A Day of Dragon Blood

BAYRIN



He limped along the docks, hunched over, cloaked and hooded in ratty old homespun. His hand, black with dirt, reached out in supplication.

"Suns for the poor?" he croaked as sailors walked by. "Spare coins for a poor old beggar, my lords?"

The sailors ignored him and walked on, speaking to one another of finding a winehouse, soft beds, and cheap women to warm them. These ones had not seen land for weeks; they had the hungry look of men too long at sea. Bayrin could not guess what ship they had come from; hundreds lined the docks of Hog Corner. Some were mere fishermen's barges, others merchant ships with embroidered sails. Some were wide and sturdy, built for sailing north, out of the delta and into the salty sea. Others were slim and long and lined with oars, made for rowing south along the River Pallan to distant jungles of spice, jewels, and slaves. Many ships—those farther along the docks, where soldiers patrolled and no beggars dared shuffle—were military machines laden with steel and Tiran fire.

If you wanted news, Bayrin knew, you came to Hog Corner. Centuries ago, it was said, pigs would wallow here in mud, giving the place its name. Squatted upon the northern fringe of Irys, where the Pallan turned from river to delta, Hog Corner still boasted as much mud and stench as ever. Upon its hundred docks, merchants, soldiers, prostitutes, and beggars all mingled and fought and shared their tales. There were no temples in this part of Irys, no palaces or villas or nobles. In the winehouses, brothels, and alleys of Hog Corner, far from the great gilded columns of the city south, Bayrin could hear tales of sea battles, songs of distant lands, and mostly gossip. If you wanted to know which lord bedded which noblewoman, which priest was caught stealing gold, or which officer was smuggling women into the barracks, you came to this place. If the River Pallan was the artery of Tiranor, here was its throbbing heart.

"Suns for the poor, my ladies?" Bayrin croaked in his best beggar's voice. "Spare some old copper suns?"

The young women walked by, faces gaunt and eyes sunken. These ones were the dust eaters, he knew; wretched souls addicted to the southern spice. They would sell their clothes, their bodies, and their souls for but spoonfuls of the stuff. They gave him dead stares and shuffled onward, always seeking, always hunting the next taste of their elixir.

Bayrin grumbled under his hood. When he brushed dirt off his cloak, his own stench wafted and sickened him. He still could not get used to smelling this bad. A year ago, only his cloak would stink; now it seemed to have permeated his hair and skin.

Being a beggar is not my style, he thought. He was a noble son of Requiem, the personal guardian of Princess Mori Aeternum herself. He should not stink. A sigh fled his chafed lips.

They send my sister to be a dancer, he thought bitterly, in a winehouse far in the clean, safe city south—right outside the palace! But old Bayrin... he gets to wallow in mud and stink like the hogs that gave this place its name.

"Come on, Lyana," he whispered into the night. "Bring me some news of this invasion, and let's leave this cursed city."

He missed home. The memory of Requiem pounded through him every night—the rustle of birches, the beauty of white marble columns, and the loving eyes of his princess. More than anything, he wanted to see Mori again, to hold her, stroke her soft hair, kiss her lips, and never let her go.

If you saw me now, Mori, you'd wrinkle your nose and shove me away in disgust. A smirk twisted his lips. I should return to Requiem like this, in my foul disguise, and see if your love for me is true.

"Come on, move it, ya wretches!" rose a voice ahead. Bayrin raised his hooded head, peered into the shadows, and saw three drunken soldiers stumble down the docks. They were leaving the Black Shell, the seediest winehouse in Irys, a place where drunkards and dust eaters spent their paltry coins. Their boots sloshed through puddles, and one drew his sabre and flailed it about haphazardly. A group of sailors and peddlers scurried out of their way, and the soldiers moved on, leaning against one another. They began to sing a slurred song.



"Dragons fly

And dragons burn

Dragons scratch and bite

But Tiran men

With spear and blade

Will bloody dragons smite!"



They began to sing a second verse—this one quite ruder, detailing different parts of dragon anatomy Tiran blades would slice—when the soldiers noticed Bayrin. One kept singing. The others scowled and nudged their comrade.

"What are you looking at, beggar?" one soldier said. "Bugger off, will ya? Go!"

He marched toward Bayrin and kicked, knocking him down. Under his cloak, Bayrin wore boiled leather inlaid with steel rings, but still the kick drove out his breath and spread agony through him. He lay on cobblestones damp with water, blood, and vomit.

"Spare a few copper suns, my lords?" he said, speaking with his grainy beggar's voice. "Spare a few coins for an old, limp beggar before you sail off to smite the bloody dragons?"

The soldier kicked him again. His boot, tipped with steel, slammed into Bayrin's hidden leather armor, sending blooms of pain spreading through him. He grunted.

