Dragonmaster (4 page)

Hhana seemed almost bursting with the need to ask questions, but to Norl’s relief, she did not. Her eyes were riveted onto his face. Norl passed a hand over his own eyes to shield them. He could almost feel a current, thrumming and heavy, stretching from the girl to himself. He shook himself to break it, then went on, but without meeting Hhana’s eyes again.

“When our king, Dahl, was young, he was forced to fight another who had usurped his throne. He won the battle, with the help of Catryn, who is now Seer of Taun, but it was at a great cost. Then, when all supposed that Taun would remain in peace, the evil that had placed the Usurper on Taun’s throne rose again. Dahl and Catryn were forced to set out to meet it and defeat it yet once more. On their way they found me. I do not know why they took me with them, nor, I think, did they at the time. But it seems it was meant to be. At the end, when they faced certain death, it was I who saved them.”

Norl spoke the words without pride. Instead, all that he felt was sorrow. Perhaps that had really been the purpose of his being here on Taun. The reason why the Elders had found him on his own world and brought him here. Which meant that he was of no further use. That his purpose had been fulfilled. It remained only for him to die.

Hhana opened her mouth, unable to be quiet one instant longer.

“How—?”

“I saved them by making a promise to the dragon Caulda,” Norl interrupted her, forestalling further questions. “I promised that if she would let them live, I would return to her and I would be hers. Now the time has come to fulfill that promise.”

He stopped and waited but Hhana remained silent. The frown was back on her face and she looked to be thinking deeply.

“Will you kill her?” she asked at last.

“No, I rather think she will kill me,” Norl said. “And that is why you cannot come with me.”

“If I am with you, it is because I am meant to be,” Hhana said firmly. “I do not wish to be anywhere else. At least for now.”

“It is not what
you
wish that is of importance here,” Norl began, irritated, but Hhana had suddenly frowned.

“Is something wrong?” he demanded.

“No. Yes…it was just a funny feeling,” Hhana replied.
She was looking at him curiously, Norl thought, but she said nothing further. She raised a hand to tuck her hair more firmly under her cap.

Norl looked at her fingers, shocked. The nails were surprisingly long and sharp. He remembered her grubby little hands picking Gudruna’s fruit with him; her nails had been short and broken then. And surely they had not been this long when they had fed apples to the horses—he would have noticed. How could they have grown so quickly? He felt a shiver snake its way down his spine.

Who—or what—was this girl?

T
he next morning, Norl was awakened by the feeling that someone was watching him. There was a rustle in the straw behind him. He leaped to his feet and swung around to face whatever or whoever it was.

“And good morrow to you, too, my friend,” a nonchalant voice said.

Standing in front of Norl was a small creature, no taller than Hhana. It was covered in shining, silky, grey fur. Two brightly dark eyes sparkled out at Norl. It was munching on a handful of what looked like the grain that Norl and Hhana had fed to the horses the night before. It was sleek, but a small, round belly stopped it from being slender. As it spoke, it rubbed its belly with one dainty, fur-covered hand.

“Excellent grain this,” it said. “First class.”

Norl let out a whoop, but before he could say a word, Hhana jumped up. She stared at the creature, her brow furrowed, and fixed it with her intense, golden gaze. Then she shook her head as if confused.

“Not an animal,” she said. “You are not an animal?” It was more a question than a statement.

The grey-furred creature made a noise that sounded remarkably like a snort.

“Animal? I should say not! I am a Sele. Sele the Plump, to give you my proper name.”

Norl bent to envelop the small creature in an enormous hug.

“Sele,” he cried, “how did you ever come to find me!”

“Now see what you’ve done!” Sele the Plump exclaimed. “You’ve made me drop my breakfast!”

“We’ll get you more,” Norl said with laugh. In his joy at seeing Sele the Plump, he did not realize that the Sele had not answered his question. For the moment he forgot about it. “We’ll get you as much grain as you want.” He turned to Hhana. “This Sele was with us on the quest that I told you of, Hhana,” he said. “Without him and his fellows we would never have succeeded.” Then his face grew grim. “There was one thing I did not tell you, Hhana,” he said. “When I was a boy there was a great hunger in our village. Even though I was far too young, I decided to go north to seek work. I could not stay home and watch my mother starve. But I did not find work there. What I did find was a monster beyond all description. A creature who wreaked havoc and destruction upon all.”

