Madness of Fire

The stone rumbled, as it always did. Especially here. It used to scare me, but at this point I was used to it. Birds were chirping in the nearby trees, but they would not be for long. I was occupying my time by watching them fly back and forth, chasing each other. Thinking about what it will be like to join them.

I wrapped my arms a little tighter around myself, as the afternoon drifted on into a cold twilight. We were high, in a raised courtyard nearly level with surrounding walls. We were near the back of the fortress, with one side of the courtyard overlooking the sprawling city below, the other sidled right up against the rockface of a towering mountain. There was a great portcullis gate set into the stone, that held most of my attention for my first hour of waiting. It was said that by having the castle here, nothing could ever sneak up behind us. “Nothing, not even with wings could top that mountain.” Some of the older folks like to say.

My legs were swinging back and forth on the bench, I was not yet tall enough for my feet to touch the ground. It had already been a few hours, or at least that is how it felt before men started arriving. A girl arrived, holding her father’s hand. She was maybe a year older than me, maybe eight. She looked nervous too but seemed to be trying to cover it up. It was obvious to me though. Especially when the ground rumbled again and she flinched, squeezing a little closer to her dad. She had brown hair, and her nose was maybe a little big. They stood there on their side of the giant yard and started waiting too.

I heard footsteps, and I turned to see another boy approaching. Something was simply wrong about him, and his joyless smile did more to exaggerate that fact than to hide it. His parents stood a ways behind him, and they were dressed way fancier than anyone else here. Especially me., but they were always like that. The boy was wearing a dark grey tunic, with a golden broach on one side of his chest. It was a simple circle but had a ruby in the center that was probably worth more than everything I had.

“Cousin.” The boy said with a smirk and sat next to me on the bench. He was younger than me but was also taller, his feet touched the ground. He had hair that was somewhere between brown and blonde that was probably combed five minutes ago but was already starting to sway and become shaggy with the wind.

“Cousin.” I said back, while watching the birds again.

“You ready?”

“I guess we will see.” I kept my voice monotone, trying to seem as uninterested as possible. He always made me uncomfortable, and I was hoping he would get distracted and go away.

“You sure you should even be here? My mom says you don’t share blood with your house and shouldn’t be here.” He asked, I could hear a smile in his voice.

“My mother says I should be here. Be nice.” I answered, watching a cardinal fly over our heads.

“You don’t look like us either.” At that I looked down at my hands. They were definitely darker than his, but not as dark as some. My hair was also darker.

“You know I’m adopted.” I murmured.

“Yeah, right. You were taken in like a stray. You are lucky that rider found you in the woods before the wolves did.”

“Shut up Cal or we will fight again. His dragon found me. And you were born too early.” Cal laughed at me so hard that he sounded like he was out of breath by the end of it. It was a running joke that Cal was not quite right in the head because he came around prematurely. I rolled my eyes and looked around for another bench to wait on, when finally, a newcomer approached and some of the tension went away, replaced by nervous excitement. The man was tall with fairly broad shoulders. He walked like a man who had been there, done that. His muddy, greying hair was short on top, but completely shaved on the sides. He had a short beard too. He wore a standard, plain green gambeson that covered most of his body and a belt holding up a plain dagger with a round guard. A rondel, I think.

“So, it's just the three of you. That’s perfect because... we have three options.” He had a resonant voice, and a proud tilt to his head as he spoke. He started rubbing his hands together and beckoned us to come with him. As we stood up, he spoke again. “I’m Khan. You’ve probably heard of me and been told how this is going to work. So, follow me and we will get this over with. I know you, have been here most of the day.” He pointed at me as he finished. We certainly had heard of him, everyone has.

“Yes, sir but-” I was about to tell him I didn’t mind the wait, but Cal interrupted me. Annoying.

“Why does it work this way? I deserve to be here. I don’t think they do.” Cal sneered at me. “They are just lucky to be born or... adopted by the right houses.” He put a particular emphasis on the word adopted.

