Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology (3 page)

“You can drive?”

“Well … I can, just not legally.”
 

“Can Roshanak fly with three legs?”

“Not really. She needs all four for balance and like, turning when she’s in the air. Plus, landing on three feet is harder when you’re used to doing it with four.”

Of course it was. Jaci remembered her own rehabilitation after she lost her limbs to the fire that took her parents. She’d had to learn how to walk with a leg that wasn’t hers, how to write with an arm made from plastic and metal and not flesh and bone. Roshanak would have to adapt more quickly than she had.
 

“Where will you go, once she’s got her new leg?”
 

Bright ran a hand through her hair. “There’s an animal sanctuary in the south. A friend of my father runs it. If I can get Roshanak there, we’ll never have to worry about poachers again.”
 

A cave mouth opened a few feet from the stream, shaded by thick bushes and hanging moss. Roshanak stuck her head out of the bushes, shaking her head at the sight of Bright and Jaci. She limped out of the cave, nuzzling Jaci on the cheek and purring like a cat. Jaci patted her neck.
 

“Let’s get this leg on you, girl,” she said.
 

They went back into the cave. A hole in the roof let in dashes of sunlight, but Bright had set up small lamps around the walls for more light. Jaci put on her gloves, pulling the silicone liner out of the bag. Roshanak laid down, holding out her stump. Jaci rolled the liner on, making sure it was smooth and secure. When she took out the leg, Bright let out a small whistle.
 

“It looks just like her real leg, but shinier,” she said. Roshanak poked at it with her nose, before licking Jaci on the face again.
 

“This is the best I could make in one night,” Jaci said. It wasn’t the quickest prosthetic she’d ever made, but it was definitely the most complex. “It’s light enough that she can fly, and sturdy enough to hold her weight, but she can’t keep it on for like, days at a time, okay? You have to take it off every night or after a few hours and let the stump breathe.”

“Do you have to do the same for your arm and leg?”

Jaci shook her head. “No, my prosthetics are made differently; I have a neural implant that lets me move them like my real limbs. I didn’t have time to get that for Roshanak, so this is gonna have to do for now.”
 

Jaci positioned the leg on the ground in front of Roshanak, readying the straps and fasteners. She had done this countless times for so many of her customers; her fingers moved quickly with the memory of familiar territory.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Bright.

“Um … go outside and keep watch? I think I lost them in the city, but I don’t wanna take any chances.”

Bright nodded, before turning and disappearing outside the cave. Jaci rolled a sock onto Roshanak’s limbs. Next, she pulled the leg onto the stump, strapping it around the thick muscles there.

“Um … Roshanak?” she asked. It felt so odd speaking to a dragon. “Can you stand?”

Roshanak obviously understood, because she struggled to her feet, gingerly lifting her stump so the prosthetic was dangling off the ground.

“Now, put your weight on the leg, okay? It’ll be fine, I’ve done this a
hundred
times before.”

Air hissed out of the valve on the prosthetic as Roshanak slowly put weight on the leg. Jaci’s chest swelled with pride at the sight of a dragon standing on a leg she made. Tears pricked behind her eyes and she sniffled as Roshanak took a few gentle steps on her new leg. She reared up on her hind legs, spreading her wings and shooting a blast of flame through the hole in the ceiling. She fell back down, leaping and bounding around the cave like an excited puppy. Laughing, Jaci joined her.

Bright burst back into the cave, the look of panic on her face turning into a smile at the sight of Roshanak moving on her new leg. Roshanak bounded up to Bright, licking her face and nuzzling her cheek.

“Jaci, you’re a genius, this is amazing!” Bright squealed. She ran to Jaci, pulling her into another tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Clicking noises from outside interrupted their conversation. Bright tensed in Jaci’s arms.
 

“Come out here with the dragon!”

Bright pulled away from Jaci, shaking, her face white and her eyes wide and rimmed with red.
 

“I said, come out!”

A gunshot broke the air. They both flinched, but Bright recovered faster than Jaci. She turned to leave, but Jaci grabbed her hand, shaking her head. Bright snatched her hand away, flicking her eyes between Jaci and Roshanak.
Get her out
, they said.
 