I am a son of Requiem. I can turn into a dragon. I can kill these men and burn every ship in this port. He ground his teeth, coughed, and forced himself to lie still. He had to wait for Lyana; she met him here every three days, and he hadn't missed a rendezvous yet.

"Pardon, my lords, pardon," he said and began crawling away. Bayrin, the guardsman from Requiem, would have fought and killed these men; here in Tiranor, he was but an old beggar, feeble and groveling.

"He thinks we're lords!" said one of the soldiers, a brawny man with a stubbly face, dented armor, and flushed cheeks. "Do we look like lords, you scum?"

Another kick sent Bayrin crashing down. The soldiers laughed. Boots nudged him and spears poked him. Under his hood, Bayrin snarled. These men were weak. Cowards. They taunted an old, defenseless beggar, yet if they knew who he truly was...

"I say we cut off his head!" cried one. "A little killing to whet the appetite before we go slay some reptiles."

"Shove your spear up him!"

"Cut his guts out!"

The boots kicked, a spear scratched his thigh, and laughter rang. Bayrin crawled along the docks. Ahead rose the Old Mill—an abandoned mill now turned into a den of dust eaters. Coughing and grunting, Bayrin scuttled toward it on hands and knees. He crawled into the shadows behind its old bricks, leaving the sailors, dust eaters, drunkards, whores, and peddlers behind. The three soldiers followed, laughing and spitting upon him.

"He thinks the shadows can hide him, friends!"

"Good. Let's kill him nice and quiet in the dark."

Bayrin looked around him. He saw nobody but his three tormentors. Only the tallest masts of ships peeked over the roof of Old Mill. Only the loudest drunkards could be heard from behind its brick walls. Nothing but him, three Tiran soldiers, bricks, and shadows.

The soldiers raised their swords.

Bayrin stood up, doffed his cloak, and shifted.

Wings burst out from his back with a thud. Claws and fangs thrust forward. Scales rose across him. The soldiers gasped. Before they could scream, Bayrin slashed his claws. He cut through steel. Blood spurted. Two soldiers fell dead. The third tried to run. Bayrin pounced and bit, and the man's scream died between his jaws.

It took only seconds. The three lay dead and torn apart.

Bayrin shifted back into human form and looked around, heart hammering. Had anyone seen him? His palms sweated and he panted. He had never before dared become a dragon here in Tiranor, especially not after seeing what they had done to Silas.

Stars, if anyone saw...

He stood still, heart hammering, waiting for wyverns to descend upon him, for their acid to wash the flesh off his bones. When long moments passed and no enemies arrived, Bayrin breathed out in relief. From around Old Mill, the same miserable sounds of Hog Corner still rose: the squeals of the town's cheapest women, the grunts of drunkards, the songs of sailors, the creaking of ships on docks, and the peddlers crying out their wares.

With a grunt, Bayrin pulled the three bodies into deeper shadows, around a few barrels, and toward a wharf behind Old Mill. A young woman lay there on the cobblestones, deep in dust's sleep. Praying she would not wake—if she did, he would have to silence her too—Bayrin shoved the bodies into the water. They sank in their armor. With any luck, they would remain in the depths.

He stepped back toward the crowded docks, still lightheaded, to find Lyana waiting for him in shadow.

"Spare a sun for an old beggar, my lady?" he rasped, hunched over and hobbling.

His sister stood in her disguise—hair smoothed and dyed a platinum blond, her pale skin painted a Tiran gold, and her northern eyes hidden behind a scarf. A white cloak draped around her, and she held her walking staff in hand.

"A sun for a dear old man," she said, fished in her pocket for a coin, and held it out.

Bayrin approached her, took the coin, and bowed his head. He whispered. "What news, Lyana?"

Softly she said, "Not here." She raised her voice. "May I buy you a bowl of soup, old man? To warm your old bones?"

He bobbed his head. "Old Mill serves good fish and onion soup, my lady, if it pleases you."

Truth was Old Mill served the worst fish soup in Irys, possibly in all of Tiranor. That served Bayrin well; it meant the fishhouse was empty but for three dust eaters, their heads upon their tables. Soon Lyana and Bayrin sat in the shadowy corner of the common room, eating bland soup with week-old fish from clay bowls. The owner of the fishhouse, a deaf old man, sat in the corner playing mancala against himself; the board was shaped of cracked old clay, and the pieces were mere pebbles. The three dust eaters snored.

Bayrin took a sip of soup, wrinkled his face, and spat it back into the bowl. "Horrible stuff, this. I think I swallowed a few drops too." He leaned forward. "What have you learned?"

He could not see through her scarf, but somehow he knew her eyes were haunted. Her skin was dyed gold, but somehow he knew that beneath that dye she was pale. Her hand trembled around her spoon.

