Starlighter (24 page)

“Allender!” Elyssa called in a firm voice, her hand held high. “Stop these thoughts of friendly jests from your niece. Jason and I are not pranksters, nor are we insane. Didn’t your ancestors tell you that they came from another world?”

“Tales from old women!” Allender picked up a shovel and nodded toward the ladder. “My fellows will be here in a moment. You’d best end this prank now, or you’ll have everyone laughing, and we won’t make quota today.”

“Quota?” Jason asked. “Are you mining gems?”

This time, Allender’s finger stiffened as he pointed it. “Now I know you’re playing the fool. I don’t know which
Assignment you’re from, but I suggest you return there before your foreman misses you. If my workers don’t make quota, I’ll make sure the stripes they get on their backs are doubled on yours.”

Elyssa bowed her head before looking him in the eye. “Foreman Allender, it is noble of you to care so much for those you oversee. You must be a good and honorable man. Since this is so, I trust that deliverance from the bondage of slavery would be your highest goal for those in your employ.”

“Employ? Your Assignment must keep you ignorant of the real world.” As a female child descended the ladder, Allender lifted her to the floor. He turned her around and pulled her collar down, exposing her shoulders and the top ends of three red stripes. “These are our wages. From the littlest and weakest to the biggest and strongest, our masters beat us mercilessly if we come short of quota by even the tare of a pail.”

After patting the girl on the head, he pushed her along before pointing at Jason again. “Unless you want to be the reason she earns more of those welts, young man, I suggest that you silence your other-world talk. That myth is nothing but fuel for wagging tongues and added fury for dragons’ whips. If you breathe another word of it, I will pump you full of pheterone and use you as a torch.”

Elyssa leaned toward Jason and whispered, “Pheterone must be their name for extane.”

Jason matched her whisper. “Right. I guessed that.”

Smiling and backing away slowly, Jason offered a quick bow. “Give my best to Cassandra…and happy birthday.”

With that, he took Elyssa’s hand and hurried to the ladder they had descended. After letting her climb first, he
looked back at Allender. He was handing pickaxes to men as they dismounted the ladder. The little girl had been joined by a smaller boy, and both clutched pail handles with the pails resting on the ground.

Jason sighed and followed Elyssa. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “What now?”

“Get outside and explore. Maybe we can find the old women who still tell the tales.”

Elyssa nodded. “Good idea.” When they reached the top, they hurried back to the portal chamber, not bothering to pick up the torch, and climbed up twenty stairs cut in the stone until they emerged outside.

The sun shone just above low hills in the distance, more like jutting rocks than the forested hills back home. Although the rays felt hot, a cooling breeze wafted from the cloudless sky and brushed against squatty, oak-like trees and tufts of wiry grass.

Jason shielded his eyes and scanned the area. Near a creek, a line of people filed into a low opening at the base of a cliff, similar to the one he had just exited. Standing with its back to him, a huge scaly creature with wings and a long neck and tail held a whip in a clawed hand.

Swallowing hard, he whispered, “It’s a—”

“A dragon!” Elyssa finished.

The dragon cracked the whip across a lagging boy’s back, making him flinch, but the boy did nothing more than glare at the cruel beast before tromping back into the line.

Jason cocked his head. Did that boy have only one eye? For a moment it seemed that the boy had noticed them, a half-second pause, but he didn’t give any further indication.

Grabbing Elyssa’s hand, Jason pulled her back under the cave’s arched entrance, a yawning mouth big enough for that dragon to fit through. He leaned out and watched the boy disappear into the cliff. “Maybe now that they’re all inside, the dragon will go somewhere else.”

Elyssa peeked over his shoulder. “I see an old woman with water flasks. She’s probably stationed outside for the carriers.”

“Carriers?”

“They’re digging a huge hole, Jason. The rocks have to go somewhere. The men are the strongest, so they probably cut out the rocks and haul them to the top of the pit. The children then carry them in pails to the surface and float them away on rafts.”

“I didn’t see any rafts.”

“Or any piles of rocks, either. The rocks have to go somewhere, and I didn’t see any other conveyances, so I just guessed that they have rafts.”

He stared at her, wide eyed. “Thinking ahead again?”

She nodded. “You’re welcome.”

After a few minutes, a little boy emerged from the other cave, carrying a heavy pail. He dumped the contents near the creek and, swinging the empty pail, marched back. He kept his gaze on the ground, apparently not daring to look directly at the dragon that watched his every move.

