Maryana and I stayed huddled within the Chief’s lodging, the padlock on the door locked tightly. The potion master set about starting the fires in the house before night fell, and busied herself with cooking several things she pulled from the cellar. When I asked if it was another dragon hideout, she laughed and explained they were so demanding to make that there were only two of them in the entire several towns’ radii. That made sense in retrospect, but I couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of being stuck out on the highlands and unable to get to shelter in time.
I tried to read Abuela’s book by the light of the fire, but I felt my attention drifting back to the Duke and his men, currently in the great house across the way. Trouble hung heavy in the air, and it made me anxious.
It wasn’t until well into the night that Leryk finally stormed through the door. Even though I had only known him a short time, it was clear he was bristling with hardly contained rage.
“The Duke and his men will be leaving in the morning. Never mind your chores, stay inside until the last of them is out of sight.”
Maryana nodded, but I could see from where she was sitting that her brows were knit together in concern. “There is something else. What has you so stirred, my love?”
The giant man grabbed a tankard from the shelf, and poured what I assumed was mead from one of the skins that hung against the kitchen wall. After taking several hardy swallows, he wiped his beard and flopped back into a chair.
“They killed a dragon, Maryana. Just miles from here.”
“What?” she asked, eyes wide.
Her husband nodded, face grim. “There were reports of an elderly dragon that had taken to roosting at the crags nearby to rest for the night before continuing to wherever their stronghold is. It never bothered the villages, so they ignored it. But now that…that…idiot had to go and claim his glory!”
“Why are you two so upset?” I asked, curious. I would have thought that as humans they would have celebrated any sort of lizard death. “Do you guys have an alliance with the dragons?”
“What? Of course not. But we have an uneasy sort of truce. They don’t bother us as long as we don’t bother them, and occasionally offer gifts of sheep, gold or criminals. But killing a dragon is a great slight. One that they will avenge, without a doubt. The only question is how they will choose to rain down their fury.”
“Oh…” I murmured. “Do you think they would attack us? How far away was the dragon killed?”
“Just over a day’s march. There is one other town in that path as well. Most likely they will evacuate.”
“Should we then, as well?”
“It is hard to say. The dragons could choose to go after the Duke’s party itself. It’s impossible to understand what happens in their primitive minds.”
I cocked my head to the side at that. It seemed like either these humans didn’t know that dragons could shift, or in this world that they couldn’t. Curious.
“But to be safe, you’d best brew more no-fire paste tomorrow. And burn salve.”
Maryana nodded. “As soon as the men are gone, Mercedes and I will gather the necessary supplies.
“Good. No doubt we will have visitors from the other village. I’ll send the younglings to gather wild herbs and what food they can find, then take several of the men on a hunting trip. We will need supplies to get us through the next weeks.”
“Very well then. But for now, we should rest while we still can. The future is uncertain, but tonight need not be.”
They exchanged loving looks and that pang sounded within me again. Closing Abuela’s book, I excused myself to my room. Although I still wasn’t sure why I had been brought here, or how, I was quickly beginning to feel like I belonged.
I just couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not.
*
Thankfully, the day after the Duke left our little slice of heaven, there was no dragon attack. Nor the day after that. Slowly, villagers from other towns began to trickle by on their way through, but there was no panic in the muddy streets or even that much concern. What few people I talked to expressed that they were most likely being overcautious and nothing would come of the pompous noble’s antics.
Still, I felt that it was better safe than sorry when it came to these giant winged creatures.
I tried to do more investigating while I tailed Maryana around, to figure out if these people knew the dragons had human forms or not. But I didn’t want to outright ask, because I didn’t want to give away some big secret if that was the only thing from keeping the dragons from being wiped out by the royals. After all, the humans had been the bad guys in that story, and as much as I liked the humans that surrounded me, it still didn’t mean that we were on the right side of the story.
Not that I was in the same story. It seemed, if anything, like a telling of a parallel world, one similar to the place I was, but with a few key details shifted. I had tried several times to read Abuela’s tattered journal, but every time I settled down, I slipped off into well-earned sleep.
But whether it was the same world or not, I dutifully learned everything I could. As each day passed, the sharp stab of homesickness began to fade. Sure, I still wanted to go back to my time and dimension, but the need to return was not as omnipresent as it once was. And Maryana was more than happy to teach me anything I asked.
