Dragon Fire (20 page)

* * *

Anna held on to Pemba and floated in the magic of the moment. She had never felt more comfortable with someone than she did with Pemba. The band played their final encore and people started to leave.

“Why does it have to end?” she asked.

“I’ll walk you home.”

Anna smiled and hugged him closer. “Okay.”

They went down and found Ulf, his hand on Dawa’s thigh.

“Time to go,” Pemba said to Dawa.

“Do I have to?” asked Dawa, clinging to Ulf.

“I can drive you home,” answered Ulf, standing up. “Unless Pemba would rather walk you home instead of accompanying Anna,” said Ulf with a smirk. They walked out of the Blue Rock and into the frozen night. “Younger man’s choice,” he said with a flourish. “Your sister or Anna. I’ll take the other.”

Pemba spoke sharply to Dawa in Tibetan, ignoring Ulf’s taunts. He took Anna’s arm and they walked up the hill. Anna fumed in silence. Ulf was such a jerk. And Dawa no better.

Pemba touched her cheek when they arrived at her house. “You’ll be safe.”

Anna leaned into his hand. “Are you worried about Dawa?”

“No,” Pemba said, his voice hard. “I’m angry with her.”

“You should go home,” Anna said, sorry that the mood from the club had gone.

Pemba nodded. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Okay.” She watched him fade into the night. She wished that the evening had ended differently. That Ulf had gone to another party, that Dawa had stayed away, and that Pemba had kissed her once they were alone.

R
AKAN STOPPED PACING WHEN HE FINALLY
felt Dvara come home in the early hours of the morning. He glared at her but didn’t say anything. At least she hadn’t brought Ulf to the apartment.

“Are you going to be pissed off all weekend?” she asked. “Or are you going to tell me what was going on at the club?”

“How can you let yourself be touched by someone like Ulf?” exploded Rakan, no longer able to contain his feelings.

“He’s no worse than any of the others. And if you really want to know, I didn’t let him do anything more than kiss me,” Dvara said, taking off her coat. “And I won’t. He just likes the excitement of the hunt. Especially if he thinks he’s the first.”

“He’s repulsive,” growled Rakan.

“Because he likes sex? Grow up, Rakan. He’s no different than T’eng Sten.”

“Ulf shouldn’t be running after other women when he already has one.”

Dvara laughed. “You’ve been brought up so sheltered, you don’t even know what natural behavior is anymore. Most humans like to think they’re monogamous. But they never are. And dragons don’t even try to pretend.”

“Kraal never mated with anyone other than Yarlung,” said Rakan. He sat down on the couch with a thump. “Some dragons partner for life.”

“Kraal was different,” Dvara said quietly as she sat next to Rakan. “But even Kraal took all the females of his Cairn when they gave him their röks.” Dvara was silent for a moment. “Giving your rök to your Kairök is much more intimate than sleeping together. They know everything you’ve ever felt, and everything you feel. You give up your individual identity. But at least you’re never alone.”

Rakan watched as a variety of different emotions played across Dvara’s face. She felt his eyes on her and looked up. “Khotan was a good Kairök,” she said. “He gave me as much independence as he could. And he never abused the power had over me. But most Kairöks aren’t like that. You’re bound to their will and have no choice.”

“How can you know how they’ll treat you before giving up your rök?” He had never considered the importance of which Kairök one had.

“You can’t, really.” Dvara looked down. “Although I know who I don’t want. But right now I’m not sure I’ll have a choice. The rest of my life could be hell.”

“I won’t let them take your rök.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Dvara nudged him gently and wrapped him in a warm wave of energy. “You’ll just get yourself killed. And what good would that do?”

“I won’t get killed.”

“Just promise me not to challenge a Kairök on my behalf. Okay?” Dvara’s voice had an edge of pain. “Please. I couldn’t live with losing you.”

Rakan gave a low growl. He couldn’t promise something like that.