Soon two small girls did the same—carrying a pail and dumping rocks—but the smaller of the two stayed at the creek bank. About a minute later, a wooden raft floated from upstream, and the girl waded in and pulled it to shore. Then she loaded the rocks onto the raft one by one.

“What a waste of time!” Jason said. “Why don’t they dump the pails directly onto the raft?”

Elyssa nodded slowly. “Strength training. Repetitive exercise with small loads for the youngest children.”

“You’re just guessing again.”

“No. Deducing. These dragons are treating them like beasts of burden that they train for manual labor. I’ll bet they even breed them, too.”

“You mean…”

“Right. Arranged marriages to produce the fittest. You can bet they forced even young girls to have babies, at least early on when they wanted the population to grow as quickly as possible.”

Jason grimaced. “That’s disgusting.”

“True, but it stands to reason. Once the population rose sufficiently, they probably allowed only the strongest to breed, so these girls are tested for strength while they’re very young. The weak or handicapped will never find love.”

“This isn’t about love.” He drew out his sword. “If the dragon stays in that position, I think I can take him out.”

She grabbed his sleeve. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“What if there are more dragons around?”

“Did you see any?”

She shook her head. “That doesn’t mean—”

“Look,” Jason said, pointing with his sword, “we know he’s the enemy. We saw him hit the boy with his whip. We came here to rescue the Lost Ones. This isn’t exactly a difficult decision.”

“I understand, but how many dragons have you fought?”

He stared at her for a moment. No use answering her question. She already knew the answer—zero, just like with the mountain bear. “Okay, what do you think I should do?”

“Well, maybe—”

The whip cracked. Jason spun toward the sound. The little girl tumbled face-first at the river’s edge and spilled her load. The dragon stood over her and whipped her back, snapping up a slice of clothing and a spray of blood.

Jason boiled inside. Strangling the sword’s hilt, he showed Elyssa its blade. “‘Maybe’ nothing.”

With his sword extended, he ran on the balls of his feet, trying not to make a sound. He had to get there before the dragon struck again. For now, it just stood over the small slave with the whip raised, as if daring her to move. It spoke, but in a guttural, growling sort of tongue that made no sense at all.

The girl curled up in the dragon’s shadow, covering her face with her hands and crying. A woman with a water flask stood nearby, but she just let her shoulders sag and shook her head.

Jason felt no fear, just anger—hot, fuming anger. And why should he fear this monster? He and Adrian had trained to fight dragons. Adrian had set up a furnace and hose combination that spewed fire from the top of a platform mounted on two ladders. It probably wasn’t anything close to the real thing, but the moves Adrian taught helped him understand how to fight an enemy that hurled weapons from above.

Yet this would be different. Very different. This beast had a brain and a streak of cruelty. A surprise attack would be his only chance.

As he closed in, Jason eyed the spiked tail. That weapon was another matter. Adrian had mentioned it in passing, but he couldn’t fabricate a reasonable facsimile.

Taking a deep breath, Jason raised his sword. Maybe the answer would be to eliminate the problem before it could become one.

With a mighty heave, he hacked down on the tail’s midsection. His razor-sharp blade sliced between two scales and amputated half the tail.

The dragon roared and spun on its haunches. Jason dashed past it and sliced across its midsection as he ran, striking the precise spot where Adrian had said its skin would be armored with thinner scales.

Brown blood poured from the sword-length wound. The dragon roared again, this time shooting fire from its mouth and nostrils. Jason dodged. The flames glanced off his arm, but the damp sleeve didn’t ignite.

With a lunging thrust, Jason drove the blade deep into the dragon’s gut, jerked it back out, and leaped toward the little girl. The dragon coughed. Fire and blood gushed from his mouth, but with no apparent aim. Then, like a falling tree, it toppled to the rocky terrain. A loud thud shook the ground. The dragon wheezed, then breathed no more.

Jason set his sword down and helped the girl rise to her feet. “Are you all right?”

She brushed hair out of her eyes and nodded. “I am.”

“What’s your name?”

“Tam.”

“Well, Tam, you won’t have to worry about that dragon again.” Jason retrieved his sword and began cleaning the blade on a tuft of grass.

The girl let out a gasp and pointed at the dead dragon. “Look what you did!”

“I did it for you.” Jason resheathed his sword and stooped at her side. “Now you can be free.”

“Free?” She squinted at him. “Will the Traders give me away?”

He slid his hand into hers. “That’s not what I mean. You can go wherever you wish. You can—”

“I have to work.” She jerked her hand away. Picking up another rock, she shuffled to the raft and dropped it with the others.

