Chronicles of the Dragon Pirate (35 page)

But something was odd about the painting...and after a moment I realized what it was. “Jade,” I said to the large mermaid air-golem floating beside me, “why did they draw the birds so large? I mean, they’d be the size of rocs from Greek mythology. What city is this supposed to be, anyway?”

“The city I do not know. But I believe the birds are not natural at all but some form of an enormous flying golem, sentinels perhaps.”

I stared at Jade in puzzlement as Pepper cried out, “Tomas come over here...quick!”

I turned and pelted across the room, my bare feet slapping the stone floor as I ran up to her. Pepper was staring at the mural extending to either side on the back wall of the room, the mermaid a looming presence at my back as I slid to a halt beside her. “What is it?”

Pepper merely pointed at the mural in front of her and I raised my bright-fire torch to get a better look. Lizard-like creatures with wings had been drawn flying in formation, travelling left to right, the scales on their skin painted a now faded metallic shade of blue-green, while their teeth and claws were the same color white as the ring on my finger. Their eyes were black as the depths of the sea. “These are dragons,” Pepper said in a quavering voice, her eyes wide as her gaze met mine. “This has to be a scene of Olde Atlantis, before all the real dragons died.”

“I’ll bet you gold this was painted by someone who was there,” I breathed, moving farther to the right where the dragons of the lengthening formation were flying past a mountain like one of those I’d just seen. “The detail’s too good for someone who wasn’t, so these murals have to be thousands of years...bloody bones!”

As I moved farther to the right, the scene changed to the chaos of war. Groups of three and four dragons were attacking enormous black Artifact golems: a chimera with the head of a lion and a goat tearing a dragon apart between them, while the dragon head of the Artifact breathed fire, a harpy with the carved face of a beautiful woman, the monstrous roc of Greek mythology, and more. Looking at the golems I noticed an odd thing and leaned in closer to look. Each of the enormous Artifact-golems had been painted in such a way that the viewer could see to the very heart of the golem, and inside of each was a pale white, nude, man-like figure with a face like the statues outside, with thin arms and legs unnaturally elongated like the roots of a plant as his fingers and toes merged with the Artifact. Black hair was bound in a thick braid down his back.

Suddenly I realized what it meant. “Pepper, these man-like creatures are controlling the golems like dragon-ghosts control golems now.” We moved farther down to the right where the swirl of combat had given way to formations of the enormous Artifact-golems, some the creatures we’d seen, while others looked like whales with wings, each one drawn to show a company of the white, man-like figures, dressed in armor like the two statues standing outside of the building, inside the belly of the Artifact. We continued until we approached the end of the wall, the scene changing from dry land with mountains to the ocean, with the sky in the background painted the same blue color it was outside, with a few clouds painted here and there. But at the far end of the wall a gaping hole had been drawn in the blue, its edges ragged as shredded cloth as one of the winged whale Artifacts emerged from inside it. The hole was the night sky filled with stars. “Jade,” I said as I stared at the hole in the sky, “what do you know of this?”

“Of the battle...only that I died fighting in it,” she said quietly. I looked back at the floating mermaid, who watched me with a solemn expression on its face. “But if you want more of the story, retrace your steps and keep going.”

Pepper and I did so, moving past the battle and the dragons filling the sky until we reached the city of pyramids and towers. To my surprise I saw more of the thin, pale warriors, some of them in large Artifact golems of their own: a three-headed wardog like the legend of Cerberus, a lizard-like creature with an enormous head and sharp teeth, a Minotaur with a battleax in its hand, and more. There were also many pale figures in armor, a few in the fanciful armor the attackers wore but most in plain plate, bearing long swords they carried in both hands. Standing in front of the pale warriors were...

“Humans? Pepper, look at this.” Pepper looked to where I was pointing. Standing in front of the pale warriors was an army of men bearing spears and shields, wearing simple armor of leather and steel much like what some men still wore. Counting the Artifact golems I saw in front of me, I rapidly estimated numbers. “The defenders were clearly out-golemed, I guess you’d say. They had the dragons and who I guess were human allies, but the... whatever the pale guys are on the right, they clearly had the advantage in weapons.”

“The defenders weren’t prepared,” Pepper said softly, moving farther to the left. She pointed at the mural. “See there? People are fleeing the city... it was a surprise attack.” I looked where she was pointing. Figures, mostly female from the look of them, were fleeing away from the battle towards the left, carrying bags with them which I imagined contained food and valuables. Some of the females were the thin, pale people, but most of the people, male and female, were human. Moving left, I passed Pepper as she leaned in to examine the fleeing figures. “The humans seemed clumped around the Atlantians...I’d bet you a Reale they were slaves of the Atlantians, fleeing with their mistresses.”

“Here’s the ship they were fleeing to,” I called out. The city had given way to a harbor, with an outcropping of rock holding a tall, white tower shining a golden beam of light out to sea, and a half dozen ships tied up at the pier, the people struggling to reach them. I shook my head as I tried to imagine the chaos of that day, thousands of years ago.

Then Jade quietly spoke from behind me. “There is more of the story to tell, farther out to sea.” I began moving left but the mermaid air-golem put out an arm to stop me. “I need to warn you: if you learn the truth, it will change the way you look at your life forever.”

“Maybe you should leave well enough alone,” Pepper said.

I heard the note of worry in her voice but I shook my head, answering, “I have to know.” Jade raised the mermaid’s hand and I moved farther left until I’d almost reached the far wall, holding my torch high as I saw the Artifact ship. She appeared to be a warship, her lines lean and sharp, but one without any mast or cannons I could see. Instead, she had long guns on her bow and stern, with a raised platform in the middle where it looked like they steered the ship.

