Beak was enjoying herself until she noticed the group of human shapes together on the ground. A headcount confirmed it; the dragon was back. And no one had told her! She spun in midair and arrowed toward them. They saw her coming and stepped back, which was just insulting. What did they take her for, some bald hatchling who had never been airborne before? Never mind that this was a different type of flying from her own feathers. Pixie dust was almost easier, though that would be blasphemous to admit.
She came in for a proper landing, backwinging with her human arms out of habit. There wasn’t much wind to herald her approach, but she thought it was a pretty good landing nonetheless.
She had no idea why they were cringing like that. She hadn’t hit anyone.
“What’s happening?” Beak demanded. “Welcome back,” she added for the dragon’s sake.
“We’re leaving as soon as possible,” the dragon replied, speaking over a couple of the others. “Would you know how best to convince the orcs to give us a ride in their boats?”
“Let me do the talking,” Beak said immediately. “They’ll want to haggle. New and interesting things are good. Anything that makes them laugh. They don’t need weapons, they don’t eat many plants, and everything should be waterproof.”
“Hm,” the dragon said thoughtfully. He looked around at nothing in particular, then down at his apprentice. “Care to impress me?”
The young dragon snapped to attention, nodding once.
The adult scooped up a smooth white rock from the ground, which Beak recognized from the many that the children had been carrying up from the beach earlier. Someone had definitely told them to put them back. Apparently they had dumped them out here instead.
This one was getting put to good use now, while the two dragons muttered over it. The silver youth nodded and clutched the rock in one fist, pressing a talon from the other hand against it while the human-shaped adult stood and watched.
Beak twitched when the rock appeared to burst into flame, then she realized that this was just the color of the young dragon’s magic. She realized that she’d never seen a dragon work magic up close before. Or had she? Maybe that firebreathing was a different sort of thing than she’d always thought.
Maybe she’d ask later. Probably not.
The magic flames shrank away, leaving the rock with a glowing reddish pattern carved into it. The young dragon held it out for the adult to take and inspect. He did, giving it a detailed once-over before nodding his approval. The little one looked proud.
“Will the orcs like this?” the adult dragon asked, holding it up. “It will provide ten hours of bright light for every hour of sunlight it absorbs. Waterproof. Easy to track when dropped in the sea. It will last years.”
Beak was nodding even as she thought through the uses. “Yes. But one probably won’t be enough. How many can you make?”
The dragon smiled, handing the rock back to his apprentice. It was the smile of experienced hagglers everywhere. “More than enough,” he said. “But as far as the orcs are concerned, this is an extremely difficult and time-consuming enchantment. We are all fortunate that my apprentice here put some of our more valuable charms in their bag for safekeeping, and didn’t send them back home with the rest of our supplies.”
“Speaking of which,” the young dragon spoke up. “I do still have the other teleportation charm for getting home. Would we be better off just going there instead of bothering with the boats?”
The adult shook his head. “I considered that. While there are many useful things at home, none of them will get us to our quarry any faster. You are making impressive speed through your studies, but teleportation spells are for later.”
And he can’t do it himself, Beak thought. He must hate that.
“What about other dragons?” Windmane suggested. “Don’t you have neighbors? Would one of them be able to—”
“No,” the dragon said, showing teeth.
The apprentice shook their head.
Windmane didn’t ask again.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“So,” the adult dragon said to Beak, “We will gather rocks and make more of these out of sight, then you will approach the orcs and bargain for a swift ride up the coast. Agreed?”
Beak agreed. The apprentice put the rock in their bag and immediately started gathering more. A look back showed the orcs paying not the slightest bit of attention.
* * * * *
Beak went hard on the bargaining. She’d never handled her town’s trade personally, but she’d seen it done. Strength was key. So when the rocks were ready, she took one and leapt into the sky to rejoin the cloud of frolicking orcs.
“Ouula!” she called. “I have a deal for you!”
The co-captain spun forward through the air, followed by her husband. The others politely gave them space, though Beak could tell they were only pretending not to listen. Horrible gossips, all of them. It probably came from all that time in the boats with nothing to do but talk.
“What kind of deal is it, then?” asked Ouula. She was floating at Beak’s eye level, which Beak found she preferred to the usual towering orc height. Org bobbed beside her. Beak was pretty sure that he was deliberately moving up and down like he was drifting on gentle waves. Of course he was.
