The Dragon Son

The people of Nalindor claim to celebrate a diversity of cultures, beliefs, and opinions. But not if you’re a dragon. I learned that the hard way. 

 “Börgnarr attacked another city this weekend.”

   I looked up from my stew to gauge my family’s reactions. Mother lifted her snout from her bowl of stew and glanced down the stone dinner table at Father, who was busily attacking the remains of the elk with my brother Atticus at the other end of our cave. Father dropped a chunk of elk before attempting to clean his scaly face. Firelight flickered in his pine-green scales, except for the dull gray patch that circled the top of his head.

 “This is why we need to invest in satellite TV,” Father said. “We’re always the last to know what’s happening.”

 “Yeah, I’m sure that’s the only reason,” Mother said. “Where was it this time, Fafnir?”

 “Karblanc.”

 Father and Mother both let out worried growls.

 “The Capital?” Atticus asked. “Why would Börgnarr attack the Capital? Every human in Nalindor is going to be calling for his head.”

 “Which he’ll leverage to his advantage, I’m sure,” Father said. He looked at the half- eaten carcass at the table.

 “How could that be an advantage?”

  “If the humans try to retaliate, he can use that as a recruitment call,” Mother said. “Most dragons don’t watch the human news, so they’ll think it was another unprovoked attack on dragons.”

 “It won’t take much. You should have been there at school today,” I said, glaring at my soup. “Everyone is furious. Some people are calling for dragons to be moved to reserves or sent to Rose Roost prison. The Prime Minister said that dragons are evil and a danger to the country. And Jonas said his dad wants the military to be called in kick dragons out of the country by force.”

 “Did you tell Jonas that your dad could eat his dad?” Atticus said. He gave Father a sly grin, who returned the look. 

 “Ah, well, none of that is new,” Mother said. “Humans and dragons have fought in Nalindor ever since it was founded over a thousand years ago.”

 I looked back at my stew, still feeling uneasy. I was the only kid at my school being raised by dragons, which was a hard secret to keep. People hated dragons. And if people hated dragons, they hated my family. And if they hated my family, they hated me. 

 “I just don’t understand why people have to hate all dragons if it’s only Borgnarr and his followers that are attacking human cities,” I said. “How can they hate us just because of who we are or what we believe?”

 “People are afraid of what they don’t understand,” Mother said. “I would guess that none of your classmates has ever seen a dragon, let alone talked to one. They probably just view them as powerful forces of destruction, since that’s all they hear about them.”

 She had a point there. None of the books we read in school did a great job of showing the nurturing side of dragons, and the news clips we watched in class always focused on the attacks.

 “I’ll go talk to the humans!” Atticus cried. “I’ve always wanted to see if they’re all ugly and short, or if that’s just Fafnir.” 

 I picked up a rock from beneath the stone table and chucked it at Atticus, who deflected it with a lazy flick of his tail. Mother gave me a “not-in-the-cave” kind of look before clearing her bowl with an enormous claw. A spark of hope ignited in my chest as I pondered Mother’s words. Maybe humans and dragons just needed to talk it out.

 “Why not?” I asked. “If the kids knew more about you, then why would they hate you?”

 “That’s a nice thought, Fafnir,” Mother said as she cleaned her empty bowl with water from the spring. “But this isn’t something that you can fix with a simple conversation. The feud between humans and dragons has been going on for centuries. People don’t change their minds easily, which is something humans and dragons have in common. It’s safer for everyone if dragons just look after our own. Right Darimore?”

 Father, who had returned to noisily chomping on the elk carcass, looked back at up at mother. Elk meat hung from his jaws. “What was that, Serenia?”

 “Niddhogg’s breath!” Mother exclaimed. “And you want to add a TV into this mess?” Father shrugged sheepishly before clearing the elk carcass away from the table.

 I had to admit Mother’s words made sense, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Something had to be done, even if it was just to ease my anxiety about the students at school. 

 Mother nudged me affectionately with her tail. “Try not to worry about what others think. You should focus on finding your dragon’s breath.”

 I stared back at my stew with a frown. Despite my being human, Mother and Father were confident that I would develop a breath weapon. Father could breathe fire, which was the most common one among dragons, but Mother could heal wounds with her breath. Even Atticus had discovered he could launch explosive blue balls of flame just a few weeks ago, much to the delight of my father and annoyance of my mother. 

 “What if I don’t have dragon’s breath?” I mumbled into my stew. “I’m not exactly a dragon.”

 Mother nuzzled my face with her snout. “It’s not the breath that makes the dragon. The breath is who the dragon is, the power of their soul. You may have a human body, but you are a dragon.”

