Dragon Tears (10 page)

The ground rushed up to meet him. He knew he wouldn’t survive but the thought didn’t frighten him. Instead he felt free, unencumbered by all the little things that had previously occupied his mind. He thought of his parents and how he would miss them. He thought of the wizard and all he had yet to learn. He thought of Rat and hoped she would recover. He thought of his new friends Larkin and Redwing and hoped the dragons wouldn’t feel guilty for his death. He thought of his impending death and only hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much.

Redwing continued her nosedive. She gained speed as she drew closer and closer to the falling boy. She was just inches from a fatal mid-air collision when she reached out one giant claw and snatched Patrik from the air.

Patrik felt the large talons close around him like a cage, and he clung to the bars of his prison in gratitude. Redwing made a deft landing on three legs, releasing Patrik from her claw only when she came to a full stop. The boy leaned heavily against her side as the reality of his close call with death sunk in. He began to shake, his muscles trembling with fear, and he abruptly sat down next to the large dragon’s side.

“Are you all right?” Allard asked, dismounting the dragon and rushing to Patrik’s side.

“I think so,” the boy said.

“What happened?”

“Rat’s sling started to slip, and when I bent over to catch the loose ends, I fell off.”

“Where are Larkin and Rat?” the wizard asked, scanning the afternoon sky.

Patrik also looked up, realizing that they should have been right behind them. He stood, his legs still shaky, but his fear for his friends now outweighed his close call with death. He turned to Redwing, “You saved my life, thank you,” he said, rubbing her head ridges with one hand and scratching her jaw with the other.

“You’re welcome,” was all the brilliant red dragon said.

“Are you up to flying again?”

“Certainly. You want me to find Larkin and Rat?”

“Yes. I’m worried about them.”

“I can do that. But first, why don’t you remove your packs and set up camp. I don’t think we’re going any farther today.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Wizard Allard said, reaching up to unstrap the bags from her back.

Patrik helped, and while the two humans set up camp, Redwing searched the skies for some sign of her friends. They had a fire built and a pot of stew bubbling on the coals when she returned. “They must have landed someplace,” she said, her great yellow eyes spinning brown in concern. “I flew as low as I could but didn’t see any sign of them. But if they landed in a heavily forested area, the trees would have hidden them.”

She slowly shook her head back and forth continuing to look for them. “I’m going to hunt for dinner, and for them. I’ll be back in a while.”

The dragon lumbered out of the campsite, and Patrik was amazed at how quiet the large creature could be. He expected to hear branches breaking and bushes snapping as she passed. Instead, all he heard was a quiet shuffling noise. It made him wonder how skilled the dragons were as hunters, and what a war with these powerful creatures would mean for humans. These new concerns combined with his worries about his friends, kept him in silent contemplation as Wizard Allard puttered around, repositioning their packs, rechecking the lean-to stakes, stirring the stew, and generally keeping himself busy. Patrik could tell by the wizard’s actions and silence that Allard was also worried about Larkin and Rat.

The sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains when Redwing finally returned. She just shook her head in answer to their unspoken questions, and curled up as close to the fire as she could get. Her head bowed down with the weight of her disappointment.

“What are we going to do?” Patrik finally asked the wizard when his worries could no longer be silenced.

“We keep going,” Allard replied, his mouth a grim line of determination. “We have to. It’s what they would want us to do.” He turned his back on the boy, hiding the glimmer of moisture in his eyes.

“But what about Larkin and Rat? We can’t just leave them.”

“We don’t have any choice, boy.” A single tear traced its way down the wizard’s face.

Patrik stared into the darkness, his back to the older man, his shoulders straight and his jaw locked tight stunned by the wizard’s adamant decision to leave Larkin and Rat behind. It was something he could never accept.

I’ll find them with or without his help.

Chapter Nine

Patrik played with his supper, not even bothering to pretend to eat; he just moved the food around in his bowl. Allard was silent throughout the meal, lost in his own thoughts. The silence continued while they laid out their bedrolls. When the wizard crawled inside and mumbled, “Good-night,” Patrik did the same even though he was wide-awake. When his snores told him that the Allard was fast asleep, Patrik crawled out of the lean-to. He crept past the fire and made his way to Redwing’s great head. Laying a hand on her head ridges, he stroked her gently, and whispered in her ear. “Wake up, Redwing. I need to talk to you.”

