Audun had almost reached the audience room when he began to wonder what talents the other councillors might have. He’d been so concerned with getting the king to agree to help him that it hadn’t occurred to him to ask his grandmother about the other dragonesses. Although most dragons knew about the king’s history, little was generally known about the dragonesses who advised him. Audun hadn’t paid much attention to them the last time he was in their presence, but he did seem to recall that they were older than Song of the Glacier, and at least one of them had looked at him with kind eyes. Perhaps she would help Song of the Glacier change the dragon king’s mind.
Audun was about to enter the chamber when a dragon wearing the satchels of a messenger strapped to his back emerged, looking harried and tired. He nodded at Audun who waited until the exterior door had closed before opening the door to the audience chamber.
King Stormclaw wasn’t seated on his stone pillar as he’d been during their last interview. Instead, he was pacing the length of the room, his tail twitching in agitation. The king stopped when he spotted Audun waiting nervously by the door. “Come in, young dragon. No need to stand there looking like I’m about to rip off your head. You’ll be pleased to hear that I’ve reconsidered. At first I thought you were crazy for wanting to learn how to turn into a human so you could be with a human who can turn into a dragoness. I’d never heard such a thing! And knowing who the dragoness is, I must tell you that I was tempted to lock you away for your own good. However, out of regard for your grandmother, I have reconsidered your request and am willing to give you the opportunity to show me that you deserve to be taught how to turn into a human. You will have to complete five tasks to prove your worth.” He gestured toward the dragoness seated farthest from Song of the Glacier. “Frostweaver will tell you what you must do.”
Audun turned to the dragoness and bowed, so excited at the good news that he couldn’t help but grin. The old dragoness was smiling at him when he looked up, and he could see that at least two of her fangs were missing. The flesh on her jaws was lined with wrinkles and her white scales were dull and yellowed with age. Her blue eyes bore a filmy cast but, even so, he saw excitement gleaming in their depths. Frostweaver looked so fragile that he couldn’t help but wonder if she could still fly.
“Good day to you, Audun, grandson of my new friend, Song of the Glacier. It gives me great pleasure to tell you of your task and to set you on the road to achieving your goal.” When the old dragoness waved a talon before her face, Audun thought she was about to fall over. It took a moment before he realized that she was using frost to draw a map in the air as if she were writing on ice. The frost shimmered and grew more solid, until he thought he could almost reach out and touch it.
“Far from here,” said Frostweaver, “lies the kingdom of Aridia. In the southern half of the kingdom you will find the Arid Desert. Although many believe that the shifting sands harbor no life, we dragons know that is not true. You must fly to the Arid Desert and look for the rarest of all birds, which can be found only in the driest of lands.” With a swipe of her talons, the map faded away, and the picture of a bird replaced it. The bird was ugly, with a bald head and small, piercing eyes. It looked scrawny at first, but as Audun watched, its body filled out until it looked like a different bird entirely. “You may find the desicca bird in either of its phases, but it is not the bird itself that you seek. Locate the bird and follow it to its nest, buried deep within the burning sands. Retrieve one of the eggs and bring it back here. If you are to succeed at your task, you must ensure that the egg remains intact and that the chick inside lives. Upon successful completion of this test, you shall receive your next task.”
Audun nodded, relieved that the task was so simple. Find a bird and bring back its egg. Yes, he could do that. He studied the picture as it faded, then bowed once more to the old dragoness, and turned to leave.
“Just a moment, young dragon,” called Frostweaver. “You will need to take this with you.” Audun glanced back to see the old dragoness weaving strands of frost in the air in front of her, creating a band of silver and white. The band grew, becoming a square as wide as her wings could reach. When she finished, she tapped the center of the square and it shrank until it was no bigger than the span of the outspread talons of one foot. Pinching the square between two talons, she handed it to Audun, saying, “This will keep the wearer whatever temperature he needs to be and will grow or shrink to the necessary size. Remember what I said about the egg. I’ll be looking forward to your return. Dragonspeed!”