“Idiot,” Dvara said, punching him in the shoulder. She stood and began to pace around the room. “There’s something I want to tell you. Even though I promised Khotan not to.”

“What?” Rakan didn’t like learning that his father had been keeping secrets from him.

“It has to do with the void-trails. Maybe you’re right. Maybe they aren’t dragons.”

“They aren’t,” Rakan said slowly, wondering what she knew that he didn’t. “They don’t have röks.”

“No. But they have something – they were mind-speaking tonight. And they have power. Especially Erling.” Dvara stopped pacing. “Khotan didn’t think you would understand, but I think you need to know. After the Old Dragons tried unsuccessfully to mate with the humans, Khotan conducted a series of experiments. Eventually he was able to modify a few females and have children with them. None of the offspring had röks, even though they looked like dragons in human form.”

Rakan sat in shock. “But…”

“Khotan refused to continue the experiments after the children… died. And that’s when Yarlung and Khotan decided to have you.” Dvara struggled to contain the pain that the memory had unleashed. “The only reason I’m telling you this is because it’s not impossible that Haakaramanoth modified something to be able to mate with the humans, and the void-trails are his offspring.”

“How did they die?” Rakan asked.

Dvara looked away but Rakan caught an image of fire and terror before she closed herself off.

“Tell me,” Rakan said, inching forward.

“Other humans killed them. Because they were different. And had powers that humans couldn’t understand.” Dvara’s voice became distant, as if she was reciting a lesson she had learned long ago. “The last one died by the hands of his own people. The people he went back to help. But humans are weak. They don’t have the courage to face the truth. When Qadan revealed what he really was, the humans feared him. They killed him…” Dvara’s voice was choked with pain. “They poisoned him like the cowards they were.”

Rakan felt Dvara’s blind rage and he saw the Steppes covered with blazing fires, people screaming in terror and fleeing in front of Dvara in her dragon form as she sought revenge. Smoke and death filled his senses, until he was no longer sure if he was experiencing a memory or if he had shifted into a tribal war on the Steppes.

“It’s over,” Dvara said. “I killed them all.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “But it did no good. It didn’t bring Qadan back.” She clung to Rakan. “I can’t lose you too. Promise me not to challenge a Kairök,” she pleaded.

“I can’t promise you that,” said Rakan. “I can’t let you be taken against your will.”

“I’m not like you. I can’t live alone.” She turned away. “Just promise me not to challenge T’eng Sten, okay? He helped me when I needed it the most. When I wouldn’t let Khotan help me, even though he tried.” She faced Rakan. “I owe T’eng Sten my life.”

* * *

Ingrid rattled Anna’s doorknob. “Anna? Are you okay? Why did you lock your door?”

“Ugh,” groaned Anna, rolling over. “What time is it?”

“It’s 9:30. I brought you breakfast.”

Anna got up and opened the door. “Thanks, Mom.”

“I thought it would be nice to have breakfast together. It’s been a long time.”

Anna nodded and sat back on her bed. Her mom always used to bring her breakfast in bed when she worked a night shift on the weekend. Before Ulf.

“Where’s Ulf?” asked Anna, pulling her bathrobe on.

“He went back to his apartment to get some work done. But I’m glad you guys are getting along better. He said you had a nice evening with Dawa and Pemba.”

Anna nodded. She was sure he had enjoyed bringing Dawa home. Or wherever else he had taken her, since he hadn’t come back to the apartment. How could Dawa flirt with Ulf when she knew he was dating her mom? It was disgusting.

“Ulf said that the two of you had a nice chat after dropping Pemba and Dawa off at the Tibetan House,” continued Ingrid.

Anna choked on her coffee. The jerk. Ulf knew Anna wouldn’t say Pemba had walked her home. But to have twisted her into his lie about Dawa… for once Anna wished Ulf was with them so that she could confront him about it.

