Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology (20 page)

All around Cascata, the other dragons flared their wings, heads lifting, arms flexing, chains snapping—

Beside me, Zon's roar joined Cascata's. He stood, nearly knocking me over as he spread his wings wide and absorbed the power of the firelight.

“No!” Anja screamed, losing her composure. “What have you done?”

“We can't keep them caged,” Haru said, muffled beneath the brawny woman pinning him with her elbow. “It'll destroy the Earth.”

She scowled. “
They
will destroy the Earth! Just by existing, they pose a threat to the very survival of our planet's biomes!”

“No,” I retorted. “They
are
our planet's biomes.”

Cascata roared again, and the songs of a hundred other dragons joined her. The mighty sky dragon reared her head, and above, the ceiling cracked.
 

Anja's cold eyes flickered to the cracks, and back to me. “Shoot those two.” She pointed to Haru first. “Then restrain those dragons—shut off the light before they cause any more damage.”

For someone who had accused me of being a savage, Anja apparently had no little thirst for blood. For the first time, I noticed that one of her goons had a gun, not just a stick or a stun wand. He aimed it at Haru's head. Zon roared, his pure song piercing the air, but we were too far away to help. Haru cringed, and turned his face to the concrete.

A different, croakier roar interrupted Zon. The goons looked up in time to see a massive gray dragon stalking down the tunnel, a chain dangling from the steel collar around her neck. She flared her leathery wings and roared again, charging the group of people.
 

Not even the best-paid mook would stand in the face of that. They scattered, abandoning Haru in the middle of the floor. The gray, mutated dragon came to a stop above him, looming like a mother hen over a tiny chick. It could only be Hai, the dragon he had so lovingly described. She pulled back her lips and hissed at Anja, showing off rows of gleaming teeth.

Anja stared, open mouthed, as if unable to comprehend how one of her precious drones could have gained a mind of its own. The look didn't last long, however—

Cascata launched herself at Anja, catching her from behind. The enormous dragon pinned the tiny woman to the ground with one paw and screamed in her face.
 

Anja gaped at it, unable to scream back as she stared into the jaws of the wrathful sky spirit.
 

“Cascata!” a commanding voice burst from the mouth of the bunker.

Cascata lifted her enormous head, feathers cresting. I whirled to face the owner of the voice. Surrounded by glimmering dragons, Henry—my Legion leader.

Cascata scooped up Anja, and like a proud cat, trotted over to Henry, depositing Anja at his feet. The dragon sat, tail curling forward to cage the villain as Cascata preened.
 

Anja scrambled back to her feet, jaw set. To her credit, she did not plead or beg, or try to defend herself. Her already small eyes narrowed at Henry, and she crossed her arms in silence.

Henry looked from her, to the mooks the other solar dragons—and, I was surprised to see, several more of Anja's own dragons—had pinned to the floor. “I see,” Henry said.

I wasn't sure he did, but he was trying. That counted for something, I was sure.
 

Haru at last struggled to his feet, hiding behind Hai. She glared at Henry, pupils narrowing, apparently daring him to come closer as members of my Legion took Anja Larssen away.

Though Henry eyed the strange dragon a little warily, he didn't approach. Instead, he met my gaze and cocked a brow. Rather than chew me out for ditching my legion and going on a mission by myself, Henry said, “I know someone who will be very happy to see this one.” He tilted his head toward Cascata and reached up to pat her snout. “Your master is waiting for you outside.”

“Her master …” My throat closed around my voice, so that when I finally pushed words out, they emerged as a tiny squeak. “You can't mean Prince Rocco is
here?
”
 

From behind Hai, Haru sighed loudly. “Stellar.” He motioned to the other dragons. “Can we worry about that after we get these guys outside?”
 

The arrival of the prince was something I preferred to worry about now, but Haru did have a point. I nodded once, and had the good fortune to step backward just in time to catch Sahara as she dropped like an excited puppy into my arms. “Well hello there! Nice work, little one!”

She chirped and shook out her wings. Already she looked bigger than she had when I'd first seen her. With another chirp, she took flight, gliding up the tunnel that would take her to sunlight. We'd have the Sahara restored to lush glory in no time.