Khan arched an eyebrow, evidently not amused. “Well, we have tried many ways. In my day, you had to pass a string of rigorous trials. But people cheated. We tried a lottery system, but people started bribing the officials to win. We tried going by donation amount one year, and the richest man won. That was Jacob. We all remember what happened to Jacob, yes?” We all nodded soberly; the girl was now on my right-side walking with us. Jacob was a famous drunk, who fell off his dragon and splattered in the middle of the town market after falling a few hundred feet down. I threw up that day when I saw the mess and was not the only one.

“So.” Khan continued. “We are going by Houses with a history of loyalty, with children young enough to be trainable. Starting young makes it easier to be comfortable around the dragons. Giving a house with questionable loyalties the power of a dragon under their banner hopefully does not need further clarification on why that is a bad idea. Now, here you are. The three best shots we have.” Khan stopped, and we all gathered around him watching the portcullis. “Although I think this method also has obvious flaws.” I thought Khan looked over at Cal when he said that last. I smiled a little, as Cal turned a little pink.

The gate heaved and started to lift. It was loud, and the ground shook a little more as it did. And not just from the gate. We stood there silently, and the girl that was next to me inched her way behind Khan, putting him between herself and the gate. I just stood there waiting, looking for movement. Some of the leather clad men who were lingering in the yard closed in on the gate, and I saw a few similarly dressed men moving around on the other side. Then we heard a growl. A deep, rumbling gurgle as the gate completed its opening, exposing the gaping maw of the mountain.

Slowly our eyes adjusted to the dark, to see at least twenty men gathered in a half circle shuffling towards us. But they didn’t matter. The only thing I could focus on was the three shapes moving between them. The first one, ever so slowly crossed from the shadow of the cave into the light of day. Its nose lifted to sniff the fresh air, and its eyes slowly surveyed the new sights. It was nearly the size of a small pony. Its head was nearly level with my own as it stopped, taking us in. Its scales looked like black metal, but in some places, they were tipped with a dark violet that made the creature look like it was shimmering, even when it stood still. It had tall horns above its brows, that resembled paintings I had seen in the past resembling the devil, or something like him. There were even bigger ones that curved outwards around its jaw. We all just stared, and it stared back with violet eyes that had slits like a cat’s, or a snake’s. Its claws gleamed in the sun like black steel.

“I've never seen a dragon like that before.” The girl said as she peaked around Khan, her curiosity was starting to beat down her fear.

“You still haven’t. That is actually a wyvern. Its wings attach to its front arms. A dragon, looks more like that.” Khan pointed at another creature that was creeping out from the dark. The difference was clear immediately. It had wings folded against its sides, and four distinct legs, the back ones being noticeably thicker than the ones it had in the front. The dragon was considerably smaller than the black creature next to it. It was colored like copper and gleamed in the sunlight, while the wyvern’s black scales seemed to drink in the light, rather than reflect it. Its claws were grey, as were its eyes. It also had various horns and spikes, but they were all slanted backwards, giving it a slicker appearance. Although its face and mouth were a little wider than the first dragon’s. Well, than the wyvern’s.

The third creature was... almost pitiful. The men gathering behind it, had to crack a whip a few times to make it ease forward. The black dragon growled at the sound, which made a few of the men inch nervously away from it. Eventually it eased into the light, its head hanging low. It was visibly breathing hard. Although it was by far the smaller dragon, the three of us gasped when the sunlight hit its scales. It shimmered and glowed like it was on fire. It was a bright orange, with flecks of red and gold that glittered in the light. Its underside seemed to be entirely golden, but along it’s back the shining orange turned to crimson down its spine. Its eyes were large and golden, that flicked here and there nervously.

“I haven't seen one like that either.” The girl said.

“Not many have. Ones like this appear in old stories and tapestries on occasion, but even that is nearly unheard of.

“It looks like fire.” Cal said. I noticed he was now standing in front of all of us, but he was looking hard at the black monstrosity that was looking around like it was hungry.

“Yeah, but don’t get your hopes up. In my thirty years in this business, I've only seen one that could actually breathe fire.” Khan spoke confidently but pursed his lips as he looked at the little dragon. After a moment he looked down at Cal. “Well, let's get this started. Since you were so eager to be here, I guess you will go first.” I wondered if his comment was a joke about the alleged early birth.

Cal nodded; eyes still locked on the black wyvern. He took a few swaggering steps towards it. “This one is biggest. I want this one.”