 “I think he needs to hear the poem again, Serenia,” Father said. 

 “Great idea, Darimore.” 

 Father sauntered off deeper into our cave and turned a corner. Atticus hopped over to mother and curled up in front of her, chewing on a discarded elk bone. A few moments later, Father emerged with a book the size of a suitcase clenched in his jaws and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched on his snout. The glasses combined with his greying patch of scales made him look like a middle-aged librarian. He set the book down on the table and flicked through the thick ivory pages with his tail.

“Let’s see… ah. Here it is. The Demigon.”

He cleared his throat and read aloud.

 “Atop the smoky mountain, ‘midst battle fierce and full

Stood man whose heart was human, with fire in his soul

His goal amidst the fighting was not one side to win

But to hold off the warriors and release his dragon kin

With axe in hand, he broke the chains and set his family free

Then from behind the sword did strike and sent him to his knee

His family came to aid him, then on precipice of death, 

He stood his ground and faced the hoard, releasing dragon’s breath.

With power, both of man and beast, the battle he then won.

Atop the smoky mountain he became the Demigon.

 For a moment, I was a kid again. My heart raced as the image of myself breathing fire into the air came into my mind as it had so many times before. But I wasn’t a warrior atop the smoky mountain. I didn’t know who I was. 

 “That’s just a legend,” I said.

 “Legends are always based in fact,” Mother said. 

 “Then why aren’t there Demigons now? Why don’t any of the stories tell you how to become one instead of talking about how great they all are?”

 Mother exchanged a concerned glance with Father before speaking. “I think the Demigons must have spent years with the dragons and come to know them as you have. They must have been remarkable people, and likely stayed hidden to protect the dragons they loved.”

 I wanted so badly to believe her. But I’d spent my whole life around dragons. If I had any powers, I’d have found them by now.

 Father closed the book and stood up. “I think it’s about time for bed. Get to your rooms, you two.”

 The scraping of scales echoed throughout our cave as we stood to get ready for bed. Our rooms weren’t exactly bedrooms, but other sections of the cave. Mother and Father sauntered off to their perch near the mouth of the cave, but before Atticus turned to his room, I waved him over to mine. 

 “How would you like to meet some humans?” I whispered. 

 Sparks blazed in his eyes. “You’re serious?”

 “Absolutely. I think it would be good for people if they could see more dragons up close and personal. But Mom and Dad can’t find out.”

 “How are we going to pull that off?”

 “You know the way into town, right?”

 “Yeah?”

 “My school is just past the edge of the woods on the east edge of town. Ask mom if you can pick me up from school for flying practice or something.”

 Atticus looked hesitant. 

 “Do you want to see the humans or not?” I asked him.

 He flicked his tail back and forth before nodding. “Ok. I’ll figure out a way to be there.”

 A warm spark of hope lit up the emptiness in my chest as we parted. But I had no idea just what the next day would bring. 

 The next day at school was a mess. I couldn’t focus on anything, failed a quiz in algebra, and hardly ate anything during lunch. Anxiety swirled and bobbed from my chest to my stomach, making me feel like I was going to throw up. Was I making a mistake by asking Atticus to come? Would I be putting him in danger? Part of me thought I might be, but the other part just wanted the truth to be out. My family were dragons, meaning a part of me was a dragon. I didn’t want to hide that anymore. 

 At twenty-minutes to the end of class, a light started glowing in my backpack. My heart flew into my throat as I saw the head-scale mother had given me glowing a faint blue. Dragons shed most of their scales and discarded them, but head-scales had special properties.

 When I touched the scale in my backpack, warmth spread through my fingers and mother’s voice echoed in my mind.

 Atticus wants to come pick you up today. Is that ok?

That’s fine with me, I thought back. Her reply came seconds later.

Be careful and stay hidden.

A flurry of guilty excitement swept through my body, making my stomach churn while electricity crackled through my arms and legs. This was it. People would now know who my family was..

 With two minutes until the end of class, the students gathered their books and pens into their backpacks and waited by the door for the bell. I joined them, then breathed in as much courage as I could.

 “I know most of you are afraid of dragons,” I started. “But I think that’s because none of you have ever met one or seen one. If you’d like to come meet one. Follow me to the woods behind the school today.”

 Heat rose in my face as my classmates broke out into whispers, some laughing, others looking at me like I was crazy. 

 “You’re joking, right?” One boy said. It was Jonas, the kid whose father wanted dragons kicked out of Nalindor. 

 “I’m not,” I said, trying my best to keep my nerves out of my voice. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” Jonas turned to whisper to some of his friends who laughed. The bell rang and as one, the class all rushed into the hall. 

