Onyx

Onyx stuck her head out of the cave opening, holding her hair

back so the roaring wind didn’t take hold of it. She looked to either

direction, squinting through the swirling snow. Seeing nothing, she

waved to the runaway slaves to follow her.

The lucky ones wrapped their cloaks tight, while the unlucky

ones huddled together. Onyx led them across the mountain side path,

the cliff face to their left shooting straight into clouds, and the edge

falling in a steep slope of nothing but loose rock and scraggly bushes

clinging on for life.

Twelve followed. Ten had split from them after the first day,

but it had been days since and there was no sign of them. Their meager

rations had run out that morning, and Onyx was at a loss. All she knew

was she couldn’t give up.

Another cave loomed from the gray air and she slipped in. The

mouth was small, but the rest of the cave opened into a huge cavern.

Like most they had come across, it was warm from the magma

chambers below. It was the only thing keeping them alive. They would

have died of exposure long ago if not for that.

“Onyx?” The youngest member of the group, Mira, a girl of

fourteen passes and missing her smallest finger on both hands, tugged

on Onyx’s cloak.

“I’m tired, can we take a break?”

Onyx smiled and nodded. The bruises on her neck had turned

from green to purple to blue and were only now starting to fade. Her

voice had never returned. Even when she laughed or cried, not a single

sound escaped. Most days weren’t hard because everyone was too tired

to talk, but on occasion, they found reason to tell their stories, and it

distressed Onyx that she no longer could.

The group followed Mira’s example, collapsing on rocks and

boulders strewn about, while others lay down on the ground, using each

other as pillows. While they rested, Onyx touched the shoulder of one

of the men. She had known Lynd for some time and he had crossed the

Isle of Dragon’s with her when they were sent to the North End Mines.

During the passes he was a slave, his back was hunched and there was

a sadness behind his eyes, but now there was only fire and he stood

straight and tall, keeping an eye on the rest.

She gestured toward the far end of the cave and waved at him,

hoping he understood she was just exploring. He seemed to, nodding at

her and turning back to the others. Convinced she had left them in good

hands, Onyx poked around as far as she could go. The light only

penetrated so far, but she could see the cave extended a lot further back

than she originally suspected. If only there was wood, she could make

a torch and…

Onyx stopped, sniffing the air. She had just whiffed something,

something rank but familiar. She turned, searching for the scent, and

kicked something that went skittering across the floor. A bone.

Her heart stopped and a painful lurch in her stomach forced her

forward, stumbling through the cave and back towards the mouth. She

waved her hands at Lynd, who furrowed his brow and uncrossed his

arms. Her pale, frantic face did more than enough.

“Get up!” he cried, voice tense. “There’s danger here.”

The runaways jumped to their feet. Onyx twisted around as a

scream pierced the air and her breath caught in her throat. At the mouth

of a cave was a dragon. As long as a man with bright yellow scales. It

crouched, snarling.

The whole group froze. Mira was crying, but another woman

had a hand over her mouth. The dragon’s huge yellow eyes scanned

them, its tongue flickering in and out like a snake. The earthy smell of

the beast rolled through the cave as it stepped forward, the tip of its tail

twitching back and forth.

The dragon pounced, the group scattered. It landed in between

them, whipping around and fixing its eyes on the only other man of the

group, who was also the oldest. He was slower than the rest of them,

but he was still part of the group.

Onyx dived for him, pulling him out of the dragon’s reach. It

spat angrily and spun on the next closest, a woman maybe twenty

passes. Onyx tripped around the old man, but was too late. Her hand

closed on thin air as she tried to grab its tail.

The dragon clamped its jaws onto the woman’s neck and her

scream was cut short as the beast crunched down. Onyx stared in horror.

She was supposed to bring these people to safety, not let them die days

after gaining their freedom.

Tears fell from her eyes as she waved for everyone to get

behind her and Lynd. He tried to push her with them, but she refused,

stepping up beside him. They were all gathered with their backs to the

cave and holding onto one another when the dragon grew bored of its

kill.

Onyx snarled silently at it, her hands up and ready. Lynd posed

similarly next to her. The dragon stalked toward them, placing one

clawed foot in front of the other. Sniffles and whimpers of fear were the

only thing keeping Onyx rooted to her spot. She would not let the

dragon kill anyone else.

It lept. Onyx braced herself, claws protruding toward her face.

The dragon stopped moving, its eyes widening, then crashed

to the floor. Behind it stood a red dragon at least twice its size. Claws

the size of Onyx’s hand wrapped around the smaller dragon’s tail.

“Sorry about that,” the dragon rumbled in surprisingly good

Alaryian. “Our children are learning to hunt, and some have not yet

figured out we don’t hunt intelligent species.” The red dragon glared at

the yellow one.

It squawked and nipped at the foot holding his tail. The red

dragon let go and it scampered out of the cave, tail between its legs.

“Anyway. You may call me Steve.”

“Steve?” Lynd looked like Onyx felt, more than a little

confused.

“Yes, Steve. Our names are rather long and don’t make much

sense when translated from our language into yours, so I’ve shortened

it.”

“You aren’t here to kill us?” Mira asked between hiccups.

“Kill you?! My dear human, no. Had I known you were here, I

would never have brought Dan hunting in this direction.” He eyed them

with red eyes as big around as Onyx’s head. “What are you doing here

anyway? This is an old dragon cave.”

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Onyx opened her mouth to explain, realized she couldn’t, and

closed it again.