“Look on the bridge,” Jade said, adding when I gave her a puzzled glance, “the raised platform above the deck of the ship. Do you see the people standing there?” I looked where she said and nodded. “Look closely at the female on the far right.”

I leaned in to look. All of the pale figures, male and female, were looking back towards the city, but only one was wearing fanciful armor: a female, the first female warrior I’d seen, was standing on the edge of the platform with a long, white bladed sword in one hand and the other clenched in a fist. “The letters are painted too small for your eyes to see,” Jade continued softly, “but I no longer have the need for eyes. I cannot read the language so I cannot tell you what the letters mean, but they are the exact same ones carved on the blade of the sword the captain bears. There is also a ring on her finger with the exact same markings as the one now on your hand, and I will swear to you now in truth that they are the same sword and ring you see in the painting.” I turned to stare at Jade and the mermaid slowly nodded. “There is no doubt at all: the person in the painting is your true mother. The person in the painting is Long-Mu.

I slowly backed away from the mural, from the mermaid air-golem watching me with black eyes, from everything as I shook my head in denial. I’d been told I was something unnatural, not quite human, but deep down I hadn’t believed I was anything more than what I’d always been: a Dragon of St. Augustine. But now I knew the truth.

Suddenly the darkness pressed all around me on all sides and I dropped my torch with a clatter and ran for the entrance, Pepper calling behind me, “Tomas, wait!” I heard Pepper’s torch hit the stones as well as I reached the archway, her footsteps slapping stone as she chased after me. I ran out into the daylight and kept running down the grey-stone steps and into the plaza, the sun glaring down on me as I stopped, unable to decide where to run. I heard Pepper’s footsteps stop behind me and I whirled around. Her eyes were on me and her hands out as if I was a wild beast and she the maiden who would tame it. “Tomas, it’s alright.”

“No it isn’t,” I shouted at her. “Don’t you understand? I’m one of them, one of those,” stabbing my finger towards the statues pointing inward, “creatures.”

“No, you’re not,” Pepper said in a calm voice, taking a step towards me. “All Dragons have a piece of those creatures inside us; you just have more than anyone else. Part of you may belong to Long-Mu, but the other part belongs to your human father.”

“But we don’t know if he was human. He could’ve been one of them, too.”

Pepper took another step forward. “You heard what Jade called Long-Mu: one the last true Dragons, right? That means there’s only a few of them left.” I nodded, beginning to grow a little calmer as she went on. “Did Lord Tiberius ever give you the lecture on Dragon breeding with Dragon?” I shook my head. “He said it rarely ever happens, since Dragons can only be predicted to go into heat on their eighteenth birthday, and even then it sometimes doesn’t happen. But when a Dragon does manage to mate with a Dragon, their children are not only stronger Dragons but more noble, even if their parents weren’t. They still have the desire to fight that all strong Dragons share and they certainly aren’t perfect. But they treat everyone around them in an honorable manner, which is more than I can say for many of the Dragons I’ve met.” She gave me a knowing look. “Redbeard says Sir Francis Drake was the child of two Dragons, though no one knows for sure.”

My heart had begun to slow down as had my breathing, and I found myself holding onto Pepper’s words like they were a lifeline. “I don’t feel particularly noble.”

Pepper looked at me as if I’d lost my wits. “This from the one who almost gave his life to save the sister of a slave?” I shrugged and Pepper gave me a wry smile. “You’ve got Smoke all upset, you know. She wants me to comfort you...and I do too.”

She put a tentative hand on my arm and I let out my breath as the last of my panic left me, Pepper moving close to put her hands on my waist as I bowed my head. “Pray forgive me,” I said quietly. “The last few days haven’t been the best of my life.”

Pepper giggled. “I imagine not,” she said, both of us putting our heads together as we laughed, putting our arms around each other as birds called to each other from the trees around us. She looked up at me with a smile and without thinking I kissed her, everything around us fading until my world became her and nothing else. After a moment she pulled back. “We need to get out of the sun before we both dry up like those fish you made disappear back in Haven.”

“If you wish,” Jade’s voice said from beside us, “I can lead you to a place that still has fresh water.” We looked around for the mermaid, which was absent, and Jade’s voice became amused. “I felt it prudent to leave the air-golem inside the structure until it is needed.” Jade’s voice directed us to the ruined building to the left of the one with the murals and we walked inside through an open doorway. Inside it was a jumble of broken white stones with small trees and bushes growing in the places where some of the walls had crumbled, the colors on the walls faded to patches on the weather-worn stone.

But the far left corner was still intact, its walls and floor unbroken though covered with dead leaves blown in and dirt. A white stone fountain still had water flowing out of a grey-stone fish’s mouth into its cracked basin, the water flowing through a channel the water had carved out in the floor and out through a gap in one of the walls. I pointed out deer tracks in the dirt to Pepper, along with goat and wild dogs too, unless I missed my guess. To my surprise she had no idea what any of their tracks looked like. There were also several smaller stone basins set around the fountain, most of them in pieces but a couple still intact

We moved to the fountain and cupped our hands under the stone fish’s mouth, the water cold as we drank then washed our faces and necks. Looking up at the wall behind the fountain, I saw a fragment of a mural still intact: five human women and two Atlantian females dancing naked in front of a group of Atlantians, male and female, dressed in what resembled Roman togas, with some simply dressed humans serving drinks in cups, while other humans, dressed as the Atlantians were, watched them as well. Pepper glanced at the mural fragment then casually asked, “Jade, how much liberty will you permit us?”

“Both of you keep your trousers on and all will be well,” Jade said primly.

“Keep our...Jade, according to the laws of the church, carnal knowledge means...”

“I set the limits of what you are permitted. Exceed them once and you will get a warning, exceed them twice and I will pick you both up and dump you into the sea to cool your passion. As Captain Hawkins likes to say, are we clear?”