“See if it wants you back. Make your approach.” Khan directed. We had been told roughly how this would go and what to do, but Cal had apparently missed the part about being patient. He took another pair of steps forward and held out his hand. The wyvern didn’t move. Khan muttered, like he was thinking to himself and didn’t know his words were out loud. “How am I this unlucky.” He shook his head, and a few of the surrounding wranglers looked on concerned. The wyvern, didn’t move. It just turned its head away, going stiff. But those midnight violet eyes were still fixed on Cal. We were told that was a bad sign.

“Come!” Cal demanded. I glanced behind me and saw my aunt looking concerned with wide eyes at her child’s lack of care. Her husband didn’t look too worried but was shaking his head. I had heard he was not too fond of Cal. “Come here!” he shouted at the wyvern this time, stomping a foot as he did so. The wyvern faced him now, turning its large head to stare at Cal. Its neck stretched upwards as it rose to its full height, but otherwise didn’t move. “Hey. Let me borrow that.” Cal asked, or rather demanded, of one of the wranglers. He walked over to the hesitant man and snatched a curled whip off his belt. The man looked at Khan in obvious panic, but Khan shrugged and crossed his arms. I suspected he wanted to see what happened next more than he cared for the boy’s safety.

Cal reapproached the dragon, and again tried giving it a command. It didn’t work. I had noticed that when the wranglers used the whip, they hadn't touched the little dragon. Cal didn’t notice that. He flicked the whip, smacking the wyvern directly in the face. He really, really shouldn’t have done that. With a low bass growl, it lunged forward quicker than it looked like it could have, and in a clean snap ripped off the hand that was holding the whip. Cal screamed, and fell backwards kicking his legs, either in pain or to ward of a potential attack I do not know. The wyvern spat out the bloody whip and swallowed.

A wrangler grabbed Cal and started dragging him backwards across the stone, as blood drenched Cal’s previously pristine clothes. He shook his head back and forth, yelling and screaming incoherently. His mother fell to her knees beside the boy, holding him and saying something, the same thing over and over again judging by the moment of her lips, but I couldn’t hear the words over the pained screech. The girl that was with us ran back towards her parents, just leaving me and Khan. He never moved, but I did hear him snort between screams.

I watched the tall man and looked back and forth between he and the boy. Khan really couldn’t have cared less. He didn’t look happy or amused, just indifferent. Like he thought it was all a silly inconvenience and was patiently waiting for it to end. The other dragons started acting up, moving and pacing around. The dragon that resembled a living flame had already retreated back into the darkness, and the copper dragon was following, if a little reluctantly. The black wyvern stood unmoving. The child’s blood glistened around its lips, and it somehow managed to look smug and satisfied. The wranglers around it looked at each other and started walking towards it with their hands waving in the air. Doubtless they were relucent to pull another whip out, but they wanted to herd him away all the same.

The wyvern however, had no interest in being herded. Suddenly he lashed forward, and in a blur of shadow spread his wings and leapt for the air. “Let em go!” Khan called, and the wranglers dropped to the stones covering their heads with their arms. The black metallic beast flew over me, and between me and the sun for a moment. The sun hurt my eyes after the wyvern passed, and I watched it sail over the city, and away from captivity. It was mesmerizing watching it move, watching its wings sweep through the air. It was also a little scary, knowing the beast that just ripped a kid’s hand off was now free. And would only grow bigger.

“Probably for the best. That thing was untameably. I thought maybe crazy Cal’s blatant lack of self-preservation would somehow mesh with the wyvern’s own independence, but apparently, he is simply too dumb.” I gawked at Khan, as the portcullis started to close. I looked back at Cal, who was bleeding through the scarf his mother had wrapped around the stump at the end of his arm. He was still screaming and writhing wildly. Her and a few wranglers were trying to hold him still, presumably to get him to a healer, but he refused to stop flailing.

“Well.” I started in a small voice, my stomach twisting and turning as I watched the scarf continue to soak through with red. “See you tomorrow?” Khan looked down at me, arms still crossed. On his strong scared face, I saw a hint of a smile as the dragon rider nodded down at me.

“Tomorrow.”