Rising, Jason took a step. “But you—”

“Hey!”

Jason shifted toward the call. Allender stood at the cave entrance, three small children huddling at his feet. He stalked out, his fists clenched and head low.

Extending his arm, Jason hoped for a congratulatory handshake. Slaying that dragon and saving Tam felt good, very good. “Did you see what that dragon was doing to that poor little—”

Allender punched Jason across the jaw. “You fool! Don’t you know the penalty for killing a dragon?”

J
ason reeled back and staggered to stay on his feet. Rubbing his jaw, he stared at Allender. “Why did you do that?”

Allender shook his fist. “If I weren’t a praying man, I’d give you another one.”

“But I killed the dragon. We can run to freedom.”

“To freedom? You really are a cracked pot, aren’t you? Where will we run? To the Northlands to visit the fairies? To the wilderness to be eaten by the jungle birds? What old woman’s tale do you want us to believe this time?”

Jason tried to draw the portal with his finger. “There’s this invisible gateway, and—”

“An invisible gateway?” Allender shook his fist. “I should grind you to powder. Yarlan will be here soon, and when he sees what you did, he will kill every adult among us and send the children to the cattle drivers.”

“Yarlan?”

“The patrol dragon. You would do well to tremble at the sound of his name.”

Jason pointed toward the cave where he had left Elyssa. She had emerged and was now walking toward them, her arms folded. “Not if we escape,” he explained. “All we have to do—”

“Jason!” Elyssa called.

“What?”

“One hour has almost expired. Maybe only a minute or so left. Proof is your best defense now.”

Jason lifted his hands in a surrender posture. “Listen, Allender, if you’ll just follow me, I can show you. Then if you’re not convinced, you can grind me to powder. I think a praying man should at least give me a chance to prove myself.”

Allender scanned the skies. So far, the deep blue canopy was free of dragons. He loosened his fist and gave Jason a skeptical nod. “Very well.”

Jason waved a hand toward the children. “Maybe they’d better stay in the mine until we get back.”

Allender whistled a shrill note, and all but one youngster ducked out of sight. The one-eyed boy stood tall and approached. “I’m going with you, Uncle. I don’t trust him.”

“Very well, Wallace,” Allender said as he rubbed the boy’s rag-mop hair. “I welcome your company.”

“What do we do with Rittle?” Wallace asked, nodding toward the dead dragon.

“We don’t have time to dispose of his body. Our only choice is to hide in the mine and, when Yarlan arrives, negotiate for the most lenient punishment.”

Jason gestured toward the portal cave entrance. “Maybe that won’t be necessary.” Leading the way, he hustled down the stairs. From the point directly above the row of crystal pegs, the antechamber’s ceiling descended rapidly toward the rear of the cave, making it unlikely that a dragon could easily pass beyond it. Humans could hide there safely, but standing out in the open, they would be easy prey until Tibalt opened the portal.

“So where is this invisible gateway?” Allender asked as he stood at the bottom of the stairs, Wallace at his side. Elyssa slid past them and hurried to Jason.

Jason guided his hand along the portal plane in a circular motion. “This is like a window…an invisible cave entrance that leads to another world, the planet where your ancestors came from. Soon my friend in that world will…” He looked at Allender. The foreman’s brow had knitted tightly. It seemed clear that a detailed explanation about inserting fingers in holes would probably incite another punch in the jaw.

After clearing his throat, Jason continued. “He will open this window, allowing everyone to escape the dragon tyranny.”

Allender set a hand on Wallace’s back. “Come along. We have heard enough of this madman’s ranting.”

Wallace stood firm. “I believe him.”

“What?” Allender stared at the boy. “Even with one eye, you can see as well as the rest of us. There isn’t anything there.”

“It took me two years to convince the dragons I wasn’t bad luck,” Wallace said, pointing at his eye. “So I learned a lot about how to tell the difference between superstitions
and truth. Being without one eye sometimes makes me see better than most.”

“What do you mean?”

“A long time ago, I heard about the other world. Koren said—”

“Oh!” Allender said, adding a condescending laugh. “I should have seen it coming. Another Koren story. That girl was telling old women’s tales as soon as she could talk.”

Jason stiffened but managed to keep his voice calm. “Koren? What does she look like?”

“A pretty little thing,” Allender said. “Red hair. Green eyes. Fifteen years old, I think. But she was born a talebearer, I tell you. She will talk the ears right off your head, and I fear that she has charmed Wallace with her fanciful stories.”