Audun took the square from Frostweaver and bowed once more. He was tucking it into his wing pouch as Song of the Glacier came forward. “I wish you well, Audun. Be careful in the desert and don’t eat any spoiled meat. Safe travels!”
It was the farewell he had longed to hear when he left his family only days before.
The young dragon was on his way up the ramp when Hildie ran after him, calling his name. “Is it true you’re leaving?” she asked, coming so close that the scales of their legs brushed together as she matched her pace to his.
Although Audun had had plenty of friends while growing up at the edge of the Icy Sea, they had all been boy dragons. All the dragonesses he’d ever known had been adults, so he wasn’t sure how to react when Hildie persisted in touching him. It made Audun feel uncomfortable and he moved aside to give her more room. She followed him, staying just as close until he was bumping against the far wall.
“Where did you hear that I’m leaving?” he asked, picking up speed as he tried to put space between them. “I only just learned it myself. Does your talent allow you to see into the future?”
Although he was half-joking, Hildie seemed to take him seriously. “Actually, I don’t have my talent yet. Frosty-breath told me that you were leaving. A dragon charged with cleaning your room for the next visitor told him so.”
“Things move quickly around here,” said Audun.
Hildie shrugged. “They usually do, although I wish they hadn’t moved so quickly this time.”
“Audun, do you really have to go?” cried a voice, as a small dragon launched herself onto his back.
“I do, short stuff,” Audun said, laughing as he spread his wings. The little dragoness slid down just as she would the chute. “There’s something important that I have to do.”
“Will I ever see you again, Audun?” Loolee asked, but Audun could see that Hildie was waiting for his answer, too.
“I’ll be back before you know it, little one. This shouldn’t take long at all.”
Six
Audun decided that Frostweaver must have done something special to the map; he could recall the way to the Arid Desert as if it were etched on the air in front of him even as he flew, and his memory wasn’t usually so precise. The sun had been shining when he left the island, but the sky darkened only a few miles out and rain began to fall. Fighting his way through a vicious squall that lashed the southernmost shoreline of the Icy Sea, he followed the curve of the land until he reached the range of mountains that defined the western edge of the Kingdom of Bullrush. He skirted the mountains and went inland, turning west again before reaching the mountains of Upper Montevista. It took him two days to get that far. Another day of flying carried him across the desert of East Aridia where it was so hot that he began to sweat with his tongue and from the bottoms of his feet.
It was night when he passed over the castle in the center of a huge city. The castle was wide, with tall spires and pennants flying everywhere. Row upon row of soldiers were lined up around the inside perimeter of an enormous courtyard in the middle of the castle grounds. Bright torches edging the courtyard showed that a mosaic depicting an older man with flowing, white hair covered the very center. A man with a shining bald head stood at the edge of the mosaic beside a man who looked remarkably like the one pictured. When the bald-headed man raised his arms, the crowd grew quiet. He paused, as if for effect, then performed an intricate gesture with his hands. Audun realized that the m
an must be a wizard when the mosaic seemed to come to life, blinking and opening its mouth to speak. The man in the mosaic talked about the bravery of his army and congratulated the officers who had led the soldiers into battle. He spoke of the conquest of another kingdom and of how much the subjects in East Aridia would benefit. Audun thought that the man who looked like the mosaic might be doing the actual talking, but he couldn’t tell for sure without going closer.
As Audun circled overhead, the face in the mosaic stopped talking and grew still and lifeless once again. The soldiers cheered, saluting the man with the flowing hair. They held their spears aloft and shook them; the glint of metal in the torchlight reminded Audun of the soldiers who had shot arrows at him in Upper Montevista, so he turned once more and headed back over the open desert.