Tomorrow, quickly, sleeplessly, became today. I was back on the bench, feet dangling above the ground. The birds were not as active today, as it was overcast. There were grey clouds that promised rain in the evening, and it was barely passed midday now. My eyes kept drifting to the stained stone not too far away. Where the wyvern had pulled my cousin’s hand off. That’s half of what kept me up all night, the other half of my thoughts focused on what could happen next, the possibilities. Two dragons, two of us left. Or so I thought. My hopes were crushed with the sound of small footsteps. I was hoping to see the girl returning despite myself, but I knew the anxious quick rhythm of that stride.

Cal sat down beside me again, just like he did the day before. His hand was so heavily wrapped in bandages, I couldn’t make out the shape of whatever stump he had left. He kept that hand, his right, pressed to his chest. I didn’t see any blood showing through, but the wrappings looked fairly fresh. “Cousin.” He muttered. There was zero difference in his tone from yesterday.

“Cousin.” My voice was the same as it always was towards him. Indifferent, bored, with an undertone of dread. Cal had never been squeamish. He did whatever he wanted, when he wanted to do it with zero regard for himself, others, or whatever he was doing it to. I was still a little surprised to see him, but not much would stop Cal. Especially not with stakes like this. I guess Cal could do math too. A pair of dragons left with himself, me and the girl. If he hadn't come today, he would have lost his chance. Cal wouldn’t miss a chance like this over some trifle like losing a hand.

Maybe an hour passed, and neither of us spoke. Eventually the girl showed up, joining us on the bench. We made small talk and found out her name was Lara. A name I had heard before but didn’t know it belonged to her. She was not from one of the old houses, which made her being here a curiosity. But seeing as her father held a manor and estate greater than that of half the lords within a thousand miles, I guess that helped secure her place here today. I liked Lara, but she did seem a little shy, and maybe a little soft. She shifted uncomfortably whenever the ground rumbled, or when Cal looked over at her. Not that I could blame her.

Khan arrived, and we all jumped to our feet. Cal walked straight up to him, and immediately said “I want to go again. Where are they.” Khan arched an eyebrow, and never stopped walking. He nearly ran Cal over, the kid just refused to move, and stumbled out of the way at the last second. He grimaced at Khan’s back in surprise until the portcullis started rolling up again. Lara and I stood next to Khan, waiting and watching for movement. Cal came around us and stood directly in front of Khan in defiance. He still held his ruined hand, or whatever, against his chest.

The gate creaked as it reached the top and stopped moving. Then came the wranglers. Then came the dragons. The copper slowly sauntered out looking more curious than anything. The red and gold beast lingered behind with its head dropped low in submissive nervousness. Right away, I realized that it was acting a little like Lara. That would be perfect! She gets the shy one, that leaves me and the copper. I just have to beat Cal to it.

“Back off. You had your chance. The other two go first.” Khan spoke with absolute authority. Cal turned, mouth open ready to protest and the ground rumbled harder than I had felt it before. Like what created the disturbance was close by. Cal turned and managed to shove his way between me and Lara, knocking into both our shoulders as he passed. I didn’t expect him to listen.

“Whatever. One of you will mess up and not get one.” Cal muttered behind us, seething. Hope not.

Lara stepped forward a few paces, showing way more guts than I expected to see. As did the copper dragon. Before she had fully extended her hand, the copper had touched its nose to her hand. Lara nearly squeaked in glee, and silver eyes widened, as its head tilted to examine her. “Well, that was easy.” Khan remarked. After a brief conversation I probably should have been paying attention to, the wranglers herded Lara and the dragon back into the cave the dragons came from. As I watched, deep in the dark, a pair of eyes opened. They watched the new pair as they approached. Then I saw another pair of identical eyes glint in the dark, as the first set shifted to look at me. Two eyes were unsettling enough, but now there were four staring at me. I thought the eyes were emerald green, and recalled the rumble that came from within the cave when Cal wanted to argue with Khan.

“Sir? What dragon do you ride?” I asked, although I was fairly sure I remembered the answer.

“The twin.” Khan replied, not looking at me. Well, that explains the four eyes and the rumbling. “I was actually the one that found you in the forest that night. Twin caught your scent and was rather determined to find you. You’re up.” That was definitely news to me, I never knew which rider it was that rescued me, but I didn’t have time to linger on that now.