Around us, the legion members who weren't dealing with the mooks had discovered the lunar dragons. Lunar being my name for them. I hoped it would stick.

I guided our motley group out of the tunnel. The lunar dragons moved in unison, staring at me and then to the gorgeous solar dragons as we emerged into the sunlight. Though Anja had built them to be capable of surviving in both darkness and light, they seemed rather stunned to be out of the mountain. Stunned—and lost. For once, they had no leader and no purpose. Only Hai seemed aware, lingering by Haru rather than her nestmates. He reached up, laying a hand on her long snout, and she leaned into his touch.

“Where can they go?” he asked.
 

Cascata stepped forward, her regal head high. Anja's dragons looked at her, the light of her feathers reflecting in their eyes. She trilled. The Lunar Dragons opened their mouths, hesitated, then tried to mimic the call. They didn't sound anything like Cascata, and it resulted in an awful tumult of noise, but they were trying, which was kind of lovely in its own weird way.

“I don't know,” I finally answered Haru. “But I think, in time, they'll find a place out here in the sun. There's light and life enough for everyone.” I nudged Haru's arm. “Even traitors like you.”

He smirked. “I don't know, even this world doesn't seem big enough for the ego of this many Knights.”
 

“Oh, I'm amazing and you know it.” I joked. Mostly.

Zon, meanwhile, carefully circled Hai. He stopped in front of her, and bobbed his head like a parrot, then paused and tilted his head, wings partially flared. In return, she bobbed her head, imitating him more than anything else. Then she jerked her head up and made a croaky chirrup as if in greeting. Zon repeated it, feathers fluffing. So pleased with himself.

“Saumyi!”

Heat flooded my cheeks as I spun around. “R-Rocco! I mean Prince, I mean …” I gestured stupidly to the enormous blue dragon behind me. “I found Cascata.”

The prince picked up the pace to a jog. It looked for one thrilling moment like he was going to fling his arms around me in gratitude—but he slid right by me and grabbed Cascata's neck in a monstrous hug.
 

At my side, Haru focused his gaze on something in the distance. It looked like he was trying not to laugh.

I coughed to hide my embarrassment. Prince Rocco was more concerned about his kidnapped dragon than his childhood friend. So what? I would have been the same way. We'd catch up later. When there weren't people to stare or tease us. To give myself something to do, I pulled my helm off my head and fluffed my hair. Or did that look like I was trying to flirt? I stopped, and shot Haru a glower, daring him to say anything.
 

He immediately put on an innocent expression that lasted only until he grinned at me. The jerk.

But as Haru's eyes fixed on me, he reached out to take my arm,
completely
ignoring the fact that the prince was standing right there. I stiffened and started to pull away, but instead of trying anything funny, he pressed an ashy gray scale into the palm of my hand. “I heard,” he said, “that solar dragons give feathers sometimes. Like when they accomplish great things together. So …” He shrugged. “If you want it.”

A sarcastic remark died in my throat, strangled by my surprise at the tenderness of his action. “Well, I … Um … I mean …” Unable to form a complete sentence, I wedged the slender scale into the brim of my helm. After a slight hesitation, I plucked out Zon's green feather, and extended it to Haru. “If you want it.”

“Sure.” He grinned. “Maybe I'm no Knight, but I at least would like a memento from my first time saving the planet.”

I smirked as Zon came up behind me, his head bumping against my shoulder. I draped an arm over his neck. “Are you saying it won't be your last?”
 

“Not if I can help it.” He grinned and motioned to Zon. “He looks happy to be out in the daylight.”
 

Zon hummed, the sound between a cat's purr and a dove's coo. Then, unexpectedly, he dropped his head, and pressed his nose to Haru's hand.
 

Shocked at first, Haru wavered and then smiled, running his hand up the dragon's snout. “So, how about it?” he asked us both. “Ready to let a traitor help you save the world?”
 

“Nah, I don't work with traitors.” I took the green feather from his hands and tucked it into his hair. “But I might consider saving the world with some help from a friend.”
 

