Draka

“Draka! Hello? Madam dragon? Wake up!”

I woke up groggy, but thankful. Herald’s voice, insistent and unfairly chipper, had rescued me from a terrible dream. I had been back home, with my friends and my mom and dad and my brothers. But everyone was terrified of me. When I tried to talk to them they’d scream and run, or try to hide, and I didn’t understand why until I remembered that, oh, right, I’m a monster now. And an anger kept building in me at the unfairness of it all. I didn’t ask for this. This wasn’t my fault. I was still the same person, I just looked different. Why couldn’t they see that? The anger grew hotter, and hotter, until it blossomed into a roaring rage and I lashed out…

I shook the last of the nightmare from my head and climbed down unsteadily.

“Morning, Herald,” I told her as I emerged from the tree. “You guys ready to go?”

“We are fed, packed, and ready,” she confirmed. “If we get started soon we should be back in Karakan by sundown. Before the guild hall closes, if we are lucky.”

“That’s who handles the jobs?” I asked as we started back to the building, assuming that she was talking about some kind of mercenaries’ or adventurers’ guild.

“That is right,” Herald answered. “If we are really lucky we may even be able to get Tam out tonight, though that seems less likely. Still, it would be good to have the coins in hand.”

“How much are you getting paid?”

“Two hundred silver Eagles,” she said a little breathlessly.

“How much is that? How much silver, I mean?”

“It is two hundred…” she started with some confusion, before her eyes brightened with comprehension. “Oh, I see. Well, the Karakani Eagle is supposed to be one fortieth of a pound of pure silver, so five pounds, I guess. But you never know. People clip the edges, or the mint mixes in lead to stretch the silver, and it can be hard to tell unless you know what to look for. Still, an Eagle is always an Eagle, right? That is the whole point.”

I wondered how much she knew about inflation, but decided not to sour the mood.

“What about the gold coins?” I asked instead. By then we had reached the building and were waiting for Makanna and Valmik to come out.

“Dragons? People rarely use those. They are too valuable. A Dragon is an eightieth of a pound of pure gold, and buys a pound of silver, so it’s 40 Eagles to a Dragon.”

“But two hundred Eagles is a lot of money, right?”

“It is,” Herald said, nodding. “A labourer might only make an Eagle every week, or less if they are unfortunate. Though they would probably rarely see an Eagle. They would be paid a few Peacocks at the end of each day, instead. Those are brass or bronze, depending on the year they were minted. They might even get paid in bits. Those are quarter Peacocks.”

“Right,” I said, trying to work things out in my head. If I had three and a half kilos of silver in my bags, and the pound here was close to the pound back home, that would be more than they were getting paid! Several years wages for a simple labourer. I had a fortune around my neck! And if I had nine Dragons already, and one Dragon was a pound of silver, then I’d nearly double my hoard! I was almost giddy with excitement.

The dragon leaked through more at some times than others. Treasure being involved was one extreme, and I refused to feel bad about it.

“Draka?” Herald said with some concern. “Are you alright? You are rumbling.”

“Am I?” I asked. I hadn’t noticed anything. Was that a thing I could do? “I was just thinking of something nice.”

“Oh,” she said. There was a short silence, then she reached out and touched the scales on my healed wound. I was a little surprised, but I didn’t make a fuss.

“Your new scales are completely black now,” she said. “And very hard.” Without warning she tapped one with a nail. It made a tik-tik sound.

“Hey!” I said, pulling my head away and looking at her. She had the good taste to look embarrassed, at least.

“Sorry,” she said, looking away. “I do not know what came over me. I am just… happy! We can help Tam, and…” she looked at the closed door, then leaned in conspiratorially, “I passed the threshold while I slept.” She almost squealed with delight before going on. “I guess processing yesterday was enough to push me through. That happens sometimes,” she added, remembering my questions the night before.

“That’s great!” I told her. Her joy was infectious, and this was clearly very important to her. “I guess I shouldn’t ask–”

“Reflexes!” She answered like she’d been dying for someone to ask. “It is so good,” she continued, her excitement taking over and her voice getting faster and higher as she spoke, “and I have never met anyone my age with all three minor advancements, and at this rate in a year I should get my next one and that will be a major!”

