The Dragonswarm (11 page)

"
He is hunting you
," I thought.

I know. He has been calling me back
.

"
How
?"

For a long time, Vechernyvetr gave no answer. I felt a great emptiness from him, something like fear. Something like despair. And in answer to that helplessness, I felt a blind, furious rage.
I once belonged to his brood
, the dragon said.

I thought, "
He told me that. But why? And what does it mean?
"

Again he paused. Then he drew away.
You do not know what dragons know
, he said.
I can scarce explain it
. I felt him bank the emotions burning in the back of my mind, until only the anger remained.
You need food. I will go and fetch some. You should sleep and heal.

"
But
—"

In time
, he said.
In time. But not while all your agony is buzzing in my head like a summer storm.

Frustration flared up in my heart, then echoed back much magnified from the dragon. He hit me with his will, poured pressure on my soul, and all my desperation could barely hold him for a heartbeat. Then he washed me away in darkness and left my body resting.

Vechernyvetr's lair was not the fearsome prison I'd found beneath the monstrous Pazyarev's control. It was a large cave, but only just high enough for Vechernyvetr to walk beneath its dark ceiling. It had a cooling pool, too, but his was barely three paces across and perhaps a foot deep at its center. The cave floor opened through a wide fissure onto a broad sun-baked ledge, and the breeze that sometimes rustled in tasted like pine and winter frost.

There was a wide spill of gold and silver treasures against the back wall—easily enough to drape a man in luxury for life—but compared to the great flowing mountain of riches in Pazyarev's lair, it seemed a sad pittance.

And then there was no brood, no army of retainer drakes. There was just Vechernyvetr alone. During the day, most days, Vechernyvetr slept curled atop his gold like a beggar on a threadbare blanket. I could feel his shame long before I understood it.

Most nights he would go hunting. I could lie upon the stone within the lair and feel the wind beneath the dragon's wings, taste the hunger and rage, feel the thrill of every kill. I could feel, too, the itching fear. The resentment. It boiled and burned and ground him down. And it all stemmed from his memory of the broodlord Pazyarev.

It took me three days to overcome the crushing weakness that followed my escape from Pazyarev's lair. For those three days I could barely hold consciousness for more than minutes at a time. I drank acrid water from Vechernvetr's pool and ate the meat he brought me, but mostly I slept.

In time that weakness passed. Far faster than it should have, perhaps, because of the dragon power that drove me. But even when I could retain awareness, I was not much a man. Vechernyvetr's presence was too strong in my mind. I felt his sensations more than my own.

When I tried to move, my limbs felt awkward—clumsy and weak against the memory of the dragon's great power. When I tried to think, my attention always drifted back to whatever held the dragon's interest. A dozen times I tried to put myself through the wizard's exercises to still my mind, and always I was interrupted by the graceful motion of a doe in full flight, or the sudden sharp scent of soot on the air. I never left the lair, but still wherever the dragon went, he carried me with him.

He spoke with me, though, in the border hours between day and night. On the fourth day he found me awake and waiting when he returned. I was sitting just inside the cave mouth, staring west over trees and rugged hills to the distant plains of the Ardain. The dragon landed awkwardly on three legs, holding up the fourth to protect a wild pig speared on a talon as long as my arm. He took three hopping steps, wings beating wildly, then settled to a trot back toward me. He dropped the pig like a prize at my feet.

"
Dinner
?" I asked.

For you
, he said.
I had my prey with life still in it. Tastier that way
.

I nodded. For a moment I wished I didn't understand. But I could remember the thrill of the hunt, the pleasure he'd taken devouring a buck still whole. Mostly whole. I wanted to shudder at the memory, but the dragon was reliving it too, and his quiet satisfaction overwhelmed any response of mine.

I took a slow breath, gathering my courage. Then I asked the question that had been nagging at me in whatever awareness I'd had for days. "
I'm your broodling, aren't I? I'm like the drakes.
"

That massive head swung to me, faster than should have been possible, and eyes like cauldrons narrowed.
We should not speak of this
. His displeasure rumbled in my head.

"
I do not know what dragons know
," I thought. "
But you can tell me. And perhaps I suspect more than most men could. Pazyarev is not the master of that swarm of dragons. He is the swarm. The drakes and winged adults are not...they're not his servants. They're part of him
."

That is astute
, he said.
For a human mind
. He blew a puff of flame and charred the pig's hide to a cinder. Then he slithered past me into the depths of the lair.
But there is so much more than that—

"
I know
," I thought. "
There had to be. Because drakes are not born into that slavery. They're...conquered. Overwhelmed.
"

How can you know this?

"
They don't match
," I thought. I felt his puzzlement and rushed to answer it. "
The dragons in his brood don't look like siblings. Their colors, their shapes and sizes...they're all different, as though he gathered them from everywhere.
"

A feeling of shock washed over me. And then laughter tolling in my head like an immense bell.
They do not match
, he scoffed.
Such is frail human reason
.

I frowned. "
I'm wrong?
"

You're right
. I heard his snort in the cavern behind me, and felt his irritation.
You're right, but for all the wrong reasons
.

I grinned, satisfied at that. "
I knew it! And the ones that serve Pazyarev are like his trophies
."

No
. My mind rang with the beast's disdain.
Not trophies. They are his power.

"
Power?
"

His authority. His dominion. His reach.

I thought of the territory Vechernyvetr had shown me. I thought of the swarm of dragons that had attended upon the monster. I thought of its great hoard of gold. I swallowed. "
Which comes first?
"

I do not understand
.