Hai slunk up alongside Zon, and Haru pulled away from my dragon to stroke her throat. “Friends it is, then.” He smirked at me and, in an easy movement, pulled himself onto Hai's back. “Let's go own a piece of that sky.”
 

I laughed as I mounted Zon. “Well, there's plenty to go around. Welcome, Haru, to Solarium.”

About Kimberly Kay

After completing a Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing and an Associate of Applied Science in Illustration, Kimberly uses her talents to write and design media at Alexander's Print Advantage. When Kimberly isn't locked in her own mind organizing shards of stories into coherent plots, she enjoys swordplay, horseback riding, and stargazing.
 

About Ashley Gephart

After graduating from Utah Valley University with a degree in Creative Writing and theatre, Ashley Gephart has landed her dream job as an acquisitions editor at Cedar Fort, Inc. Her life's ambitions have always pointed her to storytelling, whether through directing, acting, writing, or helping others perfect their manuscripts. When she is not torturing her protagonists, she enjoys history, design, playing hammy roles on the stage, and contemplating what it would be like to be a supervillain. She lives in her native Utah.

The Quantum Dragon
 

by Tobias Wade

“
If I don't get out of here, most of the population of the Earth will be sacrificed.” 'Sacrifice' is the word FUS Corporation would use anyway, as if their death had purpose or glory. Why won't anyone listen to me? There is glory in life, not in death.
 

If I had known I would be saying those words in less than twenty-four hours, I wouldn't be taking so long with my hair this morning.
 

I didn't know though, so I emptied the rest of the jar of gel into my short grey hair. I would have gotten a haircut if the chief financial officer had given me more than a couple hours' warning that he was visiting the laboratory. He would be here any minute now. That man gave me the creeps. He always looked around with his damp fish-eyes as though he was mentally assigning a dollar value to every tool, article of clothing, and person he saw. When he stared at me I felt that number wasn't very high.
 

I looked anxiously in the bathroom mirror one last time. My suit and tie were fitted and clean. The white lab coat over them was white and spotless. My glasses didn't quite conceal how tired my eyes were, but there was no fixing that. Did I always have that many wrinkles? I certainly didn't match my ID badge anymore, but that photograph was taken almost twenty years ago when I started working for FUS Corp.
 

“What good news do you have for me, Dr. Martin?”
 

I shuddered.
 

“Coming, Mr. Hankers.”
 

I opened the bathroom door. He was already in my office, sitting in my swivel chair, his fat hands folded demurely in his lap. It was the only chair.
 

“How is your little vanity project coming along?” Mr. Hankers asked. Was he sneering, or was that just his face?

“I would hardly call it a vanity project, sir. The implications of harvesting undersea currents to generate energy could revolutionize—”

“Will it be done in a month?” I studied his face, looking for clues as to whether his stupidity was a jest. His sagging jowls gave nothing away.
 

“I see you haven't read my reports,” I responded flatly.
 

“Oh, I have. Another year of virtual model testing, then a deep sea expedition scheduled in 2064, with construction crews able to begin by 2066 at the earliest. A very time-consuming and expensive project—you have made that very clear.”
 

“Then, with all due respect, why would you think it could be done in—”

“Because a month is all the time we have left,” he cut in. I hated being interrupted, especially by someone suffering from an illusion of superiority.
 

He leaned back in my chair with the satisfied air of a chess player declaring 'check'. It would be worth losing the chair if he broke it and fell.
 

“Are you trying to cut my project?” I asked.
 

“Oh, excuse me. When I said 'we' I didn't mean your laboratory, or even FUS Corp, for that matter. I meant 'we' as in the human race. We have about a month left.”

He smiled, as though the satisfaction of shocking me outweighed the discomfort of the human race being extinguished.
 

“I don't follow,” I said.
 

“Of course you don't. You scientists are always so focused on the little picture you lose sight of what's really going on. Are you familiar with fusion reactors?”
 

“How could I not be? FUS Corp wouldn't exist without them. I helped design the very first model in Chicago before I began this project,” I replied. “Power plants replicating the model of the sun, which utilize fusion to convert hydrogen into helium and harness the energy produced to—”