She introduced me to the town healer, who was currently occupied with several unruly children who had been injured when the wagon they were playing on overturned, and the blacksmith, a hearty older man with a double-barreled chest and a beard to make even Leryk jealous. Surprisingly, his husband was just as robust. I was surprised that the town was accepting of the pairing, I had assumed they would be as backwards in their beliefs as my time period, but Maryana explained they didn’t really care as long as he kept shoeing their horses and making their hunting weapons.
It wasn’t until several days later that I finally had time to curl up to myself and read Abuela’s writings. Just like before, they were clearly addressed to me. It was almost like I could hear her over my shoulder, narrating them to me.
How do I explain this, my darling? Even to me, it sounds impossible, like something I dreamed up after too much tequila. But I swear to you, it is true.
Our world is not the only world. There are countless other ones, all existing within and around each other. You could spend only minutes in every one, and still not be able to visit them all in your lifetime. It is amazing, and mind boggling, but I’m sure you sense as much.
I’m sure you’re wondering what this could have to do with you. Well most likely, nothing. But it could mean everything. For reasons that I have never been able to fully discover, there are certain beings who are able to travel from world to world to world. Some of them have incredible abilities, such as speaking to the dead, traveling through time of the plane they’re on, reading thoughts. Some of them do not. We are called many things by the places we visit. Angels, the Fallen, Lightning Riders, Horsemen, etc…etc… you get the idea.
Why do we travel? It’s difficult to say. Some say it is just a gift to be enjoyed. But many of us think it is to help guide these worlds that are on the brink of important, world-changing events. Our job is to guide them to peace, and prosperity.
We are the shepherds of the worlds.
In fact, that’s not a bad thing to call us, for brevity’s sake; Shepherds.
Now, if you haven’t already, I need you to find the book I wrote: The Shattered Kingdom. For the past months, I have been dreaming of this place endlessly, it was calling out to me like the siren of an ambulance. But, according to the records I could find from other shepherds it had already reached its crossroads and found peace.
But when I opened the portal, and crossed into it myself, I found that the previous work had all been undone, wiped from history with no footprint. I tried to solve it, but before I could, I was pulled back home.
I’ve never been able to return, and after many years, I figured out why.
The call wasn’t for me.
That world’s call had never been for me.
It was for you.
You are—
A terrible blaring ripped through the night and I dropped Abuela’s book from my hands. Jumping to my feet, I rushed to see Leryk and Maryana bursting from their room in their night clothes as well.
“What was that?” I asked, throat tight in my panic. Although I had no idea what that noise was about, I knew it was bad. An alarm was an alarm, no matter what level of technology we had.
“Dragons,” Leryk spat, throwing on clothes and grabbing weapons. Suddenly everything was a flurry of urgent movement. “Maryana, grab the little ones from the healers. Mercedes, watch her back. Go to the main hall as quickly as you can and hide in the cellar. Keep the doors open as long as you can, but remember that the next generation must be protected above all else.”
“But Lery—” Maryana started.
“GO.”
There was no arguing with that tone, and we rushed to obey. Maryana grabbed her potion bag and what looked like a small melee hammer and I dashed to grab my things. I knew it was a bit ridiculous to worry about a knapsack and a couple of books when giant angry lizards were descending from above, but they were the last connections I had to my previous life, and the greatest source of information I had on how to get back. Thankfully, I didn’t seem to hold up Maryana, both of us finishing our hasty preparations before ducking out into the night.
I vaguely remembered the elderly woman warning me to keep my eyes on the ground, as dragons could often spot moonlight bouncing off a human face. It knew it was dangerous, but I couldn’t resist looking to the sky. Although I had read plenty about them, I had never actually seen these great and powerful beasts. It seemed like such a waste to miss out on the opportunity now…
And so, I risked a glance upwards, massive shapes quickly darting through the inky blackness of the night, blotting out the stars until the occasional bloom of fire illuminated an impossibly reflective scale.
What did they want? Was it that idiot lord who had drawn them here? From what I had read of the beasts, they were just as intelligent as humans, if not more so. Certainly, they didn’t blame a whole town for the sins of a roving, arrogant douchebag.
A bellowing roar shook the ground, almost knocking us off our feet. I decided perhaps I would save the questions until I was safely underground. Focusing back on the task at hand, I followed Maryana to the healer’s hut, where the children who had been hurt by the rampaging bull earlier were still being tended to.
We found the healer Maryana had been left in charge, guarding the door with a long knife in her hand. I had never seen someone look so relieved upon our arrival, and she quickly opened the heavy wooden barrier. From there, we covered the ones who could walk in blankets and ushered them out, carrying the rest.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. This couldn’t be happening. I was raised in an era of video games and sky scrapers and memory chips small enough to fit in a cell. And yet here I was, running from swarming dragons in the dead of night, my heart in my throat. I was fairly sure I was going to be sick to my stomach, but my adrenaline was keeping me going.