 I led the way to the back doors of the school and out to the woods beyond the soccer field. Behind me, I could hear Jonas and his friends yelling for more students to witness my presumed embarrassment.

 “Come see Fafnir’s imaginary dragon!”

I did my best to keep my nerves to myself. They would see soon enough. 

When I made it halfway across the field, I glanced behind me to get a feel for how many students were following me and my stomach nose-dived. At least thirty kids were stomping through the muddy field behind me, some laughing, others with looks of genuine curiosity. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but I knew at this point I’d committed.

 Twigs snapped beneath our feet as we reached the edge of the woods. The afternoon sun shined down on us as we marched the few dozen yards through the aspens to the clearing where mother usually picked me up, but a nervous jolt shocked through me as I realized Atticus had never been to that clearing. Would mother have told him where to go?

 Upon entering the clearing, I was about to reach for Mother’s scale when a nervous-looking Atticus tip-toed forward from the edge of the clearing. Golden-brown scales on his back and head with a cream-colored underbelly. Gasps and whispers erupted from my classmates, and I turned to see most of them stopped in their tracks with looks of astonishment plastered on their faces. A handful of them sprinted back in the school's direction, Jonas among them, but most stood their ground at the opposite edge of the clearing. My heart bounded in my chest and throat as I hurried over to where Atticus stood. 

 “Thanks for coming,” I whispered to him when I got close enough. 

 “There’s more of them than I thought there would be,” Atticus said. His wings were half-raised in a defensive position, and his tail swished nervously. I put my hand on his neck.

 “You don’t have to do anything; we can just go home if you’d prefer.”

 “I’m here, aren’t I?” Atticus said. “Just tell me what to do.”

 I smiled encouragingly, then turned back around towards my classmates.

 “Everyone, this is my brother, Atticus,” I made a gesture towards Atticus.

 “Hi everyone,” Atticus said. A few more surprised gasps echoed from the crowd of students.

 “He can talk!” One boy said.

 “Of course I can talk,” Atticus said with some annoyance. “I’m a dragon, not an animal.”

 More muttering broke out, and I felt like hundreds of hatchlings were flapping around in my stomach. 

 “Did you say he’s your brother?” One girl asked. 

 “Yeah, well, adopted brother, I guess,” I said. “Our mother found me in the forest up near the Cinder Hills when I was a baby. I was all alone, and it was miles up the mountain, so there was no way I’d crawled up there myself.” 

 I glanced awkwardly at Atticus, who glanced awkwardly back at me. I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting to happen.

 “How do you survive in the forest?” One boy called out.

 “We don’t live in the forest,” I said with a glance at Atticus. “Our cave is pretty nice, though. We each have our own rooms. There’s even a spring with a waterfall where I can shower. It gets pretty cold in the winter, but I warm up pretty quickly with three dragons around.” I attempted a joking smile but was afraid it came out more like a grimace. 

 As the students got more comfortable with Atticus, or maybe more confident he wouldn’t eat them, more questions were called out.

 “Aren’t you afraid they’ll eat you if they get hungry?”

 “In a cave? How do you get to school?”

 “No, I’m not afraid of being eaten. Father always brings home plenty of wild game. And I usually just ride with Mom, I guess.”

 The first girl who’d spoken took a step forward, her eyes wide. From this distance I could see that they were the same azure-blue of Mother’s scales. “You ride the dragons?”

 “Yeah,” I said. “Do you want to see?”

 The blue-eyed girl nodded and watched as I clutched Atticus’s neck and pulled myself up onto his back. He was much smaller than Mother, which made the process easier, almost like climbing onto the four-wheelers humans enjoyed riding around the mountains.  

 As soon as I settled in front of his wing joints, Atticus took a few running steps, then leapt off the ground and soared towards the clouds. We did a few quick circles above the clearing while students watched from below. Cheers greeted us as we floated back down to the ground and touched down neatly. About half a dozen of them rushed forward to where we had landed, the blue-eyed girl among them. 

 “I want to try!”

 “Me first!”

 “I wanna go!”

 I looked out over the excited faces of my classmates and felt the tension I’d carried the past two days release from my shoulders. Maybe humanity had hope after all.

 Atticus twisted his neck to look back at me with a gleam in his eye.

 “What do you think?” I asked.

 He shrugged his scaly shoulders and grinned. “Could be fun.”

 “Ok, but just a few. Mother will be wondering where we are.”

 I slid down and helped the blue-eyed girl clamber up onto Atticus’s back. 

 “There’s no saddle?” she asked, clinging to Atticus’s neck.

 “Absolutely not,” Atticus said with some annoyance. “What would we do with saddles when we didn’t have riders? That would be like wearing an empty backpack around all day.” 