Jason glanced at Elyssa. Her eyes told him that she remembered the name. “Where is she now?” he asked.

“She serves one of the Zodiac priests,” Allender said, “a plum Assignment, to be sure. The dragons favor the redheads, and the priests love stories.” His lips bent into a sneer. “The priests spin fables of their own, so Koren likely supplies them with fresh lies.”

“They’re not lies!” Wallace snapped. “If you would just open your mind you would—”

An earsplitting scream ripped through the chamber.

“Yarlan!” Allender grabbed Wallace’s arm and pushed him toward the tunnels at the back wall. “Hurry to the mine and gather everyone at the ledge. I will be there in a moment.”

“I can’t leave you here,” Wallace said. “That would violate the Code.”

Yarlan screamed again, closer. Thumps sounded on the entry slope, and the cavern darkened.

“He’s coming!” Allender hooked his arm around Wallace’s elbow and did the same to Elyssa. “Run!”

They dashed into the central tunnel. Jason followed, instinctively ducking as he neared the opening, but a flash of light made him turn. Fire erupted, but instead of the expected blast of flames aimed at his back, a ball of sizzling blue shot in the opposite direction, toward a dragon standing at the entryway. It splashed against Yarlan’s scaly flank and drizzled to the floor.

“Shoot ‘im in the belly!” a voice called out.

Jason yelled at Elyssa. “That was Tibalt!”

Elyssa jerked free from Allender and rushed to Jason. “Where is he?”

As they stood in front of the central tunnel at the rear of the chamber, Randall appeared out of nowhere, stalking toward the dragon with a drawn sword and shouting, “He’s immune to the photo gun, Tibber. Time for slaying the old-fashioned way.”

“Run ‘im through!” Tibalt called. “I’ll try to distract him!”

Randall half crouched near the left side of the cavern, the photo gun in one hand and one of the antique swords in the other. Yarlan glanced between him and the center of the room, obviously confused.

“I heard Tibber again,” Elyssa said, “but I don’t see him.”

Jason drew his sword. “Stay back.” He marched past the portal plane to the right side of the anteroom and shouted, “Hey, Yarlan! Over here!”

The dragon swung toward him and shot a fireball. Jason leaped toward the exit, zipped past the dragon, and stood at the bottom of the staircase. Now at Yarlan’s rear, he looked toward the back of the cavern. Tibalt stood with his hands outstretched and his fingers splayed. The river rushed behind him with no sign of Elyssa or the others.

Jason jabbed at Yarlan’s flank, but his blade just clinked against the scales. As the dragon turned to face him again, Jason shouted, “Randall! Come with me! Tibalt! Close the portal! Open it again in…in about one hundred heartbeats!”

Jason charged up the stairs and into daylight. Standing outside the arch, he listened.

“Back, beast!” Randall yelled. The report of a photo gun blast echoed. Yarlan squealed. Seconds later, Randall stormed out of the cave, breathing hard. “Next time…next time you want me to run right past a dragon, give me a little more support.”

Jason waved his sword. “I tried to stab him. This one seems tougher than the one I just killed.”

A roar sounded from the cave along with a tromping march. Randall pressed his back against the wall on one side of the entry and motioned Jason toward the other. “You killed a dragon?”

Breathing heavily, Jason copied Randall’s pose and pointed with his sword. “Yeah. Over there.”

“Impressive.” Randall lifted his sword into ready position. “If he pauses at all, he gets one blade in each eye.”

“Got it.” Jason held his breath. Less than two seconds later, Yarlan shot out, leading with barrages of fire. Jason hacked at his eyes, but the head zoomed by so fast, his
blade missed the target and glanced off the dragon’s tough neck. As Yarlan launched skyward, a wing slapped Jason in the face, sending him rolling away.

He leaped to his feet and searched the sky. High above, Yarlan bent into a quick turn and headed their way, fire again blazing. Jason rushed over and helped Randall to his feet. A long bloody gash striped his face. He wobbled, still clutching his sword as Jason pushed his shoulder under Randall’s arm and helped him down the stairs.

A blast of fire splashed behind them, close enough to warm their backsides, but Yarlan stayed outside, apparently wary of reentering a dark cave where two sword bearers awaited.

When they emerged into the anteroom, Elyssa helped Jason lower Randall to a sitting position.

“Are you all right?” Elyssa asked.

Randall, his eyes a bit glassy, touched the wound near his cheekbone. “It smarts, but it probably looks worse than it is.”

