Authors: E. D. Baker
“Halt!” cried one of the guards, the smile on his face changing to a scowl as he arched his neck and spread his wings to make himself look even bigger and more intimidating. “What business have you here, young dragon?”
“I’ve come to see my grandmother,” Audun replied. “I heard her rooms are on this level.”
“That depends,” said the other guard. “Who is your grandmother?”
“Her name is Song of the Glacier,” said Audun, looking from one guard to the other.
“It’s true,” Frostybreath said, when the two guards looked skeptical. “Iceworthy told me so this morning.”
“Then you’re in luck, young dragon,” said the first guard, as he lowered his wings. “Your grandmother returned to her rooms not ten minutes ago. Someone will have to escort you to her, however, and we’re not allowed to leave our posts.” The dragon gave Frostybreath a meaningful look.
The big dragon sighed. “I suppose I can take him. But you owe me for this, Tailshaker, just like you owe me for guarding him while you had your fang repaired.”
“I’ll pay you back next week.” The guard laughed. “You can count on it.”
Audun was impressed by the size of his grandmother’s rooms. There were three of them and each was bigger than the largest room in his family’s cave. The first two rooms were furnished with dark woods and rich fabrics that rivaled the colors of his grandfather’s jewels. The bathing pool in the third room was big enough to fit his entire family at once and still would have left room for guests. Even so, what he noticed most as his grandmother gave him a tour was the stiff way she held herself and the cool tone of her voice; it was clear that she wasn’t pleased with him.
“Why did you come to see me, Audun?” she asked. “You can’t think that I’m going to help you by influencing the king’s decision.”
“I must admit that I was hoping you would,” said Audun, “but the real reason I came is to find out why you’re here. At first I thought Grandfather might be with you, but I haven’t smelled him or seen any of his things in your rooms.”
There was sadness in Song of the Glacier’s eyes. “No,” she said, “he didn’t come with me. The king asked me to come to the island and didn’t include my mate in the invitation.”
“How did you become one of the king’s councillors?” Audun asked.
“King Stormclaw wasn’t exaggerating when he said that he’d been asking me for years. I’d turned him down every time because I never felt that he really needed me until now. Even so, when I heard that one of his councillors was dying and that he’d need a replacement soon, I’d hoped to avoid coming here by taking our family and fleeing the Icy North, but after what happened in that witch’s castle, I knew that I couldn’t put you, your parents, or High Flier in danger just because I wanted us to be together. You left before I could explain what I had to do.”
Audun nodded, but there was still something he didn’t understand. “Did you know Stormclaw before you came here?”
His grandmother sighed. “I met him the first time I came to the island. His father was in charge of the guards and his mother had died in a storm just the year before. Stormclaw had nowhere else to go, so the old king let him live here. We became friends and later . . . more than friends.”
“When did you meet Grandfather?”
“Old King Bent Tooth had chosen your grandfather, High Flier, for me. Dragonesses must marry whomever the king chooses, and my parents made it clear that I would be no exception. You must understand, I care for your grandfather, but back then I loved Stormclaw and I still do.”
“So they made you leave Stormclaw and marry Grandfather.”
His grandmother nodded. “We hadn’t spoken in years because I thought it would be too painful. When he was chosen as the new king and first asked me to be one of his councillors, I didn’t want to come because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I saw him again. I’ve spent most of my life trying to be a good mate to your grandfather, while knowing that someone else was my true love. It’s hard for someone your age to understand, but I hope you will, someday.”
“I think I already do,” said Audun. “It’s why I need the king’s help. It’s why I need your help, too, Grandmother.”
Song of the Glacier twitched her tail in agitation. She began to pace in front of him, her scales making a swooshing sound. “Ordinarily, I would do whatever I could to help you, but a human and the daughter of the Green Witch? Are you sure it’s really love, Audun, and not infatuation? Any dragon would be attracted to someone who saved his life, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your entire life with her. Humans aren’t like us. I’ve told you many times that they lie, cheat, steal, and think only of themselves. They can be cruel to members of their own species and twice as cruel to species they regard as animals, including us.”