On the fourth day he reached Aridia. A dry, hot wind was blowing, slowly moving dunes of golden sand across the land below him. Growing up in the Icy North, he had seen countless snowdrifts, but none so wide that they stretched as far as he could see. The heat radiating off the dunes parched his throat and made him wish for the rain that he’d battled only days before.
Audun closed his inner lids to protect his eyes from the biting, wind-carried sand, but even though he flew high above the ground, he could hear the sand hissing against his scales and feel it scouring away the grime he’d acquired while traveling. By dusk he still had not found any birds, let alone the desicca bird he’d seen in Frostweaver’s image.
Audun stayed aloft until long after the sun had set and the searing heat of the sand had cooled enough that he could land. Settling on the ground, he welcomed the night chill that enveloped the desert, and fell into a fitful sleep where images of Millie crying as her mother whisked her away made him growl and twitch his wings.
The heat returned with the morning and once again Audun took to the air. He hadn’t gone far before he saw an enormous bird flying far off in the distance. Even in the Icy North, dragons had heard of rocs, but it was the first time Audun had ever seen one. He wondered what other kinds of creatures might live in the desert and was surprised when a short time later he glanced down and saw the ground moving. Drawing closer, he spotted a horde of insects with daggerlike stingers arched over their backs scuttling across the sand. As he passed over wind-eroded ruins, he saw an enormous snake with an arrow- shaped head investigating the remains of a collapsed wall.
A little farther on, he watched as a huge cat nearly the color of the sand slunk along the ground, stalking its prey. He would have thought nothing more of it if he hadn’t seen what the cat was hunting. Three human children were shuffling across the sand, looking forlorn and bedraggled. The boys, who weren’t very big, were half-carrying, half-dragging a girl even smaller than themselves. Audun might have continued on if the little girl hadn’t glanced up just as he flew overhead. She looked terrified, but what made Audun want to stop and help them was the girl’s blond hair and the shape of her face: the little girl looked much the way Millie must have when she was very young.
Audun was too far away to hear what the girl said when she pointed up at him, but he could see the frightened looks on the boys’ faces. The older boy dropped the little girl’s hand and reached into his waistband for a forked stick. Audun didn’t know what he was going to do with it until the boy set a stone on a leather strap tied to the prongs of the stick. He was pulling back on the strap when the big cat wiggled its rump and charged. Not wanting to see what happened when the cat reached the children, Audun tucked his wings close to his body and aimed for the beast. The younger children began to scream just as Audun opened his mouth and roared. The boy let the leather sling go as the dragon flew over their heads and the stone bounced off Audun’s neck. The young dragon barely felt it as he flew past them and landed in the big cat’s path. With its fur bristling, the cat pulled up short. Faced with an angry dragon three times its size, the animal turned and ran.
To Audun’s surprise, the boy turned to him and bowed, saying, “Thank you most kindly, gracious dragon. I apologize for thinking you meant us harm when you were really defending us from that horrid lion. I never thought I’d see a dragon here. My name is Galen and these two are my brother Samuel and my sister, Shanna.”
All three children had straight hair bleached to a pale blond, but while Galen had blue eyes, the other children’s were a warm brown. With their straight noses and squared chins, Audun would have known they were siblings even if Galen hadn’t told him so.
“You are most welcome, young sir,” said Audun. “I am Audun of the Icy North. If I may ask, how is it that you can talk to dragons?”
The little boy shrugged. “We had a tutor who had some magic. He taught us many things.”
“Where is your tutor now? Why are you here without an adult to protect you?”
Shanna pulled a piece of cloth from her sleeve and clutched it to her chest. Audun noticed that it had a wooden head and was roughly shaped like a human. “We ran away,” she said, and popped her thumb into her mouth.
“We had to,” said Galen. “We lived in Desidaria, the city that surrounds the royal castle of King Cadmus, although the castle no longer belongs to him. He was killed in the war.”
“There’s been a war?” Audun remembered the throngs of armed people he’d seen in the courtyard in East Aridia.
