Draka

I woke to my name being called. Well, “Draka”, but that was probably me more than my old name, now. My body was completely new, and my mind was… different. I pretty much had a second consciousness riding shotgun with me, one that belonged in this body much more than I did. I had wondered a few times if that was the mind that the body really belonged to, and I had just crashed in and taken over. It definitely knew how to use this body better than I did. But it spoke to me in my own voice, in English, so who could tell?

It was almost dark, the sun barely touching the mountains. Herald was standing at the foot of the tree, outside the wide skirt of needle-covered branches.

“Draka!” she called again. “Hello? We were wondering if you wanted to come in and talk.”

That caught me by surprise. I had thought they looked relieved when I left, and that they only didn’t say anything out of gratitude or fear. Having them ask me to join them was… well, it felt nice. It really did.

“Uh, Herald,” I said, blinking the sleep from my eyes. “Okay, yeah. I’ll be right down.”

I could hear the whole tree rustling as I pushed branches aside, almost dropping out of the tree. I must have been a little lonelier than I had thought. My head was itching like crazy, but the needles dragging against it felt good, and when I had gotten out of the tree and was facing Herald I reached up and gave it a good scratch.

Something flaked off in my hand.

At first I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. A flat, dry lump of small scales, set around a piece of bone or something. Then I caught up, and I practically threw the thing, wanting it out of my hand. It went in Herald’s general direction and she snapped a hand out and caught it.

“Ugh, oh God!” I said. “Is that my horn?” I’d practically forgotten that I had the things! “Herald, how does my head look? Is it bad?”

Herald hesitated briefly before getting closer and taking a good look at the top of my head. “It looks like it is healing well,” she said. “There are new scales growing there, though they are not as regular, and they are much paler. Gray. Can I…?” She reached out tentatively, and when I didn’t say anything she touched them, then an uninjured part of my head. “They are a little softer, too. Does the colour come in as the scales mature?”

“Uh, I guess. Maybe?” I had no idea, and I was too shaken to cover. A piece of me had just fallen off!

“Draka… I do not know if the horn will grow back out. It is all scales there. Maybe it will come later, through the scales?” she suggested.

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, and started walking towards the building. I didn’t really care about the horn. I hadn’t had horns for most of my life, and only having one now didn’t affect me. It was still freaky to have a chunk of your head the rough size and shape of a small phone fall off.

When Herald let me into the large common room of the building I was greeted with a cautious smile by Makanna, who was sitting at the table sipping something steaming in a wooden mug.

“I’m glad you accepted our invitation, Draka,” Makanna said. “How are your injuries?”

“A lot better, thanks,” I replied. “Looks like my horn is gone, according to Herald. Could be worse. And, I mean, there’s no pain. Couldn’t have hoped for better. You? How’s the hangover?”

“Eh,” she said noncommittally, sipping her drink. “Better, I guess. I swear, only an alchemist can save your life and make you wish they hadn’t.”

Valmik cleared his throat. “An early start is needed tomorrow,” he began, “and we hoped to talk with you. About this job, and other things.”

“We usually talk through a job after it is done,” Herald explained, leaning against the wall by the door. “To see what went well and what did not. The three of us already talked, but we hoped that you might have some insights to share with us.”

I hadn’t expected that. I wasn’t sure what to say. If they wanted tactical input I was the wrong person to ask, but they must have had an inflated opinion of me based on how much damage I had done.

“Well, uh,” I said, trying to think fast, “there were pretty obvious signs of gremlins in the big central chamber, where all the shafts led off from. That didn’t make you suspicious?”

“We also thought of that,” Makanna said. “With the mine abandoned the gremlins should have been more spread out.”

“Yeah,” I went on. “And they had two guards. I don’t have much experience with gremlins, but they didn’t feel like the type to set guards. Is that normal?”

“It has been known to happen,” Valmik said. “If their leader is clever enough.”

“Okay,” I continued, “but if their leader is clever enough to set guards, then it might try other things. So that should have made you more careful, yeah? Especially after we killed three of them last night. I know I’d be nervous if three of my buddies were suddenly gone.”

“That’s a good point,” Makanna conceded.

“What else… Herald, you didn’t grab your arrows from the guards, and you almost ran out later. So grab your arrows whenever you have the time, I guess?”

I was on a roll!

“I know,” Herald said, looking away. “I forgot. I got excited, I guess.”

“Alright, but then one of your more experienced party members should have reminded you.”

Valmik gave off a grunt that I interpreted as agreement. Makanna spoke up. “That’s my mistake,” she said. “I’m responsible for you being here, Herald. I should have supported you better.”