“The dragon you go to now?” For the first time, Hhana’s voice trembled, but there was also something very like fascination in the question.

Norl nodded. He straightened up, but kept his hand on the Sele’s shoulder.

“I returned home broken and terrified. Unable even to speak of what I had seen. It was not until I met this Sele that I could begin to mend. To recover my sanity. It was Sele the Plump who helped put the terror behind me. The people of the Sele are a special race. They are very old and very wise.”

The Sele disengaged itself gently. It began to root around in one of the feed bags.

“That we are,” it said. “But in the end it was you, Norl, who saved us all.” It emerged from the feed bag with another handful of grain and heaved a satisfied sigh. “There is much I want to hear about how you have fared these past three years,” it said. “And much, I think, that you have to tell me,” it added with a sharp look at him. “But now is not the time. You and the maid should beg a bite from the innkeeper to break your fast and then we should be on our way.”

“
We?
” Norl asked, momentarily taken aback.

“Of course,” Sele the Plump answered. “You did not think I would let you go on alone, did you?”

The Sele walked beside Norl as they wended their way upward. It kept up a constant chatter about the doings of
its people, those who had passed on through accidents of one kind or another and those new Sele who had been created to replace them. The Sele were neither male nor female and did not die of natural causes; they were a peaceful race who lived in the grassy plains around the city of Daunus. They tended to keep themselves apart, but when needed they did not hesitate to help the people of Taun.

The sun continued to shine hot and bright; Norl was content to let Sele the Plump gossip. He was in no hurry to tell the Sele of his failure—of his ignominious flight from the Domain of the Elders. The Sele seemed to sense this and it was obviously willing to wait until he was ready to talk. Sele the Plump had always seemed to know how he felt, Norl remembered. In the meantime, he worried. Every step was taking them nearer to Caulda’s den. He must come up with
some
sort of plan. And what was he to do with Hhana?

The maid walked behind them and whenever he glanced back he was greeted with a frown. For some reason, she seemed to resent Sele the Plump. For its part, the Sele kept snatching curious glances over its shoulder at her, too, even while it was talking. Several times it seemed about to say something, but then stopped itself.

Norl puzzled about that, then thrust the questions out of his mind and returned to his dilemma. He was still mulling, and the Sele was still chattering, when they stopped for a drink and a rest beside a small stream that danced down from the mountain high above. The Sele immediately
waded into the water, then it plunged in, turned on its back and grasped an overhanging branch so that the current would not carry it away. It lay there, floating, with a look of perfect contentment on its face.

Norl stared at it. “I did not know the Sele could swim,” he said. “I did not think they even liked water.”

“Most don’t,” Sele the Plump replied. “Most of my kind are slim,” it said, looking over Norl’s shoulder to where Hhana stood slightly apart from them. “I am the only one who has rounded out so.” It sighed, and closed its eyes, drinking in the warm sunlight. Its toes wiggled as if with sheer delight at the sensation of the water tugging at them. “That is why I can float so well,” it added.

Hhana said nothing, and it was not until they had stopped farther upstream to make camp for the night that she spoke.

“I suppose from now on we must go back to sleeping under the trees,” she said. She sounded annoyed, but brought out her flint and steel and set about making a fire. No hare to roast over it this night, either, but the innkeeper had been pleased enough with their work that he had provided them with bread and cheese, and the fire would provide warmth.

Sele the Plump sat down beside her. “I do cause comment in places where the ordinary folk gather,” it said. Then it gave a small, quick shift backward as the fire crackled and sparked. “Do not stir that fire up so,” it commanded.

Hhana scowled.

“We live in the grasslands,” it said. “We have good reason to be wary of flames.”

Hhana shrugged and bent to control the fire. As she did so, her cap fell off. Her hair tumbled out, thick and curling around her shoulders, glistening green in the light of the flames. Sele the Plump gasped. She glowered at it.

“I’m sorry,” the Sele said quickly. “I did not mean to be rude, but I have been intrigued by your unusual eyes and now your hair startled me.” It held up a hand to forestall Hhana’s indignant response. “I mean that in no derogatory way, my child but, please, let me look more closely at you.”

