FREE FICTION

Dragon designs by Aon Celtic Art

LOST AND FOUND

Alder rescues dragons for a living, but he's ready to rescue anything or anyone who is in need...

 

It was late afternoon when I found the dragon. The trouble with young ones is that they leave no scent, and rarely communicate with other dragons, so I’d been tracking it for three days. I’d had to rely on rumor and sightings, and there had been far more footwork than I care for -- not that I can use a horse much in my line of work, for obvious reasons.

I’d walked through a village and up the lane towards the moors as I’d been told. There was an inn up there, conveniently located for travelers wanting to cross the moors, an ordinary enough place with the usual smoking chimneys and muddy stable yard, but it had a broad lawn with a chestnut tree, and under the tree was the dragon, curled up asleep.

He was the first thing I noticed. The second was the man standing by him, because most people won’t get that close to a dragon, even for money. This man looked preoccupied, as if the dragon were a problem he was trying to solve. Perhaps it was.

I approached quietly and said, “People buy dragons as pets, then when they get too big, they throw them out. There ought to be a law against it.”

He spun round, knife in hand, dropping into a defensive position as he did so. Ex-soldier, I thought. He was young, early twenties I’d have said, and he had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen in a man. Perhaps they looked bluer because of his dark hair -- and perhaps I should be concentrating on the dragon.

He’d lowered the knife, seeing someone in a shabby leather jacket and scuffed boots, with no visible weaponry. Also I was probably a good fifteen years older than he was, so he no doubt thought I was in my dotage.  Even so, there was a wary look in those eyes. It was the same look you get from a dragon the first time it meets a human being.

“I’m Alder,” I said, standing still and keeping my hands where he could see them. “I work for Dragon Rescue. Maybe I can help you with this one.”

He looked me over carefully, not relaxing at all. “I was told to get rid of him,” he said at length. “If you can take him away, that would be more satisfactory.”

“That’s what I was hoping.” I carried on talking rather than getting straight to work, to give him time to make up his mind about me. “I’ve been following him for three days. He must have come from Riversmeet, I think. There are a lot of people there with more money than sense. No wonder he’s tired.”

The blue eyes flicked to the dragon and then back to me. “He’s smaller than I expected.”

“Still young. Still growing. He shouldn’t be trying to fend for himself yet.” I shrugged off my pack and began to open it. “I need to put a collar on him first. Care to help? It’s easier with two.”

I always ask this of people and they always look at me as if I’m crazy. Humans need a lot of educating where dragons are concerned.

There was another pause, then he said, “All right. What do I do?”

I swallowed my astonishment, retrieved a soft tracking collar from my pack, and stepped up quietly to the dragon. The little creature was fast asleep and likely to remain so if we were lucky. I bent down and scratched the face scales between the dragon’s eyes, and he let out a faint snore. “If I keep his head up, can you loop this round his neck for me?” I asked, holding the collar out.

My assistant approached cautiously, moving quietly like a swordsman or a dancer, and took the collar from me. I lifted the head, which was always heavier than it looked even in a small dragon, and he crouched down and reached round the creature’s neck. My admiration knew no bounds. He hadn’t even paused.

“Don’t do it up too tightly, the third hole will do. Can you manage?”

He fastened the buckle without any fuss, and I expected him to back off at once, but he stayed beside me while I gently lowered the dragon’s head to the ground again. “You can stroke him if you want,” I told him. “He won’t mind.”

I watched the long-fingered brown hand move across the scales. He glanced at me with surprise. “He’s warm. I thought they’d be cold.”

I shook my head with a smile. “No. The scales are just hard bits of hide. They trap warm air.”

“What’s the collar for?”

“So I can find him if he flies off again. It’s got a tracking spell in it -- and it’s useful for tethering him if I need to. Small dragons you can tether, with the big ones you’re wasting your time.”

I watched him petting the dragon, my feelings divided between disbelief and excitement. The disbelief was because I’d never met anyone before who took to dragons so readily, and the excitement was for pretty much the same reason. Pretty much… He had forgotten some of his wariness in his interest about the creature, and now he looked up at me and asked, “Is it true that they can talk?”

