The Dragon Sanctuary

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Auryon and her family used to live on the lofty peaks of the Mountain Veil and migrate every fall to the Ceratos islands in the southeast. But that all changed the day the Watchers arrived on The Fringe.

Now she and her family were stuck in this pitiful depression on the landscape, exposed, compelled to carve out an existence on the plains. And Auryon hated every moment. She hated the hovels she and her kindred were forced to live in, and she hated that taking her true form was not acceptable unless you were part of the guardsmen who fought the Watchers, keeping them in the mountains, and away from the cities.

The girl ground her flat teeth as she lay in bed, pretending to be ill. She used to fly freely, doing what she wanted when she wanted. But because of those hairy, massive winged monsters, the dragons were stuck in this valley. Anytime a dragon tried flying over the mountains of The Fringe, the Watchers attacked, killing whoever was in their path. They ensured the dragons stayed in the valley of Hadrian’s Plain, living among its human occupants for the last two thousand years.

But Auryon was a dragon with brilliant golden scales and a lithe, sinewy body. Or at least she was. Her human form was weak, with golden hair that tangled, and turquoise eyes that couldn’t see past the city walls. She wanted to fly and taste flames on her tongue again, but dragon fire wasn’t permitted.

A knock sounded on her family’s door and Auryon’s brother, Slater, answered it. As the door opened, a crisp winter breeze whipped through the house, stealing the warmth from within.

“Good morning, Slater,” a cheerful woman said.

“Morning, Merideth.” Slater rubbed a hand through his dirt brown hair. His human form made him look like a mid-teenage boy with sharp features and bright brown eyes, but not this morning. They all loathed this day.

“It’s your family’s turn to help resupply the city’s defenses,” the woman said, pushing her way past Slater and into the cramped house.

Auryon hid her face under her blankets. She wished the woman wouldn't remember. But every week, like the inner workings of a clock, Merideth arrived with five gemstones for her family to fill with their dragon magic. Once full to the brim, city officials set the gems into the city walls to reinforce the magical barrier that protected them from the Watchers.

“Good to see you, Merideth,” Auryon’s mother, Elidi, said. “We’re ready for you, though Auryon is unwell today.”

“Oh dear,” Merideth said with exaggerated concern.

Auryon heard the woman’s boots click on the stone floor as she approached her bed. With a subtle motion, the golden-haired girl poked the back of her throat before Merideth drew close enough to see and retched over the side of her pallet.

Merideth shrieked as she leaped away from the mess. “Poor dear,” she said. “I guess I’ll have to catch you tomorrow.”

The woman left Auryon alone and held out a gemstone for each of her family members to touch and imbue with their magic. The lingering effects of all that energy made the room buzz. Merideth helped the three people at the table release their stone and helped them lay their heads down on the table as they stared off in a stupor. The price of safety.

“Thank you for helping to keep our city safe,” Merideth said as she lowered Auryon’s mother into a chair. “I’ll come back tomorrow to get Auryon’s magic. However, I must take Lila this afternoon.”

“What?” her mother said. “Lila must leave so soon?”

“I’m afraid so,” Merideth said in her honeyed tone. “Her power today overflowed her gem. She’s ready to become part of the guard for the city. If you remember, dragons at the height of their power actually stand a chance at fighting the Watchers. We’re hoping this new wave of recruits will be strong enough to drive those foul demons out of the mountains and allow you lot to return to your homes in Tellidus if you so choose to leave us.”

Auryon squeezed her eyes shut. She’d hoped Lila never came into her powers, but it happened to all young dragons. And when it occurred, the city officials whisked them away to be trained on how to defend the city. Lila would be gone for three years at least. Then, when her power leveled off, she’d be allowed to return home. If she survived.

The wooden door to their house opened with a slight creak of the hinges and Auryon’s father walked inside. His face was haggard from lack of sleep during his shift on the walls.

“Good morning, Alik,” Merideth said. “You’re just in time.”

“I gave my power before I left the walls,” her father said. He looked defeated as he spoke.

“Oh, did Fernon help you, then?”

Auryon watched her father nod through her slitted eyes.

“He took care of all the dragons on duty last night. That’s why I was so late returning home this morning.”