“But Millie isn’t like that. She put her own life in danger to help us. And she’s honest and caring . . . I love her, Grandmother, and it isn’t just because she saved our lives. She is the one I want to share my life with. I will never love another dragoness the way I love her.”
“Perhaps not, Audun, but have you really thought this through? I’ve seen what living among humans can do to dragons. If you get your wish and learn how to change your form into that of a human, you will always have to hide who you really are and what you can do. You’ll live in constant fear of discovery.”
“It wouldn’t be like that for me,” said Audun. “Millie is already a dragon part of the time and the people in her kingdom accept her the way she is. Her mother is a Dragon Friend, which means that members of our own kind accept and respect her.”
“Fire-breathing dragons, perhaps, but you heard what King Stormclaw said. Our kind may not revile her as he does, but neither would they accept her. It’s true that the feud between us is old and mostly forgotten, but the king could make trouble for you should you even desire to remain friends with the girl. If you pursue this relationship without his approval, King Stormclaw will banish you at the very least.”
“What happened between the fire-breathers and us, Grandmother? No one ever told me.”
“It happened hundreds of years before I was born, so I don’t know precisely, but apparently, by chance, the ice dragons discovered a cave rich in gems. Considering the love of jewels that all dragons feel, this was a marvelous find. Although the cave was in a distant land, we mined it for years undisturbed, bringing the jewels here to the stronghold, and enriching our kingdom’s treasury. When the human king of the distant land discovered what we were doing, he threatened to bring the wrath of all humans down on us. Instead, we made a pact with him wherein we would continue to mine the gems, and he would receive a share.
“Once again, all was well, until the fire-breathing dragons learned of our pact with the human king. They tried to find the cave, forcing us to take ever greater measures to hide its location. One day they managed to waylay the dragons bringing the gems to the stronghold and stole a vast number of them. There was a great battle and many were injured on both sides. It happened so long ago that most families have recovered from their loss. But some, like the family of King Stormclaw, hold too tightly to their grudges.”
“And that’s why he hates Millie’s mother?”
Audun’s grandmother nodded. “He’s a good dragon, but he can be rash at times as can most dragon kings. That is why they have councillors, like me. You do realize, Audun, that even if you lived in a kingdom where you wouldn’t be persecuted for what you are, you would be throwing away a promising future among dragon kind. I’d always hoped that someday you might aspire to a high position, perhaps even the central platform in the audience chamber.”
“I don’t want to be king, Grandmother. I just want to choose my own mate. Is that really too much to ask?”
“You sound like I once did, more’s the pity. No,” she said, sighing again. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask. But what about your talent? I know you haven’t learned what it is yet, and you may not for many years, but what if your talent is something you can use only in the Icy North or that you can’t use around humans? If I didn’t live among glaciers, I would never have known that I can hear them speak.”
“That’s true, Grandmother, but a lot of ice dragons have talents that have nothing to do with where they live. Grandfather can fly high wherever he is and Mother’s graceful all the time. I bet Frostybreath could freeze things even if he was someplace hot. I just hope my talent is a good one, but whether it is or not, it will have nothing to do with Millie.”
Song of the Glacier stopped pacing and turned to face him again. “If you truly love Millie, there is one other thing you need to consider. Dragons live for hundreds of years while humans have a much shorter life span. We never have more than one mate. Are you sure you want your mate to be someone who will not live as long as you will? If you marry her, you will do so knowing that you will outlive her and have to endure many years of grieving once she is gone.”
“I understand that, Grandmother. It is a price I am willing to pay if it means I can have even a few years with Millie.”
“Then I hope she loves you as much as you love her, my dear grandson.”
“Will you talk to the king and the other councillors for me?” Audun asked.