“Woowee!” Tibalt shouted, still standing with his fingers extended. “That’s a mark that’ll make the ladies swoon!”

Jason stared at him. The river still rushed at his rear but flowed from right to left toward the pit. Maybe the river had washed away Elyssa’s blood, and now Tibalt controlled the direction.

“Didn’t you close the portal?” Jason asked.

“I did, but I was so excited, a hundred heartbeats didn’t take long.”

Jason looked at Elyssa. “Are Allender and Wallace still watching?”

“I’m not sure.” She nodded toward the river. “I think they’re still back there, but who can tell? This is all very strange.”

Jason waved an arm, imagining the two Lost Ones watching from behind the portal window at the rear of the chamber. “Come over here, and you can see the other world.”

Allender’s voice filtered toward them, muffled by the river’s rush. “Other world? Stop spewing that nonsense. I’ll have no part of it. You saw what the patrol dragons are capable of. The Royal Guard are twice as powerful, and Yarlan will summon them here, you can count on that.”

“What’s the harm in looking?” Wallace said as he walked through the portal plane and suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He turned back and added, “The Royal Guard won’t be here for—”

Wallace’s eye shot wide open. “What…what happened?”

Jason stood and joined him. “You’re looking into the other world, and this is my friend Tibalt.”

Tibalt grinned. “You can call me Tibber.”

Smiling nervously, Wallace gave him a polite nod. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. I’d shake your hand, but I would just disappear. And that wouldn’t be a gentlemanly thing to do.”

“You see,” Jason said as he stepped over the line of crystal pegs, “this is a portal, a gateway between worlds. And in Allender’s view, I probably disappeared.”

Wallace sucked in a breath. “Uncle! Can you see it? Did he disappear?”

Jason glanced at Elyssa and Wallace in turn. “Did he answer?”

“Not a word,” Elyssa said.

“He probably went back to the mine,” Wallace said, “to prepare the others for the coming of the Royal Guard.”

Elyssa tilted her head. “Prepare them?”

“Let him explain later.” Jason stepped back into the dragon world. “Tibalt, we can’t risk going outside to get to the mine pit, so you’ll have to close the portal for a while. And we can’t let you stand there, because a dragon might come in here while we’re gone.”

“I ain’t gonna argue with that. I think I’m allergic to dragons.” Tibalt wrinkled his nose. “How long this time?”

“Better not go by heartbeats. Can you guess how long a half hour is?”

“Yessiree. I can figure fractions with the best of them. I can even do thirds if you want.”

“Half should be fine. Go ahead and close the portal. When you open it again, if we’re not here, and there’s no dragon around, just keep it open and wait for us. If there’s danger, close it right away and check again in another half hour. Can you do that?”

“I am Tibber the Fibber, lord of the dungeon. I am an expert at being sneaky and disappearing when I have to.”

“Great. Then we’ll see you soon.”

After giving all four a final nod, Tibalt vanished, and the three tunnels reappeared. When the rush of water faded, the silence in the cavern felt heavy.

Wallace’s smile spread across his face. “This is even better than Koren’s stories!”

“How long before the Royal Guard dragons show up?” Elyssa asked.

Wallace turned and looked up the stairs. “It depends on who is available, but with a murdered dragon, I think we have only a few minutes.”

“Minutes,” Jason repeated. “I wonder if they’re the same length here as they are at home.”

Wallace looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “About sixty-five heartbeats?”

“Sounds right.” Jason reached down a hand and hoisted Randall to his feet. Now his eyes looked bright and fiery, and his legs seemed stronger.

“I want another shot at that beast,” he said.

“Then you can hide out in this room, in case Tibalt has trouble with a dragon. Since Yarlan saw humans with swords here, this is where they’ll probably come first.”

Randall regripped his sword. “Suits me fine.”

Wallace led Jason and Elyssa through the tunnel and down the ladder to the mining ledge. At the opposite side of the pit, six men crouched in a huddle with six or more children standing around them, trying to look over their shoulders.

Tam shuffled on her bare feet and touched a man’s shoulder with her skinny roughened hands. He reached back and patted her tenderly. “Don’t worry, Tam. Everything will be all right.”

A tear inched down her grimy cheek. She nodded but said nothing.

Breathing a quiet shushing sound, Wallace signaled for Jason and Elyssa to follow. When they reached the gathering, a thin man with a goatee held up a pair of crooked fingers and said, “I say we offer them two of us in exchange.”

“Not three?” a blond-haired man asked. “The dragon wasn’t just attacked. He was killed.”