Stephen Deas - The adamantine palace

Its head is broken. Is it going to-

Am I going to what? The thought formed inside his head, but the last part of it didn't make any sense. Something to do with getting hotter and hotter and fading away and then waking up wrapped up tight inside an egg.

Snow peered at him and cocked her head. Die?

To Kailin, it seemed as though a giant hand had slapped him in the lace. He went numb. The pain in his head washed away. He stood up and staggered away from Snow. 'You… you… I heard you thinking.'

Snow snorted and shook her head, the way she did when she was excited. It hears! Understands!

Kailin was trembling. 'You understand me! You understand Kailin!'

Kailin? He got a sense of incomprehension.

'That's my name.'

Name? What is a name?

Kailin didn't know how to answer that, but Snow didn't seem to mind. She seemed to pluck the answer out of his head.

All Little Ones have names. Do I have a name?

'Snow.'

Snow. Why?

Kailin picked up a handful of snow. 'Because you're white.' He held it up to show her and then pressed it against the wound on his head.

Hurt? He could feel the tension in her thought.

'A little bit.'

They tried to talk, on into the night until the sun was long gone and stars filled the sky. Most of the time Kailin couldn't make sense of the images that flashed in his head, nor did Snow seem to understand him, no matter how ferociously he thought. He would feel her frustration build up inside her, and then something would burst and their thoughts would somehow align. It would last for a few seconds, maybe a little more before they drifted apart. Eventually he fell asleep, drained. The last thing he felt from Snow was how awake she was, how filled with wonder and awe.

For days afterwards the thoughts that appeared in his head were strange and alien. They rarely made sense, and he would have to ask again and again what Snow was trying to tell him. As time went by, though, they grew sharper, brighter, clearer. He talked to Snow whenever she was there, and she responded. Every day she was changed, filled with new discoveries. Clearer, more articulate, more intelligent than she'd been the day before. A voracious sense of amazement and adventure infected her every thought, and his as well. No Scales had ever experienced what he was seeing, this blossoming.

It is like a veil is lifted in my mind each night, she told him one day as she left to hunt. He spent the rest of the day wondering what use a dragon would have for a veil, until he understood: she wasn't hearing his words any more, she was seeing into his mind. And when she answered him, she was looking inside him for things that he would understand.

'We have to go home,' he told her when she came back from her hunt with fresh blood still on her claws. 'I have to show you to the others.'

I am different. Why?

'I don't know, Snow. It's a miracle.'

Miracle? He felt her confusion. No. Little One Kailin, I feel as if I have awoken from a sleep that has lasted a hundred lifetimes. I do not understand how I have awoken, nor do I understand how I fell into such a slumber. Nor even how much more is to come.

'We'll go back home. We can ask Master Huros or one of the other alchemists, or even Eyrie-Master Isentine-'

NO! She snapped her jaws. Kailin scrabbled away from her in sudden terror, before she bowed her head to the ground, a dragon gesture of submission. I did not mean to frighten you, Little One Kailin. I will not hurt you, but nor will I go bac\ to that place.

'Why?' Kailin watched warily.

My brothers and sisters there are awake yet asleep. I could not bear to be that way again.

But all dragons are like that. Except you. You're the miracle.'

No, Little One Kailin. I do not think so. I think we were all this way, a long time ago. I have dreams. Memories of other lives I've lived. Many, many lives, but all of them long ago. I remember when my kjnd flew in our hundreds. I remember the silver gods and the breaking of the very earth itself then a hundred lives of bright thoughts and flying free. And then, Little One Kailin, something changed, and everything since has faded into an eternal dull blur, dim and impenetrable. Out of reach. All my kin are still sleepwalking their lives. Somehow, you have awoken me. How, Little One Kailin? How did you awaken me? I will not return to my kind until I have that answer. Until I can bring that knowledge back to them.

'I don't know.'

I know. Your thoughts speak far themselves. There are Little Ones who know far more, who may have the answers. You know of them. You wish to take me before them.

'You would be the wonder of the realms.'

I am not so sure, Little One Kailin. Would you like to see the memories I have of your kind from my lives long ago?

'Of course.'

Visions burst into his head. He saw armies of men, hundreds of thousands, more than anything he could have imagined. He saw himself land among them, lashing with his tail, scattering them like leaves, scores of them, smashing them to pulp in their little metal shells. He felt the fire build in his throat and burst forth. The air grew heavy with the stench of scorched flesh. And he felt the appetite growing inside him. For more, more, more…

He screamed. The vision abruptly vanished.

Do you understand? In my dream your kind were never anything more than prey, and your thoughts were always filled with hopeless terror. Why would you wish to return to such a world?

'No, no, no!' Kailin shook his head. 'Dragons and men have lived together for hundreds of years. We helped you. You were dying. We looked after you. We've always looked after you. No.' He shook his head again. 'Go back to the eyrie, Snow. Our queen is good and wise. She'll know what to do.'

The dragon cocked her head. You have seen what we were, and yet you are more afraid of this queen? Curious. I can see that you truly believe everything you say. Perhaps… Snow lifted her head off the ground. She rose onto her back legs and flapped her wings a few times. A sign of warning.

No, she said at last. I will not go back to the place you call the eyrie, Little One Kailin. Not yet.

The Burned Man

The dead man's lips began to move. He gave a soft sigh. The dragon-knights shifted away, shuffling uncomfortably. Sollos heard them muttering under their breath.

'He's all, um, yours,' said the alchemist. 'I don't know, um, how long he'll last. He hasn't been dead for long, so you've probably got at least, um, half an hour.'

Rider Semian was looking at the dead man with a mixture of horror and disgust. 'Ask him what happened here.'

'You can ask him yourself, if you wish, rider.'

Semian's lips curled in distaste. 'No, Master Huros. You made this abomination. It's yours now. The sell-swords will guard you. We will return to the river.'

The alchemist shrugged and turned his attention to the dead man.

'He kept on about the dragon speaking to him,' said Sollos, when the knights had gone. 'It was the white. He said there wasn't a rider. And something about someone called Maryk. I don't know what that was.'

'Leave me with him, Sword-Master Sollos. This isn't for your ears.'

Sollos snorted. 'You heard Rider Semian. We're to watch over you.'

'Thank you, but that's not necessary.'

'Master Huros, there probably aren't any snappers or wolves lurking around after a dragon's been here, but you never know. I don't overly mind if you get yourself eaten, but I'm quite sure that Rider Semian would delight in holding us to account for it.'

The alchemist shrugged. 'Stay if you must.' He settled himself and turned to the dead man. 'Um. What's your name, corpse?'

'Biyr,' said the dead man. Sollos shivered. The dead man spoke perfectly normally. He sounded much better than when he'd actually been alive and racked with the agony of his burns.