Song of the Glacier sighed. “You’re very persuasive, Audun. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
O
nce more it was Frostybreath who came to tell Audun that the king had summoned him. “But I thought he didn’t want to see me again,” said Audun, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“A king can change his mind, just like everyone else,” the big dragon replied. “But be careful what you say. He seemed mighty worked up about something.”
“I hope he
has
changed his mind,” Audun said, suddenly feeling much more hopeful. “Why did you come for me? Still filling in for your friend?”
“I was on my way to the top,” said Frostybreath. “So I told my friends that I’d save them the trouble. I’m adding a curlicue to the first part of the chute. I thought an extra flourish would be fun.”
“I went down your chute with Loolee yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun before. It’s great that you can use your talent to make other dragons happy,” said Audun.
Frostybreath grunted. “I do what I can. It seems to me that a talent isn’t worth much if you can’t use it to help others.”
Audun waved good-bye to the dragon as they parted ways. He hadn’t discovered his own talent yet, but then few dragons did until they reached their twentieth year. Although he wasn’t worried, he hoped that his talent would be something worthwhile. His grandfather could fly higher than anyone else. His father could fly faster. His mother was as graceful as a drifting snowflake. But his grandmother’s talent was so subtle that she didn’t seem to do anything except sit with her eyes closed, so that she almost appeared to be asleep. When she finally opened her eyes, she would tell Audun and his parents what the glaciers were saying deep in their depths. Sometimes she said they talked about the changes in temperature or what was in the water around them. Sometimes it was about the creatures that lived in the sea nearby. When two or more glaciers bumped into one another, regardless of whether they thundered or whispered, they usually talked about one another.
As a little dragon there had been times when Audun thought that his grandmother didn’t really have a talent and that she was making it up, but everyone else seemed to believe her and she always did know when a glacier was about to move or when there were new fish in the area. Sometimes dragons came to ask his grandmother for advice and she would go off by herself to listen to a glacier. Eventually, Audun came to understand that she really was special, but it had never occurred to him that the king might think so as well. The more he thought about it, however, the more sense it made that a talent like his grandmother’s could be valuable to anyone who watched out for the welfare of dragons who lived on and around glaciers.
Audun had almost reached the audience room when he began to wonder what talents the other councillors might have. He’d been so concerned with getting the king to agree to help him that it hadn’t occurred to him to ask his grandmother about the other dragonesses. Although most dragons knew about the king’s history, little was generally known about the dragonesses who advised him. Audun hadn’t paid much attention to them the last time he was in their presence, but he did seem to recall that they were older than Song of the Glacier, and at least one of them had looked at him with kind eyes. Perhaps she would help Song of the Glacier change the dragon king’s mind.
Audun was about to enter the chamber when a dragon wearing the satchels of a messenger strapped to his back emerged, looking harried and tired. He nodded at Audun who waited until the exterior door had closed before opening the door to the audience chamber.
King Stormclaw wasn’t seated on his stone pillar as he’d been during their last interview. Instead, he was pacing the length of the room, his tail twitching in agitation. The king stopped when he spotted Audun waiting nervously by the door. “Come in, young dragon. No need to stand there looking like I’m about to rip off your head. You’ll be pleased to hear that I’ve reconsidered. At first I thought you were crazy for wanting to learn how to turn into a human so you could be with a human who can turn into a dragoness. I’d never heard such a thing! And knowing who the dragoness is, I must tell you that I was tempted to lock you away for your own good. However, out of regard for your grandmother, I have reconsidered your request and am willing to give you the opportunity to show me that you deserve to be taught how to turn into a human. You will have to complete five tasks to prove your worth.” He gestured toward the dragoness seated farthest from Song of the Glacier. “Frostweaver will tell you what you must do.”