“You okay?” asked her mom. “I’m going to go to bed for a while. Did you know that Ulf brought me flowers at the hospital this morning? He’s so sweet. It was so nice, especially since we had such a crazy night at work.”

Anna nodded, and her mom launched into a monologue about her night shift.

* * *

Rakan sat sullenly in science class, bored out of his mind. The sun was up from mid-morning to mid-afternoon now. Exactly when they were in school. But today was Wednesday, and they only had a half day. He looked at the fjord below in anticipation. The air shimmered in the crystal clear way it always did when it was just below zero. He needed out.

“Since no one has any ideas on how to make this hot air engine work, you will all partner up and figure it out,” said the science teacher, Mr. Lund. “This afternoon.”

A collective groan rose up from the class.

“I’ll set the partners.”

A second groan rose up.

“Silence,” said Mr. Lund. “Or I’ll assign a term project to go with this.”

The class settled down sullenly as Mr. Lund called out the pairs. Rakan sank into his chair. He didn’t want to have to work with anyone and pretend he didn’t know how to build the engine. Not when the sun was calling him.

“Pemba, you’ll work with June.”

Rakan jerked up in surprise. “What?” She had ignored him completely since their last interaction, no matter what he tried. Or how well he behaved.

“But sir,” June said. “I don’t want—”

“June,” said Mr. Lund, looking over his glasses “You surprise me. The answer is no. You’ll work with Pemba. The day you have a job, you won’t be able to choose your co-workers.”

Mr. Lund pulled out a bunch of pre-packed kits. “These should take you about two hours to assemble if you work efficiently.”

The bell rang. “Class dismissed.”

June stalked out of the class and ran downstairs. Rakan picked up the kit and tossed it in his backpack. It wouldn’t take him more than a few minutes to assemble it, and then he’d have the afternoon free to try to find where the void-trails lived. He had finally managed to trail them across the fjord in spite of the multitude of false tracks they created every day.

When he came out into the schoolyard, Anna was talking with June and Erling.

“What are you doing this afternoon?” she asked when he joined them. “For once I don’t have any projects to work on.”

“I’m supposed to work with June,” Rakan said, smiling at Anna’s hopeful expression. “But I think she has other plans.”

“I’m sure you can do it on your own,” said Erling.

“I believe it is within my capabilities,” answered Rakan coldly.

“Why would you do that?” snapped June. “It’s a group project which means we work together.” She glared at Erling. “Why are you always interfering?”

“If you don’t want her to be alone with me, why don’t you come with us?”

Erling looked at him with an oddly detached look, as if he was seeing something else. “No. There won’t be any problems today. My presence isn’t necessary.”

“Would you stop behaving like an oracle?” June snapped at Erling. “It drives me crazy.” She turned to Rakan. “Let’s just do what we have to do.” She strode back into the school.

Rakan turned to follow, but Erling blocked his way. “I don’t trust you,” said Erling, so quietly that only a dragon’s ears could hear it. “Even if I know you won’t try anything today. I know you will eventually. And when you do, I’ll be there. No matter what the consequences are.”

Rakan glared at Erling. “I’ve never given you any reason not to trust me, have I?”

Erling’s energy shimmered menacingly, and Rakan felt a responding flicker within. His body tensed, ready to fight. Eager to fight.

“Why are you all so uptight about a project? We do them all the time,” Anna said, looking from one to the other. “What’s really going on?”

“I’ll call you as soon as we finish, okay?” Rakan said to Anna. He followed June’s trail into the student lounge where other groups were already working on various projects, his senses on full alert. June’s energy was crackling like an electrical storm.

“Here,” Rakan said, tossing the kit on the table. “Do you want to do it, or shall I?”

“We’re supposed to do it together.”

“You want us to do it together? You’ve been ignoring me for the past week and now you want us to link?”

“What are you talking about? We just have to build it.”

“Were you planning on doing it with your hands?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Well, how else would you do it?”