Phoenix Read online

  The dragon’s eyes are riveted on mine as it advances cautiously toward me.

  Once it’s close enough to hear me clearly, I announce, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m a friend.”

  The dragon narrows its eyes at the word friend. Okay, technically, friend implies that we know each other, which we don’t. Beyond the fact that I’m a dragon and this creature is a dragon, we have absolutely no baseline of familiarity. But given how few dragons there are on earth, I think our common dragon-ness should be enough to justify the word.

  But the dragon’s response tells me something else: in spite of the fact that we’re deep in Siberian Russia, this creature seems to understand English.

  Where did it come from? Where is its home—and are there more dragons there?

  It’s drawing closer now, maybe fifteen yards away. Close enough it could blast me with fiery flames from its mouth, or even pounce in one leap and shred me with its talons. I’m more aware of this possibility than I’d like to be. I’ve never been afraid of a dragon before, not really. I mean, my parents raised us to be aware that Ion and Eudora weren’t to be trusted, but they were always distant threats. Not like this dragon—so close I can see danger in its eyes.

  I can also see something else, something I missed in those short minutes as the dragon ate the elk in the woods. The dragon is wearing clothes. Like my boxer shorts, dyed scarlet red to match my scales, this dragon’s short skirt, stretched tight over its dragon hips, matches it’s fiery yellow scales.

  While the skirt alone neither proves nor disproves that the dragon in question is female (after all, Wren’s water-dragon boyfriend wears a kilt) the garment between its shoulders is a bit more telling. Twin swaths of flame-yellow fabric cross-cross the dragon’s chest. Granted, it might be some type of baldric, like those we wear to keep our swords handy at our backs, but I don’t see any swords. And the drape of the cloth looks more like an improvised, adjustable bra top more than anything.

  Which makes me think this is probably a girl dragon.

  I can’t hide my smile.

  The dragon pauses, immediately on its guard.

  Chastened, I stop smiling, even though I still feel encouraged by the indications of the dragon’s clothes. I have to put this dragon at ease. Woo her!

  But I can’t risk spooking her, or provoking her to attack. I’m far too vulnerable, standing here barefoot in my boxer shorts, close enough the dragon could grill me like a steak.

  I don’t know what culture this dragon hails from, what gestures might have positive meanings, or what might send the wrong message.

  Again, I summon the courage to speak. “I mean you no harm. I want—I want to be your friend.” Why are words so difficult? I know what I want to say—hey, we’re both dragons! And dragons are few in this world! We should hang out together and maybe make babies, if possible.

  But that feels too forward, and this dragon looks ever so wary.

  The dragon dips its head toward me and takes another tentative step in my direction, before looking suddenly up at the sky with a startled expression.

  I look, too.

  Crap, crap, crap. No!

  An indigo-blue dragon cuts through the sky, headed toward us. It’s Ram. My brother. He’s come after us—he wants to meet this dragon and woo her away from me, but little does he know he’s actually scaring the creature.

  “It’s okay,” I rush to reassure her. “It’s okay! That’s my brother. He’s a friend, too. He won’t hurt you.”

  To my surprise, the dragon bounds closer to me, and actually shuffles around behind me, as though my relatively small human body could somehow hide its glowing dragon body.

  It’s the glowing yellow scales, I’m sure, that attract my brother’s attention from the sky. If the dragon behind me would change into human form, Ram wouldn’t be able to find us in the dark. He must have seen us fly past earlier, but in the time it took him to come after us, we’d already landed. But since the yellow dragon is glowing like a flaming beacon, we’re not so hard to find. He’s close enough now he can’t miss us.

  Ram sets down in front of me, in about the same spot where the dragon first landed.

  “Careful, Ram,” I call out. “You don’t want to scare…it.” I swallow the last word. I don’t want to offend the dragon, but neither do I want to guess and be wrong.

  Ram takes a step closer to us and I can feel the dragon tensing behind me. This is not cool. I’m in human form, and both of these two are dragons. If the dragon behind me spooks and blasts fire, Ram will be fine and I’ll be toast.

  “Take your time, Ram,” I caution my brother, my voice deliberately soothing, like I’m trying to calm a startled horse. While I could suggest to my brother that he might be less intimidating if he changes into human form, I’m also fully aware that my brother is insanely impressive in human form. I don’t know if it’s because he’s three years older than I am, or if he just won the genetic lottery, but while I’m fairly tall and strong, Ram is like some kind of bodybuilder—but not the veiny, gross kind of body builder. The kind of bodybuilder that girls notice. That girls always notice, even if moments before they’d noticed me.

  Whenever Ram walks into a room, it’s like I’ve disappeared.

  So I’m in no hurry for him to switch into his impressive human form and make me effectively invisible, especially since I haven’t had any opportunity to get a jump on wooing the dragon behind me and I don’t want to completely squander the advantage I bought with my long stakeout.

  Ram advances slowly. He’s made eye contact with the yellow dragon, I’m pretty sure. But since that dragon is behind me, I can’t really see, so I sidestep and try to turn my head to get a better look, but the dragon shuffles along behind me, keeping me between it and Ram. While this is frustrating, since I can’t see the dragon’s face, it’s also slightly flattering.