My breathing picked up. It was my turn to step forward, and I did. Bright golden eyes met mine, but I didn’t see the same curiosity Lara received. This dragon’s eyes were anxious, nervous. I took another step, and the dragon flinched. I froze. The poor thing was pitiful. I almost hoped it took its shot and flew off like the wyvern did. I took another step as slowly as I could, and the creature slunk down to the ground, ducking its head and bringing its wings up in a defensive posture around itself. “That means no. My turn.” Cal growled from behind us. My stomach dropped a little, but I didn’t move. Cal has no chance. If it didn’t want to come close to me, it will definitely run away from him.

I stood there for another few minutes, hoping the dragon would perk up, but no such luck. “Let the little psycho have his chance. That one is closing off to you.” Khan spoke, and my stomach dropped all the way to the floor. I backed off to stand next to the tall man, and Cal stepped forward in my place. He held a hand towards the dragon, and it flicked its eyes in Cal’s direction before looking back down at the floor. Without a word, Cal dropped his hand and strode over to one of the wranglers. Before the confused looking man could react, Cal had snatched a whip off his hip and snapped it free of its coils. Oh no. Is this really about to happen again?

“You only have one hand left, kid.” Khan said, and this time he did seem a little amused. Cal stepped back to the dragon and extended his hand again. The dragon didn’t move. So, Cal with a jerk of his wrist, cracked the whip in the air over the dragon. It flinched, and let out a high pitched, whining whistle as its eyes grew wide. Cal did it again, bringing the tip of the whip closer to the crimson scales along its back. I didn’t know if the whip could actually hurt the pitiful animal through those scales, but it didn’t look like the dragon knew either. It cowered under the sadistic child and the whip cracked again. Cal stepped closer again, whip whirling, and the little dragon finally reacted. It reared its head, throat rumbling. Its eyes had changed, taking on a sudden red tint. Its maw opened showing rows of wide teeth, but instead of getting a repeat of the day before we got something new. I thought the thing was going to vomit, but instead it coughed out a sudden blaze of yellow flame right into Cal’s chest. The light of the fire reflected off the dragon’s scales, temporarily blinding us.

The flame was not substantial, but it was enough. We all knew what it meant. This was now the only fire dragon known to the world. There were rumors of a few wild dragons with this power, but only rumors and nothing that man could get their hands on. Until today. And the hand on that power right now was Cal. Looking at him was a little startling. He was laughing of all things, as his clothes burned. Fire licked up around his torso, his face, but he didn’t seem to care. He just kept laughing. An acrid smell filled my nose, and I realized it wasn’t coming from the fire, or the dragon. Cal’s skin was burning. Tendrils of dark smoke rose off his body, but he didn’t seem to care. Wranglers started patting him down, until someone managed to dump a half-filled water bucket over him. Cal never seemed to notice.

At one point Cal looked back towards us, and it was the sickest thing I had ever seen. A wretched smile twisted his lips ear to ear, a few of his baby teeth were missing. The left side of his neck moving up towards his face was burned. That wasn’t too bad, but the lower I looked the more bubbling skin I saw. Yet he still didn’t seem to notice, or at least didn’t seem to care. He started pushing the wranglers away, flinging that whip out again. The little dragon ducked, its muzzle against the stones. It seemed a little startled at what it had done and was visibly shaking now, eyes back to being fully gold. Cal stepped forward, almost into the creature. Ever so slowly he extended his hand and placed it on top of the dragon’s shaking head. Its eyes flickered up, and then back down to the stones.

“Come.” Cal said to the little dragon, and he started walking towards the cave. The dragon didn’t want to move, until Cal brandished the whip again. Then the little creature reluctantly turned and followed Cal into the dark, the light leaving its scales as the shadow of the mountain passed over them both.

“That's not right.” I said, shaking my head.

“No. It's not. And it looks like you are out of luck.”

I thought about that one for a moment before answering. “For now.” As I turned and looked out at the sky. I didn’t like bullies, and that was exactly what Cal was. I wasn’t very big, or very strong. But I knew Cal was going to be an absolute nightmare one day. And if I wanted to survive it, I would need something that was both. “For now.”