Starbeam: Chapter 16

“So when are you coming back.”

Goran laughed. “You will be fine here. Just eat your kernels on time and you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“I know I’ll be fine, but will you be? I mean what do you tell the other side when you have been here?”

“I give them the locations that Albert tells me to give them. He always makes sure that it’s a location that got ransacked by the rebellion.”

“You guys have really thought this one out.”

“War takes years to prepare, Andrew.”

I watched Goran jump on one of the wagons and then he waved at me as the carriage left.

He really had become such a great friend over the years, and when he discovered who I truly was, an even better one. I went back to the campsite and started with my daily duties. It was usually target practice from nine in the morning, right after breakfast to midday, and then in the afternoon, I helped the hunting party search for any animals nearby. At night we helped the women with whatever they needed.

Tanya was also keeping a close eye on me. She was making me nervous.

It was as if she could see straight through my appearance, seeing the woman lingering beneath the man.

I didn’t like it very much. If she was going to reveal my secret, Al would never let me fight.

But she kept her distance.

The morning after Goran left, Al gave me another permanent duty, to be part of the hunters that went out every morning early. Making jerky from the meat of the small rodents that I caught became another duty. The men were crazy about my dry meats.

I worried about Maze.

“I have some herbs if you want.” Issy said.

I looked at her. “Has anyone ever told you that you look just like Constance the Swallow Annex?”

She laughed. “Yes, they have, because they would be stupid not to. I’m her twin.”

I froze. “You are a dragon.”

“Guilty. I stay here, I’m not as adventurous as my sister. I only go with her when the king orders it.”

“How do you know when he needs you.”

“Easy, Zeba.”

“So the fox isn’t the king’s?”

“No, she hates the king in fact, but she loves Al. So when will this batch be ready.” I hung the pieces right up in a tree and covered them with branches so that wild animals couldn’t get to it.

“A fortnight or so.”

“You sure are a wild man Andrew.”

I laughed. “I am afraid that I won’t be able to fit in society again after this.”

“Oh, you would be surprised how one easily adapts, but you will meet great friends here, Andrew. Friends that would give their life for you if you treat them right.”

There was a warning in her tone, like she knew I was hiding something. I nodded.

Caleb, the prince of Areeth was in charge of the hunters.

He wasn’t really eye catching but he had a great personality. Took great care of the men beneath him and I started to realize just what a crappy judge I had been when it came to the princes of Paegeia.

They would definitely rule Paegeia differently than their fathers.

They faked their own deaths to start a war.

A war that will stop the black market and keep the Chromatic children safe.

They all had great hearts.

I went to the stream below after the hunting trip to wash up.

I was a better man than a woman and wished that I was Andrew instead of Katherine Squires.

I wished that I had heard word of my family. Not that I had hope that there was any good news. Knowing would be better than not knowing.

The water in the small river behind the log house was cold. But it did the trick and afterward, I lay in the sun.

Yep, I was more relaxed as a man than I was as woman. I should’ve been a boy.

I closed my eyes as the morning sun baked my skin dry and then all of a sudden, the sun disappeared.

When I opened my eyes, a woman’s face hovered over mine.

It was Tanya.

I got up as she jumped out of the way.

“What is your problem? Why are you following me?” I was defensive.

She sniffed the air. “What are you hiding?” Her accent was different. Heavily accented like she came from a different part of the world and not just Paegeia.

I huffed. “I knew you could speak English.” I said and her eyes grew bigger.

I ignored her comment and walked past her, but she pushed me hard against a tree.

She was strong.

She sniffed again. “What are you?” She asked softer this time. Her eyes filled with alarm.

Could she smell magic? Did it even have a scent. Shit, I should’ve asked Tony that.

“I’m not hiding anything.” I tried to make my tone stern, but I failed.

To be honest, knowing that humans could tame dragons, scared the living crap out of me. It wasn’t for me.

She pushed me harder against the tree and grabbed my crotch.

“What are you doing.” I tried to push her away.

She huffed. “No man would be able to resist my touch. You are still limp just like a few seconds ago.” Her eyes found mine as she tried to rile me up.

“You are crazy,” I yelled and pushed her away as I stormed back with huge strides to the camp.

She knew. She knew I wasn’t a man.

I looked like one, but my body didn’t work like a man’s body because my mind wasn’t a man’s mind. I was still Katherine Squires.

