?" he barely managed to get out.

  Gavin sighed. "They say Zheal takes her around the world, searching for a wizard."

  "He takes her everywhere with him?" Rib blurted, increasingly disturbed.

  His friend shrugged. "By the sound of it."

  It's like she's Zheal's slave.

  Slowly, Rib's shock withered away, replaced with something far heavier. It was the sick feeling he got whenever he remembered his sister's face as she was shoved into a sack. Except now he knew she was still out there. Too big for a sack, no doubt, but still the captive of wicked men. This state of old pain blossomed afresh, like reopening a wound.

  "Have you heard any mention of chains?" he asked, sensing his emotions ready to flood. "Do they say she has to drag around a weighted yoke with shackles around her feet? Do they say her mouth is bound shut? Do they say-" He stopped, realizing he didn't even want to know the answers to his questions. It was just his way of imagining the worst out loud, so others could feel as he felt.

  "Rib," Gavin said, reaching out to rest his hand on Rib's muzzle. "They haven't said any of those things. There was only talk of a saddle. She carries Zheal on her back."

  "She carries him?!" Rib burst out.

  Gavin nodded, his expression grim. "He calls her Tairg, the name of a legendary Huskhn warrior woman."

  "What?" Rib cried. "He can't choose her name!"

  My sister?she didn't even get to name herself before she was taken.

  And now Zheal's done it for her.

  Rib fell silent, miserable as he studied the cold ground. His eyes fell on small rock dislodged from its hole in the dirt.

  "I left her in the cart," he grieved. "Alone?so easy for those men to take."

  Rib had spoken this fear before, the fear that his sister's capture was his fault. People usually gave him the same type of response. 'There was nothing you could do.' 'Don't blame yourself.'

  Gavin just stayed quiet.

  "There was another thing," he said after a while.

  Rib lifted his weary head.

  "There have been Huskhns looking for the Wizard Damon."

  "Damon?" Rib echoed, his voice hollow. "What do they want from him?"

  "I don't know, but I have a feeling Zheal sent them."

  That's right, Rib realized, eyes opening wider. If Zheal's looking for a wizard then?

  "Do you think he might bring my sister here?" he asked with his heart pattering. "In search of Damon?"

  The corner of Gavin's mouth pulled to the side in an expression of uncertainty. "Wouldn't he have come here immediately if he were planning to at all? I almost wonder if he's avoiding Wystil."

  "But why?" Rib implored. "He knows a wizard lives here. What's keeping him away?"

  Gavin shrugged. "Maybe he's afraid." The young man laughed. "There are a number of rumors that could be keeping him away."

  Rib gave a groan. His sister was alive, but out of reach. He had no way of getting to her.

  And no name to call her by, he lamented, his eyes returning to the pointless, displaced rock again. Not Tairg. Never Tairg.

  At that moment, five dog-like dragon beasts came tearing around the corner, pressing in on them and leaping up in excitement. Gavin's laugh as he tried to calm the monigons did little to lift Rib's spirits.

  A monigon voiced its raspy bark at Rib, but he refused its invitation to play, irritated when it nipped at his legs and tail.

  "Gavin, your lumpish hounds got into the zikkerwheat loft!"

  Jasper, a boy of about twelve, came around the same bend as the monigons to jab a finger at the young man's chest. The top of his head, covered with black tousled locks, barely reached Gavin's shoulder, but he stood erect and bold, as though unaware of his small size.

  "They scattered it all over the ground!"

  "Aw." Gavin grinned at the boy, then crouched down to scratch an expectant monigon's chin and spoke to it fondly. "Sounds like I have a mess to clean up because of you."

  "It could be ruined!"

  Gavin stood back up and headed towards the stables, waving his hand dismissively. "A little dust never hurt."

  Jasper shut his mouth in a scowl, watching Gavin disappear through the doorway with his monigons bounding after him. Rib couldn't help but let his eyes wander over Jasper's undeveloped right hand, all five of its fingers short and curled, when suddenly the child turned to look at him.

  "When are you going to take me flying?" he demanded. "Let's go now. Father doesn't have to know."

  Rib turned his head from the boy's challenging stare. "No, Jasper."

  "Come on," the boy insisted, grabbing a hold of Rib's wing as though to drag him to the coast. "I don't need a saddle."

  Shed it. Rib became annoyed. I don't want to put up with this. Not with the news of my sister.

  He tried to tug his wing out of Jasper's grasp but the child held on so tight that Rib's tugging nearly made him fall over.

  As if somehow alerted by his son's sudden mischief, Mortaug emerged from the inn, the drooping side of his face adding to his stern expression.

  Good. Rib was relieved at the sight of his Huskhn friend. Let him deal with Jasper.