Audun turned to the dragoness and bowed, so excited at the good news that he couldn’t help but grin. The old dragoness was smiling at him when he looked up, and he could see that at least two of her fangs were missing. The flesh on her jaws was lined with wrinkles and her white scales were dull and yellowed with age. Her blue eyes bore a filmy cast but, even so, he saw excitement gleaming in their depths. Frostweaver looked so fragile that he couldn’t help but wonder if she could still fly.
“Good day to you, Audun, grandson of my new friend, Song of the Glacier. It gives me great pleasure to tell you of your task and to set you on the road to achieving your goal.” When the old dragoness waved a talon before her face, Audun thought she was about to fall over. It took a moment before he realized that she was using frost to draw a map in the air as if she were writing on ice. The frost shimmered and grew more solid, until he thought he could almost reach out and touch it.
“Far from here,” said Frostweaver, “lies the kingdom of Aridia. In the southern half of the kingdom you will find the Arid Desert. Although many believe that the shifting sands harbor no life, we dragons know that is not true. You must fly to the Arid Desert and look for the rarest of all birds, which can be found only in the driest of lands.” With a swipe of her talons, the map faded away, and the picture of a bird replaced it. The bird was ugly, with a bald head and small, piercing eyes. It looked scrawny at first, but as Audun watched, its body filled out until it looked like a different bird entirely. “You may find the desicca bird in either of its phases, but it is not the bird itself that you seek. Locate the bird and follow it to its nest, buried deep within the burning sands. Retrieve one of the eggs and bring it back here. If you are to succeed at your task, you must ensure that the egg remains intact and that the chick inside lives. Upon successful completion of this test, you shall receive your next task.”
Audun nodded, relieved that the task was so simple. Find a bird and bring back its egg. Yes, he could do that. He studied the picture as it faded, then bowed once more to the old dragoness, and turned to leave.
“Just a moment, young dragon,” called Frostweaver. “You will need to take this with you.” Audun glanced back to see the old dragoness weaving strands of frost in the air in front of her, creating a band of silver and white. The band grew, becoming a square as wide as her wings could reach. When she finished, she tapped the center of the square and it shrank until it was no bigger than the span of the outspread talons of one foot. Pinching the square between two talons, she handed it to Audun, saying, “This will keep the wearer whatever temperature he needs to be and will grow or shrink to the necessary size. Remember what I said about the egg. I’ll be looking forward to your return. Dragonspeed!”
Audun took the square from Frostweaver and bowed once more. He was tucking it into his wing pouch as Song of the Glacier came forward. “I wish you well, Audun. Be careful in the desert and don’t eat any spoiled meat. Safe travels!”
It was the farewell he had longed to hear when he left his family only days before.
The young dragon was on his way up the ramp when Hildie ran after him, calling his name. “Is it true you’re leaving?” she asked, coming so close that the scales of their legs brushed together as she matched her pace to his.
Although Audun had had plenty of friends while growing up at the edge of the Icy Sea, they had all been boy dragons. All the dragonesses he’d ever known had been adults, so he wasn’t sure how to react when Hildie persisted in touching him. It made Audun feel uncomfortable and he moved aside to give her more room. She followed him, staying just as close until he was bumping against the far wall.
“Where did you hear that I’m leaving?” he asked, picking up speed as he tried to put space between them. “I only just learned it myself. Does your talent allow you to see into the future?”
Although he was half-joking, Hildie seemed to take him seriously. “Actually, I don’t have my talent yet. Frosty-breath told me that you were leaving. A dragon charged with cleaning your room for the next visitor told him so.”
“Things move quickly around here,” said Audun.
Hildie shrugged. “They usually do, although I wish they hadn’t moved so quickly this time.”
“Audun, do you really have to go?” cried a voice, as a small dragon launched herself onto his back.
“I do, short stuff,” Audun said, laughing as he spread his wings. The little dragoness slid down just as she would the chute. “There’s something important that I have to do.”
“Will I ever see you again, Audun?” Loolee asked, but Audun could see that Hildie was waiting for his answer, too.
“I’ll be back before you know it, little one. This shouldn’t take long at all.”