Starlighter

  She brushed hair out of her eyes and nodded. “I am.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Tam.”

  “Well, Tam, you won’t have to worry about that dragon again.” Jason retrieved his sword and began cleaning the blade on a tuft of grass.

  The girl let out a gasp and pointed at the dead dragon. “Look what you did!”

  “I did it for you.” Jason resheathed his sword and stooped at her side. “Now you can be free.”

  “Free?” She squinted at him. “Will the Traders give me away?”

  He slid his hand into hers. “That’s not what I mean. You can go wherever you wish. You can—”

  “I have to work.” She jerked her hand away. Picking up another rock, she shuffled to the raft and dropped it with the others.

  Rising, Jason took a step. “But you—”

  “Hey!”

  Jason shifted toward the call. Allender stood at the cave entrance, three small children huddling at his feet. He stalked out, his fists clenched and head low.

  Extending his arm, Jason hoped for a congratulatory handshake. Slaying that dragon and saving Tam felt good, very good. “Did you see what that dragon was doing to that poor little—”

  Allender punched Jason across the jaw. “You fool! Don’t you know the penalty for killing a dragon?”

  Sixteen

  Jason reeled back and staggered to stay on his feet. Rubbing his jaw, he stared at Allender. “Why did you do that?”

  Allender shook his fist. “If I weren’t a praying man, I’d give you another one.”

  “But I killed the dragon. We can run to freedom.”

  “To freedom? You really are a cracked pot, aren’t you? Where will we run? To the Northlands to visit the fairies? To the wilderness to be eaten by the jungle birds? What old woman’s tale do you want us to believe this time?”

  Jason tried to draw the portal with his finger. “There’s this invisible gateway, and—”

  “An invisible gateway?” Allender shook his fist. “I should grind you to powder. Yarlan will be here soon, and when he sees what you did, he will kill every adult among us and send the children to the cattle drivers.”

  “Yarlan?”

  “The patrol dragon. You would do well to tremble at the sound of his name.”

  Jason pointed toward the cave where he had left Elyssa. She had emerged and was now walking toward them, her arms folded. “Not if we escape,” he explained. “All we have to do—”

  “Jason!” Elyssa called.

  “What?”

  “One hour has almost expired. Maybe only a minute or so left. Proof is your best defense now.”

  Jason lifted his hands in a surrender posture. “Listen, Allender, if you’ll just follow me, I can show you. Then if you’re not convinced, you can grind me to powder. I think a praying man should at least give me a chance to prove myself.”

  Allender scanned the skies. So far, the deep blue canopy was free of dragons. He loosened his fist and gave Jason a skeptical nod. “Very well.”

  Jason waved a hand toward the children. “Maybe they’d better stay in the mine until we get back.”

  Allender whistled a shrill note, and all but one youngster ducked out of sight. The one-eyed boy stood tall and approached. “I’m going with you, Uncle. I don’t trust him.”

  “Very well, Wallace,” Allender said as he rubbed the boy’s rag-mop hair. “I welcome your company.”

  “What do we do with Rittle?” Wallace asked, nodding toward the dead dragon.

  “We don’t have time to dispose of his body. Our only choice is to hide in the mine and, when Yarlan arrives, negotiate for the most lenient punishment.”

  Jason gestured toward the portal cave entrance. “Maybe that won’t be necessary.” Leading the way, he hustled down the stairs. From the point directly above the row of crystal pegs, the antechamber’s ceiling descended rapidly toward the rear of the cave, making it unlikely that a dragon could easily pass beyond it. Humans could hide there safely, but standing out in the open, they would be easy prey until Tibalt opened the portal.

  “So where is this invisible gateway?” Allender asked as he stood at the bottom of the stairs, Wallace at his side. Elyssa slid past them and hurried to Jason.

  Jason guided his hand along the portal plane in a circular motion. “This is like a window…an invisible cave entrance that leads to another world, the planet where your ancestors came from. Soon my friend in that world will…” He looked at Allender. The foreman’s brow had knitted tightly. It seemed clear that a detailed explanation about inserting fingers in holes would probably incite another punch in the jaw.