“Some of them, but not until they’re much older. This little chap will probably wait another sixty years before he says anything. He can communicate with other dragons, of course, but while he’s young, he can’t even do that very well.”

“Pity you can’t bring an adult dragon along with you to talk to him.”

I was about to answer this, when he straightened up abruptly, staring over my shoulder with that wary look back in his eyes. I glanced round and saw another man crossing the grass towards us. This one was tall and angular, and I knew he meant trouble before he got anywhere near us.

He had a dark, frowning face and he ignored me completely, addressing my companion. “I thought I told you I wanted the dragon gone, Smith?” he snapped. “You don’t seem to be doing much to obey my orders.”

“Perhaps I could introduce myself,” I said, stepping between the two of them and giving the newcomer a pleasant smile. “I’m Alder, from Dragon Rescue. I’m going to take the dragon away in a little while.”

“Dragon Rescue,” he sneered, looking me up and down and apparently not liking what he saw. “Another time waster. Why not just kill the beast?”

I meet plenty of people with that attitude and by now I could cope with it. When I was younger, I used to lose my temper, but I know better now. “Well, we’ll soon be out of your way. Unless you’d like me to leave the dragon where it is, of course? I’d hate to offend you.”

I saw the young man give me a quick glance to see whether I really meant this, and I gave him a faint shake of the head. Meanwhile, the other man had turned his sneer on my companion. “See them off the premises -- and don’t disappear afterwards. You’re good for one thing, at least, and I want that tonight.”

I saw the younger man flinch, and that made me angry in a way that the scorn had not. It also explained at least some of the wariness. I wanted to know why he put up with it. “You work for this charmer?” I asked him, turning my back on the other one, and lowering my voice.

He nodded, looking at the ground. “Blood debt.”

Ah, well that explained it. Someone had killed someone else, and this young man was paying the price. He was wasted, and I hate waste. I faced around to his employer again. “I don’t suppose I could persuade you to drop that debt?” I asked mildly.

The man gave an unpleasant laugh. “Why? Do you fancy him yourself? What reason could I possibly have to do that?”

“Let’s see if being scared shitless is anything of an incentive.” I put two fingers into my mouth and whistled loudly.

They both jumped, and  before the older man had time for another sneer, I heard the beat of heavy wings above us. Darkness had been hovering, watching what was going on. Now she dived and pulled out of the dive thirty foot above our heads, to hover again, wings barely quivering. She’s a big dragon, and it was an impressive sight. The little dragon woke up and raised its head, yawning. They have quite a few teeth, even when they’re that young.

I grabbed the charmer’s arm before he could bolt. The young man was watching me, his eyes wide, but he said nothing and he didn’t move either, despite the dragon right above our heads. I addressed my captive. “Perhaps you’d like to reconsider that debt?”

He was white with fear and I could feel him trembling. “I --” he began, but he couldn’t get the words out.

“You don’t really need him,” I said pleasantly, “and I do. Why not give me the key?”

It was going to be tricky if he didn’t carry it on him, but I was certain he did. That type like to gloat. Just to help him make up his mind, Darkness opened her mouth and roared. It wasn’t a loud one, and it meant Hurry up, my wings are getting tired but he didn’t know that. From the corner of my eye, I could see figures bunching at the windows and doorways of the inn, but I reckoned none of them liked this bastard enough to come and help, even if they’d been reckless enough.

He put a shaking hand inside his jacket and pulled out a key on a slender chain. It was a good thing he did -- I didn’t have a back-up plan other than knocking him out.

“That’s very good of you.” I took it before he could change his mind, and let go of his arm. He reached the inn door shortly before Darkness landed on the grass beside us. “Who is this?” she asked, her voice a low rumble that made the glass in the windows rattle.

“A friend,” I said, crossing over to the young man. The little dragon staggered to its feet, making squeaking noises, and sidled cautiously toward Darkness, and I saw his eyes following it. “Give me your hand,” I told him quietly, hoping he was going to go along with this. He held it out, but I could feel that he was tense as a coiled spring, not with fear but with something else. I wasn’t really surprised. I slid back his sleeve and found the debt ring fastened tightly round his wrist. It opened easily enough and I dropped it onto a convenient stone and stamped on it with the same pleasure I get when I release a dragon into the wild.