"Bayrin, I met him! General Mahrdor himself! I danced for him at the River Spice, and... in his home."

He slowly placed down his spoon. "You... what?"

She nodded.

Bayrin tasted the soup again and forced himself to swallow. "Lyana! For a year you've danced for a thousand soldiers, and you barely learned what hand they toss a spear with. Then one day you meet the general of Tiranor's hosts... and get invited to his house?"

She nodded. "He liked my dancing."

Excitement leaped in Bayrin. For a year, he had been sneaking between Tiranor and Requiem, delivering what paltry knowledge Lyana gleaned—what formations she saw wyverns fly in, what new names soldiers gave their phalanxes, or how many wagons of helms and spearheads she saw leave the forges. They knew Tiranor was mustering a great army, and they knew an invasion was near, but the important knowledge—the date of the invasion and its location—eluded them. Would Mahrdor deliver this knowledge to her?

Alongside his excitement, sourness spread. Lyana, his sister... dancing for Mahrdor himself in his villa. Bayrin had invited enough young women to his own home to know what Mahrdor wanted.

"Lyana, did he touch you?" he asked, eyes narrowed. He clutched his spoon like a sword. "If he did, I will... I will..."

"Will what, eat his soup?" He could feel her glare through her scarf. "Bayrin, unless you can cut through Mahrdor's breastplate with a wooden spoon, focus on what's important now. I saw a map in his villa. A map of Tiranor and Requiem with wooden wyverns arranged for invasion. Ralora Beach, Bay. That's where he's going to attack. It'll be on summer solstice; he talked of leaving that morning." She reached across the table and clutched his hand. "We finally found what we came for. Leave. Tonight. Tell Elethor the news. The invasion is only seventeen days away."

Bayrin looked around nervously. As blind Tiana, his sister was meek and quiet, but today bits of Lady Lyana flared—learned, lecturing, and loud. The dust eaters, however, continued to drool contentedly at their tables. The deaf cook was picking his ear while squinting at the mancala board. Bayrin let out a shaky breath and glared at his sister.

"All right, Lyana, we fly home tonight." He placed down his spoon. "Right now."

She shook her head. "You fly. I'm staying here."

He looked around again, leaned forward, and hissed. "Lyana! Forget it. You saw what they did to Silas. These people don't play games. Three soldiers attacked me tonight. Their bodies lie at the bottom of the Pallan, breastplates slashed with dragon claws. Mahrdor will notice three missing men. If he finds their bodies and sees the claw marks, he'll go hunting dragons."

His sister gave him a crooked smile. "What dragons? I am but Tiana, the Blind Beauty, the dancer from the southern dunes. And I've gained his trust—or at least his lust." She squeezed his hand. "Bay, I've spent a year working for this. I can't leave so soon. I will learn more. If I charm him, he might even take me on the invasion; generals have been known to take mistresses to war. He—"

"He wants to invade my kingdom, Lyana. I don't want him invading my sister too. No way. You agreed to dance for Requiem, not to... to..." He felt his cheeks flush.

"It won't come to that. He only wants me to dance; that is all I will do for him."

She patted his hand, but Bayrin heard the hesitation in her voice.

She's lying, he thought. She will lie with the enemy for Requiem; she might have done so already. The thought sickened him more than the stale soup.

"Lyana," he finally said, "as your older brother, I forbid it. You will not stay."

She scoffed, blowing out her breath so loudly it blew back a strand of her hair. "Do you? Bayrin, you might be my older brother, but I am a knight. You are not. I am betrothed to our king. You are not. And I will choose my path, not you." She rose to her feet, leaned forward, and kissed his cheek. Her voice softened. "Go home, Bayrin. Warn our people. Be safe. I love you, brother."

He stood up, still trembling. He wanted to grab her, to drag her with him, to take her away from this... this nightmare city that swarmed with hatred, blood, and acid. But before he could react, she spun and left the fishhouse, her cloak fluttering. He remained standing in shadow.

"Goodbye, Lyana," he whispered. "I love you too, sister. Be careful. Stars, be careful."

He stepped outside into a night of vomiting drunkards, sailors tugging whores, and dust eaters licking their desires with wild eyes. He stepped behind Old Mill where blood still coated the cobblestones. He leaped into the water where bodies still lay. He swam. Underwater, he could see torches flicker above, the hulls of ships, and the glint of fallen coins. He rose for air and sank again. His eyes stung and worry gnawed his bones.

Stars, Lyana. Be careful. Return to us soon.

The River Pallan flowed into a delta, thick with reeds. The lights of the city faded behind him. Flowing toward the sea, he summoned his magic.

Dark wings rose, spilling water. A shadow soared. A dragon flew in the night, flying north, flying home.