She squeaked the last word, and I grinned at her, hoping that I looked suitably happy for her instead of terrifying. She took it in stride.

“Tell me all about it when you do, yeah?” I told her. Then the door opened and Herald pulled herself together as Makanna and Valmik brought out their packs.

“Morning,” I told them.

“Good morning to you, uh, madam,” Makanna said. Ugh, why the sudden formality, I wondered. “Are you here to see us off?”

“Yeah, if you think you’ll be alright on the road,” I told them. “I could always follow you among the trees, just in case.”

“Our thanks, Lady Draka,” Valmik said, and sounded like he meant it. “But, there is no need for you to trouble yourself.”

“Sure? You’d never know I was there,” I added. I’m not sure why I decided to be so creepy about it. Maybe just to see Makanna’s reaction?

Makanna blanched. “There really is no need, madam,” she said. “Thank you for the offer.”

I must have really scared her the night before. Oh, well. It would have been nice to talk to them some more, but I couldn’t exactly walk with them openly.

“Well, then I guess I’ll be going,” I told them. “Good luck with Tamor. Really. And think about my offer, alright?”

“That is assured, Lady Draka,” Valmik said and inclined his head.

“Right. See y’all later.”

With that I turned around, took a few running steps, and launched myself into the air. I climbed sharply to above the tops of the trees, taking in the fresh air and the delicious smell of pine. My necklace threw my balance off a little so I felt it out, figuring out how to compensate before turning in a big circle and heading back over the mining camp, north towards my cave.

“Goodbye, Draka!” I heard Herald’s voice, faint in the distance, and I smiled. I wasn’t sure about the others, but I had a feeling I’d be seeing her again. I hoped that I would. The tall, dark girl didn’t remind me at all of myself at her age, but she had a good vibe and I liked her.

Unfortunately, Makanna clearly didn’t want anything to do with me. I wasn’t sure why. She’d been friendly enough when she fixed my wounds, but as soon as I’d started talking about teaming up in the future she’d gone cold. Fair enough, but I wished that I knew why.

I didn’t want to give them a direction for my cave, Makanna especially, so I initially headed away at an angle from the mountains, staying low over the treetops. The mine lay in a high, U-shaped valley that cut west through the mountains, and once I was out over the forest proper I took a turn to look back. That valley, I realised, was one of the landmarks I’d been using to navigate, perhaps half an hour from home on the wing. I should go back sometime soon, I decided. There was sure to be more silver. We never looked in the gremlins’ shelters, for one, and there were always the gremlins themselves. If they didn’t run away into the mountains, of course.

I messed with some birds on the way for the hell of it. Maybe it was mean, but I didn’t actually hurt any of them. I wasn’t sure that I could, the way they dodged, but it was fun to see their flocks break apart when I dove through them, and to hear the indignant quacks and squawks of ducks and geese as I overtook them in the air. But soon I saw the crack high on the side of a mountain, the ledge with its scraggly grass and malnourished little tree, and behind it the entrance to my cave. It was strange. I hadn’t picked the place. I hadn’t done anything with it. But landing there felt like coming home. Something terrible, or possibly wonderful, had happened to me there. I wasn’t sure which. For that matter, I still wasn’t sure if this was real at all. But either way I felt safe there, completely safe. I could relax and not worry about anything… except possibly little bat-faced monsters tunnelling in and trying to steal my stuff. But even that felt like a very distant possibility, and I knew in my bones that if my hoard was threatened, I would know.

So, I didn’t worry. I went inside, left the bag with the tinderbox near my sleeping spot, and made my way down, beyond the daylight and into the depths where the only light came from the slime on the walls. I squeezed through the crevice. In the dark I found the box with the gold coins – Dragons, I reminded myself, and smiled – right where I had left it. I ran my hand over them and heard them tinkle softly in the darkness. Then I took off my necklace and, one by one, I used a claw to cut the strings that fixed the bags to the rope and emptied them all around the wooden box.

It made a small pile, but the contentment I felt was enormous.