The Princess's Dragon (19 page)

“I cannot, there is nothing important to tell Tolmac. As far as I am concerned, my past doesn’t exist; only the present, this moment in time is all that matters to me.”

“So you will not tell me.”

“I am sorry …”

“What happened to you, Sondra, that you fear telling me so deeply? I already know you are not of the Kin. What could possibly be a worse secret than that?”

“Please, Tolmac. Don’t ask me anymore. Can’t we just start from today?”

“No. We cannot.”

Sondra shuddered at the finality of that rejection. Tolmac watched her aura darken and roil frantically before drawing into a tiny ball around her heart. Red smoke seeped into the ball and Sondra folded in on herself. To Tolmac’s horror, he heard the softly clinking sound of crystallized dragon tears striking the ground. After her near death not once but twice, Tolmac had never seen his little dragon cry, but his own words caused her spirit to bleed and rare dragon tears to fall from her eyes. He couldn’t hold out against her any longer. He couldn’t keep her at claw’s reach if it wounded her so deeply. He raced over to her and folded himself around her, closing his wings over them both and holding her closely in his grasp. His own aura reached out to the tightly clenched ball of her spirit and encircled it gently, soothing away the red smoke of pain.

“Shh, little one, do not cry. I will tell you the story, I promise. Just please do not cry.” Crystal tears still dropped into the growing pile, and Tolmac grew desperate, agonized by each perfect drop that fell. “Sondra, forgive me. We can start from today. I don’t care about your secret or your past. You are right, what

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happens now is what is important. Please stop crying so that I can tell you the story. I know you love stories and I think you will like this one.” Sondra’s tears finally stopped and her body relaxed in his arms. He slowly released her and stepped back, putting distance between them because his own body started responding uncomfortably to her closeness. She valued his companionship, which he now knew, but she’d never said she wanted to mate with him. He refused to frighten her with his own desire. He folded his wings, falling back on all fours to watch her as she gathered up her pile of tears in surprise.

She held up the tears. “I wondered why I couldn’t cry before. They were very painful to shed. Why are they solid like this?”

“That is something I could never figure out, little one. I only know that I have only cried once in my entire life. You must keep them, hold them somewhere safe, for they possess tremendous powers, far greater than even our own blood.”

Sondra tucked the glittering teardrop gems into her cheek pouch, a flap of skin within her mouth where dragons often stored small items of importance, having neither clothing, nor bags, in which to carry their things. Tolmac waited while she settled back.

“You said you would tell me the story?”

“Very well,” Tolmac sighed, “I will start with the beginning. The other five ‘gods,’ as you call them, are Solendar’s children.” He held up a claw when she made to interrupt. “Please, no questions until I finish as I will probably answer them within the tale itself. Before Cindara banished her soul mate to the Void, he went on a rampage, his hatred for all life driving him to destroy it.

He couldn’t hurt the Creator directly so he struck out at his creation instead, primarily the humans. He hated them the most of all because of their frailty and mortality, the very things that took his human woman from him. He didn’t kill them all though.”

Tolmac paused, certain his soft-hearted little dragon with her fondness for the fragile humans would dislike the next part of the story. She watched him expectantly.

“Solendar raped many human women.” She gasped in horror as he expected, and he continued. “He did not take human form to do this, instead he remained as a dragon and most of the women died from the … act.” Sondra couldn’t speak, shocked by the stark and horrible image of tiny women attacked 112

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by a massive dragon, one she guessed would be larger even than Tolmac himself.

They must have suffered greatly before their tragic deaths.

Tolmac continued. “Some of the humans survived the brutal attacks, and four of them gave birth to half-human, half-divine dragon children. Cindara sought out all of the children and took them to her realm to raise them.”

“She raised his children? That was very good of her.”

“She is a force of goodness, but her actions were not entirely altruistic. She feared that Solendar could influence his own bloodline even from the Void, and since his offspring possessed their own considerable abilities, she wanted to insure that they were raised as champions of goodness and justice and would not succumb to the evil of their father.”

“And you? Where do you fit in?”

“I am coming to that, little one. I am Cindara’s child, sired by a fire dragon, one of the many consorts gifted to her by the Creator in way of an apology, I suppose. She raised me from a chick and I found myself in the company of her other charges from time to time.”

“So you’re a full-blooded dragon?”

Tolmac snorted. “Of course, isn’t it obvious? Let me continue … Solendar’s spawn traveled to many different realms with Cindara’s assistance, as they could not make their own portals—only Cindara’s direct bloodline can do so.

They forever sought a place to call home, a place where they could find peace and acceptance despite their unusual traits. They often took human form and attempted to live among the human settlements that cluttered the cosmos, but discovered that humans distrusted those who held too much power. Inevitably they returned to Cindara’s realm, each time growing more discouraged more bitter, more disenchanted, more like their father. Cindara began to fear that they were slowly regressing into darkness. By this time, I stopped in to her realm for a visit and she asked me to take them all on my next migration. It appeared she’d seen the world I planned to travel to and felt they might find their purpose here. So I brought them and they scattered as soon as we arrived.

We all made our own way here and though they plague me from time to time, I don’t see them often.”

“So they found their purpose in acting as gods?”

“The old gods of this world were dying out, and the humans descended into chaos and fearful superstition, some even sacrificing their children to the harvest or shedding their own blood to the full moon. Solendar’s children

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gave them hope again in the form of faith and belief and in turn they found a purpose and a home.”

“What are they like, Tolmac? You’ve met them; what do they look like and act like?”

“They look however they wish to. They can choose any form they desire, and they often suit their appearance to the occasion. They rarely ever choose the form of a dragon, though Morbidon does form an excellent bone dragon when the mood takes him. As for their personalities … they differ greatly from one to the next. Vivacel is arrogant and impetuous but filled with vitality; she accomplishes a great deal without appearing to make any effort at all …”

“Is she beautiful?”