My internal whirlwind of thought was cut off when I felt my booted foot find purchase on a slick patch of mud under the grass. I felt my balance give, but there was no way to stop it. I barely had the presence to drop the child I was ferrying to safety before I tumbled to the ground, and rolled down a mud-slick bank.
My body picked up speed as I fell, despite my efforts to find some sort of purchase in the mud. For a split-second I was worried I would just keep on slipping right off the edge of the world, but my back slammed into a gate, stopping me cold.
I let out a pained wheeze, unable to breathe for several seconds as I recovered.
“Mercedes!”
I looked up the hill to see Maryana hand off her wards to the healer, and shove them towards the direction of the safe house. Obediently, they raced off, and the potion master slid down to me. I tried not to let it hurt my pride that she had descended so much more gracefully, and if my back wasn’t burning in pain, I’m sure I would have managed.
“Are you hurt?” she asked breathlessly, trying to help me up from where I lay crumpled against the wooden post.
Before I could answer, a horrifying shape landed at the top of the hill we had just been on, and spit a plume of fire into the air. It was forty feet long and had scales of glittering gold. I might have thought it was the metal itself if I hadn’t read paragraphs and paragraphs dedicated to describing exactly how shiny and awe inspiring the creatures could be. Instantly, my mind flashed to the Dragon Prince I had read about in the book. Could this be him?
But he hadn’t been a violent man in the book. Yes, he had often been stern, and was a stickler for the rules, but he wasn’t the type to rejoice in bloodshed or loss of life.
But if that was so, why was he attacking the village? It didn’t make sense.
My question went unanswered as another shape landed beside him, this one with scales of grey and brown. Its roar shattered the night air, and needless to say, we didn’t need any further encouragement to run. Of course, we couldn’t take the same path the children and healer had—there was a pair of dragons in the way. I wracked my brain, trying to remember if anyone had shown me any alternate routes in my short time here, but I came up empty.
“This way!” Maryana hissed, pulling me off to the side. We fled as quickly and quietly as we could, considering the circumstances were far from ideal. Everywhere around us, massive beasts roared and spit flames, only to be answered with very human battle cries.
Somehow, against all odds, we made it to the main hall. I couldn’t lie at how elated I was to see the long, wooden sides even though the roof was already aflame. Breathing heavily, and my back aching from the wooden post I had slammed into, Maryana and I stumbled in.
“Come on!” I heard the healer call from the trap door that led down into the very wet and deep stone-hewn sewer than I had been shown on my second day here. We rushed to follow, but made it less than three steps before the roof came crashing down between us and our only chance at safety. I let out a shrill scream, as the debris cleared to reveal a giant ebony dragon that now stood in front of us.
“Close the door!” I heard Maryana scream. “Close it now!”
“But—”
The beast let out an ear-shattering roar and I scrambled to recall who this could be. Maybe I could reason with it. Maybe I could save us!
“I said close it! Two lives for the many!”
There was a string of curses that were pretty surprising from a woman dedicated to serving the Goddess of Health, and the grinding of stone as she sealed the only hope at living through the night. This was going to be the most anti-climactic Lightning Rider tale ever.
Behold, once a young woman arrived on the crack of thunder, then died a week later from a dragon blunder. Fantastic.
But it wasn’t fair that Leryk was going to lose his wife. And as the potion master of the town, and the only one who seemed capable to making the incredibly important no-fire paste that protected the underground cellar and a few other safe havens. She was invaluable. Her death would doom every inhabitant of the village.
The dragon turned its head towards us, mouth open. I saw color begin to light the back of its throat and realized what it was doing just in time to tackle Maryana out of the way of a blistering ray of fire.
We flew over a banquet table and landed in a heap against a wooden pillar.
“There’s a door on the far side of this hall,” I whispered, heart pounding like a griffin trying to escape from my ribcage. The one you showed me on our first walk through the town. “I’ll distract the beast, you run.”
Her kind eyes narrowed at me in disgust. “I’m not going to leave you to die.”
“I’m not going to die,” I hissed. “I’m destined for greatness, remember? Rode in on lightning and all that. But you, you’re just a human. So, get out of here and let me find my destiny.” She shoved me off and reached for one of the knives that had clattered to the floor with the table I had overturned. It was very obvious how she had kept the affection of the Chief so long, but this wasn’t the time to indulge her bravery.