Beak got right to the point. “A bargain for you to take a few passengers, in exchange for valuable items that you do not have.”
The orcs were happy to hear about this. They urged her to explain, and when she presented the charm, they were suitably impressed.
The deal went well. Beak bargained for everything she could, even getting them to agree to shove off sooner than expected. Not bad for someone who hadn’t haggled with them before.
It did feel a bit like the orcs were humoring her at times, but they always smiled like that. Too many teeth and far too happy for any given circumstance. But they agreed.
When the deal was settled, the pair followed her groundward to accept the rest of the charms from the young dragon.
As the handover took place — from taloned hand to massive meaty fist — Beak kept a close eye on the other temporary humans of the group. Especially the male one who should have been a pixie. She didn’t trust him not to speak up about how talented the young dragon was, enchanting all these so quickly. But the centaur and minotaur were flanking him, clearly with the same thought. Good.
Things moved quickly after that. Ouula and Org gathered their crew while the minotaur said a tearful farewell to her herd (there wasn’t space on the boats for all of them, and anyway they had lives to get back to. Beak didn’t stick around to listen for the details). Instead she flew back to her own house to say goodbye-for-now and gather supplies. Just because the rest of the unfortunates were stuck with what they had with them didn’t mean she had to be.
By the time she got back to the mostly-empty dance field, the minotaurs had apparently had a similar thought; the bull had purchased food and blankets and whatnot from the town store. Enough for everyone, which struck Beak as overly generous. But it wasn’t her money to waste.
“Good, there you are,” the dragon said when Beak arrived. He stood by the pile of blankets while the minotaurs said goodbye again. “Ready to leave?”
“Yes.” Beak had her travel backpack stuffed full (and she’d discovered that it was easier to put on in human form, another convenience she would never acknowledge out loud). She’d said her goodbyes. Her sisters trusted her to handle herself well, and the babies had no idea what was going on. They’d all be fine.
“Good,” the dragon said. “Org wants to go over the ‘boat rules’ once everyone is together. Now all we’re missing is the pixie.”
“Oh great. Where did he go?”
“Off to make sure someone greets his swarm when they come back here. I’m sure some of your kinfolk will be able to act as intermediaries between pixies and orcs.”
Beak snorted. “Glad I’m not involved,” was all she said. Then she caught sight of the yellow-haired pixie/human on his way back, and she waved him impatiently forward. “C’mon, Twig! Time for boat rules!”
He hurried. The minotaurs helped carry all of the supplies down to the beach, likely as an excuse to say goodbye yet again. Beak was just glad she didn’t have to carry other people’s things.
Or the centaur, she thought as she noticed the pixie dust’s effect getting weak. She landed and made do with walking the rest of the way, though the centaur beside her floated for all she was worth, even when her feet started to drag.
Beak sighed. They’d be in the boats soon, and it wouldn’t matter. Maybe the swarm would even catch up to them, though the dragon didn’t seem to think so. Not her problem either way.
Down on the pebbly beach, the orcs were waiting for them, with space prepared on several boats to distribute the additional weight. Beak looked over the range of seacraft, forming opinions on which looked driest, assuming she’d get a chance to pick her own seat.
But first, boat rules. These turned out to be both simpler and stupider than Beak had expected. And she was familiar with how orcs behaved.
“The rules will keep you inside the boat,” Org declared, holding a paddle in one hand and smacking it against his other palm. “And in everyone’s good graces. If anyone breaks the rules, that’s a paddlin’.” He went on to list a number of things that were forbidden, including “Leaning over the side, eating Ouula’s fish, and skipping the call-out on a shanty.”
Twig raised a hand. “What if we fall in the water?”
Org pointed the paddle at him. “Then you were leaning too far. We’ll fish you out, and that’s a paddlin’.”
Twig put his hand down. Org continued.
Beak was standing between the small dragon and a wall of minotaur muscle. She bent down and whispered to the dragon, “Ten coppers says the pixie gets paddled first.”
The silver dragon whispered back without budging from their dignified position. “Respectable apprentices do not gamble.” Then after a pause, they continued: “And I wouldn’t throw away money on that bet.”
“Fair.”
Org pointed at them. “Not paying attention while a captain is talking! That’s a paddlin’!”
“We apologize,” the dragon said smoothly while Beak swore.
“I’ll let it go this once. Now let’s get you all on the boats!”
Beak raced for the biggest one, ready to claim a seat that wouldn’t get wet.