Sworn To Transfer

Their primary reason for being homebound?

Laziness.

The ocean trek would require a large amount of magical power and three days of constant flight to reach land. In fact, it hadn’t been until five centuries ago, almost two hundred years after the founding of the Empire and the Great War and three years before the start of the Initiate Wars, that many dragons began making the journey across the waters from Sahalia to Algardis. The merchants on both sides of the sea were ecstatic; trade was the best it had been since the founding of the empire.

It wasn’t until an intrepid dragon explorer, known as the Wanderer, had left Sahalia and returned to its shores with human followers that the journey across the ocean began to hold any interest for the ruling Sahalian families. To put it bluntly, the Wanderer came back with an oddity: humans. All the dragons soon wanted their own. First, the humans brought back on the long cross-ocean voyage started out as pampered pets, and then rapidly became servants to dragons who wanted their every whim catered to from trimming their nails to buffing their scales.

But there was also something weird in the rapid change of direction from ignoring Algardis to a sudden desire for a flurry of travel across the large ocean. Greed was one thing; ability quite another. Why was the voyage so easy for the dragons now? Even the less powerful dragons were able to make the journey. Ciardis had this question on her mind as she watched the dragon flap its wings and dispel the hovering state it was in.  It was too large to land on the ship’s deck—that had been established. And then she felt its power rise again. First it was like pinpricks on her skin. Feeling the uncomfortable sensation, she tried to rub it away like an itch, but it only spread. She could tell Sebastian felt it, too.

And then the dragon spoke. When it spoke, letters illuminated the sky. The letters formed words, the words became sentences, and the sentences combined into a thought. When the thought was complete, the action began. And they watched as water rose from the sea, foaming. The water grew five feet, ten feet, and then stopped at fifteen feet, a giant wall of water. With another breath, the dragon formed a second sentence and the water flattened. In a shape of a disc, the water stilled fifteen feet above the ocean’s surface and the dragon landed on the platform with a satisfied huff.

She had heard Sahalian magic was different. A literal interpretation of words and spells. Until now, she hadn’t seen it for herself. As the Sahalian dragon stood waiting, Prince Heir Sebastian walked forward until he was five feet from the ship’s railing. In the calm of the Weather Mage’s shield, man and dragon stared at each other. Sebastian wore his light armor with a sword at his waist. The dragon’s scales gleamed like armor of its own.

With his head tilted back, the Prince Heir called out, “Welcome, Ambassador Sedaris, it is a pleasure to have you visit the Empire of Algardis.”

*****

The dragon chuffed and stared down at the gathering of humans arrayed below it on the ship’s deck. For a few moments it let silence descend over the humans, broken only by the exhale of its smoky breath. It wondered with amusement if the soldiers formed in single file behind the Prince Heir’s party were meant as a warning. If so, the humans had much to learn and much to remember. Dragons feared no one and nothing.

The pleasure is mine Prince Heir Sebastian, said a decidedly female voice echoing in their heads. Dragons generally chose to mind-speak, having way too many problems with accidental spells when speaking in the human tongue through their large jaws.

Ciardis felt surprise ripple through the gathered retinue. She was surprised, having expected the envoy with grandiose horns to be a male. But her surprise was nothing compared to the horrified shock that she felt permeating through the surrounding group.

Glancing around her she took in the stiff, almost petrified forms of the retinue. Several hands had dropped inconspicuously to blades at their sides. Now they want to get worried? What were these battle mages thinking minutes ago when a half ton dragon was looking like it would either fall onto the ship or into the sea?

Ciardis felt Sebastian’s fear radiating outward before she even recognized what the emotion was. He was too well-trained to grip the pommel of his sword but the frantic swirl of emotions in his head told Ciardis he wanted to. So it was female. Big to-do. Right?

Irritated, Ciardis would have given her right arm at that moment to know why everyone was so upset about the dragon’s gender. She couldn’t step forward to touch Sebastian and demand an answer. The protocol officer present would throw a fit.

To her surprise it was that same officer that stepped up to her side. His piercing gray eyes and blond hair were striking alongside the svelte form that could have him mistaken for a member of Sebastian’s personal guard as well.

Keeping his voice low and pitched for her ears he said, “We would ask that you don’t venture out of your place again Lady Weathervane.”

“How did you know I was going to move?”

“Training has made me apt at capturing movements of the body. Besides you were fidgeting.”

Ciardis said nothing.

“In any case it is important that the envoy is not angered.”

He hesitated and then admitted honestly, “This was unexpected....unexpected and unwelcome. The females are the ones that fought on the battlefield, the warriors of the dragon race. They are known far and wide as bloodthirsty and insatiable.”

“Well, this sucks,” she whispered back.

He didn’t bother commenting. There was nothing to say. They were faced with a high-ranking Ambassador of the most fearsome gender of the dragon race. If she decided to kill them – they were dead.

As he stepped back to his place she reached out to latch on his sleeve, “Thank you. For the explanation I mean.”

He bowed slightly, “You are welcome.”

Ciardis inhaled deeply and sought to calm herself. She couldn’t imagine how Sebastian felt, standing right beneath her jaws. It probably didn’t help that he was also staring up into a closed mouth that was larger than his whole body. When the Ambassador opened her mouth and she saw the serrated teeth as long as her whole body, the sensation of being a rabbit staring in fear into the mouth of a ravenous wolf was hard to ignore.

Turning its head away from the humans, it chuffed once more. This time a big black ball of gook shot out, straight into the ocean. It looked digusting as it passed over their heads and smelled even worse.

Ciardis had the urge to run her fingers through her hair just to be sure that none of the liquid had lodged in her curls. It would be her rotten luck if it did.

Is it sick? she wondered.

“I am not sick,” proclaimed a booming voice in her head.

The rest of the sailing party hadn’t heard Ciardis’s query, but they had certainly heard the directed response. And they knew it was directed at her. If censure could be palpable, the vibe she was getting from the surrounding retinue was like a heavy blanket of displeasure weighing down on her.

So I’m not supposed to think now? Delightful.

“Ambassador Sedaris,” said Sebastian smoothly, “You flew three hundred miles to our empire. Let us pay our respects and welcome you properly.”

The female’s head titled to the side until a bright amber eye stared directly at Sebastian.

“Yessss,” its mind spoke, a hint of a slither in its voice.

“I confess, Ambassador, we have wondered at your reasons for asking for a meeting to be held on the ocean.”

“Neutral territory.”

“Come again?”

The dragon lowered its head until it was level with the ship, “I did not misspeak.”

“Indeed,” Sebastian said with a cautious glance at the commander to his left. What was this dragon up to? The ship was much too small to maneuver. The honor guard of pike men and soldiers he’d brought along were just that: an honor guard. They were tightly packed in for a display; they weren’t meant to fight. And they certainly weren’t meant to battle a dragon with the advantage of unlimited skies at a push of its wings and the ability to breathe fire down upon their ship.