“What do you mean? Beautiful how? Her dragon form is a nice silvery-white and perfectly proportioned but that is simply because she can look any way she wants. She usually takes the form of a human woman for her followers.

I suppose that form holds a certain ascetic value.”

“Oh. You wouldn’t find her human form attractive, would you?”

“Not particularly. Now, you wanted to know about their personalities. Let me finish. Morbidon, her twin brother, is dour and serious, but disgustingly noble. He has very little sense of humor that I can see. Terroc is far more entertaining; he loves practical pranks and plays them often, but he can be very serious when necessary. Zephrona, with her affinity to the air element, unsurprisingly behaves in a flighty and unreliable way. Aquea possesses many moods and, though often temperamental and demanding, she has a good side and especially favors all sea-faring humans.”

‘There, I have described them all. Be grateful if you never need come into contact with them because even though they have been raised by Cindara, they still harbor their father’s blood within them and are capable of hurting or killing you on a whim. As far as they are concerned, that is the prerogative of gods.”

“Thank you, Tolmac. You tell an excellent story, and now I know so much more about this world than I ever did before. I would love to meet Cindara someday.”

“All dragons meet Cindara someday, little one, but you don’t want that day to come too soon. You have already come too close to meeting her early as it is.

You have an unfortunate habit of placing yourself in mortal peril.” Sondra couldn’t disagree with that. She wondered where she would go if 114

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she did die in dragon form. Would she see the great Cindara then, or would she still travel to Morbidon’s kingdom like all of the other humans of this world, to be reborn again?

“I have a special hunting trip planned for next sunbirth, Sondra. You have explored too far to the south on your own. I wish to take you farther up north than we have traveled previously. There is an excellent herd of cattle there, the likes of which I doubt you’ve ever seen. Rest up; you will need your strength for the flight.”

Tolmac curled up, closer to Sondra than he’d been in many cycles. Once again Sondra put off leaving him; now that he’d given her a second chance, she fell back to hoping and praying that the wizard’s spell lasted permanently, or at the very least persist long enough for her to find him and ask him to transform her into a dragon forever. Her eyes moved hungrily over Tolmac where he slept.

She didn’t think she could ever bear to leave him now.

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CHAPTER 13

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The next cycle, Tolmac proved true to his word, and they set off to the north, traveling well past her very fi rst training site and the unicorn-infested valley. Th

e sight of the world spread out like

a colored map below Sondra entranced her as the air rushed past her heated scales. Th

e jagged tops of the mountains marched like endless teeth across the ground below, appearing nearly fl at from the distance. Here and there, rivers wound through the mountains like delicate ribbons twisted across the untamed land. Th

e entire world sparkled with color and vitality because beside her Tolmac glided, his impressive wingspan casting a dark shadow on the mountainous region below, his gaze constantly scanned his surroundings, ever alert for danger. From time to time, Tolmac would fl ap his huge wings and push himself until he soared to a higher altitude, scouting the horizon and seeking out their ultimate destination. Sondra watched him go, maintaining her own position as she simply enjoyed the feel of freedom fl ying gave her.

Sondra’s relationship with Tolmac had changed last night when she rediscovered her ability to cry. The pain of his rejection wounded her far more than anything else that had ever happened in her life, and the hopelessness of her love for him nearly destroyed her. She felt like she died on the inside, and then he came to her, holding her and comforting her. He apologized for hurting her and vowed to ignore her past and forget the secret that remained between them. Surely that meant he loved her? He claimed that dragons only mated to insure their future offspring, but he described Solendar and Cindara as soul mates, even though their story didn’t end happily. Dragons must feel some deep emotions, because they did possess the ability to cry, and Tolmac 115

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had already demonstrated his capacity for compassion many times to Sondra.

She had to believe he also possessed a capacity for love.

He rejoined her after another scouting mission, and she broke away from her thoughts, promising herself that soon she would find the courage to tell him that she loved him. She had no idea how he would receive the news, but she knew that he would never hurt her if he could avoid it. He had proved that already.

Sondra watched their shadows pass together over the mountains and valleys as they traveled in companionable silence. Their silhouettes glided close together, their wingtips nearly touching. To her, the sight symbolized everything she desired, her and Tolmac together, free from the world below and all of its demands.

“You are enjoying yourself this morning. I am pleased to see I made an inspired decision to take you on this journey.” Sondra glanced over at him; his aura sparkled with gold. It seemed she wasn’t the only one enjoying their flight and the brisk morning air parting around them. “I am having a good time, Tolmac. It’s beautiful here! The mountains seem so small, more like ripples in green water than massive peaks.”

“Much different from the last time I took you over the mountains, little one.”

Sondra laughed, unaware that gold shot through her aura at the memory of Tolmac lugging her over the mountains so he could teach her to hunt without frightening the human inhabitants of Ariva Valley.

This journey north consumed several cycles. For Sondra, it was the first time she’d ever spent the night out under the stars since she was a child. Tolmac planned for them to reach the edge of the green land just before it sank into the Frozen Sea before the third sundeath, allowing them plenty of time to hunt from the herd of herbivores he promised Sondra tasted better than anything she’d ever eaten. Along the way, Tolmac told her about the frost dragon he once encountered. To Sondra’s surprise, even Tolmac avoided frost dragons and this one nearly defeated and killed him. Sondra could not imagine the kind of dragon that could ever harm him. According to Tolmac, frost dragons once looked and acted just like other dragons, but when the war between Cindara and Solendar came where she banished him to the Void, all the dragons in existence chose to side with one divine dragon or the other. The frost dragons descended from the dragons that sided with Solendar.

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