“Very good.” Auryon listened as Merideth gathered up her supplies into her carry bag. “I was telling Elidi how I will be by tomorrow to get Auryon’s magic. But I must take Lila this afternoon to the barracks.”

“Is it time already?” Alik asked. Auryon imagined her father’s face falling. They’d all prayed this day would never come.

“I’m afraid so. If we don’t take her today, our defenses won’t be as strong as they need to be for the winter solstice tonight. If we aren’t vigilant, the Watchers will scale the walls the moment the sun goes down.”

“I’m aware. But why are you coming for Auryon’s power tomorrow?” he asked.

“The poor dear was sick this morning.”

Auryon closed her eyes tight. She could sense her father’s grimace as he noticed her and the pile of sick on the floor.

“I see. We’ll have Lila ready for you when you return.” Alik locked the door after Merideth left. Her father helped everyone get to their beds and rest until the effects of giving their magic wore off. While he did that, Auryon rose and cleaned the foul smelling mess she’d left.

“You were faking again, weren’t you, Aury?” her father said, pulling the blankets over her mother. “If they found out, you’d get us in trouble.”

“I hate feeling weak, papa,” she said. “I can’t stand living here, bowing down to the wishes of these minute two-leggers. We are dragons, papa. Not mice.”

Alik sat down in one of the wooden chairs, running a long hand down his stubbly face. “Until we defeat the Watchers, we must do our part to keep each other safe. We will return home someday. But it is not today. The Watchers are too strong. I can’t lose any of you the way I lost my brother, Cadmus. And then to lose his son Cadaras to them as well when he took off in the night trying to find a way around them. You can’t squander you life like that, love.”

Her father pulled her into a tight embrace. She missed her cousin Cadaras and her uncle as well. They had many of the same gifts as her grandfather, both with acid-green scales and black spikes. But Cadaras refused to give his power to the humans. He took matters into his own claws and went in search of the Guardians. He didn’t sit around, hoping things would change.

While the humans were sleeping, Cadaras had snuck beyond the reaches of the walls and disappeared into the night. He swore he’d find the Elemental Guardians and enlist their aid to destroy the Watchers and liberate the dragons. He, like others before him, sought to find a way around the monsters, only to die in the attempt.

It had been thirteen hundred years since he’d disappeared, but the pain of it was still fresh in Auryon’s heart.

“Why do the Watchers hunt us, papa?” she asked, from the safety of his arms.

“We don’t know. But someday we will be strong enough to get past them and return to the Mountain Veil. Now, help me with your brother.”

Auryon sighed as she pulled the blankets over Slater. How would they ever be strong enough to fight the Watchers if they were always giving away their magic? If anything, their human protectors were the dangerous ones, siphoning the dragons’ power, ensuring they stayed weak enough to never fight back, reduced to relying on the mercy of their puny arms.

Life hadn’t always been like this. When Auryon was a small dragon, her family flew with the great migration every fall to the east, past the Ivory mountains all the way to the warmer waters of the Ceratos Islands. Fish and game were abundant, and the dragons were free to do as they pleased on the uninhabited dots of land. Then in the spring, they would fly back to the valley of Tellidus and the home of the Elemental Guardians, enjoying the lush landscape and the hardy people who dwelled there.

If only she’d stayed behind with her grandfather that fateful fall. She would still be free. Her grandfather, Irizar, a strong mage among the dragons, announced he’d stay that winter to help the Earth Guardian, Tellen, with a project in the south for the human family of the Comstocks. Her parents didn’t want to stay and endure the cold winter to join him, so when the time came, her family left with all the dragons but one.

The next spring, when they tried to return, the Watchers murdered a quarter of her kinfolk. Determined to reclaim their homeland, they never left the vast plain. The humans of Hadrian insisted the Watchers and an inexplicable darkness had spread everywhere, including their old home in the Mountain Veil. The only places left untouched were the small pockets of civilization on Hadrian’s Plains, kept safe by the sacrifice of their human counterparts. And the dragon magic. As the years passed and no word or aid came from the Guardians or Irizar, everyone assumed the Guardians no longer existed and Irizar had perished.

The longer they remained here, the more the dragons’ freedom shrank. The humans stripped them of their magic, ensuring they stayed in their two-legged form. Leather cords affixed to a silver medallion hung on their necks to help their human protectors keep track of who lived where and serve as a passport for the dragons to move about the different cities. Then the humans called on the young dragons to help the humans fight the Watchers, many never to be seen again.