  After clearing his throat, Jason continued. “He will open this window, allowing everyone to escape the dragon tyranny.”

  Allender set a hand on Wallace’s back. “Come along. We have heard enough of this madman’s ranting.”

  Wallace stood firm. “I believe him.”

  “What?” Allender stared at the boy. “Even with one eye, you can see as well as the rest of us. There isn’t anything there.”

  “It took me two years to convince the dragons I wasn’t bad luck,” Wallace said, pointing at his eye. “So I learned a lot about how to tell the difference between superstitions and truth. Being without one eye sometimes makes me see better than most.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A long time ago, I heard about the other world. Koren said—”

  “Oh!” Allender said, adding a condescending laugh. “I should have seen it coming. Another Koren story. That girl was telling old women’s tales as soon as she could talk.”

  Jason stiffened but managed to keep his voice calm. “Koren? What does she look like?”

  “A pretty little thing,” Allender said. “Red hair. Green eyes. Fifteen years old, I think. But she was born a talebearer, I tell you. She will talk the ears right off your head, and I fear that she has charmed Wallace with her fanciful stories.”

  Jason glanced at Elyssa. Her eyes told him that she remembered the name. “Where is she now?” he asked.

  “She serves one of the Zodiac priests,” Allender said, “a plum Assignment, to be sure. The dragons favor the redheads, and the priests love stories.” His lips bent into a sneer. “The priests spin fables of their own, so Koren likely supplies them with fresh lies.”

  “They’re not lies!” Wallace snapped. “If you would just open your mind you would—”

  An earsplitting scream ripped through the chamber.

  “Yarlan!” Allender grabbed Wallace’s arm and pushed him toward the tunnels at the back wall. “Hurry to the mine and gather everyone at the ledge. I will be there in a moment.”

  “I can’t leave you here,” Wallace said. “That would violate the Code.”

  Yarlan screamed again, closer. Thumps sounded on the entry slope, and the cavern darkened.

  “He’s coming!” Allender hooked his arm around Wallace’s elbow and did the same to Elyssa. “Run!”

  They dashed into the central tunnel. Jason followed, instinctively ducking as he neared the opening, but a flash of light made him turn. Fire erupted, but instead of the expected blast of flames aimed at his back, a ball of sizzling blue shot in the opposite direction, toward a dragon standing at the entryway. It splashed against Yarlan’s scaly flank and drizzled to the floor.

  “Shoot ‘im in the belly!” a voice called out.

  Jason yelled at Elyssa. “That was Tibalt!”

  Elyssa jerked free from Allender and rushed to Jason. “Where is he?”

  As they stood in front of the central tunnel at the rear of the chamber, Randall appeared out of nowhere, stalking toward the dragon with a drawn sword and shouting, “He’s immune to the photo gun, Tibber. Time for slaying the old-fashioned way.”

  “Run ‘im through!” Tibalt called. “I’ll try to distract him!”

  Randall half crouched near the left side of the cavern, the photo gun in one hand and one of the antique swords in the other. Yar
lan glanced between him and the center of the room, obviously confused.

  “I heard Tibber again,” Elyssa said, “but I don’t see him.”

  Jason drew his sword. “Stay back.” He marched past the portal plane to the right side of the anteroom and shouted, “Hey, Yarlan! Over here!”

  The dragon swung toward him and shot a fireball. Jason leaped toward the exit, zipped past the dragon, and stood at the bottom of the staircase. Now at Yarlan’s rear, he looked toward the back of the cavern. Tibalt stood with his hands outstretched and his fingers splayed. The river rushed behind him with no sign of Elyssa or the others.

  Jason jabbed at Yarlan’s flank, but his blade just clinked against the scales. As the dragon turned to face him again, Jason shouted, “Randall! Come with me! Tibalt! Close the portal! Open it again in…in about one hundred heartbeats!”

  Jason charged up the stairs and into daylight. Standing outside the arch, he listened.

  “Back, beast!” Randall yelled. The report of a photo gun blast echoed. Yarlan squealed. Seconds later, Randall stormed out of the cave, breathing hard. “Next time…next time you want me to run right past a dragon, give me a little more support.”