Herald tried to argue but I didn’t want to lose my momentum. “Then we get to where everything went south,” I said. The others looked at me. The expression clearly hadn’t translated well. “The gremlin tunnel. I don’t know what the plan was exactly, but I think you two,” I looked at Makanna and Valmik in turn, “moved on too quickly. You were too far up the tunnel to help Herald when the gremlins sprung their ambush, and even if you’d been closer you couldn’t have turned around easily.”

“We couldn’t have known–” Makanna said defensively, her cheeks flushing.

“She would have died, if I hadn’t been there,” I said loud enough to drown out her objection. Makanna shut her mouth and looked at the floor, the wall, Valmik, anything except me and especially Herald. She knew very well what would have happened. I suspected that she’d been thinking about it a lot.

“It wouldn’t have happened if Tam was there,” Makanna grumbled.

“Then you’re too reliant on him. Anyway, you should have moved slower in the tunnel,” I went on, “or even just gotten in and waited a moment. It was a perfect place for an ambush, even I could see that. A cramped tunnel where tall folk like humans could barely fight? Forcing the group to separate simply because you have to slowly get in, one by one, and get in each other’s way? Two directions to attack from, and that’s not counting the cramped tunnel where only the person in front could really fight, badly.” I waited for arguments, but none came. I must have been pretty convincing!

“And,” I turned to Herald, “you, Herald, were the wrong person to bring up the rear, yeah? Your shooting is fire, but as soon as more than one guy got in too close to use your bow, you were in trouble. They,” I nodded to Valmik and Makanna, “should have known that. But so should you. I know all about denying your weaknesses, but when I fuck up I only get myself killed. If we hadn’t held our end of the tunnel, those little shits would have swarmed through and taken Makanna and Valmik from behind.”

Herald stared at her boots.

“A different choice of tactics, then,” Valmik said from the table. “Lady Draka, what would you have done?”

God, I hoped that I was right about some things. I was making this up as I went, trying to make a good impression. “Well,” I said after thinking about it, “I would have probably put Valmik first in the tunnel, then Herald, leaving Makanna outside. You’d get a few yards in, wait for a little while, then Makanna would get in behind you. You’d all move in a group, and Makanna would move backwards. Then when you exited, Makanna is small enough that she could turn around if there was no one behind you. She’d have to use her sword until she was outside so she could turn her spear around, I guess.”

Makanna and Valmik looked at each other as they considered, and had a short conversation of facial expressions and small movements of the head. I guessed that the conclusion was, “Maybe. Might have worked.” That was good enough for me and my ego.

“Other than that,” I went on, wanting to conclude on a high note. “I didn’t get to see Makanna fight, but your reflexes are great, and you whapped me really hard with one arm. Without your magic you would have all needed torches or been blind down there, and I would probably have an infected head wound without your healing. Herald, you need practice with that sword, but your archery is great.”

“You said my archery was ‘fire’, before,” Herald said.

“What? Oh, yeah,” I replied. Had I really said that? I’d never said that anything was ‘fire’ in my life! And it hadn’t come across either. “I meant it’s good.”

“I guessed,” she said. “I just wondered. Is that a dragon thing? Is ‘fire’ how you say ‘good’ in the dragon tongue?”

I had absolutely no idea. “Where I’m from,” I said carefully, “fire is one of many ways to say that something is good. There’s also dope, goat, Gucci, ace, uh, bonza…”

I never used those either, but Herald’s eyes shone with interest. “I would love to learn some of the dragon tongue.”

I had a brief fantasy of teaching her English Gen Z slang. And why not? Could be funny. “Perhaps, some other day,” I said, then turned to Valmik. “Valmik, you’re a goddamn monster, in the best way. I don’t know how many you killed down there, but it was a lot. And if you hadn’t moved in when you did in the nest I would be dead, so thanks for that. I just need to know: how did Makanna get stabbed?”

“The fault was mine,” Valmik said, looking at his hands. “Gremlins came behind us and she defended. Others came from the cavern. I engaged and some slipped by. One stabbed Makanna before we could kill it.”

“You went in too far?” I guessed.

“Yes,” he said simply. “Normally Tamor would be right behind me, if anything slipped by. In the excitement I forgot that he was not.”

“I’m guessing you usually go in hard. Your defence once you backed up to cover Makanna was great, though. And that’s about all I have to say. I guess.” I kind of trailed off.

The others were looking uncomfortable, which made sense. It’s never fun to have an outsider come in and criticise you, especially when you know for a fact that they’re right about at least some things.

“On the bright side,” Herald said, brightening up. “I am almost at a threshold!”

The others perked up. “Really?” Makanna said. She was smiling widely, all of her hurt pride apparently forgotten. “Congratulations! How close?”

“So close I can almost taste it,” Herald answered smugly. “I might get it tonight, and if not it should not take much to push me through.”