She opened one yellow eye and peered at the boy. “What is it?”

“I need you to help me find them. We have to go tonight because Allard plans to go on tomorrow without them.”

“I know. He’s doing the right thing,” she replied, opening her other eye and lifting her head off her forelegs.

“It’s not the right thing to do. We can’t just leave them out there. Rat will die without care, and Larkin can’t nurse her.”

“That may be true, but Larkin is fine. I would know if Larkin died. All dragons know when another dragon dies.”

Patrik felt his frustration rising. He couldn’t seem to get through to Redwing any more than he could have changed the wizard’s mind. “Fine then. I’ll go look for them myself.”

He turned his back on her and began walking away when a great claw hooked itself into the back of his jerkin and pulled him backward. “Let go,” he hissed. “If you won’t help me then let me do it by myself.”

“I never said I wouldn’t help you, Patrik,” the dragon replied, still holding Patrik’s jacket in her claws. “I just said I knew that Larkin was all right. What exactly do you have in mind?”

She released her hold on Patrik and the boy turned to face her. “I am going back to the area where we last saw them, and start searching the ground for them.”

“I’ve already done that.”

“Well, I want to do it again.”

“All right, Patrik, I’ll go with you. It wouldn’t be right for me to let you go by yourself. You might run into a highland prowler or something worse.”

Redwing rose to her feet, and then lowered her front legs so that she was half-kneeling in front of him. “Climb on.”

Patrik used one of her forelegs as a stepping stool and scrambled on top of Redwing. He patted the loaf of bread he had stuck in his jacket, making sure it was still there. Since he hadn’t eaten dinner, he knew he’d be hungry before morning. He also knew he didn’t plan to return until they had found their missing friends.

As silently as a large dragon could, which as Patrik had already learned was pretty quiet, they left the camp, heading for the spot where they had last seen Larkin and Rat. The forest stilled in their wake. Night birds hushed their calling, highland prowlers stopped their howling, and the tiny rustlings of woodland animals could no longer be heard. It felt to Patrik as if they had entered a large cavern, dark and silent, with only the noise of their passing to mark the presence of any living thing. Even the stars overhead were blocked from view, and Patrik had to rely on Redwing’s keen senses to guide them in the right direction.

Time came to a standstill, and Patrik couldn’t tell whether they were getting any closer to their destination or not. His world narrowed down to trying to maintain his seating on the dragon’s back, but without a saddle, he kept slipping off. After about the third stop to re-seat himself, Redwing suggested he sit in the joint between her neck and her wings. “I’m not flying, anyway,” she said, “so I won’t be using my wings.”

He climbed onto her neck, and used her wing joints as a brace. The seating was easier, but it still required that he concentrate on not sliding off since her gait was so uneven. Each step of her giant legs heaved one shoulder upward. With the next step, that shoulder went down, and the other side went up. It was like riding a cart with a broken wheel, each side lurching unevenly over the forest floor.

Patrik couldn’t tell how much time had passed before Redwing stopped and turned her head toward him. “This should be about where I last saw Larkin flying,” she said. “If he landed right away, he should be around here someplace. If he kept flying…”

Her words trailed off and Patrik didn’t need her to finish them for he knew that if Larkin had kept flying they might never find their missing friends. “I understand,” he said. “Let’s start searching the area by traveling in circles from this point. Each time we come around, we’ll make a larger circle. That way we won’t miss anything.”

“Makes sense to me,” Redwing said. “I’ll start calling for him also. If he’s anywhere near, he should hear me and return my call.”

They circled the forest again and again, each circle larger than the one before. Redwing’s voice became hoarse, and Patrik’s legs ached from being stretched across the dragon’s neck. The horizon had the dusky light of predawn to it when Redwing finally decided to rest. Patrik slid off her neck, legs wobbly with strain and fatigue. He leaned against her side to hold himself up, and pulled out his loaf of bread. He broke of a chunk and offered it to the dragon.