Afternoon came and her family had recovered from their loss of power enough to go about their daily chores. Auryon and her siblings were playing a game of chicken feet in the snow in front of their house when she spotted Merideth at the end of the street with an armed guard.

Auryon’s insides clenched. They were here for Lila. Her sister’s face turned ashen as she saw the woman approaching.

“Aury, inside, before they spot you. You’re supposed to be sick,” Lila hissed.

Her stomach churned like she might retch for real. She couldn’t watch as these monsters took her sister. Auryon gave her sister a quick hug.

“I will join you soon,” Auryon said.

“I hope you never do, Aury. Quick, inside,” Lila insisted. Her sister blinked back the moisture accumulating on her lashes.

With one last look at Lila, Auryon slunk inside and curled up beneath her blankets. Noticing her distress, her parents walked outside and greeted Merideth half-heartedly. Auryon did her best to block out the conversation, but it didn’t stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. How could her parents allow that woman to lead her sister away? They didn’t even fight.

Auryon didn’t leave her bed for the rest of the day. She didn’t want to open her eyes and see Lila’s bed empty. She didn’t want to know the depth of the heartbreak on her parents’ faces.

As she lay there in the darkness, long after her brother and parents went to sleep, Auryon sat up and rubbed the salty residue from her face. This wasn’t right. No one should sacrifice their children to protect the elders. Lila deserved to have a better life than this. So did Slater, and so did she.

Auryon stared out the crack in the shutters, watching tiny snowflakes drifting in lazy circles. All dragons hated the cold, but to save her sister, she’d go out, even if it was the winter solstice. She pulled on her boots and coat, and snuck from her family’s home and out into the silent street.

She’d find Lila before they took her from the city. Once she did, they would take their dragon forms and fly over the mountains and back to Tellidus. They would find their grandfather, and possibly Cadaras as well. For all she knew, every dragon who’d tried to cross the mountains succeeded and waited for the others to develop enough of a backbone to escape.

Auryon stuck to the shadows around the stone dwellings as she made her way to the castle and barracks. No one was out except for an occasional guard. Even without a curfew, the dragons would never willingly choose to be out in the cold.

When she drew close to the barracks, Auryon saw a woman exit a door and walk down the street alone. She recognized that confident walk as belonging to Merideth. Hope sparked within her. If she followed Merideth, she might find Lila. With this in her mind, Auryon trailed the woman for ten minutes until Merideth strode up the steps to a lit dwelling and walked in.

Auryon crept beneath the window and hid behind a rain barrel, trying her best to quiet her breathing. The shutters were closed, but she still heard the hushed conversation behind them. The words made her stop breathing all together.

“There are rumors from Tellidus,” Merideth said.

“What’s happening?” a man asked.

“Our spies have reported that the Guardians are awake,” Merideth said in an angry whisper. “The elements are more active than they’ve been for millennia. The king is calling for aid to prepare to defend our borders. If it’s true and the Guardians are stirring once more, we need to make sure they don’t enter our lands. We don’t need their interfering presence here.”

Auryon slipped on a patch of ice and let out a small cry as her rump met the hard surface.

“Someone’s here,” the man said.

Merideth and her companion charged outside to find the source of the noise, but Auryon was already running. Her dark hair streamed out behind her as she ran. She pushed her two legs faster, but the humans were right behind her, calling for aid.

“Someone is out after curfew!” the man shouted.

Doors on the barracks burst open with loud bangs and more people spilled out into the streets. All human. No sign of her sister.

“Stop her,” Merideth cried.

Auryon ran until she hit a dead end. The walls were twenty feet high. She could climb it, but not fast enough to escape the crossbows being clicked into place. Grateful she still had the full use of her power, she transformed into her golden dragon form and leaped skyward.

Men and women shouted below in the city streets and alarm bells rang. Quarrels fired around her, bouncing off her glittering scales. Why were they shooting at her?

Auryon thought about returning to her family’s home, but that would only get them in trouble as well. The only way left to go was the Fringe. Maybe if the Guardians were back, she’d find them where all the others had failed. They’d fight the Watchers and set the dragons free.