That dragon was going to rat me out. It was just a matter of days.

That night I sat next to the bold guy, I think his name was Emanual. He was a dragon too, or so I thought. I wasn’t sure.

His English was broken like Tanya’s but he smiled at me every time our eyes met.

It was as if he could see straight through my manly mask too. See the fragile woman that was hiding behind Andrew Squires.

Tanya walked with huge strides, mumbling something in a different language as she glared at me.

“What is that all about?” Emanual looked down at me. He had a strong European accent.

“She is on my case, and I don’t know why. Kept asking me what I’m hiding.”

He looked at Tanya’s figure disappearing around the corner of the log house.

A screech left the area and trees shuddered as a dragon left the woods.

“What happened now,” Al saw it too.

“I think she has a thing for Andrew,” Helmut joked and they all laughed.

“She is a pain in the ass.” I mumbled.

“No, not possible?” Emanual said, and that had all of us closeby staring at him.

“What isn’t possible,” Helmut asked. It seemed that they had a great friendship.

“I have only heard stories, I’ve never seen it with my own eyes.” He tapped his eyes as if he wasn’t trusting his words. “Dragons have bonds with other dragons.”

“Yes, we’ve seen that.” Caleb joked and everyone laughed again.

“No,” Emanual smiled. “Not like that. I mean tight bonds. Not all dragons share this type of bond, real tight.” He clamped his hands together, gripping tightly to show how tight.

“There are stories, and only stories, more like myths and sometimes, they share this bond with humans.”

All of us stared at him.

“My father told me it’s not natural. And if I ever feel like that, I should kill the human.”

“Wait,” Al said. “You want to tell me that there are dragons that can share a bond with a certain human, what happens?”

“He said that his father saw it once, when he was a boy, how a dragon and a human came to their colony, to show them a different way. This human had the same lightning coming from his hand the dragon breathed.”

“A Moon-bolt?” Albert asked.

I loved his names for the Chromatics.

Emanual nodded and then he looked at me. “I think Tanya is experiencing the bond with Andrew, that’s why she is this way with him.”

They all looked at me.

“No, no, no.” I started denying and laughed. “I am not dragon bond material. Believe me, especially not that dragon.” I got up but all of them wanted me to stay. I didn’t want to listen anymore to this nonsense. It can’t be. She was a Chromatic. She would kill me.

I went to see if I couldn’t help Issy in the kitchen or assist with the children.

I had to get away from this absurdity. I could not have a dragon. No way.

Emanual continued with his story.

It took us years just for him to trust us after we set him free from my father’s dungeon. He seemed to have a great friendship with Helmut as they shared the same fire, but he just told Helmut that he doesn’t feel that bond with him. It wasn’t that tight. The friendship they had was the kind that grew normally. He never felt that way with any human.

The way Tanya was acting toward Andrew, those were signs that she didn’t like what she was feeling. Myth or no myths, dragons grew up with this tale.

“So what you are saying is when a dragon feels threatened by a human, they act like that,” I pointed back to where Tanya flew off, “It’s this bond you are talking about?”

“She will try to kill him, or he has to try and break her. My father said that the stories my grandfather heard from the dragon, were blasphemous. They tried to kill the human because it seemed to him as if the dragon was under a spell, but the dragon fought against all of them, protecting the human. He would die for that human without thinking twice. So they left and no one has ever seen them since.”

“He told you what the dragon said.”

“Little bit.”

“Emanual?” I begged.

“He said that after the taming, the dragon would rebel more, but he wouldn’t be able to kill the human. That time was past.”

“Past?” All of us asked.

“Like magic is protecting the human from the dragon he tamed. But it will change too, meaning the dragon changed, and that it wasn’t natural after that.”

“What do you mean wasn’t natural after that?”

Emanual sighed. He was frustrated. Helmut had taught him English a few years ago, and although his vocabulary was growing on a daily basis, he still struggled with explaining things.

“The dragon would give his last breath not for the rider to die. He would die instead. It’s not natural, Albert.”

I got what he was saying. Why hadn’t Bob told me this. If all dragons grew up with this story, why didn’t he share this valuable information with me.

I’d make a note to ask him.

I guessed the bond that Bob and I had was normal too as I didn’t share his gift of acid. I didn’t have a gift at all, but it didn’t stop me from taming him.