  The dragon feels safe with me.

  Just as I’m starting to think maybe I’m off to a good start, that maybe I’ve got some advantage over my brother, however small, Ram changes from a dragon into a human.

  I can’t be sure, but I think he’s purposely showing off.

  The dragon behind me has definitely noticed. The yellow head dips low, extending in my brother’s direction.

  Ram takes a few steps closer. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  That was my line. He stole my line.

  And as if to validate his personal charisma, the dragon steps closer to Ram. Now she’s beside me, almost in front of me.

  Then she changes, too.

  She is certainly a she, but I make that realization along with several other observations. She is tall. Her face is delicate but strong, her posture impeccable, her skin dark as the night. Her dragon horns became twin braids as she changed, and the thick plaits now drape back over her shoulders, which are toned, statuesque, even regal. Like all dragons, she doesn’t look any older than twenty.

  She is the loveliest female I have ever seen, dragon or otherwise.

  And she’s looking at Ram.

  Okay, granted, Ram just got here, whereas I’ve been here for a few minutes, so maybe it makes sense she’d study the newcomer. But it’s the way she’s looking at him that spreads dread like goose bumps across my skin. The tension and fear that held her posture upright moments ago has now given way to a definite inclination in Ram’s direction. She has a half-smile on her lips, which are open ever-so-slightly, and her pupils have gone overly large in the midst of her flame-yellow irises. Perhaps that’s due to the dark night, but it gives me the distinct impression that she is attracted to Ram.

  This is not getting off to a good start.

  I was here first. I’ve just got to up my game. I turn to the female with what I hope is a winning smile. “Lovely Lady, may I introduce myself? My name is Felix.”

  The dragon woman turns to me with a slightly startled look, as though she’d forgotten I was there.

  So quickly.

  But she smiles a poli
te smile, showing off her perfectly-matched white teeth, which brighten her face and make her look, if possible, even more enchanting. “My name is Nia.” She speaks loudly enough for my brother to hear, and turns her head in his direction.

  “Nia.” Ram hurries toward her, grasps her hand, and bows. I’m not kidding. He bows and looks up at her with this imploring expression that makes me wish I’d slugged him more often when we were young. “What a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ram.”

  “Ram,” she repeats, trying out the name, smiling at the sound of it on her lips.

  She did not try out my name.

  So, now what? Ultimately, I want to propose to the girl, but it seems soon for that, especially since we don’t know why she was working for Eudora, or if she’s only talking to us because she plans to turn us over to our old arch-enemy or possibly murder us on the spot and cart off our carcasses like a prize.

  While I’m puzzling over what to say next, the woman speaks. “You are dragons—are there more like you?”

  “We have three sisters,” my brother informs her.

  “And parents. And a grandfather,” I add, though Nia is still looking at Ram, and not at me.

  An expression like hope fills her face. “Are you from China?”

  “China?” I repeat, confused.

  “No, Azerbaijan,” Ram answers, while I’m wondering what could have possibly caused her to think we’re Chinese. We’re clearly Azeri. We look Persian, Turkic, whatever you want to call it. Other than the Scottish blood we inherited from my grandmother, which makes my hair a deep auburn color and splashed a riot of freckles across my tanned nose, we’re all classically dark-haired and olive-skinned. I don’t think even the dark of the night could make us look Chinese.

  I grasp at the only reason for her question that I can think of. “Do you know of dragons in China?”

  Nia turns my way and gives a hesitant half nod. “I’ve heard…there may be.”

  “I’ve heard the same.” Ram confirms.

  He’s actually gone to China in search of more dragons, long journeys that occupied most of the last two summers. That vast, populous land is full of legends, and the people revere, even worship, dragons, so it would make sense that, of all the places in the world where dragons might remain, China would be a top contender. But Ram never found any dragons there.

  Nia’s smile grows. “I’ve been searching for dragons for many long years. I’d almost given up hope of finding any.”

  “Are there more in your family?” I ask when she pauses. There’s every possibility she has a sister, after all.

  But Nia shakes her head. “I have always been alone.”

  The sadness in her voice quiets any further questions I might be tempted to ask.

  “Would you like to meet our family?” Ram asks.

  I feel a twinge of jealousy that he thought to make the offer before I could, but instead of looking excited by the prospect, Nia looks…afraid. Maybe even horrified, though I can’t imagine why.

  She glances over her shoulders into the darkness. The rocks jut upward at harsh angles, deeply shadowed by the meager light of the moon and stars, an unnatural landscape that might well hide equally unnatural enemies. “I don’t want to endanger you.”

  “Endanger?” I repeat when she falls silent.

  Regret fills her lovely face. “I have been searching for other dragons for many long years. I grew desperate and followed the only trail I could find. In exchange for information, I…” Nia shakes her head. “It wasn’t even good information.”

  Her words are cryptic, but knowing what we know of the dragon world and its enemies, I can read between the lines. We know from the spies’ video footage that she was working for Eudora, who has been trying for decades to destroy all dragons. “Are you afraid of Eudora?” I ask.

  “Eudora?” Nia repeats the name as if it’s new to her. “Is that the white witch? Who lives in the ice castle in the mountains?”