She pumped her wings against the frosty night air, gaining altitude. As she angled her body out toward the forests at the foot of the mountains, the air swirled around her. Auryon searched the sky for trouble and saw dark shapes rising from the city behind her. Twelve dragons appeared in the sky, belching various colored flames. In the waning light of the moon, Auryon saw compact figures seated on the shoulders of each of her kinsfolk.

So this was how the dragons were aiding the humans in the fight against the Watchers, by subjecting themselves like dumb beasts to the wills of their masters. How far her mighty nation had fallen.

“Come back here, child,” one dragon bellowed. She felt the heat from his purple flames.

“Catch me first,” Auryon challenged and pushed her wings faster.

She soared above the open valley and past the rolling fields covered in snow interspersed with small forests. Tiny houses dotted the landscape, with smoke rising from their chimneys. As she neared the base of the mountains, Auryon saw shaggy figures approaching the nearest city. Their eerie voices drifted up to her as the pressure of wings behind her increased.

The Watchers, Auryon thought with a shiver. If they were heading to the cities, perhaps she’d get over the mountains without too much trouble.

Auryon risked a glance behind her and saw her pursuers were lagging, though they hadn’t disappeared. She drew upon her magic and filled her aching muscles with strength. She hadn’t flown this far in over a thousand years. Her wings were weak from lack of use, and her breathing soon grew ragged.

Ahead, she saw shapes moving in the gloom. More dragons. How did they get ahead of her? Auryon clenched her jaw. They wouldn’t catch her. Pinning her wings to her sides, she plunged down to the forests that soldiered their way up the peaks, skimming their snowy tops with her claws. The dragons and their riders were still gaining on her.

Auryon pushed more energy into her flagging wings. Only a little farther. If she made it over the peaks, she had a chance of reaching the Guardians.

An arrow pierced her right wing and Auryon cried out. The pain blinded her. She tried to push more magic to the hole in her wing, but her strength was depleted. She was losing altitude fast. Panic took over.

A second arrow struck her left wing, followed by a collision with a much larger dragon, sending her in a downward spiral as the ground rose to meet her. Lodgepole pines snapped in half as she crashed among the trees, and left a long skid mark in the snow. Auryon lay gasping and clutching her wings close. She hurt, but if she stayed here, her pursuers would find her. Or worse, the Watchers.

Through a gap in the trees, she saw a low spot among the peaks. If she changed form and ran, she might get there before her pursuers. She had to cross the peaks tonight. There wouldn’t be a second chance.

Auryon staggered to her feet and transformed back into her human skin and ran in a crooked line between the towering trees. The snow was deep, and she sank up to her knees. The frigid white fluff stole the heat from her body and she shivered. Her breath steamed out in curls from her mouth.

“Dragons don’t leave the Sanctuary,” a woman called from behind her.

Auryon whirled. Merideth was dismounting from a shimmering blue dragon. She carried a long staff with a jagged blade on one end, walking with the grace of a prowling cat.

“You were sick this morning, Auryon. I thought you’d be too weak to pull something as foolhardy as this. My mistake. You dragons are so much more docile when you don’t have your powers. It keeps you from getting wild ideas.”

“Why are you doing this? Dragons should be free,” Auryon said, gritting her teeth against the pain in her arms. Blood trailed down to her fingers.

“We do this so the world can be safe. Safe from dragons and Guardians. Not to mention, your power in those gemstones brings in a hefty sum each week.”

“What do you mean?” Auryon asked. “I thought our power protected the walls of the city.”

“Oh, they do, but we have such a surplus that we had to do something with them. Otherwise, you all might have gotten suspicious if a hoard of gems were stock-piled in the castle,” Merideth said. “You beasts may be among the earliest creatures to have walked this earth, but humans are the ones who dominated it. Not dragons, not Guardians. Both of you are blights upon our perfect world. We couldn’t stop the Guardians from returning, but we can do something about you flying lizards. So long as the Guardians never know what happened to you, they’ll never come looking.”

“Dragons aren’t meant to live in cages,” Auryon said between shivers. Her arms were aching. “We fly where we please, we do what we want.”

“Then why was it so easy for us to put you in cages?” the woman asked.

Figures moved in the dark. She was being surrounded. She’d lose her chance if she didn’t move. Auryon turned and ran. However, before she took more than a few steps, a familiar voice called to her.