“Maryana, please. You’re the only one who can protect the village from further attack. Where else are they going to find a potion maker that brings traders from the capital? You can’t stay here.” I took a deep breath and willed steel into my expression. “One life for the many, right?”
Those kind, wise eyes looked to me, and this time I saw tears in them. She nodded slowly, handing me the blade with no words, then she was off and running towards her escape. Thank goodness. At least that had gone right.
But the beast tracked her movement, and I struggled to my feet. I had a mission to do, and it was ready to fill the ever-so-big shoes that had been looming over me since my arrival. Lurching to the table, I grabbed one of the errant fire pokers and threw it square at the creature’s scaled face.
Of course, it didn’t do anything to actually harm the mighty fey. But I did succeed in getting its attention. Slowly, its massive head turned towards me and I knew I was in its sights. I was partially paralyzed in terror even though I was trying to remind myself that these beasts had very humanoid forms. They weren’t so different from me, after all.
“Sorry about that, I just wanted to talk for a moment.”
It let out an ear-shattering roar and spun. The next thing I knew, something incredibly solid crashed into my side and slammed me against one of the wooden pillars. Hard. For the second time in one night I couldn’t breathe or move. I slowly slid to the ground, coughing and gasping. I couldn’t recover fast enough. I couldn’t run fast enough. And my murderer was slinking towards me like the apex predator that he was.
If I could just remember what its name was, I could surprise it. Maybe distract it enough for me to get away. I closed my eyes and ran through everything I could remember from the book about a black dragon.
Just like I knew it would, the dragon kept nearing until it was a breath away from me. It opened its jaws wide, teeth long and deadly within red, red gums. Once more, I saw the familiar lighting that meant it was about to spit fire and burn me whole.
“Myrik!”
It froze at its name, like someone had cast some sort of still-spell on it. Suddenly, words were rushing out of my mouth in a desperate torrent.
“Advisor Myrik of the Court of Champions! You know you are not to attack any outpost of life without the proper, threatening motivation. What could this place have done to possibly harm you?”
It stood there, staring at me for several moments, before closing in on me again.
I let out a sigh, having nothing left to say. Maybe these dragons weren’t actually like the ones I had read about in that strange book. Maybe they were just mindless beasts of scale and muscle.
However, instead of killing me, the dragon now looked at me anew. I knew it was improbable, but I felt like it was analyzing me in its emerald gaze, piecing together what it could about the strange girl who knew its name and of the Court of Champions staring it down.
Slowly he moved towards me, and this time I straightened myself. I was going to face death like a true warrior. I would make my Abuela proud. I would not scream, or cry, or beg for my life.
And why was the dragon smelling me!?
I had been so caught up in my noble death that I hadn’t noticed that the dark creature had reached me. Its massive nostrils brushed against my clothes, like it was trying to figure something out, skimming over my hair, my thighs, then resting on my middle. I tried not to move, but I couldn’t help the shimmer of terror as it rubbed its massive nose against my abdomen.
What did it want? To make sure I had eaten something tasty before it would eat me?
But mutual silence was broken when the doors to the great hall burst open, and a spear sailed through. The dragon twisted its body to avoid the weapon, and I took that as my cue to throw myself to the floor and try to get away.
“Mercedes!”
I looked to the call to see Leryk standing in the door, pulling his sword from his back. As much as it filled me with relief to see him, I realized I didn’t want him to be burned to a crisp because of me.
“Leryk, run!”
I reached out, as if I could do something to actually stop the great beast between us. But instead of attacking the Chief, the dragon began to beat its wings, taking to the air.
I couldn’t believe it. Had it changed its mind? Was it going to spare us?
The tiny smidgen of hope that rose within me was snuffed out as I felt strong, thick and sharp claws wrap around me. I sent one last look to the man who had done his best by me since I had arrived, and then I was yanked into the air.
I heard him calling faintly to me, but it was almost impossible to catch anything over the sound of the massive wings beating above me. I was growing cold very quickly, and I realized that if we kept going much higher, I probably wasn’t going to be able to breathe.
My heart started to thunder even harder in my chest—which I had previously thought was an impossibility—but my breaths couldn’t slow down. They grew more and more shallow with each second, and I felt the edges of my vision grow black.
And as consciousness began to fade from me, dread filled its spot. I slid into the void wondering if these beasts were the kind, noble people I had read of, or if I was truly in the hands of monsters.
I supposed I would find out when I woke up.
If I woke up.
*