Hhana gave a snort and snatched her cap back up. “I am not a beast to be examined by you!” she snapped. She struggled to stuff her hair back under her cap.

The Sele took a deep breath and nodded as if it had confirmed something to itself. “Peace. Please! I meant only that I have heard of beings such as you in the tales our elders tell, but never for one moment did I think that I would ever meet one. I always thought those stories to be naught but fables. I never believed that they could be true.”

“What do you mean, beings such as me?” Hhana demanded, furious.

“Why, do you not know what you are, child?” the Sele asked in surprise. He turned to Norl. “Do you not know, either?”

Norl shook his head, bewildered.

“I supposed you knew, Norl,” the Sele said. “I thought that was why you had her with you.”

“I do
not
know,” Norl replied. “I do not have the faintest idea what you are talking about.”

“Why, this child is dragonling, of course,” Sele the Plump replied.

N
orl looked at the Sele, astonished. He swung his gaze back to Hhana. She seemed as astounded as he. Then, as he stared at her, she seemed to blur, grow bigger, and for one brief instant all he could see was a shining green shape with golden eyes. A dragon shape. A huge dragon shape.

He shook himself. Blinked hard. And Hhana stood before him again in her own form.

“What…? What happened?” she gasped.

“Do you not know?” Norl asked.

“No. I felt strange, dizzy…Then it was as if I were seeing you and all the world around you through different eyes. You looked so small! So insignificant!” She caught herself and her tawny skin darkened in what Norl supposed was a blush. “I’m sorry!” she cried. “I did not mean to say that!” Then she bit her lip. A thoughtful look came into her golden eyes. “But you did,” she said slowly. “You looked—small!”

“Has that not happened before?” Sele the Plump asked.

“No! But last night…Almost…Almost, I felt something similar, but I did not want to take notice of it. And my nails…” She looked down at her hands. “I saw you looking at them, Norl. They have never looked like this before.”

“Ah,” Sele the Plump said with a kind of sigh. “This is the first time you have been truly named as dragonling, then. And you are leaving childhood behind. It is time, now, for you to come into your power.”

“What do you mean?” Hhana demanded. Her voice was angry but the words wobbled. “You are making no sense!”

“Sele, what are you talking about? Explain yourself!” Norl burst out.

“I will as best I can,” the Sele said. “But I know only the old stories. The myths, as I thought them.”

“Then tell us those,” Norl insisted.

“I will,” Sele the Plump replied. “You had better sit down.”

“Long ago, in the time before time, when Taun was new,” Sele the Plump began when Norl had seated himself, “the people of this world and the dragons lived in peace.”

Hhana had not sat down beside them. She remained standing, staring at the Sele. There was a mixture of fascination and what might possibly be fear in her eyes. The Sele looked at her for a long moment, then gave itself a little shake and went on.

“There were people such as yourself, Norl, and Cat-ryn and Dahl, and people of the Sele such as myself. We all paid homage to the Elders, who were our protectors and teachers. I say we lived in peace but, according to the tales, it was not always easy. Dragons are uncomfortable creatures to live with, even at the best of times.” The Sele moved back again as a log on the fire flared up.

“But there was another race on Taun, then,” he went on. A people who combined the attributes of humans and dragons, both the good and the evil: the dragonlings. They were a fearsome race, and not reliable, but they helped keep the peace on Taun when it suited them. There should also have been a dragonmaster, one who could keep them in check, but there was not. Perhaps if there had been, things would not have come to pass as they did…” The Sele fell silent.

“What happened?” Hhana broke in. She had not taken her eyes off the Sele. “What happened to the dragonlings?”

The Sele looked up at her. “Their power twisted them,” it replied, holding her eyes with its own. “They sided more and more often with the dragons and did more harm than good. Then they began to disappear. No one knew where,
no one knew why. As they vanished, the dragons grew aggressive. They grew greedy. They began to plunder the towns and cities of Taun. They began to realize that the people of Taun were weak and unable to oppose them—that the people were
insignificant.
”

Hhana flushed even darker.