Galen nodded. “It ended just a few days ago. King Beltran of East Aridia sent his soldiers to attack Desidaria. They defeated our soldiers and ransacked the city. A lot of people were killed, including our king. His brother, Dolon, swore fealty to King Beltran. Dolon sits on the throne of Aridia now.”
Shanna pulled her thumb out of her mouth to tug at her brother’s sleeve. “What about Owen? Can the dragon help us get Owen back?”
“We have to go,” said Samuel. “Owen could be hurt.”
“Who is Owen?” asked Audun.
Galen rubbed the side of his head and frowned. “He’s our older brother. After King Beltran left, there were a lot of orphans and nobody knew what to do with them. Dolon said that they could all come live in the palace. He put us with them until Owen was able to sneak away from where he’d been in training and come for us.”
“Owen rescued us!” said Shanna. “He was very brave!”
“Owen helped us get out of the city,” said Samuel. “He was taking us to our aunt’s home on the other side of the desert when the roc came.”
“It came down, whoosh!” Shanna said, demonstrating with her hand. “And took Owen away.”
“We were going after him when you found us,” said Galen. “It’s what he would have done if one of us had been carried off.”
“Do you think he’s all right?” Shanna asked, her brown eyes big and round.
“I’m sure he is,” Galen said, but he didn’t sound very convincing.
“We have a problem, though,” said Samuel.
Audun raised a brow ridge. “Only one?”
“He means we’re lost,” said Shanna.
“Owen was the one who knew the way,” explained Galen. “I thought I knew which way the roc took him, but I’ve been getting all turned around . . .”
Shanna rubbed her eyes with a grubby hand, wiping away a tear. “I want to go home, Galen!”
“I know, Shanna,” said her older brother, as he put his arm around her. “That’s what we all want. But we can’t go back to Desidaria now.”
“I can take you to your aunt’s home,” said the dragon, “as long as you can tell me where it is.”
Samuel shook his head. “We have to get Owen first. We can’t go anywhere without him!”
“Could you help us find him?” asked Galen. “We could find him faster if you were looking for him, too.”
“You have wings!” Shanna said through her tears.
“We’d go with you,” said Samuel. “If we were all looking—”
“I can’t take you with me. You’d be in the way. And I can’t leave you here. It isn’t safe. I’ll take you to your aunt and come back and look f
or Owen.”
“No!” cried Samuel. “He’s our brother. We have to go rescue him!”
“Take my help the way I offer it, or don’t get it at all. It’s up to you. I have my own task ahead of me, so if you don’t want my help . . .”
“But we do!” Galen said. “You and I could take Shanna and Samuel to our aunt’s home, then I could go with you.”
“Galen!” shouted his brother and sister in unison.
“That wasn’t what I offered,” said Audun.
“Then we accept your offer as it was given,” said Galen through stiff lips. Audun thought he looked as if he wanted to cry.
Audun crouched down and bent his neck so the children could climb on more easily. “We’d better hurry,” he said. “I have a lot of flying to do.”
With the map that Frostweaver had shown him set in his mind, Audun was able to use the children’s scanty memories of the way to their aunt’s home to head in the right direction. It took him longer to find the town than it had to cross the desert, but when he did he landed on the outskirts and refused to go into the town itself. Although the children assured him that their aunt would want to thank him, Audun couldn’t help but remember the reception he’d gotten from other humans.
“Do you know the way to your aunt’s home from here?” Audun asked as the children clambered down.
Galen nodded. “I came to visit her last year. I know right where she lives.”
“You’re going back for Owen, aren’t you?” Samuel asked, his brow creased with worry.
“I’m going to start looking for him now,” said Audun. Dipping his head to the children, he spread his wings, pausing only long enough to say, “I’ll bring him back if it’s at all possible.”
“Are you sure I can’t go with you?” asked Galen. “Two pairs of eyes can see more than one.”