  Mortaug's rough, grey locks swept over his shoulders as he approached his son with a series of hand motions. Rib always had trouble understanding the man's silent language, unable to distinguish each gesture of his hands, but he could tell Jasper was being scolded.

  "I can ride him just fine, Father!" the boy protested, still holding onto Rib's wing. "I know I can!"

  Jasper's confidence was admirable, made even more impressive when considering his deformed hand.

  Enough of this. Rib pulled his wing from the boy's other hand's grasp and began to walk away. I don't want to be here anymore.

  Jasper turned to him immediately. "Wait, Rib! We'll fly over the port for everyone to see."

  Mortaug turned the boy roughly by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. Rib took the opportunity to leave.

  If only Mortaug hadn't lost his voice to the moths, he thought grievously, moving far up a hill and towards the coastline. Then he'd still be a captain and he could take me to my sister.

  But if the moths never swarmed us, then Damon would never have saved his life, Rib processed. So Mortaug wouldn't have had the heart to help me at all.

  The irony was harrowing.

  . . .

  The coast looked beautiful in the light of the morn, but Rib barely took notice of it, once again wading through murky thoughts and memories of his little sister stolen away from him at such a
young age.

  The ships that morning were docked at Cliffport, all except for one vessel that braved the choppy waters. Rib studied it from a distance as it passed.

  Huskhn craft.

  Gavin had taught him how to identify such boats by their long, shallow bodies and decorative prows. This one's wing, or sail as humans called them, billowed with the wind, the picture on it seemingly expanding. Pain jabbed through Rib's heart as he recognized the illustration was one of a dragon.

  Did they put my sister on a ship like that when they took her? They must have?she was gone by the time Tyrone got to the port.

  The Huskhn ship was just now sailing around a bend in the cliffs, escaping Rib's somber gaze. With a heavy sigh, he rested his chin on the lumpy rock underneath him.

  It didn't take long for sadness to lull him to sleep, and he dreamt of creeping into a bright marble hall. He wasn't even sure how he knew what it was, for he had never been in such a room. A great number of pillars, smooth all around, surrounded him and on the spotless floor he noticed a pattern of crevices.

  Each crevice was a hard line cut into stone filled to the brim with water, not one overflowing. Gazing ahead, he saw that the chiseled cracks all led to something. The light in his dream was too glaring for him to see, and so he looked down at his foreclaws and followed a crevice towards it.

  He became aware of a pleasant sound, like that of a small waterfall. Finally, he stopped before a basin at the far end of the hall with notches in its rim. Spilling out the notches, water dribbled down the side of the basin to feed into each and every crevice in the floor.

  Streaming into the basin was a small flow of water that fell from the top of a stout wall. Over this wall was a stone arch through which Rib could see the outside. But he did not focus so much on this, for, crouching inside the opening was his sister. With one foreclaw, she batted at the falling water as playfully as a frisk, the same size as he remembered her.

  It's you, Rib breathed and she looked up at him. Where have you been? I've missed you.

  The lavender grey dragon said nothing, though she blinked curiously at him.

  Whether the outside began to brighten or the hall darken, Rib could not tell, but his sister was fading from his sight.

  Wait! he cried. What can I call you by?

  His sister's mouth did not move, but like a melody from the dream world came the answer:

  Memory.

  Rib stirred as a wintry wind hit him head on, splitting over his wings, and he opened his eyes slowly. Though his vision was blurred from sleep, he could see a form gliding in the air. Rib tried to get his eyes to focus, hopes of realized dreams taking over him when he realized it was a dragon soaring over the ocean.

  Sister?!

  Rib leapt to his feet. Now he could see the sky was stunningly brilliant, its bounteous clouds bursting with light. The dragon flew about in the distance and sun beams illuminated the true color of its hide.

  No, it's?

  Tide. Rib was disappointed to identify the dragon as his old mentor. The somewhat small, teal colored dragon searched below him like a falcon, until he pulled his wings in for a dive. Rib watched as Tide penetrated the water with a splash only to ascend again with a silvery pink fish in his jaws.

  On any other day, Rib would be tempted to join him, but sorrow, like mortar, fixed him to the spot where he lay.

  It appeared that Tide had spotted him there, for the dragon now headed for him, beating his colorful wings lightly on the easy draft.

  "Hey, Rib," he greeted him. With calculated precision, he alighted beside him on the scarp. "I could spot you anywhere with that vibrant hide of yours."

  "Yeah," Rib exhaled, half-closed eyes still staring out over the horizon. "You and the few other dragons here."

  "Hmm."

  Rib could hear Tide scratch out a hollow for himself and then lie down.

  "I've known that tone since you were a pupil. What's wrong?"