“There will be much to celebrate in the coming days,” Valmik said with more warmth than I’d heard from him so far. As for me, I was confused. I had a vague idea of what was going on. A threshold was what the dragon had called it when I got my languages. But I had gotten it from adding to, or rather starting, my hoard of treasure. How did Herald get closer, and how did she know? I had to ask. I didn’t care if this put my ignorance on full display, I was too curious.

“That’s great, Herald,” I said, “I love that for you. One question, to you all: how do thresholds work? For humans,” I added quickly.

“Well,” she said, still basking in our congratulations, “I do not know if it is completely figured out, but it is connected to struggle and adversity.”

“Going through something and coming out stronger,” Makanna agreed.

“Right,” Herald continued. “Fighting and almost dying like we did is an obvious way to get closer, but people have reached thresholds in lots of ways. Facing fear and overcoming it, getting through a long period of mourning or depression or sickness, even learning a skill to the point where you feel like you truly understand it. And then you get an advancement,” she concluded happily.

“And the advancements, do you get to pick anything, or…?” I asked.

“I think different people can experience it in different ways, but we’ve all had the same experience, right?” Makanna asked the room. “It’s like you can feel a couple of different paths, usually two, and you know pretty much where each one leads, and you have to pick one.”

“Immediately,” Herald cut in with emphasis. “I tried to hold off so I could think it through on my first one, and got so sick I threw up. It got worse from there until I picked.”

“And what did you pick?” I asked.

“Oh, I have two already,” Herald said proudly. “Hand-eye coordination and improved sight.”

“Herald!” Makanna exclaimed.

“What?” Herald shot back. “She helped us. She very literally saved my life, twice, and yours too, probably. If I can tell anyone outside the family, it is her!”

Makanna looked at me out of the corner of her eye, then back to Herald. “Yes, sure, but still–”

“Ugh, I know,” Herald said, crossing her arms. “I should not tell people. Everyone knows that!” She leaned into the wall, and lapsed into a sullen silence.

There was an awkward pause. Valmik broke it, saying, “Apologies, Lady Draka. Makanna is only thinking of her sister.”

“Yeah, no dramas. I get it.” I said. And I did. “If no one knows how far along you are or what you have, they can’t be sure how strong you are, yeah? That’s important, especially for a young woman like Herald or Makanna. So it’s alright. We don’t know each other like that. I won’t ask either of you, if you don’t ask me.”

It would have been interesting to know, but I had a pretty good idea about Makanna and Valmik anyway. Makanna had some magic, and Valmik was honestly terrifying with that short sword of his, so he probably had some strength or speed or something else to make him better at fighting. Since I didn’t plan on ever fighting either of them, it didn’t actually matter.

“So,” I said, wanting to get back on topic. “Where do the paths come from? Like, why do you get certain choices?”

“The situation is similar there as with thresholds,” Valmik said. “It is not known for certain. Deep desires or needs appear to be key. Many attempts have been made to influence which options are available, through meditation or magic, but I know of no repeatable successes.”

“Huh. Interesting,” I said. “I’ll try to think of that next time I reach a threshold. Thanks for the information.” So, at least for humans, the subconscious was involved. But what about me? I was still mentally human, but what about the dragon? I had gotten to choose, but would I or the dragon influence the choices more?

While I thought about that I saw Makanna and Valmik share some looks again. They seemed to reach a conclusion, and Makanna looked to Herald, who shrugged and looked away. Makanna sighed softly and spoke up.

“Draka,“ she said, ”if you don’t mind, there is something else we wanted to talk about. Herald and Valmik say that you mentioned… helping each other in the future?”

I perked up at that. “Oh, yeah,” I said, trying not to look too eager. “I think that would be good for all of us.”

“What did you have in mind?” she asked.

“Well,” I said. I’d been thinking about this a lot the last week or so. “I can’t enter the city. I mean, I can, but that would be a hell of a situation, yeah? But there’s stuff I want from there. So I need people I can trust to help me out.” And I wanted some actual friends to talk to, but I didn’t want to sound that sad, yet.

“And you offered to help us, in exchange?” Makanna continued, carefully.

“Sure. You’ve seen me,” I said with some pride. “I can fly and I can fight. And, not to be cute about it, I want gold. Or silver. Maybe precious stones and other things like that. I’ll know when I see it.”

“So you would, essentially… and I’m not trying to insult you,” she added hastily, ”be available to us as a mercenary?”

“That sounds about right, yeah,” I said. “I’d prefer ‘adventurer’, or maybe ‘consultant’, I guess. But that’s pretty much what I had in mind.”

There was another silent conversation. Herald was back in and was very clearly in favour, smiling and nodding. Valmik was unreadably thoughtful and Makanna looked uncertain.

“You understand,” Makanna said slowly, “if we were known to be working with, or for, a…” she faltered.