  Jason waved his sword. “I tried to stab him. This one seems tougher than the one I just killed.”

  A roar sounded from the cave along with a tromping march. Randall pressed his back against the wall on one side of the entry and motioned Jason toward the other. “You killed a dragon?”

  Breathing heavily, Jason copied Randall’s pose and pointed with his sword. “Yeah. Over there.”

  “Impressive.” Randall lifted his sword into ready position. “If he pauses at all, he gets one blade in each eye.”

  “Got it.” Jason held his breath. Less than two seconds later, Yarlan shot out, leading with barrages of fire. Jason hacked at his eyes, but the head zoomed by so fast, his blade missed the target and glanced off the dragon’s tough neck. As Yarlan launched skyward, a wing slapped Jason in the face, sending him rolling away.

  He leaped to his feet and searched the sky. High above, Yarlan bent into a quick turn and headed their way, fire again blazing. Jason rushed over and helped Randall to his feet. A long bloody gash striped his face. He wobbled, still clutching his sword as Jason pushed his shoulder under Randall’s arm and helped him down the stairs.

  A blast of fire splashed behind them, close enough to warm their backsides, but Yarlan stayed outside, apparently wary of reentering a dark cave where two sword bearers awaited.

  When they emerged into the anteroom, Elyssa helped Jason lower Randall to a sitting position.

  “Are you all right?” Elyssa asked.

  Randall, his eyes a bit glassy, touched the wound near his cheekbone. “It smarts, but it probably looks worse than it is.”

  “Woowee!” Tibalt shouted, still standing with his fingers extended. “That’s a mark that’ll make the ladies swoon!”

  Jason stared at him. The river still rushed at his rear but flowed from right to left toward the pit. Maybe the river had washed away Elyssa’s blood, and now Tibalt controlled the direction.

  “Didn’t you close the portal?” Jason asked.

  “I did, but I was so excited, a hundred heartbeats didn’t take long.”

  Jason looked at Elyssa. “Are Allender and Wallace still watching?”

  “I’m not sure.” She nodded toward the river. “I think they’re still back there, but who can tell? This is all very strange.”

  Jason waved an arm, imagining the two Lost Ones watching from behind the portal window at the rear of the chamber. “Come over here, and you can see the other world.”

  Allender’s voice filtered toward them, muffled by the river’s rush. “Other world? Stop spewing that nonsense. I’ll have no part of it. You saw what the patrol dragons are capable of. The Royal Guard are twice as powerful, and Yarlan will summon them here, you can count on that.”

  “What’s the harm in looking?” Wallace said as he walked through the portal plane and suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He turned back and added, “The Royal Guard won’t be here for—”

  Wallace’s eye shot wide open. “What…what happened?”

  Jason stood and joined him. “You’re looking into the other world, and this is my friend Tibalt.”

  Tibalt grinned. “You can call me Tibber.”

  Smiling nervously, Wallace gave him a polite nod. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise. I’d shake your hand, but I would just disappear. And that wouldn’t be a gentlemanly thing to do.”

  “You see,” Jason said as he stepped over the line of crystal pegs, “this is a portal, a gateway between worlds. And in Allender’s view, I probably disappeared.”

  Wallace sucked in a breath. “Uncle! Can you see it? Did he disappear?”

  Jason glanced at Elyssa and Wallace in turn. “Did he answer?”

  “Not a word,” Elyssa said.

  “He probably went back to the mine,” Wallace said, “to prepare the others for the coming of the Royal Guard.”

  Elyssa tilted her head. “Prepare them?”

  “Let him explain later.” Jason stepped back into the dragon world. “Tibalt, we can’t risk going outside to get to the mine pit, so you’ll have to close the portal for a while. And we can’t let you stand there, because a dragon might come in here while we’re gone.”

  “I ain’t gonna argue with that. I think I’m allergic to dragons.” Tibalt wrinkled his nose. “How long this time?”

  “Better not go by heartbeats. Can you guess how long a half hour is?”