He took off a more gently than he had with me and didn’t take her as high. Her initial scream quickly turned to laughter as they circled the clearing and glided back down. The warmth in my chest increased as her look of genuine joy came into view.

 “That was amazing!” she said when they landed. “Can I go again?”

 “I don’t think anyone else will be going,” a voice said from the trees. My heart took a nosedive. I turned to see Mother emerging from the trees, anger steaming off her scaly face. Atticus’s eyes widened as Mother walked forward, giving us both stern looks. 

 “Hi, Mom,” I said in a shaky voice.

 “This is your mom?” someone called out from the crowd of students. “She’s so pretty!” 

 Mother stopped in her tracks, obviously surprised. She glanced at the crowd of kids, some of whom had hastily retreated at the sight of another, much larger dragon.

 “I told you both to stay out of sight,” Mother said, returning her attention to Atticus and I. “It isn’t safe to contact the humans, especially not now.”

 Atticus hung his head. “Sorry, Mother.” 

 “You should be. I knew something must have been going on when you asked to pick up Fafnir from school. I didn’t want to believe you two could be so foolish, but- “

 “It’s my fault,” I cut in. “I wanted to see if I could get some of them to change their minds about dragons.”

 “Fafnir, you know better than that. It’s dangerous for both dragons and humans to interact!”

 “Then where does that leave me?” I asked heatedly. “I’m a human that likes dragons. Is it wrong that I want to make sure I’m not the only one?”

 Mother’s eyes softened, but her posture stayed firm. “No, that’s not what I- “

 “There they are!” A voice cried from the school-side of the clearing. I turned to see Jonas pointing in our direction, accompanied by at least a dozen peace officers carrying weapons. 

 “Kill the dragons!” Jonas shouted.

 Chaos broke out. The remaining students all scattered in every direction while peace officers took aim with their weapons and fired. Several tranquilizing darts flew at mother and bounced off her iron-hard scales. She let out a roar that echoed through the clearing, sparks flying from her throat. Atticus let out a blazing blue fireball that exploded in the air, a sign of warning not to get any closer.  

 “Atticus, take Fafnir and get out of here,” Mother said.  

 “No, I’m not leaving!” I said. It was my fault either of them was here. If anything happened, it was on me. 

 Before mother could argue, a bang sounded from behind me followed by a loud whirring. A heavy metallic net caught mother in the face, forcing her backward and pinning her to the ground. Atticus and I both rushed towards her and tried to pry the net off the ground, but the heavy edges sank into the ground and didn’t budge.

 Crashing sounded through the woods, and I turned to see a large black truck smashing its way through the aspens. It had a dangerous-looking ballista on its roof and a dragon winch bolted to the bed. 

 “Let’s get out of here,” Atticus said. A second bang sounded, and Atticus narrowly dodged another net that went flying over our heads. I didn’t want to leave mother, but if anything happened to Atticus, she would be furious. He flew back a few feet from the other to avoid another net, and I took off in a crouching run to meet him. 

 I was just a few feet from where he flapped above the ground when a violent “thwomp” sounded, and Atticus was knocked out of the air. Adrenaline surged as I changed directions and skidded to a halt where Atticus lay motionless at the foot of a tree. 

 My heart stopped completely as I looked down to see the metal spike protruding from Atticus’s underbelly. Mother’s roar of fury blasted through the woods, but all I could focus on was the steady drip of red flowing down the cream-colored scales.  

I looked into Atticus’s eyes, seeing pain and some of my own fear reflected in his pale green irises. He didn’t speak, but I could hear a faint whimpering cry.  

“It’s going to be ok,” I said, putting my hand on his foot and blinking back tears. “You’ll be alright.”

Heavy footfalls sounded near us, and I looked up to see a peace officer walking our way. A smile stretched across his ugly, unshaven face and in his hand was a Dragon-Scale Damascus axe. He’d come to finish the job.

“Get away from him!” I screamed at the officer. 

“Hey now, we’re just trying to protect our community,” he said in a raspy voice. “Dragons have no right to be threatening our kids.”

“He wasn’t threatening them!” 

“Not according to your friend back there,” the officer jerked his head back to where Jonas had been standing. “Just go home kid, these dragons have done enough damage for one day. I’d hate for you to be another casualty.” The way he spoke made it sound like more of a threat than out of concern.

I glared and burning anger filled my chest. The only damage that had been done was by these men, not my family. I looked back down at Atticus, and an icy fear formed a pit in my stomach, followed by an overwhelming affection. 

“No,” I said. “You and your men are going to get out of here before you do any more damage.”