Lynd stepped up. “We escaped the slave camps. We need

shelter, food, and water and then we’ll be on our way.”

“I think we can do a step better. Stay here, I’ll be right back. I

promise no harm will come to you.” Steve turned and jumped from the

side of the mountain, spreading his wings. The wind took him and he

shot into the air and out of sight.

Whispering began immediately, but no one came out of their

huddle until Lynd and Onyx steered them back to their resting spots.

The most restless of the bunch gathered rocks and built a hasty cairn

over the fallen woman.

Some time later, the beat of Steve’s wings announced his

presence, but he wasn’t the only one. Two more dragons with bundles

in their claws landed one by one at the mouth of the cave and came in.

It was barely large enough for the three dragons and twelve people.

Steve passed around the bundles, which included firewood, a flint and

steel, cooked strips of meat, and filled water skins.

Lynd eyed them suspiciously. “Where did you get all this?

Surely dragons have no need for such things.”

Steve shrugged, an odd gesture from a dragon. “We aren’t a big

fan of the slave camps, either. We think all intelligent creatures should

have free will, but our beliefs don’t allow us to do anything about them

without permission and help from a being of their race. Anyway, we

got these from tribesmen who wandered too close to our homes.

Protecting our territory is something we can do. We keep them for this

reason and do what we can for escapees.”

“Thank you for the help and supplies,” Lynd said, giving Steve

a bow of his head.

“Our pleasure. Anything to spite those camps.”

Onyx, watching the exchange, was growing increasingly

frustrated with not being able to speak. She stood and walked in front

of Steve and began to mime. First, she pointed to him, then his mouth,

and to her mouth.

Steve watched, a glint of curiosity behind his eyes. The dragons

were much more intelligent than she had ever imagined.

“Do you mean to ask how I speak your language?”

Onyx nodded.

“I am the master of languages. I know them all. Can you not

speak?”

She shook her head.

Steve tapped a claw against his chin. “Do you want to speak?”

Onyx cracked her neck from nodding so fast.

“I can’t fix your voice, but I do know a language that lets you

speak with your hands. Shall I teach you?”

Tears welled in Onyx’s eyes as she nodded vigorously. She was

sure she would never be able to communicate again. It might not be

perfect, but it was better than nothing.

***

They hid in that cave for a week. Steve visited every day with

more supplies and to teach Onyx a language where she learned signs

and movements with her hands to communicate.

“Do many people know this language?” she asked.

“Hmm,” the dragon rumbled, and signed back, “I have only

taught a few other humans in my lifetime, but I have also come across

a few who knew it without my help. I know it, though, so it must be a

real language. Teach it to those around you, and you will always be

understood.”

Onyx nodded and smiled at Steve and Lynd, who joined the

lessons. It would do Onyx no good if no one else in their party knew

what she was talking about.

“Thank you for helping me, Steve. Thank you for helping all of

us, but I am still curious. What does Steve stand for?”

The dragon growled in his throat and showed his teeth. Onyx

stepped back, afraid she had offended him, but his tone was amused.

He wasn’t angry, he was laughing.

“I guess you have earned the right to know. In your language it

stands for, Stand Tall Eat Vigorously Everyday.”

Lynd grinned.

“See? The translations don’t flow as well.”

“What does it sound like in your language?” Onyx signed.

Steve took a breath and bared his teeth, blowing a stream of air

through them, producing a pure whistle. Flicking his tongue across the

gaps between his teeth, Steve changed the tone of the whistle. It rose

and fell like music, bringing tears to Onyx’s eyes. She hadn’t heard

music since becoming a slave.

“Wow,” said Lynd, clearing his throat.

“That was beautiful,” Onyx signed.

Steve dipped his head. “It is no more than the way we

communicate.”

Onyx nodded. “Thank you again, but we must leave. If you

could point us toward Ashton, we will be on our way.”

The dragon held up a claw. “If you wish, some of us have

replenished our fires with lava rocks. We can take you as far as the edge

of Alarya.”

Onyx’s eyes widened. “You can?!”

Steve nodded his huge scaly head. “You’ll have to make your

own way from there, as we must have enough fire to return.”

“That’s no trouble,” Lynd said, standing. “You have done more

for us than can ever be repaid.”

“If you want to repay us, discover a way to reignite our largest

volcano. It has gone dormant, cutting off access to the lava rocks and

volcano snails that live inside. It was half our resources, and without

enough to go around, we will go into hibernation, and after too long,

die.”

Onyx’s mouth hung open.

“Are you serious?” she asked. “Your species is dying?”

Steve dipped his head and Onyx placed a hand on his snout.

“I will find a way to help you, Steve. We won’t let you down.”

He lifted his lips and bared his teeth in what Onyx assumed was

a smile, but his eyes were sad.

“If you find a way, you’ll have saved all of dragonkind. Get

your stuff together, I’ll fetch the other dragons.”

Onyx and Lynd went around helping everyone pack the

supplies into blankets and secured each one. Five more dragons

returned with Steve. Not all of them were able to fit in the cave without

crowding the humans, so they alighted two at a time and bent one knee

to let them climb up. They hooked bundles of supplies in a claw, and

once everyone was aboard, they let the air currents take them up, up, up

until they soared above the clouds and all was calm.

Onyx grinned, hanging onto an orange dragon’s spikes while

Mira held onto her middle from behind. The air was still chilly, little

crystals floating in the sky, but the sun shone bright, warming Onyx’s

face for the first time in seventeen passes.