  “Yessiree. I can figure fractions with the best of them. I can even do thirds if you want.”

  “Half should be fine. Go ahead and close the portal. When you open it again, if we’re not here, and there’s no dragon around, just keep it open and wait for us. If there’s danger, close it right away and check again in another half hour. Can you do that?”

  “I am Tibber the Fibber, lord of the dungeon. I am an expert at being sneaky and disappearing when I have to.”

  “Great. Then we’ll see you soon.”

  After giving all four a final nod, Tibalt vanished, and the three tunnels reappeared. When the rush of water faded, the silence in the cavern felt heavy.

  Wallace’s smile spread across his face. “This is even better than Koren’s stories!”

  “How long before the Royal Guard dragons show up?” Elyssa asked.

  Wallace turned and looked up the stairs. “It depends on who is available, but with a murdered dragon, I think we have only a few minutes.”

  “Minutes,” Jason repeated. “I wonder if they’re the same length here as they are at home.”

  Wallace looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “About sixty-five heartbeats?”

  “Sounds right.” Jason reached down a hand and hoisted Randall to his feet. Now his eyes looked bright and fiery, and his legs seemed stronger.

  “I want another shot at that beast,” he said.

  “Then you can hide out in this room, in case Tibalt has trouble with a dragon. Since Yarlan saw humans with swords here, this is where they’ll probably come first.”

  Randall regripped his sword. “Suits me fine.”

  Wallace led Jason and Elyssa through the tunnel and down the ladder to the mining ledge. At the opposite side of the pit, six men crouched in a huddle with six or more children standing around them, trying to look over their shoulders.

  Tam shuffled on her bare feet and touched a man’s shoulder with her skinny roughened hands. He reached back and patted her tenderly. “Don’t worry, Tam. Everything will be all right.”

  A tear inched down her grimy cheek. She nodded but said nothing.

  Breathing a quiet shushing sound, Wallace signaled for Jason and Elyssa to follow. When they reached the gathering, a thin man with a goatee held up a pair of crooked fingers and said, “I say we offer them two of us in exchange.”

  “Not three?” a blond-haired man asked. “The dragon
wasn’t just attacked. He was killed.”

  “True enough,” a third man said. He pulled a sweat-dampened towel from around his neck and mopped his dirty brow. “After what that boy did, it’s better to leave room to negotiate.”

  “Negotiate!” A wrinkled man with no front teeth bent his brow. “I say it’s about time someone stood up to those slavers! If I had that boy’s youth and strength, I’d have done it myself.” He spat on the ground. “Negotiate, indeed!”

  “Listen, Micah,” Allender said, “it’s pretty easy to get all cocky when you have nothing to lose. But the rest of us have plenty to lose.”

  “Plenty to lose?” Micah reached for Tam and turned her back toward Allender. The rips in her shirt exposed two long, bleeding welts. “Is this the price you want to keep paying? Are you going to let the little ones take the blows? What will they learn about courage? Will they really believe you love them when you send them out time and time again to cower under the dragons’ cruel whips?”

  A man who appeared to be Tam’s father pulled her into his arms. He spoke in a strained but measured tone, his entire body quaking. “I will not let her go back out there. Over my dead body.”

  “Which might just be the case.” Allender crouched with his back to Jason. “It’s settled. We offer two, and we will go up to three if we have to, so we should cast the die for all three now.”

  The men mumbled their agreement. As Allender pulled a small cube from his pocket, marked on each side with a number from one to six, sweat beaded on the forehead of each miner.

  Allender placed the cube on his palm. “Highest three are safe. Lowest three will be the offering, with the highest of them on the cusp as the bargaining extra.” He tossed the cube on the ground. It spun for a moment before settling. “Three!” He scooped up the cube and passed it to the man on his left, Tam’s father.

  The man glanced at Tam briefly and cast the cube. When the numeral one came up, the five other men groaned.

  Micah reached out and tipped the cube over, exposing the six. “My roll was a six, but I’m trading with Cowl for his one. That’s allowed if both agree.”

  “Micah,” Cowl said, “I cannot let you take my—”