“Aury,” Lila said.

Auryon’s heart clenched as Lila walked forward and stood next to the woman. A leather choker rested on her neck and silver bracers were on her wrists.

“Lila,” Auryon cried. “What did they do to you?”

“They helped me unlock my potential,” Lila said, as though lost in a dream. “You need to come back with us. They can help you unlock your potential as well.”

“Lila, let me go. Someone has to find the Guardians. We have to get free,” Auryon pleaded.

“No, Aury. The humans are keeping us safe.” Her sister’s eyes were glazed over. “We need to get back to the Sanctuary before the darkness finds us.”

“There is no darkness!” shouted Auryon. Fear and pain were making her mind fuzzy. “There are only the scheming humans trying to keep us from flying away and leaving them to their weak selves.”

A hand clamped over her mouth from behind, holding a foul smelling rag to her nose. Auryon struggled, but after her long flight, she was powerless against the forceful grip.

“Be a good girl and don’t fight,” a man said. “We don’t want to wake anything up.”

Auryon was becoming light-headed. She’d been so close. Why couldn’t she have been stronger? The dragons were prisoners. Her sister was under the control of these humans and she was succumbing to the effects of whatever they’d poked her with.

“Dragons don’t leave the Sanctuary,” the man repeated as Auryon grew limp.

Her last moments of freedom were slipping away from her. Her sister was under the control of these barbarians and Auryon would never see her family again. These people would keep dragons trapped forever with no way of escape. If only her grandfather were here. He’d knock every one of these humans off their feet with a thought.

Out of desperation, Auryon focused all her energy on her grandfather. “Help me!”

As she spoke, a golden ring of energy whooshed from her and out into the mountainside. The man threw her to the ground with a curse, holding his hands before him as though burned.

The woman walked up to her and poked her in the chest with the point of her staff.

“You’d better hope your plea goes unanswered, or you’ll wish we’d have killed you tonight,” she threatened. “No one is taking my dragons from me.”

***

Irizar woke up with a start. Something had jolted him out of a deep sleep. He stared around his chambers in the catacombs beneath Peroma. The nagging suspicion that something was wrong continued to pester him. He gave up on sleep, pulled off his blankets and dashed to the room where his seeing stone rested. His gnarled hand glowed as he rested it on the black orb and closed his eyes. He searched for the disturbance. A brilliant flash of golden light erupted in his mind.

What was that?

He delved deeper and found a girl in the clutches of a burly man in a snowy forest.

“Help me!” she cried.

Irizar released the stone and stepped back. His eyes were wide as he stared at the black orb. He knew her, though she’d been much younger the last time he saw her.

“Auryon,” he said in a choked whisper. “My children live. The dragons are alive.”

Irizar swallowed past the emotion in his throat. He had to help them. But how? He wasn’t even sure where to look.

The dragon stones he’d helped the Earth Guardian, Tellen Ramforth, create still lay scattered throughout the region. Without them, he only had his human form. Strong enough to do small manipulations with time and space, but not much else. He couldn’t do anything for his kinfolk in this state. He needed dragon scales and fire power if he were going to save them.

Irizar glanced back to his seeing stone. There might be a way to get his power back.

Slipping through a hole in the space of Peroma, he stepped from his chamber in the catacombs to the upper floors where Tellen and his new bride, Nienna Reina Ravencrest Comstock, resided. As he materialized inside, he saw the sleeping forms of the couple. Tellen’s arm was wrapped around Nienna. Irizar hated to wake them, especially after all he’d put them through. But they were the only ones he trusted.

“Tellen, Nienna, wake up,” Irizar said.

Tellen sat up gasping, reached for a knife at the table by his bed, and shielded the girl beside him. Nienna blinked the sleep out of her eyes, looking for the source of trouble.

“Irizar, what’s the matter?” Tellen panted, realizing they weren’t being attacked.

“I need your help,” Irizar said.

“In the middle of the night?” Nienna asked. Her voice was raspy.

“There is no time to waste.”

“What’s wrong, my friend?” Tellen asked.

“The dragons are alive, but are in trouble. I need to get my powers back. Will you help me?”

Tellen glanced back at Nienna. She met his eyes and gave him a slight nod.

“Tell us what to do.”