He was still wild in many ways that caused me to beat him regularly. That, however, he had shared with me after a year or so.

It was amazing how they were in a way a lot like us. The good book taught us to punish our children when they were little. It didn’t seem to stop with dragons. But a good beating keeps their dark and sinister side away.

It broke me every time I had to punish Bob like that, but he begged me when he felt the darkness creeping in.

I dreaded it each and every time and knew that it was going to come again soon.

My men knew that I needed a few days to just be alone after that while Bob recovered.

They weren’t normal beatings either. This was just as evil as some of the Chromatics, but he swore it was the only thing that worked.

And now this.

If a Moon-bolt was that good because of a bond, then a bond had to become law. No one could stand in that human and dragon’s way.

I hunted Andrew down to talk to him.

He had no idea what he had.

Tanya was one of the most interesting dragons out there. She could persuade anyone. If you could have someone like that on your side, that type of protection.

“Can I have a word?” I found him washing dishes.

“If it’s about that dragon, forget it Al.”

“What dragon?” Issy asked.

“Emanual told us about a certain bond.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s a myth Albert.”

“Not according to his grandfather who saw it with his own eyes.”

Her eyes grew. “What?”

“He just told us that, and he thinks the reason why Tanya is the way she is with Andrew is because of that bond.”

Issy looked at Andrew.

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want a dragon. I’m with Emanual, no offence Al, but it’s not natural.”

“Hey Bob is one of the best things that ever happened to me. He’s not my pet, Andrew, and I’m not his slave.”

“The bond really exist?” Issy still sounded shocked.

I nodded. “You really grew up with stories like that.”

“More like a warning. It’s not natural for bonds like that, Al. Dragons are supposed to be free.”

“Yes, yet Metallics always find themselves drawn to humans.”

She smiled. “Because we know how fragile you are.”

Andrew and I laughed. “If the bond is real, there is a reason for it, Issy.”

Andrew sighed. “I can’t own a dragon, Al.”

“You don’t own it idiot. The relationship should be a mutual thing.”

“Mutual,” he laughed. “Me and Tanya. She is pure hostile when it comes to me, always sniffing me, it’s awkward.” He repelled at that.

“Well maybe you stink.”

“I washed this morning. She seriously has some trust issues.”

“We all know that,” Issy said.

“And she can speak English,” Andrew said.

“She what?” Both me and Issy asked.

“She spoke it clearly this afternoon.”

“She spoke English.”

“Yep. So I wonder who is hiding something.”

I huffed and went back to ask Emanual about what Andrew had claimed but he was nowhere to be found.

That night I wrote in my journal. About the bond between dragons and humans. I would give anything to have met the two Emanual’s grandfather had seen. A human and his dragon, with a mutual relationship.

There had to be a place where we could learn about one another, and a brilliant idea, just like that, popped into my mind. A school for dragons and humans.

But what would the requirements be? There had to be requirements otherwise the school would be crowded.

Then you open another one Al, a voice in my head said.

We can let dragons teach humans and humans teach dragons. With the right influence, the Chromatics could be just as noble as the Metallics.

We were proving it on a daily basis with these kids.

Subjects were flowing through my mind.

If we can teach dragons differently, to embrace this bond that dragons call a myth from a young age, then maybe this world would be different.

And Andrew was the key.

What was it with this guy?

He had so many things going for him and yet he wanted none of them.

My father had always told me that kings were the best kings when they didn’t want to rule.

Did that mean Andrew would be a better king than any of us?

He sure was someone to be admired and I told myself that this was what I was feeling for him. It was a deeper kind of admiration. It wasn’t love, it was something different. I wasn’t in love with him. That was it.

I put down my journal and closed my eyes as I slept on my bed roll.

I missed Constance, I even missed Bob.

I kept thinking about the bond and when I got tired, my mind switched to the memory of my lady.

I didn’t even know her name but I would do anything to dream about her.

The memory faded and images of the school flashed through my mind.

It was a different time, a time where dragons and humans were friends like me and Bob, Emanual and Helmut. But none of them were kids.

They were all teenagers and grown men. It was hard to tell which were students and which were tutors.

I took some of the classes, the gibberish coming out of the tutors’ mouths didn’t make sense, like it was being taught in a language I didn’t know, but the feelings were joyful, peaceful and I knew, I knew the school existed, even though it was still only in my dreams.