  My brother explains, “Eudora created the yagi, the dragon hunters.”

  “The mamluki?” Nia clarifies. “It means mercenary in Swahili.”

  “Mamluki,” I repeat, nodding. Her name for them fits them quite well. “Yes, Eudora created the mamluki to destroy dragons.”

  “The mamluki have been hunting me for many years,” Nia explains. “I followed them to this place and found the white witch. I thought—” she shakes her head regretfully again. “I hoped to find other dragons. I have been seeking them my whole life. The white witch claims to know of more dragons. She promised me information, but has given me little.”

  Ram nods solemnly. “Did she tell you there might be dragons in China?”

  “In China, and on an island near Fiji. But she won’t give me specific information, and she has baited the mamluki with my scent.”

  “Baited?” I’m immediately concerned. The yagi, or mamluki, or whatever you want to call them, were bred for the purpose of hunting and killing dragons. They’re soulless creatures, part cockroach, part mercenary soldier. They killed my grandmother. They’re dangerous enough without specifically targeting someone.

  “The mamluki use scent to track their prey,” Nia explains. “The white witch controls them by scent, which is why they don’t attack her. I am safe from them as long as I continue to work for her, but if I try to escape, she will send them after me. It has happened before. I only survived because I returned to her. It would be a danger to your family to meet me. Indeed, it is a danger to you, talking to me now. I should return to my cave.”

  “But we just met—” I protest.

  Ram cuts in. “We can help you. We can protect you from the mamluki. We know how to fight them.”

  Nia looks at him with hesitant hope. She wants to believe him, but she knows too well the merciless enemies who hunt her. “If I return to my cave now, she may not realize I have met with you. I can meet with you again, in secret. She doesn’t need to know. I have some freedom as long as I don’t stray far.”

  Before Nia has even finished her sentence, a massive boom rocks the air all around us. The three of us duck instinctively, and both Ram and I throw our arms over Nia’s shoulders. I peek behind us in time to see the sky lit up with orange and purple, and a billow of smoke not unlike an atomic mushroom cloud.

  It came from the direction of the lake. And Nia’s cave.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep this secret from Eudora. But that concern is dwarfed by the violence of the explosion behind us. Our family was near the lake and the cave, somewhere. Are they okay?

  “What was that?” Nia asks as we cautiously rise to standing again.

  “I hope that was Ed, destroying the source of the water yagi.” Ram’s expression is grim. He glances at me. “Do you think we should get back there?”

  “I think we need to make sure everyone’s okay. That was a big explosion.” I withdraw my hand from over Nia’s shoulder, taking care not to infringe on her personal space. She seems skittish. I don’t want to do anything that might prompt her to flee.

  “We need to be careful.” Ram turns to Nia. “I’d like you to come with us.”

  Nia shakes her head. “The mamluki—”

  “We know how to fight them. They hunt us, too.”

  “But she’ll send them after us—all of them, pursuing us. It’s not the same as being hunted. They know my scent. She will set them after me.” Nia glances at the sky as though weighing a decision. Is she going to leave us in hopes of leading the yagi away from us?

  I don’t want her to try. “Nia? You said you’ve been looking for other dragons for many long years. We’ve been looking, too. We’ve finally found you. Please stay with us.”

  “I won’t endanger you.” She refuses bluntly.

  “We endanger ourselves,” Ram insists. “We came here. We caused that explosion. I don’t think you’ll be able to hide any longer. You must stay with us.”

  Ram reaches for her hand. I want to warn him that
Nia is already nervous enough, that he shouldn’t push her, but Nia doesn’t seem to need my help.

  She takes a step back from Ram and looks at him steadily, her hands now beyond his reach. Technically, she’s a bit shorter than he is—he’s well over six feet tall—but something about her regal posture and the tilt of her head makes it almost seem as though she’s looking down at him. She has an inherent dignity that holds my gaze. She owns whatever space she occupies, and right now, she’s ordering Ram out of that space without saying a word.

  Nia obviously doesn’t care for my brother’s bossy approach. Fortunately, I learned how to wheedle from an early age. It’s a technique that requires more humility than most dragons are willing to exhibit, but right now, it may be my best hope for keeping Nia from flying away.

  “Please, Nia. We’re more afraid of losing you than of facing the mamluki.”

  “You don’t understand,” Nia’s voice is strained. There’s something under her words—a barely-suppressed grief, I think. She chokes past it, covers it with something more like anger. “I am a harbinger of death. The longer you are in my presence, the more certain your demise.”

  Ram and I exchange glances. Some girls have a flair for the dramatic, but I don’t think that’s what Nia’s up to right now. Ram’s face says he wonders if there isn’t more to Nia’s claims.

  “We are strong and valiant fighters,” Ram asserts. “We’ve tangled with yagi before, many times. They are troublesome, yes. A menace—”

  “I will tell you,” Nia cuts Ram’s speech short. “There was another dragon.”

  Nia has our full attention now, though her words sound strangled. “I only consented to work for Eudora in exchange for information about other dragons. That was the agreement. She told me where a dragon might be found. I traveled there. Found her.”