  Not bothering to lift his head, but shifting to face his mentor, Rib told him everything he'd heard about his sister. Just speaking the words made him feel worse.

  Like Gavin, Tide liked to stay quiet for a while before responding. Often times, Rib had trouble waiting patiently, but now he just turned his gaze back to the ocean and stewed in returned misery.

  "I suspected she was still out there," Tide finally spoke. "But to hear it for certain is a relief all the same."

  "Relief?" Rib echoed. "What relief is there to know my sister's a slave?"

  Tide gave a sigh. "You're right," he said. "How foolish of me to think your sister could ever be helped."

  "What?" Rib's eyes opened wider and he looked to his mentor. "How can you say that?"

  "I'm only agreeing with you," Tide pointed out. "Feels good to give in, doesn't it?"

  Rib became flustered as he tried to defend himself. "I'm not giving in! There's just nothing I can do."

  "Perhaps not yet, but don't think it will always be that way. Otherwise, chances will pass you by like fish under the ice."

  Tide's words made Rib remember the frustration he once felt as a young frisk, skidding over a frozen lake as he tried to catch the shapes darting just beneath the surface.

  I could smash through that ice now, he grumbled inwardly. What small problems I had back then.

  "Speaking of fish," Tide said, standing up and shaking himself of the moss bits that clung to his scales. "Right now is a great time to go diving for some. Come join me. I think you'll enjoy yourself."

  "How could I?" Rib questioned, bitter. "My sister has nothing to enjoy."

  "Rib?" Tide shook his head. "Base your happiness on the happiness of others and you'll never smile again. There's a time to mourn together and a time to live. Now come, I insist."

  "Fine." Rib gave a disgruntled blast of air out his nostrils and launched off the cliff after Tide. He let himself plummet, watching as the churning dark waves below rose rapidly to meet him. Only when his snout touched water did he slide his see-through second eyelids closed for protection as he hit full force. For a moment, he was submerged, pulled by the hungry current before he broke the surface and lifted himself back into the air with a few mighty wing beats.

  "Remember to pull your wings in tighter for the dive!" Tide called out to him from above, plunging down to demonstrate. His gleaming teal head popped up out of the water and he opened his mouth to show Rib the couple of fish flopping inside.

  It looks like he has three tongues. Rib couldn't help but smile.

  Maybe Tide is right. I can have fun and wait for chances at the same time.

  Ascending higher into the sky, Rib circled a spot of ocean, searching for prey. He preferred fishing over hunting, largely because he could rely on his keen eyesight and not have to worry about his lacking sense of smell.

  He'd lost his sense of smell five years ago, when he and Mortaug were caught in the living mass of muffle moths. Both he and the Huskhn would have died had Damon not saved them with a specially crafted cure. Only that which the dust made first contact with could not be recovered, thus the loss of Mortaug's voice and Rib's sense of smell.

  Searching the waters, Rib's body tensed as he saw movement below, but it was only a sea wyvern after a gull.

  Then an especially big shape moved in the water and he plunged for it, tucking his wings close to his flanks. Wind whistled in his ears before he reached the waves, extending his claws for the fish.

  The moment his body hit, he felt his talons catch flesh and he peered through his second eyelids to see the large, thrashing fish. It took him but a few moments to clamp his teeth around it and end its life with a jerk of his head.

  What a catch! He was delighted by the effort it took him to rise from the waters with the heavy fish. I could choke trying to swallow this one whole.

  "Well done," Tide laughed as Rib heaved the fish up onto the grey pebbled beach at the foot of a great cliff. "You look just about as proud as you did with that minnow years back."

 
"Hey," Rib had trouble pronouncing his words with his mouth still full of fish, "for my first catch, that minnow was a tricky one. But thanks."

  Relieved of his burden, Rib invited Tide to eat with him and together they stripped the fish clean, surrounded by sheer cliffs and sea stacks. Rib grinned as what remained of the fish's skeleton was pulled back by the greedy ocean. He could still taste the salt on his tongue.

  "Well," Tide said, flexing his wings. "I'll have to let Damon know that Huskhns are looking for him. He was planning on getting something at the port soon, so I suppose we ought to accompany him for that."

  "Alright," Rib agreed. "What do you think they want with him anyway?"

  Tide shook his head.

  "A wizard has a lot to offer," was all he said.

  I suppose. Rib thought back on all the potions Damon made over the years, like the one that helped the old wizard's memory.

  Memory! The dream of his sister suddenly came flooding back to him. It filled him with a sense of love. He looked to Tide, considering telling him about it, but his mentor was already headed back up the cliff.

  Maybe I'll just keep this inside, Rib thought. It felt like a secret, and there was pleasure in holding it to himself.

  She's my sister. My little Memory.

  Chapter 2