The officer stopped a few yards away from where I knelt, crouched over Atticus’s whimpering form. He laughed and leaned on the nasty-looking axe. 

“And why would we do that?”

“Because these aren’t just any dragons. These dragons are my family, which makes me one of them. And dragons protect their own.”

A rush of heat flew through my chest and up my throat. Before I knew what was happening, a ball of white-hot fire erupted from my mouth and into the sky. It exploded like a fiery snowball, sending white ash falling throughout the clearing. The officer dropped his axe and stood paralyzed, eyes wide. I was just as surprised as him, but I didn’t have time to figure out what had just happened. My family was still in danger.

Behind him, other officers scattered, some reloading weapons, others running back towards the school. One officer jumped back onto the truck and began reloading the ballista. 

With fire and fury blazing through me, I took aim and released another ball of fire. It flew towards the truck and connected with a gigantic explosion, sending the ballista flying backwards in a melted wreck of metal.

“Retreat!” the officer standing closest to me ordered. He bent to pick up the axe, but another ball of white flame exploded at his feet. He looked up at me, caught my eye, and ran. 

I continued shooting balls of white fire until all the officers in the clearing retreated and I was alone with my family. Adrenaline surged through my veins as I ran forward and picked up the dragon-scale axe. I shot a quick glance towards Atticus, praying it wasn’t too late, then sprinted over to where Mother lay pinned by the net. 

I swung the axe at the thick chains that made up the netting, and it sliced through easily. When enough of the net was sliced for Mother to wriggle free, we both rushed over to where Atticus’s crumpled form lay.

“Can you heal him?” I asked. The fear of losing Atticus settled over the adrenaline of what had just happened. 

“I don’t know,” Mother said. “But we have to try. When I tell you to, pull the bolt from his belly, and make sure you pull it out straight. He’s going to be bleeding a lot, so I’ll need to act fast.”

I steeled myself and nodded. Mother inhaled deeply, and it seemed like the aspens inhaled with her. I grabbed onto the bolt and readied myself to pull it out as straight as I could.

“Now,” she said.

 I gave the bolt a sharp tug, and it came out easily. Blood flowed freely from the wound until Mother’s breath engulfed it in a green and white fog. I held my breath and said a prayer while waiting for the fog to dissipate. When it did, I could see that Atticus’s wound was closing, and new cream-colored scales were forming at the edges. It was working!

 Mother repeated this process three more times before Atticus could stand up and flap his wings. I rushed over to him and flung my arms around his neck in a strangling hug.

 “I’m so sorry,” I said, still holding back tears even though I knew he would be fine. “I thought…”

 “I know,” he said, backing away and looking me in the eye. “But I’m alright. And what about you? You found your dragon’s breath!”

 He hopped and shot a celebratory ball of blue flame into the sky. It exploded like fireworks.

 A grin spread across my face, then fell as I turned and looked at Mother. 

 “Bringing Atticus down here was foolish,” she said. “He was almost killed and would have been if I wasn’t here.”

 Lead fell into my stomach.

 “But I’m glad that you did.”

 Atticus and I exchanged incredulous looks.

 “What?” I asked.

 “I didn’t realize the burden it must have been to be living in secret all this time,” Mother said. “And what you’ve accomplished here today, it’s miraculous. You’ve not only shown your classmates who dragons really are, you’ve shown all of us who you really are.”

 She bent her neck forward to nuzzle my chest, and I hugged her neck tightly. 

 “If you don’t mind my asking, what changed?” she said when we broke apart.

 It surprised me to find that an answer came readily. “I figured out who I was. I don’t need to hate dragons to be a human. And I don’t need to be a dragon to protect my family. I just need to be me.” 

 Mother smiled at me. “Sounds like a true Demigon.” 

I beamed as warmth spread through my whole body, filling me up and making me feel lighter.

 “We should get back to the cave,” she said, crouching down to allow me to climb on. “Your father will want to know what has happened, and we’ll need to figure out where we’re going.”

 “Where we’re going?” I asked as I climbed up onto her back.

 “Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to stay here,” Mother said. “But we’ll find a city that is more welcoming to our kind, and where you won’t have to hide. I think it’s time that dragons finally broke our silence.”

 “Really?” Atticus and I both said.

 “Really.” Mother said. 

 Atticus took off with a whoop, sending another burst of flame into the afternoon sky. 

 “Do you really think that will work?” I asked Mother. She craned her neck back to look at me.

 “I don’t know, but we have to try. We’ll talk with humans and dragons alike, and make sure they know the real enemy isn’t each other, but those who would turn us against each other. And we’ll show them what is possible. We’ll show them the Demigon.”