He stood there, looking at me, still saying nothing.

“What’s your real name?” I asked.

“Bracken.” He rubbed his wrist absently, eyes locked on mine.

“Well, Bracken. You’ve got two choices. You can go off and do whatever you want to, or you can come with me and learn about dragons.” I had a jar of healing ointment in my pack, so I took this out and scooped some onto my fingers. I reached out for his wrist again, and he let me take it.

“You don’t know anything about me. I had a blood debt. I might have killed someone.”

“You might,” I agreed. He looked quite capable of it. “But then, you don’t know anything about me either. We’re going to have to trust one another.” I rubbed ointment gently into his skin, feeling his pulse pounding as I did so. “I have to admit that I’m keen to recruit you. I don’t meet many people who react as well as you do to dragons. There are only three of us working for Dragon Rescue and there’s a lot of work to be done.” I didn’t add that I thought he could probably do with some help himself, and I’d very much like to be the one to give it. Time enough for that later.

I finished with the ointment, but kept hold of him, sliding my fingers down until they were closed around his. I expected him to pull away, but he didn’t. Instead he stared down at our joined hands, deep in thought.

“I don’t want to hurry you, but we ought to go before we outstay our welcome.” I squeezed his fingers gently. “At least let me make sure you get safely away from here. I don’t trust that bastard.”

He raised his head and gave me that straight blue look again. “I’ll come with you. I’d like to meet more dragons.”

“Good.” I smiled at him, feeling relief and pleasure. “Come and meet Darkness first.”

Darkness was sniffing the little dragon but raised her head as we approached. “Darkness, this is Bracken,” I said. “He’s coming back with me.”

She looked down at him. “He is welcome.” That was encouraging -- she was a good judge of character. “It would be best if you were both to ride. We cannot go far because of the young one.”

“It might be an idea to get away from here quickly,” I agreed. I glanced at Bracken. “How do you feel about riding a dragon? It’s not as difficult as it looks.”

This was rather throwing him in at the deep end, but there was no help for it. I saw him swallow. “If the dragon permits,” he said.

“She does.” I added, “Is there anything you need to fetch from the inn?”

He shook his head. “Not if you don’t mind me being destitute.”

“You won’t be that,” I assured him. “Now, watch how I climb up, and then I’ll give you a hand. We need to sit between the first two ridge spines. There’s plenty of room.”

I vaulted up onto the dragon’s bent elbow and then reached for the spine to haul myself into position. I remembered the first time I’d done this and how strange and unsafe it had felt, but when I leaned down to hold out a hand to Bracken, he was already up on the elbow and ready to jump. Quickly and neatly he slid in behind me, just as if he’d done it a thousand times before.

“You need to hold onto me,” I told him. “Launch is the worst bit, but if you can ride a horse bareback, you can ride a dragon. Ready?”

I felt lean arms encircle my waist. “What about the baby?” he asked, looking down at the little dragon.

“He’ll follow, don’t worry. Darkness will make sure of that.” Then I called to her, “Ready when you are.”

She made a smooth jump, mindful of an inexperienced passenger, but Bracken just swayed with the motion as I did. The big wings opened under our feet, blocking out most of the view, but Darkness knew where she was going.

“All right?” I asked over my shoulder.

He looked calm enough. “Fine.”

The air rushed past us as we headed for the slopes of the mountains. This was a good day, I thought with satisfaction, the best day for a long time. And with any luck, the days ahead could be better still. It was going to be hard work forging a friendship with him, but I thought it would be worth it in the end. As for anything else, I’d just have to wait and see.

 I felt a touch on my shoulder and a slim brown hand pointed to the little dragon, which was turning somersaults under Darkness’s nose. I grinned and glanced around at Bracken. That was the first time he’d touched me of his own accord, and the first time I’d seen him smile. Two captives liberated, not a bad day’s work.

I blinked some moisture out of my eyes. It was just the wind stinging them, of course.