“And then the dragonlings disappeared completely,” Sele the Plump said, “and the dragons became unstoppable.”

“But there are no dragons left now,” Norl said. “Only Caulda. What happened to them?”

The Sele dropped its eyes and looked back at Norl. “The people revolted. Without the tempering influence of the dragonlings, they came to hate the beasts, and hunted them down. A dragon is fearsome, but it is not invulnerable. The people formed packs—mobs—and killed them wherever and whenever they could. The Elders tried to stop the massacre, but there was no reasoning with the inflamed people. The dragons fought back, of course. Whereas before they had limited themselves to plundering things which they deemed to be of value—jewels, gold, treasures of the kings and the wealthy—now, as they were being slaughtered, they began to take their revenge.”

The Sele stopped speaking and then, finally, it continued.

“Taun became a place of blood lust and murder, and that opened the door, the old tales say. It opened a rift in the fabric of the world that allowed evil to enter. What the
evil was, the tales could not say, but we have seen it at work, even in our own times. It was the evil that murdered Dahl’s parents and set a usurper in his place as King of Taun. It was the evil that possessed the last of the dragons, Caulda, and her son, who nearly killed the Protector of Taun and who in turn was slain by Dahl.

“But the evil is gone now,” Norl protested.

“As long as Caulda lives, the evil lives as well,” the Sele answered.

“What about
me?
” Hhana cried, interrupting them. “You call me
dragonling
—am I infected with this evil, too? Will I be twisted, too?”

“Only you can decide that,” Sele the Plump said. “Where you came from I do not know, and how you, alone, survived, I do not know, either.”

“Impossible!” Hhana cried. “This is not true. This is all a pack of lies and fairy tales. You know not of what you speak. I am no
dragonling!
I am Hhana! Just because my hair is an unusual shade…Just because I know not where I come from…” She broke off with a sob. Before Norl could make a move to stop her, she turned and ran into the darkening woods. Norl stared after her, then turned to the Sele.

“How can this be, Sele? Not even Catryn has ever spoken to me of such creatures as dragonlings. And, even if this maid be one—and I cannot bring my mind around that—why would I want her with me? From what you have said, she might just bring more danger.”

“But she might not,” the Sele replied.

Norl whirled away, then spun back to face the Sele again.

“I go to Caulda to certain death, Sele. I
am
insignificant, even as Hhana said. And I am a failure. I could not learn the magic no matter how I tried.”

“You are not a failure until you have tried and failed, Norl. And given up. That is failure. You know not what awaits you. You know not what strengths you may have.”

“I have no strengths!” Norl cried. “Do you not understand? I tried for three years to learn what Catryn and the Protector would teach me, but I could learn nothing. There is no magic in me at all. Finally I snuck away without even bidding them farewell. I could not face the disappointment in their eyes.”

“And are you so sure that it would have been there?” the Sele asked.

“What else could there be?” Norl replied bitterly.

“Perhaps you should have waited to see,” Sele the Plump replied mildly. It reached up to lay a hand on Norl’s shoulder, but Norl shook it off.

The Sele dropped its hand and shrugged. ”It is late, my friend,” it said then, and smiled. “We should eat. Food always helps. I took the opportunity to supply myself with a goodly amount of that grain this morning—the horses will never miss it. And I’ll remove myself from this fire, too.” With that it settled itself down against a tree, well away from the flames, and opened a pouch that it carried
slung around its neck. It dipped a hand into the grain and began to eat.

“Perhaps you should seek out the maid,” it said, the words muffled. “It must be a shock to her to learn what she is.”

“It is a shock to me, as well,” Norl said. He stood up and brushed himself off. Without a further word, he headed into the woods to follow Hhana.

He found her standing in a glen. The moons of Taun had both risen and were casting opposing shadows. By their light he could see that she was staring at her fingers. He hesitated, unsure of what he should say to her, but when she heard him approach, she looked up at him and, wordlessly, held her hands out to him.

Norl took them in his own. He could feel her nails cutting into his palms. Even longer now, and as smooth and gleaming in the moon shadows as talons.

“I have always known there was something different about me,” Hhana said, her voice no more than a whisper. “When I cursed that boy…I suspected…Something…But not this. Not
this,
Norl!”