Roshanak made her decision before they could. She barreled out of the cave, her roar so loud Jaci’s eardrums ached. Jaci and Bright followed her, just in time to see her tackle the female poacher to the ground. The hulking man aimed his gun to fire. Bright flew towards him, screaming, pushing the rifle up. He backhanded her out of the way, and she collapsed with a split lip.
 

Roshanak bellowed again. She closed the space between her and the big man so quickly he didn’t have time to aim again. She swiped at him with her new leg, and he crumpled to the ground in a motionless heap. Jaci saw the skinny man she had attacked with her wrench, limping towards her. She ran up to him, kicking him in the injured knee as hard as she could with her right leg. He screamed, falling to the ground but still holding onto his gun. He lunged forward, striking Jaci in the gut with the heel of the gun.
 

The world blurred and tilted, and Jaci’s face hit the dirt with the wind knocked out of her. She saw the big man get up again, ready to give it another go. There was a roar, a blood-curdling scream, and the meadow before the cave glowed as Roshanak bellowed out a stream of fire. The skinny man dove and rolled out of the way, but the big poacher took the full brunt of the flames, screaming and flailing as the flames consumed him.
 

A hand pulled Jaci to her feet, bringing her back from the brink of unconsciousness.

“Jaci, come on!”

Bright dragged Jaci towards Roshanak, who was crouching low, hissing at the skinny man. It was hard to walk with the throbbing pain in her stomach. Bright half-carried Jaci to Roshanak, helping her climb onto the dragon’s shoulders. Bright pulled herself up, and Jaci wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.

The skinny poacher aimed his rifle at Roshanak, shaking, seeming unsure what to do with one of his companions knocked unconscious and the other gently smoldering on the ground next to him. Jaci wished he would put his gun down and run away. He couldn’t take a dragon on his own.
 

Roshanak seemed to know this. Her scales vibrated and glowed underneath Bright and Jaci. With a deep hiss, she opened her mouth and shot a roar of flames towards him. Her fire looked like the sun, blood orange, dappled with bursts of gold and white. The poacher screamed, diving out of the way and running back into the forest.

Roshanak beat her wings, and Jaci’s stomach dropped as she lifted into the air. She shot upwards like a bullet, bursting through the trees, rising through the early afternoon sky. Jaci shrieked, air rushing into her throat. She held onto Bright as tight as she could, her legs gripping Roshanak’s side. Wind whistled through her ears and filled her lungs. The sky rushed past in a blur of blue and white.

Roshanak rose, stopping just short of the clouds. She straightened out, stiffening her wings and letting herself glide on the currents. Jaci let out the breath she was holding, resting her cheek against Bright’s shoulder. She dared to look down, and New Argent City and the surrounding farms and fields unfolded underneath her like a painting. The city shone like jewels among the soft green grass. They even flew above some small airships, little golden things floating lazily over the world. The countryside spread underneath them in clean squares of farmland, the jagged squares of canyons and highways, the misty surfaces of lakes and rivers. Jaci thought of the first time she rode in an airship with her aunt and uncle. The craft took them from New Argent City to Callaton, and Jaci remembered being in awe of the view, the untamed bursts of wildflowers, golden fields of grain, the skeletons of old factories and abandoned cities. But that ride would never compare to this one. She felt the icy air on her skin and it filled her lungs, and the cool breath of clouds touched her face. Roshanak’s scales were hot underneath her, her wings full and glowing on either side of her. No man-made craft could ever compare to this.
 

Jaci’s stomach lurched and her ears popped as Roshanak lowered her altitude, descending and coming closer to a cluster of jagged rocks and old factories on the side of the highway. She landed on the highest peak, shaking her body as though urging Bright and Jaci to get off. Bright had to pry Jaci’s arms from around her waist before she slid off Roshanak’s back. Jaci’s limbs were stiff from the cold, and the shock of being on a dragon kept her rooted to her spot on Roshanak’s back for a few moments. When she finally dislodged herself, she landed on unsteady feet and weak knees.
 

“Did I just—did we just—was that—?”
 

Bright squealed, clapping her hands and jumping up and down. “Jaci, we did it! You did it!” She launched forward and gave Jaci her third hug in two days. She started shaking in Jaci’s arms, and Jaci realized she was crying.