"
There are three measures of a dragon's power. No, four.
" I felt a prickling in the back of my head, discomfort and irritation. He did not want to speak of these things, but my curiosity compelled me. I rose and entered the cave so I could meet his eyes across the still pool. "
Territory,
" I thought. "
And the brood. And the gold hoard.
"

His mouth fell open in a hiss, his long, sharp teeth flashing white within the darkness. Shame and vulnerability bubbled up hot in my head, and I found myself hissing, too. I shook my head. I took a slow breath and steeled a corner of my mind until my thoughts cleared, and then I nodded to the gold again.

"
That is your power, too.
"

For a long time he said nothing. He didn't move. His gaze burned hot and his breath rasped, but I did not back down. He pressed at my mind, too, but I refused to relent. For the first time in days I felt human again, and I would not give up.

At last he backed down.
And the fourth?
he asked.
You said there was a fourth
.

I nodded to him. "
Your size. In men, that one is easy. We grow with time, gradually and steadily, and the larger we are, the stronger
."

As simple as that?
he asked, and there was mockery in his tone.

I nodded instantly, but then felt doubt. The dragon relaxed some, his long tail rolling out and wrapping lazily around him, then he settled to the floor.
Strong men have power
, he said at last.
You take much power from your strength. But women in your world have power, too.

"
Well, we protect them out of need—
"

He laughed and laughed. Without forming a word he showed me the sense by which he'd meant power, a memory of Isabelle and the feel of her soft skin beneath my fingertips, and a blush began to burn in my cheeks. He went on as though I hadn't interrupted.

And there are wizards. Wizards greater than you who take power from their understanding, from their clarity of vision. And kings who take their power from their blood. And rich men buy their power with their gold.

I nodded understanding. "
Of course. You're right. We are at least as complicated—
"

Not by half
, the dragon said.
But nothing is so simple as it seems. A dragon does not grow in time, like man. We grow by spilling royal blood and devouring the strong. We grow by stealing human wealth and by shattering understanding. And the reward for all of this is power. It's control. It's dominion over reality.

"
Like wizards
—" I began to say, but he cut me off with a snarl that burned in the dark cavern.

Not like wizards at all
, he said.
I thought you, among them all, would understand. Wizards exercise dominion over nothing. Over the gossamer shades of illusion men call real. But it is daydream and fancy. Dragons are reality. Power is reality. Chaos is reality. And only we can tame it, control it, command it.

"
We,
" I thought. "
The dragons. And me.
"

And you
, he said in agreement.
I have never known it done before. Men should not know what dragons know. Your kind stains the world enough at six removes.

"
I gained it from you
," I thought. "
When we bonded on that mountainside. You gave me a power wizards don't even dream of.
" He said nothing. I could feel his uneasiness again, gnawing at the back of my head. I pushed it away. "
You told me you could not kill me. You wanted to, but you could not. I think I understand.
"

Do not confuse one insight with understanding
, he said. He pushed arrogance at me, condescending with all his might, but I could feel his fear behind it. I smiled in sympathy.

"
I became your brood,
" I said. "
Not your conquest. Not your prey. Still your enemy, but now a part of you. You could no more easily kill me than I could cut off my own hand.
"

It can be done
, he said.
Easily enough, at that
.

"
And you tried your best,
" I thought. "
But would you have, if you had understood? Would you have tried to destroy me, or would you have tried to overwhelm me?
"

I braced myself. Three measured breaths and every ounce of concentration while I erected defenses in my mind. It took a heartbeat longer than I'd expected, but then he lashed out at me. He struck at my mind with as much force as I'd ever felt from him, and it was enough to blur my vision and drop me to my knees, but I did not give up.

And then it passed. It ebbed away, leaving me gasping and my head throbbing, but still entirely myself. I could feel the echoes of my own pain from him as well, and I nodded slowly.

"
You should have tried back then,
" I thought. "
You could have done it, then. When I was senseless on the rocks outside the cave. I've learned to shield my mind from you, and from Pazyarev's harsh attacks. I could not have held you off back then.
"

Perhaps
, he said. He sounded tired.

"
I used to think it was an exchange
," I thought. "
I used to think you gave me dragon power, and I gave you man power. Whatever that might be. But I think it was not so much like that at all. I think I just became like a dragon. I became part of that...that....
"

Power
, the dragon said.
We are living power.

"
I can't imagine what I gave you in return
."

Pain. And fear. And weakness. Loneliness.

"
Humanity,
" I thought, and my mouth twisted in a bitter smile.

He chuckled in my mind.
You gave me more than that
, he said at last.
You gave me light.

"
What light?
" I asked.

Freedom. Hope.
He shifted his great bulk, and turned his head away.
You have forgotten I belonged to Pazyarev
.

"
I haven't
," I thought in answer. "
I just hadn't gotten to that yet.
"

He chuckled again.
He conquered me during another swarm. Some other time now lost to time. But just at the end, as the fires were waning. I'd gained a broodmate and a clutch of my own. I'd gained much wealth and power. And then Pazyarev turned his eyes on me. He snuffed me out, but not before he tore my clutch to shreds.

I felt a stab of sympathy, hot like ice in the pit of my stomach. "
I'm sorry—
"

It does not matter. Dead or slaves to Pazyarev's will, it makes no difference.
He growled and closed his eyes.
And then I fell into darkness. Then I belonged to him, and I know nothing of the years between. I know he must have slept—we must have slept—because this world is new and different and not yet burned.

He trailed off, and in the corner of my mind I felt an unsettling anticipation of the destruction still to come. I shook my head and tried to catch his attention.
"What happened next? How did you break free?
"

Did I
? he asked, repeating me. He snorted.
I know nothing but the nothingness while under his control. And then I woke upon a strange mountainside, in a strange world, with a strange little man all stained with blood and stretched out like a corpse beneath my nose
.

"
I set you free?
"