“No thanks,” she said. “Though if Larkin were here I’m sure he wouldn’t turn you down. He loves bread.”

“You’re right. I forgot about that. Isn’t that unusual for a dragon?”

Redwing’s head shot up, her snout sniffing at the air, her eyes whirling green with excitement. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Sssh! There it is again. It’s a dragon’s call. I’m sure of it.” She turned her long neck toward Patrik. “Get back on. I think we’ve found them.”

Patrik scrambled back on top of Redwing’s neck, trying to juggle the loaf of bread in one hand, and reaching for her head ridges with the other. Finally, in frustration he shoved the bread back into his jacket. Redwing raised her head to the skies and let out a long keening cry. High and piercing, it filled the silent forest. She cocked her head to one side, listening. “He heard me,” she roared, the volume of her voice nearly knocking Patrik off her back.

If Patrik had a difficult time staying atop the dragon before, her running gait was even harder to manage. He ended up holding onto her head ridges with both hands and bouncing up and down with every step. They crashed through the forest, heedless of the branches that snapped in their faces. Patrik felt as if he was sitting on a bouncing ball, and his backside soon became sore from the pounding it was taking.

Every few steps Redwing would lift her head and call out. She’d cock her head to one side and listen, and then charge off again with renewed effort. Patrik still heard nothing, but he trusted Redwing’s senses as he knew they were much keener than the senses of any human. Half a sunmark passed before Patrik also heard the high-pitched reply to Redwing’s call.

“I heard him,” he shouted to Redwing.

“Yes, we’re getting close,” she replied.

She let out another cry and this time the reply was loud enough for Patrik to hear it clearly. Redwing veered toward the left, the direction of the sound, and barged through a dense stand of birch trees. There in the clearing was Larkin and at his feet lay Rat.

“Larkin!” Patrik didn’t wait for Redwing to stop, but slid off her back and rushed up to the green dragon. He threw his arms around his neck and clung to his friend. “I thought we’d lost you.”

“I’ve been here all the time,” the dragon said, bemused by Patrik’s concern.

“But we couldn’t find you.”

“I knew you would,” he said leaning into Patrik’s caress.

Redwing joined them rubbing her snout against Larkin’s snout. Her yellow eyes tinted green and spun with pleasure.

“How’s Rat?” asked Patrik, kneeling down beside the animal.

“She’s been awake off and on, but she needs water. I had no way of getting it for her. I’m glad you got here when you did, because I couldn’t figure out how I was going to carry her in the morning.”

“What happened?” Redwing asked.

“Well, when the knots holding her sling came undone, I reached around and grabbed them in my teeth. That’s when Patrik fell off. I saw you catch him, and I tried to follow you. But I couldn’t see where I was going because I had my head bent backward. Then a third knot came loose and Rat began to slip out. I knew I had to land right away, so I dived for land.”

He nudged Patrik, who complied by scratching his head ridges. “Landing’s not easy when you can’t see where you’re going.”

Patrik laughed. Landing for Larkin was never easy.

“You can laugh, but it wasn’t fun. I had to guide myself in by skimming the treetops, using my belly as a guide. I knew when the trees quit hitting my stomach that I had found a clearing. And that’s how we got here.”

Patrik reached around Larkin and gave him another hug. “Thank you,” he said, “you saved her life.”

“Yes, but I have no hands and couldn’t retie her sling. I couldn’t get her any water either. Now, I understand why Skyhawk made humans to help the dragons.”

Patrik felt a warm blush rising up his face. “Dragons help humans, too, you know.”

Redwing touched her nose to Larkin’s. “What made you call out when you did? We’ve been searching for hours, and I never heard you, not even once.”

A red blush crept over Larkin’s green snout turning it almost brown. “I’m awfully hungry,” he said. “But I couldn’t leave Rat alone and unprotected. I smelled the bread that Patrik’s got in his jacket.”

Patrik’s eyes grew wide with amazement and disbelief. “You smelled it from that far away?”

“Well, I like bread a lot,” the dragon said, his voice almost apologetic, “and our senses aren’t like yours. Our sense of smell is our strongest sense, and I’m awfully hungry.”