“Thank you,” Bright sobbed into her shoulder. “Thank you so much. She’d be dead without you.” She pulled away from Jaci, wiping the tears from her face. “Look at me, I’m a mess.” She stomped away, rubbing her eyes and mumbling to herself.
 

Roshanak lumbered towards Jaci, moving so well on her new leg. Jaci smiled with pride. There it was, something
she
made, holding up a dragon.
 

Roshanak nuzzled Jaci on her cheek, and Jaci scratched the spot between Roshanak’s antlers, holding back hot tears. This had to be a dream. Jaci was afraid that if she pulled away from Roshanak, she would wake up in her bed, and the memories of the past two days would fade like the remnants of a dream. She closed her eyes as she rested her cheek against Roshanak’s neck.
 

“Jaci! Jaci, look!”

Bright’s voice brought Jaci back from her thoughts. When she opened her eyes, she saw a brilliant golden scale in front of her, held delicately between Roshanak’s claws. She could see her face in its gleaming surface, reflecting her wide eyes and open mouth. She took it with trembling hands. It felt like a seashell, worn smooth by the tides.

“Thank you, Roshanak,” Jaci said past the lump in her throat.
 

“We … need to get going,” Bright said. “It’s a long flight to the south. She’ll be safe there.”

“Call me if you ever need help with her leg,” Jaci said, watching Bright climb onto Roshanak’s back. “Don’t disappear for three years before you contact me again.”

Bright blushed, looking down at her hands guiltily.
 

“I definitely won’t let that happen again,” she said. “You’re my best friend, and the best engineer I know.”

Roshanak growled as though in agreement. She reared up on her hind legs, spreading her wings to their full span. With one, two, three beats of her wings, Roshanak was airborne. She hovered in the air for a few seconds, she and Bright looking down at Jaci one last time. Then, she straightened her body and soared over Jaci’s head to the south. She watched them fly high over the fields and farms of the countryside before they disappeared into the gathering clouds.
 

Jaci pulled out her phone, dialing her aunt’s number.

“Hey, Auntie, can you come get me?” she said.

“Of course, sunshine. Where are you?”

“I’m … out in the countryside … by the highway …”

“… Why?”

Jaci giggled. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

About C.B. Carr

I am a recent graduate living in Panama City, Florida. This is my first story I’ve ever submitted for publication, and I’m looking forward to doing more in the future. Although I went to school for political science, writing is my passion and something that I truly enjoy.
 

In the Hearts of Dragons

by Stephanie Wagner

As the docking bay doors slid open, the first thing Marisol Ellison noticed was the scent of the air. Unlike the dry, sterile atmosphere on the shuttle pod from Earth, the air on board the Dragonship was green, fresh, alive. Gentle breezes stirred the silky, dark hair around her shoulders, and the sunlight panels on the ten-meter ceiling warmed the tawny-copper skin of her face. Peering over the entrance platform railing to ground level, she could see groves of trees, wide swaths of grass, and patches of flowers and garden plants scattered here and there.
 

“Impressive, isn't it?”

Marisol turned to see a tall, pale young man with short light brown hair, one of the new crewmembers she hadn't met on the shuttle ride up. He wore a slightly sardonic smile as he took in her disbelief at the Dragon. Marisol shrugged and smiled. “I guess you don't realize what it's like inside these liveships until you're in one. I've studied the genetic schematics and biology, watched the virtual tours, but seeing this much life, inside another living creature, in space, well—” She shrugged again. “It's nothing like the techships that run cargo around Earth and the solar system.”

The rest of the new crewmembers were filtering out around them, each showing a measure of the amazement Marisol had felt at seeing the inside of the Dragonship for the first time. They all turned as one, hearing a shouted greeting from the path below them.
 

“Hello, my friends!” Rolling up the ramp in a lightweight carbon fiber wheelchair, the speaker was a dark-skinned man of about forty, with a gleaming white grin and dark eyes dancing with excitement. “Welcome to our Dragon. I am Dr. Noah Ekwensi, and I'll be showing you fledglings around and helping you get settled in. When you're ready, follow me.” Marisol and the others gathered their few bags and fell in behind him. “It looks like most of you have gotten your first look at our outdoors.” He looked back at them and winked. “Or as close as we get to outdoors here in space. The whole first level is soil-based, where we grow our trees, keep our livestock, and have most of our meals and social events.”