Dragonforge

wearing a long black dress more appropriate for mourning than running.

'Jandra, wait!' he called out as she scrambled up the steps. Jandra had grown up in the palace and knew all its shadows. Pet worried that if he lost sight of her he wouldn't find her again.

'Leave me alone!' she shouted as she reached the top of the stairs.

Pet followed her into a star-shaped room. The room was large, built on a scale to accommodate a sun-dragon. The chamber was empty save for a bed, a wardrobe, and a few other pieces of furniture sitting within one of the arms of the star. The human-sized furniture in the midst of the giant open space looked lonely. Jandra ran toward the bed, falling to her knees as she reached it. As the foot of the bed sat a heavy oak chest sealed with an iron lock. Jandra grabbed the lock with shaking hands.

'What's so urgent?' Pet asked as he drew closer. 'If Ven was alive enough to get out of his coffin a week ago, he's probably still alive now.'

'He was dead!' she snapped as the lock clicked open. 'We both saw him die!'

'He was magic. He could cure the sick with his touch. He survived a gutting by Zanzeroth! Why is it so hard to believe he came back to life?'

Jandra threw the lid of the chest open. She dug her hands into the carefully folded garments inside, tossing them wildly around the room. The light from the lantern by the bed glinted on something silver. Jandra lifted it from the chest-a skull cap. Pet had seen it before. It was the head gear Vendevorex had always worn.

'Pet,' she said, 'it's too complicated to explain right now, but Vendevorex and I don't control magic. Vendevorex didn't believe in magic.'

'He could set things on fire with his mind,' Pet said. 'He could turn invisible! You turn invisible! How can you say it's not magic?'

'Vendevorex trained me my whole life and I never figured out how to do half the stuff he did,' Jandra said. 'I can't explain our powers to you in five minutes, or even five hours. Ven used to say that 'magic' would be acts that violated physical laws. We don't have supernatural powers. What we have is possession of an advanced technology that looks like magic to those who don't understand it. Vendevorex controlled that technology with this.' She held up the skull cap. It was beaten and bent in the aftermath of Vendevorex's violent end. 'If the skull cap had been gone, I might have believed he was still alive. Since it isn't, someone stole his body.'

'Why would anyone do that?' Pet asked.

'Maybe they thought he was supernatural and there's some power to be derived from possessing his bones. It was probably humans. They believe the dumbest things.'

'Hmm,' said Pet. 'Might I remind you that you're human?'

'Am I?' Jandra asked, sagging back against her bed, the skull cap resting in her lap. She looked very small in the oversized room. She normally projected a defiant strength that Pet found irresistible. Now, the tragic events of recent weeks had finally caught up with her. She looked like a lost little girl, with no hope of ever finding her way home. Pet wanted to take her hand, but knew she would only see it as another attempt at seduction. Which it could lead to, he supposed. All women succumbed to his charms eventually. She sounded on the verge of tears as she said, 'Why am I only comfortable around dragons? Why does every human I meet make my skin crawl?'

'Do I make your skin crawl?'' he asked.

'You especially,' she said.

These weren't words Pet was used to hearing from young women. 'You know, I'm the reason humans won their little uprising in the Free City. They rallied around me. Now I'm going to be standing up for all of humanity in this conference Shandrazel is holding.'

'What is your point?' Jandra asked.

'Just that you are proving to be especially difficult to impress.'

Jandra sighed. 'If you want to impress me, figure out who took Ven. Or help me find the real Bitterwood.'

'That crazy old man? What do you want with him?'

'Things happened so fast the last time I saw him,' she said. As she spoke, the look of vulnerability faded from her features. Pet noticed that when there was something she wanted to do, she always summoned the strength to do it. 'One second, I was trying to help Bitterwood find his lost family. The next, he was shouting at me to go away. I never got the chance to tell him something that he needs to know.'

'Which is?'

'Bitterwood thought his family had been killed by dragons. But I think his son, Adam, might be alive. He wasn't listed in Albekizan's slave records. I knew Bitterwood's daughters, and they told me that their grandmother had taken their baby brother when the dragons raided their village. She jumped into the well to hide. They didn't know if Adam survived the raid, but they knew he wasn't taken captive.'

'Don't you remember how callously Bitterwood treated us?' Pet asked. 'He left us to die. Why do you owe that monster anything?'

'Bitterwood wasn't entirely a monster. There was a little girl with us when we were captured. Her name was Zeeky. He treated her in a kind and fatherly way. And while you take credit for the victory in the Free City-a victory I believe you actually owe to Vendevorex-Bitterwood is the one who really won the war. He's the one who killed Albekizan.'

'And no one has seen him since,' said Pet. 'Just because they didn't find his body when they searched the river doesn't mean he's still alive.'

'He's alive,' she said. 'I've asked around. Some of the people in Richmond saw an old man and a little girl riding an ox-dog west along the river. I'm positive it's them.'

'Assuming it was, if Bitterwood's lived this long without knowing his son might be alive, he can wait a bit longer. Don't go off chasing some man who doesn't want to see you again. I need you here by my side, Jandra.'

'Pet, I'm not going to sleep with you. Just give up.'

'No,' he knelt in front of her, so she could better see his face. All his life he was acting, but now he wanted the masks he wore to slip away. He tried to project sincerity as he spoke. 'I mean, yes, I'll give up trying to seduce you. I want you here because you're smart and you're brave and you're tough. Maybe you don't feel like a human, but you're a better human than me. I need you beside me at the summit.'

'Aren't you up to the job?'

Pet took a long, deep breath, then shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'We both know I'm a fraud. You're right-I did nothing to win the battle of the Free City. Two prophets, Ragnar and Kamon, rallied their followers to fight for me; they did all the work. And, you're right about Vendevorex. We would have been slaughtered if he hadn't shown up. My sole contribution to the battle was to stand before the crowd and look heroic.'

'Yeah,' she said. 'You do look the part.'

Pet grinned. He couldn't believe she'd finally given him a compliment! He returned to his attempt at sincere confession. 'We both know I'm the worst person imaginable to have at that table. I've spent my life trying to please sun-dragons. I'm worse than a slave. I've lived as a sun-dragon's pet.'

Jandra shook her head. 'I'm no better,' she said. 'I grew up feeling like the daughter of a dragon. I've never known any human family. I'm told my parents are dead, but does that mean I'm all alone? What if I have sisters, or a brother, or even grandparents still alive? The horrible thing is, I wouldn't know what to say to them if they found me. Look at my wardrobe. I dress in gowns with fabrics that resemble the scales of dragons. I braid feathers into my hair to look like the neck fringes of sky-dragons.'

'A very fetching look, may I say,' Pet said. 'You grew up in a palace. You can't be expected to dress in burlap sacks.'

'I know. But it's my dreams that frighten me. In my dreams, I'm a dragon. I dream constantly of flying.'

'Ah,' said Pet. He was bonding with Jandra at last, and he did know something about her particular condition. He reached out and took her hand, cupping it gently with his. 'Dreams of flying are usually dreamt by women who are still virgins. They're a symptom of sexual frustration. Perhaps-'

'Perhaps if you leave right now I won't slap you,' she said, jerking her hand away.

From the look in her eyes, he could tell she meant it. He stood up, stretching his back. 'You can't blame me for trying.'

'Just leave,' she said, looking down once more at the skull cap. 'I was actually starting to feel a little sympathy for you. I should have known it was only another seduction ploy.'

Pet turned and walked across the vast and empty room. Flattery hadn't worked on Jandra, lies hadn't gotten