“A dragon,” I supplied.

“Yes,” she said. “A dragon. If we were associated with a dragon, especially us, there would be consequences. We had not heard even a rumour that there was a dragon here. There was talk of a wyvern, but… there are legends. I’m sure you know. Dragon worshippers who create secret cults to supply their masters with gold and magic items and…” she paused for a moment and glanced at Herald.

Oh God, I thought. She’s going to say maidens. She’s going to say maidens, isn’t she?

“...and young women,” she concluded.

Ugh. Worst thing was that I had no idea how valid this was. Maybe dragons created cults of servants all the time. And I could definitely see the appeal of having a bunch of goons bringing you treasure all the time. But why maidens, specifically? Was there any truth to that at all? Did they mean specifically young, virgin women, or just young women? Or women who were virgins? Why women at all? Did they taste better, or was it a power play based on objectification, telling the men of the city or village that “Haha, I can take your stuff?”

I was getting pretty damned mad, thinking about it, and I must have showed it on my face because Makanna was sitting back stiffly, her eyes slightly wide and laser focused as she tried to get as far back from me as she could without actually moving or leaving her chair.

“But we could give it a try!” she said quickly, holding her hands up towards me. “No one has noticed you yet, and we never knew you were here until you showed yourself! I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

Was I that scary? I knew that I looked dangerous, but I’d hoped that talking to them might win them over. I wanted these people to like or at least respect me, not fear me.

I looked around. Valmik looked like a spring waiting to uncoil, but if he had wanted to make a move he could have. I’d had my back to him for a while, and his sword was right there, so he clearly didn’t want or expect the situation to escalate.

Herald… well, Herald looked excited. Perhaps a little smug at her sister’s reaction? It was hard to tell. Either way I was pretty sure that Herald, at least, wanted to work with me more. I didn’t know if it was for money, or curiosity about me as a dragon, or because she liked me as a person. Whatever the reason, I liked it.

I tried to relax as completely as I could. Tail curled, claws in, head back. “Listen,” I told them. “I don’t want to pressure you. I would like to work with you, but I get it if you need to think about it. No hard feelings if you decide not to, for whatever reason. Just don’t tell anyone about me, yeah? Only a handful of people have seen me, and if you haven’t heard any rumours that means they’re keeping quiet.” I put a little edge in my voice. I didn’t like to, but it felt necessary. “I’d appreciate it if you did the same.”

“By what way would we contact you, Lady Draka?” Valmik asked after a tense silence.

I’d thought about that, and come up with what I thought was a pretty good solution. Really cloak-and-dagger. “A few hours, two or three, I guess, north of the city there’s a side path that leads east to a lake with a camp site. There was a small battle there about ten days ago. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

I saw recognition in Makanna and Herald’s eyes, and Valmik spoke up. “We know of this. A camp of the Grey Wolves company was attacked there by bandits. Only one man from the company survived.”

Nothing about a dragon. That was good.

“That’s the one,” I said. “I visit it every couple of days. There is an old tree there, a big, knobbly one, that sits alone between the campground and the lake. Hide a piece of silver or gold by the tree. It shouldn’t matter if it’s a coin or a ring or whatever. I should be able to find it, and I’ll know that you’re looking for me. Go back there the next day, maybe, and the one after that?”

“Oooh,” Herald cooed. “Like spies or thieves arranging a secret meeting?”

“Kind of like that,” I agreed. I liked Herald. She got me. “Now,” I said, getting up, “I’m going back to my tree to sleep. Get the door for me, Herald, would you?”

“Sure,” she said, opening the door.

I started out, but remembered something. “By the way,” I said, turning my head around to look at the two at the table, “did you find any clues to what happened with the miners?”

“No, not really,” Makanna said with a frown. “Valmik had a more thorough look at the buildings while I slept. All the carts and wagons are gone, and the warehouse is empty of ore.”

“A mystery, for now,” Valmik added.

“Creepy,” I said. “Well, g’night. Wake me up before you go, will you?”

“Sure,” Herald said. As I walked away, it took a few seconds before I heard the door close.

I was pretty sure that I had a fan.

Makanna had been dead on about the healing. I was getting hungry, but I could handle it. Instead I made my way down to the stream and filled up on water. The next day, if I felt like it, I could go hunting. I thought I’d figured that out, at least. Then I got back in my tree. I listened to the rushing water in the distance, and the wind off the mountains whispering through the trees. It was so peaceful. My situation was messed up, but it had gotten a tiny bit better, and I started to see some real hope. Perhaps I could do more than survive. I could be satisfied, maybe even happy.

As I drifted off, rocked to sleep by the gentle swaying of the tree, I wondered for a moment what had happened to the miners. Not my problem, I decided, and then I was asleep.